The Mark

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The only sounds Anna could hear was the heavy breathing coming from her guide as well as from her own mouth. She was amazed at the work that had gone into digging the tunnel and wondered if any one else had used it out of desperation or if she was the only one so completely unprepared for this crisis. As her mind wandered in mul tiple directions, she finally told her thoughts to shut up and started to pray. This wasn't about her anyways-it was about Him.

About an hour into the tunnel, Henry stopped, sat down, and leaned against the wall. Normally a dirty rest stop would not have been appealing, but considering her current state, Anna didn't think twice and sat next to him. She needed the break, Henry turned off the flashlight.

"I don't know how much battery time we've got, so if you don't we need to conserve." "

"Sure, just don't leave without me."

"I'm not going anywhere." She felt him reach and find her hand. She choked back a tear, not from fear but out of the sheer relief of the touch of his hand.

After a moment of silence, as the two caught their breath, Anna spoke.

"So who is Charlie exactly? I know his name but not many details."

Anna could hear a soft chuckle and imagined a grin on his face.

"Where do I begin?" Henry started. "I've known Charlie for about five years now. He's the one who brought me to the fellowship. I met him at a picnic-he was working for a caterer at that time, and we struck up a conversation while folding up tables and chairs. He's an amazing follower-one of those fearless, "I'm-going-to-die-when God-is-good-and-ready-for-me-to-die" kind of guys."

"What do you mean?"

"It took him about five minutes to ask me if I knew Jesus at that picnic. Here we are, in broad daylight, people everywhere, and in full voice he was like, 'Hey, do you know Jesus?"

"What did you do?"

"Well, back then, I looked around, lowered my voice and asked him if he was crazy! He looked back at me and laughed. He said, You've got to be kidding me! Do you really think anyone around here cares what I say? They've all heard it from me before and will most likely hear it again!' And you know what? I'm pretty sure he witnessed to them until he became a runner."

Anna swatted at another tickle on her ear. "A runner? What's that?"

"Oh, sorry. That's someone who runs the tunnels from the compound to the real world. There are about ten of them all together. They can get news or supplies, but mostly just help newbies arrive."

"I must be a newbie."

"Sorry again. We have developed our own vocabulary and, yeah, you are a newbie."

"So, you're a runner."

"Everything is changing so quickly, I don't know how much longer we'll need runners."

"But after you get me to the compound, will you have to go back out?" Henry sat quiet for a moment and Anna waited for his answer. She felt him fumble with the flashlight and then it turned on. She looked at his tired face.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then stand up and look at me."

Anna stood and faced Henry. The flashlight was pointing down, but in the glow of the light she could still see his face. It was smudged with dirt, and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Close your eyes."

"Come on, Henry," she protested. Why was he stalling?

"Just close them."

She closed her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt his hand brush her shoulder. Confused, she opened them again, and dangling from his fingers was one of the biggest spiders she had ever seen, the kind with the fuzzy legs. She stifled a shriek as Henry smiled at her.

"I was hoping to step on this before you saw it."

"There're more of those, aren't there?" "Probably, but if we keep moving we should be fine."

After doing a spin so that Henry could see if there were anymore, Anna checked him, not sure she could actually pull one off him if there was one. Thankfully, there were none. She shivered at the thought that it was one of those hairy monsters she had swatted before without knowing. away twice

"You never answered my question," Anna said, as they started walking again.

"Which one?"

"Are you going back after you get me to the compound?" "Since I haven't recovered the supplies stored at my house, I have at least one more trip."

"But the Day of Destruction has changed everything, Henry." He said nothing but continued through the tunnel. Anna knew what this meant. A few days earlier he had attempted to retrieve those supplies, and she thought he had been captured. They knew where he lived and no doubt, they knew what he wanted from there. But Anna knew him well enough. When Henry had his mind set on something, it was nearly impossible to change it.

Anna mustered all the courage she could find and looked behind her once more. Still darkness.

Were they truly going to be safe? Was there anywhere that was safe anymore? And did safety matter if the man she loved chose not to stay with her?

Anna made up her mind. She had proven she was as stubborn as Henry. She had to convince him to stay. It was their only chance to be together.

Mayor Wayne Durbin sat at his desk, deep in thought. He glanced down at his watch and then gazed out his window. 2:27 p.m. The bus would be leaving in half an hour. He turned from the window and looked at the framed picture of his dog sitting on his desk. He picked it up, his reflection in the glass catching his eye. He reached up and ran his finger over the black numbers on his forehead. He hardly even noticed them anymore when he looked in the mirror. It made no sense to him why some people were such fanatics that they couldn't take the mark.

There was a quick tap on his half-open door, and his secretary en tered with a rolled up newspaper under her arm and a hot cup of cof fee in her hand. Wayne put the picture back on his desk and reached for the coffee.