Legends of Amacia Rise of the Caverias
Chapter 7: The Saint Louis Mega-quake

Meanwhile on the surface, Brother Paul Randall’s broadcast boomed out of the Temple of Tiamat across the airwaves to every corner of the globe. The powers that be fumed and raged because he was still on the air after they had thought they’d shut him down with their raid on his farm in western Virginia. However, the powers of Heaven intervened, bringing Dan and the people studying the Temple of Tiamat to Brother Paul’s defense. In a bold stroke, Dan evacuated Paul and his people to the Temple by use of the portal generator just minutes before the lethal raid by the US government forces sent to eliminate them. The timing was so close that Dan saw the leader of the execution squad after the last of Paul’s people went through the portal to the Temple. Dan took great pleasure in insulting them and escaping through the portal before the squad could attack. With Paul and his people safely at the Temple, Dan facilitated Paul’s return to the air using the ancient alien tech of Tiamat. The signal went out with such power that even the powers that be couldn’t jam it. Furthermore, the machinery of Tiamat camouflaged the signal so that it seem to come from everywhere and nowhere, making tracking it impossible.

Paul followed his mandate given to him in a personal visitation by the archangel Gabriel just before the raid and blasted the powers that be, especially those in the US government, informing the entire world of what they were up to. He also told the peoples of the world what Hannibal was doing and called for the saints around the world to unite in prayer for him and his team. The only two pieces of information Paul withheld was the terrible fact of Hannibal’s mutation into Hanna, and that Selina and Nathanael were alien cats, deeming it wasn’t time to share that fact with the world. However, everything else about Hannibal’s expedition he shouted from the housetops, insisting that everyone pray for the expedition. While he did that, the people that accompanied Paul to the Temple fitted in very well, keeping busy with the research teams. They meshed like a well-oiled machine with the workings of the Temple.

Dan sat in the communications center in the Temple monitoring the news from around the world while Paul was on live trying to explain the terrible danger the world faced from Amacia. News came from North Korea. They had just successfully tested another nuclear weapon in defiance of the United States...a test that rivaled the largest nuclear weapon in the US arsenal. In conjunction with this nuclear test, they successfully tested a hypersonic ICBM that was capable of carrying large nuclear payloads to anywhere within the continental US. In response, the US condemned the tests officially, levied even harsher economic sanctions on the North Korean regime, and sent more ships to the Korean peninsula, tightening the noose around North Korea that many around the world saw as the first step to a blockade and regime change. At the same time, word slipped out that the Russian military was massing five divisions on their border with North Korea and was sending an armada of thirty warships and seventy thousand troops to Korea waters. This brought vehement protests from the US government and the response from the Russian Government was that it was only a preplanned war game, of which they had already informed the US government and UN about.

News filtered in across the news services from the Middle East that there were several great explosions in the occupied territories of the Muslim Alliance. Reports of US warships and troops massing in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf in preparation for all-out war with Syria and the newest terrorist faction consisting of radicalized Islamic jihadists carving out huge tracts of land in both Syria and Iraq trickled down. Some of the areas taken by the jihadist faction were key oil fields and cities in the north-central and western regions of Iraq. The Iraqi military initially folded in the onslaught of the jihadist, but eventually joined with Kurdish, Shiite, Sunni, and tribal militias to counter the mortal threat from the jihadist, who actively committed genocide in areas they controlled. Anyone deemed a threat or refused to live by the strictest Sharia Law were summarily executed in the most gruesome ways; many times their executions recorded and posted online for all to see. The Saudis and Jordanians refused to allow US troops to use their territory as base of operations for any strikes against the new deadly jihadist faction in Syria and Iraq, but they did offer other military assistance with taking down the burgeoning faction.

News reports from the Ukraine revealed the fascist western-backed government in Kiev was begging for assistance in taking down the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. They accused the Russian government of sending military aid to the separatists and instigating the fighting, using unverified pictures of Russian equipment convoys to prove it. It only took a matter of hours to debunk the images as seven-year-old images of a Russian armored column in the south Caucuses. The Russian president balked at the charges, calling them bald-faced lies as part of a demonization by the globalist controlled western media. He then pointed out the presence of western troops and mercenaries fighting on the side of the fascist western-back government in Kiev. A very fragile cease-fire brokered by the Russians between the fascist government in Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists started unraveling with the Ukrainian army renewing its attack on Donetsk and several other cities. When the fascist government in Kiev saw the separatists pulling back their heavy weapons according to the ceasefire, they launched a new offensive in violation of the ceasefire and with the full support of the US government.

Dan shook his head sadly and changed the channel to a different station that brought news from the US. The western US remained under martial law and a twenty-four hour curfew where the catastrophic meteor storm had struck. The West coast remained cut off from the rest of the country by ground because of the devastation. Reports emerged of troops summarily gunning down anyone in the impact zones found outside during the curfew with their bodies being left in the streets as a warning to the rest of the population. The rest of the nation was under a state of national emergency with what was left of the National Guard patrolling the streets with local, state, and federal police forces consisting of a number of foreign troops from Asia and Africa. Distribution of goods was sporadic and rationing was in effect. In addition, the government had begun rounding up malcontents and potential troublemakers, confining them in concentration camps. Horror stories of mass executions in the concentration camps started leaking out. The monetary system teetered on collapse and the country had gone completely cashless because of the meteor impacts. The government issued everyone a multi-access reader card that was to be used as identification and for all transactions. This card also included an active GPS and RFID chips so the government could monitor the public’s movement and speech by satellite and wireless readers. Hundreds of thousands of checkpoints restricted movement in non-impact zones, but not to the extent it was in the impact zones. Dan sighed heavily as he listened to the news, thinking, It has begun. World War III is upon us. Dan felt the Temple tremble slightly as the regular news was interrupted with a special report.

“This is Argyle Singh at the Voice of America news desk,” the reporter began. “There has been a massive earthquake in the greater Saint Louis area. The quake was pegged off the Richter scale in intensity and was felt as far away as Greenland, Alaska, and Honduras. Officials aren’t saying exactly how big this quake was. This is unbelievable folks. I am receiving live video footage from the quake zone. My God! Saint Louis is gone. I can hardly describe what I’m seeing. The Mississippi River as swallowed the city of Saint Louis. The river is like a sea. The reports are that the ground split and has sunk all up and down the Mississippi River. I can’t even tell you the awesomeness of what I’m seeing. Wait, I have just received satellite pictures of the Midwest. It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. The country is split in two from the Minnesota border with Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

“Every major city on the Mississippi River is gone and the river is now hundreds of miles wide. Louisiana is gone with the eastern portions of Texas. Three fourths of Mississippi is gone as well as the western end of Tennessee. Kentucky has lost two thirds of its land and Indiana has lost its lower quarter. Illinois is gone with the exception of it very eastern quarter. Chicago is in ruins. The lower portion of Minnesota is under water up to Minneapolis. Above Minneapolis, the ground has split into three main fissures. One crack runs north to International Falls and crosses over into Canada terminating near Crow Lake. The second splits off this main fissure near Mill Lacs Lake used to be and goes east, swallowing Duluth and punching into Lake Superior. The third split seems to have followed I94 from Minneapolis northwest to near Fargo North Dakota. Each of these major splits is more than fifty miles across and get narrower as they go north. Hundreds of smaller fissures break off these three big ones, turning much of northern Minnesota into a series of islands and peninsulas. It looks as if a giant hammer smacked Minnesota right on Minneapolis. The whole state looks like a broken window from space. Iowa is gone completely and Missouri is now a series of islands as is Arkansas. Wait a moment. Here is another report. It appears that the epicenter was on the New Madrid fault zone near Charleston Missouri at a depth of fifty miles. They rank it as the most destructive event to ever hit the US, maybe even the world in recorded history. Everything east of Kansas City and west of Lexington, Kentucky in the quake zone has been demolished completely. Kansas City burns. New Orleans is gone...swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico and the power is out all over the eastern US. Serious damage has been done as far away as Washington DC and central Pennsylvania. Colossal tsunamis from the sinking of Louisiana have swamped everything on the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean, including Cuba and Venezuela.”

The announcer paused as he tried to compose himself. “This is me talking now,” he said with an obvious heaviness on his voice. “People of America...this is it. People like the Prophet Paul Randall have warned us of such things com....” The Voice of America broadcast suddenly went silent, producing nothing but static.

Dan shook his head sadly. “They cut him off,” he said as Paul appeared.

“Did you feel the jolt a few minutes ago while I was on the air?” Paul asked.

Dan nodded and said, “Yes, I did. I was listening to VOA when it happened. The Lord has smitten the US again, big time.”

Paul looked at him intensely and asked, “How?”

Dan rocked back in his chair and said, “You know how the scientists of the world say that massive inundations and subsidence of large areas of land are impossible, especially continental landmasses. Well, it’s academic now for there was a mega-quake on the New Madrid fault near Saint Louis and now all of those states bordering the Mississippi River are now underwater. The land sank and the waters from the Gulf of Mexico inundated everything up to Minnesota and Canada.”

Paul had to sit down at the news. “My God...He’s really doing it. America is coming down. Is there any count on the death toll yet?”

Dan shook his head and said, “No. But you can be sure that it is in the many tens of millions. The quake hit with such power and speed that there was no warning. The announcer was cut off when he tried to tell everyone that people like you had been warning that this was going to happen. But before I forget, the Korean problem is going to explode. They set off another nuke in a test and successfully launched a hypersonic ICBM capable of hitting anywhere in the US mainland. The US responded by sending more ships and now the Russians are massing troops on the border with North Korea and are sending seventy thousand troops to the Korean waters. The US is apparently massing for an attack of Syria and that new jihadist faction there as well.”

Chris rushed into the communications center with a grave look on his face. “Dan...we just monitored quake of biblical proportions with the machinery,” he reported.

“I know,” Dan replied. “It’s all over the news but they’re not saying how strong it was.”

“Well, I know,” Chris stated. “The equipment measured a 13.8 on the Richter Scale on the New Madrid fault zone. The ground literally ripped apart and dropped a six hundred feet in a matter of seconds. The New Madrid rift zone has become hyperactive and if we’re reading our equipment right, the split will eventually break the North American continent in two. Magma is already seeping up from the rift zone in several areas. Dozens of hotspots are showing up from Minneapolis down to the Gulf along the break. Undoubtedly, a chain of volcanoes will rise from these hotspots.”

Dan and Paul gawked at the news. “13.8 on the Richter...that’s cataclysmic!” Dan cried.

“That it is,” Chris stated bluntly. “Humanity hasn’t seen a quake of this size since the time of Amacia.”

“So true,” Dan agreed. “Keep a close eye on it, Chris. With such a jolt, we can expect some major aftershocks of 10 or more.”

Jerry rushed into the room with a highly animated expression. “Guys...you’re not going to believe this, but the Yellowstone caldera is rumbling. It seems the quake must have seriously stirred up the caldera. The temperature all over that area is spiking and the quakes are swarming at five and six on the Richter. The machinery is recording significant uplift. The Yellowstone is waking up. What can we do?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” Dan stated grimly. “This is the Lord’s doing. Do you have any idea of when it’s going to pop?”

“Not yet,” Jerry answered. “But it’s definitely building for an eruption. It could be a day, week, or month. If I had to guess from what I saw on the machinery, I’d give it a week, no more. But if something hits it from space, all bets are off. I wouldn’t want to be around there when that thing explodes because it’s going to take a good chunk of Wyoming and Montana with it.”

“Okay,” Dan said with a deep, troubled sigh. “Chris, Jerry; keep monitoring the situation with the machinery and inform me if anything changes, no matter how small. Paul, I think you should go back on the air and warn the people who are still in that area to vacate. The US government isn’t going to do it, so I think we’d better step up.”

“I’ll do it immediately,” Paul replied solemnly. “It’s the watchman’s job to warn of coming calamities when he sees it coming. Since the Lord has been merciful enough to give us this heads-up, we shall shout this warning from the housetops.”

“What’s going on out there?” Chris asked. “It’s like the planet itself has suddenly gone mad. What can we do against such calamities? First, the meteor storm, then the quake, and now Yellowstone is fixing to go. Is this really the end for humanity?”

Paul shook his head sadly, and then smiled, saying, “No Chris, this isn’t the end of humanity, only the beginning of the birth pangs that’s been prophesied about since the days of Amacia. We mustn’t despair. Look up. Our redemption is drawing nigh. The Lord will save His people as he promised. But unfortunately, America took the road of Amacia, Sodom, and Gomorrah. There’s only so much our merciful Father can take. He’s begged and pleaded with them to repent, but they have not so all that’s left is his wrath. Yellowstone, this calamitous quake, and the monster meteor storm are all ways of showing humanity that He’s still in charge and will not be mocked. Now the Lord mocks them in their calamity. So be of good cheer, our salvation is close at hand.”

“Thanks for the encouragement, brother,” Chris replied. “It’s good to know the Lord is directing these events. Still, it grieves me that so many people couldn’t get out of the way of that juggernaut.”

“Don’t be grieved, son” Paul stated soberly. “Everything serves the will of the Lord, even the natural phenomena and process of this planet. The Lord will keep alive those He wishes to survive. Not one person perished whose time hasn’t come in the Lord’s will. Take courage in that.”

“That’s so true, brother. Still, we must also keep Hannibal and his team in prayer,” Dan replied. “They need our prayers more than ever now.”

“And so shall we pray for them,” Paul stated. “But for now, I must get back to the mike and warn the American people of the impending eruption of Yellowstone.” With that, he walked away.

“Chris, Jerry; keep monitoring the skies, the quake zone, and Yellowstone,” Dan ordered. “Let me know if anything else happens.”

“Yes sir,” Chris and Jerry replied simultaneously.

Dan sighed deeply, leaning back in his chair as Chris and Jerry left him alone in the communication’s center with the static from the VOA broadcast hissing over the speakers.

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