Free Times of Tribulation: Christian End Times Thriller (The End Times Saga, #7) by Cliff Ball Page A

room.
    “I think doing devotions is a good idea. I can worry about this other stuff later.” Dave went to his room and began doing devotions.
    Meanwhile, in Big Bend, the Preppers in hiding watched the execution of Administrator Powell with shock and dismay. So far, the North American leadership or the military hadn’t figured out the Preppers were in Big Bend, but now that Wayne Davis was in charge had Pete Robertson worried. The new leader’s ruthlessness and lack of compassion was well-known in most of Texas, at least to those who paid attention to such things. Many of the Preppers who lived with Pete’s group were from Dallas and had lived through Davis’ time as the Mayor. They knew that when it came to demonstrating his power, the new North American administrator wouldn’t hesitate to show it off. But, they also knew there well hidden and hoped to stay that way.
    “I’ve been thinking about whether we should start letting people in who are trying to escape the tyranny of the Union of United Earth?” Pete asked his wife.
    “I don’t know. We might get noticed a lot more if we did. If lots of people are traveling by car or walking to an area the authorities think is mostly void of life, they might wonder what was going on. Considering how heavily armed we are, are you sure you want to get their attention, which would be followed by a battle we couldn’t possibly hope to win?”
    “You raise some good points, Sweetheart. I imagine most of the authorities in Texas are probably dead, so those outside of our borders probably knows next to nothing about us, if at all. We’re isolated now, but we wouldn’t be if we extended an invite to those who want to hide. Now, if there are some who manage to make it here on their own, we’ll take them in, just as long as it’s safe to do so. What do you think?”
    “I agree, my Dear. Meanwhile, we can talk to fellow Preppers and other anti-government types around the world who have access to shortwave communications to see how they’re doing and managing to survive.” Janet glanced at the clock on the wall, got up from sitting next to her husband, and said, “Well, almost lunch time, so off I go to make lunch.”
    “Good, I’m starving!” Pete playfully replied, while kissing his wife before she went to the kitchen.
    The others discussed with Pete what was going on and agreed with the plans to keep avoiding the supposedly all-seeing eye of the Patriarch and the Union of United Earth.

Chapter 8
    For over three weeks, people in the northern hemisphere were able to see at night the asteroid that was headed directly for the planet. Very few of the general population knew that China, before Patriarch Karimi came along, had made plans to bring the asteroid to Earth, park it in orbit, and mine it for its resources. China’s plans fell by the wayside when the two American astronauts assigned to bring the asteroid to Earth vanished without a trace and the Chinese Space Agency had no way to stop the asteroid’s headlong plunge towards the planet. For those who were curious, barely any news on it could be found through internet searches, mostly the searches came up with old articles about China launching the project, nor had the news networks reported on it. But, that all changed the night before the asteroid was projected to hit the planet.
    China’s administrator appeared on television, mostly aimed at his own region, but it was carried live worldwide by UETN. “Greetings, citizens of the region of China. As many of you know, I am Administrator Li Bei Sheng, the head of this region. I come to you tonight to let you know about a coming disaster headed for this part of our planet. As you may or may not know, the previous government of China commissioned the space agency to harness an asteroid to mine it for minerals and metals. Unfortunately, the space agency lost control of it months ago and it will be plunging to our planet tomorrow, specifically it will hit somewhere