Free Second Chance by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins

to gain a little momentum, that scary, tingly feeling of fear raced up and down his back. Lionel was reaching down to grab his own bag from the bushes a block away, but Ryan was sure he heard footsteps and shouting behind him.

EIGHT
Taking Flight
    J UDD found himself shy and embarrassed about having a girl in his house when he was alone. He had dated before, of course, but his parents had put such restrictions on him that he had pretty much given up asking girls out. He saw them at school and after school, but he didn’t have one special girl.
    He was curious, of course, about who would be there and who would have disappeared when school began again. And who knew when that might be? A few days ago he wouldn’t have cared if he never went to school again. Now he wondered, if Bruce Barnes was right about the Rapture signaling the end of the world in about seven years, whether school was worth anything. If it was true that the Antichrist, whomever that was, might soon sign some sort of an agreementwith Israel, the seven years would begin, and Jesus would return again before Judd turned twenty-four.
    While that might have convinced him that he didn’t have a whole life and career to study for, he also realized how much time he had wasted in school already. For as old as he was and the grade he was in, he felt he hardly knew anything. Maybe it would be all right for school to start up again, once this traffic and fire and death mess had been cleaned up. Then he would try to learn as much as he could, at least about the basics, so he would be able to get along on his own for the rest of the time.
    If all this was true, Judd felt obligated to serve God by telling others that they still had a chance. There was certainly no reason to pursue a big moneymaking career. He may have never before had a goal, a purpose, a reason for doing anything other than pleasing himself, but he sure did now. True, this had been thrust upon him. He’d had little choice. Of course, he could have chosen to ignore God, to thumb his nose at the Creator and continue living for himself. But he had been a rebel, not an ignoramus. Clearly, God had convinced him of the truth, and now Judd had made the decision himself. He had a lot of pain and grief and regret to workthrough, but from now on, it was he and God all the way.
    Judd waited politely for Vicki to emerge from his parents’ bedroom. He wanted to tell her she could feel free to use the shower in the master bath. When she shut the door almost all the way, he assumed she might be trying on something in front of the mirror. He didn’t want to walk in on her.
    But she didn’t come out, and he heard no water running. He looked at his watch and decided that in five minutes he would discretely knock, tell her about the shower, and finally be able to get upstairs to collapse in his own bed. He sat on the couch and clicked on the television to check the progress of the massive cleanup. Then he decided to call Bruce Barnes and see if he and Vicki could come by that evening or the next morning, whenever they woke up, to tell him some news. Judd was sure Bruce would be thrilled that they had made their decisions. Also, he wanted to know where he might find those other two kids, Lionel and Ryan. It seemed they were all in this together and that they should watch out for each other.
    Judd muted the TV and dialed the church. He reached an answering machine with Bruce’s voice on the greeting. Bruce sounded as shocked as anybody. This must’ve been amessage he recorded within a couple of hours of the Rapture.
    The message said: “You have reached New Hope Village Church. We are planning a weekly Bible study, but for the time being we will meet just once each Sunday at 10 A.M. While our entire staff, except me, and most of our congregation are gone, the few of us left are maintaining the building and distributing a videotape our senior pastor prepared for such a time as this. You may come by the church office