Lie Down in Green Pastures (24 page)

"Does it take 38 pushes?" asked Noah.

"You will soon find out, but to answer the question, yes, 38 pushes is all you need."

Sarah, Brenda, and Noah all tried using the can opener but without any luck. Jeremiah took the device and quickly opened two cans of soup and poured them into the pan along with some water from one of the bottles. It took no time for the soup to cook over the small fire they had set in the back of the cave. Each of the kids took turns drinking their share straight from the pan. Bobby asked, "Is this what real camping is like?"

"Pretty close," said Noah.

"Okay, everyone, come here so we can talk," said Jeremiah.All the kids gathered close to him and as he looked at each and every face he could tell that this group would do whatever he asked without question or discussion. They were starting to move and act as one, behaving perfectly. It reminded him of a movie he had once seen.
Stepford kids,
he thought.
I can't believe these are the teenagers our congregations are always moaning about.

"This cave is too exposed from below. We need to find another location for shelter that will give us some protection.Noah, Brenda, and I are going out to look for a better spot while Sarah and the rest of you stay here. Sarah is in charge, so listen to her, please."

"Sarah, keep everyone away from the entrance. You position yourself in the opening behind the bush and watch below.We will be back soon."

Jeremiah could see that everyone understood and that there would be no problems. What he was unsure about was having Noah and Brenda with him out in the open but he knew that three pairs of eyes were needed.

Ten minutes into the scouting expedition, Brenda whistled, signaling that she found something. When Noah and Jeremiah approached Brenda they could see that she had found another cave with a well-concealed entrance. This cave was even larger than the first one. In addition there was a small stream not thirty feet away.

In no time at all, everyone was relocated to the new hideout.

"Rabbi, are we going to catch fish in the stream?" asked one of the boys.

"No, no fish in that stream I'm sorry to say. We are going to use the fishing line and the hooks plus this morning's empty soup cans to set a warning signal, though. I think some of you would call it 'fishing for men.'"

The boy looked puzzled until Sarah said, "A burglar alarm."

Jeremiah took the fishhooks and tied them onto the fishing line every two feet. Sarah placed some stones into the soup cans after Brenda had punched holes in the sides close to the can top. She then tied short pieces of fishing line to each can and gave them to Jeremiah. Jeremiah and Noah then took the fishing lines with the hooks and cans attached and stretched them out around the hillside about fifty feet away from the cave. Using the knife, Jeremiah cut branches from several aspen trees. He then sharpened one end of each branch making a simple spear. These he took back with him to the cave. When he arrived there he found a large pile of mountain apples lying on one of the blankets. "Where did these come from?" he asked.

"I found them when we were looking for a new cave," said Brenda, flushing. "When you men went to set the burglar alarm some of us went out and picked the apples."

Okay, not automatons after all.

Jeremiah did not want to bring everyone down but this could not be allowed. "Thank you, Brenda. That showed initiative.However, until we know who else may be out here, we must avoid leaving the cave in daylight unless I am going also.Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded.

"Now we're going to stay put for a while."

"Rabbi, we are down to one bottle of water," said Sarah.

Jeremiah took the three empty water bottles and quickly and silently went to the stream and filled them. When he returned to the cave he opened the first aid kit and removed the water purification tablets and dropped one pill into each bottle.

"What was that you put in the water?" one of the boys asked.

"Iodine tablets."

"Isn't that like poison?" asked Brenda.

"Well, it can be, but these are specially made to make water safe to drink. It will taste a little funny but will not hurt you. You just have to wait for the pill to dissolve, then gently shake the bottle and it is ready to go," explained Jeremiah.

"Is that another army thing?" Bobby asked.

"Yes, armies everywhere use them. Where is Tray?" Jeremiah asked.

"He's checking out the back of the cave," said Sarah.

"How long do we have to stay here?" asked one of the boys.

"Yeah, and where are we? I'm lost," said another.

Suddenly Jeremiah was being swamped with questions.
Don't let them panic now.

"We are about a mile to a mile and a quarter from the campgrounds which are on the other side of that hill over there," he said as he pointed out of the cave's entrance.

Tray returned from his scouting the rear of the cave. He was carrying something that was wiggling. It was a mountain lion cub.

Jeremiah was up in a flash and through clenched teeth hissed, "Take it back now!"

Startled, Tray dropped the cub. The cub let out a loud cry when it landed on the rocky floor. Jeremiah grabbed the cub and vanished into the depths of the cave before anyone could blink an eye.

He could hear the kids muttering in surprise behind him.

"How did he move so fast?"

"Where did he go?"

"Is he like a ninja rabbi?"

When Jeremiah returned to the kids at the front of the cave he was doing all he could to control his anger.

"Rabbi, I . . . I . . ." stammered Tray.

Jeremiah held up his hand to cut offthe boy. "It's okay, you didn't know that you never handle wild animals, especially in their lair. This place is not safe. We have to leave now."

"But it's daylight and you said—" one of the boys began in a very small voice.

"I know what I said, but we don't want to be here when the mother lion returns. She is not going to be happy and neither will I," Jeremiah barked, startling all the kids. "Pick up our stuffand let's move now!"

Jeremiah gave one spear to Noah and the third to Brenda.Taking his own spear and tucking the paintball gun into the back of his waistband, Jeremiah moved slowly to the front of the cave and began checking the surroundings for any signs of their attackers.

I should have checked the cave myself.
He came to a sudden stop.
No, please not now.

"What was that?" exclaimed Noah.

"What is that smell?" Sarah asked.

"She's back," Jeremiah said.

"Who's back?" Tray asked.

"Mother!"

16

J
EREMIAH SLOWLY LOOKED AROUND THE CAVE ENTRANCE AND FINALLY SPOTted the big cat lying directly above. At that instant the burglar alarm was tripped. Looking quickly down the slope Jeremiah could see two men coming up the hill. One of the men was hopelessly entangled in the fishhook- laden line and had fallen onto a large boulder, hitting his right shoulder. The fall had caused the man to lose his weapon and he could not reach it while still tangled in the trap. The second man was yelling at him to be quiet.

Jeremiah saw his chance for action.

Gesturing to the kids to stay put and be quiet, Jeremiah jumped out of the cave and while in the air he spun around to face the lioness. The lion, having been distracted by the two men down the hill, was startled when Jeremiah suddenly appeared below her. She immediately coiled her muscles and flew directly at him. Holding the spear above his head crosswise with his hands close together, Jeremiah caught the lion's front paws on the spear, and in one smooth movement, he fell backward, pulling the lion with him. Jeremiah hit the ground on his back and placing his feet on the lion's belly, he flipped the animal about fifteen feet down the hill and directly on top of the second gunman coming up the hill. The crash of the 300-pound cat into the man's chest killed both him and the lion instantly.

Jeremiah was up and moving down the hill, headed for the man tangled in the burglar alarm. In less than three seconds he was on the man who was attempting to pull a pistol from his belt.

No choice . . . no choice,
Jeremiah thought as he struck the man with his clenched fist, arcing in an upward motion directly under the man's sternum, causing his heart to explode. The man crumpled to the ground dead.

Shaking with rage Jeremiah turned to look back at the cave and saw all the kids staring at him with expressions ranging from shock to horror. Jeremiah had wanted the men alive so he could find out what was going on. In seconds all that had changed.

Kids saw it all . . . Adonai, what have I done to these young minds?

He grabbed both men's pistols and signaled Noah to him.The boy came, face white, but he met his eyes.

"Have you ever been trained to fire a gun?" Jeremiah asked him quietly.

"I've played paintball with my uncles, but never a real gun," Noah said.

Jeremiah nodded and handed Noah the paintball gun. "It's loaded. Be careful with it. Put it in the back of your waistband and untuck your shirt to cover it. Don't let any of the other kids look at it, touch it, nothing. Understood?"

"Understood."

Jeremiah took a deep breath. "Noah, do you know what one of these paintball guns can do?"

"It can knock you down and give you really nasty bruises."

"And that's with padding. Use it up close on a person without padding and you can break an arm or a leg. Shoot them in the throat and you kill them. This is not a toy. Again. No one else touches it but you."

"I understand, Rabbi," Noah said, taking the gun from his hand and tucking it into the back of his pants.

"Good, help me by resetting the burglar alarm while I try to calm the others down."

"What about them?" Noah whispered, gesturing to the bodies.

"Leave them as they are."

"But—"

"But, nothing," Jeremiah hissed. "If anyone else comes up the hill they will think the lion killed both men. We have no shovels and a pile of rocks will be a dead giveaway. No, leave them exactly as they are."

Returning to the cave, Jeremiah noticed that the girls were calmer, although both had red eyes and a few tears still rolling down their cheeks. Moving everyone away from the entrance to the cave and making sure they were comfortable, Jeremiah sat down and tried to calm his own nerves. It was not over. He knew that. Professionals never worked this kind of job with anything less than two two-man teams. So, there were at least two more to deal with.
So, where are they and how long before they get here?

Sarah came and sat down next to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, dreading the answer.

She nodded, but her eyes said otherwise. "Do you think the lion suffered?"

He stared at her in amazement. She had just witnessed him killing two men and she was concerned about the lion.

"No, her neck was broken: she never knew what hit her."

Sarah bit her lip. "What about the cub?"

Jeremiah heaved a sigh. "It won't survive long on its own," he admitted.

"Are you going to kill it?"

"It's either that or let it starve."

She shook her head. "There's a third option."

"We can't take him with us," Jeremiah said.

She glared at him. "I wasn't suggesting we do that."

"Okay, what's your suggestion?"

"When we get out of here, we can contact the zoo, and we can lead some of the keepers out here and they can rescue him.The zoo only has one lion and he's really old."

"You like the zoo?"

She nodded. "I want to be a veterinarian."

He gripped her hand. "Okay, Sarah. You help me, you keep these kids together, and I promise you that when we get out of here, we'll come back and rescue the cub."

She nodded and then threw her arms around him and hugged him. Startled he hugged her back quickly, then pulled away. Sarah turned and went back to the others.

Moving very far with fourteen shell-shocked kids was out of the question.
Not knowing where we are doesn't help. We need a map.

Suddenly he remembered the camp information booklet and he pulled it out of his pocket. He flipped through it and found exactly what he needed. There, covering two adjacent pages, was a map of the entire preserve, and fairly detailed too.

Jeremiah sat studying the map for several minutes before he noticed that the rain had started again. He wondered how long it had been coming down.
You're losing your touch. You could always process dozens of information feeds from all your senses
at once. You would have heard the first drop even before it hit the ground. This is not good. If we are all going to survive this, I have to get myself together.

He knew what the problem was, though.
I don't want to go back to that life.
In light of all the things he had been thinking and feeling for the past several weeks, this was a revelation.And that revelation gave him strength.

Jeremiah silently rose and turned his face toward heaven.He stood there letting the rain wash over him for several minutes.Feeling refreshed he returned to the cave and studied the map again.

Sarah and Noah came over and sat in front of Jeremiah."Where did you learn the move against the man caught in the burglar alarm?" asked Noah. "Did you learn that in the army?"

Not there. I can't tell them that, though.

"No, I was just very lucky. I saw him reaching for a pistol and knew I had to stop him."

"But you hit him . . ." said Sarah.

Jeremiah cut her offand quickly changed the subject."According to the map in this booklet, there is an abandoned logging camp about two miles from here. There is a fire road near the camp that we could follow down offthe mountain.We will have to wait till dark before we can use the road, but we can head to the logging camp now."

"Assuming the rain stops, right?" asked Brenda as she sat down next to Noah.