Read Online Untitled Agenda 21 Sequel (9781476746852) by Glenn Beck - Free Book Online Page A

choice. David told me the names of the bugs and I quickly learned where to find them. They lived under rocks, in deep grass, and on leaves. I became a hunter and a woman determined to feed her children. The insects crunched when I bit down and exploded into wet masses in my mouth. I forced myself to swallow even though nausea always passed over me in relentless waves.
    Micah didn’t complain, but he also didn’t smile anymore. David’s arm was more swollen and red than before; he cradled it in his other arm, so I carried Elsa and Micah carried our supplies. Our progress was slow. Our thin-soled shoes were padded every day with fresh moss and cattails, but they barely protected our swollen feet.
    We occasionally found other small things to eat besides bugs. Some berries, if we were lucky, and a few hard apples that made our mouthspucker. We even ate the bitter leaves of cattails. I chewed whatever we found into a pulpy mass and fed it to Elsa with my fingertips. It was hard to find food in the dark, but at least we had the stream. It was larger now, wider and deeper. David said it would soon be a river. Whatever it was, we always had plenty of water, and I was thankful for that.
    Today may be better . That’s what David and I whispered to each other. That’s what we said to Micah. He nodded, but still he didn’t smile. We didn’t smile, either. We just walked in the dark, placing one foot in front of the other, every sharp stone on the soles of our feet a painful reminder of what we were doing.
    The harsh clanging of the bell for half hour till dawn rang out. My heart jumped. Confused, I looked around, but it was too dark to see more than a few feet in front of me. David looked frightened. Micah’s face was twisted, ready to cry. We all stopped, frozen like statues mid-stride. Where had that bell sound come from? We had been walking away from the Compound for four nights. Had we become disoriented and walked in a circle? My mind swirled as panic overtook me.
    David crouched down, and slowly moved forward toward a cluster of low shrubs. It wasn’t a very secure place to hide, but it was all that was nearby. Micah imitated him, and crouching, he made himself small. I did the same, holding Elsa low, like an anchor. Behind the shrubs, we huddled close to each other, but we were still exposed. I smelled our odor, unwashed and sour.
    The sun rose slowly as we waited, a golden globe that both warmed and exposed us. It was round and yellow as an egg yolk. We heard distant voices, male voices, giving what sounded like commands. David stretched his head above the shrubs, scanned the area, then fixed his gaze across the stream. He slid back down, his face near my ear.
    â€œThe farm commune,” he whispered. “There, on the other side of the stream.”
    I raised myself up a little and allowed myself to breathe for the firsttime in what seemed like an eternity. There was a large flat area, and an expanse of brown earth with rows of plants. I saw a long straight line of tents with people coming out of them, stretching, bending, like they were performing some kind of morning ritual, their movements in unison. Men with guns on their shoulders watched the routine, then one of them blew a whistle. The people moved forward, their backs to us, and took their places at the ends of each row. The guards along the edge of the field moved forward alongside them.
    The workers picked up baskets and began bending and picking things off the crops. They put what they picked into the baskets, dragging them as they moved forward. They worked slowly, no one any faster than any other except for one man, who was bigger than the rest. There was something vaguely familiar about him, though I couldn’t see his face. Often he pulled ahead, but the pickers on either side of him made hand motions to slow him down, to make him pick at their rate.
    David whispered, “The farm commune isn’t that far from