The Fall of America: Premonition of Death Read Online Free PDF

it no longer nauseated me as much as it once did.
    I felt a hard gust of wind come through the open window and watched as the curtains danced wildly along the wall. The wind was followed seconds later by a spattering of raindrops. The rain gradually increased until a full-blown storm was beating a loud tattoo on my roof. Long fingers of lightning flashed across the sky and then exploded in all directions. Thunder cracked and boomed all around me, and I knew then the attack was over.
    I picked up the radio and said, "Everyone come to my location. Repeat, come to my location now."
    I closed the windows on the bottom floor and by the time I returned, everyone was in my living room.
    Tom spoke before I could, "This storm looks serious."
    "It's times like this I wish we had a weather station or some way of knowing what's happening." I replied and then turned to Sandra, "Are you still ill?"
    "N...no, but I was sick back about an hour ago."
    The wind was howling now, and I could only hope we weren't getting part of a hurricane or tornado. Since we lived in Mississippi, a little over 200 miles from New Orleans, either one was possible. Something blew across my porch and it banged continuously as it traveled.
    It was then I remembered Skillet. "I've a dog by the gas storage tank and have to bring him in."
    Tom nodded, but Sue asked, "Are you sure you want to go out in weather like this for just a dog ?"
    Her comment angered me, but I held my temper as I replied, "Sue, our dogs are family in this house. We love them, and Skillet is scared and wet right now."
    I grabbed a raincoat from the hook on the wall, put it on and said, "I want all of you to move to the basement. I'm not sure what this is, but if we get a tornado, you'll be glad you're down there. Sandra, take the other dogs down with you. I'll be right back."
    Outside the wind was terrible and I estimated it at around 40 miles an hour, with gusts that had to be in excess of 60. I held my flashlight in my left hand and my shotgun in the other as I approached the storage tank. The rain was falling so hard it actually hurt as it struck my face.
    Skillet was under the tank, but the poor guy was soaked, and he stood wagging his tail as I approached. I knelt, pulled his wet head to me and said, "Sorry, big guy, but I've been busy and forgot about you."
    I pulled the leash from my pocket and attached it to his collar, which is hard to do in darkness with rain pounding me. I picked up my flashlight and shotgun and then stood. Skillet was happy to see me, and wagging his tail as we moved toward the house.
    Nearing the house, Skillet began to growl a warning, and I stopped. Someone, I was sure, was out there. I switched the flashlight off and squinted, hoping to see better. With the weather like it was, it was impossible to hear or see anything, so I reached down and released Skillet's leash. The dog left me at a hard run slightly off my left.
    I flipped the safety off my shotgun and followed my dog.
    About fifty feet away I came upon man fighting with Skillet, only he wasn't doing well. My big dog was chewing on the man's left forearm like a t-bone steak and jerking his head from side to side viciously. I approached and screamed into the wind to be heard, "Skillet, come!"
    As soon as my dog was at my side, I saw the man smile at me in a flash of lightning, I have no idea what he was thinking, however I know what I was thinking. I raised my shotgun and waited patiently for the next flash of lightning. With the next flash, I pulled the trigger and saw the man knocked backward, his smile gone forever.
    I patted Skillet on the head and a few times and then moved for the house. I'd taken a prisoner in Iraq once, and he'd been struck in the upper shoulder by a bullet. I'd kept him covered while Frank, our medic, worked on him, except I ducked and turned my head when we'd come under enemy fire again. When I glanced back at my prisoner, Frank was on his back with a knife buried in his chest and a