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Trudy knew her husband would be shaking his head. She thought again about leaving. What was she waiting on? Another storm? For them to see one of Rodney’s attacks and claim that Satan was in him? She kept digging through the mess, promising that tonight, she’d sit down and figure it all out.
    Eventually, they uncovered enough to see something under all the darkness. And what they saw surprised everyone. Later, folks would whisper about it, saying that it might have meant something. But no one ever dared speak it out loud.
    Underneath all the brambles and vines lay a round door set in concrete.

13
    The door turned out to be the hatch to a storm shelter. It was an ancient thing, though someone had spent great effort to reinforce it with concrete and steel, and a short iron ladder led into the belly of the shelter, which was much larger than Trudy would have guessed. Though she remembered thinking that it would need to be even larger to get the whole community inside. Half maybe. More than that would be tight. All twenty-five, counting the children, would be impossible.
    Otto said little as the men took lanterns down and investigated. James, Ben, and Earl seemed to be waiting on his lead—which was what they always did—but for some reason, the passiveness bothered Trudy more this time. It was like they were afraid to have an opinion because it might run counter to Otto’s.
    Finally, as the day drew to a close and the men came out, Otto ordered it shut and asked Earl to stand guard over it. This was devastating to G.L., who clearly believed his swamp lay inside, but he could do nothing as Earl was bigger, stronger, and, most important, younger than the old man.
    Otto and James stepped off into the woods to talk. Everyone else waited, unsure of what to say or do. When they returned a few moments later, Otto’s face was grim.
    He walked up to G.L. and stuck his finger in the old man’s chest. “Get thee gone from this place, Satan!”
    The old man stumbled back as if struck. Otto kept after him, his mouth clenched in a grimace. “Go back to where you came from.”
    G.L. stopped backpedaling and, when he did, Otto punched him hard across the jaw. The old man dropped to the ground.
    â€œStop it!” Trudy shouted. “Leave him alone!”
    Hands gripped her from behind, and she saw that it was Earl Talbot.
    She watched as G.L. struggled to get back on his feet. He wavered, teetering like a tree in high winds before righting himself and heading toward the shelter again.
    This time he was met by Franklin Meyers, who punched him right in the mouth. Trudy screamed again, and Otto turned to her. “This is for your own good, Trudy. For your children’s good. This man speaks of places that have no scriptural basis. He tries to show us a shelter. We don’t need a shelter. God is our refuge!”
    Once again, G.L. struggled to his feet. This time, he turned away from the shelter and began to walk slowly in the opposite direction. Only when he had disappeared into the trees did Earl let her go.
    After that everyone went home in silence. Even the children seemed quiet, unable to make any sense out of what had just happened. Trudy sat outside on the porch for a long time after supper, watching the shelter, wondering how G.L. knew about it, what he was doing now, and dreaming of the swamp hidden in these woods.

14
    She woke in the middle of the night and found she was alone in the bed. It wasn’t uncommon, but when it happened, she always felt unnerved. She knew Otto called meetings with some of the men at odd times.
    Unable to go back to sleep, she went out to the porch and sat down. She’d been there no more than a few moments when she became aware of a creaking sound coming from the next house.
    Squinting in the darkness, she could just make out the shape of someone rocking in the chair on Ben and Eugenia’s porch.
    â€œCouldn’t sleep neither?” The voice