Artificial Earth

                                  28

First Lake
The Old Catholic Church
6:40 a.m

               THE OLD CATHOLIC CHURCH WAS LOCATED A few miles from the forest near the center of town on 14th street. Built by the first religious constituents of the Artificial Planet, It resembled a fortress, high walls surround the entire church, huge stone pillars were stretched out across it's sides, windows with beautifully carved artworks of saints were on every corner, masterfully painted artworks of angels were drawn on the ceilling like gaurdians watching over those who pray below. The Architectural structure of the church was based from the Renaissance period, built to withstand the passage of time. Rectangular in shape, seventy feet in diameter up front and back, one hundred and thirty feet at it's sides. The entrance of the church was at least seventy feet from the gate and the grounds were approximately eighty feet from the wall.
           Former Sheriff Davey Hart together with Hal, Lou, Martin, Tim and a couple of other officers were waiting for people just outside the church  wall. They stationed themselves at the gate underneath the walled structure, protected from the wind and heavy rainfall.
         "How many did you get?" former Sheriff Davey asked, looking at the floodlights of cars approaching.
          "We were able to round up twenty eight people, the other officers got about forty five." Hal said, looking at the rain. "The officers went out again to get more..." he added.
           "That's not nearly enough, there are over a hundred families living near and around the forest, that's about three to four hundred people. First Lakes total population's around three to four thousand." Davey said.
        "Will there be enough room inside?" Hal asked.
         "No. This Church is not big enough...We'll worry about that later."
         "Excuse me Mr. Davey...Priest wants to speak with you." Lou said.
           "Okay. Hal, You and the others stay here, tell them folks to get inside when they get here." Davey said. "Lou, You come with me." he added, leaving Hal and the others at the gate.

         Davey and Lou stepped back into the rain and hurriedly walked towards the entrance of the church. Wind and rain mercilessly lashed out at them, the grounds illuminated briefly by cracks of lightning, thunder was continuously rumbling as they reached the gloomy shadow of the church a few feet from the main entry way. Standing near the entrance was an elderly man with silver gray hair.
       "Father Gomez..." Davey greeted as they walked towards the entrance, sheltering them from the rain.
         "Sheriff Davey Hart...Nice to see you again old friend." father Gomez greeted back, extending his hand.
          "Former Sheriff." Davey replied, shaking hands.
           Father Gomez nodded. "You can take off your raincoats and place them over here....I already have the boys take out this long table where you can all just place your coats on top." Gomez explained.
          Davey and Lou took off their raincoats and placed them on the table. "Father....How many do you think the church can accomodate?" Davey asked, walking along side the priest.
          "I guess about six to seven hundred,.. but that's pushing it. We could also put an extra fifty to seventy on the East Wing, and maybe twenty  more beside the stock room. If you have....ummm.....folding beds, chairs, maybe set up tents inside the grounds, accomodate more people?" father Gomez suggested.
       "I'll have to discuss that with the Sheriff. Let's just do what we can with what we have for now."
        "I was wondering.....Why evacuate these folks? I mean, storm's pretty bad, might even get worse...still...I mean...Can't they just stay inside their houses, indoors and wait 'till the storm passes?"
          "It's not just the storm father....Remember the news about the creature out on the lake? Well, confirmed there's more than one now and they're growing and multiplying fast. We can only tell these people the storm's going to get worse, about these creatures.....It's better we not tell them more than what they already know, for now."
         Father Gomez nodded. "Well, we better get to work then.."