Another rumble shook the ground. Vicki huddled closer to Judd, and his arms wrapped around her small frame.

If only he could stop the bombs outside.

They were the only teenagers within 500 miles. Adults were incapable of helping them – either they were dead or had to protect families of their own. And while Vicki was no damsel in distress, she was terrified, and the fingernail marks on Judd's forearms showed it.

Another bomb hit, closer this time. Vicki turned her head into Judd's shoulder. He wanted to protect her with every fiber of his being, but he knew as well as she that if he died protecting her, it would be to no avail. She would die by his side.

Judd was almost amused. They were living through a Christian Holocaust, and they were the victims. Instead of Hitler, Nicolae Carpathia was playing devil's spokesman. The man knew battle strategy, codes, machines, the whole nine yards. He was the definition of unstoppable.

Judd also knew it was a matter of time before they were killed. Oh sure, there was every possibility that the bombings would come to a halt and Judd and Vicki would be found. They then would be transferred to a concentration camp and survive unspeakable horrors before death mercifully came. Frankly, Judd preferred the situation in which a bomb killed them. Little struggle, quick, almost painless. He would die holding his love in his arms and serving his Father in heaven. He smiled to himself.

Vicki looked up at him in his moment of tranquility. She turned up the corners of her pink lips into a soft smile, she too at peace, and snuggled closer to him. "What do you think it's like," she said, nodding to the outside, "out there?"

"Right now?"

She nodded, closing her eyes.

Judd stared thoughtfully at the gray wall, trying to imagine the world outside the basement. "It's probably snowing. Despite the bombs, snow is falling silently. It covers the ground; it covers everything that shouts destruction. The snow replaces the damage with beauty." He closed his eyes, bringing the picture to mind. The comfort of this thought enveloped him, and he smiled. "The Christmas lights will light up underneath, and in that instant, it will almost be like nothing changed at all."

Vicki sighed happily at the thought.

Judd looked down, and something told him it was near the end. He stroked Vicki's fiery red hair. He laid flat on the ground, Vicki curled by his side. "What child is this who laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds' watch are keeping? This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing. Haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary."

He closed his eyes in his final seconds.

"The babe, the son of Mary…"