A NOVEL ─ THE ADVENTURES OF KEVIN KRAMER IN COMMUNIST EUROPE ─ A Novel about the End Times ─ Chapter 1 ─ "Encountering a Problem"

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The Adventures of Kevin Krämer in Communist Europe

- The Escape from Communist Europe -

 (A Novel about the End Times)

By: Justin Brown (a pen name)

Recommended reading for ages 14 and older.

This is a novel for teens and adults.

This novel contains some violence (such as gunshots and fights); intense chase scenes;

clean romantic elements (i.e. clean conversations between a guy and his girlfriend);

 and themes appropriate for teenagers and adults.

You will not find any profanity, immorality, or gore in this novel.

It is written to edify the reader, and not to provoke sinful thoughts.

This story is free to be copied, printed, and distributed, but it must remain unaltered.

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Synopsis

Europe has been invaded, the superpower across the sea is no more, and the country of "Baltania" is controlling Europe through communistic puppet governments. Under the oppressive cloud of communism, a small group of underground Christians faces a powerful crime organization bent on their capture and destruction. 

Under this heavy, oppressive cloak, Kevin Kramer, a 30-year-old, and Maritza, his attractive, 27-year-old girlfriend, must decide who they will serve as they fall in love with each other, start a romantic relationship, and try to evade the unrelenting and dangerous members of a criminal organization, which seeks to kidnap underground Christians to sell to the secret police.

Together with some friends, Kevin and Maritza must do their best to avoid being captured as they learn to trust God and follow His guiding hand in these last days just before the rise of the Antichrist. This fast-paced story is designed to be fascinating. But, don't just take our word for it... 

[Note: Baltania is a fictional country within the Eurasian land mass. At one time, it had a communistic past. During a third world war, communism revived in this country as it's armies conquered Europe. Since we do not want to point fingers at any particular country, we will not name this country or coalition of countries.]

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Chapter 1

"Encountering a Problem"

(Click here to open a list of links to chapters. 
Right click the link and select "Open link in new tab.")

 Beneath a Forest

Three gangsters, dressed in dark tactical gear, were standing at the bottom of a staircase inside a concrete room, which was partially filled with crates and boxes stacked against the walls. As the crooks had first entered the room, they had seen that the old, florescent shop lights in the ceiling were on. To the man called Wolf, the humming lights revealed that someone or some people had been down there not long ago. 'Christians were here,' Wolf thought to himself as he looked about the room.

However, where the Christians had vanished to was still a mystery to the tall, blond, muscular man. It seemed to him that the only way out of that room was by the stairwell, which he had just descended through.

But, the wooden crates and metal boxes stacked against the wall got Wolf thinking. 

He began walking along the wall, keeping himself at an arm’s length from the containers. As he walked halfway around the room, Wolf saw nothing amiss until his blue, attentive eyes noticed a thin, dark gap between the edge of a crate and what appeared to be a door in the concrete wall behind it. ‘What is this?’ Wolf thought as he drew a small LED flashlight from a pocket.

Shining the flashlight beam into the gap, he instantly found out that it was a partially-concealed tunnel entrance. ‘This is no doubt where the Christians went,’ Wolf thought. 'Now, they are trapped. And, I will let none of them escape.'  

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[We will now go to the beginning of the story where Kevin Kramer is heading home after finishing his shift at a factory in the fictional town of Kühnburg, Germany.]

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Kühnburg, Germany

It was an overcast and rainy day. Sheets of precipitation splattered against the pavement and pelted the tan jacket of Kevin Kramer. The thirty-year-old walked through the puddle-filled streets of the old town of Kühnburg, Germany, hoping to soon be out of the rain and back in his apartment where it was dry and warm. He walked with a slight limp, which he tried to ignore, as he composed a text message on his smartphone. Engrossed in texting, he didn’t notice an armed, Baltanian soldier who had just emerged from a brick building where a law office was headquartered.

Kevin bumped into the soldier and then quickly backed up, startled at seeing who it was he had ran into. The soldier glared at him coldly and said, “You idiot, watch where you’re going.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Kevin said, swallowing hard, trying not to betray the anger he felt toward that soldier. He could tell that the man was a few years younger than he and in top shape. Attacking a soldier would be foolish, regardless of the man’s physical condition.

“What is your name and occupation?” the Baltanian soldier said in perfect German as he pulled out a small electronic tablet from trouser pocket. A stylus was clipped onto the device, and he removed it quickly before pressing a button to activate the tablet.

“I’m Kevin Kramer and I work at the Schmidt furniture factory three blocks down from here,” Kevin said, trying not to sound nervous.

The soldier filled some information into a digital notepad app and then clicked send, in order to transmit the data to his superiors. As the man worked on the tablet, Kevin paid more attention to his appearance. The guard had blond hair and blue eyes and appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He did not seem like a threatening person, so Kevin began to feel a little bolder as he felt anger rising inside his chest.

The thought of killing this soldier came to his mind, but he held back his anger. He knew that killing was murder, and that it was a sin against God and man, but his heart felt intense hatred sweep through it at times. He had heard a pastor of a Lutheran church preach that all people ought to forgive their enemies and do good to them, but Kevin still felt hatred for the people who had killed his father and mother during the Baltanian invasion of Europe.

“Mr. Kramer, you are free to go. But, watch were you are going next time,” the soldier said sternly.

Kevin nodded and headed off down the street through the rain. He tried his best to let go of anger and to forget about his parents, but it was hard.

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Maritza Altmaier in Kühnburg

Maritza Altmaier walked down Braun Street* after having just passed through the doors of a Communist-sponsored soap factory. She had worked there for nine hours packing shampoos, bar soaps, and hand soaps into boxes for shipping out to wholesalers. It was tiring work and she looked forward to returning to her apartment to relax. [* A fictional street name, which has been anglicized.]

Blond-haired, pretty, and of an average height, Maritza was the only child of a German father and a Polish mother who both had been killed during a devastating war in Europe. During intense street fighting in Berlin, her parents had been on a train heading away from Berlin. Just as they were leaving the outskirts of the capital, an artillery shell had struck the train, killing 60 percent of the passengers and wounding the rest. The shell had come from an artillery piece which had not been properly sighted.

Maritza turned her eyes away from a man on the other side of the street, who was staring at her. She pretended to ignore him, and hoped he would soon forget her. She always dressed modestly and often wore women’s baggy trousers and two layers of shirts. One shirt was always tucked into her trousers and one hung down to her waist.

Maritza couldn’t help that she was attractive and pretty. But, she had to admit to herself it had advantages such as when some young men had gone out of their way to help her out with bringing groceries to a rental car. However, it had disadvantages, such as when she constantly had to try to politely say “no” to some guys, who would desperately ask her out. Some would even beg her to come out with them on a date.

_ _ _ _

Sometime during the 2020s, a war broke out in Europe. The country of Falconia had sent a few nuclear missiles toward the country of Baltania. Five had struck an important Baltanian population center, causing a horrendous loss of life and total destruction of the buildings. Hundreds of thousands of Baltanian citizens were killed by radioactive fallout and by the initial blasts.

_ _ _ _

Maritza pulled out an old cell phone from her jean pocket and pretended to look at text messages. The phone didn’t work, and it had no sim card, but it worked as a prop to make it appear that she was busy.

A tall, muscular, dark-haired German man with a crew cut and a dark-brown goatee walked up to her left, two meters away, and said, “Hey, lady, do you mind if I walk with you?”

“Sir, I’m fine walking by myself. Please let me be,” she said.

Being a non-conformist Christian, or an underground Christian, she didn’t trust using cell phones since the communistic puppet government of the new Germany monitored all phone calls, all text messages, and all internet usage.

She sometimes used the old cell phone as a method of ignoring lustful, married men who would walk beside her and try to start up a conversation. She would pull out her phone and pretend to text. Then, she would tell the man to leave. If a police officer was nearby, the man would leave, but sometimes she had to just pray and ask God to deliver her.

This time, the trick wasn’t working. The muscular stranger drew closer until he was walking right beside her. With a big smile on his face, he said, “Say, lady, how’d you like to go out to eat? I’d like to take you out to a fancy restaurant tonight, if you’re willing. May I get your name, please? You can call me Carl.”

“No thank you, sir. I would prefer to be left alone,” Maritza said politely but slightly sternly to get across the point that she wasn’t interested in him.

“Will you please come out with me for dinner? I can take you to the best restaurant in town. Fresh seafood, lobsters, crabs, tuna, swordfish,” Carl said.

“No thank you, sir. I’m really not interested in your invitation. Please let me be,” she said with a stronger tone in her voice.

He was taken aback by her tone and quickly got the message that she was not going along with his plans. So, he reluctantly slowed his speed and allowed her to walk far ahead of him.

_ _ _ _

In retaliation for the Falconian attack, Baltanian had nuked Falconia until the country was subdued. And, together with Dragonia, it’s ally, Baltania had formed a coalition and had invaded Falconia. The Baltanian coalition forces had turned the remainder of Falconia’s decimated population into slaves after hundreds of thousands of Baltanian and Dragonian soldiers had poured into Falconia and had overran its armies.

_ _ _ _

Maritza breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that the man was allowing her to be alone. She wished she didn’t have to be pestered by men with ill intentions or by men with worldly pursuits. She knew that not all men were like that. There were definitely men who were upstanding and godly, but she often ran into ones that weren’t.

Two years after the war had ended, factories were opened in Germany and across Europe, and they began to produce goods which would benefit the citizens of Europe. Fliers appeared all over the town of Kühnburg advertising work, so Maritza had applied. A kind, middle-aged, Christian lady, she had stayed with since arriving in Kühnburg, was reluctant to let her live in an apartment on her own, but she had promised to visit her from time to time, as she was able. Feeling she needed more space, Maritza had moved to her own apartment.

Martiza walked several more blocks before she turned to the right at an intersection and walked half a block until she reached the entrance to a parking lot in front of two, large, mid-rise apartment buildings. A small playground near the closest apartment building was occupied by two young boys playing on a slide.

The playground was surrounded by a chain-link fence and was observed by a pole-mounted surveillance camera, which also represented how restricted Maritza felt under the communist state’s surveillance and control. A few maple trees with small leaves, which were starting to expand, appeared in a lawn adjacent to the rear of the buildings. She enjoyed watching birds and squirrels perch on the branches and hop from tree to tree. Spring had come and Summer would soon follow.

She opened the door of the closest apartment building and found herself again standing on the white linoleum of the first-floor hallway, which was lined with LED ceiling lights and many doors. An open door to the left revealed a stairwell beyond. She entered the stairwell door and began ascending the steps. Her footfalls echoed off the concrete walls, making it seem that several people were walking up the steps.

_ _ _ _

At about the same time, Baltania had also invaded non-Baltanian Europe and had swiftly conquered it, country by country. Shortly after Baltania had attacked Germany, Maritza’s parents had been killed.

Shocked at the sudden death of her parents, Maritza had packed up her belongings and had headed to Kühnburg, far away from Berlin, to try to escape the memory of her parents and to start a new life. But, communist forces soon entered the town and captured it, without any resistance.

_ _ _ _

As Maritza climbed, she expected to soon have a guest from the underground Church staying at her apartment, and she looked forward to visiting with the lady.

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Kevin Kramer in Kühnburg

After passing down a couple more city blocks, still suffering from his slight limp, Kevin reached an older, red-brick, high-rise apartment building and did his best to avoid staring at a couple Baltanian soldiers who were chatting with each other on the sidewalk near the main entrance. He pushed through a metal door and entered a small, empty, linoleum-floored, lobby which was connected to a hallway running straight through the middle of the building. In the left corner of the small lobby was a set of stairs ascending to a landing. He took these and began climbing. 

Kevin reached the third floor landing and, leaving the stairs, he walked briskly down a hallway which was illuminated by harsh LED lights in the metal cages fastened to the ceiling. He did not go far before his feet took him to his apartment door. A metal box the width of two postage stamps and the thickness of his hand was fastened to a biometric lock on each apartment door.

Pressing his thumb against a dark pad on the metal box, Kevin waited for the biometric lock to activate and give him access to his flat. A whirring sound came from the door, followed by a clicking noise. Kevin tried the handle, but it didn’t budge.

_ _ _ _

Many European countries, being allied with Falconia, had struck some military targets in Baltania, but that had only enraged it leaders. These European countries could not stand up to the millions of soldiers, hundreds of tanks, and thousands of aircraft that swept in from Baltania and Dragonia. In a few short years, the Baltanian and Dragonian armies smashed through Europe, and many countries surrendered, without much of a fight.

Then, communism began to replace parliamentary governments with authoritarian, puppet governments subject to Baltania and Dragonia.

_ _ _ _

Frustrated at the malfunctioning lock mechanism, he angrily hit the door with his fist and tried the handle again. It still didn’t budge. He paused to relax and tried to calm his feelings. Then, he tried the door once more.

At last, the door opened and Kevin let out a sigh of relief as he entered his messy apartment. He immediately noticed his room mate, Heinrich, standing in the living room at the end of a short hallway, wearing the same T-shirt he had worn eight days ago. His eyes were covered by virtual reality “goggles,” and his ears were enclosed in noise-cancelling, high-definition headphones. Haptic gloves for virtual interaction enveloped his hands.

Living in a virtual world where he was battling dragons with a virtual sword, Heinrich swung his gloved hands through the air in a chopping motion and then went for a sword thrust, which penetrated into the belly of a virtual dragon, seen only by him. From Kevin’s perspective, his friend was holding an invisible sword and fighting imaginary monsters.

“Heinrich, what’s your score so far?” Kevin said loudly, as he walked, with his slight limp, down the hallway. He had to talk loudly so that his friend’s muffled ears would hear him.

But, Heinrich didn’t seem to notice his friend’s presence as he continued to swing his arms through the air and ward off a virtual, red dragon with his double-handed sword, in the VR game.

Just a few decades ago, Heinrich’s strange antics would have made people think he had gone insane. But, with the advancement of artificial intelligence software, highly-realistic video games, and virtual reality (VR) gaming, people were becoming more and more obsessed with VR social media, VR internet searches, VR T.V., and VR tourism. It all could be experienced by a small headset that cost about two-days’ wages, in Germany.

Kevin shook his head as he entered the living room and saw Heinrich swinging his arms like a baseball batter swinging hard and fast. Right then, a computer-generated dragon was probably being slain, he thought. Kevin headed for the small kitchen which merged with the living room space and was delineated by a white, linoleum floor. Droplets of pasta sauce were splattered over the sink and on the floor below it from the last night’s meal.

Many of Kevin’s friends had never gone outside of Germany, but they told him that they had seen the Great Wall of China or the pyramids of Giza, in virtual reality. Kevin had donned a pair of one of his friends’ virtual reality goggles to see what he was talking about. Kevin had been amazed by the realism of the view he had seen. The Great Wall had appeared before him in all its ancient splendor, casting shadows from its stone towers and battlements. Ancient, computer-generated soldiers were walking along the walls.

To him, it felt like he was actually atop the Great Wall in a distant past. He could turn his head in any direction and see the sights from the wall, north, south, east, and west. And, the sounds matched perfectly with his virtual environment. The sound of wind rushing over the battlements, which caused flags to snap and flutter, and the hushed conversations of ancient Chinese soldiers all seemed very real.

But, Kevin knew that the soldiers were digitally added in for effect, and were just life-like computer animations. The wind and other sounds came from high-definition headphones covering his ears. And, the realistic behaviors of the soldier characters came from complex algorithms which were derived by supercomputers running artificial intelligence software. Supercomputers collected tremendous amounts of data on billions of people and then created life-like, computer-generated people to populate VR video games and VR software apps.

Many of Kevin’s friends were obsessed with virtual reality, but he was less of a video game enthusiast than they. He was more interested in reading books and talking refreshing bicycle rides, or walks, than spending his time in a virtual world. But, many people he knew were drawn to VR, even though it was heavily rationed in the Communist Republic of Germany.

In fact, everything was heavily rationed in the new Germany. Food, medicine, and many other items required digital currency and digital permission credits. Kevin pulled out his phone and clicked on an app that gave him specifics on his current personal citizenship “benefits.” He could see that he had enough credits to purchase food for the current week. But, his energy credits were very low. He realized that he was using too much electricity, according to the system, to charge up his electric, hybrid bicycle.

He could flip a switch and drive the bicycle like a slow-moving motorcycle, by way of an electric motor. Or, if he wanted to get some exercise, he could flip the same switch again, and the bicycle would operate as an ordinary, mechanical bicycle.

Suddenly, his smartphone rang. He looked to see who it was, and smiled. The caller was his younger sister, Svenja, who was married to Rolf Berger, a giant of a man. Kevin only had one sibling, and they got along well as kids. Even though they were now adults, they enjoyed chatting with each other from time to time.

“Hello, Svenja,” Kevin said. “How is my younger sister doing?”

“Hello, Kevin,” her voice came through the speaker. She sounded a little shaky as if something frightening had happened. “I, I want to talk to you about something. Are you in a private area where you won’t be overheard?”

Kevin glanced back at Heinrich, who was still playing his game. “No, but I soon will be. Hold on a moment.”

Leaving the kitchen, and avoiding Heinrich’s violent arm motions, Kevin walked back down the hall until he came to a door not far from the front door of the apartment. He opened it and entered his bedroom, closing it behind him. Then, he stepped into a small walk-in closet and shut the door. Flipping the closet light on, Kevin said, “Now, I’m in a private area. What is it? I’m very curious now, sister.”

But, no voice came over the phone. Kevin said, “Svenja, are you there?”

The phone was still connected, so he should be able to hear her. Then, a soft voice spoke nervously through the phone speaker: “Kevin, I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing or not, but I’ve been letting a widow stay at my house. She’s poor and can’t take care of herself right now.”

“But, the government provides rations for everyone. Why would she be poor?” Kevin said.

“She is a non-conformist Christian,” Svenja said, trembling.

“A what?” Kevin said pressing the phone to his ear, wondering if he heard correctly.

“A non-conformist Christian,” Svenja said. “But, she’s very nice and trustworthy. I couldn’t let her die out there in the cold. I had to help her. I was calling to see if you could help me. You see, I used the last of my ration credits to buy some food for her, but now I am out of food. Do you happen to have extra ration credits you might be willing to lend me so I can buy some more food? I don’t have anymore credits.” 

The news surprised Kevin. He had not expected his sister to help an underground Christian. Anyone giving assistance, or food, or lodging to a non-conformist Christian could be sentenced to eight years in a labor camp. And, all non-conformist Christians were to be sentenced to twenty years of hard labor. If he were caught assisting his sister, who was helping an underground Christian, he would be hard pressed to convince the authorities to believe that he had no idea she was assisting an “enemy” of the state.

“I, I will have to get back to you on that,” Kevin said, hesitantly.

“But, Kevin,” Svenja said, guessing why he hesitated, “I know there is a risk, but you are just giving me some of your credits. If the authorities find out that I have helped someone, I will tell them I had no idea that the widow was an underground Christian. And, I will tell them that you just gave me some ration credits because you are a generous, caring brother.”

Lying was commonplace in the Communist Republic of Germany, but even so, Kevin felt guilty about it every time he lied to people, such as the Baltanian soldiers, who patrolled the streets of Kühnburg day and night. He knew it was not what God wanted, even though he never claimed to be a Christian.

“I don’t know,” Kevin said.

“Please, Kevin,” his sister’s voice pleaded. “You will be safe. No one will know that you did anything, except to give your sister some ration credits.”

“Okay,” Kevin said, sighing. “I’ll send you ten food credits once I get off the phone. But, don’t ask me to help you out again if you are assisting a Christian.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “I won’t ask you for any more credits.”

Kevin wasn’t sure if she meant what she said, even though she claimed to be a religious person and often attended a government-approved Lutheran church.

“I’ll talk to you later, Svenja,” Kevin said.

“I wanted to tell you one quick thing,” Svenja said.

“What’s that?”  

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(To be continued...)

(Writer's Note: There will be a link here for the next chapter when it is published.
I am editing this story and posting it up, chapter by chapter, free for all to read. 
All complete 16 chapters of this story will be published as I am able. 

I do not make any money from this story. It is free to be read, printed, and distributed, but the text must remain unaltered.)