Meanwhile, the two council chairpersons left uncaptured, Madam March and Master Octubre, enacted the contingency plan developed with their colleagues months ago. According to rediscovered and reconstructed telecommunication records, Octubre oversaw the mobilization of the factory’s security force and preparations for departure. In that time, Madam March first made a call to three terminally ill semi-truckers to stop by a warehouse and wait for a special text. Then, she sent out an alert for all migrants at the community Sank was living in to pack whatever they could carry and head to the factory.

This speech transcript tells of Sank’s experience during the events that transpired next:

The night we all left for Nephiliham, my mother already had everything packed when she woke me up to catch one of the buses waiting at the community center. There we all were, on buses or in our own personal vehicles, heading down the road to the factory for a better life. I’m sure you all still remembered how the military blockade stopped our progress to the factory. The soldiers telling us to turn back, pushing us away, while news crews on the sidelines indulged the viewers at home with the chaotic scene. Remember the sounds of the battle at the factory close by, and the firing of artillery in the distance? They wanted to break our spirits, make us give up and go back to lives we wanted no more.

Our faith was challenged that night, but any belief shaken at that instance was given newfound strength, when three brave and selfless martyrs came to do God’s work. I saw them as we all had to move out of their way and take cover; three armored semi-trucks. Two without trailers and one pulling a tanker, blowing their truck horns to clear the way as they barreled down the road towards the blockade. The military fired upon them with rifles and machineguns, but by God’s will guiding those drivers, the blockade was vanquished in a glorious explosion of shockwave and flame. Soon after, the military besieging the factory retreated out of the fear of being outnumbered. We had our faith tested and because we didn’t give up on what was promised, we were granted passage to the factory, where security let us in and took us underground.

The ones who couldn’t travel far through the tunnels and cave system on their own feet rode the trolley to the ship, whereas many like my mother and I took the secured footpath. We were so close to joining the angels on Nephiliham together. Then the military bombed the factory. So many friends and family lost in the blast and the resulting partial cave-in. My mother included.

As I knelt next to her body, fruitlessly trying to wake her up, I asked for God’s help for the very first time in my life. He answered my prayers when a small group of survivors caught up to our current location. From the group, a kind woman named Darla told me what I needed to hear in the heat of the moment to leave my mother’s side. She carried me as we all made it to the ship. We were one of the last to board before the entrance was sealed and we secured ourselves for flight. She had to seat herself somewhere separately, since there was no room near me. I wouldn’t see her again until she was chosen for Rapture.

It wasn’t exactly what I asked for from God. I prayed to see the new world with my mother, but what I didn’t know was that it was all part of His grand design.