The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (63 page)

Everyone in the crowd felt angered by their words and
accusations.
Who are you to judge us?
The question was shouted from
somewhere within the crowd.
Yeah!
Someone else joined in.
Who do you
think you are to try and teach us anything about our families or Lord?

The men didn’t answer any of the questions. They just
stared expressionlessly at the people in front of them.

Answer us, you cowards!
The crowd was growing more
aggressive by the minute and Malcolm could sense that there would be bloodshed
if this situation wasn’t contained soon. He stepped out of the crowd and stood
alone between the two men and the potential mob. ‘Who are you?’ he asked as
politely as possible, studying Elijah’s eyes for a glimmer of recognition.
There was none.

‘We are servants of the Most High,’ Elijah’s companion
said.

‘And what is the aim of this...this public
demonstration?’

‘To reunite son with father,’ Elijah said, ‘and father
with his Maker.’

‘And what are your names?’ Malcolm asked, still trying
to see if Elijah would recognize him.

‘Our names are not important,’ Elijah’s companion
answered, ‘but our message is.’

‘Let him who has ears hear,’ Elijah said loudly,
speaking to the crowd. ‘Lest the Lord your God smite you with His plagues!’

‘Smite this!’ someone from within the crowd shouted as
he hurtled a large rock at the two men. Elijah lifted his hand, and the rock
bounced away from them as if it had been deflected by an invisible force field.
The rock flew through the air and smashed into the wall of a building not too
far off. Everyone took an instinctive step back, and Elijah’s eyes locked on
those of the man that had thrown the rock. ‘You dare assault prophets of the
Most High?’ he asked.

‘You’re crazy,’ the man said and everyone laughed. ‘Not
prophets!’

‘If we are prophets of the Most High,’ Elijah said and
raised his hands into the air, ‘let fire come down from Heaven and consume
you!’

Everyone gasped as the clouds above
them changed to a dirty orange colour and swirled into a spiral above them.
Lightning flashed in the skies as the wind kicked up dust and sand everywhere.

Malcolm covered
his eyes; his hair waved violently in the forceful wind and, had he blinked, he
would have missed the column of fire that burst from the clouds and engulfed
the rock thrower. The fire had only consumed the man for a fraction of a
second,
but when it was gone, so too was the
man. All that remained where he had stood a second earlier was a charred
corpse, mummified in fear; hard as rock.

The crowd
scattered like roaches do in a kitchen when someone suddenly turns on a light.
They
really are prophets of HaShem!
Panic and fear set in as they ran.
No!
T
hey’re aliens! They’re attacking again!

Malcolm didn’t
know what to think, but he also ran as fast as he could to get away from the
men. He reached his car and dared to steal only one glance in the direction of
the men as he sped off.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The drive to the school went
surprisingly smooth as most of the rubble, wreckage, and debris had already
been cleared up. There were a few closed off roads, but it was easy enough to
navigate around them.

René just stared out the passenger window of Andrew’s
car. A tear rolled down her cheek as she replayed the attack in her mind,
watching in helpless horror as the woman disappeared right in front of her eyes.
She felt alone and vulnerable. If it hadn’t been for Trevor’s companionship,
she most probably would not have made it through the ordeal.

‘Let’s get some sound in here to drown out the silence,
shall we?’ Andrew said and switched on the radio. The last few seconds of the
new ‘multi-talented’ ballad,
United We Won
, streamed from the speakers.
The song had been playing repeatedly for the last four days, and people all
over the world were mouthing the words without even realizing it.

Where were you when all
hope crumbled?

Why couldn’t I say
goodbye?

The emotion was tangible, and
everyone in the car sensed the next person’s personal, silent agony.

I am still here; your
light will still shine.

United we won, oh baby of
mine!

The song faded and Trevor’s
thoughts drifted to Norman and to his parents. He bit his lower lip to prevent
himself from crying in front of his friends. He almost did. The song ended and
Trevor managed to bring his emotions under control. A familiar jingle announced
the news headlines, and Andrew turned up the volume.

‘Tired community workers rejoiced today as three
trapped survivors of the alien attacks were found at an abandoned building near
one of the community centres in Italy. The survivors were in critical
condition, and have been rushed to the nearest hospital where they will be
treated for dehydration and malnutrition.

‘One man was brutally scorched in Jerusalem today. Eye
witnesses to the account said that two men called down fire from the sky,
killing the man instantly. According to the eye witnesses, the men also
threatened to overrun the country with other plagues if the government didn’t
submit to their demands. United Nations Peace Keepers will be called in to
investigate the claims and the two men.’

‘What is it with Jerusalem and fire nowadays?’ Trevor
mused sarcastically.

‘European Union Negotiator, Victor Yoshe, has been
promoted to Secretary General of the European Union at a conference held in
Brussels earlier today,’ the news reader continued. ‘The vote was unanimous as
world leaders decided on the right candidate to replace the late Secretary
General Jamal Gani, whose body was discovered almost two days ago. The cause of
death has been established as ‘suicide,’ but the details still remain unclear.’

‘Yoshe is the right man for the position,’ Trevor said.
‘He knows his stuff.’ Both Andrew and René agreed without hesitation.

‘The remaining leaders of the world’s religions are
scheduled to meet in Dubai next week for discussions about doctrinal impacts of
the recent alien attacks. The meetings will be headed by Arch Bishop
Antonio Pascale.’

Andrew switched off the radio as they approached the
community centre. ‘Okay guys,’ he said as he parked the car, ‘let’s do this.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The queue was longer than they had
anticipated. Some people brought chairs and books to read, while others just
lingered around, trying to keep themselves busy by making small talk with the
people around them. The three of them finally reached the front of the queue
and were called to their own, private booths.

‘I.D. please,’ a plump woman asked without looking up.
Trevor placed his ID book on the palm of her outstretched hand. She took it,
looked at the photo, looked up at Trevor for a second, frowned, looked at the
photo again, and then hacked away at her keyboard as she captured his
information into the system. ‘Please look into the camera and smile,’ she said
without any form of enthusiasm or motivation. She twisted the Webcam on her
monitor to face him, and he smiled weakly. ‘Done,’ she said and turned her
screen to face him. ‘Is this okay?’

‘Yes,’ he said and shrugged. ‘It’s fine.’ He didn’t
want to talk to her more than she wanted to talk to him.

‘Fill this out,’ she said and slapped a document down
in front of him. He took a pen from her and supplied the stranger with his
residential address, postal address, banking details, work details, contact
details, email address, website, and information on deceased family and
relatives. According to the form, the section about the deceased was to assist
the government in determining who had been ‘lost’ during the alien attacks, and
also served as a kind of census to establish how many people disappeared and
how many remained.

These forms were being filled out all across the world
as Trevor finished submitting his details. He handed back the documents, and
she shoved another form at him on which he had to fill out his name, signature,
and date. He complied, wondering how much longer he would be sitting there and
how many more forms he would still have to complete.

‘Here you go, Mister Elliot,’ she said and slid a
plastic card over the counter toward him. He picked up the card and rubbed his
thumb over the glossy picture that she had taken a few minutes earlier. He was
impressed.

‘Next,’ the woman said, and Trevor moved away from the
counter.

‘How’s your pic?’ Andrew asked as he joined Trevor at
the entrance. Trevor reluctantly showed him the picture that didn’t quite
display his best qualities.

‘Just as sexy as mine,’ Andrew said and placed the
picture of himself in front of his face. They both chuckled, and then Andrew
handed a folded sheet of paper to Trevor.

‘What’s this?’

‘Instructions on how to use this piece of plastic,’
Andrew said. ‘Apparently we are to use this thing whenever we buy anything, be
it credit or cash.’

‘And if we
want
to use cash?’ Trevor asked, not
willing to lose some of the savings he had stashed strategically in his
apartment.

‘You can,’ Andrew said, ‘but they tax us on it;
heavy
.
You pay up to three hundred percent more if you use paper money. It’s all in
here.’

‘You have
got
to be kidding me,’ Trevor said.
‘What do I do with the cash at my place?’

‘You can hand it in at the bank, in exchange for
whatever they call the virtual money that we use now.’

‘Most probably
Credits
,’ Trevor said. ‘Like in
those old Science Fiction movies.’

‘Probably, yeah.’

René joined them, and after a short comparison session
with their photos, they got into the car. They decided to go for a ride around
the city to do some damage assessment before heading back to Trevor’s
apartment.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘I’m sorry, sir, but you cannot
pass through here.’ The cop was intimidating, and leaned into Andrew’s window
to sniff for any traces of alcohol.

‘Why not?’ Trevor asked from the back seat.

The officer looked at Trevor, then back at Andrew. He
wasn’t in the mood for small talk, and he was sure enough not going to let them
pass. But he remained courteous. His job required it of him. ‘All major cities
have been blocked off until early Monday morning,’ he explained. ‘They’re still
doing major cleanup jobs. All alien craft are considered highly radioactive,
and thus very dangerous to humans.’

‘You mean to say that there are still alien space ships
in there?’ René asked as she leaned forward for a better view of the cop.

‘We can neither confirm nor deny the presence of alien
ships
,’
the cop said as ambiguously as he could.

‘What about the people that actually
live
in the
city?’ Trevor asked.

‘Community shelters,’ the cop replied without even
glancing in his direction. ‘You had best be moving along now.’

‘Thank you, officer,’ Andrew said and turned the key in
the ignition. He turned the car around, and the cop disappeared in the distance
as they drove back to Trevor’s apartment.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Get the snipers on the roof!’ the
Commander yelled into his radio as a chopper flew low over his head. ‘And get
the Alpha and Delta teams into position!’

The two men just stood still, allowing the scene to
unfold. They saw the snipers positioning themselves on the rooftops. They saw
the two teams of six scrambling for cover behind a buffer of rubble. The leader
of these U.N. Peacekeeping Forces now approached them accompanied by two lower
ranking officers, one on each side. He tried to keep his face stern, letting
the two men that
he
was in control, and not them. He stopped when he
reached what he figured to be a ‘safe’ distance from the men, and held up a
fist. The two officers next to him stopped instantly.

‘Greetings,’ the Commander shouted at the two. He wore
dark sunglasses that hid his eyes from them. But the twelve armed men behind
the rubble and the two teams of snipers betrayed his true intentions. The two
men just stared at the Commander, neither saying a word.

‘We’ve heard some disturbing things about you two,’ the
Commander said as he studied their body language. ‘Would you care to comment?’

No comment.

The Commander looked over his shoulder to ensure that
he was properly covered. He knew where the snipers were, but couldn’t see them
through the camouflage. Once he felt secure, he turned back to face the two
men. ‘Come now, gents,’ he said, trying his best to keep his voice calm. He
wasn’t used to people outright ignoring his polite attempts at intimidation.
‘What are you two
really
doing here?’