The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (91 page)

‘Likewise.’

Trevor found the pleasant introduction between the two
of them quite amusing under the given circumstances.

‘Where do you live?’ Sumen asked.

‘Well,’ Trevor said and pointed to the entrance of the
alley where a few bodies now lay motionless. ‘That alley there used to be my
new home, but I think that I will have to relocate after this
little...incident.’

‘I know someone who has a farm out in the middle of
nowhere. He and his wife will offer shelter to a few of us later this
afternoon. Do you want to join us?’

‘Most certainly,’ Trevor said.

‘Great,’ Sumen said. ‘Let’s get out of here before they
make Swiss cheese out of us.’

Trevor found Sumen’s analogy amusing. ‘You lead,’ he
said. ‘I’ll follow.’

The two of them sprinted to the next building as a car
exploded nearby, and more bullets whizzed past their faces.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘How long before we reach Egypt?’
Victor asked.

‘It will take roughly a year to invade Ethiopia, Sudan,
Turkey, and Saudi Arabia,’ Ryan said. ‘And then we can mobilize our forces
against Egypt.’

‘Good,’ Victor said. ‘The terrorist threat is almost
over. Soon, the people of this world will worship me in peace and harmony.
There will be no more sadness, for I will wipe away every tear.’

‘I look forward to that day, my Lord.’ Ryan hesitated,
then added. ‘I just have one question, though.’

‘Yes?’

‘If we’re coming down so hard on the Christian
terrorists...’

‘Yes...?’

‘Why do they keep growing in numbers?’

‘Because they’re fools!’ Victor spat. ‘Evil begets
evil. They’re the lowest form of...’

Victor looked at the sky. It was becoming increasingly
warm. In the distance, Victor could see his N-Force soldiers dropping one by
one.

‘Is it just me,’ Ryan said, ‘or is it getting—?’

‘Hush!’ Victor commanded and held up his hand. ‘The tent!
Get there,
quick!
’

The two men ran to the shadows of Victor’s tent. The
soldiers that had fallen in the plains had combusted and were burning. Those
still alive swarmed toward the tent.

‘They will crush us,’ Ryan said as the horde of
soldiers ran toward them.

‘Keep still, Ryan,’ Victor ordered. ‘They will do no
such thing.’

It was a matter of minutes before every soldier was set
ablaze, and a few minutes after that, all of them lay lifeless on the ground,
totally engulfed in flames.

‘They...they’re all dead,’ Ryan said. He couldn’t
believe his eyes.

‘It’s those terrorists again,’ Victor said and spat. ‘I
want you to command N-Force to kill anyone not bearing the Shield. No questions
asked. No second chances. Is that understood?’

‘Understood, my Lord,’ Ryan said as he looked at the
thousands of dead soldiers lying in the open plains. ‘And what about them?’

‘Leave them,’ Victor said and retreated deeper into the
shadows of the tent.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘
Get everyone into the caves!
’
Timothy ordered. Men, women, and children all ran for the caves.

‘It’s the sun,’ Timothy said to the respective leaders
of the various groups. ‘It’s burning everything out there.’

‘How long will it last?’ one of the leaders asked.

‘I’m not sure,’ Timothy said. ‘But every night we will
hang a cloth outside. Each day we will monitor the cloth and see if it burns
like you see those bushes burning over there. The first day that the cloth
doesn’t burn anymore, we will know that it is safe to go out again.’

‘Is it just here, or Jerusalem too?’

‘I have no idea,’ Timothy said truthfully, ‘but I will
establish contact with our scouts and try to find out.’

‘Why?’ a woman shouted loudly and everyone turned to
look at her. Her husband tried to calm her, but to no avail. ‘Why doesn’t Hashem
just end this? Why do we have to suffer through this?’

‘We are suffering,’ Timothy said, ‘because we didn’t
accept His suffering. We made our beds, and now we have to sleep in them.’

The woman just sobbed softly as her husband wrapped his
arms around her. He looked apologetically at Timothy.

‘I can understand that you all feel this way,’ Timothy
addressed the crowd. ‘But there’s not that much longer left to go. Before we
know it, we will be reunited with our loved ones, and also be in the presence
of our Lord, forever and ever.

‘I just ask that you have faith. In the meantime, I
will have my men feed you and supply you with water.’

Timothy nodded at his next-in-command and left the cave
through a side tunnel that led to their communications section. He wanted to
know how the super heat wave affected the rest of the world.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The drive to the farm was an
intense four hour prayer session for Trevor. They were literally in the middle
of nowhere; surrounded by huge black blots which Trevor figured might be
mountains. He would know for sure in the morning.

‘Why don’t you have a Shield?’ Trevor asked Sumen,
trying to make polite conversation.

‘I just never wanted one,’ Sumen said. ‘I consider it a
basic violation of my human rights, and have never bothered. Many others have
more or less the same reasons.’ He pointed to Trevor’s hand. ‘You?’

‘More or less the same,’ Trevor said and smiled. ‘Are
you a Christian?’

‘Nope,’ Sumen said. ‘But I had a few Christian friends
before the aliens attacked. Most of them were vaporized.’

‘That’s most probably why you haven’t taken the
Shield,’ Trevor said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Those friends of yours must have been praying for your
salvation years in advance.’

‘Those friends were terrorists.’

‘Do you really believe that?’

Sumen sighed. ‘I don’t know what to believe anymore.
The world is tearing apart at the seams, and no one appears to give a damn. I
finally understand the term: Hell on Earth.’

‘That is more accurate than you will ever know,’ Trevor
said.

Sumen raised an eyebrow. ‘Are
you
a Christian?’

‘I am,’ Trevor said. ‘But I can assure you that I’m no
terrorist.’

‘And why should I trust you?’

‘You will just have to trust me,’ Trevor said, ‘as I
will have to trust you.’

Sumen thought deeply for a minute and then nodded.
‘Okay. Sounds fair.’

Trevor smiled. He silently thanked the Lord for the
privilege of being able to witness to the man.

‘I never caught what this whole Christian business was
all about,’ Sumen said. ‘Maybe you could explain it to me?’

‘I sure could.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘The scorching sun,’ Victor said as
he spoke into the live GMN camera, ‘the blood in the seas and rivers, the sores
on our skins: these are all part of the terrorist’s onslaught against the
Empire and its loyal, peaceful citizens. The Christians and Messianic Jews have
spread their hate filled war to all the innocent people in the Empire. In fact,
their hatred spreads even beyond the Empire; and touches the world.

‘This has gone far enough. I urge the countries who do
not hold allegiance with these hate mongers to join me in cleansing this world
once and for all.

‘We have a right to live just as much as any other. We
will rid the world of this plague, and prove to them that their leader, this
‘Jesus’ that they represent, is nothing more than a dead, pathetic, conman. As
of today, I institute a new law that declares that any Jew, whether he or she
is a citizen of the Empire or not, is to be arrested and sentenced like the
other terrorists. They shall be put to death for the mere fact that they
represent the chosen nation of the ‘God’ that these Christians worship. I will
wipe them from the face of the Earth as if they had never existed.

‘I urge those loyal to the Empire to keep the faith,
and to keep praying to me so that I can become stronger and defeat this growing
menace. I will let you know once it’s safe to go back out into the sunlight
again. You have my richest blessings. Go in Peace.’

.XVIII.

Woe! Woe, O great city,

O Babylon, city of power!

In one hour your doom has
come!

-
Revelation 18:10,
NIV

So what you’re trying to tell me,’
Sumen said after carefully listening to Trevor’s theories of what was
really
going on, ‘is that the world is going to end in less than two years from now?’

Trevor nodded. A shiver ran down his spine as he
thought about those with the Shield growing exponentially evil on a daily
basis. Those without it would soon cave in, or die. A friendly parade where
hundreds of people waved
Don’t Yield for the Shield
posters, turned into
a bloodbath when the Imperial Army moved in and slaughtered them all; even the
onlookers.

‘This is deep stuff to digest,’ Sumen said.

‘No one said that it was going to be easy. It took me
years to finally see the bigger picture, and I still don’t know everything
yet.’

Sumen rubbed the back of his neck. ‘If what you’re
saying is true,’ he said, ‘we’re in for one Hell of a ride.’

‘The worst is yet to come,’ Trevor said, his voice
shaking a little. He looked at his hands as he thought about how—a few years
ago—the course of the world had been changed in the blink of an eye. He finally
understood how Norman felt when he had tried to reach out to Trevor. He felt
sad for the fact that Andrew had been left behind, and wondered how alone his
friend must have felt, being the only real Christian at a time when the rest of
the planet had been under Victor’s delusion. He wondered why René turned out
the way she did, and he wanted her to be there. He wanted to hold her and tell
her that everything was going to be all right. It wasn’t. ‘Trust me,’ he said,
‘the worst is still to come...’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘It’s over, my Lord,’ Ryan said.
‘We can go out into the sun again.’

‘Excellent,’ Victor said. ‘The time has come to expand
our horizons.’

‘Still further, my Lord?’

Victor nodded. ‘I’m sending you to Canada with two
million Imperial Soldiers. It will be easier to take America from land, than to
attack her from the oceans.’

‘Brilliant, my Lord. When shall I leave?’

‘As soon as possible. Two days.’

Ryan nodded and kissed Victor’s hand. ‘It shall be
done.’

‘While you’re away, I will be taking Egypt and its
surrounding countries. Once they fall, all of Africa will return to the Empire.
It is then that we take America. It is then that peace shall reign at last.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘With the super heat wave in the
Middle East over, many people had hoped that life would return to normal. This,
unfortunately, has not been the case. The seas and what used to be fresh water
sources remain thick, unusable blood. Many people worldwide resorted to
drinking the blood out of desperation. Thousands have already died of
dehydration and blood poisoning, and the body count keeps growing daily in
every country.

‘Thousands of bodies litter the streets of virtually
every city in the world, including mega cities such as Bangkok, Japan, London,
and Washington as people die of starvation, dehydration, plagues, or at the
hand of Imperial Soldiers. Many more are expected to die in the coming weeks.

‘N-Force Medical has upped its efforts to dispose of
the bodies. The outbreak of a new plague has ravaged most of India and certain
parts of Afghanistan, killing many more. It is believed that the outbreak
started when starving citizens started eating the half decomposed bodies that litter
the streets.

‘The European Union has doubled its efforts to provide
relief to those dying of hunger. Thousands of N-Force relief workers are
working around the clock to supply grain to those in need.

‘The European Empire’s citizens that refuse the Shield
of Victor are denied shelter and food, and many have already been arrested or
executed by bounty hunters. Sovereign Emperor Victor Yoshe has approved the
executions, saying that no more risks can be taken when it comes to rooting out
the Christian evil that has thrown the world into utter turmoil and ruin over
the past few years.

‘This is Conrad Rodgers with the news headlines at
eight, for GMN live.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Are we ready to strike?’ Timothy
asked his aide.

‘We are ready, sir,’ the official confirmed.

‘And G.O.D?’

‘Armed and ready, sir.’

‘Do you realize what this means?’ Timothy asked as he
surveyed everyone in the room. Everyone remained still, their eyes fixed on
his. ‘Al Jalil is the backbone of the Shield. If it goes, so does the entire
Shield infrastructure as well as the Shield based economy.’

There were nods of agreement.

‘This is the moment we have been waiting for,’ Timothy
said loudly.

‘Yeah!’ one of the men shouted.

‘This is the time that we fight back against the evil
of this world!’

‘
Yeah!
’ the others replied together, charged by
Timothy’s passion.

‘There is a time for peace and a time for war; and the
time for war is
now!
’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Trevor was standing alone in a
deserted city. All around him, gloom hung like a thick fog. A slight breeze
gently tickled a torn newspaper page, leading it in a fleeting dance.

Where am I?
He thought as he looked around him.
The city was totally deserted. There was no one around. No moving cars or any
sign of life.

‘You left us, Trevor,’ a voice said from behind him.
His blood froze and he turned around slowly. Three zombie creatures that
resembled Norman and his parents limped toward him, arms outstretched, mouths
agape.

‘No,’ Trevor shouted. ‘I did not leave you!’

‘It’s your fault that we are dead,’ the zombies
accused. The skies turned dark and the wind picked up, kicking up debris and
sand. ‘We came for you, and now we are dead.’

‘No!’ Trevor protested, shouting to be heard above the
wailing wind. ‘That’s
not
what happened!’

The zombies paid no attention and just kept advancing
sluggishly. Trevor was frozen on the spot and couldn’t run. They limped closer
and closer still.

‘You came back for me because you loved me,’ he shouted
at the zombies. ‘You sacrificed yourselves to save me!’

The zombies closed in on him and reached for his
throat. The skies were black and lightning bolts flashed at random. The howling
wind screamed at Trevor. He shouted something, but the wind ripped the words
from his mouth and flung them into the air. The zombies worked their fingers
around his neck and squeezed.

Trevor tried one last time, ‘In the name of Jesus
Christ, I
command
you to leave me alone!’

Everything stopped at once. The zombies were gone, the
wind stopped wailing, the skies were pure, and instead of a deserted city,
Trevor now found himself standing in the backyard of his childhood home. The
familiar and warm surroundings calmed him.

‘You have done well, my son,’ a soft voice said from
behind him.

Trevor spun around and saw his parents and Norman
smiling at him.

‘You came back for me,’ Trevor said, swallowing hard at
the lump in his throat. ‘You died for me, and now I’m alive...’

‘We love you, son,’ his father said, wrapping his arm
around his wife’s shoulder. Both of them looked proudly at Trevor. ‘We would
never forsake you, nor will our Lord.
Always
remember that.’

‘I will,’ Trevor said. He turned to face Norman, but
jerked awake when someone shook him.

‘Trevor,’ Sumen whispered. ‘We have to leave,
now!
’

‘Now?’ Trevor asked, wondering for a second where he
was and what time it was.

‘Imperial Soldiers,’ Sumen said, not able to contain
the fear in his voice any longer. ‘They’re on their way. One of the scouts saw
them coming. We have about six minutes.’

Trevor jerked upright when Sumen’s words finally
registered. ‘Imperial Soldiers?’

‘Six minutes.’

‘What do we do?’

‘The two of us can leave in the pickup. The rest will
make their own way.’

Trevor’s heart flailed wildly in his chest. He had seen
the Imperial Soldiers on television before and had no intention of seeing one
from up close in real life. If they stayed another minute, they would surely be
dead. ‘Let’s go,’ he said.

The two of them grabbed the few things that they really
needed and were soon speeding along the dusty road in the opposite direction
with the lights off. It was a bumpy ride, but Trevor preferred a few bumps to
what the Imperial Soldiers would do to them once caught.

‘What do we do?’ Sumen asked. ‘Where do we go?’

Trevor thought for a moment and then looked up. ‘I have
an idea,’ he said. ‘Take us back to the city.’

‘The city?’ Sumen exclaimed. ‘Are you insane?’

‘I know what I’m doing,’ Trevor said. ‘At least, I
think I do...’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Sumen said as the pickup shot
through the darkness. Behind them, an eerie orange glow lit up the night skies
as the Imperial Soldiers set the farm ablaze.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Mary,’ a voice said softly. ‘Wake
up, Mary.’

Mary woke up and instinctively jerked away from the man
sitting on the edge of her bed.

‘Do not be alarmed, Mary, for I bring you a message.’

‘Who are you?’

‘My name is not important,’ the man said, ‘but my
message is.’

Mary didn’t say anything. She remained quiet and
allowed the man to relate his message to her.

‘God is about to pour out his wrath on this city and
its inhabitants. You are to gather as many people as possible, and leave the
city through its southern border. Take the people into the desert, and do not
stop until we speak again.’

‘Are you...an angel?’

The man smiled warmly at Mary. ‘I am a messenger. Do
not delay. Get the people and leave before her plagues become yours.’

‘Whose plagues?’ Mary asked, but the man was gone. She
sat upright and looked around the room. There was no one else there. Relieved
at the thought that it could only have been a dream, she laid her head back
unto her soft pillow.

Leave,
the voice repeated itself in her head,
before her
plagues become yours.

She got up and donned a nightgown, then left her room.
In the hallway, let out a soft shriek as Nasreen suddenly opened her own
bedroom door unexpectedly.

‘You had the dream too?’ Nasreen asked Mary.

She nodded.

‘The girls,’ Kassim said as he appeared from behind the
door. He took his wife by her shoulders to ensure that he had her undivided
attention. ‘Nasreen, you and Mary get our things together.
Only
the
important things that we cannot do without. Will you do that?’

Nasreen confirmed.

‘I’ll see that the children are ready,’ he said. ‘We
leave in an hour.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

One hour and twenty seven phone
calls later, the group of seventy eight assembled in front of Kassim’s house.

‘Are we ready to go?’ Mary asked Kassim.

He nodded and hugged Nasreen tightly as the realization
struck that they would never again be able to return to their luxurious home.
With one final command, the convoy began their trek out of Al Jalil.

‘It’s getting darker,’ Kassim said when they had
reached a safe distance from the majestic city. ‘Does anyone else notice it?’

‘It is,’ Mary verified as she held her hand before her
face. ‘Something is taking away the light.’

‘We have to step on it and get away from here as fast
as possible,’ Kassim said and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.

Looking back at the city, Mary could see that the first
rays of the morning sun were being engulfed by some sort of blackness. The
darkness slowly devoured the entire city.

‘What’s going on?’ Kassim asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Mary said, ‘but I’m sure that Al Jalil
is not the place to be right now.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘This is perfect,’ Timothy said
when he heard about the darkness that fell over Al Jalil.

‘So we strike tonight?’ Malcolm asked.

‘Yes,’ Timothy confirmed. ‘We strike tonight.’