The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (98 page)

Huge waves larger than skyscrapers dwarfed some of the
world’s mega cities as if they were mere ant colonies. Islands such as New
York, Britain, Madagascar, and Australia all disappeared within minutes. The
Poles broke up and sank beneath the water too, and as the sea levels rose, most
cities and inland towns and villages were flooded. Many people were still
trying to regain their balance and leave their homes when the water channelled
through their streets and flooded everything.

The cities not affected by the poisonous gasses or
floods were ablaze as gas stations and pipelines exploded. Nuclear power plants
melted down and power outages unlike any before swept throughout the entire
planet, leaving only a few grids sporadically intact.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

What little remained of Al Jalil
after the bombing stood tall and proud, almost as if it challenged the quake.
From a distance, it appeared like an angry man, waving a fist at God. Then the
ground around the city tore open and, in a matter of seconds, everything
imploded as the Earth beneath the city gave way. Where the remains of a once
magnificent city stood, there now was only a massive gaping hole.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

After several minutes of shaking,
the Earth finally calmed. Timothy was coming to. He first moved his head
slightly in each direction as he checked for damage to his neck. He then moved
his shoulders, arms, hips, legs, and feet. Only when he was totally sure that
nothing was broken, did he try to get up. He picked up his radio and then
surveyed the city in front of him. Random fires blazed and the bodies of men
lay scattered in the streets. Some buildings had been reduced to nothing more
than a pile of dusty rubble.

‘Alpha?’ a voice squawked over the radio.

‘This is Alpha, identify yourself.’

‘It’s India, sir.’

‘What’s the damage report, India?’

‘It’s bad, sir. We lost more than half our men. Some of
our perimeter walls have crumbled, leaving huge gaps where the enemy can come
through.’

Timothy shivered at the thought. ‘And the women and
children?’

‘They’re fine, sir.’

He let out a sigh of relief.

‘I think you had better come here, sir.’

‘Why? What’s the matter?’

‘I would rather you see it for yourself.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Timothy limped as fast as he could
when he saw the group huddled together.

‘What’s going on here?’ he asked ‘India’ when he
reached the men.

The men gave way and revealed someone lying in a pool
of blood.

‘Father?’ Timothy said and knelt down beside Malcolm.
‘What happened?’

‘It was a rock, sir,’ India said. ‘It cut open his head
and fractured his skull.’

‘Tim...’ Malcolm gurgled as blood bubbled out the side
of his mouth.

‘Don’t speak,’ Timothy said and wrapped his arms around
his father. ‘Someone get a medic!’

‘We already called it in,’ someone whispered as
sympathetically as possible.

‘I...I want your forgiveness...son...’ Malcolm said
painfully.

‘Don’t speak,’ Timothy repeated. ‘Save your strength.
Help is on the way.’

‘For...the way I treated you...’

Tears streaked down Timothy’s face. ‘There’s nothing to
forgive, Father,’ he cried as he cradled Malcolm’s head to his chest. ‘There’s
nothing to forgive...’

Malcolm coughed and blood spurted from his mouth. ‘Tell
Mary...’

‘Don’t talk like that!’ Timothy shouted. ‘You’re going
to make it!’

Malcolm’s body went limp as he exhaled one last time.
Timothy held his father tightly as he wept bitterly. The other men took a few
steps back to allow Timothy one last moment with his father.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Victor stood up and dusted himself
off. Antonio joined him a minute later. They both surveyed the landscape
together.

‘Our legions suffered great damage, my Lord,’ Antonio
said and pointed to the large sections where the desert sand had swallowed
hundreds of thousands of men and women.

‘We still have over a billion capable soldiers,’ Victor
said, his voice little more than a low growl. His uniform was torn and his
normally perfect hair sprawled out in all directions. ‘Is that the best you can
do?’ he shouted and waved his fist menacingly in the air. ‘Is that all you’ve
got?’

Antonio knew better than to interrupt Victor now.

Victor kicked sand into the air and cursed. ‘Now I will
show you what
I’ve
got,’ he hissed between clenched teeth. ‘First I will
kill all the men, and then I will torture the women and children in unthinkable
ways until each and every one of them renounces you! And after that, I will
kill them too, just to spite you!’

‘What do you want the soldiers to do, Lord?’ Antonio
asked cautiously.

‘I want them to attack,’ Victor said. ‘I want them to
flank the fortress and surround it. Storm it from
all
sides at once.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

With all his effort, Trevor managed
to break through the rocks that had almost buried him alive. He breathed
heavily as he fought his way through, taking in as much fresh air as his lungs
could manage. After some digging, he recovered his radio.

‘Tim...’ he said and then flinched as a sharp pain
stabbed at his side. He figured that he had a broken short rib. ‘Alpha, are you
there?’

There was only static.

‘Alpha, this is Tango. Do you copy?’

‘Tango,’ a voice came from the radio. ‘This is Delta.
Alpha is at the Temple area. Get there if you can, and bring along as many
people as you can get hold of.’

‘Roger that,’ Trevor said and started his painful walk
towards the Temple.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘I want all the men to gather
here,’ Timothy said.

Twenty minutes later, every man that was still alive in
the city stood at the base of the Temple steps; everyone except the scouts that
had been strategically positioned on walls around the city.

‘Enormous casualties have fallen on our numbers as well
as the enemy,’ Timothy said once he had everyone’s attention. ‘Yet the enemy
remains as many as the sands of the sea.’

‘What are we to do?’ someone shouted from within the
crowd.

‘I want us to lay down our weapons,’ Timothy said.

‘What? Have you gone mad?’ another shouted from within
the crowd.

‘This is not our war,’ Timothy said. ‘This is between
God and Satan. No amount of fighting from our side can even dent Victor’s
army.’

The crowd was silent.

‘We all proclaim our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,’
Timothy said. ‘Now let us display that faith. Lay down your weapons and
worship.’

Trevor was the first to throw down his gun. A few more
men dropped their weapons and, before long, a stockpile of machine guns,
pistols, and other weapons had been gathered up.

Timothy began to sing a song of praise as more men
dropped their weapons, and later the other men joined them in worship. Finally,
everyone was singing and praying as the shouts and marching from outside the
city grew louder and louder.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘
Charge!
’ Victor shouted.
‘Tear down the gates and the walls!’

Thousands of Imperial Soldiers charged the city. It
would only be a matter of minutes before they would reach the walls and the
gates, and then they would flood the city.

Dark clouds shrouded the heavens, and lightning bolts
flashed in the skies from one side of the horizon to the other in rapid
succession. The advancing army stopped as thunder rumbled loudly overhead.

‘What’s that?’ someone shouted and pointed at something
in the air.

‘It’s a meteor or something,’ someone else shouted.

‘It’s definitely burning,’ someone commented, ‘but it’s
no meteor.’

Victor stared at the shape in the sky above Jerusalem.
He recognized it as a cross; a massive, burning cross.

‘That thing must be as large as the city itself,’
Antonio whispered to himself.

‘Don’t stop, you fools!’ Victor shouted at his legions.
‘
Charge!
’

His armies continued their advance behind their
undeterred leader.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘
They’re breaking through!
’
someone shouted as Imperial Soldiers broke down walls and many climbed over
with the use of ropes attached to grappling hooks. Hundreds piled through the
huge gaps in the perimeter walls that had cracked open during the Earthquake.

‘They weren’t supposed to get this far,’ Timothy said
softly as he saw the black mass on top of the walls. ‘
Run for shelter!
’
he shouted.

Everyone scattered at once, most of the men heading for
the houses in which their wives and children were hiding. The swarm of Imperial
Soldiers were upon them before they could get there. Trevor also bolted for a
house, hoping that he would be able to hide in a closet or under a bed.

All around him men were cut down by the large swords of
the Imperial Soldiers, and all he could do was run while people he knew were
being killed.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Timothy ran for the weapons. He
knew that he wouldn’t be able to beat Victor’s army, but that wasn’t his
intention. If he could get to the stockpile, he could perhaps use the guns to
buy his men enough time to get away from the Imperial Soldiers that now swarmed
the city from all around.

He finally reached the pile and picked up a machine
gun. Imperial Soldiers were entering homes and slaughtering many of the women
and children before setting their homes on fire. The screams and roars were
enough to drive any man insane.

‘
Die, you scum!
’ Timothy shouted and unloaded a
magazine on an Imperial Soldier that was about to enter a house.

Timothy finished off three more imperial soldiers when
something hard struck him from behind, sending him tumbling over forward.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Trevor was about to enter the house
when the sound of gunshots drew his attention. He looked to the right and saw
Timothy fire a machine gun at a nearby Imperial Soldier. One Soldier
approaching Timothy from behind made Trevor’s blood freeze.

‘
Tim!
’ Trevor shouted, but it was too late. The
Imperial Soldier kicked Timothy behind the head and the young man fell head
over heels. Trevor started to run toward them, hoping that he could draw the
beast’s attention away from his friend.

Timothy was on his hands and knees, clearly
disorientated by the blow. The Imperial Soldier raised its sword high above its
head. To Trevor everything suddenly played off in slow motion. He couldn’t hear
his own shouting as he ran. He could only hear his heart beat in his own ears.

Timothy looked at Trevor, and for a moment time stood
still.

Sound returned to Trevor’s ears and, with one swift
strike, the Imperial Soldier ended Timothy’s life.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Trevor wanted to run, but his legs
were weak. They wouldn’t respond to his commands. The Imperial Soldier howled
and then left Timothy’s body and approached Trevor. Trevor tried to run, but
couldn’t. The grotesque soldier came nearer still. In a matter of seconds, the
monster was upon Trevor and knocked him over with one powerful blow.

Trevor’s head was spinning and his nose and mouth
seeped blood. He spat the blood and tried to get up, but his arms failed and he
sank to the ground.

Please Lord,
he prayed.
Please come!

The Imperial Soldier raised its sword high above its
head.

Please Jesus...

A loud clap of thunder and a brilliant flash of light
caught everyone’s attention. The Imperial Soldier, still holding its sword high
above its head, grunted and looked skyward.

STOP!
A voice shouted from the heavens with such force that
everyone in Victor’s army dropped to the ground at once. The brute fell down
next to Trevor, its sword barely missing his head as it clanged on the hard
ground next to him.