The Pestilence (26 page)

“The Pestilence is here,” whispered Dina.

***

VICTOR was using his hands to pry open his own mouth, stretching his skin and his jaw far wider than humanly possible. He looked like a python distending its jaw to swallow a deer. Out of Victor's enlarged mouth poured more of the Pestilence. Up they flew in their millions to join their brethren descending greedily from the sky.

Victor was now concentrating hard, directing the mass of the Pestilence against the strongest and brightest auras around him. Those Healed with the most radiant auras were consumed first. At Victor's command, hordes of insects swirled and massed forcing their way into ears, noses and mouths, cleaving through any orifice, any tear in the skin to devour every ounce of human aura. The appetite of the Pestilence was insatiable. A Healed stripped of her aura fell to the earth and clawed the dirt. The insects feasting on her once more took flight hungrily seeking out their next victim.

The descent of the Pestilence upon the crowd caused a frenzied mass stampede as the people tried in vain to flee. Skulls were split underfoot, bones and tissue ground into the dust. The Pestilence feasted on the auras of the dying and the dead. Jostled initially by the fleeing crowd, for a time Victor commanded the insects to form a circling perimeter around him. As the crowd's numbers thinned Victor simply pushed the swarming cloud wider and wider targeting not just the Healed but any ordinary person caught in the path of the swarm.

Victor was reaching the edge of the envelope of his powers and he struggled to keep the insects alive any longer. Around him dead insects fell gorged and bloated from the air. They fell like rain onto the valley of death.

12.14 p.m. Jerusalem time. Every single living being caught outside within a one mile radius of the St Luke's Hospital perished in the Pestilence storm.

***

Timeline: The Pestilence plus 1 hour. Information source: Video message from Victor Pierre Chaput.

This is Victor Pierre Chaput and I run the Chaput Foundation. I feel I must offer my thoughts after the tragic death of my friend Samuel Srour and the horrific incident at the St Luke's Hospital. Samuel and I spoke soon after the Electrical Phenomenon where he set out his plans to use his newly acquired powers for the benefit of all mankind. I immediately offered my assistance providing the staffing and financial resources that enabled Samuel to utilise the Teddy Stadium as his base for his healing activities.

Samuel's death was heartbreaking and it seems that the deaths of tens of thousands of the Healed at the very moment of Samuel's passing were a symptom of how closely the Healed were tied to him. My heart and condolences go out to all those who lost loved ones.

Samuel did offer a hope for a brighter future and the Healed plan based on the principles of mass selflessness was indeed a noble one. However, the death of so many of his followers and many, many ordinary people now brings into question the legacy the Healed set out to build. After the terrible events at the St Luke's Hospital, we must now question the safety of having the Healed walk amongst us and assess correctly the dire threat the Healed pose to the rest of us.

I believe that the grief we all feel at this terrible loss of life can be channelled towards something positive and meaningful. I run the Chaput Foundation which is dedicated to preserving our current way of life. This economic and political system that dominates the planet has driven the global expansion of the human race like no other. It's not perfect but undeniably our way of life has lifted billions out of penury and poverty.

The Chaput Foundation is dedicated to fixing the issues we have with our economic and political systems. The foundation works for a global redistribution of income from rich to poor. Something the governments of this world have consistently lacked the political will to do. We stand for the eradication of inequality and have helped over a million people rise out of debt poverty.

We are resetting the economic clock to allow us to undo past mistakes and start afresh. Resetting the economic clock to allow us to innovate and build new technologies to reenergise the world's economy back into one of growth and prosperity.

God has given us the Earth and made humanity the masters of it. In Genesis he has told us
“Be fruitful and become many and fill the Earth and subdue it.”
We must exploit these bountiful resources of the Earth to serve our needs. We have a land of plenty, resources rich enough to provide for our children and their children for generations to come.

Once again my heart goes out to the families of the people that have perished today but instead of sadness and grief I am simply offering a vision of hope for the future. Thank you.

***

MARIAM and the others in the hospital room stared on helpless in horror. The insect plague had stopped. All who were moments ago holding candles and praying for Samuel's soul were lying scattered, cut down as they ran or piled in grotesque mounds, their auras devoured by the hungry creatures.

A dazzling light drew Mariam from the window and she saw Samuel sitting up holding Dina's hand. Mariam closed her eyes for a moment, opening them again. Dina had now crawled into Samuel's lap and he was calmly stroking her hair.

Samuel then spoke. “The God of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. We cannot help those outside, their auras are completely destroyed.” Samuel slipped out of the bed. “We need to leave this place. It was veiled before but now it is clear. He will be coming for us if he knows I'm still alive.”

“Who will?” asked Mariam in wonder.

“Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

Victor Pierre Chaput pulled the black trilby lower to cloak his eyes and strode through a sea of the dead.

***

End of Book One of
The Jerusalem Chronicles.

WITH eternal gratitude to my lovely readers: Rana Shihadah; Apurva Vyas; Sarah Bachra; James Pincus and Ruby and Matt Usher.

Without your feedback, ideas and inspiration I would still be squinting at numbers on a spreadsheet. Love you guys.

***

If you would like to peek behind the curtain and follow the trial of writing this book, from inception to publication, navigate to my Writer's Diary:
http://www.faisalansariauthor.com