The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (62 page)

Trevor remained silent. The thought of his brother
suddenly snuffed out the fun in their conversation.

‘Trev?’

‘It was.’

‘Man. I
knew
it was you!’ He paused for a bit,
and then continued in a more sombre tone, ‘I...I’m sorry, man.’

‘It’s okay,’ Trevor said. ‘At least now I know. At
least there’s closure.’

‘Yeah,’ Andrew said softly, trying to sound as
sympathetic as he could. ‘The reason I’m calling is to find out if you...the
two
of you...would like to come with me for the registration.’

Trevor hesitated. ‘That thing about the smart cards?’
He wasn’t particularly in the mood to register himself for anything, but the
war opened the door for government officials to ‘brand’ humans lawfully, and he
knew that resisting would only incriminate him; siding him with the aliens.

‘Yeah; our province is up in a week from now.’

‘Where do you want to register?’

‘I dunno. It doesn’t really matter though, as long as
we go. We can choose between a police station, a school, or a community
shelter. I suggest a school.’

‘Yeah, a school is fine.’ Trevor gave Andrew basic
instructions on how to get to his apartment. They both agreed on a day and time
they would get together and hung up.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Jerusalem:
One Week Later
(Two weeks after the attacks)

The morning sun slowly rose over
Jerusalem. It was the first day since the alien attacks that its rays finally
managed to pierce through the thick, black clog of smoke in the skies caused by
so many burning vehicles, buildings, and rubber.

The sulphuric stench still stung the nostrils of those
who took a deep enough breath; even though most people had grown accustomed to
the smell. It would be weeks, maybe even months, before the air would finally
be the way it used to be before the attacks.

A new day was dawning. A new era of human bonding and
understanding was being born, and as the sun stretched its limited light into
the deserted Jerusalem streets, two lone figures walked toward their
predetermined waypoint. Finally, when they reached the Lion’s Gate, they came
to an abrupt halt. The two men looked at one another and nodded.

‘Oh, Lord of Heaven and Earth,’ one of the men called
out loudly. ‘Do not withhold your presence from us! Do not keep your grace from
your two servants. Praise our Father in Heaven!’ His voice echoed through the
slowly waking Jerusalem streets.

The second man lifted his hands toward the skies, and a
loud rumble echoed through the air.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘What?’ Malcolm asked, visibly
upset. He listened to an eyewitness account of the stir that two unknown men
had caused amongst the citizens of Jerusalem. ‘And you say that there are only
two of them?’ he asked. ‘All right,’ he finally said, ‘I’ll go check it out.’

He slammed the phone down with so much
force that he almost thought he had broken it. He was in deep thought when Mary
entered the room.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked, lowering her
eyes to avoid direct contact. She had learned to stay out of his way when he
was like this.
Timothy still need to learn that lesson,
she thought to
herself whenever she saw her son purposefully being hot-headed.’

‘I’m okay,’ he said as he breathed deeply,
trying to regain control of his emotions. He kissed her on the cheek and zipped
up his jacket. ‘There’s something that I have to go and take care of,’ he said
and forced a bleak smile. ‘I’ll be back soon. Promise.’

He left and slammed the door behind him.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

René was supposed to have left a
week ago, but Trevor had decided against it. He would never admit outright that
he longed for the companionship, so instead said that she should stay until the
smoke had totally cleared, all the roads had been repaired, businesses were
back up and running, and whatever other reason he could manage to scrape up and
throw at her.

She fell for them all, not because she thought that
they were reasonable excuses, but because she also secretly longed for the
companionship.

There was a hidden yearning in their hearts that they
both felt, but neither would ever confess to. Trevor was in the bathroom
brushing his teeth when Andrew knocked.

‘I’ll get it,’ René said and opened the door to a
smiling face.
Oh no,
she thought to herself and frowned.
A Jehovah’s
Witness!
‘Can I help you?’

‘Hey,’ Andrew said and then saw her confused
expression. ‘I’m Andrew.’ He extended his hand toward her.

‘Oh my!’ She held her hand to her mouth as she realized
who he was. She shook his hand, softly tugging him into the apartment. ‘I’m so
terribly sorry,’ she said, still shaking his hand. ‘I didn’t realize who you
were.’

‘It’s quite all right,’ Andrew said, still smiling, and
still shaking her hand. ‘I get that a lot.’

Stop shaking his hand, stupid!
She couldn’t bring
herself to stop. Trevor’s voice behind her jolted her enough to release
Andrew’s hand; saving her from what already was an embarrassing moment.

‘Andy,’ Trevor said and shook Andrew’s hand. They shook
twice, but as Trevor wanted to release, Andrew gripped his hand tighter and
shook it a few more times, hoping that it would make René feel slightly less
self-conscious. ‘Did you get the place all right?’

‘I did,’ Andrew said, ‘but a few roads had been closed
off, so I had to manoeuvre my way around to your place via the scenic route.’

‘Did they say why it was closed?’

‘Nope, just that it had something to do with the
attacks.’

‘Yeah,’ Trevor said thoughtfully. ‘They could
assassinate some country’s President now and blame it on the alien attacks.’

‘I suppose,’ Andrew said.

‘We still have a while,’ Trevor said and motioned
towards the kitchen. ‘Care for some coffee?’

‘Yeah,’ Andrew said. ‘That would be nice.’

‘I’ll make it,’ René said, for fear of being left alone
with Andrew long enough to make an even bigger fool of herself. ‘You boys go
and relax, and I’ll be with you in a minute.’

Andrew waited until René was busy enough in the kitchen
before he spoke. ‘Are you two…you know...?’

‘Together?’ Trevor suggested.

‘Yeah,’ Andrew said, looking over his shoulder to see
if René could hear them.

‘Oh, no,’ Trevor said truthfully. ‘We’re not...how can
I put it? Compatible.’

‘What do you mean?’

Trevor tugged uncomfortably at his collar. ‘She
is...erm...not interested in men, if you know what I mean...’

Andrew just raised his eyebrows and smiled. ‘Shame,
bud.’

‘Yeah, total bummer,’ Trevor said as they entered the
living room. His mind was racing with ideas to subtly change the topic, but
could think of none that would work, so he just remained quiet.

‘What’s this?’ Andrew asked as they sat down on the
sofa together. He picked up a book and flipped through the pages.

‘Oh that,’ Trevor said disinterested. ‘It’s a book that
Norman wanted to give me for my birthday a while ago.’

‘Wanted?’ Andrew asked without taking his eyes off the
book as he flipped through it for the third time.

‘Yeah,’ Trevor said. ‘I found it in his apartment. He
never gave it to me. He saw Andrew’s intrigued expression as he flipped through
the book again. ‘Want to borrow it?’ he asked.

‘Have you read it yet?’

‘Nope, and I’m not intending to; not within this
millennium at least.’

‘You afraid that you might see
the light
?’

Trevor only laughed. ‘I started reading it,’ he
admitted, ‘but only got to about page three when I closed it for good. It felt
like I was reading a car repair instruction manual.’

Andrew chuckled. ‘Thanks, bud.’

‘Don’t mention it,’ Trevor said, hoping that Andrew
would forget to return the book.

Andrew placed the book down next to him as René entered
the living room. She carried a tray with mugs and cookies, and the aroma of
freshly made coffee followed her.

‘So what’s your take on this whole ‘alien’ business?’
Andrew asked when they were all comfortably settled with their mugs.

‘I believe it,’ Trevor said without hesitation.

‘So you believe in little green men from Mars?’ Andrew
asked. It was a loaded question. One that, if answered in the negative, could
contradict Trevor’s previous statement, but if positive could prove Trevor to
be narrow-minded. He would have to explain why he believed in little green men
from Mars, but not in well documented human history that proves a specific
person walked the Earth and died on a cross over two thousand years ago.

‘I don’t know what colour they are,’ Trevor said after
some thought. ‘And I also don’t know how tall or from what planet they are. But
one thing I
do
know is that they exist. Norman and I saw a ship when we
were younger.’

‘You did?’ René asked and sat upright.

‘Yes. We were only little boys, no older than seven,
and were out camping with a friend and his father. It was dusk and we were
sitting around a camp fire when the four of us heard a loud screeching sound,
almost like that of a worn out fan belt. We looked at the hills in the distance
and saw a huge, green object descend vertically behind it. It was weird, I tell
you, and what made it weirder still was our friend’s father’s reaction.

‘He looked like he had seen a ghost
and immediately began taking down the tent and
packing the car. He mumbled to himself as he clumsily clattered everything
together and shoved us into the back seat nervously. I asked him if we were
going to see what it was, but he just sped off in the opposite direction and
took us straight home.’

‘Did you ever find out what it was?’ Andrew asked after
a short moment of silence.

‘To this day I still believe that it was not of this
world. Maybe it belonged to the very beings that attacked us now.’

‘And Norman? What did he think about it?’

‘At first he believed it, but after he converted it
conflicted with his beliefs, obviously, so he found something to justify it
with. According to him, a friend told him that the government had hollowed out
all the mountains around Pretoria. The top of the mountains could, according to
his friend, open and close like hangars.

‘What we had seen had apparently been a secret plane
sent out to collect the debris of one of our shot-down planes. They did that
whenever one of our fighter jets were shot down outside our borders. They would
then bring the wreckage back for investigation.’

‘You don’t believe it?’ René asked, not because she
did, but because she was interested in his opinion.

‘I don’t know what I saw that night,’ Trevor said, ‘but
it wasn’t a plane bringing a wreckage home from Botswana, if that’s what you’re
asking. It was round, it was green, and it descended vertically with the scream
of a banshee. You do the math.’

‘Sounds U.F.O to me,’ René said, having made up her
mind. She wouldn’t be told otherwise, especially not after what had happened
two weeks earlier.

‘U.F.O doesn’t spell Alien,’ Andrew said, ‘but I do
agree that whatever it was, it sure doesn’t sound like it had been transporting
wreckage.’

There was a brief moment of silence and understanding
between the three of them. ‘Come,’ Trevor said, breaking the silence as he
finished his coffee. ‘We gotta go.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Being careful not to appear too
conspicuous, Malcolm joined a small crowd that surrounded the two unknown,
middle aged men. They were wearing nothing but sackcloth, and Malcolm gasped
when he recognized one of them.

That man was in my house
, he thought.
But why would E
lijah,
assuming that this man indeed is Elijah, be dressed like a derelict?

‘Fathers,’ the man whom Malcolm decided to call Elijah,
shouted. It was so unexpected that a few people jerked and jumped back a bit.
‘Turn your hearts back toward your sons!’

‘Sons,’ the other man continued where the first had
stopped. ‘Take heed to love your fathers!’

Malcolm did not recognize the second man, but he spoke
with the same authority as the Elijah-figure.

‘Repent now, sinners!’ Elijah said, eyeing the crowds.
‘For Elohim shall not contend with your evil natures forever!’

‘Repent now, sinners,’ the other man said. ‘For the
Lord, Elah Yisrael, has judged you, and is about to pour out His wrath on your
kind!’