The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (83 page)

The N-Force officer ignored the outcry. ‘Move out of
the way so that those with the Shield can pass through.’

‘This is outrageous,’ a man shouted, and the rest of
the crowd without Shields cried out their support. ‘We have human rights too!’

‘Sir, please step away from the vehicle. There are
people with Shields trying to get through.’

‘No!’ the man shouted at the officer. ‘I want my water!
I’m entitled to it!’

‘Sir, this is your final warning. Stop disrupting the
peace, or I will be forced to take action.’

‘No!’ the man protested. ‘Give me my water! I have just
as much right to it as the next person.’

The officer warned the man again, but he didn’t listen.
The man jumped onto the back of the truck, much to the amusement of the
onlookers, and advanced upon the officer at a steady pace.

‘Sir, I have warned you already, and I shall not do so
again.
Get off the truck!
’

‘Not without my water!’ the man shouted and flailed his
fists through the air.

The gunshot left everyone stunned and a silenced hush
fell over the crowd. The N-Force officer picked up the man’s limp body and
threw it off the truck as a visual warning to the rest. It worked. They all
took an instinctive step back.

‘Will those with the Shield please approach the truck
in an orderly fashion,’ the officer commanded.

This time, the crowd did comply. There was an awkward
silence as people shuffled away from the truck to open a path for those with
the Shield to collect their water. Even though she was fifth in the queue, René
felt as if every single eye of the Shield-less was upon her, burning with envy
and hatred.

She finally reached the truck, and the officer scanned
her Shield with a small handheld scanner. He then handed her three one-litre
plastic bottles filled with water. She clutched the bottles in her arms, and
made her way back down the path as quickly as she could.

‘Today you will receive your water,’ the officer said
to the remaining crowd. ‘But tomorrow, there will be
no
supplies for
those without Shields. I repeat: no Shield, no water. Is that understood?’

A shiver went down Andrew’s spine and he shot a glance
at Trevor who appeared to be thinking the same thing. Slowly but surely the
people were forced to use the Shield. If they didn’t get it, it could only be a
matter of days before they would dehydrate or be arrested. He looked at Trevor
and wondered how long his friend would be able to hold out before he would crack
under the pressure and apply for his Shield.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘
Oh no!
’

Trevor jumped from his bed as fast as he could. There
was no doubt about it. He strained his ears and listened. The faint buzzing
sound grew louder. He ran for the light switch and squinted as light flooded
his bedroom. He had hoped that the light would drive away whatever it was that
had stung him three days ago. He was wrong.

The buzzing grew louder still. It gradually became so
intense that Trevor thought that whatever was generating the noise was inside
his head. He held his hands to his ears, but it did no good. Whatever it was
that was making the noise, was upon him; it surrounded him; it was
everywhere
.

Trevor ran for the door, but a sudden sharp pain in his
leg sent him sprawling to the floor. He cried out when another pain shot
through his neck. ‘Ren—’ he cried out, but was cut short as he was stung on his
lips, cheeks, shoulders, and lower back.

‘Trevor?’ René gasped as she ran into his room. She saw
him rolling on the floor, holding his face while shouting out in anguish every
few seconds.

‘Help me,’ he screamed and jerked as something stung
him behind his ear. ‘
Please!
’

‘What...what should I do?’ René asked. ‘Where is it
hurting?’

‘
Everywhere!
’

She knelt down beside him to see if she could figure
out what was causing the pain, but he recoiled when she lightly touched him.

‘
Don’t touch me!
’ he screamed and jerked again.
‘Please don’t touch me...’

‘Then I can’t help you, Trevor,’ she said.

‘Don’t touch me...’ he wept.

She sat helplessly against the wall, looking at her
friend as he rolled around and screamed while some invisible attack raged on.

‘Pray to him,’ she said. ‘Pray to Victor and ask for
forgiveness so that this madness can stop.’

‘N—no,’ Trevor said, but cried out again when something
stung him on his lip again.

‘Pray to him,’ René repeated. ‘Do you see me screaming
and weeping?’

‘I...I don’t pray...to
any
God...’

‘You’re a fool, Trevor,’ she lashed out. ‘You’re so
full of yourself that you probably deserve this.’

Trevor cried like a baby. He didn’t want to pray to
Victor. He didn’t want to pray to
anyone
. He just wanted the pain to
stop. Another sting on the inside of his mouth made him jerk and cry out again
and he banged his fist against the floor.

The spasms caused him to bite a deep gash into his
lower lip and blood sprayed from his mouth as he screamed out in pain. Through
his tears he could see René sitting against the wall, and he longed to be there
with her; calm and free of the pain. For a brief moment, praying to Victor
didn’t seem like such a bad idea. In fact, it seemed to be the only reasonable
thing left to do. So that’s what he decided he would do.

‘Vic—’

No!
he cut himself short forcefully. There were too many unanswered questions. He
almost instantly regretted his decision when something stabbed into the side of
his neck. He cried out again and again as the assault on his body continued;
relentless and excruciating.

The attack lasted another hour, and at the end of it,
he just lay weeping and moaning.

‘Are you okay?’ René asked, knowing that he wasn’t.

He just lay there, crumpled up and breathing heavily
between sobs.

She got up and tried to help him up but he recoiled
again.

‘Fine!’ she snapped. ‘Don’t accept my help then. But at
least accept my advice:
get the Shield!
’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘It’s the noise again!’

Malcolm sat upright in the cave. Darkness engulfed him,
and he could hear people shuffling to light their candles and lamps. A woman at
the far end of the cave shrieked and clutched her husband. Malcolm heard it
too, and instinctively reached for Mary’s hand. The tiny flames of the candles
slowly illuminated the cave.

‘It’s back,’ someone in the cave yelled, and more women
shrieked.

‘Why can’t HaShem just crush us in this cave?’ another
man yelled above the loud buzzing. ‘Why can He not just throw this mountain
down on us and get it over with?’

‘Calm down people,’ Timothy said as loudly as he could.
He wanted everyone to hear him above the deafening droning. ‘The demons are
back, but they cannot harm us,’ he assured them. ‘We are God’s sealed ones, and
they do not have authority to touch us.’

The people appeared more relaxed, but the tension was
still tangible.

‘What can we do?’ a woman asked. ‘The sound alone will
surely drive us all insane.’

‘Praise and worship the Lord,’ Timothy said. ‘The
louder the buzzing, the louder we praise.’

For a moment there was only the buzzing, and then
another humming filled the room. Softly at first, but growing in volume. Mary
hummed louder as she recollected the memories of when she and Angie used to
sing together. Malcolm squeezed her hand and joined in, uncomfortably at first,
but growing more relaxed as others joined in.

Timothy had some people hand out tambourines, drums,
shofars, and guitars. Before long, they were all singing and rejoicing
together. They continued long after the buzzing had passed, and for the first
time in his life, did Timothy worship with his parents and actually enjoy it.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Can someone please tell me what the
Hell is going on here?’ the doctor demanded as he burst into the operating
room.

‘It’s the people, sir,’ a nurse replied. ‘They’re being
brought in by the dozens. I—I have never seen anything like this in my life.’

‘And what’s causing it?’ he asked.

‘It’s mostly self-inflicted, doctor,’ she said.

He stopped, and then looked at her quizzically.
‘Self-inflicted?’

‘Yes, doctor.’

‘Why? What’s the cause of this?’

‘According to those that brought them in, they
apparently couldn’t stand the pain of that weapon that the Christians are
using.’

‘And they tried to commit suicide?’

The nurse nodded. ‘Everything from gunshot wounds to
people that jumped from the rooftops of skyscrapers.’

‘And they’re alive?’ the doctor asked.

‘Yes.’ The nurse nodded again. ‘
All
of them are,
doctor. It’s like they can’t die, no matter what.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Aren’t you going to work today?’
René asked as she was about to leave the flat.

Trevor shook his head. His facial expression revealed
the excruciating pain that he still felt even hours after the attack.

‘Did you call in sick?’

He nodded.

‘You know that because you can avoid the pain,
management won’t accept what you’re going through as being legally
sick
.’

Trevor didn’t say anything.

‘According to them, if you refuse to take the Shield,
you are regarded as a terrorist, and no longer work for the company.’

Still no reply.

She hesitated for a second. It was hard to believe that
the poor, pathetic man lying on the sofa was Trevor. She longed to care for
him, but at the same time wanted to teach him that his stubbornness was what
was causing this pain and suffering. She opened her mouth to say something, but
decided against it. She merely walked out the door and locked it behind her.

Trevor turned up the volume as GMN displayed some
commotion at a hospital.

‘It is a sad day today,’ the News Reporter said, ‘as
hospitals worldwide are being swamped by attempted suicide victims that have
somehow miraculously survived. The motive behind the suicides all appear to be
linked to the secret weapon of the Christians, but doctors and nurses are at a
loss as to what it is that is keeping these people alive, as some of them have
survived electrocutions, gunshot wounds to the head, and even plummets from as
high as thirty storeys.’

Trevor flinched. He could just imagine the pain of
surviving something like that.

‘The European Empire’s President, Victor Yoshe, has
claimed that
he
is the source that is keeping the people alive, since he
cannot, quote, ‘
see the use of losing so many good people due to the fact
that they will simply not worship me or accept my Shield of protection,
’
end quote. This is Stefan Goemans for GMN Live.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Andrew was painfully typing up an
email for his parents when his computer announced that he had new mail in his
inbox. He minimized his current message and stared at the header of the
incoming mail for a moment before clicking on it. It read:

Subject: Message from the Sealed
Ones of Israel

Dear reader,

We greet you in the wonderful
name of Jesus Christ. It is our duty as the Sealed Ones of Israel to inform you
of what is going on in the world. Since the disappearances – which we now know
was the Rapture, and not ‘alien attacks’ – the world has seemed to have spun
violently out of control. There were the two prophets in Jerusalem, the
economic crash, the meteor strike, the poisoning of fresh water, and now, the
invisible attacks, which are blamed on Christians.

Take heed! This is not so!
Christians are not the cause of these attacks. Demons are. We are living in the
last days. We have been left behind on this planet to go through G-d’s wrath on
mankind for its stubbornness. This is His last desperate attempt to win your
hearts before it is too late. It has all been prophesied. There is no escaping
the wrath. But there is an escape of the eternal torment that shall follow the
last years of our existence.

That escape is Jesus Christ.
Repent now, and turn your hardened hearts to the Lord. Repent and be saved. You
will still go through the plagues like the rest, but be assured of your
salvation. Console yourself in the fact that the short-term pain is more than
worth the long-term gain.