The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (41 page)

With that, she turned and left the
room.

*   
-    -    -    *

Shaun snaked his way through the
long, dark, and mainly empty hospital corridors. He followed the signs to the
best of his abilities, having to re-trace his steps only twice before he
finally reached what appeared to be a reception desk.

‘May I help you?’ a nurse behind the
desk asked.

Shaun looked down the corridor. He
would much rather figure it out for himself than ask for help, but he had
limited time, so he shifted his pride aside instead. ‘Sure,’ he said, his voice
barely above a whisper. ‘I’m looking for Jared Greene. I believe he’s being
held here.’

The nurse frowned at Shaun’s choice
of words. ‘Do you know which room he’s being
held
in at least?’ The
sarcastic bite in her voice was not lost on Shaun.

‘Twenty five, I think.’

‘That’s down the corridor to the
end. Turn left. The second door on your right.’

‘Thanks,’ Shaun said and nodded. He
made his way to the end of the corridor as instructed and turned left. Only
once he was clear from the scrutiny of the nurses did he dare breathe out.

‘Twenty five,’ Shaun read aloud as
he reached Jared’s room. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should go
in. He pressed his back against the wall and rubbed his hands over his face.
‘Why?’ he asked and exhaled deeply. The last time he saw Jared was at Amy’s
funeral. He looked down the corridor. It wasn’t too late to turn back. He could
leave and no one would ever be the wiser. He closed his eyes for a brief
moment, took another deep breath, and then stepped inside the room.’

The space was lifeless and cold,
devoid of colour and emotion. Shaun walked in slowly, soaking in every little
detail as he made his way to Jared’s bed.

‘Hey bud,’ he said and stifled a
chuckle. He stood next to his friend and colleague, mortified by the mummy that
lay in front of him. ‘I heard that you’re being detained here for a while.’ His
joke didn’t receive much response. Shaun sat down on the chair next to the bed.
‘Oh Jared,’ he said. ‘Why this? Why now?’

You’ve lost it, Jared. You’ve lost
the contract, you’ve lost the company, and you’ve also lost this friendship.

‘I’m so sorry, man,’ Shaun said. ‘I
was angry, and irritation clouded my judgement. I should never have spoken to
you that way.’

Shaun stood up. He made his way to
the window and stared out at the sunset. The fluorescent night lights flickered
on in the room and the street lamps below came on in unison. Rush hour traffic
crept by as the last rays of sunlight drowned in Lake Metanoia in the distance.
Down below, hard working men and women returned home to prepare dinner and
watch television. They were oblivious, drones without any knowledge of what was
going on around them. They had their set patterns that they followed
religiously. Every single day. As long as nothing disrupted the pattern, they
were content.

Jared had disrupted Shaun’s pattern.
Everything was different now. The company was falling apart. People were
handing in their resignations. Others waited for answers first. It was only a
matter of time before the entire business would implode on itself.

‘I need your guidance, Jared,’ Shaun
said. ‘Now more than ever. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to turn
to.’

A nurse entered the room and checked
the stats on the cardio monitor. She didn’t seem to notice Shaun as she wrote
down the new statistics on a form and clipped it to her clipboard. She checked
Jared’s drip and as she turned to leave, acknowledged Shaun’s existence with a
faint smile.

‘I’m sorry,’ Shaun said. ‘Miss...?’

She turned. ‘Yes?’

‘Are there any new developments
yet?’ he asked.

The nurse looked at Jared and then
at the cardio monitor. ‘We honestly don’t know anything yet. There’s a lot of
pressure on his brain. We’re flying in a specialist from Brussels to see if
there’s anything that he can do, but until then, all we can do is wait; wait
and pray.’

Shaun nodded. Outside, night settled
in, thick and dark. The fluorescent lighting created an institutional
atmosphere in the room. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see then, I guess.’

The nurse smiled. ‘Drop by again,’
she said as she made her way to the door. ‘Who knows what will happen?’

‘I will,’ Shaun said. ‘Thanks.’

She nodded and left, leaving Shaun
alone with his thoughts and Jared’s raspy breathing.

‘Wake up, Jared,’ Shaun hissed. ‘I
need you, man. Wake up, damn it!’

Shaun stood up and glanced outside
the window at the lights before he drew the curtains. He then opened the
bathroom door and was pleasantly surprised at what they could squeeze into the
tiny space. The modest room sported a toilet, wash basin, medicine cabinet, and
shower. He entered the room and closed the door behind him before locking it.

‘This is bad,’ he whispered at his
reflection in the mirror. The pale reflection looked back at him expectantly,
but delivered no possible solutions. Whyte & Greene was as good as gone
without a fighting chance from the man who had breathed life into the company.

Shaun splashed water over his face
and sighed deeply.

‘This is really bad.’

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘There is no change to his
condition,’ Tanya said as they entered Jared’s room. ‘This was not part of the
original plan; this was not part of the prophecy.’

‘It wasn’t my fault that your plans
didn’t work out,’ Natasha said. ‘If that’s what you’re implying.’

‘I’m not implying anything. All I’m
saying is that if anything happens to Jared...’

‘You mean if he dies?’

Tanya shot Natasha a glance. ‘If he
dies, the prophecy dies with him, and we lose everything we’ve worked so hard
to accomplish.’

‘If he pulls through and that woman
has access to him, we might lose him anyway,’ Natasha said. ‘I have a very bad
feeling about her. I don’t trust her at all.’

‘Who?’

‘His mother.’

‘Rebecca?’ Tanya narrowed her eyes.
‘You are not to harm a hair on her head. Do you understand me?’

Natasha didn’t reply. She merely
looked at Jared’s still figure lying on the bed.

‘Do you understand me, Nahemah?’
Tanya asked. ‘I’m serious about this.’

‘I understand,’ Natasha said, not
bothering to hide the condescending tone in her voice. ‘But if this comes back
to bite you, I will
not
accept responsibility.’

‘She is not to be harmed,’ Tanya
confirmed her resolve. ‘She is the key to the success of our plan. She is the
reason that we will even stand a chance.’

‘I understand.’

For a moment Tanya didn’t say
anything. She walked over to the window and pulled the curtain aside. ‘I saw on
the news that the police fished the body of Jared’s old PA, Lisa, from the
river this morning,’ she said without breaking her gaze from the hypnotic
lights outside. ‘That was obviously not part of the plan either.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Natasha said. ‘There
is absolutely nothing to link her to us. Not one single shred of evidence.’

‘You’d better hope not,’ Tanya said
and waved her index finger under Natasha’s nose. ‘Or I’ll make certain that
you’ll live long enough to regret it.’

Neither of them saw Shaun peeking
through the gap in the bathroom door. He silently closed the door and took a
step back, wondering what on earth he had just witnessed.

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘There was a man in there,’
Natasha said as the two women entered the parking lot. ‘He overheard our
conversation.’

Tanya stopped in mid-stride and
looked up at the building. ‘Who? Where?’

Natasha closed her eyes and
concentrated for a moment. ‘It’s Jared’s old friend Shaun, from Whyte &
Greene.’

‘How did this happen?’ Tanya
snapped. ‘I didn’t see anyone!’

‘He was hiding in the bathroom.’

Tanya cursed and slammed the palm of
her hand against the roof of a car. ‘This changes everything, Nahemah.’

‘What do you propose I do?’

Tanya didn’t need to think it
through. ‘Kill him,’ she said.

Natasha nodded. ‘It shall be done.’

‘Do it tonight. I don’t care how, I
just want him dead.’

‘As you wish.’

Tanya cursed and lit a cigarette.
‘Make sure you don’t mess this one up as well,’ she said as she buried the
lighter back in her purse. When Natasha didn’t answer, she looked up to drive
home the importance of her request. She looked around the parking lot as her
words trailed off.

Natasha was gone.

*   
-    -    -    *

The orange glow in the sky was still
a distance away, but Jared could tell that he was nearing its source. It felt
as if the blade of a knife had been slipped between his ribs. The fall must
surely have snapped off a short-rib or something. Every time he placed weight
on his right foot, a stabbing pain shot through his leg, causing him to walk
with a slight limp. If that beast was to sniff him out and chase him again, he
would surely be done for.

Something exploded and Jared ducked
instinctively as the all the windows of a nearby house shattered into thousands
of tiny shards.

After what felt like a safe time,
Jared continued along the road.
Must have been a gas leak or something
,
Jared thought and shuddered at the idea of encountering that jumping bear-thing
again.

The sun was setting. Darkness would
soon swallow up Kelwick. Jared noticed that the darker it became, the brighter
the orange sky seemed to light up. Was it a beacon? A sort of flare? An
encampment where he could find people that could tell him what on earth was
going on? He figured that he would find out soon enough.

Something distracted Jared. Some
sort of movement in the distance.
Oh no!
Jared thought and his heart
pulled tight in his chest. He relaxed somewhat when he realised that the shapes
in the distance were human. Six of them.

‘Hey!’ he shouted and waved his arms
through the air as he limped toward them. They stopped and turned. One pointed
at him and the whole group approached him.

‘You guys have no idea how glad I am
to see you...’

Jared’s words trailed off as he
neared them. Something was wrong. Although he was accustomed to the constant
smell of smoke and burning rubber, another stench became unmistakably clear as
he neared the group of people. The smell of burnt hair and flesh. The exact
same smell that followed the beast that almost killed him. Through the dimming
light Jared could just make out the features of the men.

‘Oh no...’

Their hairless heads were burnt;
their clothes bloody and torn. One of the men opened his mouth and gurgled a
raspy scream.

Jared ran. Pain shot through his
legs as he fled down the road.
Not again!
He looked behind him and saw
the six men running after him, gaining distance with each pace.
This can’t
be happening! This isn’t real!

The half-charred, half-dead group of
men were catching up fast. The stench stung Jared’s nostrils as breath forced
its way in and out. He kicked over a garbage can as he ran into a narrow alley
and almost lost his balance. A few seconds later he was sprinting down the alley
towards what appeared to be a wall.

Oh, come on!

Jared stopped at the wall and
searched for a way around it. There was none. The only way out of the alley was
the way he came in. The six figures advancing upon him blocked his way. They
closed the gap with rapid pace, like a pack of wild dogs, clawing the air as
they fought off each other to get to him.

Jared pushed a small crate next to
the wall.

The zombie-like creatures were just
about upon him.

He jumped, hoping to at least grab
hold of the top. If he didn’t, he would not have another chance.

Yes!

Jared pulled himself up with what
strength he had left. One of the men grabbed his ankle and tugged hard.

Jared screamed. It felt like they
were ripping his foot right off his leg. With one hard yank, he freed his foot
and fell over to the other side.

From the other side of the wall,
Jared could hear the men scratching and moaning.

What the hell was that?
Jared stood up and faced
the wall. It took him a while to regain his breath. He touched his right
shoulder and flinched. Slowly he advanced toward the wall, touching it lightly
with the tips of his fingers as he listened to the scratching on the other
side. Something terrible had happened to Kelwick. He didn’t know what, but what
he did know was that he had to get as far away from here as possible.