The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (58 page)

A single tear dropped onto the first page of the book:
The
Third Great War and the Rise of the Antichrist.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

South Africa:
The Following
Day

It was a beautiful morning. The
skies were painted a glorious mixture of pink, purple, blue, and just a splash
of orange. The clouds were alive, and it was during times like these that
Trevor almost felt like he could believe in God. He quickly dismissed the idea.
He believed that there were perfectly rational explanations for any special
effects that nature could provide.
It’s because nature itself was created by
a perfectly rational God
, he could hear Norman’s voice say inside his head.
He checked the time on his watch. It was 6:30 AM, and if the traffic held up,
he was going to be late. He had half an hour to get to work before his shift
would start, and he still had to get past the building security before he could
log into his console and begin to work. He leaned over to switch on the radio,
but a sudden movement in the corner of his eye made him slam on the brakes. A
white Golf swerved in front of his car and left the road at high speed.

‘What the—?’ was all he could manage before another car
smashed into the rear of his, sending him clear off the shoulder of the road
and to a crashing halt in a ditch.

Trevor’s head spun. Blood oozed from a cut above his
right eye and he struggled to remain conscious. With shaking hands he unlocked
the car and fumbled with the handle, using his shoulder to force the door open.
Trevor noticed thick smoke everywhere as he painfully made his way out of the
car. His chest burned as if it was on fire, and his lungs would only support
short gasps of air. In the distance, he could hear more tires screeching, cars
colliding, and people screaming in anguish.
This is no ordinary accident
,
he thought to himself as he looked around, trying to focus his eyes. He stepped
forward, but an instant pain surged through his leg and he yelled out as his
leg buckled underneath him, sending him crashing to the ground. For a moment he
thought he had broken his leg, but after rubbing it for a while he noticed that
it was only his ankle that had been badly sprained. His eyes stung as the blood
from the cut ran into them and he had to wipe them violently before he could
open them again. He ripped off the right sleeve of his shirt, rolled it up, and
pressed the bundled cloth against the cut as he slowly tried to stand up again.
Oh no,
he thought as he looked at his car. It was totally wrecked. More
screeches. More cars colliding with a sickening crunch. Trevor could hear
people screaming, but it was impossible to see very far. The smoke had gotten
progressively worse, and it felt as if his lungs had been filled with acid.
Tears streamed from his burning eyes as he limped up the shoulder of the road.

‘Oh Hell,’ Trevor said as he viewed the mangled scene
in front of him. Burning cars and trucks were piled onto one another as far as
the smoke allowed him to see.

‘
Help me!
’ he heard a woman scream desperately
from one of the cars. ‘Help me, please,’ she pleaded, this time her voice
trailing off into a sob. ‘I’m stuck!’

‘Where are you?’ Trevor yelled in the general direction
that the voice was coming from. There was no reply. He tried to move in the
direction that the woman had originally shouted from, but the smoke and the
screaming people all around him disorientated him, and soon he couldn’t hear
her anymore.

‘The end is here,’ a man hissed as he ran past Trevor.
His eyes darted about as he tried to open a car door to see what he could take
inside. ‘Ezekiel spoke of this,’ he said as he took a cell phone from the car.
‘We’re all going to die.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Trevor asked, but the man
ignored him, and instead moved to the next car as he quoted various scriptures
and raided more wreckages. Trevor ignored him and moved his aching body down the
road to see if there might be someone who might know what had happened.

‘Samantha?’ a woman shouted frantically as she limped
past Trevor. She held her bleeding arm, but was more concerned with finding her
‘Samantha’ than for her own safety. Her face was caked in blood and dirt, and
she was crying and shouting at the same time, a sense of desperation and
terrible loss breaking through her voice. ‘
Samantha, where are you?
’

‘Can I help?’ Trevor asked, his voice sounding useless
in his own ears.

‘Have you seen my daughter?’ she asked as tears flowed
down her dirty cheeks.

‘I...I haven’t...’

She began to weep and walked on, shouting ‘Samantha’ as
far as she went.

He directed his attention to a car near him to see if
there was anyone that he could help. The car was empty, but locked; the keys
still in the ignition.
What caused this?
Trevor wondered as he looked at
the burning cars and limping people all around him. Limbs and other body parts
littered the street, and everything was painted with blood. The smoke stung his
eyes again and he wiped his soot-covered face with the back of his hand.

He coughed so violently that he thought he was going to
cough up blood. He felt dizzy and realized that he had to get away from this
scene as quickly as possible. Passing out now would surely mean certain death.
Another man walked past, missing an arm.

What’s happening?
Trevor wondered as he limped back
towards the edge of the road.
What the Hell is going on?

.II.

 
‘The whole aim of
practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and thus clamorous to be
led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them
imaginary.’

- H.L. Mencken

It was an early morning for
Malcolm. He rubbed his hand over his face, hoping that it would make the
numbness go away. He had lost a lot of sleep since the blast in Jerusalem
almost a month ago.

Timothy and Angie made their way to the school grounds.
Close to the main entrance, Angie turned around and waved to her father. Her
smile always managed to melt his heart, no matter what mood he was in, or how
hectic his day had been. He forced a smile and waved back. It was only a matter
of seconds before his two children entered the building.

Malcolm started his motor and shifted the ’98 Volvo
into first. As he pulled out of the curb, a brown station wagon clipped the
front end of his car, swerved to the left, and came to a crashing halt against
a tree. Malcolm unbuckled himself, jumped from his car, and sprinted toward the
crashed vehicle.

‘Are you okay?’ Malcolm asked as he leaned over to open
the door. It was locked. Malcolm cupped his hands against the window of the car
and peered into the window. At first he had to reposition himself to block the
sun’s reflection from the glass. He couldn’t see anyone in the car and
repositioned himself again for a better look.

‘What on Earth...?’ he asked as he moved to the back
window. From his viewpoint there was no one in the car. But surely that would
be impossible.

Malcolm stood in bewilderment as others joined him. The
car just stood there, empty and hissing.

What’s going on here?
Malcolm thought.
How can an
unmanned car drive down the road by itself?
More questions flashed through
his mind, but the sound of screaming children drew his attention away from his
own immediate thoughts.

He turned towards the school as children piled out,
screaming. Something was wrong, and his main concern now was to ensure the
safety of his children.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

It was pure adrenaline that kept
Trevor from passing out. He managed to pull a man from a mangled vehicle, and
by some sheer twist of events ended up saving a woman and her eighteen-year-old
son as well. Somewhere in the distance, Trevor heard gunshots. The general
screaming and chaos just continued and, in the distance, Trevor heard a massive
explosion. The force of the blast almost knocked him off balance. It could have
been a fuel truck, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

Trevor was losing consciousness; fast. His head was
spinning and his knees felt weak. He thought that if he could only lie down for
a while, if he could only rest his head and sleep if off for a while, that
maybe he would wake up and find out that it had only been a bad dream. A
really
bad dream.

Trevor dropped down on his knees, coughing as tears
streamed down his cheeks. The screams and moans of the people around him were
now only muffled, distant, background sounds. Each heartbeat exploded in his
ears
and, despite people running past him and
screaming; all he could hear was his heavy rasp breathing.
What had caused
this? Why?

Another explosion not too far behind Trevor
flung him forward and he hit his hand hard against a metallic object. Even
though no bones were broken, he thought he heard his knuckles crack. It felt as
if a million needles pricked his flesh every time he moved his fingers.

Trevor looked dumbstruck at the
motorcycle that almost
broke his hand. He called out for the owner, but no one was even close to where
he was lying.

With what little strength he had left, he managed to
push the bike onto its wheels. The keys were still in the ignition and, after
kick starting it; he was relieved to find the tank almost three quarters full.
Trevor was grateful for all the years of dirt bike racing that he had done as a
teen. He pulled back on the throttle and the bike jerked into motion. He almost
lost his balance but, with a little weight shifting, the bike regained
stability and sped away.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

It didn’t take Malcolm long to find
Timothy. The boy was running from the main entrance just as Malcolm hurried up
the steps.

‘Dad?’ Timothy called out as he ran towards his father.

‘Timothy!’ Malcolm grabbed his son in his arms. ‘What’s
going on?’

‘I don’t know,’ Timothy said, his eyes wide and wild,
and his breathing faster than normal. ‘We were all moving to class when some of
the kids disappeared.’

‘What?’ Malcolm asked. ‘What do you mean?’

‘They’re gone, Dad. Vanished into thin air.’

A sudden fear gripped Malcolm as he looked towards the
main entrance of the school.

‘Angie!’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Andrew pulled the pillow tighter
over his head. He only came home about an hour and a half earlier
and had a pounding headache. In fact, his head was
still partly spinning; the result of another product launch gone way overboard.

He moaned as an explosion ripped through the city
somewhere in the distance. His dream adapted itself, making him believe that
the sounds he was hearing were actually part of what he was dreaming at that
exact same moment. Another explosion and people screaming in the distance only
made him groan. It wasn’t until a helicopter flew right by his window that he
actually forced his eyes open.

‘What are you guys doing?’ he asked as he stumbled to
the large, full-frame window overlooking the city.

The sun stung his eyes as he opened the curtains and a
sharp, stabbing pain shot through his head. He didn’t quite know what hit him,
but it felt like a freight train. Andrew blinked a few times to try and focus
his eyes and swallowed hard to try and rid his mouth of the dry cork-like
taste. Eventually his brain registered the smoke covered scene in front of him.

‘Oh Hell...’ he said.

Another stinging pain shot into his head and he made a
mental note not to make any more sudden moves or sounds for the remainder of
the day. A sudden explosion a few blocks away made him break that rule as he
instinctively jerked back.

He cursed and made his way down the hallway and into
the living room with the painstaking precision of a drunken driver walking the
white line. It took some time to figure out which button to press, but
eventually he found the right one. A few seconds later, a GMN news reporter was
yelling through his home entertainment speakers.

‘The scene reeks of death and destruction!’ the
reporter shouted out of breath while trying to protect herself from the chaos
of running people and flying shrapnel. ‘It’s like a warzone here.’

Andrew picked up his cell phone and tried calling
Norman without taking his eyes off the television. The phone just beeped and
only when he checked the screen did he see that there was no reception. He then
tried the land line number instead. ‘Pick up the phone, Norm,’ he said as he
rubbed his temples, trying to massage the pain away. It didn’t really help.

Right
, he thought as the phone line cut off.
No more
drinking from now on.
He looked at the phone and dialled again. This time
the number was engaged. Andrew redialled once again, and it was still engaged.

‘Come on!’ he shouted as he pressed the redial button.
This time it rang, but once again, no one answered.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘
Angie!
’ Malcolm shouted as
he and Timothy ran through the school hallways. ‘Angela Freedman!’

‘There’s one of her teachers,’ Timothy said and pointed
to a young woman that appeared to be frantically searching for something, or
someone.

‘Excuse me,’ Malcolm said as they approached the
teacher. ‘I am looking for my daughter, Angie Freedman. Have you perhaps seen
her?’

The woman stared at Malcolm and then burst out into
tears. She pressed her back against the wall and slid down as she sobbed
uncontrollably.

Malcolm looked at Timothy who just shrugged.

‘I’m looking for Angela Freedman,’ Malcolm said again.
‘Have you seen her?’

‘She...she’s gone,’ the woman said through her sobs.

‘What do you mean ‘she’s gone’?’ Malcolm asked.

‘She vanished with a few others. Right before my very
own eyes.’

‘Vanished?’

‘It’s like I told you, Father,’ Timothy said. ‘Some of
the kids just disappeared.’

‘Not Angie,’ Malcolm said and continued his search.

‘The teacher said that Angie was one of the—’

‘
Not Angie!
’ Malcolm cut him off. He didn’t
believe that his daughter could just ‘disappear’ into thin air. He would find
her, even if it took him the entire day.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Sir,’ Ryan said as he entered
Victor Yoshe’s office. ‘Have you seen the GMN reports about the vanishings?’

‘I have,’ Victor said as he gently stroked his chin.
‘Start the car, Ryan.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Ryan confirmed. ‘Where will we be
travelling to?’

‘GMN head office,’ Victor said and directed his
attention to the twelve television screens on his office wall.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The ride to the office turned out
to be a tricky one. Along the roads, people were shooting at one another, some
were looting stores, and still others had set fire to gas stations.

What’s going on?
Trevor wondered as he manoeuvred his
bike around bodies and debris. He wondered if the chaos in the streets was
linked to the accident on the highway.

A loud crashing sound made him stop the
bike and look around. Someone had backed a truck into an ATM cash machine and
was scrambling with others to get as much of the cash as possible.

It took an hour and a half to get to work, and when he
did, he was surprised at how desolate the building was. He figured that most
people were stuck in traffic because of the accident.

‘Hello?’ he shouted as he entered the office. There was
nothing but empty cubicles that filled the large open plan office space. ‘Is
anyone here?’

No one answered, but Trevor could hear someone weeping
softly. He followed the sound until he reached a cubicle where he saw a woman
hiding underneath her desk.

‘René?’ Trevor asked softly. ‘Are you okay?’

She flinched when he put out his hand, but after a few
seconds slowly reached out to him. When their hands made contact, she broke
down into loud sobs.

‘It’s okay,’ he said softly, trying to be comforting.
‘I’m here now. It’s okay.’

‘She...she...’ René couldn’t speak through her sobs.

Trevor just hugged her and patiently waited for her to
calm down a bit. Normally she wouldn’t hug a man. But this was different, and
the situation called for someone to protect her.

‘She…?’ Trevor asked when he figured that she was
finally calm enough to speak.

‘Sophia,’ René said.

‘The tea lady? What about her?’

‘She brought me some coffee. I was about to take it
from her when...’

She didn’t finish her sentence
but,
instead broke down and cried again.

‘She vanished?’ Trevor took a wild guess.

René nodded and buried her face in Trevor’s arms.

‘I...I tried to run outside...get some help...but when
I got there, it was chaos...
everywhere
...’

‘It’s okay,’ Trevor said and gently stroked her hair.
He thought about the empty cars on the highway and wondered what the extent of
the chaos was. Was it limited to their city? Was it South Africa? The entire
world, perhaps? ‘Everything is going to be all right,’ he lied. He had no idea
whether they were indeed going to be fine or not, but he kept that to himself
instead. Trevor held her for a few minutes until he was sure that she was
stable. He then sat her down on a chair and knelt down beside her.

‘I tell you what,’ he said. ‘Let me attend to this
bruise on my forehead, and then I will make us some coffee with extra sugar for
the shock. Is that a deal?’

She nodded, but didn’t let go of his arm.

‘I won’t be long,’ he said. ‘And I won’t disappear.’
Trevor forced a smile. ‘I Promise.’ He squeezed her hand lightly and then made
his way to the bathroom.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Malcolm was broken. After three
hours of frantic searching for Angie, he finally admitted defeat.

‘Maybe she missed us at the entrance and
walked home,’ Malcolm said as he grasped at something—
anything
—that
would ease his mind.