The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (93 page)

‘I have no choice, Susan,’ he told his wife. ‘Not me,
at least.’

‘Can’t we just disappear, like the others?’

‘They are cowards,’ Samuel said and slammed his glass
down on the table. ‘Lord Yoshe will hunt them down and torture them in
unimaginable ways. Do you want that?’

Susan remained quiet.

‘Do you want that?’

She didn’t look up. ‘No.’

‘Neither do I,’ he said. ‘I would rather go and command
an army, and then come back and spend the rest of my days here with you.
Wouldn’t that be better than hiding in some cave somewhere, eating sticks and
mud?’

She nodded as a tear rolled down her cheek. ‘If you
love me,’ she said after scraping her food some more, ‘you will not leave.’

‘And if you love me,’ he said and stood up from the
table, ‘you wouldn’t expect me to stay.’

‘I
do
love you,’ she said and started weeping.

‘I will be in my study,’ he said as he turned to leave.
‘Do not disturb me.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Samuel entered his study and sat
down in a handcrafted Rosewood chair. He switched on the computer and while it
booted up, poured himself a drink. Perhaps Susan had a valid point. He still
loved her, but since the alien attacks a little over six years ago, he didn’t
care about her like he used to.

Samuel had become his own priority, and had noticed
that it had been the same with everyone else. Memories flooded his mind as he
remembered all the good times the two of them had together. He put down his
drink and started typing an email addressed to one of Victor’s secretaries:

Dear Penny,

Please inform Sovereign Emperor,
Lord Yoshe that I will not be able to join him in his crusade to rid the world
of the terrorist menace.

He stared at the sentence for a
while and decided that he would go through with it and send the letter. Samuel
wanted to get away from everything just as much as he wanted the Christian
terrorists out of the picture. A movement in the corner of the room caught his
attention and he looked up. At first he couldn’t see anything but, as his eyes
adjusted to the lighting of the room, he became vaguely aware of a figure
standing there, observing him.

‘Is anyone there?’ he asked, thinking that it could be
the dim lights playing tricks on his eyes. ‘Show yourself.’

The figure moved forward from the darkness as if
floating on air, and stopped at the edge of his desk. It was a cloaked figure,
so Samuel couldn’t see features like a face or feet, but he could see the
hands. They weren’t hands. They were claws.

‘Who...who are you?’ Samuel asked.

‘I am The Gatherer,’ the cloaked figure hissed in a
coarse whisper. ‘I have come to collect you for the journey.’

‘The journey?’ Samuel asked. ‘Where to?’

‘To Israel; to join Lord Yoshe’s army.’

‘You can go back to Lord Yoshe and tell him that I’m
not coming.’

‘Oh, but you are,’ the figure hissed. ‘You know very
well where your loyalty liesss.’

‘I want to stay here with my wife. She is pregnant, and
I do not want to leave her here alone.’

‘You dare defy God?’ the figure asked and started
breathing in heavy wheezes.

‘No...’ Samuel said. ‘It’s just...my wife will never
forgive me if I went.’

‘Then you will just have to make her understand...one
way or another...’

Samuel thought about his wife. He thought about the
coming baby. He wanted to be there for them, especially for the birth. But the
hooded figure was right. He had sworn an oath to Victor, and his God did have
priority over his wife.

‘Okay,’ he finally said. ‘I will do it.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘Thousands of people are flocking to
Israel daily to join Sovereign Emperor Yoshe’s army. Cities appear barren and
empty as entire communities abandon their once comfortable lifestyles for one
of bunkers and desert sand. Many without Shields have come out of hiding to
join Lord Yoshe’s side; and swore their allegiance to him as they received
their Shields and immunity.

‘Bounty hunters have doubled their efforts to seek
those without Shields. This has come shortly after Lord Yoshe announced that
the reward for turning in a terrorist that converts will be trebled.

‘As many people that join the ranks of Lord Yoshe’s
army, just as many are dying of dehydration, starvation, plagues, and other
illnesses. The bodies are piling up as the soldiers are gathering. Great masses
of soldiers from China and Russia have already marched across the dry Euphrates
to join Lord Yoshe’s army. So far the enemy has only responded with a few
random guerrilla attacks at certain base camps.

‘Join me tonight as we cover the events unfolding in
the Middle East. This is Connie Jacobs for GMN, live.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-_____

Ryan looked at the base where the
newcomers were sent for induction before being sent off to their respective
camps. There were thousands of men, women, and children; all lining up to
become heroes of the Great War.

Almost all of the people that lined up had sores and
boils covering their exposed flesh, and Ryan recoiled from the rotting stench.
Most of the people had scratched their sores open and had terrible scars and
cuts on their faces. According to Victor, the Christians were responsible for
this. Ryan wasn’t so sure anymore.

Tanks rolled by as choppers flew overhead. Many trucks
loaded with people left for base camps. Nearby, one hundred thousand Imperial
Soldiers stood guard. They encircled most of the camp and acted as a boundary
between the new recruits and the terrorists. Ryan could hear them in the
distance: chanting and shouting as they slammed their swords on their shields
in a steady beat.

In the midst of all the happenings, Ryan stood there,
looking around him, wondering where he was supposed to fit into the picture.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The hardest part wasn’t taking out
the N-Force officers in Jerusalem. Neither was it getting rid of the followers
of Victor. The hardest part was taking out those almost invincible Imperial
Soldiers.

‘Shoot them in the legs first,’ Malcolm said. ‘Then you
can take them out later.’

This appeared to work. Malcolm had figured out their
one weakness. It wasn’t entirely a weakness, as it still took the same
firepower that would drop an elephant bull, but it was effective enough and
Malcolm figured that if the Imperial Soldiers couldn’t walk, they couldn’t
attack either.

The battle lasted three days but, in the end, Malcolm
and his small army had managed to take back Jerusalem.

‘Units four and seven,’ a fatigued Malcolm shouted into
a radio. ‘Fortify the city!’

‘Roger that, sir,’ replied the leaders.

Malcolm needed rest, badly, but he knew that he would
get none until he had restored the Temple first.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

It was difficult for Malcolm to
believe that he had lived most of his life in this city. Buildings had been
blown up or vandalized, bodies littered the streets and thousands were either
impaled or crucified.

‘Search the city for any remaining N-Force or Imperial
Soldiers, and bounty hunters,’ Malcolm said to one of his men. ‘And dispose of
them.’

The man saluted and left his side to gather a small
platoon.

Shards of glass cracked beneath his feet as he entered
the Temple. It had been trampled by Victor and his followers, defiled in the
worst possible ways. Decaying carcasses of offered pigs littered the place, but
what churned Malcolm’s stomach were the human sacrifices on the altars. The
humans—mostly prostitutes—were offered to Victor, alongside pigs and snakes.
The Holy of Holies had been ‘decorated’ with blood smeared pentagrams, and it
appeared that the blood was mostly human.

‘Why would You allow this to happen?’ Malcolm prayed
out loud. ‘Why didn’t You just strike them dead on the spot?’

The cool tingle of a gentle breeze was his only answer.

‘I will clean Your house, my Lord,’ he said as he took
a plastic bag and began picking up empty beer bottles. He wanted to be
personally involved in the destruction of the hologram image of Victor, as well
as tearing down his many statues.

Soon, his teams would eradicate any remaining followers
of Victor, and would fortify the Old City, blocking it off from the outside
world. It would then become the new headquarters that would be used to lure Victor
and his armies down from Megiddo. It would then only be a matter of days before
the legions of Victor’s army would arrive at their front gate. And then the
final battle would begin.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Both Trevor and Sumen were caught
off guard as a nearby explosion rocked and shook the building that René used to
live in. They both stared out the window and saw smoke and fire billowing from
a store across the street. People ran from the store and jumped into jeeps,
cheering as they sped off.

‘Bounty hunters,’ Sumen said as the scene unfolded.
‘They’re on their way here!’

‘We have to get out of here,’ Trevor said. ‘
Quick!
’

The two of them grabbed their bags and left through the
main door.  They could hear the jeeps screeching to a halt in front of the
building and decided to leave through the back. Eight armed men entered the
main entrance to the building, leaving four outside to guard the other exits.

‘They must have tracked the television signals or
something,’ Sumen said as they left the building through the rear entrance. It
would only be a matter of time before two armed men would be standing on the
very spot that they were standing on now. They had to act quickly.

‘We can get over the wall,’ Trevor said.

‘And cut yourself up,’ Sumen said and pointed to the
razor wire.

‘We have to get past it. We have no other choice.’

‘I have seen men try,’ Sumen said, ‘and lose limbs in
the process. It cannot be done.’

‘Wait!’ Trevor said. He lowered his voice to a
distressed whisper. ‘Somebody’s coming!’

‘Quick,’ Sumen said and shoved Trevor. ‘Hide behind
this dumpster.’

‘No, Sumen. I—’

‘
Just do it!
’

Trevor hid behind the dumpster and clenched his teeth.
Every breath he took exploded in his ears, and he wondered if his pursuers
could hear it too. He heard a man shouting, and then a few scuffling sounds. A
gunshot went off and Trevor almost gave up his position, had it not been for
his paralysed legs. A few seconds later there was silence. Trevor’s heart
bounced around in his throat, and his chest felt heavy. He tried to hold his
breath, but couldn’t.

‘Where’s the other one,’ he heard a stern voice demand.

‘There is no one else,’ he could hear Sumen’s voice
through clenched teeth.

At least he isn’t dead
, Trevor thought and he allowed his
muscles to relax a little.

‘Don’t lie to me,’ the stern voiced man yelled. ‘We
know that he’s here somewhere.’

Trevor heard a click. ‘We know you’re here,’ the man
shouted into the air. ‘Reveal yourself, and save us the trouble of searching
for you.’

Trevor didn’t move a muscle. His heart would soon
combust if it continued pounding so fast.

‘If you don’t show yourself by the time I count to
ten,’ the man said, ‘I will shoot your friend. I will then find you, and I will
kill you too; only a lot slower and a
lot
more painful.’

Jesus,
Trevor’s mind screamed.
Help us!

‘One,’

What must I do?

‘Two,’

Please, Lord!

‘Three,’

I’m sorry Sumen...

‘Four,’

I’m so terribly sorry. It was stupid to come here.

‘Five,’

Jesus, I beg of you!

‘Six,’

Help me just this one more time!

‘Seven,’

Please Jesus, You have helped me before!

‘Eight,’

I...I cannot do it...

‘Nine,’

I’m so sorry, Sumen. Please forgive me...

‘Ten!’

.XX.