Stung (42 page)

Mark ran back to the car and found Carl in the backseat, stuffing tissues and trash into a crack in one of the back windows. The locusts had found the spot and were trying to crawl through.

Mark found an empty beer bottle nearby and swatted the locusts away. The metal backs of the monsters pinged as Mark swung the glass.

“What are these things?” Carl yelled frantically.

“Demons,” Mark said.

“Why aren't they bothering you?”

“They know I have the seal of God on my forehead,” Mark said. “They can't hurt me.”

Carl looked puzzled. “That stuff John told me about God … it's really true?”

Mark leaned close to the window. “It's your only hope against these things and against being separated from God forever.”

“I came up here to tell you John's story,” Carl yelled. “What he did haunts me. I read some of the stuff about God, but I felt so worthless. I could never do what John did. I don't deserve—”

“None of us deserves what God gives us,” Mark said. “But he wants to forgive us and make us part of his family.”

“I want that,” Carl said.

Another swarm of locusts descended on the car. Their beating wings were deafening. Some landed on Mark, hissing. He was surprised by how much they weighed. He shook them off and tried to clear the window. It was as if the demons didn't want Mark to talk with Carl about God.

“What do I need to do?” Carl shouted.

“Pray with me,” Mark said. “God, I'm sorry for the bad things I've done. I believe Jesus died for me and took my punishment. Change me right now and make me your child. And help me to live for you. In Jesus' name, amen.”

The locusts hissed as Carl said, “Amen.”

Judd sat still as the plane taxied to the terminal. The locusts covered the plane, hissing and chanting something. It sounded like “A bad one! A bad one!” Finally Judd recognized the word from having read Tsion Ben-Judah's Web site. It was
Abbadon
, the Hebrew word for the chief demon of the bottomless pit. “Abbadon, Abbadon,” the locusts hissed, calling out to their demonic leader.

People around Judd were terrified, holding hands over their ears and crying. Judd knew if they did manage to get to the terminal, it was unlikely anyone would be able to help them connect the ramp. Already he could see baggage handlers and maintenance workers writhing in pain on the runway.

As they approached the terminal, Judd stood and squeezed into the aisle. He searched for anyone with the mark of the believer.

When he reached first class, a flight attendant yelled at him to sit down. He shook his head.

“Get back in your seat, sir, or I'll have to call the captain!” the flight attendant said.

“I want to volunteer,” Judd said. “Those things out there are stinging people, but I can help.”

The flight attendant pulled Judd into the galley and closed the curtain. She whispered, “I won't have you upsetting the passengers.”

“I'm telling the truth,” Judd said. “If those things get inside the plane, they'll sting everybody.”

“Everybody but you?” the attendant said skeptically.

“I'm not a target. I can't explain right now why—”

“Then get to your seat. We're responsible for your safety and if you can't explain—”

“Okay,” Judd said. “Since I believe in Jesus, those locusts won't bother me. They're only after people who … who don't believe in God.”

“You're one of those people,” the woman said. “I believe in God, but I don't follow that crazy rabbi.”

The plane stopped. Judd put a hand out to steady himself. “You've got to believe me.”

Passengers whimpered and cried. They were too frightened to retrieve their things from the overhead bins.

“Wait here,” the attendant said.

A few moments later she returned with a member of the flight crew. “Linda said you've volunteered to go outside and help with the ramp,” the pilot said. “All of our personnel are down.”

Judd nodded. “If you can get me out of here without letting any of those things in, I can help. But if even one of them gets inside the cabin, it'll sting all the passengers.”

Lionel felt sorry for the worker trapped outside the door, but he knew he couldn't risk opening it and letting the locusts inside. Besides, Lionel knew that once the man was stung, there was nothing anyone could do.

Lionel ran to a security worker. “You've got to seal off the terminal!”

The man seemed dazed. He nodded, then lifted his radio. “Seal off all the entrances to the terminal!”

Lionel found Sam, and they watched Judd's plane taxi toward the terminal. The smoky cloud that had hung over them for days was gone, but the spread of the demon locusts was as thick as the cloud had been. The locusts flew into the window, piling on top of each other to get a look inside.

A worker on the tarmac screamed and beat his head against the concrete. Lionel shook his head.

“He's going to kill himself,” Sam said.

Lionel stared through the thousands of demons looking straight at them. “‘In those days people will seek death but will not find it,'” he said, quoting the verse from memory. “‘They will long to die, but death will flee away!'”

Mark peered through the car window, knocking away the locusts that kept coming. The car was covered with the beasts now, and he couldn't see Carl.

Mark raced to the other side and opened the door.

“Are you crazy?” Carl said.

Mark smiled. “Get out.”

Carl's eyes darted from Mark's face to the locusts buzzing around his head. Carl slid out of the car. “They're not stinging me.”

“They won't,” Mark said, pointing to his forehead. “See this?”

“It's a cross,” Carl said. “I didn't notice that when I first met you.”

“You have one just like it. Come on,” Mark said, “I want to get you back to meet the others. And I want to hear John's story.”

Vicki checked on Janie later in the day. The girl thrashed and moaned. She shivered as if it were the middle of winter.

Conrad brought some cool cloths and stood by Vicki. “We gave her every chance.”

Vicki nodded. Finally, Janie relaxed enough to speak. “Why didn't you tell me?”

“We tried,” Vicki said. “You wouldn't listen.”

“Why would God do such a thing to me?” Janie said. “I can't stand the pain.”

“Give your life to God now, Janie,” Vicki said.

“Will it make it stop hurting?” Janie said.

“I don't think so, but—”

“Then what good is your God anyway?” Janie yelled. “Get out! Both of you, get out!”

Conrad followed Vicki downstairs. They had closed every opening in the house and still the locusts were finding their way inside.

Vicki had prepared enough food and water downstairs to keep people alive for a few weeks. At some point they would need to get more supplies, assuming the locusts continued their attack. Vicki couldn't wait to log onto the Web and see what more Tsion Ben-Judah had to say.

Someone screamed. Darrion and Shelly were calling for help.

“Can you clear these bugs off the stairway door?” Vicki said.

“I'll do my best,” Conrad said. He grabbed the piece of firewood and started whacking. There were at least a hundred locusts chewing, biting, and scratching to get inside. A few minutes later the locusts lay in a heap, stunned.

Vicki grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen and opened the stairwell door. She ducked inside and slammed it behind her, inspecting the basement as she walked downstairs. Locusts scratched on the walls, but none were inside.

She raced to the secret entrance to the room below. She lifted the trapdoor and gasped. Charlie, Melinda, and Lenore cowered in one corner of the room. Shelly and Darrion stood by the tunnel door, their feet planted firmly in the dirt.

“They're digging through the mud underneath the door,” Darrion shouted. “We can't hold them much longer!”

Vicki raced back to the room above and grabbed a loose board. Shelly screamed again. “One of them's getting through!”

“Come up here!” Vicki shouted, motioning for Charlie, Melinda, and Lenore to follow her.

The three scrambled up the stairs into the room. Shelly and Darrion struggled to keep the locusts from working through the mud. One of the demons clawed its way through and showed its ugly head. Shelly was terrified. She jumped back from the doorway just as Vicki brought the board and slapped it on the ground.

But it was too late. One of the demons flew into the room, its teeth bared, looking for a victim.

Lenore screamed from above, “My baby! Don't let it hurt my baby!”

Vicki glanced down into the corner at the makeshift crib Charlie had made. Tolan was awake and thrashing under the covers.

The locust glanced at Vicki, Shelly, and Darrion, then darted for the corner. It hovered over the crib, its teeth dripping with venom.

“No!” Vicki shouted.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jerry B. Jenkins
(
www.jerryjenkins.com
) is the writer of the Left Behind series. He owns the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild, an organization dedicated to mentoring aspiring authors. Former vice president for publishing for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, he also served many years as editor of
Moody
magazine and is now Moody's writer-at-large.

His writing has appeared in publications as varied as
Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts
, in-flight magazines, and dozens of other periodicals. Jenkins's biographies include books with Billy Graham, Hank Aaron, Bill Gaither, Luis Palau, Walter Payton, Orel Hershiser, and Nolan Ryan, among many others. His books appear regularly on the
New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal
, and
Publishers Weekly
best-seller lists.

Jerry is also the writer of the nationally syndicated sports story comic strip
Gil Thorp
, distributed to newspapers across the United States by Tribune Media Services.