The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (60 page)

‘Who are you looking for?’

‘I’m Andrew. I’m looking for Norman.’

‘Andy,’ Trevor said. ‘It’s me…Trevor.’

Andrew remained quiet for a moment. ‘Hey Trev. Is
Norman there?’

‘Nope,’ Trevor said. ‘I’ve searched this place.
Nothing.’

‘Do you think he is okay? I mean...with everything
that’s happening?’

‘That’s why I’m here,’ Trevor said. His head still
throbbed from the deep cut above his eye.

There was a moment of silence before Trevor spoke
again. ‘Listen, bud, I have to go now. Do you still have my number?’

Andrew confirmed.

‘Great. Call me at home in a few days once everything
has settled, okay?’

‘Will do,’ Andrew said. ‘Will you let Norman know that
I called?’

‘I left a message for him. If I do hear from him, I’ll
let him know.’

‘Thanks, Trev. Good luck.’

‘Thanks, Andy. You too. See you later.’

Trevor hung up.
Where are you, bro?
He thought as he rubbed the cut on his forehead. He
hated himself for not speaking to his brother again since he had left his
apartment that evening. There were still so many things that he wanted to say;
so many things that he still wanted to do with his brother, and now might never
be able to.

A
flicker of hope flittered into his eyes as the thought crossed his mind that
Norman might not have been a victim at all; that he was somewhere at a
community shelter, helping the badly hurt people. Maybe he had been hurt
himself, and thus unable to contact Trevor. It wasn’t a bright flicker, but it
was still a glimmer nonetheless, and he would hold on to it until facts proved
otherwise.
After
one final glance he locked the door as he left the apartment.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The streets were eerily quiet as
Trevor weaved the motorcycle between rubble, car wrecks, dead bodies, and
looted buildings. He only passed two cars heading in the opposite direction on
his way home. The rest, he figured, were either still hiding out, or making
their way on foot.

The looters had actually listened to Victor and had
stopped their violent outbreaks.

Another notch for the unknown man with the amazing
super powers
,
he though as he rode past a burnt-out appliance store. Trevor looked at the
skies. The smoke of cars and burning buildings still hung over the Earth like a
looming cloud of doom, but at least breathing was easier. He coughed violently
as he inhaled a wisp of sulphur.
Somewhat easier, at least
.

Trevor looked at what remained of the buildings around
him, and for a moment, it felt like he was caught in one of those futuristic
apocalyptic movies. He shuddered at the thought and pulled back on the
throttle.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

It took some effort to get the bike
into the elevator, and even more so to get it out again. He pushed it into his
apartment and found a suitable spot for it. He didn’t want to park it
downstairs for fear that someone else might lay claim to it.

Trevor took a hot, relaxing bath, and then
got ready to prepare dinner. René would be there soon, and he wanted to have
the food ready by the time she arrived. The apartment had an open plan kitchen,
so he was able watch television while he worked.

Like Norman, he also made a mean roasted
chicken. But he was no Norman, so for a first-impression dinner, he opted for
grilled steak with a thin layer of molten cheese and some jacket potatoes.

GMN was covering the alien attacks and the
path of destruction left in the wake of the war. The global news channel aired
amateur video footage that someone had submitted of what appeared to be an
‘alien craft’ being shot down.

‘No one that I have spoken to have actually seen any of
the alien beings yet,’ a field reporter yelled into his microphone, ‘but
authorities have notified us that these creatures look almost exactly like us.
Aside from sharing our facial features, they are considerably taller than us,
with long, silver-blonde hair. The only noticeable difference, other than their
exceptional height, is that they have six fingers on each hand, and six toes on
each of their feet.’

Trevor still found it hard to grasp the reality of the
situation. It was ironic how Norman, who never believed in aliens, most
probably ended up as one of their primary targets.
If you were a victim, I
sure hope your God can explain this to you, bud
, Trevor thought as he
flipped through the channels.

There was a cheerleading chick-flick on one of the movie
channels, and he was back on GMN before the girl in the extremely short dress
could finisher her,
‘Gimme a—
’ cheer.

GMN reporter, Connie Jacobs was in a studio,
interviewing a bald, spectacled man about the alien attacks. ‘Well,’ the man
said thoughtfully. ‘The signs have always been there: the Crop Circles,
Roswell, the Pyramids, The Face on Mars, and even Stonehenge. I guess that,
despite some Hollywood horror movies, we have always assumed that if there was
actually intelligent life out there, it would be friendly.’

‘You guessed wrong, buddy,’ Trevor said to the
bespectacled man on the television. The steak was starting to grill nicely, and
he hoped that René would be impressed.

The interview was over and the camera panned and zoomed
in on Connie’s face. ‘Thank you for your time, Mr. Harris,’ she said and
greeted the man before turning to face the camera. ‘There you have it: aliens
attacking Earth; People with strange gifts appearing out of nowhere. We surely
have a strange time ahead of us. This is Connie Jacobs for GMN News. Back to
you, Rebecca.’

‘Thank you, Connie,’ the anchor behind the news desk
said as she prepared to read the headlines. ‘Many of the world leaders are
still missing since early this morning. There is no telling if they were
victims of the alien attacks, or if they were killed as a result of the ensuing
chaos.

‘All major airports have been evacuated and ground
controls have landed some of their unmanned planes using ‘Global Hawk’
technology. This technology enables a pilot from the ground to take over and
control up to as many as four unmanned planes at once. Some of the smaller
unmanned planes that were not Global Hawk compliant crashed in various areas
around the world. According to rescue workers, the only bodies found on those planes
were those of the passengers. All the planes that had crashed were missing the
pilot.’

A sudden knock on the door made Trevor jump. ‘I’m
coming,’ he shouted and checked the progress of the steaks before heading for
the door. René’s weak smile greeted him as he opened the door, and he welcomed
her into his apartment. She struggled to carry all the bags that she had
brought with, and he took most of them for her. Other than a few personal
items, the bags contained mostly food and clothing.

‘I’m glad to see you made it okay,’ he said. ‘Seen any
‘aliens’ on the way?’

‘None,’ she said, quite seriously.

‘Let me put this in your room,’ he said and heaved the
bags toward the spare bedroom. She carried what remained after him, examining
his place as they went.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Malcolm jolted awake at a loud
knock on the front door. They had fallen asleep. Mary and Timothy also woke as
he stumbled through the dark, trying to find the light switch.
How long have
we been sleeping?
He switched on the light.

Timothy squinted and buried his face in his hands. He
moaned about the light and then pulled a blanket over his head.

Could it be, Angie?
Malcolm thought, but knew that his
expectations would probably only end in disappointment. He opened the door, but
kept the chain on. ‘Can I help you?’ he asked in the direction of a silhouette.

‘Please, sir,’ he heard a soft voice plead. ‘My wife,
two daughters, and I need shelter and food. Would you mind taking us in?’

Under normal circumstances, Malcolm’s initial response
would have been negative; but these weren’t normal circumstances. He unchained
the door and opened it, allowing the man and his family to enter his home. His
stomach turned when he realized that the man thanking him with a firm handshake
was a Muslim.

He would never in his life have imagined this scenario
taking place under his roof, but with all that had happened today, he actually
welcomed his guests. Mary and Timothy also seemed relieved to have the extra
company.

‘My name is Kassim Patel,’ the man said, then pointed
to his wife. ‘And this is my wife, Nasreen, and our daughters, Ameena and
Laila.’

‘I’m Malcolm,’ he introduced himself. ‘And this is my
wife, Mary, and our son, Timothy.’ He wanted to say something about Angie, but
couldn’t find the words. Mary knelt down and hugged the two girls who reminded
her so much of her own daughter; and for a moment she was hugging Angie. That
was all she wanted to do the entire day.

‘Let’s prepare dinner, shall we?’ she asked the girls,
who shyly agreed with eager nods.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘I hope you’re hungry,’ Trevor said
as he checked up on his
steak-ala-Trev
.

‘What are you making?’ she asked carefully.

‘Just grilling a steak with some potatoes,’ he said
modestly.

She pulled her face. ‘I’m a vegetarian,’ she said,
careful not to sound too blunt and hurt his feelings.

Trevor looked down at the frying meat, and didn’t say
anything for a while. ‘Okay then,’ he said before the quietness had a chance to
become uncomfortable. ‘You get a double portion of potatoes and I get an extra
steak.’ He chuckled and winked. ‘We both win.’ He then started on a
vegetarian-friendly sauce for the jacket potatoes and motioned her to the
living room.

‘Is there something I can help you with?’ she asked,
eager to earn her keep.

‘I’m good,’ he said. ‘You just get comfortable.’

She humbly agreed and made her way to the living room.
‘Mind if I watch this?’ she asked and pointed at the television.

‘Not at all,’ Trevor said. ‘Make yourself at home.’

She smiled faintly and turned up the volume of the
television as she sank deeply into his couch. ‘Mr. Harris,’ the interviewer
asked, ‘what do you think was the cause of today’s worldwide chaos of death and
destruction?’

A subtitle introduced the man as the American Deputy
Minister of Defence. ‘Well, Miss Jacobs,’ he said. ‘There are three widespread
theories going around as to the actual cause behind this morning’s global
carnage. The first of these theories are that it was a weapon of mass
destruction, capable of eradicating random people around the world.’

‘Is there such a weapon, Mister Harris, and if so, who
would have used it?’

‘There is no known weapon of this calibre, Miss
Jacobs,’ the bald man said truthfully. ‘And since every single country was
affected by it, it is unreasonable to think that it could have been a manmade
device. To my knowledge, there is no government on Earth that would do this to
its own people.’

‘So it is safe to assume, for the time being, that no
weapons of mass destruction had been used?’

‘That is correct,’ the man said.

‘And the second theory?’

‘The second theory is what some over-zealous Christians
would call the Rapture.’

‘The Rapture?’

Mr Harris nodded. ‘It is an event where ‘God’ is
supposed to remove His chosen people from Earth before the total annihilation of
the planet.’

The speaker had Trevor’s full attention. Norman had
mentioned the Rapture a couple of times before, and he even had an ‘
in case
of the Rapture, this vehicle will be unmanned,
’ bumper sticker on his car.

‘And your opinion about that, Mister Harris?’

‘We very much doubt that this is the case, Miss
Jacobs,’ the bespectacled man said. ‘It is difficult to think that a ‘God of
love’ would allow such a terrible thing to happen to the people that He had
supposedly created. And if this theory did indeed ring true, how would you
explain the vast numbers of Christians still left on the planet? Some of the
most revered evangelists are still here. There has been almost no change in the
Christian community at all.’

He is right
, Trevor thought, feeling stupid for
almost believing—even if only for a split second—that it could have indeed been
the Rapture. After all, Andrew was a Christian and still here.

‘And the third theory?’ Connie asked.

‘Ah yes,’ Mister Harris answered excitedly. ‘The alien
attacks.’

‘This is the theory introduced by Victor Yoshe earlier
today, correct?’ Connie asked.