Master of Plagues, D. B. Reynolds [best books to read fiction .txt] 📗

700 feet was a sight to behold. Though a far cry from the Manhattan skyline in New York City, Stuart became mesmerized by the post-modernist architecture of the Bank of America Plaza, the Renaissance Tower, JP Morgan Chase Tower, and Comerica Bank Tower. The series of towers decorated downtown Dallas with elegance. Tourists got a treat once they glanced upon the structures.
After a short night of touring around the city, Stuart decided to get to his business-at-hand. A full tank of gas led him to the location he desired. Driving through different parts of Dallas brought him to an area where very few residents frequented. Land developers had forsaken this area. On an outstretch of land about thirteen miles outside the city limits, Stuart discovered something that only he understood.
The late afternoon sun didn’t joke around when it came to sending people to the hospital for heat strokes and dehydration. Some even suffered heat-related deaths. Stuart came fully prepared. He wore a wide-brimmed straw hat with a white T-shirt and thin cotton shorts. Inside his car was a large insulated cooler with bottled water and green tea in the can. The sun showed no mercy as it sent down rays of scorching heat. Dallas’ weather services issued a heat warning to residents of the city and surrounding areas.
Stuart guzzled down a cold bottle of water and wiped his face. Scattered throughout the barren flat land were mounds and mounds of soft crumbly soil. Only Stuart knew why he’d come to that particular area of Dallas. Living and thriving inside those dirt mounds were red imported fire ants. The vicious little insects numbered in the hundreds-of-thousands. The shape of the mounds indicated they were definitely red imported fire ants. None of them were visible at the moment.
Stuart reached for the black cord string around his neck and slipped out the magical talisman. Using fierce concentration, with his eyes closed tight, he rubbed the middle of the circle near the precious Hebrew lettering. Paranormally, the blazing sun which controlled the Dallas skies, moved further away into the heavenly bodies. This gave Dallas sudden relief from the merciless heat. The ground vibrated with force. The thousands of red imported fire ants shot up out of their mounds.
The flooding from watering or exposure to too much sunlight usually brought them out on the attack. The powers of the Universe were activated once more. The forces of the cosmos opened the skies and the powers from above split the ground wide open. Stuart witnessed the mounds become sucked under with great vacuum pressure. He got sucked under along with everything living along the barren land. Raging winds blew from unknown directions.
The ground closed back up. The tremor of an earthquake caused tons of dirt to fall beneath the surface. Stuart was no stranger to the secret world created beneath the Earth’s surface. The sanctum under the surface of Dallas appeared slightly different from that of New York City. Yet, another society known only to those with special powers had come alive. This society included red imported fire ants.
They’d been broken down into different classes called castes. Stuart looked around and saw thousands-upon-thousands of ants. Included among them were the wingless female ants. There were the winged female ants. There were the male ants. All of them were faithful in their role to ensure the survival of their colonies.
Central openings underneath the Earth were created for extensive tunneling systems. Stuart sent out cosmic telepathic messages to the largest individual in the colony. The queen fire ant stared back at him with flaming eyes like balls of reddish fire. She was the true head honcho of the colony. Ten inactive sub-queens surrounded the main queen as their way of showing their loyalty. Powers activated by the supreme Universe caused the queen ant to grow from a mere one-sixths of an inch to a colossal six feet tall. Stuart himself couldn’t believe his eyes.
First, he watched the one-time normal rat now known as “General Rahmaanteen” grow from several inches to the size of an NBA player. Now, he watched the queen of an ant colony grow to a larger human size. The Universal powers caused the other ants to grow to smaller human sizes. The queen had to be the dominant one, not only in stature, but also in size.
Stuart and the queen sent more telepathic messages to one another. A sparkling red glow formed around the body of the enormous insect. The glow penetrated the inner layers of her head, thorax, and abdomen. Stuart paid close attention to her pairs of legs and antennaes.
The antennaes sent telepathic waves into the air and straight into the genuis brain of Stuart. A strong vibration shook her copper brown head. The most brilliant ball of light shot into her dark abdomen. The powers of the Universe were now activated within the queen. Supernatural forces were also charged into every other member within the colony. Another strong tremor shook from underneath the Earth.
Stuart approached the queen with delight. “Do you understand who I am?”
“You have been ordained to become my master,” the queen ant spoke, the red cosmic glow more concentrated around her body.
“Do you know who has ordained my powers?”
“The One Most High, The Ruler of the Universe, has ordained your powers, master.”
“That is correct,” Stuart predicated. “From this day forward, I will be your master. You will forever address me as your master. Do you understand?”
“Yes, master.”
“You and your entire colony are to obey my every command. You are to show up when you have been summoned. Am I understood?”
“You are understood, master.”
“Remember, The Ruler of the Universe has all power over you, over myself, over the Earth, and over all of the Universe. It is through The Ruler of the Universe that all powers are activated. When you are given orders, you and the colony are to carry out those very orders. Is that clear?”
“Yes, master, it is clear.”
“Your powers are great. They are not of this world. They are not to be used for abominations. Now, you are part of something supremely divine. Are my words connecting with you?”
“Yes, master.”
“As I have told General Rahmaanteen and his great army, greatness will be in the wake of your very existence. Any life form on this Earth will submit to your powers and obey the will submitted by The One Most High. Do you follow me?”
“I follow you, master.”
“My works are not intended for evil purposes,” Stuart greatly emphasized. “The world in which we live in is already evil enough. I promised Rabbi Wedemeyer that my powers of working through creatures and nature will be used for the betterment of mankind. Yes, there will be some acts of vengeance taken against some perpetrators that will be non-fatal, somewhat non-inflammatory. Again, have I made myself clear?”
“Yes, master.”
“No longer will your colony destroy or devour the important crops which feed millions of people. No longer will your colony kill wildlife animals and leave them dead for the park rangers or conservationist. Such deeds will be left for the other colonies that exist throughout other domains. Colony, do you hear me?”
Loud chants echoed throughout the deep underground sanctum. “We hear you, master!”
All of the ants glowed with the brightest cosmic redness.
Stuart advanced closer to the queen. He rested both hands across the top of her head. “From this day forward, you shall be addressed as ‘Queen Amina’. From the historic books of the Hebrew faith, the name Amina means to be trustworthy and faithful. Queen Amina, you will be my trustworthy and faithful servant.”
“Master, it will be my pleasure, as well as a privilege, to be your faithful servant,” Queen Amina proudly succumbed, bowing her head in absolute servitude.
“Queen Amina, welcome to the sensationalistic family of Stuart Irwin Duffelmeyer.”
The antennaes bent side-to-side from the base of Queen Amina’s head. The redness from the jointed antennaes converted to a more exclusive glow. The queen of more than a colony of 200,000 red imported fire ants couldn’t’ve been prouder to serve her new master. Stuart rubbed the magical talisman and shifted into concentration mode. The powers of the Universe were activated. A bolt of cosmic energy shot through the galaxy and down onto Earth. The ground split back open. The skies returned to normal. This allowed Stuart and the colony of now human-sized ants to make their way through the tunneling systems.


CHAPTER—17

TO CREATE SOME HATE

The big difference Stuart noticed between New York City and Dallas were the people. The southeastern hospitality of Texans showed him there were nicer people somewhere else in the United States. How sweet it was for him to have left the Big Apple behind for a few days. The madness of Manhattan, he never missed it for a second. Cooler temperatures in Dallas showed some mercy on an early Saturday evening.
The high for the day reached 92 degrees with the heat index. Stuart decided to travel remotely outside the city limits. There had to be some eventful landscape other than downtown. A tourist map of an abandoned airfield peaked his attention. Traveling to a location where hardly anyone frequented suited him fine. He drove south of downtown Dallas to an old airport known as The Charles Echols Airport.
The former general aviation airport happened to be located on the southern edge of the Dallas city limits. Light winds blew scattered dust onto the old airplanes and buildings next to the hangars. The earliest reference to the old airfield dated back to 1942. Nearly four-thousand feet of decayed runway surrounded the area. Facing northwest at Highway 77, The Charles Echols Airport found its name on a registry for historical landmarks. Silence afforded visitors the opportunity to gather their thoughts.
Stuart parked on the shoulder of the decayed air runway. He climbed out of the rent-a-car and sucked in some of the mild humid Dallas air. From one of the old hangars, a man pleading for his life cried out. A series of menacing giggles faltered from inside the hangar. Stuart listened closely. The only words he heard were, “Help me! Please, please, somebody come and help me!”
Someone’s very life hung in the balances. The giggling sounds of the grown men got louder. Somebody needed help right away. From inside the airport hangar, a group of four rednecks in overalls and dirty jeans held a black man captive. Drinking southern whiskey and chewing tobacco, they drafted a plan to exterminate him. A thick bull rope which’d been taken from a