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

“They don’t bother me at all. In fact, when my brother and I were kids, we used to catch them and put them inside old jars.”
“Yikes!” Megan quailed, scooting back from the table. “Let’s not talk about ants anymore.”
“Scared, Meg?”
“Let’s hope they won’t plague the Earth.”
“Like in The Bible?”
“Yes, like when the frogs and lice and flies hit Egypt.”
“Those men here in Dallas are probably into that hocus pocus, hoodoo voodoo crap.”
“Hallucination can make people do some crazy things.”
Megan’s colleague grabbed her at the middle of her arm. “Oh, by the way, congratulations.”
“For what?”
“For you and the team saving the car crash victim in ER earlier today.”
Megan slipped into a sudden state of daze.
Being lifted up and suspended in mid-air, while a supernatural force healed their dying patient, still amazed her and the others to no end. Would other hospital employees believe her story if she ever broke her silence?
“Meg, are you alright?” asked her colleague, taking the last bite and drink from her sandwich and soda.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” she said, shaking off the last second of her daze. “Thanks for the compliment about our performance in ER today.”
“You’re welcome.”
Megan’s co-worker looked down at her watch and couldn’t believe what the time read. “My, my, time has a way of just creeping up on us. I’ve got to check patient vitals and do a few checkouts.”
“See you later.”
Megan remained the only hospital employee inside the break room. She couldn’t get the phenomenal event inside the ER out of her mind. With no warning, whatsoever, the door to the break room slammed hard enough to shake the adjacent walls. Chairs from surrounding tables tumbled sideways and backwards. The vending machines shook until the sodas and snacks fell to the bottom. A strong wind blew through the cracks of the windows. An unexplainable burst of dim light spilled into the break room.
Megan jumped right out of her seat.
Slowly, she backed away towards the closest wall.
“What in the world’s going on in here!” she chattered, frightened into the coldest chills.
Tiny ants, literally thousands of them, crawled from behind the vending machines.
Through the cracks of the windows and the main break door, they showed up in record numbers. Up from the white tile in the floor, they made their presence known. Supernaturally, Megan watched as one particular red imported fire ant grew from a tiny insect into a large human-sized ant. Other colony members grew to great sizes. Their instataneous growth stunned Megan. From the midst of the now colossal-sized ants, came the supreme glowing presence of Queen Amina. The Queen fired a burst of light from her antennaes. The whole room lit up with a powerful red glow.
Megan ran over to one of the corners. She stooped down like a child in trouble with their parents. “Who are you and what do you want?”
“I have been sent by my master,” Queen Amina notified Megan.
“Your Master? Who’s your master?” Megan questioned the Queen, shivering over in the corner.
“The secrets of the Universe will not permit me to reveal who my master is. He is the master who has sent me to plague you.”
“Plague me for what?”
“You, at one given point in your life, broke one of life’s most sacred laws.”
“What law?”
“Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you.”
“But, I haven’t done anything to hurt nobody.”
“Oh, but you have, Megan.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“My master has proven you otherwise. Karma has come back for you.”
“This is all one bad dream. Ants don’t glow and they don’t talk.”
“You’re wide awake, Megan.”
“Those rednecks weren’t crazy afterall.”
Megan picked up one of the chairs and threw it at Queen Amina. Her attempt to hurt the queen was foolish. The chair went through her like thin air. She tried running for the door. Other colony members intercepted her. The giant ants covered every inch of space inside the break room. Megan turned over several tables in attempts to barricade herself. She threw more chairs at the Queen and colony members.
“Megan, you must learn to treat your brothers and sisters kindly,” Queen Amina reminded her once again.
The Queen sent telepathic messages to her workers while she pointed over to Megan. They responded rapidly and aggressively by lifting her up by both arms. Queen Amina flapped her powerful wings and flew across the room. Firmly, she grasped both sides of Megan’s tender backside with her gripping jaws. She then injected a potent venom from her stinger. Dark red blisters the size of bubble gum surfaced across her rear. She screamed at the highest octave. No one inside the hospital heard her cries. Four other colony members inflicted their own stings over her body. White pustules formed at the site of all the stings.
Megan screamed the loudest she’d ever done. “Jesus, My Lord, I’ve been stung in my butt!”
Severe pain brought on much regret after being in the break room all by herself.
Queen Amina grabbed Megan by both arms and lifted her high in the air. “You’ve done my master wrong, now you get to see what it feels like to be done wrong. Before everything’s said and done, you will come crawling on your hands and knees to apologize to my master.”
“Please, tell me, who’s your master?” Megan inquired, straining from the severe pain she’d experienced.
“In due time, you will know who my master is.”
Queen Amina flapped her wings and went straight through the window. The colony followed right behind her. The break room lit back up to its normal range. It appeared that none of the vending machines ever shook. The walls and floors looked pristine. How was Megan Piccirillo-Pisano going to explain how she’d been attacked by giant-sized ants inside a Dallas hospital far away from any colony of red imported fire ants?


CHAPTER—19

RETURN OF THE RABBI

Miami catered to the needs of an action-oriented young man like Stuart Duffelmeyer. Dallas provided acceptable weather, but the glowing sunshine in Miami made him feel like a recharged battery. Several days in Dallas were great. More creatures were added to his collection of close friends while taking care of business in the Lone Star state. Stuart looked out the window of his five-star hotel and admired the sparkling waters of the Gulf Coast.
He opened the sliding glass doors. He allowed the mild climate breeze coming off the ocean to infuse his face. Divers and water sports enthusiasts made the Florida waters their playground. Women, more than enough for Stuart to handle, strutted up and down the beach wearing almost less than full bikinis. Their toned bodies were a delightful treat for any eyes to see. Competition from the muscle-bound men wasn’t in short supply.
Stuart switched on the television and settled onto the bed. Cautionary, he noticed how the remote lifted itself into mid-air. The television went blank. The glass doors shut on their own. The curtains jerked closed. The room converted to an awesome silence. What was going on? Stuart hadn’t summoned the powers of the magical talisman.
A recognized voice spoke in a low tone. “Stuart, my dear son. Stuart, my beloved son.”
“Who’s there?” Stuart asked, sliding across the bed.
“Have you not forgotten me, my son?”
The glowing spirit form of Rabbi Irwin Wedemeyer appeared before Stuart. Rabbi Wedemeyer revealed himself to Stuart wearing a white robe with a matching white veil. A ball of white light surrounded the head of the long deceased Rabbi.
“Rabbi Wedemeyer?” Stuart murmured, stunned to see the ghostly spirit of the rabbi he so greatly adored. “Rabbi Wedemeyer, is that you?”
“Yes, my son, it is I,” he revealed himself, glowing with bursting brilliance.
“Have you come to me from the celestial world, Rabbi Wedemeyer?”
“Stuart, I have been allowed to leave the celestial world to return momentarily to Earth.”
“For what?”
“To interject and be a guide to you.”
“A guide?”
“The powers within the other world have sent me to you.”
“I’m happy to know that, Rabbi.”
“I can see that you have been using these powers for the good of mankind.”
“Of course.”
“Have you also not used your powers to inflict pain and punishment on your enemies?”
Stuart clenched his teeth and turned beet red in the face. “Because they violated me!”
“Evil for evil is not the way, my son.”
“But, Rabbi Wedemeyer, I will always believe in an eye-for-an-eye, and a tooth-for-a-tooth. These people must be paid back for the evil they perpetrated on me in that motel room.”
“Once you’ve sought out your revenge, will you feel better?”
“Much better, Rabbi. These powers I’ve been granted aren’t necessarily for evil use. In the end, I will spare their lives, as I have been instructed by you and The One Most High.”
“When I walked the Earth in human flesh form, you were like a son to me. Now that I exist in the spiritual world, you will continue to be like my son. Stuart, I will watch over you to make sure you are protected and make the right decisions.”
Stuart bowed before the glowing spirit of Rabbi Wedemeyer. “Rabbi, you were like my Earthly father, and now you are like my spiritual father. Your work continues on into the other world.”
The spirit form of the rabbi dissolved before the attentive eyes of Stuart. A visit from the man he cherished gave him a different