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

perspective on his life’s purposes. His work to even the score with the egomaniacal eight was far from over.


CHAPTER—20

HANGING WITH THE HIVE

One couldn’t argue how Miami was an intoxicatingly beautiful city. The palm trees swayed in the breeze as Stuart drove past South Beach’s famous Art Deco buildings. The warm sunlight projected alluring rays down onto his tanning face. To dress for the weather, Stuart sported a blue and white shirt printed with palm trees and flamingos, a white Panama straw hat, a pair of white khaki shorts, and the darkest pair Ray Ban shades.
The gleaming skyscrapers of downtown Miami gave him more appreciation for classic architecture. He occasionally made comparisons with the buildings back in New York City. Not a single cloud moved through the clear Miami skies. Women of all shapes and sizes and colors strolled through the streets wearing the skimpiest shorts and bikinis. Stuart couldn’t imagine a woman walking through the crowded streets of Manhattan wearing a bikini.
Money often worked wonders for the plainest of guys. With the ability to afford it, he rented a BMW 328i convertible with a 300 horsepower engine from one of Miami’s prestigious dealers. Women sure paid attention to him as he drove along the palm tree lined streets. The car spoke for itself. Trying to catch women was the furthest from his mind. Competition amongst the yuppie Spring breakers from colleges all over the U.S. grew fierce over the years.
Stuart had nothing in common with a bunch of misguided college kids. He drove through several areas of Miami until U. S. Route 19 took him to a place of beautiful residential lots. Citrus Springs provided wooded lots on quarter acre tracts. The street he arrived at was Morrel Drive. Traveling many miles outside Miami led him to a gem of west central Florida’s Nature Coast.
He drove to the side of a long winding road and parked. The trees and healthy vegetation filled the wooded lots with impeccable beauty. Rays of sunshine decorated the ground of the lots with sensational designs of nature. Stuart trampled his way through the constricted woods until he came upon a bee hive measuring about two feet by three feet. The hive hung from the wide branch of a tree that was close to twenty feet off the ground. Worker bees went to and from the hive to gather their resources.
Stuart pulled the magical talisman from under his shirt. He looked up and saw thousands of killer bees swarming from every direction. Three of his middle fingers glided across the center near the mighty Hebrew letters. The Florida skies opened up wide. The sun expanded into an even bigger fiery ball of light. Winds close to ninety miles per hour blew strong enough to bend the trunks of the tall trees. The powers of the Universe were once again released over to Stuart. More killer bees were busy inside the densely-packed hexagonal cells of the honeycombs. Certain bees surrounded the queen of the hive while she laid many eggs.
The already giant hive had enlarged to the size of a five-bedroom house. Powers of the cosmos lifted Stuart off the ground and into the now colossal hive. Not a single one of the bees touched Stuart. Energetic atoms and molecules from the Universe charged the inside of the hive. A shield of golden light surrounded the queen and her helpers. The head, the thorax, and the abdomen of the queen pumped with force as supernatural powers entered her body. The five-thousand ommatidias in both eyes received telepathic powers.
Stuart already possessed masterful telepathic powers. Her antennaes obtained the powers to analyze highly volatile surroundings beyond normal odor and taste. The powers to perceive vibrations and movements of sounds, air, temperature, and light became intensified. Like their queen, the thousands of other bees were equipped with extraordinary abilities to register the wavelength, intensity, and duration of Earthly elements.
Stuart and the queen stood motionless as they studied one another. The golden glow magnified when she flapped her wings. A lesser glow radiated from the claws and femur and tibia when she moved her legs. A more subtle glow diffused from the endless army of other killer bees. Stuart sent telepathic messages through the vibrating antennaes of the queen. She sent messages back into his brain. The lines of communication had suddenly opened. Astoundingly, the leader of the other killer bees grew to the size of a giant man. She bowed before the feet of Stuart.
“Are you aware of who I am?” Stuart asked the queen killer bee, the golden glow penetrating his eyes.
“The powers of the Universe have sent you to be my master,” the queen answered back, waving her antennaes in submission.
“And you are aware who has ordained my powers?”
“Yes, master.”
Stuart moved closer and placed both hands at the center of the queen’s head. “You have been called to be my servant. At the injunction of the Universe, you have been given special powers to obey me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, master, I understand.”
“All the other workers in the hive will also obey me. Is it understood?”
The massive legion of other bees quickly bowed down in servitude. They shook their heads to show their absolute loyalty to Stuart.
“Queen, you will come upon my direct command. Is it understood?”
“It is understood, master.”
“Hive workers, you will also show up at my direct command. Do you understand me, workers?”
They bowed and shook their heads.
“You are to obey the queen. Once I give you the command, the queen will hand down the command to you. Workers, is it understood?”
Again, the multitude of killer bees submitted to their master. Strong waves flowed through their ventral nerve cords.
Stuart closed his eyes and concentrated hard. “From this day on, you have been ordained as Queen Devorah.”
The hive shook and mounds of honey dripped from the upper and side surfaces.
“Devorah comes from the Hebrew word meaning ‘bee’. Do you understand?”
“I understand, master.”
“Devorah, you will be the one queen bee who works for the betterment of mankind. Have you interpreted what your master has just told you?”
“I have interpreted it, master.”
“When I feel that it is necessary, certain individuals will be plagued by Queen Devorah and your hive workers. These plagues will prove to the wicked and evil people of this world that they can’t violate others and expect to get away with it. For those humans on this Earth who hurt other people, they will not prosper in the end. Queen Devorah and you workers, do you understand where I’m coming from?”
Queen Devorah and her followers complied with gestures of head shaking and antennae waving.
“All of you workers will address her as Queen Devorah. A mother queen will replace you here in the hive.
Queen Devorah lifted her claw and embraced the hand of Stuart. “Master, it will be my pleasure to serve you. Your orders will be my every command. The orders you hand down to me, they will be handed directly down to members of my hive.”
“Now, it is so commanded that I have been ordained as your master.”
Stuart clamped the magical talisman between both palms and rubbed his hands together. The hive rocked strong enough to make the hexagonal-shaped honeycombs spill over with more honey. The sparkling clear skies opened up once again. Strong winds sent tremors through the tree which surprisingly held up the titanic hive. A Universal force lifted Stuart out of the hive and back to the ground. Yet another faithful creature was added to his assembly of helpers.


CHAPTER—21

MEAN, LEAN, STINGING MACHINES

News Station WNSV in Miami struck real gold when they decided to hire Dana Potts as their lead anchorwoman. Dana no longer carried the last name of Potts. Her present husband, Dr. Michael Briscoe, a respected sociologist employed by the University of Miami, dropped down on both knees when they vacationed in Aruba to ask Dana for her hand in marriage. She broke out in tears and accepted his proposal.
Almost six years later, she loved telling friends and colleagues how she was Mrs. Dana Potts-Briscoe. She couldn’t drop the last name of Potts since it’d been in the family for generations. Dana and Michael became the proud parents of two sons, Michael, Jr. and Terry. The boys brought much joy to their home since they’d dreamed of starting a family after getting their educations and fooling around out of the way.
Dana hung her graduate degree from NYU’s prestigious Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute on the wall next to Michael’s Doctorate of Sociology from Notre Dame. The highly-motivated duo knew their educations paved the way to their prominent careers. WNSV reviewed many other applicants before hiring Dana. The station manager took one look at her beautiful Nubian face and knew he’d found a gem. Viewers switched on their televisions and fell in love with Dana’s captivating features.
Cameramen threw on their headphones and positioned the cameras in the direction of Dana and her co-anchor, the handsome and high-spirited, Tino Fernandez. They looked into their monitors and counted down the short seconds before Dana and Tino went on the air to report the latest news. Both personalities were the best at telling a story or informing and entertaining their audiences. All three television cameras were in full operation. WNSV Channel Nine bounced it’s news logo across the small screen monitor.
Tino smiled into the camera with a set of gleaming white teeth. “Good evening, and thanks for watching. This is Channel Nine news, I’m Tino Fernandez.”
Dana followed up with an even brighter toothpaste smile ad. “And I’m Dana Potts-Briscoe. Thanks for watching the latest edition of Channel Nine News.”
Right outside the news studio, Stuart parked his thin frame near a set of wooden doors with long glass windows in the center. He watched as one of the egomaniacal eight from his horror days at NYU reported the Miami news. A swift flashback paid him a visit. The thought of Dana putting the maggots in the bed with the mechanical sex doll, and then dumping the rest from the bag on top of his head, sent jolts of fury through him. Envisioning some of the maggots crawling out of his nose and mouth infuriated him to no end. She would be paid back dearly for taking part in the prank that never stopped haunting him.
Dana went straight to reporting the top local news. “The city of Miami is preparing