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

to begin enforcing red light cameras. According to the Miami Police Department, the police will issue notices of violation to red light runners at designated intersections. Drivers will be fined $150.00 for running a red light, including those making a rolling right turn on the red. Cameras will operate twenty-four hours a day and capture images of every vehicle running a red light at the intersections. Officials said they plan to add red light cameras at sixty locations around the greater Miami area. Channel Nine’s Neena McGavin has more on that story.”
The cameras switched outside to the gorgeous Neena McGavin. A cameraman followed her to an intersection in a busy part of downtown Miami.
Neena placed her pretty face at the center of the camera. “Dana, if one was to do research, they’d find that this method of enforcement did not generate the revenue for Miami that was expected. It actually cost the city of Miami more since they were now being sued by the people taking the red lights for various reasons.”
Dana gazed deep into the camera’s monitor. It showed Neena reporting from downtown Miami. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Neena had been transformed into a large killer bee in a dress. She looked over at Tino and saw an even larger man-sized bee wearing a business suit. Looking out on the studio floor, she noticed the three cameramen who’d also transformed into human-sized bees. Dana hated bees with contempt. She jumped out of her seat during the most important segment of the news.
“Errrrrrrrrrh!” Dana shuddered, tip toeing away from the anchor desk.
The camera crews were instructed to stop the cameras while the station went to break.
“Dana, are you alright?” asked Tino, consoling his colleague.
Tino had transformed back into the human being he actually was.
“I think so,” she snoozed, taking deep breaths while staring Tino up and down.
“Are you sick or something?”
“No, I’m feeling fine.”
“Why did you jump out of your anchor seat?”
She sized Tino up like she was fitting him for a suit. “Tino, I don’t why that happened. You and Neena and the camera guys, you turned into-----into.”
“Into what?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“The news director or the general manager has to find you a replacement.”
“No, Tino, I should be fine.”
“We can call an ambulance or a physician here to the station.”
“Don’t do that. I told you, I’ll be okay.”
Dana felt that she’d surely hear from both the news director and the general manager. What they had to tell her, she probably didn’t want to hear it. A replacement was found for Dana and she was free to walk around the building which housed the entire WNSV news station. Shaking off the illusion of news team members taking on the form of giant bees took some stepping back from the anchor desk.
Dana strolled through the large complex of equipment and facilities to clear her mind. She traveled around the studio floor space where the walls and ceilings were covered with sound-absorbing materials used to create the necessary acoustic environment. She came to the program director’s control room and everyone in there was busy operating consoles with the sound engineer. Workers in the control room made sure the amplifying and coverting of the television signals were being fed from the studio cameras. They mounted the cameras on dollies and made sure the equipment were connected by multiconductor cables.
The forced-ventilation and air-conditioned systems removed the heat generated by the lighting system. Dana had to get her mind together. Humans didn’t turn into bees. Those were celluloid images Hollywood created. Experts in the sports and entertainment department rushed to prepare for their slot on the news. Those who did the traffic shuffled through their reports before letting the people of Miami know how their drive home from work would be.
Dana walked further through the station until she stopped at the weather center. Though she’d been a happily married woman for almost six years, she found Dominican-born, chief meteorologist Augustine Gomez the most gorgeous man she’d ever met. She stared from out in the hallway at the man she secretly admired. Augustine was blessed with movie star good looks and old world charm. He looked up from doing his demanding work. It appeared to him Dana might’ve been confused.
“Dana, are you alright, my beautiful African goddess?” Augustine teased, his hormones sort of doing their own little dance.
“The strangest thing happened, Augustine,” Dana impartially admitted, confusion etched on her lovely face.
“You wanna tell me about it real quick?”
“While I was reporting the news, some of the people here at WNSV turned into something different.”
“Different? How?”
“Different like those Africanized killer bees.”
“Does that include my guy Tino, too?”
“Yes, it includes Tino.”
“Honey, are you sure that your imagination hasn’t run wild on you?”
“I hope not, Augustine.”
“Stress from the job and at home sometimes causes us to see things strangely.”
“Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever pictured a person to be an animal or an insect or some type of object?”
“Once, I pictured a girl in college to be a hot fluffy biscuit with honey and butter dripping down the sides,” Augustine joked, trying hard to keep his eyes off Dana’s delectable rear end.
“She was more like your object of desire. Seriously, has that ever happened to you?”
“No, it hasn’t.”
“You guys pretty busy here in the weather center?”
Augustine huffed and rolled up his left sleeve. “Me and the team here in the weather center are keeping track of Hurricane Danielle.”
“Overheard one of your team members say that it was a Cagetory Four hurricane.”
“Packing winds at 125 miles an hour. It’s moving up towards North Carolina’s coast.”
“Oh, that’s scary.”
Augustine stared down at his watch. Since he spearheaded a four person staff that kept an eye on South Florida’s skies, he ran upon the busiest time schedule ever. “Well, Dana, I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll see ya later here around the studio.”
“Take care, Augustine.”
Dana wandered around the studio until she decided to find some solace in one of the break rooms. A warm cup of coffee and candy bar sort of calmed her nerves. She giggled to herself from the simple thought of seeing her colleagues turning into the giant killer bees. The door to the break room slammed hard. The impact rattled her sensitive ear drums. The walls and ceiling and floor rumbled with great force. Mild hurricane-like winds blew into the break room from out of nowhere. Dana jumped out of her seat and raced for the door. She jerked on the knob, but the door wouldn’t budge. A lustrous golden glow lit up the entire break room. The glow drowned out the already bright lights surrounding the room. A vibratory motion shook every inch of space. The vending machines were toppled while the tables and chairs tumbled across the floor. Dana was frightened out of her mind.
Dwarf-sized bees came through the cracks of the windows and floor and ceiling. From under the door, more bees crawled through. Within minutes, layers of thousands of killer bees covered every inch of wall and floor space. Before her jaded eyes, there would be the one bee which grew to over six feet in a matter of seconds. Queen Devorah flapped her wings to express her superiority.
The intense golden glow around her body appeared as a burning furnace. A more fiery glow from her antennaes possessed unlimited cosmic powers. Other members of the hive grew close to the size of their leader. Dana found herself surrounded by many large bees that radiated with an astounding flare. Queen Devorah flapped her wings and flew to the middle of the break room. She worked her mouth until a dragon-like fire shot out. Both of her eyes converted from a mild yellow to a flaming red. The power of her legs lifted Dana high in the air.
“Dana, do you know who I am?” asked Queen Devorah, her voice like the roaring of an angry lion.
Dana shook with extreme fright. “No, but I can see that you’re a very big bee who has scared the living daylights out of me.”
“I have been sent by my master to confront you.”
“Who’s your master?”
“You know him very well. Never will I tell you exactly who he is. My master has sent me to be a plague upon your life.”
“Plague me for what?”
“You took part in a very evil deed. You must now see what it feels like to be violated.”
“But, I haven’t done anything.”
“Yes, you have.”
Queen Devorah shook Dana rather hard. The fire from her mouth blew all around Dana’s pretty face. Not one layer of her flawless skin was burned. The fright of being held up by a colossal killer bee who breathed fire was just too much.
“My master has ordered me and my workers to teach you a good lesson.”
“A lesson for what?”
“For your evil transgressions.”
“I’ve never done an evil deed in my life.”
“Oh, yes you have.”
Queen Devorah dropped Dana to the floor. She flapped her wings and flew up towards the ceiling. The huge stinger in the back of her body shook until roaring blazes shot out. More hot blazes shot out of her mouth and antennaes. Not a single spark set the break room on fire. She flew down and used her strong claws to flip Dana over on her stomach.
Four other bees restrained her across the floor. Queen Devorah rattled her sharp stinger and then stung Dana several times in her backside. The pointed stinger penetrated her rear like a needle being shot into a tough vein. Luckily for her, she had enough backside to absorb the blow.
Dana jumped up off the floor, only to run around squeezing her burning