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

stores in Yonkers and New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Stuart now became the undisputed owner of countless pet stores and veterinarian clinics around the New York tri-state area. How good it felt for him to build a conglomeration of stores which raked in millions per year. It felt even better having a woman by his side in which he’d surrendered his heart over to within a short period of time. His time of arriving back in New York was well spent with Laura Rivenburg.
She’d been keeping late hours at his residence in Staten Island. Gladly, she got inside her car and drove from New Jersey into New York. Had Stuart found the true love of his life? Their time shared in Las Vegas was the inaugural indicator. My, my, look at Stuart Duffelmeyer now! What a miraculous transformation he’d gone through. The thick glasses were traded for contact lenses. The outdated clothes got dumped for modern, contemporary fashions. The awkward hairdo converted over to a sleek-chic style. Inside his office at Pet World, Laura sat in his lap with her arms locked around his neck.
“Stuart, you’re the answer to my prayers,” Laura said, leaning over to plant a big kiss on him.
“Laura, you’re the woman I’ve dreamed about all my life,” Stuart said, pulling her closer for another passionate kiss.
“From Las Vegas to New York. Who would’ve ever thought I’d meet someone like you?”
“Thank God for the creation of Las Vegas.”
“And thank God for the song ‘Sharing The Night Together’.”
“Ahhhhhh, the beautiful ballad by Dr. Hook.”
“What a wonderful night we shared together in my suite. The stars shined real bright down on me when I saw you in the hotel restaurant.”
“Us meeting was destiny.”
Stuart slipped his hand into the left pants pocket and hid a small square box in the other hand. “The wonderful tune by Dr. Hook would be the perfect song for someone to perform at our wedding.”
“It’s the perfect wedding song.”
He flipped open the top to the box and presented it before Laura. “Well, then we’ll be hearing that song at our wedding.”
Laura jumped off his lap and cupped her mouth. “Stuart Irwin Duffelmeyer, are you------?”
“Yes, my dear!” Stuart bubbled before she completed her sentence.
“I-----I-----just don’t know what to say.”
“Say that you’ll marry me.”
Laura broke out into joyful tears. “Yesssssssssssssss!”
Stuart got down on one knee and placed the engagement ring firmly on her hand. “Laura Marie Rivenburg, I live for the day that you’ll become Mrs. Laura Duffelmeyer.”
“Me too.”
Before Stuart could stand up, a hard knock sounded at his office door.
“What is it?” Stuart asked, sort of irritated from the sudden interruption.
One of the dedicated Pet World employees, Betsy Harmony, stuck her head in the doorway. “Mr. Duffelmeyer, there’re a large group of people out here to see you.”
“Do tell, what do they want, Betsy?”
“They didn’t say.”
“Whether it be their dogs, cats, snakes, fish, or birds, we have all the food and supplies they need.”
“Mr. Duffelmeyer, I don’t think they’re here for that.”
“Right in the middle of proposing to Laura, I get a big group of people who’d like to see me.”
“Sorry, Mr. Duffelmeyer.”
“Oh no, it’s not your fault. Betsy, I’ll be out there shortly.”
“I’ll let them know, sir.”
Betsy closed the door and Stuart took Laura by the hand. “Sweetheart, let’s hope that these people aren’t from the IRS, CIA, INS, or the FBI.”
“Those people wouldn’t have no reason to come and see you.”
“Just kidding, Laura. Let’s got out here and see who these people are.”
“Promise you’ll introduce me as your fiancé?”
“Proudly, my darling.”
Stuart and Laura stepped into his pet store. He got struck with the surprise of his life. Standing beside the cages and tanks and aquariums, were the egomaniacal eight from their old college days at NYU. Expressions of remorse were plastered to their faces.
“Stuart, who are all those people?” Laura asked, just as surprised as him.
Stuart exhaled strongly and shook his head. “Well, they’re old classmates from NYU.”
“What do you they want with you?”
“We shall soon find out.”
Anthony Greenstein stood at the forefront of the other seven with a sullen expression on his face. “Stuart, we all got together and decided to do something we should’ve done years ago.”
Stuart gazed deep into their estranged eyes. “So, does that mean that you’ve come back to offer your formal apologies?”
“Yes, we have,” Anthony answered softheartedly, his cockiness having subsided. “Some of the strangest things have been happening to all eight of us.”
“Strange things like what?”
“These creatures, they’ve come to us telling us that they’ve been sent by their master to plague us. For me, this giant talking rat, it told me that I’d come crawling on my hands and knees to beg for their master’s forgiveness.”
“Giant talking rat?”
“Sounds unbelievable, but it’s true.”
“Didn’t know rats could talk,” Stuart taunted, laughing hard on the inside.
“You won’t believe what this rat did to me.”
“I can only imagine.”
“This rat and his army bit me in the rear, demolished my office, and gave me a good working over. The thirty-second floor inside Greenstein Towers was ripped to pieces.”
“The biting in the rear sounds quite unconventional.”
“The rat lashing me with its tail stung like you wouldn’t believe.”
“You guys don’t think I’m this master, do you?”
“Not sure, but there seems to be some correlation between yourself and these supernatural occurrences.”
“Trust me, there’s no correlation.”
Anthony dropped to his knees and crawled over to Stuart.
He reached forward to grasp Stuart’s limp hand. “Stuart, I’d like to offer a formal apology for masterminding the whole prank that night at the scummy motel in the South Bronx. Putting the mechanical sex doll in that bed was insanely absurd. Please forgive me for being so stupid.”
“Apology accepted, Anthony.”
Megan Piccirillo-Pisano fell to her knees and crawled right in behind Anthony.
She looked up at Stuart with dreadful eyes. “Stuart, this is my one and only chance to say I’m sorry for my participation in the prank. Before I go back to Dallas to be with my husband, Tom, and my two kids, I thought I’d come back to admit my wrong. Weirdly enough, these giant talking ants told me the same thing that was told to Anthony. Inside the break room of the hospital I work at, I was attacked by this ant that stung me in my backside. So, I’m offering my apology for providing the phony voice in the prank.”
“Your apology is accepted, Megan.”
Megan patted Stuart on the shoulder and moved aside.
Dana Potts-Briscoe crawled front the back with her head hung low.
She hugged the legs of Stuart right below the knees. “Stuart, I know what we did to you that night in the motel was dead wrong. Spreading all those maggots in the bed with the sex doll was absolutely cruel. Dumping more maggots on top of your head was even crueler. After being attacked and conferenced by a buncha talking killer bees at the news station, I surrendered and knew that it was time to come to you and apologize. One of the bees stung me straight in the backside. Officially, I’m offering my apology before I fly back to Miami.”
“Dana, your apology is accepted.”
Dana stood up and went back to the end of the group.
Taylor Warrwick crawled forward with regret on his face.
He literally kissed the shoes on Stuart’s feet. “Stuart, luring you to the motel was just plain old mean. I knew better, but just insisted on acting a complete fool. I could’ve easily said no and had no part in the prank. People think I’m deranged, but this huge talking whale shark told me the same thing you heard from the others. And like the others, the shark took a couple’a chunks out of my backside. But, before I fly out’a here to Los Angeles, I’m asking you to forgive me for what I did.”
“You’re forgiven, Taylor.”
Taylor stood up and stepped over by one of the larger cages holding a German Shepard puppy.
Abdullah Tariq Muhammad crawled around Taylor wearing his proud African garments. He was careful to stay away from the cage holding the Boa Constrictor snake.

He squeezed both hands of Stuart while still down on his knees. “Stuart, flicking those lights on and off inside that motel room was not funny. Participating in the prank was quite a miserable thing to do. My punishment had to be getting bit from behind by these gargantuan-sized talking rattlesnakes. Las Vegas is where me and my family now live. And before I fly back there, I’d like to ask you to forgive me.”
“All’s forgiven, Abdullah.”
David Nguyen squirmed his way in front of the others.
He clutched Stuart around the legs. “Stuart, how wrong it was for me play the soft love music when we had you believing that you were going to have the time of your life. No one would’ve believed me if I told them how a wild talking tornado invaded my chambers and told me that it’d been sent by its master to plague me. I got slammed against cabinets while my backside was bruised up pretty bad. To make things official, I’d like to ask you to forgive me.”
“Talking tornado, David?”
“Sounds inconceivable, but oh so true. Will you forgive