Master of Plagues by D. B. Reynolds (color ebook reader .txt) 📖

“When I looked at the registration, he was a recipient of veterinary medicine,” David disclosed, feeling the effects of his third glass of Remi Martin and coke.
Long before the night ended, they had plans on getting trashed. Stuart watched them from afar as they drunk themselves into oblivion. College graduates like them felt they deserved the right to guzzle down as much alcohol as they could stand. The Watering Hole Bar and Restaurant erupted into cheers while sports fans watched various sporting events.
Anthony bogarted his way to the center of the floor. “C’mon, guys, let’s show them that we can blow the roof off the house. On the count of three, lets all shout ‘yeah’ as loud as we can.”
They counted to three and yelled the loudest they’d ever done. “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Their bellies were full with food and alcohol. Some had surpassed their limit. Anthony ordered more drinks for everyone. He went around to the seven individuals and thanked them for their part in making the prank on Stuart a big success.
“Megan, my lovely,” Anthony purred intoxicatingly. “Thank you for providing the voice. You did a magnificent job in fooling the biggest nerd in all of New York City.”
Anthony and Megan toasted as he moved one seat over at the bar. “Dana, my dear, you were splendid in putting those maggots in the bed with the sex doll and dumping them on Stuart.”
Anthony and Dana toasted as he moved a couple of feet down. “Prudence, my sweetheart, it was brilliant of you to have spread that gooky-slimy crap all over the floor. I laughed my spine out of place after Stuart fell to the floor.”
Anthony and Prudence tapped glasses while he slid one bar seat over. “Abdullah, my wonderful Pan-African brother, you were marvelous with working those lights that night at the motel in the Bronx. Stuart probably thought he came to a disco to meet a hot chick or something.”
Anthony and Abdullah joined glasses in a toast. He moved to the next seat. “David, my resplendent Korean brother, how genius of you to play the kinda music which lured Stuart straight over to the bed.”
Anthony and David toasted as he moved two more seats down. “Taylor and John, my divine dynamic duo, Stuart would’ve never gotten to the motel had it not been for you guys.”
The threesome banged glasses in complete celebration. The egomaniacal eight huddled into a circle closer to the front entrance of the bar. Still, they were proud of what they’d done to Stuart. Truth be told, they were prouder of the prank they pulled on Stuart than earning their college degrees in promising career fields. Stuart sat in the back with steam blowing from his mouth and nose and ears. Why couldn’t they just let it go? Would they find amusement behind the prank for a lifetime?
Megan swayed side-to-side since the drinks controlled her coordination. In a sad, yet intoxicated voice, she said, “Guys, when’re we going to see one another again?”
Dana’s eyes bounced around in the drunkest fashion. “Megan’s right, guys. Is this the end of the road for all of us?”
“What’s with all the sad faces?” Anthony interjected. “Guys, it’s time for us to part ways. What did we say about going into our professions and making the big bucks?”
“It’s time for us to go and conquer the world,” Prudence added, alcohol soaked all into her brain.
“Will everyone promise to keep in touch?” Abdullah suggested, his speech slurred and broken.
Everyone nodded their heads to express their loyalty to one another. Little did they know that Anthony only assembled them to pull off his own personal prank against Stuart. He didn’t give a damn about any of them. Why couldn’t they see it? Stuart could see straight through Anthony as though he were polished glass. Wearing dark shades and a thick winter hat in the dead of Spring, he rushed out of The Watering Hole Bar and Restaurant. On the way out, he shoved Anthony and bumped the others one-by-one.
“Hey, what’s your problem, buddy?” Anthony repudiated, part of the drink spilled on his shirt.
“Somebody needs to teach him some manners,” Megan said, a big wet ring across her shirt after the hard shove.
Manners? Did Megan say manners? What Stuart had just done to them was quite mannerable, compared to what they’d done to him. He had big plans for the egomaniacal eight. In his own due time, he would get the last laugh. They’d had their fun. Now, it was time for him to have his fun.


CHAPTER—10

A RAT’S RATIONALIZATION

The power to control animals and nature on Earth were placed in the hands of Stuart Duffelmeyer. With the power invested in him, he knew there were certain restrictions. Harsh abuse of any kind wouldn’t be tolerated. The forces of the Universe were on his side. Maliciously evil intentions were set aside once he embarked upon his journey to get even with those who’d made his life hell on Earth.
The digital watch wrapped tight around his thin wrist read 2:25 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. New York City hadn’t quite fallen asleep. The drunks and druggies and streetwalkers wandered with no purpose through the dirty streets of Manhattan. Stuart walked amongst them angrier than a general after having lost a major war. An hour after leaving The Watering Hole Bar and Restaurant, he strolled from one avenue of Manhattan to another.
His intuition would lead him down into the subway station to possibly catch the six train to a destination to somewhere he wasn’t sure of. Bags and bags of trash were piled up against the wall. A smaller group of passengers poured into the station after coming from or going to work. Two large rats jumped out of the trashbags. Unafraid, Stuart watched them crawl his direction. Acting on impulse, he executed fierce mind concentration, then rubbed the center of the magical talisman. The ground inside the subway station shook with much force.
Miraculously, the powers of the Universe boldered into the station and split the railings to the trains. The ground underneath the railings burst open and pulled Stuart deep under its confines. Passengers waiting on the platform couldn’t believe their eyes. A clerk behind the glass slumped to the ground from sheer amazement. The train railings were joined back together and the ground closed up.
At least two-hundred feet underneath the Earth, Stuart emerged into a world he never knew existed. Waiting for him inside this strange world were rats. Thousands upon thousands of big and small rats were assembled in an orderly fashion. Brown ones. Black ones. White ones. They were lined up next to one another like military soldiers. From Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island, these rodents came out in full force.
No indication of fright came from Stuart. It was inevitable the day would come for them to meet up. The colossal rat spotted by him at the motel in the Bronx, in the subway station, and at Yankees Stadium, appeared from out of the dark shadows of the Earth. The intense cosmic glow still radiated from its eyes and brown shaggy fur. The brightest neon yellow formed a protective barrier around its body. Cosmic powers from the Universe had taken partial effect. Stuart and the human-sized rat stared deeply into one another’s eyes. The structure of their eye components were the same. He and the rodent studied the innermost depths of their iris’, pupils, lens’, retinas and optic nerves. The cornea and anterior chamber of their eyes transmitted messages into the cerebrum, cerebellum, hippocampus and stem of their brains. Supernaturally, a matching neon yellow glow surrounded the body of Stuart. Within seconds, the cosmic glow from the Universe formed a shield around the thousands of rats which filled up hundreds of yards of underground space. Stuart’s human eyes and brain projected telepathic messages to the mammalian eyes and brains of every rat present. Receptors translated a language between them that only they understood.
“Do you know who I am?” Stuart asked the rat of human proportions.
“You have been ordained to be my master,” the rat answered back, the shield intensifying its glow.
“Do you know who has ordained my powers?”
“The One Most High, The Ruler of the Universe, has ordained your powers, master.”
“You are correct,” Stuart vouched. “From this day forward, I will be your master. You will forever address me as your master. Am I understood?”
“You are understood, master.”
“You are to obey my every command. You are to show up when you’ve been summoned. Do you understand me?”
“I understand, master.”
“The One Most High has all power over you, over myself, over the Earth, and over all of the Universe. It is through him that my powers have been activated. When you have been given orders, you are to perform them to the best of your ability. Is that clear?”
“It is clear, master.”
“Your powers are great and they are not to be used for abominations. Do you understand?”
“Yes, master, I understand.”
“Greatness will follow in the wake of your presence. The Earth will submit to your powers and obey the will submitted by The One Most High. Are the words that I have spoken to you clear?”
“The words you have spoken are clear, master.”
Stuart stepped closer to the rat and placed both hands on top of its head. “From this day forward, you will be addressed as ‘General Rahmaanteen’, a very special name in which I have given to you. Your Universal powers will aid many helpless souls on this Earth. Do you understand your new name?”
“I understand, master.”
“General Rahmaanteen, your powers have been fully-activated. Welcome to the sensationalistic family of Stuart Irwin Duffelmeyer.”
“Thank you, master.”
Stuart turned his attention to the thousands of other rats. “By powers invested in me by the cosmos of the Universe, I have become the master of everyone of you. Do you understand me?”
“It is understood that we shall obey you, master, and only you shall we obey,” the other colossal rats submitted, bowing in servitude before Stuart.
“No reasonable order will you refuse. I will reward those that honor my requests with simplicity.”
“You are to obey General Rahmaanteen. Do all of you understand?”
“Yes, master.”
Never in his life had Stuart felt