Trapped

14. THE SLY SPY

THE SLY SPY

"Naomi Adams, we have waited for this moment for a long time," the hellish creature says directly into my mind as I stand rooted to the spot trembling like a jellyfish.

It is speaking Yoruba!

I close my eyes and pinch myself, hoping that I'll wake up in my bed to see that all this is a bad dream. Yet, when I reopen my eyes, there the glob is, standing before me.

This thing knows my name?

I sense deep within my gut that this is just one of many globs out there on the surface.

"And you would be right. Right now, your entire world is under our control. Well, most of it. We're working our best to eliminate every other minor resistance."

The glob is ugly up close.
It's a sickly green colour with splotches of brown at irregular intervals.
Oh, heavens! What is that awful stench? I scrunch my nose.

"That would be my pheromone. However, it's practically almost useless seeing we have no female species like your kind. Our master has promised us that once our work is complete, we can take our humanoid forms and mate with your females."

Though it has no facial orifice and hence no mouth, I can almost feel its evil smirk.

"As my prize, I would request you be the first in my harem. Though I highly suspect the master will want you for himself first. In the meantime, we have used our poisonous pheromone to infect the tectonic plate and pre-atmospheric layer of your world."

I feel faint and almost puke.

My next thought is, "My God, there is a hungry crazy glob right in front of me speaking directly into my mind. Am I going nuts?"

It growls its next words.
"There is no God. Your race has rejected him and in so doing given us full authority. Also, I hate that you keep referring to us as globs. It's demeaning. We're what scientists call aliens, what Arabs call genies and what your pathetic friends would call demons. You can call me Sly."

No way, no way!
My dreams and premonitions and even the words of the book I had accidentally stumbled upon in the library were a warning pointing toward this moment.

My heart thudding, I tighten my hold on the book, the Apocrypha.

It eyes the book and slightly steps back. "How did you get that?" it hisses.

Dart begins a fearsome bark, leaping in a bid to challenge the glob.

"Ha, I see you've gotten a measly new companion," the glob-sorry, Sly-says.
I cannot immediately determine if he is referring to Jadiel or Dart.

Effortlessly, Sly tosses Dart away like the wind does tissue paper.

My friends let out a collective gasp. That is when I remember that my friends have been standing with me all along.

To me, it seems like I have been engaged in that mind conversation with this glob for a long stretch but my brain informs me it's only been microseconds.

I summon up courage and hold the Apocrypha up like a shield, happy that Sly seems terrified of it.

"Run!" I say to my friends, scoop up Dart, who is unconscious into my hands, and head for the labyrinth.

I feel smouldering heat behind me. One glance back informs me that this glob monster did not come unarmed. It is shooting lasers at us. I can see the red-hot cuts it has made in its wake.

As we run and try to find cover, I wonder how this thing got to this place.
My greatest guess is this: if what it said is true, maybe it is one of an army, teleported to a hideout beyond the reach of the bosses to enjoy a secret indulgence. Or maybe he was purposely tracking me.

I needed to find its weakness before it obliterates us from planet Earth.

"Don't think you can run away from us! You and your friends have been targeted as our prey," it says.

"No," I retort aloud, suddenly finding a reserve of courage. My rational mind is warning me that this is a stupid action. "No, the bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you," I say back to it in Yoruba mind speech.

"Don't use that sword against me. You're an infant. You'll hurt yourself," it seethes.

I won't relent. All the things my parents have fed me with about the Truth come flooding back. I remember a time when they assured me that fear is what the enemy feeds on. Now that I think of it, my parents had been training me for this moment, either deliberately or unknowingly. Whatever is happening on the surface, I hope they are safe and sound.

"The weapons of my warfare are not carnal but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

Sly shrinks, shudders and morphs instantaneously into many grotesque forms.

"Quote that cursed book all you want. You're trapped. You, and your disbelieving friends, have no clue what you're up against. There's no way you're escaping this labyrinth until my master comes to fetch you."

"Whosoever the son of Man shall make free is free indeed. He has given me the keys of the kingdom that whatever I bind here on earth is bound in heaven and whatsoever I loose on earth is loosed in heaven."

This time, I guess this Sly glob has exhausted its patience. It screeches so loud that the echoes in this underground space cause my ears to hurt. I wonder if it's a way of calling its fellow minions.

We all jump back. The glob is intelligent enough to focus his laser on the closest wall to us. It gets red hot.

The explosion blasts us apart. I am flung like rumpled paper backward and I feel the pain shoot through my nerves as I hit the coarse floor.

The last thing I hear before everything is a blurry spin and finally static black is Cordelia's voice shrieking my name from a distance.

~~~

Author's note: Yesterday was when I was supposed to drop this update, but then, I was lazy and had to deal with a nasty headache later on. But all glory be to God, here it is!

I must confess, the original idea for this story was very simple, not this complex.

Now, I love the delicious direction it has taken. But that also leaves me at a fix as to how the ending will play out. You guys can pity me too in that regard.

Anyway, I just want to encourage you to please vote, share and comment. It encourages me and could sometimes help squelch those lazy bones and get the creative juices flowing faster than I can ignore.

Quick note: It's always advised that as a believer you store enough of the word of God in you so that anytime there is an emergency need, it could be a temptation or all out battle like our Naomi faced in this chapter, you will have an arsenal of weapons to fall back to.