With an agonised groan, Hannah limped through the darkness towards the stairs.
47
DR KAMIYO
Kamiyo met them at the top of stairs and helped Ted with Hannah. They carried her out into the courtyard where it was easier to see. The day was drawing late, and the sun gave off only a dull brown light. They sat Hannah down beside Philip, the well becoming an unplanned site for the injured.
Philip nodded to Hannah. “Slashed shoulder from demon claws, how ‘bout you?”
“Disembowelled by a Hell God,” she replied.
“Okay, you win.”
Ted told them what had happened while Kamiyo got to work inspecting Hannah’s injures. When he opened her shirt, he looked back at Ted with an awful expression.
“Don’t look at me like that, Doc. Just fix it.”
“He can’t,” said Hannah. “Man’s not Jesus.”
“Well, if Jesus wants to join the fight anytime now, that would be amazing.” Ted was furious, that familiar feeling taking hold of him. Why were the demons doing this? What did they have to gain from wiping out a small group of humans? Was it pure evil, or was there a point to all this?
Of course there was.
He had heard all kinds of cosmic bullshit from both Aymun and Kamiyo—although Kamiyo had been regurgitating Vamps’ words. The truth was, he didn’t care. The demons had no right. This place was theirs.
He pointed at Hannah. “You don’t die until I say you can, okay?”
Hannah nodded and smiled. Give ‘em Hell, Ted.”
“I’ll give it back to them.” He stormed back towards the front approach, needing to find out where to aim his catapult. Which side needed the back up most?
Then he heard the screams from inside the castle and realised it was neither. Carol and the children had taken refuge upstairs, just like he had told them, but they were screaming for help. The threat had somehow got inside the walls.
Vamps! It must be. After attacking Hannah, he hadn’t come out of the castle. He had gone upstairs.
Ted raced inside the castle and over to the main stairwell, taking the cold stone steps two at a time. On the third floor, he encountered the first pieces of furniture. The stairs were blocked with chairs, armoires, and various other antique hardware from the castle’s bedchambers. Carol had done a good job of barricading the entrance to the upper floor.
But somehow Vamps had got through.
The screaming stopped.
“Carol! Carol, are you up there?”
“…Ted? Is that you?”
“Carol, is everything okay?”
“Y-yes. What’s going on? We heard screaming.”
“What? I thought it was you. Are the children okay?”
“Yes, we’re all fine.”
“Damn it.” Ted turned and sprinted back down the stairs. He’d been tricked but didn’t know why. All he knew was he’d been drawn away from the fight.
The courtyard wasn’t suddenly full of demons when he got there, so Ted looked around to try to figure out the ruse before it was too late.
He spotted Vamps over by the portcullis—squatting down and grabbing it by the bottom crossbar. It weighed over a tonne, but somehow Vamps lifted it, raising the spikes out of their holes in the ground and raising the entire thing towards his head. Shrieking demons prepared to enter, salivating on the other side.
48
HANNAH
Hannah was in the worst pain she’d ever experienced, but she still had control of her limbs. It was hard to think clearly, but with only one thing to worry about, she didn’t need all her faculties.
Ted seemed like he had everything in hand, so she took a moment to rest. “Can you strap me up, Doc?”
Kamiyo nodded. “Yes, I can try to reduce your pain. We found medical supplies, but…”
“We dropped our packs outside the gate,” said Philip.
“That was stupid.” She chuckled. “I could really do with some plasters.”
Aymun appeared very sad. “It is never easy to watch a fellow warrior suffer.”
“Hey, once, I had to stand guard duty in the freezing rain for eight hours while everyone else was watching England play in the World Cup. I know suffering, and this ain’t nothing.”
“You would have suffered more if you’d watched the game,” mumbled Philip.
Hannah ignored the quip. “Doc, get me on my feet, okay? There’s too much to do and too little time.”
“What are you talking about? You’re out of this fight, Hannha. I’m sorry.”
“There’s a gate nearby.” Kamiyo didn’t look shocked when she said it, which made it obvious he already knew. She gasped. “You’ve seen it? Where?”
“Beneath the lake. It’s where Vamps came from. It’s been inactive since the night I dragged him out of the water.”
“Well, it’s going to open back up, and when it does, one of those giant bastards will come through.”
“Like the ones that attacked London in the early days?”
“Yeah. Those giant bastards.”
“This is dire news,” said Aymun. “I have faced the Fallen. They are invulnerable. They will slaughter us all.”
Kamiyo groaned. “Thanks, Aymun.”
Philip sniggered. “Gotta love a guy who tells it straight.”
Hannah focused on Aymun. “There’s a way to hurt them though, right? A way to hurt all the demons?”
Aymun frowned, but slowly nodded. “Yes. I have taken part in victories at both Syria and Portsmouth. The demons can be banished back to Hell if they are in the vicinity of a collapsing gate.”
Hannah shivered as a gout of blood shot from her stomach. “Ugh, that felt weird. Aymun, how do you make a gate collapse?”
“You pass through it with a beating heart.”
“Exactly! And my heart ain’t done beating yet.”
Kamiyo gasped. “No way, Hannah! It’s suicide.”
Hannah smirked. “How long do I got, Doc? Think I’ll last the week?”
Kamiyo struggled to give an answer. All he could do was shake his head.
“It ain’t suicide if I’m already dead. I’ll be finished before the sun rises again, and you know it. If I’m gunna snuff it, then let’s put my death to some use. Get me to the gate, and I’ll sink my ass into that lake like a two-legged elephant.”
“It’s a good plan,” said Philip. “My own odds aren’t so great either. I’ll be your back up. Maybe we can go down holding hands.”
“You got it, buddy.”
Kamiyo gave Philip a scalding look. “Philip, Hannah, you’re both a little loopy from blood loss, so please refrain from making any monumentally stupid decisions.”
“It’s not stupid,” said Aymun. “I have passed through one of these gates myself, and here I stand before you. Bravery does not always end in death.”
“You see,” said Hannah. “Maybe I’ll be resurrected on the other side. I’m dead anyway if I do nothing.”
Kamiyo sighed.
For a moment, it sounded like someone was screaming inside the castle, and they all turned toward the noise. Ted raced inside the castle in a panic. Hannah’s instincts urged her to back him up with whatever crisis he was dealing with, but it would be a poor decision. She had a bigger target to focus on, and if she destroyed the gate in the lake, all other problems would eliminate themselves. It would be painful to abandon Ted, but she knew what she had to do.
She hoisted herself upright against the old stone well and then took some deep breaths. Kamiyo bound her torso with bandages, attempting to keep her guts inside. Her vision tilted back and forth like a plane in a storm, but so long as she focused in front of her feet, she was able to keep her balance.
“You sure you want to do this?” Kamiyo asked, looking hard into her eyes.
She nodded. “I should’ve died with my unit a long time ago. They fought to the death, but I ran. I ran because I was afraid—because I was a coward.” She realised she was crying and hated herself for it. She�
��d finally admitted out loud how she felt about herself, and it hurt far worse than her bleeding guts. “This is my chance to make things right. This time the demons won’t fucking win.”
Philip stood beside her, his face ashen from blood loss. “I was a lousy father,” he said. “Hardly ever there for Bray, which is why it hurts so much that I lost him. I’ll never get a chance to make it up to him, but there’s still time for me to be here for these kids. I never sacrificed for Bray, but I will sacrifice for them.”
Kamiyo shook his head. “This is insane.”
Hannah put a hand on his shoulder. “Doc, this shit has been crazy since the moment those black stones appeared.” He smiled at her, and they shared a moment. “You know, Doc, if I weren’t a lesbian, I’d probably let you see my tits.”
Kamiyo spluttered with laughter. “Oh, well, it’s a shame things never worked out that way. So… how do you want to do this?”
“I need to get my rifle. Just get me to the sally port and I’ll fight my way out. Philip, you sure you want to step out there with me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, then arm up, pet.”
Aymun stood next to her. “I should accompany you. I have passed through a gate before.”
Hannah shook her head. “Then you’ve already had your turn. No, Aymun, you need to defend this place. There’s no point me closing the gate if everyone is dead by the time I do it.”
Aymun sighed in defeat. “Then good luck to you, Hannah. May God see through the void and recognise your courage.”
“Yeah. Okay. So, will someone please grab my rifle from the pantry?” She pulled the bolt carrier assembly from her bloody pocket. “It’s time to make her whole again.”
49
TED
Ted acted without thought, only anger and desperation controlling him. Knowing he couldn’t cross the entire courtyard in time to stop Vamps from lifting the portcullis, he hefted his hammer into the air as hard as he could. The massive tool tumbled through the air, cutting an erratic arc. It was the only chance he had.
The heavy copper head struck the centre of Vamps’ back, right between the shoulder blades, and dropped him like a lump of coal. The iron portcullis sank back into the earth, dissecting a demon that sought to crawl beneath it. Its body crackled and burned.
Ted closed the final distance between him and Vamps, just as the demon stumbled back to his feet. His left arm dangled from a shoulder six inches lower that it should be. Vamps grabbed it with his opposite hand and wrenched, popping the joint back into place. He did not wince or show any pain.
“You lied to me,” said Ted. “You said the attack was coming tonight, and only from the front.”
Vamps grinned, his tongue flicking in and out like a snake’s. “Truth and fallacy are human creations. Accept your fates or face further humiliation.”
“Accept that this world doesn’t belong to you, and I won’t have to kick your arsehole into your throat.”
Vamps hissed, then launched himself at Ted. Ted was not an agile man, so he only made it halfway out of danger. Vamps struck him in the chest and spun him around. He fell down in the dirt, then rolled aside and back up onto his knees in time to dodge a second attack. He needed to regain his hammer.
Vamps backhanded Ted and crushed his cheek. He fell down again, this time too dazed to get back up.
“Are you maggots the best your god could manage? Weak, flawed creatures that consider themselves superior to all? You are not superior. You are uninspired creations of an uninspired god. I shall replace you with beings so glorious that the sun itself will darken in their presence. Mine will be a universe of perfection.”
Ted scrambled to his feet. “Perfection’s boring. It’s the screwed-up shit that makes life challenging.”
“There is no challenge, only futility. You are a mere reflection of your creator’s lack of imagination.”
Ted grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it in Vamps’ face, then used the distraction to scramble to his feet. “You see, that was challenging, but I pulled it off. Lots of things are challenging—like watching Man Utd play, or trying to get an erection after a night down the pub. Sex is one of those imperfect things you hate so much, but trust me, it’s the messiness that makes it worth the effort.”
Vamps rubbed at his eyes until they were clear of sand. “Then it is the first thing I shall erase.”
Ted dashed for his hammer, and this time, when Vamps tried to attack him, he turned and threw himself into a tackle. He landed on top of Vamps and pounded at his face. The rage took hold of him, and he threw down his fists harder and harder, breaking bone and rupturing flesh. Blood went everywhere, and his mouth opened in an animalistic roar. Vamps might be a demon, but Ted was the true monster here.
He lost his mind to anger—but then suddenly realised it wasn’t really anger that came over him when he fought the demons. It was grief.
Chloe called out to him from the shadows of his mind. The echoes of her screams rattled inside his skull, and he saw flashes of the balmy night they had torn her away from him. Demons had dragged his little girl from the flatbed of his truck while she slept beneath the blankets he placed on her. The entire under-construction housing estate had kept them safe for weeks, but that night the demons had finally come for them. Ted had been sat with the lads playing cards.
Chloe’s screams were the last thing he remembered about her—her wailing voice fading into the darkness as demons carried her away. He should have stayed closer. She shouldn’t have been sleeping alone.
All of that grief came out now, along with so much guilt he felt like he might grow wings made from it. His fists reigned down with so much anguish that Vamps’ face turned to mush.
But as quickly as the grief came over Ted, it washed away. He fell away from Vamps, panting and sobbing to himself while clutching at the dirt and trying to pull the earth over himself. He wanted to be buried. This needed to be over.
Frank appeared at the bottom of the steps, and saw the emotional wreck that was Ted, but then he saw the bloody remains of Vamps and looked shocked. He looked back and forth, obviously confused, but then raced over to help Ted.
“Kidda, what the heck happened?”
Ted got ahold of himself. “Vamps set us up. H-He was opening the gate. I… I killed him.”
“Yep, I’d say yow did that alright. Come on, kidda, let me help yow.”
Ted took Frank’s hand and got to his feet. He was about to say something when he saw movement in the corner of his eye.
The fight wasn’t over.
Ted shoved Frank aside just as Vamps pounced, his face a ruin but slowly reconstructing. He had been aiming for Frank’s back, but instead collided with Ted. He hissed and raised a clawed hand to cut through the air.
50
DR KAMIYO
“I have no idea how you expect to do this,” said Kamiyo, as he removed the braces from the sally port. While it was a lovely and convenient solution in theory, it wasn’t so easy as strolling down the hill and diving into the lake. There were maybe a thousand demons between Hannah and her destination.
And she was dying rapidly.
They were all dying.
Hannah shouted up at the teens on the wall and told them to clear a path outside the sally port. They nodded okay, calmed by their protected positions. The walls really had given them a chance, and not a single demon had got close to scaling the perimeter.
At least not yet.
Philip slumped up against the wall next to the sally port, holding a spear in his free hand. “I say we just walk out there casually, like we’re conducting normal business. Maybe it will confuse them enough to buy us some time.”
Kamiyo rolled his poker in his hands, hoping it was still magic. “Are you serious?”
“Got a better idea?”
Shouting erupted at the other end of the courtyard, and they turned to see Ted racing towards the portcullis. It was rising.
Kamiyo’s blood ran cold. “Oh, no!
Someone is opening the gate. If the demons get inside, we’re done for.”
Hannah shoved Aymun. “Go! Go help Ted. Philip, we need to do this now or it’ll be too late. We stick close and smash anything that comes near. If we find open ground, we run. I only need to get to the lake alive. Don’t matter if I’m in one piece.”
Philip said he understood, which left Kamiyo with no other option but to open the door and let them actually do this. What if he opened the sally port and a stream of demons forced their way inside before he could close it again?
But if the portcullis opened, that would be a moot point. Hannah was right—they either did this or they were doomed. It was nuclear warfare or total annihilation.
“Okay, we need to do this.” Kamiyo gripped his poker tightly, trying to will himself to move.
“Then stop standing there like a baby with a shitty nappy.” Hannah shot him a pained look that indicated she would like to get going sooner rather than later.
Kamiyo shouted up at the teenagers. “Is it clear?”
They released a barrage of arrows, then shouted back down that things were as clear as they were going to be.
“Okay,” said Kamiyo. “After fifteen, I’ll open the door.”
Hannah glared at him. “Are you joking?”
“Yes, I just thought the moment needed a little levity. After three, you ready? Three… Two… One!”
Kamiyo yanked the handle on the sally port and the heavy wooden door creaked open. It was like opening a gateway to Hell.
Demons spilled over each other like locusts, slashing at the air in the hope they might spill blood, and those at the walls scrabbled at the stone, trying to climb it. They made no progress in that regard, but Kamiyo saw, with horror, that a group of the ape-like monsters were raking at an area beneath the wall—like dogs digging for a bone. Dust and chips leapt into the air as the hole they were creating grew bigger. Each time a demon ran its claws to the nub, another would take its place. It would take them hours, but eventually, they would make it through to the other side. Hannah’s mission had to be a success.
Hell on Earth- the Complete Series Box Set Page 108
