by Michael Todd
Katie and Pandora spread their wings and took off. They sped forward, beating their wings hard. As they got closer, they split off in separate directions, circling around and swiping their swords down and through the Leviathan’s nasty jiggling body.
They turned and circled again, this time bobbing and weaving through the maze of tentacles that whipped through the air, trying to take them down. Pandora whirled around, folding her wings in and holding her sword out. She clipped the tip off of every tentacle that got anywhere near her.
Katie laughed as she did the same, putting her shield in the air with one leg bent like a ballerina. “Who knew slashing and hacking a dickwad Leviathan could be so feminine and demure?”
Pandora soared up and back down, continuing to slash at the beast. “A night at the ballet. You shouldn’t have.”
Katie smiled. “Wine and roses after?”
Pandora sneered.
Katie rolled her eyes. “Fine. Donuts and milkshakes after?”
Pandora’s sneer turned up. “Now you’re talking my language, bitch.”
They flew in opposite directions again, meeting back up in front of the monster. They hovered there for a moment, hands clasped. The Leviathan screeched again, writhing in its pain and suffering. Pandora hated to admit that she was enjoying it. “I guess this kind of torture is not so bad.”
Katie shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind watching this sonofabitch be torn tentacle from tentacle by Lucifer. I’d make some sugar popcorn for that.”
Pandora oohed. “The green and purple kind? I love that.”
Katie shook her head. “You know it all tastes the same.”
Pandora scoffed. “I don’t care what anyone says—the blue M&Ms taste better than the others.”
Kabbus slammed his tentacles on the ground, shaking the buildings. He wailed, blood squirting from his injured appendages. He tried to pull himself along, but he was seizing up, the pain too much for him to bear. Pandora wiggled her eyebrows. “Apparently angel swords mixed with hope and love actually do make good weapons against these morons.”
Katie brought her fingers to her lips and tapped them, narrowing her eyes. Pandora glanced at her. “Uh oh. I’ve seen that look before. You are planning something evil yet pure at the same time. Spill it. I love plans like that.”
Katie smiled, shifting her eyes toward Pandora. “I have a question. Kabbus can give demons nightmares too, right?”
Pandora looked at him, then back at Katie, then back at Kabbus again. “Oh, this is good. This is really good. Why, yes, as a matter of fact, Kabbus can give demons nightmares. In fact, he used to do it on a regular basis. I remember when he first came here, I was in a ball shaking after picturing newborn babies surrounded by kittens and puppies. It was terrible.”
Katie lifted her eyebrow. “Oh, yeah. That’s the pits. Why don’t we give someone else our problem for a little bit?”
Pandora smirked mischievously. “In the words of Timothy, ‘Yass, queen, yass.’”
Pandora and Katie used their joint magic to open another portal to hell. As soon as the heat hit them, Katie poked her head in just to make sure. She nodded at Pandora, and they drove Kabbus through the portal and slammed it shut, leaving him with the rocks, the lava, and most importantly, the demons.
The next day was hard. There was debris everywhere, and although the bodies had been removed the night before, there was still an eerie and chilly feeling where they had been found. It was as if some of their fear still lingered in the air. None of the soldiers could go anywhere close. Instead, they spent the day clearing up the base. Fortunately, not too much had been damaged, but now that Kabbus was gone, they did a full deep-cleaning and repaired the few things, like the doorway, that he’d ruined.
Everyone chipped in, from the soldiers to Dr. Ozu. Much to Calvin’s dismay, Sofia was right there with them, doing whatever she could to make the base a home again. “I know what it feels like to have a nightmare hanging over your home. I won’t let that linger here.”
From the front hangar, the jet, which had arrived early that morning, had been moved out to the runway. In it were over a dozen coffins, lined up perfectly straight and draped with the flags of country and service. It was their memorial to the dead; their way of honoring their sacrifices in a war that had appeared on their doorstep without warning but with full consequences.
The guys all tried to keep the mood alive, playing music over the speakers and doing their best to smile at the other soldiers, but still, everyone was somber and wrung out from the day before. None of them had realized just how taxing it was to have their minds attacked and then have to handle the aftermath. Eddie, Turner, and Brock had volunteered to collect and arrange the bodies, trying not to put any more on the soldiers than they had already borne. As it was, they should have been in bed resting, but cleaning up the base was important to them all.
Stephanie put down her broom and walked over to Korbin, clasping his arm. He stared around the base, watching the flags that hung in front of the hangar flapping in the breeze. “It’s terrible how that feeling of fear can linger with you.”
Korbin nodded. “It is. I just hope they are at rest now.”
Stephanie patted Korbin’s arm. “I think the base needs something.”
Korbin smiled, kissing Stephanie on the forehead. “I think you’re right.”
“Put all of the tables right there in the center of the courtyard,” Stephanie yelled.
The soldiers all carried tables out of the storage area for Stephanie. One by one they set them up, taking tablecloths from Timothy and giving them a colorful and festive feel. One by one the chairs appeared, and the tables began to fill with the food that Sean and Katie were working on in the kitchen.
Brock walked over next to Stephanie. “This is a really perfect plan. These guys have been through hell and back, and that isn’t even literal this time. We needed something to pep them up and get them back in the groove of being a family. Many of them lost friends for the first time.”
Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest. “It is a loss that we will feel for some time, but we have a job to do, and we need to be bonded to do it.”
Brock smiled. “Just like the old days.”
Stephanie patted him on the back. “That’s exactly right. No matter what our personal feelings were, we came together as a family and worked as a unit. I think the new guys are really starting to get that. At least, I hope they are.”
They both chuckled and went over to the tables, helping the soldiers set up the last few. Brock leaned his head back after the last one was in place, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath of fresh air. The sky was a brilliant blue, with large white fluffy clouds passing slowly overhead. It was a little chilly, but bright and beautiful nonetheless.
The last of the food was brought down and all of the soldiers and mercs gathered together, taking seats next to their fellow soldiers. They filled their plates with good old comfort food, the kind you would find at a reunion or a picnic. They had baskets of fried chicken, bowls of potato salad, Jell-O molds, and pasta salad. There were huge platters of cookies, and brownies too. They hadn’t been able to cook all of it, Timothy running out at the last second to get a bunch more, but the soldiers didn’t care.
It was refreshing, but with the weight of the dead just across the courtyard, they were still quiet and somber. When they had settled into eating, Korbin stood and stepped up onto the bench. “If I could have everyone’s attention?”
Everyone turned and looked at him. Korbin was glad to see their faces. “Yesterday was hard. Harder for some than others.”
Korbin raised his Coke in the direction of the hangar. “But I want you to all realize something. Every single one of you faced your fears last night, and you did it with confidence and valor. We celebrate you today. We celebrate those brave souls who did not make it out alive, and we celebrate our family, all one unit, all fighting for the world, and some of the best goddamned soldiers I have ever had the privil
ege of working with.”
Everyone cheered and raised their sodas. Korbin smiled and looked down at Stephanie, who reached up and took his hand. “I’m so proud of you.”
Korbin chuckled. “I haven’t heard that since I was a kid.”
Stephanie pulled him down to his seat. “Well, maybe I should tell you more often. You are the bravest man I know, and I love you so much for that.”
Korbin sighed and leaned forward, kissing her forehead. “How did I get so lucky?”
Stephanie snorted. “You came into my whorehouse. Lucky you. You hit the jackpot.”
Korbin laughed. “And I get it for free.”
Stephanie clapped her hands. “Damn right.”
Turner cleared his throat and stood up, looking around at the troops. “Shit. I don’t know if this is appropriate, but fuck it. Y’all, I saw little dick goblins trying to eat my fucking dick. No lie. Little green goblins trying to devour my dick.”
One of the soldiers in the crowd yelled, “I bet they’re still hungry.”
Everyone burst into laughter and Turner’s mouth fell open, then he smirked. “Whichever dickbreath just said that, trust me; I will find you, and I will bury you.”
Brock chuckled. “I think it might have been worth it to him. If it means anything. I’m glad you don’t have dick goblins anymore.”
Turner nodded. “Thanks, buddy.”
Brock swallowed a bite of his food. “Because if you did, I was going to have to kick you off the team. No one wants goblins running around, especially ones that are so into dicks.”
Timothy leaned toward them. “Don’t knock it until you try it, ladies.”
Katie took a deep breath and stood up, stepping onto a chair. Everyone quieted down, not used to her speeches anymore. She raised her glass in the air. “I think we all saw something we’d rather not see, but we have to remember to have hope.”
She pointed at Calvin and Sofia. “Hope for the future.”
She pointed at Juntto. “Hope for redemption.”
Then she smiled and turned to Pandora. “And faith in one another.”
24
Hell was as miserable as it had always been. Demons were scurrying around looking for something to scavenge and the heat index was beyond belief, especially the deeper you went down into the rings. No one had noticed the portal Katie and Pandora had created; they had done it so fast it didn’t have time to register. Still, there he was, the Nightmare Man, slithering over the lava rocks. Sweat poured down his tentacles, which had by that point mostly regrown. Still, Kabbus seemed to be weaker than he had been when he got there.
Between the temperature, the pollution in the air, and the hot stone below, Kabbus was using up much more energy than he did on Earth. Even after devouring a dozen soldiers at the base, he was almost back to where he started—which was not good news for the demons, although they had no idea.
Kabbus approached a long stretch of open stone. To his left, he heard the scurrying of claws on rock. Two demons, both low level and relatively stupid, charged at him, ready to attack. The biggest problem for them was that they’d had no idea what they were getting themselves into when they chose that target. Even weak, Kabbus was capable of crushing the toughest imbecilic opponent.
The two demons leapt at him, yelling in their little demon voices. As they came down on Kabbus, they opened their eyes, finding themselves standing in a green field. One gasped in horror. “Huh? What this?”
The other demon scratched his head. “We jump dimension?”
The first demon grabbed the second and turned him around, pointing with shaking fingers. From the edge of a lush forest, several unicorns trotted out, swishing their bright white tails in the sunshine. The demons clung to each other, backing up. The second demon looked at the sky, swallowing hard as he stared at the large, vibrant rainbow overhead.
The demons moved quicker, backing farther and farther away. But the farther they moved away, the closer the unicorns got. As they approached, the first demon tugged on the second’s arm. “What on back?”
Narrowing their eyes, they both gagged, shaking their heads. Riding on the unicorns’ backs were small, adorable squirrels, their big bushy tails flirting. They wore uniforms on their bodies and held tiny little swords. “That worst thing ever seen.”
The demons began to run away and scream, hating every blade of bright green grass their feet touched. As they ran, small furry bunnies popped their heads up, their pink noses moving as they chewed. Rainbow after rainbow cascaded overhead, shining multi-colored reflections down over the demons. Butterflies flew alongside them, and they could swear they could hear some sort of group singing in small voices.
Panic had struck the demons, and they didn’t know whether to keep running, vomit, give up and let the unicorns take them, or just off themselves. However, the choice was not going to be theirs. Kabbus was enjoying watching them suffer, letting their fear build up as high as it could. At the same time, though, he was wasting away down there in hell.
His tentacles began to move again, sizzling and smoking as they slapped the smoldering lava rock. He moved over the demons, who were clinging to one another on the path. He lingered there for a moment and then slithered off, leaving the demons’ gray husks.
Timothy sat back in the chair in the dungeon, staring up at the screen. “That was horrific. Like completely and terribly the worst thing. I’m really glad it’s over.”
Sean pouted. “I know. It was the worst torture I could have ever been put to.”
Timothy looked at him with pity. “Sean, I’m so sorry. Were they demons?”
Sean wiped his teary eye. “No. There was all this food, all my favorites, but every time I tried to put a bite in my mouth, it turned to smoke.”
Timothy put his hand on his chest and gasped. “My lord, that is terrifying.”
The phone rang, and Timothy patted Sean’s shoulder as he answered. “This is Timothy.”
“Timothy. Good to hear that you are alive and well. This is Brushwood.”
Timothy sat down in the chair. “Oh, you know me. Takes a lot more than a creepy mind-melding Leviathan to get rid of me. What can I do for you today, sir? I have not seen a single blip on the screen so far today. Even the Earthbound demons seem to be staying low-key.”
The general chuckled. “I would too if we had just been visited by that thing, but that’s not why I’m calling. I was actually calling to tell you that I wanted to use your tech to look for the remaining Leviathans. Figured I should call you before you get rid of it or something.”
Timothy bit his lip, swirling his finger around in a circle on the desk. “General, I’ll be honest. I’m not sure if that is a good idea. I think I need to run it by Katie first. She is the leader, and she should be the one to make that decision.”
The general grunted. “Is there any specific reason you don’t feel comfortable? Could it just be residual from what happened?”
Timothy wrinkled his nose. “I guess it could be. It was pretty damn traumatic, and we lost a lot of men from that incident. But at the same time, I felt that way before I built this system. I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know if it is such a good idea poking around the world trying to find these guys. especially when they are in more remote areas. You never know what they can sense.”
Brushwood heard him out and responded, “I understand your concern, but this is also a little bigger than that. We want to be protected, but also in the know and ahead of the times.”
Timothy pursed his lips. “Right, but this system might actually find those Leviathans, and then what? We waltz in their bedrooms and flip on the light? I think we’ve seen that it’s not a good thing when Leviathans wake up. They tend to get up on the wrong side of the ice shelf. The only one we got a positive return on was Juntto, but he almost cut Pandora’s head off at first. Not that I hold it against him; just worthy of bringing up at a time like this.”
The general pursed his lips. “Timothy, I completely understand you
r concerns. This is very dangerous territory. You are the only one with a tracker, but if you talk to Katie and decide not to do it, I will respect your choice.”
Timothy breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, General. I really appreciate you being understanding.”
He smirked. “I’ve been in this business long enough to know that some things are risky, and sometimes that risk is not worth it. Just do me a favor; talk it over with Katie, and let me know as soon as you can.”
The general waited until Timothy had hung up before carefully setting his phone down. He pressed his lips together, staring down at the table. He definitely hadn’t seen that coming. Usually, Timothy was all gung ho after bad fights. This one must have been very serious. He raised his eyebrows and looked up, shrugging his shoulders.
Dragos and the rest of the World Council looked at him, waiting to hear what the final outcome had been. They could tell from his strained look that it might not be a good report, but anything that wasn’t exciting and new to the council was considered not good, so it didn’t really matter.
Dragos cleared his throat, staring at Brushwood. “So, will this Timothy on Katie’s team use the technology or let us use the technology to track down the rest of the Leviathans?”
The general took a deep breath, smoothing his jacket as he sat there. He glanced from one council member to another, hating the idea of being the point man on something they were not going to like in the least. “I’m not sure. They have concerns. Timothy is going to roll it over with Katie. On that note, though, the bond between them is strong, and I suspect that Katie will take Timothy’s advice over mine.”
The council immediately began whispering loudly to each other. Some of their faces were understanding, while the majority looked enraged. These leaders were not told no very often. Usually that would entertain Brushwood, but on that specific topic, it really didn’t.
Dragos banged his gavel on the desk, and everyone began to quiet down. He kept his eyes locked on Brushwood until there was no more sound in the room. “I don’t think I need to talk about the urgency of finding these beasts. They have proven to not be the most Earth-friendly creatures. I would rather accidentally wake one than have it surprise us. Their system is the only one that can track them. No one else has been able to replicate it.”
