Katie’s War

by Michael Todd

  Sprinkling it over the men, he sighed. “Wake up, assholes. You have a job to do. There is no time to pass out in the snow. I swear, I don’t know how humans have made it this long.”

  The men’s eyes opened wide, and they looked up at Beelzebub. The color in their pupils faded, and their eyes shone bright red. Beelzebub smiled broadly. “Good. You two can be first in line.”

  The men stood up and dropped their shotguns in the snow, then went behind Beelzebub and started following him. With each step, a row of demons emerged through the portal, creating a huge army of demons behind them. Nashville had no idea what was coming.

  “All right, men, take a bathroom break, stock up on supplies, and get back to the SUVs,” Wilson told his men as they climbed out at the gas station.

  Red hopped out of the passenger seat and stretched her arms over her head. “I think I’ll grab a hot dog. You want anything?”

  Wilson smirked. “You eat that hotdog while I’m driving and we might not make it to our destination.”

  Red chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be gone before we pull out.”

  Wilson’s mouth fell open, and he watched her ass as she walked into the store. He shook his head, glancing at the two pumping gas. They quickly looked away. He leaned on the SUV and reached into his pocket, feeling his phone vibrate.

  “This is Wilson.”

  Belphegor growled lightly on the other end. “I’ve got a line on a big incursion right down the road.”

  Wilson stood up quickly and looked at the guys in the store. “Oh, yeah? How close?”

  Belphegor chuckled. “Nashville. It’s like it was made for you and your team.”

  Wilson smiled and rubbed his hands together. “That is exactly what I like to hear. Any specific instructions?”

  “No survivors. And if you see Katie, she’s included in that.”

  18

  Katie walked out of a portal on the sidewalk just feet away from the people in front of her condo building. They all turned, gasping as they watched her fold her wings and push through the crowd. She smiled kindly at them but had no time to stop and talk. She had hoped the portal would have opened in the condo, but her aim was still a bit off.

  Pandora was still impressed. Hey, you were only a little off. Now I want you to imagine a hot naked guy all alone in his shower and open a portal.

  Katie walked through the front doors, nodding at the doorman. Yeah, right. My luck, I would end up in some old lady’s shower.

  Pandora grimaced. Or worse, some old man with his old balls. Good lord, I changed my mind. Don’t do it.

  Katie chuckled as she pressed the button in the elevator. Don’t worry, I’m not dumb enough to try that.

  As soon as the elevator doors opened, Katie sprinted down the hall to Juntto’s door. She started to just fling the door open but stopped, not wanting to walk in on anything gross. She knocked hard instead. She could hear the patter of Angie’s feet as she ran across the hardwood floors. She cracked open the door and let out a sigh, opening it farther. “Thank God. I thought you were the neighbor. Why did you knock?”

  Katie walked in and over to Juntto. “Just avoiding any creepy scenes, that’s all. Juntto, I think I need your help.”

  Juntto jumped up from the couch and changed form, growing into a blue frost giant. “I’m here. Whatever you need. Let’s go. I’ll bring my Juntto-sized weapons.”

  Katie chuckled. “Right. There is some bad shit going down in Nashville, and I think we’re going to need as many hands on deck as we can get.”

  “Oooh!” Angie ran to the other room and came back, strapping her holster to her hips.

  Juntto was too busy getting his weapons out of the closet to even notice. Katie looked at her with concern. “This is going to be an all-out incursion. Maybe it’s best you stay here.”

  Angie shook her head and glanced at Juntto, lowering her voice. “No. Not this time. I need to show Juntto that I’m a warrior woman. I can be a champion, Katie. I don’t want to lose him because he thinks I’m some frail human. I got this, I promise.”

  Katie looked at her for a moment and then sighed, nodding. Angie squealed quietly and jumped on her, wrapping her arms around Katie’s shoulders. “Thank you.”

  Katie patted her on the back. “Fine, but the first time you almost die, I’m sending you back through a portal, and I’m telling you now, you never know where you’ll end up. It could be some weird dimension where penguins rule the world and humans are their slaves.”

  Juntto stomped out with his big guns in each arm and two Juntto-sized pistols in holsters at his waist. His skin had turned light brown, and there was a bandana around his head. He was completely shirtless, like Rambo. Katie raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I came to the wrong apartment after all.”

  “All right, gang, stay close. We’re going through two portals. Try not to get distracted by the other dimension.” Katie had her hands at the ready.

  She swept them through the air and tore open a portal. One by one, the group trudged through, Pandora still inside Katie. Angie and Juntto paused when they stepped through, looking around. Angie curled her lip, looking out at a town filled with small clear buildings, tubes running from each, a hamster wheel on the end of each one. Walking through the tunnels were gerbils, only they wore vests, monocles, and top hats.

  Angie glanced at Juntto. “What the ever-loving fluffy fuck is this?”

  Katie looked back. “Another dimension. I know, shit is weird. Just keep moving.”

  Katie opened another rift and stood to the side while Angie stepped through. Juntto stopped and looked at her. “Hey, is it possible for you to visit my dimension?”

  Katie chuckled. “Maybe. We might have accidentally stopped by there a little while ago.”

  Juntto looked excited. “Really? How was it?”

  Katie lifted both eyebrows. “Everyone was blue, furry, and angry.”

  Juntto sighed longingly. “Stop it. You’re making me homesick.”

  Screams echoed through the city of Nashville. There were humans running in every direction, trying to escape the hellish scene it had quickly become. There were infected hunters slashing through the crowds, and regular demons on their heels. They were fucking up everything they could find, from people to storefronts. Several demons had stopped and sat down in the street, gnawing on human limbs that had been ripped off of bodies.

  Cars were stopped in the streets. Some people hid inside, while others abandoned them and ran. The ones who ran didn’t make it very far. To be fair, neither did the ones who tried to hide. One car sped down a street, went up over the curb, and crashed into the side of a building. The driver’s door opened and a demon stumbled out, wavering from side to side before passing out on the concrete.

  Several humans had exited their apartments with guns, blasting the demons the best they could before they fell prey to the infected. The hunters’ bright orange vests were stained red with blood as their hands turned to claws and slashed the flesh of the bystanders. It was a complete and total bloodbath.

  In front of the Hard Rock Café, two black SUVs came to a screeching halt. Red and Wilson carefully got out of their trucks, while the team behind them unloaded the gear and got ready for the fight. Red raised her gun and pulled the trigger, hitting a demon hanging from the restaurant’s guitar sign. Sparks flew everywhere and sizzled on the pavement below.

  Wilson lifted an eyebrow at her. She smirked and flipped her gun around on her finger. “Them vermin are out here causing a ruckus.”

  Wilson chuckled. “We’re in Nashville, not the Old West.”

  Red shrugged. “Fuck, it’s all the same to me. Guitars and banjos. Oh, and Dolly’s giant tits.”

  The team hurried forward, their knives in their hands. Red and Wilson were still the only ones using their pistols, although the team was fully loaded just in case. Red clapped her hands. “Okay, boys. You know what to do.”

  The team spread out and ran straight for the incursion. Red and Wilson came
behind, firing their guns at the stragglers. Both were excellent shots, taking down everything they aimed at. They left many piles of dust in their wake. The guys, on the other hand, were struggling. Their hand-to-hand combat and small daggers were hard to have accuracy with, especially with so many demons around.

  Before they knew it, they had more than pissed off several of the demons. They circled around the guys and attacked, tearing two of the men to pieces. It seemed the bloodbath had spread DDF-style after all. The other three fought hard, stabbing at the demons’ necks until they were able to fight them off. When they rose from the pile of ash, they were covered in gashes but even more pissed than before.

  Angie stepped to the side, wide-eyed, and waited for Katie and Juntto to walk through the portal into Nashville. In front of them was a wild scene, infected and demons wreaking havoc on the city. Juntto growled, taking off toward the fight as the portal snapped shut. He bounded across the streets, his feet leaving indentations in the sidewalk as he ran. He pulled up his Juntto-sized machine gun and blasted the group of demons.

  Screeches and screams came from the beasts as they fell to the ground and turned to dust. He leapt into the air and dropped on two of the demons, squashing them beneath his feet. He may have looked like Rambo, but he was the size of a frost giant, which made it hard for any of the small demons to attack him. He turned to the side, pointing his gun at a group cornering some humans. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to take them down without hitting the people, he slung the gun on his back and raced forward.

  Juntto swung his arms from side to side, knocking the group of demons aside. Some screamed as they smashed into the sides of buildings, while others toppled head over heels out onto the street. Juntto grabbed the humans in his arms and looked up, seeing an open window four stories above them. He began to climb, the stones crumbling beneath his feet.

  Katie looked at Angie and shrugged. “Tally ho, bitches!”

  Angie laughed nervously and pulled out her guns. Katie took off toward the group, pulling her angel sword from her back and swinging it through demons. Pandora was laughing the whole time. Oh, oh! Do that energy wave thing!

  Katie chuckled and flipped the sword point-down, then raised it over her head and rammed it into the asphalt below. A bright white light flashed and moved outward in a ring, turning every demon to ash. Anything or anyone it hit that wasn’t demon simply felt the energy run through them. She managed to clear six rows of demons with that one move.

  Katie turned the sword back and held it tightly in her grip. How was that?

  Pandora cheered. Fucking badass, was what that was. I’m going to have you do that next time there is a line at Krispy Kreme.

  Katie chuckled. Except it will only work on demons.

  Pandora huffed. I have a feeling there are more demons eating there than you know, my dear. Just don’t take out the people behind the counter. I don’t care if they’re demons. They are the artists. Donut artists.

  Katie laughed and then lurched as a bullet whizzed past her. She turned around to find two infected wearing blood-stained orange vests. Both of them had pistols in their hands. “I thought assholes like you used shotguns.”

  One of the guys smirked, his skin pulling. “Backup, just in case. Looks like we have a ‘just in case.’”

  Suddenly Juntto landed behind them, crushing the curb. The two hunters’ eyes went wide and they turned around, staring at his thighs. Juntto growled loudly like the Hulk and swiped his arm, slamming both of them at the same time. Katie pulled her gun and followed up by shooting both of them in the head.

  She high-fived Juntto, and they returned to the fight. Closer to the edge of the crowd, Angie pulled the trigger and hit a demon between the eyes. It flew back and turned to dust. Angie whooped, jumping up in celebration. Another demon growled loudly to her right, and she twisted, pulling the trigger twice. The bullets lodged in the demon’s chest, and it squealed loudly for a moment.

  When the effects of the bullets wore off, Angie’s eyes grew wide. She raised both of her guns and pulled the triggers, but all she heard were clicks. “Fuck. Where is my ammo?”

  She reached into her pockets as she backed up, finding them empty. “Goddamn it! I want to prove I’m a warrior, but I leave my extra fucking ammo sitting on the dresser.”

  She put her guns in their holsters and tripped as she caught her foot on the sidewalk. She fell back and put her arm up, waiting for the demon to attack. When it didn’t hit her, she opened one eye and looked at her hand. Juntto was standing there holding it by the neck. “I saw your other shots. You’re doing pretty good there.”

  Angie chuckled and pulled herself to her feet. “Thanks. I...uh...ran out of bullets.”

  Juntto smirked and crushed the demon’s neck. “Why don’t you hang back, then? You did really good.”

  Angie sighed as Juntto ran back toward the fight. She had gotten better at fighting, that was damn sure, but she wasn’t quite the badass she was hoping to be for Juntto. Still, she knew he was right. There was nothing she could do at that point. She wasn’t infected, and her little body was not constructed for hand-to-hand combat with a demon.

  Out in the streets, though, things were already winding down. Between the DDF, Katie, and Juntto, they had been able to take the demons out pretty quickly. There were a few infected bodies that hadn’t turned to ash, but the rest looked like the remnants of a huge fire. There was a storm of dust blowing through the streets of Nashville. The people in the buildings slowly started to look out, no longer hearing the screams, shrieks, and general chaos of the battle.

  Katie dusted the ash from the front of her clothes, and Juntto shrank just a bit. He elbowed Katie and nodded down the street. Standing at the other end were Wilson, Red, and what was left of their team. Katie’s lip twitched, knowing it didn’t matter they had just all fought the same battle. Wilson had it out for her.

  Slowly, she and Juntto made their way toward the center of the street. Katie looked at Juntto as he lumbered along. “Let me handle this. These are Council people. I don’t need them turning on you too.”

  Juntto nodded, gripping his pistol tightly but holding it by his side. They stopped, and Wilson stepped in front of them. Red and the three remaining team members spread out behind him. Katie narrowed her eyes. “Wilson, didn’t know you were out.”

  Wilson chuckled and snapped his fingers. The DDF, including Red, pulled their pistols from their sides and pointed them at Katie. She didn’t flinch, keeping her eyes glued to Wilson. “You can point your little guns at me all you want, but if you want this war to end, you’ll let me at that portal.”

  Wilson smirked. “We will win this war, us and the Council.”

  Katie tilted her head back, feeling brazen. “Please. Stop kidding yourselves. Now, if you would move aside and tell your minions to lower their weapons, I have something to send those fucking demons. A message of death, you could say.”

  Katie took a step forward but stopped when the DDF raised their guns higher. Wilson put up his hand to calm them. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think, Katie, that you need to be put in your place.”

  Katie narrowed her eyes. “And where exactly is that?”

  Wilson pulled his gun, and Katie took two steps back. “In hell, where your pretty little demon came from. Maybe then you can stop trying to set us up and burn like you should have done when I shot your ass the first time.”

  Pandora pushed through Katie’s chest, her fists balled and her eyes glowing blue. “How dare you threaten her, you little-dicked fucking pussy. You didn’t kill her the first time, and I can promise you, you aren’t going to get a second chance. I may be an angel now, but I’ll still rip your balls from your crotch and shove them down your fucking throat. Unless the rumors are true?”

  Wilson sneered. “What rumors?”

  Pandora laughed loudly. “The rumors that you have a pussy, and I don’t mean the redheaded Amazon behind you.”

  Red’s lip twitched. “L
et me shoot this cunt. Angel or demon, doesn’t matter. They all go down the same way with a nice special metal bullet between the eyes.”

  Wilson smiled, backing up with his team. They were all ready for one hell of a fight. Pandora and Katie pulled out their swords, and Juntto raised his Juntto-sized pistol. The team all held steady, no longer worried about their knives. The pistols would do just fine to accomplish the ultimate goal of their missions—taking down Katie, the ultimate mercenary. Although they could tell if anyone was going to shoot her, it would be Wilson.

  Pandora shifted to make a move when a loud voice echoed from over the DDF’s head. “Everyone stand down. Put your weapons down. This is the United States Army.”

  Katie looked at the armored personnel carriers and Humvees crowding the streets. They had already started to clean up the remaining demons, but at the sight of the standoff, they had frozen in place. Katie wasn’t sure how she’d managed to miss them, but then she had been so focused on Wilson that nothing else mattered.

  Katie rolled her shoulders, keeping her gun pointed at Wilson. Her wings stretched out a little farther, and she stepped up next to Pandora. Leaning over and whispering, she got her attention. “You might have to try to fly.”

  Pandora sniffed. “Not without taking down that redheaded sack of flesh.”

  Katie gripped her pistol tighter. “Not today. We light them up, the whole Army comes down on us. We should just back away from this one.”

  It was obvious Pandora didn’t like that. “We don’t back down.”

  The voice called out again from the barrage of troops slowly inching forward. “Katie, we advise you to drop your weapons. We have orders from the World Council to apprehend you and bring you in for questioning. Let’s do this peacefully and easily. No one here wants a fight.”