Rage

by Doug Burbey

  This knowledge let them predict the next portal opening locations, and with Detroit, they were proven correct. While most of the truly major points were out in the oceans or in areas with almost no population to speak of, some of the minor ones weren't. Then they looked at population density; they had extrapolated from previous encounters that a large supply of blood was needed. That put the next incursion near Ypsilanti, Michigan, a name no American will never forget. It was anticipated that another portal would emerge rapidly along the Ypsilanti Ley line. Another demon horde would emerge, consolidate with the remainder of the Detroit horde and move westwards towards Chicago. The SSAU calculated that the horde convergence would happen within hours and then it would move directly to the population center of Chicago.

  Unfortunately, there was no feasible way to conduct a full civilian evacuation. By the time the remaining heavily depleted military combat forces, now under full SSAU tactical command, arrived, the area was too spread out and they had to defend on two fronts with mostly wounded and exhausted personnel. Once again, the Pick-Up Warriors emerged. Originally named by the conventional forces because they came in the backs of pick-ups bristling with guns, then it became a tongue in cheek jibe at the people who would show up for a pick-up game. The name gained honor, as the deadliest ground forces battle ever to ever take place America lasted for two days. Demons kept pouring in at a slow steady rate from the new Ley line portal into the burning remains of Detroit but humanity refused to give up. The SSAU ground commanders enacted what they referred to as “final protocol” tactics. Most of the civilized world called the protocols horrific, or even some, crimes against humanity.

  Suicide vests and bombs were ordered to be worn when the ammo ran low, if you could no longer fight, you strapped on a vest and walked up to the enemy and died to take them out. Even the vest’s dead man triggers were ordered activated on all wounded. Avoidance of civilian casualties was no longer a consideration. After the controversial actions of the SSAU in Bowling Green, Ohio, the civilian death toll was no longer a constraint. Tales filtered back, videos from people who weren't supposed to be there, teenagers with fierce looks in their eyes as they ran under the legs of a demon and exploded, taking three with them. Old women in walkers loaded with explosives hobbling out, a grin splitting their faces as they lured demons to them, sure of easy prey. The service personnel still fighting hand-to-claw with mortal wounds.

  Nearly defeated, the Department of Defense employed a still classified weapon system with unknown properties. Witness accounts described an intense dome of glowing energy that spread like a nuclear explosion that was centered just south of the city of Ypsilanti. The destruction of the city, the civilian population, the demon hordes and the human combatants was nearly absolute. A miles-long crater was all that remained of the battlefield and the city. The losses that day were estimated at 97%, but the survivors, and watching world, knew they'd finally beaten the demons decisively. The question remained, how much longer could humanity do this? The world’s combat effective conventional ground forces were now nearly non-existent.

  The worldwide death toll had already topped 250 million. If you lived in an area hit, you were assumed dead because there weren't any bodies to identify. A strange side effect of the huge harvesters, when they pulled the blood from corpses, was that the bodies all but turned to dust; every bit of liquid was pulled out, leaving only clothes behind to let you know a person had ever stood there. That the major incursions left no bodies to rot or be disposed of probably prevented another hundred million in deaths from disease.

  Predictions pointed to the next portal opening, this time around February, 2016 in the Bío Bío Region of Chile, and the world mobilized. Every nation on Earth with remaining combat power started moving that way. From the previous major attack cycles, it was calculated we had two months to get there and the world made use of that time. Moving people out and moving troops in. When the portal opened humanity was ready, determined to stop them in their tracks. Every nation on earth agreed and the U.N., for the first time since its founding, had not a single dissenting nation. Every nation’s remaining fighters would stand together for all of humanity, as one, with everything they had left for a final time.

  On February 27, 2016, the portal opened. A single demon, a massive 13-foot-tall bipedal horde leader with hardened overlapping scales and spikes engraved in demonic runes, walked out holding a broken horde leader sword which it dropped onto the ground. With that, the war was over. Negotiations brokered by the Fae took another six months. It became understood that the demons no longer believed the net blood gained by the war was of benefit to them. It is assumed that the demons had unexpectedly depleted themselves in their fight against the humans; they were now vulnerable and needed to regroup in their realm. What they feared as a threat to their own realm was a matter of great debate and of still some concern to the human world leaders.

  On August 10th the armistice was signed in blood magic and sealed by the Fae, as Arbiter, making the breaking of it by either party difficult, at the very least. Only designated “communication” portals could now be opened through the realm walls. Doing so required a willing participant from both sides under prearranged constraints. These communication portals were under a select few strict nation states’ control with extreme protection protocols in place at all set locations.

  Clean up, trying to deal with the emotional and physical fall out took another two years, before most things in America returned to roughly normal levels. The U.S. military consolidated but was grossly depleted; the money needed to rebuild was being directed primarily to ongoing infrastructure repairs. Currently, the world was at a point of unusual peace. The world has turned to rebuilding, grieving, and trying to make sure this never happened again - nation aiding nation as they were put back together.

  A portal warning system was created. The demons had exposed that there were several other realms, other than just humans and demons, and no one wanted to face this again. Research and development efforts went through the roof and a special Demon War reconstruction tax was applied to the sales tax, in all states, and it passed with full support. 1% of the cost of all goods was applied to research and making sure we could never be caught off guard again. But as a year went by with no incursions, people relaxed, and the focus changed to trying to rebuild and restore the areas that had been destroyed.

  Proof of earlier demon invasions surfaced with the discovery of abandoned harvesters in the Amazon jungle. This gave scientist equipment to study, intact devices that our battles had rarely left. R&D on blood magic became one of the most highly funded areas of research and magic slowly began to slip into the world. As more of the rules of magic was taught to humans by the Fae, such as enchanting and how to use blood, people realized that demon and Fae blood had been in our world all along; people also realized the blood genomes indicated something else. What really perplexed scientists was how the interbreeding occurred because it showed it had happened thousands of years ago. And why was there still another unknown species discovered in our DNA and blood markers.

  Chapter 1 – SASC Hearing Testimony

  Declan Kenner stopped in front of the hallway mirror on the ground floor of the U.S. Senate Dirksen Building. Through force of habit he came to attention and conducted his own visual uniform inspection. He started his visual sweep at the top of his head to the top of his shiny dress shoes, then side to side and found nothing noticeably wrong with his Army Service Uniform. At forty-five, and a Lieutenant Colonel, he'd better know how to dress properly. The only discrepancy that could be noted resided over the left breast pocket. Where there should have been a soldier's entire career worth of ribbons in neat rows of three, a lone ribbon broke the blue of his jacket. A solid black ribbon with a thin red horizontal line across it.

  The single ribbon told everything.

  His Demon War, or "Blood War" to veterans and survivors, campaign ribbon. As one of the less than a thousand soldiers who survived to wear the awar
d, custom demanded he wore it alone without any other badges or awards adorning his uniform. Unless you had also earned the Medal of Honor, it ruled the field alone. No particular rule stated this uniform requirement. But it became part of the unwritten military traditions adopted without any need for regulations, orders, or enforcement established that this particular ribbon stood alone on the chest of any Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine in honor of the hundreds of thousands of their brothers and sisters who fell.

  It was in the Blood War where he had been given the nickname of DK, for Demon Killer. Declan, the civilian, was a stranger that he didn't know how to be, yet. But he would start to learn that new life after today.

  Satisfied with his inspection Declan ran his hand over his clean-shaven head. He felt nothing more than the slight ridges of subdermal mesh implants, a few jagged scars, and the metal grounding tab at the base of his neck. Unable to avoid his next task anymore, with an audible groan he turned and approached the Capital Hill police officer stationed in front of the Senate Hearing room door.

  "May I help you, Sir?" the police officer asked politely, and after a quick glance at the uniform name tag added "Lieutenant Colonel Kenner."

  "I guess I'm here to testify," Declan responded while handing over a single sheet of a printed email with his reporting instructions.

  "First Senate testimony, Colonel? I mean most guys show up here with a bus load of lawyers and well, at least a note pad or something."

  "Oh, the last thing I need is a lawyer writing down anything I say, officer."

  The officer smiled and handed him back the reporting instructions. Declan pushed open the doors to the hearing room, taking a deep breath and walked into the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing room projecting more confidence than he felt.

  You're still an officer in the United States Army, you will carry yourself with pride.

  His mental voice helped a bit, and he walked eyes front, his stride firm.

  A table waited for him, so Declan sat at the only chair provided directly behind the microphone. In front of him the twenty-seven members of the SASC sat at the elevated horseshoe platform surrounding his diminutive table on three sides.

  "Please state your name and duty title for the record, Colonel," one of the men on the panel said. He had no idea who most of them were and didn't care.

  "Lieutenant Colonel Declan Kenner, United States Army, Special Skills Attack Unit. Currently, no duty title as I'm pending retirement effective immediately after this hearing, Senator."

  True at the moment, but a week ago he would have been the Special Tactics Unit’s North East Region Commander for the SSAU. He still didn't know if he liked being free of that burden.

  "Yes, Colonel, it has been brought to our attention that you have elected to take the separation from service, with immunity from prosecution through the presidential decree for the Demon War surviving veterans." A Senator seated in the middle of the committee table said with a sneer in her voice. Her tone implied scorn as if he had run away during battle, something he would have died rather than doing, unlike others.

  "It wasn't really an option, Ma'am. But, yes, I am accepting the rights and privileges as offered under the decree. The last mandated stipulation to that acceptance was to present myself here today for this Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. As soon as this is over I'm done with all of this." He managed to keep his voice flat, these people had no idea.

  "Yes, Colonel, we're all aware of how generous the president has been to veterans and covering up for your actions. Healthy retirement with special disability packages and immunity for your possible war crimes tops that list. I'll have you know that we are not all in agreement with these actions, and you will, in fact, be a civilian and held accountable someday. All the veterans we have managed to find so far, have been less than forthcoming. Personally, I believe their accounts are just plain fabrications or lies. I expect you to be more forthcoming Colonel."

  Ignoring the direct attack on the SSAU's conduct during the Blood War, Declan replied, his voice calm and matter of fact, even though his pulse pounded. "Ma'am, neither myself, nor the other veterans have any reason to lie about our actions."

  "Good. Then you're not going to deny that you destroyed the city of Bowling Green, Ohio?"

  "No, ma'am, I don't deny that at all." He never took his eyes off her, refusing to look away, to be ashamed of the price he, they, had paid.

  "So, you're going to sit in front of this committee now to freely admit that you murdered 47,253 people that lived in the city?" She leaned forward lowering her glasses to peer over them at him, as if he was a school boy to be scolded.

  "Ma'am, we were in a direct engagement against a forming demon horde and yes, we did cause the destruction of Bowling Green as a result of our actions. Civilian casualties were high."

  "So, you acknowledge that you ordered the Ohio National Guard 134th Field Artillery Regiment to fire on and repeatedly continue to fire on the city and civilians of Bowling Green Ohio? Causing the deaths of over 47,000 American citizens?" She sat back, her eyes wide staring at him.

  Does she think I wanted to kill all those people? Or does she not understand most of them were already dead or would have been killed shortly?

  "Yes, ma'am, I did." He kept his voice flat and tried not to remember making that decision. It didn't work.

  "You acknowledge that you personally ordered the battery commanders to fire Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition rounds into the city? Can you explain to me what the purpose of this round is, Colonel?"

  "Yes, I did. The DPICM projectile contains two types of sub munitions. Both types are capable of penetrating more than two and a half inches of conventional armor which is the equivalent to the penetration requirement for killing the demons we were encountering at that time. They are also capable of fragmentation for shredding soft tissue targets."

  "And following that barrage, Colonel, you further ordered a second artillery strike against the City of Bowling Green using something called FASCAM rounds? What is the purpose of a FASCAM round?" Glancing at the papers in front of her, then back to him, he knew she had a description of the rounds, but to serve the theater he found himself trapped in, he answered.

  "The FASCAM is an artillery deliverable assortment of scatterable mines. Essentially ma'am, those rounds were to kill any survivors left in the kill area still moving around after we used the DPICM rounds on the city. If they were stepped on or moved, they would explode."

  "So not only did you murder Americans you sent in, Jesus Christ, booby traps for anybody who might have happened to survive?"

  "Yes, ma'am. All organics had to be eliminated from the kill box, humans and demons alike."

  "Why in the name of God did you decide to destroy Bowling Green and murder your fellow Americans?" Her voice held a plaintive note, and he didn't know if he felt pity or jealousy that she would never understand the choices made that day.

  "Simple logic, senator. The demons were opening a cross realm portal in Bowling Green and it was our intel assessment that they would move directly north to the population center of Toledo, Ohio. Our information showed that if they reached Toledo over 273,000 people were available to be harvested by the horde. We had to stop the horde before it was fully formed to save those lives."

  "So, you're telling me that your military incompetence, ineptitude, and pathetic thinking could only come up with a solution of murdering Americans, so that you could justify in your minds the saving of other Americans who clearly were not in immediate danger at the time?" The contempt returned full force and he had to restrain a sigh at the stupidity of people in office.

  "No, ma'am, we were using a tactic that we had successfully used three or four times prior. We heavily engage a hoard, when it's found forming at its portal. Then with enough firepower and devastation brought against it the demons will close the portal and try to form their hoard at another location. Our intention was to try and get them to jump the portal to ano
ther location where our forces could inflict greater damage against the demons and provide them with less fuel for their harvesters. With luck, it would be a place of our choosing. If that worked successfully then, maybe, only about two thirds of our troops would die on that particular day. We found that when they jumped portal locations, we had a list of places with Ley crossing that were most likely for it to reform. It would then take anywhere from a week to ten days for the portal to re-emerge."

  "What? You hoped that by killing tens of thousands of American citizens that maybe, just maybe, you would come up with some future advantage and save your own asses? Jesus Christ, how do you sleep at night?"

  "I don't, Ma'am." She flinched back at that, apparently seeing the truth in his eyes.

  "So now that we've established you intentionally murdered 47,000 people in the city of Bowling Green, Ohio. Would you like to tell me what the hell you did in Ypsilanti, Michigan just three weeks later?!" She didn't meet his eyes, instead focusing on the papers in front of her.

  "I have no recollection of any events in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Senator."

  "No recollection? It's a crater two-hundred feet deep and about four miles long. Surely you can tell us what the hell you, and the rest of your incompetent military crew did there?"

  "No, ma'am. I can recall none of the events in Ypsilanti Michigan. Either before, or after, whatever it was that caused the crater. That's a period of lost time for me."

  "We've heard this lame excuse from several of your veteran buddies already. Lost time. Seems like a very convenient way for you to forget more atrocities you committed."