Outside Hell

by Milo Spires

  The co pilot had then spun around in his metal seat and tried to look back out the cockpit to see if there was anything obviously wrong with the chopper, but couldn’t see anything except a slight build up of ice along the tail end of the fuselage. Then as he’d remembered about the electrics failing too, he’d scanned the horizon looking for anything that could have possibly caused magnetic interference, only the visibility a meter out from the bird was horrendous and all he could see past it was a wall of dense snow.

  They’d flown following a map whilst using their instruments to get them there, and were planning on using the same system to get home too.

  Then after the second chopper had slowly circled around them trying to see if they could spot something wrong and couldn’t, it had taken to the rear and then together they’d flown on for a couple of minutes until the co pilot in the trailing bird had seen something brightly reflecting the moons gleam up at him from a thousand feet below. Then after radioing ahead to the other chopper, both the choppers had instantly slowed to a hover with the soldiers stern faces and fat lips stuck to the window of the trailing bird; staring down and trying to get a better look. Only they couldn’t quite see through the endless expanse of snow what it was, but they were sure that something was moving fast beneath them, and judging by its speed, they’d reckoned on it being a snowmobile.

  Radioing to second chopper to alert them that it might be the vampire that had escaped them earlier, they’d said they were going down to take a look. Then ramming the control stick across to the left, the pilot in the trailing chopper banked the heavy bird severely whilst cutting the power and plummeting nose down into the valley below. The heavy rotors through the change in direction had slapped the wind violently, making a deafening and almost thunderous roar.

  *****

  Meanwhile back in the shack, the C4 timer that the soldiers had planted on the chimneybreast was counting down with it's red digital display and it didn’t have long either. It actually had 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 seconds.

  Ca BOOM

  With the massive explosion that was coming out from the shack, the force that was expelled throughout the pine trees had them swaying violently, and threatened with its devastating power that it might ‘like in a hurricane’ then rip them up by the roots; only refusing to be beaten so easily by a mere explosion, they’d stayed fast until it had past.

  The old timber shack that had seen many macabre deaths over the years, and was also partly responsible for ruining families and causing much grief across the world from missing loved ones, had vaporized instantly. One second before it had been sitting with the inside of it covered in blood from recent kills, and Oliver's brains across the radiator upstairs with the downstairs destroyed by the heavy cannon fire, then a second later it was gone. It had literally vanished from the mountainside with just a huge crater left beneath it like some weird memorial to the thousands of deaths that had happened in the place.

  The light from the devastatingly powerful explosion had garishly consumed the woods for miles around like a supernova, and the debris from the blast was sucked up into the blizzard, never to resurface again.

  The locals in the village of Fagaras would have heard the explosion being that their homes were only a thousand feet below the shack, but they wouldn’t have cared. Most of them had grown up in this area and were well aware of the local folk stories suggesting that the shack and its occupants were evil. It was these stories that had kept them away from visiting the place, and because they’d also lost family members over the years to mysterious circumstances, none of them would ever venture up the mountain pass to it either.

  No one was actually sure they were vampires though because they’d never been there to see them close up or been bitten by them, only the archaic village that was still operating with horses to plough the fields made sure that after dark they’d locked their windows and doors with timber boarding and huge bolts. The owner of the local tavern had placed crosses on the front door on his establishment, and with his plentiful supplies of fresh garlic and other such devices to ward away the blood sucking fiends, he and his family were strong believers as with the rest of the villagers, that the folklores of the shack being home to the undead were true.

  Recently a farmhouse on Xmas eve the year before had experienced something that they’d all agreed was far from normal. A respected farmer by the name of Yohan was killed in front of his mother, and then as a result his father had died from a heart attack in front of his screaming daughter in law and her two children Andrei and Fiorentina. The grandmother had said that the beast that had killed her son was pure evil and not from this world. She’d described it by saying that it had a deathly pale face, drank his blood and had huge paleolithic fangs that glistened in the far away moonlight. The evil attack was when the family was preparing to celebrate Xmas, and it was only thwarted when a neighbor had shot the creature with his 12 gauge shot gun. The neighbor and the grandmother had both witnessed three huge holes appear in the killer’s chest, but instead of dying he’d sniggered and then ran through the lounge and crashed through the glass window, taking the heavy curtains with him. Some of the locals of the next village over to Fagaras had found this story a little hard to believe, and claimed that maybe it hadn’t happened in such a way, but still even those people never ventured out after dark either.

  *****

  Back with the choppers moments after they’d seen something moving fast beneath them and after the trailing bird of steel had plummeted down to take a closer look, finally the glistening dot had come into clear view and it was a snowmobile. It had taken a little time as well because the cockpit in their rapid descent was almost completely masked with thick sleet and snow. They’d turned the wipers on to full speed and as they’d smashed themselves backwards and forwards across the glass struggling to clean it, they’d made that repetitive and deeply annoying windscreen wiper drone.

  Then after wiping the screen several times on the inside to clear the condensation buildup from the adrenaline fuelled pilots heavy breathing, the co pilot was the first to confirm the shape and said, “It’s him.” Then he’d spun around on his seat to give a nod to the soldiers in the back who’d reacted instantly by hooking themselves to a safety line, and then with guns drawn, they’d thrown the side door back and hung out the side of the chopper.

  Sorchek was in a bold position standing up on the footpegs, with his arms wide across the handlebars as he’d navigated the obstacles that were rapidly appearing in front of him. The mountainside was definitely off-piste and he’d had to angle his body to the right just to keep the balance, as he’d leapt high up over huge mounds of snow and ice. He’d also held the throttle wide open and because of it, every time he’d cleared a huge mound with the tracks wildly spinning in mid air, the engine beneath him was screaming it's face off.

  Then as the vampire had heard the choppers rotors above him and looked up quickly but was nearly being flung off his mechanical beast, he’d seen nothing. Only a second or two later when he’d chanced another look after clearing a massive jump over a deep snow drift, he’d seen them with their swinging cage full of his bikini chicks preparing to fire.

  In response he’d immediately swerved viciously and held on for dear life as the 1100cc beast suddenly darted hard left, churning up a massive cloud of snow and ice from beneath it.

  The slope he was roaring across was thousands of feet up and even professional skiers would have deemed it impassable, only the vampire knew the mountain and he’d other views on if it was rideable. His view was if in doubt, just whack the throttle hard open and find out. Still though in most cases and unlike humans; if he was ever flung off at high speeds, he’d simply open his wings to save himself from certain death.

  Sorchek craned his neck back and then as he’d glanced up at the soldiers with his fangs out, he’d screamed, “Fucking bastards, come and get me mother fuckers.”

  Then in response to the cheeky fucker beneath them, the pilo
ts flicked up the red safety button on their control sticks and from outside you could hear the unmistakable mechanical whirring sound as the cannons came back on line, and as they did they’d blasted thick red laser beams forwards like lances in the hand of gallant knights. Then as the chopper had banked and brought the tail around to sight up the lasers on Sorchek, the two soldiers that had the side door open and were fixed by their safety strap, suddenly pointed their MP5’s down at the vampire and started firing. They’d changed their rounds for silver bullets and weren’t preparing to bag and tag him, instead they were planning on killing him for escaping from them. Then as they’d fired and the shiny bullets had left their barrels entering into the extreme wind, the accuracy of them was terrible. Everywhere but the vampire beneath them was blasted and this made the soldiers furious. They’d screamed to the pilot to hold the chopper steady only he’d ignored them and brought the bird around for his own attempt at hitting Sorchek, which and by doing so had instantly masked their line of fire.

  Sorchek responded to the death threat and started riding the beast beneath him like it was an untrained stallion with a sadistic mind of its own. He’d swerved to the left and then to the right, and kept doing it to make it impossible to get a clear shot on him.

  Meanwhile the bird above him was being thrown around like a rag doll with the heavy blizzard and a couple times the pilots had to pull up as the terrain had rapidly climbed towards them.

  Also inside the chopper the feeling was of pure rage towards the vampire, and because of it, all of them wanted him dead.

  Still zig zagging though with bullets raining down all around him and with his throttle twisted as far back as the thing would go, he’d suddenly deep concerns brewing that soon they’d get him. He knew that time would see them getting a few shots on target and then when they did he’d be done for.

  All the while the ice beneath the snowmobile was exploding and bursting upwards, reflecting the light from the stars and the moon above.

  “Hold it steady.” One of the soldiers had screamed, but then a moment past and Sorchek had seen something and whilst sniggering he’d veered off hard to the left, and vanished over the side of a precipice that was masked with dense sleet and fog.

  The pilots in response then looked down at the instruments panel and read the altitude reading. It said in small white numbers that were slowly rolling over themselves, that they were still several thousand feet up from the villages below. They’d realized then that where the vampire had gone, and even though they couldn’t see him through the thick fog and mist that was covering the entrance to it, and because they were still high up, that it had to be the beginning of a steep slope leading down the mountainside.

  The pilots as the soldiers were screaming for them to follow him were unsure though whether it was safe, and then for extremely precious and valuable teasing seconds they’d held back. They’d simply pointed their cannons down and blindly hoped by firing thousands of rounds into the mist that they’d get him. Only the soldiers in the back weren’t feeling good by hanging on those precious seconds and they’d screamed for them to follow the vampire. Then one of them realizing that the pilots hadn’t the balls to chance it, suddenly leapt into the cockpit and thrust the control stick forwards sending the heavy old military chopper into a savage nose dive over the side of the precipice.

  Sorchek couldn’t see much in front of himself either and every second he was desperately fighting both extreme gravity and strong winds to bring his mechanical steed to bare, whilst avoiding huge icy boulders that were playing a sick game of hide and seek with him, in the zero visibility conditions.

  He’d known that going over the edge of the precipice was dangerous and that it would also mean there was no chance of using his wings either, but still it was the only way to loose the chopper above him. He’d known there was no way the chopper would dare follow, and if he could make it down to the lower slopes In one piece, then when he’d reached them he’d park the beast in the evergreens, and fly off from there. Only the vampire had been wrong though, and after he’d jumped off the side of the precipice heading down the seriously dangerous mountain slope, and when he’d heard the huge rotors again drumming in his ears and felt the freezing cold sleet and snow blasting past him caused by the downdraft from the blades, his heart had skipped a thousand beats. The vampire had had the throttle tamed back when he was thinking that he was in the clear, making it easier to navigate the huge boulders. Only as he’d shit himself he’d responded and wacked it wide open again. The snowmobiles engine had growled as the power had climbed up to the max again, and with the speed that he was travelling the 1100cc beast was screaming from being airborne most off the way down the slope too.

  Ice and rocks were smashing heavily against the underneath of his mechanic steed, and he’d swore there was no way to escape. Then suddenly just as the chopper was almost upon him, there was a huge explosion from behind that had lit up the mountain, making the snow and ice all around him turn yellow with its devastatingly huge ultra garish flash.

  Sorchek as he’d then tried in vain to slow his speed had known that they’d crashed, and in response to it a devilishly wide grin like a possessed Cheshire cat had blasted across his face.

  The chopper with its back seat soldier driver had nosedived at the wrong angle and just clipped the skids against the rocks. Then in response to the massive impact, the old military bird had somersaulted over on it’s back and with the rotors smashing themselves into lethal chunks, the thing had exploded half full with fuel and C4, killing everyone and its cargo too.

  Only and as if time had frozen as the wide Cheshire Cat grin had appeared on his face, then with it restarting the chunks of the main rotors had rained down on the vampire like massive archaic swords, whirring and screaming through the blizzard. They’d spun around a million times and then smacked into the snow and ice all around him. The vampire though who was desperate to avoid being cut in half by them, suddenly swerved and although he’d escaped being hit, the snowmobiles steering had bedded into something hard underneath and flipped. The half a tonne stead of plastic and steel with him aboard was thrown violently face first down the mountain. Only as he’d no visibility past ten feet, and with the speed that he was hurtled forwards, he’d no time to protect himself when a boulder came into view.

  Sorchek saw stars and for a moment he’d felt like a bird, free to fly wherever he’d wanted and maybe even stop the killings of the innocent and migrate to a warmer climate. Then as he was sailing through the air with time frozen for him the second time that day, suddenly reality and the gravity of the situation hit him like a steam train going through his brain. Only as he’d hit the slope face first none of that mattered, because now he was in deep shit. Then after about three minutes of uncontrollable smashing into things and having his arm twisted up high behind his neck with his leg almost ripped out from its socket, he’d head butted a boulder. Then after he was knocked out, his lifeless body had continued for an undisclosed time down the mountain until the second boulder, and bigger than the first had stopped him. The impact had caught him broadside in the ribs, and then from it instantly a huge mouthful of blood had sprayed up and out of his lips, that landed in in the snow about his unconscious head.

  The snowmobile had tried racing him and even though he’d stopped, the heavy steed that was almost laughing at him for loosing the race then left him laying for dead and continued to roll and bounce violently down the mountain slope. The 1100cc machine that had been in almost new condition before he’d stolen it, was now simply taking itself to pieces as it gained unbelievable speeds, like it was planning on selling them on EBAY. It had flipped and somersaulted vehemently, smashing into more boulders before a second had past and then it had vanished, disappearing into the murky mist and beyond.

  *****

  Back up at the blast site where the shack had been, the bowman after firing the arrow into the chopper, was standing there chest deep in snow. Then as he’d slung his weapon
of death over his shoulder, he’d started looking about himself for any signs of Regina.

  The blast from the shack had cleared a huge amount of snow that the blizzard with more snow was desperately burgeoning to replace. The ground around the crater that had been cleared of any trace of snow, was already knee deep in the the arctic stuff again.

  Then as Dracus had looked about himself in the foreboding place, he’d absolutely no idea where she was. Only and to find her, he’d placed his fingers against his temple but instantly realized that the signal from the Scareb bracelet he’d felt calling to him whilst he’d been fighting Rex’s warriors, was gone. There was nothing calling to him from this place at all. No signs of her either, except the demolished building that she might have been in. Then as a second had past the bowman who was musing over her disappearance had slowly turned and then whilst he’d looked out into the harsh blizzard in the direction that he’d seen the choppers going in, he’d wondered if Kaine and Regina had been in it.