Detarru Island_The Gates of Hell

by Mickey Deymon

  “Stay down,” Jimmy warned. We all did as we were told and hid behind a yellow taxicab that was in the middle of the street.

  “Who are these people?” I asked mystified

  “They are Satunians,” Matheus answered.

  “What are they doing here?”

  “Remember when I said Satu was gathering his army?” Matheus explained.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, this is just a small portion of them. We are not even counting his whole army of demons.”

  “This will happen nationwide if we don’t stop them soon,” my grandfather concluded with his voice cracking.

  I couldn’t think straight anymore and I was starting to feel anxious.

  “Wait, so, Erick and my brother have to fight against that?” Kate asked, pointing at the crowd of people.

  “No,” was Matheus’ answer.

  “So then, why are we here?”

  “We are here because we need to protect The Order and help Ethasus defeat Satu.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?” She was asking every question on the book.

  I felt a lot better having her question them, instead of me. I was a walking question mark myself. The guys were just listening quietly next to Sarah.

  “We have a backup plan,” Pops announced. “I believe Christine arranged everything accordingly, even way before Erick was born. If things go as we planned, we will succeed!”

  “Grandma is in this too?” I asked perplexed.

  He nodded.

  “What is the plan?” Jimmy asked.

  “There you are,” a rough, cold voice interrupted.

  My heart was in my throat. It was the green-eyed demon, Rukus, from Inferno again. He had a few cyclops behind him too, ready to kill me or skin me alive just as he promised.

  They flew after us.

  “Run!” I shouted. Everyone scattered. Pops ran, holding Sarah by the arm while Kate also followed behind him. Matheus and I ran the opposite direction and the guys were right behind me too. Fortunately, the demons didn’t go after my grandfather, Kate or Sarah, but they sure were on my tail. We ran as fast as we could and my ribs were still hurting. It was almost impossible for me to breathe. The guys were ahead of me now and Rukus was a few inches away. I spotted the 6 train station up ahead on Lexington and 58th Street. Our only way of not getting caught by the Satunian army was going underground. We headed towards the subways, and jumped over the fare gates. There weren’t any MTA crew members around to stop us either. Rukus and his cyclops followed us inside. They slowed down a little bit, due to the unfamiliar underground station.

  “Hurry! I have an idea!” I shouted.

  It was actually a way out. We were going to have to take a big risk doing so.

  There was an empty train at this stop and one of the doors was propped open halfway. We all got inside and headed to the next wagon, then the next until we got to the first car. We ran to the conductor’s station and it was locked.

  Uh oh.

  “What now?” Bruce asked, frightened.

  “Erick, they’re gaining on us!” Luis warned.

  “Hurry! Hand me something. I need to smash the door handle open!” I exclaimed. The guys were all searching for something useful I could use, but they didn’t find anything. We were trapped.

  “Quick! Keep ‘em out!” Patrick yelled.

  Bruce and Larry both ran to the other side of the car, and held on to the metal door handles. The demons were punching the doors with force. Good thing the glass was tough enough to withstand such impacts.

  “Hurry, we can’t keep them out much longer,” Larry said still holding on.

  “Everyone get out of the way,” Patrick announced.

  He came running fast with all his weight and smashed into the conductor’s door. The first try left a dent on it, the second try, some of the hinges came off, then the last try, the whole door came down. I had no idea Patrick was this strong, and neither did I have the time to thank him either. I had to run inside to the control room and figure out a way to start the train. I hit a few buttons, and placed my hand on the lever from the right corner of the controllers.

  I figured that was for speed.

  “Everyone get off the train on my count,” I instructed. “Luis? Get to that door and open it.”

  Luis ran to one of the side doors and tried to get it open. I pushed the lever upwards and the train started moving forward, slowly at first, but then started gaining speed, fast. Luis finally got the side door open, just in time for us to jump off. Matheus jumped out first, then Bruce. I was next, then Larry and Jimmy both let go of the handle and jumped off the train as well.

  The train sped up fast.

  The demons were still trapped inside the train with no driver. Who knows where they were headed. Hopefully China or something.

  We were all gasping for air.

  “I’m impressed, chief,” Larry said. I bobbed my head in acknowledgment.

  “That was close though,” I replied

  “Yeah, let’s not do that again,” Patrick suggested rubbing his right arm.

  “Let’s get the heck out of here,” Jimmy suggested.

  We all got out of the station and the area was clear. The Satunians weren’t marching around this area.

  “We need to find the girls and my grandfather, so let’s split up,” I said.

  “I’ll go find them,” Larry volunteered.

  “I’ll go with you,” Luis said.

  “What about you?” Larry asked.

  “I need to find a friend,” I responded. Matheus glanced at me after I said that.

  “What if he has already evacuated?” Larry asked curiously.

  “I have a feeling he hasn’t,” I assured him. “Meet us here when you find them and be careful, alright?”

  “Tato,” Luis said. Which means ‘Okay,’ in his Spanish slang.

  Both Larry and Luis headed back to the Midtown Tunnel. Meanwhile, the rest of us ran down to 49th Street and 7th Avenue. I led the way towards a very nice fancy building. The door was wide open with no doorman at the entrance. We went inside the building, and noticed that the elevators weren’t working either.

  “What floor is it again?” Patrick was the first one to ask.

  “10th,” I replied.

  “You’re kidding right?” Bruce exclaimed.

  I shot him a serious look.

  “I guess you’re not kidding!”

  I turned to Jimmy and Patrick, asking for any volunteers, but they both ignored me and stared at the ceiling.

  “I would’ve gone with you, but you already know I won’t get too far,” Patrick said, grabbing a chunk of skin from his stomach, which was a reasonable excuse.

  “Why don’t we rock paper scissors,” Bruce suggested, standing in the middle of the hallway, with his hands ready.

  “Forget it, I’ll go by myself, alone, in the dark, with demons lurking around trying to kill me.” I added, expecting sympathy. They weren’t changing their minds though.

  “I guess, it’s me and you then,” Matheus said.

  “We can duck duck goose,” Bruce also recommended.

  “Just stay here,” I said, which was exactly what they were going to do.

  Matheus and I headed up the stairs. As soon as we got to the 5th floor, I was already dying.

  “Tired already?” Matheus teased.

  “Look, pooch, I’m not used to this, okay? As a matter of fact…” I had to stop talking to catch my breath. “You should change into big bird again, and fly me up there,” I finished as we kept going up the stairs.

  “Sorry, I’m not used to flying lazy people on my back.”

  Stupid dog.

  Finally, we had reached the 10th floor and I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. Once I recovered, we went into the hall
and I searched for apartment 10F.

  I knocked a few times, and someone answered the door.

  THANK GOD.

  “Erick?” Craig said, staggered to see me “What are you doing here, kid? Where’s Jack?” he asked, concerned. He let us in the apartment.

  “I came here looking for you. We got separated on the island,” I informed him.

  “You were what? The island? What the hell were y’all doing there? The team and I were waiting for you guys in Africa for two days. We thought something went wrong, and I tried reaching you guys but I couldn’t get through. What in the world happened?”

  “Nathan betrayed us, and we got ourselves in a huge mess after that.”

  “Please tell me you guys have nothing to do with what’s going on out there.”

  “Well, umm, sort of,” was my answer.

  “Holy smokes! HA! You guys screwed things up this time. Wow! So Jack actually found Satu?” he said, smiling.

  “Yeah, but it’s not looking good. There’s an army of demons out there ready to kill and wipe out our entire city. We can’t let that happen, Craig. We need to find my parents immediately. They’re the only ones that might know how to stop this.”

  Craig paced back and forth, thinking. He looked like he had something in mind. “Come with me,” he said. We walked down the hallway, back to the elevators. He called an elevator up and surprisingly, it was working.

  WHAT THE…?

  “I thought the elevators weren’t working,” I said.

  “They are; they’re just not stopping on the first floor for some reason.”

  I can’t believe I went up 10 flights of stairs for nothing. I heard furball giggling behind me. I looked back and rolled my eyes at him. We got on the elevator and went up to the rooftop.

  When we got to the 40th floor, Craig left the elevator and we followed. I had a perfect view of the city. Couldn’t really say it was beautiful, since some of the buildings were destroyed. Even the Chrysler building was falling apart. In the distance, I could also see the Brooklyn Bridge collapsing.

  “This is bad,” Craig said, looking at the bridge too. We continued walking towards a blue and silver colored Bell helicopter. Craig got in it, and started messing with some controls. He turned on the helicopter’s radio, and switched it to the emergency frequency channel.

  “This is 3227 to 518, over?” He repeated the transmission twice.

  No answer.

  He said it one more time, and there was static.

  “Ov—This is—” a voice replied.

  “518? This is 3227, repeat that last transmission, over?”

  “Copy, this is 51—over?”

  “Matt? Is that you?” There was more static. “Matt? Do you hear me? Over.”

  “Yeah, Craig, loud and clear.”

  “What is your exact location?” Craig asked.

  “38º 00’ N and 97º 00’ W, copy.” Craig took out a map from one of the compartments, and examined it. He turned to me with a smile. He seemed happy.

  “They’re on their way back,” he said to me, then turned back to the radio. “How many passengers in your craft?”

  It took me a minute to realize that the Matt he was speaking to was the Hawker pilot that flew us to Detarru Island.

  “4 passengers, copy?” Matt answered.

  “Are the Ross family there with you? Over.” There was silence. “Matt come in, over.”

  I turned to Matheus, but he didn’t seem worried.

  “Yes, sir, both Mr. and Mrs. Ross are in my craft, but not the boy,” he answered, referring to me.

  “That’s a copy. What’s your time of arrival?”

  “1800 hours, over.” Craig looked at his watch and it was 4 pm. “They’ll be here soon. Get in.” He turned on the engine and I got in the helicopter next to him with Matheus.

  “Craig? We need to get my friends first!” I shouted. He couldn’t hear me because of the engines. He motioned to put on the helicopter headphones.

  We both did.

  “We need to get my friends,” I repeated, as I pointed downwards.

  He got the point.

  He lifted the helicopter up in the air, gained some speed, and then turned a few degrees, trying to keep the chopper away from the building. He flew around it, descending, trying to figure out which side of the street he could land on. He found the perfect spot.

  When he landed, I got off the craft and ran to get my friends. I had to run around the block, since the entrance to the building was on the other side.

  “Guys?” I called and they all came running out of the building. As we ran back, the female demon from before was blocking our way back to the helicopter. I was horrified to see her again.

  It happened so fast, not even my friends saw it coming. All I could remember was her standing there, and then saw myself being dragged up in the air.

  It was faster than light.

  She lifted me up by the front of my shirt, then carried me by the stomach. I heard Jimmy shouting, and then saw Bruce running towards the helicopter to get Matheus.

  The demon was so fast, it felt like I was on a roller coaster ride. We flew over the city for a few minutes.

  “Hey! Let go!”

  She ignored my demands.

  “Let me go, I said!”

  I didn’t technically mean to let go, 60 stories high up in the air, yet she did let go, and now I was going to fall on my head from this altitude. Chances of surviving this fall were 0%.

  “Oh God! Take me back, take me back!” I screamed desperately, as I was falling. I almost peed myself there too.

  She took a second to consider my request, then she caught me by my foot. I was upside down, dangling in the air.

  “Are you crazy?” I screamed at her. “Why would you let go of me?”

  She looked down at me for a second, not responding.

  Note to self: Never, ever ask her to do that again.

  “Are you always like this?” She finally spoke.

  “How? Upside down? 1,000 feet above ground? Absolutely!” I responded sarcastically. She looked down at me again and had a grin on her face. “At least you have a sense of humor.”

  “Considering what you did to me? Trust me, if I were you, I wouldn’t let my guard down for one second.”

  I was kind of pushing it though. Hanging the way I was, and knowing what she’s capable of, I think it was smarter to keep my mouth shut.

  She was pretty good at not showing her emotions. Or perhaps she just knew how to ignore me. She started descending and she was heading to a nearby building.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  I felt blood rushing to my head from being upside down for so long. I waited until she got closer to ground to break free. When she did, I reached up to my foot and struggled to remove her grip. She let go and I fell, hurting my lower back again.

  Dang it.

  If I wasn’t careful enough, I’d probably end up paralyzed after all this was over.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw the demon was standing a few feet away, staring down at me with one hand on her hip. I slowly got on my feet, ready to make a run for it again.

  “Relax! I’m not going to hurt you,” she reassured. I didn’t know whether to believe her or not. Besides, I didn’t trust her one bit.

  “Nice try, witch. You stay the heck away from me, you hear?” I threatened with my knuckles up, ready to fight. She didn’t seem to be bothered at anything I said, which was odd.

  “I have information you need.”

  “What makes you think I need it?” I replied, skeptical.

  “Because it is about Satu.”

  She had my attention. “Why are you helping me?”

  “Because I’m better off helping you than him.”

  “Do you expect me believe t
hat? You’re just going to turn against your own? Just like that?”

  “Listen, I just wanted to give you a heads up. Satu is not only after Earth. What Satu is really after—”

  “He’s after The Order, I know that already, tell me something I don’t know,” I interrupted rudely.

  “Precisely why I came to you. He thinks I’m oblivious to his foolish agenda. He’s going to use your friends as pawns so he can be crowned as a devil.”

  That struck me. I gulped so hard, I almost choked on my own saliva.

  “It doesn’t make any sense. He has an entire army, so why use my friends for that?” I asked.

  “You do realize your friends are not ordinary humans, right?”

  “Well, yeah, but—”

  “These friends of yours are really archangels.”

  “Archangels?” I faltered.

  “Just one of them could cause tremendous damage. Combine them all together, and you’ll have a lethal weapon against humanity, and even the underworld. That’s the reason why he’s so desperate to find them.”

  Such intel had me trembling with horror.

  “How is he planning on doing this?”

  “At the moment, he’s searching for them, but once he has all five archangels, he’s planning to control them with a so-called Book of Mythos, she said, smacking me with more shocking information.

  “The Book of Mythos?” I repeated.

  Do my friends even know the powers they possess? Do they even know what they are?

  “Who are you? Why are you helping me?”

  “My name is Lola. I am The Master Chief of Inferno and I am in charge of all its Dimensions. There is a barrier between demons and devils, which cannot be crossed. Demons have been taking orders from devils for as long as hell was created. I’m definitely not pleased with the idea of taking orders from that insignificant fool.”

  She didn’t like him very much by the sound of things. “So why are you helping him?”

  “We made a deal. In the beginning, I thought his intentions were to rule Earth. If I provided him with an army, he would give me half of this territory. Unfortunately, that is not the case anymore.”