For Whom The Bell Tolls

by Michael Todd

  Stephanie looked to her left and a demon flew into the air. She wrinkled her forehead and tapped Korbin on the shoulder, and he brought his knife across a demon’s throat and looked up just as a demon bounced off a nearby tree.

  “What the fuck?”

  The disturbance got closer and a final demon halted in its tracks with its eyes wide as the tip of a sword erupted through its neck. The demon turned to dust, revealing Calvin behind it with the sword in his hand and a grin on his face. He wiped the dust from the blade.

  There was a choked cough behind him and Calvin turned. Eric took two steps toward him and held his hand out to Calvin, the other clutching his chest. Calvin followed the line of Eric’s body down to his fingertips, where he saw blood.

  Blood was dripping from Eric’s hand.

  “Eric!”

  Calvin pulled him into the circle and began looking for the injury. He turned his friend over and found an entry wound in his back. It was from a claw; a damned demon had stabbed him in the back.

  Eric coughed blood, and it ran down his chin in bright red bubbles. Calvin caught him in one arm as his legs gave way and used his free hand to fire three successive shots into the head of the demon who’d attacked Eric.

  “Eric needs help now!”

  Katie grinned as she lowered her gun. She made a “come at me” gesture and drew a line in the dust with her foot and the demon growled, blood dripping from its fangs. He threw the human head he had been munching on to the side and lunged for her, and she punched her staff’s blade through the demon’s face and out of the back of his skull.

  Katie grimaced and shook the staff to try to get the demon’s blood and brains off. Finally it turned to dust and she lowered her weapon, looking around the house.

  “This house is clear,” she announced in her best southern accent.

  Pandora cut in, Katie, get outside. The team is in trouble. Someone is hurt, I think.

  What, are you psychic now? Katie ran toward the front door, kicked it open, and ran into the empty street. Where are all the fucking demons?

  A burning sensation churned through her chest and she turned to a huge number of demons circling prey on the hill. Whoever was in the center of that was in a hell of a lot of trouble. She started to move toward them and was about to pull her guns when she heard Calvin’s voice.

  “Eric needs help now!”

  White-hot fury burned through Katie.

  She tore up the hill and into the crowd of demons in a killing rage. Pandora reached through her chest, dissolving demons as she passed while Katie snapped necks and kicked ass, taking no names and giving no fucks whatsoever. She whipped out her staff and swung wildly, her progress through the crowd marked by the screams of dying demons.

  Pandora dissolved a demon even as Katie’s staff smashed its spine. This is taking too long!

  Well, what do you suggest I do? Fly? Katie paused to sweep the legs from under a demon before stabbing it through the skull with the blade on her staff. Actually, that gives me an idea…

  She cleared her immediate area with a wide sweep of her staff.

  What are you doing?

  Katie didn’t answer, just bent low and wound up for a jump. She pushed off as hard as she could and sprang over the demons, and even she was surprised by how far she traveled. She landed on top of the front row of demons, making sure to stamp extra-hard on the ones who screamed and whined under her feet as she climbed down.

  She rushed to Eric’s side and bent down next to Calvin to examine the wound, which was oozing blood onto the ground.

  Katie looked up at Korbin and his face told her everything.

  Stephanie stole a glance at them but continued to fight off the demons, worry on her usually-poised face. Timothy gripped his gun tightly in the center, staring down at Eric with fear stamped on his face. Katie could tell this was his first time in a real battle, and what a first battle it was. She had never seen so many demons in one place at one time. She didn’t have time to talk him down, though. Eric needed help, and he needed it fast.

  Calvin pressed his shirt hard against the wound and bent to and whisper into Eric’s ear, begging him to stay with them. Katie realized that all the loss they had suffered over the months had gotten to Calvin a lot more than she had thought. She could see the desperation in his face; the need to keep Eric alive no matter what. It tore her heart in two, and she could feel even Pandora’s pity at the situation. She put her hand on Calvin’s shoulder, turning him toward her. “I know you want to help him, but to do so you have to let me take him.”

  Calvin looked up at her and nodded, his expression showing pure agony. Katie bent down and mustered her and Pandora’s combined strength to cradled Eric in her arms, then vaulted, clearing thirty feet of writhing and snarling demons. She looked at Eric, who was choking.

  He stared up at her in fear.

  “Don’t you motherfucking die on me, asshole!”

  Several of the demons pursued her as she made her way toward the perimeter, where she knew she could get Eric the help he needed. She glanced over her shoulder and picked up the pace, determined to outrun them. Demons were fast but Pandora was just a bit faster, which kept them off her heels.

  As she ran a shot rang out and Katie risked another glance behind her. A demon fell to the ground and turned to dust. Several more fell as more shots rang out and she returned her focus to getting Eric to safety, mentally thanking whoever was helping her.

  In the bushes Ella swished her ponytail to the side and kicked away the smoking shells at her feet. She narrowed her eyes to squint at the merc running through town carrying one of Korbin’s men. She was fast; faster than any human or demon Ella had ever seen before. It almost looked like she was fluctuating between two different bodies as she powered toward her destination with the man in her arms.

  “Is that… Is that Katie?” Ella stood up with her rifle in her hand as the woman made it to the line and handed over the merc in her arms. “Damn, she’s good.”

  18

  The general breathed heavily as he fired the last round in his magazine and crouched behind the crumbling stone fence. The colonel handed him another magazine and clicked it into place.

  “That was number forty. Colonel. We are kicking some major ass.”

  “A lot more to go, sir.”

  They both stood up and aimed their weapons at the masses of demons running through the lower part of town. They had shifted their focus. Finding no more fresh bodies in the center of town, they had moved on to the lower end where all the family neighborhoods were situated. It was the second place the general had circled on his map. He knew exactly where those bastards would end up, and at that moment it was perfect.

  When they had exhausted those rounds they ducked back down to reload, completing the task as fast as they could. The colonel wiped her face on her shirt and looked at the general, who was beginning to tire. He was older. He’d been in the trenches numerous times, but nothing as burdensome as this day. The colonel was about to say something, maybe recommend going back for water and more ammo, when there was a scream.

  Both the general and the colonel stood up and a shrieking child ran toward them with his mother close behind. The child couldn’t have been more than five or six, and the general opened his arms ready to catch the terrified little boy.

  The two had almost reached them when the colonel put her hand on the general’s arm and pushed it down, then raised her gun and fired a shot into the mother’s head.

  The general lunged forward to scoop the boy up and ducked back behind the fence. He glared at the colonel, whose eyes were fixed on the mother.

  “Colonel, what in the hell did you do?”

  The general opened his mouth to continue, livid that she had shot a woman as she was running to safety, but something about the staggering woman made him pause—and she teetered back and forth for a moment before turning to dust. His mouth fell open and he looked at Jehovivich, who looked at the child. The general nodded a
nd picked the boy up in one arm, using his free hand to fire into the crowd of approaching demons.

  The child wailed, scared to death, just having watched his mother die. The general was disgusted that something so terrible could happen right in front of them. A demon had taken away that woman’s life and left her orphaned child crying in his arms. He had seen some terrible things in his day, but they had all been conscious choices by the perpetrator and those enemies had paid the price.

  This, though…. This was senseless; evil beyond compare.

  He emptied his clip and holstered his weapon, shushing the child in his arms. He pulled his other gun and looked at the colonel.

  “I shouldn’t be doing this, I don’t belong out here in the field. My job is to lead, and these men can’t move forward without that. This will be the last time I ever see combat, and I am not at all sad about that.”

  “Understood, and probably the best choice you could make.”

  The colonel turned to the general and put her hand on his shoulder, glancing at the little boy with his face buried in the general’s shoulder.

  “I promise, sir, you will make it out of this alive. Right now we need to get that little one back to the perimeter, get him seen to, get some more ammo, and take a moment to regroup. We can’t even tell which way is up from here.”

  The general nodded. “Agreed. And thank you—I know that was a hard shot to take.”

  “Sometimes we have to make tough choices, and I have come to the understanding that in this war there are no easy choices. We need to protect the innocent no matter what. That was what I was thinking when I pulled that trigger: that sweet little boy’s face and the faces of all the innocents who have died here today. War is a bitch, but I won’t let it take me down.”

  Charlotte snapped a few more pictures and scrolled through her shots. All the demons were blurry; she was just too damn far away. They had warned her to stay on or behind the perimeter, and though she had bent that a couple of times to get a shot, she didn’t want to go too far and end up a casualty of friendly-fire. She groaned and looked at the hill, where a mob of demons circled around something, but she was too far away to see what.

  Katie had sprinted to the perimeter and handed off one of her teammates to the medics just moments before. Charlotte had tried to get her to drink some water and rest for a moment, but she had been too worried about her team.

  She had taken a few pictures of Katie as she ran off, pictures she couldn’t–—and wouldn’t—ever show the world. Everyone thought Katie was dead. In fact, the world thought all the mercs were dead, and Charlotte made a mental note to keep them out of the shots.

  She sighed and raised her camera to her face again, pointing it at the center of the town, which was pretty quiet by that point. The general emerged from behind a building carrying something in his arms and the colonel covered them as they made a run for the perimeter. Charlotte squinted again and focused on them, realizing it wasn’t something he was carrying but someone.

  A little boy was clinging to him for dear life.

  Charlotte fumbled in her pocket for her phone and opened her Facebook to start a live stream. She zoomed in to show the general bearing the little boy to safety. He ran fast, bullets flying behind him as the woman with him took out one demon after another. Charlotte kept her camera focused on the general and used her free hand to hold her other camera up to snap random still pictures in the hope that one of them captured the essence of the moment.

  One after another people started to join the live feed, and she realized that the general was going to be a hero overnight. He probably had been a hero his whole career, but now the world would know about it. His actions were being broadcast all over the planet, and people would start to see that the world wasn’t what it seemed. Charlotte put her other camera down, her attention drawn to the scene unfolding below. A tear pricked her eye as she wondered where the child’s parents were.

  Everything she had feared was coming to fruition…and the most memorable moment so far had been caught by her camera.

  The general huffed and puffed as he pushed hard toward the perimeter. He could see the finish line, but there were so many demons on their back. He twisted around, holding the child close to him as he fired the last of his bullets at the demons.

  It wasn't enough.

  Just when the general began to think all hope was lost Morris rounded the corner, followed by his team. The general looked at them in the eyes as he ran past with the boy. They were injured and battle-weary, but there was still fight in their eyes.

  “General, watch out!”

  Morris and his team fanned out to cover the general and the colonel joined them to defend the life of the child in his arms. They fired into the demons, dropping them like dominoes, and the air was choked with their dust. One by one they emptied their clips, until only one demon remained. Brown reached for his knife as it ran at them, but the colonel stopped him.

  “Allow me.” She smiled and pulled out a short-sword she had strapped to her thigh. She stepped forward and twisted to the right as the demon lunged, and her sword came down swift and hard to sever the demon’s head. She stood for a moment breathing heavily and stuck the sword back into its sheath once the blood had turned to dust.

  The four guys looked at her for a moment, blinking before nodding in approval and turning to the general. “We gotta get out while we have a break. Come on.”

  The general headed up the hill with the colonel and the team forming a protective ring around him and the child he carried. The soldiers along the perimeter fired on the demons.

  Charlotte shivered as she watched the procession. The sweating general climbed the hill and handed the child over to a female soldier, who quickly took him to the med tent. The boy looked back over her shoulder as she carried him off, keeping his eyes on the general as they went into the tent.

  She continued to film as the general paused for a moment outside his mobile command post. He stood with his eyes closed and his face tilted up to the early evening sun. The clouds in the background framed him in the oranges, purples, and grays of approaching sunset. Charlotte knew she would remember this moment for the rest of her life.

  The colonel and the four soldiers ran off to gather more ammo, water, and anything they else they thought they might need before they headed back out. The general took a seat in the grass, smiling his thanks to the soldier who handed him a bottle of water.

  Charlotte made her way over to the general, bending down to speak to him before anyone else saw them. “General, I’m Charlotte.”

  “Yes, the reporter who helped Katie, right?”

  “Yes, sir. I was wondering if I might have a word?”

  “Of course, but forgive me if I stay planted here in the grass.”

  Charlotte smiled and sat down next to him. “That was really brave what you just did, getting that little boy to safety. You were a true hero out there.”

  “All these men and women are heroes, Charlotte. We are all trying to save the world from these crazy demons. No one saw this coming.”

  “Sir, I thought you might want to know that I overheard some of your men talking about just bombing the entire place.”

  The general didn’t look fazed by the statement. He took a sip of his water and gave her a resigned nod.

  “Charlotte, I wish I could tell you the world was a better place; that no matter what we could achieve peace, but that just isn’t true—and I think you already know that. To be honest with you, I couldn’t argue the tactic. The whole thing would end without any more military casualties. I think, though, that time has come and gone.”

  The colonel arrived with several magazines for the general. “Sir, I got enough for both of us.”

  The general groaned and got to his feet and Charlotte followed suit. He sipped his water again and sighed.

  “I think I should stay out of the fight and allow you and those four men to take over.”

  “I understand, sir,” the colon
el replied. “I am honored that you are allowing me back out.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Colonel. You are one hell of a soldier.”

  “Thank you, General.”

  Charlotte stepped forward and nodded at the colonel, looking at Brushwood. “Sir, if you wouldn’t mind, I want to go in and stream the video from the inside. The people of Earth know something is going on, and this is the perfect time to introduce them to the idea that the demons are here and they aren’t backing down.”

  The general sighed as he gazed at the battle. They had been through so much with demons for centuries, and especially in the last few months. He knew it would be a shock, and he also knew that if people weren’t told what was going on it would cost many more lives. At the same time, he couldn’t make that call. The President was the only person who could.

  He went back and forth in his mind and glanced at the colonel, who didn’t know what to tell him. Finally he turned back to Charlotte.

  “This shit can’t stay hidden forever, can it? Those demons are going to find out we humans don’t scare so fucking easily! Go. Take a weapon and film whatever you want, but don’t get in the way.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Charlotte exclaimed excitedly. “I won’t get in the way, and I’ll make sure that what I am filming is exactly what the public needs to see.”

  Charlotte turned to go get a weapon and the general grabbed her arm. “Charlotte, just so you know—this is on your head.”

  Charlotte nodded and ran off to ask one of the soldiers for a gun. The colonel looked at the general and raised an eyebrow; she knew he knew it wasn’t his choice to make. He looked at her and shook his head.

  “Aw, fuck ‘em. If they have a problem with it they can take it up with me—after I recover from saving their asses.”