For Whom The Bell Tolls

by Michael Todd

  Brock stuck close to the walls, looking around the town for any signs of human life, and the bright neon lights of the bar blinked on and off almost like a signal. He crept over to the bar and headed around the side to peek into the window. The place was pretty dark, but he could see a group of people huddled together at the back. He scoped out the rest, finding only three demon mercs like the one who bashed him over the head protecting the place. Brock pulled out his knife and flicked it open.

  Sure glad Mom got me this for Christmas. Merry Christmas, motherfuckers.

  Brock crept around the doorframe and hid behind the counter as the demon mercs paced the floor. One stopped and turned his back to lean against the counter and Brock took a deep breath and stood up, wrapping his hand around the guy’s mouth while he drew his knife across his throat. The guy grabbed his neck and dropped his rifle as he fell to the floor, and the second demon whirled and fired as Brock grabbed the dropped weapon and dove under the counter again.

  He pressed his back to the counter and clutched the rifle as he strained to pinpoint the other merc’s position. Then he heard the soft scrape of a shoe against the linoleum.

  He counted to three and jumped up from behind the counter with the rifle at the ready, then pulled the trigger. The bullet spun through the air and hit the demon merc right in the side of the head, sending him flying backward to crash through a bar table. Almost instantly the demon shriveled up, and all that remained was a dead guy on the floor in a pool of blood.

  The third merc came around the corner, firing before he even had eyes on Brock. Brock dropped to the floor and fired upward, and the demon jerked and growled as the bullet took him in the shoulder. He continued toward Brock, who scrambled to his feet. The demon fired again and Brock just managed to duck his bullet, which hit the wall inches behind him as he dove into the liquor closet to the side. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and waited until the demon merc turned the corner, then Brock reared back and hit the demon across the face with it.

  The bottle shattered and the demon fell to the ground in a shower of broken glass and whiskey. Brock took his chance—he pinned the demon’s chest with his boot, pointed his gun at the demon’s head, and smiled. “Bye-bye.”

  Brock pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.

  You have got to be kidding me, his succubus moaned.

  The demon grabbed his leg and twisted and Brock fell. The merc stood up, pulled a shard of glass from his cheek, and tossed it at Brock. He grabbed his gun and brought it to Brock’s head.

  “Who’s saying bye now?”

  “You, asshole,” a voice shouted from behind them.

  Brock covered his head as bullets pelted the demon until his body burst into dust. Brock risked a look into the bar and saw his mother standing there with three other people. All of them were armed, and all of them were angry.

  “Don’t you ever try to harm my boy!”

  Brock let out a deep breath and leaned his head against the wall. After all that, his mom ended up saving his ass at the last moment. Before that day he would have felt emasculated, but at that moment he didn’t give a shit if the Three Blind Mice were standing there as long as the demon was dead and he was alive. Things were definitely getting more interesting by the second.

  Everyone was relieved to be rid of those three fuckers, but they had no idea what they needed to do next. Brock had no answers, and his mother was just glad he was alive. She had thought he was dead, and she had made a break for it before the demons killed her too.

  “I ended up here in this bar with these people, then those weird demon things came rushing in and we were done. We had no escape. You saved us, really.”

  Brock held his mother tightly. “No, Mom. You saved me.”

  “Can’t let those assholes hurt my baby boy again. By the way, you look really well for being bashed over the head. How did you heal so fast?”

  “It’s a long story, and I’ll explain it all later—just as long as no more demons come barreling through the door.”

  Just then the front doors were kicked open and Korbin stuck his head in. Everyone gasped, stepping back as the three with guns raised them. Korbin grinned at the sight of a room full of non-infected humans.

  “Oh, a treasure room!” He put his hands up and walked inside. “I am so glad to see you all safe and sound. My name is Korbin, and my team is here with me. We have been fighting demons all day. How about we get you people to safety?”

  The former hostages let out a collective sigh of relief.

  Korbin scanned each person for injuries. He stopped when he met Brock’s eyes and a small sigh escaped him, then he moved on to comfort Brock’s mother. The people in the bar gathered their things, grabbed whatever weapons were available, and headed over to Korbin.

  “We are going to take you all up the hill to the perimeter, where the United States Army is waiting to help anyone who needs it. There is water and medical help there. Just make your way out of here and my team will direct you where to go.”

  Korbin smiled at each person as they walked out of the bar, and some shook his hand in thanks as they left. It was a nice contrast to the demon-slaying he had been doing all day. He’d expected to find red-eyed bloodthirsty beasts inside enjoying happy hour prices, but instead he’d found a whole bar full of hope. A woman with a floral dress carrying a rifle flashed Korbin a thankful smile as she walked past. Behind her was her kid, the one with the red eyes.

  Korbin put his hand out and nodded for Brock to follow him off to the side.

  “What’s up?” Brock asked.

  “Son, I hate to say this, but you are going to have to stay with us.”

  Korbin led Brock out the front doors and stopped. “I know you just want to get home, but you are Damned—and there are rules.”

  Brock shook his head in frustration and opened his mouth to argue. He knew what the red in Korbin’s eyes meant, but he didn’t give a shit. He had been dealing with people like him all damn day. Hell, he was like him, but he was not going to get scooped up and sent off somewhere because of the damn succubus inside him.

  To his right was a woman kicking the shit out of a demon. He closed his mouth and tilted his head to the side; she was hotter than hell.

  “Who is that?”

  Korbin smiled as he followed the kid’s line of sight to Katie. “Oh, she’s on my team.”

  Brock lifted an eyebrow and shrugged, looking back at Korbin. “What the hell, sign me up.”

  Stephanie slapped Korbin on the back and he laughed at her sassy expression. “Whatever it takes at the moment.” He smiled and let out a dry chuckle. “I’m such a pimp.”

  Stephanie burst into laughter. She covered her mouth with a hand and pounded Korbin on the shoulder. He dropped the smile and pouted.

  Stephanie started laughing again. “Aw, it’s okay, honey, I think you’re the best, even if you are the furthest thing from a pimp I could possibly imagine. I was an actual pimp, and let me tell you—it ain’t all that shiny.”

  21

  America held its breath as events continued to unfold on their television screens.

  Coverage had switched to videos of the Army assisting the people coming out of the town. In the background of the reports, medics flashed a light in each person’s eyes to check for the red ring before wrapping a blanket around their shoulders and ushering them through to a protective cordon that had been set up as the battle began to wind down.

  News choppers hovered overhead. They were still unable to film the town, but had been allowed to get footage of the cordoned area to show the human victory over the demons to the world.

  The general finally lifted the media blackout, feeling that some positive news was needed to reassure the public. He thought Charlotte had done a fantastic job getting down and dirty in the battle, her footage showed the world just how huge a problem they were facing. However, he also knew humans, and without some positive images to balance the discord of war the public would spiral into fear and panic
. Outreaches had already started popping up all over the country, and the churches had opened their doors to those who feared the Revelation was upon them.

  The colonel walked up beside the general. “You know, for every person whose fear you calm, five nutjobs will pop up. We are going to have marches all over this country; people saying it’s the end of times, not understanding that this war has been going on for centuries.”

  “Well, with a little education, that will get cleared right up. Mostly. I know I jogged the President’s arm on this—and I’m sure I’ll hear about it—but it needed to happen. The world has to understand it’s no longer a safe place. That we need to bond together to fight for humanity. Not for money or oil or any of those other ridiculous things we send our people to war for.”

  The colonel chuckled. “Why, General, you are starting to sound like a good old down-home hippie. When can I expect you to grow that white hair and beard out?”

  “When I retire,” he grumped. “Which I am hoping won’t be too long.”

  “Yeah, right. You live for this. What would you do after fighting hell’s demons—plant a garden?”

  “I know what I’m going to do today after fighting hell’s demons. Well, two things, actually. I am going to hang up my combat helmet and have a fucking drink.”

  “That drink sounds just about right. I have a feeling there will be a lot of soldiers having drinks tonight—even the mercenary kind—and they all deserve it.”

  “You seem to have changed your mind about the Damned.”

  “Not all of them, but I do understand that without the merc teams we would have seen a hell of a lot more casualties today. We also would be fighting these damn demons for the next eight years.”

  “Well, it’s not over yet. There are still some down there, and we need to make sure the whole place is clear before we end this. I know everyone is tired, but let’s get our battle strategy on and head back out there. And by head back, I mean you and your four superheroes.”

  “Those boys definitely were worth every penny you had to pay that general to give them to us.”

  “That was my golfing money.”

  “You golf?”

  “No, but what if I wanted to? Now I can’t. I already spent the money.”

  The colonel laughed and nodded toward the mobile command post. “We should get up there. They want to discuss where we are and where we need to be before everyone loses their momentum.”

  The general nodded and looked at Charlotte, who was dusting off her camera over by the perimeter. She looked exhausted—worn down both mentally and physically—and the general remembered that she wasn’t one of the Damned. She didn’t have that extra push inside her. He frowned and had started to head over when one of the higher-ups from the news station grabbed Charlotte and pushed her toward the town.

  “You want to be big time? Then get back out there. This isn’t over yet.”

  “Hey!” the general yelled. “Get your hands off her. Grow a fucking pair, man. We don’t allow our civilians to become hell’s toys. You want more of a story, you take your pressed-suit ass down there and get it yourself. She’s on official military business.”

  The general put his arm around Charlotte and steered her to the post. He stopped outside and smiled at her. “What an asshole! You okay?”

  Charlotte sighed and nodded. “Thanks.”

  The general shook his head when she let out a huge yawn. “Go get some food and relax. You never know what will happen next.”

  The general walked into the mobile command post tent and everyone came to attention. He put his hand up and shook his head. “Please, we are all one here. How is it looking?”

  His tactical officer put his hands down on the map and looked at it for a second, then ran his finger around the circles the general had drawn before the engagement and nodded. They had been dead on, just like he’d thought.

  “We are showing a seventy-percent kill rate for the demons. That means there are still about three hundred of them out there. We closed the circle when the Army got here, and none of them had tried to escape before that point. Now we have fear on our side. They’ve watched the other demons get mowed down and they are looking for an escape. All of the humans are out of—or coming out of—the town right now, so they will be in search of fresh meat before long.”

  “What is your suggestion?”

  “I think we should tighten the circle. We need to close it on the center. We push the demons in and keep pushing them. We kill them as we go, and we poke through every inch of this town until we are sure that all the demons are dead.”

  “I think that’s a perfect idea.” The general looked at the team leaders, noting their dark-ringed eyes. “We are almost there, fellas, but it’s important that we keep ourselves and our teams moving. We need to keep the adrenaline pumping just a little bit longer. This is the time we are most vulnerable. We are worn down mentally and physically and we have let down our guard, even if it’s just in our heads. That is when a strike can blindside us. Does everyone have the new loadout of ammunition?”

  All the team leaders nodded in the affirmative. The general grabbed his jacket off the chair and pulled it over his blood-stained shirt. He walked over to the map and looked down as he buttoned it down the front.

  “Are we downwind?”

  “The wind is blowing away from us, sir.”

  “All right. I want everyone on that side of the perimeter to get their tear gas canisters ready. I want everyone to have their new frag rounds loaded on the Humvees. I want everyone to remember that we have a ton of mercenaries out there and that they cannot be trapped by any of the tear gas. It has the special metal in it, and we cannot harm them, even by accident. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. When the demons start coming out of the woodwork—and they will—I want you to blow them to shit. I don’t want there to be enough of a demon soul to go back to hell. I want God to look down from his throne and see one hell of a light show down here. Blast those bastards back to where they came from! Is that clear!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  The team leaders left the post, more energized now than when the general had walked in. He felt the exhaustion; of that, there was no doubt. However, he knew from experience that he had to keep pulling out the energy until everything was over and done with. It was time to end this and send a message to those bastards that the humans weren’t going to stand by and let them take their planet and their people.

  The mercenaries may have had good deals with their demons, but the rest of them were in for a treat.

  The Army was reducing the circumference of the perimeter a little at a time. The humans were still arriving at the top of the hill, where they were checked for red eyes before being sent off to the cordon. This was what the general considered the final stand.

  They would not stop until they had squeezed every last demon out of its hiding place and blown their heads right off their damned shoulders.

  Across the town, canisters of tear gas were lined up for the taking, although the soldiers were directed to throw it only in safe zones where the mercenaries weren’t going to be. After their performance during the battle, none of the soldiers had any question as to where their loyalties lay.

  The Humvees rolled up to the perimeter, each carrying the new 30mm fragmentation rounds and a weapons specialist to operate the guns that fired them.

  A group of demons emerged from the movie theatre and made a run for the perimeter.

  The soldiers stood firm and tossed their tear gas canisters to land about a hundred feet from the approaching demons. The beasts ran right into the fog and clutched helplessly at their throats as the metal incapacitated them. Their wails of pain echoed through the town and they fell to the ground, their senses dulled and their bodies seizing.

  Once they were immobilized, the weapons specialists opened fire. The frag rounds exploded and tore the demons apart. Those who were lucky took one to the head and died in
stantly. Others took a few minutes to crumble to dust, but by that point the soldiers didn’t mind watching them suffer in the least.

  Across town, a smaller group emerged and zeroed in on the perimeter where the humans were still being processed, but before they even took a step toward the innocents the Army opened fire on them, tearing almost all the demons to shreds before they burst into dust. One, however, managed to dodge the bullets. He leapt over the first line of defense and landed hard on the ground, looking around at the civilians and soldiers with a feral snarl.

  The soldiers pulled their weapons, but not fast enough.

  The demon lashed out with its claws and hooked a woman by the waist, then tore her body apart even as the soldiers reacted. The demon whirled as it felt the burn of the special bullets in its back and slashed his claws across a soldier’s chest, almost cleaving her in two.

  Mass panic set in and the civilians scattered, their screams masking the demon’s snarls. The soldiers couldn’t get a shot off without risking hitting one of the humans. Suddenly a woman tripped, sliding across the grass toward the demon. She scuttled backward and raised her arms over her face, shrieking as the demon picked her up.

  “Drop her!” the soldier yelled.

  He smirked and bit into her midriff. The soldiers opened fire on the beast and the demon bucked, but continued to tear chunks out of the screaming woman. The general rushed from his tent, pistol at the ready, to see what all the ruckus was about and ran over to the line of soldiers.

  “Shoot him in the head! In the head!”

  The soldiers shifted their aim, but the general pulled the trigger first and his bullet struck the demon right between the eyes. The demon screeched and turned to dust and the body of the woman hit the ground with a thud.

  The general turned to the others. “Always in the head.”

  He holstered his weapon and watched the clouds of tear gas drift over the town and away into the distance. The guns had stopped for the moment, but he knew that the tighter they pulled the noose, the more demons would come out of the woodwork.