Hell On Earth (Book 6): Rebirth

by Wright, Iain Rob

  But that quickly changed.

  With their focus no longer on the demons coming in through the broken-down wall, the primates at the front of the pack were finally able to make it to the warehouse. The first of them crashed through a half-broken window and landed on a woman, twisting her head right around and snapping her neck. The demon started eating her, but Wanstead put a stop to it, shooting the monster in the top of the skull at point-blank range. The colonel then turned to his men and bellowed, “Full retreat. Get to the boats. Stop for nothing.”

  “Yow heard the man,” Frank shouted. “Move your arses.”

  More demons exploded through the windows and burst in through the side entrance. Shadows surrounded the building, blocking out the glow of the spotlights. Everyone fought for the door at the back of the warehouse as men began to fall, pulled down by burnt men and primates. Within seconds, two dozen men were dead or screaming.

  Sarah shoved Maddy. “Move it.”

  Maddy let off another three shots, but then she was out. The rucksack of ammo was lost in the sea of demons. Others ran out of ammunition too, forced to used their rifles as clubs.

  More men fell.

  “Damn it!” Sarah backed up against Maddy and fired the last of her ammunition. Then she threw her rifle at a primate before whipping out a handgun and shooting it in the chest. “Maddy, you need to go. We can’t hold them any more.”

  “I’m not leaving without you.”

  “I’m not your fucking girlfriend. Go!”

  Maddy looked around for answers that didn’t involve abandoning people to die. Frank, Wanstead, and a small group of men were surrounded nearby, cut off from escape. Despite that, they continued to fight. Frank continued to shout and bellow. How could she run while they remained behind?

  “I can’t leave.”

  A hand wrapped around her elbow and wrenched it behind her back. “Yes, you can!”

  Tosco dragged Maddy backwards towards the door while Sarah shoved her from the front. All around them, people died. Maddy looked desperately towards Frank and Colonel Wanstead, but both men were now lost in a sea of demons.

  We can’t abandon them.

  Maddy threw her head back and struck Tosco’s face. He grunted and released her, and with both arms free, Maddy shoved Sarah out of the way. She had no idea what she was doing, but she knew she wanted to stay and fight. She wanted to fight like Amanda and Tony and Diane and all the others who had died trying to protect other people.

  She caught another glimpse of Frank amidst the demons. He was unarmed, throwing his fists and kicking out with his legs. His awkward movements were hard to predict, and it bought him a little space while the demons struggled to get at him.

  Tosco and Sarah shouted after Maddy to stop, but she ignored them and rushed to help. Dying for others was better than living for yourself.

  She had no regrets. This was the ending she wanted. Maybe it was the one she deserved.

  But when the ceiling came down on top of her, all thoughts of helping others went away.

  18

  Maddy couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. She was buried alive. She coughed and dust filled her mouth, choked her throat. She began to panic, unable to see or hear anything. She focused on a pinprick of light that slowly got larger. First she saw stars, then the moon. Was she outside?

  A face appeared above hers. It was Tosco. He bled from his forehead and was covered in chalky-white dust. “Maddy, you need to get up.”

  She reached out and grabbed his hand, holding on to him like a life jacket. The warehouse had collapsed around them, the roof now on the floor in pieces. The walls had shattered. Breeze blocks lay exposed. Steel lintels leant at precarious angles. Men and women lay in the rubble, some dead or unconscious, others moaning and dazed. The demons were in the same state, trapped and clawing to dig themselves out of their concrete graves.

  Maddy was lucky to be alive.

  What the hell happened?

  Sarah was on the ground nearby. She got to her feet groggily and Maddy gasped when she saw the left side of her face. It had been torn wide open. Blood gushed down her shirt.

  “Sarah, you’re hurt.”

  She fingered at her face gingerly and winced. Then she shrugged. “I was never that pretty to begin with. What the hell happened?”

  Maddy opened her mouth to reply but men’s screams cut her off.

  Tosco grabbed Maddy and Sarah, pulling them back and cursing. “Look out!”

  Crimolok stared down at them from outside the ruined warehouse, a cruel grin spread across his face.

  “Oh, yow’s the big bastard that caused all this, are ya?” Frank clambered from beneath a pile of bricks, remarkably unhurt. He was furious. “Do yow know how many good people have died because of you, ya bloody piece of shit!”

  Maddy called out. “Frank, what the hell? Get away from there!”

  Frank pointed a stubby finger at Crimolok, having to crane his neck upwards. “I’ve had enough of this. All this death, all because of this gobshite!”

  Maddy looked up at Crimolok, staggered by the sight of something so massive. Nothing on earth had ever existed like the thing standing before her right now. She didn’t know if Frank’s words bothered Crimolok, but the giant’s face contorted in anger.

  Maddy called out again. “Frank, get away from there. Move!”

  Frank continued shouting obscenities at Crimolok, red-faced and enraged. He didn’t care about anything except venting his fury at the abomination that had wiped out billions of people. Maddy understood his anger. She had almost died for hers too.

  Frank didn’t move out of danger. He was hysterical with rage.

  “Use your legs, you fool.” Colonel Wanstead appeared from the rubble and raced towards Frank. He grabbed the smaller man and tossed him so hard that he went airborne.

  Crimolok stomped a massive foot and Colonel Wanstead disappeared in an instant, crushed flat like an ant beneath a work boot. Brick and cement shattered, sending up clouds of clogging dust.

  Frank scrambled through the debris, trying to get to his feet. Maddy helped him out of harm’s way as demons slashed their claws and snapped their jaws, desperately trying to get themselves free of the rubble. Some managed to climb out, and they immediately went on the attack, focusing on the men and woman still trapped or too injured to move. A few dozen soldiers were still able-bodied, but they exited the warehouse in terror, no longer willing to fight now that Crimolok had arrived. It was useless.

  Sarah pointed to a section of the back wall that had crumbled. “There! Everyone get through the gap.”

  Maddy shoved Frank, almost knocking him over. His ranting had stopped; he was oddly vacant. Whatever fury had possessed him was gone. He was broken.

  Tosco reached the gap in the wall first, but he waited for the rest of them. Maddy made it there and helped Frank through, then went herself. The gap was narrow and tight rather than a massive hole, which would make it harder for the demons to follow.

  Tosco still remained on the other side of the gap. Maddy reached a hand through the gap and yanked at his arm. “James, come on!”

  He passed through and joined her on the outside, but he quickly turned back. “Sarah, hurry!”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Sarah appeared at the gap, her face covered in blood. She slipped one leg through while Maddy grabbed her arm. She had almost made it through when her eyes went wide and she grunted. Her body stiffened, half in and half out of the gap. Maddy pulled at her, but she wouldn’t move.

  “Sarah, come on!”

  Sarah opened her mouth and blood spilled from between her lips, mixing with that already covering her face. She looked like a ghoul, a lost, frightened ghoul.

  Maddy cried out. “Sarah, please!” She pulled harder, yanking at the woman’s arm hard enough to almost tear it off at the shoulder, but instead of moving forward, Sarah fell back into the warehouse.

  Maddy lunged, tying to hold on to the other woman, but the only thing she c
ould see through the gap were demons. Hundreds of them.

  A primate leapt into the gap, claws swiping at Maddy’s throat. Tosco pulled her back just in time. His expression was grim. “We have to make it to the boats.”

  Maddy understood. There was no one left to save. She started running, tears staining her cheeks. Behind her, Crimolok was destroying what was left of Portsmouth.

  Mass found it mildly amusing that he was travel sick. Such a silly thing to worry about on his way to throw himself through a gate into Hell, but he was miserable with nausea all the same. He had taken to breathing deeply, concentrating on keeping the contents of his stomach on the inside.

  “You okay?” Smithy asked, raising his voice over the din of the rotor blades. “You don’t look good.”

  “I’m fine. Just battered and broken like everybody else.”

  “I’ve never had a helicopter ride before. It’s loud!”

  “That’s because you’re not wearing your ear protectors,” said Mass, nodding at Addy, who was sitting quietly on the front bench wearing hers. At the rear of the chopper, the undead Damien sat beside Angela. The thrumming of the cabin seemed to relax everyone.

  “Neither are you,” said Smithy. “Too manly to put them on?”

  Mass smirked. “What’s your deal, Smithy? Before I met you, I had thirty Vampires, every one of them a total badass, but none as calm and collected as you. Other than the lame jokes, you’re a fucking warrior, man. Tell the truth, were you a secret agent before all this?”

  “Ha! Nah, I was… well, I wasn’t much of anything, really. I didn’t really think about anything beyond the weekend. I treated life like a laugh most of the time.”

  “So what changed?”

  Smithy shifted in his seat. “I dunno. I kept surviving at first because I was desperate to find other people. It terrifies me, the thought of being lonely. The worst. I suppose I take risks because I would rather die myself than see everyone around me die and leave me on my own again.”

  Mass saw the fear in Smithy’s eyes. It was clear that loneliness frightened him far worse than any demon. “You’re a good bloke, Smithy. I wish I’d known you before all of this. Look after Addy for me, okay? She’s not as tough as she acts.”

  “None of us are.” Smithy glanced at Addy, unaware of their conversation due to her ear protectors. “So, this trip you’re taking is one way then?”

  “It is for me. I wish there was another way, but this is my mess and I need to clean it up. I killed Vamps. I set Crimolok loose.”

  Smithy pulled a face. “Get out of it with that shit, will you? How long do you think Vamps’ body would have held out? He was rotting from the inside out, man. Crimolok was getting free eventually. All you’re guilty of is speeding things along. Besides, if we let our friends suffer, then what’s the point? We’re fighting for the survival of the human race, aren’t we? Well, part of being human is giving a shit about other people. You did the right thing, Mass. Stop beating yourself up about it. It’s getting old.”

  Mass’s tear ducts erupted and he was suddenly sobbing. He couldn’t remember the last time he had let his emotions go, but he made up for it now. Whimpering sounds he wasn’t proud of kept erupting in the back of his throat and he couldn’t keep his face from scrunching up in misery. He went to turn away, but Smithy lunged and pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay, big guy. If ever there was a time to cry, it’s now.”

  Addy noticed the movement and turned her head. She saw Mass’s tears and immediately threw off her ear protectors and came over. She joined in with the hug, the three of them holding each other without saying a word.

  Mass missed his friends; not just those he’d lost, but those he was going to lose. The future no longer existed, causing a massive hole to grow inside of him. There was only one thing to do now: close the gate.

  I guess I always knew I would end up in Hell. Brixton boy till the end.

  “I think we’ve found it,” said the living Damien, who’d been leaning over the back of the pilot’s seats and staring out of the cockpit. His friends, Steph and Harry, were with him, holding hands and silently awaiting their destination. They were an odd bunch.

  Mass wiped away his tears and headed up front, holding on to the ceiling straps to keep from falling. At first he saw only the night sky, but when he managed to look down at the ground three hundred feet below, he saw the gate. It lit up everything around it, but not in a beautiful way. It was like staring at a nuclear reactor ready to explode.

  Against the autumnal trees and green fields of the Wessex Downs, the gate was an unnatural blight on the scenery. It shimmered and popped, more like a flame than a lens, and every now and then it would shift in such a way that you got a glimpse of what lay beyond. Mass knew he was looking straight into Hell.

  Demons were flooding out of the gate, a line of ants from up high but an army of death on the ground. Getting to the gate would be impossible, even with their weapons. The pilots had already informed Mass that the helicopter was an old US Coast Guard rescue chopper. It had no guns, cannons, or missiles, only a winch, harness, and high-powered searchlight. At a push, the pilot had said it could paint a target for something else to shoot at – but they were on their own in this.

  “So what’s the plan?” the undead Damien yelled from the rear of the helicopter. “Are you going to leap out of the helicopter Mission Impossible style, or are we going to land and have ourselves a ruck?”

  “There are too many demons on the ground,” said Mass. “The best bet is to go down on the harness.”

  Angela wore a disapproving look on her face. “That puts a lot of trust on the pilots. What if they screw up?”

  “Then he goes splat,” said undead Damien with a grin. “Embarrassing way to go.”

  Mass looked at everyone. “Who has a better plan? I’m all ears.”

  “I don’t,” said Harry. “Seems the right call to me.”

  “Anyone else?” said Mass. “Like I said, I’m all ears.”

  “And biceps,” said Angela. “If I were twenty years younger, still alive, and not gay, I would let you use me for a workout. That aside, I don’t want to see you throw your life away in vain. We have to make sure you go to Hell, sweetheart.”

  “Cheers. Look, the gate is massive. If I go down on the winch, it should be easy to swing me into it from above. The demons below won’t be able to reach me.”

  Smithy shook his head. “You sure you want to do this? We get this wrong and you’ll be forever known as piñata boy.”

  Mass shook his head, realising he was going to miss all of the lame jokes. “What’s to lose? Crimolok will destroy the universe if I do nothing.”

  “Good point. Okay, so we’re going to do this then?”

  Addy nodded. “Sooner we do it, the sooner we give everyone at Portsmouth a chance.”

  Mass had to swallow his guilt. He couldn’t tell them that it was all over for the people of Portsmouth. Crimolok might not be able to destroy the universe, but he would remain in Portsmouth, angry and determined to exterminate all that he could.

  Mass exhaled, another wave of sickness washing over him. “Somebody show me what I have to do.”

  One of the pilots left the cockpit and helped Mass get into the harness. It felt secure, which was good, even though he intended on swinging to his death anyway. He gave everything a tug, making sure the equipment would hold him. He’d lost a little muscle mass recently, but he was still a thick piece of meat. “Okay,” he said once he was satisfied, “I’ll leave the manoeuvres up to the men with the pilot licences, but the plan is to swing me until I pass inside the gate, right? From what I’ve seen, that’s all it’ll take. I’ve seen plenty of gates close, and it’s always instant. Soon as a living soul passes through the lens, kablooey.”

  “Let’s hope there’s not a brick wall on the other side,” said Smithy.

  Mass realised that his hands were shaking. “Okay, let’s do this before I lose my nerve. No goodbyes, no advice, let’s just g
et it done.”

  There was a moment’s silence. Even that was more than Mass could bear. He grabbed a handhold and pulled himself over to the sliding door. He looked at Addy and gave a nod. She yanked open the door, letting in the wind and forcing everyone to hold on.

  Mass moved into the opening and stared at the ground below. It felt like they were barely moving, almost floating above the earth. The helicopter descended gradually, the trees, buildings, and wrecked cars slowly getting larger in the glow of the gate. The mass of demons got larger too. There were thousands of them down there.

  The gate was huge.

  Mass placed his toes over the edge. His stomach was in knots. Acid burned his throat. The wind lashed at his cheeks. It was time to jump.

  Any second now.

  Just jump, man. Get it over with.

  Okay. I’m going to jump. Watch me jump.

  It’ll be fun.

  Just jump. One step, that’s all.

  This is embarrassing.

  “You sure you want to do this?” Smithy asked. “Like, are you one hundred per cent sure that you want to jump? Stick a needle in your eye sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure! I have to do this. I’m not going to change my—”

  Something struck Mass between the shoulder blades and shoved him through the door. As he fell, he realised that Smithy – the sonofabitch – had pushed him.

  That git!

  Mass’s stomach lurched into his throat as he became weightless. He screamed like a terrified baby. Why people had ever jumped out of helicopters for fun, he would never understand. Nothing was fun about falling.

  The rope won’t catch me.

  I’m going to hit the ground.

  Mass’s free fall was halted by a sudden, painful jolt. The seams of the harness bit into his groin and armpits, threatening to cut him into pieces. He swung back and forth in the glare of the helicopter’s searchlight and twirled round and round. Bile leapt up into his mouth, and he spat it at the demons a hundred feet below.