“Glory chaser.”
The three of them sat together on the grass and caught their breath. The demons were nearby, heralded by their screeching and wailing, but they were a little ways away for now.
Damien and Angela emerged from the wreckage next, pulling the blinded pilot along behind them.
“This guy saved your lives,” said Damien. “Hey, buddy, you still with us?”
The pilot nodded, a little more in control of his senses than he had been in the cockpit. “T-The blast blew us out of the sky. It wasn’t as strong as it should’ve been, but we couldn’t keep from crashing. Is Braggs okay? He wouldn’t answer me.”
“I’m sorry,” said Angela. “Your co-pilot didn’t make it, and you appear to be blind.”
“I had to keep my eyes open if there was any chance of setting us down. The blast burned my retinas. T-There’s a chance I might recover.”
Mass nodded. “Good. That’s real good. Why the hell were we not all incinerated though?”
“Because the plan worked,” said Damien. “Take a look!” He pointed around the side of the crashed helicopter, necessitating everyone to shuffle themselves along until they could see past it. In the distance, the gate was on fire. The lens was still intact, but beyond was a fiery hellscape beyond comprehension. Ash and embers swirled through a realm of melting flesh. Hell had been incinerated along with an infinite army of demons. It was beautiful.
“The gate’s still open,” said Smithy.
“And the demons already through it ain’t dead,” said Damien.
Addy dragged herself along and winced in pain, still favouring her hand. “What does that mean?”
Mass stared at the gate, trying to work out if they had won or not. However many demons had been waiting to come through the gate were now ash, but none of those already through were dead. There were still thousands of them.
Something moved inside the gate. The ashes on the ground rose up, embers spilling everywhere. A black mountain grew out of nothing; then that mountain split apart, revealing massive limbs and a huge torso.
Mass flopped onto his side, too weak to hold himself up any longer. He rolled onto his back and groaned up at the grey sky. “Crimolok is still alive.”
Crimolok was alive, but they had clearly injured him. The giant stumbled on wobbly legs and, as the ashes fell away from his flesh, glistening wounds revealed themselves. Crimolok’s entire body had been burnt.
“We need to hit him again,” said Addy. “Another nuke may do it.”
“You got a radio?” asked Mass, nodding towards the wrecked helicopter. “Because I’m guessing the one in there is broken.”
Smithy shook his head. “Damn.”
The demonic shrieking in the distance was gradually getting closer. The demons were unsure exactly where the helicopter had crash-landed, but it wouldn’t be long before they found it. This time, Mass wasn’t even going to fight. It was pointless now. The last of his hope was gone.
“If only we could close the gate,” said Addy, “Crimolok would be stuck where he is.”
“Even if we could close it,” said Mass, “there are too many demons. You’d have to wade through a thousand just to reach the gate.”
“I’ve got this.” Damien rose to his feet. Unlike the rest of them, he was unhurt and didn’t even appear winded. He was a dead man walking, and that made him more alive than any of them right now.
Smithy tutted. “Yeah, okay, man. I know you’re a badass and all, but even you can’t fight a thousand demons.”
“I don’t need to fight them. I’ll see you guys later. Don’t wreck what’s left of the world, all right?” He looked at Smithy. “Put it in the can, man, remember!”
Damien walked away, marching down the hill they had landed on. Mass couldn’t get to his feet, but he managed to rise onto his elbow and shout, “Damien, what are you doing?”
Damien turned back with a smirk. “I’m going to go fuck shit up. Like I said, I got this. It was always meant to be me.”
“What was meant to be you?”
“Saviour of mankind, innit? Keep it real, Mass, and stop skipping leg day. You look like a goddamn turkey.”
Mass chuckled, not understanding at all. The only thing he knew was that Damien was a law unto himself. There was no controlling the guy. All you could do was watch and see what he would do next.
“That guy is about to become a demon McMuffin,” said Smithy. “What the hell is he doing?”
Mass remembered something Damien had said to him not so long ago. There was a reason he had made it to the fort so easily when they were looking for Thomas. Mass remembered the exact words Damien had said to him.
They don’t pay me much attention.
Damien carried on down the hill. The others dragged themselves to positions where they could watch him. The demons were mostly congregated around the ruined roads. None of them made a move when Damien appeared on the slope and headed towards them. Some looked his way curiously, but they didn’t attack. They looked at him the same way they looked at each other. Like he was one of them.
The gate was nearby, maybe two hundred metres ahead of Damien. Smouldering, irradiated embers drifted out as Crimolok continued to stumbled around drunkenly. It was like he had never felt pain before and was as confused about that as he was about suffering from it.
The demons were gradually moving towards the hill, spreading out in their pursuit to find fresh meat.
Smithy groaned. “The demons are going to rip us to shreds, and I really want to see what Damien does.”
“Leave it to me,” said Angela, dragging herself along the ground like a slug. “Christ, every bit of me hurts. I hope I can still do this.”
Mass frowned. “Do what?”
“This!” Angela pointed at the closest demons on the hill and began uttering what sounded like nonsense. Then, to Mass’s utter astonishment, a dozen demons exploded into a bloody mist. It began to rain, and when Mass looked at his forearm, he saw it was blood.
“I think a demon’s anus just landed on me,” said Smithy. “Tastes like chicken.”
“Maybe you were licking your own arsehole,” said Addy. “Your mouth always has to be doing something.”
Smithy grinned at her. “Girl, you are so into me.”
Addy blushed. “What? I so am not!”
“Yeah, you are. You want me.”
“I do not!”
Angela looked back from the edge of the hill. “Sorry, sweetheart, but I think he’s right.”
Addy glared at both of them, but a smile slowly crossed her face that she failed to fight. “Yeah, okay, maybe I am into you. Too bad we’re all going to die.”
Angela nodded at Smithy and chuckled. “Too bad for him at least.”
Smithy blushed. “Can you just get back to exploding demons, please, vicar?”
“No problem.” Angela turned and started chanting again. Another handful of demons went up in a bloody mist. It was a neat trick.
Mass turned his focus back to the gate. Crimolok was starting to recover. His wounds seemed to be healing, burned flesh hardening into scar tissue. His once beautiful face was now a craggy mess, but his agony dripped away and anger took over. As he looked around in confusion, it seemed to dawn on Crimolok that he was back in Hell. Then he glared right through the gate, peering back upon the world he had just been blown out of.
Mass’s jaw tightened.
Don’t you come back through that gate, you sonofabitch. Stay where you are. Please.
Crimolok was still wounded, but he started to stagger towards the gate, seeming to stare straight at Mass. It couldn’t be true, but it’s how it felt.
Damien continued walking casually amongst the demons. They paid him no attention, some even moving out of his way. Others, he simply grabbed and shoved aside. He was a slow-moving bullet slicing through a wall of flesh.
Get your arse in gear, mate. Look alive. Hurry!
Mass dug his fingertips into the soil, his whole body
tense. Addy and Smithy crawled up beside him while Angela continued chanting to keep any demons at bay. Their exploding bodies were just part of the background now. Several times, the blind pilot asked what was happening.
“He’s not gonna make it in time,” said Smithy.
“I can’t believe he can just walk through them like that,” said Addy. “He needs to be careful.”
Mass felt the same way. Damien pushed his luck several times, stopping to pat a dead woman on the cheek once, and shadow-boxing whenever he passed a particularly large demon. All the while, Crimolok was making his way towards the gate, intending to escape the nuclear devastation that had befallen Hell and resume his destruction of the Earth.
Mass thumbed the ground. “Come on, Damien. Don’t you see? Get a move on!”
Damien continued to stroll along casually, like he had all the time in the world, but he didn’t. Time was running out. Fast.
Crimolok gained strength, his wounded gait disappearing. He picked up speed, hurrying for the gate and already roaring in fury.
Damien glanced back towards the hill. He searched for Mass and the others and then shot them the middle finger. If not for the smirk on his face, it would’ve been cause to worry. Somehow, it was a gesture of respect.
Crimolok bounded for the gate.
Damien turned and sprinted. He dodged between demons, his arms like pistons. He was twenty metres from the gate. Crimolok was the same. It was a straight-up race to the finish line.
Crimolok spotted Damien and glared. He lowered his head and threw himself forward into an all-out sprint.
Damien slid through a pack of demons, grabbing their shoulders and propelling himself forward.
Crimolok was bigger, faster – but still wounded. The giant stumbled, his foot coming down on uneven ash-covered ground. At the speed he was going, Crimolok was powerless to stop himself from crashing down awkwardly onto his massive hands and knees.
Hell shook.
The gate shimmered.
Smithy gasped. “The plonker’s fallen over.”
“Even gods and angels are imperfect,” said Angela, catching her breath while the demons were at bay. “Their biggest weakness is not realising it.”
Crimolok clambered back to his feet, but it was too late. Damien sprinted the final few feet and launched himself into the air. His body passed through the lens of the gate and he was on the other side, crashing down into the thick ash.
Mass held his breath… waited.
Nothing happened.
No! Come on. Something please happen.
Damien stood and brushed himself off. He looked back through the gate, peering towards the hill where Mass and the others watched in terror.
“It didn’t work,” said Mass, shaking his head back and forth, over and over. “No. No, it didn’t—”
The lens shimmered. The hellscape beyond it began to skew – a subtle movement like the swaying of grass in a breeze.
Crimolok rose to his feet, glaring down at Damien. The giant, ancient beast seemed confused.
Damien suddenly burst into flames, burning in a raging blue fire. A badass until the end, he made no sound as his body turned to ash. He was gone in a matter of seconds.
Then Hell caught fire. The grotesque landscape twisted in on itself like a piece of paper inside a clenched fist. The lens shrunk in on itself until it was the size of a football, and then it exploded. Light, noise, and wind took over everything, assaulting every sense. It was a tsunami without water. A volcanic eruption with no volcano. It was pure, unrelenting force.
Mass and his companions pressed themselves against the dirt. If the blast was deadly, they were about to go up in smoke.
The wind came first, buffeting the shirt on Mass’s back. Then came a bone-rattling quake. The heat came last.
Mass expected to burn, but the heat never rose above that of a relaxing bath. It summoned memories of sunbathing on Brixton’s terraces as a kid, letting the heat increase until it almost burned him. Was his life flashing before his eyes?
Mass dared not lift his head to look at what was happening. If might blind him like it had the pilot. It wasn’t until the wind, the noise, and the heat had completely gone away that he dared to raise his face from the ground.
21
It was time to die. Maddy saw no other option. The boats had left the docks, leaving several hundred men and women behind to face their death. Maddy and Tosco were among those doomed souls. Sorrow and Scarlett were there too. The demon had become enraged that his ward was under such an attack. Did he realise it was useless? Scarlett was going to die no matter what he did. The girl seemed to realise it and was silent.
The demons had pushed them back to the very edge of the quay. For a while, they had managed to hide behind a storage container while Sorrow fought to keep any threats away. They had watched, and listened to, the deaths of their fellow human beings, knowing that it would eventually be their turn.
Now their turn had arrived.
Sorrow battled furiously, slicing apart demons with his talons and sending them tumbling into the water. The problem was that he was getting exhausted. For a long while it had seemed impossible that the demon might give up, but after his near death at the Crimolok’s hands, Sorrow had gradually gotten slower and weaker. Now, he gasped and grunted with every movement. More and more demons managed to injure him, slicing into his leathery flesh. Maddy and Tosco had to keep Scarlett from crying out and drawing attention to them, but when Sorrow finally fell to ground, keeping Scarlett from screaming became impossible.
The demons came in force. Three dozen of them racing down the strip of narrow wharf that housed the shipping container. Maybe there was a way inside the steel shell. Perhaps Maddy and her companions could lock themselves inside it – like sardines in a can – but that was a worse death. They would be trapped in the dark, surrounded by monsters, until they starved or suffocated.
Tosco reached out and took Maddy’s hand. Together, they grabbed Scarlett and pulled her in close. There was no point in fighting. None of them spoke; final words would change nothing.
A primate broke to the front of the pack, racing right towards Maddy. Its demonic screeching pierced the air, backed by a distant explosion – a petrol station going up in flames perhaps. Dawn was still moments away, but suddenly the day became bright and shining, everything bathed in an orange glow.
Tosco stumbled, yanking Maddy and Scarlett with him as he fought to keep his balance. A gale engulfed the docks, blowing aside everything not bolted down. It howled through the gaps and crevices of the nearby ruins making the whole world feel haunted.
Maddy shielded her eyes, the light getting brighter. “W-What’s happening?”
Tosco grabbed her arm. “I don’t know.”
The primate on the wharf leapt at Maddy, but before it reached her it faded out of existence like an autumn leaf disintegrating in the wind.
Maddy flinched and then gasped. Thousands of demons had invaded the docks, but every single one of them now faded away. Other than the blood and destruction, there was no evidence they had ever been there. Even the bodies of those slain disappeared. Only human corpses remained on the docks.
Scarlett broke free and raced towards Sorrow. The large demon was slumped on the ground nearby, having dragged himself over even in his death throes. He was drenched in blood and his flesh was torn, but he was smiling – something Maddy had never seen the demon do before. It was obscene.
Scarlett held her friend and sobbed. “Sorrow. Sorrow, it’s okay.”
“Yes, it is okay. You are safe. I have… succeeded.”
“Yes, you protected me. It’s over, you can relax.”
“Yes. Relax.” Sorrow’s flesh began to peel away, tiny slithers rising up into the air. He began to wither, his skin turning grey.
Scarlett shook him. “Sorrow. Sorrow, please stay with me.”
Sorrow continued to smile. “Always.”
The demon disappeared before their eyes, just
like the others had. Somehow, Sorrow had managed to hold on long enough to say goodbye. Scarlett wept quietly over the space where his body had lain in her arms, nothing left to mourn over.
Tosco slumped against the shipping container, looking ready for sleep. “What just happened here?”
Maddy looked out across the water, at the fleet of ships containing thousands of people who were now going to live. “Mass did it,” she said with the smallest of grins. “He saved us.”
Damien did it. He had saved mankind. Mass couldn’t believe it, but it was true. The giant gate was closed, and Crimolok was back in Hell where he belonged. They’d even nuked the God damned place for good measure. Mass had expected to die, but instead he was alive and basking in victory.
The demons had all gone. Whatever had happened to them was a mystery to Mass, as he had kept his eyes closed the entire time.
“It’s a miracle,” said Addy. “Do you think it’s just here, or are they gone everywhere?”
Mass shook his head. “I have no idea, but I hope so. Christ, I hope so.”
“Did we do it?” asked the pilot, staring blankly. “Are we saved?”
Addy put a hand on the man’s thigh. “I think so. I think we’re okay.”
“I can’t even imagine what life will be like if it’s actually over,” said Smithy, pale and sweaty. “What would we even do?”
Mass patted him on the back. “We enjoy the life we have for however long we have it. It’s a gift. After everyone who died, each day we get to breathe is a miracle.”
Smithy collapsed onto his back and chuckled. “Well, at least no one has to worry about going to Hell any more.”
“Nobody here will ever go to Hell,” said Angela, the only one standing, “but nobody will ever go to Heaven either.”
Mass looked up at her from the ground. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, if I understand correctly, that we are now cut off from the tapestry – maybe the tapestry is gone altogether – but at the very least, Damien cut our umbilical cord. Nothing can visit our world, and nothing can leave. This place is the beginning and end of our existence. There’s nothing to follow after. Not for any of us.”
Hell On Earth (Book 6): Rebirth Page 33
