Life After: The Complete Series

by Julie Hall

  Kaitlin’s frightened gaze snapped up. “I don’t know. Sh-she was just here.”

  Joe barreled through the lot of us and took off in the direction we’d just come from. No one questioned his decision; we all just ran after him. He moved so quickly the thick fog swallowed him, making it challenging to keep up.

  We heard nothing more from Romona after that first scream.

  My heart beat fast and erratically. Exertion wasn’t the only culprit. I didn’t allow my mind go down the rabbit hole of what could have happened to her. I completely focused my attention on staying with Joe.

  I looked down to search for footprints. Big mistake.

  Was that blood?

  Dark, narrow lines appeared and disappeared on the dry ground as we flew over it. They might have been left by her fingers as she was dragged away from us.

  Joe disappeared and reappeared in the fog time and time again. Were we running in circles? There was no way to tell. The only consistent was the bloody trail we followed and the glimpses of Joe.

  I yelled Romona’s name time and time again, careless of the repercussions. But she never answered. And then Joe appeared, crouched over Romona’s motionless body.

  In my haste to reach her, I almost tripped over him but managed to stop myself just in time. Kaitlin, Jonathon, and Kevin skidded to a stop as well. I leaned over Joe to get a better look and immediately clamped both hands over my mouth, holding in a scream.

  Romona lay on the ground in front of him. Pieces of her armor had been shredded at her thigh and abdomen. Thick, gooey blood spread in a circle around her, and the ground slurped up the scarlet liquid almost as fast as it left her body.

  A low groan left her lips. With horror, I realized she was still conscious.

  “Fan out,” Joe barked. “Protect us. We’ve been discovered.”

  We obeyed without argument.

  I felt them. Demons.

  Now that I was paying attention, their presence practically slithered under my skin. But I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the threat was coming from, leaving us blind to their location.

  “Jonathon, switch places with me. Try to stanch the flow.”

  Joe didn’t wait for Jonathon to comply before joining the circle around Romona. I heard clothes ripping and Jonathon’s murmured words behind me, and I knew he was tending to Romona the best he could.

  “They’re here!” Joe shouted, and then the rest of the world fell away as I found myself in a battle with abominations that were hidden and half-invisible in the fog.

  Sharp, blackened appendages came at me from multiple directions. I couldn’t see the creatures attached to them to anticipate their moves. They were using the dense fog to their advantage. Their strikes were precise and powerful; the fog clearly wasn’t affecting them negatively.

  My sword cut through every attack aimed my way, and soon I was cringing under the onslaught of demon shrieks. My eardrums throbbed, but I did what I could to ignore the pain in my head and continued to hack away at anything that appeared out of the mist.

  Abruptly, the attacks on me stopped.

  I scanned the area, but it seemed I no longer interested the demons. In contrast, my friends’ struggles echoed around me. The sound of metal meeting hardened flesh rebounded off the blanket of vapor. Without the ability to slice off limbs, they were only able to defend themselves against the demons. A demon’s vulnerable points were concealed in the trunk of its body, but no creature came out of the fog far enough to be seen. I made a split second decision I hoped I wouldn’t regret.

  “Kaitlin,” I yelled in her direction, somewhere to my right. “Close the gap between us. I’m going in.”

  “Wait, what?” she yelled back. “Are you crazy?”

  “Probably.”

  I ran head-on into the fog, blind to the creatures I stalked. My hope was the demons would be so distracted trying to injure everyone else that I could ambush them from behind. That is, if I could even find them.

  My eyes failing me, I strained my hearing to its limits. To the right were sounds of battle and the distinctive piercing chirp of a demon. It must be the one fighting Kaitlin. Oh gosh, I really hoped I was right.

  Here goes nothing.

  I ran toward where I thought the demon was with my sword held out in front of me, the blade blazing like an inferno. I’m sure I looked like a complete idiot, but if I was going to accidentally run into something demonic, I wanted the pointy end of my sword to hit first.

  I skidded to a stop when the mist cleared enough to reveal the backside of the Goliath battling Kaitlin. My gamble paid off—the giant creature was too distracted fighting my friend to notice me—but its sheer size gave me pause.

  Thank goodness Kaitlin couldn’t see this thing, or she’d probably pee herself. Heck, I was close to losing bodily control, and that beast wasn’t even facing off with me.

  One cut was not going to do it, holy fire or not. The thing was easily the size of a small house. Even if I plunged my blade right into the creature, it would most likely swat me away like a fly before I got the chance for a second blow.

  An idea formed in my head. Not one I liked, but the only one I could come up with. If I could take care of the tentacle-like appendages attacking Kaitlin first, there was a chance I could then climb up its back and sink my sword into something that would put the creature down.

  This was insane.

  Once I started cutting off appendages, this massive demon was going to start attacking me right away.

  Shoot, I’d better be fast. This was going to get messy.

  I bounced on the balls of my feet for a quick second before jumping into the fight.

  I managed to cut through two of the barbed tentacles in one swing. They flopped to the ground and wiggled as if still attached. Nasty. The stumps that remained squirted black blood. That was new. Usually my sword left only charred flesh in its wake. And the things I cut off weren’t turning to ash either. It had to have something to do with the realm we were in.

  Lost in thought, I ducked a moment too late, and one of the creature’s wiggly arm-like things clipped me on the shoulder. I slammed into the ground, hard. With a shake of my head I bounced back to my feet and charged.

  Now that I could see clearly, I zeroed in on the demon’s remaining limbs. They flailed through the air like knives aimed at my head.

  Time disappeared as I fought. Any blow I landed cut through its shell-like flesh without difficulty. Shrieks of pain and outrage rent the air.

  One more wiggly limb to go, and I would be on to phase two of my plan. The crazy part where I somehow managed to get high enough on the demon’s body to take off its head, or at least plunge my sword into its skull . . . repeatedly.

  With a satisfying swipe, I lopped off the last limb. I was covered in the demon’s slimy black ichor. I preferred it when the creatures charred and ashed. So this was what the other hunters went through when they fought with the enemy.

  Didn’t like it one bit.

  In a surprise move, the demon suddenly threw its body in my direction. I dove to the side to get out of its way. My sword flew from my hand and landed somewhere unseen.

  Did that fat demon just try to squish me?

  Dazed, I shook my head and looked up in time to see the creature lumber to its feet and come at me again.

  Scrambling for purchase on the parched ground, I only just managed to evade getting flattened a second time. The demon’s razor sharp jaws were only feet from where I lay, and it twisted and snapped at my feet.

  Holy cow, it’s trying to eat me!

  It would almost be funny if this weren’t so dangerous.

  The demon twisted to its feet once again. Shoot! My sword. It had landed somewhere to the left. I dashed into the mist with my eyes down, searching the ground for a glint of metal and praying I didn’t get crushed before I found my weapon.

  Tripping over something, I fell to my knees. Looking back, my sword lay at my feet. My own weapon had thwarted me. So stupi
d.

  I grabbed it, and it blazed to life. The ground shook around me as the demon took another kamikaze dive at my body.

  Thank goodness this thing’s aim was so off. But it had also unknowingly done me a favor. With its body sprawled on the ground, scaling its side was a breeze.

  As the creature rose, I jumped and threw myself as high up on its body as I could get.

  Needle-like spikes penetrated my armor, and I screamed out in pain. The demon’s flesh was covered with thin barbs, some as long as four inches. No wonder the fatty had been trying to get me under itself. The spikes alone would have shredded me. They had already pierced several spots in my left hand and thigh.

  I was close enough to its head that I could do some damage—no need to chance climbing higher. Not exactly where I wanted to be, but it would have to do.

  With a loud cry, I brought my arm down and sliced through the demon, roughly where the neck would be. When it tried to let out its own scream, black blood spurted out of the hole I’d created instead.

  I choked down the bile rising in my throat and took another swing.

  The creature began to tip. I gritted my teeth and held on tight to the spikes that had impaled my hand, readying myself for the fall. The impact almost dislodged me, but I managed to keep from being flung through the air.

  The blood that had been gushing out of the demon slowed to a gurgling river. I wasn’t taking any chances and took another swipe at its flesh. Its head was halfway off its body, and the demon finally stilled.

  Pushing the savage battle out of my mind, I jumped off my perch and landed in a roll before popping to my feet. My shoulder throbbed, as did the hand and thigh that had been on the receiving end of the nasty demon’s barbs.

  Hardly giving my body a thought, I turned in a circle to locate my group.

  The land was unnervingly quiet.

  I cupped my hands and shouted for Kaitlin. Her answering cry came from my left. I took off running, heart pounding with relief. I stumbled onto the group in no time. We were a mess, but we’d been victorious. Or as victorious as we could be in Hell.

  No more demons attacking meant we’d won, right?

  As I stepped closer, I got a better view of the scene. Kaitlin stood with her sword still out. Her wild gaze locked behind me, like she expected the creature to come back through the fog at any moment.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “I took out the demon you were fighting. Big ugly thing. Lots of tentacle-like appendages and spikes all over its body.” I shuddered. “And it bled a lot.”

  “I can tell.”

  “Yeah.”

  Behind her, the rest of the group was on the ground. Jonathon held his post over Romona. A tourniquet had been tied around her upper thigh to slow the bleeding. He was applying pressure to her stomach area with a white piece of cloth that was quickly turning red. He’d stripped the top part of his body armor off, revealing a torso drenched in sweat, and used his shirt to slow down the flow of blood. To her side, there were two other clumps of cloth that were already soaked through.

  “I can’t stanch the flow,” Jonathon called to Joe, who was bent over an obviously injured Kevin.

  Ignoring Jonathon, Joe looked into Kevin’s eyes and said, “On the count of three, okay?” Joe held Kevin’s arm at an awkward angle—his shoulder was out of joint. At his nod, Joe yanked up on his arm without giving the count. Kevin screamed out in pain.

  “Sorry. I thought surprising you would be kinder than the anticipation of the pain.”

  Kevin panted and nodded. Sweat streamed down his face. I was sure he’d sustained more injuries than were evident.

  “I said I can’t stop her bleeding!” Jonathon shouted this time. Joe leaned over and put a hand on the medic’s shoulder.

  “I heard you.” Joe’s voice was clear and calm and free of censure.

  Jonathon’s shoulders sagged, and a vein in his forehead stopped pulsing as some of the tension left his body.

  “What do we do now?” he asked.

  “You’re going back with Romona and Kevin,” Joe told him.

  Jonathon started to argue, but Joe silenced him with a look. “Romona and Kevin are in no shape to continue on. I need you to take care of them. Make sure they arrive safely and are cared for.” His eyes shifted to Romona’s prone form. “Especially her. If only Kevin was injured, I’d send him up alone, but she needs your attention.”

  Jonathon’s shoulders sagged, but he nodded his agreement.

  Joe shifted his gaze to Kaitlin and me. “The three of us will continue on.”

  “Yeah, okay, can I just . . .” I gestured to my grandmother’s still form. Joe nodded, stood, and walked a few paces back.

  I rushed to Romona’s side. The shirt Jonathon held against her was almost completely drenched now. The ground around her body was oddly dry, although stained red. My earlier impression had been right—the ground was actually drinking up her blood.

  My stomach turned.

  I pulled off a glove and pressed my hand to Romona’s face. Her skin was clammy, and she didn’t stir. Bending over, I pressed a kiss to her forehead before looking up at Jonathon.

  “Please take care of her.” My eyes welled with tears.

  He returned my look with compassion. “I will. She’ll be fine.”

  I nodded and stood.

  “Thank you for being here,” I told him sincerely.

  He nodded back.

  I turned toward Kevin, who was watching me with hooded eyes. He was barely conscious. “You heal up fast.”

  “You get him back,” Kevin croaked.

  “I will,” I promised.

  “Kaitlin and Audrey, step back,” Joe instructed. He urged Kevin to scoot closer to Jonathon then laid hands on them both and closed his eyes. Within moments, the four of them were encased in a light so bright I was forced to turn away. It faded quickly, and only Joe remained.

  Where we had been six, now we were only three.

  Joe stood and brushed his hands against his legs. “Let’s go.”

  7

  Hidden

  The rest of our trek through the mist-filled ring was somber and tense. No one spoke until Joe signaled for us to stop and explained we were about to cross into the fifth ring. I was anxious to leave the sixth, regardless of what new horrors we’d face.

  The first thing I noticed when we crossed into the next ring was that I could breathe again. Yes, the ever-present smell of rot and sulfur still lingered in the air, but I was able to suck in a lungful without wanting to retch.

  The second was the light. Where we had just traveled through a land of fog-induced blindness, this new ring was overexposed and washed in brightness.

  My eyes watered, and I blinked several times before adjusting to the change. I swiped at a tear that leaked out the corner of an eye and ran down my cheek. Finally acclimated enough to take a good look around, I choked on a gasp that escaped my lungs.

  My legs gave out, and my knees hit the packed ground. Hard.

  There were people. Everywhere.

  They wore manacles around their wrists, feet, and even sometimes necks, connected to glowing lava-red chains that were anchored into the earth.

  Each one of the poor souls was tethered to the ground by at least one point of contact, sometimes several. Their bodies were fully corporeal. Their flesh torn and scarred, though no blood leaked from their wounds as if they’d already been drained and there was nothing left. Their anguished faces cried out in pain, yet barely a whisper of sound could be heard.

  These were the ones Joe had warned us about. The ones who couldn’t be helped.

  I turned my head to beseech Joe to give us some kind of instruction. Surely there was something we could do. But the Savior of Man was on his knees as well. His hands were fisted in his hair, and water rolled from his eyes, raining tears to the ground.

  The souls closest to us stretched as far as they could in their chains, even tearing at the flesh that kept them capti
ve in a desperate attempt to get to Joe—to reach the water flowing from his eyes.

  His face crumpled. I had never seen a look of such anguish on a person before. It was as if he himself was one of the bodies surrounding us, yet their despair and torment was piled upon him a hundredfold.

  With wide eyes, I looked to Kaitlin, who watched Joe with a worry-filled gaze as well.

  “Who are they?” she asked him in a whisper.

  “They are the lost ones.” His hands slid from his hair to clench at his sides, his gaze falling on the person closest to him—a woman, or what had once been a woman. He squeezed his eyes closed as if he could shut out the world around him. When they opened again, renewed suffering washed over his features. Sweat trickled down his temples and mixed with the tears still dripping from his cheeks.

  The . . . thing—for she barely resembled a human anymore, with only patches of hair and flesh sagging off her bones—reached out as far as her tethers would allow. A single word was desperately trying to escape her cracked and split lips, but the only sound that emerged was a scratchy whisper too quiet to hear.

  Pleading arms stretched forward—even her bent and broken fingers strained to their limit. I stared at her mouth as she repeated the same thing over and over again.

  Water.

  The rest of the bodies around us appeared to be asking for the same thing. Some of them drew out their soundless plea in one long word, while others hysterically repeated it in a rapid loop.

  If water was all they needed to find a moment of peace, that was something I could offer—at least to some of them. I reached for the canteen attached to my belt, my hands shaking, but Joe placed his hand on mine and stilled my movements.

  He stood tall beside me, with dried tear tracks on his cheeks. “That’s not what they need.”

  “What do you mean?” I swept my hand across the macabre crowd. “They’re obviously asking for water. I still have some in my canteen. I can help some of them.”

  “No. That water will never quench their thirst.”

  I yanked my hands away from Joe. There must be something we could do. Something he could do. He was the Creator’s Son after all. With a word, he could probably flood this place if he wanted.