A thatch of brown hair rose above the back of a seat, and a young boy peered at her.
“Hey there, little guy. Are you hurt?”
No reply. The staring eyes scrutinised her.
“My name is Mina. What’s your name?”
“Don’t come any closer.”
“It’s okay.” She took another step, despite the boy’s warning, and this prompted him to leap out at her and wave a claw hammer in her face. “I said step back.”
Upon closer inspection, the boy wasn’t so young—a teenager in fact, and probably as tall as she was. She took a step back. “I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to see if you’re okay.”
When the boy spoke again, she noticed his American accent. “I’m fine,” he snapped. “Just leave us be.”
Mina frowned. “Us?”
A girl popped up from behind another of the seats. Unlike her older brother, she had golden blonde hair. “Kyle? Is she another monster?”
“No, Alice. She’s just a normal lady, but she’s going now.”
“I don’t want her to go.”
“We have to stay here, where it’s safe.”
“It’s safer if you come with us,” said Mina.
The boy pulled a face. “Out there? Everybody’s dead.”
“I want to go home,” Alice moaned.
Kyle placed an arm around her. “I know you do, Ally, but home is far away. We have to keep ourselves safe. I’ll look after you, I promise.”
There was the sound of footfalls coming up the stairs, making them all fret, but it was only David. He rounded the last few steps and entered the upper deck. “Crikey,” he said when he saw them all standing there. “Two children? How did you both survive?”
“We hid,” said Kyle, puffing out his chest. “We were on a school field trip—my entire grade plus a few from the grades below. We were all headed to the zoo, but we got attacked by a bunch of monsters. All our friends and teachers are dead. Only reason we got away is cus I had to take care of my sister. I got her and ran. One of our teachers was with us for a while, but he left us.”
Mina gasped. “He left you?”
“Yeah, more of those monsters came at us from down an avenue and Mr Campbell ran into an alleyway. We didn’t have a chance to follow him, so we hid inside a store—that’s where I got this hammer—but then the store caught on fire and we had to run again. Alice spotted this bus, and that’s where we’ve been for hours.”
“We need to get you out of the city,” said Mina. “David and I will protect you. We won’t run away on you like your teacher did. Will we, David?”
“What? Oh, no, of course not. You’re safe with us, lad. We’re journalists.”
Alice looked at her brother like a hungry kitten. “Please, Kyle. I don’t want to stay on this bus anymore. The monsters are all gone. We watched them leave.”
“I think it’s safe for now,” Mina assured them. “The monsters seemed to have gone someplace else.”
Kyle huffed. “Yeah, but where? They didn’t just vanish.”
“Which is why you need to come with us,” she said. “It’s getting dark, and the monsters could be back any minute. You’d be all alone out here if they do.”
Alice whimpered.
Kyle’s expression lost some of its confidence, and the hammer he held so confidently lowered to his side. “Okay, we’ll come with you folks, but only if you promise to get us back home to America. No offence, but London sucks balls.”
Mina laughed. “It’s certainly seen better days. Good to meet you, Kyle and Alice. This is my colleague, David, and I’ve already told you that my name is Mina.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Alice, offering out her little hand and shaking Mina’s.
“Are we ready?” David asked impatiently
Kyle raised his hammer and nodded. “I want to get my sister home.”
They had headed east through Mayfair, planning on using the first working car they came across, but they were yet to find an area where the traffic hadn’t snarled up into an impassable wall at every intersection.
Hyde Park was ahead, Marble Arch sat just a little way off in the distance. For now it was as good a place as any to head, so that’s where they went.
“They say that’s where you used to hang people,” said Kyle, a macabre grin on his face.
David returned the boy’s smile. “That’s right, lad. They called it Tyburn in those days, and the elm trees here were used to execute condemned men. The most famous of them all, the Tyburn Tree, used to be at the site where Marble Arch now sits. Executions were entertainment.”
Alice looked horrified. “They used to enjoy watching people die?”
“They don’t anymore. Great Britain doesn’t execute people in this day and age. America would be wise to follow our lead. It’s uncivilised.”
“America is the greatest country in the world,” said Kyle.
“For now, yes,” David conceded. “But the British Empire once ruled the world, and look at it now. All great empires are destined to eventual mediocrity and extinction. No dynasty lasts forever. Before the British Empire, there was the Ottoman Empire, and before that, the Holy Roman Empire. Before that-”
“We get the point,” said Mina. “I think what David is trying to tell you, Kyle, is that you should never think yourself better than anybody else. We’re all just people, and we should stick together. Especially now.”
Kyle chewed at the inside of his cheek and seemed to consider the lesson being taught to him, which Mina thought was pretty level headed for a teenage boy.
“I like England,” said Alice. “Even with the monsters. I like all the big statues and the palaces. America should have a King instead of a president. Presidents are rubbish.”
“My mum says they’re all crooks,” Kyle added.
Mina smiled. “Are you sure you can’t remember your mother’s telephone number, Kyle? It would be good to call her.”
“It’s stored on my phone, but the teachers made us leave our phones in the hotel.”
“Unfortunate,” said David. “Where are you children from again?”
“Nebraska, originally, but our mom moved us to Maine. It’s where Stephen King lives.”
“Yes, I’m aware. What about your father?”
“He lives on a boat.” Kyle said it contemptuously. “Don’t see him much.”
“He’s a United States Coast Guard,” Alice added. “He rescues people.”
“Wow,” said Mina. “I wish my daddy did something cool like that. My daddy runs a chip shop.”
Alice frowned. “What’s a chip shop?”
“It’s where they sell English French fries,” Kyle told her knowingly.
Mina smiled. “That’s right.”
“Can we have some?” Alice asked.
“Sure we c-”
David put a hand up to halt the conversation. “Oh, yes! Oh, bloody well thank the stars. We’re saved.”
Mina put her arms around each of the children and squeezed them tight as they all saw what lay ahead of them.
“Soldiers,” cried David. “It’s the British bloody Army.”
Hyde Park was covered in a vast collection of military jeeps and trucks. Soldiers milled about like ants, and were setting up sandbag walls, or mounting scary-looking machine guns on tripods. Mina noticed other survivors wandering into the park from every direction, spilling out of side streets or stumbling out of nearby buildings. From out in the open, it was clear that London was burning, but this large area of grass and water had been spared. People were being rescued. This was salvation.
A squad of soldiers spotted Mina’s group and immediately approached. The lead soldier’s name patch read: MARTIN. “Identify yourselves,” he barked.
David spoke on their behalf. “My name is David Davids, journalist for the Slough Echo. This is my photographer, Mina Magar. These children were unfortunate enough to be on a school trip from America. We picked them up on our travels.”
“I’m Corporal Martin, good to meet you.” The soldier looked at the two children and seemed sympathetic. “Your parents are back in America?”
They both nodded.
“Sorry to hear that. We’ll try to contact them for you.” He focused on Alice and said, “You’re lucky you had your big brother watching out for you.”
Kyle wrapped his arm around his little sister and stood proudly.
“Have you got everything under control?” Mina asked the soldier, nodding to the large military force spread out over the park.
Martin shook his head. “Not even close. The Army deployed in three sections of the city, but we all took a hammering. Orders came through to fall back either here or at Greenwich Park. We’re concentrating on getting civilians out of the city. You’re lucky you found us.”
“We need to get to Slough,” said David.
“No can do. We’re choppering people out to Cambridge. They’re setting up a refugee camp there, but it’s not safe to go north or east.”
“Why not?” Mina asked.
“Because London isn’t the only place hit. Birmingham and Manchester are both under attack too, and so are Southampton, Swindon, Plymouth, and a shit-tonne of other places. The enemy are coming at us from all sides.”
“Do we know what they are?”
“Not a clue. Some of the men have been calling them demons; said those glowing gates lead straight to Hell.”
Mina caught David glancing at her, but she asked another question, “Where have all the demons in London gone?”
Martin shrugged. “We made a dent in their numbers when we caught them out in the open at Regent’s Park. Choppers made a real mess of ‘em at first, but then they took rifles off our dead squaddies and aimed them up at the sky. The RAF pulled out and left us to look after ourselves. Typical Crabs.”
Alice tilted her head. “Crabs?”
Martin smiled at her kindly. “Yeah, sweetheart, the RAF pilots. Ask ‘em to lend a hand and they crawl off sideways. That’s why we call ‘em Crabs.”
Alice frowned and remained confused.
“Where are the demons now?” Mina asked.
“North of the city. The enemy army in Birmingham is heading south—they took a battering as well—so we think they might plan to merge their forces. More of those creatures are pouring through the gates every minute, so we’re doing our best to secure each one.”
“So we’re getting a handle on it?” asked David hopefully.
“Huh, hardly. We gave ‘em a good seein’ to, admittedly, but they outnumber our forces fifty-to-one. Eventually, we’ll run out of weapons and men—most of our veterans are overseas and we’ve had to call in the reserves. This ain’t like bombing a bunch of Afghans. These are our own cities, full of civilians. The only way we can fight back is by putting boots on the ground—but that’s not something we can do indefinitely. People need to join the fight.”
David frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you civvies will have to start diggin’ in instead of running and hiding. The only way we’ll win this war is by matching the enemy’s numbers. Everyone needs to get involved in this one, but the TV and radio are warning them all to stay in their homes. Not my call, but if you ask me, that will be our downfall. The Armed Forces can’t win this war on its own.”
“We’re reporters,” said Mina. “We can tell people to fight back.”
David scoffed. “Against an army of demons, Mina? Really?”
Corporal Martin shot David a glance. “Either that or we all die, pal. Simple choice when you think about it. Come on into the camp. There’ll be a chopper heading out in an hour or so.”
“To Cambridge though,” said Mina. “If you want us to tell people to fight, we need to get to our offices in Slough.”
“No can do. The CO has already been begging the Press to rally the public, but they’re getting their orders straight from the PM—wherever that cowardly bugger is hiding. The Government is trying to keep everyone out of harm’s way—I understand where they are coming from— but they don’t understand that they’re dooming us all.”
“We’re from an independent paper,” said David. “We don’t have politicians pulling our strings. We can report the truth.”
“At a piddling paper in Slough. Ha!”
Mina tried to get the soldier to see sense. “It’s a start, isn’t it? We have a website. Who knows who might read it? We say the right things and word will spread. What other chance is there?”
Martin rubbed at his chin and thought about it. “Okay,” he eventually said. “I can’t redirect a chopper for you, but I can spare a couple men and a jeep to get you out of the city. Slough isn’t too far to take the risk, I suppose. If you can get some civvies to fight, I can hardly say no.”
Mina and David looked at each other and smiled. They were finally getting the hell out of this city.
~Guy Granger~
Norfolk, Virginia
Sound carried well across the dawn waves, which was why the Hatchet’s crew heard Norfolk Naval Station long before they saw it. The report of gunfire and explosions was an omen none of them appreciated, and when they came within visual distance, they encountered the largest collection of military and Coast Guard vessels any of them had ever witnessed. Frigates and cutters floated alongside monolithic destroyers and sleek gunships. Guy even spotted an aircraft carrier he was certain was the USS New Hampshire, not even due to be finished for another eight months. Completing the fleet were several dozen littoral combat ships and patrol boats—quick and agile craft with small crews. It was a veritable invasion force, but the battlefield had come to them.
All the ships in dock were playing host to enemy forces—those same burned creatures that had attacked New York. They were also under attack by a second army of animalistic creatures with deadly talons. Guy watched a massive group of them tear right through the crew of a Hazard Perry class frigate, like termites through a table leg.
Unlike the attack on New York, this latest enemy had a clear leader. The giant beast towered above the docks and looked like a man, but it had the twisted spines of broken wings on its back. A loincloth covered its waist, but it was otherwise naked. Long golden hair fell across its muscular shoulders.
An angel acting like a beast.
The giant was so strong that it lifted a petrol tanker parked on the docks and hurled it. The metal cylinder collided with the decks of the USS New Hampshire and conflagrated. Burning sailors scattered across the decks while a scorched hole appeared in the aircraft carrier’s runway. A helicopter tilted over on its side and fell into the water.
“It’s a massacre,” said Tosco, standing beside Guy in the pilothouse.
Guy kept the binoculars pressed against his eyes. “They must have somehow known the Navy was assembling here.”
Frank’s eyes went wide. “You mean they hit us strategically?”
“Maybe it’s a coincidence,” said Tosco. “There could be a gate nearby. We need a confirmed list so we know where’s safe and where’s not.”
It was a good idea so Guy nodded. “Lieutenant, can you focus on that going forward? Every time we get intel, or an enlisted man calls home and finds out about an attack, make a note of it and stick it on the map.”
“Roger that, but what do we do right now though? Should we retreat?”
Guy studied the battlefield and considered turning around and leaving, but ended up shaking his head. “I think it’s time for us to start acting like heroes. Get the big gun ready, Frank. Tosco, get men on the MGs.”
Tosco left the pilothouse while Frank passed orders to the ship’s gunner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Carrie Bentley. The woman got to work, flipping switches and inputting commands at a rate Guy himself could never hope to match.
“Main gun online,” she said after a few moments. “Give me a target and it’s gone, sir.”
Guy looked through the binoculars and tried to figure out where best to strike. The problem was that the battlefield was
a melee; man fought monster at close quarters. There were few places to hit that would not result in casualties on both sides.
Then he saw his opportunity.
“Hit the big son-of-a-bitch.”
Bentley looked at Guy. “Just to confirm, Captain, you’re asking me to target that giant, winged, can’t possibly exist, son-of-a-bitch we’re all looking at right now but can’t quite believe?”
“That’s the one, sailor.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
Guy stood behind Frank with a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Take us in closer, Chief Petty, but not so close that we can get hit with anything that son-of-a-bitch throws.”
The Hatchet forged ahead, all those standing in the pilothouse enraptured by what they were seeing. All those on the decks were busy as bees as they readied weapons and prepared to fight. Every ship lying in Norfolk’s dock was a war zone, with men being torn apart in their dozens as they ran out of ammo and could not reload quick enough. The ships lucky enough to be at sea were relatively safe from the fighting—some were even leaving—but the enemy snatched assault rifles from dead sailors and fired at them. Anyone not smart enough to be in cover ran the risk of being peppered with 5.6mm NATO rounds. The enemy were smart.
It was a massacre.
The giant son-of-a-bitch bellowed and grunted his commands, directing his creatures like a medieval general. The monsters spread out over the docks like vermin, devouring everything in their path.
“I have the target locked, Captain,” Bentley informed him.
“Fire when ready, sailor.”
The ship rocked, and an explosion followed. The shell was too fast to see in flight, but when it hit the son-of-a-bitch in the chest, everyone in the pilothouse cheered. Staggering backwards, the giant was stunned and off balance. A scorch mark on its chest released tendrils of smoke.
Bentley turned in her seat and grinned. “Hit confirmed, sir.”
“Good work, Bentley.”
Hell on Earth Trilogy: The Complete Apocalyptic Saga Page 11