He felt so alone. There had always seemed to be time for a wife and kids later on, and even at fifty, he hadn’t felt his options were closed. He was selfish at heart and had wanted to be free for as long as possible. Now he wanted nothing more than for someone to sweep him up in their loving arms and hold him. Just a friend would do.
David wept over Mina’s body.
Perhaps she really had killed herself. If he was drawn to such dark introspection, perhaps she had been too. It still didn’t feel right, though.
He ran a hand over her cheek. “Sorry, kiddo. I hope you’re some place nice.”
He was about to move away, when he noticed a spot of blood on her shirt. It could have come from her broken neck, but when he looked at her throat, he saw no breaks in the skin, not even where the cord constricted her flesh. He examined her more closely, until he eventually discovered the source. One of her fingernails had torn away.
A defensive wound?
David had once reported on a murder case in Essex where he’d seen the body of a woman close up. She’d been raped and strangled. Her fingernails had been broken too.
Did somebody attack you, Mina?
Andras?
David couldn’t bring himself to trust that man. Something was just off about him. Somebody had done this to Mina; he was sure of it.
It was time to do some investigating.
He headed back upstairs and into the newsroom, acting calmly while remaining suspicious. Alice waited for him with a cup of tea and handed it over. “I’ve never made tea before,” she said. “Everyone in America drinks coffee.”
David took a sip. It was weak and lukewarm. “Perfect! You’re a natural English lady if ever I saw one.”
She smiled, but then fell back to sadness. Obvious survivor’s guilt—a brief glimmer of happiness followed by shame as memories of her brother’s death returned. He did something he was unused to and gave the little girl a hug. “We’ll get you home to your mummy soon, sweetheart, I promise. Let’s just get this mess sorted out first.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I know I’ll never go home.”
“You don’t know that, Alice. We’ll do everything we can.”
“I heard Corporal Martin say that America is just as bad as here. My mommy might already be dead.”
It hurt David’s heart to see a child so devoid of hope, and he did his best to combat it. “There are lots of people still very much alive, Alice. We are fighting back. Your mummy might be okay. Your father too. He’s a Coast Guard, isn’t he? He’ll be safe on his boat.”
“I don’t see my daddy much. He’ll be too busy to come and get me.”
“I don’t have children, Alice, but believe me, I know your father will be doing everything he can right now to get to you.”
Alice nodded, but didn’t seem to believe him very much. “He doesn’t know that Kyle is dead. Corporal Martin has been trying to reach my mommy, but she’s not answering anymore. That’s how I know she’s dead. She said she would stay indoors with Clark, so why isn’t she answering?”
“The phones are playing up, sweetheart. Corporal Martin will keep trying her. Why don’t you go ask him to call again now for you?”
She sighed. “Okay. Tell me when you want more tea.”
“Will do.” He took another sip of the lacklustre brew and smacked his lips. “Mmm.”
Once Alice had gone, David went and grabbed Mitchell, one of the Echo’s system administrators. The pasty-faced spindle of a man had a look of constant illness—with perpetual dark bags beneath his eyes. “Hi, Mitchell. I was wondering if you could do something for me.”
“What’s up, David?”
“Is there any way you can go on Mina’s computer and find a history of what was done on it?”
“You mean like a list of user actions?”
“Yes, that’s it exactly.”
Mitchell nodded. “Piece of piss. There’s black box software on the entire network. It records every single keystroke. Carol had it installed after we got accused of phone hacking last year. She wanted to know exactly what was going on under her nose. You thinking somebody in the office deleted the emergency website on purpose?”
David nodded and kept his voice low. “I do think that, yes, and I also think that someone used Mina’s computer to do it.”
“Makes sense. The backup was on Mina’s laptop, and that got deleted too. I’ve been trying to restore it for the last hour. Where is Mina, anyway?”
David decided not to confuse things for the time being, so he lied. “She’s gone to get some air.”
“Okay, well, let’s go take a look at her computer.”
They went on over to Mina’s cubicle, where Mitchell sat down and opened her laptop. David leaned over his shoulder while he tapped away. “How long will this take, Mitchell?”
“Ten minutes. Leave me to it.”
“Okay, I-”
Somebody bumped into the back of David, and he was unnerved to discover it was Andras. He held two steaming mugs of tea out in front of him. “I saw Alice made you a cuppa earlier, so I thought I’d get you one a little stronger. Bless her socks, but she goes a little overboard with the milk.”
David tried to smile, but only a grimace appeared on his face. Standing in front of Andras, he was even surer that something was odd about the man. Maybe Mitchell would find the answers that proved his suspicions were well founded.
David reached out to take one of the mugs, but as he did so, Andras thrust out his own arm. Their hands collided, and the mug bounced up into the air. It flew over Mitchell’s shoulder and landed right on top of Mina’s laptop. There was no fire, or even sparks. The laptop’s screen simply flickered for two seconds, then went dark.
Mitchell leapt up. “Damn it! You clumsy idiot.”
Andras covered his mouth in horror. “I’m so sorry. I… It was an accident.”
David looked down at Mina’s laptop and groaned. “Is it okay? Can you fix it, Mitchell?”
Mitchell picked the laptop up and winced as it drained steaming hot tea from its vents. “It’s gone to digital heaven.”
“Then the black box recording is lost, too?”
Mitchell shook his head. “No, I can still get it from the network. It’ll just take me a bit longer. Give us an hour.”
David caught a flash of concern present itself on Andras’s face at the mention of the black box. Perhaps he hadn’t counted on that.
David turned to face him. “Did you do that on purpose, Andras?”
“Do what?”
“Ruin Mina’s computer.”
“What? No, of course not. It was an accident. My nerves are fried. I’m jittery.”
“No,” said David. “You’re the least jittery person in this office. If it was you who deleted the website, just come clean about it now. You might be able to help us get it back online.”
“I swear, I did nothing. Mina was on my back about the same thing.”
“Mina’s dead,” David said it so that only Andras heard it. He also added a hint of aggression to his tone. He wanted Andras to know that he was on to him.
Andras took a step back as if the shock of Mina’s death had dealt him a physical blow. It could easily have been a reaction he’d rehearsed. “What do you mean she’s dead? I just saw her an hour ago.”
David nodded. “In fact, you were the last person to see her alive. Strange how bad things keep happening around you.”
Andras looked confused, but it was as if a mask fell. He leaned in close to David and spoke in a growl. “I don’t know why you have it in for me, David, but I suggest you back off. I would hate for you to have an accident too.”
“Are you suggesting you had something to do with Mina’s death?”
Andras stepped back and put on a bright smile as he pulled back and dropped into a practiced, defensive face. “Of course not. I had nothing to do with it.”
It was then that David noticed the ragged scratch mark on Andras’s neck, right below his ea
r. The small incision looked exactly like the kind of wound a woman’s fingernail would cause.
“We’ll talk again later, Andras. I have some things to attend to.”
Andras moved, but made sure to bump into David and shunt him out the way. “Go do some reporting, David, while you still can.”
David glared at the man’s back as he walked away and spoke only to himself. “Oh, I plan on it, you son-of-a-bitch. I’ll find the truth. I always do.”
~Rick Bastion~
Devonshire, England
When Rick opened his eyes, all he saw was red. He tried speaking, but his jaw seemed to open and close in strange ways. He was cold, could feel nothing at all but the chill on his skin.
“Hold on, Rick. I haven’t finished with you yet.”
Rick tried to move, but managed only to shift his legs from side to side.
“Hold your horses!”
Something clicked. Rick felt pressure inside his skull, and he was able to move his jaw again. He screamed. “Help me!”
“I am helping you, pal. Just stop wriggling like a worm.”
The red drained from Rick’s vision, and the world returned. Daniel hunched over him, staring.
“D-Daniel?”
“Yeah. Sorry for running out on you all, but me and the black haired gent have some history. I was hoping to get the jump on him, but by the time I got around back, things had already taken a turn for the worse.”
Rick blinked, took in a deep breath that felt divine in his lungs. “I… was hurt?”
“You were dead, pal, but no worries. I brought you back.”
Rick shot up into a sitting position and looked down at himself. Blood covered him.
He fingered his skull and felt it move.
“Give it a few moments to set,” said Daniel. “Your head was cracked wide open.”
Rick glanced around. He was sitting in the middle of the road, right next to his brother’s wrecked Range Rover. All the demons had gone, except for the corpses they had left behind.
“I-I… I don’t understand.”
“Khallutush stamped your head into pulp. I wasn’t sure I could mend you.”
“Khala…Khala?”
“Khallutush. The black haired demon. He used to be a—”
“A prince,” Rick finished for him. “He told me. Right before he… You really brought me back to life? That’s impossible.”
Daniel chuckled, but the sound was phlegmy, as if he was ill. “You should know by now, Rick, the rules have changed. Demons and angels walk the earth.”
“Who are you, Daniel?”
Daniel moved into a cross-legged position, where he propped his elbow on his knees. He looked sick as he spoke, like he was going to throw up. “My name is Daniel, The Watcher.”
Rick frowned. “Huh?”
“Thought that might confuse you. Don’t you people read your bibles anymore? I am Daniel, one of the twenty Watchers fallen from Heaven.”
Rick’s expression remained blank, but a bout of hysterical laughter wasn’t far off. What was he listening to?
Daniel tutted when he saw no understanding on Rick’s face. “I’m an angel, you numpty. One of the Fallen who fought beside Lucifer in the Heavenly Wars. I fell from grace with two hundred of my brothers after God’s faithful prevailed—Michael and Gabriel and all them good eggs. You must have heard of them?”
Rick nodded.
“Well, it was all a long time ago now. A really, really long time ago.”
Rick tried to follow along. “So you… fought against God?”
Daniel nodded. “I was young, stupid. Lucifer swept me along in his mad adventures before I even knew what was happening. One minute all was well, the next I’m fighting a war against my own brothers. Lucifer lost, and we all fell, lost our wings and ended up in Abysseus.”
Rick shuffled backwards, moving away on his butt. “You’re… You’re one of them?”
Daniel sighed. “I came through the gates, yeah. Of course I did—nobody would voluntarily stay in Hell, would they? I saw the seals break, and I scarpered. Doesn’t mean I want anything to do with all this. I’m not one of them.”
“What are they?”
“You already know that, Rick. They’re just people. Or at least they were. They’re the sinners sent to Hell throughout all of human history and even from times before. Some of them had only been in Hell a single second when the seals broke, but others, like Khallutush, have burned in Hell for millennia. The very worst beasts don’t even understand the concept of time anymore; their suffering has been so long. The Fallen have suffered since Abysseus first came into being—our pain was used to forge its walls at the dawn of history.”
“Why are the demons here?” Rick couldn’t believe he was asking the question. “What do they want?”
“A new home,” said Daniel. “Somewhere a little less fire-and-brimstony. At least, that’s what most of them want. The Fallen, though, they want to force God’s hand and finish what they started. Lucifer and the Red Lord want to see Heaven crumble. The Fallen lead their armies and intend to scourge humanity from the face of the earth and finally put an end to God’s finest creation. If God does not act, his work will be undone, his existence undermined. If humanity doesn’t fight back, He will have no choice but to intervene, and then he’ll be vulnerable.”
“So this is a war on God?”
Daniel nodded “And all He created. The Red Lord would rather see everything burn, than suffer in Hell one moment longer.”
Rick actually believed what he was hearing—after all he had seen and done, how could he not?—and wanted to learn more. “Who is the Red Lord?”
“I don’t know,” Daniel admitted. “Few in Hell have ever seen him, but he pulls Lucifer’s strings—always has. He might even have been the one who convinced Lucifer to start the war in Heaven in the first place. He-” Daniel broke off and started coughing and heaving. It went on for almost a minute. Once he caught his breath, he brought the back of his hand away from his mouth and saw blood.
Rick grabbed him by the shoulders and steadied him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It just took a lot to bring you back.”
“Why did you?”
He shrugged. “Dunno, really. Suppose I must like you. We need to go.”
“Go where?”
“To get a little payback. Khallutush went after your brother and the others. They took off in your car, but I don’t know what happened to them after that. They might have gone back to your gaff.”
“They’d be better off making for the coast.”
“And they probably will have, but we need to get off the street. I need to rest.”
“Okay, then we’ll head back to mine.” Rick got up to his feet and helped Daniel to his. The self-proclaimed Fallen Angel had gone ghostly white, and his nose dripped with blood.
“Daniel, are you sure you’re okay? You look bad.”
“I’ll be fine. You’re the one who just had his skull crushed. Come on.”
They started down the road, allowing Daniel to take slow steps. There were more dead demons lying around the bend, crushed and broken, most likely, by the 19inch wheels of his imported Mustang.
“I hope they got away okay,” said Rick.
“Even your brother?”
“Yes, even him. Daniel, if you’re an angel, where are the others? I mean, the good ones, from Heaven.”
“Huh, been wondering that myself. The Fallen are all here—over two hundred in total. They all lost their wings when they fell, cut off from Heaven and God’s divine spirit. They’re driven by nothing now, except madness and anger. Lucifer had indoctrinated them long before they fell, and over the millennia, he has got them slavering for a new war, a War of Chaos and Ending. They want to wipe every living thing off the face of this planet, and then laugh in God’s face. They will show no mercy, for none was afforded to them. So, yeah, the Heavenly angels could do with making an appearance right around now.”
Ri
ck felt sick in his stomach, but he kept probing for answers, even though each one he got made him more desperate. “Why aren’t you like the other Fallen, Daniel? Where are your wings? Why are you… human?”
“Because this isn’t my body. When I opposed Lucifer’s grand plans for a new war, he threw me into the lowliest pit in Hell. But nothing ever dies in Hell—my body still smoulders there now. When the seals broke, I projected my soul upon another.”
“You said demons couldn’t possess people because of iron in their blood.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t possible. The man whose body I took was in a coma. He was anaemic, and I was able to force my way in. It was he who spent all that time at the Vatican. I have all his memories, but don’t know his name. Isn’t that odd? I even talk like him.”
“So, you’re here to help? You want to fight Lucifer? Why?”
Daniel looked at Rick like he was an idiot. “Lucifer dragged me along in his first war and got me sent to Hell for all eternity. I’d say that’s reason enough to hold a grudge.”
They carried on down the road. All was quiet, everything still. Even the trees were devoid of motion—no breeze rustled their leaves. The entire stretch of road was dead, and only Rick and Daniel walked it.
The world had ended.
Rick’s house came into view around the next bend. The gates were still hanging wide open, but there was no Mustang parked in the driveway.
He couldn’t help but smile. “The others aren’t here. They must have made for the coast. Good on them.”
“Shame,” said Daniel. “It would have been nice for us all to stick together.”
“If you’re an angel, why can’t you just magic us to wherever they are? You brought me back to life, so why can’t you do something as simple as that?”
Hell on Earth Trilogy: The Complete Apocalyptic Saga Page 25