At his order, a legion of troops clambered over the human’s car-wall and set about them with excitement, tearing open throats and gouging eyeballs. Some humans tried using their empty cannons as batons, but their impudence was swiftly punished. They fell in their hundreds.
A rapturous orgy of death.
A glorious day. May Jupiter himself give gratitude.
As he walked amongst his adoring legions, it reminded him of his triumphal march along the floating bridge between Baiae and Puteoli, basking in the adulation of the baying masses. That his glorious mother empire was now a thousand years dead tore at his soul terribly, but a new empire rose in its place. Humanity would tremble before its Red Lord and his loyal generals. Like the Red Lord, Caligula too was divine—a living god.
I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man and therefore I am a god.
Let them hate me so that they may fear me.
Caligula’s elite Germanic Guard lined up before him as he crossed the road towards the human fortifications. They were the finest assemblage of battle-hardened warriors—picked only to serve at his side. Their humanity had shorn away long ago, replaced by an oily darkness, yet their loyalty to Caligula was absolute. In life, they had slaughtered the treacherous senate to avenge his assassination. In death, they would murder the world at his bidding.
Each guard now held a human in their grasp, an offering for their Imperator—their dignified and highest leader. Caligula turned to the first human captive, a woman masquerading as a soldier, and scowled. A woman on the battlefield was an insult to Mars. She begged him for mercy, her warrior’s clothing now torn away to reveal her bloodied bosom. All manner of fluids glistened upon her naked chest. Caligula reached out and brushed his bony fingertips against her cheek. “Quiet your weeping, child, your suffering is at an end.”
“P-Please, just—”
He sank his thumbs into her eyes and left her wailing in agony. Licking his bony fingers, Caligula moved onward. The next human was more defiant, a thick-chested male scowling and spitting curses. A lengthy gash split the man’s torso and slowly bled him to death, yet he did not fall to fear nor despair. Caligula held a modicum of respect for this one. “You are dying, human.”
“So fucking what? Least I took a dozen of you limp-dick pussies with me. Do your worst; you don’t scare me.” The Germanic Guard struck the back of the human’s shaved skull, but it only drew another stream of defiant curses. This human was tough.
Caligula sneered. “I do not need fear, human. I am fattened by it already. You are a treat to be savoured at my leisure, a mug of Falernian wine or fresh snails. Let us take a taste.” He tore off the man’s ears and stuffed them into his screaming throat, choking away the defiance at once. By the end, the man most certainly did fear Caligula.
The general toyed with the other offerings for a while, then approached the single-story building housing the last human holdouts. They fired their cannons from the windows, and occasionally threw exploding rocks, but it was easy to read from their faces that they knew they were beaten.
Caligula’s troops surrounded the building waiting for his orders, so he stepped forward and addressed them.
“My blessed legions, today you have earned yourselves great victory. Each of you has distinguished yourself before the gods, including me. The battle was hard fought, yet no enemy can resist the strength and fervour of Roman hearts. We are a new empire rising.” The troops cheered, and writhed like unclean beetles, but while he might loathe each of them individually, he adored them as a whole. His mighty legions. “We have spent two seasons in this wretched land,” he continued, “amassing our strength while reducing the enemy’s. The journey has led us here, to victory. This land’s north is wiped clean. Our brothers in the South will have eradicated our enemies there, and therefore this island belongs to us. And soon, the world. The Red Lord shall deliver us our paradise, a home for warriors and gods.” He smiled at his troops, admiring the darkness in their hearts. “From different backgrounds you may be—cohorts forged from Hell itself—today you stand as Romans. The chosen people.”
The demons cheered again, an exultant cry of a conquering army.
“What would you have us do with the leftovers, Imperator?” asked one of his guards, pointing towards the building and its barricaded windows. There was a sharp ping and a nearby demon fell down dead. Caligula knew the humans were aiming for him, for their only victory now would be to take out the enemy’s general. Such a thing would not happen though.
“Do we possess fire?” Caligula asked his bodyguard, a badly scarred warrior named Adelgis.
“Yes, Imperator.” The guard nodded towards a nearby barrel. “We have the human’s petrol. We learned how to ignite it. Jupiter himself would marvel.”
“Then set the human’s fort ablaze and ensure they remain inside as it burns. The day has not yet ended. There is time yet for more screaming.”
Adelgis grinned and rushed to carry out his orders. Caligula remained, satisfied, while the last of the humans stared out from their holes in terror. His good mood curdled, however, by the re-emergence of Rux. Just for the sheer joy of it, he struck the demon in the face and sent the creature tumbling to the ground. Caligula stood eight-feet compared to Rux’s five, which made it feel like he was striking a bug. “What is it, slave?”
Rux clambered to his feet, flinching as he feared another blow. “Apologies, Imperator, but our messengers have returned from the South. They… They bear horrendous news.”
Caligula raised a hand, ready to strike the slave again, but stayed himself a moment. “What news? Victory is ours, surely?”
“No, Imperator!” Rux cowered. “The South is lost. The humans have fortified themselves along the coast and pushed back. Our army there is in ruins, the demon lords have fallen, and several gates have been destroyed. The southern human army is turning north to reclaim the land. Eventually, they shall face us here. We must prepare.”
Caligula struck Rux in the mouth and kicked him while he was down. The fury of it sent the small demon tumbling across the road. Several moments passed before the Gaul stirred, but by then Caligula’s mind was elsewhere. He turned back to the humans inside the building, now trapped and encircled by the liquid they called ‘petrol.’ One of his guards struck the pavement with a heavy, metal pipe and sent sparks into the air. The petrol ignited, and a fiery imp grew into the spirit of Ignis, spreading out and racing in all directions. Soon the flames encircled the entire building, but the screams from inside were not enough to quiet the probing voices in Caligula’s mind. It reminded him of the insecure squabbling of Rome’s curia.
How can the South be lost? The bulk of our army is there! The scouts must be mistaken. What a travesty is this? I shall see these scouts disembowelled, Caligula decided, as the inferno took a painfully long time to do its job. In a different moment, he might have enjoyed the prolonged misery, but right now all he wanted was to think in silence. Had his brothers truly fallen? Mighty Lords of Hell defeated by human insects? What did this mean for the Red Lord’s plans? The invasion would fail if humanity was not extinguished.
No, Caligula chided himself. The invasion is not a failure. The war is not yet concluded. My duty is done, my obligations fulfilled. As general of northern Britannia, I succeeded. Lord Amon and the others though...
Damn them.
Damn them back to Hell.
Caligula would continue this war alone if need be, for he was the earthly incarnation of Jupiter himself. These lands were his. If no other lords remained, then so be it. It meant he would be favoured amongst the Red Lord’s servants.
Caligula watched with glee as a human threw himself out of a window, fire singeing the flesh from his back. He staggered in agonised confusion, flesh bubbling on his bones, eyes melting in his head. Caligula’s troops tore his flesh apart hungrily.
Burnt
flesh and glory.
3
TED
Ted wiped dirt from the truck’s petrol gauge with the cuff of his grimy blue jumper but succeeded only in adding more grime. He needed to find diesel soon, but the prospect made him groan. It was getting harder and harder. The pumps at the petrol stations and supermarkets needed power to run, and the National Grid had kicked the bucket over a month ago now. The last time he’d refuelled, he’d pried open a manhole cover and ferried up the diesel with a bucket on a rope, but most fuel tanks were more secure than that. Easiest way to get diesel these days was to syphon it from other vehicles or scavenge it from garages and sheds, but it was a time-consuming chore. Two petrol cans in his truck’s flatbed were the last of his reserves, about another three-hundred miles. That might seem a lot, but when you spent your entire day driving, the road rolled up fast.
Just keep heading north, he told himself. If he lost that purpose….
Just keep heading north.
Ted had started his journey a month ago in Colchester, and it had been hard going every inch of the way. At first, he’d considered heading south, after hearing rumours of the Army gaining a foothold there, but if there was a fight going on, he wanted no piece of it. So he headed the other way, his only plan to head north until the land fell away to the sea. That was his first and last destination.
But right now, something was attempting to get in his way.
A pack of demons presented itself in the middle of the road a hundred-metres ahead of him. They saw him coming and spread out to block his path. It would be impractical to try to run them down. Ted had seen enough wreckages to know flesh and bone did not yield the way it did in the movies. Windscreens shattered, axles snapped, and tyres punctured. He couldn’t hope to drive around them either. The demons were remorseless monsters, but they weren’t stupid. Often, if they saw you turning to avoid them, they would throw debris in your path and try to make you veer off the road or into a tree. They didn’t fear being run over, they feared their prey getting away.
So Ted never tried to avoid them anymore. He never tried to run the demons over or go around. Not anymore. Not since…
He slowed and came to a stop, switching off the engine. The demons approached cautiously, twenty-feet from the nose of his truck now. His stopping had made them wary, burnt faces betraying their confusion, and when he stared at them defiantly, they became even more puzzled.
Ted climbed out of his truck and stepped out onto the road. The demons hesitated, still confused by what they were seeing. Ted went around to the side of his truck’s flatbed and pulled out his 5KG sledgehammer. Blue-handled and copper-headed, the sight of the weapon was enough to incite the demons to launch their attack, but Ted stood his ground and taunted them. Their screeching hurt his ears, made his temples pound with blood, his heart beat faster.
Bring it on.
The bunched-up muscles in his middle-aged back flexed in unison, and he swung the hammer horizontally, striking the nearest demon in the ribs and folding it in half. Then he threw a kick to keep another demon from getting too close while he readied his next swing. The demon tumbled backwards into its pack-mates and gave Ted the space to thrust his hammer. The heavy copper mallet shattered the demon’s face. Next, he swung it overhead and crushed another demon’s skull flat like a stamped-on Coke can.
More demons threw themselves at Ted, forcing him to stop swinging and use the hammer for defence. He held it with the shaft across his chest and thrust it out laterally, checking any demons in front of him.
They spread out around him.
Ted took several steps backwards towards his truck, trying to keep from being overwhelmed. But while the truck gave him cover, it also made it easier for the enemy to trap him. The more they surrounded him, the harder it was to wield his hammer—or make a run for it.
He just needed to get himself a yard of space.
He swung his hammer in another massive arc, striking the bodies of two demons and knocking them away. Then he took his chance, reaching into the truck’s flatbed and retrieving the gas-powered nail gun he kept there. It was his back-up weapon, running on a battery that wouldn’t last forever, but when he used it, Christ, did it do the business. Having to move fast, he yanked the trigger and released a stream of 1-inch brad nails into the air at head-height. His jaw locked in a maniacal grin as demon skulls spat blood from dozens of tiny holes opened by the whizzing nails. Demons were resilient creatures though, and not all fell to the sudden onslaught. Some took nails to the eyes and neck and merely hissed in anger.
Ted tried to create more space with his hammer, but found it wrenched away and thrown to the ground. He brought the nail gun around with his other hand and fired off another stream of brads. More blood stained the air as demon faces tore apart, but not enough of them went down. They absorbed the wounds and kept on coming.
They continued closing in on Ted.
Damn it.
A demon slipped inside Ted’s defences and grabbed him by the throat, pinning him against his truck. He tried to bring up his nail gun again but couldn’t get his arm at the right angle. The demon snarled. Ted closed his eyes and thought of Chloe.
Rat-a-tatta.
Ted spluttered as wet coated his face. He opened his eyes and saw the demon’s head reduced to a pulp. Its hand slipped away from Ted’s throat and its body slumped to the ground.
The thing was brown bread. Rat-a-tatta-tat.
Like a firework display, demon heads erupted one after the other, a bloody mist filling the air. The demon mob dispersed, scrambling to spread out, and desperate to locate whoever was killing them. The unidentified gunman continued firing. Demons continued to fall.
Ted scooped his hammer up off the ground and pounded it into the back of the nearest demon he could find, crushing its spine. Then he set about mopping up the other demons while the mysterious gunman continued laying down fire. Within a minute, more than a dozen demons lay dead in a pile in the centre of the road.
What the bleedin’ ‘ell just happened?
Ted was uninjured, but out of breath. He was also confused. Scanning the tree line, he searched for his saviour, but it wasn’t until they stepped out onto the road he saw them properly.
It wasn’t what he expected.
4
TED
The young woman appeared to be a soldier, togged in combat fatigues with webbing around her waist. In her arms, she held a combat rifle, but thankfully she pointed it at the ground as she crossed the road towards him. It’d been a while since Ted had last seen another survivor, and the sudden arrival of one now was unsettling. He wanted to get back in his truck and speed away, but he knew he should at least thank the young woman for her help.
“You alright?” The soldier kept the rifle pointed at the road, but glanced warily, obviously ready to raise hell at a moment’s notice. Despite her previous lethality, she smiled at Ted warmly like a shop assistant—he didn’t return the gesture, wasn’t even sure if he could. To smile was so utterly alien now.
“I’m fine,” he told her. “Cheers for the help.”
“What happened, pet?” Her brown hair was bunched up so tight it failed to move in the breeze. “Did your vehicle break down?”
“No, I stopped.”
She frowned. “Why would you stop right next to a pack of demons?”
Ted shrugged. His obligation to chat had expired once he’d given his thanks, and now he just wanted to leave. “Look, I appreciate you wasting bullets at my expense, luv, but you should get back to whatever you were doing.”
The soldier rolled her shoulders tiredly, making the rifle bounce on its strap. “I wasn’t doing much of anything, mate. Been sticking to the trees to stay hidden, but thought I heard a vehicle.” She nodded to his truck. “Good thing, too, because one-second later and those dees would have ripped you apart.”
Ted grunted. “I had it covered.”
“Aye, well... It’s been a while since I came across another person. Were you hea
ding somewhere?”
“North.”
“What’s north?”
Ted sighed. “The sea.”
“You planning to get a boat or something? That might not be a bad idea.”
Ted finished talking and turned away. There was no safety in numbers. The bigger the group, the higher chance of demons spotting you, and he couldn’t afford to let anything stop him from doing what he needed to do. He shouldered his hammer and tossed the nail gun in the flatbed. “Like I said,” he grunted. “Get back to whatever you were doing, luv.”
“Hey, no need to be like that, pet. We’re all in the same boat, aye? If we can help each other—”
Ted snarled and cut the soldier off, shoving a finger in her bewildered face. “I don’t need or want your help, okay? What I want is to get back on the road.”
The soldier’s brief shock transformed into irritation. “You stay on the road, you’re dead. There are dees everywhere. You know those gates opened all over the place, right? There’s no safety out in the open like this.”
Ted barged past to the front of his truck. “I’ll take my chances, luv.”
She stumbled out of his way, then glanced around again as if worried the movement would bring unwanted attention. She was like a deer suspecting predators. Maybe that was what had gotten her this far.
The soldier seemed to finally accept his inevitable departure and stepped away from his truck. “Alright, suit yourself. Be careful on the road, okay?”
“Don’t worry about me.” He swung the door to his truck open and climbed into the driver’s seat. Before he slammed the door shut, he gave the soldier one last glance. “Look, thanks again for your help.”
“Aye, don’t mention it.” She patted the truck’s bonnet but couldn’t disguise her sadness. “Safe travels, pet.”
Hell on Earth- the Complete Series Box Set Page 84