Hell On Earth Box Set | Books 1-6

by Wright, Iain Rob

  “No, you didn’t.” She patted his back. “I’m Hannah. This is Ted.”

  “Christopher Kamiyo. Doctor.” He pulled up his charred sleeve and checked his arm. The skin there was unharmed, but it could have easily been different. His hand, however, was red and sore.

  “You’re a doctor?” Hannah raised her eyebrows. “Wow.”

  He sighed. “I was a doctor, with modern medicine and equipment. Not sure what I am now. I couldn’t help Philip’s son. He had Typhoid.”

  Ted blanched. “Typhoid? How on earth did he catch that?”

  “Drinking from the lake, or maybe someone was carrying the illness when things all started. Illness will increasingly become a problem. Even if these people let me stay here, there isn’t much I can do without medicine and proper sanitation.”

  “Why wouldn’t they let you stay?” asked Hannah. “You’re a doctor. Even without equipment, these people need you.”

  Kamiyo rubbed his jaw again and flexed it left and right. He winced. “I’d imagine they need someone like you more. You saved my life earlier, you know? A demon was about to eat my face, and you took its head off with that rifle of yours.”

  Hannah smiled and patted her weapon. “Don’t get too used to it. She’s running out of food.”

  “What happened to the rest of the Army—if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “She’s it,” said Ted morosely.

  Hannah rolled her eyes at him before looking back at Kamiyo. “My regiment and others, we… we lost a big battle a couple of weeks ago. No one got out except for me.”

  Kamiyo appeared crestfallen but nodded his head as if he’d known the truth all along. “Well, I’m sure these people will be glad to have you. One soldier is better than none.”

  “I hope so,” she said. “This place is amazing. What d’you reckon, Ted? Will they let us stay?”

  Ted shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care. I’m leaving in the morning. If these people want to give me supplies in thanks for pulling their arseholes off the stove, they’re welcome, but last thing I plan on doing is sticking around with a bunch of lambs waiting to be slaughtered.”

  Kamiyo grimaced as if the notion of anyone leaving this place was sickening to him. “What? Where else would you go?”

  “North,” said Hannah, knowing what Ted’s answer would be before he gave it.

  “Yeah,” said Ted, side-eying her. “North.”

  Kamiyo frowned. “Why North?”

  “My business. All I know is that these people are living on borrowed time. The only way to survive in this world is to keep on moving.”

  Hannah couldn’t have disagreed more, and she told him so. “The best way to survive when you’re outnumbered is to bed-in. History is filled with small, entrenched armies repelling three-times their number. Sparta was more than a movie, mate, it happened. Huh, you know, if these people had any sense at all, they’d make camp inside the castle up on that hill, not down here in the open.”

  Kamiyo chuckled. “It’s quite a place up there. I passed through it when I stumbled out of the forest. The walls are in good shape and the gate house is still standing. I almost expected Lord Stark to come down and meet me. Suppose these people made camp down by the lake to fish and live inside the cabin.”

  Something appeared to run through Ted’s mind, so Hannah waited to let him speak. Eventually, he said, “You know, that might not be the stupidest idea in the world. They built castles to keep enemies out. Modern weaponry made them obsolete, but this isn’t a modern world anymore. The demons ain’t stupid, but I can’t see them rolling up in tanks. The castle is protected by a steep drop on at least two sides that I see. If the walls are standing on the other two, then maybe these people could defend themselves.”

  “The walls are standing,” said Kamiyo. “All of them. The original gate is still in place too. It’s clamped open, but with some tools someone could get it down.”

  “Someone like you, Ted!” Hannah grinned at him and gained a small amount of pleasure from his obvious discomfort of the idea. “You’re a builder.”

  “Was a builder.”

  Hannah sighed. The guy never got any easier to talk to, but at least he’d lost that look of wanting to kill someone. “My point,” she said, eyeballing him, “is that you can help these people, Ted. We can all help each other. These people haven’t seen the enemy like we have. They don’t understand what they’re up against. We can organise this place to defend itself, move everyone up the hill and help make it as hard as possible for anything nasty to get at them. And the canny doctor here can patch up anyone who needs it.”

  Ted threw a twig onto the fire. “These people ain’t my problem. I was only thinking out loud.”

  “Come on!” said Kamiyo, as incredulous at Ted’s attitude as Hannah had been upon meeting the stubborn mule of a man. “This camp might be all that’s left. We have to-”

  “Dr Kamiyo?” A woman came hurrying down the cabin’s steps. “Doctor?”

  Kamiyo turned from the fire. “Jackie? What is it?”

  “It’s the young man you pulled from the lake. He’s awake.”

  Kamiyo got up and hurried after the woman, leaving Hannah and Ted sat beside the fire. Hannah frowned at Ted and asked, “What young man?”

  Ted just shrugged.

  17

  DR KAMIYO

  Kamiyo followed Jackie into the stuffy cabin which was now littered with exhausted teenagers and shell-shocked children. Dozens of long candles lit the interior as well as a small log-fire at the rear. Several younger children were asleep on sofas. Shock had switched off their little minds.

  A man Kamiyo thought was called Steven stood over by the reception desk and gave Jackie a reassuring look. He said, “He’s still in there, Jac. Hasn’t caused any fuss, but do we have reason to be worried?”

  “I don’t know, Steven. We should all be very careful whatever transpires.”

  Kamiyo nodded hello to the man but received only a suspicious frown in return. He could barely blame the man.

  Jackie showed Kamiyo to a small room behind the reception desk, and when he entered, he found the young man from the lake sat up on a wood-framed couch. He appeared confused and ill, dark-skin ashen and his coarse hair somehow singed as if he’d been pulled from a fire and not a lake.

  Kamiyo approached the young man. “I’m glad you’re awake! My name is Dr Kamiyo, and I was the one who pulled you from the water. May I ask your name?”

  The young man palmed his forehead for a moment, seeming in pain, but gradually his hands fell back into his lap. His bleary eyes settled on Kamiyo. “Name’s Vamps. Not my real name, just a street name, innit? Only thing left now is the streets.”

  “Oh marvellous,” said Jackie. “We have ourselves a thug.”

  Vamps shot her a glance. “You got a problem with the colour of my skin, sweetheart?”

  “What? No, of course not! But I have little time for louts and layabouts.”

  “Fair enough. Whose digs is these, anyway? Where am I?”

  Jackie huffed. “You’re in Kielder Forest Park.”

  The young man stared at her blankly. “Come again, sweetheart?”

  “We’re in Northumberland,” said Kamiyo. “Just south of the Scottish border. You sound like you’re from London.”

  “Innit! Brixton boy, born and bred. Furthest north I ever been is Birmingham—got a cuz in Sutton-Coldfield. How’s the fight going up here?”

  Kamiyo folded his arms. “What fight?”

  “The Army, bruv. Are they taking it to the demons? General Wickstaff got things tied down in Portsmouth, but no one knows what’s happening elsewhere. Communications are whacked out.”

  “Who’s General Wickstaff?”

  “Leader of Portsmouth. Bitch is like Braveheart, ‘cept with tits and shit.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jackie demanded. “How did you find us here?”

  “I went through Hell, luv.”

  “I think we can all empath
ise with you there.” Kamiyo wanted to keep things from getting argumentative, and Jackie had obviously taken a disliking to the young man. “Vamps, can you follow my finger, please?”

  “Yeah, no bov, bruv.” Vamps did as asked and followed his finger. His pupils were of an equal size, responsive and alert. In fact, Kamiyo was sure the young man only needed rest. Even now, he was smiling like everything was fine. A pair of gold fangs glinted briefly in the candlelight, and the young man’s nickname made sense. “So how am I looking, Doc?”

  “I think you’ll be just fine. A few more questions and I’ll let you get your rest. I still don’t understand how you ended up in the lake.” Or how you seemed to turn into a demon when I first reached you. “Can you tell me how you got there?”

  “I went through Hell, bruv.”

  Kamiyo squinted in confusion. “That’s the second time you’ve said that. What do you mean exactly?”

  “I mean I went through Hell to get here, bruv. Like, literally.”

  Jackie groaned. “What are you on about?”

  Vamps shook his head at her and chuckled. “We turned things around in Portsmouth cus we learned how to close the gates.”

  Kamiyo’s eyes widened. “You know how to close the gates?”

  “Just walk right through ‘em, innit? Soon as something living passes through a gate, it explodes like a nuclear bomb. Best thing is that the shockwave takes out every demon in a five-mile radius but leaves everything else sound. Makes the giants weak too. We took ‘em all down in the South. Then we decided to take the fight to the demons at their source. A gate popped up right in the middle of our base in Portsmouth. We had to close it, and I made up my mind to go through. Don’t remember much of what happened afterwards. Next thing I know, I open my eyes underwater not knowing up from down. Thought I was finished. Nuff respect for saving me, Doc.”

  Kamiyo studied the young man, searching for signs of delirium, but while the patient spoke madness, his words were fluent and articulate. He seemed wholly sane on the surface of things. “So, how did you end up in the lake, Vamps? You almost drowned the both of us.”

  “Must have got spat out of a gate underwater. Only way in or out of Hell I know is through the gates. Shit is trippy, like going through a carwash stoned.”

  Jackie sneered from the doorway. “Are you saying there’s one of those gates at the bottom of our lake, and that you came out of it?”

  “Yeah, sweetheart, that’s what I’m telling you. For real and shit.”

  “Rubbish!”

  “It’s the truth,” said Kamiyo, surprising them both. Jackie glared at him like he was insane, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t shake the image of that glowing light beneath the lake. “When I leapt into the water, I saw something beneath the surface. Something bright. It could’ve been a gate.”

  Jackie waved her arms theatrically. “You think we wouldn’t have known there was a gate beneath our lake all this time? We’ve been here for months.”

  “Must have been inactive,” said Vamps. “The gates are all linked to the seals that bind Hell and Earth together. God placed ‘em here at the dawn of time, innit? The landmasses were different back then though—Pangaea and shit. Guess some seals ended up under water after the continents shifted. The demons probably don’t activate ones in unsuitable places.”

  Jackie was smiling, but it wasn’t because she was having fun. It was a mocking smirk. “So why did it open tonight, huh?”

  Vamps shrugged. “I must have opened it from the other side. Don’t remember what went down in Hell exactly, but I know it turned sour.” He rubbed at his head again and exhaled wearily. “Look, I don’t mean to abuse your hospitality, but I need to get back in the ruck. If I can’t get to Portsmouth, then I need to know whose end I’m in so I can help out here. I didn’t get a look at this place. How many soldiers you got? Any coppers?”

  “One soldier,” said Kamiyo. “And according to her, she’s the last—around these parts, anyway. Whatever fight happened up north, the demons won. There’s nothing left.”

  Vamps appeared to grow tired suddenly, his shoulders slumping. “She-it. So, what is this place? Police? Militia?”

  “It’s a Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme,” said Jackie. “We’re at a camp in the middle of the forest. Until tonight we’d never encountered demons or other survivors. Now you’re all crawling out of the woodwork like lice. Doesn’t fill me with confidence.”

  Vamps stared at Jackie, still weary, but vital enough to show genuine surprise. “For real? We’re hidden in the middle of a big-ass forest? Damn, you niggas won the apocalypse lottery. So how ‘bout you—” He grabbed his head again, groaning.

  “Are you okay?” Kamiyo moved forward and eased the young man backwards into the couch. “You should lie down and rest. We’ve talked enough for one night.” He turned to Jackie. “Can you fetch Vamps a glass of water, please? And a blanket.”

  Jackie nodded, disgruntled but still obliging. “I’ll be right back. We need to have a chat later, doctor. Philip has told me some rather upsetting things.”

  Kamiyo waved her off, unwilling to discuss her concerns right now. He got Vamps settled on his back and checked the young man’s pulse, then his temperature. His forehead was hot. Much hotter than a drowning victim’s should be. He hoped it wasn’t another fever. “Close your eyes and try to relax, Vamps. Your body has… been through Hell, apparently.”

  Vamps deflated onto the sofa, tiredness coming off him in waves. “Thanks, Doc.”

  Kamiyo needed to let the young man rest, but he couldn’t help himself from asking another question. Somehow, he believed that Vamps possessed answers to some very big questions. “I’m so sorry,” he said, “but before I leave you in peace, can I just ask you… What is Hell like?”

  Vamps gave no answer. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing rhythmically. Kamiyo sighed and crept over to the doorway to await Jackie’s return. Tomorrow would provide time for more questions. He just hoped the answers were comforting.

  “Glorious.”

  Kamiyo turned to face the room. Vamps once again perched on the edge of the couch. As tired and weary as the young man had looked only moments ago, he’d now degenerated further. His face was decayed, eyelids dark and baggy, cheeks sagging. His gold fangs twisted forwards out of his mouth. The room turned cloying, heat from the candles seeming to increase.

  “I-I’m sorry? What did you say?”

  Vamps stood up, jerking into position like a puppet on strings. “Hell. Is. Glorious.”

  Inhuman eyes glared at Kamiyo. A change had come over Vamps, one that made the flames on the candles retreat.

  Kaiyo tried to swallow, but his throat was sandpaper dry. “Vamps? Y-You really should rest.”

  “The worm is gone. Its soul screams in agony. I hear it singing.”

  Kamiyo backed up against the wall. “W-Who are you?”

  “I am God. Bow, and your death shall be quick and brutal.”

  The candles snuffed out, and the room went pitch-black. Kamiyo howled in terror without realising it, his fear acting quicker than his mind. Something primal—something ancient—stalked him in the dark. He fumbled in the dark for the door handle, but a blow struck his kidney and dropped him to the ground in agony. A reptilian laugh shook the room.

  Kamiyo tried to climb, but a second blow struck his ribs and sent him rolling across the ground. He tried to cry out again, but his lungs had twisted in his chest. The darkness closed around him. This was how he died. Alone in the dark. Hell had taken over the earth and only oblivion waited.

  But a slice of Heaven entered the room suddenly, a radiant knife cutting through the shadows. The darkness retreated. Kamiyo instinctively reached towards the light and saw the door was open. Jackie stood in the rectangle of light. “Dr Kamiyo?”

  “Jackie! Jackie, please, you have to—”

  Something surged out of the darkness and seized Jackie, dragging her by her hair into the dark corner of the room. Her screams felt far a
way, but perhaps they were smothered by Kamiyo’s own wails of terror.

  The door slammed shut, and the light withdrew. Once again, darkness was all that remained. That, and the reptilian laughter of a beast.

  18

  HANNAH

  Hannah was still sitting with Ted when she heard the scream inside the cabin—the soft din of someone calling out for help. Ted heard it too, and he glanced at her with something between indifference and mild interest.

  Hannah grabbed her rifle. “The hell is that?”

  “I dunno. Leave ‘em to it.”

  “What? No, we should go check it out. Someone might need help.”

  She got up, expecting him to go with her, but he didn’t. In fact, he seemed irritated by her insistence. “At what point did you decide we were an apocalyptic duo? You’re the soldier. Go save the day.”

  “You’re a real arsehole, you know that, Ted?” She didn’t wait for a rebuttal. It was possible she was done with Ted and his abrasive attitude.

  She raced up the wooden steps into the cabin alone. People were huddled inside, staring towards a door behind a reception desk. The woman who’d summoned Dr Kamiyo was rushing towards it with a blanket and a glass of water, and when she saw Hannah approaching with her rifle, she gave a strained smile. “Everything is under control. Dr Kamiyo is struggling with a patient. I’ll help him handle it.”

  Hannah’s jog faltered, and she stood still, awkward now like running for a bus she’d missed. The woman dismissed her so snippily that Hannah’s ingrained obedience to authority kicked in and made her stand to attention. Another adult stood in the room, watching over a group of teenagers, and he glared at Hannah like she was a stinking rodent.

  She waved a hand. “Hi!”

  The man gave a mistrustful nod, but no reply.

  “I’m Hannah.”

  “Steven.”

  “Great place you have here, Steven. Did you pick the decor yourself?”

  The man turned his back on her and resumed tending to the teenagers.