by Michael Todd
They stood at the scene of the latest fight. The humans had ventured deeper into the bowels of hell than they had the time before. The heat radiating from the space had to be at least twice as hot as the outlying areas. Still, Moloch couldn’t put his finger on why they had been there.
He looked at six small burn marks on the ground and rubbed his chin. “I don’t get it. That demon scum and her meatsack friends come to hell, they fight my demons, and then leave in the blink of an eye. I know that they left something here; I can sense it. But what?”
Baal looked around the area. “Cameras, maybe? They want to watch us?”
Moloch shook his head. “What would they see? Black stone and rivers of fire? Besides, there isn’t a tool out there I can think of that would burrow that fast into this stone. And we would see them.”
Baal shook his head, rubbing his chin. “Yes, you may be right. What about a weapon of sorts? Mines, maybe. I’ve seen those humans use mines against each other. One idiot steps on one, and boom! Blows the person to bits.”
Moloch stopped in his tracks and looked around at the ground. “Again, you idiot, where would they bury these mines? In the lava pits? No, there is something much more nefarious going on here. They snuck into our home again and did something to better their chances. They didn’t come to attack; there were too few of them. But what the fuck did they do?”
One of the smaller demons ran up, stopping and sliding across the rock. Moloch put his hand out to grab him and flung him to his side. The little creature looked like he wanted to say something, but Moloch didn’t have the patience for his tribe of idiots that day. Instead, he stomped to the edge of the ravine and looked over the edge. His eyes were growing redder by the second, and he ground his teeth.
Baal walked up next to him. “Maybe it was another excursion to check out the land? Maybe that was all it was. We scared them off.”
Moloch slammed his fist into his palm. “They brought an extra human with them, a brute of a man. He crushed our demons with one swing of his arms. They didn’t come for a scouting expedition. Fuck Lilith. Fuck her human/angel meatsack! I am tired of sitting back and letting them walk all over us. They came to our lands and attacked our demons, and I won’t let another moment pass without retribution.”
Baal slowly lifted his head and looked at Moloch, who had eyes only for revenge. “What is our next move?”
Moloch turned to Baal. “We attack. We hit them in the gut in their most beloved towns. We shred their humans worse than this mystery human shredded our demons. We bring anguish to their homes, and we make the world see that their human heroes are just bringing pain down upon them with their senseless war.”
Moloch stomped to a group of beat-up demons. Most were battered and limbless, but those who could stand still jumped to their feet. “Tell me about this man—this person Lilith had with her.”
The demons looked nervously at each other, and one stood up. “Uh…yes, sir. He…he was very big for a human. He had a square jaw, and his eyes flashed different colors.”
Moloch’s eyes shifted back and forth. “He had a demon?”
The demon nodded in fear. “He had to. He wasn’t wearing a suit, his strength was out of this world, and he knew exactly how to kill us. He got slashed and bashed, but his skin just regrew, and he laughed the entire time he was fighting. He talked to Katie and Lilith like he had known them for a long time, but we have never seen him before.”
Moloch growled. “Put together a sketch of this man. I want everyone on Earth working to find him. Whoever has infected him is using his body like Lilith uses Katie’s. We aren’t missing any of our higher demons, at least not that I know of. If we can figure out who this is and who his demon is, we can kill him on Earth and bring him back here.”
The demons nodded their heads, swaying nervously. “Yes, sir.”
Moloch looked at them for a second and then stomped his foot. “Well? Get going, fools!”
All the demons yipped in terror and went running off toward the inner ring. Moloch sighed and walked to Baal. “When I find this bastard, his demon is going to spend an eternity strapped to the torture wall in my personal dungeon. Go against me in my own home? Please. I’m going to discover new worlds of pain with this idiot.”
Baal nodded, dusting the ash off his hands. “And in the meantime?”
Moloch’s eyes flashed vibrantly. “In the meantime, we strike with force and show Lilith just what she gets for crossing me.”
10
Doctor Thorough sat in a room packed with his gear. Screens flickered and flashed with images of hell, from the obsidian plains to the cavernous reaches of the realm. The drones flew high and quiet in order to not give themselves away. They crept through the fogs of acidic air, flying right over the heads of demons without any of them realizing they were being watched.
Thorough kept busy. His fingers were a blur of movement on the keyboard, recording every bit of information that came through. Next to him on a separate set of machines, his assistant Alice did the same. She scoured each new area thoroughly, pausing occasionally and taking notes on new anomalies.
Alice paused one of the videos and tapped Thorough on the shoulder. “Do you see this area here? I think this would be a really good area for defense purposes. It backs up to a large mountain cliff and overlooks the entire valley here. You could have a barrage of snipers perched on this ledge blasting demons with missiles and gunfire.”
The doctor rolled his chair over and leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. “Do you still have a drone in that area?”
Alice clicked some keys and grabbed the joystick, showing one of the drones’ footage as it circled back around and hovered over the ledge. It gave a 360-degree view of the area. Thorough pursed his lips as he made some notes, copying down the exact coordinates. “Yes, very good, Alice. That is exactly where it should be. If we can find fifteen places like that, all moving like steps down into the lower levels of hell, we could have an excellent line of defense. Here, look at the few I’ve found.”
Alice moved to the monitors to join Dr. Thorough. He began pulling images up, asking her what her thoughts were. Alice pointed to one of the images. “This one seems good from the outside, but look here. You can tell there is a gap in the rock in the ridge. It leads to flat land. A team stationed there could easily be taken from behind. We want to make sure that they have cover on all sides. Really, we want to box them in. Normally that would be a terrible tactic, but we want to give them cover. Entry to escape won’t be a problem, because we have Pandora to open portals directly into these areas.”
Surprised, Thorough leaned back in his chair. “You sure know a lot about the tactical side of things.”
Alice chuckled. “Well, you didn’t pick the dumbest intern out there. Besides, my father was a Navy Commander and used to play all kinds of strategy games with me when I was a kid. He made me think of every opportunity the enemy would have to attack me before I made a move. Luckily for us, the demons have strength but not smarts. They aren’t going to be rappelling in from above. They also aren’t very stealthy. Everything I’ve seen shows them just running straight in.”
The doctor deleted that image. “Let’s get some of the military specialists’ thoughts on these. I think with our time limitations, we need to start cataloging these spots.”
Alice nodded. “I agree.”
A few moments later, two tactical specialists came into Dr. Thorough’s lair. The doctor barely looked at them. “Good. You’re here. We found something.” The specialists looked at one another, confused.
“Don’t mind him. He’s not used to real people.” Alice took over. “Gentlemen, we are developing a few locations that we believe will be of interest. We would like to get your thoughts on them. With any luck, we will be able to present Katie and the team with a line of defensive positions throughout the hellscape.”
Alice pulled up the first image. “This image is the same depth as the last entrance into hell, but a location mu
ch farther in. It’s a peak on a mountaintop, so our troops would be fairly isolated. When you are looking out from this ledge, you can see where hell begins to deepen. It’s an excellent vantage point.”
One of the soldiers had her turn the image so he could see the surrounding area. “This looks great. My only concern is married to the site’s strength. It’s an isolated area, but what if the demons somehow reach our troops? We don’t know what kind of creatures live in the inner ring of hell. Where do our soldiers go if they are overrun? They are too high to jump, and we couldn’t fit enough men up there to ward off a major attack.”
Alice bit the inside of her cheek. “Hmm. Maybe you’re right. Maybe this would be good as an entrance point for Katie since she can fly and all.”
“Yes, those fucking wings. Angel shit.”
The doctors and the soldiers all turned to see Juntto, in Arnold mode, standing in the doorway and frowning at the screens and monitors. “Hell. I was just there. I won a great victory.”
“Right. We know.” One soldier gestured to a lava pit on one monitor. “Hey, you know hell better than most of us. Can you take a look at the locations they’ve developed and tell us which of them would work for an attack?”
“An attack? Into hell.”
“Yeah. We’re going to leap-frog in, moving from one highly defensible spot to another. If we can find enough of them.”
Juntto looked at all the technology, unsure of himself. He hadn’t meant to join them. He had taken a wrong turn looking for the galley. He grunted and crossed his arms, puffing up his chest. “Sure. What do we have?”
Alice marveled at the sheer size of the man. And he really did look like Arnold. “Are you actually…”
Juntto glared down at her. “Actually what?”
“No. Never mind.” Alice turned and pulled up another location on the monitors. “I’ve learned it’s better to not ask questions. Here is another vantage point deeper down below the acidic clouds. You can see how it’s not far from the ground level, but at the same time, the ridge provides protection from the back.”
Juntto stared at the screen. “Yes, that would be perfect. It is especially appealing if we have to fuck with the medium-sized demons. Those fat bastards could climb that ridge, but it is too tall for them to jump. They would be stuck climbing up here. Easy targets for your modern weapons. They would be stuck between your guns and running back into the rivers of lava over here.” Juntto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It’s a good spot, but very deep into hell. The only potential problem that I see is Lucifer.”
They all stared at Juntto. Alice ventured, “As in, the devil? Himself?”
“Yes. We would be in his territory. There is always a chance he could decide to battle us himself.” Juntto stared off into space wistfully. “It would be a great battle and a fine death.”
One of the soldiers scoffed. “Yeah, that’s like their nuclear option. Right?”
Juntto shrugged and walked off to find the galley.
The soldier called after him. “Right? We’re not going to fight Lucifer. Right? Hey! Come back!”
Moloch grabbed a human by the throat and ripped her in half, throwing the mutilated corpse to either side of the highway. He turned his head and snarled at the large welcome sign for Lake Tahoe. “See how much they like their vacation spot now.”
He threw up his arms and beckoned the demons from the gate behind him. They swarmed like hellish ants, spreading out over the town. Baal stepped over half of the woman’s corpse and walked up next to him. He ate from a bag of candied camel toes. “This looks like a healthy way to express your anger. Are we doing multiple shots, or are we focusing on just this place?”
“I’m focusing on this right now. Do one thing at a time, and do it right, Baal.”
“Got it.” Baal popped a camel toe into his terrible jaws. “These camel toes are very chewy. I’ll have to talk with the demon that makes them.”
“Are they made from real camels, or are they the other kind?”
Baal peeked into the bag of candy. “If you bake them right, you can’t tell.”
Moloch reached down and grabbed the arm from the woman he’d ripped in half. He bit a chunk off her upper arm and started to chew. “I crave meat when I’m worried. Stress-eating is a bad habit.”
Baal nodded in agreement. “I just eat all the time. Cuts the stress right down.”
Moloch curled his lip and spit the meat out, throwing the arm down. “She must have been one of those hippy chicks. Tastes like kale and curry. Yuck.”
Moloch glowered as Tahoe began to smoke. Even the screams and shrieks of the people below didn’t make him feel any better. He was livid. Lilith and Katie had undermined him at every single turn. Sure, he’d gotten in a few good hits, thrown a few good punches, but when he looked at his plan as a whole, it was a disaster. They had stopped the major incursions, exorcised important entities placed amongst the humans, and killed their Leviathans. Now they had another human running around smashing his dumb fists through hell’s army.
Moloch turned and punched the welcome sign, sending it toppling over. He whistled for the troops, calling them back to the gate. They stepped through and directly into another small town in western Alabama. It was a cozy little village tucked into a pine forest. Quaint.
The demons shrieked and hollered as they ran onto the town’s main street as if they were children running into an ice cream shop. Moloch stood there, his face set as he watched his minions tear humans limb from limb.
“You’re brooding again.” Baal sighed, munching his candies. “I really think that you need healthier ways to express your anger.” He pointed to a demon slowly tearing the flesh off of a corpse. “See that guy? He’s taking action. He’s found an outlet for his emotions.”
“We need to figure out what the hell these assholes are up to.”
“I was sure that when you destroyed that town with the tea, Katie would be pissed. They didn’t even give you a head nod or curse your name.”
Moloch scoffed. “Sure, they did. They came rolling into hell with their new friend and did something fucking sneaky. For all I know, they placed little tiny trackers on everything. Hell, maybe they are here. Maybe they are disguised walking among us.” He glowered at Baal. “Maybe you are Katie.”
Baal shook his bag of candies. “Would Katie eat camel toes?”
“She’s tricky. Maybe they’re still in hell, down there setting a sneaky human trap for us.”
Baal shook his head. “Nah, they are too human for that shit. They wouldn’t be able to stand the heat down there for this long. Not unless they left Lilith, and you know that bitch doesn’t have the patience to just sit around and wait for a plan to unfold. She would have made herself known by now.”
Moloch dropped his arms by his side in defeat. “I just don’t know what to do anymore, Baal. This bitch is spoiling everything.”
Baal patted Moloch on the shoulder. “I know. I know. Just remember, her human won’t live forever. Eventually, she will have to die, and then that threat will be gone. Until then, we need to keep a close eye on everything down below. Sure, these incursions are fun, but we’ve got responsibilities.”
Moloch whistled again, calling the demons back to the gate. “My only responsibility at this point is taking over Earth. I have promised myself that.”
Baal walked behind Moloch as they lumbered through the gate. He stepped out onto a long beach studded with long rows of houses on stilts. “The coast of North Carolina. These people love their Outer Banks. This will definitely ruffle a few feathers. And look—seagulls.”
Baal grabbed one midflight and tossed it into his big jaws. He stepped aside as a snarling band of demons rushed by him to attack the sunbathers on the beach.
Moloch snarled as sand covered his gnarly black claws. “I hate sand and sun.”
“Do you really think the humans are in hell?”
“You’re the one that said they wouldn’t survive.”
“But you
’re right, the humans are tricky.” Baal swallowed and pointed his claw at Moloch. “You know, Lucifer isn’t going to be happy if the humans do any damage down there.”
“Damage?” Moloch snapped his head toward Baal. “To what? The rocks? Are they going to dam some of the rivers of lava? It’s not like I give a shit about the damned place. Lucifer will just put things back the way they were. He’ll create some more volcanoes, and go on decorating the only space he is allowed to have. It’s not fair to him or to us, really. Taking Earth would give us all a new playground. The old man has been underground for far too long.”
The snarling demons were working on the beach houses now. With a great crash, several support beams snapped at once. One of the houses went tumbling down into the waves. “If I take Earth, I would be doing him a favor. I would be opening up a whole new world for him. I’m sure if God can’t send his angels down here, then we can bring Lucifer to the surface.” As he talked, screams echoed around them, but they didn’t faze him in the least. “It’s not right that we have been shoved off this planet, that this one place is set aside for God’s little playthings. What the fuck about us? We have to stare at the same old scenery day in and day out without a break? Why? Because we questioned God? Curiosity is a natural thing! He’s a damn terrible parent if he thinks this is punishment. The humans would call it abuse.”
Just then a small child ran across the sand in front of Moloch. He reached down and picked the boy up. The kid was too terrified to scream.
He gently held the child in his palm and ran his claw over the boy’s bright blond hair. “They were given everything, and we were left to pick up the crumbs. I’m not concerned with the damage they can do to hell. They have done far more damage than they could possibly know.”
Moloch closed his fist with a wet crunch. He tossed the child into the water, skipping him like a rock on a pond.