War of the Damned Boxed Set

by Michael Todd

  One of the guys on the top of the building waved his arms at Calvin feverishly. Calvin stepped forward and squinted his eyes, following the guard’s finger to the bottom of the building. Below the blast shields, a demon was trying to scratch his way through the cinderblock walls. “Oh hell, no.”

  Calvin walked forward and held the trigger of his weapon down, filling the demon with bullets. Calvin gave the guy up top a thumbs-up, and the guard returned it. The guard went back to taking out whatever came out of the portal. Before Calvin could get too far from the emergency hatch, it flung open. He leveled his weapon, his finger wrapping around the trigger.

  Stephanie popped her head up, yelped, and put a hand in front of her face to make sure Calvin didn’t blow it off.

  Calvin lowered his weapon and helped Stephanie out of the hatch. Korbin and five guards followed her. They had obviously gone down to reload, since they were bristling with fresh weapons, ammo, and blades. Calvin stared thoughtfully at the seven of them and then at the demons. “Who else is there?”

  One of the guards stepped forward and shook his head. “They got a whole lot of us. We were at the front gates, and they just kind of swarmed us from behind. Everyone else is inside the production building.”

  Calvin glanced briefly at Korbin and then at the portal. It began to spark and shimmer. “It looks like another wave of demons is coming. It also looks like it’s just the eight of us, plus the guys up top. We have to hold on until she gets here.”

  Korbin nodded his head and pulled out his guns. “I think we can handle this. What do you think, dear?”

  Stephanie gave Korbin a peck on the cheek and pulled her knives. “I think we can, and afterward, maybe I’ll make one of those casseroles you like.”

  Calvin just gazed at the two of them and started to laugh. “I swear, it’s like Commando meets Leave It to Beaver. One of these days I swear I’m going to see Stephanie rolling through a bunch of demons, blasting their heads off while wearing an apron.”

  Stephanie winked at Calvin. “Actually, Korbin’s the one who usually wears the apron.”

  Calvin shook his head at Korbin. “We’ll have to discuss that when this is all over.”

  Korbin watched Calvin walk away, and Stephanie patted him on the shoulder, laughing. Korbin yelled after him, “What? I don’t like to get food on my pants.”

  They spread out and prepared themselves for the next round of battle. The trickle of demons became a monstrous flood as they began pouring through the portal again. They scrambled over one another and rushed to the killing field. Calvin, Korbin, and Stephanie were there to meet them. The other guards stayed behind to cover them and man the traps.

  Even without a demon, Stephanie was ungodly fast and insanely agile. She went sprinting toward a line of demons, firing. When she met the line, she dropped and slid through the sand, gliding right between two scaly horrors. It reminded her of playing Red Rover as a child. She popped up behind the line and opened fire, and demons howled and exploded into ash. Red Rover had never ended quite like that.

  Calvin stopped and stared at her with wide eyes. “That was some shit, right there.”

  Stephanie slammed another clip into her gun and smiled. “I told you I didn’t need a demon. Just wait until I get warmed up.”

  Calvin laughed and leaped to his right, raising his gun and pulling the trigger without looking. A demon was lurching toward him, and the bullet went straight into the demon’s head. It turned to dust in mid-air and blew away with the wind. Stephanie looked impressed.

  Calvin shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve been known to kick an ass or two myself.”

  The level of showmanship that Korbin and Stephanie brought to the table when they joined Calvin on the battlefield was impressive, but there was no way they could keep it up. The battle sucked. Hundreds of demons flooded the base, fighting with teeth and claws. There were only three mercs and five guards to fight them off. The guards on top of the production building did what they could, but they couldn’t chance firing at the killing field and hitting their own men.

  There were too many demons.

  A huge rush of demons pushed the mercs back and made an opening, then scrambled past the guards to the production building. Calvin doubled back, spraying the demons with bullets as he ran to the base of the building.

  “Whoa, back up you beady-eyed bastard,” Calvin roared as he bent backward to avoid a demon’s slashing claws.

  He pulled a sword from his back one-handed and sliced the demon in half, and it snarled and spat even as it fell in two pieces to the ground and turned to dust. He chuckled and turned to continue the fight, but he felt the all-too-familiar sting of demon’s claws across his back. The sword sheaths on his back were torn loose and his Kevlar was shredded, then came the hot-poker sear as talons ripped his flesh.

  Calvin somersaulted forward and spun, slashing his sword down. The demon howled and retreated. Calvin had taken the thing’s nose off. He raised his gun and pulled the trigger without thinking, blasting the demon four times in the chest. He shook his head and realized that it needed to be a headshot. He raised his weapon and pressed the trigger again, putting a bullet through the bleeding hole that used to be the demon’s nose. His next shot took the demon’s head off its shoulders. Calvin winced and looked over his shoulder at the blood running down his back. His black shirt was in tatters.

  Calvin was definitely being tested. He had not faced this many demons at once in a very long time, and even then, he’d had Katie by his side. Korbin and Stephanie were making a dent, but the fighting was taking a toll on their human bodies. Stephanie had found that using her guns was the best she could do. Getting close to the demons was almost impossible without a demon of her own. She didn’t remember what it was like to fight demons, but she had definitely overestimated her strength.

  Korbin was having the same problem. He made his way to Stephanie, and together they backed out of the center of the fight and pulled back to the edges. “There’s no use in getting yourself killed the first time out. It’s obvious that without demons we aren’t as strong, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t help. We’ll lay down cover. Aim for the head.”

  Stephanie nodded. “That’s one thing I’ve got over the demons. Sharpshooting is my specialty.”

  She took aim at a group of demons headed their way, let out a deep breath, and pressed the triggers over and over, slowly and surely. Each bullet found a demon, and each demon turned to dust. When Stephanie finally lowered her gun, Korbin was impressed. “Nice. I didn’t know you could shoot like that.”

  Stephanie shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t either. It was just a gut feeling.”

  Korbin sighed. “Let’s hope all your gut feelings turn out like this.”

  Stephanie giggled and continued firing at the horde. Korbin juked to the right as a group of demons tried to sneak up on them. He took two of them out before they attacked, then pulled his knife and used hand-to-hand combat techniques to avoid their claws. Stephanie shot three more demons and then raced over to help her husband. “You need to back off my man or you’re gonna see my wrath.”

  Stephanie dodged a slashing claw and countered it with a roundhouse kick to the demon’s face. Using her acrobatic skills, she crouched and then flipped over the stunned demon. She grabbed him by the head and twisted hard, breaking his neck. She smiled broadly and looked at Korbin. “See? Not that bad.”

  Korbin’s eyes went big, and he pointed behind her. “Watch out!”

  Stephanie turned to lash her foot out in another kick, but huge claws were already moving toward her. Hellish talons dug through her Kevlar, piercing her back and digging deep furrows in her skin all the way around her side. Stephanie threw a knife at the hulking demon, not seeing where it landed, then grabbed her open wounds and fell to the ground. Blood trickled into the sand. Korbin ran over to her and fired wildly, scattering demons. He helped her to her feet and saw the blood pooling beneath her. “Shit. It’s bad.”

  “Jus
t a scratch.” Stephanie tilted her head up and grinned at him. “Hey, I gave it my best shot.”

  Korbin kissed her. “And you did a fucking fantastic job, but take your ass inside and get those tended to. You can’t fight like that. Remember, you’re only human. Use that aim, baby.”

  Stephanie held her bleeding side with one hand and fired with the other. Together they ran for the emergency hatch, shooting several demons in the process.

  Korbin kissed her again and shut the lid behind her.

  Korbin’s face went grim, and he stalked back out to find whoever had done that to his wife. He found the hulking demon standing in the sand, trying to pull Stephanie’s knife from his stomach. Her blood still coated his claws.

  Korbin narrowed his eyes and pulled the sword from his back. “No one touches my wife.”

  The demon grinned, displaying rows of jagged teeth. He let go of the knife in his stomach and flicked out his boil-covered tongue to lick Stephanie’s blood from his claws.

  Korbin screamed and launched himself at the demon. He swung his sword two-handed and felt the brutal crunch as it bit into the demon’s neck, but then he slammed to the ground and looked up. He had taken the demon’s head right off. He wiped the demon’s blood from his face but kept his eyes on the putrid head rolling across the sand until it turned to ash. Several of the other guards jogged up, patting him on the shoulder.

  One of the guards was breathing heavily as he set the butt of his gun in the sand. “I think this wave is about over. The guys up top, they got the rest of them. I lost one man, so we’re down to seven.”

  Korbin shook his head. “Six. My wife took a wound across the back, so I sent her down into the bunker.”

  Timothy’s voice came over their earpieces. “Guys, I hate to say this, but there is one big motherfucking demon coming out of that gate right now.”

  Korbin and the rest of the team looked at the portal. What was coming through it was as big as a house. His horned feet touched the ground, and the earth shook. Korbin growled, “Fuck me.”

  The thunderous landing of the emerging demon was drowned out by the whine of a squadron of fighter jets on the horizon.

  Korbin put his hands on his knees, pushed out a deep puff of air, and let himself smile. “I thought they’d never get here. Damn military hasn’t changed. Hurry up and wait.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The abomination stood up, and the guards gaped. He cracked his large neck and scanned the killing field. At once he was peppered with bullets. He snarled and looked toward the top of the production building, where the shots had come from. The guards quickly realized he didn’t even have to tilt his head. He was so tall that he was eye-level with the top of the building.

  The grizzled head guard swallowed hard. “All right, boys, he’s just one big asshole. If we can kick a whole bunch of little assholes, we can kick one big one. We’ve only got one Damned merc down there and the rest are human, so we’ve got to give them as much backup as we possibly can. Take your places, and be ready for anything.”

  As the hulking mound of scale and claw lumbered toward the building, the squadron of jets soared over him and fired. The demon paused to watch as they made another pass.

  Inside the gate, Moloch and Baal leaned forward excitedly. They laughed as the planes took runs at the massive demon.

  Moloch pointed at the demon’s confused face. “Did you see the look on the big one’s face? That plane hit him with everything it had, and it was like somebody pinched him.”

  Baal laughed and slammed his scaled hand on the table. “We should do this more often! I love watching incursions. It’s amazing how useless the humans are without the meatsack and Lilith. They are absolutely clueless. They have no idea how to take down one of these bastards.”

  Moloch shrugged his shoulders. “They used to be indestructible. Of course, technology has enhanced the humans, and the demons haven’t changed. Things are a little different now. Still, it’s absolutely hilarious to watch them shit their pants. They don’t even know where to begin. I fucking love the big one.”

  Baal pointed at another plane diving at the demon. “Here comes another jet!”

  The demon raised his arms in front of his face as though he were protecting itself and his twisted claws began to glow. Giant chunks of lava pulled directly from hell appeared on those huge claws, and he hurled them at the plane, laughing.

  “Oh, shit!” the pilot yelled.

  One of the boulders of molten lava soared through the air, but the pilot quickly rolled the plane away from it. He got lucky. The second pilot didn’t. The other ball of lava hit the second jet’s engine and sent the plane spinning out of control. The pilot panicked and pulled his seat ejection lever. He was launched from the plane as the rear end burst into flames.

  The pilot’s parachute opened and caught air, and wind took him away from the battle, drifting off somewhere in the mountains.

  Calvin grimaced as the plane hit the ground and exploded into a giant ball of fire. The large demon was pelted with debris but didn’t even seem to notice. He lurched forward, setting his sights on the prize. It was obvious that the demons were no longer testing them, but now sending out their big guns to get to the weapons.

  Calvin grabbed Korbin with panic. “We’ve got to stop them!”

  Korbin looked at his sword, wondering what use it would be against something the size of a building.

  Another sound broke over the battle. Not the whine of a jet engine, but a deep, steady thunder of another, larger plane.

  Baal and Moloch immediately stood up, recognizing that the sound was not that of another military plane. They stepped to the edge of the gate and peered off into the distance.

  Baal slapped Moloch in the chest, as the plane got closer. “Do you think?”

  Moloch shook his head. “She wouldn’t be stupid enough to fly in on a private jet in the middle of a war zone. Probably some stupid government drone that was supposed to visit the base on a routine inspection and didn’t realize they were in the middle of an incursion.”

  Baal screwed up his face and took a step back. “I don’t know, Moloch. Lilith has some crazy ideas. When you put her together with Katie, they seem to do the impossible.”

  Moloch kept his eyes on the plane. “Impossible yes. Stupid? No. They seem to be pretty smart when they’re going into a battle situation. I wish it weren’t so. I would love it if the bitch made that sort of deadly mistake. I’m not getting my hopes up, though. Besides, I want to keep her away as long as possible. We both know she can take down the big one, especially with whatever angelic power she’s got.”

  The plane swerved and then began to slow as it dipped toward the runway. However, as soon as the wheels barely scraped the road it sped up again, lifting its nose into the air and taking back off. Moloch and Baal began to laugh.

  Moloch slapped Baal in the stomach, forcing him to let out a huge puff of air. “That pilot just freaked the fuck out! He saw the big one and was like, ‘Fuck this shit!’”

  Baal straightened up and rubbed his stomach feeling the pain from Moloch’s fist. “I know, right? He thought he was going to make a nice landing, and then all of a sudden, bam! There were demons everywhere. I don’t think he was paying very good attention when he was coming in to land. It’s not like you can miss a ten-story demon.”

  They continued to chuckle as they sat back down. Moloch shook his head with a smile on his face. “The fucking big one. Great stuff.” He glanced out of the gate, and something caught his eye. He tilted his head to the right, and the smile began to fade. “What the hell?”

  Baal stopped chuckling and looked out at the airstrip. “It couldn’t be! She actually fucking did it!”

  Strolling toward the base from the other side of the landing pad was a lone body, strapped to the gills with weapons. She shook her hair out as the demons gawked at her from the portal.

  Her wings popped open and Katie leaped into the air, flapping furiously as she climbed higher
and began to do laps around the base.

  Pandora chuckled. I can almost feel the shock coming from inside that portal. Those two idiots Moloch and Baal must be watching the whole thing.

  Well, maybe they should’ve thought about this before they sent their demons to my house.

  Pandora smirked. I like it when you talk like that. I hope I get to see the shock on their faces when they lose this battle and we shove their demons right up their asses.

  Katie laughed wildly. All there is to do now is show them exactly what we’re made of. You don’t come to my house uninvited, and you definitely don’t bring all your idiot friends with you. I think it’s time we taught them some manners.

  I couldn’t agree more.

  Calvin put his hands up and let out a whistle as Katie glided through the air. “I’m damn glad to see her.”

  Katie smiled at Calvin and nodded, continuing to fly around the base to scope out the entire battle. She hovered for a moment when the emergency hatch opened and Stephanie climbed out. She had white bandages around her back and side. Blood was spotting the white, but she cradled a weapon in her arms. She hobbled over next to Korbin, who gave her an arm to lean on.

  Katie and Pandora raged. Pandora could not believe Stephanie was that gravely injured and still on the field. Oh, hell, no! Somebody went after my baby girl!

  Katie scanned the rest of the base. Not to mention all the damage they’ve done to my house. It’s gonna take a lot of money and time to repair this shit. These motherfuckers came to the wrong place.

  Katie’s eyes glowed red as she swooped closer to the production building to make sure the shield was still in place and everything was secure. The grizzled guard on the roof gave her a sloppy salute as she passed. It seemed as though the guards up top had done a pretty damn good job of keeping the demons out. She flew around the building, satisfied.