by Michael Todd
“You’re either with us or you’re against us.”
Trenton bashed Brock over the head with the metal pipe, blood soaking his hair as he fell to the ground. His mother screamed and rushed to his side with tears streaming down her face.
“You killed him, you bastard!”
Trenton raised his arms to the sky and let out a deep menacing laugh, reveling in the freedom to commit mayhem he had been looking for. These humans were so weak. He could barely stand the sight of them.
Brock’s pain pierced his nerves, but he couldn’t open his eyes. His succubus kept him in place and healed his wounds as fast as she could.
You aren’t dying on me, you damned hypocrite! You promised me a date with Super Package back there and I mean to make it happen.
She paused for the tiniest of instants to imagine that package and redoubled her efforts.
There was no way she was going to let some low-level scumbag take her human and send her plummeting back to the depths of hell. Whoever these guys were, they had been sent by someone powerful—and the succubus needed Brock alive to figure out who it was.
There was no reason to attack that town, not unless there were bigger plots afoot. She had a sinking feeling this was just the beginning.
11
MSG Morris, MSG Wilson, SFC Brown, and SFC Davis arrived at a hidden section of Fort Bragg.
As they exited their plane they looked out at the mass of recruits who had been brought in for the special assignment. Nearly a hundred men and women chatted among themselves while they prepared for the general’s briefing.
The guys were curious.
This assignment had an air of mystery about it, especially since the details were still being kept secret. None of them really understood what was going on, but they had their speculations.
The four made their way through the crowd toward the back hangar bay where rows of chairs had been set up for the presentation. Armed guards stood watch outside the bay, there to make sure that security stayed tight for the event. Morris’ team stood close together, looking at both the oddly-marked ammo boxes and the planes being rerouted to other runways.
“This must be quite the event,” Morris whispered.
“It’s not like any assignment I’ve ever been to,” Wilson replied as his head twisted left and right, taking in the sight. “I’m sure it will settle down soon. It’s good to see that most of our comrades have wartime experience. That was my biggest concern: being stuck with a bunch of booters walking into some hell on Earth scenario.”
“Couldn’t be much worse than that time in Kabul,” Davis argued.
Wilson chuckled. “I don’t know, but for some reason I get the feeling this is much bigger than we imagine. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
A group of soldiers to their right gathered in the shade to stay out of the hot sun. They looked at the four men and nodded, then turned back to one another. They were proud to have been chosen for this assignment, even though they had no idea what they would be facing in the coming days.
“I suppose it’s about time we started to get chosen for these types of things,” one of the master sergeants in the group proclaimed. “I can’t speak for you, but I have been working hard my whole military career to be looked upon as exemplary.”
“I’m just glad to be out of Fort Jackson. My downtime there was killing me,” another in the group responded. “I have gotten so used to action that I didn’t know what to do with myself. Do any of you have family?”
All five of the soldiers shook their heads.
“Well, then we’re fucked,” he commented and the others chuckled.
Being chosen for an assignment that excluded soldiers with families was never a good thing. By the same token, the ribbons and accolades each of those chosen had received took dedication to the Army and left very little time for things like spouses and children.
They were all fierce soldiers willing to face what came their way.
The guards stepped to the side of the bay doors and began to usher the soldiers in. They filed forward to take their seats in the rows of chairs, nodding at the people around them. When everyone was inside, the NCO approached, clearing his throat.
“Atten-SHUN!”
The soldiers rose and stood at attention, their covers under their arms.
General Brushwood came in through the back and walked down the center aisle to the podium at the front. He nodded and put his hands up, signaling for everyone to take a seat. Those in the seats sat silently, straight-backed in their chairs.
The general cleared his throat and looked around the room at the brave soldiers, men and women, who had been handpicked for the assignment.
“Welcome, men and women of the United States Army. I am General Brushwood, and I will be your leader through one of the hardest, if not the hardest, assignments you will be given in your military career. Many of you are wondering what this new assignment is, and to explain further I am turning this over to Colonel Jehovivich.”
The colonel nodded at the general and took the podium while packets were being handed down the rows. She opened her notebook and held up a hand as a low murmur of chatter rippled through the bay.
“In your hands are the official briefings which include the history of this new war, as well as details on the enemy—or what we know about them so far—and the allies working with us. You can take your time going through it, but it is important that each of you familiarize yourselves thoroughly with the assignment. I will say this: this enemy is different than anything any of you have faced before. They are literally not of this world. The days of joking about a ‘hell on Earth’ have ended, since this is exactly what you will be facing. All demons are fast and some are extremely intelligent, and they are learning to use weapons we would face in a normal war. Not only that, they are damn hard to kill. I know this is a lot for you to take in—and your commanding officers will be available to answer questions in the mini-briefings that will occur after this one—but please understand that you wouldn’t be here today if we didn’t think you were capable of killing these sonsabitches and sending them back to hell.”
“Hooah!” the soldiers yelled.
The colonel nodded. “I’ll turn you back over to the general.”
The general stepped back up to the podium, his hands folded in front of him. “Thank you, Colonel.” He took a deep breath and looked over the crowd again. The soldiers now looked confused, and a few faces were touched by fear.
“You are not ‘the best of the best of the best,’” the general quoted from Men in Black. “I wanted the toughest motherfuckers out there. Those who have chips on their shoulders. Those who aren’t afraid to go into dark holes and get muddy. Those who can fire a weapon, but protect a child. DO I HAVE THOSE PEOPLE HERE?”
“HOOAH!” they responded.
Better.
“You are the men and women I label both as killers and as protectors of the innocent, and you have been chosen to face the greatest threat mankind has ever seen. Many of you will not make it out alive, but you will die heroes and we will honor you every day when we march into battle to take out these demon scum and cast them back into hell. I wish you luck and Godspeed, and I will provide anything I can to assist you in your mission. In the coming days you will see the darkness, but we will pull through. We will march on, and when we do heaven will shine down on this great planet and on those who risked and gave their lives for the fight. May God be with you.”
“Attention!” the NCO yelled.
All the soldiers jumped to attention as the general and the colonel left the podium and headed to the back of the hangar bay. He stopped just inside the door and looked back at the men and women at attention.
“This will be the last time we see all of them alive,” he told Jehovivich softly.
Moloch stood in front of the gates and looked at the sea of battle-ready demons. T’Chezz paced beside him, impatient for the next step to begin.
T’Chezz thought
he had done the work; laid the seeds and now set in motion the next step toward ending life on Earth as the humans knew it, but Moloch knew better. To him, it was just another step closer to achieving his desires and getting T’Chezz out of his hair.
T’Chezz stepped forward and put his hands in the air to get the demons’ attention.
“Soldiers, you stand before me on the edge of greatness. We will be making history in our push toward freedom. Freedom for the demons to claim Earth as our own.” He pointed at a spot in front of the group. “When you step through the portal we will create you will look down on a small town, but know that place it is only the beginning of your triumph. Go to that town and take over those people, but do not focus on eating and changing. You need to spread out and make your way across the United States. Take over more cities one by one until we control one of the most powerful nations on the planet. Once that has happened, the world is next!”
The demons growled loudly, the dull roar of their deep voices echoing across the barren lands of hell. Moloch glanced at T’Chezz sideways, thinking the dramatics were a bit much for a bunch of low-level demons who probably didn’t understand half of what he was saying.
He let him have his moment, though, hoping it would be the last time he would have to listen to his battle cry to the Republic.
“This is our beachhead, and this is our time!” T’Chezz stepped to the side and nodded at Moloch.
T’Chezz’s pleasure at Moloch doing as he wished irritated the higher-level demon. He might be above him in rank, but he knew what was good for him—and taking Earth would be good for everyone involved.
Still, T’Chezz’ naïveté gave him some comfort. It prevented him from realizing that Moloch had engineered it all and fooled T’Chezz into believing it was all his doing. Moloch’s mercenaries had already cleared the way for the demons, making it virtually impossible for them to screw up.
They were clearly dimwitted. There was no way a goon like T’Chezz could lead them into even a small town and expect it not to be pure chaos, even if the mercenaries had taken over the town.
The humans were smarter and stronger than that.
He knew the humans with their Damned and their poison weapons wouldn’t be far behind. That was why it was imperative to get the numbers on the ground, even if all thousand of them were sent straight back to hell. It would allow Moloch to clear out some of the human fighters without risking his neck or the necks of his team.
T’Chezz smiled maliciously as the demons flooded through the open portal toward the town now controlled by the demon mercs. He rubbed his hands together as the power surged through him.
It wouldn’t be long until he found his place in the Eight in the conveniently open seat left by Lilith.
Timothy’s fists balled up. He ground his teeth and stared at the computer screen in front of him that showed the massive flash of energy above the already decimated small town. When Timothy had figured out the incursion he had called Korbin right away.
But he hadn’t been expecting to intercept a 911 call from a child.
The child had had no chance against a demon. Timothy’s skin crawled as the echoes of the boy’s death and the demon’s laugh replayed in his mind.
Korbin had called the whole crew in, wanting them to see the damage and carnage so they understood that this would be the biggest call they had taken so far. He now entered the computer room and nodded at Timothy as the others filed in, some sweaty from training, others in street clothing, having been called away from whatever they were doing.
Korbin looked at Stephanie and then around the room at the others.
“My gut told me there was something big approaching, and it was right. The demon mercs have taken over a small town and they are killing everyone—man, woman, and child. Timothy caught the incursion as soon as it began, picking up the spark of a portal in one of the town’s blind alleys.”
“You’ll want to hear this.” Timothy sighed and put the 911 call onto the speakers.
“911, what is your emergency?”
“Help us! I’m next to the old grocery store. There are things…beasts every...”
“Hello?”
The screams of a terrified child were followed by a laugh and then silence. Stephanie put her hand over her mouth and shook her head and Katie wrinkled her face in anger.
She looked at Timothy. “How long ago was that call?”
“Not long. Maybe twenty minutes at the most.”
Korbin nodded. “We need to get ready and get out there.”
Timothy stood up from his chair. “I want to go. I may be a scared punk, but no fucking demon kills a little kid and gets away with it.”
Korbin nodded and looked at Calvin, Damian, and the others. He shook his head and whispered to himself.
“War...it’s finally upon us.”
The whole team left the ops room and through the tunnels to the training room and armory.
They pulled out their bags and began stuffing in ammo and weapons. Katie locked the halves of her staff and slotted it into her back harness, grabbing two pistols and holstering them at her sides.
She also took two special metal knives from the case and slid them into the front of her vest.
“Pulling out all the stops.” Calvin’s face was set in dark lines. He grabbed a short sword. “These motherfuckers finally went too far.”
Katie put her hand on Calvin’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “Be careful out there. This is going to be dirty, and I need you to come back in one piece.”
“You too, and Pandora. She’s part of the family now.”
Katie smiled and finished choosing her weapons, then followed the others out to the chopper. Joshua climbed in after Katie and buckled his belt, swallowing hard. Katie gave him a tight-lipped grin.
“You okay?”
“Yep. I’ve shared the secrets with everyone. If I don’t come back?” He shrugged. “Nothing will be lost.”
Katie nodded and set her bag between her feet. “If you die, I’ll figure out a way to get you back so I can kill you myself.” The chopper door flew open again and Timothy climbed inside.
He glanced around as he took a seat. “Not sitting this one out.”
Katie shook her head. “You boys are crazy, but I’m damn glad to have you.”
The NSA headquarters had gradually gotten busier and busier as the numbers of demon incursions rose. They were monitoring all communications and their orders were to find the demon cells and send the info to both military and civilian mercenaries.
It didn’t matter to them who cleaned it up, as long as someone did.
One of the analysts, a young woman who’d only been on the job for a month, was monitoring 911 calls in areas where incursions were suspected. She clicked on a call and listened and her face went white. She put her hand straight up in the air to attract her supervisor’s attention, then took off her headset and handed it to him.
“You might want to take a listen. It’s from the latest energy surge, or rather the town near it.”
Her supervisor Charles listened in horror as the little boy called 911, only to be snatched up and murdered by one of the demons. Charles gave the headset back and turned away before the analyst saw the tears in his eyes.
Shit like that had never bothered him, but this was beyond too far. The demons were indiscriminately killing everyone in their path.
For the first time, Charles wanted to pick up a weapon and charge into the death zone.
The fucker who had killed the little boy had made a disastrous mistake.
You can kill American men and women and they might seem ambivalent about fighting back.
But you kill a child?
You will get an American-sized boot up your ass no matter what race, color, or creed you are.
12
The general paused the helmet-cam footage taken at one of the incursions and faced the troops. The screen was frozen on one of the demons. His eyes glowed and his mouth was stret
ched in a snarl, revealing sharp teeth dripping saliva. The general circled the demon’s eyes with his laser pointer.
“You’ll see here that the eyes glow red. At this point typically there isn’t much left of whatever human the demon took over. Some demons will look like this and others will look like you or me, only with a red ring in their eyes and a shitty attitude.”
The general started the video again and everyone watched in horror as the demon leapt high into the air, landed on its feet, and swiped its scimitar claws at a soldier nearby. The viewers were on the edge of their seats when the injured soldier jumped back, raised his gun, and unloaded several rounds into the beast’s chest before collapsing. The demon clutched at his chest with his right hand but continued to advance on the soldier.
The general stopped the video again and raised a hand to quiet the murmurs of concern coming from the assembled soldiers.
“This soldier survived, sustaining minimal injury, but many others have not been that lucky. The bullets he shot the demon with were created by a special supplier. They are made of a specific metal, one that emits radiation that incapacitates the demons. Standard ammunition has little to no effect on the demons; they shrug it off and heal the damage. But you can see that this one is in pain. The special rounds prevent them from healing, which allows you to make the kill shot.”
A soldier stuck his arm in the air. “You’re telling us that three rounds to the chest won’t kill those suckers?”
“No, it does not,” the general replied gravely.
He pressed the play button again, and the scene on the monitor zoomed to show another soldier standing protectively over the injured man on the ground. The soldier shot the approaching demon between the eyes, and this time it crumpled. “You need a headshot, and if you can’t do that a good old broken neck or severing the head works too. It’s just hard to get that close to them.”
The demon hit the ground and morphed back into the woman it had hijacked and the general hit pause. “Now, when you kill one of these sonsabitches, they will either leave the corpse of the human they took, or turn to dust. Intel has told us that the demon itself ends up back in hell to either be sent back here or banished to the depths where it won’t see the light of day for centuries.”