Hell On Earth (Book 6): Rebirth

by Wright, Iain Rob

  One of Thomas’s men pointed at the old man’s headless corpse. “She just executed our leader.”

  “He might be your leader,” said Maddy, “but he was never mine.”

  “Mine neither,” said Mass, nodding at his friend. It was good to see her.

  “Or mine,” said Tosco.

  “There’s no time to fight each other,” said Smithy. “Can’t we just get along. For the love of all that’s holy?”

  Wanstead stomped a foot. “With Thomas out of the picture, I am the commanding officer in Portsmouth. I order everyone to focus solely on the only thing that matters right now – defending the walls and preventing our extinction. Leave your grievances aside and get to it. Now!”

  Many of the men scattered, seemingly glad to escape the tense situation. More people were coming through the gate. They nearly all lacked weapons.

  Wanstead moved in front of Mass. “I will leave you with these newcomers as you seem to know them. Do whatever you can, I beg you.”

  “I’ll do what I can. Good luck, Colonel.”

  Wanstead took off, leaving Mass with his Urban Vampires and the people from the gate. They were a right mix. Although there were a few dozen fit, young fighters, most were children or the elderly, the wounded and weak. Now that he looked at them, he saw burdens instead of reinforcements. “These people can’t fight.”

  “Speak for yowself,” said a small man in the crowd. His face was almost completely covered in thick black hair.

  “Some of us can fight,” said Maddy. “The others are who we are fighting for. If we have any chance of surviving as a species, these children need to live.”

  Mass nodded.

  Smithy pulled a face at a little girl, but he stopped when Addy elbowed him in the ribs. Mass shook his head and sighed. Seeing the immediate effect the children had on those around them, even during a siege, made him realise that Maddy was right. A world without children was no world at all.

  “Okay,” said Mass, “we’ll keep these children safe. Cullen, you and your team are on permanent guard duty. Protect them with your lives.”

  Cullen was likely unhappy receiving babysitting duties, but he nodded all the same. “Nothing’ll get past us, I promise.”

  Maddy squeezed Mass’s biceps. “It’s good to see you, Mass. Still working out, I see.”

  He chuckled. “Just getting up in the morning is a workout lately. It’s good to see you too, Maddy. Shall we go and kill some demons?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Maddy couldn’t believe how much things had changed in the time she’d been away. Portsmouth was under siege and half its inhabitants were dead, led to slaughter by Thomas. At least the bastard was dead now.

  And at my hand. How do I feel about that?

  And she couldn’t believe Thomas had been the very first person she’d seen after stepping through the gate. She’d been floating in a void, unable to see anyone or anything for so long that she feared it would never end. Then the world had come rushing back and she was staring at the man who had killed her lover. It was like nothing else existed but anger, and she’d been unable to stop herself from doing anything except taking a step forward and shooting Thomas in the face. It was too fine a gift to ignore.

  She was glad Thomas was dead, but it didn’t bring back any of the people she’d lost. That was why it was so good to see Mass and Addy again. Portsmouth had changed, but there were still plenty of familiar faces. It was her home and she would fight for it.

  Now, atop a firing platform on the east wall, she unleashed round after round at the incoming hordes. She had survived countless battles but had never encountered anything like this. The sheer number of demons racing through the ruined city was demoralising; she could see it on the faces of all those around her. No one expected to win. They were fighting only because there was no other choice. There would be no prisoners of war, no signing of peace treaties. This was a war of extermination, and you fought until you died, not just for yourself but for anyone who managed to survive longer than you.

  She had to be careful not to hit Sorrow with her shots, for the large demon had scaled the walls to go and fight amongst the enemy outside. He tore apart all those around him, dispatching demons with unparalleled ease. He even seemed to be enjoying himself. Scarlett was atop the wall, firing a handgun, but her focus was only on Sorrow. It was clear that she was worried about losing her friend and protector.

  There must have been a thousand demons or more attacking the walls by now. Machine-gun fire and a line of wrecked vehicles parked end to end were the only things keeping them at bay. It wouldn’t hold them back forever though.

  “I didn’t think it would get this bad,” said Tosco. “I tried to call in the boats, but they aren’t recognising my authority.”

  Maddy cursed. “Then let’s hope Wanstead makes good use of them.”

  Tosco’s radio hissed. He frowned at Maddy and held it up so that both of them could hear.

  “Maddy? Fräulein, are you there?”

  “Klein? Yes, I’m here.”

  “It’s good to hear your voice, ja? I understand that the other boat captains refuse to accept Commander Tosco’s orders.”

  Maddy looked at Tosco, who was listening intently. “Looks like he’s going to have to wait to have his privileges reinstated.”

  “Ja, vell, I vish to inform you that my vessel is ready and awaiting your orders.”

  Maddy was taken aback. “You don’t accept orders from anyone, Klein.”

  “Nein, but I am villing to take suggestions from a friend. What do you need, fräulein?”

  “We need it to rain,” said Tosco. “Do you have plotting for the area west of the main wall?”

  There was a brief crackle of static before Klein replied. “I could drop a bomb down ze toilet anywhere in the city. Hold on to your bottoms, ja?”

  Tosco shouted for everyone to take cover.

  Ten seconds later, a whooshing sound cut across the din. Two seconds after that the world lit up, flames rising upwards and ripping apart the dusky sky. Three huge explosions. Three seconds more and it began to rain masonry and demon body parts. A few people got struck on the shoulders and back, knocking the wind out of them, but when Maddy pulled herself back above the walls, she saw that the minor losses were worth it.

  The area outside the walls had become a crater, reaching right up to the edge of the wall where they were taking cover. A few feet closer and the wall would have been blown to smithereens. Klein could not have been more accurate. Where a thousand demons had been attacking the walls, there was now only a blackened pit of char. It was impossible to make any of the corpses out.

  The radio hissed again. “I can do zat only von more time and zen I have only nuclear warheads. Trust me ven I say you do not vant me to send those.”

  Maddy put her mouth closer to Tosco’s radio so that the German commander could hear her over Portsmouth’s triumphant cheers. “It’s taken you long enough to get involved, Klein, but thank you.”

  “And it took you long enough to handle Thomas, but all ends zat is vell, ja? Good luck, fräulein. I hope we can play poker with our friends again soon.”

  “I’ll be happy to take your money. Thank you again, Klein.”

  “Auf wiedersehen for now.”

  Maddy looked back over the walls at the massive black crater. Maybe they had a chance.

  Mass, Smithy, and Addy looked at one another in shock. The devastation beyond the walls was absolute. The massive crater had swallowed everything in its midst, a massive swath of demons.

  “That was insane,” said Smithy. “The demons are all gone.”

  “Wanstead must have called in the boats,” said Addy, “but I didn’t think we had anything like that.”

  Mass didn’t know much about boats, but the pure destruction gobsmacked him, and he couldn’t believe that mankind had originally built such weapons to kill other humans. They’d been on a bad path, but it was certainly helpful to harne
ss such forces against the demons now. Screw the power of Heaven, mankind had powers of its own.

  But it won’t be enough.

  More will come. This isn’t over.

  “Yow got any more of whatever that was?” asked the small man who had arrived with Maddy through the gate.

  Mass looked down at Frank and shrugged. “I have no idea. Let’s hope so.”

  “I’m Frank. Pleased to meet yow.”

  “Mass. Thanks for your help.”

  “What kind of a name is Mass?”

  “A nickname.”

  Frank rolled his eyes slightly, but it was more a humorous jest than an insult. “Yow a cockney, aye? Who’d yow support?”

  “Crystal Palace.”

  “Ha, my condolences.”

  “And who do you support?”

  Frank did a little hop on the spot. “Boing, boing. West Brom all the way, mucker.”

  Mass chuckled. “Then my condolences to you too.”

  Smithy put a hand on Mass’s back and got his attention. “There’re more coming.”

  “Lots more,” said Addy, her eyes narrowed and determined.

  At the far edges of the crater, a new wave of demons began to form. The sheer destruction had caused them to hesitate, but none had turned away. In the distance, Crimolok strode through the ruins, pulling down buildings and crushing everything in its way. The barriers constructed across the main roads were brushed apart as the giant beast marched straight through them. Hordes of demons followed in its wake.

  From the military docks, howitzers punted shells into the air. They hit the ground around Crimolok, obliterating demons but doing no harm to their master. The giant beast strode through the flames unimpeded.

  Frank growled. “Another one of the big bastards. Quite the specimen.”

  “It’s Crimolok,” said Mass. “He’s the one responsible for all of this. We kill him and this ends. Problem is, he can’t be killed.”

  Frank frowned. “Yow need to close his gate. All the big ones have gates attached to ’em. It’s what makes ’em invincible.”

  “Not this one. The only way to kill Crimolok is to destroy Hell itself. It’ll take something a little more powerful than what we just saw to achieve that.”

  “How d’yow know that?”

  “An angel told me.”

  “Bugger.”

  Smithy chuckled. “Yeah, mate, bugger. You could have met the guy, but he died on the bus getting here.”

  “We didn’t have any angels on our team, but we do have a pet devil.” A look of horror crossed Frank’s face. “Shite! Sorrow was out there when them bombs landed. Does anybody see him?”

  Everybody looked, but no one could see the big demon with the jet-black wings. He’d been right out there amongst the enemy, but there was no sign of him now.

  Frank shook his head, genuine grief in his expression. “Goddamn friendly fire. We might have wiped out a thousand demons, but he was worth more than that. Damn, what are we going to do?”

  Mass thought about what Rick had told him. “Crimolok came through a giant gate. If I can reach it, I can close it. Maybe it’ll change things in our favour.” He didn’t tell them that it would achieve nothing but trapping Crimolok here and pissing him off. They didn’t need to lose hope. Hope was the only thing that had kept them alive this far.

  The howitzers fired again, and this time one of the shells struck Crimolok directly in the chest. It knocked the giant backwards, and he almost fell down, but then he continued his unrelenting march.

  “That hurt it,” said Frank, hopping. “It almost fell.”

  Mass shook his head. “It was nothing but a hard shove. Not enough.”

  “We need to hit it again with the big guns on the boats,” said Addy. “Maybe it won’t be invincible if we hit it with something hard enough.”

  Mass aimed his shotgun at the blackened crater, ready to take on the next wave of demons to cross the halfway point. The devastation was truly incredible. Maybe Addy was right. Maybe enough force could hurt Crimolok.

  Mass turned to Addy. “Give me your radio.”

  She handed it over.

  Mass put out a call on all frequencies. “Whoever just levelled the city outside the walls, I need you to do it again. The enemy’s leader is a mile out from us, right next to Buckland Park. If you have any more of those big bombs left, I need you to drop ’em right now. Anyone else with things that go boom can help too. We need to level Buckland Park right now.”

  The radio hissed. “The big bombs vere mine. I have only ze one more left. Who am I speaking to?”

  “Mass. Leader of the Urban Vampires.”

  “Ah, you are alive. That is good. What about my good friend Tony?”

  Mass sighed. “Your guess is as good as mine. Wherever he is, I hope he’s still kicking.”

  Another voice came on the line. It was Maddy. “Do what he says, Klein. Drop your other bomb.”

  There was a slight pause, and then Klein replied, “Affirmative.”

  Several more voices came over the airwaves, various boat commanders willing to fire their guns as well. They were going to drop everything they had left on the park Crimolok was currently passing through. If they hit it fast enough, and hard enough, they might make a big enough dent. Nothing could be truly invincible – not even an angel.

  The final voice on the line was Wanstead. “Everybody pray,” said the colonel. “This might be the best shot we get.”

  Overhead, missiles and mortars crossed the darkening sky.

  Damien stood on the walls a few dozen metres from where Maddy and Commander Tosco were standing. Harry and Steph stood with him, along with Nancy and Scarlett. Scarlett was sobbing. Sorrow was gone. Nancy, the only mother amongst them, was trying to comfort the girl. Harry and Steph held long-range rifles and were putting them to use on the first wave of demons passing through the bomb crater. Overhead, missiles whistled towards the massive demon moving through a park a mile away. Damien spoke to himself. “Die, you bastard. Please, just die.”

  The first of the missiles struck the main road beside the park. It engulfed the area in flames. Another explosion tossed up mud and grass from the park itself, as well as demons. Then a line of fire tore through the entire area, consuming everything in its path. Within seconds there was nothing left of the park or anything immediately around it. The resulting fires burned out quickly, leaving behind another massive, char-blackened crater. Several hundred demons disappeared in a flash.

  The giant demon was also gone.

  There was a brief pause before the men and women of Portsmouth let out a triumphant roar. The wooden scaffolds and platforms shook under their stomping boots, and wolf-whistles pierced the air. Damien had never heard anything like it. “It’s gone,” he said to himself. “We killed it.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” said a stranger to his left.

  Damien didn’t know who would be so negative at such a triumphant time, but he was stunned into silence when he turned to give a reply. He was staring at an image of himself – albeit a far more thuggish version.

  His doppelgänger chuckled. “Don’t shit yourself, we’re on the same side. It’s nice to finally meet one of us. I think you’re probably the last. We tend to get caught up in things. Such is the life of a path walker.”

  Damien recovered his wits. “You’re a path walker too? We’re connected?”

  “So you know?”

  Damien nodded. “There used to be a lot of us, right, acting like pegs and keeping the tapestry in place?”

  The thuggish Damien nodded. “Keeping it from unravelling, I guess. Without us, and the connection between our shared souls, the different strands would drift away from each other. The only reason people make it to Heaven or Hell is because of us, and what thanks do we get for it?”

  “Am I really the only one left?”

  “On this world, for sure. I was the last path walker left on mine, but it got eaten up by the dead. I joined team Lucifer for a while,
trying to lend a hand where I could, but he’s gone AWOL and I’m stuck here. I’ve been hoping you can help me find a way back to the tapestry. There’s nothing else to be done here. It’s over.”

  “It can’t be. No, I don’t believe it.”

  The thuggish Damien shook his head sadly, making the exact same expression that Damien would. “Crimolok’s power comes from Hell. There’s no way to harm him here. That’s why I want out, and you should come with me. We can head to another world and take up the fight somewhere there’s still a chance. Crimolok is close to challenging God himself. He’s going to need all the troops he can get. I can’t open portals like you can, but—”

  Damien glanced at Nancy, and at Scarlett and the others. “I’m not abandoning these people. Nothing is impossible. We’ll find a way to save this world.”

  “That’s what I thought about my own home. Come on, help a brother out.”

  “We’re not brothers.”

  “Then what are we?”

  Damien huffed. “Very different people apparently. I’m not helping you run out on us. You want to survive, then fight with the rest of us.”

  The other Damien scowled. “I guess you had a nicer life than I did, if you still believe in fairy tales. You can’t win this. Look!”

  Damien stared off into the distance, struggling to see as clearly now that night was rapidly falling and the air was filled with dust. The charred crater began to tremble. From beneath the blackened earth, something emerged. Crimolok rose, unharmed, unhurt, and undeterred.

  “Still want to stick around?” asked the other Damien.

  “I’d rather die fighting than run. You can do what you want, but if you and I really are part of the same soul, then I know you will stand and fight with us. What other choice do you have?”

  “Maybe I’ll go find the giant gate twenty miles from here and pass through it into Hell. It’ll beat whatever becomes of this place.”

  “Then go do it.”

  The other Damien huffed. “I can’t. I learned a lot of things from my old boss Lucifer, but one thing he made very clear to me is that path walkers can never pass through a gate not created by themselves or other path walkers.”