SNAFU: Heroes: An Anthology of Military Horror

The demon made no move to avoid the flames. In fact, it seemed to Duncan that it actually leaned into them instead, and soon the smell of cooked flesh joined those that already occupied the cavern. Duncan kept it up until the tank all but ran dry, and then cut off the flames.

With horror he saw that the demon had not moved from its perch; had not, in fact, been damaged by the flames at all. It stared down in what he could only image was utter contempt and then began to move across the ceiling toward the tunnel through which they’d entered.

“Don’t let it get away!” Cade shouted and the Templars opened up with everything they had. Duncan tried firing his flamethrower again, getting a few weak spouts, while Riley and Olsen switched to their firearms, the boom of the former’s combat shotgun like exclamation points to the staccato chatter of the latter’s sub machine gun.

The demon shrugged off every bit of the attack, scurrying forward as if the men weren’t even in the room. In moments it would reach the entrance and, shortly after that, emerge into the outside world.

What were they going to do?

* * *

Cade watched this all unfold with genuine fear in his heart. He knew that if the demon united itself with its drones and disappeared into the surrounding forest, they’d never catch the thing. By the time they did it would be too late; it would have consumed enough souls and enriched its store of power so much that they would have to throw the might of armies at it to put an end to the horror.

He had to make do with himself and his three men.

And what good could they do, he asked himself as the demon reached the halfway point to the tunnel mouth. From the way it flickered in and out of sight almost as fast as he could blink, he could only imagine that the part of it that could truly be harmed was not in this dimension but in some other dimension beyond.

Still, his men would not quit. Cade watched Duncan’s flamethrower sputter and run dry, watched him unclick the straps that held it to his back and draw his sword, intending to chase after the creature, as much a member of his squad as Riley and Olsen, men who had been with him since he’d taken control of Echo. The blade of Duncan’s sword caught the light from his headlamp, reflecting it in a momentary beam of brilliant glory, even as Riley and Olsen drew their weapons as well.

Cade reached for his sword, intending to join them and fight to the last right there with them, when it suddenly clicked.

The demon’s flickering movement in and out of this plane.

The dazzling sparks of light glinting off the blessed blades.

Blades passed down from the Holy Father himself, blades that, unlike most other earthly weapons, were effective in both this world and the next.

... even in the Beyond…

“On me!” Cade cried, as he drew his weapon and rushed forward as fast as his feet would carry him, leaping over corpses and the remains of such, racing against time and hope to beat the creature to the entrance to the cavern while his men converged around him in a protective formation designed to help him reach his destination no matter the cost.

Luckily, the demon had already dismissed them as being unable to harm it and it paid them no mind as it made its leisurely way toward the entrance.

Cade got their first.

As one the Templar turned to face the oncoming creature.

Finally, the demon noted their unwillingness to surrender when it was not only more prudent but convenient and it intended to make them pay for their transgressions.

A cracking-crunching sound filled the air and multiple legs burst outward from the thing’s torso, spider-like and covered in dark, damp hair, allowing it to swing partially down from the ceiling to engage the man who dared defy it.

Cade waited until the last second, glanced down at the pool of fresh blood on the floor in front of them, blood that reflected the light from the headlamp he wore and for a split second became a sort of reflecting pool.

Without hesitation, Cade stepped into that pool, into that reflection, and slipped the bonds between this world and the next to enter the Beyond.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The demon hung there before him, just as he’d known it would, its true form impossible to hide in the mists and phantom eddies of the beyond.

The multi-eyed, multi-legged creature didn’t resemble anything particularly earthly and so Cade had a hard time looking at it, his mind constantly trying to fill in the blanks of what wasn’t there and driving himself slowly mad in the process.

He had not left the world of the living and the people it contained behind to replace them with a world full of creatures like this one.

It was time to finish the job.