Doomsday

4. Clone Wars-1

JON

Jon checked the magazine of his Glock 9mm, then slapped it back in place and holstered the weapon. Were the three extra mags in his back pocket enough for what they faced? He also had Kelly’s g*n that used the same ammo. He wasn’t crazy about firing automatic weapons and had little interest in Kelly’s HK416. Jon practiced so much with the Sword that he rarely took time to train with guns. Would he regret that sometime? It seemed everybody else could outshoot him on any day of the week; holding a machine g*n made him feel nervous rather than confident.

Although he couldn’t use Devil’s Bite against demons in human form without risking being blown to pieces, he kept it strapped to his back in the scabbard. At the bottom of the stairs, he got an idea and raced back up to his bedroom, where he grabbed the Doomsday Shroud out of his dresser drawer. He found Travis and handed Kelly’s g*n to him, along with the ammo magazines.

Devil’s Bite“You shoot better than me. Or give it to Chris, I don’t care.”

Travis noticed the Shroud. “You’ve got a plan.”

Jon winked. “Be careful, little bro.”

Jon descended the stairs two at a time, opened the sliding glass door, and burst onto the deck. He promptly slammed into Joey Petulla’s broad chest and landed hard on his butt. He might as well have run into a brick wall. Stunned, he looked up.

Joey, Lindsey’s boyfriend, stood six-feet-six inches tall and weighed around 280 pounds. He was an offensive lineman on the University football team, and as Jon had just discovered, the young man was as solid as a rock.

“Sorry, dude,” said Joey. “Didn’t see you coming.” He reached down and pulled Jon back to his feet. Joey was as kind and helpful as he was big. “You okay?”

Jon blinked in surprise. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“What’s going on?” asked Joey. “Who’s doing all the shooting?”

“Demon-humans,” said Jon. “They’re after Granny and Parrish. Where’s Lindsey?”

“We don’t have guns. I told her to stay in the apartment, but I want to help.”

Jon looked up at the young man and thought for a moment. “You shoot, right?”

“I hunt, I use a shotgun. But I can shoot handguns, too. My dad taught me.”

Jon removed his holster and gave the g*n to Joey. He also took the three extra mags from his pocket and passed them over.

“What are you going to use?” asked Joey.

youJon turned slightly. Devil’s Bite’s scabbard was on the outside of his red-and-blue T-shirt.

Devil’s Bite’s“You can’t use that on demon-humans, Jon,” said Lindsey from the doorway to her basement apartment.

Jon nodded, studying the backyard. “We could use a walkway on this side of the wall, you know? To look down on those creeps shooting at Granny and Parrish.”

“Chris has two stepladders in the garage,” said Lindsey. “Do we have any boards?”

Jon shook his head. “The ladders will have to do. Joey, can you get them?”

“I’ll get them.” Lindsey didn’t ask permission or even wait for them to respond. She disappeared into the apartment and ran upstairs.

I’ll“That’s a good idea,” said Joey. “You say they’re on the other side of the wall?”

Even as he spoke, more gunshots erupted from above the garage. Joey ran out into the yard and saw Chris on the roof exchanging fire with somebody out front.

“It’s Mr. McCormick,” he said, pointing. “What the hell?”

“They’re not attacking us, but we’re trying to help.” Jon nodded toward the rear wall. “Give me a boost?”

Jon stood with Joey at the back corner of the brick wall that was eight feet tall with razor wire on top all the way around. Joey intertwined his fingers to make a stirrup with his hands and leaned down. “Here.”

Jon stepped into his hands and felt Joey’s incredible strength as the big man easily lifted him to the top of the wall. Jon was careful to avoid the razor wire as he leaned over the edge and looked below. To his left, toward the other house, stood one of the male demon-humans taking potshots at Parrish’s back door. Nobody else was back there, so Jon nodded to Joey, who lowered him.

“There’s one on that corner,” said Jon. “Lift me again right above him, I think I can take him.”

Joey nodded. “What’s your plan?”

Jon unfolded the Doomsday Shroud and shook it out. “If I can drop the Shroud on him, he won’t look human anymore. Then I can use the Sword.”

“Don’t miss.”

Joey lifted him again, but this time Jon put one foot on top of the wall, being careful to avoid the razor wire. He was glad Angie had made the wall two-foot thick, so he wasn’t doing a balancing act. He looked down and saw a bearded man standing next to a backpack that was overstuffed with ammo. The guy took random shots at the rear door and windows of Parrish’s place. The new brick veneer had taken a beating, most of it, from that one shooter. Bullet scars were everywhere, and the one window had broken under the stress of too many shots.

Jon rose, stepping around the razor wire. He leaned over the man, spread out the Shroud, and jumped off the wall.

He landed with his knees on the man’s shoulders. The force flattened the guy to his face.

“Oof!” was all the demon-human could say.

Jon tossed the Shroud over the shooter and backed away. The man shuddered spastically under the pitch-black cloth, and when he stopped moving, Jon yanked the Shroud off of him. A green and black demon lay on the grass, looking up in confusion. It had the muzzle of a hyena and seven identical red eyes. It saw Jon and hissed.

“Hated One!” Then it screamed and disintegrated into a fine black dust in the sunlight.

Jon had planned to use the Sword on the demon, but now he realized there wasn’t any need, even on a cloudy day like this. Once the Shroud changed them back into demons, the sun did the rest. Perfect.

“Hated One!” The rasping voice came from behind him. Jon turned in surprise. A woman demon-human approached him from the other end of the back wall. Jon gulped. He wasn’t wearing body armor, and the Sword was still in the scabbard. Jon thought to dive out of the way and run into the trees behind the property, but at this range she couldn’t miss. Not with an AK47. She raised her weapon.

Pop! Pop-Pop!

Pop! Pop-Pop!Jon looked up in surprise. Joey leaned over the wall with the Glock and shot the demon-woman in the head and shoulders. She dropped the AK47 and fell to the ground, dead for now.

Jon swallowed hard. “You saved my butt! How did you get up there?”

“The ladder Lindsey got.”

“You both saved my butt. Sweet.” Jon ran to the dead demon and threw the Shroud over her. Even while dead, the demon’s body shuddered when the black cloth contacted its skin. He removed the Shroud to reveal one of the ugliest smaller demons he’d seen yet. This one had red and green scabs all over its face and body. Its skin seemed to ooze some yellow oily stuff that ran over its torso like a liquid disease. The creature’s mouth was wide and full of finger-length teeth.

“Hot damn!” cried Joey from the top of the wall. “It works!”

The demon lay in the wall’s shade and didn’t disintegrate from the sunlight. That was okay with Jon.

“Watch this.” He took out Devil’s Bite and pricked the dead demon on the arm. Moments later, it disintegrated into dust, similar to the way the sun had destroyed the first one. Jon was used to it by now, but it still made him wonder why demons had that weakness.

Devil’s Bite“My first demon! This is so cool!” Joey shook his head in wonder, then spoke over his shoulder. “Lindsey, Jon just fried a demon with his Sword!”

“He’s good like that,” said Lindsey from the other side of the wall.

“That’s awesome!” Joey stood on the wall full of excitement and battle fever.

Three demon-humans armed with AK-47s appeared at the corner. They heard Joey, looked up, and opened fire on him. Joey jumped out of sight on the other side of the wall. Then the demons saw Jon.

“Hated One!” All three demons cried out at once in three different accents. They aimed their guns and laughed.

Jon raised Devil’s Bite and ducked his head. Dammit! Would the Sword protect him like it had in the cave? Or did he have to do something to it to make that happen? He didn’t know, but he wished his amazing weapon had come with instructions.

Devil’s BiteA moment later, the demon-humans shot at him until they emptied their magazines.

TRAVIS

Travis watched out the front window in his bedroom to see what the demon-humans were doing. Some of them had hidden behind trees or next to Mr. Edwards’ car to shoot back at Chris, who kept them busy from the garage roof. Four dead bearded men and one woman lay scattered across Parrish’s front lawn, but there was still plenty of shooting going on. Travis had called 911 as soon as the shooting had started and told them what was happening, but the operator had assured him officers were already on the way because of a previous call. She took his name and address and told him to stay on the line. Travis left the phone on and tossed it on his bed. He didn’t have time to talk to people right now.

He heard footsteps on the front porch below his window. Because of the long porch roof, the view from his room had a major blind spot below him. Tuning in for random emotions, Travis picked up two new feelings of excitement and rage. They were close, too, directly below him. If Kelly had been there, she would have tried to read their minds to confirm if they were demons or not, but Travis had to assume they were.

“Dante!” he cried. “Somebody’s on the front porch!”

“I god id!” The old man had on his body armor and the same Kevlar riot helmet the FBI had given him in the cave last year when they’d gone in and rescued a couple hundred human slaves. Travis considered his own body armor and went to his closet to get it out. He slipped it over his shirt quickly and ran into the hallway at the top of the stairs.

Dante stepped into the foyer from the family room. “They’re pudding something on the door!”

Travis thought for a moment, then realized what it had to be. “Get away from the door! Fast!”

Dante’s eyes went big as he stepped back into the family room. He’d barely moved when a powerful explosion ripped through the front of the house. Travis ducked at the top of the stairs as fragments of bulletproof glass and metal flew into the house and up to the second floor in a cloud of smoke and dust. When everything cleared, Travis saw three bearded men burst into the house through the empty doorway. He shot one of them in the head. The demon-human dropped dead. The others sent automatic fire his way that filled the walls and ceiling in the stairwell with bullet holes.