Jake's story, ch 3

The horizon seemed to turn.  One moment Jake and his team had been on earth, and the next, the sky was dark, with a chill wind.  There was barely enough light to see by, but it was red-hued, and shadows moved in the distance.  The air smelled awful, like a mix of smoke, sulfur, and rot.

Jake’s palm hit the ground as his stomach flip-flopped and his senses reeled. All around him, others were also being affected by the change.  One woman was even on the ground having a seizure.

There were dozens of vehicles nearby, and at least several hundred people scattered as far as Jake could see.  Weapons were firing in several places, and someone was screaming, wailing in agony toward the front of the convo.  Wind howled between vehicles and over the grass.

“What the--” screamed Main, but she was cut off as a huge, glowing figure rose into the sky.  Jake recognized the demonic thing that had been at the top of the pyramid.  

Then the monster spoke in English.  “Welcome to another dimension!  You have been claimed as sacrifices for our grand work.  I am priest Narihal, and I welcome you to your new, final resting place!  Since despair tastes so sweet, I will inform you that yes, your world now has another spacial rift, what you call an s-tear.  In fact, you helped create it when you acted the part of sacrifices!  But the one you helped create is to this realm, not the vulgar beachhead established earlier on your world.  But the truly great news is that this is not the only new spacial rift on your world!

“Your pitiful race has lost the last of its protection!  This creation you have been a part of, bringing our realm to your planet, is only one of several taking place at this very moment!  Soon, the struggle over the bones of your world will only be amongst your betters, and your species will be extinct!”

The baboon-faced, lizard-bodied creature grinned, its eyes shining with evil, then the image faded.  After that, all hell broke loose.

As magical attacks bloomed, automatic weapons fired, and vehicles caught fire, Jake realized that this really was what had happened in Mexico all over again.  It looked like a part of Earth had been transported to another dimension, and a corresponding patch of this world, probably full of monsters or demons, had been sent to earth along with a portal.

The magical projection of the demon taunting them earlier had lit up the area, but when it’d dissappeared, it’d only left spark behind in the sky and they were fading fast.  The area was growing darker by the minute.

“Should we go back to the vehicle?” shouted Miller.

“No!  We need to bug out!” answered Jake.  “Most of the vehicles look like they’re hexed anyway!”  He pointed at one that was sparking with red magic.

An engine coughed in the distance, proving that at least some of the vehicles still worked.  Then about two hundred yards away, someone took off in an armored personnel carrier to escape.  When almost a solid wall of demons rushed forward from the shadows outside the transported Ohio soil--a large number of them focused on the moving vehicle, and it was ripped apart almost instantly.

“Shit shit shit!” screamed Brast.

Jake narrowed his eyes and made a decision.  “Team, grab packs and supplies if you can, but we are leaving in five second.  You, other team,” he said, pointing at one of the unfamiliar adventurers.”  What is your name and rank?

“C rank team.  We’re called the Land Sharks,” said the man with the mustache.

Jake said, “You can go your own way, or support us.  We’re the Grasshopper Mice.  If you’re with us, form a second wedge following ours.”

“We’re in,” said the man with a nod.  “I’m Smith.  There’s no time to measure dicks over leadership, so we’ll follow as long as you’re not being a dumbass.”

“Okay Smith, I’m Jake.  let’s keep our heads on straight and watch our sectors of fire.  You know what I mean?”  As he spoke, Jake drew his Glock.

“You got it.”  Smith signaled to his team, three other people.  “We’re with them for now,” he said.  They all nodded.

True to his word, Jake gave the order to move out only seconds later.  Their surroundings were dark, and only lit up with gunfire, magical attacks, or in one case, someone being thrown through the air who’d been set on fire first.  Jake gritted his teeth, trying to keep a calm head.  To stay still, to not act would result in death.  He didn’t have time to freak out right now.  The reality was he was in a new world, surrounded by enemies, probably doomed, but dammit, he wasn’t ready to give up yet!

Everything seemed to go relatively well at first.  Jake led both teams across the transported farmland, knowing that in order to survive, they needed to get the hell out of the immediate area.  It seemed demons were rushing the fields, making sport of slaughtering the surviving humans.  People were fighting back, but doing so made them stand out and become bigger targets.  Any loud or flashy fighting seemed to be attracting the roving demons.

As soon as Jake realized that making too much noise could kill everyone, he put his pistol away.  Miller had reluctantly slung his rifle and drawn his crossbow as the rest of the team prepared for stealthy combat as well.  All the other surviving humans must have figured this out as well.  Even the distant soldiers had stopped firing and the entire area had grown eerily quiet, with only the wind and the odd scream for punctuation.

Visibility was terrible now, but breaking out flashlights was not an option.

At first, the Grasshopper Mice stayed together, managing to kill or evade the lone monsters that ran out of the darkness.  Most of the creatures that attacked were demonic--all chitin, blades, claws, and teeth.  Luckily, all the attacking monsters had been around rank D or even F so far, and most had seemed to be some sort of hell hounds.  Canine monsters were usually easier for experienced adventurers to kill.  Jake flash stepped to lop off heads with his saber, and Landry used his great physical might to crush skulls and break necks with his bare hands.

Landry was taking point, and Jake was positioned to one side, spread out in a classic military wedge formation.  The sky continued to glow a sullen red, but clouds were rolling in, and visibility just kept getting worse.  Jake kept his saber ready, and was using his chi to sharpen his senses and fill his body with energy.  This was not the time to conserve power.

Everyone was quiet, using hand signals to communicate as best they could.  Every command had to be passed back one at a time since each member of both teams could only see one or two others at any given time.  As he passed back a sign that Lanry might have spotted movement to the right, Jake kept careful watch, staying focused in a way he’d learned long ago.  All survivors of the Purple Rain could do this, compartmentalize emotions.  Anyone back on earth who fell apart from stress, or couldn’t deal with danger had either died or found a life they could live with a long time ago.  

Jake and his team were all survivors.  In fact, everyone still alive now after being transported were likely not the most powerful warriors on earth, but weren’t slouches, either.

Professional soldiers and adventurers these days had to be tough or they wouldn’t have survived this long.  Deep down, Jake knew he should be in the fetal position, pissing on himself.  He was still scared, but he was keeping it together, and another emotion was warring with the fear in his heart.

Anger.

Jake hated monsters, and the talking kind, or previously-human kind were always infuriating.  Demons were the absolutely worst.  Demons enjoyed inflicting pain and being pricks just for the hell of it.

Laughter floated across the crimson darkness, and Jake’s shoulders crawled.  There was something out there, hunting.  He felt vibrations through his boots, too, like something big was coming.

“Do you feel that?” whispered Brast, and Jake nearly jumped out of his skin.  She’d used her magic to project her voice to the teams’ ears.

Jake touched his throat and borrowed Brast’s magic to hiss back to the entire team, “Yes!  Stay frosty.”

A couple minutes later, the area behind them, where they’d come from lit up all at once as multiple teams opened fire or used magic.  Fiery explosions pushed back the darkness enough to get a good look around, and Jake cursed.

They were surrounded.

A looming monster, some sort of knobby-skinned, clawed thing stood to one side where it’d been motionlessly watching them.  After the area lit up, one long, clawed hand reached out and grabbed a Land Shark.  She screamed in terror.  The hand was so big it’s wrapped almost around the Land Shark adventurer’s entire body.  She screamed until her head was bitten off.

“Kyrkos!” yelled Smith.  The mustached man pointed a wand and an explosion erupted on the monster’s flank.  At the same time, the remaining two members of the Land Sharks also attacked, one with a bow and one with a sub machine gun.

This is it, thought Jake.  The monsters planned this last assault.  His suspicions seemed confirmed when more laughter wafted through the darkness from two directions.  “Attack!” he yelled.

Miller’s crossbow twanged as Brast threw explosive seeds that detonated like hundreds of tiny grenades.  Main swung her hand and a blade of air slashed forward.  Jake drew and fired his Glock.  All of the attacks combined did some damage and the big demon staggered backwards, but then surged back forward and its long, taloned hands reached out to grab two more Land sharks.  The thing gurgled in pleasure as it bit them in half.

“Shit!” Brast threw more exploding seeds, but they barely did any damage.  Instead, her attack just seemed to catch the monster’s attention.  At that moment, another hellhound ran out of the darkness, and Jake danced aside before cutting its head in half.  The Grasshopper Mice could manage hellhounds, but they didn’t have enough fire power for the huge creature chewing on adventurers.

“Run!” ordered Jake, and led by example, taking off in the general direction he thought was away from the center of the area that had been transported.  His ears told him that his team and Smith were all following.  Smith had begun crying.  Rumbling footsteps began following them.  When the man’s crying abruptly ceased, Jake looked back to see the big, warty monster pushing the screaming adventurer into its mouth.

Landry abruptly turned, running directly for the creatures.  “You all go!  I got this!”  The big man flashed a grin over his shoulder and shouted, “You all were holding me back anyway!  I’m gonna go solo!  Fuck off!”  After that he whooped, and his entire body was covered in a purple aura before he launched himself at the giant demon.

His fist connected, and he began fighting the thing without a care for the damage he was taking, trying to push it back.  Landry was strong, especially for his rank, but Jake knew the man wouldn’t survive longer than a few more minutes.

Main sent back a blade of air that didn’t connect with anything and shrieked, “No!”

“I always called him a asshole,” choked Brast.  “The fucking asshole is a hero.”  She was beginning to lose her composure, and as they ran, she faltered.  Jake stopped to help her, and a second after he did, a giant hand swept through the darkness where he otherwise would have been standing.

Miller wasn’t so lucky.  The sharpshooter managed to get off a bolt from his crossbow right before he was torn apart.  His projectile had been a fire bolt that sparked to life, the light traveling upward as something straightened, eventually providing illumination.

There were a few more large monsters now, and they all looked different from one another.  None were as big as the knobby thing that Landry had stopped to hold off, but they were all at least seven feet tall, with big teeth and throbbing muscles.  With a sinking feeling, Jake realized that these things really were demons, a type of infernal monster that was tougher than most others.  The creatures pounced forward, and one grabbed hold of Brast as another took off Main’s arm at the elbow before delicately licking the blood.

Main screamed and frantically darted away, using her wind magic to gather speed.  Most of the demons took off after her, hooting or growling in pleasure, and began fighting amongst each other, turning the chase into a savage game.  One came up from the dog pile with a leg in its mouth.

Jake used flash step, zigging and zagging away from the monsters, but they were all fast, and even more were coming.  This was an entire world full of demons.  He managed to lop one’s head off before barely avoiding another with a flash step, but tripped as he came down from the burst of speed.

He rolled across the alien ground, but spotted a large crack even as his world spun.  Thinking quickly, he rolled faster before shimmying into the fissure.  Then he tried to get his breathing under control and stayed as still as he could.

He watched in horror as more shadows passed over his position, sometimes followed by screams.  Everyone was dying.  He was the last surviving member of the Grasshopper Mice.  Jake wanted to grieve, felt his heart breaking, but he just didn’t have time to deal with it yet.

His hiding place was cramped, but he managed to get glimpses of flashing light during magical explosions or increasingly rare gun fire.  There was a small tunnel leading downward from his hiding place, barely big enough to squeeze through, and he finally screwed up his courage to take a chance.  He forced himself through the hole in case one of the giants overhead happened to look down or smell him.  

As it was, he’d been just in time, right before a huge hand thrust into his former hiding place, poking around.

After that, there was no choice but to keep moving, crawling deeper into the ground before he finally found a cave large enough to lie down in.  Then Jake cried himself to sleep, feeling depths of despair and guilt that he could have never even imagined before.