[aldrnari]

Chapter 1

Zac jammed his foot onto the acceleration boost pad and his sky-board and regained control. Two wraithions whirled behind him in pursuit. The ghostly cloth-like beings with a brain for a head and no eyes were seemingly harmless but disgustingly powerful. He sharply turned his board to the side and sent two crystal explosives at the demons. They exploded in mid-air and the crystals released their shattering lights. The wraithions faded with shrill screams. Zac grinned slightly, pushed the acceleration pad once more, and leaned forward on the board as he sped back to camp.

Hayden ran through the abandoned streets and saw Zac’s sky-pad racing through the street ahead. Three prowlers scaled the walls around her and pounced, their jaws abnormally large and wide open. She drew her shotgun and gunned the open mouth of a prowler. She jumped and rolled and drew her longsword. It gleamed with technology and she sliced the skin of the second prowler, sending hundreds of volts surging through the demon’s body. Hayden took the shotgun once again and fired mercilessly at the final retreating demon.

Liselle dodged the lunges of the thrashers which continued to attack her. She threw knives which thumped into their targets. She fired her Pricklers in the intervals of the attacks. The machine pistols had deadly accuracy and she was using them at the best possible moments. In fifty shots, ten thrashers lay dead around her. She nudged one with her foot, turned on her heel, and sped towards the base.

Kieran stood on his hover-disc and sent bolts of lightning at the pesky prowlers. A prowler grabbed hold of his disc but he sent a blast of air, knocking the demon off and blasted it again with a bolt of lightning. He blew on his finger dramatically and grinned. Zac sped under him on his sky-board, followed by the panting Hayden and Liselle. Kieran shook his head and swooped down on his disc and lifted the two girls on board. Kieran looked over his shoulder momentarily and saw a horde of zombies stumbling across the street.

They reached the base and warned the small group of twenty about the zombies. The men and women lifted their guns and stood and crouched behind blocks and wreckage. The teenagers joined them at their posts. Kieran, a Vanquisher, a sorcerer of great power. Hayden and Liselle, twin Paladins, both blade and light weapon wielders. And Zac, a Demon Slayer, using the modern weapons and expertise to kill the demons he knows of. The zombies crawled past the corner and the firing started. Kieran rose into the air, power surging around him and threw bolts of lightning at the zombies. Liselle fired with two Pricklers and Hayden pounded the front lines with hails of bullets from her two small shotguns.

Zac stood in the open at bay, waiting for the zombies to come within range. The living were outnumbered by the brainless zombies but they were fighting well. The zombies drew closer still and Hayden and Liselle broke cover and drew their weapons. Liselle ran forwards with two long, serrated daggers and started slashing wildly. Hayden swung her broadsword slowly and powerfully, chopping away at multiple enemies.

The zombies were now in Zac’s range, and he pulled the trigger of his small HellFire. Flames spurted from the mouth of the pistol sized gun and quickly depleted from loss of fuel. Zac filled it quickly and fired again. The zombies dumbly ran around the crowd, only to spread the fire to their neighbors. Liselle and Hayden retreated with cover fire from their allies. Zac walked slowly, abandoning his flamethrower and drawing his deadly grenade launcher. He fired in to the midst of the zombies, quickly as he retreated. The grenades exploded as quickly as they’d come out of the gun. Kieran finished the remaining off with fireballs.

“Where the hell are these things coming from?” Zac asked, retrieving his HellFire.

“They’re all the bodies of the casualties for sure…but I didn’t know there were so many. And also that they were all in one piece,” replied an adult from the team.

“They’re so stupid, though. Why?”

The soldier shrugged. “If one wants to control many, one must make sacrifices.”

“That’s cheesy,” Zac snorted as he walked off.

Kieran had magnifying goggles over his head, carefully examining the amounts of demon magic left in his gauge.

“How does that thing work?” Hayden asked curiously.

“The gauge holds the magic from Hell which powers this baby,” Kieran mumbled, barely breathing. He lifted his finger and sent a spark at a gear.

“So…if it’s magic, why are you working so carefully?”

“Magic can do lots of things.”

“Ah…”

Zac checked to see if he’d damaged the Hellfire when he’d carelessly threw it and then refilled it with fuel. He packed five grenades (the number of grenades he’d used against the zombies) back into the launcher. He joined Liselle as she walked up to the leader of the team.

“We can’t stay here forever, Mr. Theophilus. The attacks are becoming more frequent,” she said.

“Don’t call me mister, Liselle. It makes me sound so formal. Just call me Theophilus, all right?” the leader laughed.

“You’re the leader of the squad, and Kieran’s dad. What other reason do we have?”

“Kiss up,” Zac muttered. Liselle glared at him.

“All right, you two. We’ll be moving along in a few days. Kieran’s got to have his hover disc fully operational. He’s lost his brake power from all the demons running around. And you, Zac, you’ve got to—wait. What’s that?” The leader swiveled round his head to see the zombies rising from their grave and ramming into each other.

“That’s just a little ‘aftertaste’ of the necromancy,” Kieran laughed. “It’ll end soon.”

But the zombies were melting together and creating a moving mass of flesh, crawling towards the team. The team gaped as the flesh mass throbbed into a flesh colossus, a fierce demon named Tyrage.

“Tyrage, what’re you doing here? I thought I sent you back to Hell or wherever it is you come from…like that necromancer’s ass, probably,” Theophilus called.

“Theophilus. I didn’t know that you’d come back so unequipped,” the giant croaked, creaking towards them.

“Oh, trust me, I’m far more equipped than I need to be.” The leader grabbed a nearby Voltage Pistol and fired at the head of Tyrage. The flesh mass roared as the electricity sparked and immobilized him. “C’mon people. The necromancer’s still around here. Find him before he gets this pistol away from me.”

Zac flipped up his sky-board which automatically blasted its thrusters and stayed in placed as Zac jumped on. Hayden and Liselle clambered onto the Slider motorbike and sped off in the opposite direction to Zac. Kieran glanced around, activated his hover-disc and sped off after Zac while some more men and women rushed off in different directions. The leader kept the giant immobilized while three other soldiers fired at Tyrage with grenades and heavy weapons. The necromancer threw a ball of flesh at Theophilus’s gun and it flew out of his hand. The ball of flesh opened up quickly to form a large Swiper, a creature with no skin, only muscles and looked like a human but with no eyes, a brain covering where its eyes should be, and large claws.

“Here!” Theophilus shouted at the kids and soldiers who were not far off. The soldiers turned quickly and started firing at the necromancer, Tyrage, and the Swiper. Theophilus sent an icicle at Tyrage who was now moving forwards. Kieran swirled around Tyrage, throwing balls of fire. Liselle and Hayden attacked the necromancer while Zac and the other soldiers assaulted the Swiper.

Tyrage roared and breathed poisonous gas into the air. Kieran whirled the air around the poison and forced it back into Tyrage. Tyrage summoned demonic fire to his hands and threw it at Kieran and his father. Leader Theophilus raised a psychic barrier and quickly reformed it into a spear and threw it. Kieran set the spear on fire and it blazed into Tyrage’s flesh.

The soldiers fired slowly, avoiding the risk of hitting the girls who sliced and hacked at the necromancer. The necromancer dodged them swiftly and spread a cold sheet of air, making the soldiers and girls drop their weapons to hug themselves and resist the cold. The necromancer sprinted away to safety.

Zac fired a grappling gun at the Swiper’s brain and boosted the sky-board. The Swiper came up but it clawed the wire of the grapple and landed safely on the floor. It ran forwards and mauled a soldier with its two oversized hands. Zac and the other soldiers open fired with DFP-X8 assault rifles while the Swiper screeched. Zac swooped down once more with a grappling gun but the Swiper broke it with once scratch. Zac stuck his hand under a gap between the head and the brain and lifted the Swiper up. Swiper clawed at Zac’s wrist and Zac let go immediately. The Swiper resumed its attack on the soldiers. Zac slapped his head, wondering why he didn’t get his idea earlier. Zac jumped off his sky-board and pulled two pistols out of his belt. He ran up behind the Swiper, stuck the two pistols up the gap where he had lifted it up, and fired three times, each gun. The Swiper screeched as six holes were pierced in its brain and the soldiers just added to them.

Tyrage smashed into the ground head first, sending a shockwave of heat across the ground. He tried to get up but fell in splattering flesh.

“He’s vulnerable! The necromancer didn’t do a great job of summoning him! Take him down!” roared Theophilus to the troops.

The men and women ran up with DFP-X8s and high-tech swords and katanas. Meanwhile, Tyrage was literally melting away into the earth. Theophilus leapt upon the great giant’s brow and looked deep into his eyes.

“Next…time,” croaked the flesh giant.

“There won’t be one,” whispered Theophilus, drew a banishing dagger, and plunged it deep into the eye of the giant. “Let’s move! We only have a few minutes until the gate between our world and hell is completed!”

Nobody needed another warning. They headed back to the base and each picked up small means of transport. Kieran transported Liselle and Hayden on his hover disc while most soldiers rode on jet-skis that blasted their way through the air. Wraithions followed closely on their tails, throwing balls of sub zero air. Three balls of the freezing cold air hit Zac’s board. The engines froze and became useless.

Zac cursed loudly. He landed on the ground with a loud thud! Kieran leaped off his hover disc, cloak billowing, and landed next to Zac. A small, but deadly group of wraithions, zombies, and a few prowlers surrounded them. Zac took out two Acid Fountain guns from his arsenal belt which had the power to store over a million kilograms and still feel as light as a feather. Kieran’s hands sparked with electricity. Theophilus looked back helplessly. The soldiers and remaining teens looked at him questioningly.

“Leave them,” Theophilus said, horrified at his own decision. “They’ll be fine.”

This post has been edited by aldrnari: 26 September 2008 - 08:08 AM