"Was he alone?"

  "As far as we could tell, sir."

  I continued scanning the entrance, looking to see if there was any other movement out there, but it looked quiet now.

  "Good job, ladies. Keep up the good work."

  I stepped to the side and got to the catwalk that bridged the two sets of scaffolding. After crossing over, I climbed down to the level Mike was on, with a couple of the younger men, probably both still in their teens.

  I looked at Mike and said, "It appears the ladies got themselves a demon."

  "Uh, sir, we shot it, too," said one of the boys.

  I smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

  "I know you did. I'm just seeing if you'll stand up for yourselves."

  Mike laughed and said, "Let's not start pitting the gun crews against each other."

  "I wouldn't dream of it."

  "Yeah, not after all my training has turned them into a finely, honed defensive machine."

  Just then, the ladies started firing again and they were followed quickly by the other three gun crews. I stepped to the view port to see what they were shooting at and saw a half a dozen demons were crossing the road. They stepped over the body of the first one and were running toward the entrance, carrying their blades high, like they were ready to use them at the first opportunity.

  The gun crews showed that Mike had trained them well and the demons didn't even get a quarter of the way into the tunnel. The guns proved to be more than adequate in cutting them down.

  The screeches and howls of the demons cut through the sound of the machine guns, causing my blood to run cold as I watched them charge the entrance.

  One of the demons appeared to move through the deadly fire untouched and made it to the gate. We could feel him slam into the chain-link part of the gate and start climbing. Within seconds he had climbed to the top of the gate, which had a gap of about two feet between it and the ceiling. Mike moved to a point where he felt the demon would reach the top.

  I could feel the two young men next to me tense up as they heard the demon climbing. Its breath was ragged and it grunted like a wild animal on the hunt.

  Some people might have thought he was about to get into the caverns. Even he probably thought victory was close at hand. Until he popped his hooded head over the top of the barrier.

  "Hey there, friend."

  Mike shoved his sawed-off shotgun into the demon's mouth and pulled the trigger. There was no screech or howl. Just the sound of the dead demon hitting the ground outside the gate.

  "Oh man, they stink," said one of the men standing next to me.

  I took a quick breath in and had to agree with him. I'm guessing taking showers isn't high on the demon's to-do lists.

  After checking the scene out front, I turned to the guys and said, "Good work, guys. Mike, you've done a great job here. Keep it up."

  "You got it, boss."

  I climbed back down and found Randy looking through a peephole down at the bottom.

  "You don't like climbing up there, do you?"

  He looked at me and shook his head.

  "I may look big and strong, but heights make me nervous. I'm not scared of them, I just get uncomfortable."

  "I understand. Besides, you have other duties here on the ground."

  I patted him on the shoulder and headed back toward the dining hall.

  Dean and Steve were standing near the door and it was clear they had something to say.

  "Spit it out, guys."

  "We were wondering what your stance was on us going out at night and hunting demons?"

  "Have you lost anyone on your little excursions or has it only been the two of you?"

  "Just the two of us, sir. We wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone else."

  "Well, it sounds to me like you're pretty good at what you do and I can't argue with your results."

  "It's easy to be good at your job when you enjoy it," said Dean.

  "And you enjoy killing the demons."

  "Just like the shoot-em ups we used to play on our video system before all this broke," said Steve.

  I studied the two of them, dressed in their new, Special Forces uniforms and thought about it for a second.

  "Look, guys, I won't stop you from going out there. But think about the fact that we also need good fighters here, inside the caverns, to protect the people here. All I ask is that you come back safely each time."

  "You got it, sir. We don't go out looking to die. Just kill demons."

  "Okay. Hey, we should probably get some maps of the area and start keeping track of where you've been and what the demon situation is in those places."

  Dean nodded and said, "We've been working the area between here and Fort Carlson mostly. There's vehicles and plenty of fuel for them, but Simon was forbidding us to bring any of them back."

  Steve laughed and said, "There's even some Cobra attack helicopters over there, but neither one of us knows how to fly them."

  "Oh really? Well, a pilot is the one thing we do have," I said as I pointed up to the machine gun nest where Mike was talking to the guys. "We actually have two, but I don't think Deb is checked out on Cobras. Put her in an F-35 and she's right at home."

  "We'll be going out in about an hour and we'll try to get some pictures of what is over there," said Steve. "Maybe Mike would like to have a new toy with whirly blades and fire-breathing machine guns."

  "I'm sure he would love that."

  11

  Four days later, Mike went out with the brothers and they came back alone. The sun was just beginning to creep over the mountains to the east and Ariel was beside herself with worry.

  When the brothers came crashing through the tree line in a Humvee, that was the color of black, instead of forest green, we realized it wasn't paint on the vehicle, but the remains of some demons that had got in the way. Obviously they had had a very successful night hunting, but when they drove through the gate, Mike wasn't with them and it began to look like our worst fears were coming true.

  After Randy closed the gate and they got the vehicle parked and climbed out, we could see they were covered in blood and demon bits. But, no Mike.

  "Where is he?" cried Ariel.

  Steve looked at her and knew she was imagining all the worst.

  "Take it easy, Ariel. He's okay. He'll be here in just a few minutes."

  "You left him out there alone?" I asked.

  "Well, sir, there really wasn't any room for the two of us," said Dean. "One of us, yes, but not the two of us."

  "What are you two talking about?"

  "He stuffed all kinds of ammo cans and crates into the back seat, so we wouldn't have even been able to get one of us in the back seat."

  "You two aren't making a whole lot of sense right now."

  Just then, the early morning quiet exploded with the sound of some very loud helicopter rotors churning through the air. We all ran to the entrance to the caverns to see Mike banking the Cobra hard and then lighting up some place deep in the trees.

  "Oh, yeah," yelled Dean over the sound of the gunfire, "there's a horde of demons about a hundred yards away from here and I guess he's testing the guns!"

  He continued to make passes over the spot the brothers were pointing to and was laying down a heavy barrage of fire. We could see the tracers flying into the distance and we could hear the impacts of the rounds as they hit their targets.

  With each pass, Mike fired fewer and fewer rounds until he stopped and just hovered over the area out in front of us. Finally, he turned the Cobra back toward us and landed in a small, open space just across the road.

  I heard some activity behind me and turned to see Dean and Steve driving the Humvee back out the gate and to the Cobra. When Mike climbed out, he had the biggest grin on his face.

  He was truly at home.

  "Hey, boss, look what I found."

  He and the brothers began unloading the ammo crates from the back seat of the chopper and loading them into the Humvee. After they were finished and he locked the Cobra up, we all hustled back to the gate.

  Ariel smacked him on the shoulder.

  "You jackass! I thought you had been killed!"

  "Moi? I'm too mean to get killed," he laughed as he lifted her up and gave her a hug and a kiss.

  "So, what's the situation at the base?" I asked.

  "Well, Trev, there's no one left alive over there. Plenty of dead bodies of soldiers though. There's a couple more Cobras, but obviously we don't have any more pilots, but they will be handy as spares. Lots of other vehicles, too. We can have our pick of Humvees, deuce-and-a-halves, five tons and more."

  I looked back toward the cooling Cobra and thought.

  "I hope that's okay just sitting out there."

  "According to the Winfields, the demons don't seem interested in machinery, so they just leave it alone. It should be fine out there."

  Dean walked up and said, "There's something you should know, sir, about the Cobras."

  "Oh yeah?" asked Mike.

  Dean said, "There used to be four Cobras over there. Today there were only three."

  "So, unless the demons learned to fly helicopters," I said, "we have someone else out there that isn't demon."

  "It would appear so, sir."

  I began looking over the pile of crates that had been unloaded from the Cobra and noticed some radio equipment.

  "This should come in handy," said Mike. "When we're out on our little guerrilla attacks, we can still stay in contact with you."

  "And me!"

  Mike looked at Ariel and said, "And you, too, sweetie."

  He put an arm around her shoulders and said, "Sorry about worrying you today."

  "You should be," she pouted.

  I saw the canvas bags that held the antenna for the radio system and said, "Once we get that set up, we might even be able to connect with other military units in the area."

  "If there are any," said Dean.

  "Somebody flew that fourth Cobra out of there. That says military to me."

  It didn't take long to find out we weren't as alone as we thought. Once the antenna was set up and connected, Deb was able to reach five different units within a hundred miles of our location. One of them was the culprit behind the missing Cobra.

  I was sitting in the room we set up as the comm center near the gate, while Deb was going through some of the usual freqs to see if she could raise anyone. We talked about how things were beginning to look a little better, with the addition of the helicopter and some more firepower.

  The speakers crackled after one of her inquiries.

  "This is 2nd battalion, 3rd infantry. Who is this?"

  Deb handed me the mic and I keyed it.

  "This is Commander Trevor Donovan of the International Space Station, now on the ground in the middle of Missouri."

  After a few seconds of silence, a different voice came on.

  "Trevor?"

  "Yes, who is this?"

  ""Trev, it's Jackson."

  "General Holcomb? Is that you?"

  "Yes it is. Damn, it's good to hear your voice. Where are you?"

  "We're hold up in some caverns that were used as a storage facility for just about everyone you can think of."

  "I know of those. How many are you?"

  "We have just over a hundred here, sir. Mostly civilians."

  "Over a hundred? Shoot, we can't mount any kind of rescue and we definitely don't have resources for a group that size."

  "Sir, we don't need rescuing and we have plenty of supplies here. We could last a couple thousand years with what we have here."

  "Sounds like you have it better than we have it here."

  "Where are you, sir?"

  "We're about a hundred miles from your location, hold up in an ammo bunker. There's only five of us, but we keep getting attacked every night. I don't think we'll be here in a couple of days."

  Mike was standing in the doorway and he heard what was said.

  "Trev, there's a couple of Hueys at the base. I can fly over there with one of the brothers, get a Huey in the air and pick them up in a couple of hours."

  "Is that Mike?" asked the general.

  "Yes, sir it is."

  "Son of a bitch. I thought he was too mean to still be alive."

  Mike leaned over and keyed the mic, "Being mean is what keeps me alive, sir. Give us your exact coordinates and stay by the radio. We will get you out of there."

  After he gave Mike the coordinates, Mike turned to leave, but I stopped him.

  "I'll be going with you, Mike."

  "Don't you think you should stay here with these people?"

  "Randy is more than capable of handling things while we're gone."

  "Okay, boss."

  12

  It was just after mid-day when we circled over the ammo bunker the general was hold up in. It was near the back fence of a Marine base.

  Circling around, we could see it wasn't going to be a simple, "swoop in and rescue them" operation. The complicating factor was the two dozen demons milling around outside the heavy metal doors.

  "Well, Trev. We get to see how good of a door gunner you are."

  "I haven't fired a sixty in over ten years!"

  "Better remember real fast!"

  I unstrapped from the co-pilot seat and climbed out of the cockpit and made my way to one of the side doors. We had left them open, thinking we would just land and the people in the bunker would run out and jump in, but we could see that wasn't going to work.

  I looked the sixty over, trying to reacquaint myself with its workings, while Mike kept us in a tight circle over the bunker.

  "Any time, Trev!"

  "Give me a second! I should have tested out on this before we left Carlson."

  "No, I should have brought one of the brothers! They can fire those things like they were born with them!"

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

  I slapped the cover down on the machine gun and pulled the charging handle. Pointing it out the door and down, I pulled the trigger.

  Nothing.

  "Did you set the Safety to Off, Trev?"

  Shit!

  I flipped the Safety switch and pulled the trigger again and the gun roared to life. With tracers coming out every five rounds, it was easy to see where the shots were going and where they were going was into the screeching mass of demons below.

  As I watched demons exploding from the rounds I was sending their way, I saw how it could be quite a relaxing thing to play shoot-em-up video games.

  A couple of demons tried throwing their blades up at the chopper, but Mike kept us high enough it would have taken a miraculous throw to reach us. The demons didn't seem to have any John Elways in their midst.

  It took about five minutes of circling overhead to take down all the demons and Mike got on the radio with the general to let them know the coast was clear. He put us down about fifty yards away from the door of the bunker and we waited.

  At first, we didn't see anything, but then the door cracked open slowly and we could see Jackson poke his head out. He looked like he had gone through Hell and back. Then he threw the door open wider and started getting his people out and running toward the chopper.

  He had four soldiers with him, three men and one woman. Each carried an M-16 and ran like their tails were on fire. I never saw any group of people run so fast and look like they were looking at their salvation in front of them. Safety was within their reach.

  But not for everyone.

  As they were about halfway to the chopper, a demon jumped up from the pile of dead and chased them from behind. I tried yelling at them, but they couldn't hear me over the rotor noise of the chopper. I fired a couple of rounds over their heads and they dropped.

  All except for the general.

  When he saw me firing, he knew what was happening and turned around, just as the demon was reaching him. He fired and at first, I thought he would take the demon down.

  But, a vicious swipe of the demon's blade took his head off. I screamed before his body even hit the ground. I started firing non-stop over the heads of the four soldiers and they turned to see what was happening.

  They started firing, but the demon reached them and hacked into one of the men, killing him before I was able to take him down.

  "Get in here!" I yelled at the remaining survivors.

  The three of them scrambled the last few feet into the chopper, wrapping their arms around the seat posts and belts.

  "Get us out of here, Mike!"

  He didn't need to be told twice and we lifted off in seconds. Within seconds, we were high over the battlefield and I looked down and could see Jackson's body.

  Another demon crawled out of the pile of dead and moved to the general's body and began feasting on him. That was a bit too much for me to handle, so I pulled the trigger on the sixty and didn't stop shooting until I had turned the demon into a bloody mess on the ground.

  As we turned and headed back toward the caverns, I looked at the three shell-shocked soldiers in front of me. There were no tears from any of them.

  I don't think they had even registered they were still alive and getting away from the horror they had been living under for the past few weeks.

  I stood up to make my way back to the cockpit and that's when the tears came. The woman jumped up and grabbed me and hugged me.

  "Thank you for coming for us," she cried into my neck.

  I held her and said, "I wish we could have saved all of you."

  She pulled away and wiped her face. She nodded as I looked down at her name tag. It said Holcombe.

  "The general wasn't your dad, was he?"

  She could only nod as she sank back onto one of the seats. One of the men reached over and pulled the straps over her shoulders and clicked her in, before getting himself seated.

  I climbed back into the copilot's seat and strapped in. Staring out the front windshield, I couldn't help, but remember the last time I had seen Jackson. He and I were sitting in an officer's club, toasting my upcoming flight to the ISS. He was getting ready to take over command of the Marine base and was tickled that his daughter was going to be working on the base with him.

 

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