EDITOR’S NOTE: Read the other stories in this series by Tom Kropp by clicking here. Contains adult only content. Please read responsibly.
Werewolves & Devils by Tom Kropp
Scot and Shannon looked into the forest clearing and watched a scene that looked straight out of hell. The very tall, lean, long-limbed, devilish-looking creatures were red-skinned, and they had strange swirling black tribal tattoos on their faces, bodies and limbs. They had four straight, sharp, black horns jutting from their heads. They all had short, coarse, black hair. The females looked as fierce as the males. They were called the red devils by locals. The red devils fought with a myriad of spears, swords, axes, and clubs—some of iron and some of obsidian.
The red devils also had archers along the edge of the clearing, unleashing enfilades of arrows at their opponents. The red devils’ enemies at this point were human warriors. The human warriors wore a mix of mail and plate armor; they carried shields and they fought with iron edged weaponry. But the dozen humans left alive were being quickly overwhelmed and exterminated by the superior numbers and ferocity of the red devils.
Amongst the battle, one armored human female figure stood very clear; Scot recognized her. It
was a warrior woman named Adina. Long ago, Adina had been genetically enhanced by the bite of an alien creature called a Slypher. It made Adina much faster, stronger, and more coordinated than even very powerful humanoid men and many other alien beings. Adina was a beautiful warrior woman with long dark hair, striking green eyes, and an athletic figure. She was very tall—well over six feet—and long-limbed. Adina moved through the battle, a twirling tempest of steel in the clash as she dashed, bashed, stabbed and slashed a path amongst her enemies. She was clearly far faster and more formidable than her foes in the forest fray.
Adina’s sword swept very deft as it cleft, amputating arms, eviscerating abdomens, chopping through chests, puncturing through pectorals, sinking into stomachs, knifing through necks, and lacerating legs. She even used her hilt like a set of brass knuckles to punch foes in the nose and jam into their jaws. Adina’s shield was used not only to block but as an offensive weapon, ramming and slamming into the red devils like a sledgehammer to whack them back.
The red devils were frustrated trying to deal with her. She caught the aerial onslaught of arrows on her shield. Spears and swords thrust and cut at her, clubs and axes hacked. The red devils tried to grab and slam her with sharp talons on their hands, to bite at her with their terrifying pointy teeth. Some even lowered their heads and tried to impale her internal organs with their sharp horns. Adina weathered wounds but didn’t seem to slow. As the battle progressed, Adina’s fellow soldiers were quickly cut down until she was the only one left on the field.
Abruptly, one man got up off the ground. Scot was surprised because the guy was not dressed for the occasion. The man wore a wide-brimmed Stetson-type of hat and a long brown leather coat; he looked much like an old time Western gunfighter from Earth. He was ruggedly good-looking with blue eyes and stocky physique. The man held a pair of double-barrel pistols that puffed out projectiles. His barrels belched both bullets and buckshot, coughing out conflagrations. The man’s pistols fulminating and flaring frightened the red devils. One of the pistols fired .44 caliber balls that busted the bodies of two red devils, cleaving through their shields and churning through their chests. His other pistol shot a flock of grapeshot that trounced numerous targets with the wide spread of pellet lead. Those four shots did a lot of damage to the devils’ battle momentum.
Smoothly, the man pulled a third pistol. Once again, he fired the double-barrel weapon. This one was loaded with a pair of .44 balls, and both lead balls burst through the bodies of two more red devils, dropping them dying. In that instant, the man seemed like a god to the red devils, creating thunder and lightning that killed and wounded their warriors. But the red devils did not stop. They turned on the man attacking him.
Numerous arrows impacted against the gunman flogging his figure, so that he looked part porcupine from shafts bristling from his body. Much to their surprise he didn’t fold. The fellow pulled a pair of long knives with brass-knuckle hilts, and he waded into the maelstrom of monsters with his knives, swiping and smiting. He was confident in the clash as he slashed and stabbed and slammed his way in the fray. He was struck several times by thrusts and cuts that fustigated his figure, but none of the strikes pierced his dark vest.
Shannon made a soft woof of question by Scot’s side, and Scot looked over at her. Shannon was a werewolf, but she was bigger than a grizzly bear, with a head huger than a hippo and her mouth full of titanic teeth. Her claws were like knives on her paws, even longer than a grizzly bear’s. Shannon was actually a were-beast due to a dark matter symbiont that inhabited her body. The dark matter and dark energy symbiont made her phenomenally fast, superhero strong and her flesh was very difficult to pierce or injure. Plus she healed up quickly from injuries. Normally, in daylight, Shannon became a beautiful brunette with emerald eyes and a fine figure. But in the Underworld, it was always dark, and so Shannon could not transform back into her human form. The Underworld was only lit by the abundance of bioluminescent fauna and flora that grew there all over the ground, in the trees, and on the distant ceiling.
Above Scot floated a gorgeous, glowing ghost with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fantastic figure in a silver outfit. Her name was Sharon, and she was a ghost from Earth that had accompanied Scot to the strange planet. Scot was psychic; he could see and speak to Sharon, but other people could not see her.
“It might be a good idea to help them,” Sharon suggested. “That man has guns and extra powder and shot in his pack. I think he’s wearing an Earth made body armor vest. Adina would also be a good ally, and we have to go right through this area in order to get where we’re going. It’s a chance to eliminate some devil enemies.”
Scot considered it and looked behind him. He was leading nine other people—five women and four men. They were being forced to go right through the red devils’ territory. They had been lucky to avoid the devils so far, largely thanks to Sharon informing Scot where the red devils were at all times. But there were so many in the area, and right now they were congregated in the clearing attacking the human warriors.
Abruptly, the gunman went down as one of the red devils harpooned its horns into the man’s stomach, goring the guy’s gut. Scot felt bad to see him go, but Scot also thought of those guns that were down there and how useful they would be—and if he didn’t get them, the red devils would. Then, he saw Adina go down. The sword was beaten from her hand, and she was clubbed and plugged in her mug by the mob that swiftly restrained her with slave shackles as she was pinned in place. As he watched, the celebrating red devils began stripping off Adina’s armor, and Scot realized—since she was the only surviving woman—they were going to all take turns raping her, as was the devils’ custom.
“Let’s help out,” Scot decided. “They cleaned out most of them. Let’s finish this; I want those guns, too.”
At that, Scot and Shannon rushed down to join the battle. Years ago, Scot had been bitten by one of the planet’s strange Slypher creatures. He barely survived the near fatal illness the bite caused him and it made him several times stronger and faster than he’d previously been, in addition to giving him phenomenal healing abilities.
Shannon came into the clearing as a furry fanged flurry that buzz-sawed through bodies, with her claws and maw like chainsaws chopping and dropping foes. She mauled males on all sides with expert killing ability; her claws knifing through necks, impaling and eviscerating abdomens, and her mouth kept chomping like a bear trap that would snap, gnashing through necks, biting through bodies, and spiking through skulls. In the savage struggle, Shannon was struck several times but the devils weapons only inflicted some superficial scrapes in her fur because her dark matter form was too tough.
Scot came from the other angle and hit the red devils while they were busy looking at Shannon. The plasma knife in Scot’s hand was like lucent lightning striking, spiking and slicing. His feet flicked in quick, low kicks, knocking at knees and nuts, slamming stomachs, and stamping ankles. His elbows arced in short swings and savage jabs, mashing mouths and knocking noses. He was stronger and swifter than the enemy about him, and that plasma knife in his hand cut through shields, weapons and armor like butter under a blowtorch. He torched torsos with knife blows, fried faces, hewed off heads, lanced and lacerated limbs. During the fierce affray several times Scot’s Earth made armored vest deflected cuts and thrusts that punched into him.
The nine humans with Scot assisted by aiming and unleashing showers of shafts. The humans were excellent archers and using crossbows that reloaded by working a pump on the guns offering five bolts to shoot before reloading the magazines. The crossbow shooters tracked and tacked targets. The red devils were caught completely by surprise by all this. They had just finished defeating their foes on the field. They had expected to have some fun with Adina before killing her, and instead, they were being annihilated by Scot, Shannon, and the humans’ excellent archery. It was at that point the few remaining red devils gave up and fled the field.
Scot approached Adina and cut off the slave shackles on her wrists. “What are you doing here?” Adina asked, shocked at seeing Scot.
“Looks like I arrived in time to save you once again,” Scot smiled at her.
Adina got up looking rough, “Thank you, Scot.”
Scot nodded and quickly went to the man. Scot’s focus was on the pistols. As Scot approached, he was surprised when the man moved, clearly not dead. Scot picked up one of the pistols and then he picked up the other one. The man saw Scot and grabbed the third pistol that was in reach, but that pistol was empty. Each of the double barrel black powder pistols only offered two shots before reloading was necessary.
The man looked at Scot in surprise and waited wordlessly. Scot admired his aplomb.
Scot asked, “Where did you come from?”
“The surface,” the man answered. “I got trapped down here, and all I want to do is get back to the surface.”
Scot nodded in understanding. “Me too. How much black powder do you have?”
“Quite a bit,” the man admitted.
Scot said, “Well, I just saved your life here. I think that entitles me to one of these pistols. I don’t think you need three of them, and I could use some black powder and shot. Does that sound fair to you?”
The man looked around at the battlefield full of dead red devils, “That sounds more than fair to me.”
“Good,” Scot said. “What’s your name?”
“They call me Roe,” the man replied. He smoothly accepted one of the pistols Scot returned to him and began putting some powder and shot in a pair of pouches for Scot. Scot noticed the man was wearing a high tech Earth made armored vest. He wondered where the guy got it from. He also had a pretty fancy Earth made backpack on.
The rest of Scot’s party entered the clearing and Scot told Adina and Roe, “Well, I guess you’re with us now. We’re all trying to get back to the surface and out of this Underworld. If you want to survive, follow me. But fair warning, we’re deep in the red devils territory and the ones that escaped will bring back their buddies. We’re nowhere near out of the woods yet.”
Scot reloaded his newly acquired double-barrel pistol and the assembled party headed off into the woods. Sharon guided Scot through the forest. She continued to fly back and forth as quickly as she could, zipping around like a will-o’-the-wisp, checking enemy positions, searching for predators, and trying to keep Scot safe. No one could see Sharon but Scot, and she kept reporting back to him. As usual, some of the people in the party looked at Scot like he was crazy when he spoke to Sharon because there was nobody there in their opinion; it seemed like he was talking to himself. But he was good as their guide, so they followed without questioning.
Shannon’s wolf senses stayed on alert as she loped along near the party—smelling, listening, vision searching, and knowing that at any moment they could be attacked again. After a couple hours of hard travel, Sharon laid it out for Scot. “It’s best to rest up ahead where there’s a stream, but there’s no shelter right there. It’s bad because the red devils are all over the area. They’ve swarmed in because of the city being sieged by the Skender. The red devils think now they can move in and get revenge on the humans and take over all the human territory.”
“That figures,” Scot replied grimly. “Have you seen any Skender ships?”
Sharon nodded. “Yep, they’re nearby. I think they deliberately destroyed the city because they couldn’t use the human souls in their soul forges, but they can use the red devils’ souls in their soul forges. I think they’re gathering all the red devils in the area and then they’re planning on harvesting them. It’s probably really tough for them to hunt the red devils down here in this thick forest; obviously it’s easier just to bring them all towards the city.”
Scot cursed. The alien Skender resembled the Slenderman creatures from Earth legends. The Skender technology used a soul forge where they extracted the souls of sentient beings and then burnt their souls up for energy in the soul forges. For some reason they couldn’t use human souls in their forges. Another strange fact was that there wasn’t any other human souls on the planet, except Sharon. When humans died on the planet their souls just disappeared to God only knew where. “Yeah, that makes sense. Well, try to keep us in the loop, Sharon.”
Sharon replied, “Yep, you got another hundred yards forward to the freshwater stream. You can rest there and I’ll look around more.”
It was at that point that Adina and the new man, Roe, came closer to Scot to confront him. Adina was the one to ask, “What exactly is going on here, Scot?”
Scot answered honestly. “I’m pretty sure the aliens, the Skenders, destroyed your city because they can’t use human souls in their soul forges, but they can use the red devils’ souls. So they likely destroyed your city to bring all the red devils in, because it’s too hard to hunt them all through the forest. They’re likely going to start abducting them and using their souls in their forges for energy.”
Adina didn’t even question Scot. She believed him.
Roe commented, “You know who the Skenders are?”
Scot looked at him, surprised. “Yeah, of course I do. I didn’t know you did.”
Roe nodded grimly. “Yeah, they’re part of the reason I’m here. I was near the city of Luka, outside the gates, when they hit our city. They just started tearing everything up and killing. No reason for it. But they seem to be stunning and abducting the giants and other unfriendlies in the area.”
Scot wasn’t surprised. “How did you get down here?”
Roe looked uncomfortable. “To be honest, I don’t know. When all that fighting was going on, there were strange wedge-shaped Skender ships flying around, and then the flying saucers from them little gray alien beings fighting the Skender. During the fighting, they were opening up these swirling wormholes all over the place that they were traveling through. Well, one of the wormholes opened near me; next thing I know, I’m down here in this crazy underworld. No idea where I’m at. Trying to find my way back to the surface. Do you really know the way?”
“I know the way, but it’s going to be numerous days’ travel that way,” Scot pointed, “through a lot of dangerous problems. And we got the Skender down here, too. Where did you get that armored vest?” Scot pointed at Roe’s body armor.
Roe admitted, “Off a dead guy. When I was walking through down here, I found him lying there. He’d been eaten apart by all the scavengers pretty much, but the vest was relatively untouched. I knew right away it’d be something good, so I put it on.”
“Did you find any other weapons near it?” Scot wondered.
Roe shook his head. “No, this was it.”
Scot sighed. The vest obviously belonged to someone from Earth or some other human-like alien species that knew how to make impervious body armor. Shannon looped back on the scene. Adina actually reached over and stroked Shannon’s head. Shannon gave her an irritated look; Shannon hated being treated like a pet dog, which was understandable. She missed being a beautiful woman. She wasn’t happy with a gorgeous girl like Adina, who was obviously attracted to Scot, in the party.
“What happened to your lady?” Scot asked Adina.
Adina looked sad. “She was killed back there in the forest and abducted. She was dead when they took her; I guess that was the only blessing she received.”
Scot nodded sympathetically. It was far better that Adina’s lady be dead when taken by the red devils than taken alive. The devils were known for their torture tactics on female victims they captured, including long term rape. The red devils enjoyed inflicting torture and they liked eating human flesh.
Scot looked around and saw more of the humans coming. Once everyone had caught up to him in that clearing, he explained what was happening. He finished up succinctly, “We’ve got to go about another hundred yards to a stream where there’s fresh water; we’ll stop there, and I’ll get a better plan on what we’re going to do. But you all need to know, we’re in a bad way here. We have many days’ travel to reach the surface. There are red devils all over the area and, worse, those alien Skender ships are coming back. We’re going to have to be very careful, but we’re probably not all going to make it out of here.”
Everyone looked at Scot somberly, and there were a few grim nods.
They reached the clearing, and people began drinking and filling their canteens from the freshwater stream. Sharon briefly spoke to Scot again before flying off on reconnaissance.
Scot and Shannon stayed close to each other with their backs to the highest nearby point of the sheer cliff wall. It gave them the high ground with a wall at their back to fight from and some distance from the people around them. But Adina approached once again; this time, Hera came as well.
Hera was a strikingly beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed goddess. She was tall, a little over six feet, and athletically figured. Hera had traveled with Scot since he had saved her and her people about a month ago from one of the Skender research facilities, where Hera and all her people would have eventually been killed after being experimented on. They had gone through a lot together but hadn’t parted on the best terms, and Shannon did not like her in the first place because Hera clearly had a sexual, romantic interest in Scot.
Hera was a fighter, though; she was very good with the spear, the bow, and the sword. “What next, Scot?” Hera was the first one to speak, and she gave a look over at Adina as though suspicious.
Scot said to himself: Proud women talk about getting along together; they often fail to do so. It was clear Adina and Hera had a catty attitude going on towards each other. Even Roe seemed to notice it, because he gave Scot a knowing glance.
Scot answered, “For right now, I’m figuring out our next steps. We’ll rest here a little while, but obviously we can’t camp here. We’re surrounded by enemies. We’ve got Skender in the sky. I don’t know yet what I’m going to do; when I do know, I’ll let you know.”
Hera seemed less than thrilled with that answer. Adina, however, took it quite stoically and matter-of-factly. Scot and Shannon had saved Adina on a prior occasion when she was fighting for her life and her lady on the battlefield, surrounded by the red devils. In turn, Adina had helped Scot into the city and made sure that he got a good financial reward for his efforts in saving Adina and the lady that she served.
Everyone in the party had helped each other fight. The four men and four women that were with Hera were eight of the strongest survivors out of the party that Scot had originally rescued. Most of the others were now dead or left behind in the city that had just been annihilated, but that had been their own choices. Still, Scot wished things were different. He didn’t like the responsibility of all these people with him.
His main concern was to get to the surface where Shannon could become a woman again, at least during daylight. Even though once they reached the surface they were not entirely safe and free—there would be more dangers and troubles there—at least they would have each other, and Shannon could be partly herself again.
Roe spoke briefly and Scot had to interrupt. “How did you two end up together?”
Adina answered for Roe. “Actually, he encountered us during an attack by the red devils. He stepped in and started shooting those guns of his, and he helped us quite a bit. We escaped and we were fleeing through the forest; he came with us. But then the red devils cornered us again.”
Scot nodded knowingly. It had been brave of Roe to step in. Scot asked Roe, “When I first came on the field, you were down. What happened?”
Ro admitted, “I got knocked out for a minute there. I didn’t know what was going on. They hit us so fast.”
Scot nodded, considering it. Ro had some cuts and bruises and bumps; they were obvious. Adina was already quickly healing from some of the minor lacerations absorbed in the battle as were Scot and Shannon with their augmented healing abilities.
Sharon returned much too soon, and by the look on her face, Scot knew it was bad news.
“Scot, I’ve got good news and bad news,” Sharon laid it out. “The red devils are moving back out of the area because a whole bunch of them were just killed. The bad news is they were just killed by a bunch of those black-scaled demons. Those dark demons are here. I counted six of them in that direction,” Sharon pointed, “and they’re coming this way.
“If you try to flee in that direction or that direction,” Sharon pointed, “you’re going to run into a bunch of red devils. They’re backing off from the demons. If you try to go back the way you came, you’re heading right back into their territory. The red devils are everywhere, except where these demons are, and those demons are coming here, Scot. I think they’re headed for the water source.”
Scot cursed quietly and had to ask, “What do you suggest?”
Sharon looked truly terrified as she admitted, “I can’t even suggest anything for you, Scot. It’s all bad. There’s really nowhere for you to go from here to avoid them.” She pointed at the rocks. “Except straight up. And nobody can climb that.”
Scot looked up at the cliff face next to him, which was full of moss, slick, and sheer. The whole cliff face blocked them for a long way. Sharon told him, “This cliff right here goes on for at least a mile in that direction and longer than that one,” she pointed. “And you really have nowhere else to go. If you left these people, you and Shannon could flee; you’re fast enough. You could probably get through.”
Scot cursed again. He looked over at the people he was with, and once again, they were all looking at him like he was crazy because he was talking to the air and cursing a lot. He considered it; it would be so easy for him and Shannon just to flee.
Shannon woofed softly at him questioningly. Scot lowered his head beside her and whispered in her ear what Sharon had just told him. He looked into Shannon’s eyes and said, “We could just go. We’re fast enough; we could probably avoid them. But we’d be leaving these people here on their own.”
Shannon considered it and looked at the other people. Scot questioned, “One bark for yes, two barks for no. Should we run? Get away?”
Shannon seemed to consider it, and she tilted her head. She seemed to be giving a werewolf sigh of frustration and acceptance, and barked once for yes.
Scot asked, surprised, “Oh, you mean we should go?”
Shannon barked twice for no.
Scot replied, “You’re really throwing me off here with some mixed signals, Shannon. What do you want to do?”
Shannon showed her teeth in clear frustration. Scot queried, “You want to help them?”
Shannon nodded in totally human fashion.
“It’s the demons. I don’t even know how we take them out. We’ve got guns now, but it’s a tough target. We’ve got to play it right.”
Shannon looked at him and nodded once again.
Scot called out to everyone, and they gathered much like a football team would around the quarterback as Scot laid it out explaining their situation. Hera specifically wanted to question him. “How can you possibly know this, Scot?”
Scot looked at Hera and reminded her, “I’ve been very rarely wrong. It’s up to you, but you should just trust me on this.”
To her credit, Adina didn’t question it at all. She knew a little bit about Scot, and due to her own augmented abilities—although she wasn’t psychic—she seemed to completely believe that Scot was. She had no problem with that concept.
Roe, to his credit, was taking it all in stride. He didn’t question it; he just checked his pistols again.
Scot continued. “Okay, we’re dealing with creatures where we can’t pierce their hide. Your crossbows, the pistols, even my plasma knife—none of it will pierce their scales. They’ve got the toughest hides of anything I’ve ever encountered. The only way to hurt them or kill them is to shoot them through the eye or in the mouth, and these things move incredibly fast. Trying to hit one in the eyeball or the mouth is a very tough target. If they get amongst us, they’ll tear us apart like a coyote in a chicken coop. The only other thing I saw that could kill them was a giant’s brutal force, hitting them hard enough that it must have damaged their internal organs.”
Everyone considered Scot’s words, and Scot boldly asked Roe, “How much gunpowder do you have right now?”
Roe didn’t bother to question Scot. He reached into his pack and pulled out several pouches.
Scot looked surprised. He said, “You’ve got a good amount of powder.”
Roe nodded. “I do.”
Scot looked at the cliff face and said, “All right, I think I’ve got an idea, but we’re all going to have to work together. Even then, I don’t know if it’ll work. But it’s probably our best chance.” Scot then proceeded to tell them his plan for dealing with the demons.
& & &
The six demons appeared out of the forest, moving with knowing purpose. They were downwind of the humans and smelled them; the demons were known to have a taste for human flesh. They averaged in height from eight to ten feet and were covered in black scales. Those black scales were some form of dark matter that was even tougher than Shannon’s dark matter form.
Scot and Shannon had fought them before and nearly died in the encounters. They had only survived by taking advantage of the weakness of the demons’ eyeballs and mouth tissues. The demons literally looked like demons out of mythology, with long, hooked horns on their heads and massive lupine muzzles full of titanic teeth. Their huge hands ended in massive claws, as did their feet, and behind them undulated barbed tails. On their backs were short, leathery wings. The demons couldn’t fly, but they could use the wings to glide from a higher point or to cover ground quicker by flapping. They were extremely quick and incredibly powerful.
The six demons spotted the humans and boldly closed in in a well-spread-out ring. Scot patiently waited where he was with Shannon on point. Everyone waited for Scot’s signal to act. Scot waited until they were quite close, and then abruptly, the demons all charged in a blur. They even jumped and flapped their wings, propelling themselves across the ground phenomenally fast.
Scot’s plasma knife ignited in his fist and he leaned down, touching it to the thin trail of black gunpowder near his feet. The gunpowder lit up and zipped along the trail. Scot and Shannon turned away from the flash and bolted back towards the people along the cliff wall.
The gunpowder trail hit the larger pocket of gunpowder in a small rock formation where there was also some grapeshot spread. The resulting explosion created a conflagration combustion and concussion waves, sending shrapnel shredding downwards towards the demons. The close-range blast smashed into two of the nearest demons, and although the blast buffeted them, it did them no serious harm. It just halted the demon’s rush briefly and dazzled their eyes.
That brief hesitation and disorientation was everything that Scot had hoped for and more. Roe proved to be an excellent shot; his first pistol’s twin barrels belched a batch of buckshot. Roe’s pattern of pellets drilled the demon, blinding one of its eyes. It staggered back, grasping at its grievously scoured eye socket, but the other pellets that nested in its head didn’t pierce the scales to its brain.
Roe fired a fraction of a second before the other demon reached him in its stupendous spring. Both barrels blossomed in a bright blast that bashed the demon in its wide open mouth. The .44 caliber lead balls plugged and slugged the demon back like a punch drunk boxer with a mangled mouth. The demon’s brains sprayed out its ears. The demon staggered around as if confused before collapsing.
The people with Scot aimed their crossbows and unleashed accurate vicious volleys at the eyeballs and mouths of the monsters. The people quickly pumped the crossbows, reloading them with fresh bolt to fire again. The salvoes of shafts drilled the demons, but most of the bombardment of bolts only skipped off the skulls and scales of the demons’ hard heads because they were moving too quickly. However, one demon was half-blind from an arrow in the eye, and a second one was munching through a mauled mouth on a bunch of bolts stuck in its tongue and soft gums.
The other pair of demons were a blur, crossing the distance; they would have ripped the humans to bits if not for Scot and Shannon being the ones to meet them.
Scot held his fire until the last possible moment as a demon was descending on him, about to bite his entire head off and cleave through him with its huge claws. Scot fired both barrels into that open mouth. Scot’s pistol hopped in his hand, flaring and fulminating flinging both balls into the monster’s massive maw, gouging through the soft gums inside and tunneling up towards the brain cavity.
Amazingly, the lead larrup staggered it, but it still carried the charge home. Scot moved as quickly as he could to sidestep the rush. The demon’s talons whipped in a roundhouse swing that would have lopped Scot’s head off had he stayed where he was. Scot immediately ducked the punch, moving like a boxer as he slipped the jab. Scot came up leaping with his own uppercut punch into the eyeball of the monster. Scot’s plasma knife zipped to slip in the eye socket to impale and bake its brains. Then, Scot was sent flying as the monster’s elbow arc clipped into him.
Shannon found herself tangled up with the remaining demon.
It was a titanic tussle between the two powerful predators. Shannon’s maws and claws gnashed and slashed, but even she could not quite pierce its dark matter scales deep enough. However, she had learned from her last encounters with the demons and went for the eyeballs. Shannon managed to half-blind the beast, raking its retina with a scratch of her claws.
Despite the devastating injury, the demon continued in combat with her, but Shannon managed to break free, leaping clear of the wounded beast. She knew better than to engage in a long term toe to toe battle with the beast. It came after her, chasing in a blind fury and forgetting about the others in the party. Scot saw what was happening and ran, chasing after the monster as it pursued Shannon.
The demon sensed him on its heels and spun, spotting Scot coming at it. Scot slid to a halt, and the demon roared, reaching for him. Shannon rebounded and caught the creature by surprise, leaping on its back and reaching around with her claws to grip and rip its remaining eyeball, fully blinding the beast before she leaped clear. The creature spun, biting and striking and hooking horns, trying to find Shannon.
Roe displayed an icy calm as he was being charged by the remaining half-blind demon that he’d shot. Adina stepped in with a fierce thrust of her sword that was incredibly accurate, entering the eyeball of the demon hurtling past her. The sword poke pierced the eyeball but she didn’t land a killing blow because the angle was wrong, and she missed the brain. The creature turned with a swat that batted the blade away, its claws catching her armor and knocking her down. Adina rolled with the blow as the monster seemed to sense or scent her and slammed her shield with a brutal hit and pursued her as she fell again.
While it was distracted by Adina, Roe had managed to reload one barrel. He quickly aimed and fired. The pistol bucked and bellowed blooming out a ball that entered the eyeball and burst through the brains of the demon.
Scot and Shannon desperately tried to rush the demon that was charging the humans with its mouth jammed full of crossbow bolts. One brave man out of the human party stepped forward and his name was Dakar. He was ruggedly good-looking with dark hair and blue eyes. He was the biggest man in the party. He bravely tried to meet the monster. With a quick jump and pump of his sword, he aimed for the eye. The demon bopped the blade aside and its horns hooked, harpooning Dakar out of mid-air, skewering him like a shish-kebab on its sharp horn. With a savage shake of its head, it dashed Dakar down.
Dakar showed true grit. He drew his dagger and thrust at the nuts of the monster above him. Despite a direct hit, Dakar’s dagger failed to gore the groin of the monster; despite nailing the nuts. The demon’s scales were just too tough. It angered the demon and it must have felt something because, instead of going after the other humans, it focused on Dakar for a moment and proceeded to rip him to bits with big stomps, chomps and whops of teeth, talons, fists, feet and horns.
The other humans desperately pumped their crossbows, sending storms of shafts peppering the predator, but none of the missiles entered its eyes as the demon completed its charge. Shannon clobbered the creature like a cannonball, and the impact staggered it sideways. Shannon’s claws reached up with unerring accuracy, incising its eyeball. The monster roared and whipped an elbow that rammed Shannon’s ribs; and the unbelievable impact walloped her like a wrecking ball, sending her flying aside.
The demon saw Scot coming and roared as it attacked, swinging its claws, biting with its jaws, and hooking with its horns while trying to nab and body-slam Scot. Scot didn’t have an eye target; the beast’s guard was up. It was aware of what he was trying to do, so Scot went low. His plasma torch knifed at the knee with all his power behind the punch. The plasma knife notched its knee but scraped off the scales, scorching and smoking. The hit hurt it, though, because it stumbled.
Scot managed to bypass the beast by dodging and sprinting away. The demon turned and hurtled after him, but when it brought its weight down on the knee Scot had scorched, it limped. It was hurt. The humans continued to pummel the predator with a blitzkrieg of crossbow bolts, but it was moving fast and shaking its head making them miss. It forgot about Scot and turned towards the humans flooding it with fire.
Roe was finishing reloading, but Adina was ahead of him. Adina jumped and stuck a thrust, aiming to impale the demon’s eyeball. But the demon saw it coming and the demon’s fist blocked the blade and followed with a trench of its talons as her torso. There was a sounding clang as it banged her shield. Adina was flung down, and the demon made a hop to stomp her.
Roe finished reloading. He stepped in, focusing and firing into the eyeball that Shannon had bisected. Roe’s round found and pounded the demon tunneling through its temple into the brains and staggering it sideways. It collapsed, spasming.
Scot returned and saw the scene. He had at least two demons that were still alive but blinded. He was aware of their sense of smell, though, and their uncanny instinct for prey’s positioning. Scot called out, “Everyone, follow me! Run!” Several people looked down at Dakar, but he had been ripped to bits. There was no chance he was alive. Everyone fled.
Behind them, the blinded and bloodied, wounded demons roared and started off with an uncanny instinct in the direction that everyone was fleeing. But they soon lost the humans’ trail as they moved through the brush. The demons banged into trees and other things they couldn’t see; however, the demons could smell and sense the humans somehow, as well as hearing them. Still, they couldn’t catch them through the thick brush.
Scot kept going, and Sharon kept flying back and forth, warning him. “All right, Scot that made a lot of noise. I’m going to guide you to one area, but the red devils probably heard you. They might be coming for all we know. I’ll have to check for you.”
“Yep, for now, just get us somewhere safer,” Scot told Sharon.
They continued on over the next hour, moving quickly through the brush. On a few occasions, both Adina and Hera tried to speak with Scot, but he had no time to speak to any of them. He was focused on keeping them safe. They kept going until they reached a spot Sharon selected.
“This looks like the best spot for right now, Scot,” Sharon pointed out. “You’ve still got the cliff at your back. You’ve got a bit of high ground here, but over there is a forest trail that will take you down into a pretty deep valley. It’s tougher terrain. I better search; I don’t want you getting caught trying to go through there by a bunch of red devils.”
Scot nodded in agreement. “Makes sense. Do what you’ve got to do, Sharon. We’ll wait here.”
Sharon flew away and Scot looked over at Shannon. He leaned close to Shannon’s ear and whispered what Sharon had just told him. Hera, Adina, and Roe all approached along with the seven other survivors.
Hera blurted out, “Dakar is dead.”
Scot looked at Hera, “That sounds like an accusation, Hera. I can’t save everyone. If you don’t like the way I’m leading, I’m sorry, but I didn’t ask you to come.”
Hera was frustrated. She had liked Dakar; he was a good man. Now Dakar’s woman, named Olivia, was crying and upset, and understandably so. Scot felt bad, but the fact was they were lucky not to all be dead after the encounter.
“We were very lucky to survive that,” Adina commented, looking at Hera. “We’d probably all be dead right now if Scot hadn’t picked the right position—if not for him and Shannon interfering.”
Hera looked at Adina, frustrated. “You’re not even part of this party. We just picked you up along the way.”
Adina’s eyebrows raised in shock. Both women clearly did not like each other. Scot knew better than to try to intervene.
It was Roe who spoke up. “I don’t think we really have time for arguing here. Tell me, Scot, what’s our next best move?”
Everyone looked at Scot, and he said in frustration, “I don’t know right now. I’m trying to figure that out. We’re surrounded by red devils out there. We managed to get through their lines because of these demons we just fought, but now we’re back in trouble again. Just give me time to figure it out.”
Everyone looked confused at him, except for Adina. Being an augmented person herself and an intelligent woman, Adina realized Scot possessed some type of augmented ability for foresight that she couldn’t understand, but she knew it existed. At the same time, Hera, who had followed Scot through a lot and whom Scot had kept alive with his foresight, still questioned it—as if expecting him to always be right, or be right faster, or know everything. It seemed anything he did was not quite good enough for her. For Scot, it was a frustrating situation to deal with, but Hera felt responsible for her people, so Scot could see that point of it. As it was, they were a long way from out of danger.
“Good shooting back there, Roe,” Scot complimented.
“Thanks,” Roe said, and took off his hat. His head was clean-shaven, bald, and very tan. There were scars on his skull, face and limbs; the man had obviously been through a lot of battles.
“We’re still doing pretty good on powder, despite what we had to use back there,” Scot pointed out. “But we don’t want to waste it. We can’t keep making bombs.”
Roe nodded in agreement. “But we needed to make that bomb back there. I don’t think we would have survived it without that flash. That flash is what briefly stopped their charge and gave us time to aim and shoot and catch them by surprise. Without it, we wouldn’t have survived it.”
“But if we keep running into demons, we won’t survive,” Scot made it very clear. Everyone looked at him, and no one tried to contradict that point. “How are you all doing on ammo for the crossbows?”
The people in the party all checked their quivers, and everyone was still doing pretty good on ammo. They had taken Dakar’s crossbow and ammo before fleeing the scene.
Scot was feeling a bit banged up. His Kevlar was creased where claws had swiped and left marks. Adina was still recovering from a hit that would have busted the bones of any ordinary human. Her augmented abilities allowed her to withstand the wallops, and she was recovering from a concussion and cuts that had dipped and ripped through her armor, scratching the skin beneath.
Shannon’s ribs were tender from being rammed so hard by the demon’s awesome elbow blow. Even Shannon’s werebeast abilities had limits; she was not completely impervious to injuries. She had some scars and bite marks in her fur that were bloody but healing.
Roe was extremely lucky, and he didn’t realize it fully until that moment when Adina pointed it out. His space-age armored vest had three creases where claws had cut and grazed the armor plating over his abdomen. The space-age plate had likely saved him from evisceration. All in all, everyone realized Dakar had made the ultimate sacrifice, or more people would have died. He had slowed the final demon down enough to allow others to intervene and finish it off.
But the demons were just too tough of an opposition. They had to be avoided; better hundreds of red devils than a few of the demons again. Everyone was feeling down after Dakar’s death and said little after that. They were all waiting on whatever magic Scot seemed to possess to tell them how they could possibly continue to survive.
Then Scot’s guardian angel, Sharon, returned and reported in. “Okay, they’re all coming that way,” Sharon pointed. “They’re aware of what’s going on. I found Orissa and a couple of her people; they’re on the run. The Skender are able to use their souls in their soul forge. I passed what was left of Orissa’s village; it’s all smoking, and there are some bodies left there. Orissa and a couple of others made it out. They’re fleeing, but they ran right into the Red Devils. They can’t really avoid them because they can’t go out in the open where the Skender ships might find them. They’re not far from here—maybe a half-mile that way.”
Sharon pointed. “And like you, they’re going to be coming up against this cliff face pretty soon with red devils all around them. We have to go that way, so we’re going to run into them. The options are: either we go now and try to help Orissa and her people fight off the red devils—because then they could help us travel on—or we stay here. If the Skender ships come after them, I could probably disable two or three ships, as long as there aren’t too many at a time,” Sharon pointed out. “If we stay here and do nothing, Orissa and the two survivors with her are going to fight these red devils alone. They might fight them off, or they might get killed. It’s hard to say, but they would be good allies for traveling through red devil territory.”
Scot considered it. He hated getting involved in helping Orissa’s people. Orissa was a dark demon from the area whom Scot had encountered before. Together, they had fought off many formidable foes in the forest on their way to the city. Scot and Orissa had actually become quite friendly; he liked her, and he knew she would be a good ally for the journey ahead.
Orissa was a dark demon who stood 14 feet tall. She was covered in black scales, had horns on her head, a long tail, and leathery wings. Her mouth stretched from ear to ear—much too wide and full of titanic, sharp teeth and colossal claws. Those claws were retractable, and Orissa was an excellent archer and swordswoman. She had been incredibly valuable on their journey because most of the large predators tried to avoid tackling the dark demons in the area. While they didn’t have scales as tough as the demons they had just fought, they were very formidable allies.
Scot decided to lay it out for everybody. “We can’t go back the way we came; the red devils are all over that area, and so are the Skender ships. We can’t go any further into the forest because it’s the same problem. The only way we can go is that way,” Scot pointed along the cliff face that extended at least another mile and a half.
“But ahead of us, there are three dark demons. One of them is Orissa.” Scot looked at Adina. “You remember Orissa?”
“Of course,” Adina replied. “How could I forget? She was an incredible ally.”
“Well, Orissa is there with two of her friends. Now, a bunch of red devils are confronting them against the cliffs. If we were to go and help, we’d be able to kill off a lot of red devils and gain some allies in the process. As most of you might be aware, the big predators in the area tend to avoid the dark demons when they smell them. As it stands, the predators are going to smell humans, and a lot of them like to eat humans. We’re going to be dealing with dinosaurs and all the other big mammal monsters in the area hunting us. Now, if we had a dark demon giant escort, we’d scare off a lot of them—and if we have to fight the red devils, we would have them as our allies in that battle.”
Hera bluntly inquired, “Why should we get involved? Why don’t we just hide out here while they fight it out, and when the battle’s over, then we move?” Several of the humans with her grunted assent, backing up her opinion.
Scot kept his temper and calmly explained, “Because I just told you. As it is, we have to go that way if we want to get back to the surface,” Scot pointed, “and that way is where all the red devils are heading. They are going to fight Orissa and the two demons she’s with. In that battle, there’s no telling what’s going to happen. If Orissa and her friends are killed off by the red devils, well, then that leaves a whole area inhabited by thousands of red devils that we have to go through.
“Now, if we were to show up and help them, and any of them survive, all we would need is at least one dark demon giant with us. That would scare off many of the dinosaurs and other predators that we’re going to encounter. Those predators will hunt us otherwise because they like the scent and taste of human flesh.” Scot found himself speaking louder and angrier as he repeated himself. “So if we just wait here for them to battle it out, then we’ve got to go through all those red devils and deal with the dinosaurs and other predators anyway. If we go now, we might be able to help Orissa and her survivors fight those devils off, and then they would travel with us and help us. I know Orissa would, at least for a ways, and they might go all the way with us because their territory is totally ruined now with the aliens over here and everything else.”
“What do you mean?” Hera asked.
Scot sighed; he didn’t want to get into explaining that the Skenders could use the dark demons’ souls in the soul forge. If he told the party that, it would probably make them against helping Orissa all the more. Scot knew in his own reasoning that if they didn’t help Orissa, the humans probably wouldn’t survive. Scot knew he and Shannon could travel much faster without the humans, and Adina was a quick woman who could keep up with her augmented abilities, but Roe and Hera and all the others would not make it.
Scot chose his next words carefully. “This is my game plan. Now, if we go ahead, we help them, they help us, and we might survive this. If you all don’t want to help them, you don’t have to, but I’m going to tell you: I’m not going to stay with you if you make this bad decision. If you choose not to help Orissa and her companions against the red devils, then Shannon and I are going to go on our own. We travel much faster by ourselves. None of you will be able to keep up with us. We’re not going to wait for you, we should part company. You all are welcome to do whatever you want or whatever you feel is right, but Shannon and I will not be a part of your bad decision-making. We will go on our own much faster.”
Scot’s comments greatly aggravated Hera, and it was obvious. Adina took it all in stride; her beautiful face showed no emotion. Roe looked a little surprised, but he quickly covered it up. It was clear he was a pragmatic man and could see Scot’s plan made sense. He spoke up first.
“I can’t keep up with you, but I would like to help. I think you have the right plan, Scot.”
Adina spoke up next. “I do too, Scot. I think we should do it.”
Scot looked over to Hera and her people. They were all jabbering amongst each other. The well-organized clique was bitter over Dakar being killed, and now they didn’t want to commit themselves to fighting for a dark demon. Scot understood; most dark demons liked the taste of human flesh and would typically hunt and kill humans without a second thought. But Orissa and her demon tribe had been allies of the humans in the city that had just been razed. In that treaty, they had often dealt with the people, helping them protect their borders against the red devils and other creatures in exchange for certain goods. It had been an amicable, profitable relationship for both sides.
At last, Hera spoke up for the crowd. “We don’t like the sound of it. We’ll go with you, but we’re not going to throw our lives away to save dark demons. We reserve the right to say we don’t want to go ahead, then we won’t go ahead with it.”
Scot didn’t bother to argue. It was about as best as he could get under the circumstances. He looked over at Sharon, who had remained quiet during the conversation as she floated around the clearing, taking occasional flights higher to look around on her ghost patrol. She swooped next to Scot again.
“Well, I’m glad that’s cleared up,” she commented. “Let me make one quick flight and then we get going.”
Scot nodded and Sharon flew off. Scot got up and double-checked his new pistol. Roe checked his reloads. Everyone began gathering their gear, getting ready to move. Soon, Sharon returned and suggested, “We better go now. Let’s do this.”
* * * * THE END * * * *
Copyright Tom Kropp 2026
Image Source: Marvin Zettl from Unsplash.com