Six ought to do it Lakheenahuknaasi thought, gauging the human's body mass. A pair of the red tentacles idly trained themselves on the prey, and with a wet crackling noise a flurry of spines leapt from their tips to embed themselves in the man's shoulders. He screamed and writhed, futilely seeking some means of escape. The venom worked quickly however and in less than a minute his struggles had subsided into docility.
She shifted back on her haunches, considering what history to give this one. 'What is your name?'
'Hijikata Katamori'
'You lived in Tokyo. It held for many weeks but it was eventually reduced by the legions of Merafawlazes.'
'No, I lived… wait… the forces of Yomi assaulted Edo? What became of Shogun Ieharu?'
'All the humans were slaughtered. Their defiance bought them only ruin. Their iron chariots killed many demons but they could not save them in the end.'
'Iron chariots?' asked Katamori, 'That sounds impractical.'
Lakheenahuknaasi slapped the human roughly across the face. Her claws left deep scratches on the man's cheek. 'Listen carefully. You watched the fire throwers on the city walls kill many of our cavalry, but once they revealed themselves they were destroyed by our fliers. You ran from the walls as they were scaled by our infantry. The lightning from their tridents cut down humans to your left, to your right, but you found shelter.'
Katamori was nodding vaguely, beginning to get into the fantasy. 'I hid behind an overturned cart. The lightning set it on fire.'
'You tried to hide but it was hopeless.'
'We hid in the ruins but they had magic that could track us unfailingly!' Katamori could see the scene vividly in his mind.
'You were caught and executed.'
'They ate the children, as if they were delicacies! For a moment I thought I had been spared, but then flying beasts swooped down and set the whole city aflame! One passed over me… and… I was burned alive…' he sobbed.
And that's enough of that thought Lakheenahuknaasi. This one must be a peasant that he knows nothing of the iron chariots, probably died in a house fire, no sense wasting more time on him. Now for the finishing touch…
This time it was a black tentacle that loosed a pair of spines, which bored straight into the human's neck. Again the man reeled, trying to scream but this time no sound would come. Euryale had discovered this particular technique and instructed all the gorgons in its use; a moderate dose of poison delivered directly to the brain would scramble the human's memories just enough to imitate a fresh arrival, which were almost always slightly crazed. As a side benefit it tended to hide the flaws in their stories.
Lakheenahuknaasi's forked tongue flicked out and licked the traces of blood from her claws. 'This one is done. Next!'
Base Camp, Outer Ring, Seventh Circle of Hell
McElroy was running the handcrank on the universal charger when kitten's voice penetrated his thoughts. Corporal McElroy, are you there? May we speak now?
Sure thing, my dear. McElroy smiled, despite himself. How've you been? Are they treatin' you OK?
I'm fine, and I've been treated very well.
Well, that's great to hear. McElroy stopped charging and lifted the lid on the laptop. It was a military-grade device, built to withstand just about anything you'd expect in a hostile environment. It booted to life quickly. Shall we get down to business?
Yes, please.
McElroy went over his notes. This appears to be a rural region of Hell. Based on the information contained in the laptop here, it'd be extremely difficult to hook up with any of the current cells of the PFLH. I've observed no geographical features or landmarks that match anything described or photographed by those cells. I have been photographing my surroundings and attempting to map my location, though I never was much for computers. kitten was quiet for a moment. Acknowledged. Four your information, you are now the Hell’s People’s Liberation Front. Have you established a safe base of operations?
Affirmative. We've taken up residence in a cave which is deep in a forest. If the colors weren't all wrong, I'd say we were up in the Catskills or somethin'. Looks like the divider between two circles.
I'm sorry, did you just say 'we'?
Affirmative. I've pulled seven U.S. soldiers out of the river of lava. Well, they pulled themselves out. I blasted the baldricks trying to chuck them back in. As an aside, please pass my compliments along to whoever designed the rifle you guys gave me. This sucker'll put a hole in a baldrick the size of your head! kitten's tone was vaguely amused. I'll be sure to do that, Corporal. They're asking for the names and service numbers of the personnel you freed. Could you get them for me?
[i]Yup, one sec…damn computers. OK, here we go. First is Private First Class Arthur DeVanzo. Service number… and he rattled off the rest of the names, before concluding, We got one other fellow, too, but he's Japanese, and not exactly military.
Oh, I see. A pause. If you'll give us his name and as much personal information as you can, we'll try to locate his family.
Ah, well, that might be a touch difficult. He's, uh, been in Hell for a while. He's a Samurai, and from what he's told me, he's a warrior from the Ashikaga shogunate, and from what I can remember from my college history classes, that puts him anywhere from five to seven hundred years old. kitten was silent for a moment, then said, Understood. So that makes nine of you?
Correct.
The people here are curious: how is it that you knew the people you were rescuing were U.S. military?
McElroy laughed out loud. I didn't. I just hung by the same stretch of river that I was in. It's like they're stacking us up like cordwood; the more recently you die, the further downriver you are. Or, at least, that's what the baldricks in this particular region are doing. That's why I was surprised when Ori showed up; he told me that he'd been flailing around blindly in the river for a very long time, so I guess he managed to swim a good distance away from where he was put in.
And how are you communicating with him? Does one of you speak Japanese?
McElroy shook his head, before realizing the idiocy of such a motion. This telepathy stuff sure did mess with your mind. Nope. We just talk. He seems to understand us. When he talks, we understand him. It's like with the baldricks. When they speak, we understand what they're saying, right? But how could they tell, just from looking at us, what language to speak? There's somethin' funky goin' on here, kitten. I wish I could tell you more, but I'm just a Tennessee hillbilly at heart. I mighta gone to college, but I got a liberal arts degree, for G--for Asshole's sake. Pardon my language.
McElroy could actually hear kitten's laugh in his mind. It felt like someone had tickled his brain. Well, another item on a long list of things we'll investigate.
Alright, kitten. I guess that brings us to our final item: resupply.
There was silence in McElroy's head; like someone had left the mic depressed by accident and was flooding the two-way with dead air. Finally, kitten said, You won't be being resupplied for at least four weeks.
You're shitting me. McElroy would've kept the anger out of his tone, as well as any vulgarities, were he speaking, but he couldn't conceal it within his mind. Four weeks? How am I supposed to continue operations here? What's the holdup?
I am, kitten replied. I'm the only one who can do this, and opening a portal causes me great pain, and I simply can't take supplying seven separate cells all at once. I'm sorry, Corporal.
McElroy cringed. Oh, kitten, I'm, uh, no. No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… please forgive me, it’s real crappy of me to blame you. Look, we owe you everything-we all owe you everything, and nobody ever thought what it must be costing you! My daddy would whale the tar out of me if he knew what I’d just said. Please, accept my apology.
I accept, Corporal. I would've told you earlier, but, well, it shames me that I can't push myself harder to keep you all supplied. It's just…it hurts a great deal…
McElroy blinked back tears. I won't hear none of that! We're all managing as best we can, and I cannot bear the thought of you suffering on my account. We'll get by just fine. And you tell the brass that I want my next allocated portal window to go unused, so that you might have a respite.
