Ted tried to create more space with his hammer, but found it wrenched away and thrown to the ground. He brought the nail gun around with his other hand and fired off another stream of brads. More blood stained the air as demon faces tore apart, but not enough of them went down. They absorbed the wounds and kept on coming.
They continued closing in on Ted.
Damn it.
A demon slipped inside Ted’s defences and grabbed him by the throat, pinning him against his truck. He tried to bring up his nail gun again but couldn’t get his arm at the right angle. The demon snarled. Ted closed his eyes and thought of Chloe.
Rat-a-tatta.
Ted spluttered as wet coated his face. He opened his eyes and saw the demon’s head reduced to a pulp. Its hand slipped away from Ted’s throat and its body slumped to the ground.
The thing was brown bread. Rat-a-tatta-tat.
Like a firework display, demon heads erupted one after the other, a bloody mist filling the air. The demon mob dispersed, scrambling to spread out, and desperate to locate whoever was killing them. The unidentified gunman continued firing. Demons continued to fall.
Ted scooped his hammer up off the ground and pounded it into the back of the nearest demon he could find, crushing its spine. Then he set about mopping up the other demons while the mysterious gunman continued laying down fire. Within a minute, more than a dozen demons lay dead in a pile in the centre of the road.
What the bleedin’ ‘ell just happened?
Ted was uninjured, but out of breath. He was also confused. Scanning the tree line, he searched for his saviour, but it wasn’t until they stepped out onto the road he saw them properly.
It wasn’t what he expected.
4
TED
The young woman appeared to be a soldier, togged in combat fatigues with webbing around her waist. In her arms, she held a combat rifle, but thankfully she pointed it at the ground as she crossed the road towards him. It’d been a while since Ted had last seen another survivor, and the sudden arrival of one now was unsettling. He wanted to get back in his truck and speed away, but he knew he should at least thank the young woman for her help.
“You alright?” The soldier kept the rifle pointed at the road, but glanced warily, obviously ready to raise hell at a moment’s notice. Despite her previous lethality, she smiled at Ted warmly like a shop assistant—he didn’t return the gesture, wasn’t even sure if he could. To smile was so utterly alien now.
“I’m fine,” he told her. “Cheers for the help.”
“What happened, pet?” Her brown hair was bunched up so tight it failed to move in the breeze. “Did your vehicle break down?”
“No, I stopped.”
She frowned. “Why would you stop right next to a pack of demons?”
Ted shrugged. His obligation to chat had expired once he’d given his thanks, and now he just wanted to leave. “Look, I appreciate you wasting bullets at my expense, luv, but you should get back to whatever you were doing.”
The soldier rolled her shoulders tiredly, making the rifle bounce on its strap. “I wasn’t doing much of anything, mate. Been sticking to the trees to stay hidden, but thought I heard a vehicle.” She nodded to his truck. “Good thing, too, because one-second later and those dees would have ripped you apart.”
Ted grunted. “I had it covered.”
“Aye, well... It’s been a while since I came across another person. Were you heading somewhere?”
“North.”
“What’s north?”
Ted sighed. “The sea.”
“You planning to get a boat or something? That might not be a bad idea.”
Ted finished talking and turned away. There was no safety in numbers. The bigger the group, the higher chance of demons spotting you, and he couldn’t afford to let anything stop him from doing what he needed to do. He shouldered his hammer and tossed the nail gun in the flatbed. “Like I said,” he grunted. “Get back to whatever you were doing, luv.”
“Hey, no need to be like that, pet. We’re all in the same boat, aye? If we can help each other—”
Ted snarled and cut the soldier off, shoving a finger in her bewildered face. “I don’t need or want your help, okay? What I want is to get back on the road.”
The soldier’s brief shock transformed into irritation. “You stay on the road, you’re dead. There are dees everywhere. You know those gates opened all over the place, right? There’s no safety out in the open like this.”
Ted barged past to the front of his truck. “I’ll take my chances, luv.”
She stumbled out of his way, then glanced around again as if worried the movement would bring unwanted attention. She was like a deer suspecting predators. Maybe that was what had gotten her this far.
The soldier seemed to finally accept his inevitable departure and stepped away from his truck. “Alright, suit yourself. Be careful on the road, okay?”
“Don’t worry about me.” He swung the door to his truck open and climbed into the driver’s seat. Before he slammed the door shut, he gave the soldier one last glance. “Look, thanks again for your help.”
“Aye, don’t mention it.” She patted the truck’s bonnet but couldn’t disguise her sadness. “Safe travels, pet.”
Ted twisted the key to start the engine, but instead of rumbling to life, an unhealthy ticking emanated from beneath the bonnet. The dashboard lights flickered but were unable to claw themselves to life. “Come on, damn it!” He twisted the key back and forth, again and again. All he could summon though was that mocking tick-tick-tick. He pounded the dashboard with his fists. “Bastard!”
“Sounds like the battery.” The soldier stood at his window, arms resting on top of her rifle. “Pop the hood, and I’ll have a nose.”
Ted shoved the door open and nearly hit her. “I’ll handle it myself.”
“What the hell is your problem? I’m only trying to…” She trailed off as something captured her attention. Staring grimly at the front of Ted’s truck,
