Ted raced back to help Aymun, who had managed to avoid getting hit. Vamps’ bloody stump was no longer bleeding, and in fact, his hand was regrowing where it had been missing. As much as they had wounded him, he was undefeated. His injuries healed within minutes of being inflicted. Even a severed hand.
The chainsaw was too cumbersome, so Aymun was forced to throw it down and fight bare-fisted. Ted no longer had his hammer, which meant he had to fight the same way. He started running, picking up as much speed as he could in a short distance, then shoulder-barged Vamps as hard as he could. It rocked the demon and gave Aymun an opening. The sprightly man punched the demon in the wind pipe and sent him backwards, choking.
“I fear he cannot be killed,” said Aymun to Ted. “Yet we must keep him contained until Hannah completes her mission.”
Ted looked at him with his one remaining eye. “What mission?”
“She is a brave warrior, our sister Hannah. She is going to pass through the gate beneath the lake. If she succeeds, we shall win this day. But we must survive long enough to see her victory.”
Ted wanted to throw up, and he wasn’t so sure it was from the throbbing agony in his ruined left eye. “That’s insane. She can’t do that! It’s suicide.”
Aymun shook his head. “It is not suicide. Merely a hastening of the inevitable. Your friend is mortally wounded.”
Ted turned to face the courtyard. He was about to head for the sally port, to stop Hannah from being so reckless, but Aymun grabbed him before he could take off. Ted growled. “Get the fuck off of me.”
“It is too late. She is already set upon her path.”
Frank shouted out and alerted them. Vamps had cantered towards the small man and was about to tear into him. Frank threw himself forwards onto the ground and quickly scrambled between the confused demon’s legs.
Ted and Aymun assaulted Vamps as he turned to face them. They grabbed the demon by the arms and attempted to restrain it. If they could just hold Vamps down long enough, even if it meant sitting on him, then perhaps they would give Hannah the time she needed.
If she isn’t already dead.
What is she thinking?
She’s trying to be a goddamn hero. Doesn’t she already know she is one?
Hannah…
Ted growled and lost his temper. He let go of Vamps’s arm so that he could pummell the demon’s face. Even if he couldn’t kill the demon, he wanted to make it hurt. Make them all hurt.
It was a mistake. With less arms holding him down, Vamps was able to snatch at Aymun’s face and slice open his cheek. The sudden wound startled the man and made him let go as well. Now Vamps was free again. The demon struck Ted in the centre of his chest and launched him backwards. Aymun tried to grapple with him again, but Vamps pulled him by the arm and hefted him into the air head first. The man hit the ground painfully.
That left only Frank who, to his credit, did not hesitate. He barged into Vamps’ hip and unbalanced the demon, but it was only a minor victory, and the demon quickly recovered. He backhanded Frank and knocked him unconscious.
Vamps marched towards the portcullis, which was utterly surrounded by demons now that the teens had run out of arrows. “Enough of this!” the demon roared. “I am no longer enjoying myself. It is time to end this. Enjoy your deaths, for you shall experience nothing after.”
Vamps reached down and grabbed the portcullis. This time he was so enraged that he was able to lift the gate all the way up with one mighty heave. The demon held the giant gate over head as if it were made of tin. He glared at Ted with a predatory grin as his fellow demons spilled through the gap. The monster inside Vamps had won.
The demons were inside the castle.
52
HANNAH
Hannah couldn’t believe Philip was dead—which was absurd because she'd witnessed the entire world die. Death should not be able to shock her anymore, but Philip's had been an ending on his own terms. That's what made it different.
He had bought them time.
Kamiyo was shocked too, for the doctor remained utterly silent as they slid down the hill on their butts, allowing gravity to pull them faster than they could run.
Once at the bottom, she asked him if he was okay.
“Just tired,” he replied. “You still okay to continue?”
Hannah looked around. A group of nearby demons had already spotted them. “Don't think I have a choice.” Her guts had gone icy cold, and she wondered how much longer she could stay upright. She raised her rifle and delivered two rapid headshots. “You got these?”
She meant the two remaining demons, still racing towards them after Hannah had just executed their mates. Kamiyo dispatched both with that deadly poker of his. The way it cut through demon flesh gave her the warm and fuzzies. It was a real-life lightsaber.
They lumbered towards the lake, Kamiyo having to help Hannah along. Philip had been her backup if she failed to make it into the lake, but now she didn’t have the luxury of dying. She needed to stay alive and fight the lure of the beckoning darkness. Her vision swirled, and her lower legs grew gradually numb. Her steps got more and more uncoordinated. Kamiyo kept looking at her with concern. “I'm okay,” she kept telling him. “I'm okay.”
More demons tried to halt their progress, forcing Hannah to rattle off her last remaining rounds. It felt comforting to toss her rifle down for good, shedding the last memories of who she had been—a soldier in a war already lost. The time of guns and bullets had passed, and she didn’t mourn it. If mankind did survive, she hoped it would regrow without the need to acquire such things ever again.
The cabin was an inferno, the entire
