Mass tried to move, but he was numb. His entire body had stiffened. He felt bruised. With effort, he managed to rock himself back and forth slowly until he tumbled over onto his side. He expected it to hurt, but it didn’t. The only thing he was feeling was a tingling in his limbs.
Smithy was splayed on his back. The pair of benches were twisted and his legs were tangled up inside their metal supports. His eyes fluttered open and he moaned, “I think we crashed.”
“We’re alive,” said Mass. “How are we alive?”
“Perhaps we ain’t. This kind of feels like dying, don’t you think?”
No, they were alive. The helicopter was on the ground. It was wrecked, but somehow, the pilots had got them down in one piece.
More or less.
“Addy?” Mass started dragging himself through the wreckage. “Addy, talk to me?”
“I’m still here,” said Angela. “In case anybody was wondering.”
“I’m alive too,” said Damien. “Well, not exactly alive.”
“Addy? Addy, where are you? Damn it, talk to me.” Mass pulled himself past the twisted benches, noticing the blood that covered Smithy’s legs. He kept on moving towards the cockpit. There, he found Steph, her neck angled in a way that she could never have survived. He hadn’t known the woman well, but it sucked to see her dead. There was no sign of Harry, but both pilots were still sitting up front. One was slumped backwards, a huge shard of glass lodged in his Adam’s apple. The other was alive, but clearly in shock. He was trembling and mumbling to himself, and when he looked at Mass, his eyes were bright red like they’d been held over a flame. Mass feared the man was blind.
Mass panicked. “Addy, where the hell are you?”
“Mass, I’m here. I’m here.”
Mass looked around. “Where?”
“On the grass. I’m hurt, but I think I’m okay.”
Mass’s heart fluttered. Adrenaline coursed through his body, but the relief of hearing Addy alive filled him with joy. He clambered through the wreckage, pulling himself along with numb hands and pushing with heavy legs. The opening in the side of the helicopter was now only half as big as it had been, the sides pinched inwards. There was barely enough space to crawl through, but Mass made it through. He found himself surrounded by a grey landscape devoid of colour. He heard demonic screeching from every direction.
We’re in Hell. We must have fallen through the gate.
No, Hell was worse than this.
As he crawled away from the wreckage, Mass felt soft grass beneath his palms and realised that the grey landscape was merely night giving way to dawn. The starry sky had gone away, replaced by a featureless expanse that would soon welcome a morning sun.
Addy lay in the grass ahead, rolled onto her side. She clutched her hand and gritted her teeth, but when she saw Mass she smiled. “I’m going to get a god complex if I keep surviving this shit,” she said. “I’ve got to be the toughest woman alive.”
Mass smiled back. “No doubt.”
“How are the others?”
“Steph didn’t make it. Neither did one of the pilots.”
Addy nodded to a spot nearby. There was a body lying there, every limb twisted. “Neither did Harry. Is Smithy okay?”
“I’m fine, sweetheart.” Smithy appeared in the gap inside the helicopter and pulled himself through. His left leg was injured, and it dragged behind him uselessly. He was pale but alert. “I could really use a rest after all this,” he muttered. “Let’s just find a house with a copy of FIFA and sit things out for a while.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Addy. “I get to be Real Madrid though.”
“Glory chaser.”
The three of them sat together on the grass and caught their breath. The demons were nearby, heralded by their screeching and wailing, but they were a little ways away for now.
Damien and Angela emerged from the wreckage next, pulling the blinded pilot along behind them.
“This guy saved your lives,” said Damien. “Hey, buddy, you still with us?”
The pilot nodded, a little more in control of his senses than he had been in the cockpit. “T-The blast blew us out of the sky. It wasn’t as strong as it should’ve been, but we couldn’t keep from crashing. Is Braggs okay? He wouldn’t answer me.”
“I’m sorry,” said Angela. “Your co-pilot didn’t make it, and you appear to be blind.”
“I had to keep my eyes open if there was any chance of setting us down. The blast burned my retinas. T-There’s a chance I might recover.”
Mass nodded. “Good. That’s real good. Why the hell were we not all incinerated though?”
“Because the plan worked,” said Damien. “Take a look!” He pointed around the side of the crashed helicopter, necessitating everyone to shuffle themselves along until they could see past it. In the distance, the gate was on fire. The lens was still intact, but beyond was a fiery hellscape beyond comprehension. Ash and embers swirled through a realm of melting flesh. Hell had been incinerated along with an infinite army of demons. It was beautiful.
“The gate’s still open,” said Smithy.
“And the demons already through it ain’t dead,” said Damien.
Addy dragged herself along and winced in pain, still favouring her hand. “What does that mean?”
Mass stared at the gate, trying to work out if they had won or not. However many demons had been waiting to come through the gate were now ash, but none of those already through were dead. There were still thousands of them.
Something moved inside the gate. The ashes on the ground rose up, embers spilling everywhere. A black mountain grew out of nothing; then that mountain split apart, revealing massive limbs and a huge torso.
Mass flopped onto his side, too weak to hold himself up any longer. He rolled onto his back and groaned up at the grey sky. “Crimolok is still alive.”
Crimolok was alive, but they had clearly injured him. The giant stumbled on wobbly legs and, as the ashes fell away from his flesh, glistening
