Smithy grunted, engaged in a battle of his own as he staggered to his feet. Tox and Addy were somewhere out of sight, maybe even dead. Mass couldn’t give up, though, even if it was useless to try. He was a fighter, and that was how he would go out. He whipped his head up and managed to headbutt the demon biting into his shoulder. It wasn’t enough to dislodge it, but it shifted its weight enough for him to free his arm, which he then used to finally shove the demon away. Able to move again, Mass rolled onto his side and leapt up, but another demon tackled him and knocked him right back down. This time he ended up face down – totally defenceless as demons fell on top of him. “You better hope I don’t meet your ugly asses in Hell,” he grunted, face pressed against the road.
Claws sliced at the back of his neck, opening him up. He felt a huge weight crushing the back of his skull, smushing his face against the unforgiving ground. He could barely breathe, barely move. It took everything he had to just turn his head and gasp.
A high-pitched feminine scream pierced the air, and from out of nowhere the women from the farm enveloped the demons pinning Mass down. They stomped and kicked, screaming hysterically. Mass crawled away in shock, not knowing where he was hurt or how badly.
Smithy fought nearby. The lad had a demon in a chokehold and was slowly rattling the life out of it. Addy and Tox, however, were in dire need of help. Four demons surrounded them, and they were visibly near exhaustion. Mass was bleeding all over, but he had to help his friends. He climbed to his feet and threw himself at the demons, sending two tumbling back into the ditch. The other two merely stumbled in the road. Suddenly, the humans outnumbered the monsters. They had a chance.
“Take them down, quick.” Mass tackled a burnt man and dropped it onto its back. As soon as it hit the ground, Smithy jumped on its head with both feet. Addy and Tox took care of the other demons, and within minutes, their misshapen corpses littered the road.
One of the women bent over and vomited, causing Smithy to leap aside and swear. Once finished, she straightened up and wiped her mouth. “I-I can’t believe we just did that.”
Mass was bleeding badly from his neck. He had to place a hand over the wound and press down as he approached the young woman. She had dark brown hair tangled in knots and smooth olive skin streaked with scratches and cuts. “What’s your name?”
“Maria.”
“Well, Maria, you and your friends just saved our butts.”
“You saved us from Naseem and his bastards. It’s nice to repay the favour. We’ve been victims for so long that it feels good to finally fight back.”
The women behind her, who had also calmed down, nodded in agreement. They hadn’t fought to save Mass and the others, they’d fought to save their own souls.
Addy bent over and spat blood from a bust lip. “Naseem’s farm is behind you, but we need to make it back to Portsmouth if you have any chance of being safe.”
Maria nodded to show she understood.
Smithy threw his bloody rock down on the ground and shook his hand gingerly. “We need to warn everyone about that boss-level gate that opened up.”
Mass glanced down the road in the direction they’d travelled. Something bad was coming, and it was a consequence of his actions. He never should have killed Vamps and set Crimolok free. The giant gate had appeared because of what he’d done.
I had no choice. I couldn’t let Vamps suffer any more. He was my brother.
“We need to rest,” said Tox. “I ache all over.”
Smithy nodded. “I think I bruised my arsehole.”
Mass stared at the blood on his hands and had to agree. He didn’t know the damage done to his neck, but he felt weak and feverish. He wanted to puke. “We’ll need somewhere to hole up for tonight. In the morning, we can head off, and be back to Portsmouth in less than two days.”
But they had never made it back in two days. In fact, they didn’t make it out of the small cottage they found shortly after leaving the dead demons in the road.
3
Ted stood in the guard tower watching the world go by. It’d been weeks since they’d last encountered demons, but a scouting party had returned yesterday with reports of the enemy amassing south of Carlisle. That men and women could even make it that far and back in safety was something he would have thought impossible only a few short months ago, but things had changed at Kielder Forest Park. Kothal Castle was at the centre of it all – the new hub of British civilisation.
What had once been a crumbling manor house was now a labyrinth of wood and stone. Ted had personally overseen the construction of timber and plasterboard buildings, providing warm and dry meeting places, dwellings, and workshops. At the bottom of the hill, tents and hastily erected huts surrounded a lodge-style activity centre. The small settlement had popped up after a large group from a nearby supermarket, as well as multiple stragglers, had arrived. Ted didn’t know the exact number of people now settled in the forest – they didn’t have time to conduct a census – but he was confident there were at least a thousand. Maybe more.
And they had an arsenal.
Damien’s arrival, alongside a small group of American soldiers and several crates of weapons, was a welcome, if concerning, event. Concerning, because one of the young man’s companions was a demon. Sorrow, it called itself. A monstrous thing with sharp horns and leathery black wings. It was the demon to which Ted now paid attention. The thing was evil, and it was only a matter of
