She caught another glimpse of Frank amidst the demons. He was unarmed, throwing his fists and kicking out with his legs. His awkward movements were hard to predict, and it bought him a little space while the demons struggled to get at him.
Tosco and Sarah shouted after Maddy to stop, but she ignored them and rushed to help. Dying for others was better than living for yourself.
She had no regrets. This was the ending she wanted. Maybe it was the one she deserved.
But when the ceiling came down on top of her, all thoughts of helping others went away.
18
Maddy couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. She was buried alive. She coughed and dust filled her mouth, choked her throat. She began to panic, unable to see or hear anything. She focused on a pinprick of light that slowly got larger. First she saw stars, then the moon. Was she outside?
A face appeared above hers. It was Tosco. He bled from his forehead and was covered in chalky-white dust. “Maddy, you need to get up.”
She reached out and grabbed his hand, holding on to him like a life jacket. The warehouse had collapsed around them, the roof now on the floor in pieces. The walls had shattered. Breeze blocks lay exposed. Steel lintels leant at precarious angles. Men and women lay in the rubble, some dead or unconscious, others moaning and dazed. The demons were in the same state, trapped and clawing to dig themselves out of their concrete graves.
Maddy was lucky to be alive.
What the hell happened?
Sarah was on the ground nearby. She got to her feet groggily and Maddy gasped when she saw the left side of her face. It had been torn wide open. Blood gushed down her shirt.
“Sarah, you’re hurt.”
She fingered at her face gingerly and winced. Then she shrugged. “I was never that pretty to begin with. What the hell happened?”
Maddy opened her mouth to reply but men’s screams cut her off.
Tosco grabbed Maddy and Sarah, pulling them back and cursing. “Look out!”
Crimolok stared down at them from outside the ruined warehouse, a cruel grin spread across his face.
“Oh, yow’s the big bastard that caused all this, are ya?” Frank clambered from beneath a pile of bricks, remarkably unhurt. He was furious. “Do yow know how many good people have died because of you, ya bloody piece of shit!”
Maddy called out. “Frank, what the hell? Get away from there!”
Frank pointed a stubby finger at Crimolok, having to crane his neck upwards. “I’ve had enough of this. All this death, all because of this gobshite!”
Maddy looked up at Crimolok, staggered by the sight of something so massive. Nothing on earth had ever existed like the thing standing before her right now. She didn’t know if Frank’s words bothered Crimolok, but the giant’s face contorted in anger.
Maddy called out again. “Frank, get away from there. Move!”
Frank continued shouting obscenities at Crimolok, red-faced and enraged. He didn’t care about anything except venting his fury at the abomination that had wiped out billions of people. Maddy understood his anger. She had almost died for hers too.
Frank didn’t move out of danger. He was hysterical with rage.
“Use your legs, you fool.” Colonel Wanstead appeared from the rubble and raced towards Frank. He grabbed the smaller man and tossed him so hard that he went airborne.
Crimolok stomped a massive foot and Colonel Wanstead disappeared in an instant, crushed flat like an ant beneath a work boot. Brick and cement shattered, sending up clouds of clogging dust.
Frank scrambled through the debris, trying to get to his feet. Maddy helped him out of harm’s way as demons slashed their claws and snapped their jaws, desperately trying to get themselves free of the rubble. Some managed to climb out, and they immediately went on the attack, focusing on the men and woman still trapped or too injured to move. A few dozen soldiers were still able-bodied, but they exited the warehouse in terror, no longer willing to fight now that Crimolok had arrived. It was useless.
Sarah pointed to a section of the back wall that had crumbled. “There! Everyone get through the gap.”
Maddy shoved Frank, almost knocking him over. His ranting had stopped; he was oddly vacant. Whatever fury had possessed him was gone. He was broken.
Tosco reached the gap in the wall first, but he waited for the rest of them. Maddy made it there and helped Frank through, then went herself. The gap was narrow and tight rather than a massive hole, which would make it harder for the demons to follow.
Tosco still remained on the other side of the gap. Maddy reached a hand through the gap and yanked at his arm. “James, come on!”
He passed through and joined her on the outside, but he quickly turned back. “Sarah, hurry!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Sarah appeared at the gap, her face covered in blood. She slipped one leg through while Maddy grabbed her arm. She had almost made it through when her eyes went wide and she grunted. Her body stiffened, half in and half out of the gap. Maddy pulled at her, but she wouldn’t move.
“Sarah, come on!”
Sarah opened her mouth and blood spilled from between her lips, mixing with that already covering her face. She looked like a ghoul, a lost, frightened ghoul.
Maddy cried out. “Sarah, please!” She pulled harder, yanking at the woman’s arm hard enough to almost tear it off at the shoulder, but instead of moving forward, Sarah fell back into the warehouse.
Maddy lunged, tying to hold on to the other woman, but the only thing she could see through the gap were demons. Hundreds of them.
A primate leapt into the gap, claws swiping at Maddy’s throat. Tosco pulled her back just in time. His expression was grim. “We have to make it to the boats.”
Maddy understood. There was no one left to save. She started running, tears staining her cheeks. Behind her, Crimolok was destroying what was left of Portsmouth.
Mass
