Chapter 3: Chapter 3 (Arc 1: One Last Job)

(Trigger Warning: Gore, Intense Violence)

“If you wish to leave here alive, then I suggest you hand over the girl now. Or fiery pits of eternal damnation of hell shall await you, so, what’ll be human…?”

SWISH!

“ARGH! My eyes! What did you do human! My eyes!” Said the demon right after the box of nails opened with each nail pricking their eyes.

All of the demons stood still, not knowing what to do. As the demon with the nails in there eyes attempted to regain its visions smoke burst slowly out of there eyelids.  A yellow glow made the area light up as if someone had just used a flare. 

They say the eyes are the window to the soul.

That was no different for a demon.

“That does it!” Both of the other demons said as they raised their hands summoning swords made of red fire.

Red fire swords, a level class two demon. Not the worst opponent to face and not the best. All the demons shared the similar trait of dying on earth only to be reborn into a different demon if their eyes were fully destroyed. But killing a demon on each level was different. With level two demons, advanced strength, bodily mutations, the ability to summon weapons and obstacles made of fire. Luckily no kind of mind control, but then, you couldn’t control the mind of a dead man.

But the goal still remained the same. Destroy the eyes and everything will fall into place. I just needed something to fight back. Luckily I still had my hammers and knives. 

SWISH!

As the sword slashed the air near me with the dodge all I could think to do was climb onto one of them from behind. I just needed a boost.

SWISH!

That should do it!

With a single latch onto their sword made it easy to thrust me forward towards their eyes. They never would have thought someone would use their giant sword as to boost…but they'd surely remember it now!

SLASH!

SLASH!

“My eyes! Damn you…!” One of the demons said with there eyes filled with two knives for a moment before yanking them out.

These Kitchen knives were surprisingly sturdy and better yet…they weren’t dull.

SWISH!

SLASH!

Looks like the remaining demon tried getting me from the back. Too bad they hit their friend instead.

“Dammit Corrinia you hit me not the hummaaaaannnnnnnnnn….AHHHHHHHHHH!” Shouted the demon as the light began to blink with more smoke coming from inside their eyes.

Any second that demon’s going to…

BOOM!

THUD!

“UGH!” I said falling on my back from the explosion. 

Looking back at the mess I had just created made me take in a deep breath for only a moment. Both demons had fallen to the ground slowly lifting themselves up. Perfect opportunity to light them up.

CLICK!

SWISH!

“Alvia…are you alright….AHHHHHHH! FIRE! IT BURNS!” One of them said as the Molotov’s fire burned their skin.

A demon's favorite tool was hell fire, but fire on the mortal realm, that was a whole different story. 

All I had left was two knives and two hammers which meant I could only kill both of them as painfully as possible. I wasn’t even going to attempt to use the baseball bat as I know that would get me nowhere.

As the demon burned I could feel myself thrusting onto their back with a large smack. As they squealed in pain swiping their arms from side to side I knew what had to happen.

“Light out!” 

SLASH!

SLASH!

“ARGH….My Eyes! MY EEEEYYYYEEEEESSSSSSS…..!” Screamed the demon as the growing yellow light with smoke emerged from their eyes.

“Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it…AAAHHHHHHHH!”

BOOM!

THUD!

“UGH! Again!?! God this hurrrtttttssssssssss…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I proclaimed as my body was flying upwards with one large jolt.

As the ground became more of a faint vision giant claws dug deep into the sides of my chest. Breathing became lightheaded, sight became blurry and even worse I wanted to vomit near flight. This demon in particular I hadn’t noticed before had bird claws. Their black bat-like wings hadn’t made an appearance on any of them except this one. Lucky me I guess.

“You think your so clever human huh? You think you can just kill my brothers and sisters like there…”

My god demon shut up! The last thing I want to hear as you lift me up into the sky is you blabbing…actually wait no this is perfect! I need to get a bit more creative if I want to kill this beast and feel as little pain as possible upon falling. 

With a quick glance, I could see that my arms and hands were not being held by the demon's claws and the backpack had not fallen off. 

“…for you see human you are going to die as soon as we reach the clouds above…”

With simple knots on the end of these hammers with the rope I can…

“…I’ll drop you straight down to your pitiful death where I’ll personally meet you at the pits of hell and…

…done! Just need this beast to drop me. I know I can’t die but damn does falling this high hurt like hell…well…literally and metaphorically. 

“…well this is goodbye human, see you in the pits!” They said dropping me but little did they know…I was wishing they’d do that.

SLING!

“AH! Human what are you…ACK! ACK! ACK! ” Said the demon as my rope trick had worked.

With the rope around their neck and my two hammer handles, I could feel gravity takings its toll. With each sway to the side, the demon would jitter as they choked leaving me with one option.

To push DOWN!

SWISH!

ACK! Stop…please!” The demon cried as they tried to fly up with each tug.

“Not…”

SWISH!

“…a…”

SWISH!

“….Chance!”

SWISH!

And just like that, we were free falling straight down. Except well I was still attached to this bastard of a demon! 

As the demon fell I could feel the small, minuscule, and insignificant feeling of falling from the sky. With each pull the closer and closer I got to making it to its back. With a single tug, I had finally made it to its back. Now, this damn demon would be a cushion, not the best cushion but it certainly would feel a lot better than just landing on the straight dry desert land. But the eyes. I had to destroy the eyes no matter what. I definitely could use the hammers to slash their eyes but that would…

“Ah Fuck it!”

SLASH!

As their eyes began to light up as smoke filled my view of the upcoming ground I could feel the heat coming near my face. An explosion was due any second now…and so was the pavement in three…two…one…

SLAM!

“ACK!…ugh…I…I…Shit…that could have been a lot better…” I said slowly crawling off the body.

You are reading story Grim at novel35.com

One step…two steps…three steps…and…

BOOM!

“Grim, get up, come on dude this is like the second time you’re waking up from an injury like this, I know you’re ok.” Other me said as they looked down at me.

My body honestly could have been a lot worse but the most prominent pain was my skin. Burnt to a goddamn crisp. Each movement was cold and stung which felt awful on the skin but it was better than scooping up your squished organs. 

SQUEE! SQUICK! SQUISH!

“My body…god it hurts so…much…wait….the girl…where is the girl?” I said looking around at my surroundings.

It was now morning, the sun was coming out and worse…it was starting to feel like a hot day.

I had landed right near the van which was still intact and the girl from where I left her is exactly…yeah shes was okay. Thank the lord Hallelujah if I actually believed in that crap. Ugh…getting her in the van would be fine but she had to be tied up to make sure she didn’t try running off. Even when people are being rescued they don’t know if there just being kidnapped again. And by the looks of my backpack it’s…yeah…just as I thought, destroyed. The gaping burnt holes was enough to know things were not salvished.

Except, wait now hold on. AHA! One thing of duct tape left. That should work. Best get to tying her up then.

“Be gentle with her, she’s just a kid.” Other me said looking as I tied her hands and legs.

“She’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t jitter too much she’ll be fine. Hm. Although I do think some duct tape on her mouth would be best so she doesn’t scream on the drive.” I said putting the duct tape over her mouth.

“Let's just hope the van doesn’t…”

“BREAK DOWN! FUCK! The damn van stopped moving!” I said smacking the wheel repeatedly.

“Calm down will you, we can figure this out if we remain calm…” Other me said as they sat in the back right before I shut them down.

“Calm? You want me to be fucking calm in a time like this! Our van just broke down! We’re on a desert road with no working gas station nearby. Even better we have a teenage girl we have to deliver alive tied up! No one is going to help us. How exactly should I remain calm about this!?!” I said rubbing my hand on my face in sweaty frustration.

“Maybe there’s a phone?” Other me said raising their arms in an I’m all out of ideas pose.

“Oh golly, a phone out here. Well then my fine astute gentleman, if there was a phone out here in the wild then don’t you think I WOULD HAVE FOUND ONE BY NOW!”

SLAM!

CLACK!

As I had smacked the counter the glove box opened revealing none other than a simple contraption…a revolver…a loaded one.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me! There was a gun in here the whole time! I could have used this when I…” I said right before getting cut off

“H…hello, is anyone there?” A distinct but unfamiliar feminine voice spoke in the car.

“Well, it looks like you got some company now.” Other me said pointing to the mystery girl I had never seen in my life.

Now, all I was supposed to do was rescue one girl…NOT TWO! Ugh! And the worse thing is I don’t know where she came from. Her hair was completely shaved off, she wore the same hospital garments as the other girl and even looked as boney as…all…those…other patients.

“So your the girl I unplugged from the machine aren’t ya?” I said putting my hand over my face.

“Wait…Grim? Did you help someone, like genuinely helped someone without a reward? That’s great this means that…” other me said right before being interrupted by the sound of the girl’s voice.

“I’m hungry, do you have any sweets?” Said the girl rubbing her face as she yawned.

“No…No, I don’t, god what am I going to do now huh?” I said pinching my eyelids shut for a few seconds and then releasing them.

“You could start by asking her name.” Other me said nodding me to make the conversation I didn’t want to make but knew I had to.

“What is…sigh…what is your name?” I said giving into Other me’s suggestion.

“I don’t know, I just know that I’m here and that I’m hungies.” She said rubbing her belly.

You know for someone who looks like they're eighteen they’re sure acting like they’re six. AHHHH great, don’t tell me those machines did brain damage to their patients!  Another great addition to the big…steaming…pile…of…!

BLAM!

HONNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!

“Grim…Grim wake-up! Grim come on don’t give up now. This is literally the third time this has happened today as a matter of fact. Now get up while there's still a chance to save your soul!” Other me said I looked up at the sky.

“Did I get…shot? ERGH! My head, why does it hurt so much? I said slowly lifting myself up from the ground.

After standing up a bullet fell straight out of my brain and directly onto a road…wait…?

“The road? Why am I on the road…what the hell happened here?”

It was still daytime and by the looks of It only an hour had passed but what was in front was a sight to behold. Fire, tons of it. And by the looks of it, multiple dead bodies were ripped apart like it was nothing. Except for one,  and all he was doing was withering in pain. There were two vehicles left in the rubble that wasnt the van. An RV that had been flipped over and missing chunks of its sides. Looking as if they had been yanked out by someone or even something. A knocked-over motorcycle and standing in all of it was the van burnt to a crisp.

“Who…or what could have done this?” I said looking around for the sight of anything like a demon, a supervillain, or anything with this much force.

“La La La La La, London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down, London bridge is falling down, my fair lady…” Sang the girl who had just been in my car one moment ago and now was playing like a child.

“Did you do this?” I asked the girl but she kept playing around the wreckage.

Wait a minute…the other girl! The one I was supposed to rescue! She’s gone! Please let it not be the demons that took her! But then again what the hell could have caused all of this damage?

“ACK! Augh…hey? Mikey? Ashton? Julio? You fuckers better not have left me for dead!” Said one of the remaining men in the wreckage.

Walking closer I could tell this survivor of whatever the hell happened here was part of one of those apocalypse gangs. The ones that lived in trailer towns, often littering the roads and the remaining highways. They made have looked ordinary with their short black hair, minor facial hair, and brown skin. But their clothes he wore told a different story. Their outfits were jean shorts and jean jackets with a symbol of a rectangle with a bear in the middle of it. All of the dead bodies wore the same thing.

How classy.

Seeing that the revolver from the van had made it to the floor beside me picking it up was the only logical thing to do. What wasn’t logical was to point it up In the air and do this…

BLAM!

“EEP! Oh god, oh god no! We killed you! You should be dead, we shot you in the head! How did you survive that!” He said trying to crawl to safety only to go nowhere due to his broken leg.

Walking slowly to look intimidating was always a strong suit. But take a guy you know you killed with a healing head wound, burnt clothes, and a look of anger walking towards you. It was enough to make the boogeyman cry for mama.

“Where’s the girl?!?” I said grabbing the man by his collar.

“I ain’t telling you shi…” 

BLAM!

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH! You shot me in my broken leg?!?” Said the gang member as he squealed like a pig.

“Answer the GODDAMN question!” I said smacking him down on the floor.

“Pear Factory…three miles down west from here…honestly…just kill me at this point…”

BLAM!

“You’re welcome,” I said dropping them back on the floor.

PLOP!

Now that I knew where she was at it was only a matter of how to get there and what to do with the childish girl. I could take the motorcycle for granted that it worked. So there was that. But the girl was a whole other story.

“Grim she has no one to help her, she’s all alone, I know you hate me using this but…what if she was your daughter? Would you leave her all alone like this?” Other me said tapping me on the back.

Sigh.

No.

No, I wouldn’t.

“Hey brat…you ever ridden in a motorcycle before?”