Welcome to Purgatory (Part 1)

Vikki, a demon hunter in Purgatory, runs into an old friend of hers from her high school. She takes them to the Sanctuary, an underground city, but they are attacked before they reach the city gates.

We are sometimes told that the “American Dream” is nothing but just that: a dream. But in reality, our “lives” are really dreams. It more than likely would help if I explain. We are born, but then are made to forget our parents. We are then put into lives that are not really ours, with parents that aren’t really ours, and with friends that really aren’t ours. When we die, we are awakened to find a wasteland. It is a place commonly known as Purgatory. There we are hunted by demons of every kind. But there are some people who hunt the demons, those like me. We are demon hunters, each with our own gifts.

 

          My name is Vikki, by the way. I don’t know my last name. But this story is more about this one particular case that changed my life. I had found a newcomer, trapped by a group of vampire demons. I killed them all, Angel’s glowing fire blades incinerating the vamp demons in just seconds. The guy was definitely a newcomer, because he looked at me with terrified brown eyes. I pulled my blade out of the body of the dead demon and looked at him. And that’s when I realized that I knew him; he was a jock at my high school. I had died before my seventeenth birthday. I wiped the demon blood on my jacket. For a jock, he was pretty freaked out. I had been dead for about a year, and he still looked the same. But I knew then that he’d probably never recognize me. “Where am I?” he said as I began to walk away. “Excuse me. But where am I? I thought I was dead.” I stopped and looked back at him as he began to stand up. “Technically, you are. Glad to see that someone else from my high school has finally woken up from the Daydream.” I smiled. He just stared at me. “You went to school with me?” I laughed. “This isn’t the time nor is it the place to talk. Let’s get you back to the Sanctuary. Dan will help me explain what you’re going through.”

          The walk back to my motorcycle wasn’t easy; he kept trying to figure out my name and when he suddenly paused at the sight of my glowing white motorcycle. “You ride this?” I groaned and looked at him. “I promise that I will all of your questions as soon as we get back to the Sanctuary. But please, be quiet. There are other creatures here worse than Vampire demons.” That made him shut his mouth. I climbed on my bike and looked at him. “Well, come on. So you really want to get killed by a Raver or a Scorper demon?” He got on behind me. “Hold on tight.” Before he could even acknowledge my suggestion, we rode fast through the ruined city. We stopped at this old warehouse. There I opened the door, and let the two of us in.

          After I closed the door, I lit a glow stone. “Follow me,” I said to him, “This is the fastest and safest underground route to the Sanctuary.” We walked down the corridors. He walked beside me, staring. I knew that he was trying to remember my name. "You're not going to give me any hints to what your name is?" I stopped and looked at him, trying to hide a look of disgust from my face. "You said 'hi' to me every day to me in the halls. You randomly introduced yourself to me in the lunch line in the cafeteria. I even invited you to my birthday party. Do you remember me now?" Before he could answer, a low-sounding growl echoed from down the corridor behind us. Demons usually didn't have the guts to raid the warehouse. "Oh, crap," I said as I grabbed a gun from my thigh-holster, "It's Batter demons. Run!" Batter demons were the smallest demons besides the Parasite demons; Batters looked like a decomposing infant skeleton with eyes as big as oranges and the wings of a bat. In short, it was basically a scaly little vampire with bat wings, huge eyes, and four long sharp fangs. We ran as fast as we could; I was running faster than he was, and he stumbled and fell. The swarm of Batters flew closer and closer. I ran back to get him and then I felt something bite my neck. I screamed. I shot the demon swarm and then ran, grabbing his arm, to the gates. The bite from a Batter, I forgot to say, is very poisonous. And, collapsing to the ground, I could open the gates. He caught me in his arms as we reached the gates. I reached out and pressed my hand against the doors. "In the name of God, open these doors." A light pulsed through my hand and reverberated through the grooves that were carved into the gates. I passed out then, but before I did, I heard him say something. "Come on, Vikki. Don't die. Please..."

(to be continued)

Author's Note

This is part one a short story saga. Just please keep that in mind.