And The Man Who Followed Her

My name is Jack Cutter. It’s been four years. Four years since me and my friends accidentally found a gateway to hell. Zack was corrupted and turned into a monster. Sarah was killed by whatever Zack became. Lucy was also changed by that place. But she managed to conquer it somehow.

Four years have passed, and in that time, I trained. Preparing to head back into that hell. Four years of training, one shotgun, three belts of ammunition and six loaded revolvers. Hope it’ll be enough.

So now I stand, in front of those rusted, iron gates again. Loaded to the teeth, about to head back into hell, chasing the girl I was never supposed to fall in love with.

There are three possibilities. Option one: Head down there, help Lucy finish things, get us both out of here. Option two: depending on what Lucy has become, I may have to put her down. Better for her to die than to become a demon. Option three: by far the most likely, I’ll die before I even reach her.

It’s quiet as I make my way towards the center of the park. It’s there that the jaws of hell open up and the long walk down begins. Whatever presence was here before, it isn’t now. Or at the very least, it’s busy elsewhere.

I find the entrance and make my way down. It’s steep. Steeper than I remember. I ready myself for what’s about to come. Not monsters or demons. Something worse.

There isn’t much left of Sarah’s body. Only her bones are left. She didn’t deserve this. I should have protected her. But I couldn’t. Hell, I couldn’t even protect myself. If it weren’t for Lucy, I wouldn’t even be alive.

But I don’t have time to grieve. I don’t have time to let it sink in. I’ll shed my tears for her. But not now.

I have to keep moving.

It doesn’t take more than a couple minutes for me to start seeing bodies. Hulking masses of red flesh, covered in horns and spikes. Demons. All of them sporting massive cuts across their bodies. So, she’s wielding some kind of enormous blade now. That’s the conclusion I come to anyway.

As I keep going, I hear the shrieks and screams of battle. They start off quiet, and slowly build until their sound fill my eardrums. And the smell. Blood and death; like iron and rancid meat. Not unexpected but nothing quite prepares you for it.

As the sounds and smells reach the height of their intensity, the path opens up to a massive, barren field. Nothing but cracked earth. Hundreds of bodies. I track her screams of violence and blood lust to the midnight skies above. And there she is.

The first thing to notice, is the weapon she’s using. It’s something between a great-sword and a scythe. There are several demons up there with her. she’s using her immense strength and the momentum of her swings to keep them all airborne. One by one, she sends them crashing to the ground like meteors.

Then she comes crashing down herself.

She’s different. Very different. Black wisps of smoke cling to her body, like before. Cracks in her skin glow like fire and slowly chip away at her humanity. Her eyes dance in flashes of yellow and orange.

“I knew you’d be back” She says.

Her voice doesn’t sound quite the same. It’s dark and smoky but there’s a smoothness to it. Almost seductive. It puts me on edge.

“Let’s go home, Lucy.”

She laughs. It’s loud and dark and maniacal. It’s so deep and booming that it comes off as unnatural.

She’s not coming back. She wants my help killing whatever thing rules here. There’s no reason for me to. But there never had to be with her. She could always wrap people around her finger, with little more than a glance.

There had always been a danger to her. It was intoxicating. But it was different now. It was like the difference between a beer and a fifth of vodka.

This is going to be the death of me. To be honest though, I always thought she would be. It was strange. It was like all the danger that had been Lucy was still there. But something else had used it as fertile soil, risen up through the dirt, and taken over. Like an ivy or weed or something. I don’t know plants.

I wasn’t surprised by what happened. This was Lucy taken to the furthest extreme. There was no demon lord. Lucy had defeated him long ago. But Lucy was a demon herself now. And she wanted my help to get back into the human world to spread her chaos.

Hardly a surprise, right?

On the way to the throne room, which was hers by the way, we were swarmed by demons. That she had summoned. I didn’t pay attention at the time but she didn’t lift a finger the entire time. She wanted to test me. I didn’t touch my shotgun but I expended all of the pistols.

They were tough b******s but absolutely possible to kill. They were inhumanly strong but they were clumsy. Everything they did, they put all their power into. Made them easy to dodge.

When we were done, or when I was done rather, Lucy smiled me. That smile will haunt me until the day I die. Which probably won’t be long, to be honest. The throne room is up ahead, and I have an uneasy feeling in my chest.

And this is where our story ends. Lucy sits on her throne, legs crossed looking at me like a plaything. She already knows my answer. She knew before I ever even came down here. For all I know, she knew four years ago, when she saved my life.

I know what this is really about.

She just got f*****g bored. That’s all. For all that made her interesting, her motives were never hard to figure out. I load the first shell with a satisfying pump.

She’s bored? Well, she’s in luck then. I am tonight’s entertainment. It’ll be a hell of a show. Buy your tickets now, it’s to die for.