4: America’s outcasts, Satan’s army

A small, flat-chested girl vs. a horde of undead demons hellbent on killing her. Place your bets!

“You can fly?!” Shouted Ace’s father after seeing his daughter float down from the sky onto his doorstop.

            “You can’t?” Ace joked.  She went on to explain that about five months ago she discovered she could not only hover above the ground at varying altitudes but could fly at least mach 1 for short periods.  Naturally such long flights would exhaust her, hence why she didn’t use it often when taking down criminals in the area, save for a car chase.  As for how her father could be unaware of such an ability was beyond both of them.

            “So that’s how you’re going to get across the planet?  You’re going to fly?”  Ace’s father asked after sitting down in a chair.  He had brought coffee for both of them while Ace was busy polishing her goggles.

            “It’ll be tough getting across the ocean, but I think if I take my time and don’t overdo it I could make it in, like, 10 hours.  I could always go the other way and island hop though.”  Ace said, shrugging at the end.

            “Well, either way there’s been a change.  Jesus appeared on the news recently.  He’s apparently moved to the Vatican to have talks with the pope.  He wants you to meet you there too.”

            “Oh my god, I get to go to Italy?!”  Ace exclaimed enthusiastically.  She had always wanted to visit Italy, but because of the restrictions placed on her by the government she was not allowed to leave the country at all.  The nagging thought of how she left things with the general haunted the back of her mind.  It took all but the entirety of her strength to hold it back.  Ace's father inadvertently helped with this by going over a world atlas to map her route.  By far the most difficult task was getting across the ocean.  After about an hour of planning, Ace and her father decided it would be best to go to Maine, then into Canada. From the coast she would fly all the way to England (stopping in Greenland if she needed to), then moving to the mainland and hopefully catching a bus down.  The trip back was brought up, but Ace waved the idea away as “something I’ll figure out when I get there, is there more coffee?”  With that Ace said her goodbyes and began her journey.  To ease her strain of flying she decided to take the greyhound bus to the east coast.  Unbeknownst to her trouble was stirring.  The kind of trouble she doesn’t deal with on a regular basis.

            “Are you sure it was white chalk?  All I could get was yellow chalk.”  The boy of 16 said in a voice just breaking through puberty.

            “It has to be white chalk, it says so in the book I wrote!” Said the obese nerd of similar age.  Both teenagers were cloaked in hooded robes, pitch black and featureless.  A woman of 18 walked in, although with her bad posture and the degree of makeup and black gothic clothing it was hard to tell her gender.

            “I knew you’d screw up, so I brought white chalk in case.  Not that it matters, we’ll be deader than chalk dust soon enough.” She brooded.

            “Amy, you should really stop that.  You don’t even sound goth, you just sound stupid.” The first boy said, adjusting his glasses.

            “My name is Blak Raiyne.  Amy is a name given to pitiful drones drudging through their lives like-“

            “Yes, yes, ‘emo emo emo angst emo angst cut myself’, can we get back to summoning here?” The obese boy snorted.  The three began to draw a circle on the sidewalk, crisscrossing patterns to form multiple geometric shapes.  The boy with the glasses stood on the side while the other two began lighting candles around the circle, reading incomprehensible lines from a ragged book that looked like it was peeled from the back of a deceased pig and stuffed with inked paper.

            “What language is that?  Is that demon tongue?  How did you learn to speak demon tongue?” The obese boy said after he finished lighting the candles.

            “He’s making up sounds, Blight Stone, it’s not a real language.  He wouldn’t live long enough to learn the language of our gods.” Groaned Amy- sorry, “Blak Raiyne”.

            “My name’s Jim, I’m not using some stupid made up name like you Amy…” mumbled the obese child.

            “Will you guys shut up?!  I’m trying to summon a level 76 red demon here!  If I don’t do it just right he won’t have advanced heavy stander and he might not stand a chance against her!  And for your information”, the boy with the glasses said matter-of-factly, “this is too a language the demons speak.  I spent all night making it sound real so let me finish the incantation!” 

            He continued with the gibberish language until a green glow emanated from the circle that turned into a mist being illuminated by an unseen light source.  All three kids were taken back, but were terrified when screeching and wailing echoed off the buildings while a torrent of green gas exploded from the circle.  A blast of smoke plumed out into a mushroom cloud as a skeleton rose from the circle, forming itself from particles in the gas.  The skeleton was at least 6 feet tall, but was hunched.  It’s bones were tinted red and on its head were two horns curved in standard demon fashion.  In its right hand it held a curved sword- a falchion- that was rusted at the tip.  Multiply this by almost 80 and the demonic army the three children summoned was complete.  Jim smacked his head in frustration.

            “Steve, you ar-tard!  You didn’t summon one level 76 demon, you summoned 76 level 1 demons!  And they don’t even have skin!  We’re boned!”

            “No, this is good, we got this, we just need to find that girl and they’ll do the rest.”  The boy with the glasses said frantically.  He quickly flipped through the pages to find another incantation to say before one of the skeletons grabbed the book and stared at Steve.

            “Our Lord says hello.”  It said in the most disturbing and unearthly voice possible.

            Meanwhile, Ace was leaving the bus station after riding the Greyhound for what felt like days.  She groaned, wishing she had a place to stay for the night and to take a shower.  She noticed the billowing towers of green smoke, however, and immediately forgot about finding a place to stay.  She knew that somewhere, somehow, something was happening.  She didn’t know if it was good or bad, just that it was something.  Ace was never good with hunches.

            Taking off like a cheetah, she sprinted down the street towards where the smoke was coming from with speeds that rivaled sport cars.  She zoomed through traffic, bouncing off of buildings and streetlamps whenever a car would hinder her progress.  Eventually she made it to what she considered the second craziest thing she’s ever seen.  The first was the Snuggie.  A legion of armed, red tinted, demonic skeletons marching down the main street chanting in some dead language Ace has never heard.  Each was armed with a random weapon- swords, axes, staves, crossbows, brass knuckles, anything that could be used as a weapon was a weapon.  At the very back were three teenagers that she couldn’t make out very well.

            “Uh, what’s going on here?” Ace asked quizzically.  The skeletons immediately stopped their march and stared at Ace.  It was a good ten seconds before Ace spoke up. “What?”

            “You are the child that bears the creator of all, the Alpha and Omega, He who was before Any.” The demons all said simultaneously in the same horrid voice as before. “Our Lord and Cherished Champion demands your presence.”

            “Lord and cherished champion?  What, the devil?  The devil wants to see me?” Ace mused, filled with disbelief.  Then again, an army of skeletons doesn’t come down this particular street too often, so she was willing to hear them out.

            “He wishes to see the one who bears God.  He wishes to return God to His rightful place.”

            “What?!” Screamed Amy from the back. “You bonesacks came here just to bring back God?!  We summoned you to make sure that doesn’t happen!  We don’t want God to come back, you calcium-enriched fucktards!”  The outburst caught the attention of the army and stunned Steve and Jim.  Amy was, unsurprisingly, the leveled headed and calm one of the three.

            “Why wouldn’t you want God to come back?  What, are you like, Buddhist or something?” Ace yelled over the army.

            “The one time we actually make this stupid book of magic work and it’s going against what we wanted.  I knew that message from Lucifer was bogus.  You guys don’t listen to me!”  Whined Steve.

            “I’m confused, you raised an army of skeletons to fight me, or to take out jocks who were picking on you?” Ace questioned.  Jim walked through the army to meet Ace personally.  Although he was not a tall guy, he still stood shoulders over Ace’s diminutive frame, much to the surprise of Jim.

            “Basically, we don’t want God to come back.  He’s turned his back on us for so long that we don’t want him to return.  We’d rather you and him just rot in Hell.  So we tried calling up demons to fight you, but it’s always failed.  Then Steve over there-“ he pointed to Steve, who instinctively waved- “had a dream from Lucifer saying he wants us to raise a monster to kill you, and will give us the right words to do it.  Apparently the words we used before weren’t right.”

            Ace just stared up at him.  Finally she spoke after cradling her head in one hand.

            “You were dropped on your head as a kid, weren’t you?  You got a message…from the devil…to send demons to kill me.  Why couldn’t you be the normal nerds that play World of Warcraft or watched Japanese cartoons.  I liked those kinds, they were fun to pick on when I was younger.  Some of their shows were cool, like that one with all the really muscular guys fighting in midair?  You know, with the stupid hair styles” �"she begrudgingly pointed to her own messy red hair- “and were screaming for like half the episode before shooting energy beams at one another, and one guy was named Carrot or something- I consider that inspiration!  But this?  What is this?  I don't even....” She motioned to the whole army, then to Jim’s abnormally large gut before going silent.  Jim was not amused.

            “Look, we’re tired of being looked down on because we’re a little…different-“ Ace scoffed�" “but now we have a whole army to control!  You or anyone else won’t be messing with us anymore!  No longer will we be picked on or laughed at or called names!  We will be in control of all and we’ll finally earn respect!”

            “This is incorrect, mortal.” The army spoke in its ominous and unanimous voice. “Our sole purpose is to execute the child of legend and reinstate God as the one true ruler of all.  At which point we will return to our rightful sanctuary and take all that we have destroyed with us.”

            “What?  Bullshit!  I call bullshit!  We finally get an upperhand and you just take it from us!  What the hell, guys!”

            Ace laughed. “You really think a bunch of dog chewtoys can stop me?” She crossed her arms and turned her gaze to the army. “It’s funny, but spending my time fighting crooks and murderers has made me really soft.  It’s selfish to say, but I was hoping for some undead mooks to pound on, then I get to really cut loose!” 

            Jim stepped out of the way as the skeleton army readied their weapons.  “If you do not surrender quietly we will be forced to execute you.  Only then will God return.”

            “Jesus called me in, didn’t you hear?  I’m going there now.  He thinks he can return God without hurting me.  At least that’s what I believe.” Ace said, cracking her knuckles in anticipation for the fight to come.

            “The son of the Almighty Light is incorrect.  His true intentions are unknown.”

            “I don’t care if he just wanted to tell me a bad joke!  I ain’t dying here.  It’ll take more than a bunch of bonebags to beat me.”

            “You will surrender now.” The skeletons raised their weapons.

            “Over my dead body.” Ace grabbed her goggles and placed them over her eyes.

            “If that is what you wish.” The army said before letting out a demonic roar 76-beasts strong.  Ace let the goggles snap over her eyes.

            “Time to ace this.” She muttered before exploding forward in a blinding burst of speed.  The skeletons in the back unleashed a hail of crossbow bolts.  Ace deflected and dodged the majority of them, with the rest bouncing off of her as if she was being pelted with marshmallows.  All the while she laid into the front lines of the army- their swords swung at her and connected, cleaving only parts of her skin.  She grabbed the blade of one particular soldier, jerked it from his hand, then smashed his skull in with a well aimed punch.  Immediately Ace followed up with a slam with her other arm into two skeletons on her side before ducking down and doing a sweeping kick to knock over one more.

            As the skeletons fell they turned to dust and returned to the circle before resting in a pile of ash.  The three teenagers looked on, not knowing who to root for now that they’ve been betrayed.  One by one Ace leveled each soldier like it was paper mache, sending them flying before bursting into dust and floating back to the circle.  After about fifty of them had succumb to Ace’s might the pile of ash was massive.  Steve noticed it began to swirl, as though a small whirlwind had kicked it up.

            “Uh, Amy?”  He chimed in, not taking his eyes off the tiny tornado that was forming.

            “I told you, it’s Blak Raiyne.” Amy brooded.  Steve grabbed her arm and forced her to look at the ash cloud.  It began to form a much, much larger demon, of flesh and blood.  The demon had talons on its toes that glistened blood red- as red as its rough skin.  Where its arms should be were several tendrils that writhed in anticipation for its completed form.  As the skeleton numbers dwindled, the new demon grew.

            Ace finished the last demon off by uppercutting it into the sky, where it immediately turned to dust.  She mockingly dusted her hands and turned to Jim, who had noticed the new demon moments before.

            “Be lucky I’m past my ‘wedgie-giving’ phase, otherwise you nerds would be dead meat.” She shouted back at him.  Jim’s eyes were frozen high into the air, eventually forcing Ace to look as well.  The demon, standing over fifty feet tall, had grown over a hundred tentacles that circled its upper torso and lashed in all directions.  Its neck was thick, so thick it could support the sixty or so draconian heads that seemed stuck together.  Its 120 eyes glowed all the colors of the rainbow.  After the last dust particle settled at the top of one of the heads’ massive horns, all the heads focused on Ace.

            “Huh.  That’s a new one on me.” Ace said, only slightly disturbed by the scene.  The heads let out a deafening shriek.  All at once its neck extended so that each head had its own neck sprouted from the original.  It was a giant red hydra with clawed tentacles slashing at the air and gnashing its teeth, focused on one single thing- a particularly short and quite thin girl with flaming red hair wearing aviator goggles.

            Ace grinned a little and taunted the abomination. “Come on!  Gum on the bottom of the shoes I don’t wear concern me more than you!”  With that the demon’s rage exploded into a burst of fire that incinerated the street in front of it for twenty feet.  Ace leaped into the air just before the flames hit and hovered in the sky.  When the monster stopped, she flew forward and punched one of the sixty heads so hard it sent it reeling back.  The other 59 heads retaliated and lashed out.  One head missed and bit another’s neck.  A second head breathed fire on Ace, who protected herself and counterattacked with a flip kick to the jaw.  The many tentacles lashed out at her and she immediately flew out of range, only to be met with another fireball sixty-heads strong.  It hit her dead on and the explosion knocked her back.  Ace spun in the air before regaining her composure and going back in for another punch.

            This time, however, she aimed lower- she punched the monster’s body with so much force it sent the creature flying back.  Although it was only moved twenty feet, the damage it caused in that distance was staggering.  It used this to its advantage and began grabbing pieces of empty buildings and throwing them at the flying girl, who in turn whizzed in and out of the debris field.  Once in a while she would backhand a large piece of rubble and knock it back at the monster, but to no avail- it would simply grab it with its many mouths and crush it in its teeth.

            By now Ace was getting frustrated.  She ducked down into an alley and looked for something sharp, anything she could use to slice the heads off.  The monster sent its tentacles out just as she found a broken pipe.  Quickly spinning around she impaled one of the tentacles that attempted to grab her, causing the monster to roar in pain and recoil.  It let out another breath of fire that laid waste to the area around it.  After it had ended she flew up and began slashing at the monsters many necks.  She sliced one head off, and to her delight found it didn’t grow back; to the monster’s dismay it still hurt, and immediately attacked with its other heads.  Fending off 59 heads, she slashed at each one, hoping to chop one off.  Behind her the tentacles caught her off guard and grabbed Ace before slamming her into the ground with enough force to leave a small dent in the street.  Ace laid there, groaning in pain.

            “My back…I haven’t done that in a while…” she moaned through her teeth.  The monster wasted no time and grabbed her again, constricting her small frame and bringing it close to the many heads.

            “You defiance is unacceptable.  We offer salvation for God at the expense of your mortal form, yet you deny us victory.  It only delayed the inevitable.” The heads all droned in unison in the same unholy noise heard before. “If you had accepted your fate you would have died peacefully.  But because of this recent fight we have decided to make the end of your life the single most painful experience ever conceived by even the gods.” The monster squeezed tighter, making Ace squeak in pain. “Do you have anything to say before your execution?”

            “You’re in my way.” Ace hissed, holding back the pain.  With every ounce of her being she focused her energy to push the tentacle apart.  She began to glow white as an aura formed around her, taking the form of a young man of about Ace’s height.  The two of them pushed the tentacle just enough so that Ace could escaped.  The aura of the man gave way to glowing orbs that covered Ace’s hands, enriching her with a second wind needed to continue the fight.  She flew up into the air and divebombed the monster with an overhead hammer fist, slamming the creature into the ground with an earthshattering quake that leveled a nearby building.  The rubble covered the beast, who struggled to regain its composure and stand up.  Ace, still hovering in the air, concentrated all the energy she could muster into the palm of her hands, which were cupped together to hold the glowing white orb. 

            As the monster stood up Ace raised her hands above her head and hurled the orb at the monster all the force of a hundred baseball players.  The orb struck the monster and left a hole in its torso before sending out a spear of light that impaled the creature from the inside out, forming a glowing cross that crucified the monster.  The abomination shrieked in pain as its body began to disintegrate, until nothing was left. Moments later Ace stopped glowing, passed out, and fell to earth.  She hit the ground with a crunch that made the three teenagers, who were hiding as far away as they could while still observing the battle, cringe.

            The three walked up to Ace’s unconscious body.  After a moment Jim poked her with a stick, only to have it be slapped away by Steve.

            “Do we just…leave her?” Amy said.

            “Um…I don’t even know if she’s alive.” Steve responded.  The three stood in silence before taking a look around at the damage the two titans had caused- for the entire block nothing but ruins remained.  Two buildings had been destroyed, and the street was completely dug up.  The crater Ace landed in took out a good fifteen feet of concrete.  It was as though a bomb was dropped on the city, then dropped again after it didn't detonate the first time.  Forgetting the possibly-dead girl before them, the three ran away, fearing they would receive blame for the damage.  Ace remained alone in the crater for at least a half hour before someone else, found her and rushed her to the hospital.  The problem was the hospital was for military personnel.

Author's Note

With apologies to nerds everywhere. And snuggies.

Reviews

[Tai Ryens]

Wonderful chapter! I loved how you ended it! It hints that she's in much trouble. I hope you bring back the trio of nerds again, since you've already introduced them to us. Wonderful description of the battle, I'm glad that you didn't make this a "Run in guns blazing and kill everyone" battle, I hate those, if you know what I mean. Great job! Keep it up!