Demon Gate: Beyond the 9th Circle: The Rapture Was Just The Beginning. (13 page)

“Just get your ass to Guest Services or I
will find you and kick it here myself.” Vince
snapped.
“Fine, but you better have a damn…”
Terry stopped.
“Terry?” Vince said.
“Terry!”
“Shut the hell up, I found one.” Terry
announced, clearly annoyed, then there were a
few moments of silence. “I’m going to make
contact.”
“No, you idiot, get the hell out of there,
repeat get out!” Vince demanded
There was one final transmission from
Terry, broken by intermittent static.
“My arm, he tore off my…” The cries for
help continued for another few seconds, the
screams of a man meeting a very gruesome end
and then eternal silence.
“DAMMIT!” Spencer shouted. “Alright,
we’re going to get Gretchen, Jessie and her team
and we’re getting the hell out here.” Spencer
said.
“What about the demons?” Kortney
asked.
“We could give them something to think
about.” Spencer said hefting the small case of
explosives. “But to do any real damage we’ll
have to use most of this.” Vince acknowledged.
"There’s a huge propane tank on the Train
Ride.” Kortney announced.
Instantly a plan formed in Spencer and Vince’s
mind, and it was identical.
“Huge? How huge are we talking about?”
Kortney pointed at the conference table.
“That big,” Kortney replied.
“Can you show us?” Spencer asked.
Reluctantly Kortney nodded. Spencer
reached for his radio. “Gretchen, three of four
have been killed, there is only one left. We’re
pulling out, but first we have to make some noise
to make a run for it less risky.” Spencer said.
“We’ll cover you,” Gretchen assured.
Spencer and Vince took the opportunity to reload
their weapons before escorting Kortney out of the
conference room and then out onto the main
midway, flanking her on each side.
“It’s south of here,” Kortney directed and
she walked toward the location where Tony was
decapitated, and then headed south past a Merry
Go Round that must have been more than a
hundred years old. Beyond the Merry Go Round,
there was a stage and behind that was a train
station.
“The train is over here,” Kortney directed.
Pointing to a crudely constructed tunnel made of
cement. On the far end there was a door that
stood about four feet high. Kortney drew some
keys and unlocked the door before Spencer and
Vince turned to guard the door.
“Spencer, I’ll guard the door, you two
head in and get ready to blow this thing,” Vince
directed.
Spencer and Kortney headed in and
Spencer caught a glance of the propane tank and
whistled.
“That is one big propane tank,” Spencer
said before placing a charge on the white tank
and arming it.
“That’s just the small tank there’s a
bigger one on the other side of the lake,” Kortney
declared.
“Bigger?” Spencer asked. “How much
bigger?”
“Twice the size of this one, if you blow
this one it will take out the other one. I wouldn’t
want to be any closer than the main entrance, and
that would be pushing it.” Kortney replied.
“Wait.” Spencer paused to listen and then
looked at Kortney. “Did you hear that?”
Kortney shook her head.

Outside Vince waited for Spencer and
Kortney to finish. He heard the same noise
coming from an old western town that was meant
to be kind of a pioneer themed section of the
park. The commotion almost sounded like a hiss.

“Guys? You might want to hurry up in
there.” Vince urged.
Vince heard the hissing sound again but it was
now behind him, he turned and felt his heart turn
into a jackhammer, rapidly beating in his chest.

Instantly Vince turned his weapon on a
hive queen before his brain even registered what
she was. She lunged at him, sword drawn, her
mouth hung open in a cruel shriek.

The hive queen swung her sword and
Vince squeezed the trigger and held it on rapid
fire, then dodged and resumed firing. Spencer
materialized from the train tunnel just in time and
joined Vince trying to stave off imminent death.
Two targets would only slow her down unless
they could stun her.

“I’m almost out of ammo, Spencer.”
Vince shouted. The hive queen smiled wickedly,
she understood but there was a twinge of concern
in her eyes, she was weak and getting weaker
from the constant barrage of bullets and she knew
it.

As Vince’s last round exited the chamber,
the hive queen fell over, stunned.
“Let’s get moving. We don’t have much
time before she comes around.” Vince urged.
“We should finish her off.” Spencer
declared as he approached the queen and reached
down for her sword. The queen flinched causing
Spencer to jump back in alarm and pause,
wondering if it was such a good idea. After a
second he bent over just as the hive queen
opened her eye and shrieked. Spencer backed
away so quick he fell onto his ass as the queen
jumped to her feet and called her sword to her
hand. She stood above her foes and raised her
sword high above her head and swung down.
Spencer rolled to the left and the blade barely
missed him. The queen pursued swinging her
sword.
The hive queen was swinging so
aggressively that Spencer didn’t have an
opportunity to get to his feet; he had rolled intoa
dead end ally and now had nowhere to go. The
queen raised her sword for one final attack.
The queen had her attention focused on
Spencer like a laser so she did not see Vince
attack her from behind. He held a sword, a
handle of pure ivory, and a blade that reflected
light from an unseen source.
As the hit landed, the queen shrieked in
agony before turning to Vince, in his hand was a
sword like the one Michael wielded in Salt Lake,
gleaming with Heavenly light.
“Hey!” Vince shouted. “You want to
dance?”
Vince held the sword of light straight out. The
queen seemed afraid of the sword, as though her
very existence was jeopardized. She made an
attempt to flee, but Vince was right in her path,
she was also trapped by the dead end and tall
buildings on ever side. She shrieked a battle cry
before charging Vince, her sword at the ready.
Vince and the queen swung their swords and
there was an explosion of chaos as light met
darkness.
There was a brief pause as the queen
glanced at her sword where it met Vince’s blade.
A crack appeared it on the queen’s sword, it
spread across her sword as look of sheer panic
spread across her pale face. The crack spread
allowing the suppressed light to break through,
the sword was being purified and converted to a
weapon of light, but would it survive the
process?
The queen dropped the sword as though it
was hurting her and it shattered into nothing. She
tried to flee but the purification effect had already
spread to her, it was too late to flee. It took just
under twenty seconds for her body to turn to
dust; bit by bit she deteriorated until the her
remnants were caught a stiff breeze and blew
away.
“It’s time to go, NOW!” Spencer said,
Spencer and Vince helped Kortney out of the
train tunnel and Spencer quickly reloaded his
weapon before they resumed escorting Kortney
on their way to rendezvous with Jessie, Gretchen,
Rodney and Halley who were perched atop a two
hundred foot tall ride.
Spencer raised the radio to his mouth and
pressed the talk button.
“Gretchen, time to go, we're falling back
to the Hummer.” Spencer ordered.
A loud gunshot ripped through the air before
Spencer’s radio squawked to life in reply.
“Sorry, Spencer. Not going to happen.” It
was Jessie, and she sounded concerned.
“What’s wrong?” Spencer asked.
It was a couple seconds before Jessie replied.
“He’s by the front entrance.” Jessie
replied, emphasizing the word ‘he’.
“Just get out of there.” Spencer urged
before he turned to Kortney. “Is there any other
way out of here?”
“There is one other way; it’s at the north
end of the park.” Kortney said and took the lead.
Vince covered Kortney as they followed Spencer
north. Though she didn’t want to admit it, she
was terrified and could snap at any second. That
second came as they came to the main corridor
leading out the main entrance.
Kortney froze as the black-skinned
demon fell into focus. The girl started to scream
but Spencer covered her mouth hoping the prince
had not heard. Spencer’s hopes were dashed
when the demon turned to face them, and then it
shrieked.
Kortney took off like a rocket towards the
north end exit; Spencer pulled the trigger on his
M-249 releasing its fury on the prince who then
moved into attack, it wasn’t until Vince raised his
celestial sword that the prince turned away,
searching for Kortney.
Racing past several carnival rides
Kortney noticed what looked like several people
atop the tower-like attraction at the north end of
the park and she started shouting and waving to
get their attention. Fifty yards after reaching the
carnival rides Kortney reached the base of the
ride hoping it was a place she might find safety.
Finding a ladder she began to climb as fast as she
could.
As she reached two hundred feet she
heard a shriek from a hellish falcon, turning she
noticed it was the Prince Class demon; he was
airborne and he was headed straight for her, she
was trapped and clinging on a ladders so she
wouldn’t be able to evade the attack.
The Prince Class demon latched onto the
side of the tower and with one swipe, tore a gash
in the side of the pylon , then reached inside and
grabbed Kortney and pulled her out through the
hole; tears of terror streamed down her face, she
knew it was the end.
Then a single gunshot ripped through the
air from the vantage point of a ride called
The
Ninja
. The shot struck the hellish prince, but it
was too little too late. The shot was intended to
distract the demon. Kortney manage to struggle
free of the demon’s terrible hand, but she was
unable to reach for the ladder inside the massive
tower. Kortney’s hand slipped and she plunged
two hundred feet to the ground below.
As her life faded, she saw the demon flap
its wings to gently land on the ground as it
approached it let out a low growl then it grabbed
her head and snapped her neck. The demon lifted
its head to the sky and roared in victory before
flapping its wings as it took to the sky. Spencer
and Vince approached less than two minutes later
to find Kortney’s lifeless body lying on the
ground, blood trickling from multiple wounds, a
pool collected on the pavement under her.
Spencer said nothing as he worriedly
looked up at the tower ride, there was a gaping
hole, the structure had been compromised. It
creaked as its strength waned. Spencer knew it
would fail at any second.
“Spencer.” Jessie called. When Spencer
looked, Jessie waved him over.
Spencer and Vince checked to see if the area was
safe before proceeding to where Jessie had set up
her shot.
“We have to find an imposter before we
go.” Spencer said.
“We have to find that
demon
.” Jessie
retorted.
“Wherever the ‘Richard’ imposter is, I’m
certain the demon will be too.” Spencer
surmised.
“Where will we look for him?” Gretchen
asked.
“The same place we first met him.”
Spencer guessed.
“Spencer, look!” Vince said pointing up
at the top of the
Falling Star
. The ride was tilting
to the southeast, wailing with a metallic death
cry, eventually smashing into the pavilions to the
south east of the
Falling Star
as it kicked up a
massive cloud of dust.
Spencer pulled out the detonator.
Releasing the safety cover and flipping the
switch. An explosion tore through the park as a
fireball shot into the sky less than a quarter mile
away. The explosion shook the ground.
“Move it!” Spencer shouted pushing
everybody toward the gate to the north. Passing
through the gate, they ducked behind a building
just outside the gate to protect themselves from
flying debris and the think cloud of dust.
When the dust cleared, they paused for a
second before heading west; the sun would be
down within a couple hours. Once again they had
to dash to a safe zone.
Finally they came to what looked like a
manager’s parking area and the back way into the
administrative offices. Spencer pressed through
before coming to a wooden gate. Spencer kicked
it open and the entire gate collapsed in a heap of
broken, rotted wood. He pressed into the building
and headed up the stairs with Gretchen, Vince,
and Jessie. They directed Rodney and Halley to
stay behind to cover the entrance.
At the top of the stairs there was a door
leading to a sort of reception area, then a door to
the right and a door open straight ahead. Spencer
headed into the open door to another office, off
that office there was a short hallway leading to an
elaborate door; this door did not resemble the
gate outside, it had a blackened symbol burned
into it. Spencer looked closer to see that the
symbol was continuing to be burned upon the
door as he watched. Was there an unseen force
or invisible evil creature right there in the hall
with them?
“Why are we going in?” Jessie asked
“Richard doesn’t seem to be in any danger.”
“I don’t think ‘Richard’ is who he says he
is.” Spencer revealed.
Spencer reached down and grabbed the knob
before turning it and pushing the door open. In
the middle of the room was a dark wood desk, in
the corner was a stained glass window and sitting
behind the desk they could see the back of a
leather chair.
“What took you so long?” a voice asked.
It was Richard, or at least the imposter.
The chair slowly rotated counter-clockwise to
reveal Richard. Vince was surprised, but Spencer
was indignant.
“Spencer, what’s going on?” Gretchen
asked, she could see the look on Spencer’s face,
and it frightened her.
“I heard an explosion and I saw one of
my rides collapse.” Richard recounted, he didn’t
seem to genuinely care about the ride. He could
feel Spencer’s eyes boring a hole though him.
“Did you have any trouble?” Richard
coyly asked.
“What kind of idiot do you take me for?”
Spencer spat.
“What’s the matter?” Richard asked.
“You know what’s wrong, you sent all of
them out and let them die.” Spencer seethed.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re
talking about.” Richard innocently defended
himself. “You must be tired, it’s getting late.”
“Drop the act.” Spencer demanded, “Or
I’ll do it for you.”
“What act?” Richard inquired, he seemed
confused. “And I’m not sure that I like your tone,
young man.”
“The real Richard is dead; I found his
body in the park.” Spencer revealed, then briefly
paused. “Does that need anymore clarification?”
Richard looked down; a monkey wrench
had just been thrown into his plans. For a second
the charming look on his face slipped showing
fury. Then he gained control of himself again.
“You weren’t supposed to see him,” Richard
admitted.
“Who the hell are you?” Spencer
demanded.
“Who am I?” Richard asked shocked,
almost offended that they didn’t know who he
really was. “Haven’t you figured it out already?”
Richard’s tone seemed almost mocking;
he clicked his tongue “You seemed so clever.”
Richard said as he stood, and as he did an evil
aura began to fill the room and grow heavier,
darker and more oppressive.
“I am the great deceiver,” Richard said as
his façade began to melt away, “I am the Son of
the Morning,” he continued, finally the image of
Richard had completely melted away, in its place
was a very charming, very attractive man,
wearing a white suit with a red tie, a Rolex on his
left wrist. “I am Lucifer.”
“Satan!” Spencer corrected in fearful awe.
“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” Lucifer spat
with a voice that was like a violent volcanic
eruption, spewing fire, and venom.
“You have been a thorn in my side for far
too long, Mr. Garza. I almost had you in Las
Vegas, but then you had to ruin it.” Lucifer
turned his venomous stare on Vince. “You gave
him hope.” Lucifer glanced back at Spencer, “No
matter, he is going to become a powerful general
in my hellish army.”
“The hell I will…no pun intended,”
Spencer retorted, and Lucifer almost smiled at
Spencer’s comment.
“But the icing on the cake was you,”
Lucifer continued, shifting his stare to Gretchen
of all people.
“That was pure luck that my soldiers
missed you in Clovis, and Albuquerque, and
Prescott.”
Gretchen smiled, “Luck had nothing to do
with it.”
“Perhaps not,” Lucifer said before getting
back to the matter at hand. “I would have had all
of you by now if it weren’t for young Garza’s
feelings for you,” Lucifer said. He was still
unaware that Vince was able to summon the
celestial sword but Vince was getting mentally
prepared for an assault and trying to signal his
friends to get ready. All he needed some some
light and he could create the weapon.
“I don’t get it. Why did you attack us?”
Spencer asked.
“Why did I attack you?” Lucifer mused as
he walked out from behind the desk showing off
his Italian leather shoes.
“I wasn’t attacking…” Lucifer said sitting
down on the front of the desk, “I was recruiting.”
“Recruiting?” Spencer said as the worry
continued to build. “What are you recruiting
for?”
Lucifer just chuckled. “What does it
matter?”
“You’re building an army.” Jessie
declared, “It doesn’t make any sense, you already
control earth; who could you possibly be
planning to attack?”
“Keep going, you’ve almost got it.”
Lucifer encouraged with delight.
Finally all the jagged pieces came together to
form a perfect and clear whole.
“God.” Spencer said, “You’re going to
attack the gates of Heaven itself!”
Lucifer scrunched his face and shook his head; he
had a bigger plan in the works.
“NO!” He shouted, “My plan is not so
stupid, my plan was to systematically sweep over
every single world in the heavens populated by
men who worship God on my recruiting
campaign. Then and only then, when I have
gathered the full strength of my army, will I
strike against God’s Kingdom, and right now all I
need before I launch my attack is you, Mr. Garza.
You and your strength.”
“Why me, I’m nobody special?” Spencer
asked.
“Noah was nobody special and yet God
chose him. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob all came from
humble beginnings and had great potential. Just
like you, but I will mold you into a weapon of
darkness for my attack.”