Rapture (10 page)

He was about to get a closer look when it was like the sun exploded in his eyes. Someone had switched the arc lights on. He shielded his eyes with his arm and melted even further back into the trees.

Gabriel had said they couldn’t last much longer but he failed to see why. Possibly because they were going to run out of food? That didn’t make any sense. One day wouldn’t make much difference and the survivors he’d seen, while thin and gaunt, certainly didn’t seem to be in any danger of spontaneously dying of hunger. There was something else going on here. What hadn’t Gabriel told him?

He supposed he’d soon find out. It was full night now and the demons couldn’t be far away. In fact, he could just about sense something coming out of the east. It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch. Their presence wasn’t strong as yet, but it was getting stronger.

They were coming from the direction of Bryce Valley City. He knew it was over there from studying maps when he was planning his training runs. It wouldn’t do to blunder into a strange city unexpectedly. The city was several miles away, so the demons would presumably take some time to cover the distance. He’d seen them move though, and while not quite as fast as him, they could eat up the miles at a fearsome rate.

He slid even further into the trees, taking out his swords and examining them in a patch of moon light. They were beautiful things. He never got tired of looking at them. Recent action had done little or no damage to them, but he could see one tiny nick in the katana.

Careful not to actually touch the blade itself, he pulled his whetstone out of a pocket and began systematically to sharpen it. The rhythmic scraping sound was oddly comforting and he moved on to the wakizashi without being consciously aware of it.

As he worked, he found himself wondering why exactly the demons had to travel from one place to the next. Surely, when they arrived on Earth, they had travelled directly from the Abyss. Why couldn’t they just appear wherever they liked? It was something he’d thought about when he was in Jacob’s Ladder. The demons always seemed to come from somewhere – they just didn’t materialise in front of him. If they had, he would’ve been hard pressed to stay alive as long as he had. It was something he planned to ask Gabriel the next time he saw her – if there was, in fact, going to be a next time.

The demons were getting closer, a huge, surging mass of them - much larger than the band that had attacked him at the airport. There were other demons with them too. He felt the surging hot rage that was the Astaroth. And something else. Something he had never encountered before.

It was important to keep the mind and hands occupied so as not to lose one’s nerve. Lately, he mused, he’d become very good at waiting but it was still good to keep busy and not let the mind dwell on things that hadn’t even happened yet. The waiting or expectation before a battle, he had read, was meant to be the worst. Soldiers would often scare themselves imagining what the enemy was like even before they had encountered them. He’d seen the enemy though and they weren’t so scary anymore.

He let out a long intake of breath and shrugged, setting to work with a will. When the demons arrived, he’d be ready for them with the sharpest blades known to human – or demon – kind. It was the sort of greeting he was almost looking forward to.

He met the first wave well in advance of the killing ground. Sam thought that was wise given that the survivors all seemed to be armed with guns. Surely they must have somehow loaded the guns with iron shells and he wasn’t about to take the risk of getting hit. In the darkness, he could easily be mistaken for something else.

A score or so Lemure broke off from the main pack and charged towards him, screaming, as the rest continued towards the cave complex. This in itself was odd. Normally the demons would throw themselves at him in great numbers. In this instance, the prize of the humans was obviously greater.

His swords were already out and he sliced through at least five with his first pass, his blades whirling in a concerted blur too fast for the human eye to follow. He pivoted and met them again, continuing to duck and weave as the Lemure swung and clawed at his body. His swords wove in intricate patterns and forms honed by continuous practice. Demon after demon fell before him. He felt minor wounds being inflicted but he ignored them. Above him he heard at least two Astaroth roar impotently, the closely-packed trees making it impossible for them to land. Behind him in the forest, he heard the first of the guns open up.

The last of the Lemure fell under his blades and disappeared. He stopped and listened. Something else was coming towards him. Something big. Even over the roar and screams and bark of gunfire, Sam could hear trees splintering and crashing to the ground. He edged back behind the cover of a tree and watched.

From the darkness emerged demons he had never seen before, not even in Hikari’s tome of Demonology - massive beasts that smashed aside trees as if they were twigs. Larger than the Astaroth, they were heavily built with tree trunk legs. Like the Astaroth, they had four arms, each one as big as a grown man. Huge curling ram horns adorned their black, goat-like faces. On their backs were large wicker baskets, and each one carried a heavy stone mallet.

He edged back even further behind his sheltering tree but he needn’t have worried. They were not interested in him. In fact, they didn’t even spare him a glance as they stomped past. One came so close that one of its great muscled arms brushed against his tree. The tree shuddered and almost fell, raining ash all over him. He counted three of them, and as they passed, he stepped out from his concealment and stared at their backs. At first he thought that their skin was black but now seeing them closer up, he realized it was black armour. Similar to the Astaroth but clearly much thicker. Thicker, presumably, to stop bullets.

Sam raced around behind them, careful to avoid their path. In the clearing, the battle was in full swing. As he suspected, the survivors had armed themselves with iron shells. The roar of gunfire was deafening as whole swathes of Lemure were taken out by the deadly hail. The arc lights were causing great confusion in their ranks. As soon as the Lemure dashed out from the sheltering darkness of the tree line and met the blazing light, they looked disorientated. Demon after demon fell before the withering fire. The killing ground was working; it looked like the humans were holding for now.

All that changed in a moment. The Lemure fell back and with a crash of falling trees, the horned demons emerged into the light. Even from this distance, Sam could see the nictitating membrane on their great red eyes. As soon as the arc light fell upon them, the protective membrane slammed shut. Of course, that made them almost blind. One charged, shaking the ground as it moved, shells sparking and bouncing off its armour. It missed the palisade completely, blundering into a rock wall with a thunderous collision, sending fragments of rock raining down on the clearing.

It fell to the ground, stunned, as bullets tore into its unprotected flanks. The other two charged. Sam heard the heavy machine gun open up. He could actually see the dents from the bullet impacts, but other than that, the horned demons weren’t even slowed. One almost missed the palisade like its unfortunate comrade but at the last second it swerved, clipping the side of the defensive barrier immediately next to one of the mounted arc lights. The light toppled, smashing to the ground. Suddenly, half the killing ground was in shadow.

The last horned demon hit the palisade square on, the great sharpened tree trunks splintering under its huge bulk. As three men on the fighting platform fell screaming to the ground, the horned demon scooped them up and flung them into the wicker basket on its back.

Lemure began to appear again, keeping to the shadows and heading towards the dark side of the palisade. The defenders, intent on firing at the horned demons and desperately warding off the diving Astaroth who were lunging for the remaining light, were unaware of their danger.

It was time for Sam to act. With a roar he charged towards the legions of Lemure, cutting and slicing as fast as his arms would move. The sheer weight of them forced him back and soon he found himself up against the wooden palisade, fighting a furious defensive action. It didn’t seem to matter how many Lemure he cut down, more would replace them and they just kept on coming.

A huge mallet slammed into the palisade above him, missing his head by a fraction. The surging mass of Lemure suddenly fled. Before him, a horned demon roared its outrage. The sound was deafening and the blast of fetid sulphur almost made him gag. It seemed to sniff the air before ducking its mighty head and charging. In hindsight, Sam realized that the demon must have smelt him. It certainly couldn’t see much. Regardless, it gave him the edge.

He danced to the side as the massive demon surged past, crashing into the palisade with a hail of splinters. As it moved past, Sam lashed out with both blades, cutting through the thick armour and severing the beast’s hamstrings. It emitted another roar and slammed to the ground with a ground-shaking thud.

Dizzy with the heat of battle, Sam almost didn’t notice at first what was wrong. Then it struck him. The horned demon hadn’t disappeared. Normally, when struck with cold iron, demons would dissipate. This one hadn’t. Odd. Apparently, certain demons had been bred with more iron resistance than others.

The horned demon still thrashed on the ground, trying to lever itself up with its four thick arms. Sam jumped on its back and placed the tip of his katana directly in the gap where the beast’s helmet met its torso armour. With all his strength, he punched the blade through. It emerged through the creature’s throat; only then did it suddenly dissolve into a billowing fog of ash.

Sam found himself standing on the ground, spitting out slivers of cinder and trying to clear his vision. Another wave of Lemure was coming.

Behind him, he heard an urgent hiss. “Hey, you there. Get yourself in here.”

Sam felt arms tug at his shoulders and he was dragged in through the gap in the palisade created by the horned demon. He found himself staring at a familiar face. Joshua. A teenage boy that both he and Aimi had known in Jacob’s Ladder.

“You!” exclaimed the boy.

“Yes,” replied Sam warily, “it’s me.”

The two teenagers stared at each other for a long moment before the sounds of battle suddenly intruded again. Already, Lemure were trying to force themselves through the gap in the defences.

Sam thrust out with his swords, reducing two Lemure to dust. “Now,” he grunted, “is probably not the time to talk. We’re all a bit busy at the moment. I’m here to help.”

Joshua nodded. Sam could see that the boy carried a submachine gun, which he appeared to be pointing at Sam’s head.

“Wait!” He ducked as the boy let off a barrage of bullets. Behind him, he heard the shrieks of dying Lemure.

“You should be more careful,”said Josh with a crooked grin, the barrel of his gun still smoking. “It’s dangerous around here. You could get hurt.”

Sam grinned back savagely. “I’ll try to remember.”

Side by side, the boys stood and prepared for the next demon advance.

“This is truth: when you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn.”

“Strike again. Harder this time.”

Sam did what he was told. His katana flashed out, chopping down on an angle and severing the bamboo pole into two pieces. Before the segment hit the ground, he struck again. With a hollow thud, both pieces hit the ground almost simultaneously.

Hikari smiled at him from behind the pole. “Good, but not excellent. You have speed, I’ll grant you that. I have never seen anyone faster with the blade. But …” Hikari paused and held up one finger. “… it’s your technique we need to work on. As you made your attack, you completely forgot to defend yourself. You were exposed on your left side.”

Breathing heavily, Sam lowered his katana and digested this feedback. Rivulets of sweat dripped down his bare torso, streaking the layers of grime and dirt covering the hard lines of muscle. Most of his body was muscle now thanks to the strict training regime insisted upon by Hikari. In the last three years, he had matured rapidly, growing almost unnaturally quickly. He was over six feet tall with a lean, muscular physique more commonly seen on professional ballet dancers.

In the last few months, Hikari had implemented a heavier weight programme which was starting to bulk him up. His master had made pains to stress the importance of not becoming too muscular though. Heavy muscles, Hikari had explained, could also slow Sam down. The trick was to find a balance between speed and power. So far, the training programme seemed to be working.

They’d been out here for several hours since twilight, in the training ground behind their property. The rigorous training was beginning to take its toll even on his unusual constitution. He was exhausted and his technique was suffering as a result. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like Hikari had any intention of finishing the session any time soon.