Through the Gates of Hell

Chapter Thirteen

When Walt had suddenly sprouted tentacles and turned into a freakish deformed monster, Maggie wasn’t sure if she should shoot him or the gigantic demon. But then he ran at the monster and attacked it, and that made up her mind for her. She immediately began shooting at the huge creature, and soon Robert joined her, firing his shotgun.

“Eleanor!” he shouted. “Take care of the girl!”

Eleanor ran over and took young Hannah in her arms, and then retreated back behind them. She protected Hannah with her own body and raised up her cross to begin a loud prayer, although Maggie couldn’t hear what she was saying in the midst of all the gunfire and the huge monster screaming its giant head off.

Walt was bashing it relentlessly with his pickaxe, screaming obscenities the whole time, and then the monster picked him up with both its long tentacles. Maggie knew what was going to happen, and she screamed in horror, firing her gun as fast as her hands could move. The monster barely seemed to register the gunshots, and it pulled back with a roar, tearing poor Walt’s body apart. It hurled the upper torso away, with streamers of blood and gore spraying out behind it, splashing the monster’s face in blood. And then it jammed Walt’s legs into its mouth and sucked them down, crunching on the bones with a sickening hunger.

Tears streamed down Maggie’s cheeks as she kept shooting. She didn’t know if she was crying for Walt or for herself. As one pistol went empty, she began to fire with the other. As Robert fired away next to her, she quickly reloaded and fired with both pistols simultaneously.

But it all felt so hopeless. There was no way they were going to be able to kill this thing. It was too huge, too powerful. It was a devourer of souls, a destroyer of worlds, it was evil incarnate. No human could stand against it and survive. They were all going to die fighting it. Maggie’s bullets were about as effective as bug bites. The creature had already killed Walt and now it was going to kill the rest of them too.

“Lord!” Eleanor cried. Her voice rang out like a siren. “Give me strength so that I may smite your enemies! May the light of salvation shine in this unholy place! We are your devoted servants and we are in need of your divine guidance! Lord, give me strength!”

A shining wave of light blossomed around Eleanor and Hannah, enveloping them like a tent. Beams of brilliant yellow and gold spread out in every direction, and Maggie had to avert her eyes against the blinding glare. The giant demon screeched in fury as the light flashed across its body, leaving scorch marks where the beams crossed. Maggie did her best to keep up her rate of fire, and across from her, Robert was doing the same.

The demon thrashed its massive arms and opened its mouth wide, the hideous squirming tongues spitting bile and acid. It slapped its arms on the ground so hard it trembled under Maggie’s feet, and then swept its arms with brutal speed in a sideways motion. Robert jumped up but the arms caught his legs and he flipped upside down and landed hard on the floor.

It roared and began to stomp toward Eleanor, who was still wreathed in heavenly light. Maggie screamed and circled around, trying to get an angle on it.

“No!” she screamed helplessly. “No!”

She kept shooting and focused her concentration. She could see the bullet now. It zipped through the air and hit the demon directly in one of its eyes, but it merely shook off any pain it might have felt. It had plenty more eyes to see with, and Maggie couldn’t shoot out them all.

Her arm seemed to move without conscious thought as she pulled the trigger. Her hand knew where to shoot, even if her mind did not. In slow motion, she watched the bullet soar past the demon’s face and instead blast through one of its writhing pink tongues. And this time, the demon reacted. It screeched and shook its head, stopping its charge towards Eleanor, and turned to face Maggie. She could feel the power of its hate like a physical force pressing her down. She had never felt such unfathomable evil, she had never believed such a thing could even exist. Her hand did not falter, she aimed and fired right in the demon’s hideous face.

She stood her ground as the creature swung back its arm and launched a strike at her, firing with both pistols. If she was going to die, she was going to die shooting.

Robert’s shotgun boomed out and a chunk of putrid green flesh tore away from the demon’s shoulder just as it swung at Maggie. She tried to duck at the very last second, but it was no use, and the arm slammed into her with bone-crunching force and threw her to the side. She slid across the floor, winding up on her back, gasping as the breath was knocked out of her lungs.

“Maggie!” Robert shouted in despair. His shotgun fired again and again as he reloaded with impossible speed.

Maggie sucked in a breath and turned her head. She couldn’t move her left arm at all, but somehow she had managed to hold onto the pistol in her right hand. Her other pistol had gone flying and she didn’t know where it was. If her count was correct, she still had four rounds remaining. Blinking away dizziness and the overwhelming pain all across her left side, she raised her arm and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the side of the demon’s head but did little to slow it down.

Behind the demon she could see Robert shooting frantically, and farther back was Eleanor, still draped in brilliant golden radiance. She saw Eleanor emerge from the light, holding her Bible in the air with both hands.

“Devil!” she cried out. “You shall not prevail! We are servants of the Lord! With the power of Almighty God, we will defeat you!”

The Bible glowed in her hands and she thrust it forward, sending a beam of blinding light directly at the monster. It struck with the power of a cannonball, sending the demon reeling back, howling in pain as the light seared across its flesh. The heavenly light burned it like a branding iron, leaving a scorch mark that bubbled and smoked. The demon retreated back, the sound of its agony filling the chamber like the sound of pure insanity.

Its writhing tentacle tongues jittered as it screamed, spewing foul saliva. While it was distracted, Robert rushed forward, shotgun raised. The gun boomed and one of the tongues blew apart, splattering the ground with chunks of putrid pink flesh. The demon wailed and slammed the ground again, the impact knocking Robert clear off his feet. Maggie took aim and fired again, this time hitting the creature in the mouth, the bullet shattering one of its dagger-like gray teeth. It turned its horrific gaze upon her and she fired again, shooting one of the tongues that still squirmed around out of its open mouth.

They were hurting it. Against all odds, they were wearing it down. Eleanor stood defiantly in the open, Bible raised high, calling out to God once more. Robert flipped open his shotgun and dropped two more shells into the chamber. Maggie only had one bullet left. She concentrated and squeezed the trigger just as Robert and Eleanor attacked.

“God, send your light to strike down the Devil!” Eleanor screamed.

The entire chamber lit up with a flash of blinding yellow light. A bolt of divine lightning came from above and struck the beast in the center of its chest. There was an explosion of gore and purple blood, and the huge goliath tottered backwards and collapsed, its head and torso a grisly, smoking ruin.

Maggie pulled the trigger again. The gun clicked empty, and she finally went limp, her hand dropping to the ground. She closed her eyes. Unconsciousness beckoned her.

But then Robert was suddenly kneeling over her, touching her face. There was a smear of blood on his cheek, and his hat had been knocked off in the fight. “Maggie? Are you hurt? Can you stand?”

“Yes,” she whispered painfully. She spoke in short gasps. “It’s my arm. It’s broken pretty bad, I think. Some ribs, too. Just give me a second.”

“We’ll get you out of here,” Robert promised. “I’ll carry you if I have to.”

“Where’s Hannah?” Maggie asked, trying to look. “She’s okay?”

“She’s alive, but she’s not okay,” Robert clarified. “The poor child’s been through Hell. I think it’ll take some time for her to recover.”

“Me too,” Maggie said with a wan smile. “Here, let’s see if I can stand up.”

Robert held onto her right arm and gently pulled her into a sitting position, but Maggie could feel sharp, stabbing pains in her chest that had to be from broken ribs, and she winced and had to lie back down. Her broken arm was bad enough, but broken ribs were dangerous. They might puncture her lungs or possibly cut into her body and cause internal bleeding. She needed to get to a doctor, but she wasn’t sure if there was even a reputable doctor back in the town of Peaceful Valley.

“Eleanor,” Robert said uncomfortably. “Eleanor, please, can you come here? I know you’re tired after … after what you did. But Maggie’s badly hurt. She needs … she needs help.”

Maggie looked across the floor at the body of the huge demon. It was dead, wasn’t it? It had to be dead, she thought. But what if it wasn’t? Or what if there was another one? Distractedly, she looked at the pistol in her hand and set it down, then reached into her pocket for more bullets.

“What are you doing?” Robert asked.

Maggie looked up at him. “We’re not out of here yet.” She opened the pistol with one hand, clicked open the cylinder, and carefully reloaded it.

Eleanor slowly walked over. She looked haggard and exhausted, her eyes sunken and dull. She lacked the energy and fervor she had displayed so far throughout their mission, as if she had used up every last ounce of passion she possessed. In truth, she looked just as beaten up as Maggie and Robert did, even though she had not been wounded in the fight. Her wounds were spiritual, not physical.

“Can you heal Maggie?” Robert pleaded.

“I can try,” Eleanor said. “I believe the grace of the God still flows through me.”

Behind Eleanor was the girl Hannah. She had a blank, dazed look on her face, and it pained Maggie to see such an expression on someone so young. It might take months or years for her to recover from the trauma of what she had experienced.

Eleanor got down on her knees and placed her hands on Maggie’s side. Closing her eyes, she said softly, “Oh Lord, please hear me one more time. This good woman, Maggie Carmichael, has been wounded in the battle against evil, and needs your healing touch. Please, Lord, heal her so that she may return to her home and family. We have already sought your aid so many times, but please grant us this one final moment of grace.”

Although she did not raise up her metal cross and cry out like she done before, her words were no less effective. Suddenly her hands began to glow, as they had done when she healed Robert from the spider bite, and a sense of relief and comfort flowed into Maggie’s body. The pain in her side lessened and began to fade to just a dull ache.

However, Eleanor wavered and nearly tipped over, and Robert had to steady her. The effort had finally taken a toll on her. She sighed heavily and raised a hand to her forehead, and her voice was slurred, “I’m sorry, Maggie. I’m sorry, I did my best ...”

“You did great, Eleanor,” Maggie said, “You were amazing. Thank you.”

With Robert’s help, Maggie was able to sit upright. Her side still hurt and she guessed it would be badly bruised, but she felt like her ribs had healed, at least. Her left arm, however, was still obviously broken. She struggled as Robert started to pull her to her feet.

“It hurts bad,” she said through the pain, “But I think I can walk –”

Her words were abruptly cut off by a loud crackle of electricity nearby. It set off a charge in the air that made Maggie’s hair stand up. All of them suddenly felt buffeted by an invisible wind, as the entire chamber seemed to light up with ghostly energy.

A pinpoint of bright blue light appeared in the air, a few feet off the ground, and it pulsed and spread out like a swirling void of bright blue and violet colors. Sparks and fizzles of light and energy spat from the edge of the circle as it grew larger.

It was another doorway, like the one they had come through from the mines. Even as Maggie opened her mouth to say something, a dark shadow appeared behind the spinning blue disc, and something began to step through.

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