Demon Gate: Beyond the 9th Circle: The Rapture Was Just The Beginning. by Joel Heath Page A

reached in
to a crate of explosives and grabbed an
ammunition can before heading into the hospital.
Gretchen and the six marines arrived
several minutes later with a majority of the
trunk’s contents, leaving the sword, some food
and provisions, the P-90, a case of ammunition
and a case of explosives.
“This hall connects with another hall
which cuts through the Cardiac Center on its way
to the main lobby,” the captain said and after a
couple minutes they rounded the corner and
wounded started coming into view lined along
the total length of the wall, no, they weren’t
wounded, they were casualties, probably
dismembered in the last attack. Terrifying images
from Dunn came flooding back. Spencer started
to feel queasy, but managed to retain his
composure and push through the aisle of the
dead.
As they neared the main lobby, the sound
of gunfire made their hearts drop. Has the demon
horde finally arrived?
As Spencer, Gretchen and their Marine
escort strode into the main lobby they were met
by Major Walters.
“What’s going on?” Spencer inquired as
he approached.
“We’ve got a flier inbound, he seems to
be circling.” Major Walters replied.
“Where’s the commanding officer?”
Major Walters darkly grimaced as he
pointed at a motionless form that was being
moved into the hall of dead bodies. “He was
injured in the attack this morning; he died just a
few minutes ago. I’m in command now.” Major
Walters admitted.
“In that case, I have intelligence that is
crucial to our survival. The demons are organized
into ‘hives’ and lead by a ‘queen’.”
“Kind of like a beehive?” Major Walters
asked.
“Exactly, only when you kill the queen,
her troops get really angry and that’s when her
army is vulnerable, you can kill them once she is
dead.” Spencer explained, and then let the
concept hang in the air before briefly summing it
up. “They become mortal.”
Major Walters smiled. “Tell me about this
‘hive queen’.
“The only way to kill her is to take off her
head, and to get close you need a lot of bullets to
stun her.” Spencer summarized as a marine
approached.
“Sir,” the marine began. “It looks to be
retreating.
“Outside Sweetwater there must have
been thousands of the things, there’s no way it’s
retreating. It must be going to tell his buddies
where we are.” Spencer guessed.
Major Walters glanced at the marine.
“Take it out.”
The marine saluted and left while
reaching for a radio off his shoulder.
“Snipers, if you have a shot of the flier,
take it!” The marine ordered before disappearing
deeper into the hospital. As time passed, more
than three dozen shots were heard tearing
through the sky.
One of the snipers radioed back. “I’m
sorry sir, it’s out of range.”
“What about Morris?” Major Walters
asked.
“He’s dead, sir. He was killed before the
damn thing bugged out.”
Spencer looked sternly at Major Walters.
“What’s your plan, Major?”
“You said all we have to do is kill this
‘hive queen’?” Major Walters asked.
Spencer nodded. “That’s right, how many
men do you still have?”
“At last count, we had fifty,” Major
Walters replied.
“Captain Huddleston!” Major Walters
shouted over the chaos, and soon a soldier in dark
combat camouflage approached.
“Yes, sir.” Captain Huddleston saluted.
“Captain, how many claymores do we
still have?” Major Walters asked
“We still have two dozen but the
detonator was destroyed last night.” Captain
Huddleston announced.
Gretchen smirked, “Captain, I think I can
help you with that.”
“You?” Captain Huddleston asked
dubiously.
“My father was an IRA trained guerilla.”
Another soldier approached and
whispered something into Major Walters’ ear, the
look on his face was the look of a man who is
about to die a brutal death.
“We have incoming, ETA ten minutes.
What do you need?” Major Walters asked as the
soldier left to join the troops getting ready to
fight.
“A radio and a few