[TO BE REMOVED FROM WATTPAD ORIGINALS ON 12/19]
When an army of darkness falls from the sky, Alex Kingsley enlists the help of her male peers and ventures into spirit-infested lands to save humanity.
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...
I heard shouts and raging screams echoing down the tunnel, bleeding through the dark, and with a firm grip on my sword, I followed the fear to its source.
At the end of the passage, where the six tunnels dropped into the crater like the inside of a ghoulish teapot, a nightmare unfolded. Demons crawled up into the tunnels from the burning pit—creatures haloed in orange fire and floating embers. Above the crater, the remaining few soldiers fought wildly to keep the enemy at bay.
At the threshold of my own tunnel was Grismond. The Bear.
The colossus male chauvinist.
Two runners from our group lay behind him, groaning in pain atop the remains of a ladder. Horrified, I approached them and the screaming pit.
Within the inferno, the army of Pans roared in blind fury, closing their eyes to the light, covering their heads with their shields. Several men hadn't made it out of the chamber—their corpses trampled by the Pans that now climbed the walls of the pit, finding grips along the rocky soil. Soldiers struggled to keep them out of the exits, unable to flee, doomed to die if they tried.
In the north and west exits, a few men stood back to back—one soldier warding off the Pans in the pit, the other fighting the demons blocking their escape.
There was no sign of Will or Tom.
"You're running out of time!" I shouted.
Grismond jerked his head around, taking notice of me for the first time. "What are you doing here? You'll get in the way!"
Was he deaf? "Go on!" he insisted, his head bleeding heavily, his fighting labored. "It's too late."
Too late? Had he really planned to stay here, to sacrifice himself and his comrades while we bombed the tunnels?
I threw my hands up. "I'm stalling for your life, moron! We need to get out of here. Help me!" I motioned to the men at our feet.
A demon clawed his way to the rim of our tunnel and Grismond and I swung in unison, chopping his head off in two separate places and instantly turning him to smoke.
The Bear didn't ask questions this time.
He whistled loudly, and the brave stragglers around the pit responded with signals of their own.
Run.
Run like hell.
In my attempt to contribute something, I yanked one of the torches from a sconce in the wall and threw it into the pit, adding fuel to the Fields of Punishment. I took solace in the wails of anguish and fury that followed.
Grismond and I each grabbed a wounded man and pushed for the dark of the tunnel. I could hear the demons scaling their way up to our mine shaft, using one another to climb like an army of fire ants. Grunting and hissing, flesh burning and scabbing.
We twisted through the tunnel's maze, slowed by the weight of the wounded. Rounding another corner, we came to an abrupt, jarring stop.
Three demons stood in our way. Smiling like victors.
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