The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 27: The Hell Keep

The Hell Keep loomed ahead of them, a black monolithic sentinel that lorded over this region of Hell. The closer they got to it, the worse it looked. Those were definitely bloodfalls and that was definitely a blood moat, although as they drew within a hundred meters of the place, he saw that there was at least a natural land bridge across it. Although he wasn't happy to see the bulbous, floating shapes of some Cacodemons hovering lazily across the landscape of a courtyard in front of the Keep. And there were several Imps standing guard as well.

What were they guarding?

As they covered the final stretch of distance, feeling horribly exposed, he found himself wondering what they were supposed to be doing. What was their goal? The monsters he'd come across all seemed so...disorganized. It was too easy to get them to fight each other, and they never seemed to be doing anything beyond killing and torturing people. Most of them seemed more like animals than creatures. Well, the Demons at least. The Imps seemed like they could grasp basic combat tactics, and there was a cruel, if simple, kind of intelligence in their gaze. The Cacodemons and Lost Souls? Who could say? The zombies were, well...

Zombies.

Except for the Barons of Hell, they all seemed like, at best, grunts. Where was the General? Where was the monster behind the invasion? Provided there even was one. But Jack was reluctant to dismiss this as a random occurrence. It was there, hidden in the horror, somewhere. But now wasn't the time to think about that, because they were coming up on the land bridge. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to hide, so they just straight up crossed the bridge, walking into the maw of bloody violence. Jack had his pistol out.

It was time to rock and roll.

Jack got things started off with a good, clean shot that punched right through the left eye of one of the nearest Imps, turning it into a bloody crater and dropping the thing in a second. The others all let out shrieks of rage and fury and began to thrown fireballs at them. The Cacodemons joined in, raining down death from above.

"Spread out!" Green called.

Jack strafed away, to the right, making sure he didn't get in anyone's line of fire. He aimed and squeezed the trigger three times in rapid succession, missing twice but putting a bullet straight into the mouth of another Imp and blowing out the back of its head like a ripe melon. He hissed in pain as a fireball seared past him, far too close for comfort, burning his cheek. No armor here. Had to be careful. The combat armor had made him careless. Jack turned, aimed, and fired, popping another head and dropping another Imp.

Suddenly, the Imp he was aiming at stumbled forward and he held fire, realizing what had happened: a Cacodemon had accidentally shot the Imp. The reaction was great. The spiny red thing spun around, hissed and threw a fireball at the Cacodemon, which promptly returned fire. "Hold fire!" Jack screamed as other Imps joined in the sudden new battle, and the other two Cacodemons joined their brother.

The others stopped firing, as the creatures had become entirely engrossed in their new battle. They fell back and watched the whole display continue until, in the end, there was exactly one Cacodemon left, and it wasn't in good condition. Three barrages of bullets converged on it and popped the bleeding thing, and then all fell silent.

"Damn," Green said. "Always weird to see that."

"But very pleasant," Stratton said.

"Yep. Let's get inside," Jack replied, jogging across the courtyard towards the structure itself. The 'courtyard' that sat in front of the immense stone and metal structure was mostly barren, though Jack spied a collection of what seemed to be low stone buildings off to the right. Might be a good idea to check those, and it became even more prudent when they reached the front door and found it locked down tight.