ARMAGEDDON

10: Distant

I felt strange. Was I asleep? I found myself in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown. Wasn't I just armored up in Egypt? A doctor came in, looking at me, concerned expression.

"Mr. Archer, please stay in bad. You've had a bad accident. You got in a car collision on your way to see your grandfather." the Doctor said.

Rality seemed to distort briefly and the doctor was replaced by a man wearing ballistic shades.

"Hiya Chuck."

Reality then reasserted this, and the doctor was himself again. I was looking at him strange. What just happened?

"Look, Jason, you've taken a head laceration and broke a lot of ribs. You're also paralyzed from the waist down. You need to stay in bed to recover."

The doctor left, and a psychiatrist came in and talked to me.

"So Jason, how are you feeling?"

Tall, dark hair. Female, looks familiar somehow. Have I met her somewhere?

"Uhh, I feel weird. I guess I'm paralyzed in my legs?"

"Correct. I will warn you, loss of function in limbs can have devstating psychological effects. I'm here to make sure you make it through."

"Miss, I'm flattered, but I've got to get back to somewhere."

I tried to get out of bed, but couldn't move. Damn.

"Jason, you need to relax. You've been in a coma for months now."

"No, I fucking don't need to relax. I need to get back. The world needs me."

"What are you talking about?"

"BITCH, THERE'S FUCKING DEMONS FROM HELL TRYING TO KILL US ALL!"

The psychiatrist ran off, terrified of me. I fell out my bed like a dead fish, and started crawling on my hands and kness. I heard a faint whispering in my head.

The whispers would say "Come back."

"Wake up Chuck."

"This isn't real."

I kept crawling until couple of nurses tried to detain me. I yelled out "LET ME THE FUCK GO!"

I punched one of the nurses in the leg, his leg exploded into a red mist, and he fell screaming. A security guard tried to shoot me, but I tripped him and broke his neck. I grabbed his pistol, a Desert Eagle. I kept crawling forward, shooting anyone that tried to come near me.

The whispering said "This isn't you...."

I eventually reached a room that was completely blank, with an opaque glass floor.

"Break free..."

I started punching the glass with my fist. The floor started cracking, my knuckles were bleeding. I wanted out of this nightmare. I punched and punched and punched until the glass shattered, and I started falling into an empty void. I closed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.

Instead, I smelled sulfur. When I opened my eyes, I was on my legs again, but I was in Sheol. How? I looked over to my left and I saw an ocean of petroleum. Just an entire sea of oil, with demonic ships cruising through the oily ocean. Ancient and hulking machinery was all around me. Was this once a city?

I continued forward, Desert Eagle in hand. I noticed I was back in the Crusader suit. I was definitely back in Hell. I continued forward through a petrified forest. The trees weren't alive, but they weren't quite dead either. They just seemed to be preserved. It's like Hell is a decaying corpse, every aspect of it rotting. Even time itself died here. I kept walking through the forest, killing any Demons that got too close.

Eventually, I reached an odd place. It was a giant stone structure, with a corroding gate covered in chains.

"These are the Dreamers. They sleep, much as you do. When they awake, the skies will darken, and They will end everything." a voice said.

I turned around, but saw no one.

"You cannot see me, because you cannot understand me."

"Try me, I've seen some shit."

Suddenly, in a bright flash of red energy, a Fallen Angel appeared before me.

The Fallen Angel said "I am Abaddon, the Angel of destruction. Kneel before me, thing of the dirt."

"How's about you go and fuck yourself." I replied.

Abaddon's black wings materialized, and a spear made of black volcanic rock appeared in his hands.

"You have a lot to learn before you wake up. Baphomet sends his regards."

And with that, Abaddon stabbed me through the chest. I closed my eyes, shut, expecting to feel pain. Instead, I opened my eyes to see Malice stabbed through the heart in front of me, and she fell lifeless.

Abaddon scoffed and said "Be thankful it's only a dream."

I aimed the Desert Eagle at Abaddon, and hit him right in the forehead. he disappeared suddenly, and I was by myself again. Malice's body was nowhere to be seen. I continued onward, towards a desert of sulfuric sand. Were it not for the Crusader suit, my skin would have been stripped raw from the acidic winds.

As I walked through the wasteland, I wondered if I would ever be able to get out.