The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 01: Home Sweet Hovel

                                     -PART ONE: WELCOME TO ARMAGEDDON-

So this was the apocalypse.

This was the end of the world.

Despite that famous poem, it sure seemed to be ending with a bang. Private Jack Ward, Space Marine, warrior, survivor of Phobos, Deimos, and Mars, who had been to the shores of Hell and back again, sat on the bridge of a Marine Recon vessel that he had never actually learned the name of and watched Armageddon unfold beneath him on a massive display screen designed to resemble a window. Its visuals were piped in from a series of cameras mounted at the front of the ship, and right now, it was showing the Earth, growing rapidly.

Even as he watched, a fresh mushroom cloud plumed somewhere in Europe.

He looked over at Jennifer Taylor, the only other survivor, as far as they knew, of the incident that had consumed Mars and her two moons, and thousands of souls. She looked back at him, her face white with terror. He looked to his other side at their latest addition: Staff Sergeant Kyra Morgan. The redheaded Marine veteran was staring at the screen with a fierce scowl that told him everything he needed to know about her and how she felt about the situation at present. Being the highest ranking one around, she had assumed command and given the most obvious order after they had extracted her from the moon.

Make for Earth, full speed ahead.

Already, the ship was beginning to rumble with reentry as it began breaking through the outer atmosphere. Jack dug his armored fingers into the armrests of the chair he was buckled into. Pierce, the man in charge of the ship, stood at his station among the rest of the skeleton crew manning the bridge. Jack's mind worked furiously, churning to and fro as his eyes were dragged relentlessly back to that screen.

He wanted to ask how this could have happened, but he already knew the answer. Not the specifics, he wasn't sure if he'd ever really understand what the fuck was going on here, but he knew enough to piece it together. The Union Aerospace Corporation had ripped a hole straight through reality, into Hell itself, and had let all the demons out. And apparently they'd been stupid enough to port this technology to Earth.

"Do we have any comms?!" Kyra demanded.

A pause. "Nothing! They're completely dead!" one of the bridge crew reported back.

Another minute went by, the stuttering of the vessel steadily growing in power as more resistance came from the turbulent atmosphere the deeper they got into it. Jack realized that he was clenching his teeth so bad his jaw was aching and he knew if he didn't relax it, he'd crack a tooth. But could he be blamed? He was looking at the goddamned end of the world. Although apocalypse scenarios were more popular than ever during his generation, given how close they seemed to a real-life collapse of society and humanity as a whole, and he had grown up under the weight of a century and a half of science-denying politicians, sparking endless wars and fucking over the Earth's atmosphere and ecology and animal life...

He had never really, truly believed that he would live to see it.

Then again, he'd also never, in his heart, believed that goddamned motherfucking demons would pour in through technology-fueled portals by the millions.

The thought almost made him laugh, but he kept a lid on it, because he knew if he started laughing right now, he might never stop.

Jack felt a pressure on the back of his hand and looked over. Jennifer had gripped his hand. She looked over at him with a frightened but determined smile. She leaned over. "Jack...I wanted you to know that whatever happens, whatever we have to go through down there, even if we don't make it to the surface, that I'm so glad I met you. You're the best man I've ever met. And whatever happens, I'm yours."