Dark Wolf

Book One: Chapter 23

John opened his eyes after he landed on something hard and solid. He got up and realized he was standing on a floating flat black rock.

Floating rocks drifted around him, shaped like mini islands and hovering around like asteroids. Other rocks were round with pointy spikes on them.

John was in space, or what looked like space, with sparkling stars within the red mist that looked like nebulas.

So this was hell?

John imagined hell would be a barren landscape, full of fire and demons torturing dead people. Apparently hell was just another space in a different dimension where evil dominated.

Below the island, John spotted the junk moon, or at least half of it, moving from the giant round hell portal.

If the moon was in hell, so was the beacon. John could still reach the beacon and destroy it to stop the hell portal from spreading, but first, he has to find his squad quickly.

"Kara! Alexis!" John shouted. "Lena?"

"Down here!" Kara's voice shouted.

Another floating island drifted below John's position, about the size of a baseball field. He spotted the girls on the stone island, except they weren't alone.

Red figures crawled toward them with wings on their backs and long spiky tails. Those things were demons, and they looked hungry.

John jumped down. "Leave my girlfriends alone!"

He landed on his feet in front of Alexis and Kara.

The demons surrounded them. Up close, John could see the demons all have goat skull heads and sharp claws.

"We will swallow your souls!" one of them shouted.

Kara aimed her rifle at the one who spoke. "Swallow this, bitch!"

She shot its head off, and its body fell to the ground.

John smiled.

At least they could still kill anything, even in the demons' own realm.

All of the goat demons charged.

John blasted the demons, charging from the front. Kara stood behind him while sniping the targets. Alexis threw her explosive energy balls at them, blowing them apart.

Most of the demons got blown off the rock island, leaving their body parts behind.

John lowered his weapons. "How are you?"

The girls approached him.

"First time in hell," said Kara. "But nothing much is different."

"Any ideas about what we should do next?" Alexis asked.

John pointed his finger down. "The moon is here. So is the beacon. We can reach it if we go down."

Alexis looked down from the edge of the island. "It looks pretty far down. And there aren't enough islands to jump down to reach it."

"So we are stuck up here?" Kara asked.

Alexis looked around. "I can bring this island straight down to the beacon. If you can protect me, it will not be a problem."

"Just don't go hard on yourself," said John. "We will have your back."

Alexis smiled. "I am looking forward to you in bed."

John laughed. "Be careful what you wish for. I might ripe you apart."

Alexis shrugged and walked toward the center of the island. She held out her arms and her entire body glowed. Her power spread from her body, reaching around across the island.

After her energy covered the island, floated down.

John and Kara approached the edge and looked down. They flew quickly down toward the moon. Indeed, Alexis's idea was good.

John's left ear twitched, and he looked back.

Red figures flew toward the back of the moving island. There seemed to be a thousand of them.

"We got company!" John shouted.

Kara and he raced toward Alexis as they got their weapons ready.

The goat demons landed on the island and charged.

John and Kara blasted their weapons at them. There may be many, but they have to keep the demons away from Alexis until they reach the beacon.

With so many demons on their tail, John doubted they could survive the attack. Perhaps it was better to die fighting than die like a coward.

An energy blast from above hit the demons and blew them away before they reached John and Kara.

The Undertaker hovered over the island. John couldn't believe the ship was in hell. Perhaps Lena got sucked into the portal before she could escape from it.

"I got you covered!" Lena's voice shouted.

John pushed his com-link. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Protecting your butts! I figure you will need my help after you got sucked into the portal. Nobody can survive in hell space."

Lena was right. If she didn't come into the portal, then John and the girls would be torn into pieces by the demons. And their souls will get eaten, never to enjoy the comfy of the afterlife.

"Keep them off our backs," John ordered. "We are almost back on the moon."

"I still got you covered!" Lena shouted.

The Undertaker blasted more demons off the floating island. No matter how many kept coming, none of them could reach the space witch.

"Should we board the Undertaker now?" Kara asked while firing her sniper rifle. "If she is here, there is no point in using the island to reach the beacon."

John blasted a demon before it reached Alexis. "We are almost there now. If Alexis snaps out of her trance, she might fall unconscious. I need the entire squad with me to destroy the beacon."

"Okay." Kara continued firing.

John looked down from the edge of the island. They were getting close now.