Hell Unleashed

The last kilometer to the crash site was filled with the tall grass. Looking ahead we could see smoke starting to thicken and rise higher into the sky.

"Right!" Panted Cyrn. "Stay as low as you can, it doesn't matter if we move slower. Just a few breaths of that smoke and you won't be able to walk at all."

Sare and I groaned as we put further pressure on our already aching muscles. Having to constantly press through the grass had worn us out. Only the thought of what we would find kept us going onwards.

Soon we could feel the heat from the fire building ahead of us. Cyrn took the lead, flattening the grass whilst he crouched to make it easier for us to follow. He reached a particular section before stopping and turning back to us.

"We're lucky. The fire has built on the section opposite to us, but we won't have much time before this entire section goes up in flames. If the wind picks up we'll never outrun the fire." He peaked his head into the clearing the veloplane had made and then reported back to us.

"Right. Here's the plan. I can see some exposed wiring and what looks like a data chip by the cockpit of the plane. Sare, you'll be in charge of that. There's a broken wing with the rotor blades loose towards us. The copper connecting them together should also be able to be pulled out. Rav, that's your job. I'm heading to the back. There's a leak from the fuel tank there. I'll try to collect as much of it as I can. Agreed?"

Sare and I just nodded, amazed at how quickly Cyrn had managed to plan.

"Let's pray the fuel doesn't catch before we get out. We go on three. One. Two. Three!"

For the second time that day we raced out of the grasses. I turned all my focus firmly to my job. I knew Sare and Cyrn would complete their tasks without any worry. I was nervous about removing the copper wiring. If some of the cables were trapped I wouldn't be able to pull them out. The veloplane wasn't too big. It seemed this particular model was a personal transport ship, designed to carry a passenger and pilot. This got me extremely excited. Only the wealthiest people could afford transport like this. Whoever owned this ship was probably a super human with a very high status in the kingdom. Any valuables we could find could be priceless. If they were returning from another world the contents could be even more valuable, not to mention what would be on the corpse itself. Just thinking about got my heart pounding harder.

As I raced to the wing I reach up to grab one of the rotor blades. "Ahh!" I cried out, retracting my hands instantly. The blade was extremely hot. Just that brief contact had seared the skin on my hands. I quickly took off my shirt and covered my hands with it. It was made from hide and so had some heat resistant properties. Using the shirt as a covering I was able to grab hold of the blade. I pulled, using my entire body weight to heave the blade free. With a screech the metal pulled free of the circular hole in the wing. I fell back with it and panicking, I got up. I was disappointed with what I saw. The other end had partially melted, which was how I'd managed to pull it free. Although it was still valuable, it was worth far less than a complete blade. I pushed past the nuisance and grabbed the last blade. This one was more difficult to break free, but after a short while of wiggling it came out. I was pleasantly surprised to notice that this blade was complete. Both blades were about the length of my body, but they were hollow and quite light. This type of engineering meant that they would be be expensive. I grinned.

Next were the copper wires. The wiring was opened at the end, sending sparks flying over. It would be very difficult to grab these without out further burning my hands. If the sparks showered me then there was a chance my hair or trousers could catch fire. I decided to follow the cable to see if I could pull it out, before putting myself in further danger. I ran around the wing towards the main body of the plane. The entire wing had been scraped on impact leaving the innards exposed. Bang!

I heard a noise from the body of the plane. Unsure what it might be, I took a step back and listened. "Wait!" I yelled to Sare and Cyrn. "Something's banging!" I looked over at Cyrn. He had managed to tear back a lot of the broken steel plates and was pulling a fuel cell out of the gap.

"Oh, no! Is this thing about to explode?" Cyrn dropped the fuel cell. "Everyone run!"

By now we could all hear the banging coming from the mid-section. We all turned tail and bolted. I even left the blades behind. We hastily ran through the grass, senses firing, desperately trying to anticipate when the final explosion would occur. But it never came.

We stopped to catch our breaths. "Is it going to explode?" Sare asked raggedly. Cyrn looked at me.

"I don't know! I just heard some banging from the main plane section! But if it hasn't detonated by now, we might still have time!"

Suddenly Cyrn grabbed hold of both our shoulders. "Hang on! That section is the passengers' hold isn't it?! What if it's a survivor?"

"No chance. No one could survive a crash like that!"

"A super human could. Especially one that could afford a plane like that!"

"Oh no," I looked at Cyrn. He was already turning back.

"We can't just leave him there to die! We have to go back for him!"

Sare and I fell in behind Cyrn, too tired to speak, and ran the way back to the plane.

When we arrived, we could now see that a hole had been punched through the exterior shell of the plane. A heavily bleeding man was crawling out through the small hole. He had a cut on his head and blood all over his face.

"Hang on, we'll help you!" Cyrn shouted, going over to help. "Sare do you have the bandages?"

"Yes, yes they're here!" Sare run over with a small pack of dusty bandages.

"Rav! Help Sare clear some of the blood and cover the wound. He'll bleed to death if we don't stop it!"

I joined Sare and did as Cyrn said. I couldn't tell what colour the man's hair was. It was now just red, the blood still flowing freely from the cut. I started to wipe away the blood from his face, it had run into his eyes, turning them red too. As I began to wipe away the blood I noticed that the blood around his mouth was crusted and a lot harder to remove. Baffled, I paused to watch him. He was still clawing his way out of the gap, squirming as hard as he could. I looked at Cyrn, who was slowly widening the gap.

"Something's wrong here!" I shouted.

"What?" Sare and Cyrn sounded irritated, they continued with their tasks.

The gap widened further and one of the man's arms came out. The nails were torn and caked in blood. There were cuts covering his upper arm and shoulder. From the new angle I noticed the scratch marks on his neck and cheek. The scratches looked like they were made from a human.

The freed hand peeled more metal out of the way so the man could finally pull himself out the hole. His forehead was now wrapped in gauze, staunching the bleeding. The man's first free movement was to grab at Sare. When his body shifted, I saw the massacre in the cabin. Blood had sprayed across every surface, coating the inside of the cabin. The cockpit door was open and I could see a torso poking out. The chest and neck of the pilot had been mutilated beyond anything I'd ever seen. There were large chunks of his flesh missing. There was another passenger lying against the back wall. Judging by the long hair it was a woman, however her face was now missing. I looked back, in shock, at the man's blood red eyes. They weren't red from the blood running down his face. A strange silence descended. All I could hear was the rapid beating of my heart.

I pulled Sare away from the man. "Run! He killed them all!" I yelled as loudly as I could, scaring Sare and Cyrn. I continued to grab Sare as I ran to the grass. Cyrn was confused and Sare struggled free of my grip. "No! Run! Run! He killed them all! That man killed everyone!" My body was shaking and cold sweats were running down my spine. I reached out to grab hold of Sare again but she dodged my hand. The man had now changed target and lunged at Cyrn. Cyrn screamed as his shin bone cracked. My nostrils flared, I picked up one of the rotor blades nearby, charged and hacked it down on the man's hand. Sare picked up the other one and followed behind me. Even with the momentum and full body weight behind the blow, the man's arm remained intact, dragging Cyrn down towards him. Sare's blow arrived soon after and managed to hit his wrist joint. Although his wrist didn't break, the impact loosened his grip and Cyrn tore away, leaving his trouser legs firmly grasped in the man's hand.

The next moments were a blur. Once Cyrn was free the three of us fled, running as fast as we could. In our haste, we were separated, trying to leave the man far behind. The grass kept whipping me in the face, but it didn't stop me. My legs and exposed torso were covered in cuts. I heard the sound of grass moving to my right. The man had managed to catch up to me already. I braced myself and prepared to tackle him. I would rather be the one to strike first. If I managed to knock him down I would at least have some chance of escaping. With a roar I rush over and tackled the figure to the ground. "Oww!" I heard the cry, recognising the voice. "Cyrn! It's you!"

"Of course it's me! Why'd you have to tackle me?"

"Where's Sare?"

"I don't know! I thought she was with you!"

We looked at each other, our faces aghast.

"We can't face that man alone! We stand no chance! He'll kill us all!" I was terrified.

"Shush, shush. Just wait. Breathe. Right here's what we're going to do. You run back to get some help, I'll stay here and look for Sare. Find the men from the Mammal kingdom. Tell them that I'm here."

"I can't, I'm not fast enough. Even with your leg like that you're still quicker than I am. Besides, I won't even be able to meet with anyone from the Mammals. I'm not allowed anywhere near the compound!"

Cyrn looked deeply troubled. He knew that I wouldn't make it back in time. He also knew my status.

"Fine. Then Rav. I'm leaving this bit up to you. You find Sare and you protect her. Make sure that both of you stay alive until I return. You hear me Rav! Don't die until I come back! I'll bring help!"

Without wasting further time Cyrn sped away.

"Sare!" I called out as loudly as I dared. I slowly crept my way through the grasses, both hiding and searching at the same time. The fire had risen and the sky had darkened, bathing the land in an orange glow. The grass was silhouetted before me. I caught a noise up ahead and crawled closer. I stopped breathing. I perked up my ears, willing the noise to enter. Then I heard it again. It was a crunch. My sanity left me and I strode forward to confront the tragedy waiting for me.

Sare was dead. The holes in her neck were far too large for anyone to survive. Even though miracles happened, it would take much more for this situation to change. I was glad the shadows from the fire hid her face. The man was lying down near her. I was nervous, but the rage filling me compelled me to approach him. I drove a kick hard into his stomach. It was like kicking an iron barrel; I knew my toes were broken. The pain didn't faze me, Sare was dead. All I could do now was avenge her. I would do everything on my power to kill the man before me. I had never killed a person before, but I didn't care. After a few attempts, my frustration only grew. Despite the fact he was heavily injured and couldn't move, I still couldn't harm him. Even kicking his head wound did nothing. He didn't even make a noise. I sat down and felt like crying. I was too embarrassed at my weak strength.

I sat for a while, distraught. A flicker of firelight caught my attention. The glow highlighted a section on the man's belt. It was a gun. With renewed vigour, I stood up and grabbed the weapon, before pointing it at his head. I was too exhausted for words as I pulled the trigger. The recoil nearly tore my arm off, but I was holding the muzzle so close I still managed to shoot him. I collapsed. A weird squelch came from the wound. I was too drained to move. I saw a clear insectoid creature climb out of the hole in his head and walk over to me. I couldn't even wince as it burrowed into my leg. I could feel in begin to crawl its way up, under my skin and comprehension dawned. This was the thing that had killed Sare. And now it was going to kill me. I wouldn't let that happen. With the dregs of my energy I raised the gun yet again. This time it was pointing at my own head. The parasite crawled up my neck and just as I felt it enter my skull, I pulled the trigger.