"Hellguard, to arms!"
Andrea let out a huff of air, her hot breath misting into a thin fog as it hit the cold air. She brushed a few loose and soaked shards of black hair from her ponytail out of her face before gazing over the half wall of concrete that was her cover. Streaks of blazing gold and aqua blue whizzed past her as they began to slaughter her undead roadblocks.
Strapping her sniper rifle across her back, she pulled the worn black hood of her jacket over her head before slapping a fully loaded magazine into her silenced .50 caliber Desert Eagle. Pressing her back against the wall, she slowly crept to the still standing door way just three yards away. She poked her head out just enough that she could see the angels fighting off a horde of what they called the Swarm.
Raising her gun, she managed to take out a few zombies coming in on one angel's blind side. Six more bullets flew into the fray unnoticed, embedding themselves in rotten heads and chests. Andrea stopped firing once there was only a handful left. The angels finished off the last of the horde before regrouping.
"Uriel," a gravelly voiced warrior flew up to who she presumed to be the only female angel. She was clad from head to toe in golden armor with blue details and accents like the rest, but her armor was more intricate and she wore no helmet. "The horde has been defeated and the nearby streets are clear . . . for now."
Uriel nodded, long white hair falling over her shoulders as the hard line of her pursed lips softened. The pair of bright golden wings protruding from her back flapped a little bit gentler, casting a pulsating, heavenly glow on the almost black rubble beneath and around her. She floated over to a headless statue before planting her feet on its shoulders, metal heels clicking against the stone. She was rather tall for a woman, standing nearly six feet tall with heels on.
When Uriel's golden eyes casted a glance in her general direction, Andrea retreated behind the wall.
Not that the angels would hurt her. They didn't seem overly concerned about her race, but she wasn't about to trust that fact that they were supposedly divine supernatural creatures with nothing but compassion for her kind. It's wasn't safe to travel alone anymore, not with a pack of drooling, undead corpses lingering around every corner. And the bastards were fast too, unbelievably so. Andrea was just glad she was able to outrun them, but she'd learned that it was easier to hide than run. It was even easier to shadow the angels and use them as cover to sneak around the Swarm and the more brutal demons.
While she didn't trust them, and they probably didn't trust her, it gave her some comfort knowing that she had a form of protection from the demons.
Standing to her full height which was just a few inches shorter than Uriel, Andrea reloaded her pistol before sliding it back into its holster strapped conveniently around her right thigh. Yanking her duffle bag off the wet floor and slinging it over her shoulder, she jogged back through the building before slipping out the door she'd come in through. Sauntering down the cracked sidewalk, Andrea grumbled as fat rain drops pelted her face. Yanking her soaking hood down as far as it could go, she kept walking.
The rain never stopped in this damned city, and neither did the damned. She had seen a lot of shit when she was a soldier in the U.S. Army. She had witnessed innocent people killed because the guy holding the gun took an unbelievable amount of joy in the screams and pleas of the terrified, starved and feral dogs devour corpses like they hadn't eaten in a year, and even got to see her comrade's head get blown off in the middle of a firefight.
But nothing compared to this.
The very sidewalk she walked down now was once filled with hundreds of humans each day. All of them going from one destination to another as fast as they could. Cars filled the streets, angry drivers honked because nobody could move at a decent pace. Sometimes the smell of coffee and donuts wafted through the doors to her once favorite café where she used to have her coffee, eggs, bacon, and toast specially delivered by the handsome waiter who always hit on her.
The handsome waiter who was probably a rotting, maggot infested, undead corpse by now.
But now, nothing prowled these streets except for the monsters that haunted children's nightmares. The monsters that kids checked under their beds and closets for. The monsters they thought their night lights could protect them from.
Andrea sighed, kicking a pebble ahead of her just to kick it again. She hadn't seen another human for almost two months now, let alone a child. After spending nearly a year running from the mutated zombies, she was sure of one thing.
The infamous apocalypse had finally come.
Angels were real. Demons were real. They were warring on earth.
And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.
Andrea wasn't sure if she ever believed in God or the Bible. She'd never really bothered to think about it, but with proof whizzing by her every minuet, she didn't have much of a choice did she?
When the deep bellow of a horn tore through the air, Andrea took off into an alley. The harsh beat of feet and shrill cries echoed off the brick walls as she darted across the concrete. Turning right, she climbed through a broken window into a crumbling building before jogging up a set of mostly broken stairs. Once she got to the second floor, Andrea found the best window to snipe from. Dumping her bag on the floor, she slung her rifle off her back before resting her elbow on the sill as a stand. She cocked her gun before one of her eyes peered through the scope.
She started firing the moment an undead's head found its way into her field of vision. The Swarm seemed much bigger this time. . . . and they brought friends too. A tall, flaming, bloated, green and orange boogieman thing came running down the street. She would have laughed if it weren't for fact that once it got near the angels it exploded, the force throwing them back. A few more came barreling towards them. She only managed to take two out before an angel with an enormous cannon blasted it to little bits with one shot.
Turning away from the window, she checked behind her to make sure none of the Swarm had tried to ambush her. That's when she heard it. The sound of a shrill, air shattering scream pierced her ears. Andrea scrambled to her feet, wildly looking out the window to see where it had come from. It almost sounded like. . .
A child.
Her heart beat a mile a minute as she frantically looked for the source of the scream, but with all the grunts, gunfire, thunder, rain, and vicious snarling, it was almost damn near impossible! Through the thick fray, she managed to spot two being that were different from the rest. A tall man, human, with shaggy brown hair, white skin, dressed in a button up shirt, jeans, and boots with a gun strapped across his back, carried what looked like his daughter as he ran, followed by a new band of demons.
Iconic demons! Real demons that were ripped, red skinned, with horns and everything! Time seemed to slow down as they started to gain on him. She could only watch as the demons tackled him, wrenching the child from her father's arms before they threw him into a nearby wall. The force was great enough for the wall to give in and the bricks buried him completely. She swore she could hear the crunch of breaking bones over the sound of chaos that filled the atmosphere.
The demons then sprinted for the building the angels guarded with the child in tow. Instinct kicking in before logic, Andrea jumped from the window and landed on her hands and feet. She broke into a sprint, heart pounding with fear and adrenaline as she closed the distance between her and the building.
Throwing the doors open, Andrea whipped out her pistol before shouting, "LET HER GO!"
Her heart plunged into her stomach when three massive demons greeted her. They stood at least eight feet tall and were probably three times her size. They stomped their hooves on the ground before strangled roars tore from their throats, causing strings of spittle to fly from their mouths that were filled with sharp, broken, and jagged teeth. Just as one raised his spiky axe, a dark and raspy polyphonic voice reverberated off the walls.
"Stand down!" it ordered.
As commanded, all three demons began to back away from her, snarling and growling in displeasure. Once the three Red Hulks parted ways completely, she could finally see where and who the voice had come from.
Standing on the other side of that looked like a pool of swirling aqua blue water was a tall and thin hooded creature clad in nothing but pitch black robes with gold lining. It turned around with the child cradled in its arms. She had to be no more than five years old as she clutched onto her ragged teddy bear. Just the sight of her made Andrea's heartstrings fray. The poor thing was thin and tiny, skin sickly pale and bruised. Her curly blonde hair was tainted brown with dirt and matted into greasy locks that stuck to her rosy cheeks. And behind those closed lids were probably a pair of beautiful blue eyes that no longer sparkled with innocence.
"Pretty, isn't she?"
Andrea turned her attention back to the creature when it's voice came again before her brows pinched together. She couldn't tell if the hood was masking it's face or if it had one to begin with, but when it's thin needle like fingers grazed the girls cheek, drawing thin streams of blood, Andrea aimed her gun at what she presumed to be a 'he'.
"So fragile. So tiny. So. . . innocent." He chuckled darkly. "Well . . . maybe not so innocent anymore, but still delicate. Tell me human," he raised his head, revealing two red glowing orbs that seemed to pierce her very soul. "Why'd you come to save this youngling? She is not yours."
"No, she's not, but she's not yours either." She growled.
"True," he said with a nod. "But your kind never seems to be concerned with the ailments of others. Why change that now?"
She snapped, eyes blazing. "I'm concerned because you killed her father and kidnapped her! Your kind has nearly killed off every human left. Why can't you leave the rest of us alone? What more do you want?"
He shook his head before raising his free hand. Blue runes and text swirled around his wrist before another pool opened above the one on the ground. "More than your feeble mind can wrap itself around," Threads of colors started to pass between the two portals. "And besides, why leave unfinished business . . . unfinished?"
In a heartbeat, Andrea shot off a bullet towards his face. A static filled cry exploded from the creature's throat as she bolted forward to grab the child. Her fingers brushed the fur of the bear before she was snatched up off the ground from behind. The thick material of her hoodie nearly choked her as she hung, suspended in midair. The ugly mug of one of the three demons was all she could see.
"Pathetic human," he spat in her face before tossing her back.
"No!" she cried as a wave of numbness washed over her body. She lingered in the air, feeling as though her back and chest would snap and crack under the agonizing pressure the portals were putting on her. A harsh pounding sensation wreaked havoc on her head as the screeching sound of a rusty sewing machine sliced through her ear drums.
Then the blinding white light that flashed before her was washed out by the darkness of unconsciousness.