Fic rated for some blood, gore and violent language.
Oh, and I screwed the french lines, it busted the rhythm. Whenever someone talks to the french girl, just assume it's in french :)
Paris, France
Invasion time plus thirteen days
The wind was blowingthrough the deserted streets of Paris, lifting up dust and a stench of death. The only sound to break the silence were the furtive steps of Jamie and Kurt as they walked down the street, eyes wide open. Kurt had his sidearm ready, and Jamie's hand was hovering over her sheathed knife, their tension was almost palpable. This was the first time in a week that Jamie had been as far away from her cave, and it scared the shit out of her. She shivered every time she thought of what she had been through in the few days between her flight from home and her finding of the cave. She could still remember the people screaming and chaos sweeping through the streets as a legion of demons brought hell to Earth.
Her will hardened, however, as she realised that her family had surely been among the screaming and dying. Had she let them down by fleeing ? Something seemed to turn to stone inside her, some grim determination, a deep longing for death. Jamie shook herself. She had almost slipped off into a daydream, in the worst imaginable place to do so. Kurt turned to check on her and motioned for her to keep moving. This whole thing was his idea after all. Jamie thought worriedly about the place getting to their heads…if he went berserk they would both die for sure.
Kurt's plan was to make for his team's extraction point. His shuttle was meant to pick up the team and any survivors they had found and bring them back to HQ in London. Just how surprised they would be to see this rag tag soldier and french girl, Jamie couldn't guess. Did they really come here to collect survivors? I mean, it's a bit late, she thought. Not many people must have survived this long after the invasion. In any case, if she could get out of this place, she would, even if it meant walking straight into some other hellhole.
They walked on for what seemed like hours, until they finally reached what must have been a park. What remained now, however, was a burnt patch of earth surrounded by crumbling buildings. Kurt stopped dead in his tracks and knelt down behind a pile of rubble, motioning to Jamie to do likewise. Peering out from behind their refuge, she could see, across the park, some large form move around with thudding footfalls. Kurt quickly checked his arm-mounted CPU and announced that their extraction point lay beyond the road the beast was blocking. The only other road that seemed to lead in the same general direction had been completely blocked off by rubble, and any other route meant at least thirty minutes of extra walk, and even at a brisk pace, they would have trouble reaching the extraction point in time, and that was without counting with any "unexpected encounters".
Kurt motioned to Jamie, and together they ran towards a small hill of rubble and charred earth in a half-crouched position, and flattened themselves behind it. Peering over the top, Kurt could see the beast shuffling around, dragging what looked like a horribly mutilated human torso in one hand. The head and one of the arms had been torn, or rather chewed off, and the whole bottom section was missing. Intestines and other innards were dangling out of its mutilated abdomen. The demon, a large muscular creature standing on two legs, looked vaguely like a Hell Knight except for its protruding fangs and large goat-like horns. Its legs ended in hoofs, giving it a strange, almost comical goat-like appearance. Anyone who came within its grasp, however, would quickly learn that it was not to be mistaken for a goat. Kurt starred at it for a about a minute, muttering to himself, before turning to Jamie, a grim look on his face.
"Well" He said "looks like we're gonna have to find a way around it"
He began examining the buildings along the street, looking for any scalable area, or any back alley that they could slip through. Meanwhile, the demon had stopped dead in its tracks and had begun sniffing the air. Jamie watched as it snuffled loudly, looking wildly around. It must have caught their scent, she thought. She shook Kurt lightly by the arm just as he was inspecting an old hotel, and whispered to him. As he drew his gaze towards the demon, their eyes met, and the creature gave a deafening roar. It threw the corpse it was holding onto the ground, and began stomping towards them at an alarming pace.
"Shit!"
He grabbed her by the arm and began running towards the hotel he had noticed. It was standing next to a small apartment building, and they may actually be able to clamber through the windows to get into it, and thus confuse the demon. So far, however, the demon was rapidly closing the distance between itself and its prey. They ran through the main door, and the beast crashed through it a couple of seconds later. They ran up the stairs, nearly stumbling with their momentum, and heard the demon stomping up behind them, letting out another ear-splitting roar. They found themselves in a narrow and dusty hallway, and took a left in the direction of the apartment building they were trying to get to. They ran to the end of the hallway, entered the nearest room, and barricaded the door with a closet. Without loosing a second, Kurt ran to the window and pulled it open. It was about a meter and a half jump to a small ledge on the face of the other building. He helped Jamie through the window, as the demon began smashing on the door. Just as she jumped, the door and closet splintered apart, and in came their pursuer, roaring madly. It threw a small table at Kurt, which it must have picked up in the hallway, and he had to roll to the side to avoid it. The thing closed in on him, and he made a dash for the window. Just as he swung his right leg over the sill however, he felt an iron grip close on his other leg. Almost effortlessly, the demon pulled him back through the window and held him upside down, dangling by one leg. Kurt drew his handgun and fired into the creature's arm, but he might as well have been holding a peashooter. The creature lifted him up, slowly, contemplating his catch before he devoured it. Kurt thought he could almost see a sadistic smile crawl across its hideous face. Before it had time to begin feasting however, something came swishing through the window and the demon roared in pain. It dropped Kurt to the floor, clutching its wrist and trashing about. On the ground lay Jamie's bloodied combat knife, alongside it was one of the creature's fingers.
Not waiting one more second, Kurt made a run for the window and leapt out, crashing into the opposite wall and holding on for dear life. He managed to make his way through the opposite window, helped by Jamie, who was still keeping an eye on the rapidly recovering demon.
"Thanks" He said, out of breath.
They didn't linger around long, as the demon began trying to climb through the window itself, not finding any better way to pursue them. Realizing it was too big to pass through the frame, it began smashing away at the wall with its fists, punching large holes through it at each hit, in the intention of making one big enough for itself. Kurt and Jamie, however, were already outside. They ran down the street without stopping or looking back for at least fifteen minutes, until at last they slumped down at an intersection to catch their breath. Noon was ticking close, and they only had ten minute left if they wanted to reach the extraction point in time. It was only a couple of blocks away now. They ran the remaining distance in two minutes flat, and came to a wide open area, where several buildings appeared to have been totally razed. They stood there waiting for a while, not speaking to each other, simply grateful to be alive, until at last they heard the faint sound of a shuttle approaching. A few seconds later, it became visible as a tiny speck heading towards them. As it began its descent, it reduced its speed and came to hover a dozen meters above the ground before lowering itself vertically. It came to hover only half a meter above the ground, and Jamie and Kurt climbed inside. The pilot seemed to hesitate for a second. Then the interior com unit crackled, and a voice flooded into the compartment
"Are you the only ones left?"
"Aff, take off pronto"
The doors sealed themselves shut, and the shuttle shot back into the air and headed back in the direction it had come from.
Kurt and Jamie lay slumped on seats at the back of the hold, when the pilot stepped inside to meet them.
"Jesus Kurt, you look like you've been through hell. What happened down there? Where's the rest of the team?"
"Dead, James. We were ambushed in the museum. We showed up too late to recover any survivors who may have set off the distress beacon, and the things that killed them were still there. We were mowed down in the sublevels. I was the only one to get out alive. I picked up this french girl on my way back, but she doesn't understand a word of English."
James nodded, smiled, and came to sit beside them, setting his helmet between his feet.
"We'll be arriving in about an hour. I suggest you two get some rest, you look pretty out."
Before he had finished speaking, however, Jamie had fallen into a deep sleep, her head lolling onto his shoulder.
"What's been happening in London, James? Any success in our other operations?"
"Yeah, we've got a couple samples back, but I've gotta tell ya you're not the only team we lost. We lost contact with four of our five German teams."
"Damn. We're really getting these things at a high price… I hope it's worth it."
"So do I" Muttered James. "So do I."
They sat in silence as the shuttle's autopilot guided it straight to London HQ, shooting through the reddish sky like a meteor.