Story Conclusion
An incense filled ceremonial chamber The air is heavy with the scent of burning incense, the only light in the chamber coming from a Hellgate in the center of it. Demons fill the area, row after row of them in the round room, and in the center near the Hellgate is a large group of blonde humans in all white silks, ranging from small boys to elderly women.
The Dharakat nearest your group hurriedly translates the words spoken by the demon addressing the crowd. 'They plan to send The White Ones through the Hellgate, to Earth,' she whispers. 'They have been collecting them for generations, and finally, now, there are enough for the Ceremony to be completed. Forty-six to go through, and the blood of the forty-seventh will allow for the demons to traverse the Hellgates as easily as humans do.'
Laila listens quietly, her eyes darting toward Evelyn at her words. A smile appears for the moment, until the grand plan of the demons is revealed. 'A sacrifice?' she asks, her eyes going wide with fear.
Evelyn frowns helplessly at the translated explanation given to her by one Dharakat, reaching up to brush a comforting hand against Laila's shoulder. "Relax, Laila. We're not going to let anything happen to you, or at least get you to be the forty-sixth or something."
Roger glances aside at Gaebriel, clearing his throat while a hand slips into his bag, grasping onto his pistol while he eyes the Hellgate.
Gaebriel frowns, glancing at the Dharakat. "So what are we doing to stop them and save the kids and everything? I think it's about time we knew about the plan."
Just as she finishes translating, the soldiers storm into the chamber. Tearing off their togas, they open fire, cutting a path through the demons. Approaching the Hellgate, they approach it at a run, gathering the screaming blonde humans with them as they throw themselves through the Hellgate.
Laila gasps, ducking down as shots are fired. "How's that for a plan?" she shouts toward Gaebriel over the screams, falling to the ground as the crowd swells around them.
Roger stares at the Hellgate, before glancing over at Gaebriel and diving for the ground. "Looks like your people chose for us!" he calls out to the man, pulling his gun from his bag, but not yet using it. Roger gets a worn black automatic handgun from a pocket.
A human scream sounds suddenly, cutting off with a fatal finality, a blonde woman crumpling to the floor, blood pouring from the mortal wound inflicted by a stray bullet.
Evelyn reflexively ducks her head as the shots are fired and screaming errupts through the crowds, stiffening. "Goddamn it," she ends up down in a crouch beside Laila, hovering close.
Gaebriel frowns as he watches what's happening. "They're taking them through..." he glances at the Dharakat. "What do you mean by the blood of the..." He looks at the woman who fell to the ground, thinking. Reaching behind himself he pulls out his gun and trains it on one of the blondes who hasn't been carried through yet, one of the older ones.
The Dharakat grow agitated suddenly. 'The blood has been spilled! The Ceremony has begun! They will pour forth onto Earth!' As you watch, the forty-five blondes, along with the soldiers, begin to disappear through the Hellgate... eyes and guns suddenly being trained on Laila and the group with her.
Roger raises his gun towards Gaebriel, furrowing his brow. "What are you doing, Gabe?!" he calls out to the man, before glancing up at one of the guns being trained on him. "... Fuck."
Laila rises to her feet slowly, shakily, gripping Evelyn's arm. "What are you doing?" she screams at Gaebriel, lunging toward him to stop him from shooting at the soldiers.
Evelyn keeps her head down as Gaebriel fires at one of the female blonde soldiers, reaching over to grab for Laila's hand. "We're fucked," she grunts under her breath, trying to pull the girl back as she's trying to lunge for Gaebriel"Stop!"
Roger stares at Laila and Evelyn, shaking his head. "They're gonna fucking shoot Laila to get out, so it's us or them!" he calls out, before lifting his own gun towards a blond soldier.
Screams and blood erupt from near the Hellgate, the enslaved humans screaming and attempting to scatter, some falling under Gaebriel's gunfire. None are outright killed, and they are dragged, pushed, and carried through the Hellgate. Gaebriel and Roger are quickly fired on however, the demons chittering and screaming in their language in agitation. Soon enough, the group of soldiers and blondes is through the Hellgate, the lone dead woman left bleeding nearby.
Gaebriel empties his clip before ducking back down as Laila and Evelyn leap on him, bearing him to the ground, he swears. "How many went the fuck through? Is anybody any good at speed counting?" He asks from his position on the ground.
"I know that!" Evelyn screams at Roger shoving Laila behind Gaebriel as she pivots on her heels to face the opposite crowd. She stares after the soldiers and women disappearing through the hellgate, "Does anyone see those fucking kids anywhere?!" Lightning crackles and roars to life about her as she lurches forward a step, slamming the heel of her foot down against the ground to send massive bolts of electricity into the air and toward the crowd around them. "Get to counting, Laila!"
Roger shakes his head in reply to Gaebriel, before furrowing his brow and glancing over at Laila. He's silent a moment, before he moves to crawl towards the group, clutching his head and bracing himself as bullets fly at him. "Listen!" he calls to the group. "If... if Laila goes through, so will the demons!"
Laila groans, clapping her hands to her thigh, blood leaking through her fingers and blooming over her stola. "Shit..." she curses, her eyes wide with fear. "No," she whimpers. "They didn't all make it through, did they? Oh no, oh please, no..."
Gaebriel starts to reload, glancing over at Laila. "So either they already started world war four, or they need you to go through to start it." He glances at Roger then, "Do you know how long that will stay open for?" He asks, nodding towards the hellgate.
The demons begin to encroach on the group, weapons trained, their attention on Laila and Laila alone.
Roger struggles back and lifts a gun to fire at some demons that begin to approach Laila, covered by a sheen of sweat now, before moving to crawl towards the woman. "They... the gate will stay open until it's... destroyed. And they need Laila to get through the gate. So we have two options! We either... leave Laila here, somehow, or... we take her out and we become the front line. I don't know if we have enough bullets."
Laila seems to make a decision suddenly, her hands shaking as she grabs the gun of a fallen demon. "RUN!" she screams at the group, aiming the weapon at her own head.
"I'm so sorry." Gaebriel says to Laila as he pushes to his feet, his other hand pulling out his second pistol as he charges for the hellgate, firing at anything in his path.
Evelyn stares wide-eyed at Laila as the woman holds a gun to her head, frozen in place for a brief moment before she sees Gaebriel's sensible idea. "Goddamn it!" She shouts, starting to dash after the gun-toting man toward the hellgate, using her electricity to try and push a path through for the two of them.
Roger watches Laila, before glancing after Gaebriel and Evelyn, then closing his eyes, moving to soldier crawl near the woman. "I... I can't let you," he mumbles, though he sounds very hesitant. He rolls on his back, firing at a demon. "I can't. You helped me. I can't let you die like this."
Laila half screams, half growls in frustration as Roger stays behind, the demons no doubt closing in on her at any moment. "Go! Go! Don't you see! They'll use you to make me go if you stay! Evelyn! Gabe! Make him go, I can't hold them off forever!"
Gaebriel growls when Roger doesn't move, turning on the spot and training his gun on the pair. "Calloway you have five seconds to get through that gate or I'm putting a bullet into her just to make sure you don't fuck it up."
"Roger isn't going to leave you!" Evelyn screams back in response to Laila's shouts, stopping in her tracks and keeping an eye on the demons edging closer to Roger and the blonde.
One of the Dharakat begins to helpfully count down. 'Five...' ..Four...'
Roger freezes as he glances at Gaebriel, then turns to Laila, staring at her before he draws a cross on his chest. He rises to his feet, limping towards the Hellgate backwards, while popping off some shots towards the demons. "... walk in the valley... death... fear no evil," he murmurs the words quietly to himself, then murmurs, as he draws near the Hellgate, "I'm sorry."
Laila waits until the group is close enough to dive through the Hellgate, then squeezes her eyes shut, murmuring the 23rd Psalm along with Roger though her tears.
Evelyn quickly resumes her running toward the Hellgate as the Dharakat begin their countdown, glancing back at Laila with a guilt-ridden expression. "Shit, shit, shit.." she murmurs under her breath, not knowing what else to say as she stops just in front of the portal, waiting for Gaebriel and Roger.
Gaebriel turns back towards the gate once Roger starts to move. Sparing a final glance towards Laila before he's running again, leaping through the gateway.
Roger continues to back up, gun gripped shakily as he stares at the woman , murmuring the rest of the prayer while his back is to the Hellgate. "And you will dwell in the House of the Lord forever."
As you dive through the Hellgate, there's a final, loud shot.
The soldiers are tending to the wounds of the white-clad humans, taking names and addresses. Some of the people don't even speak English, and some of the younger ones don't speak any recognizable human language at all. One standoffish group of pre-teens remain away from the others, one readily recognizable as the boy from the fliers.
Gaebriel tumbles to his feet, checking himself over for any signs of injury. "Well, I guess that's mission successful." He states at last, pulling the toga off and dropping it to the ground.
Roger drops to a seated position, staring at where the Hellgate used to be. He glances at Gaebriel, before taking his phone from the bag and lifting it, pressing a button. "It's done, Father," he mumbles. "I think."
Evelyn slumps down into the grass, craddling her small bag of her regular clothes against her chest as she stares across the lawn toward the rescuees and soldiers tending to them. "Yeah, I guess so." She murmurs in response to Gaebriel soon managing to her feet with a soft sigh. She glances aside at Roger then back to Gabe again. "I need to get the hell out of this period for a while," she mutters under her breath, starting to walk off toward the paths.
Gaebriel takes his phone from his pocket and calls emergency services, requesting ambulances and police to come and deal with the wounded and the recovered children.
Roger drops his phone to his side, ignoring the soldiers for the time being, just staring at the space they came from. He works his tongue in his cheek, before commenting to no one in particular, "I need to score."
Gaebriel waits until the emergency services start to pull up and then wanders off towards the edge of the night, quickly being lost amongst the shadows.
Roger pushes to his feet, scratching his cheek. "Fuck. I'm never gonna be able to talk to her again," he comments dully. "She saved my god damn life, and I won't even be able to talk to her g-" he cuts himself off.