Hell on Earth

Hell on Earth. Chapter 18

Tripping and stumbling, falling forwards while wheezing and regretting every fast-food item he'd ever consumed, Anarchy Warlock hurtled down the levels of Hell hand-in-hand with the succubus girl that he really wished was his girlfriend, though Rap wouldn't let her be.

Zombies chewed at his robe, dragging behind him through the muck and filth, their long, drawn-out groans of 'beeeeeans' following his every footstep as they relished the taste of his spilled breakfast. Swooping, flapping harpies screeched as the two teens trampled through their territory, kicking up the carefully assembled sticks and reeds of their nests in their bid to reach Pandemonium in one piece.

The skeletons still rattled along, bits of them dropping along the way like breadcrumbs leaving a trail in a fairytale.

Anar swung wildly with the long bone he'd armed himself with, cussing under his breath – which was now very ragged indeed, whipping his tail at the putrified remains of the ghouls who were consuming his clothing. This robe had to last him another year at least! It was already torn and gummed and stained beyond recognition.

His trainers were sodden from mud and slime. Meredith's high heels were thick with grime, and the bottom of her lovely gothic black lace ensemble was now dirty brown.

They'd got a whole cohort of hideous monstrosities behind them now, slithering and crawling, creeping and flying, every jump down towards the epicentre of Hell bringing a fresh batch of critters with it, determined to make a morsel out of them. As they rushed after their warm, living quarry, they jostled and squabbled, lashing out at each other, fighting amongst themselves.

Jaws snapped, claws reached and with every obstacle and fall that hindered the students, they got agonisingly closer until Anar could feel evil breath upon him.

Meredith's grip was fiercely tight as she clung onto him. She no longer looked immaculate and enchanting; her pale complexion was rosy and glowing, her shiny, luscious locks splattered with gloopy swamp water, expensive Estee Lauder plum coloured lip-gloss had been mercilessly smudged with every wipe of her flouncy sleeve across her sweaty face; getting closer to the rumbling, boiling furnaces was making them almost steam from all the swift running they had been doing.

Hitting a rock with the front of her sequinned shoe, she instantly went down, flailing, but this time Anar just didn't have the energy to counterbalance and keep her on her feet, so with a grunt, he too went tumbling down to the silty, hot ground.

In a moment they were overcome, rushed on by the terrible legion, with teeth bared in their faces, claws snagging at their clothes, their mortal stench promising a tasty treat to the undead denizens.

Meredith gripped her amulet but couldn't concentrate on summoning a spell; she spluttered at a long thick tongue that wasn't her aardvark's as it licked at her skin, she batted away a zombie, taking its nose clean off, coughing on the cloudy dust entering her lungs, and crying at the raking of her scalp by curved harpy claws.

Anar thumped a slimy, tentacled thing as it slithered up his leg. He punched a ghoul in the side of its brittle head, his fist plowing straight through to the other side, a disgusting stream of brains and other unpleasant biological elements spraying over his snout. A skeleton's bony hand scratched at his cheek. A jagged tooth loomed into view. Meredith's panicked cries rang in his ears. He kicked, and struggled, and fought...

Something large and green leapt up into the air with a primal roar and came crashing down on the pile of Hell inhabitants, large curved, scythe-like toe-claws ripping at rotting flesh, long scaly jaws sinking down into the mass of bodies and slicing through effortlessly. With furious swipes, and sweeps of its elegant, narrow head, bones cracked, wings tore and whole heads were sent rolling away across the landscape.