The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 38: The Citadel

"Shit!" he screamed as he raised the gun presently in his hand, the assault rifle, and opened fire. A loud, piercing shriek split the air as a few other guns joined his own, and then suddenly there was an explosion right beneath his feet.

A few seconds of crazy, stomach-churning, head-bursting, terrifying chaos raced by as he sailed through the air, and Jack was convinced he'd gone over the edge. He heard people yelling, gunfire, the fire-summoning demon (had he named that fucker?!), and then he landed with a shattering jolt that sent several warning alarms flaring up in his HUD.

Jack groaned as he struggled to get to his feet, pain wracking his body even with the suit of armor, and then a new voice cut through everything like a thunderclap.

"I told all you motherfuckers I was too pissed to die!"

Flashes of blue-white plasma began lighting up the room from the opposite side, and the bulbous-headed demon with the long limbs let out a new shriek of pain. The gunfire kept up until the shrieking finally cut off.

Jack immediately recognized that voice. "Hollenshead, that you!?" he called as he got to his feet.

"Aw shit, I know that voice, who is that?!" Hollenshead called back.

"It's Ward!"

"Fuck, I knew you weren't dead! Where the hell are you!? Where's everyone else?"

"We're here, Hollenshead," Diaz called.

"Some of us," Abrash said.

"Fucking finally!"

His voice was getting closer, and as Jack finished grabbing his rifle and reloading, he saw the immense man come walking down from the opposite side of the pathway. As Jack approached him and met him in the middle, he got a better look at him.

Hollenshead looked like he'd been through hell, and back, and then had gone to hell once more.

His armor was covered in blood and ashes, cracked in several places, including his faceplate, and he was loaded down with guns, ammo, and gear.

"I see you've got your bomb...what happened?" Jack asked.

Hollenshead lost his smile, shifting and reaching back over his shoulder, laying a hand on the backpack bomb as if to reassure himself it was there. "Long story short: whole squad got wiped out. I took the bomb and the ammo and pushed on. Kept on keeping on until I heard you guys in here..." He frowned more deeply as he looked behind Jack and no doubt did a headcount.

"We lost Wells, Holtz, and Rhodes," Jack said grimly.

"Fuck," Hollenshead whispered.

"You heard from the other teams? Last we'd heard, they thought you were dead."

"Yeah, lost contact there for awhile. But I got a partial transmission off Anderson. From the little I heard, it wasn't nothing good. Been looking for him or anyone ever since. Damn motherfucking glad I found you guys. This shit is spooky. Fucking hate being underground and alone. Got lost in a cave one time when I was a kid..." He muttered, looking up and around.

"You didn't hear from Jennifer?" Jack asked, dropping any pretense as he felt his anxiety welling up within him.

Hollenshead returned his attention to Jack. "No, sorry man."

"Shit...well, let's find a way out of this nightmare."

"Found a way up at least, come on," Hollenshead replied, turning around and heading back up the pathway. "Had just found it when I heard you all start tearing it up in here."