The first explosive hits the monster in the side and pushes it back a few yards. The second one knocks it off its feet. Edwina takes the opportunity to slap a fresh clip into the assault rifle, move into the street and empty it. Bullets lace across red flesh, leaving a lattice of holes.
The thing howls and tries to right itself, but Darla walks forward, shotgun lowered as she pumps shell after shell into it. Marcel follows, her big handgun at the ready. As the immense red head thrashes and shifts, she puts massive slugs of lead into the target.
Howls of pain as the thing crumples under withering fire. Another blast from the sniper rifle cracks against something solid. The creature pauses in mid-thrash as if realizing it is late for some crucial event. It looks around and renews its efforts to stand. More bullets smack into flesh as it collapses again.
“I think we got it!” Marcel calls out.
Edwina moves with a cautious step. She slaps yet another magazine in her smoking gun. This bastard will need to be well cleaned and oiled tonight. She will too after all the excitement.
They are about fifteen feet away when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye and turns the gun in that direction. Her finger is right over the trigger, ready to loose yet another stream of bullets. But the thing she sees is no threat. It’s a little animal standing between two buildings.
As the other women march on the dead demon, Edwina takes a detour. She doesn’t want a pet. She is thinking about dinner.
A rope trails on the ground between the animal’s legs. As Edwina draws closer, she coos and whispers to the animal so as not to startle it and cause it to bolt. It’s a little guy. Four hairy legs, not very long. The body of the beast only comes up to her waist.
It has hooves, and they shuffle in the dust as it turns around. She almost blows its head off when she gets a good look.
“Don’t shoot!” the perfectly formed male face says.
“What the fuck!” Every fiber in her body wants to execute this little abortion right now, but her shock-numbed brain does not command her fingers to squeeze the trigger.
“Know, right?” Not only is the little fucker talking, but he has a heavy British accent. He shifts his hooves and stares at her. His eyes are blue, and she swears she can make out the faint outline of a mustache and goatee. A goat with a goatee. What next?
He looks… scared, for lack of a better word.
“You can’t be.”
“Tell me about it.”
“What are you?” Her body trembles, but she can’t help but reach out and run her hand over the goat’s head.
“Feels nice. Anyway, I was minding my own business, see, when these boys decided have a go at me. Know what I mean? They pulled me into a shack and tied me up. Well one ’ad ’is pants down and was about to shove it in. ’Course I’m a goat then. Didn’t know what the wanker was up to. I was glad to ’ave the little bit of green they left.”
“What?”
“Green. They enticed me with some goodies.” He looks over his shoulder at a pile of what might be grass. It’s too sodden with blood for Edwina to tell.
“So this one, ’e is right behind me and I look back over my shoulder.” He mimes the movement then snaps his head back around, terror etched on his face. “And like I said, ’e ’as ’is rod out, and I don’t want to think about what ’e is about to do with it. The other boys, they all got their ’ands down their pants. Wankers. Well I wanted to fuck off right out of there, but they ’ad me tied good and tight. Then the ground started shakin’ a good bit. I ’ave four legs, so it’s not so hard to stay on them. Not them, and they had their jolly sticks out. Simple matter of balance and all, mind you.
“The one behind me fell, so I kicked him in the face. Then the world went bright red. Like I was seeing everything covered in blood. The roof flew off and a big dragon thing swept in. Wings big as a jet, know what I‘m sayin’? ’E picked up one of the tosspots in ’is mouth. Left in a hurry, that one did.
“Then this red rain starts pouring out of the sky. Bloody blood it is. Bloody ’ell, I said. But I said that bit in goat. No one understood me. Shut it, says one. But he said that bit in human, so I didn’t understand.”
Edwina contemplates killing the thing. A whole clip should do.
“Red’s pourin’ from the sky. It’s on everything, roof bein’ missin’. ’Cause of the dragon and all. When it touches me, well the one wanker was still near me and I was mad as a loon. I face-butted ’im and, when I ran out I ’ad is face. Bloody ’ell. Then I ’id ’ere and you lovies showed. So, got any green?”
Edwina chambers a round.
An explosion rocks the ground. She pokes her head around the corner. The demon is on its feet again, swinging its massive head back and forth. Marcel rips round after round at it. She fires so fast it sounds like an automatic.
Darla ducks as the head whips around to smack her. She is lifted into the air and tossed a couple of feet. She is a big girl, but she looks unprepared for the attack and hits the ground like a sack of potatoes.
One scream of anguish from her girl, and Edwina is on the run.
All she can see is Darla lying on the ground in a heap. She runs for her lover, oblivious to the danger of the beast. The demon tosses women aside like they are sticks. He picks up a blonde and crunches his massive teeth into her torso then shakes his head, worrying her body as she screams in pain. Blood flies everywhere before her body breaks apart. Torso and arms fall in a heap. Legs go down the monster’s throat.
Marcel dashes in like some action movie star, quick and steady on her feet despite her six-inch stilettos. The thing squeals like a six year old dosed up on helium and snaps at her. She tosses a frag grenade at its feet and rolls away. The explosion throws up a geyser of earth and shit, putting a momentary stop to the snapping.
Edwina dashes in shooting. She takes a flying leap sideways and manages to get quite a few into the bastard’s eyes. But it just shakes its giant floppy head, more goo flying out of elephant-sized ears.
“DOWN!” someone yells from behind, and Edwina drops like a rock. A pair of RPGs shoot overhead, followed by two more. She rolls over and gets a glimpse of the girls. At least six of them are loading everything they can carry and firing at will.
The monster rears back and whips its head forward on a neck that stretches like an accordion. Dagger-sized teeth snap over Marcel’s torso and lift her in the air. She screams, not in pain but in anger. This is the scream that Edwina remembers from a few nights ago when she tortured the Sons of Satan’s Redeeming Cock to death.
Marcel doesn’t go down without a fight. As she is lifted into the air, she grabs a wire on each side of her leather jacket. Pins pop like metal popcorn as every grenade she has left is primed. Blood erupts from her body and flies out of her mouth but she gets out one last “FUCK YOU” before the frags go off.
Edwina throws herself over Darla and holds on for dear life. The explosions come fast and furious, ripping at the air. The smell of cordite, already strong, becomes overpowering. Pieces of metal fly in every direction; smaller ones pierce Edwina’s skin across her ass and back and one thigh. She screams as the pain rips over her body like she is on fire.
She may have blacked out for a little bit, maybe a few seconds, but the darkness subsides and she comes back to reality. She tries to roll over, but the pain from her wounds makes her scream again. Her voice is raw and she wonders how long she has been screaming.
She reaches out with one hand, but no one is there to comfort her. The red thing stumbles toward them again, limping, one leg dragging behind its neck. Its head is at an odd angle, and its jaw hangs limp. It looks dazed. One eye hangs from the socket by a long piece of yellow goop.