Hellgate London, fanfic.

Dear diary

This is my first, and probably my last entry. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I’m not going to survive tonight, so I write down something about my life in the vain hope that some survive to remember me. My name is Lucas. Before this war began I was a husband, and a father. I was separated from my wife and daughter in the chaos of the initial invasion, and never saw either of them again. Through all these years, that dim hope that somehow they survived has been the one thing that kept me going. But now, staring death in the face, I can no longer believe that my family has survived. I have been lucky to survive this long. I was found by a Templar, and sheltered until I learnt to fight back. But there are so few of us left now.

One of the scouts saw a large group of stalkers being driven towards our camp. With the numbers she reported, they could overrun us. So we will make our final stand. Go down fighting. And I will be reunited with those I love.

Laura, Jayne, I’m coming.

Lucas put down his pen and glanced back over what he had written. Most likely the fragile paper would not survive. It would be burnt or shredded, mutilated beyond all recognition, and the final proof that Lucas had ever walked upon this earth would go with it. Yet even though he knew it was hopeless, it was something he had to do, and seeing it there, his own, shaky, handwriting telling him that he was going to die, somehow gave him peace. In another hour or so it would not be peaceful, as the demons tore through their defences, but for now he was calm.

He set his obituary down, and took a final look around the place he had called home for many years now. Before the invasion it had been a subway station, but now half the tunnels had collapsed, the Templars had closed off most of the entrances, and some very heavy defences had been installed on the few remaining ways up to the surface. Picking up his cluster rifle, he made his way to the wall.

The wall was the main line of defence. All remaining entrances led into a single chamber, and from there you had to get down a tunnel to get to the main area of the base. At the end of this tunnel was the wall. It was a concrete barricade, about half as high as the tunnel. Men and women could shoot over the wall at any demons coming down the corridor. Lucas took up his firing position, and waited. He didn’t have to wait too long.

The first of the stalkers poked its head round the corner with a snarl. The head was promptly removed by a Templar with a Vulcan bolter. More demons started appearing, bounding down the tunnel into the hail of fire from the frontline. Lucas squeezed the trigger on his gun, not needing to aim against the shear mass of enemies that were moving towards him. His gun began to click, and he shouted “Out” as he took a step back. Someone else moved up to cover him as he reloaded.

The stalkers were gradually getting closer, climbing over the piles of their dead kin in an effort to reach the humans. As they got even closer, a pair of Templars pulled out flame weapons and opened up with them. The flames licked at the dog like demons, but even that didn’t stop them. Then Lucas became aware of something else down the tunnel. It was larger than the stalkers, and was pushing dead demons out of its way, with a massive sword.

The demon pushed its way forward, seemingly untouched by the firepower directed at it. It reached the wall, where Lucas had returned to his firing position. Bolt after bolt from his cluster rifle hit the towering monster in the chest, but to no avail. It raised its massive sword, and bought it down on the wall.

There was an explosion as the sword struck. Chunks of concrete went flying in all directions, and Lucas found himself being thrown backwards. Lying on his back, Lucas heard somebody shout “Stand Clear”. The huge creature had passed the wreckage of the wall, and was towering over Lucas as he lay on his back. Lucas saw the creature raise its sword as a fiery projectile hit it in the chest, and exploded.

When the light of the explosion faded, Lucas gave a sigh of relief. The demon had finally fallen. He didn’t get to rest though. Mere moments after the monster hit the ground, another wave of stalkers leapt over the corpse. In desperation, Lucas went for the only weapon in reach. The demons sword.

Pain sparked through his body like lightning, but somehow he bought the sword up to meet the first of the demonic beasts. The unholy blade cut through flesh and bone with ease, searing the flesh as it sliced the first wave of attackers in half. The second wave fell as he got to his feet, and suddenly it wasn’t an unstoppable horde of demons pushing their way down the tunnel, but Lucas and the few remaining Templars pushing the surviving demons back up the tunnel. Then, as the last of the stalkers fled or was cut down, Lucas collapsed.

“Will he survive?”

“It’s hard to say. The sword has bound itself to him, and it’s a powerful demonic artefact. There’s no telling what that might do to him.”

“We have to give him a chance though. We would all be dead if he hadn’t driven those things back.”

“I’ll keep him under observation for now. If he wakes up, you’ll be the first to know.”