The swift movement allowed me to see how utter and complete the devastation was. It wasn’t just the center.

  Everything was destroyed everywhere I could see.

  We drove out of the center and took a path through debris next to where the highway used to be.

  First, I saw the ship.

  An absurdly massive ship, which looked like a mixture of a space ship, a gothic cathedral, and a demonic mess, floated above the ground, clearly kilometers long. Parts of it were blown up, and others were being worked on, or at least they looked like they had scaffolding.

  From the rear, a wide column descended into a massive dome made of a mixture of metal, glass, and what looked like bio membrane. The membrane glowed with a faint orange light, granting the entire construction an eerie, otherworldly feeling.

  We took a detour towards the side, avoiding the main path to the dome.

  I soon saw why. Demons, mostly dog-like ones, dragged debris and picked out pieces of machinery towards the dome.

  “Is that place filled with demons?” I asked, as if it wasn’t obvious.

  “Yep. We need to be careful of the human-like ones. They are smart like humans, and often can use magic. The worst one is the six-horned samurai. Almost caught me once, and I think he let me go.”

  “Let you go?”

  “Yeah…” She trembled a bit, and her voice lowered. “It happened in the city on the second day I was here. I was scavenging for booze, and he walked into the destroyed mall. I hid into a freezer. He opened every freezer aside from mine, and then just left.”

  Okay, avoid the six-horned samurai. And every other human-shaped demon. And the bigger beast ones, too. We started getting close, and she slowed down and then stopped behind a large pile of debris.

  We were going to do the rest on foot. I got off the bike, and so did she. Her posture had changed, though. With closed shoulders, lowered stance, and gaze darting around much more cautiously.

  That made me sweat.

  We crept from behind the debris.

  Demons didn’t loiter around here, so the path to the dome was clear. Almost too clear.

  The dome looked even larger when we approached, absurdly massive. The bio-demon-tech structure looked like nothing I had ever seen, but it had doors, so we had a chance to access it.

  No cameras, nothing flying around, this didn’t look too terrible.

  We crept close and stopped by the door. I opened my backpack to see what all I had packed. Ammo, lots of it. Three more very modern-looking hand grenades and a big box. I pulled out the box.

  Inside, I found some tools and a heavy package. The wrapping had a symbol of an explosion on it, a lever and a button, and C18-Vortex written on it.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “A really mean bomb,” I said, having absolutely no idea if I was right or not. From the tools, I picked a narrow screwdriver and packed the rest.

  With the screwdriver in hand, I leaned toward the door and searched for a gap between the door and its frame.

  Francesca grabbed the handle and opened the door. “Ta-da!”

  Right, why would the demons lock? I blushed and pocketed the screwdriver.

  We passed through the door into an empty corridor, which led to another door. Decontamination chamber, I realized. We closed the door behind us, and Francesca opened the one in front of us.

  No sound from behind, and nothing moved.

  We slipped through the hallway made of the same materials as the building itself.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  We slowly passed through, looking for any door or machinery.

  Finally, a turning, which took us deeper inside. A few steps later, we heard a sharp wail of pain.

  We froze, and Francesca took half a step back.

  That sounded human.

  We exchanged a glance.

  No, I was not going back. I stepped forward. Francesca reluctantly followed me.

  The hallway split, and I finally saw a door in the wall.

  Another wail of pain echoed through the hallway.

  Goose bumps had covered my skin, and if I could sweat more, I would. I glanced into the room.

  A mixture of garbage and strange machinery filled the chamber. I couldn’t make any sense out of it, as everything looked demonic and almost alien.

  We continued through the hallway and started hearing whining and whimpering.

  All my sweat turned cold. As if hypnotized, I followed the sound. We turned, passed through a short hallway, and turned again.

  The innards of the dome opened before us. On a massive, circular field stood a field of cages. Some were hoisted on poles, others hung on chains. People filled those cages, all Japanese, their faces plastered with suffering and horror.

  Human-like demons loitered among the cages, carrying long rods. One of those demons stopped by a cage and poked a prisoner with the rod. The woman wailed in pain, her entire body shaking in a spasm.

  I stared at it, absolutely frozen.

  But Francesca yelped. She caught her mouth with her hands, but a few demons glanced in our direction.

  Shit.

  We bolted back into the hallway, and I reached into my backpack for the grenades.

  Steps soon echoed from behind us, fast, claws banging on the metal floor.

  As I was about to press the button on the grenade, Francesca shouted. “Not now. When we are at the door.”

  I kept running, and only a few seconds later realized that blowing up a grenade indoors would likely kill us.

  We reached the door, Francesca yanked it open, and I tossed the grenade behind me. We ran through, closed the door, and continued running.

  The explosion from behind blew apart the door.

  I caught a glimpse of something flying above. I grabbed the assault rifle.

  Francesca started getting away as we ran. We made it to the debris, but a bunch of flying demons were descending towards us. I slowed down a bit, raised the rifle, and fired.

  The AI-assisted aim did all the work, jerking the rifle in my hands, bullets hitting the descending demons in places I didn’t even aim for.

  I shot down the three fliers just in time to see a group of four dog demons circling our bike.

  Francesca ran into them, spectral blades flashing around her limbs. In a fluid streak of moves, she slipped through the demons, the spectral blades slashing them apart without even any visible touch.

  She jumped on the bike and turned it on.

  I flung the rifle over my back. As quickly as I dared, I sat behind her, catching her above the head with one hand while I drew a gun with the other.

  The bike bolted forward.

  With a glimpse over my shoulder, I saw the dome’s main gate open. A horde of demons flooded out, all beast-like, most dogs, many bigger things. Above them, easily a hundred fliers, all the vulture version I knew, burst into the sky.

  Francesca squeezed the gas to max.

  But the flying demons started getting close, anyway.

  I pocketed the gun and reached into my backpack. By touch, I fished out the C18 package from the box.

  If there was a time to blow something up, it was now.

  While leaning on Francesca, I braced the bomb by her, pulled the lever, pressed the button, and threw it behind us.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then a draft of wind caught us from behind, almost pulling me off.

  The wind vortex drew in everything from around the center, including the flying demons. They unwillingly converged on the bomb.

  An explosion thundered from behind us with a blinding flash.

  “Woo hoo!” Francesca shouted just as my ears went deaf for a split second.

  We rode back into the city.

  “That was some real bomb!” Francesca exclaimed. “I thought it was some mild firecracker, but that was worth carrying around. Tell the bitch to pick you ten more of them the next time you come around, because I know exactly where I’d use them.”

  Pain shot through my back. A flying demon landed on me, claws digging through my clothes. With a grunt of pain, I grabbed the shotgun by my belt and twisted my body.

  The demon bird stabbed at my neck. As I twisted, its beak hit my helmet and slid off, right to the shotgun. I squeezed the trigger and blew its head off.

  The claws went limp, the demon sliding from my back.

  The other three flew straight above us now, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

  The moment the first demon bird fell off me, another dove in.

  I fired, blowing up its body.

  Another followed. I tucked back the shotgun and drew a gun.

  The demon landed on me, its claws burying into my lower back. I tried to twist my body to shoot it, but it hung too close to me, and I couldn’t move much to not throw off Francesca’s balance.

  I clenched my muscles while covering my neck with my other arm.

  Since that cost me a bit of balance the bike slightly wobbled, but Francesca managed to hold straight.

  The demon stabbed with the beak. Its sharp tip hit my arm, pierced the flesh, but slid off the bone to sink into my back.

  I screamed with pain, raised the gun above my shoulder, and fired. The AI aim assist better work.

  The shots deafened my ear. The demon jerked from my back and fell off, its blood spraying on me.

  I looked above.

  Five more demons flew above us, all the same vulture types, one getting ready to descend.

  I fired from the gun. Most bullets missed, but a few hit the demon. Another immediately took its place.

  My gun just clicked though, and my left arm hurt like hell. With gritted teeth, I reached for the left-hand side gun.

  Francesca slammed the brakes and turned the bike. I flew off the bike.

  I didn’t even manage to shout before I passed through a portal.

  She threw me into it, I realized.

  I landed on the steel floor, just to see Francesca bolting sideways on the bike, demons turning after her.

  People shouted something in a language I didn’t understand.]

  Wait a minute.

  This wasn’t my portal.