The Book of Doom - By Barry Hutchison Page 0,55

heard the hiss of rapidly evaporating water. An enormous figure with scaly red skin and lethal-looking horns and Hellfire burning where his eyes should have been, emerged from the River Styx.

Zac didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified. His mind was made up for him when the Angelo-demon began bounding in his direction, black smoke snorting from his nostrils, his face all knotted up with rage.

The demon’s footsteps shook the smooth ground. Badoom. Badoom. Badoom. Zac fumbled inside his jacket and found the gun Argus had given him. He raised it smoothly and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Zac stared into the barrel of the pistol. Scum from the Styx clogged up the hole, making firing the gun impossible.

Angelo howled and kicked out with both legs, propelling himself in Zac’s direction. Leaping into a sideways roll, Zac barely avoided the demon’s fists as they came smashing down, cracking the polished rock where he’d stood.

Scrambling backwards, Zac put his mouth over the end of the gun and sucked out the plug of congealed gunge. He lifted the weapon again and fired. There was a thwip as a dart cut through the air, then a faint boing as it embedded deep into the demon’s neck.

Another leap. Another dodge. Another crack as Angelo missed with another punch. Two more darts buried themselves in his scaly hide and he roared with frustration more than pain.

The air around him was a ripple of heat. He lowered his horns and charged like a bull, his feet booming thunder across the obsidian ground. Zac opened fire as he retreated. A fourth dart hit the demon, then a fifth.

Before he could fire a sixth, Zac tripped on a jagged outcrop and hit the ground hard. His chin smashed against the smooth rock. A jolt of pain buzzed through his skull.

The last thing Zac saw before he passed out was the hulking shape of the Angelo-demon crashing headlong towards him.

AC WAS AWOKEN by a finger. It was poking him repeatedly in the face and was, he quickly decided, really rather annoying.

“Cut it out,” he said, snapping open his eyes. Angelo was kneeling beside him, his index finger hovering just millimetres away from completing another prod.

“You’re awake!”

“Well, I am now, yes,” Zac said. He quickly stood up and looked around. The river was still churning over the edge of the falls, the tall wooden doors were still closed and the gun was still in his hand.

The smell, though, was different. It was the stink of fish rotting in an open sewer. It flooded his nostrils and snagged in gulps at the back of his throat. He put his arm across his mouth and nose as his eyes began to water and his saliva turned sour.

“That’s disgusting,” he coughed.

Angelo nodded. He was topless again, but thankfully his trousers continued to stay in one piece. “Yeah, it’s that thing over there,” he said, pointing at the soggy remains of the river monster, which were spread out across twenty or thirty metres. “I think it might be dead.”

“You think so?”

“I’m not sure,” Angelo said, missing the sarcasm. “Should we, I don’t know, check for a pulse or something?”

Zac bit his tongue. “No,” he said, his voice deliberate and controlled. “It’s definitely dead.”

“Right,” Angelo nodded. “So how did that happen, then? In fact, how did I get out? The last thing I remember is sinking, and then I woke up over there.” His face lit up with excitement. “You saved me! Didn’t you? See, I told you we make a great team!”

“How would me saving you make us a great team?” asked Zac. “Anyway, you got yourself out.”

Angelo frowned. “Oh. Did I? I don’t remember that. Are you sure?”

Zac took off the backpack and slipped the gun inside. “Pretty sure.”

“Well... OK,” said Angelo, shrugging his bare shoulders. He stepped past Zac and studied the signpost. Some of the letters were hidden beneath monster remains, so the sign now read:

COME TO HE

“It says Welcome to Hell,” Zac explained. “You know, under the gunge and monster bits.”

He stared hard at the wooden doors, as if trying to see through them to whatever lay beyond. “You sure you want to do this?”

Angelo still didn’t hesitate. Despite everything that had happened to him, he still didn’t hesitate. Even Zac had to admire that. “Yep.”

“It’ll be safer out here.”

The angel-demon glanced back at the Styx and shivered. “I’m not sure it would be.”

“Well, clearly it would,” Zac insisted. “Being outside Hell would be safer than being inside Hell.”

“Yes, but would