Devil Dust

It was a cool, calm night. The wind blew through the leaves silently. Jake Taylor walked down his sidewalk to his car. He remembered that night 10 years ago. He was only 13 when he heard it on the news. Some occult wacko had broken the barrier between the dimension. This unleashed Nacrethij. He convinced him to sell his soul for money. He used the wacko to unleash others like him. All the demons were illusional forms that couldn't be harmed by any weapon. They also could take any shape. Then they arose Demonlings.

The Demonlings. They grew to five foot tall, and were as mean as hell. Most people claimed that's where they were from. They were built like humans, but they had no neck, and their head was wide. They had mouths like sharks, full of razor sharp teeth. They had no clothes, pink skin, and really buff muscles. Their eyes were little beady pupils. The demons raised thousands and used them to take control of the world. They treated mankind like slaves. Nothing to date could destroy a Demonling. But that had all changed,

Jake was fooling around when he mixed a powerful formula. He called it "ACED". He went to the trash dispenser (which these days is a small demonling.) and threw it in. The thing died. He kept his discovery a secret. The only other thing he knew of that could kill a demonling was a Vaporizer. But no one can get a demonling to willingly get in one.

He opened the door to his 2000 Ford Skycar. He muttered the key word and it started up. He shut the door and got in. He then lifted it with the Verticalizer. Then he took off down the road at 130 mph, although the limit was 160.

"Better keep it slow." he muttered. He cruised along the road, knocking up dust. He pulled up the driveway and landed. He opened the door.

He walked towards the small store, which had a sign reading "Roger's Guns, Ammo, and Dangerous Sharp Stuff."

"Ok Roger, I've got it!" Jake said, huffing and puffing. He laid a small brown paper bag on the table.

"Ok, but this the antique ammo here, real old model bullets. 1992 I think. And if anyone comes around asking about this, I ain't seen or heard nuttin." Roger replied.

How clever of him, thought Jake, purchasing a small armory old weapons so no one would suspect anything. Now all he had to do was fill the bullets with ACED. Presto! Instant demon killing bullets that were easy to obtain. Jake watched as Roger fed the bullets and the formula into the Mixomatic. A few seconds later, the ACED filled bullets came out.

Jake quickly ran out to his Skycar, opened the door, and pulled out a suitcase. A really BIG suitcase. He shut the door and ran back inside the store. Jake opened the suitcase, and pulled a 10-gauge pump shotgun from inside it. He loaded it with shells and put it on the counter. He then pulled out an UZI and stuck a 500 round clip in. He pulled out an M-16 with an under barrel grenade launcher and loaded in a 1000 round clip and three grenades.

He smiled. Slowly he put the guns back into the padded suitcase. He suddenly jerked around. A police car hovered over his. A demonling leapt out. Jake turned to Roger and pulled out the UZI, pointing at Roger's temple.

"You can not destroy them. No one can! They will terminate you, if I don't first!" Roger blurted out like a mindless zombie. Roger grabbed under the counter. Jake knew he kept a .38 there.

Jake pulled the trigger before Roger could get it. Jake hopped over the counter and the corpse. He turned around. In the doorway stood the demonling. He'd seen them before, but never actually gotten use to them.

It spotted him and growled, bearing hundreds of razor sharp fangs. The drool flowed off. It snarled and crouched. A police officer walked in.

In a split second Jake had the UZI nozzle up and fired twenty rounds into the cop's chest. He fell down.

And got back up.

Jake ducked the plasma blasts, and they hit the wall where he was. Damn bulletproof vests. He threw the UZI across the floor to the cop’s feet. When the cop bent down to pick it up, Jake pumped the shotgun as many times he could before the cop could lean back up.

"I give up!" Jake yelled. He held the shotgun under the counter, out of the cop's view.

"You are under arrest under Nacrethij laws 9g3-jd872189: Shooting an officer, 8q9-fg972483: Murder, and 8k0-tw786340: Conspiracy against the State. You are to be terminated on the spot. But according to his law 1a1-aa111111: Hear suspects last words. Anything you wish to admit before

Termination, Jake Peterson Taylor?" the cop asked.

"Yeah. I think you should...GO TO HELL!" Jake said firing under the counter. It was thin wood, and the shot flew through it and into the cop.

The cop flew back through the window. Bulletproof vests may stop bullets, but the 10 gauge sure packed a wallop. Those shards of glass falling on the cop sure helped too. This pissed the demonling off. Jake pulled out the m-16 and fired a grenade into the cop's spasming body. It blew guts everywhere.

This pissed the demonling off even more. Jake laughed. The demonling certainly didn't like that laugh, because it leapt. Jake had no time to shoot.

He dropped down and rolled through the hole created by the shotgun blast. He rolled across the floor, kneeled on one knee, grabbed the UZI, and brought the nozzle up. As he did this, the demonling had landed on the wall, turned around, and leapt again. He fired three times, but fell back.

The first hit the counter, the second hit the wall, and the third hit the demonling straight in the chest. As it fell to the ground, it's guts spilled out.

Getting up from the ground he stood over it and smiled. Then he fired the shotgun into its stomach. Just to make sure it was dead. He was the first to see a demonling's insides. They reminded him of the cows he had seen slaughtered as a kid.

Jake took all the money from the cash register. That moron had sold him out. He must have gotten paid millions. Hum. Jake threw the demonling in the Vaporizer and disintegrated it. No one must know his secret. He grabbed the cop's Plasma Rifle and bulletproof vest. Then he put them on. He grabbed Roger's lucky switchblade.

He went outside and got in his Skycar and drove off. Where first? To the shop to get a new vehicle. Then off to get a laser scope. He had checked. Roger only carried antiques.

Jake took off down the street. He had covered the switchblade with ACED, just in case.

Jake stood in the doorway of his Skycar. He walked up to the finely cared for warehouse. He walked in. 50,000,000 credits. It wasn't so bad. Is this what Roger made in a day? Geese...he must of been a rich man. Jake opened the doors. Ok. Jake ordered a Honda Hovercycle and Van. It was a custom van. It had radar, a turret chain gun on top, a CD player, and a bed. He paid and left.

Now what did the cashier say? Oh yeah..."It will be done in three hours..." Isn't technology cool?

He pulled into the parking lot. He got out and strolled up to the door. He went inside. Then he ordered a Laser scope for his UZI and M-16.

He went across the street and bought some map disks. He went back to his car and entered them on his laptop. He planned out his route.

3 hours later he drove to the store and picked up his vehicles. He gave the guy his Skycar. He knew he'd miss it. It was a 16th birthday present. He parked the Hovercycle in the back of the Van. He drove next-door and ordered a double cheese, double pepperoni, onion, belle pepper, sausage, pickles, chocolate sauce pizza. Hold the butter, and anchovies.

He pulled out eating his pizza. He cruised at 140. He was putting a few more rounds in each gun he had fired. Then he saw it. A cop car was behind him. It pulled up next to him and blared its speakers. "You are under arrest for the murder of two people, possession of stolen property, and the disappearance of a demonling. Pull over!"

Jake rammed the police car into the side rail. The police officer shot at him with a plasma rifle. Jake swerved to miss the shot, and the pizza fell on his lap. He cursed it and switched on the chain gun turret's control board. He turned the gun and fired it.

The car's side was a mash off metal and blood. The car swerved out of control.

It rolled several times and then stopped. Jake stopped too. He got out and looked around. The desert. At night even. No one would see what just happened. Not out here. He grabbed his shotgun and walked over. He opened the door and the cop slid out on a trail of blood. It was a wonder why chain guns weren't outlawed.

Jake grabbed the cop's plasma rifle. Then he heard that unmistakable growl behind him. It must have jumped out when the car rolled.

The demonling jumped, and at the same second Jake dropped, did a 180, and fired. It hit the creature in the head. Brains everywhere. The shot had knocked it back several feet. Jake got up.

He got in his van and turned on the computer. He was in New Mexico. Nacrethij's Palace was in Nevada. Jake started down the road. He pulled into Thinder...a little west of Gallup, Texas. He drove to the airport, where he purchased a ticket to Austin, Nevada.

They loaded his van in the jet. He got in his seat and started sleeping. How long it had been since he last slept? And he sure needed it for the battle.

There was Nacrethij in the seat next to him. Jake went for his UZI.

"Don't. This is only a dream. You seem like a good competitor. I've been watching your progress. Quite impressive if I do say so myself. Bravo! I checked your history file. Top soldier in your platoon. But killing that Sergeant? Even though he was murdering Privates, that was no excuse to take the law into your own hands."

"Well...I have to go torture slaves. Hope you make it to me. Ciao!" he said. Then he vanished in a poof of smoke.

Jake awoke. He had slept for hours. They were in Nevada.

After they had landed, he got in his van and left. Hours later he stopped off to the side of the road. He looked across the desert at a slightly glimmering light in the distance, so faint that only his binoculars revealed it was coming from a building. Jake lifted the Verticalizer lever up so the van hovered ten or so feet above the ground. It's maximum height.

He burst forward towards the base. Fifty feet away he realized it was a glorious palace. Like Arabia or Moscow. Not a military base like he'd expected.

He stopped forty feet away...so he wouldn't crash. The van set hovering inches from a fence. He landed, and got out. It was red hot. He picked up a rock and threw it. It fried. The fence must be electrified. He scratched his chin and thought. Then he grabbed the fence.

Nothing.

Illusions. Holograms. This demon was smart. It acted like a real fence until you touch it. When he opened his eyes he was staring into a demonling's mouth. It was thin and gray, unlike the buff and pink ones with the police.

As he jumped back he pulled up the UZI. The demonling bolted out of the way before Jake could pull the trigger. This one was fast. It leapt at him through the fence illusion. He fired the UZI through the things left shoulder. It fell back, rolled away, got back up, and ran towards him before he could move.

Jake pulled up the gun and gripped the handle. The thing stopped a foot from the nozzle and stared, pondering.

"Go ahead you little bastard. Make me pull the trigger. Make me pull the trigger!!! Go back to hell where you belong, evil foul demon!" He yelled.

Then it did a roundhouse kick, hitting the gun from Jake's hands. Then it leapt at him.

Jake jumped back into the open door of the van and kicked. The kick sent the demonling flying back. Jake closed the door and pressed the turret button. A rain of bullets melted the demon. The husk that was left fell in a pool of orange blood and entrails. Jake turned on the small circuit TV. No fence. He drove to the front entrance. It had no gates, no doors for that matter.

Jake stepped out. There was a man garbed in a hooded cloak. The man pointed at the entrance. He looked back at the man. He was gone. Jake knew this man. It was the rebellion leader Milanese. Jake walked in. He saw a door. Jake walked through.

There was Nacrethij and Milanese. Nacrethij turned.

"You're early. Meet my second in command, Milanese. Our plan is to get all the rebellion members to make a strike at one of our factories. Of course we'll have half the Demonlings in the world in there. " Replied the twisted demon.

"Fucking A." added the smiling Jake. He pulled up the UZI and fired five shots into Milanese's head. The body crumpled and fell to the floor. Jake noticed a floating camera behind him. "What The hell?"

"Hell exactly. Everyone on prime time just saw you waste the rebellion leader. What do you have to say for your pitiful self?" he asked.

"You’re a dead son of a bitch. That’s what." replied Jake. He pulled up the UZI.

"Oh, so spirited. But we all know demons are immortal." Nacrethij smiled into the camera. "We are just mist to your insignificant weapons."

"Mist this mother fucker." retorted the grinning Jake. Nacrethij turned to him and folded his arms.

Jake fired.

Nacrethij’s head split in two. Green blood splashed out.

Nacrethij didn’t have time to react between being stunned and Jake firing three shots into the demon’s neck.

The demon fell to the ground in a lump.