Hell Bound
The Ancient Ones Series
Prologue
The world smelled of smoke and burnt flesh as a woman dressed from head to toe in rags stumbled through what was once an alley way. She carried with her a small child no more than two years old bundled in the same rags as his mother. They continued down the narrow path, both sides littered with the ruins of destroyed buildings. The area around them still on fire lighting up the path before them. The night was warm, mostly because of the city that burned around them almost turning night into day. As the woman scrambled forward she would stop to look back as if she expected to see someone following her. She held her son tight to her body as she carried him along, stumbling on loose debris that blocked her path along the way.
After what seemed like hours of stumbling through the war torn city, The woman and her son finally find themselves on the outskirts of the city of fire. She didn't waste anytime looking back, because she knew there was nothing left but a sea of flames. The woman only thought about getting as far from the destruction as possible. She walked for most of the night trying to get her son as far from the danger as she could, when she suddenly felt a burning pain on her right side. She stopped to look at what was causing this pain. With her son being held on her left side she set him down to examine the source of blood that was now visible dripping from the rags on the right side of her body. As she began to remove the cloth that covered her upper body, she was startled by a noise coming up from behind her.
The woman begun looking around frantically for something to use as a weapon, but couldn't find anything more than a small rock which she immediately picked up and held back ready to throw at the people that were walking towards them. As the couple got closer to the woman and her child she noticed that they were no threat. The man seemed to be in his early forties and dressed in a white soot stained shirt and brown slacks. His companion looked to be in her mid to late thirties. He stood a little taller than the woman that accompanied him. She stood about the same height as the woman in rags. She wore a grey long sleeve dress that came down to her ankles. The dress was ripped in places and covered in ash and soot. As they drew closer the man held up his hand in a form of greeting.
"Hello there Miss, Are you ok?" He asked pointing at the blood that was now beginning to pool around the woman's right foot.
"I'll be fine it's just a scratch." The woman said as she began to cover herself with the rags again.
"That looks serious Miss."
"I said it's fine." The woman said as she grabs her son by the hand.
"We don't mean to scare you Miss." The woman says as she takes a step forward. "We're not going to hurt you we just want to help."
"Why would you help me? What do you get out of it?"
"Nothing, I just want to help. I'm a nurse and my husband and I saw you pass us just outside of the city and we noticed that you were injured."
"That was hours ago, so why did you wait until now to approach me?" She asked now becoming more suspicious of the couple's motive.
"You have a good point Miss. The truth is I didn't want to get involved but after my wife saw that you have a child with you she gave me a few choice words and well here we are. Please, we mean you no harm."
The woman looked at her son then at the blood that was running down her body. With tears beginning to run down her cheeks, she gave the couple a quick nod then collapsed to the ground. Just before she passed out she thanked the couple for being so kind, because not many people would track down someone who's injured in this rotting world.
The nurse worked fast first removing the rags that covered the woman's upper body. Then after exposing the wound she began to examine the damage that was done to this frail looking body. The wound, which was caused by some type of blade like weapon, left a tear on the right side of the woman's upper chest just to the lower right of the woman's right breast.
"This wound is very deep. I'm not sure I have enough skill to heal this." The nurse said as she held her hand to the wound. A greenish glow began to form from the the gash first faint but slowly getting brighter. The brighter the light became the more the wound began to shrink. When the light faded all that was left was a cut about three inches long but not that deep. The blood had stopped spilling from the opening and instead started clotting sealing the wound completely.
"That's all I can do for her. The rest is up to her." The woman said sitting back visibly exhausted.
"Do you think she'll make it dear?' The man said while holding the now sleeping boy in his arms.
"I don't know, she lost a lot of blood. Hopefully she has enough strength left to recover. It's up to the Gods now."
The Sun had already been up for several hours when the lady in rags awoken to the sight of trees moving above her. She was laying on a make shift sled that was being pulled by the man. He stopped after looking back and noticing that she was awake. After setting down the end of the sled he was holding, the woman tried to sit up but found she lacked the strength to do so.
"Easy there Miss, you lost a lot of blood so you'll be a little weak for a while." The man said while helping her up to a sitting position. "My wife did the best she could with her healing magic but she couldn't replace the blood you lost."
"No I'm grateful for everything you have done for me." The woman said trying to hold back the tears that were forming in her light blue eyes. "I never thought there were any people left who would help." The woman looked around for a moment. "Where is my son? Is he ok?" She asked now trying to stand.
"He's fine Miss he's over there with my wife." Pointing ahead of them.
The man helped the woman lay back down before picking up the end of the sled and continuing on towards his wife and the boy that stood waiting for them to catch up. As they approached the two, the boy ran up to the sled happy to see his mother who was now smiling and reaching to grab the boy's hand. They continued through the woods avoiding the road, because they knew that the enemy soldiers would be using it. They stopped only once to eat some berry's and a couple of rabbits that the man caught.
As the sun started to go down they came across an old abandoned building. It was a small one room building with holes in the roof and located at the edge of the woods, only visible if you were to walk to the woods from the road. They thought that this would be a good place to rest, after all they are by now, far enough from the war zone that they should be safe. "The building must have been an old hunting shack by the look of it" the man explained as they approached it.
"Miss, you and your son wait here and I'll try to trap some more rabbits or something to eat." The man said picking up some rope he found while searching through the shack.
"I'll go and get some wood for the fire and see if I can find some more berries while I'm at it." The woman said standing to join her husband. "You two stay here and we will be back soon." Before leaving the man took some of the sticks off the sled and placed them in the small stone fire place. He then snapped his fingers close to the wood that he had placed neatly inside. A spark jumped from his finger to the pile of wood as he snapped his fingers. Soon there was a nice small warm fire, smoke traveling up through the old stone chimney.
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"Just add more of that when the fire gets low" pointing at what was left of the sled. He then turned from the woman and her child and walked out of the shack and into the now dark woods armed only with the rope and a make shift torch he fashioned out of a piece of wood and part of his shirt. The man's wife smiled and then hurried off to join her husband.
The woman bent down to add more wood to the now dimming fire that the man had made before he left. It had been about a hour since the couple had left and the woman began to think that the couple had been gone for a while. In that moment she heard the sound of twigs snapping outside. She looked up expecting to see the man or his wife walk through the door, but instead her eyes opened wide with fear at the person who entered instead.
He stood about six foot, and had short brown hair that he combed back. He wore a brown, grey, and black soldier uniform with the crest of a raven on his left arm. As he walked in the woman grabbed her son and pushed him behind her. The soldier only smiled and when he smiled it caused a chill run down the woman's spine. His smile was almost evil looking in a way, a smile that said I'm going to get you, at least that is what the woman felt when she saw it. Just as the soldier reached his hand out to grab the woman two more soldiers entered the shack and joined their comrade. That man and one of the other soldiers grabbed the woman and threw her to the ground laughing while the third grabbed the boy putting a knife to the boy's cheek. The woman cried out begging them to let her son go, but the soldiers just ignored her and began tearing her clothing from her body.
Deeper in the woods the man and his wife see the soldiers enter the shack and they hear the scream of the woman. They hid behind a large tree the man holding his wife back with his hand over her mouth. She tried desperately to get free so she could go save the woman and her son.
"Don't! You can't do anything against them!" The man said clinching his teeth. The man counted seven men in total that included the three that went inside the shack. Grief and regret filling him as he wished that he would have just kept walking through the woods instead of stopping at the shack because he was tired.
Inside the shack the soldiers took turns violating the woman and laughing as they raped her over and over. The boy was forced to look on by the third soldier as he ran his knife slowly and lightly down the boy's cheek. The woman cried, begged and tried to plead with the soldiers to let her son go the whole time they pleasured themselves with her now broken body.
"Don't worry bitch we're going to have fun with him when we are done with you." One of the soldiers says has he bends down to stab the woman in her stomach.
As the woman cried out from being stabbed, the boy wriggles free of the third soldier and runs to where his mother lays bleeding. The woman rolls onto her stomach and reaches out her bloody hand and touches the boys face stroking his cheek, the look of sorrow filling her eyes. The boy grabs his mother's hand and with tears running down his now bloody cheek he says "Momma don't go." With the last of the strength the woman had, she whispers a simple I love you and dies in the boy's arms.
"Aww the bitch broke faster than I wanted." The first soldier said while laughing.
"Well we still have this little cherry to pluck commander." The second soldier said reaching for the boy. In that moment the boy looked at the soldier that was reaching for him and he thought die. That's when the world went black as a river of blood flowed from the shack in an explosion of guts and flesh. The commander turns to the opening of the shack and runs out as fast as he could. The remaining four soldiers ran from the shack in fear as the blood and flesh came raining down on them. The third soldier that was only moments ago holding the boy and making him watch as they destroyed the only thing he loved, began to weep as he pissed himself and his bowls voided. The boy turned to him with what looked like a fire burning deep in his eyes, raised his hand and as he did the soldier burst into flames. The fire that surrounded the soldier burned with such intensity that one could say that it didn't just burn his flesh but also his soul.
Outside of the shack, the couple watched as the gruesome scene took place. They watched as the soldier with the brown hair ran from the opening yelling to the other soldiers to protect him from the demon, but the other soldiers were already gone leaving the panicked man to run after them. After seeing the soldiers flee, the man released his wife and she ran to the shack. She ran straight in ignoring the stench and blood, instead running to the boy that now lay unconscious by his mother's body. She reached down to check the boy to see if he was still alive. Once she felt a pulse and seen that he had no injuries, she scooped him up and hugged him thankful that he was alright. As the man walked in he stopped at the sight that lay before him. He saw blood everywhere as well as parts of what was once a person scattered all over the room. On the far side of the shack he saw the body of the burnt soldier still burning but the fire had started to go out as the body had become mostly ash. In the middle of the room lay the woman in rags who was now naked from where the soldiers stripped her. She had several cuts all over her body and as he turned her over onto her back he saw the deep stab wound in her abdomen.
"What the hell happened in here?" The man said becoming nauseous at the sight and smell of the scene. "We should leave before they come back."
"No." The woman said as she continued to hug the boy tight in her arms. "We can't leave his mother like this!" She said tearing up.
"We don't have time to bury her, those soldiers might come back!" He yelled now starting to fear that they too would be killed by the soldiers in retaliation. The couple then left the shack carrying the boy. The woman stops just inside the tree line, looked back and told her husband that she just couldn't leave the lady like that. The man looked in the direction that the soldiers ran and then back at the woods. That's when he noticed the pile of wood that his wife had gathered and then dropped when the soldiers arrived. He picked up the wood and ran to the shack throwing the pile of wood inside. He then gathered the bigger branches that lay on the ground and dragged those over and threw them inside. Once he was done, the small fire that was still burning the soldier caught the wood that the man threw inside on fire, spreading to the walls and the roof. As they head into the woods they look back to see the shack collapse from the fire. They turn and head deeper into the woods away from the shack that caused so much suffering and they both promise the sleeping boy that they would keep him safe and love him as if he were their own.