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Joe vs The Inferno [LITRPG APOCALYPSE]
Chapter 8 - The Last Stand

Chapter 8 - The Last Stand

Joe lay curled among the scattered loot, feeling the intense furnace radiating over him. He clutched his head, trying to block out the sound and the heat, pressing himself as low as he could against the cavern floor.

The roar of the fireroach filled his ears. His entire body throbbed, and he could barely feel his hands through the haze of pain. Great, even more goddamn hand burns.

Slowly, the fireroach’s scream faded, but the intensity of the fire lingered. Joe opened his eyes just a sliver, his vision blurring as he tried to figure out how injured he was.

He quickly shooed any pain he thought he might be feeling away as he saw the fireroach still looming over him, its massive body casting a shadow that darkened everything around him.

If it wanted him dead, it would have crushed him already or burned him alive with a single burst of fire. Instead, it stood there, watching him, its giant mandibles twitching.

It doesn’t want to destroy the loot, he realised. Maybe it’s guarding it, protecting it. The blast of fire felt more like a warning—a territorial show of force telling him to get out.

He couldn’t just stay here, frozen, curled in the foetal position. But he knew the moment he made a move, the fireroach might strike. If he tried to slip out of the pile, he’d be squashed or scorched to death.

The air down in the hole had become suffocatingly thin, each breath was a struggle to suck in enough oxygen. Joe shifted slightly, testing the waters a little, his body now aching and his hands throbbing even more than they already did.

He noticed the same level of burns to the back of his hands now similar to the front, only they looked significantly worse.

Joe shifted again, inching forward. The fireroach still loomed above, watching him with unblinking eyes. He rose to one knee, only to be blasted back by another wave of fire.

He collapsed, desperate, frantically sweeping whatever loot he could over himself—bits of silver, random trinkets, a few bottles. Anything to shield himself. The roach wasn’t going for a clean kill; it seemed content to cook him, suffocating him under its heat.

Just as Joe tried to gather his breath, two bottles clinked together and shattered, spraying glass across his back.

For fuck’s sake.

Joe had had enough. He blinked open his inventory and grabbed the biggest new weapon he had—the Scorpion Cannon. Rolling onto his back, ignoring the sting of glass in his skin, he summoned the cannon into his hands.

The weapon appeared, with grim metal and brutal edges, fitting heavy in his blistered grip. Smaller than the Meat Cannon, sure, but it looked nasty enough. He aimed up at the fireroach’s belly and pulled the trigger, screaming in sheer defiance.

The Scorpion Cannon obeyed, firing razor-sharp shards shaped like tiny scorpions in a rapid, metallic burst. The projectiles pinged off the fireroach’s armour, bouncing off with a useless clang. The creature didn’t flinch, didn’t even shift. A few shots missed entirely.

Then, click. Empty.

The roach hadn’t moved an inch, hadn’t so much as acknowledged his attack. Joe hurled the cannon aside and laughed—a deep, twisted laugh that bubbled up from a place in him he didn’t recognise. He was cooked, and he knew it.

"Come on then! Do it, you fucker! Kill me!” he shouted. “Do it!” He laughed again, hysterical, as if daring the creature to end it. A manic, reckless energy filled him, pushing him past fear, past any sense of self-preservation.

Arms spread wide, he sprawled out on the cavern floor, inviting the inevitable. The fireroach, as if reading his challenge, seemed to accept. Through the cracked hole in its head, he saw a rising, fiery glow. Heat building, pulsing, the creature concentrating all its firepower into a single, deadly shot aimed directly at him.

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Joe closed his eyes. This is it. Barely a couple of hours in this place, and it’s already over. He lay there, embracing the absurdity of it all, ready for the final, fiery blast. Reality was on her way to greet him, and he welcomed her like an old friend.

As Joe braced himself, as if out of nowhere, a loud honk blared. It sounded comically out of place, like someone blasting an air horn in the middle of Joe’s funeral. Joe opened his eyes. Was he hearing things?

Maybe the heat had finally cooked his brain. But there it was again—the clownish honk of a car horn echoing through the cavern. The fireroach froze, its attack halted mid-charge.

Joe lifted his head just in time to see the fireroach’s head jerk back. With a grinding lurch, the massive creature tilted backward. Its enormous frame swayed, body struggling against gravity, before it crashed backwards, shaking the ground and disappearing from his view

Stunned, Joe struggled to his feet, coughing through the dust that had kicked up from the impact and down into the little treasure hole he was in. His legs felt so heavy he felt like he was walking in houmous, but he clawed his way up the incline.

His body was likely 20% burns, and his back felt like he’d been break-dancing on broken glass, but he had to see what just happened.

Reaching the top, Joe saw through the cloud of dust that the fireroach’s hind legs were bent at awkward ankles, the joints buckling as it tried and failed to regain its footing. And there just beyond, circling back around in a wide arc, was Betty.

It clicked—Betty must have baited the swarm, leading them away from him, then doubled back to take on the fireroach alone. That crazy old cougar.

She’d bulldozed straight into its back legs, knocking it off balance just long enough to save him. The fireroach looked hurt, but not defeated; it was already attempting to pull itself back up with its remaining four legs.

Betty circled and swung past the recovering fireroach, coming to a halt right next to Joe. The driver-side door popped open. “You need a ride, honey?” she called.

Joe let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. He couldn’t help but grin as he instead ran around to the passenger side, throwing himself into the seat. It felt…strange. She was only a two-seater, after all, but it felt almost sacrilegious to sit as a passenger in his vehicle.

“You don’t wanna drive?”

Joe raised his hands defensively in front of the dashboard, almost on instinct, like she could see him. To his surprise, she did.

“Won't be conducting many orchestras with those crispy nuggets,” she quipped.

Of course, she could see. How else had she been pulling off everything so far?

Joe swallowed a snarky comeback as he again surveyed the battlefield. The fireroach was stirring, clawing its way back up, while the swarm that Betty had initially drawn away was coming back around, a black, churning mass of legs.

This was their chance. The cavern’s far side loomed ahead, their only visible exit from this Thunderdome nightmare.

Just because it was the only exit didn’t necessarily mean it led to safety. What if more of these things were waiting beyond that passage? He shoved the thought down.

They didn’t have any other option—they had to try. Sure, he’d practically accepted death just a few seconds ago, but that madness had burned off completely now.

He sure as hell didn’t want to die. Not today.

“Let’s get the hell out of here, Betty,” Joe said, putting on his seatbelt, ready for Betty to bolt.

“Yeah, I’ve had enough of these bugs now anyway. I’ll come back later to finish them off.”

Joe let that one slide—she’d earned the right to be cocky after everything she’d just pulled off.

Betty tore back through the cavern, sending both of her windows down. Joe felt the air whoosh past as she wove effortlessly around various obstacles. In the rear-view mirror, Joe caught a glimpse of the fireroach struggling to its feet.

It wobbled, its massive body unsteady on four legs, and began a clumsy pursuit. But it was too slow, lagging behind further as its injuries apparently took their toll.

Finally, as if admitting defeat, the fireroach slowed and turned back, unwilling to leave whatever hoard it guarded. But before it gave up completely, the creature reared back and let out one last defiant fire blast. Flames erupted from the hole in its head, arching in a blazing line behind them.

Its figure began to shrink in the rear-view. The swarm hadn’t been able to get even remotely close either. Thank god.

They burst through the cavern exit into another narrow, rocky passage that led…somewhere else. Joe felt himself relax slightly, he could finally breathe again, even if his lungs still stung from the dust and the heat.

“Let’s just hope there’s no more waiting for us up ahead,” Betty said.

Joe just nodded, praying they could get even a moment’s rest bite before the next nightmare unfolded.