2025 - CHAPTER TWO - THE ATTACK OF THE LEGIONS OF HELL

“Oh my God!” Screamed Mum. “Where are all the other cars? Why is our car smashed up?”
I didn’t answer. I was in to much shock.
Suddenly, jumping out from behind our car, a skeleton appeared. It stood there staring at us for a few minutes, and let out another ear-splitting yelp. Then it raised it’s sword above it’s head, and started running towards us.
BANG!
The sound of a gunshot rent the air, and then, before it could get to us, the skeleton seemed to fall apart. In seconds, there were bits of bone everywhere.
Just in front of where the skeleton came from, a man was standing there, a shotgun in his hand. Smoke was coming out of the shotgun. He was quite good-looking, short chocolate-coloured hair, he looked a bit like Keanu Reeves, and he was wearing a straw hat, like a farmer.
“Thanks ever so much!” Gushed Mum.
“No problem!” The man called back. “I had a bit of trouble with them a few minutes ago. A whole gang of them broke into my house, and tried to kill me!” He started walking towards us.
“Oh my God!” Mum said. “How did you manage to escape?”
“Well, they came through the front door. They’re not really that smart, so they didn’t completely surround my house. I sneaked out the back door.”
He walked past us back towards the beach. Mum ran after him. Ronnie and I followed.
“Hey, can we come with you?” Mum was asking him. “You know, we’re safer in numbers.”
“Yeah, sure, why not? The more the merrier.” He took off his straw hat, and pulled a bottle out from it. He took a sip of whatever was in there, and offered it to Mum. She gratefully took a sip as well.
“The name’s Damon. Damon Gorse.”
“Nice to meet you, Damon. I’m Sarah Bonnier. My eldest daughter is Kylie, and my youngest, she’s called Ronnie.”
“Hi,” both Ronnie and I said in unison.
“Do you know what’s going on? Who are those skeletal people?”
“Did you see where they came from?” Asked Damon.
“Yes,” answered Mum. “The sky went purple and then they rose up out of the ground.”
“Oh dear, I was hoping it was just a story.”
“What are you on about?”
Damon stopped walking.
“Years and years ago, my grandfather lived along this beach. He was a gypsy, and people paid to have their palms read by him. One day, however, he went running up and down this beach, shouting at everyone that the world would end in 2025, that we would be attacked by the Legions of Hell. The people who never believed him when he read their palms didn’t believe him now. But those who did were terrified.”
“So those skeletons are the Legions of Hell?”
“Yes. Apparently, my grandfather had mentioned they would be skeletal people.”
“That happened to us just now,” I blurted out. “About being warned the world would end, I mean.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. We were all sunbathing and this twat – I think he was a vicar – told us the world would end in a few hours. Only he said it would be a nuclear bomb.”
“Oh, that’s Father Gilbert. He’s a bit gone in the head. I don’t ever take any notice of some of the guff he comes out with.”
All of a sudden, Ronnie started screaming. We all looked at her, terrified. She was pointing to something in front of us. We all turned and looked. And we started screaming as well.
Standing in front of us, was a whole army of the Legions of Hell.
"Okay, don't panic," Damon ordered. "Just turn and run back the other way."
That was easier said than done. Mum, Ronnie and I were in shock. We couldn't just turn and run. We were in shock.
Luckily, Damon wasn't. He took out his shotgun, and started blasting the skeletons as they started running towards us. Bits of bone went flying everywhere. Luckily, they only had their swords, so they weren't able to blast at us. Damon revealed he had other guns hiddden in his coat pockets, which Mum and I commandeered.
For a while, it seemed it was easy getting rid of the Legions of Hell, but after a while, we realized that as skeletons were being blown apart, more and more skeletons wrre popping up in their place.
After a while, we gave up, and ran back in the opposite direction. Damon warned us not to look behind us, but I risked a look. They were gaining up on us! I turned back, and saw that everyone had stopped.
There were more skeetons. We were completely surrounded.
"What was you saying about them not being too smart?" Mum asked.
"Well, I didn't think they were," Damon answered.
The second army of skeletons let out the now all-too-familiar sonic boom scream. Then they too started running towards us.
As they got nearer and neaeer, we all saw they were smarter than the first batch. These didn't have swords, they had bows and arrows, which they started firing at us. We all yelled in our own way, and started firing our guns at them. As each skeleton fell, round about ten more skeletons would appear. We neatly dodged the arrows, careful not to get hit. Then I noticed that the arrows that were now being fired, were longer than the ones before; these also had flames protruding from their heads. I saw one hurtling towards me, and tried to dodge it, but it landed in front of me, and a ring of fire surrounded itself around me.
"Kylie!" Mum screamed. She ran over to me, and stomped on the flames. They weren't too high, so she was able to do this.
"Thanks," I said.
"There isn't any point killing them all!" Damon called out. "They just keep reproducing!"
"So what the Hell are we supposed to do?" Mum hollared back.
I suddenly remembered my Celtic cross. I carried it everywhere with me. It was a birthday present my dad had given me before he died, and carrying it on my person reminded me of him. I remembered in some old stories how people would make the sign of the cross at demons and devils, and then that demon or devil would vanquish. I decided to give it a try.
I pulled it out of my shorts pocket. It was a large, green cross, so large I had to hold it up with two hands.
"What on Earth are you doing, Kylie!?" Screamed Mum, exasperated.
"I've got an idea!" I held up my cross with both hands, and aimed it towards the skeletons.
Immediately, the skeletons all stopped running and firing at us. Then they started to yelp that awful sound. And then, quickly, they were bursting into flames, and suddenly, they were gone.
I looked up at the sky. It changed from being a rich plum colour to the normal blue we all knew and loved. I looked along the beach. It looked normal, no sign that there had been a battle with skeletons at all.
I looked over at Mum, Damon and Ronnie. They were all looking at me, stunned.
"Wow," said Mum. "How did you know how to do that?"
"I, I, well, I've read loads of stories set back in the olden days. And that was the sort of thing they did back then to vanquish demons and devils."
Mum and Ronnie crowded around me, congratulating me.
"Oh my God!" Gushed Mum. "You've probably saved the world. You'll go down in history as a hero, much, much better than Spiderman or Superman!"
"Leave off, Mum," I laughed.
"The battle is not over yet," said Damon.
We all looked at him.
"What are you on about?" Mum asked. "Of course it is. Kylie's just saved the world!"
"I'm telling you, the battle isn't over. You still have to fight the boss of the Legions."
And who may that be?"
"Satan."
Damon grinned at all three of us. "And guess what?" He asked. "I am Satan."
And we watched with a horrified fascination, as Damon seemingly grew larger and larger. Then we noticed devil horns were growing out of his forehead. In a matter of seconds, he was really, really tall, towering over us...

Find out what happens in the final episode, Episode Three - The Final Battle...