Snippet Time. Here's a taste from the Path to Hell

<<Unedited>>

There was a loud clunk and the door to Beta Command hissed open. Bakes quickly stepped inside and sealed the door behind her.

“Private Bakes, did you have something to report?” Lieutenant Blue asked.

Saluting, Bakes explained Alphas situation.

The lieutenant nodded. “Are they triggering the fail safe?”

Bakes blinked. Fail safe? “Sir, what’s the fail safe?”

Lieutenant Blue shook his head. “Come with me.”

Following the officer private Bakes left the entrance portal and stepped into the control room. Unlike Alpha this one was at least twenty years newer and much more spacious. Over a dozen soldiers sat behind monitoring stations firing at the Demons.

Stopping for a moment she watched as the controller targeted a larger group of Cambion Demons crawling out of the hole. The 40mm cannons he controlled were strong enough to seriously wound the group, scattering them. The crosshairs on the screen shifted to the next group sweeping across the lower half of the Captain Demon. The shells bounced off like they were made of rubber.

“Sir. Lieutenant Blue, sir? Sergeant House sent me to tell you. He said… He said…” The Private paused and looked at another monitor. Like the other it was wreaking havoc on the lower Demons but couldn’t touch the big one.

The Lieutenant reached out and grabbed Private Bakes’s shirt collar. “Over here private.” He dragged her to a table at the back of the room.

“The Demons…” She pointed at the screens.

“I know. We can’t stop them. This base was built to slow them down. We’re the sacrifice needed to save the Nation,” Blue explained.

Bakes looked up at the main monitor. The interior of the bowl was lit up like the fourth of July. It was an abattoir of blood and pain. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of Demons were pouring forth from the hole. For every hundred killed one or two survived to create the steps. A virtual pyramid of living beings were to be steps to enable the Captain his freedom.

“The fail safe was something the eggheads thought up at the end of the war. Immolation. At first they loaded the tanks with white phosphorus and napalm. Studies showed that the Demons might survive that so they switched to plasma a few years ago. No idea how they knew the original stuff wouldn’t work. Your section had control of it,” Blue pointed to the screen. “See the nozzles next to the guns? That is the fail safe. If it works it will kill the initial force and give Delta and Gamma time to set up. There is only so much ammunition in the world private.”

A bright flash caught Bakes attention as the last 90mm gun exploded. The Demons roared and surged ever forward toward the stairs they were building.

“Concentrate all fire on the hole. Slow them down as much as possible!”