"Where's James?" Drake asked the man standing next to him. He was breathing hard and shook his head. They were clearly high strung from the fight they just had.

"We lost him. Fucking thing came out of no where."

"We have just a short ways to go, we do this or we all die anyways." Drake said moving from the wall, he was covered in blood and filth. He had his own wounds but ignored them at the moment. Or tried to, the wound on his shoulder burned like hell. The smell of death and decay was everywhere, mixed with the damp moldy earth smell of the odd hall that they ran in.

They ran down the stone hallway, the floor sloped downward and was made of dirt, the lighting very dim. Just a string of light bulbs that were set on the right side of the hall gave minimal light. Dust was visible in the air as well. The smell of sulfur and some other odd scents were added to the mix making their stomachs want to relieve themselves. Ahead they heard screeching and horrid sounds.

"What if we're to late?" Ian asked next to him.

"Then we are already dead anyways. Keep going." Drake reiterated, they came around a corner and saw a few others of their small team. They were helping to fight against things that now ruled this world. Things that looked at people like objects. They jogged going toward the sound, and what they knew had crawled up from hell itself.

"Did they do it?" A woman asked running behind him now.

"Sounds like they have started." Ian said and Drake saw the wooden door ahead first. Something slammed against it, but they didn't slow. They had to get there before the things let loose evil that couldn't be put back. As it was they were struggling against the demons that possessed the world.

Drake and his group fought hard against being slaves or having their wills stripped from them. If you were human, you were expendable. The only thing stopping them from extinction was because the things that now ruled in this world needed humans to live. Some ran scarred, hiding, rarely coming out. Others lived among them doing as they asked, finding the other humans for them.

His group fought against those controlling the world. In short these things were demons or evil spirits, whatever you wanted to call them. There were different types, different levels and some of the beings weren't what you called a demon. Demons were fairly low but not something you should mess with.

It all had happened so fast, no one knew what to do about it. One day you were sitting in your office working, and the next the world was in utter chaos. There was no knowing how many survived the actual war that broke out shortly after. Communication over seas had been severed, and the countries around America had suffered just as much destruction as here. Half the population dying in the first wave.

Somewhere, somehow a gate that should never have been opened was opened. The world was thrown into chaos. Most places a kind of thick fog blocked out the sun and it was just a grey land that existed until the sun went down. There were a few city centers that were left untouched by the destruction and were now places that anyone with a rational mind and thought for survival would ignore.

Drake reached forward toward the door. Here tonight they knew that a ritual was being preformed to bring others up from hell. Beings that were like the one that had first arrived at the beginning nearly twenty years ago. The one that was in control of it all, was something else entirely. No one knew how to get rid of him. He'd had more than just humans attempt to kill him. None had succeeded and not for the lack of trying or not getting to him. He just didn't seem to be able to die.

There was a sudden silence, it was deafening in the hallway. Drake paused looking back at the others, weapons drawn. They looked nervous but none of them wanted to face what would happen after this was said and done.

Drake pulled open the door and aimed his weapon, bullets wouldn't kill a demon. You could kill the host if it was a lower level demon. However the bullets in his gun were blessed and were specially coated. The room was dark, only the light he had on the front of his gun letting him see along with the bit that came in from the hall.

He moved in and stepped in something wet. He didn't look down just moved to the left as others followed him in. It sounded like they were walking through mud almost. Drake's gaze however was caught on the young boy that was standing in the middle of the room. He held his arms low, his hands out and both holding a blade of some kind.

Even as he watched the child's feature's shifted. His face though tipped toward the ground, seemed to have skin rippling over it. Like he hadn't looked human a few minutes ago. It was easy to see that he was breathing hard and it almost looked like he was shaking slightly. None of them spoke, the boy just watched them. His eyes were an emerald green at the moment. Almost glowing with a black ring that edged the outside of his iris.

He was coated in blood, he couldn't be more than eleven years old. Around him were dead people and things. The blades coated with red and black blood, along with his clothes and skin. Some of the bodies looked like a wild animal had torn at them.

"Jesus." Someone said looking around, the lights flashing on the walls. There were odd symbols written there and the floor was wet from the blood.

"I won't do it." The boy said suddenly. His voice just a bit deeper than it should be for his age. Not quite right.

"Should we kill him?" Ian asked next to Drake. The boy turned his head to look at Ian. His hand tightening on the sword. His muscles were tensed.

"Who are you?" Drake asked. The eight others were looking at the room and the carnage. It seemed that they had missed what went on by minutes. Probably seconds.

"Savon." The boy said his gaze flickering back to Ian. "He's going to come back, he's going to be angry that I didn't do it." He said. "I'll have to use you when he comes back." This quieted the others who were talking. All eyes back on the boy.

"Who?" Drake asked but he already had an idea of who this boy was talking about.

"Astor." Drake looked at the others. That one name made fear slide down his spine like no other, he made his decision quick.

"Move out now, all of you." He said and none of them needed to be told twice. The boy watched them just standing there. Drake looked at him, as did Ian still right next to him. What they came to stop clearly hadn't been managed. This boy seemed to be the reason. They weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Now they needed to get the hell out, they destroyed what they could.

"What are you going to do with him?" Ian asked. "Just because he is a child..."

"I can help you." Savon said turning to face Drake, his gaze still glowing. "I didn't have to warn you." Ian's warning was a good one too. You couldn't even trust children, a demon was not afraid to harm nor possess one so young if they managed to corrupt their innocence in some way.

"Drop the weapons first." Savon's hands tightened for a moment and it looked like he was having an internal argument with the look in his eyes. However he dropped the blades a moment later. Drake stepped forward and the boy's eyes changed from their emerald green to rather normal shade, a deeper green.

"He's going to be very angry when he finds that I'm gone. If he finds that you have me." Drake took him by the left arm, noting that below the blood on his skin there was an odd tattoo that went from his chest over his shoulder and down the left side of his back. If Astor wanted this boy, all the more reason to take him.

"Did you want to stay?" Drake asked the boy as he pulled him from the room and into the hall. His comment however was not said nicely. Nor in a way that said he was going to let this young child stay here.

"No. Just letting you know." They ran from the tunnels below the building that they were in, and out onto a street where there was a car. They passed several dead bodies and the boy just looked at them dispassionately. His eyes shifting again to that emerald color and a kind of cruel smile played there for a moment. It was not a normal child smile either, most gave the boy a good space as they ran for it.

Drake put the boy into the SUV he crawled over to the window on the other side as Ian and Drake got in. The two that were already in the car gunned it before Drake was all the way in and they tore off down the street.

Drake watched the boy as they drove. Ian did as well and Drake noted that he never put the gun away. Savon just watched the scenery go by, several times his eyes changed color and he made a sound like he was annoyed at something. However not a word was spoken until they were out of the city. They were lucky, there was no one coming after them. Which was a miracle if Astor had been anywhere close.

At least the ritual that they had found out about had not been performed. What they had gotten out of it was this young child. Drake was unsure how wise his decision was, but he felt that it was the right one. Ian didn't seem to think so, but worst came to worst they would at least get some information out of the boy.

They reached their first check point and got out of the vehicles and moved to switch. Ian stopped Drake as one of the others took the boy to a different car. Drake wiped a hand down his face, he was sure that was where the ritual was to be played out. He wondered if the boy was what was to come out of it, however he didn't think so. He knew they'd been in the right place, it seemed to him that the boy had stopped what they'd come to prevent.

"Are you sure it was smart to take him? You didn't ask questions just took him with. What if he's something else? Just a plant. It could get us all killed." They were just a short distance from the cars to switch thinking.

"You saw that room, it was where the ritual was to be done. Why would he intentionally sabotage his own work? Besides I just felt that it was right, that we should take him with. Don't get me wrong there is something very off with him."

"We should just kill him, if he's important to Astor then taking him out of the equation is smart. It's better for us. Did you see the way that his eyes changed, and how does an eleven year old boy kill at least ten grown men that were most likely demons?"

"Killing me would not be such a smart thing." They both jumped and looked at Savon who stood there. He now had a shirt on, some of the blood gone from him. "I killed them because I'm a kid, and they thought I was weaker than they were."

"Shouldn't you be?" Ian asked, he didn't like this child. Not one bit.

"Yes, but I surprised them, and I am part acolyte." They looked at him. Drake had only heard that term once before. It was what Astor called himself, an acolyte and his mission was to bring the rest of his brethren up from the depths of hell to claim this planet. To rule all the others, it was what they went to stop. God help them if Astor managed it.

"So he succeeded then." Ian said pointing his gun at Savon. If this kid was Acolyte, then Astor had managed to bring something from hell. Savon didn't even flinch, his eyes grew brighter and the dark ring around the iris stood out in contrast.

"We should be rid of you."

"Kill me and you will be handing him back his key needed to open the pathway." Drake touched Ian's arm having him lower the gun.

"Smart choice." Savon said and turned from them. Drake watched the dark haired boy move back to their vehicle. That was not a child walking away from them. That was something else.

"We should kill him." Ian said.

"I don't think we should. I have a feeling about this, we need someone. Something more to help us. Being human sets us at a great disadvantage." Drake said.

"You're just happy to find someone else that is odd like you, but him we could never trust." Ian said and Drake gave a sigh. His "feelings" normally panned out, he didn't know what it was, and this child he knew they needed. They were getting no where, and they needed to take a risk.