The trays were piled shoulder-deep in the hole. Once I reached the end of the line, I could see they’d been stacked on a hydraulic lift of some kind. I grabbed the last few off and tossed them to the side right as a red light on the bottom started to blink and a low noise issued from the lift. This thing is going down to refill. Let’s go.
The trapdoor started to close on its own. I dropped my knees in, ducking low, barely making it before the hole sealed up from the top. As the lift started moving downward, I realized a good portion of my hair had caught in the seam. “Ow!” I cried, as I reached up to rip the ends away before it was torn completely out of my head. There was no time to lament the loss. I was away from the legion of hungry jumpsuited demons, so that was well worth the cost of some hair—hair that would regenerate within moments.
I crouched on the lift, making myself as small as I could. But I wasn’t achieving inconspicuousness, because I was dripping wet. Thick, pudgy water droplets lazily rolled off me and plunked somewhere below. If anyone was down there, they would be alerted to something strange by the unexpected shower from above. But I had to admit, it was a relief to be wet and not bloody. Not only had the liquid bathed me, it had also somehow eaten away any blood and guts that had been left behind.
I was squeaky clean.
The lift began to slow. The ride hadn’t been a long one. We take the element of surprise. Before it came to a full stop, I dropped into a small dimly lit room filled with equipment and cages and cages of squealing piglets. I did a full scan, staying low in my fighting stance.
There were no demons in sight.
At my arrival the chatter of the little beasties increased. The lift came to a complete stop, engaging with a long, motionless conveyor belt that went between the walls, likely linking the gazebos together. I crouched next to it and ran through a row of supplies parallel to the conveyor. The room was stacked full of trays and strange-looking implements. The cages lined the back wall. I stopped, peeking my head above a low shelving unit. This room was about the size of a modest living room. The conveyor belt ran the entire length and disappeared through a cutout in the wall.
All at once the thing whirled to life.
I stood slowly, examining it as it started to move. It was more streamlined than anything I’d seen, sleek with lots of shiny metal. Most of the noise it made was drowned out by the continued squealing of the piglets.
Time to make my exit.
There was only one door. As I rushed over to it, I realized it had no handle. Voices echoed from out in the hallway and I ducked behind it three seconds before it opened. From the gap, I could see two demons enter the room, both of them in jumpsuits. They were speaking Demonish and didn’t glance behind them.
They both stopped in front of the lift I’d come down on and started chattering in earnest. The door they’d just entered was closing and I wrapped a single finger around it to keep it in place.
I needed a distraction. The beasties were still making a racket, but I needed more than that if I was going to make a clean getaway. I didn’t have any spells on me and I couldn’t shoot any magic. I could try to throw power into a verbal command, but that would defeat the purpose of being stealthy.
Instead, I plucked a can of something off the shelving unit next to me. It was heavy and that made me happy. We have to make this count. I didn’t have a lot of space to prime my arm, but I was a supernatural, after all. My wolf flooded me with adrenaline as I hurled the can straight at the biggest cage I could see across the room, aiming for the locking mechanism.
The can exploded on impact, sending the contents, which were pea green, splattering everywhere, and popping the door to the cage neatly open.
A beat later everything in the room erupted into total chaos.
I blew out a relieved breath as the beasties began to flood out of their trashed cage as quickly as possible, crawling over one another in an effort to get free. And to turn things even more in my favor, several piglets dropped from the ceiling above onto the lift. It seemed the ones from the gazebo had found a way out, or the floor had opened up—either way, they were raining down from above.
Each of the demons sprang into action. One went for the cage and one jumped onto the lift to try to contain the masses as they started bouncing like plump treats onto the conveyor belt.
I used my advantage and ducked around the door and zipped out of the room.
There were no demons lingering in the hallway. These lucky breaks are going to stop very soon, I told my wolf. We need to find a place to lie low until we can figure out where we are. The hallway ran both ways. I chose left. We need to make our way to the big building. I’m fairly sure we take a left, and then another left, but I’m not sure. Do you have a better sense of where we are right now? My wolf barked and flashed a perfect picture in my mind of the view from the roof, marking our current location on the map. You are so very handy. I love that about you.
Once we were out of the this particular hallway, we would need to keep left in order to arrive at what I hoped was the main building in She’ol. I raced by a bunch of closed doors. I could hear piglets chirping and hissing behind every one of them. The assembly line was in full swing, I could hear the conveyor belts going. There’s a door at the end that looks promising. It’s bigger than the other ones. Let’s go.
This one thankfully had a handle.
It was a detailed knob with what looked like a devil head carved into it. I put a single finger on the handle, testing for power or spells. It was clear. I palmed it and turned. It opened with no resistance, and to be as cautious as I could be, I put an ear to the space and scented the air. I heard nothing. I was certain I would run into something eventually, but my hope was that most of the demons who didn’t run the food service shift were up top for suppertime. It seemed like everything was regimented here, so it was a good bet they had all gone to dinner.
I snuck around the corner, and into a very strange land.
Well, this is… unexpected. Or maybe the neat gazebos and innocuous buildings were unexpected and this is what we should’ve expected all along? My wolf growled, her ears twitching. The sulfur smell was so strong I had to cover my nose and mouth with my hand. On closer inspection, I could see sulfur water seeping out of the walls. No wonder.
We had just entered the true bowels of Hell.
No more buildings and seemingly normal structures. This was what the real Underworld looked like.
This tunnel was much larger. I was guessing it had to be one of their main arteries. It was wider, likely to accommodate more traffic, but I also knew it was a primary thoroughfare because it seemed almost alive. Dark red porous rock jutted out all around me. It was hot and humid and the walls were bumpy and coarse, with tons of wide holes resembling coral. Fluid leaked everywhere. There were smells I’ve never scented before—all of them ghastly. I moved forward cautiously, stepping over a huge channel that ran down the middle of the tunnel to catch all the runoff, and once on the other side, I started to jog.