The command of the US Army watched as a dark cloud blotted out the sun. The cloud became bigger as they realised something was coming toward them.
Massed artillery along the bank of the river opened a barrage. The shells and bullets passed straight through the cloud.
Shouts and screams erupted as the pestilence engulfed the part of the army close to the Potomac.
Soldiers ran from their posts and weaponry swatting the air. As they were busy with the plague a deadlier swarm crept out of the water and destroyed guns and tanks. The dark pests then slithered toward the city.
Any soldiers left were too busy to notice the large crafts cross the river and discharge their dark payloads. And so, the demonic mobs spread through Washington killing and absorbing all in their path. Any citizens left had the choice of running or being taken. Many joined the Dark Army.
Soon the remnants of the US Army had pulled back and surrounded the White House. The demonic hordes then surrounded the US Army outnumbering them 10:1.
The American commanders along with Ron Scrimgeour were sitting in a make-shift command centre discussing the situation when a lieutenant burst in and saluted.
“What's the meaning of this?” General John Brodie asked.
“Sir, begging your pardon, you must come and see this.”
Outside, between the rings of the two armies metal sheets were erecting themselves on no-man's-land.
“Who or what's doing this?” Brodie demanded.
“I am,” said David approaching the group.
“Ah yes, now Mr de Longford,” said Ron Scrimgeour.
A soldier ran up to the lieutenant with a salute.
“Sirs,” said the lieutenant as the soldier left. “We have reports coming in of fighting around the fringes of the enemy ring.”
“Who's ordered that?” Brodie asked.
“Sir,” said the lieutenant, “it does not involve our troops.
“Then, who is it?”
“It's the Reptiles,” said David as the last shield slammed into place forming a ring of steel.
David looked from officer to officer. “I agreed to protect you and the White House, while the Reptiles attacked the Dark Army.
General Gerry Matthews stared at David. “And how do you think this plan will go?”
“Ultimately, the Dark Army will be too strong for the Aliens. The best we can hope for is that the Reptiles will lead the dark mob away from this area.”
“Where is your side-kick, Mr Wilson?” Ron Scrimgeour asked.
“Oh, he has his hands full with a similar problem across the Atlantic!”
Demons danced on the re-enforced glass roof of the underground shopping mall in Manege Square in central Moscow as Baumann strode through stationary traffic. Troop and mob movement had brought most thoroughfares to a standstill. Frightened people peered at him through their windscreens.
All of a sudden, the glass gave way, and the mob plunged into the interior. Screams erupted as shocked shoppers ran from the falling then advancing dark.
Baumann laughed. “I hope they find what they're looking for in the sales.”
Two of his close guards erupted and fell to the ground as shots pinged around him. “Snipers!” He shouted diving behind a car.
After a moment the upper windows of an apartment building shattered and three soldiers with rifles plunged to their deaths. Baumann then appeared from behind the car as the three bodies 103
twitched and then stood. After a moment they marched toward the Antichrist and bowed. “What would you have us do?” One of the dead soldiers asked.
“Join the Dark Army,” ordered Baumann. “I have a special mission for you!”
Reptilian fighters appeared and picked off the outer soldiers of the Dark Army ring around the US Army. The advantage was surprise; the problem was, as the US Army found, you cannot kill someone who is already dead. When a human Dark Army soldier was killed, he became one of the undead.
Frustration was setting in as the edge of surprise was negated. Mourak called a meeting with the other reptilian leaders.
“What are we to do?” Touron, a tall warrior, hissed. “They cannot be killed. I chopped off the arms of one I killed before engaging others, and the next thing I knew the mutilated one was back fighting-fully formed!”
Mourak stared at him, then the others. “Yes, we are fighting the supernatural.”
“It appears to be hopeless. We have lost many warriors, and they have lost none,” said another of the leaders.
“There is one among the humans who is part demon. I must talk with him,” said Mourak nodding his head in conclusion.
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Chapter Sixty-Six The presidential convoy of three armoured vehicles sped through the streets of Moscow. Many roads were closed, and the pavements had to suffice. The president and prime minister were on the way to meet the commanders of the Red Army.
“What do we tell them Mikhail?” Teplov asked as they swung from side to side in the second vehicle.
“Look Pyotr, we need to sound confident. We want them: the great Red Army, to defeat this enemy.”
“Okay, I know, but what's the plan?”
“The plan my friend is to have our escape helicopter on standby to fly to the bunker.”
“Ah yes. Well-constructed away from Moscow.”
Petruhkin shrugged. “They built it for a nuclear attack!”
Suddenly a bomb exploded under the first vehicle forcing it to fly side-ways into an apartment building. Cars rolled out in front which brought the other two vehicles to a halt, and a bomb exploded under the third car which flew over on to its roof.
Three soldiers ran up to the car which contained the leaders. The driver looked from side to side, but there was no escape.
Small explosives dealt with the locks, and the doors swung open. They shot the driver dead and pointed their guns at the President and Prime minister.
“Outside, now! If you want to live. There is someone who wants a word with you,” said one of the former Red Army snipers.
They were taken to Manege Square and asked to take front row seats in the Lower Assembly Hall of the State Duma Building.
Baumann strode along the central aisle “Gentlemen,” he said waving away the soldiers who were watching them.
“Why are we being held prisoner?” Petrov asked.
“Held prisoner! No,” said Baumann standing in front of the two seated men. “You are of course free to leave, but I have a suggestion on how we can rid ourselves of a mutual enemy. We will then hand back your country.”
“How do we know we can trust you?” Petruhkin asked shaking his head.
“Do you have much choice? The joint forces of the Dark Army and the Reptiles will destroy the Red Army!”
“Okay... what's your plan?” Petruhkin asked raising his arms.
Mourak appeared in David's motel room. “Apologies for the intrusion, but I need to talk to you.”
“Okay,” said David leaning back against the sink unit.
“First, why do you live here, do they not attack you?”
“No, you forget, I am one of them; only far older and more powerful.”
“Ah, yes,” said Mourak gazing past David out of the window.
“You have a problem?”
“Yes, the problem is with the Dark Army: we cannot kill them as they are already dead and...”
“The ones you do kill become undead,” interrupted David.
Mourak refocused on David. “Well yes, that's it! What can be done to destroy them?”
“What indeed?” David said looking at his set of keys. “Look Mourak, I told you this war would not be easy. The best you can do is lead them away from the White House, then you and the Americans can formulate a plan.”
“The nuclear solution being out I was hoping you had some type of plan.”
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“Oh, I have a solution,” said David again looking at his keys. "But, less devastating? No. It would mean releasing old and terrible, dark powers upon the Earth.”
“I see. Well, I will instruct my kindred to lead the enemy away from the human's capital.”
The hit-and-run tactics used by the Reptiles did the job: Dark Army soldiers peeled off from the ring around the Americans. The demons were led out into the country away from areas of dense population. Out into the fields and woods of rural Pennsylvania.
Once most of the Dark Army had chased the Aliens the US Army flexed its muscle by forcing, not killing, the rest of the enemy out of the DC area and north into Pennsylvania toward their friends.
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Chapter Sixty-Seven Mikhail Petruhkin sat in the conservatory of his Dacha a few miles from the western outskirts of Moscow. He had sent his wife along with their daughter and her family away to the holiday home by the Black Sea.
The President gazed up past the branches of the over-hanging trees at a white, hazy sky. The reports of happenings on mainland USA along with his own country had shaken him to the core.
What was the plan Baumann had for Russia?
Suddenly, some mist from the sky funnelled down into the conservatory through an open hopper window. Petruhkin wanted to get up and close the window then head into the living-room, but he couldn't move. His body wouldn't react to the instructions from his brain. He sat staring.
“Mikhail... Mikhail,” whispered the mist, rising and falling in volume as it swirled around him.
“The time has come and you know it!”
Petruhkin forced his mouth open, but no words came.
“The Americans are behind this,” continued the whispering, “they are stirring up your people to revolt and then they will infiltrate.”
More mist entered the conservatory. “Mikhail... Mikhail, do you think they would hesitate to use nuclear weapons to destroy you!”
“But I heard that nuclear weapons did not work.”
“Can you afford to take the risk. At the moment they are planning a first strike attack on your weapon sites.”
A hiss turned into a whisper. “This has been their plan all along: total world domination. Their form of revelation. Not the New Jerusalem, but the New Washington DC with the US flag flying over the world.”
The President's eyes burned with anger as he found he could move with the mist escaping the way it had entered.
Petruhkin strode into the kitchen, grabbed his mobile phone and put in a call to Teplov.
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