Read The Dark Horde for Free Online Page B

zoomed past his image and onto the panicked melee behind him.
    Hundreds, maybe thousands, of men, women and children were running, a rampant, screaming stampede with a common goal: escape.
    People fought their way through the pack, knocking down the weak or slow in the anarchical exodus. Children lost their parent’s hand, babies fell from secure arms, the elderly collapsed in exhaustion. Those who fell were trampled by the surge of bodies, a human tidal wave of relentless momentum.
    Then shining claws pierced the shadows, enveloping the fleeing masses. The population scattered as blood splattered and limbs shattered. The assailants were obscured by the massacre unfolding, a frenzy of bleeding blades. Bodies fell like dominos and agonised screams racked his mind. Riveted by terror, Brian watched as all of them were cut down with brutal efficiency. Within a few minutes, the ground was thick with butchered corpses. Then the killers were gone as suddenly as they had appeared.
    Silence hung over the still, dismembered dead with terrible finality. The only movement now was the steady flow of blood from a thousand cuts.
    Brian sank to his knees, unable to bear what he had seen...
    But the nightmare had only just begun .
    The dresser and candles simultaneously burst into a fury of flames, filling the room with palls of smoke. Fingers of fire crawled up the mirror face, leaving black snail-trails in their wake.
    Reeling from the scorching heat, Brian forced himself up. The dressing-table, now a charcoal skeleton, collapsed to the floor in a cloud of ash. The blackened mirror clattered after it. The room became an inferno of fire and smoke. His eyes stinging, his lungs burning, Brian began to cough violently.
    There has to be a way out of here!
    Now a flaming head emerged from the gaping void the mirror had become. A gruesome fireball, it bounced across the smouldering floor, screaming, “They come!”
    Brian cringed away from the severed head as it moaned and shrieked in varying pitches, “Demonic! Mighty! Without mercy! Force of terror, destroying all that be! Feeding on anger, fear and greed! Essence of Man’s evil, nurtures the seed!”
    Brian now saw that the head wasn’t the last thing to emerge... Elongated claws, shimmering in the light of the flames, began to slice through the smoky air above the void.
    The head continued wailing, “Run! Run! The Dark Horde cannot be stopped! Run while you live!”
    Then a taloned foot came crashing down on the head, crushing whatever life it had.
    The demon stepped into full view, a monstrous, hairy beast from the depths of hell, its lupine form towering over Brian as he stumbled backwards. Its head pivoted to fix on Brian with crimson eyes as its drooling lips curled to reveal teeth-like knives. A rancid hot breath issued forth...
    Horribly familiar.
    It stepped closer, smelling his fear.
    So easy.
    Unleashing a hellish roar that deafened him with its crushing force, it raised an arm to strike.
    Images blurred, sensation ceased. The looming figure disappeared with conscious thought as Brian blacked out.

    Falling through a wall that was never there, Brian awoke.
    For fuck’s sake! I’m on the floor of my kitchen!
    Draped in sweat, he lay there with the head’s words echoing in his head. He pondered their significance.
    Hang on! Am I crazy? It was only a fucking dream!
    He rose, rubbed his eyes and moved to switch the kettle on.
    I’m back in reality now. Everything is normal.
    Then the kettle began laughing.
    He froze at the mocking, evil sound.
    Please, let the madness end.
    “THEY COME!” the kettle screamed.
    Brian turned his head to see the hairy beast leap through the phantasmal wall he had fallen through. It landed with a heavy thud and paused to throw its head back and unleash a fearsome howl that shook the walls.
    Brian turned and ran into the lounge, eyes on the front door down the hall.
    It had other ideas.
    It hurdled the kitchen bench, landing within arm’s reach of