The three helicopters that we’d brought as part of the rescue were still here, without a single one of them having taken off in order to evacuate the noncombatants which had been loaded into them. Considering the demon outbreak and the fact that not a single demon had made it this far yet, that would normally have been quite a surprise. However, the reason that none of the helicopters had left was clearly obvious.

Senator Dolenz and General Lawrence had arrived with Colonel Hastings and a squad of eight soldiers, all of whom were armed and aiming their weapons at Colonel Roberts and our own people. Of course, the first DSU soldiers who’d gone after the colonel were present as well, aiming their weapons back at the general, senator and other soldiers. It was a standoff.

I watched this with a growing sense of anger, realizing that because of this standoff, not a single one of those soldiers had been able to help fight the demon outbreak. The senator and general had turned their soldiers on my friends rather than the real threat.

“I’m giving you a direct order,” General Lawrence commanded Colonel Roberts and the first DSU soldiers. “Put your weapons down and surrender right this moment.”

“Ignore the former general,” Colonel Roberts told his soldiers. “He no longer has the authority to give that order.”

“You’re all going to spend the rest of your lives in Leavenworth,” General Lawrence snarled angrily. “If you’re lucky. I’m taking this helicopter…”

“I’ll be damned if I let you hijack military property,” Colonel Roberts snapped back. “Especially not when you’re just planning to abandon my men to the mess that YOU created.”

Senator Dolenz had been watching this exchange with an angry scowl, then he finally exclaimed, “Enough. I am a United States senator and we are taking this helicopter…”

“Actually,” Hannah said from beside Colonel Roberts. “I believe you’re a wanted criminal, nor would you have the authority to take this helicopter even if you weren’t.”

“Enough of this insubordination,” General Lawrence snarled. “Colonel,” he said, this time looking back to Colonel Hastings who was standing back with his men avoiding the argument. He didn’t look at all happy with the situation. “Have your men fire on Colonel Roberts at the count of three…”

“If you start counting,” Pete said grimly, “We open fire before you reach the count of two…”

My sisters and I had approached but held back. I wanted to get the medical gear from the helicopter so I could patch up Nicole and Lisa, but we didn’t want to get in the middle of that. As it was, both sides were extremely twitchy and I suspected that if we got closer, Lawrence would have his people open fire on general principal. If that happened, nearly everyone present would end up being killed by the exchange.

“Your careers are over,” Colonel Roberts said, looking to the general and senator. “What you’ve done has come to light. And when the public finds out what happened here…”

“When the public finds out that your people launched an armed attack against a US military base and a US senator,” Senator Dolenz responded with an arrogant smirk. “And that you released the demons in the process which cost numerous lives…”

“Actually,” Dr. Merrit stated from where he sat inside the helicopter. “I’ve already arranged for recordings of your orders to store the demons for experimentation to be provided to the media.”

Dolenz glared at Dr. Merrit, as though the man had personally betrayed him. Of course, from the senator’s perspective, that probably was what had happened. After all, he’d thought Merrit was his own personal agent, assigned to watch over the angels for him. The discovery that he was actually working with Lisa in order to spy on Dolenz instead must have been quite frustrating.

“If I might offer a better suggestion than everyone killing each other,” Rebecca started.

“Shut up you freak,” General Lawrence snapped. “You need to learn your place.”

“What place?” Rebecca asked in a dangerously calm tone. “Barefoot in the kitchen because I’m a woman? Or sitting silent in a dark room until you give me orders because I’m a weapon?”

Hannah was glaring at General Lawrence and asked, “How did someone like you ever make general?”

Without warning, General Lawrence backhanded Hannah, knocking her back. Suddenly, every gun from the first DSU was aimed at the general and Rebecca looked as though she was going to shoot him as well.

Colonel Roberts was angry and was about to say something when Hannah said, “No…” Then she punched General Lawrence in the face as hard as she could.

“Hitting a superior officer is a court martial offense,” Colonel Roberts told Hannah with a smirk. “But this time, I think it’s well justified.”

“You’re going down for that lieutenant,” General Lawrence exclaimed, wiping the blood from his lip. Then in a rapid movement, he pulled out a 9mm pistol and shot Hannah.

“Hannah,” Rebecca and Monica screamed at once while I was already rushing forward to help her. Damned with the stalemate.

“Stand down,” Colonel Hastings yelled at his own soldiers. He glared at General Lawrence and said, “General, you’ve gone too far. I’m taking you into custody for attempted murder on an unarmed woman.”

Up until now, Colonel Hastings may have suspected that what Colonel Roberts had said about the general was true, but he hadn’t seen enough evidence to act on it. But now that he’d seen the general shoot Hannah, that gave him enough cause to act. I was certain that those very actions had just prevented a gunfight.

I dropped own beside Hannah, seeing that she’d been injured in the shoulder. As long as I could keep her from bleeding out, this wouldn’t kill her. Of course, it would probably still hurt like hell.

“Are you okay?” I asked Hannah.

“It hurts,” she responded with a wince.

“Monica,” Dr. Merrit exclaimed, hurrying towards Hannah and me with my bag of medical supplies.

“Stop this nonsense at once,” Dolenz yelled, pulling a gun of his own out from his jacket and pointing it at Colonel Roberts. “Order your men to stand down at once. The general and I are taking this helicopter”

“That isn’t happening,” Colonel Roberts responded firmly. “If you don’t put your weapon down, you will be shot.” The tone in his voice made it very clear that he wasn’t bluffing. After Hannah had just been shot, he obviously wasn’t going to play around.

Dr. Merrit and I were checking Hannah’s wound and Rebecca kneeled down with us and gave Hannah’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Monica will have you patched up in no time,” she promised Hannah. Then almost as an afterthought, she added, “And the doctor too of course.”

Hannah just smiled at that, then gasped, “Rebecca… If we all get out of here, I was wondering if…”

“Yes?” Rebecca asked curiously.

“I was wondering if you might make me an angel,” Hannah blurted out, getting a look of surprise from Dr. Merrit.

Rebecca just smiled and leaned down, whispering, “I was wondering how I was going to ask you…”

Suddenly, Mason blurted out, “Holy shit…”

I looked to Mason and saw that he was pointing towards the demon queen’s remains. As I looked I was shocked to see that her body was moving again.

“Holy shit,” I echoed.

Everyone turned to stare at the demon queen’s body as it twitched, and then her skin began to split open all over. As I watched, I realized that the demon queen was shedding her skin, and as she climbed out of the old skin, she was actually healing and mutating further.

I was so stunned by what was happening with the demon queen that I didn’t even think of getting up and shooting at her. From the way everyone else was standing there with their mouths open, it was obvious that they were all having the same reactions I was.

A moment later, the demon queen emerged from her dried out and shredded old skin. She looked different, though most of it was subtle. The scales that covered her body were a brighter shade of green, she’d grown a third set of arms, and her head had completely regrown. However, her face now looked less human and was pushed out to increase her resemblance to a snake.

The demon queen raised her human part up and looked in our direction as and then began moving towards us. That was enough to get everyone to open fire on her.

“Why won’t this bitch stay dead?” Dani exclaimed.

“I’ll take care of the lieutenant,” Dr. Merrit told me.

“Be careful,” Hannah gasped, looking worried.

“Dolenzzz,” the demon queen exclaimed.

Senator Dolenz dropped his gun and I suddenly caught the scent of urine. He stood there frozen with a look of absolute terror on his face. If the circumstances had been different, I probably would have enjoyed that.