All I saw were the bright beams of the headlights. There was no time to react. I took a deep breath out to soften the impact.

So….this is it. This how it ends.

It didn’t feel like anything.

Did the guy miss?

I felt my arms, they were still there. My feet, my body. I wasn’t bleeding from the head. I didn’t understand.

The darkness started to clear as my eyes adjusted.

Move along.

I searched for the voice but I still couldn’t see a thing.

You new?

The deep voice came from the man in front of me.

“I don’t know how I got here.”

“Ah a rookie. We have fresh meat boys.”

I’ve seen this before. Been in the special forces for 20 years. Well I’ll be damned if I’m going to go through any initiation rituals.

“What’s your rank and serial number soldier?”

Guess my instincts kicked.

“Ooh boys we have a lively one!”

The area started to get clear. It was a hall of some sort and I was in line for something, maybe a sign up of sorts? And this guy looked like he held some authority. He was flanked by dumb and dumber. Cronies, floozies, assholes. They wouldn’t be so tough on their own.

“What are you looking at maggot?”

“A piece of shit”, I sneered.

Out of nowhere his right fist clocked me in the jaw. But I was already starting to lean back. It didn’t knock me out but it did throw me off balance. I tasted the blood in my mouth.

This was going to be good.

I saw his elbow move as he recoiled for the next punch. But I knew it was a fake as he was going to go for a straight with the left. I was spot on.

I moved around the straight punch, to the outside of his arm and punched him from the square in the nose, with the feel of a satisfying crack between my third and fourth knuckles. He was off balance, this was my moment. His men couldn’t comprehend how quickly it turned. Their smiles were slowly dissipating and they started to move in. The jackass in front of me was starting to fall but I caught the glimmer in his eyes. This was a flesh wound for him. I needed to end this now. Whilst his left arm was retracting, I grabbed his wrist and pulled it backwards. This exposed his elbow which I locked that finally exposed his shoulder which was my target all along. I grabbed it behind him in a lock and dropped my bodyweight with it. The wrist broke first. The elbow was extended far beyond it’s capacity. But it was the eventual strain on the shoulder that made it pop.

Stand down.

There was a man with white hair from the upper floor looking down. He too looked like someone in charge. Although the hippie dreadlocked hair gave a completely different impression.

“You ready for this son?”

“I’m always ready.”

“Not for a sideswipe obviously.”

Neither the broken nose or the arm bothered him.

“Gabriel, that’s enough.”

“Yes Father.”

Father? Gabriel? If the son’s such a shithead, maybe the hippie isn’t that much better. After all, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

I assure you, it does and that this is all a test.

“Huh?”

I know you’re confused and have no idea where you are…

Does that mean?

“Yes. You are dead.”

But then this..

“Isn’t heaven.”

Are you?

“Reading your thoughts? Yes. So if you’ll stop long enough to process this, I’ll fill you in. We only have 5 minutes before we make land.”

What the hell….

Right in front of me, Gabriel was healing, I saw his nose straigthen and the shoulder popped back into place.

“You see, unless you are decapitated, everyone that has passed on is immortal.”

“But you said…”

“That chopping your head off, seals your fate. You are forever stuck in which ever place you’re in. Hell, heaven, purgatory. Wherever. Although, hell is keen to have more souls, heaven will fix you up and purgatory…well no one has voluntarily given themselves up in there.

We need you to make contact with our person on the inside and get the latest Intel of what Lucifer has been up to.”

“Wait wait wait. You’re telling me that you want me to go to hell?”

“I know, the irony isn’t lost on me. Lucifer is planning something big. I know it. His influence on earth is growing and not at the rates we’ve expected. Our forecast shows that this is only meant to grow at 45 times system.”

“You model this?”

“Yes and I’d appreciate not being interrupted again.”

Father raised his arm and a holographic map came up.

“We are landing you here. Your rendezvous point is 20 clicks due East. Your contact is L.”

A photo came up. He looked like a child. Couldn’t have been more than 12.

“He’s our best agent. He’s gone undetected for 152 years.”

Ok. Not 12.

“Once you land here, Gabriel will be dropped off here and will be shadowing you.”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

“You may need help. I’m giving you my best weapon.”

Gabriel snorted in delight.

And there it was again, the bright flash and I was flung backwards. There was a gaping hole where Father was standing.

I could see Gabriel screaming but I could not hear a thing. The ringing from the explosion was too loud.

Then another one and this time I took cover.

Seems like the courtyard was in some sort of aircraft. And we were going down.

I felt someone shake my shoulders. I felt a sharp pain on my face. It was solid slap. Gabriel was yelling at me.

“I hope you’re ready. Remember the mission. Remember the mission.”

The sounds were returning, alarms were going off, there were red lights flashing everywhere I looked.

I turned towards the gaping hole. The ground was coming up really quick.

Shit.