The rest of the world was in ashes. The Angels of Artemis continued to cleanse the world. Commissioner Byrd had just finished gunning down Agent Phil in the Portland streets, and now he was in his truck headed further downtown. His convoy of trucks was large and covered in spirals. Each one held a large machine gun in its bed.
Byrd had gotten a radio call from another group of cultists who needed some help fighting off a resistance. When he asked the cultist on the other side of the radio where they were, the transmission went quiet. So, he decided to head anywhere he could hear gunshots.
They were approaching a large bridge. Byrd continued to look around for any of his fellow cultists.
BOOM!!!
A large explosion behind them. One of the trucks in the convoy burst into flames, killing everyone inside.
Byrd’s truck swerved off the road, hit the side rail of the bridge, and flipped over. It tumbled a few times and finally came to a stop on its side in the middle of the bridge. When he finally came to, a few cultists were trying to pull him out of the truck.
He then heard a barrage of gunshots—very loud gunshots.
Byrd was still trying to snap out of it. Then one of his fellow cultists was shot in the face, spraying blood all over.
He got ahold of his senses and began to crawl out the back window, where his arm got sliced on a piece of the truck and he let out a grunt. He held onto his arm and picked up the first gun he could find, which was a small handgun. He peeked over the truck and saw a group of cultists lying on the ground in pools of blood.
Every cultist looked as though they had been shot with a cannon. Some were missing limbs, and others were filled with holes the size of bowling balls.
Whoever was fighting back was using high powered weapons, and Byrd knew what that meant. It was either the military or the police. And since Byrd’s group had wiped out most, if not all, of the police, it must have been the military. And, sure enough, when Byrd walked around the truck, he noticed some people in tan and camo uniforms coming straight for him.
At that very moment, an explosion from a grenade launcher sent Byrd flying back.
He tumbled a few times and grunted. As he attempted to get back up, he noticed the rest of his fellow cultists getting absolutely demolished.
Byrd looked around for an answer then looked down at his arm that was bleeding profusely.
“No, no, no!” He said and he watched the military group kill his last remaining allies. The military group then set their sights on him, guns aimed and loaded.
“Sir!” one of the soldiers said. “We got another one here!”
A man came up from behind the other soldiers. He pulled his goggles and mask off and looked Byrd right in his bloody eyes.
“Red robe,” the man said. “He’s a leader.”
“Wait!” Byrd said, struggling to speak even a word. “How?”
“Aw,” the man responded with a condescending tone. He walked over to Byrd and kneeled down in front of him. “You didn’t hear? The world is fighting back against you scum. You’re no more. Every single one of you showed yourselves, and that was your downfall.”
“I don’t believe it,” Byrd stated. “We were supposed to cleanse all of you!”
It was Agent Bobby of the White Light task force. He proceeded to pull out his large handgun and aim it at Byrd’s head.
“Well, believe it, prick,” he said as he shot him in the face without hesitation.
Agent Bobby rejoined his team and headed off, attempting to find Agent Phil. And although Bobby would soon find out what happened to his friend, he took joy in knowing that Byrd died with the realization that he’d lost, that everything he and the rest of the cult worked for amounted to nothing.
Over the next twenty-four hours, the world’s countries rallied their people and fought back against the Cleansing. Militaries stormed cities and killed every member of the cult they could find. Everyone fought dirty. They took no prisoners, and even civilians took up arms.
In about a day, the Cleansing was over. And while over forty thousand people ended up dead, the Angels of Artemis were no more.
The only followers left were over in Blackgate, with Karissa and Lewis Nelson, who were attempting to escape.