| DOOM: Hell On Earth | |
|---|---|
| |
Author |
Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweaver |
Publisher |
Pocket Books |
Released |
August 1, 1995 |
Media Type |
Paperback |
Pages |
248 |
ISBN |
0-671-52562-X |
DOOM: Hell on Earth is the second in a series of four officially licensed tie-in novels to the original DOOM series of games in the mid-1990s. All four volumes were reissued in 2005 with new cover art.
This book follows the storyline of the second video game in its broad outline, although numerous details have been changed. For example, Earth's resistance against the monsters is not unified here, as many governments have turned traitor.
Plot summary[ | ]
The second book opens as the first ends, with Flynn "Fly" Taggart and Arlene Sanders stranded on Deimos (which is in Earth's orbit), and the air leaking out of the base. Over the course of a month, the two build a shuttle using spare parts from unmanned postal craft, barely escaping as their oxygen and food run out.
Fly and Arlene land several miles from Salt Lake City. Once there, they learn that humanity is an endangered species: world governments have turned traitor to the aliens, as have their militaries. Salt Lake City is one of the few human resistance strongholds, as the Mormons had formed a survival plan and gathered years' worth of supplies for just such an event. Within hours, armed forces from the Marines, FBI, Army, ATF, and IRS attack the city.
The Mormon leader blames Fly and Arlene for allowing the monster invasion to reach Earth, and offers them a chance to make amends: lead an expedition to Los Angeles, recover vital information, disable the aliens' shields, and escort the information to a Marine resistance center in Hawaii. Accompanying them are Albert Gallatin, an ex-Marine sniper and converted Mormon, and Jill Lovelace, a fourteen-year-old former computer hacker who lost her parents in the invasion.
During the westward journey, Arlene falls in love with Albert despite his religion (her brother had converted to Mormonism during a downward spiral in his life). Jumping a train, the team kills a Spider Mastermind and a Cyberdemon and recovers a young human hostage, Ken, with numerous computer implants in his body. Upon reaching Los Angeles, they discover that the aliens have spared the lives of some drug addicts, in return for helping them brew the chemical mixture that turns human corpses into zombies.
Having determined Ken to be the "information" they need, they make for the airport. Albert is severely burned by an Imp fireball, but survives. Albert and Jill remain behind to fly the plane to Hawaii, while Fly and Arlene go to the Disney Building to disable the massive shield generator. They succeed, but meanwhile a gathering of monsters has surrounded and trapped them.