[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
ivy-infested alley.
Flames washed over the craft once more and as they went into the alley, Doc
flipped back the hatch and J.B. heaved out the satchel. But as quickly as Jak
slammed shut the hatch again, a dozen vines wiggled in and struck out at
anything near them. Boots and knives finished off the invaders.
"Hellhounds, robot tanks, killer ivy." J.B. cursed, crushing a vine as if it
were a cigarette butt. "Damn the day we ever opened that redoubt!"
"A Pandora's box for sure," Doc said, skewering a vine and splitting it
lengthwise. "But as with the Grecian myth, we still have hope."
"And blasters."
"There it is," Ryan said, trying not to shout his impatience over the sluggish
advance of their craft. He could outwalk this bastard thing going uphill! A
wooden gate barring the end of the alley offered no resistance. Relentlessly,
he drove the tank straight through a heap of bones
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...ndora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20P
ollotta.txt (35 of 110) [12/24/2004 11:32:26 PM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Axler,%20James...20(12/55)/
050%20-%20Pandora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20Pollotta.txt and bent motorcycles
piled toward the rear of the store.
Brick stairs led to a door, and alongside was an inclined ramp going to a
loading dock, the three big doors made of hinged steel planks banded together
with rivets. Pulsating waves of ivy coated everything.
"Center door," Mildred said.
Ryan headed for the middle as the twin 75 mm recoilless rifles spoke in
unison, the shells detonating on the loading dock, blowing the sheet metal
into rubbish. Mildred lowered the angle and fired again, blasting off the
jagged metal strips that edged the entrance to the cellar. She knew their
military tires were tough, but there was no sense asking for flats when speed
was what they needed most. A few remaining strips of steel jutted or dangled
from the smoking entranceway, but Ryan paid them no heed and plowed the
juggernaut through. The headlights came on automatically as darkness engulfed
the vehicle.
The inside of the building was a jungle, vines as thick as cables festooning
the walls and ceiling. More bones, hundreds of them, thousands, littered the
leafy floor, and fat cocoons hung in clusters like bunches of grapes. A
curtain of ivy formed a solid barrier across the room effectively hiding
anything beyond the expanse of moving greenery.
Dean poured the last canister of extra fuel into the pipe and screwed the cap
on tight.
"Done," he announced.
Starring at the morass before them, something deep inside Ryan demanded that
he lead the recce into the building. It took a force of will stronger than
Ryan knew he had to counter that.
He was the best driver, and already behind the wheel. It was his task to stay
here, direct the rescue and protect Leviathan. What was the point of saving
his lover if there was nothing for her to come back to but ivy-infested
wreckage?
Ignorant of the man's private struggle, J.B. took the M-4000 from the rack
behind the driver's seat and walked to the port-side hatch. "This going to be
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
nasty, people," he said softly.
"We got to get hard, move fast."
"John." Mildred spoke with feeling, pausing in the work of sliding fresh
shells into the
75 mm rifles. Their gaze met, but neither spoke. Sometime words weren't
enough.
A boom shook the entire structure, smoke appearing over the leafy rooftop. The
plants went mad, ripping apart rubbish and smashing random debris.
"Go!" Ryan ordered, clearing a path ahead of the tank.
"Welcome to hell," J.B. shouted, as he shoved open the door, firing the
12-gauge and the
Uzi. Clumps of ivy were shredded into mulch, and he jumped to the soft floor.
Two quick shots, followed by silence.
"That's six," Dean said, joining the Armorer. "She's out. But why two at
once?" -
"To tell us she's not going anywhere else."
Exhaling sharply, the boy understood, his combat face returning, making him
appear years older. "Check. We better move."
"Nyah, I say thee, hold, Pericles," Doc said, jumping to the ground, his arms
full of fuel canisters. Dropping one at their feet, he tossed another deeper
into the loading dock, and the next farther still.
"What're you doing?" J.B. demanded to the elderly man. "Those are empty."
"Aren't they?" Dean asked, furious for missing so many.
Doc grinned, displaying his oddly perfect white teeth. "An, but how can the
plants know that?"
Sure enough, the ivy on the ground wiggled away, exposing bare concrete. Doc
reappeared with more empties, and the three friends threw them in as far as
they could. The plants went mad, damaging themselves to get away. The few
spilled drops of gasoline on the spouts of the aluminum cans were more than
sufficient to show that these were the same type of deadly containers used
before.
"I thought they would remember," Doc said, going back inside. "I shall get
more!"
The process was repeated and the curtain of green parted as if by magic.
Beyond was a line of waiting humans. The men braced for an attack, but these
weren't guards. Some were naked, a few in filthy rags. The group stood there,
men, a woman and an infant child no more than a newborn, their heads and limbs
oddly placed. Using the binocs, Mildred distorted her face in vile disgust.
Ryan grabbed his binocs and noted the raw terror in their rolling eyes, the
flecks of foam on pale lips. And where clothing didn't cover them, tendrils of
the ivy were clearly visible lining their bodies, the roots embedded into the
living flesh.
"They're a shield!" Mildred shouted.
"Probably thinks we won't kill our own kind," Ryan said without emotion.
"Mistake three.
By the looks of things, they're already dead. Jak, fire."
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...ndora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20P
ollotta.txt (36 of 110) [12/24/2004 11:32:26 PM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Axler,%20James...20(12/55)/
050%20-%20Pandora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20Pollotta.txt
Angling the big vented barrel forward, the teenager cut loose with the
side-mounted .50-
caliber machine gun, the heavy slugs from the Remington tearing the people
into shreds. Their bodies jerked about madly, red blood splattering the leafy
walls in a grisly spray.
They could see that the filaments of the ivy reached everywhere inside the
prisoners, extruding from every pore, every opening.
"By the Three Kennedys," Doc gasped.
Page 47
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Not prisoners," Dean spit, pumping the Mossberg. "Puppets."
"Find her," Ryan commanded over the external PA system. There was a tone in
his voice none of them had ever heard before. "Find her!"
Ryan's hands were white on the steering wheel as he put more fuel onto the
writhing plants, scorching a path through the unholy puppets.
Grabbing the last of the empty gas cans, J.B. and Doc were close behind as
Dean took off.
Ryan stared after them, as he sent a fresh spray from the flamethrower across
the ceiling of the dock as a protective umbrella. As the burning liquid flowed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
ivy-infested alley.
Flames washed over the craft once more and as they went into the alley, Doc
flipped back the hatch and J.B. heaved out the satchel. But as quickly as Jak
slammed shut the hatch again, a dozen vines wiggled in and struck out at
anything near them. Boots and knives finished off the invaders.
"Hellhounds, robot tanks, killer ivy." J.B. cursed, crushing a vine as if it
were a cigarette butt. "Damn the day we ever opened that redoubt!"
"A Pandora's box for sure," Doc said, skewering a vine and splitting it
lengthwise. "But as with the Grecian myth, we still have hope."
"And blasters."
"There it is," Ryan said, trying not to shout his impatience over the sluggish
advance of their craft. He could outwalk this bastard thing going uphill! A
wooden gate barring the end of the alley offered no resistance. Relentlessly,
he drove the tank straight through a heap of bones
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...ndora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20P
ollotta.txt (35 of 110) [12/24/2004 11:32:26 PM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Axler,%20James...20(12/55)/
050%20-%20Pandora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20Pollotta.txt and bent motorcycles
piled toward the rear of the store.
Brick stairs led to a door, and alongside was an inclined ramp going to a
loading dock, the three big doors made of hinged steel planks banded together
with rivets. Pulsating waves of ivy coated everything.
"Center door," Mildred said.
Ryan headed for the middle as the twin 75 mm recoilless rifles spoke in
unison, the shells detonating on the loading dock, blowing the sheet metal
into rubbish. Mildred lowered the angle and fired again, blasting off the
jagged metal strips that edged the entrance to the cellar. She knew their
military tires were tough, but there was no sense asking for flats when speed
was what they needed most. A few remaining strips of steel jutted or dangled
from the smoking entranceway, but Ryan paid them no heed and plowed the
juggernaut through. The headlights came on automatically as darkness engulfed
the vehicle.
The inside of the building was a jungle, vines as thick as cables festooning
the walls and ceiling. More bones, hundreds of them, thousands, littered the
leafy floor, and fat cocoons hung in clusters like bunches of grapes. A
curtain of ivy formed a solid barrier across the room effectively hiding
anything beyond the expanse of moving greenery.
Dean poured the last canister of extra fuel into the pipe and screwed the cap
on tight.
"Done," he announced.
Starring at the morass before them, something deep inside Ryan demanded that
he lead the recce into the building. It took a force of will stronger than
Ryan knew he had to counter that.
He was the best driver, and already behind the wheel. It was his task to stay
here, direct the rescue and protect Leviathan. What was the point of saving
his lover if there was nothing for her to come back to but ivy-infested
wreckage?
Ignorant of the man's private struggle, J.B. took the M-4000 from the rack
behind the driver's seat and walked to the port-side hatch. "This going to be
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
nasty, people," he said softly.
"We got to get hard, move fast."
"John." Mildred spoke with feeling, pausing in the work of sliding fresh
shells into the
75 mm rifles. Their gaze met, but neither spoke. Sometime words weren't
enough.
A boom shook the entire structure, smoke appearing over the leafy rooftop. The
plants went mad, ripping apart rubbish and smashing random debris.
"Go!" Ryan ordered, clearing a path ahead of the tank.
"Welcome to hell," J.B. shouted, as he shoved open the door, firing the
12-gauge and the
Uzi. Clumps of ivy were shredded into mulch, and he jumped to the soft floor.
Two quick shots, followed by silence.
"That's six," Dean said, joining the Armorer. "She's out. But why two at
once?" -
"To tell us she's not going anywhere else."
Exhaling sharply, the boy understood, his combat face returning, making him
appear years older. "Check. We better move."
"Nyah, I say thee, hold, Pericles," Doc said, jumping to the ground, his arms
full of fuel canisters. Dropping one at their feet, he tossed another deeper
into the loading dock, and the next farther still.
"What're you doing?" J.B. demanded to the elderly man. "Those are empty."
"Aren't they?" Dean asked, furious for missing so many.
Doc grinned, displaying his oddly perfect white teeth. "An, but how can the
plants know that?"
Sure enough, the ivy on the ground wiggled away, exposing bare concrete. Doc
reappeared with more empties, and the three friends threw them in as far as
they could. The plants went mad, damaging themselves to get away. The few
spilled drops of gasoline on the spouts of the aluminum cans were more than
sufficient to show that these were the same type of deadly containers used
before.
"I thought they would remember," Doc said, going back inside. "I shall get
more!"
The process was repeated and the curtain of green parted as if by magic.
Beyond was a line of waiting humans. The men braced for an attack, but these
weren't guards. Some were naked, a few in filthy rags. The group stood there,
men, a woman and an infant child no more than a newborn, their heads and limbs
oddly placed. Using the binocs, Mildred distorted her face in vile disgust.
Ryan grabbed his binocs and noted the raw terror in their rolling eyes, the
flecks of foam on pale lips. And where clothing didn't cover them, tendrils of
the ivy were clearly visible lining their bodies, the roots embedded into the
living flesh.
"They're a shield!" Mildred shouted.
"Probably thinks we won't kill our own kind," Ryan said without emotion.
"Mistake three.
By the looks of things, they're already dead. Jak, fire."
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...ndora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20P
ollotta.txt (36 of 110) [12/24/2004 11:32:26 PM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Axler,%20James...20(12/55)/
050%20-%20Pandora's%20Reboubt%20-%20Nick%20Pollotta.txt
Angling the big vented barrel forward, the teenager cut loose with the
side-mounted .50-
caliber machine gun, the heavy slugs from the Remington tearing the people
into shreds. Their bodies jerked about madly, red blood splattering the leafy
walls in a grisly spray.
They could see that the filaments of the ivy reached everywhere inside the
prisoners, extruding from every pore, every opening.
"By the Three Kennedys," Doc gasped.
Page 47
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Not prisoners," Dean spit, pumping the Mossberg. "Puppets."
"Find her," Ryan commanded over the external PA system. There was a tone in
his voice none of them had ever heard before. "Find her!"
Ryan's hands were white on the steering wheel as he put more fuel onto the
writhing plants, scorching a path through the unholy puppets.
Grabbing the last of the empty gas cans, J.B. and Doc were close behind as
Dean took off.
Ryan stared after them, as he sent a fresh spray from the flamethrower across
the ceiling of the dock as a protective umbrella. As the burning liquid flowed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]