knocking the ass over elbows like grotesque bowling pins they tumbled across the floor.
Seizing the opportunity to get some more distance between us and the podies the Colonel ordered us to retreat to the first of our two makeshift defensive fall-back positions.
As the fire-teams ran across the glass –tiles that comprised the ceiling of the atrium Colonel Bishop stopped at the center. Covering the rear I watched as he planted two fist sized blocks of symtex plastic explosives on the glass floor side by side.
“Priest. Cougar. New target.”
While Cougar continued her task of sniping the podies at long-range Priest’s robotic synthesized voice answered on the Comm,
“Affirmative.”
Suddenly, from the balconies over looking the deck, Brody and Train opened fire again. The Podies had started climbing past the broken debris of the jogging-track and Jacuzzis. The fire-teams were already firing past the Colonel and me when we rejoined the fire-team behind the make-shift fortifications several metres past the glass floor.
Like ants invading a picnic more podies swarmed over and around the debris as they erupted from the entrance in countless numbers. Surging toward us like a living flood the podies scampered across the glass floor oblivious to the explosives at their feet. The Colonel ordered Cougar and Priest to take their shots. Once again the distinctive cracks rang out. But this time no explosion followed.
Cougar’s voice came over the Comm,
“No joy, Chief! We don’t have a visual. Too many damn Podies are around the explosives!!”
The Colonel swore beneath his breath.
Without thinking I leapt over our barricade and sprinted toward the on-coming Podies. Behind me the Colonel called for covering fire. Reaching the edge of the glass-tiled deck I put aside my rifle and dropped to one knee. Drawing my USP46 I focused through the moving forest slender deformed legs and fired.
The explosion rocked the deck and bathed the advancing podies in flames. Several were thrown clear by the violent explosion. The glass-tiled floor cracked white with hair-line fractures, to my surprise, remained intact. Recovering quickly the podies charged past the charred remains of their brethren with renewed vigor. Stunned, I knelt there as they came right at me.
Suddenly the Colonel appeared at my side with Matilda. The horde surged towards us. He looked at me angrily,
“While I appreciate the initiative, Son, if we survive this…,” the Colonel growled softly, “You and I are gonna have a little talk.”
Pulling me to my feet and out of my stupor he shoved me back toward the barricade. Glancing over my shoulder I realized that he wasn’t following. As a matter of fact he stood his ground at the border where the glass tiles ended and the steel deck floor began.
Before I could yell a warning the sawn-off Maverick-88 12 gauge pump-action shot-gun let out its signature ‘Crack-Clack’ as the Colonel chambered a shell and looked away. Without aiming he fired into the cracked glass-floor. About second after the deafening blast, the glass floor which comprised the roof the fourteen deck atrium, shattered and collapsed instantly swallowing up the horde of podies.
For the moment we had stopped the podies. A few of us let out shouts of victory and jeered at the podies as they gathered on the opposite side of the gap utterly confused.
“This isn’t over yet, People!” the Colonel pointed out wasting no time with celebration. “Train, Captain Li I want the adjoining port and starboard passages and balconies cordoned off. We’ll focus on containment till our back-up arrives. All non-combatants report to the heli-pad.”
Turning on his heel walked away from edge toward the others who were now emerging from behind the barricades,
“Mr. Portland, tell about my explosi-.”
Suddenly from the lip of the chasm where we were standing a podie sprang into the air as if shot from a cannon. Sailing over my head it slammed into the Colonel’s back and slammed his face into the steel plated deck. Straddling the stunned Colonel the podie raised its scythe-like arm and was just about deliver the killing blow when I did the only thing I could think of, I body-tackled it.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
