Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [104]
In the next instant, several other bullets vaporized as well. A hardshell narrowly missed Silence with a laser, and that instantly drew the pyrokinetic’s attention. Shifting in midair, Silence spit another stream of incendiary death. The hardshell with the laser rifle spun away, covered in fire.
The green-haired man, Jack Hart, gestured toward a four-man squad of hardshells. Wavy, purple-black force, almost invisible, spread outward from his hand movement. In the next instant, the hardshells jerked sideways as if their servos had suddenly gotten corrupted. Then the men fell, arms and legs splayed helplessly as increased gravity pinned them to the ground.
Hella put her sights over Hart’s chest and squeezed the trigger. At first she thought she’d missed. Then after three more shots, she knew she couldn’t have missed every time. She noticed one of the purple-black blossoms around Hart and realized that his power was pulling bullets to the ground before they reached him.
She shifted her attention to the normal thieves among Trazall’s crew and punched bullets through them as quickly as she could. When she exhausted one magazine, she plugged in another.
“The zeppelins are closing in.” Stampede rolled to one side, and a bullet cored through rock where he’d been. “And one of Trazall’s snipers has a bead on our position. It won’t be long before others do too.”
Glancing back toward the airships, Hella saw they were moving toward the quagmire of fighting men. She rolled to a fresh position as well just ahead of a shot that notched the rock she’d been using as a rifle stand. “Did you see Trazall?”
“No. You?”
“No.”
“That scans. Trazall is usually the one behind the scene. He’s not there when things head south.”
A moment later, Hella peered back down her rifle. Movement through the brush drew her attention. She used her peripheral vision against the darkness and spotted two men racing toward their position. “We’ve got company incoming.”
“Where?”
“Three o’clock. Do we hold or move out?”
“Pull back. Take up a new defensive line. And keep Daisy out of the fire lines. We go to your right to intercept those gunners. We need to keep this hill clear as we can.”
Hella checked her rifle. “Ready.”
“Go.”
Turning, Hella rose to a half crouch and ran to the right. She used her right hand to vault over a large boulder then hunkered down low as the brush again. Tracer-equipped bullets sliced through the brush after her. “They see me.”
“Go to ground. I’ve got one of them.”
Hella dived to the earth. Rock kissed her cheek hard enough to break the skin. She stayed flat, her heart beating frantically, as bullets combed the brush for her.
The familiar basso bark of Stampede’s rifle rolled over her. Thirty meters away, a shadow jerked suddenly sideways and fell in a loose sprawl. The shadow didn’t get up again, and the second rifleman quit firing and faded into hiding.
“Flush him, Red.”
Shoving her right arm out, Hella blasted the trees where she’d seen the first man fall, gambling that the two hadn’t wanted to get separated in all the confusion. Her bullets scored white scars on the tree trunks and chopped down branches and bushes.
The second man broke cover, heading back the way he’d come and managed two steps before Stampede fired. The heavy-caliber bullet caught the man from behind and pitched him forward. He didn’t move again.
Stampede pushed himself up from the ground. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Get closer if we can. If we can’t, we hold back and hope we can pick up the pieces.”
Hella gazed at the two approaching zeppelins. “If Pardot manages to get aboard the airships, we’re going to lose Scatter.”
“If we get killed, we’re going to lose Scatter anyway. We do what we can, Red. That’s how we’ve always worked it.”
In the dark sky, the zeppelins suddenly opened fire. Machine guns and small cannons pounded