Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [57]
A woman, or at least something that had at one time been feminine, ran forward with two buzz saw arms extended. Before the creature covered half the distance to Hella, the thing exploded. Hella recognized the detonation of Stampede’s rifle and knew he’d saved her. She stared at the monstrosity with the flamethrower, looking for the recognizable lump of its ApZero, finally spotting it on the dead thing’s left shoulder. She fired again, taking more deliberate aim.
The bullets slammed through the thin flesh and ripped into the fist-sized cluster of cybernetic parts, scattering them in all directions in a spray of blood. To her left, Daisy reared back and brought both forepaws crashing down on another ’Chine. When she took her paws back, only bloody meat paste, mechanical parts, and hydraulic fluid remained. She reached down and caught another in her jaws then lifted it from its feet and slammed it against the nearest boulder. A leg and an arm fell off the lizard’s opponent.
“They’ve formed a hive mind.” Hella jumped and rolled away as one of the ’Chine leveled an autopistol at her and opened up. Rounds cut the air and ripped into the earth where she’d been only a moment before. She came up on one knee, hands in front of her, willing her rounds to go as big as she could make them.
The large-caliber bullets smashed into the face of a ’Chine armed, literally, with a rocket launcher and drove it four stuttering steps backward. The thing continued fighting against the damage until Hella’s next round plowed through the ApZero and rendered it inert.
Two ’Chine clawed at Riley, overpowering him with their strength but unable to penetrate the hardshell with their projectile weapons. Riley buttstroked one of them in the face with his rifle, twisting the creature’s head around at least one hundred eighty degrees. The ’Chine stood transfixed, its eyes blank. Then a green glow relit the pupils, and it twisted its head the rest of the way around to face Riley again. It raised its left arm, which opened and exposed a long drill.
Hella took aim and fired into the ApZero node that occupied a space to the right of its spine. The node shattered and the creature stumbled back before sinking down into a bloody heap.
Fighting panic, Riley thrust his rifle barrel into the next ’Chine’s open mouth and pulled the trigger. The bullets instantly killed the flesh-and-blood body, but the hive mind kept all systems operational till the following burst destroyed the ApZero.
Daisy pounced on another prey, trapping it with one forepaw then grabbing its upper body in her jaws. She tore the creature in half with a spray of blood and amber hydraulic fluid. As she tossed the top half away, both mechanical arms struggled to bring the rifle in line to shoot her while flying through the air.
Hella pointed her left hand at the torso as it sailed by and hammered the ApZero with a flurry of shots. She scrambled to another position, staying constantly in motion while trying to keep Stampede, Riley, and Daisy all in sight.
The second wave of attackers took her by surprise. Low and lean, the mutated prairie dogs launched themselves into the fray with ear-splitting squeals. The animals probably weighed about twenty kilos and were all wiry strength and speed. Metal collars glinted at their necks. She’d heard that the ’Chine could slave some animals to them.
Hella fell back immediately and carved out space with her guns blazing. If she’d been a regular person with normal weapons, she would have gotten overrun during the time she’d have needed to reload. Instead the line of furry, dead bodies in front of her grew.
Light suddenly blossomed around her, turning the darkening world into a series of garish yellow, white, and black images that flickered movement. When the acrid stink filled the air, sharper even than the stench of burning meat, Hella guessed that Stampede had fired a phosphorus grenade into one of their attackers. She ran and vaulted to the top of a boulder