Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [67]
Then the second grenade detonated, creating a flash underwater and shooting a spume of spray into the air. Metallic pings sounded as the antipersonnel shot peppered the hull from the underside.
Stunned, Hella ran her hands along her body, waiting to see if the electromagnetic pulse was going to do anything to her. She felt a momentary wave of dizziness, but that quickly passed. However, the buzz of the nanobots’ voices in the back of her head sounded louder than ever. Evidently they hadn’t liked what they’d been subjected to.
Stampede had already leaped up onto the first cable on his side then grabbed the second, higher cable. He wrapped a length of chain they’d gotten from their gear around the cable and gripped both ends in one massive hand. Instantly the chain slid along the cable as Stampede’s weight fell forward along the downgrade of the support line. Sparks flew from the metal-on-metal contact. He gripped his rifle in his right fist and fired round after round as he shot forward.
Scared of moving but more terrified of the thought of leaving Stampede on his own aboard the ferry, Hella draped her own chain over her cable and kicked off her own slide. The cable jumped and popped as the ferry continued fighting the current.
Aboard the ferry, muzzle flashes on both decks revealed that the ’Chine hadn’t been completely taken down by the EMP grenades. But they had been affected because they weren’t moving very well and their aim was horrible. Still, with a fully automatic weapon, a gunner didn’t have to be good, just determined.
Hella morphed her right hand into a weapon and fired, using red tracers for every third round to better target the ’Chine. Bullets cut the air around her, but the mechmen collapsed backward along the second deck as the withering fire took its toll.
Stampede reached the ferry first. He let go and dropped, landing on both big hooves on the lower deck outside the enclosed passenger area. He kicked one of the ’Chine over the side then grabbed another and hurled it over as well.
Hella came down beside him, greatly aware of the silence inside her head where Stampede’s voice used to be. She fired into the ’Chine and noticed that their movements were loose and disjointed. The EMPs had definitely had an effect. In fact, some of the mechmen lay on the deck, completely inert. The telltale green glow in their eyes was missing.
Stampede pulled out another EMP, armed it, and shoved it through the window into the covered passenger area. He took up his rifle in both hands as bullets chopped into the ferry’s metal hide. He looked at Hella. “Blow the anchors!”
Dizziness still swirled inside Hella’s head, and her guts churned. The nanobots’ frantic voices turned even more insistent, maybe even frantic. She grabbed for the detonator hanging around her neck, missed because her reflexes were off, and grabbed again. She wrapped her hand around the slim control rod, found the button, and slid a finger over it.
The EMP grenade went off inside the passenger compartment, and the unaccustomed whirling sensation trebled inside Hella’s head. As a child, she’d never been sick. She’d been around people with fevers, some that had even killed a few of them, and they’d talked about the dizziness and nausea that had plagued them during those dangerous temperature spikes. She felt certain she was feeling what those people had been feeling.
Before she knew it, she was on her knees, but she retained enough presence of mind to press the detonator button.
On the north side of the river, two blinding flashes suddenly lit up around the anchor poles only a moment before the thunderous roar of the detonations reached Hella’s ears. Immediately the poles tipped over and the cables went slack, trailing in the water as the ferry bucked and twisted sideways as the current took it.
A massive wave of cold water poured