Swinging the lever on his Winchester, Jak hit the good eye twice, with no result except for making the machine slow its advance slightly.
“Any grens?” the albino teen demanded, thumbing fresh rounds into the side port of the Winchester.
“Nothing!” J.B. replied, giving it another long burst from the Uzi. “Lost the last implo gren escaping from the ville!”
Slinging the Steyr, Ryan drew the SIG-Sauer and started firing steadily, hitting the sec droid every time.
Dean launched a quarrel from his heavy crossbow that glanced off the droid’s body. Stepping behind a luxury car as protection, Doc holstered the LeMat and drew the Webley to fire a fast six times, hitting the droid only on the left side. The sheer force of the booming hardball ammo cut nicks into the shiny chrome rod body, making it spin once, momentarily out of control. As it faced the wrong direction, Krysty fired the H&H Nitro, hoping the rear armor might be thinner than the front. The massive .475 nitro round put a dent in its domed head the size of a fist, but nothing more. “How many more?” Ryan demanded, over the booming SIG-Sauer.
“Last round!” she replied, shoving in a single fat .475 round into the breech of the elephant rifle. “Save it!” he ordered.
Walking backward onto the curb, the woman nodded and drew her S&W .38 to fire twice at the droid. Holding a breath to steady his aim, Dean launched another iron quarrel. But this time, the bolt smacked into the ruin of the broken lenses and went halfway into the dome. The machine frozen motionless for a long pause, and the companions took the opportunity to run for more distance.
Sparks cracking along the conductive shaft of the arrow, the machine removed the quarrel from its head with a set of pinchers, then made loud clicking noises before starting after the escaping companions. The hole was now covered with steel leaves.
Fireblast, it was self repairing! Grimacing in rage, Ryan tried for the opening anyway, but the machine was now keeping its weak point turned away from them.
“Sign!” Mildred shouted, firing skyward.
The rest of the companions copied her angle and threw a hail of lead at a large hanging neon sign. Under the brutal pounding, the corroded supports ripped free from the brick building, and it plummeted straight down onto the sidewalk in a strident crash of glass and steel that missed the droid by mere inches. Going around the obstruction, the droid continued relentlessly after its prey, its buzz saws whining loudly as the telescoping arms extended for a kill.
“Get thee back, Geryon!” Doc snarled, lowering the spent Webley to pull out the LeMat and shoot twice, the Civil War piece blowing flame and thick smoke along the sidewalk. The first round punched a hole in a fireplug with no result whatsoever, and the second struck the gas tank of a police motorcycle, making the corpse fall off the bike. The droid attacked the movement in mindless fury.
Then stepping around a corner, the old man switched weapons again, breaking open the top loading Webley. The action made all of the spent cartridges jump out and he quickly shoved in live cartridges.
Ryan and J.B. maintained a steady fusillade as they backed into view past the corner, then Mildred, Jak and Krysty gave cover fire so the two men could reload their blasters.
“This isn’t accomplishing shit!” Mildred growled, firing the Remington and working the bolt to eject the spent brass. “We need a bazooka!”
Abandoning the heavy crossbow and quiver for speed, Dean glanced at a fire station across the crowded street. From here, he could see the formidable axes hanging in the wall, the adamantine alloy blades designed to cut through lesser metals. The idea appealed to him for only a moment, when he realized that using the ax would put him within the reach of the buzz saw. Then the boy caught a whiff of smoke in the air. They had to be near the burning fuel truck. But try as he might, Dean couldn’t think of a way that might be useful in this fight.
Snapping off shots from the SIG-Sauer, Ryan glanced in every direction to try to find something useful in the preDark city. Then he spied the fire station. Yeah, that might just work. In a flash, the man started sprinting through the maze of vehicles and disappeared inside the station.