“I said, sit down now!” the sergeant shouted, drawing his blaster and cocking the hammer. “We’re afloat you triple-stupe fool. Open that and we sink!”
Another sec man reached out to grab Johnson, but the private fought free, ripping his shirt in the process. His face was white, his eyes wild with fear and he threw himself again at the aft doors, grabbing the locking bar with both hands.
The sergeant leveled his weapon and the blaster spoke. Johnson slammed against the double doors, a hole in his exposed spine, blood pumping onto the floor. Furious, the sergeant leveled the pistol to shoot again.
“Don’t! Ricochets!” the lieutenant warned.
But the hammer was already falling. The large-caliber slug plowed through the dying man and slammed into the locking bar, knocking it loose. The left door swung wide as the misshapen slug bounced off the steel and zinged off the walls, floor and into the back of the driver’s head. The dead man lurched forward, cracking the dashboard with his face, blood flowing over the controls.
The open door revealed the choppy waters of the lake and low hills rising in the distance. Fresh air rushed into the vehicle as Johnson toppled overboard and sank from view. Then a wave crested the door sill, washing over their boots and floating the airtight MRE food packs.
Struggling with the stubborn buckle of his safety harness, the sergeant dropped his blaster and tried to rip himself loose by sheer-strength. Drawing a knife, a corporal neatly sliced through the woven nylon belts and rushed to the doors through the ankle-deep water. Another wave rolled inside, forcing the man back, and the craft began to list slightly downward.
Unsnapping the buckle on his web harness, a private stood and dived toward the rear. A sec man along the wall already had an arm extended. The first private grabbed the other’s hand, and the sec man desperately reached for the handle of the armored door. Another wave washed inside, supplies caught in the current going out the open doors and floating away.
“Everybody cut yourselves loose and go to the front!” Brandon shouted, sawing desperately at the harness with a knife. “Got to balance the load and keep from tipping over!”
Fingers stretching to the limit, the private brushed fingertips against the waggling door, almost getting hold of the damp metal. Then another wave hit the wag, and the door sloshed closer for a split second.
In triumph, the sec man grabbed the handle and started to pull the massive door shut. It resisted going against the force of the waves, the water seriously slowing its progress.
“Pull, you bastards! Pull!” the private shouted through gritted teeth. Tendons rose from the sec man’s arm, and the other planted a combat boot against the wall for greater leverage and grabbed the first man with his right hand.
“Come on you mutie sucking son of a bitch!” he roared, and the second man shouted in victory as the sluggish portal closed with a muffled bang.
The locking bar was shoved home, and the sec man slumped to the watery floor.
Finally free, Brandon went to the front of the wag and reached over the dead man to flip some switches. The motors struggled for a moment, then roared into life, a column of black smoke blowing skyward from the louvered exhaust port alongside the main turret. He slapped a big red button, and a steady pumping sounded from below. The water level in the machine dropped drastically until only a few small puddles dotted the rough floor.
“Sergeant, get in the turret and shout out directions!” the lieutenant ordered, dragging the dead man from the chair and sliding into his place.
Clambering up the short ladder, the sergeant threw open the top turret. Rough waves were on every side. To the west was a tall cliff and behind it a swirling wind storm, lightning flashing constantly in the clouds above.
“Head north!” the sec man shouted down below.
“You have the compass, jackass!”
He patted a pocket. Damn, so he did. “To your right! No wait, that’s too much! Perfect! Now hold it steady! The shore is only a mile away!”
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124