James Axler – Gemini Rising

“Mebbe we can escape in the wags?” Stephen asked, sweat dripping off his pale face.

“Shut up, fool,” Mildred ordered, hoisting the scattergun and working the pump. “Running would only get us killed.”

“Anybody got a gren?” Ryan demanded, but their expressions told him the answer.

J.B. patted his shoulder bag. “Got some blocks of C-4, but they’re useless in the open like this.”

“Prep one,” Ryan snapped. “A big one, just in case. Dean, any more cocktails in the truck?”

The boy grinned. “Plenty! I’ll get the case.” He took off with the speed of youth.

“Any more boulders?” Clem asked, glaring hatefully at the approaching crew. “What almost did us, should do them fine.”

“Sure are,” Hector said, pointing with his new wheelgun. “Just past the cook fire.”

“Show us where,” Ryan ordered, duck-walking out of the bush. “Everybody with me. J.B., buy us two minutes.”

The Armorer removed his hat. “No prob.” He took careful aim down the slope, flipped the selector switch to full-auto and put a long spray of 9 mm rounds down the steep incline.

Three cannies cried out, and the rest hit the dirt, returning fire, the whole expanse of bushes shaking from the passage of bullets. But lacking a clear target, they were just shooting blind and hoping for the best.

Then the scar-faced man on the horse worked the arming bolt on his M-60, and the massive blaster began to throw gouts of flame at the ridge. “Keep going, ya dogs!” he shouted, riding the bucking military blaster like a pro. “First man on top gets a live woman!”

On the other side of the bushes, Ryan and the others were following Hector across the battlefield, jumping over bodies and blast craters until reaching a stand of trees with a scraggly collection of bushes in front. A gate of some kind was partially hidden behind the plants.

“Here,” Hector panted. “I found it by accident.”

The men removed the bushes, discovering they weren’t attached to the ground but just sitting on top.

“Camou,” Jak stated. “Nice.”

Exposed was a split-rail enclosure that resembled a horse corral, large enough to hold a hundred big bouldersonly a scant handful of smaller, yard-wide rocks rested behind the hinged gate.

“Shit! Have to do,” Ryan growled, leveling his blaster. “Clear the path!” Neatly, he shot off the knotted rope and the gate swung aside, but the granite didn’t budge.

From the ridge, he could hear Mildred discharge her shotgun again, as J.B. inserted his last clip and started firing controlled bursts at the riders.

“Twenty yards!” J.B. yelled, switching to single-shot mode. “Nineteen!”

Growling in frustration, Ryan jumped over the fence and threw his shoulder against one of the stubborn rocks. He was surprised when it rolled easily out of the paddock, bumping the gate on the way out. Doc, Jak and Clem joined him in getting the other rocks started, and soon all six were rapidly tumbling across the sloped field. As they rapidly built speed, worn tracks in the hard ground spread the boulders out in a pattern between the bushes before they disappeared over the crest. Scarface screamed as the line of rocks came tumbling his way. Irrationally, he fired the M-60 at the boulders as one hit a bump and sailed directly over the startled horseman to crash behind him and his mount. Unstoppable, the other boulders plowed through the startled cannies, smashing them aside in bloody ruination, and then the rocks were past them, rolling down the hill to ram into the trees on the far side of the road.

Ryan and the others reached the bushes and surveyed the carnage. Broken bodies were strewed across the hillside by the score, and no more than twenty men stood undamaged, including their leader.

Cursing bitterly, Scarface turned his mount and started to gallop down the hillside with his crew in hot retreat. The companions opened fire, but only managed to drop two more of the cannies before they reached the road and disappeared from view into the low trees. “Think they’ll return?” Dean asked, placing the case of Molotov cocktails heavily on the ground.

“Mebbe,” his father said grimly. “Jak, Doc, stay here and keep watch on things. Dean, get those firebombs in the truck and help J.B. check over the wags. We might have to leave fast. Mildred, see what the hell is wrong with Krysty. Hector, make sure your wife is okay. Clem, come with me. Let’s see what’s in that cabin.”