Page 39 (1/2)

"I suppose it’s possible" She considered it as the landing pad began to slip below them and the aircraft started to drop the last twenty e on the nearest Builder technology once all of the objects are found"

A vision exploded into Tania’s mind Packs … no, herds of subhuratory trek to the auras that hus needed to finish what the disease had started

She had her harness off before Vanessa could even reach for the throttle to kill the engines The canopy opened to the sound of roaring wind frounfire, shouts of alareraved into the Helios’s fuselage and simply leapt to the soaked concrete below Rain fell in a heavy vertical barrage

A group of colonists stood nearby, ar amounts of confidence in the way they held them She took in each person’s stance and rushed up to the one with the rip on the gun in hand "They’re swiet so the river entrance!"

Ca Subs weren’t known for their ability to cross water, and indeed in the two-plus years since the camp had been established Tania had never heard of a sub reaching the camp from that direction A few snakes, sure Even a black cailanced that way, disbelief in his eyes

"We saw the but soroup, find others, forht," he said With a jerk of his head the ragged group filed in behind him and walked toward the turbulent waters

"Tania!" a fa toward the aircraft He swept her into an eood arm "Are you okay?"

"We survived"

He squinted, confused "I saw you get out of the cockpit No suit? I don’t understand Are you … you’re …"

Tania shrugged "I don’t knohat happened Started to get the headache, just like you, then that shock wave rolled past and I felt fine Well, I felt okay"

Karl blinked at that "Ilance toward the combatants on the wall

Ninety minutes of hell served as Tania’s welcouard their cargo, and dust off if necessary to protect the object Then she went to the wall, picked up a gun fro rain dropped visibility to fifteen meters, even less at ti the battered roads beyond the camp’s wall Tania felt soaked to the bone, and likefor the siht

The subs caroup thundered in as if in careful coordination--fifty from the west, another thirty fro the walls, but a nuate and tried to shoulder it open They were cut down in seconds frounfire pop the blood and brains out of a child-subhuman that couldn’t have been more than twelve years old She’d turned and retched after that, and she wasn’t the first nor the last to do so After her fourth or fifth kill the revulsion ebbed as the task became less a violent art and lers, here and there Conserving a the wall, and so colonists began to call their shots before firing "I’ve got one-arm," and "Blondie on all-fours is mine" Tania took a sip of offered water from the woh at the line of partially clad warriors lining the top of the wall Flames from the fire that had blackened most of the slum north of the caht, and the day grew darker by the minute Torches were improvised and tossed out into thea call for volunteers to go out and set the her hand without a second thought

Three ate, half a broom handle in one hand and a borrowed pistol on the other Thestick had an old shirt wrapped around the end It had been doused in sorease or oil

A stout, dour woates were thrown open, and Tania rushed madly over the bodies that had piled up just outside Her feet pounded in the mud and soaked asphalt beyond Sixteen other colonists ran with her, so cap-powered LED lanterns that would last for weeks The group dispersed, each running toward a spot they’d chosen ahead of time, ten or fifteen meters in front of the place they’d previously occupied on the wall Those nearest to the gate were done quickly and, as per the hastily agreed-to plan, turned and went back to the gate The fewer colonists abroad thatout frorunts fronored it all, focused on the stump of a telephone pole she’d picked as her landmark Murky water splashed with every footfall, and as she lifted her feet froround it sprayed up her back and into her hair Filthy, soaking wet, overwhelmed with adrenaline, Tania reached the stuainst it Each drop of rain that hit the fire ended with a little hiss There was no soft ground nearby to thrust the torch into, so this seeh, and the torch seehtest breeze where it stood

A guttural roar eernails scrape on concrete as a dark shape began to ee Tania held the torch in place with one hand, kept low, and raised her pistol Before she could fire so the diseased huh, and a second in the center of the back when the creature had fallen

Tania returned her focus to the torch Other flame-bearers who’d ventured farther than her were already running back toward the gate With no better idea, Tania set her pistol on a relatively dry bit of ground beside her and unlaced her boots Asthe two laces together and then wrapping the now-joined string around the stump and the broom handle

More cries froed to find the proper grip just in time A sub had crept up slowly on the opposite side of her torch, using the flalowing eyes just beyond the flame, raised her weapon, and fired twice as the creature leapt to strike her Her shots h the flame and into her abdo itsaway from her toward the colony

No shots froh to knoas friend or foe Tania froze, caught between fighting,to the torch so the shooters could see her as one of their own, or running for the gate

She had no choice The creature came up from its fall and ran in the opposite direction from her, toward camp, toward the space elevator Tania lifted her weapon, squeezed the fine trigger The gun barked, slapped against her palle, perfect red hole appeared in the center of the subhuman’s back and it stumbled One arm shot out to brace the fall, but by the tione out of it Tania lowered the gun The flames behind her hissed and sputtered under the heavy rain She dropped her chin to her chest and let the water cascade off the clumps of black hair that were matted to her cheeks

She stared down between her feet, captivated by her own silhouette reflected in the dark puddle below The wildly dancing flame behind her seemed to burn in a halo over her shadowed fore, made it look as if she herself wavered like an apparition

A shape rushed past her on the left A subhu aardly on two feet and one hand The other arainst its body, an infected stu toward the wall They were ignoring her, she realized, as the whip-crack serenade of gunfire rang out froht

Or they don’t see me at all

The tere quickly dispatched and then she heard the shouts fro her to move Move now The pall that had settled on her lifted and Tania ran for the gate

Ten le-minded drive toward the Elevator faltered when it noticed her It slid to a stop, lost its balance, and then righted itself It screamed at Tania and leapt, filthy hands outstretched

Tania slid under the attack, rolled in theout fro splash into the mud behind her, heavy and final She didn’t look back

They were ready for her at the gate, holding it open just enough for her to slip through, and as soon as she did the ?" someone asked, a person she did not know "Why’d you stay out there?"

Tania shook the cobwebs from her mind "They weren’t after me," she said