(eng) Michael R. Hicks - Harvest 03 by Reaping the Harvest

Author:Reaping the Harvest [Harvest, Reaping the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

IN FLAMES

A flash-bang grenade sailed into the corridor from the stairwell, and Kiran snapped his eyes shut just before it went off. Even with his eyes closed, the grenade left bright afterimages on his retinas and the shock wave bounced his head off the wall behind him. Blinking his eyes clear, he took aim at the stairwell door with his AA-12 shotgun.

A dark figure, then two, charged out into the hallway, and Kiran hesitated. They were dressed in U.S. military uniforms. He was about to hail them as saviors, thinking they had cleared out the attackers in the stairwell, when they opened fire on the scientists who still hadn’t fled to the labs.

Kiran pulled the trigger and held it down. The shotgun, which was fully automatic, belched Dragon’s Breath shells at the rate of three hundred rounds per minute, filling the corridor with fire. These newer rounds also had a heavy lead slug in the center, and he saw the lead attacker double over as he was hit in the abdomen.

The enemy reeled back under the barrage, beating a hasty retreat back into the stairwell. Kiran let up on the trigger, then quickly swapped out the magazine. It held thirty-two rounds, and the first magazine was nearly empty. He was sure he had hit both men multiple times and covered them in fire, which left him puzzled. If they were human, they should have been injured or killed, and if they were harvesters, they should have burst into flame, but they had done neither.

Three more grenades sailed into the corridor.

“Gas!” The Marine who’d been with him, but who was now on the far side of the corridor, shouted as a heavy, smoky mist began to spew from the grenades.

One whiff told Kiran that it was tear gas. While harmless, it could be debilitating and, worse, had completely blocked his view of the stairwell.

The Marine began to cough uncontrollably, then screamed in agony for a terrifyingly brief moment before he was silenced.

Kiran fired a few rounds toward where the Marine had been, and was rewarded with a high pitched screech just before a hail of bullets tore up the wall around him. One hit his leg, the bullet passing clean through the calf muscle. He gritted his teeth against the pain as he retreated through the nearest doorway into one of the main labs before the enemy could overwhelm him.

***

Hathcock knew he didn’t have much time. The slug from the minigun had taken him below the right kidney and he was bleeding out fast. He only hoped he could hold out long enough for help to arrive.

He had staggered partway down the hallway toward where the stairs emerged onto the second floor. The contractors hadn’t installed the door to the stairwell in the partially completed building, which was good news and bad. He’d be able to see the enemy as they came up the stairs, but they’d be able to see him, too.

Moving past the stairwell, keeping the muzzle of the

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