Dreadnaught: Deadmen’s War, Book Two by Melchiorri Anthony J

Author:Melchiorri, Anthony J.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

-28-

“Hide, now!” I yelled over the comms. “In the trees!”

We were surrounded. Sentinels on every side.

Only way out of this was up.

I climbed the nearest tree that could support my weight then hugged the bark. Hoped my colors blended. Did my best goddamn impression of a harmless tree, even holding my breath. The rest of my team did the same.

The illusion would have been complete if it weren’t for our injuries. Everywhere our scales had been shredded or that acid had burned through, our flesh showed. I felt the slow trickle of blood down my back from all the burns and scrapes. Felt it winding between my scales and feathers.

Beneath us, hordes of Sentinels charged through the terrain. The plants seemed to make a path for the beasts. Almost as if they were directing the Sentinels toward the signal, just like the arrows on our HUD guided us to our own targets.

Some of those serpentlike creatures slithered beneath us. Others that were more apelike, with gargantuan muscled arms and long spikes jutting from their backs, swung between the trees, hooting. Agis-class Sentinels like the one we’d brought down trampled through the herd of smaller monsters.

Keep going, I thought.

The trees shook. Another call from the Titan quaked through the forest. Felt my bones reverberating, threatening to break free. For a moment, I feared they might shatter.

The pain almost made me give in to the signal. I wanted to jump down and join the herd. To run with them toward the Titan’s call.

I tried to shuffle just enough so my blood didn’t splatter over one of the Sentinels. One drop stretched from my mangled claws. I slowly retracted the claws toward my body, letting the blood stream onto the bark of the tree instead.

I risked a look down. Saw a couple more of the serpentlike monsters. An ape or three.

One Agis.

The others had mostly left. But if we caught the attention of just one of these monsters, they might scream out for the others. Just a little longer, then they’d leave. I could hold it together until then.

But I wasn’t the only one who had taken damage.

Ricci was in bad shape. Slivers of flesh hung from one of his arms. He cradled the injured limb, trying to conceal himself from the monsters below. Blood streamed between his claws, pooling over the leaves and branches around him.

Drip by drip, it fell away toward the forest floor.

A small puddle had already formed. As I watched, one of the apelike creatures stomped through it, blood splashing up around its wide feet.

It stopped in its tracks, the meter-long spikes along its back bristling. The beast knelt to paw at the blood, bringing a sample closer to its nose. Its nostrils flared. Golden eyes went wide, flat nose wrinkled into a snarl. Lips curled back to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth, glimmering in the dim light of the bioluminescent plants.

Its gaze shot straight toward Ricci’s position. The monster shot up the base of the tree. I couldn’t tell if it had actually seen him or just smelled more blood.

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