Hive III by Griffin Hayes

Author:Griffin Hayes [Hayes, Griffin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Trebor Books
Published: 2013-09-09T22:00:00+00:00

-16-

Ret

A series of rolling hills surround Attica on all sides. We approach from the south and no sooner crest the smallest peak than we catch sight of a city being overrun. An ocean of Zees swarm the walls, pouring through the capital’s main gate. Skuld must have ordered his fastest Zees to rush in before there was time to swing shut the massive doors. Even from up here, the sounds of chaos and death are clear. Smoke begins to rise from a dozen or so places. The tiny pop of automatic weapons fire in the distance is the most striking sound. Surely Keepers stationed on the walls are pouring fire into the black mass below them, knowing all the while that their families are being slaughtered or turned into monsters and there isn’t a thing they can do about it. Beside me, Oleg, has that skeptical look on his face again, like he’s just realized going down there is suicide. But not everyone’s feeling the same way. There’s a fire in Bron’s eyes, and it’s clear enough that he can’t wait to get into the thick of things. The sound of squealing metal draws my attention to Dhal, seated in the hollowed out head of the Titan, clutching the controls of the massive robot with glee. Along the way, the kid told us that removing the pilot from the machine’s cockpit was a major innovation which allowed Goliath to autonomously follow a set of simple instructions. The Titan was, in many ways, just as leathal, except it required a human pushing pedals and yanking levers. Even the metal sheeting around the head rolls back over the driver on a set of hinges to keep him secure. But it’s hot as hell in there, Dhal tells us. To which Bron replies: “I can just see us opening that hatch and finding nothing but a bunch of soaking rags.”

It’s the belching black smoke that makes subtlety and breathing difficult, though the Titan more than makes up for any of those deficiencies. Sure it isn’t packing any weaponry. What it lacks in firepower, it more than makes up for in brute force. I’m sure it’ll cut through Zees like a hot stone on a sheet of ice.

“The Patriarch has a secret passageway somewhere around here,” Oleg says.

Azina used to get mighty frustrated with the old guy when he’d start up like this. Oleg’s always looking for a way around the tough jobs, although the swarming mass down there is making me wonder if he might just have a point.

“Assaulting the city head on with that many Zees around is just plain stupid,” I say and I can tell right away that Bron disagrees. The main reason’s ‘cause he’s itching to use his new toys, but that doesn’t mean he’s got to put the rest of us into needless peril.

Dhal’s still perched in the driver’s seat of that bronze behemoth when he leans over. “I’m not sure what this secret passage looks like, but if it sure as heck better have a high ceiling or I ain’t getting through the door.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.