City of Phants (Argonauts Book 6) by Isaac Hooke

Author:Isaac Hooke [Hooke, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Published: 2017-05-04T06:00:00+00:00

sixteen

Frags,” Rade ordered.

The team threw frag grenades into the waiting line of Taenia. The grenades impacted, detonating, clearing a path and sending up several body parts from the buffalo-like aliens. A large clam-shaped head landed in front of Rade.

“What do you think of that, you stinkin’ clam bugs?” Bender said. “That all you got, bitches?”

“Go!” Rade said.

He unleashed his laser rifle at a side street ahead, shooting down the aliens that attempted to cut off the team’s retreat. Around him, the other Argonauts opened fire as they ran, taking down more aliens that rushed in from the flanks and rear.

The group made its way back the way they had come, wending between the different crystalline buildings at a sprint. The sound of angry chittering filled the air around them, as the aliens were egged on by the continually chirping Noctua.

“Overhead!” TJ said.

Rade glanced up in time to see a Taenia plummeting down toward him.

He leaped aside just in time. The alien hit the ground where he had been standing with a sickening splat. It didn’t get up.

“We have to get out from under these buildings!” Rade said.

More aliens dive-bombed from above, forcing the Argonauts to dodge them as they continued to shoot down any that got in their path.

Ahead, another large group had formed near the outskirts of the city, milling about to block the party’s retreat to the winding trail that climbed the cliff face.

“If you have grenades left, use them!” Rade said.

He threw his last grenade; his wasn’t the only one that struck, and several body parts geysered when the frags detonated. But the milling throng remained.

Rade paused in a large square that was well away from nearby buildings and the aliens dive-bombing from them.

“Dig in!” Rade said. “Cigar formation!”

He dropped to one knee, and opened fire repeatedly at the seething mass in front of him. The other Argonauts had formed a circle formation, and they defended the other flanks as the aliens kept coming in from the different streets.

Rade couldn’t see any obvious way out. He momentarily switched weapons to stun Surus, who was yet attached to Tahoe’s back. Then he swapped back to his laser rifle, narrowly taking down a Taenia that rushed him. It dropped to the ground, sliding across the dirt on the cave floor, its shell almost slamming into him before the alien came to a stop.

“Boss!” Harlequin said.

“What is it?” Rade asked. He remained down on one knee, repeatedly switching his aim to target different tangos.

In front of him a line of alien corpses had formed, but the creatures behind simply crawled over the dead. The Taenia had begun using their clam-shaped heads as shields, apparently having realized that the team’s laser weapons required several shots to penetrate the hard material, and so when they advanced it was with their heads lowered like charging bulls, protecting as much of their bodies with those shells as possible.

“I’m marking a building that resides inside the milling throng, but still near the outskirts of the alien city,” Harlequin said.

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