One Crazy Set Of Friends (Apocalypse Paused Book 11) by Michael Todd & Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Todd & Michael Anderle [Todd, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642022261
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2019-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Ava took the lead in the narrow underground passage. For about twenty yards, she had to stoop awkwardly and would never have believed that the robot suit could have made it all this way if not for the fresh-looking scratches on the rock walls on either side of her.

The tunnel widened and a white glow or possibly an artificial light beckoned up ahead. The last few paces were higher overhead, thankfully. By the time she straightened fully, she stood in a larger chamber and face to face with the surviving members of the team they were supposed to rescue.

They sat in a cave strewn with scraps of metal and looked about as broken as the equipment around them. Ava knew the look—hopelessness, despair, and irritation at non-lethal wounds that would kill the victim all the same. No one looked especially happy to see her, but then she didn’t exactly blame them. They’d come out there with the most advanced weaponry on the planet and were now holed up in a cave, outsmarted and defeated by creatures that shouldn’t exist. A handful of soldiers in what seemed like a hopeless last-ditch stand wouldn’t exactly be a confidence booster.

Scattered between the soldiers were weapons, hydraulics, and pieces of armor that appeared to be made of the same material as the suit Gunnar used. Some of the pieces were in decent enough shape, but most of them were twisted and unrecognizable. The pile clearly told her that most of the suits had been trashed. Two sword arms—each must have come from a different suit—lay haphazardly to one side, which meant there were probably more pieces outside the cave.

Beyond this chamber, a few more passages stretched on into the darkness. Ava hoped that most of the suits were tucked out of the way in one of those tunnels, waiting to be used by an uninjured soldier, but she wouldn’t hold her breath on that.

“Where’s everyone else?” she asked and immediately regretted the words.

“Dead,” replied a man with blood-soaked bandages bound around his leg. His tone was blunt and matter-of-fact.

Duh. It wasn’t like people in the Zoo took sabbaticals. But the truth was staggering. Twelve people had been sent out and only four soldiers survived? Well, five including Gunnar. Still, that was less than half, and they still had to somehow brave the field of porcos, make it to the Tank, and get all the way back to Wall Two without losing more. That was not an easy task, especially with the condition of the survivors.

The man who’d spoken obviously had a broken leg, but it looked like everyone had suffered either puncture wounds from the porco quills or worse. There was only one person in the room who didn’t look in need of medical assistance.

Dr. Kessler. Why was she surprised?

“Imagine that,” he said coldly without even the courtesy of a greeting. “You made it. I suppose I will be forced to admit to Captain Taylor that you are not completely without worth.”

Manny stepped from the tunnel and into the cavern.

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