Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set by J.N. Chaney & Jonathan Yanez

Author:J.N. Chaney & Jonathan Yanez [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2021-03-23T22:00:00+00:00

4

Just stay in the crawler, a voice in the back of my mind itched. Stay in the crawler. You’ll die a hero. You’ll save all these people and you’ll get what you want. You’ll get to be with Natalie and your baby. Just stay in the crawler.

I had to make the decision now. My time was up. If I stayed in the driver’s seat of the crawler—now traveling seventy miles per hour—I might die in the collision. Or I could bail out and take my chances rolling on the ground.

Both options sucked, but jumping out instead of going head to head with the beast seemed like the better choice. The Dean I had been on Earth would have stayed in the crawler. The Dean today couldn’t. The reasons piled one on top of each other. There were too many people that needed me. Natalie wouldn’t approve, and heck, what if I survived the collision but got seriously hurt in the process?

I bailed.

Jumping from a moving vehicle traveling that quickly wasn’t exactly something I practiced in a day-to-day setting. I threw myself as far away from the open crawler door as I could. When I hit the ground, I rolled with the momentum. The air rushed out of my lungs when I struck the ground. Multiple bruises and scratches covered my face and exposed hands and arms.

The beast struck the crawler head-on with a sickening crunch. It sounded like a giant sledgehammer hitting a piece of raw meat.

When I stopped rolling, I got a chance to look behind me. The crawler was still in one piece, its front frame bent inward and smoking. Sparks shot out from underneath the hood.

The dazed alien creature stumbled backward before falling to the ground and writhing in some kind of serious pain. Stacy appeared by the creature a moment later, a cross between empathy and wrath in her eyes.

She unloaded on its one good eye. Gore and brain matter flew up in every direction. Stacy stood so close, some got on her shirt and pants. It didn’t seem to bother her.

As if a spell had fallen over the yard, everyone remained still. I think our brains were still trying to process what we had seen.

I was torn away from the grasp of the moment as Mutt bounded up to me. He stuck his snout in my face, sniffing me all over as if he were searching me for any serious wounds.

“I’m good.” I placed a hand on his face and gave him a scratch and then a playful push. “Don’t put that thing in my face. I’ve seen what you do with it.”

Mutt’s tail wagged, then he looked like he was about to nuzzle me again. Instead, he lifted his head to the air, taking in a big sniff. Worry crossed his face. The dog ran from his position next to me toward the broken gates, barking like a hellhound.

I knew Mutt well enough now to tell when something was seriously wrong. This wasn’t his happy bark or the one he used when he wanted me to scratch his belly.

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.