Ramsey swore a blue streak as he fired the Webley and the incoming projectiles tore his office apart. The Attack Drone was right outside. So close that he could see the man seated behind the translucent shield smiling. But that wasn’t the worst of it. An explosion sounded and the passenger car jerked to a sudden halt.
The man on the Drone was forced to break off the attack as a half-dozen smaller machines swooped in to attack him. That gave Ramsey an opportunity to stand and reload.
Ramsey had just pushed the last bullet into place and closed the weapon when the door slammed open and Hunter appeared with Tilson at his elbow.
“The stinks blew the train in half,” the regulator announced emotionlessly. “But some of the horses survived, and Thunder is waiting outside. We’ll make a run for it.”
It wasn’t much as plans go—but something was better than nothing. So Ramsey followed the others onto the platform behind the passenger car. Two regulators were waiting on the ground with extra mounts.
“There’s no horse for me,” Tilson said plaintively. “What am I going to do?”
“Die,” Ramsey said, as he shot Tilson in the chest. “Maybe that will shut you up.”
Then, Ramsey swung his unwieldy body onto Thunder’s hand-tooled saddle, and kicked the Clydesdale with both heels. That put the huge horse into motion as more Stalkers converged on the scene—and Hybrids rushed forward to prevent the fugitives from escaping. But for a moment it seemed as if the four of them were untouchable as they followed the train tracks through a sleet of projectiles.
However, that was when Ramsey looked up to see the pile of smoking wreckage that had been the Attack Drone. And there, standing next to it, was a man and a dog. Ramsey was reaching for the sawed-off shotgun holstered to the right side of the saddle when the man raised a pistol and fired. Both of the regulators were snatched out of their saddles and thrown to the ground.
The shotgun didn’t have much range. Ramsey knew that. So he held his fire as Hunter took a bullet in the chest, and was just about to pull the trigger, when a Chimeran missile corkscrewed in, hitting the ground fifty yards in front of him. It went off with a flash of light and a loud boom.
Thunder came to a sudden stop; Ramsey was thrown over the horse’s head, and hit the ground hard. That knocked the wind out of him. But Ramsey knew he had to stand, had to run, and managed to push his body up off the ground. At that point he saw the man lying on the ground, clutching a bloody thigh. A woman was kneeling next to him. She had a rifle, which was butt-down on the ground. Probably because she thought he was dead.
The shotgun was gone, but the Webley was in its holster, and Ramsey pulled it. The .455-caliber pistol was up and ready to fire when a Chimeran bomb penetrated Tunnel-Through and went off. A series of secondary explosions shook the ground as rocks were thrown high into the air and the tunnel collapsed.
Having witnessed the destruction, Ramsey turned back just in time to see the man fire. Ramsey felt a sledgehammer strike his chest and fell onto his back. He was lying there, staring up at the gunmetal-gray sky, when the man appeared. His left arm was draped over the woman’s shoulders and the pistol was pointed down at him. Why? Ramsey wondered to himself. Why? He coughed and felt something warm trickle down over his chin. It was difficult to speak. “Do I know you?”
“No,” the man said. “You don’t.”
The gun produced a loud boom, but Ramsey didn’t live long enough to hear it. Tunnel-Through was dead.
Five days had passed since the Chimera had obliterated Tunnel-Through. It was nighttime, and Mr. and Mrs. Capelli were lying on the roof of Haven’s five-and-dime, looking up at the stars from under three layers of blankets. It was a picnic of sorts—a celebration of the fact that they were still alive.
Ironically, it had been the citizens of Judge Ramsey’s well-hidden community that saved their lives. Because as Tunnel-Through collapsed, and its citizens ran out into the open, the Chimera turned in on them. A terrible slaughter followed.
Capelli had only been able to escape the carnage by leaning on Susan and hobbling away from the railroad tracks. Then, after wiggling into the crawl space underneath a nearby railroad shack, they were able to hide until the Chimera left the area sixteen hours later.
The trek to Haven was long and painful. But Capelli didn’t care. Not so long as he had Susan and Rowdy at his side. Now, after a good dinner, it was time to lie next to his wife and consider the future.
“We need a couple of bedrooms,” Susan remarked. “One for the baby and one for us.”
“Yeah,” Capelli agreed reflectively. “That’s going to take a whole lot of digging.”
Susan smiled from inches away. “Do you have anything better to do?”
“Nope. I don’t.”
She snuggled up to him. “It feels good to be home.”
Capelli was about to reply when what looked like lightning flashed along the southern horizon and the sound of thunder rolled across the land. Except that the sky was clear—that noise could not be thunder. Somewhere, down towards Oklahoma City, people were dying. And other people are alive, the voice put in. Thanks to you. Well done, Sergeant Capelli. Well done.
BY WILLIAM C. DIETZ
Resistance: The Gathering Storm
Copyright
Resistance: A Hole in the Sky is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Del Rey Mass Market Original
Copyright © 2011 by Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC.
Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Resistance is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC.
eISBN: 978-0-345-52295-5
© 2011 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC.
Resistance is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. Developed by Insomniac Games. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks and PS3 is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
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