Twisted Metal Heart - Eve Langlais Page 0,23
being argumentative. Move!” she yelled.
He almost hollered back, knowing he was being ridiculous, unable to stop himself. He hated being so fucking useless. A flicker of motion drew his eye, and he bellowed, “They’re inside!” as the spidus launched itself at him from the roof of the tank.
He thrust out his arms and managed to keep it from wrapping around him, a wiry body larger than a cat and only slightly heavier. Of more concern was the glistening drop of poison on its fangs.
I don’t want to be digested. Or turned into Titan meat soup. He struggled to keep it from biting.
Zap.
The smell of burnt hair and flesh wrinkled his nose. The body he wrestled went limp. He thrust it away, only belatedly realizing his bionic arm had responded.
Just relax and let me handle it.
Me? An odd thing to think. Or had he just heard Riella talk to him? He didn’t recall her fitting him with an earpiece.
He shoved to his feet. There was more zapping and faint cursing from Riella.
She retreated from Burton, firing with precision on the many spiduses stalking her. A motion overhead made him look up. Seeing a soaring body, he didn’t even think before he reached out and grabbed it.
His bio arm held on, barely. Bionic one? It took the creature’s leg right off. He tossed it and yelled, “How are they getting in?”
“I told you,” she hollered back. “They can squeeze through tiny holes.”
One of the most frightening things she could have said. “How many are there?” he asked, stomping around the vehicle to see more of them squeezing through the few gaps.
“A wild band is usually under fifty, but Enclave ones can have up to a hundred.”
A possible hundred creepy, spider-like, squishy, and gross monsters. “We need to get out of here.”
“Do you think?” was her sarcastic reply. Her weapon fizzled, and she holstered it before charging the beasts, her metal arm sweeping the way. “Get in the tank. We need to leave. We might be able to make it out through the tunnels before the Enclave arrives.”
Neither of them made it to Burton before the door to the garage began rattling upwards.
“Alfred! Close that door!”
“I can’t. They’ve overridden our control.” He rolled from the vehicle. “Get in the tank. I’ll provide cover while you escape.” Alfred’s roller leg began to fire, a rapid rat-tat-tat that mowed down the spiduses.
Totally radioactive and Titan had instant envy. He cast a quick glance at his new leg and wondered if he had a machine gun in there. Not that it would help much. The widening gap of the opening door meant the flood of spiduses increased tenfold. They poured in, and no amount of struggling and swinging and tossing could stop the wave. The monsters overwhelmed him, the slickness of their spit on flesh leaving him dizzy. Weak. In moments he lay on the ground, staring at the light strip in the ceiling. The spiduses roamed over his body, even over his face, while he lay there wishing he could shudder. At least, unlike the tigber, he didn’t hurt. Couldn’t feel anything at all.
Despite his body being frozen, he could see and hear just fine. Movement proved limited. He could blink. Twitch a finger. Part his lips and shift his tongue even as it proved hard to push out words. “Riella?”
“I’m sorry.”
Sorry? It wasn’t her fault they were attacked. As a Wastelander he’d been fending off danger his entire life.
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “I should have listened to you and moved faster.”
“It wouldn’t have matter.” Then to Alfred. “Quick, you need to hide.”
How was Alfred still standing? He heard the whir as Alfred zipped past and concealed himself inside Burton.
As for Titan, he waited to die. He heard the hum of vehicles through the rumble of the tank they never got to use. The furry bodies were still on top of him.
A strange wave of something went through him, making his teeth vibrate and his limbs shiver. Burton’s engine stopped, but there wasn’t complete silence. He heard the stomp of boots, the creak of metal, a familiar noise when dealing with Enclave soldiers and their armor.
“Call them off,” a female voice commanded.
“Yes, my queen.”
Queen?
What would a queen be doing underground?
Titan mentally cringed as something shivered over his mind, a cold flutter then, nothing. There was a skitter of motion as the spiduses left his body.
Good sign, or the indication of something worse yet to come?
He heard footsteps before boots of the darkest green leather stepped