Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

held onto the steering wheel with my right hand as I tried to fend off the Rung with my left. I jerked my head back and forth to avoid the Rung’s grip while keeping my eyes on the road in front of us, still swerving around to circumvent boulders.

Tong was going to be of little to no use. It wasn’t like he could turn his Blood Shot in my direction and try to fire on the infected Rung, even if he wanted to. He was too busy trying to keep the infected who were still launching themselves at us off our predators. Not to mention the fact that he was bound to hit us if he tried to intervene.

Another smack on the hood of our vehicle and a human infected grabbed on tight. This one was a grown man with the trademark black pools for eyes. A river of ebony liquid sludge came from his mouth and he clung to the vehicle like a parasite.

I continued to fight the infected Rung who was still trying to get a grip my helmet. She twisted this way and that as I attempted to throw her off and it was all I could to keep us from slamming into one of the canyon walls.

A second later, we jerked hard to the right as she finally managed to rip off my helmet. It fell onto the seat next to me. Cold wind blasted me in the face and, although refreshing, was not really what I wanted at this point. The infected grabbed for the steering wheel. For a second, I thought we were goners as she gained a grip on the handle with her right hand.

Before she could swing it one way or the other, Sulk suddenly stirred to action. Moving his body to the side, he struck out with his thick tail, batting her hand away. Another swift strike loosened her hold and sent the alien spinning into the darkness.

The other infected on the hood obscured my view of the canyon road in front of me. He pulled himself up over the windshield, his obsidian eyes fixed on mine. Unlike the infected who had been ripping at my helmet, I had time to deal with this one.

My left hand still on the wheel, I reached for the Judge with my right. I laid into the infected with my weapon, hammering him with three steel rods to the chest, followed by a couple to the head for good measure.

Black blood splattered across the predator and whooshed through the air around us. The infected let go of the windshield, falling to the ground with a satisfying plop. A second later, he was lost behind us in the night.

“We have got to get out of here!” John roared over the comms. “Almost there!”

Then I saw it. Ahead of us, only a few hundred meters off, I could make out the downward sloping ends of the mountain and the end of the canyon.

Legion must have realized we were about to make our escape, so he made a last-ditch effort to disable our team. More rocks slammed down on us. I took a shot to the skull that opened a gash in my head. Pain exploded and blood dripped into my vision, turning it a haze of red. Then another rock hit my left shoulder and it felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my collar bone.

A second later, we were out of the canyon and headed into open terrain. The screams of thousands of angry throats lifted into the air. I looked in my rearview mirror to see John just about to exit the canyon himself. His predator was smoking from the front. Somehow, the hood had been ripped off. Sparks ignited a small fire that soon engulfed the engine.

I watched in horror as the predator buckled and flipped end over end as though it had hit something. I slammed on the brakes of my predator without thinking and yanked us into a hard U-turn straight back to the upended predator.

“Stacy! John! Lou!” I yelled out loud in a panic. Without access to my helmet, I had only my voice to communicate.

Luckily for me, Tong had seen what happened. He was also asking them if they were all right over the comm unit.

“Can you hear us?” Tong shouted. “Please respond.”

Nothing.

I screeched to a stop beside the smoking predator and searched nearby but couldn’t see any bodies, which meant they had either been thrown from the predator or were trapped underneath.

“Tong, keep us covered,” I yelled as I prepared to jump out.

Sulk chattered something awful, yanking at his cuffs and looking at me intently.

I didn’t need Tong to understand Sulk wanted to help. As far as I was concerned, he had already proved his worth by saving me from the infected Rung that had latched onto my helmet. Without a second thought, I released him from his cuffs.

Tong didn’t bother arguing. He was already scanning the area for infected.

My best guess was that we had a few minutes before the infected were able to find a safe way down from the canyon walls and assault our position.

I ran over to the smoking predator, dropping to all fours to get a look underneath the vehicle. John was coughing, trying to crawl out from under it. Lou was upside down, still buckled in his seat. He wasn’t moving. His neck was positioned at an awkward angle. Stacy was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” John coughed, motioning to Lou. “Get him out. Help him.”

Sulk was small enough to crawl through the driver’s side and under the upside-down predator. He unbuckled Lou and grabbed him under the shoulders with care.

I helped as soon as Sulk pulled him far enough out. Together, we dragged Lou out behind John.

As much as I wanted to find Stacy, I knew something was very wrong with Lou. His body was heavy and limp in my hands, not responsive.

We laid him on his back as