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

There wasn’t anything I could do about it now. I heard the crashing of the infected behind me as they gave chase. Mutt appeared by my side then began to run in front of me as if he knew where we were going.

The two of us booked it through the jungle, hopping over tree roots and dodging around bushes. My lungs burned more as oxygen came in short, quick breaths. I thought about trying to remove my armor to run faster, but there was no time.

Shrieks followed behind me. Whatever these Transients were now, they weren’t going to let me go. The most disturbing part was that they still seemed intelligent. I pushed these thoughts out of my mind to be gone over at a different time and ran.

Soon I saw the lightning-bolt-shaped outcropping looming in the jungle in front of me. It was clear the rocks were not natural. Someone or something had moved them here to stand in that exact formation.

I wished I had more time to look it over, but with a mass of infected colonists behind me, I thought I’d give the lightning bolt a look another time. I veered to the left, remembering David’s instructions.

My legs were beginning to give out. No sleep, no food, and my energy nearly spent. I began thinking of a place to make a final stand. If I was going to go out, then I was going to go out taking as many of those infected with me as I could.

“Dean!” A shout from somewhere high overhead ripped me from my thoughts.

I looked up to see Stacy in a tree to my left. She held a fist-sized rock in her hand as a weapon. The sky was just beginning to lighten as the twin suns of the planet transitioned from night to day.

Stacy jumped out of the tree. She landed hard then ran to me, hugging me so tight, it was only thanks to my armor I could still breathe.

“Stacy,” I said, then gave up and gave her a brief hug back. “We’ve got to go. They’re behind me.”

As if to punctuate my words, another shriek came from the jungle depth behind me.

“Right,” Stacy said, releasing me and waving me to join her as she plunged into the jungle. “This way, hurry.”

I followed to where the rest of the expeditionary force stood to help Boss Creed as he shouted orders. They were all wearing armor now, found in the crate David had discovered.

“Fire it up and see if it works,” Boss Creed said to Hannah.

She sat in the driver’s seat of the crawler, a massive vehicle with enough room for three to ride in the front cab. There was also a flatbed in the rear for hauling supplies, but it could easily fit another six passengers.

Hannah tried pushing the ignition button, but there was only a click. The sounds of the infected behind me grew closer. Then a new sound: a roar I was familiar with. The same roar that spurred on our retreat the last time I was in the jungle.

24

Everyone quieted for a moment. Doctor Allbright looked as if all the blood drained from her face. Tom’s mouth dropped.

“We’ve got to hurry,” Elon said, snapping everyone from their frozen panic.

“Dean, you made it!” David said as he worked with Lou and Tom to load the crate of armor onto the flatbed.

“Yeah, and not a minute too soon,” I said, running over to the front of the vehicle. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.

The shrieks from the infected were not dying out compared to the cavernous roars of the beast that ran us out of the jungle just days before.

The sounds of the infected must have woken the slumbering monster from its section of the jungle.

“Hannah, try it again,” Boss Creed shouted.

This time the crawler sputtered to life.

“Good to see you,” Boss Creed said from his position over the front of the crawler. “I knew you’d make it back.”

“Let’s get out of here,” I said, running with him to the rear of the vehicle.

“Everyone, load up,” Boss Creed yelled as he and Elon jumped into the front with Hannah.

If it weren’t for adrenaline, I knew I’d be dead. There was no way I should still be able to jump into the back of the crawler, but I did. Adrenaline was a hell of a drug.

I leaned down to help Lou up in time to see the first infected break through the brush. There was only a handful of them now, the front-runners to the rest of the pack.

They came shrieking like maniacs, jumping onto the bed of the crawler with us.

“Go, go, go!” Stacy yelled at Hannah.

“Hold on!” Hannah yelled back.

The crawler jerked to life, and we were on our way.

Three of the infected managed to get aboard before the tires under us started to move. I caught the first one with my knife as the guy vaulted into the bed. I stuck him through his neck before planting a boot into his chest and hurling him off.

Mutt, who was also aboard, was barking up a storm as he fought for traction on the vehicle bed while he tried biting at our enemies.

Stacy was grappling with a second attacker, and to my surprise, Tom with the third. His infected had gone for Doctor Albright. Tom stepped in the way, and the two were on the ground wrestling with one another. David and Lou, who also rode in the back with us, reached down to help.

It sounds easy since we had the numbers with only two of the infected onboard. It would have been a cakewalk throwing them off had it not been for the rough bouncing platform we all used as a fighting pit.

Hannah was doing her best, but the jungle terrain was uneven, and she had to maneuver around the larger trees. The crawler was