Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) Read Free Page B

At
pace the mech could travel at around 15km/h.  Right now he was vulnerable,
but he couldn’t have stayed hidden behind a rock forever.  Crossing the
open ground he scanned back and forth across the buildings, looking for any
sign of movement, his finger held lightly over the trigger in his right
hand.  At thirty metres out he heard a ‘ ratatatatata ’
and a percussive ‘ ka -boom!’  It was
difficult to locate, but seemed to be from the opposite end of the hamlet.
    Dennis’s
voice spluttered over the com.  “Son of a bitch.  Son of a bitch!”
    “Morning,
Den,” said Stocksy .  “Thanks for the
missiles.”  Stocksy was now one up on them, and
had access to missiles in addition to the machine guns they had each started
with.
    Kostovich hove
closely to the perimeter wall and inched around, trying to get a look down the
main street.  The buildings were Earth style, above ground and
battered.  The place looked like some of the news reports from the war on
Earth.
    “ Stocksy ?” Kostovich asked into the com.
    “Hey,
Dan.  Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty for you too.”
    “See you in a
bit.  Looking forward to it.  You seen Bacon?”
    “Nope. 
But when I see him, I’m gonna fry his ass!”
    Bacon
crackled over com for the first time, “Never gets old, Stocksy ,
never gets old.”
    “Probably
camped out somewhere,” said Kostovich.  “Do you want him or shall I do
it?”
    “Well,” Stocksy replied, “if I get him I’ll be on guided missiles,
Dan.  If you get him, it’s honours even for the final showdown on Main
Street.”
    “I don’t need
superior hardware, Stocksy .  I already have
superior tactics.  Take him if you want.”
    Kostovich
spoke to his AI, “How long to completion?”
    “Two
minutes.”
    Kostovich
knew Bacon liked to camp in buildings.  A building with a mech shaped hole
in it very likely had a Bacon camping inside it.  Bacon’s tactics were as
obvious as Dennis’s, so he’d be facing out into the main street waiting for
someone to wander down it.  Kostovich continued circling the perimeter,
carefully watching all potential danger points as he went.  He was just
crossing a side road out of the ville when the corner
of the building above him exploded into shower of dust and fragments, which
rained down about him.  Bacon was still on the machine gun; it had to be Stocksy .  Kostovich ducked and continued, working over
in his mind where Stocksy was.  It was a narrow
road, so to have hit the back of it he could only be in one specific area
midway down Main Street on the opposing side.  Glancing to his left as he
continued his anti-clockwise orbit of the town he saw some rubble. 
Bacon.
    “How long to
completion?”
    “Forty-five
seconds.”
    Kostovich
pulled back from the perimeter and ran around it in the direction he had been
going.  As he passed the building Bacon was hid out in he fired a burst of
machine gun fire into it, but was gone before Bacon could make the full turn
necessary to return fire.  Bacon was turning back when Stocksy’s missile hit him, and he was out of the game.
    “Head
shot!”  Stocksy declared.
    Kostovich
made for the top of Main Street.  “Completion?”
    “Completing
in ten, nine .  . .”
    As the
countdown finished Kostovich peered gingerly around the corner and up Main
Street, where he could just see Stocksy’s missile arm
pulling back behind the corner of a building.
    “Decryption
complete.  Competing systems owned.  Total time five minutes and
forty-three seconds.”
    “Please run
AI M22 on competing system Stocksy .”
    Kostovich now
stepped boldly out onto Main Street and walked up it at a casual pace.
    With a flick
of the eye he switched the com to Stocksy .  “ Stocksy ?  Comin’ to get ya ,
fella!”
    “M22 is now
complete on competing system Stocksy ,” said the AI.
    “Dan?” said Stocksy , “I hate to do this, but .  . .”  Stocksy ran across the street, all the while locked
onto