Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy) Read Free Page B

Three must have assumed we’d side with the Americans.”
    “Strategically it would have made more sense for them to ally with us,” Knobel said. “We could swoop down and take the UDC Stronghold by surprise and then work our way out into the wasteland, neutralizing the remaining pockets of survivors.”
    “It would not be so easy,” Shiner said from the doorway. “The mech pilots are not to be underestimated.”
    “There’s only a handful of them,” Campbell said. “Thousands of us.”
    “Please join us, Shiner,” LaFrance offered. “I’d like to hear your take on this.”
    Shiner walked in and took a seat. The chair groaned under his weight and he shifted his BC mass to allow for better distribution.
    “The mech pilots are a team that is beyond military thinking,” Shiner explained. “They are trained for combat, but they are…a family.”
    “So?” Morris scoffed. “That’s more a weakness. It’ll distract them.”
    “No, you are wrong,” Shiner said, shaking his biochrome head. “It is their motivation. One goes down and they all fight harder, faster, smarter. You would be wrong to think otherwise. They do not mourn and hurt like others. Only after they have won do they let themselves feel.”
    “Well, it’s a good thing we’re going to be fighting with them and not against,” LaFrance said. “Anything else?”
    “Yes, sir,” Shiner said. “I should be the one to go to Monterey and deactivate the shield. I know the wasteland. I know the deaders.”
    “And he knows the dead mechs,” Norton said. “You all have seen the footage.” He looked at Knobel. “You’ve even seen them up close on mission. There’s a reason Capreze’s people are nuts. They have to fight those 50 ton monsters.”
     
     

 
     
     
    Three
     
    “ON YOUR MOTHERFUCKING RIGHT GODDAMMIT!” Bisby shouted at Masters as they maneuvered the transport down into the valley, trying to flank the dead mech One Arm while Mech Pilot Harlow and her oversized mech, Stomper, took the machine head on. “DO YOU KNOW HOW TO FUCKING DRIVE?!”
    “Stop fucking yelling at me, Biz!” Masters shouted back. “You want to drive? Oh, right, you can’t because you have one fucking arm!”
    “You’re gonna eat your teeth for that,” Bisby snarled. “Right after we get me this mech!”
    “You’re pretty fucking optimistic about our chances,” Masters said. “Look at that fucking thing. Even with one fucking arm it’s scary as shit!”
    “Fucking pussy.”
     
    ***
     
    “Stomper,” Harlow said. “We need it in one piece for Bisby.”
    “I know this, Harlow,” Stomper replied. “I will not smash the broken mech. I will do my best. It does look angry. Can I smack it a little?”
    “Just a flick,” Harlow said to the eight-story high mech as she sat in the cockpit. “Don’t hurt it too much.”
    Stomper waited for the dead mech to get close enough then bent down to the thing’s two-story height and extended its hand, trying to flick it away and disable it before it could really attack.
    It didn’t work as expected.
    One Arm slammed the support strut it had yanked from the Rancher transport it had just destroyed against Stomper’s finger, then leapt up onto the massive mech’s arm and proceeded to scramble its way up towards the cockpit.
    “Stomper,” Harlow warned. “Not liking this.”
    “I am sorry, Harlow,” Stomper said. “I shall remove him before he can harm you.”
    Stomper stood upright and shook his arm, hoping to dislodge the mech, but the undead machine just kept moving, its feet gripping and releasing, riding the shakes out.
    “I’m gonna have to go electro on it,” Harlow said. “Sorry.”
    “It will only be uncomfortable for a moment,” Stomper said. “But it is necessary.”
    Harlow activated the shock field and let it loose. Blue arcs of electricity traveled across the mech’s exoskeleton. One Arm saw it coming and leapt off of the larger mech a split second before it could be shocked