Quake Read Free

you two,” Clooger said, pressing his sound ring. He was leaning toward Hawk, watching heat signatures on the Tablet as the autopilot swerved them back and forth down a dusty road. “Make them choose who to follow!”
    The HumGee went fast into a turn and pitched sharply to the right, throwing Hawk into the door. Clooger’s weight followed, smashing Hawk as if they were on a shoulder-crushing fair ride.
    â€œBuckle up, big guy! You’re killing me here.”
    â€œDon’t be such a wimp.”
    â€œI’m not a wimp. You’re huge, bro!”
    While Hawk and Clooger waited for the next hairpin turn, Faith picked up an abandoned car with her mind and threw it over her head. The men in jet packs swerved admirably, but when they looked back, Faith had picked up ten more cars. She turned on the troops and they all stopped in midair, watching.
    â€œStop following me,” she said. Faith had a way of saying things like this that could turn the most hardened army veteran toward home. But these guys were either stupid or crazy or both. The troops all moved forward slightly, firing off a whole new round of bullets and blasters.
    â€œDon’t say I didn’t warn you, because I did. I warned you.”
    Faith moved the cars into a long horizontal line in front of her and then pushed them forward one at a time like pendants stuck together on a chain. By the time they started reaching their intended target, the cars were traveling at a hundred-plus miles an hour, spreading out and clobbering everything in their path. The troops bounced like bowling pins, spinning wildly out of control as the jet packs malfunctioned and pushed them all over the sky. The cars continued their journey, slamming into houses and streets on the ground as the flying Western State troops tried to right themselves in midair.
    Dylan was a quarter mile to Faith’s left, dealing with the hovercrafts, all of which had decided to follow him.
    â€œClooger was right on the money—these things have net bombs,” Dylan said, dodging hard to one side as a bowling ball–sized projectile headed his way. When it was within twenty feet of where Dylan had been stationed, it burst open like a shotgun shell full of lead pellets, splaying out a wide net with golf ball–sized weights around its perimeter. A long wire connected the net to the hovercraft, and when the net missed its target, it curled back into a ball and returned to where it had come.
    â€œWe need cooler weapons,” Dylan said, pressing his sound ring so Hawk could hear. “You gotta see this, Hawk.”
    â€œYou do realize it’s killing me not seeing this stuff up close?” Hawk said as he turned toward Clooger. He pressed his sound ring. “Grab whatever you can!”
    Dylan nodded to himself, but he knew it would be a fool’s errand trying to separate a Western State flyer from his equipment. He looked down and uprooted an entire house with his mind, raising it into the air from below as dirt and debris crashed to the ground. All six hovercrafts fired net bombs, surrounding Dylan as they exploded in a circle around him. Dylan shot into the air, raising the house as he went. The nets were beyond sticky, covered in something that adhered to whatever they touched. Dylan heard the pilots screaming, “ Release! Release! ” But they weren’t fast enough. Dylan pushed the house back toward the ground, pulling the hovercrafts down with it. By the time the lines were all cut, it was too late and all six pilots had to abandon ship, taking to their emergency parachutes and brandishing sidearms.
    â€œLet’s make a run for it,” Faith said. “Stay low to the ground, out of sight.”
    The jet-pack troopers were barely getting their baring again, and the hovercraft pilots were totally out of the fight. Only two troopers followed Faith and Dylan into the trees.
    â€œA couple of stragglers and we should be