Free Mechanical by Bruno Flexer Page A

realized.
                This time, the sergeant rapidly reached the Hummer and maintained position alongside it, following it as it moved across the craggy terrain. The sergeant sent out one long arm, grabbed the jeep's back fender and pulled, but even the Serpent's strength and mass were not enough to stop the armored jeep, let alone slow it down.
                Next, Jebadiah tried to get at the Hummer’s tires. He stabbed at them repeatedly with the Serpent’s left arm but the truck kept swerving aside, making the black, sharp fingers miss their mark.
                Only a few hundred meters remained from the endpoint. Jebadiah glanced forward once, judging his location and the time he had left. Then, he moved ahead a little, closed his left fist and hammered down on the Hummer's engine compartment. He's trying to kill the engine, Tom thought. However, this Hummer was armored and, though dented and bent, the engine's hood held on. Jebadiah tried again. Cracks spread across the engine hood, but the engine itself remained intact.
                The Hummer completed the circle, reached the starting point with the Serpent running in tow. The jeep driver's actually honked once. In respect, Tom thought.
                "Sorry, Sir. It was too fast, Sir," Jebadiah said, standing at attention again.
                The driver hadn't waited. He or she gunned the engine and the Hummer surged forward, now followed by a hotly pursuing Ramirez. The Serpent and the Hummer moved in tandem, side by side, for a few hundred yards before the Hummer swerved wildly to the side, aiming for the Serpent. However, Ramirez was ready and lithely jumped away, jumping back as soon as the Hummer had returned to the makeshift road.
                Ramirez did not waste time. His Serpent's arm sliced through the Hummer, cutting part of the armored roof away, leaving a trail of debris behind. The Hummer seemed to increase its speed, its engine having reached its maximum RPM according to the roar from the engine.
                Then Ramirez hit the jeep again. His hand came away with the driver's side door imbedded on it. Ramirez flicked the door away and plunged his hand into the driver's cabin.
                Tom winced and made his sensors zoom in on the Serpent and the hammered Hummer. Ramirez's hand came away and Tom expected to see it dripping with blood. Instead, it held only the remains of box-like device trailing wires and sparks.
                The Hummer lost control, turned wildly and rolled over again and again before it came to rest on its back, its wheels still turning.
                "Oh God, it had no driver. Never thought of that," observed Sergeant Jebadiah.
    Ramirez's Serpent looked at the remains of the device in its hand and contemptuously threw it away. The Hummer started honking, but a swift kick from Ramirez blew the driver's cabin completely and silenced the horn,
    Ramirez casually returned to join the other three Serpents.
    "Some dogs catch the car, Sir," Ramirez said.
    Tom could have sworn that Ramirez's blank-faced Serpent grinned.
                 
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 7
    Day Two, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
     
    "What about rest, Sir, and a little R&R?" asked Sergeant Jebadiah.
                They were now in the hall they used for lessons, inside the base. Their Serpents' exteriors were now just a bit more worn, scratched and dust covered, which only gave them a more ominous appearance.
                "Our bodies are already asleep, Sergeant Jebadiah. Only our brains are awake. The Serpents do not need recharging for now, so there is nothing to prevent you from continuing your training. As for rest and relaxation, we only have a few days before the mission, so no time for that either. Your next lesson will be about advanced Serpent control. Carry on." With that, Captain Emerson left the hall,