Free The Brimstone Network (Brimstone Network Trilogy) by Thomas E. Sniegoski Page B

Stitch thought as he held on to the wing all the tighter, drawing himself closer to the engine and the final monster.
    The gremlin had just taken a strip of metal casing into its mouth and was chewing furiously, as if afraid Stitch was going to try to take it away.
    “Hey there, little beastie,” he growled over the screaming winds. “Wouldn’t ye like a taste of something like your brother just had?” He was just about in striking distance when he felt it on the back of his legs.
    The gremlin at the propeller started to chatter and screech wildly as Stitch looked over his shoulder, and wished he hadn’t. The three gremlins from the other wing had decided to join the party, crawling up his body, their needle-sharp claws sinking into his flesh as they scrambled to get closer.
    And they looked as though they might be willing to give something other than metal a taste.
    B ram wasn’t all that experienced in flying airplanes.
    He’d been taught in a private military school before his time in P’Yon Kep, but he hadn’t really had the opportunity to practice much.
    Plus the fact that there was somebody fighting gremlins on one of the wings brought a whole new wrinkle to the mix that he’d never quite imagined.
    Bram tried to keep the wings steady as he continued their descent. He didn’t have a clue as to where Stitch was bringing the plane down, but now, since they were short an engine, and could well be short their second and last, somewhere flat was probably the best idea.
    He glanced out to see how Mr. Stitch was doing. He’d already seen the patchwork man deal with one of the nasty creatures, and now watched with interest as heslid closer to the last gremlin perched upon the engine.
    There was a flutter of movement from the left-hand side window, and he glanced over to find that those gremlins were gone. Thumping and bumping sounds from above his head gave him a taste of a clue as to where they were going.
    He quickly looked over to Stitch raising the wrench above his head to deal with what he thought was going to be the last of the gremlins.
    Not a chance.
    Bram wanted to yell, but he knew it would be useless. He was tempted to dip the right wing to dislodge the attacking beasts, but figured that would dislodge Mr. Stitch as well.
    Meanwhile, the gremlins attacked.
    Bram’s heart raced as he watched Stitch try to fight them off. The patchwork man swung the wrench wildly, striking one of the creatures and then another. But while he fought the three, the gremlin still crouched at the engine decided to join the fray, sinking its teeth into Mr. Stitch’s shoulder.
    “No!” Bram cried out as a look of pain exploded across Stitch’s pale face.
    Stitch let go of the wing to grab at the gremlin nowattached to his shoulder, and Bram watched in absolute horror as he slid from the plane, taking two of the gremlins with him, clutched in his arms like groceries.
    Bram’s thoughts raced and he squeezed the yoke so tightly that he thought the controls might very well break off in his hands, as near panic set in. What was he going to do?
    And then he remembered the teachings of Master Po. “No matter what you believe,” the old man had said in that soft, emotionless voice that he had, “it can always be worse.”
    Bram wasn’t sure if that was really true, but he had to try something. Clearing his mind of all clutter, he focused on the problem at hand.
    Landing the plane.
    Once that was done, he would deal with the rest.
    The ground was quickly coming closer. Bram pulled back on the throttle and slowed the plane, spotting an expanse grassy field just below him. He was only a hundred yards away.
    Suddenly the instrument panel before him exploded in a shower of sparks, and an acrid black smoke filled the cockpit. Through the din he could hear the sounds of inhuman growling and metal being chewed. The surviving gremlins had eaten through the plane.
    Master Po had been right again: Yes, the situation could always get