Free Death Drop by Sean Allen Page B

enough firepower to subdue a small enemy battalion.
    “Hmph.” The colonel stared admiringly at Bertie. “And that table of his?”
    “Should easily take anything short of anti-ship mortars,” Dr. Blink replied proudly, his confident tone somewhat restored by the asset he had provided to the group.
    “Well, Doc, why didn’t you say so? Everyone on Bertie’s hip! Malo, we’re going to try and keep this at a distance. I don’t suppose Bertie has an extra gun he can spare?”
    Without waiting for Dr. Blink’s response, Bertie handed one of his guns to Malo, who grabbed its frail handle in his enormous hand and slung his battle hammer across his back. Bertie immediately reached inside a compartment and was brandishing a firearm in each of his four hands once again.
    “Oh, I like him!” the colonel said ardently. “Okay, here’s the deal. Dr. Blink rides on Bertie along with the major. Malo, you make an awful big target, so I need you to crouch as low as you can behind them. After we emerge from the corridor into the open, Graale and I will move to the left and right flanks and draw any enemy fire away from you. Bertie, head straight up the middle between the rows of ships. We need to get into the yard and procure a ship before they’re all gone or destroyed. Got it?”
    The colonel was looking at blank stares and scowled at the confused lot of them. “What the hell don’t you understand?”
    “The part where you draw away enemy fire without cover!” Otto responded vehemently. “I mean, I can understand Graale—he’s…well…look at him!” Graale rumbled a small chuckle and slid the firing mechanism back on his cannon with the edge of his hand. “But you—Colonel, you’ll be killed in an instant!”
    Abalias shot Otto a cocky grin and the mischievous glint was back in his blue eyes. “Trust me,” he said, smirking, and then gave Otto a wink. “Now, there may be Durax out there. Has everyone had the Serum?” Everyone nodded in agreement that they had and Abalias paused for a moment, a small trace of concern flitting across his face, before issuing the final instructions of his escape plan. “Okay, stick together and make for the first ship available, got that?”
    KABOOM!
    Before anyone in the room could reply, an explosion ripped through the shipyard and the concussion came barreling down the corridor. This time there was nothing to absorb the energy as it rushed past the spaces where the viewing panes and the large door once were, hitting them full force.
    Once the shockwave passed, Graale and Bertie were the only ones still standing upright. Blink and Otto, being the smallest, were thrown the farthest and mercilessly greeted by the rear wall of the room. They rose at almost the same time, coughing and sputtering in the haze stirred up by the explosion. Malo had only been moved a few feet from where he had been originally standing, and he got up snorting, due to anger more than the blanket of dust that hung in the air. Abalias pulled himself to his feet and picked up his gun again. “Everyone okay?”
    An assortment of muffled groans, coughs and a snort were all the confirmation that Abalias needed. “All right, now I’m PISSED—let’s move!”
    Bertie led the way into the long passage leading up to the shipyard, his four arms each wielding a gun and poised for the battle sure to come in just a few hundred yards. Dr. Blink rode in the channel between Bertie’s flanks, pushed close against the back side of Bertie’s elevated table, with Otto directly behind him on one knee, carefully aiming the barrel of his gun over one side of Bertie’s treads and then the other. The rest were forced by the narrow confines of the cavern into a single file line in Bertie’s wake. Malo was first, crouching low as ordered. Next came Graale, whose noisy footsteps were barely detectable over the echoes of gunfire and small blasts that ricocheted down the tunnel. Abalias, with his service revolver at the ready,