Fireteam Delta by J. Halpin (ebook reader that looks like a book txt) 📕

would either be trampled underfoot or killed by the growing horde behind it. That’s why Summers had grabbed the jar of fog. As it approached, Summers fired a 4mm grenade toward its head. As it hit, the creature stumbled, and Summers tossed the jar at its face. It shattered, and the creature stopped.

To Summers’ surprise, the monster made no move to stop him as he sprinted by. Much like his own experience, its entire body seemed to seize, if only for one brief moment. Summers reloaded and took the chance to look back to the top of the road.

His friends hadn’t run.

They hadn’t even moved. From what he could tell, they were trying to push down the crap on top of the Humvee.

The creature turned on him. He could already see the fog taking effect as it looked down on him hungrily.

This might not have been the best idea.

He’d hoped one of the bigger lizards would have followed this thing, that way this bastard would have had a target other than him. But so far, nothing had made its way up the road.

The creature roared and changed directions. At least he’d bought his friends a few seconds. As the creature was nearly on top of him, he fired another grenade into its head. It reeled back only for a moment, slamming its head into the canyon wall, shattering a good chunk of rock. He had no doubt it would recover fast.

Then he heard a horn.

Summers turned to see the Humvee rolling downhill, directly toward him. Cortez bailed from the driver's side, detonator in hand. Summers immediately understood what was about to happen.

The Humvee slammed into the creature—and exploded.

It was a good thing Summers was on the other side of the monster’s enormous mass, because otherwise, he might not have survived. The creature was lifted off its feet and tossed back. As it fell, Summers saw the hood of the Humvee lodged into a gaping hole in its chest.

Even with most of its head and chest caved in, it still struggled for a solid two minutes before he saw it finally lay still.

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The rest of the lizards were a shooting gallery for Summers; nothing big enough that he couldn’t handle them alone. They must have realized what had happened to their alpha, because most didn’t bother making the attempt.

When he was done, Summers stood among the wreckage. Before them were the bodies of the dead lizards, the smoldering corpse of the big one, and the burning wreckage of their Humvee that seemed to stretch on for miles.

Summers was breathing hard, trying to comprehend how he was still alive.

“Son of a bitch . . .”

His gaze finally landed on all the cargo Cortez and the others had managed to save. It stood in a neat pile at the side of the winding path. Months of food, clothing, and supplies. Not to mention their ammunition. And they had no way of moving it up the mountain.

Cortez stood beside the assortment of crap, looking annoyed.

“Would be nice if we had a cow, don't you think?”

Chapter 14: Old Friends

Synel stared out at the road in front of her. It was the third day of their travel in the pass, and the expedition had gone well so far. They’d avoided losses in their travel to the north and had even managed to harvest the spring water without issue. The only problem had been this road, and it was not the problem she’d expected.

Death. That was what Synel found on the road that day. She was surrounded by death.

The bodies of the rajin littered the horizon. That in itself was not a strange occurrence. They were a violent, often territorial species. Perhaps even more so now that it was their breeding season. But this was far beyond what she’d consider natural, or even reasonable.

There were hundreds of them, some of them full-fledged adults. Even Synel’s untrained eye could pick out the strange wounds that littered the corpses. They were almost identical to those that marred the trophy atop her carriage.

It was as though the gods of death themselves had descended on this valley. Dozens of men gawked at the sight of a beast the size of her wagon lying dead in the distance, its head cracked open somehow. Even the young, reckless traders that had threatened to brave the road on their own refused to go near the bodies. To brazenly claim the kill of whatever had done this . . . well, she didn’t want to think of the consequences.

“Madame, there’s something up ahead.”

Synel glanced at the man beside her. He’d been one of those who had pressured her to move on this deal.

“Stay the course. I think I have an idea of what we’ll find.”

Those merchants, surely, had to be behind this.

Looking out at the sea of bodies before her, Synel understood just how foolish she’d been. She’d enlisted dozens of men for this trip, each ready to gamble their lives for a chance at fortune. But this . . .

Had they made this trip just a few days earlier, their caravan would have been destroyed. Utterly destroyed. Toslo had offered her a small fortune in exchange for her services on this trip. She’d thought them to be desperate. With the Gray Nation’s army at their doorstep and their own men all but scattered to the winds, she would swoop in, make her coin, and leave before things went truly bad. Now, it was clear they’d sent her on a suicide mission.

The caravan rolled to a stop. In the distance, she saw them. They sat atop one of the largest, most terrifying beasts Synel had ever seen. And they appeared to be . . . drinking?

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“Shit. Heads up. We got company.” Nowak looked over at the road