Ex-Purgatory by Peter Clines (best book club books TXT) 📕

Smith coughed some blood and sputtered out two teeth. “Let’s stop all the violence, then, okay?” Her voice was slurred, but it was clear enough. “Could you help me up?”

She could feel Stealth glaring at her through the black mask. The cloaked woman reached down and pulled Smith up to her feet.

Christian pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her mouth. She spit out a few more fragments of teeth and then tried pressing the cloth on the side of her head. It was soaked with blood in seconds. She grumbled to herself and then waved at Stealth. “Would you take the lead?”

“Where are we going?”

“Back to Stage 32,” said the other woman. “It’s a lot more visible than I wanted, but it looks like I’m going to have to have you all beat each other to death. And then, if you’re still in one piece, we’re going to find someplace quiet for a day or two.” Smith looked at the handkerchief again and shook her head. “Word is, you caused a lot of problems when I tried to take you hostage out at Yuma, but I’m sure you won’t cause any trouble at all this time, will you?”

Cerberus squeezed and pushed down, but St. George pushed back. The battlesuit couldn’t crush his arm, and it didn’t have the leverage to force him down.

Then the gunshot and scream echoed across the garden and St. George’s head whipped around. He caught a quick glimpse of Stealth with a pistol drawn advancing on Christian, a flash of blood, and then the titan shifted tactics and yanked St. George up in the air.

He forced his way even higher and the battlesuit stumbled. It took a moment for Gibbs to catch up and let go. The steel arm dropped and some of the small panels across the body scraped and sparked.

St. George looked across the lot. Stealth was helping Christian up. The pistol was gone. Christian was smiling.

Cerberus glared up at the hero hanging in the air. Then it ran at Danielle. The steel feet clanged.

St. George tackled the battlesuit and sent it staggering.

The punch whipped past Danielle, missing her by a few inches.

St. George put his fists together and slammed them into the armor’s side, right under the arm. The battlesuit stumbled another few steps and he wrapped his arms around the leg and pulled.

Cerberus crashed to the ground again.

He looked back toward the garden. Stealth and Christian had vanished. He could guess what happened if Smith managed to get a few words out.

Danielle came running over. He opened his mouth to talk but she waved him silent. “Echo sierra alpha victor forty-two,” she called out.

The battlesuit slammed its mangled hand against the ground and pushed up. The servos whined. The damaged hand sparked on the pavestone walkway.

She frowned. “Echo! Sierra! Alpha! Victor! Forty-Two!”

The armored titan got to its hands and knees, then brought one foot up.

Danielle called out the words one more time and punctuated the phrase with a swear. “Goddammit,” she added. “He killed the external mikes. I can’t shut it down.”

St. George watched Cerberus climb to its feet. “I can,” he told her.

“What do you mean?”

He guided her back as the battlesuit straightened up. “Gibbs isn’t going to stop until he kills us. Or until we stop him.”

Her eyes went wide. “No.”

The battlesuit turned around and the lenses locked onto them. St. George grabbed Danielle around the waist and leaped into the air. He flew away from the titan, and realized a moment later it meant he was flying away from Stealth and Smith, too.

Cerberus stomped after them.

Danielle stiffened up as the buildings fell away. Her arms pulled in tight, and even her legs pressed together. She gritted her teeth and managed another “No.”

Below them Cerberus smashed through the low wall around the garden and sent chunks of mortar and cinder blocks flying. An angry backhand crumpled the front of Mean Green.

They flew over Five and Four. “He’ll run out of power using it like that,” Danielle gasped. “Without Barry recharging it, the suit won’t last long at all.”

“How long?”

She was taking quick breaths through her nose. “Put us down.”

He dropped down between Stage 4 and the Edith Head Building. A few people watched them land, drawn out by the sounds. Danielle relaxed as the walls rose up around them and he set her on the ground. “Maybe forty-five minutes,” she said. “An hour tops. If you can just keep him—”

He shook his head. “That’s too long. If we keep this up, he’s going to kill someone. And Smith has Stealth.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He turned to the gawkers. “Run,” he told them. “Get as far from here as you can.”

One man looked around. “What’s going—”

“Run!” St. George looked at Danielle. “I have to—”

“I know!” she snapped.

The ground shook. They heard the hiss and stomp of the battlesuit coming toward them. There was a crash of metal on concrete.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Danielle squeezed her hands into fists. “Do it.”

Cerberus appeared between two buildings. Gibbs yelled something over the speakers but he’d switched to public address mode and his amplified words were lost in their own echo and the stomp of armored feet.

The battlesuit charged them.

St. George leaped to meet it.

He ducked a punch and then a follow-up swing from the damaged hand. When the next fist came at him he braced his legs and caught it. A few steps to the side kept the arm out straight and St. George far enough away that the other arm couldn’t reach him. The titan tried to pull free but he yanked back and kept it off balance. The feet hissed as pistons and servos adjusted.

He pulled again. When Gibbs tugged back, St. George let go with one hand and grabbed the steel thumb with the other. The metal fist clenched around his hand. If he’d been a normal man, his fingers and forearm would’ve been crushed to powder.

St. George drove his free hand up