Exodus: Tales of The Empire: Book 2: Beasts of the Frontier. by Doug Dandridge Page B

his odds in the water.
    Go , he
thought as he moved west in a crouch, headed for the bridge.  But he had waited
too long.
    “There he goes,”
shouted one of the men, the one he thought was the hireling mercenary.
    A particle beam
buzzed the air, and he stopped for a moment to crouch by a tree and return
fire.  The next beam hit the tree, burning into the trunk and exploding it
outward into splinters propelled by superheated steam.  A splinter struck
Matthew in the neck, while a couple pierced his hand.  Stifling a cry he
stumbled away, heading for the bridge.
    As soon as his
feet hit the bridge he looked back, to see the two men up and running his way. 
He turned back and ran across the bridge, aware of the eyes on him from the
water.  He looked to the side and saw the largest set of trope eyes he had ever
seen.
    “Kelvin,” yelled
voice behind him.  “Stop where you are, or I’ll burn you down in your tracks.”
    Matthew stopped
and turned, hands away from the rifle that hung from his neck by a strap.  He
had almost reached the end of the bridge, but there was twenty meters of open
ground before he could reach the cover of the trees, and he didn’t think the
two men would miss him over that space.
    “We got him,”
said the older man, stepping out onto the bridge, his rifle pointed at Matthew.
    “Now we just
have to figure out how to get him out of here,” said the younger.  “And
ourselves.”
    “First things
first,” said the older man, the one he knew was named Deveroix.  “First we
secure him, then use him as a hostage to make the rest of his blood mad
relatives back off.”
    “You’re
Deveroix?” asked Matthew.  “Numbra’s enforcer?”
    Deveroix made
sure his rifle was pointed as he moved forward.  “That’s me alright.  And
Centari will be really happy when I bring you to her.  She’s got something
special planned for you, just so the others working for her don’t get any
ideas.”
    “My family will
never allow you out of the Swamp,” said Matthew, trying to think of a way out
of this predicament and coming up with nothing.  At least the tropes weren’t
coming at him, so the stinkweed must still be working.  The stinkweed must
still be working.  The stinkweed must still be working, and they aren’t wearing
any.   Ow he just had to get them to come out onto the bridge, where they
would attract the attention of the predators.
    “If they don’t
want to see you vaporized, they’ll do as we say,” said Deveroix, a tight grin
on his face.  “Now lift that rifle off your neck by the strap and toss it in
the water.  Slowly and carefully.”
    Matthew did as
he was told, tossing the rifle by its strap into the water, making sure it
landed nowhere near any of the tropes.
    “Now walk this
way.”
    Matthew took a
step forward, then allowed himself to stumble forward and fall, hoping they
would see it as infirmity and not as something he had planned.  Even though it
had been planned.
    “Dammit,” said
Deveroix.
    “Let’s just
shoot him now and get it over with,” said the other man, and Matthew found
himself cringing at the thought of a particle beam striking through him.
    “Don’t be an
idiot,” said Deveroix.  “We need him alive to get out of here.  Now come on.”
    Their footsteps
sounded on the planks of the bridge.  Matthew heard the movement of the tropes
under the bridge, swimming out, while those already in the water beyond the
bridge shifted.  He looked up to see the men walking toward him, weapons
gripped tight in their hands.
    A female came
jumping out of the swamp, clearing the side of the bridge and striking the
other man at chest level, carrying him to the other side of the span and into
the water.  Deveroix looked around, panic on his face.  He raised his rifle and
fired a beam into the water, where the carnotrope that had grabbed his man had
disappeared.  It was really a useless gesture.  Even if he killed that
carnotrope, it wouldn’t matter.