Voidborn

Chapter Three

Cody ran after Rachel as she sprinted out of the mall and turned left, heading down the street outside.

'Come on,' she shouted over her shoulder. 'We have to get out of here before that ship drops a Grendel on top of us.'

'What's a Grendel?' Cody asked, struggling to maintain the same pace as the sprinting girl.

'You don't want to know,' she replied as she hurried to the side of the street and pressed close to the wall of a café so that she could peek round the corner into the next street. 'Trust me, if you'd met one you'd understand.'

'Big thing, giant metal claws?' he said, thinking back to his narrow escape the previous evening.

'Thought you said you'd not seen one.'

'I haven't, but I think I very nearly got to meet one yesterday.'

'Then you're lucky to be here at all. Come on, this way looks clear.' She set off round the corner.

'Listen, thanks for rescuing me back there,' Cody said as he followed after her. 'You saved my life.'

'You're welcome,' Rachel replied, suddenly stopping with one hand raised. Her voice dropped to a whisper. 'But we're not out of this yet.' She raised the assault rifle to her shoulder as Cody heard the familiar sound of approaching Drones coming from somewhere ahead of them.

'Should we hide?' Cody asked, taking a step backwards.

'No,' Rachel replied with a frown, lowering the rifle. 'There's only one way we're getting out of here in one piece now that we've got a drop-ship looking for us and it's in that direction. Ever used one of these?' She pulled a pistol from the holster on her hip and offered it, grip first, to Cody.

'Errr ... no,' Cody replied, taking the gun, 'not something we covered in school.'

'Well, consider this your first lesson,' she said with a serious expression. She took his free hand and positioned it so that he had a firm two-handed grip on the pistol, then raised his arms until he was holding the weapon at eye level. 'Safety's off, round in the chamber, point it at what you want to hurt and squeeze the trigger. Just try to make sure that I'm not standing between you and whatever that is.'

'OK,' Cody said nervously. 'Am I allowed to ask how you know all this?' She couldn't be more than a few months older than him, but she carried herself like a professional soldier.

'Answers later, fighting now,' Rachel replied as she raised her rifle and began advancing down the street.

Cody swallowed. The strong survival instinct that he'd acquired over the past few months was screaming at him to run. It would be easier just to find the nearest manhole cover and scurry back to his hiding place in the sewers. Like a rat, he thought to himself, feeling a flare of unexpected anger. Maybe it was meeting this girl and realising for the first time that he wasn't actually alone or maybe it was the reassuring weight of the gun in his hand that was somehow giving him courage, but as he stood there he made a decision.

'You know something? You're right,' he said, taking a deep breath. 'Enough running.'

Cody followed Rachel down the street, weapon raised, as the sound of the Drones got louder and louder. Suddenly, fifty metres away, three of the hovering silver creatures floated out of a side street. Rachel didn't hesitate, opening fire the moment that she saw them and hitting the lead Drone with a lethally accurate three-round burst. Cody took a deep breath and aimed at one of the other two as they turned towards him and Rachel, training their energy weapons on them. He squeezed the trigger and with a loud bang the pistol bucked hard in his hands. The shot went high, hitting the wall behind in a puff of orange brick dust. He lowered his aim slightly and fired again. This time the bullet struck home, hitting the Drone in the left-hand side of its silvery body just as it fired its own weapon. Cody felt a burst of intense heat in his side as the Drone's shot flashed past him, punching a hole in his coat and searing the side of his chest. He yelled out in pain, but kept firing, hitting the Drone again and sending it spinning backwards, spraying green liquid in all directions. Rachel switched her fire to the last Drone and brought it down with two short, controlled bursts of fire. She advanced quickly on the wounded Drone as it floated drunkenly through the air, screeching angrily. She finished it off with a single shot and it crashed to the ground.