Code Breakers: Alpha by Colin F. Barnes Page B

against the tower. Two heavy footsteps thudded into the dirt, and when Gerry looked up, a man wearing thick, black coveralls and wielding a large, long-barrelled gun blotted out the light. He was as wide as two men side by side. Gerry couldn’t make out his features in the silhouette but felt the hatred emanating from him.
    The man pointed the barrel at Gerry, who continued to scrabble on his back like a stuck beetle.
    “This a new friend, huh, Petal? Not anymore…”
    As the man moved his finger over the trigger, Petal spun round. The chromed spike as long as her arm extended from her palm with a snap. She drove it with all the weight of her body into the man’s ribs, sending the barrel into the air as he sent another booming shot into the empty sky. He howled as he spun round, dragging Petal with him.
    “Gez! Help. Shoot him!”
    The gun! Where was his gun? He must have dropped it as he fell. While the man was crushing Petal against the tower and screaming in pain, Gerry frantically searched the ground on all fours for the gun. Another metallic crash and the man continued to smash Petal up against the tower. Each impact brought a grunt of anguish from the pair of them as Petal’s spike remained in his ribs.
    Touching the coldness of the gun’s handle, Gerry snatched it up. His hand wobbled as he took aim. The first shot went wide, but the second caught his knee, sending the man to the ground, taking Petal with him. He hit the ground hard, crushing Petal beneath his weight.
    She tried to pull her arm free, screaming as his bulk continued to crush her small, fragile body.
    Petal managed to gasp a single word between snatched breaths. “Help—”
    Gerry rushed over, tried to force the man over, but he weighed considerably more than a normal man should. Petal’s head hit the dirt. The lenses of her goggles turned red, and for a split second, she looked like a damaged, discarded doll—still and broken.
    Anger welled up inside his guts like boiling water. His vision narrowed until all he could see was the man’s massive head. He, too, wore goggles, but they were covered in sand and dust. He sported a pair of sick-looking scars across his right cheek, and numerous jack ports punctured his neck.
    Moving his gun against the man’s head, Gerry closed his eyes and fired a single bullet. His shaking hand and struggling target conspired to send his bullet wide. The shot ricocheted off the tower with a spark.
    The man thrust out a hand and grabbed Gerry by the leg. His grip felt like it would snap his bone. Panicked, Gerry raised the gun again and, despite his tremble, managed to aim the gun and fire accurately.
    The gore of the man’s skull and brain muffled the shot.
    The tower, once dull and grey, now featured a red and bone-coloured paint job.
    With a lunatic’s strength and the monsoon of adrenaline that threatened to drown him, he finally managed to push to one side the dead piece of meat. He pulled Petal out from under him, and her long, thin conelike weapon slipped out of his rib cage with a sucking noise.
    Her once pale face was now decorated with an ugly purple-black bruise. Her lip puffed twice its regular size and was split down the middle. She coughed, and Gerry’s relief threatened to bring him to the ground. “You’re alive! Petal, are you okay?”
    She nodded slowly and rubbed at her chest.
    Gabriel moaned and turned his head to Gerry. He looked worse than Petal. His skin was almost as grey as the tower. A wire from his neck trailed across the ground to a small rusted box attached to the outside of the tower.
    “Gabe! You okay?”
    He nodded his head slowly. His eyes squeezed tightly closed. Petal reached up and gripped Gerry’s hand to get his attention. “You gotta stop the alarm. Within minutes every City Earth border goon will be on us like flies on crap.” She frantically pointed to the open door to the tower.
    Inside, a single console with a holographic projector showed a large circle surrounded