Bounty Hunter 1: The Bounty Hunter's Revenge by Joseph Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

wave of exhaustion hit me
at the same time as the vibrations from the blast, as if my body had made an
unspoken agreement to only keep working until that explosion. I slept.
    Nearly three days of the night cycle had
passed when I woke up again. Only four more until sunrise, and approximately
three before I had to worry about being attacked. I crawled back into the
building and my heart sank. I couldn’t tell if the explosion had been effective
or not because the blast had knocked another section of the ruin down and
covered some of the steps that I had revealed already. The pieces of concrete
weren’t large and I could move them, but it had undoubtedly set me back.
    “I’m going to fucking kill him for
this.”
    “I know, Burke.”
    I attacked the rocks as viciously as I
would have any other enemy. To this day I’m not sure if it was a mistake or
not. The speed at which I worked surely tired me out faster than a slower pace
would have, but I made remarkable progress being that angrily motivated. I had
to sleep only once before I gained back what the explosion had lost me, and I saw
once I had that the grenade had at least done some damage to the lower
blockage.
    “Two days until sunrise. One day until
spiders,” I said as I prepared the final grenade.
    “It will work, Burke.”
    “You ran more calculations? You’ve
projected the explosion?”
    Cass hesitated for a moment and then
repeated, “it will work.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh and was
surprised when she joined me. The grenade bounced against the hard surfaces
after I pounded it into the gap we had chosen and I clambered up the stairs.
The hole was much deeper now, and I barely touched the sand before the grenade
went off.
    There were no large projectiles this
time and I was worried about the lack of scattered rocks. I was tired but too
curious to sleep this time and crawled back into the hole. There was gap now in
the rubble that was a deep black, reaching far down. Excitement gripped me and
I suddenly wished I could leap down the stairs. I slid my way down and bore
myself up to face down the gap.
    My faceplate was already sealed during
the explosion and Cass switched on the low-light vision without my having to
ask. It still only worked for half of the display and I closed my right eye to
peer through the gap with the low-light filter. There was nothing else in the
way through there. There was maybe an hour’s worth of work, maybe two, before I
could get through.
    I decided to sleep so I could resume
refreshed and not be tired when I explored the inside of the base. I crawled
back up to settle down on a flat service and about to sleep when I heard the
too-human screech of a group of crawlers in the distance.
    “Shit.”
    “They’re early. Attracted by the sound
of the blast, maybe?” Cass proposed.
    “Shit.”
    I dove back down the stairs and started
to dig. The original plan was to clear everything out to make sure nothing
collapsed after being moved so I wouldn’t be trapped inside, but there wasn’t
time for that. I couldn’t risk them infesting the basement level. I shoved my
arm into the large gap and pulled out whatever I could.
    The sounds of the crawlers were getting
closer. I thought I heard the noise of another animal, something they may have
been hunting, but I didn’t dare stop to confirm it. When the gap looked large
enough for my chest to get through I propped myself up through it and pushed
with my good leg.
    I stretched out my arms in front of me
and nearly screamed with the effort of moving my left arm all the way upright.
Cass said nothing, knowing that it was necessary, and I didn’t have time to
worry about what permanent damage I may have done. I gripped the inside of the
gap with my right hand and pulled myself through.
    The lower part of my torso caught
between the rocks and I was stuck. A shriek sounded from behind me, so close
that I swear I felt the sound of it vibrate through my bones. I thrashed my
left leg about