Freehold by William C. Dietz Read Free Book Online

grating was clear, they grabbed the open latticework and heaved. Nothing happened. Flynn looked up to find Sticks grinning at her, rivulets of sweat cutting white tracks through the dirt on his face. “One more time, Corp!”
    She grinned in return and, bracing themselves, they heaved once more. Hard muscles bunched and writhed along Stick's shoulders and arms. A vein stood out on Flynn's forehead. Suddenly, she felt the grating pop loose and almost fell over backward. Laying it aside, she felt dizzy from the effort and from the fumes that engulfed her. Strangely enough, Sticks seemed unaffected. Seeing her discomfort he shrugged. “Hell, Corp, it ain't no worse than Doc's socks after a week of maneuvers.”
    Flynn laughed, a small part of her brain noting that such behavior wasn't rational when any second the Zonies could notice and kill them, while the rest of her mind worked on the problem at hand. Picking up a light piece of plastic wrap, she tore it into tiny pieces and released them over the sewer opening. To her satisfaction, they floated up for only a second before being sucked down into the blackness below. That meant the Zonies had broken through enough gratings inside the brigade's perimeter to create a positive air flow in that direction. Praying she wouldn't kill half the brigade along with the Zonies, Flynn chinned her mic, waited for a short break in the jamming, and gave the order. Triggering her flamethrower, she aimed it down into the sewer. It gushed orange-yellow flame. She knew the rest of her troops were doing likewise with improvised torches.
    At first the flames blew straight back, burning all the hair off her face and arms. But then the gases trapped by countless blockages caught fire, creating a blue inferno. Suddenly she felt lead fingers plucking at her suit and heard the screams of enraged Zonies. She and Sticks ran for the cover of the nearest building, where they turned and cut down the handful of pathetic creatures headed their way.
    Meanwhile, the fires started by Flynn and her troopers followed the supply of gas, howled down the pipes to the nearest intersections, split four ways, and then took off to do it all over again, in a chain reaction that wouldn't end until all available fuel was consumed. Flames followed pipes into other sections of the Zone, starting countless fires and causing tremendous damage. But the blue inferno also headed straight for the brigade's compound, just as Flynn had intended. In seconds, it reached sewers still packed with Zonies. Some burned to death, their screams echoing through the miles of pipe underlying the Zone. Those who didn't burn were suffocated as the raging flames consumed all the available oxygen and filled the sewers with carbon dioxide. Inside the compound, huge gouts of blue flame shot twenty feet into the air. Hundreds of Zonies, pinned down around the sewer openings, died instantly. The rest were cut off from any possibility of retreat. They fought to the death.
    Because the attacking Zonies had forced the brigade's personnel back and away from the sewer opening, none of the troopers were hurt or killed by the flames. While the brigade got off lightly, thousands of Zonies had been killed or wounded. The screaming went on and on as the brigade's medical personnel struggled to deal with the massive casualties. They could expect no help from the Elders or the other residents of the Zone, so they did the best they could, often being forced to use stunners on the wounded, who otherwise continued to attack with teeth and fingernails.
    Meanwhile, Flynn gathered her people together and, with wounded in tow, made her way back to the compound. They had to climb over piles of dead Zonies to reach the gate. Inside, it wasn't much better. It smelled like burned pork.
    Once she had delivered the wounded to the overflowing infirmary, and released her troops to other details, Flynn climbed one of the three remaining observation towers that marked the corners