Grendel Unit 2: Ignition Sequence by Bernard Schaffer Read Free Book Online

sir!" Frank shouted.
    " Your commanding officer has stopped responding to his radio and you suspect he is injured. Your ship's systems report enemy activity in the area and they are closing on his position. Go get your man!"
    " Hooah!" Frank cried out as he raced head first into the arena. He stopped just as the doors slammed shut behind him, seeing nothing but swirling orange dust and smoke in front of him. He turned around to look back for the door he'd just come through, but it was already too obscured to see.
    His heart hammered against his chest and he bent down as low as he could get, gripping the rifle in his hands so tightly the shoulder strap rings were rattling. He tried to breathe, telling himself he needed to take long, deep, breaths and hold them in his stomach as long as he could. He knew from his training that he could use his breathing to slow his heart down and keep himself calm. He told himself that the heavy clouds of dust and smoke were just effects meant immerse him in the scenario.
    It's working , he thought. Consider me immersed.
    He lifted his rifle and peered through the scope, hoping its optics would cut through the fog. It was useless. He couldn't see a damn thing. He checked the sides of the scope for any variable switches and found one, flipped it, and grinned slightly. The world inside the scope changed to a bright thermal image of dark yellow, with a few faint glimmers of red in the distance. Those glimmers were heat signatures, and were either his fallen commanding officer or his enemies. Frank crept forward with the rifle raised, trying to get a clearer picture, when a rifle blasted in the distance and a hot bolt of fire scored sizzled past the tip of his left elbow.
    Frank cried out in pain and instinctively rolled sideways.
    He looked down at the rifle 's scope and saw that the thermal setting made the scope lens glow bright blue, a perfect signal to hostile forces of his exact position. Frank cut off the setting and looked down at his arm, seeing it was just a slight burn. He could keep fighting without addressing it. He thought about moving in the same direction where he'd seen the red signatures, then changed his mind.
    Whoever shot me is still out there , and he's probably looking for me.
    Frank set the rifle down on the ground where he'd been standing before and turned the scope on before scurrying to get out of the way. Several shots immediately rang out, sizzling through the air in the direction of the rifle. If Frank had been standing there, they would have punched him directly in the chest.
    He kept low and waited, trying to keep his breathing steady. He saw two black shapes coming through the funnels of dust, making them both out to be human. They were holding older model rifles and dressed in ragtag suits of cobbled-together body armor.
    Sapienists , Frank thought.
    They were getting closer to the rifle 's glowing blue lens and Frank reached down to the grenade on his belt, but decided the explosion would be too loud and draw too many reinforcements. He decided he needed something quieter and drew out the knife.
    He watched both figures walk past him and he crept up behind them with the knife ready. He grabbed the closest one and plunged his knife's blade deep into its neck, hearing a familiar, "Ow!" before it collapsed to the ground.
    The second HUGO unit spun around with its gun ready and Frank flung the knife into the exposed section of its vest just below the training dummy's chin. "Ow!" it said, just before it fell.
    Frank snatched up his rifle and flicked on the scope, quickly scanning for more heat signatures. There weren't any. He switched the setting off and kept moving deeper into the smoke. The cut across his arm was red and stinging and sweat was leaking down his face and dripping off his chin, but he kept moving and he kept it together. With every deep breath and every second he stayed in the fight without losing, he kept it together.
    He got down on the floor and