Metal Deep 3: Infinite and Forever by G. X. Knight Read Free Book Online Page A

skank. Guess we’re both walking down memory lane tonight.”
     
    She slapped me. Sway and Kata sniggered. They and Largo were near the path that led away from the gate. They were being held at gunpoint by two particularly emo Street Vipers. The girls and Largo wore confident grins. I was not feeling it. Maybe it was their poker face? My poker face morphed into something a little angrier. They picked the wrong night.
     
    “Open it.” Meg said pointing to the gate. “My people have the village. They will burn it down, and kill everyone. Then you will have the unfortunate pleasure of watching your friends be turned into the abomination that you should have become.”
     
    I sneered, “How’s Cade?” I asked. “Are you two still a couple now that his face is backward? You don’t strike me as a through-thick-and-thin type.” I made an obvious look toward her butt, “Well, maybe through thick.”
     
    Meg cocked the spike gun, and made it spark like that firework show from the other night. She was fuming. Her brotherless compatriot pushed me toward the doors. I turned with a fist, but the guards next to Largo and the girls raised their guns and prepared to fire.
     
    I thought about the kid, and what he had done to save me, and to keep that thing in there caged. I couldn’t just let it out. He would have died for nothing if I did. He was willing to sacrifice himself to save others. Could I do the same? Perhaps I could, but could I stand by and watch my friends get butchered? I stared at each of them. Kata and her pink dress watched me with kind and confident eyes. Largo stood with his arms crossed, chest out. He nodded in approval of my defiance. Sway rolled her eyes and smiled with an “it’s going to be fine” nod.
     
    Time seemed to stop. For a brief second I was in my own little world. I looked skyward, thought about the kid’s last words to me, and for my new life that had come via the hands of so many, I simply whispered the words, “Thank You.”
     
    A switch flipped in my mind. The Dragonstones burned bright. The energy pulsed through my body, and my already impressive Amalgam parts moved me with speed I almost couldn’t fathom. I rolled and was in front of my friends. The guards pulled the triggers. I stuck out my forearms one above the other, and from them I projected green energy shields that ricocheted the bullets away from us. The guards went to reload, but I was already knocking them out before their hands could find new clips.
     
    Meg and her partner fired spikes at me. I dodged one, and blocked the other with the round shield I projected from my left arm. Kata and Sway already had the downed guard’s guns as I disarmed Meg and her buddy of the electrical spike weapons. I left the girls and Largo to hold them captive, so I could rampage an unholy terror across the Street Vipers waiting below. I ran fast, hit hard, and destroyed every piece of equipment they brought. Those who fired met my shield. Those who resisted met my fist. Those who were smart ran away. Within minutes they had scattered, and I had all their cars, bikes, and trucks trashed and smoldering down at the bottom of the South ravine. They would not be returning to Falor again.
     
    After I had cleared the village, I returned up to the gate where Meg and her friend were still waiting. She was over near the black gate wearing a look of complete hatred and fear. Sway looked impressed, and Largo gave me a “that’s-my-boy” handshake.
     
    I was going to let them go. I moved closer to Meg to start the I-win banter, but she backed up against the door to get away from me. I guess I might have freaked her out a little. Understandable, I was awesome. Then, I saw something with my Cyborg vision that made me stop dead in my tracks. I was now freaked out. The girls and Largo must have recognized the horror on my face, because they backed away when I motioned for them to get to the trail. Down at Meg’s feet the piece of the shadow-thing