Salvage Marines (Necrospace Book 1) by Sean-Michael Argo Read Free Book Online Page B

rounds, but the marine’s sporadic fire distracted it long enough for Mag to put a well-placed round through its skull.
    Samuel turned and rushed back to help Patrick to his feet. The two men dragged Aaron behind them as Ben covered the rear and Mag took point. The veteran tried the door and found it locked. Instead of trying in vain to shoot through the security glass, she turned to Patrick.
    “We’ll hold here until you cut through the door. Might take a moment, but once we’re inside we can set up a real fighting position.” She raised her rifle to fire on a hostile that looked like it was taking aim with some kind of modified power tool. “Standard issue habs all have the manual emergency generator stored inside the security unit, so if somebody turned it off on purpose we can turn it back on. I’m tired of fighting these guys in the dark!”
    Samuel noticed that the flares Mag had thrown were beginning to dim, so he took a moment to hurl two of his own before shouldering his rifle and continuing to fire once more. Ben’s heavy gun clicked dry and he dropped it to the floor, drawing his sidearm even as the red-hot barrels of his gun sizzled against the blood and dust that covered the gangplank.
    Squad Marsters finally emerged from the far stairwell and began fighting their way towards Squad Taggart. Harold Marr’s machine gun must also have been out of ammunition, since he had slung it in favor of his sidearm. Other than that, the squad was at full fighting capacity and seemed to have sustained zero casualties.
    With the added fire support, the marines were able to drive back the onslaught of the creatures. Patrick gave a shout and backed away from the door as the now molten metal of what had once been the lock slid to the floor. Mag nodded at Samuel and the young man rushed forward to stomp kick the door open as he held his rifle pointed upwards.
    Jada Sek, the new recruit from Squad Marsters, rushed into the unit with her combat rifle in a tight grip. As soon as she passed him, Samuel lowered his rifle and rushed inside after her, allowing the two marines to breach the room while having almost all of the angles of fire covered. The maneuver saved their lives, as they were immediately rushed by a hostile that had apparently been waiting inside the unit.
    The hostile’s appendage lashed out and jerked the combat rifle from Samuel’s grip even as it body slammed Jada into the far wall. The creature rammed its muzzle into Jada’s chest and began tearing through her armor with its teeth.
    Without thinking, Samuel slid his salvage tool from its strap, roaring as he shoved it into the hostile’s body. His momentum was totally concentrated at the tip of his salvage tool and he hit the creature hard enough that despite the blunt edge, he was able to savagely impale it. Samuel held his grip on the tool and stepped to the side, pulling as hard as he could, wrenching the hostile away from Jada and sending it crashing to the floor. Jada stepped forward and screamed as she fired several rounds into the beast.
    Samuel and Jada both stood over the body of the creature, breathing hard, captivated by the stained, but unmistakable, Grotto environmental suit that clung to the creature’s warped body. It wasn’t until Mag shouted over the gunfire that the two marines snapped out of it and returned to the fight.
    “Hey Prybar! Quit standing around with your mouth open and get the damn power turned back on!” yelled Boss Taggart as she stormed into the small compartment while slotting in a fresh magazine. “We’re running out of ammo out here, so we gotta make our shots count for a hell of a lot more than they are now! Move it, soldier!”
    Samuel yanked his salvage tool from the creature’s body and crept further into the security compartment. Jada had loaded her last magazine and covered his advance from a few paces behind him. They were met with no additional hostiles and after a painstaking search through the darkness,