The Man From U.N.D.E.A.D.'s Christmas Carol by Darren Humphries Read Free Book Online Page B

Icarus ’ wings. Finally, all experimentation had been halted by the International Aviation Authority after yet another hopeful inventor got sucked into a passenger airliner ’ s engine over Milan . Military research continues in supersecret conditions, of course, but the most recent Agency reports into the ongoing programmes suggest that they have created more impact craters in various deserts than working prototypes.
    I could see the whole battle laid out below me as I streaked across above the fighting on twin tails of fire. The sheer exhilaration of speed and freedom was drowned out by the apprehension of fuel supply eruption s or abrupt connections with solid surfaces. I had no training in using the bloody thing, so I wasn ’ t about to try anything fancy like loops or corkscrew turns. It was all I could do to keep going in a straight line toward my objective.
    The human forces struck at dusk. It is more traditional to attack at dawn, but we were making a personal statement of rebellion , so dusk it was. Armoured Personnel Carriers struck both flanks of the encampment in unison, opening up with their large calibre guns firing explosive-tipped rounds. The invisibility spells they had been cloaked with were rendered useless as soon as the first shots were fired, but at least they had gotten us within firing range. The unsuspecting demons were caught by surprise and reacted poorly. Just as they were gathering to deliver a devastating magical response the remnants of human air power dropped their own stealth spells and every last bomb that they had. The ranks of demons were annihilated by a combination of high-explosives, fire and nails. The nail bombs had been my idea. I find that there are few magical defences against a hail of bits of metal travelling at nearly supersonic speeds.
    The carnage was terrifying, but it was all on the enemy ’ s side, so I didn ’ t worry about it.
    The element of surprise had been used up, though, and now the defenders reacted. Fireballs and lightning bolts streaked across the darkening sky, creating a beautiful and deadly pyrotechnic show that brought down three of the bombers before they beat a hasty retreat. Demons of all kinds raced out of the entrance to the main complex that had been constructed in the heart of the quarry . They threw themselves at the attackers with little thought for their own safety (or anything else since the average intelligence of infantry demons is kept low to ensure that they don ’ t mind being used as cannon fodder). They weren ’ t ever going to win on tactics as they swarmed out of the excavation toward the humans , but they were easily going to win on numbers .
    As the last of them streamed into the night, I ignited the fires of the jetpack and aimed myself at the acces s point from which they had all just exited . The aerial battle had already been won and so all of the enemy ’ s attention had been plac ed on the ground assault troops . There were no countermeasures launched against me, which was just as well because any evasive manoeuvres that I had been forced to attempt would have surely manoeuvred me evasively straight into the ground. A few demons looked up at me in surprise and one with surprisingly strong legs even leaped up at me, getting my boot in its face as reward, but I flashed unopposed across the compound.
    Now came the tricky bit. At the last moment, I turned the jetpack skyward and released the harness coupling it to my body. As it raced up into the night sky, I followed a parabolic arc aimed at the entry into the enemy stronghold. As upward curve became downward plunge, I took out what looked li ke a gun and fired at the wall/ floor interfa ce that I was rapidly approaching . Pellets of concentrated foam flew out of the gun, expanding and reacting with the air. By the time that they hit the concrete, they had ballooned together into a spongy mass the size of a couple of mattresses. I hit the foam and it compacted beneath me,