Apocalypstick Read Online Free PDF Page B

greater numbers, they can sense us; together we are a
magnet. I’ll lead them away while you get the humans back to safety.
    I was already running before I finished the thought.
    Crane, no! Come with me. We will be safe at the
prison, she thought.
    I dropped the delve, and burned some power to cover more ground.
Each stride became a soaring leap, carrying me ten paces or more. It worked,
too. I was like a rabbit in the open, running from a pack of wolves. I put up
my blocks to keep the host out of my head, and kept going towards the river.
    Six offspring loped down the street after me, all about the size
of great danes. I looked up and saw three more leaping from rooftop to rooftop,
easily keeping pace with me. I stopped a block from the river, and waited in
the middle of the street to make my stand.
    The host was still several blocks away, but it would start its
assault on my mental barriers soon. More husks appeared from doorways and
around corners, some shambling, others running towards me. The offspring ate or
trampled any that got in their way. They reached me first.
    I could have picked them off from a distance, but I let them get
closer to conserve my strength. As came into striking distance, I hit each of them
with a quick jab of mental energy, disrupting their brains and dropping them
like sacks of meat.
    I used a lot more energy to kill them this way, and it was like
a beacon to any mutant that didn’t already know I was there. By the time the
first wave of offspring reached me, twice as many were on their way. I just
needed to keep them busy until Diane could get her humans to safety.
    I slashed with Xipe’s sonic knife as the beasts attacked. I was
already completely deafened by the ringing in my ears from their mind blasts,
and the stabbing pain of each wave sapped my strength and distracted me. I
would be able to hold out for a while, but it was starting to look like Diane
had gotten me killed after all.
    I pushed more power into the knife, killing an offspring with
each blow, but it wasn’t enough.
    They were all around me now, and the first wave of husks was
getting close. An offspring dropped from above, and almost landed on me. I
barely got out of its way, and melted it with a single slash. It was getting a
bit snug, even in the middle of the street.
    I wanted to have more of them closer before I threw my nuke, as
I thought of it, but three offspring were rushing me together. I knelt down on
a knee, harnessing all of the power I could muster. When they were almost on
top of me, I pushed a burst of energy away from me in a rolling ring. For two
blocks, every one of them fell into a pool of blue sludge.
    It left me with almost no power, but hopefully, it bought me
enough time to recover and get away. My hearing was completely useless, and
even my vision had blurred from the mental exertion. I focused on the
vibrations of Xipe’s knife, and did a quick meditation exercise to focus my
mind.
    Instead of relying on my faulty senses, I scanned for thoughts.
I was just in time to dodge an offspring that had been on a rooftop above the
radius of my burst. It landed next to me, showering me with chunks of shattered
pavement. The one I didn’t notice landed on my right calf.
    I rolled over, and amazingly pulled away from the beast, but
when I couldn’t stand up, I realized that my crushed leg was still pinned
beneath its clawed feet from the knee down. The other offspring hit me from
behind, sinking its teeth into my right shoulder.
    Time slowed to a crawl as rocked forward and bit my arm off. My
body tried to repair itself, but every drop of blood I lost, and every ounce of
flesh was replaced by replicating nanites. At any moment, the balance would
shift, and my living flesh would no longer sustain the nanites with its warmth.
    I pushed another ring of sonic energy away from my body with all
the strength I could muster, turning all the offspring within twenty yards into
goo. It was all I had. My severed arm