Beyond Hades: The Prometheus Wars Read Online Free PDF Page A

- now probably wasn't the time to ask if Playstation counted - and Captain Benedict paused before drawing an M9 Beretta semi-automatic 9mm pistol from the waistband of his pants. Talbot noticed the much larger grip of what appeared to be a Desert Eagle sitting in the holster at his hip.
    Benedict handed Talbot the M9. "Don't use it unless you absolutely have to, sir. It won't be much use against what just got loose anyway, but it's best you have something to defend yourself with in case I'm killed."
    Talbot wanted to ask the captain what he meant, but they were moving again. Benedict's boots clattered against the steel steps as he led Talbot through a bewildering series of corridors and stairs, and Talbot noticed they were always heading down - deeper into the bowels of the base.
    Intense gunfire echoed down side-tunnels branching away from their escape route, and Talbot glimpsed the occasionally worried expression flashing across Captain Benedict's features as he increased their pace in order to stay ahead of the battle.
    They continued descending until the captain finally slammed through a door, his M-16 swinging, checking the area's security before motioning for Talbot to follow. Talbot stepped out cautiously, and froze. His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped.
    Opening before them was a colossal man-made grotto, at least five hundred yards across, its reinforced concrete walls rising so high he couldn't see the ceiling. Fluorescent tubes dotted the walls, and several spotlights flooded the area in artificial light, but the roof still remained shrouded in obscurity. Talbot had the impression of being at the bottom of a massive chasm.
    One entire wall appeared to be a set of enormous blast doors; interlocking teeth strengthening the point where they joined in the middle. The doors themselves must have towered some hundred and fifty feet above them! Glancing around, Talbot saw hundreds of troops escorting what looked like civilians toward... toward....
    The weirdest form of transportation Talbot had ever seen in his life.
    Shaped similar to an elongated gridiron football - sharply pointed at both ends, round and thick in the middle - the carriage of the vehicle was at least three stories high. Seamless and white, the transport looked more like a spaceship than anything designed by man. It looked immeasurably aerodynamic and fast .
    Marines were hastily moving the civilians up a ramp in the center of the vehicle and through a large hatch in its belly. No windows marred its perfectly sleek sides, and Talbot's panic paused, astonishment freezing him. It must somehow travel under the earth - unless the massive sealed exit in front of it led to the surface... or under water.
    Several marines had seen them and about twenty broke away from the main group, sprinting over, weapons raised. When they arrived, the troops were immediately ordered into defensive positions around Talbot by Captain Benedict. One man, older than the others, had a thin string of brown wooden beads wrapped tightly around his left hand. As he focused on the object, Talbot's nerves rattled within him.
    A set of brown wooden rosary beads coiled around and around, the barely-visible crucifix pressed firmly into the palm of the man's hand. What could be here, within this most secure of military bases, that could leave a seasoned veteran scared enough to clutch a rosary?
    An enormous, ear shattering BOOM! exploded throughout the cavern and the lights flickered momentarily. He snapped his gaze around to the huge blast doors, noting the sand filtering down from the hidden roof of the chamber. Another explosion reverberated through the cavern and the center of the doors, the area reinforced with interlocking teeth, buckled slightly.
    "How thick is that steel, Captain?" Talbot asked.
    "Seven feet, sir; armor-plated and reinforced with titanium."
    "Then why is it bending?"
    Several rapid thuds followed and before Talbot knew it, the left door twisted inward like tin foil.