Giants (A Distant Eden Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

still ran towards us, but it was slowing down.
    And that’s when we both noticed that three feet of the steel arrow was protruding from the armor in the middle of its chest. We’d done it! We might not live to see the results, but we’d done it!
    The giant came on, right at us with what looked like rage on its primitive features, stumbling and staggering and reaching out towards us. And then it fell, hitting the ground with its outstretched arms only yards away as it fell dead.
    It hit the ground with so much force that the trailer was thrown on its side with Pa and me jumping clear at the last second to hit the ground and roll. The force of the giant’s fall kicked up a huge dust plume that surrounded us for several minutes and clung to our grease-coated leathers, leaving us spitting dirt and grease and dust – and mighty damn happy to still be alive.
    From the great beast’s back the razor sharp arrow protruded several feet. It was a glorious sight – a sight that hundreds of people would come to see.
    Word soon spread far and wide that a man had found a way to kill the giants, and people kept coming. We were offered enormous amounts of gold to sell the machine, so Pa sold it and we began making more of the machines and selling them at great prices. By the end of the year Pa said we had more gold than we could spend in ten life times and he was damn tired of building the machines. But he felt an obligation to help other people kill giants.
    Our machines always worked, but often the people that used them didn’t do it right, and many died. Still, giants were being killed for the first time, and those were heady days. Commerce being what it is other people began imitating the design and building giant killer machines for lower prices. Pa was happy about that because it meant we could quit making the machines, and we did.
    # # #
    Six months after we had built the last machine we were sitting on the porch after dinner watching the sun go down. Ma said “It’s been too long since it rained, this drought is the worst I’ve ever seen. I’m tired of it.” She turned to Pa and looking him in the eye with determination continued, “Make it rain.”
    Pa looked at her for a moment, kind of stunned. But then I could see the idea working its way through his mind.
    I said “I’m going to the barn to work on an idea I have for floating the house and barn.” I had a hunch that we were going to have some flash-flooding pretty soon.