Recovery: V Plague Book 8 Read Online Free PDF

which would pull power directly from an inverter tied to one of the
battery banks.  Nothing was labeled to tell me voltages or amperages and I had
no idea if this would work, but it was worth a try.
    I spent a
minute telling him what I had in mind, a grin spreading across his face as I
spoke.  While Crawford made the connections below, I stripped several feet of
insulation off the end of each with my Ka-Bar.  Once this was done I began
uncoiling the two lengths of wire.  Reaching the front edge of the building, I put
one of them down and dragged the other to a point above the left edge of the
group of females.  Pushing the wire over the parapet I was satisfied when the
exposed end came to rest in a large puddle of rainwater.
    I repeated
the process with the other wire after taking it to the opposite side of the
group.  It didn’t land in a puddle, but the bare copper was in direct contact
with the wet ground.  Taking one last quick look, I ran to the hatch and leaned
in.
    “Ready,” I
shouted.
    “Five
seconds!”  Crawford shouted back, giving me time to get to the edge of the roof
before he pulled the switch.
    I ran back
and looked down.  The females still hadn’t noticed me and were apparently not
interested in the two wires hanging down the outside of the building.  Too bad.
    I guess I’ve
seen too many movies because I was expecting spectacular sparks and arcs of
electricity when Crawford hit the switch.  But, like so many things, what
happens on the screen is nothing like real life.  At first I wasn’t even aware
that the Colonel had started the flow of electricity.  Then I noticed that all
of the females had begun twitching like they were parroting a Miley Cyrus
performance. 
    Next,
despite the rain, I began to smell burning hair and flesh.  Then they began
falling, jerking as the electricity surging through them overrode all control
of their muscles.  Other than the sounds of bodies falling and arms and legs
drumming on the ground, the death of over two hundred females was almost
silent.  I thought I could hear an electrical sizzling sound but that may well
have been my mind playing the soundtrack I expected.
    I was
mesmerized, watching their spasming bodies and had lost track of how long the
current had been flowing when there was a loud pop from inside the building and
an alarm bell began ringing.  The females stopped all movement and went still. 
I wanted to watch to make sure none of them got up but was worried Crawford was
in trouble.  Racing to the roof hatch I started to step through, pausing when
the alarm bell went quiet.
    “You OK,
sir?”  I called down, noting a thick cloud of smoke being vented out of several
of the pipes that stuck up from the roof.
    “All good. 
I was around the corner,” he shouted a moment later.  “Overloaded the battery
bank and one of them exploded.  There’s battery acid everywhere.  Don’t come
down the ladder.  Did it work?”
    “I think
so.  Stand by,” I yelled and ran back to the edge.
    None of the
females had moved, and the smell of burned hair and cooked flesh was even
stronger.  I stood in the rain watching them for a couple of minutes.  It had
worked!  I jogged back to the hatch.
    “All down,
sir.  Just a whole bunch of crispy critters now.”  I said.
    “That’s
good.  The battery that exploded spread acid on most of the surfaces in its
immediate vicinity, including the ladder.  You’re going to have to find another
way down.”
    I stood and
looked around but didn’t see any more hatches in the roof. 
    “How secure
are the wires we just used?”  I shouted.  “Will they hold me?”
    “Negative. 
Both of them are burned most of the way through.  Hang tight and keep an eye
out.  I’ll be out the side door in a minute and pick you up.”  Crawford shouted
back.
    Pick me up? 
Did he inhale too many toxic fumes from the battery that just exploded?  I
decided to trust him and returned to the edge of the roof and