Resistance Read Online Free PDF

first time, Nash felt like a member of the team. But his blood ran cold when he heard the pilot's next words.
    “Uh-oh, it looks like the stinks got here first! The top of the butte is swarming with Hybrids.”
    Nash released his harness and came up off his seat without really thinking about it. As the VTOL entered a wide sweeping turn, the starboard door gunner made room and Nash stuck his face into the frigid slipstream.
    He could see the snow-covered butte, the point where the aircraft had slammed into the rocky slope, and the large group of Chimera rappelling down to it as quickly as they could, given the conditions. The shuttle had come to rest in a spot that offered no easy access point. There was no sign of whatever aircraft had deliveredthem to the top of the butte, but it seemed safe to assume they had one on call.
    “Put us on the ground directly below the wreck,” Nash instructed, and he was surprised by the certainty in his own voice. “Next to that cluster of trees.”
    Hale peered over Nash's shoulder and nodded. The VTOL couldn't land on top of the butte, and it couldn't land on an incline, so the instructions made perfect sense. The problem being that the Chimera not only had the advantage of arriving first, but they currently held the high ground, which would allow them to fire down on the Sentinels with near impunity.
    But it couldn't be helped, Nash realized, as the Chimera opened fire on the VTOL. They sent long strings of tracers up in the attempt to find the aircraft and bring it down.
    Meanwhile, the pilot was dropping toward the landing site. Projectiles began to
ping
and
bang
off the fuselage as the VTOL's engines went vertical and it fell into place. All of the Sentinels had released themselves from their harnesses by that time—and hurried to disembark the moment they felt the landing gear hit solid ground. Kawecki was there to urge them on. “What the hell are you waiting for?” the NCO bellowed. “A frigging
invitation?
Let's get off this bucket of bolts and find some cover.”
    Nash was about to follow the rest of the team out onto the frozen landscape when he suddenly realized that he couldn't move. His legs knew what they
should
be doing, but it didn't matter. They refused to obey his commands.
    He watched helplessly as the men just ignored him and passed him by. As the last one exited, a Chimeran projectile slammed through the VTOL's skin and passed within an inch of Nash's nose. That scared him evenmore, enough to start his feet moving, and get him out the door.
    But not before he had grabbed a heavy duffel and thrust it out ahead of him.
    Hale was one of the first troops through the door. He crouched and took a quick look around as projectiles kicked up geysers of dirt around him. Spotting a cluster of trees, he gestured to the men. “Over there!” he shouted, pointing to the tightly bunched evergreens. “Take cover!”
    One member of the team, a private named Lang, took a hit, and was half carried, half dragged into the relative safety of the trees. A medic immediately went to work on a leg wound that had already begun to heal.
    Hale was about to make a dash for the trees when he saw Nash throw a bag out of the VTOL's cargo compartment. Instead of being one of the first off the plane Nash was the last to leave, and Hale swore angrily as he ran over to grab the heavy bag and escort his commanding officer to the cluster of trees.
    Engines roared, and the
Boop's
propellers created a momentary blizzard as the ship lifted off.
    “Let me know when the fun is over,” the pilot said in his ear, “and I'll come back to get you.” Then with a tilt of its engines, the VTOL was gone.
    Hale and Nash finished their sprint to the trees. By then the rest of the team was busy setting up defensive positions.
    “What's in this thing, anyway?” Hale demanded, dropping the bag next to Nash. “A load of rocks?”
    He didn't bother with the honorific “sir,” but Nash didn't seem to notice.