The Cyber Chronicles Book II: Death Zone Read Online Free PDF

coarse hair, and the monster howled. It
sprang at him, its tusks goring his chest as he flung himself
backwards to avoid it.
     
     
    Tassin yelled
in alarm, hacking at the tough vine as Sabre vanished into the
undergrowth with the monster on top of him. The second beast tried
to pry Purr off its face, which he clung to with razor-sharp,
five-centimetre claws. The beast encountered needle-sharp spines
wherever it tried to grab him, and howled with pain as he slashed
its face with long fangs. Bright red stripes streaked the mosscat's
fur, and his yellow eyes blazed with fury. Tassin sawed at the
vine, glancing at the bush where Sabre battled the other monster,
the roaring and thrashing that came from it chilling her blood.
    Severing the
vine, Tassin jumped up and ran to the thrashing bushes, her dagger
aimed at the beast's hairy back. The monster flew backwards out of
the undergrowth, propelled by Sabre's powerful kick. It struck her
a glancing blow that sent her spinning into the brush, then it
turned and attacked her as she jumped up. Tassin raised the dagger
and slammed it into the creature's chest. The monster roared and
smashed her aside with a brawny arm.
    Tassin flew
backwards, the air leaving her lungs in a rush. The world darkened,
then she drew in a whooping breath and everything sprang back into
focus. The monster leapt after her, its foam-flecked jaws reaching
for her throat. Gripping the dagger in both hands, she stabbed it
into its belly. An arm snaked around the creature's throat, and it
was lifted off her with a savage jerk that should have broken its
neck. Blood splattered her as a blade emerged from its belly,
driven through it from behind. Sabre flung the corpse aside and
grasped Tassin's arm, hauling her upright.
    "Are you all
right?"
    She nodded,
staring at the blood that ran down his chest. He shifted his grip
to her shoulders and shook her until her teeth rattled.
    "Don't ever do
that again!" he said. "Do you hear me? Never! You stay out of the
way! Climb a tree, hide in a bush, anything. The next time you try
to join in, I'll put you over my knee! Do you understand?"
    Again she
nodded, but frowned. "I stabbed it! Twice!"
    "You bloody
little idiot, it was a millimetre from killing you!"
    "I am not some
helpless cringing woman, I'm a -"
    "Warrior
queen!" he finished for her in an angry bellow. "I know! A
pint-sized, pea-brained warrior bloody queen, and nearly a dead
one!"
    Sabre looked
ready to deliver a scathing tirade that would blister her ears and
dissuade her from any acts he disapproved of in the future, but a
pig-like squealing distracted him. The second monster, still
burdened with Purr, crashed through the brush in a blind,
pain-crazed death dance. The mosscat had reduced its face to a
bloody, eyeless ruin, and still carried on slashing. His spines had
shredded the creature's paws, and it beat ineffectually at the
clinging mosscat in a futile bid to dislodge its tormentor. Sabre
stared at it in amazement, then released Tassin and picked up his
sword. With a swift stab, he ended the monster's squealing agony,
and it crashed into the brush as Purr leapt free. For a moment he
remained a clawed, fanged, spiny horror, then he gave a huge sneeze
and reverted to his chubby form.
    Sabre gazed at
him. "Why do you always sneeze?"
    Purr snorted
and washed his face with chubby paws, like a cat. "I'm allergic to
shifting, it always makes me sneeze. The more the shift, the bigger
the honk."
    The tension
drained away, leaving Tassin light-headed and slightly hysterical.
Her knees turned to jelly, and she sank down in a giggling heap.
Sabre eyed her as he wiped the sword on the monster's coarse
hair.
    "What's the
matter with you?"
    She wiped her
eyes. "After all that, you... you ask him..." She relapsed into
another fit of giggles, and Sabre traded a puzzled glance with the
mosscat. Tassin struggled for control. "You ask him why... he
sneezes!" She shrieked with laughter, and Sabre smiled.
    "I