Yesterday's Hero Read Online Free PDF Page A

into its sides. It doesn’t deviate an inch. Just barrels on. Death and dust billow in its wake.
    It’s not slowing. It’s yards from Kayla. Feet. Inches. She stands so still. The T-Rex brays in victory.
    And then, finally, she moves. The sword flies out, my heart leaps, my stomach drops—
    Kayla bats the T-Rex’s head out of the way. The dinosaur skids past her, slams into the wall. It sways dizzy. Kayla looks like she never moved. Standing, sword loose at her side. Barely watching.
    The T-Rex recovers fast. It spins. Its tail races toward her. She ducks. But… well, it’s too fast to call it lazy exactly, but by Kayla’s standards it’s barely moving at all.
    The T-Rex spins again, lunges. The flat of Kayla’s blade drives its head up. The ceiling plaster crunches under the impact, hemorrhages wires and air conditioning. But there is no follow-up. There is no death-defying leap, no stabbing, or slicing, or dicing. Just these halfhearted dismissals.
    The T-Rex comes at her again. Again. Again. She slaps at it, twitches aside. Again. Again. Again.
    “You know,” says Clyde, crouched beside me, “I’m not sure that is the spirit after all.”
    Dammit. I should have said more to Shaw. I should have stood my ground. Except… Where is the line now? Which side of the bed?
    “Kayla!” Shaw yells, trying to break through, trying to snap her out of the funk.
    Another lightning bolt. The three well-armed civilians on the other side of the hall dive for cover. Chunks of ceiling rain down on them.
    “Plus side,” I say. “The T-Rex is distracted.” Lead with optimism, I figure.
    Shaw nods. “We move on the primary. Clyde, prepare whatever you’ve got. Arthur, get close. I’ll cover you.”
    Ah, point man, my favorite. Still, I need to put in more time at the range if I want to be a good enough shot to hang back and snipe at things.
    A couple of deep breaths, then I go for it. Head down. Ass out. Break cover. Scramble forwards.
    Bullets fill the air. Knowing they’re not aimed at me doesn’t make it any better.
    I make it to one display case, spot a pile of rubble that looks like cover, dive for it. Behind me, the T-Rex bellows. I want to turn, to look, to make sure it’s not closing, not chewing on Kayla while she stares at its teeth, a look of boredom on her face. But I can’t because here comes the lightning storm.
    I’m half running, half dancing. And screw cover, it’s down the middle of the hall now. I fire blindly. The room explodes around me in strobe flares of light. Stone and wood and glass score my cheeks. I scream obscenities, and then just scream. I’m barely on my feet now, skittering forward. I can’t see. I can’t—
    The blast lifts me off my feet. It feels like being the center of the world. A great, tearing change in perspective, slamming me into the very heart of creation. Suddenly all there is, is white, is pain—a great hollow sphere of it surrounding me.
    And then back to reality, to flying across the room. A sprawl of limbs as graceless as balled paper tossed at a trashcan.

FOUR

    I land. The impact jars my bones, blurs my vision. My teeth chomp on the inside of my mouth, draw blood. I roll like a rag doll. My limbs are distant memories.
    Instead of the wall ending my passage with a crunch, it’s a person with an “oomph.” They collapse on top of me. My eyes focus for at least a second. It’s the pretty Asian woman with the automatic pistol. She sits up, shakes plaster from her hair. My head is in her lap. She smiles down at me, curiously calm in the middle of the madness.
    “Hello,” she says, “I’m Aiko. Nice to meet you.”
    I go with the more casual, “Gnnnfgg nnn.”
    I try to roll off her. There’s a blinding pain in my left shoulder and my left foot. That whole side of my body feels loose—skin and bone turned to so much jelly.
    “Arthur! Arthur!” Someone’s calling my name. I go to turn my head but decide to spasm helplessly instead.
    Shaw skids across the