"Charles Ingrid - The Sand Wars 04 - Alien Salute" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ingrid Charles)

pull out. Jack's job, as he understood it, was to make the toll of taking Milos
so heavy, so dear, that the Thraks would stop here.

Storm's grim smile never wavered, even as he strode forward, spewing
death as he went, watching the gauge detailing how much power he had
left. Bodies crunched under his armored boots.

They were mopping up. They were to distract the Thraks and the enemy
cannon long enough to let most of the troop shipsтАФalmost all of them
cold-shipsтАФpull out, and then they would be picked up. That was the
promiseтАж

He strides through the line, knowing the wings of his men will follow,
and seeing that the front is not a front, but an unending wave of Thraks.
What was reported as a minor outpost is a major staging area, and he's
trapped in it, wading through broken bodies and seared flesh. He sweeps
both gloves into action, firing as he walks, using the power boost to vault
walls of fallen bodies and equipment.
 Somewhere along the way, Bilosky lets out a cry and grinds to a halt, out
of power. He screams as his suit is slit open with a diamond cutter and the
Thraks pull him out. Jack ignores the screams and plows onward. He has no
choice now. The pullout site is ahead of him. He has to go through the
Thraks if he wants to be rescued. Ahead of him is the dream of cold sleep
and the journey home. The dreamтАж

He lives long enough to fall into a pit, a pit ringed by Thraks, surrounded
by what is left of his troop, and by stragglers from other battalions. They
stand back to back for days, firing only when absolutely necessary, watching
the unending waves of Thraks above them. And he sees a suit burst open,
days after its wearer expired with a horrendous scream and the armor halted
like a useless statue in the pit. He sees the seams pop and an incredible
beast plow out, and charge the rim of the pit, taking fully a hundred armed
Thraks with it, even as it bellows, striking fear in those beyond its reach. He
knows he is dreaming that he has seen a berserker, and tries to ignore the
empty shell-like suit with the crest of Ivanhoe left behind in shards and
settling into the sand.

Even as he stands and fires, he thinks of what it is he wants to dream. He
wants to dream getting out of there alive, with his men. That is what he
wants most. Then he wants to be able to scratch. And he thinks he hears
something inside the suit with him, something whispering at his shoulder,
and he knows he's losing it. Aunt Min back home always said that when the
Devil wanted you, he began by whispering to you over your shoulder.
Storm is scared to turn around. All he wants to do is find his dream of going
home. And when the recall comes, he doesn't know if he's hearing what he's
hearing or notтАж or if he can even be found behind the wall of Thraks.

And then he realizes he is cold sleep dreaming, on an endless loop,
dreaming without beginning or end until someone finds and awakens him.