Colony by Benjamin Cross (ready player one ebook .TXT) 📗

had seen enough. As the two males lunged for one another across the remaining eggs, he took Darya’s hand and ran.

They hadn’t gone far when the bellowing of the Troodon males was amplified. Looking back, Callum could see that more and more were now emerging, one for each island, clambering up onto their nests from their hiding places below. They were in a state of panic. Some were harvesting up their clutches, others were restless, taking to the wing and searching out the source of the threat.

As they approached the incline before the exit tunnel, he could see Koikov and Ava standing shoulder to shoulder at the top. They were gesturing wildly to either side, towards the horde of female creatures flooding towards them in a pincer movement.

“They’re going to cut us off!” he shouted, tightening his grip on Darya’s hand and going full pelt. “Run!”

As they got closer, Koikov raised the bazooka, aiming it up above their heads. His intentions were clear.

Ten metres away and the missile streaked over them, a thick gouge of smoke trailing in its wake. Koikov shouted to Darya.

“He says to keep going,” she said. “He will hold them off.”

The missile powered into the roof of the cavern. The sound of the explosion engulfed the chamber, followed by a loud rumble and a groaning sound from deep within the ridge. Next moment, the ceiling began to cave in behind them, colossal chunks of rock hailing onto the nests below.

As they arrived at the top of the incline, the two flocks of females were almost upon them. Ava took straight off into the tunnel, her rifle lamp lighting the way. Koikov swung his arm towards her, gesturing for the others to keep running and follow on.

As they bolted past him, he hollered something after them.

“What did he say?” Callum shouted.

“He says to keep going,” Darya said, as they plunged into the tunnel. “Whatever happens, just keep going!”

Chapter 20 Harpoon

1

The survivors burst into the open as a great cloud of debris blasted from the tunnel mouth. The chamber had finally collapsed, expelling whatever it could at them in one last bellow.

“Keep going!” Callum shouted. “Don’t look back!”

They ran for as long as they could see the world ahead, then they threw themselves to the ground and covered their heads as Hjalmar’s breath engulfed them. The air filled with dust and the island was greyed out yet again.

They clung to one another as a deafening follow-up crash sounded and a rumble passed beneath them like an earthquake. Then, eventually, the last of the stone fragments rained to earth, the cloud began to settle and silence descended.

Callum reopened his eyes to see an altered landscape. The plateau was strewn with stone and ice, blanketed with grey dust. He looked over at the others. Their faces and clothing were stained, their bodies covered in shards of rock.

Slowly, he got to his feet and brushed himself down. “Anybody hurt?”

“I’ll live,” Ava said.

“By Harmsworth standards, that’s pretty good.” He moved his gaze to Darya.

“I am okay,” she said. She sounded sincere. But the way she nursed her left arm betrayed that she was lying.

“Let me see.”

She held out her arm. The hand hung limp.

“Can you move your fingers?”

She winced then shook her head.

He carefully peeled back her sleeve to reveal that the entire top half of her forearm was bruised and swollen. It was a serious injury, not one break but many. Without medical treatment he was pretty certain she would lose her hand, and Ava’s glance told him she thought likewise.

He began removing the dressing from his leg wound.

“What are you doing, solnishko?” Darya asked. “The bandage is for your leg.”

“Not anymore.” He took her arm and fashioned a makeshift sling.

She stifled a yelp of pain as he brought her forearm into her chest and finished securing the dressing. Then he fished around in his pocket, withdrew the last of his painkillers and handed them to her.

“Poor Koikov,” Ava said. She was staring back towards the tunnel. The tunnel mouth, the rockface, everything had been replaced by an enormous slab of ice. Freed by the vibration of the rock-fall, the entire end of the Hjalmar ice cap had dropped like a colossal show curtain across the front of the ridge, burying it.

Darya: “Do you think…”

Callum shook his head. “Even if he survived the creatures, there’s no getting out of that tunnel.”

“He gave his life,” Ava said.

“He was very brave man,” Darya added.

They stood before the glacier, bathed in silence and the reflected glare of the sun.

“So what do we do now?”

“I say we get the hell out of here before it turns out there’s more than one hive,” Callum said. “We can take the hovercraft back to the compound and see if we can salvage some more fuel. Then we need to try and make it to the base at Nagurskoye.”

“Do you know where this is?” Darya said.

“That’s the tricky part. We’re going to have to figure it out somehow.”

“Figure it out somehow?” Ava scoffed. “That’s the best you’ve got, Troodon-slayer?”

“I’m all open to suggestions?”

Ava kept quiet.

“We’ll have to check the bodies for GPS, or at least a map,” he said at last. “I know it’s grim, but for now we just need to keep moving. Darya needs medical attention as soon as possible. More importantly, as long as we’re on Harmsworth we’re bottom of the food chain, and I don’t know about you, but I much prefer being at the top.”

They made their way back to the hovercraft. The only damage appeared to be superficial, and they removed the debris from the interior and clambered aboard.

“Anyone driven this thing before?” Ava asked.

“Uh-uh.”

“I have not.”

“Great, me neither.”

There was a brief silence before Callum perched himself behind the wheel and examined the control panel. It looked reasonably straightforward. Besides the steering column, there was a throttle control, presumably regulating the speed of rotation of the fan blades, a braking mechanism, pedals which seemed to control the rudders, and a whole number of