It suddenly stopped shooting, moving spasmodically in all directions.
"Party's over, huh?" exclaimed Adams, delighted, as he manipulated a joystick near the controls, and pressed its button again.
A new burst of gunfire began in the direction of Harry and the young men, leaving the area where Red was crouching near Hiroto. This forced the giant and the other two to stand up and run, to avoid the bullets.
"Hiroto!" cried the red-haired girl, taking the old man's head on her knees. With his eyes closed, he showed signs of suffering on his face. Seeing that, tears began to flow down one of Red's freckled cheeks.
The din was going on around them, but at least it had the vaguest advantage of disconcerting the zombies. They had become motionless, their limited senses and their atrophied minds making it difficult for them to adapt to this unexpected situation.
Suddenly, Harry grabbed his son and his friend with both hands and, lifting them like vulgar puppets, began to run at a crazy speed towards a corner of the wood. It was about ten meters away but he arrived with them in less than a second, leaving behind Usain Bolt if he had been there.
He rushed to a bush, crushing it with his "passengers" like a bulldozer, and disappeared further into the woods, his heavy but rapid stomps almost as noisy as the strafing. The latter had followed him like wildfire but had unsuccessfully attempted to catch up with him.
The strafing stopped as the automatic gun on the roof came to a standstill.
Adams was watching the control screen incredulously, having released the joystick. The trail of dust left behind by the black giant forming behind the trees looked as if a herd of racehorses was moving away.
"Now, that's a strange thing," the old Administrator exclaimed, his eyes wide open with astonishment. "What did he eat?"
Then, glancing at another screen, he saw Hiroto half lying on Red's lap. The old Japanese opened his eyes. "Not dead yet, old fossil?" cried Adams, and then he returned his hand to the joystick.
The strafing resumed, the trail of bullets lifting the ground, forming a trail of dust which went in the direction of the wounded man and the young girl.
Just as the strafing was going to reach them, its trajectory changed at the last moment, preserving them miraculously.
"What the hell..." Adams exclaimed, clinging to his desk as he noticed, aghast, that the truck was starting to be overturned.
Looking at one of the screens he was surprised to see that it was Harry who, coming back, his hands under one of the borders of the vehicle, was raising it.
"Bloody freak, I'm fed up with you!" the old hand shouted and, once again manipulating the joystick, he pressed the button. The machine gun lowered its barrel very low along the vehicle and a dump went off, tearing off part of the colossus' mighty biceps.
Under the impact and pain Harry released the truck while the bloody chip of muscle fell on the ground, forming a pond full of dark blood.
The dropped vehicle and its brutal contact with the ground racked Adams against his desk, making him drop him down from his chair and release the joystick. The machine gun fell silent again as the truck bounced several times. Its shock absorbers, under stress, made painful metallic sounds.
The vehicle twitched several times before it stopped completely, while Harry collapsed beside the vehicle. Pain on his face, holding his bloody arm partially shredded, he was lying on his back on the dusty ground.
Noises of electric motors drew his attention and, made him raise his head. He saw, above him, protruding over the edge of the roof, the machine gun, with its barrel pointed directly at his head.
"Farewell, you won't hinder me anymore!"
Adams' voice, broadcast by a loudspeaker beside the small turret of the machine-gun, left no doubt as to his intentions. The big black man swallowed his saliva and closed his eyes.
Inside his office, which had become stable again, sitting in front of the controls, the old Administrator wore a bad smile, as his thumb was about to press the button of the joystick.
An enormous metallic noise made him jump and almost fall from his armchair. It had come from beside him, and, looking in that direction, he saw that something had just pierced through the metal wall to his right.
With a tortured metal noise, a crystalline blade diffusing colored shades was slicing through the metal of the truck as if it was butter, and it was moving upwards toward the roof...
"What the fuck is that?” the old man yelled, and he fell silent, open-mouthed, his heart pounding again.
The blade continued to rise, then stopped at the height of a medium-sized man. Then, the Administrator, still feeling protected in his "bunker", made a face and sneered, "A diversion attempt?" It was then that Adams had a nasty doubt that made him glance at the precedent screen.
He jumped.
"No!"
He no longer saw the black colossus lying on the ground.
Only a few traces of blood remained, where he had been lying.
New sounds of lacerated metal made him look to the side. With a morbid fascination, he watched the blade rise again, brushing very quickly the ceiling of the vehicle.
Outside, his wounded arm profusely bleeding a thick, almost black blood, Harry was lifting Red. Smiling at the good giant, she was being lifted like a feather while, above, she held in both hands the crystal blade that passed through the metal.
She could scarcely feel the blade, extremely fine, passing through the material constituting the wall of the vehicle. It was as if the wall was made of aether.
"Go ahead, Red, go on!” Harry exclaimed enthusiastically, forgetting his arm's pain as he lifted her even higher. A last push and Red arrived on the roof. The blade also pierced the ledge of the roof and was encased above it.
Red released the blade with a groan, and it fell vertically toward the roof. The thick part of the blade that had served as a handle for the young teen prevented the rest of the blade from passing through the roof, blocking its fall.
And, horrified, the girl saw that the "handle" of the weapon was red.
Blood red in color. Her blood...
A brief glance at the palms of her hands made her realize that they were blood-stained.
"Are you OK, Red?" Harry shouted to her, anxiety in his voice.
"Yes, I'm fine," the girl lied, doing her best to smile at him.
Her answer obviously reassured the big black who added, "Go on, and continue!"
She saw him suddenly become bleak, opening wide eyes, and he cried out, "Get down!"
Red fell flat on her stomach by reflex while a burst of machine-gun mowed past her narrowly. She left herself roll on the roof and raised her head. She saw that the machine-gun on the roof, shaking, was firing in her direction.
Seated again at his desk in his den, Adams was busy on the joystick, pressing the button like a devil, and he shouted, "Die, annoying little thing!"
The strafing on the roof of the truck resumed, trying to follow the girl who rolled faster on its hard surface, the bullets passing just above her.
Red was then surprised to find herself fall from the ledge of the roof, and still rolling, she fell, seeing the ground whirling underneath.
She caught herself just in time with her hands, clinging with bloody fingers to the thick rim of the roof.
Suddenly the machine-gunning ceased, and the silence returned, while the girl remained there, still hanging on the ledge, her heart beating violently in her chest.
Horrified, she looked at the machine gun, which continued to move on its turret. It was now pointing precisely in her direction, the barrel lowering its angle of fire, obviously readjusting its shooting angle.
Red heard grunts beneath her.
Her heart beating really hard in her chest now, she hesitated a few seconds and then, hesitantly, looked down.
She was so startled that she almost let go, when she saw that a whole bunch of undead was beginning to gather underneath her. Apparently, they were beginning to adapt to the din of the automat
ic weapon, adapting to change.
And obviously, they were hungry…
"Hasta la vista, Baby," Adams yelled enthusiastically, beneath her, repeating a phrase from an old movie that he had enjoyed, in his younger days.
With a smirk he pressed the trigger.
A shower of fire was vomited by the machine gun and sputtered over her head. As she was still fighting to remain hanging by her hands, the deafening sound of the strafing was causing pain in her ears.
And, very worrying too, she saw the barrel of the weapon angle lowering more and more.
Then she felt a throbbing pain at the top of her head.
Under the blow of the pain she was really on the verge of letting go.
She felt liquid flowing abundantly along her forehead and over her right eye, its vision turning red. Red recognized the smell of blood, and she wasn't the only one…
Below, the copper scent excited the zombies, who began to gather tighter, stretching their decaying hands towards her. They muttered a blend of grunts which, oddly enough, reminded her of a call.
They were begging her to join them…
Red looked down at them, their image being reddened by the blood continuing to flow over one of her eyes, and now dripping down her cheek and chin. These trickling drops drew the whole crowd of undead underneath her. Attracted to her as if she was a magnet, they were fighting each other. Their mouths open, they were trying to drink at the Fountain of Life.
The girl felt that her fingers were becoming numb now, that she was going to let go.
***
Friendship
Not only did Red feel her fingers weakening, while, deafened by the sound of the machine-gun which swept the air in front of her, she remained hanging on the edge of the roof of the truck, but besides all that, another form of torture was assailing her.
Dizziness.
The vertigo which began to torture her internally, to snatch her, to call her down, towards the mass of the hungry undead beneath her.
The same vertigo as the one that had literally paralyzed her, as a child, on that branch of a tree, from which she had seen the end of her mother.
And the vertigo made her feel literally sucked towards the mass of hungry mouths, beneath her ...
Red closed her eyes, accepting the end, while a new strafing of the armed turret missed her fingers very closely.
It was then that the machine-gun pointed upwards and stopped, causing the young red-haired woman to open her eyes in surprise, watching the turret which had become immobile.
" No!” Adams exclaimed, while, as he released the joystick, he watched one of the doors accessing his desk be distorted under a new stroke. Watching a screen showing what was going on in the back of the truck, he understood.
"Beware, behind you!” Johnny yelled, watching his father shrug more and more violently against the door, not seeing what was coming behind him via the entrance that had remained open.
Harry turned around to find himself facing two new zombies. They were trying to tear his back with the sharp tips of their bony fingers.
The giant sent to both of their bleached skulls a backhand punch, which sent them bumping toward the nearby wall. The creatures crashed together against it, close to Bo and Johnny. The latter gave a circular kick with all his might to the creatures, their skulls having been deformed by the shock.
Their steps unsteady, even more staggering than usual, they crashed against a third undead, who had been trying to enter by the entrance.
Red felt relieved by the pause of the strafing, and she tried to lift herself back onto the roof with her arms.
A traction down surprised her, and she was on the verge of letting go. Looking down, she saw that the zombies had massed together so much underneath her, that one of them had climbed onto the others. One-eyed, with worms wriggling from its empty orbit while the other eye, intact, looked at her, it had taken one of her sneakers in its rotten hand.
She shook her foot violently and the creature, awkward, lost not only her foot but also its balance, and collapsed on those below, causing them to fall too.
Red helped herself with her feet and, with a great effort, managed to attain the edge of the roof. Looking down, she was dizzy as she saw the creatures underneath stand up, while watching her. They always got up, it was exasperating...
She stood up with difficulty, and walked in the direction of her improvised sword, which remained fixed in the roof. Its "handle", its thick and oval part, still covered with blood, had begun to take on a brown tint. She looked disgustedly at the palms of her hands, covered with bloody scars, and sighed heavily. Then she lifted the blade by its thick part and raised it in the air. It was like a strange diamond-like saber, reflecting all the shades of the rainbow. With such a sharp thing in her hands, she felt like a samurai with the strongest sword in the world...
Regarding samurais...
She had just thought about her grandfather, who had been lying on the muddy grass, and she saw that he had awakened and was watching her. Even at this distance, she saw that he was smiling at her, and it was, for her, balm to her heart. A smile full of pride?
The joy she had felt suddenly disappeared, when she saw that he wasn’t alone.
Zombies were approaching the wounded old man, whose clothes were stained with blood.
"Hiroto!” she yelled, horrified.
"Red?"
Looking below, she saw a zombie ejected soundly through the entrance of the truck, and knock down another that was standing in front. The two creatures went rolling away, as she saw Harry jump out of the vehicle and onto the ground. He raised his head and, recognizing her, he smiled warmly.
"Thank God, you're fine!" he added, joined by his son and Bo.
"Hiroto, save him!" Red yelled, pointing at her grandfather, and Harry, looking in the direction indicated by her finger, showed a horrified face. Several creatures had knelt around Hiroto, and opened gaping, hungry mouths.
Harry, once again, surprised Red by accelerating towards the group at a speed that seemed, she thought, impossible for a human being. He arrived at the level of some of the zombies.
He hit them violently, shoving them like pins knocked down by a bowling ball.
Turning around Hiroto like a cyclone, the big black man jostled the creatures that were still massing, causing them to utter plaintive grunts.
Red grinned with all her teeth, feeling reassured, as she saw that Johnny and Bo were running to join the colossus.
A strafing of the roof in front of her made her jump and then step back. Just in time to avoid a second wake of grape shot. She saw that the machine gun turret was moving quickly, following all her movements.
Below, in his office, the old Administrator was nervously manipulating the joystick, and he spat, "Die, little whore!"
Red retreated again to avoid another strafing which narrowly missed the end of her sneakers, at the risk of tearing her toes.
It was then that the girl realized that she was losing her balance. She stabilized herself by swinging her arms, realizing that her heels were right on the edge of the roof. Zombies, below her, were obviously hoping to see her fall among them.
Mercifully the red-haired girl regained her equilibrium, while she realized that the deafening strafing had stopped. Thanks to the momentary silence, she heard metallic sounds coming from the turret.
Looking at it, she saw that it was modifying its angle of fire, preparing for a final, more precise, lethal strafing. That’s when, fed up, she felt an animal fury rise from inside herself.
When the shot resumed she jumped into the air and rolled forward, avoiding the strafing.
She finally restored her balance and came to a standstill.
She was now standing by the ledge on the other side of the roof, looking at the turret from behind. The girl noticed that the machine gun had stopped firing.
Its turret was turning spasmodically in many directions, looking for her in the zone where she had been, just a few seconds a
go.
"Where has she gone?" Adams roared, manipulating the controls and the joystick furiously. The field of view changed once again, given by the webcam equipping the machine gun. It showed him that the turret turned to the right. Reactivating the controls, he finally rotated the turret in the opposite direction, watching, on one of the screens, the roof stream past.
A silhouette appeared briefly in his field of vision before the continuing rotation made it disappear.
"Ah!” Adams shouted victoriously, as he activated the joystick again, making the turret turn in the other direction and, finally, halt.
Adams started up in fright when the webcam was face to face with Red.
He nevertheless pressed the trigger.
A new burst of the machine gun narrowly missed Red, who dodged the intense fire. She finally stopped next to the turret, which was now blindly firing, right where she had been.
Red wielded the crystal blade with dexterity and decapitated the turret, separating its axis from the roof, as it vomited impressive orange sparks.
The strafing stopped and, below, the Administrator had seen the image sent by the webcam of the turret disappear, now replaced by a cloud of parasites. He manipulated the joystick uselessly again.
It was then that he saw something fall into the field of view of one of the screens on the wall. Focusing his attention on it, he recognized, nervously, the turret, which had just crashed into the mud. Smoke was still escaping from its barrel.
"Oh, oh ..." Adams murmured, releasing the joystick and slumping heavily in his comfortable seat, swallowing hard.
It was then that the tortured metal sound erupted again from the roof. Turning his head he saw the blade reappear through the slot in the roof. The slot stretched out, while the blade roamed over the roof. He was surprised, it was as if the roof was almost intangible.
Hungry Series: Tomes 1 & 2 Page 26