We had a chance, but the fight wasn't over yet. There was still no reasonable chance of fleeing and getting everyone out alive, and if we'd learned anything since coming together, it was that you don't leave your comrades. The centipede was tapping its way toward me, the spur dripping acid, as though it couldn't wait to blast me into a sizzling puddle. I lined up my revolver again, knowing we wouldn't be able to move Tex before it got to us. If I was lucky, another shot could cripple the other antenna, and maybe give us enough time to get away.
Once again, I ran my marksmanship drills through my head as it the head bobbed steadily closer to me, and the uninjured antenna flicked across the rocks and broken terrain trying to find me. When I squeezed the trigger, I knew the shot was true. The shot was true, but luck was against me. The monster jinked its massive head 6 inches to the right, and the bullet tore a hole into the carapace, but not close enough to injure the antenna. At that moment, the antenna lashed out and caught my arm, and I knew we were dead. It oriented the spur on me, and I raised my second gun to unleash hell before it got me.
Then Chasity screamed again, this time a sound of defiant fury, and as she did, she cut loose with the submachinegun in three buzzsaw bursts. The centipede screamed as the bullets tore into the carapace all around the uninjured antenna, and the final burst tore it completely off. The spur erupted with acid and I turned and threw myself atop Tex, hoping that Doc would find some sort of cover.
15 October 2012
02 October 2012
Unchosen 28
Everything I'd ever learned about marksmanship flowed through my mind as I sighted down the length of the barrel. Breathing, steady and slow, wait for the natural pause. Trigger squeeze, tip of the finger, not the bend, smooth squeeze, don't pull. Sight picture, the base of the antenna squarely framed by the rear notch, bisected by the sight post. My hand had never seemed so steady, so sure. Everything slowed to a crawl, and as the breath left me, I paused for a split second and took up the slack on the trigger.
That old revolver roared in my ears, but my eyes never left the target. I knew the shot would go true, but I didn't know if it would be enough. As the bullet ripped through the chitin and into the joint, there was an explosion of clear, viscous liquid, and the monster screamed again, but the antenna didn't go flying off like I'd hoped. The centipede turned, orienting on me, and the antennae lashed out toward me.
It was only then, after beginning to think that I'd failed and doomed us all, that I saw how that antenna flailed wildly, no longer tapping with the same precision as the blind beast tried to find me. I hadn't taken the antenna off, but I had crippled it. We had a chance.
That old revolver roared in my ears, but my eyes never left the target. I knew the shot would go true, but I didn't know if it would be enough. As the bullet ripped through the chitin and into the joint, there was an explosion of clear, viscous liquid, and the monster screamed again, but the antenna didn't go flying off like I'd hoped. The centipede turned, orienting on me, and the antennae lashed out toward me.
It was only then, after beginning to think that I'd failed and doomed us all, that I saw how that antenna flailed wildly, no longer tapping with the same precision as the blind beast tried to find me. I hadn't taken the antenna off, but I had crippled it. We had a chance.
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