THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA Chapter 24: CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR They fulfilled their purpose

Read chapter 24 of THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA by JE PAYNE on NovelPedia.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR They fulfilled their purpose Maddie looked over at her sisters. All three wraiths crouched below the edge of the rock, careful not to peek too far over. She cringed at the crunching sound, tears rolling silently down her cheeks as the massive predator, no more than twenty-five feet away, tore one of her squad mates in half and devoured the little rogue. A second predator moved up alongside the first, and the two fought over what was left of the dead wraiths. The monsters had strange jaws. At first, their mouths opened like any other predator’s, but then the sides split apart too, widening until the whole front of the creature’s head stretched into a tooth-lined maw. It looked wrong. The three wraiths and the remainder of their squads had barely managed to escape. One of the creatures had sprayed some kind of bile at Maddie and her squad. It had barely missed her, but when she phased through the stone to escape, her squad mates slammed into the rocky surface behind her, unable to follow, and were quickly torn apart. The monster had a long neck and didn’t appear to have eyes. The creature was black, with iridescent purple and pink webbing across its skin. It stood on two legs and had massive three-clawed hands at the ends of lengthy arms, along with a long whip-like tail. One of the creatures stood upright and turned in their direction. A thin frill of skin flared out from behind its head as it emitted a strange rattling sound. The other creature stopped eating long enough to answer through a series of pops and clicks, its own frill expanding behind its head a moment later. “Don’t move.” A new voice whispered between the girls. Maddie startled when she saw ARi projection crouched behind the rocks with them. ARi looked back at Maddie and slowly shook her head. Then she pointed at the three wraiths and toward a nearby embankment. She wanted them to run. ARi disappeared and reappeared behind the creatures. She reached down, picked up a small rock, and hurled it at the back of one of the monsters’ heads. Both alien predators turned toward her at once. ARi immediately bolted in the opposite direction from the wraiths, and the monsters gave chase. Erica reached over and grabbed Maddie by the arm while Maddie stared at what was left of her squad, sprawled across the ground in pieces and gore. “We have to go!” Erica said. “You can’t help them!” The three wraiths bolted for the embankment, phasing in and out of the rocks as they sprinted back toward the others. The remaining wraiths phased out of the canyon walls and followed. The ground pounded as the creatures chased ARi farther up the canyon. When the wraiths came around a bend in the rocky crevice, they ran past ARi again. This time, she was waiting for them herself. She raised both hands and pulled a massive stone barrier up between them and the monsters. “Girls, get yourselves and the remainder of your squads up to Tonya, right now!” ARi yelled as she strained to keep dragging the stone out of the ground. “Ward, I don’t think that’s going to stop them!” Tony hollered as she ran by. “I know it isn’t going to hold them. Get back onto the constructs now!” As the wraiths climbed the rope ladders that had been dropped from the sides of the constructs, the massive machines were already on the move. The stone barrier ARi had pulled up gave them just enough cover to protect the constructs’ legs as they positioned themselves. All three were side by side now, packed tightly across the width of the canyon opening. The monsters had stopped their pursuit of ARi’s projection and were quickly approaching the barrier from around the bend. The instant they came around the corner, the rapid-fire gas-powered guns and cannons erupted in a storm of fire. Bronze and brass darts tore through the air in a brutal strafe. The creatures flailed and slid unable to shed their momentum, smashing into the canyon wall as the barrage hit them, but even through that storm of fire, one still mana