THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA Chapter 4: CHAPTER FOUR- Every human on this world will die

Read chapter 4 of THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA by JE PAYNE on NovelPedia.

CHAPTER FOUR ROSLYN RESEARCH FACILITY: The Lab Day 1 . Roslyn stepped back through the stone barrier into the lab and pulled her hood down. "There are nine of them out there, and they've brought a construct with them," she said. "It looks bipedal and has some kind of beam weapon. The stupid thing tried to cut me in half. I could use some help out there." Maddie and Erica both turned and looked at me with pleading eyes. "Fine," I said. "But I want one of them alive when this is over." Maddie looked up at Roslyn. "Can you turn off the lights?" "I can turn off the lights in the corridor," Roslyn said, "but the emergency strips are on their own circuit, and I can't stop them from flashing." Maddie looked at Erica with a huge impish grin, reattached her faceplate, and the two of them turned and faded into the wall. Roslyn smiled at us and then turned and walked her projection through the barrier. "All right, which one of you assholes wants to get fucked up by a girl?" She threw the lab doors open, and the corridor erupted. Automatic gunfire tore through her projection and slammed into the walls of the laboratory and into the stone barrier. She walked into the fire. The overhead lights died. The emergency strips kicked on and bathed the corridor in a thick red glow before fading out. When the emergency strips pulsed back on, Roslyn was already gone. The militants had spread themselves in a loose crescent outside the lab doors, backs to the far wall, weapons up. The construct stood out in front of them, its beam weapon trained on the stone barrier. They were calling out to each other in low, clipped exchanges, waiting for something to show itself. The lights went out. When they came back, Erica was already there on the far left. One hand on a militant's shoulder, the other drove her kris dagger up under his chin and into his palate before he could make a sound. The lights went out and when they came back, she was gone. He stood there, both hands pressed up against the wound, blood gushing between his fingers. He turned to the man next to him with wide eyes as the lights went out again. When they came back seconds later, he was gone. "Reeves!" The other intruder stumbled backward and opened up on the nearest shadow. Every weapon in the corridor started to fire. Muzzle flashes strobed through the red and dark as rounds tore into the walls and sparked off the concrete floor. Ricochets screamed off the stone barrier and chewed into the ceiling. "What the fuck was that?" somebody screamed over the gunfire. "Where did it go? Where the fuck did it go!" "Cease fire! Cease fire, goddammit, check your fire!" The lights went out. In the darkness came a sound like a dozen small mechanisms firing in rapid succession. Sharp little cracks of compressed springs releasing one after another. When they came back on, two of the militants stood bristling with darts embedded across their faces and necks, mouths open in silent screams. Black veins spread out from each impact site across their skin like cracks in dry earth. The lights went out again. In the darkness came the heavy, rhythmic pounding of the construct. Its articulated legs hammered the corridor floor as it marched toward the stone barrier. The beam weapon fired. The corridor flooded with blinding, strobing white as it cut into the stone at point-blank range. Out of the chaos in the corridor, Maddie ran into the lab and up the construct's back in one fluid motion. Her movement was silent and fast as her daggers found gaps in its armor. She drove the blades deep as she climbed. She stabbed into a joint near the shoulder, and frustration crept into her voice as she worked. "Why won't you—" The construct's arm came around hard and launched her across the lab. She hit the floor, sliding across the room and into the wall. The beam weapon pivoted toward her. It dragged a burning line across the lab wall as it swung down, blasting through the wall and into the corridor beyond. Maddie scrambled, but