[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.As soon as they were in the tunnel, they began to run again, weaving in andout amongst the light crowd.There was a two-meter wide walkway on the northwall with a meter-and-a-half drop down to the railbed.About a hundred metersinside the entrance there was a door on the wall with an "exit" sign."Take that?" Cady asked."Clear enough in here," Shane said."I've been on this thing, I know where itgoes.But there's a spot up here about five or ten miles on where we'll haveto do some climbing.Some sort of big cavern."They saved their breath for running the rest of the way.They were among thePage 109 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlfew who were steadily running.Most of the rest looked as if they'd run as faras they could and now were just grimly determined to walk the rest of the way.But about a mile into the run, Shane heard the rapid pad of feet behind himand a man in running clothes passed them at a good clip.He was shorter thaneither of them, but he had long easy strides and easily outstripped them,disappearing back into the crowd ahead."Marathoner," was all Cady said."I never thought the Army running program would come in this handy," Shanereplied.Cady just grunted.Shane had gotten well into the rhythm of the run.He was feeling good aboutthat if nothing else; there was a mind numbing pleasure to just running.Butdodging the people around them, young, old, male, female, mothers carryingtheir children, was a pain in more ways than one.Shane had seen civilizationend in less than an hour.And even if these people made it to England, theChannel wasn't going to stop this invasion.Nothing would.Most of the peoplehe saw around him were going to die.Of starvation.Of exposure.Of disease.At each other's hands.The fabric of society was going to crumble and with iteverything that had kept these shocked people alive in a technological womb.The law of the jungle was here again and probably here to stay.Unlesssomebody, and he knew which somebodys he was thinking of, could figure out away to win.At the moment, he didn't see one.But that was what the eggheads were for.All he wanted to do was get back to the States and dump it on them.Strykersand Abrams clearly weren't going to win this one.As they got deeper into the tunnel they began to see vast condensation-coveredpipes lining the walls, which radiated cold.Shane glanced at them and then atCady and shrugged.He wasn't sure, but he thought they probably went throughto the ocean high above.The pipes were steel and the concrete in the wallsmost undoubtedly had steel rebar in them.That was all he needed to know.They passed through the French crossover tunnel, which was a bit of a pain,though uneventful.They had to hop over the train rails of the scissorscrossing at the crossover point, which slowed their pace.The slowing of their pace and the widening of the crossover cavern allowed thefew runners who were still pushing through to spread out a bit.It also gaveGries and Cady the opportunity to isolate themselves a bit from some of theother runners.Not that they did not want to help, but their mission was moreimportant on the scale of helping humanity survive as opposed to helping a fewhumans survive.Shortly after they'd gotten back into the rhythm of running, they began to seethe first signs of organization since the battalion had been wiped out.Agroup of English soldiers in camouflage dress were clustered around one of thepipes, rigging it with explosives.The group of sappers were surrounded byguards who directed the hurrying refugees into the exit doors rather than letthem continue down the walkway.Shane and Cady slowed to a walk as they approached the soldiers and held uptheir hands as they walked forward."Please enter the car, sir," a British private said politely, gesturing at theopen door."Buses are being shuttled down to ""Bad idea," Shane said."Private, I'm Major Gries with the Neighborhood Watchorganization.I need to talk to your officer right GOD damned now.""Sir, we're supposed to.""I said right now, Private," Shane snapped."Yes, sir," the soldier replied unhappily."Sergeant!"* * *"Leftenant Porter," the lieutenant in charge of the demolition squad said,saluting the disheveledPage 110 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlAmerican major in ripped uniform and pink and blue running shoes."RoyalSappers.Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir, but.""We don't have time, Leftenant," Shane said, saluting in return."Do you havecommo to higher?""Yes, sir, there's a phone.""Get me to it," Shane said."And get ready to pull out.You do not want to behere even as we speak."* * *"Lieutenant Colonel Forsythe, Royal Engineers.To whom am I speaking?""Colonel, this is Major Shane Gries, Neighborhood Watch," Shane said, sighingto finally be in contact."Sir, you need to pull out your demo squads, rightnow, sir.We were present for the assault on the Stryker battalion asobservers.If we don't make it, please immediately inform the NeighborhoodWatch group that the probes simply eat formed metal and then reproduce
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]