The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(74)

It was time.

Immediately Carter started the loader blocking the door on the ruined hallway. It groaned to life, then its long arms retracted from the doors and curled into their stationary position. With a satisfied grin, Carter drove toward the next door where Ramirez waited in the driver’s seat, her fingers nervously tapping on the controls while other soldiers provided cover. Carter edged up behind one of the ruined storage units and a Sci-tech ejected the container. The damaged container slid out of the tall blue cylinder and Carter expertly extended the mechanical arms of the loader to fully extract it.

“How long before they awaken?” Torran asked over the comm.

“According to Vanguard Martinez, it will be within a minute,” Lindsey answered.

The woman he loved and feared for was on the other side of the room, watching Evins maneuvering one of the faulty containers into position. Meanwhile, Yates waited with her loader in front of the door hiding the mass of Scrags. The tension in the air was palatable. Everyone was staring at the doors, waiting for a sign that the Scrags had awakened.

The loader Carter was driving swiveled about toward the door where Ramirez waited to move her loader. The engine revved louder as Carter put some speed into it, expertly weaving around the other storage units. Even over the rumbling engine, Torran heard the exact moment the Scrags awakened.

The terrifying screech of the Inferi Scourge emanated from behind the closed doors seconds before they shook violently under the onslaught of the undead.



*



“They’re awake,” Lindsey said, her voice catching in her throat.

The doors keeping out the Scrags shuddered under the intensity of their attack. Every muscle in her body tightened in anticipation of battle as she directed Evins toward the quaking doors. Yates started up her loader, but didn’t retract the arms yet. Checking on the progress across the room, Lindsey witnessed Carter scooting the large container into place as Ramirez slowly edged the loader away, while keeping the arms in place against the doors. Though the two people had never practiced such a maneuver, they were doing a great job with the very difficult dance.

Meanwhile, the Sci-Techs clustered in the center of the room away from the potential hot spots. They weren’t soldiers, and though they’d been taught to fire their weapons, it was best to keep them from the potential fray. The curtain over the doorway began to flutter wildly as the transports and tiltrotor descended. The roar of the aircraft landing blocked out nearly all other sound. When the curtain was abruptly torn from its fastenings and snapped away by the wind, Lindsey saw the underside of one of the transports come into view.

“I need those doors blocked now!” the chief defender ordered.

Ramirez retracted the arms on her loader as Carter finished setting the large storage container in place. The doors continued to quake, but did not give way to the attack on the other side.

Torran whipped around and gave Lindsey the all-clear signal.

Turning her gaze to Evins and Yates, Lindsey’s breath caught in her throat. The hinges on the left door were popping out of the wall under the ferocious assault of the Scrags.

Outside, the transport set down. Carter and Ramirez were already extracting food units while other soldiers kept watch over the shuddering doors. Dr. Curran and the Sci-Techs rushed outside to the waiting tiltrotor, their jobs completed.

“They’re getting through,” Yates exclaimed. “The door is coming off the wall!”

“Abandon the loader,” the chief defender ordered. “We’ll make do with what we have.”

“I suggest we put the container Evins is carting against the loader,” Lindsey said, her voice a bit breathless.

Yates jumped off the loader and dragged her weapon upward just as the door on the left side popped its top hinge entirely. Only the bottom hinge was still holding onto the wall and the top of the door slanted outward. The desperate clawing hands of the Scrags shoved through the opening.

The first freight pallet arrived inside the storage room, driven by one of the crew members of the transport. Each food unit was to be placed on the pallet and then moved into the cargo transport.

“Evins, drop the container where you are and start loading now!” the chief defender ordered. “Rooney, take care of that doorway. MacDonald, get those pallets loaded!”

Signaling her group, Lindsey ran toward the doorway. Hobbes and Franklin fell into step behind her along with a few others. Yates stood at the ready, feet planted apart, her weapon aiming at the slowly expanding gap at the top of the door. In a perfectly choreographed ballet, the other loaders rushed to pack the freight pallet.

The door bent under the assault of the Inferi Scourge. Lindsey knew that the bottom hinge would give away at any moment. How many Scrags had been in the hallway?

“Pallet is ready,” Torran said briskly.

The information on her helmet updated as the pallet retracted onto the loading platform and another took its place. Twelve food units down. Forty to go. They didn’t have enough time to retrieve all of them.

“I’m moving the arm,” Lindsey said before she realized she had formulated a plan. “Cover me!”

Running to the loader, Lindsey ignored the buckling doorway. In another few seconds the Scrags would be able to scramble over the top of the toppling door. Jumping into the seat of the loader, Lindsey scanned the controls. They were basic, but the arms were a little more complicated than she anticipated. Starting up the loader, she seized the arm adjusters. The clawed ends of the arms were pressed to the middle section of the doors, allowing the upper half to bend outward. Lindsey hesitated, realizing that if she miscalculated, the Scrags would topple the doors and she’d be caught in their onrush into the storage area.