Read Online Bigfoot War 3: Food Chain by Eric S Brown - Free Book Online Page B

it.”
    “I’m the best there is,” he said without a hint of arrogance or boasting. “Killing the beasts has been my life since I lost you. I can do a lot of good up there.”
    “No,” she told him again, placing a hand on his heart. “I’m your life now. Commander Weger is leading the attack himself. He doesn’t need you there undermining his authority. Besides, if they fail, who’ll be left here to stop the beasts when they come? A handful of soldiers and some militiamen with no real training, who were likely chosen to stay behind for a reason? Your place is here, Wally. Accept it. Stay with me.”
    He gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing she was right, but that fact didn’t make staying any easier. “Okay,” he said at last, standing down. “But if the beasts do make it through . . .”
    “You’ll be in charge. I won’t question your orders and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said with a smile.
    “I love you,” he said, taking her into his arms and pulling her close for a quick kiss.
    Bree beamed up at him, happy about her victory. “I know, you idiot. I love you, too.”
    After a moment, she pulled away. “Come on. All my Wolves are equipped with the best communications gear I could put together for them. We’ll be able to watch the battle from the war room.”
    Wally let her lead him back deeper into The Bunker as the last of the convoy drove up out of the garage into the sunlight above.

    * * *

    Lieutenant Charlie Beckham felt like he should be sweating from the hurried journey and the blazing midday sun above, but the Wolf’s internal cooling systems kept him comfortable and the suit itself did most of the work. All of the Mark I and Mark II Wolves formed a battle line in the center of a wide clearing. The pair of Mark III mechs were invisible, somewhere in the trees, in positions that flanked them on opposite sides of the clearing. Commander Weger wasn’t with them. He had stayed with the soldiers and militiamen half a mile behind at their fallback point. If things went south for Beckham’s unit of mechs , Weger and his men’s position would serve as a rally point with them, providing cover fire for Beckham’s unit to regroup. Of course, if it got that bad, things were likely lost already.
    Each of the Mark I Wolves carried a massive, high-velocity cannon that fired fifty armor-piercing rounds in a single shot at the rate of two such bursts per second. They would be the first to hit the beasts at a distance. The Mark II mechs were armed with rapid-fire rail guns that lacked the Mark I weapon’s range though they were equally as deadly. The Mark III mechs being designed for stealth and closed-in combat would be held in reserve until the beasts reached the firing line. If the beasts got through the staggering amount of firepower raging against them, the Mark III mechs would swoop in, cutting a swathe of carnage through their ranks with their swords and fists to give the other Wolf units a chance to retreat. It was a simple plan, but a good one.
    Beckham’s Mark I lumbered into the center of the line as its sensors informed him the beasts were about to enter the clearing and come into weapons’ range for the Mark I units.
    “Guns up, gentlemen,” he said to those around him. “Let’s give them hell!”
    Beckham’s targeting scope whirred into place atop his Wolf’s right arm as the beasts burst forth from the trees, charging towards him and his squad. He let the suit’s AI pick his targets for him and braced himself for the massive cannon’s recoil. The horde of beasts was so large Beckham wondered if every Sasquatch in the entire south had come for them. He squeezed the cannon’s trigger and the battle began with the earthshaking sonic booms of the combined fire of the Mark I units. Beckham’s burst tore three beasts to shreds in an explosion of bone fragments and gore. The cannons of the other two Mark I mechs thundered in rapid succession alongside his own. Only