Parasites Read Online Free Page B

the people within it. Jeremy felt Synnamon grab his arm but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from the monster.
    “Godzilla,” Jeremy muttered, remembering the latest in a string of monster vid remakes that had originated on Earth.
    “What?” Synnamon asked.
    “Light it up Marines!” Sergeant Whiskers shouted, then led the charge by aiming down the barrel of the collector’s item he called a weapon. It was a Century Arms magnetic accelerator rifle. Jeremy had no idea what the specs were on it, but he’d heard Fiona talk about it once and she’d sounded like she admired it.
    Godzilla, as Jeremy had dubbed it, roared again. Fresh tufts of fur or feathers or whatever it possessed burst free or burned up in puffs of smoke. Grenades rolled in or bounced off of it, detonating with either subsonic concussive effect or the intense kinetic energy of a incendiary blast. It smashed one of the pillars aside with an arm, then kicked in the physical layer of the wall that rose to a height of four feet.
    “Run!” Jeremy said in a whisper. He felt almost afraid that speaking loudly would draw the monsters attention, ludicrous as it sounded. The explosions and sounds of men fighting and, occasionally, dying, was far louder than anything he could have done. He turned and grabbed Synnamon’s hand, then pulled her after him as he ran.
    “Where are we going?” She yelled loud enough for him to hear her.
    “Anywhere!” He said. “I don’t know, just not here!” Ahead of them others had the same idea, all of them civilians. Only Dr. Bronislav stood still as he watched the butchery unfold.
    “There’s nothing that way but the ocean!” Dr. Rice said, yanking her arm out of his hand. “We can’t go that way, we’ll be trapped!”
    He stopped beside her and looked back. For a moment his heart leapt into his throat. The creature had taken a step to the side and fallen. It rose up a moment later screaming in outrage. It wasn’t defeated, it had only tripped over one of the powered carts they used for excursions outside the outpost. Now the cart was crushed beyond repair and the goliath was limping, but that only seemed to make it more furious.
    “Supplies!” Jeremy said, then he yanked Synnamon after him as he ran to the main building of the outpost. Behind them the beast roared again, adding an extra spring to their step.
    “I don’t think we’ve got time!”
    Jeremy glanced again and saw that it was moving again — and heading right towards them and the building he’d wanted to enter.
    He hesitated a moment longer, cursing as the creature bore down on them. Synnamon yanked her wrist free of his hand then grabbed on to his arm and pulled at him. “Now! Come on!”
    He let her pull him away.
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
    Jeremy felt the lump in his throat as they ran. The very ground thundered under the feet as the creature bore down on them. He couldn’t make himself look back, once he’d given in to running he was positive that the beast was bearing down on him and death was only seconds away.
    The seconds stretched out and turned into minutes. Distantly he heard a crashing noise. Synnamon slowed but he pulled her with him, continuing to run. It wasn’t until they’d crossed the chest high grasses of the plain to where the grasses turned to shrubs and trees. Beyond the trees hills rose and turned into a ridge of small mountains. On the other side of those mountains the scans had shown signs of the wreckage of the other human ship or ships. To Jeremy’s knowledge, no easy path had yet been found through the mountains.
    “Jeremy, stop!” Synnamon finally pulled her arm free and stumbled as she slowed. Her foot caught on something and she fell, grunting as she did so.
    He took several paces until her realized what had happened. Turning nervously, he saw the Vitallian dinosaur was still in the base, wreaking havoc as it smashed buildings and hunted down the remaining humans. He wondered, briefly, if Fiona