torg 01 - Storm Knights Read Online Free

entire mass of creatures rocked back on their long tails, excitedly gyrating their lizard bodies and chanting a hissing, raspy hymn.
    They seemed to be celebrating. The lizards were having a party, for God's sake!
    Alder moved away from the window and backed into the darkened room. He was in an office, somewhere on the sixth floor of a building overlooking the tramway. He remembered when they put the tram up. It must have been over ten years ago, when Alder was still in high school. It was such a big deal then, a fancy cable car to connect Manhattan with Roosevelt Island. He even remembered riding it back then, waiting on line with the others just to travel back and forth to a little island between two boroughs. But that was the old world. Alder didn't understand what was happening now, but he was sure that the old world was over, its items put away for another time.
    He settled down on the floor, his back against the wall so that he could watch the door. The police officer was lucky to make it into Manhattan ahead of the dinosaurs. They moved fast for big creatures, quickly spreading out from Shea. He would have made it farther if his horse hadn't gone lame on him.
    Poor Simone saved his life back in Queens, galloping away from the jungle bridge while Alder merely watched in dread and fascination. But he had to leave her on the 59th Street Bridge after her hoof caught in a broken patch of grating. The horse went down hard, and he was lucky to escape without further injury to his knee.
    He unconsciously rubbed it as he remembered, trying to force the pain away with his hand.
    It was starting to get dark by that time, and he was wet and miserable from the constant rain. It was either find a place to hole up or try to make it through the dark on foot, with the dinosaurs right behind him.
    He decided to hole up.
    This building was perfect. It was apparently empty when he arrived, and he had found no evidence of occupation since. Also, it overlooked the bridge. Alder figured it would be prudent to watch the monsters and try to find out all he could about them. His survival might depend on such information.
    A quick check revealed that he still had his utility belt and its accouterments, including his service revolver, flashlight and nightstick. His watch, a black Seiko with gold hatch marks, told him it was ten minutes to seven. He tried his walkie talkie again, but all that came over the speaker was static. He let the box drop to the floor and tipped his head back. In moments he was nodding off, sleep finally claiming his tired body and mind.
    But a new sound forced his eyes open. He quickly became alert and listened. The chanting outside had changed. It was more excited than before, if possible, more intense.
    Alder crawled back to the window and peered outside. It was darker now, and the rain made it even harder to see, but there was light down in the alien camp. Glowing balls of fire hung in the air throughout the camp, providing enough light to see by.
    The camp had grown. Now giant starfish floated over the crowd. The creatures were strikingly beautiful, as though made of stained glass, and the light caused them to sparkle as they moved. In addition, humans were now part of the camp, singing and gyrating with the lizards as though they belonged to the alien festivities. What few details he could make out startled the police officer. The people appeared more brutal, more . primitive, than your average New Yorker. What clothing they still possessed was in tatters, plastered to their bodies by grime and rain. Alder watched, and for a moment he almost wanted to go down there, to throw off the chains of civilization and run naked through the rain. He had to concentrate to push the image out of his brain.
    Suddenly the crowd parted to allow a new addition to emerge from the bridge. It was the great one-horned beast Alder had seen earler, and atop it was the huge lizard man who seemed to command these masses. The lizard man raised