Today's Reading
Crack. Crack. Crack. Three more drones either fell from the sky or fluttered erratically off to the side.
Bullets were impacting the armored rear and back window of the tactical vehicle. Kayl felt it lurch as something important took a hit. Looking ahead and around, he saw security forces and vehicles gathering at the exits. The perimeter fence was too high and too strong to punch through. "We can't get out on the ground!"
"Find something that can fly!" Selene yelled back. She steadied her aim again, dropping a drone that was about to fire a missile into their vehicle.
Owen spotted an aircraft idling among the rows of parked jump craft. Swinging the vehicle around so hard it tilted dangerously up on one side, he aimed for the aircraft, skidding the vehicle to a halt next to it.
The pilot was frantically running through takeoff preps when Owen ran toward her. She paused to haul out a pistol, but before she could bring it to bear, Selene hit her and, with one swift motion, popped the pilot's seat harness and tossed her onto the field.
Owen jumped into the aircraft, seeing drones and security vehicles swarming toward them. "Hang on!"
The aircraft's engines screamed in protest as he yanked the bird into the air, bullets pattering off the armored sides. Swinging it about, Owen shot down the field, keeping low, jerking the bird from side to side.
As they cleared the perimeter fence, guards and sentry bots firing up at the bottom of the aircraft, Owen felt the aircraft jolt alarmingly as something large hit it. Danger lights all over the controls were blinking like a Christmas display.
Selene shot again, taking out another drone zooming toward them from the side. "We're on fire."
"Where?" Owen called.
"Looks like the entire back of the bird. The good news is, we're putting out so much smoke they can't see to target us visually."
"You can swim, right?" Owen asked as he angled the crippled bird along a watercourse.
"Of course I can swim. We're still pretty close to the spaceport to be abandoning this bird."
"Selene," Owen said, feeling the controls grow increasingly sluggish and stiff, "we either abandon it soon or we ride it down, crash, burn, and die."
He took the risk of going lower despite the aircraft's wavering flight. Glancing back, he saw smoke billowing out from the rear of the bird. "Stand by to jump."
Selene put down the rifle. "I'll go out my side when you go out yours."
"I'm not the one who comes up with suicidal plans," Owen said. He hastily entered some flight instructions into the autopilot. He wouldn't have to tell the autopilot to jink along the flight path since the controls were badly enough damaged that the aircraft could no longer hold a straight course.
A stream flashed by below, a larger watercourse visible ahead. A river?
The Atlantic? The Chesapeake Bay? No time to look. "Stand by. Go!" Owen rolled out of his side as Selene did the same on hers.
He hit the water, went under, and stayed under as long as he could, able to see dark shapes flashing by overhead as a swarm of drones pursued the crippled aircraft, followed by a few larger shapes as other aircraft raced past.
Finally, unable to hold his breath any longer, Owen went to the surface and gasped in air. He didn't need to fight to keep from floating too high since his clothing was trying to drag him down.
Someone grabbed him and started towing him toward the shore.
Owen and Selene stumbled out of the water, scrambling into the high grass near the swampy shoreline before collapsing to the ground, both breathing heavily.
"Can I swim?" Selene finally got enough air to gasp. "I should've asked you that."
Kayl saw a wavering track of smoke marking the path of their former aircraft. He heard the distant whomp of an explosion in the same direction the smoke led. "There went our bird. Hopefully they think we're still in it."
"As soon as they get a bot on-site, they can send it in even if the wrecked bird is still burning and tell we're not inside," Selene said. "Where the hell are we?"
"I have no idea. Which direction were we going?" Owen tasted the water on his lips. "Salt. We're on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Or the Atlantic."
Selene raised herself cautiously to look around. "Which direction is that from Wallops?"
"South. East. West. And north."
...
