Free Web NovelChapter 273: Chapter 272 - Open The Gate
"It’s coming."
Marybeth pushed up before Lance could stop her.
Arnulf caught the back of her jacket and dragged her down behind the trees. "Stay low."
"It’s going to reach them."
"Stay low," he said again, harder. But his eyes wavered.
Harry and Bert stood near the closed fort gate, both bent forward and fighting for air. Harry still had his rifle, but the shotgun was gone somewhere in the dust and broken stone behind him. Bert had one hand pressed to his ribs, his face twisted as he looked from the gate to the thing coming at them.
The tank did not pick anything up.
It did not throw. freёwebnoѵel.com
It lowered itself instead, hands spread against the pavement, head fixed on Harry and Bert like the guards behind it no longer existed. Bullets struck its back, shoulders, and legs. It flinched once, then ignored the gunfire and ran.
"Harry!" Tilly shouted.
Chanse clamped a hand over her mouth and pulled her lower behind the trees.
Harry saw the tank move and shoved Bert toward the side. "Go!"
Bert stumbled. His boot slipped on loose gravel, and he almost went down. He caught himself with one hand against the gate post and looked toward the trees where Marybeth and the others were hidden.
"Stay there!" he shouted, voice breaking. "Don’t come out!"
The tank hit the road hard. Each step shook dust loose from the gatehouse. Harry ran left. Bert ran right, but his body was already failing him. His steps were too short. His breathing was too loud. Fear had stripped the strength out of his legs.
The guards near the fort finally broke formation.
"Move up!"
"Keep it off the gate!"
"Fire!"
A line of soldiers advanced from the wall and outer road. Rifles cracked together. One guard dropped to one knee with a heavier weapon and fired into the tank’s side. The shot tore through its ribs and made it twist toward them.
For one second, Marybeth thought it would turn.
Harry fired his rifle.
The tank’s head snapped back toward him. Its eyes tightened, and it lunged.
Harry threw himself behind a concrete divider as its hand smashed through the space where his body had been. The divider shattered. Harry rolled hard across the pavement, lost his footing, and came up with the rifle still in both hands.
Bert ran back for him.
"Bert, no," Lance whispered.
Bert reached Harry and grabbed the back of his vest. "Move! Move!"
Harry stumbled up, but the tank was already there. Bert tried to pull him clear, then his boot slid on broken concrete. His legs went out from under him.
"Harry!"
The shout cracked out of him, raw and afraid.
Harry turned and fired into the tank’s face. One shot. Then another. The rounds struck close to its eye, and it flinched hard enough for Harry to grab Bert’s arm.
Bert scrambled backward on his elbows, boots scraping uselessly against the pavement.
The tank’s hand swept in.
Harry dropped flat.
Bert did not move fast enough.
It caught him around the body and lifted him off the ground.
"Bert!" Archie shouted.
Arnulf grabbed Archie before he could rush out. "No."
Bert kicked hard. Both hands clawed at the thick fingers locked around his ribs. "Harry! Harry, shoot it!"
Harry fired again and again. The rifle cracked until the sound blended with the alarm and the guards shouting from the wall.
The tank raised Bert higher. It turned him in its grip, mouth opening.
Marybeth moved.
Lance caught her arm. "Marybeth."
She ripped free and stepped out from behind the tree.
"Hey!"
The tank’s head turned.
Marybeth raised the shotgun she had taken from the dead perimeter guard and fired.
The blast hit the side of its face and tore flesh from its jaw. Its head snapped sideways. Its grip loosened.
Bert fell.
Harry lunged under him and caught him badly. Both of them hit the pavement near the gate, Bert coughing and shaking so hard he could barely roll over.
"Move!" Marybeth shouted.
The tank looked at her.
Everything inside her went cold.
It had seen them.
Aljun grabbed Lance and dragged him deeper behind the low wall. Chanse pulled Tilly down. Archie raised his pistol with his good hand, but Arnulf shoved the barrel lower.
"Do not fire unless it comes through."
"It is coming through," Aljun snapped.
The tank stepped toward the trees.
Then the wall guns opened.
The sound hit harder than the rifles. A mounted gun from inside the fort hammered into the tank’s back, driving it forward half a step. Another weapon fired from above the gatehouse and tore into the side of its neck.
The tank stopped.
Its head turned slowly toward the wall.
Guards shouted from inside the fort.
"Keep firing!" freeweɓnovel.cøm
"Push it back!"
"Do not open the gate!"
The mounted gun fired again.
The tank hunched under the hits. Its shoulders pulled tight. Its hands flexed against the road. For a second, the bullets seemed to force it down.
Then it roared.
The sound slammed across the road and shook the trees. Marybeth ducked without meaning to. Lance grabbed her waist and pulled her back behind the low wall as another burst from the mounted gun tore into the tank’s shoulder.
It turned away from Harry and Bert.
It faced the gate.
The guards kept firing.
The tank charged.
"Down!" Arnulf shouted.
Marybeth hit the ground beside Lance as the tank slammed its full body into the closed gate.
Metal folded inward. The gatehouse window exploded. A guard vanished behind the impact. The chain snapped with a hard crack, and one hinge tore loose from the stone. The gate bent open under the weight of the tank’s body.
Dust burst over the road.
For one moment, no one moved.
Then the tank pushed itself upright inside the broken entrance.
The fort gate was open.
Harry crawled toward the trees with Bert dragging beside him. Marybeth lifted her head, ears ringing, shotgun still tight in both hands.
Arnulf stared at the broken gate.
Then he looked at them.
"Run."
