Dakota watched with a mixture of fascination and horror as the first scavengers topped a rise, waving clubs and looking like a tsunami of oil pouring over the landscape, coating it with its filth and poison. A few seconds later, the sounds of their inhuman howls and shrieks washed over them. A chill ran over Dakota’s skin as their war cries grew louder.
“Major?” Colonel Welch said casually to the man next to him. The major aimed a laser weapon in the direction of the hoard.
“Just one more second, sir.” An instant later a thin beam of bluish-green light out of the barrel pierced the air, hitting its target several hundred meters away, a ion grenade Dakota brought from Dallas, right in front of the onslaught.
It exploded with a blinding white flash, incinerating dozens of scavengers, hurl
