Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 225
probed the ground ahead of itself as it moved. She realized
suddenly that this thing might be able to smell her out from the
radio waves, and her scalp crawled with sudden fear. She had
been about to contact Axel. Its cables continued to unravel and
lengthen, and some were heading towards her.
With a terrible rending crash, one wall of the manor fell
outward. Calandria screamed as the air around her was filled
with flying stone. At least ten people had been hurrying across
the patch of ground the wall had hit.
She stood back and cupped her hands around her mouth.
."Axel!" Twenty meters away, a gleaming metal snake reared
into the air, its mandibled tip quivering. It slid deliberately in
her direction.
A hand fell on her shoulder. It was Axel, coughing and
covered head to foot in blood and grey dust.
"You’re hurt!" She gingerly peeled his sticky shirt aside.
"It’s superficial. You look a bit rough yourself. You
okay?" he said.
"So far. Look at that!" She pointed at the questing
snake.
He glanced at it briefly. "Yeah. Let’s get out of here."
"Which way?"
"We need our supplies. Where’s your stuff?"
"August’s got it. He’s... well, we got separated. How
about yours?"
Axel pointed wordlessly at the heap of rubble even now
being picked through by metal scavengers.
"Inside!" She went to grab his arm, and thought better of
it; she didn’t know where all his wounds were. "Oh, Axel,
what happened?" She gestured for him to follow her up the
pillared steps. The snakelike thing was only a few meters away
now.