Liberty (Flash Gold, #5) by Lindsay Buroker

again. She
scrambled onto the creature’s back, hooking one boot around the
vent. It would be too hot to grab onto—she could feel the heat
radiating through the carapace—and she balanced precariously.
    That didn’t keep her from
locking her wrench around the first bolt she spotted. As she
started unscrewing it, the spider dropped down from the log. First,
it spun its body, firing as it went. Kali hoped Cedar was staying
back, but she couldn’t take the time to look at him. As it was, the
spinning made her stomach want to heave its contents.
    The first bolt came
loose, and she let it fall to the ground as she attacked a second
one, trying to open up one of the panels so she might gain access.
Abruptly, the construct sank to the ground, its legs bending to
their maximum. Before she could guess at its new strategy, it
leaped into the air. Her boot slipped from around the vent pipe,
and she was almost thrown off like a cowboy on a bucking bronco.
She tried to straddle the creature, ignoring the heat burning
through her trousers, and gripping it with her knees. But it was
only her grip on the wrench, and its grip on a bolt, that kept her
from flying off.
    As the creature leaped
around the log like a drunken rabbit, she moved onto a third bolt.
She almost had it off when the right-side legs went down as the
left-side legs thrust upward. In a feat she wouldn’t have guessed
possible, the spider rolled.
    Kali squawked with
surprise and leaped away, just avoiding being crushed. Hope sparked
momentarily as she imagined the spider getting stuck on its back,
but it completed its roll by springing up onto its legs again. The
gun barrels rotated toward Kali. Like a tenacious dog in a pit
fight, she leaped atop it again before those weapons could target
her. Once more, she attacked the third bolt.
    The construct’s guns
fired, and she glimpsed Cedar ducking behind a tree. Somewhere, he
had found an axe. That might do more damage to the spider than the
bullets—
if
she could get this panel open. Kali pried at
the edge as she worked on the fourth bolt.
    With a great squealing of
metal, the panel came free. Kali flung it away, peering inside and
trying to identify something critical. Before she formulated a plan
of attack, Cedar sprinted over, the axe raised overhead. Even
though she trusted his aim, it was an alarming sight, and she
lurched backward, falling off the carapace.
    Cedar slammed the axe
into the creature’s innards. Bolts, springs, and bits of metal and
wire flew like shrapnel released from one of her smoke nuts.
    Kali jumped to her feet,
expecting the spider to spin toward him—or her—and continue firing.
But Cedar was relentless, bashing the heavy blade into its
workings. The construct clanked and jittered, trying to walk and
spitting black smoke into his face, but under the assault, it
eventually stopped moving. The legs shuddered, then bent, and the
spider collapsed.
    Cedar slammed the axe
down several more times before stopping. He took a few deep breaths
as he leaned the tool on the log, then proceeded to lean on it
himself for support.
    “What you lack in
finesse, you make up for in vigor,” Kali informed him.
    “My vigor
is
legendary. Are you all right?”
    “I think so.” Kali
plucked her wrench out of the grass, where it lay among dozens, if
not hundreds of pieces that had flown out of the machine. “Are
you?” She looked toward the leg he had seemed to be favoring
before.
    “Mostly.” Cedar rolled up
his trouser leg to reveal an ugly cut that wrapped around his calf
and shin. “While I was patting myself on the back for avoiding one
trap, I stepped into another. Want some advice? Don’t walk close to
the trees next to the cabin, and definitely don’t walk under any
nets.”
    “I didn’t do any of those
things, and I still got attacked by a giant spider.” Kali eyed the
broken construct, wondering why it had so determinedly come after
her, even after Cedar had started shooting at it. Was it