Resistance The Gathering Storm

by DIETZ, WILLIAM C.

• ISBN13: 9780345508423
• ISBN10: 0345508424
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-28
• Publisher: Del Rey

Summary

Great Britain. July 1951. Three years ago, Russia went dark. Nothing got in. Nothing got out. The world assumed it was political strife. But it was the Chimera: voracious extraterrestrial invaders. And in December 1949, they burst across the Russian border and poured into Europe. The luckiest humans died. The less fortunate succumbed to an alien virusand changed. Within a year, most of Europe had fallen. Only Great Britain, after struggling desperately, had kept the conquerors at bay. But as the Chimera were repelled, they were evolving. Building. Planning. America. November 1952. The Chimera have crossed the Atlantic. Their lightning strikes on American borders are devastating. Cities are lost. Small towns overrun. Citizens transformed into monstrosities. Enter Lieutenant Nathan Hale, U.S. Ranger. A veteran of the Chimeran conflict, he is uniquely immune to the alien virus. And when regular troops can't stem the Chimeran onslaught, Hale and his special-operations team meet the menace head-on. But while they battle the relentless Chimera, deadly power games rage in the White House. And when Hale discovers a far-reaching conspiracy, one with deadly consequences for the human race, his allegiance to country and mankind is stretched to the breaking point. From the Paperback edition.

Author Biography

William C. Dietz is the bestselling author of HALO: The Flood and Hitman: Enemy Within, plus thirty other science fiction novels, some of which have been translated into German, Russian, and Japanese. He grew up in the Seattle area, served as a medic with the navy and the Marine Corps, and graduated from the University of Washington. Dietz worked as a surgical technician, news writer, college instructor, television producer, and director of public relations for an international telephone company prior to embarking on a full-time writing career.

Excerpts

Chapter One
Hide And Seek


South of Huron, South Dakota
Thursday November 15, 1951

The snow-clad hill didn’t look like much, but the granite that lay just a few feet below the topsoil had been strong enough to hold its own against a retreating glacier thousands of years before, and was likely to be there for millennia to come. But to the men hidden on top of the snowy rise, the hill’s durability was less significant than the vantage point it provided–their current position enabling them to watch enemy troop movements, and, God willing, ably defend themselves if attacked.

The current temperature was at least ten degrees lower than normal, a grim reminder of the ever-growing Chimeran threat now facing humanity. The alien race had somehow altered Earth’s atmosphere, and now Lieutenant Nathan Hale’s breath fogged the air as he lay on his belly, training a pair of binoculars on the highway below. He wore a winter white parka and matching pants over a wool uniform and thermal underwear, and despite all this he wasstillcold.

Hale ignored his discomfort as he studied the scene in front of him.

He remembered with longing the white ribbon of road as the one that he and his family had traveled each year on their way to the South Dakota State Fair in Huron. Even though he’d been back in the United States for months, Hale hadn’t been allowed to contact his foster parents or his sister. Had they fled south into Nebraska, or remained on the ranch? Three generations of his family had weathered the elements, the economy, and the land itself, but the invasion would be too much, even for them.

If still on the ranch they were in terrible danger. Having conquered most of Asia and Europe, the Chimera had now turned their attentions to North America. Chicago had fallen to the invaders in October, quickly followed by important strategic locations in Wisconsin and North Dakota. Now, as the enemy continued to move south, the Army and the Marine Corps had been forced to pull back into an ever shrinking “Fortress America.”

As Hale peered through a thin veil of steadily falling snow he knew that a ring of defense towers were being built to the south, constructed with the goal of blocking the Chimeran advance. But would they be enough? Hale had his doubts. He’d been a member of the ill-fated 3rd Ranger Regiment, and had seen first hand the atrocities that had happened in England. No matter how many defense towers the government put up, the Chimera would keep coming.

Hale’s thoughts were interrupted by Sergeant Marvin Kawecki. “We have company, sir…. Ten o’clock.”

Kawecki was directly to Hale’s left, his right eye at the scope of a L23 Fareye 10X. Particles of dry snow continued to accumulate on the back of his parka. As Hale put the binoculars up to his face and panned to the left, three Chimeran drones emerged from the veil of snow, flying roughly six feet off the ground. The drones darted about like hunting dogs in search of a scent.

Even though most of the civilian population had fled south, Hale knew that non-military resistance groups like Freedom First continued to operate behind Chimeran lines, where they had met with some success. The arrival of the drones told Hale that the stinks were concerned about the possibility of an ambush.

The presence of Chimera on Highway 281 was exactly the sort of Intel that Hale, Kawecki, and Private Jim Jasper had been ordered to gather.

Hale felt his stomach muscles tighten as one of the drones left the edge of the road and came straight at him. Flying about four feet off the ground, it seemed determined to reach the top of the hill, snow sleeting down through the beam of light that swept the area in front of it. Had their cover been blown?

“I have it.” Kawecki’s v

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Excerpted from Resistance the Gathering Storm by William C. Dietz
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