[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

But he saw immediately that he wasn't going to be needing a second round.
The bullet had struck Ma through the rolls of fat below her chins, drilling up and backward. It distorted
and tumbled as it went, breaking the lower jaw away from the upper, splintering a mouthful of rotten
teeth. Some of the shards of splintered bone exited through the side of the cheek, just below the staring
left eye, ripping the flesh to scarlet tatters.
The full-metal-jacket round had continued its inexorable progress, tearing at the back of the right eye,
forcing it out of its socket in a hideous parody of a wink.
Its power still not spent, the bullet carried on upward, scouring out the brain pan. It exploded through the
top of Ma's head, lifting off what was revealed as a wig, splattering the ceiling with blood and brains.
In death, her fingers tightened on the triggers of the shotgun, as Ryan had guessed they might, and the
blaster had gone off, the twin charges roaring over the top of Ryan as he tumbled backward on the greasy
floor.
Ma took two clumsy, tottering steps, then dropped the scattergun, arms hanging limp by her side, head
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...2030%20-%20Crossways%20(v1.0)%20[html].html (57 of 214) [12/28/2004 1:00:14 AM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Axler,%20James%20-%20Deathlands%2030%20-%20Crossways%20(v1.0)%20[html].html
tilted to the right. She caught her heels in a crack on the linoleum, falling full-length on the floor with a
resounding crash.
Everyone around the table was on their feet, blasters ready for action.
Ryan looked down at the corpse. "Food wasn't even worth that one bullet I gave you," he said.
THE BAT-WING DOORS to the kitchen eased open. Seven blasters moved their aim, centering on the
frightened face of a little Hispanic girl, looking no older than twelve, with a dark bruise just below her left
eye.
"Ma's Place is closed," Ryan said. "Best go quietly on home."
The child nodded and backed out of sight, leaving the doors to swing themselves shut.
"Jak, Dean," Ryan said. "Take a quick look out back and see what you can pack into a couple of bags for
food. Might be some meat or cheese or fresh fruit. Grab what you think might come in useful for us."
Glenwood Springs seemed so deserted that there was a good chance that nobody would have heard the
shooting. But it would be only a matter of time before someone stepped into the eatery and stumbled over
the corpse. And the outlanders would instantly become public enemies number one.
Dean reappeared, carrying a hessian bag. "Mainly fruit," he said. "Peaches and apples."
"Anything else in there?" Ryan asked, busily reloading the spent bullet from his blaster.
"Big pan fat starting smoke," Jak told him, carrying another sack of food. "Turn it off?"
"No."
"Set place on fire next ten minutes," Jak said, his ruby eyes opening wider as he started to grin. "Course.
Fire cover chilling." He handed the food to Doc. "Go back and help fire."
"Have a look out the front door," Ryan told J.B. "Anyone looks like they're coming in here, either put
them off or put them away. Whatever's needful."
"Ryan!" Mildred exclaimed. "You can't just kill someone because they happen to want to come eat at
Ma's Place. It's plain murder."
He looked at the woman, surprised at her comment. "You been with us long enough to know which way
the needle pricks. We get caught in here and the whole ville could turn into an instant wasps' nest, with us
caught smack in the middle. Better by far we walk away clean."
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...2030%20-%20Crossways%20(v1.0)%20[html].html (58 of 214) [12/28/2004 1:00:14 AM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Axler,%20James%20-%20Deathlands%2030%20-%20Crossways%20(v1.0)%20[html].html
"The girl might tell," Dean said.
Ryan nodded. "I thought on that. Decided she was probably too frightened to tell anyone anything."
"Otherwise she'd have been dead," Mildred said.
Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Otherwise I'd have gunned her down where she stood. If that had been the only
choice to keep the rest of us living."
"Fat's ready to blow," Jak said, appearing in the bat-wing doors. "Back opens into alley. Walk along out
of sight. Then past row ruined houses. Come out by broken bridge over Colorado. Best we go now."
The dirty kitchen stank of the simmering fat that sat in a large iron pot, with a haze of dark smoke
wreathing above it. Jak had placed some old clothes near the stove, as well as a pile of kindling. The
wood-framed building would go up in minutes once the fire started.
Ryan led the way through, holding the back door open for everyone, pausing to watch and make sure the
fat was going to do the business for them.
The smoke thickened like a living serpent, roiling over the ceiling, lapping toward him. There was a dull
whomp and Ryan ducked, closing the door behind him as the inferno of dark yellow flames erupted.
He ran quickly along the alley, past the rusted ruins of a predark automobile and a battered bicycle frame.
The stores to his left were all derelict, and the houses that sloped away from him on the right were all
clearly long-abandoned.
There was no sign of life.
"Wait." Ryan peered around the corner of the street, looking toward the desolate broken bridge and the
silent rail lines. "Let's move it."
They moved across the makeshift bridge that had been thrown together parallel to the old crossing,
deciding that it would be wise to be as far off as possible once the fire started in earnest. The companions
walked together on the north side, along the redbrick ruins of the old hot springs.
"Stop looking around, Dean," the Armorer snapped.
"Mebbe the fire hasn't worked. It's got to be an hour since we left the place." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]