Ryan raised his hands. “Okay, point taken. But you’ve got to understand that we’re as wary of you as you are of us, but we are grateful for your help with the stickies. We were seriously outnumbered there. What’s more worrying is that I’ve never come across stickies that could think tactics like that before.”
The Amazon fixed him with an appraising look. “Funny you should say that, boy, because we’ve traveled across this foul little land, and we’ve never seen them behave that way before. Have we?” She directed the question toward the surrounding Amazons.
Amid the chorus of agreement for their leader’s words, Mildred raised her voice. “Can I take a look at some of the bodies? It may tell us something.”
“You some kind of medicine woman?” the flame-haired woman asked. When Mildred nodded, the leader pursed her lips. “So you’ve traveled, and you’ve got a wide range of backgrounds.” Seeing Ryan’s look of wry surprise, she continued, “You’ve got a boy, a mutie, two soldiers, a medicine woman and a wise man… Oh, and a warrior woman who really needs to lose some of those rags and loosen up to fight,” she added, indicating Krysty. “On top of that, you’ve obviously traveled like us, because you know stickies aren’t always like these.”
“Very impressive, but not the whole story,” Krysty broke in. “By the way, I’m quite happy with the clothes I’ve got, thanks. Some of the places we’ve been are too cold to wear as little as you.”
“Fair point,” the leader conceded. “So, what is the whole story?”
Ryan paused before speaking. Would it be wise to give away what they were doing to these people? On the other hand, what did they have to lose at this stage?
Finally he spoke. “We’ve been traveling for quite a while. How we came together is neither here nor there, but I guess we aren’t a tribe like yours. Mebbe we’re just people who don’t fit in elsewhere. Me and J.B. there used to travel with Trader across the Deathlands, until things began to fall apart and it was time to look elsewhere. We’ve heard stories about a land to the north where there’s a stockpile, and where there might be a chance to build a life in peace. If that’s true, then there’s chance there to escape this life that we might just want to take. Guess we find out little bits here and there, but not enough to really get there yet.”
The Amazon leader nodded. “That sounds fair enough to me, honey. I don’t think that you’ll be too much danger to us, as you’re on a quest like we are. You’re not out to take anything from us. I guess you can be easy—we won’t chill you if you don’t fuck with us.”
Ryan smiled, his hard jaw broken by the grin. “If I wasn’t so sure you could do it, I’d be tempted to laugh at that, be a bastard and say how generous you were.”
His smile was returned by the Amazon leader’s lopsided grin. “If you weren’t so bastard cheeky as to say it like that, I’d chill you where you stand,” she said.
Krysty, vaguely irritated by the woman’s attitude in a way she couldn’t explain, broke in once more. “So you know something about us, but you haven’t told us anything about yourselves. I’d say a fair exchange of information was called for here.”
The Amazon leader nodded, taking the chance to introduce herself. “Guess that’s fair enough. They call me Gloria, and I’m the queen of the Gate. That’s us—” she indicated the other women, none of whom had as yet lowered their blasters “—and also the backup who are on the other side of the clearing by now, heading for camp. They knew we’d either bring you back or leave you here chilled with this scum—” she indicated the chilled stickies “—so they followed their orders to the letter and returned to camp, where our men are waiting. They know better than to fuck around. It’s only by being strong that we’ve survived and thrived.”
“You are a nomadic tribe then?” Doc asked, leaning forward on his cane, which he sheathed before their actions had been halted.