The signal elicited a swift response. A series of calls and whistles returned through the eerie quiet of the seemingly isolated settlement, drifting in as answer to their queen.
“We wait here for them to return and then we proceed. Triple red, triple frosty—and let’s just see what these fuckers have got ready for us.” Gloria grinned, her eyes sparkling with relish at the thought of combat.
Ryan couldn’t help but return her good humor. “Somehow I don’t think they’ve got the first idea what they’ve let themselves in for.” He laughed, casting his eye back over the gathered tribe behind him, including his own people.
“FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, what is the matter with these people? Can’t they make up their fucking minds what they want to do?”
The voice was muffled through the visor of the helmet worn by the gray-clad figure as he watched two of the outriders meet at the intersection he had just helped block. The two Amazons had skipped over the pile of rotting junk that now stood across the roadway. It wasn’t enough to prevent the passage of an individual, but enough to prevent the wags carrying the camp and armory to pass.
“None of the modules prepared us for this bunch.” Another voice crackled through the speaker in the gray man’s helmet. He turned to face his colleague clad in scarlet who stood beside him at the third-floor window, looking down at an oblique angle at the sidewalk and road below. They were certain that they couldn’t be seen this way. Indeed, they knew that one of the Amazon outriders who had just passed beneath them had, on her way out, scouted the building at ground level, and they had been ready to chill her if she discovered them.
The gray man shrugged. “What d’you expect,” he said in a resigned tone. “The modules are all predark. We’ve only got a limited idea of what it’s like out there now. Jesus, that’s an unpleasant thought.”
His voice, muffled as it was in the open through the thickness of his visor, carried across clearly via the built-in microphone that was connected to the small speaker through which he had heard his companion. The speakers crackled, but otherwise were as clear as hearing voices in the open. The two men looked at each other when they talked, even though all each could see was the opaque black visor on the other’s helmet.
“So you reckon they’ll have tumbled what we’re up to here?” asked the man in scarlet. “I mean, they’d have to be pretty fuckin’ dumb if they didn’t.”
The gray man shrugged. “Jeez, how the fuck should I know, Frank? Maybe they did notice the wrecks on the way out. Maybe they think they’ve come back by a different route. I can’t read their minds, can I?”
“Lou, I was just asking,” Frank said calmly. “Don’t lose it. Not now. Let’s get the last two intersections done and then get the hell back down. There’s only two of us, and we don’t have the hardware to go up against any of them.”
“Yeah, we’ll let Al’s boys worry about it,” Lou replied calmly. “After all, they’ve got a score to settle.”
Frank nodded his agreement, and without another word the two men made their way down the stairwell of the ruined building to emerge on the sidewalk. A thin patina of dust stirred in the light breeze, just enough to cover any tracks made either by themselves or by the outriders who had passed. It also covered the tracks made by the ruined wags as they had moved around on the road and across to block the center.
“Pretty good maneuver, even if I do say so myself. I’ll lay you odds that none of the other roadblocks are that good. I’ve got the touch, and with a touch like that we can’t lose, right?” Lou said proudly.
Frank laughed shortly, a grating sound through the rad static in the helmet speaker. “Yeah, you keep thinking that and keep your confidence up, boy. Meanwhile, us men got work to do.”
“Funny, like real funny,” Lou rejoined. “Let’s cut the crap and get to the next intersection point.”