Joshua Wolfe threw his arms wide, in the pose of crucifixion, and toppled from the ladder into the flaming heart of the inferno, vanishing into the fire.
“That’s one of the finest shots I ever saw,” Mildred said admiringly.
Ryan grunted. “No, it was one of the worst. I was aiming at his head.”
DOC HAD FOUND a rusted shovel in an outbuilding and was already three parts through burying the small body of Maya Tennant, picking a shady patch of ground beneath an ancient, twisted quince tree.
Ryan called out as soon as the old man came into sight, so as not to frighten him.
“Looks like there’s been some blood spilled hereabouts, Doc. We passed a handful of sec men on the trail, heading for Hopeville like their asses were on fire.”
Doc straightened and sighed, rubbing at the small of his back. “Getting too old for this, friends. I would be grateful for a hand with the interment. A fine woman died here. That scum dog Owsley butchered her down.”
“Didn’t spot him on the trail,” J.B. said, handing over the Le Mat to Doc.
“You chill him?” Jak asked.
“I dispatched him to dwell with his master, Beelzebub,” the old man replied.
“How?” Dean asked interestedly.
“Trusty rapier. Gutted him like a landed trout.”
Ryan laughed. “And we were all worrying about you! You did good, old friend.”
Doc nodded solemnly. “But what a price to pay,” he replied, pointing to the woman’s corpse.
“I’ll help you,” Dean offered.
“We’ll all help,” Ryan said. “Then we’ll head on back toward the redoubt.”
IT TOOK THEM a little under the hour, during which time there were three more aftershocks, one of them passingly severe, causing some of the excavated earth to slide back into the unfinished grave. But they quickly cleared it out and laid the body reverently into the cold ground.
“Want to say anything, Doc?” Ryan asked as J.B. Dix patted down the pile of gray brown dirt.
“She was a good woman and I scarcely knew her. But what I knew was good and brave and kind. She saved my life from those running dogs.”
“Amen,” Krysty said, followed by the others.
Ryan brushed muddy earth off his hands. “Time to go now, friends.”
“Think that the Children of the Rock’ll come after us?” Mildred asked.
Ryan grinned and shook his head. “No. They’re finished. From the red reading it looked like the quake opened up the hot spot at max level. Means they count in days.”
J.B. picked up his fedora and placed it back on his sallow head. “Yeah,” he said. “And the sooner we’re out of here the better. Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Both Doc and Krysty had tired quickly as they picked their way along the trail, through the trees. The quake didn’t seem to have been so powerful as around Hopeville, but a number of the pines had come down.
It was nearly dark when they finally walked through the massive sec door of the redoubt, heading for the elevator that should take them down through the buried levels to the subterranean floor of the mat-trans unit, past the notice that they all remembered from passing by on the way out.
The elevator worked smoothly, carrying them silently into the deeps of the military complex. Nobody spoke, all of them sharing the usual apprehension about the pending jump.
Ryan was thinking back to their last glimpse of the outside world before the sec door slammed shut. A magnificent sunset blazed away toward the Cific Ocean, in the not-so-far west. It seemed to set the tips of the pines on fire with a blazing radiance. Pale tendrils of white mist gathered around the peaks of the Sierras, drifting down into the valleys.
Jak had gone inside, followed by Dean and Doc, his arm around the boy’s shoulders. J.B. had led Mildred in by the hand, leaving Krysty and Ryan standing together in the cool of the evening.
The setting sun dazzled off her fiery hair, making it seem as though her skull were ablaze. She turned and smiled at Ryan, the bright emerald light from her eyes filling him with a wave of fondest love.