The warriors were all down, all dead, though a couple still had twitching legs, or scrabbling fingers as the lines of communications went down between limbs and brain.
The air in the clearing was heavy with the smell of cordite, a haze of smoke gradually dissipating. On the spits, over the small fire, the pair of rabbits was cooking nicely.
Ryan holstered the warm blaster, looking across at his oldest friend. “Now, why the fuck did they want to do that?” he asked J.B.
The Armorer shook his head. “Dark night! I couldn’t even begin to guess. We had them coldcocked. Could’ve blasted them from cover if we’d been minded.”
“All for a couple of undersized rabbits,” Doc said. “Why? Why on earth did they make us slay them?” His voice was hoarse with emotion.
Krysty looked down at the tangled corpses. “Only kids, some of them,” she said quietly. All around them, the forest was still and silent after the burst of gunfire. “You hear him say the name we’ve seen on graffiti?”
“Children of Rock?” Dean said.
“Yeah. Their chief just said that name, then they all went for their blasters. Must’ve known that they didn’t have a hope of Hades of making it against seven blasters.”
She turned to Ryan. “What do you make of it, lover?”
“Children of the Rock? Never heard of them. Not anyone we came across during the time we rode with Trader. All kinds of weird groups… But not the Children of the Rock. I’m sure I’d have remembered.”
J.B. had been quickly checking the corpses, waving away the clouds of green-winged blowflies that were already gathering, drawn by the acrid pools of spilled salt blood. “Mescalero all right,” he said. “Long way from their usual hunting grounds, south and east of here.”
“We eating rabbits?” Jak asked.
Ryan grinned. Trust the albino teenager to strike at the heart of the business. It hadn’t turned out the way they’d wanted, but at least they’d gotten themselves a good meal out of the savage encounter.
“Keep a sharp look and listen out in case they’ve got companions who might’ve heard the shots.”
THEY TIPPED THE BODIES into the fast-falling river, watching as the foaming water carried them southward toward the distant Cific Ocean.
Then they ate, polishing off the two cooked rabbits, replacing them on the spits with the now skinned animals, moving them as the pink flesh darkened.
They lay back in the filtered sunlight, weapons at their sides, sucking the tender meat off the fragile bones, wiping the grease from their chins. Conversation was held in abeyance until they had all finished eating.
Doc made a halfhearted effort to stifle a belch. “I do most beg your pardon, friends. My rumbling abdominal is simply phenomenal. Run rabbit, run.” He belched again, turning it into a sort of part-muffled cough.
“Think it’s time we got moving, Ryan.” Mildred yawned and stretched. “Help this disgusting old man to get his gastric juices flowing.”
As they all stood and readied themselves to get back on the trail, there was a distant rumble of thunder. Through occasional gaps in the swaying high branches, it was possible to see, far north and west, a belt of pewter clouds, scarred and seamed with purple-pink chem lightning.
“Tall pines like this must be vulnerable to lightning strikes,” Mildred stated. “We going to try and make it to the old national park and see the really big trees?”
“I’d like that. How about you, lover?”
Ryan grinned. “Sure.”
FUELED BY THE RABBIT MEAT, they made good time along the old highway, pressing on through the clear air, gradually climbing higher.
Doc suddenly stopped and sat down, pressing his knuckles to his temples, eyes squeezed tight shut.
“By the Three Kennedys! But I have the most demonic headache.”
“Could be altitude sickness,” Mildred said, kneeling by Doc. “Any other symptoms?”
“Little tired. Breath short. Nausea. What more can I tell you, madam?”
The woman patted him on the shoulder. “Told me enough, Doc.”
“What sort of height are we at?” Krysty asked. “Feel like eight thousand or so.”
J.B. checked his pocket comp sextant, which had a reading on height above sea level. “Seven thousand nine hundred. Mebbe we could stop early for the night and take a rest. Give Doc chance to acclimate before we climb higher.”