“How MANY MEN did we lose?” Nathan demanded, wrapping a strip of cloth around his bloody arm. The wound was minor, but it would take a healer to remove the sliver of glass.
“Six, far as we know,” Clem replied, sliding a fresh round into his Enfield. “What was that thing called again?”
“Catapult,” Nathan repeated, cradling the arm. “I planned this defense against mercies with a piece of predark artillery, a Howitzer or a mortar, but it worked well enough against the catapult.”
“More than well enough, my lord.” Clem grimaced, looking out the window at the dogs tearing the bodies apart. They would continue to do so until recalled. There was no way anybody could have survived this slaughter. Nathan had released every dog the ville had, including the half-trained pups and bitches.
“So much for Baron Henderson,” Clem said, allowing himself a small smile of contentment. “We’re never going to hear from that rad-blasted son of a mutie again.”
“MUTIE DOGS,” Henderson spit, urging the horse to greater speed. “Never saw that coming. Bloody, clever Cawdor. But not clever enough for me!”
“My lord!” a lieutenant shouted, riding close. “Where do we go from here?”
“To the south! We’ll need an army to take Front Royal!” Henderson shouted, a string of drool dripping from his mouth. “So I’m going to steal one!”
Chapter Ten
As the LAV-25 rolled along, the ragged woods thinned to flat grasslands and the ruins of predark buildings rose on the horizon. Standing in the open turret, Sergeant Campbell could see the pieces of the paved street beneath the strips of grass, potholes and sewer grates dotting the expanse. The crumbling buildings stood like the rotten teeth of a decomposing corpsewindows and doors, gone, nothing existing above the second level. Curiously, the sergeant of Beta team noted that the destruction seemed to be mostly caused by fires and looting. He had seen ruins where the buildings were sheered off at exactly the same height from a nuke blast knifing across the land. Skydark had to have been one bitch of a show for the few survivors.
In a weedy fountain, a bronze statue was covered with a layer of green moss and speckled with bird droppings. Wooden posts marked a long-gone fence, and a steel post stood where some sort of sign had to have been. Campbell grew nervous when he noticed how quiet the ruins wereno birds sang, and nothing moved in the weeds or grass.
As the LAV rumbled into an open area, he called for a halt. “Scotty, check our location,” the sergeant ordered, jacking the bolt on the 25 mm electric cannon. The hairs on his nape were stiff, but there was nothing dangerous in sight. Maybe he was just tired. More coffee. Yeah, that’s all he needed.
The rear doors of the APC swung open, and Scotty stepped out of the wag, his blaster sweeping the ground for targets. The rest of the sec men remained inside the wag, keeping a grip on their Kalashnikovs.
After a few minutes, the private tucked away his blaster and clumsily checked the huge sextant Collette had given them. The antique was solid brass and weighed several pounds. Carefully, he balanced sun overhead through the billowing clouds, shot the horizon with the half-mirror, then did a few calculations.
“This is the place, Sarge,” he announced, lowering the sextant. “Trans University. Any sign of a ville, or dish from up there?”
“Not yet,” the sergeant growled, cupping his hands around his face to try to see better. “No wait. There’s something to our north. Big, white. Could be a dish.”
“But no ville?”
“Nothing.”
“Shit!”
“Motherfucker!” a sec man cursed, grabbing Scotty by the shirt and trying to haul him inside the vehicle. “Bear!”
The private pulled loose and turned to see. A hairy giant was padding their way. The huge grizzly stood ten feet tall, its fangs and long claws bared for a fight.
Laughing in contempt, Scotty slid the AK-47 from his shoulder, aimed and fired a short burst into the animal’s belly. The bear stopped as if hitting a wall, then screamed a challenge and rose to its hind legs, which made it appear even larger. Scotty put another burst into its throat, and the animal staggered, slumping slowly the ground and going still.