Something she didn’t feel possible as all her muscles protested. She took aim at one of the birds, and the shell from her ZKR flew straight into the creature’s head, blurring it into a spray of blood, feather and bone. The lifeless corpse kept coming, and hit the ground near her with a sickening thud. She tried to readjust her aim, but her injured arm failed to respond.
The bird had to surely land on her, beak and talons tearing at her weakened and unprotected body.
And then the bird changed trajectory, veering sideways to hit the ground near her, a trail of blood and intestine pouring from the hole ripped in its side. Looking up, she saw Doc staring down, the LeMat aimed in her direction, the ball charge having taken out the danger.
Doc’s previous shot, spreading grape shot charge among the flock that had headed for the path, had done much damage. Judicious shooting from the others had chilled individual birds, leaving only the falling corpses to endanger them.
J.B. looked across to Doc.
“Damn fine shot,” he said thankfully.
Doc grinned. “One endeavors to do one’s best, my dear John Barrymore. Now, shall we try to rescue poor Dr. Wyeth?”
AFTER THEY HAD PICKED their way down the hillside and collected Mildred, Ryan decided that they would travel around the bottom of the hill until they reached the far side. It was obvious that the Gate would not have set up camp where there was such a predatory flock—at least, not without neutralizing the danger. It wasn’t worth risking another earth slide like the one that had nearly chilled Mildred, who was bruised and aching, but otherwise unharmed. It took her the best part of a day to get back to speed, and so their progress was slow, but at least she was alive, and without any major injuries.
It took the best part of the following day for the companions to get beyond the shadow of the hill, and they had just entered a patch of wooded land when Krysty stopped them.
“What is it?” Ryan asked, but the question was unnecessary, as one look at her hair, curling protectively around her head and neck, told him all he needed to know.
“I’m not certain exactly what, but there’s a need to be wary here,” she said slowly.
Ryan nodded. “Okay. Blasters ready, triple red. We’ll stay in formation, but keep it tight and real frosty.”
The words were unnecessary. The companions knew that Krysty’s mutie sense acted as an early warning, and whatever was ahead of them, they would be ready…or so they thought.
The trees were more of the dwarf elms, and what they lacked in height they made up for in the density of their cluster. The roots were aboveground, making the floor of the wood uneven, and a trap for less than cautious feet to catch and break among the rock hard wood. There was no direct path, only an uneven trail that wound through the trees. The light was poor as the overhead canopy of leaves was thick, and cut out most of the light from the sun. They were groping their way through in this semidarkness, and were listening intently for any other sign of activity.
Jak suddenly stopped. “Others,” he hissed, “coming from left, right—mebbe six, seven—and quick!”
Ryan strained his ears and stared hard into the gloom. It was almost impossible to see or hear anything, except…
“Fireblast! They’re almost on us,” he yelled, raising his SIG-Sauer.
“Where the hell are they?” Mildred shouted. “I can’t—”
She was cut short as a slender figure dropped from the trees above and onto her shoulders with a bloodcurdling and deafening scream. It was the cue for other warriors to drop from above. Their opponents had managed to travel through the branches of the trees without disturbing the foliage enough to be visible to any except those with Jak’s highly developed senses.
The albino had looked up as his enemy had fallen, and had palmed a knife with which he now engaged his opponent in combat. Falling with her—for he could see it was a woman—he pulled her to him and then used the momentum to part them, turning to come to his feet before her with the knife held in the palm of his hand, blade outward. She did likewise, and it was only when they were in such close proximity, and easily visible, that their mutual identities became apparent.