RYAN SAW the drama unfolding, catching the glint of Krysty’s bright red hair against the dark wall of the hut, Mildred following her out and the brief, savage scuffle with one of the young guards. He also saw the fat and thin figures entering the front of the same building, the flash of blasters drawn in fists, and Jak and Doc making their own escape from the second hut.
“Sec men seem to have given up,” J.B. commented. “Blown the heart from them.”
“Look like they’re ready to break and run.”
“Before the stickies arrive,” the Armorer grinned. “Figure they got the right idea, bro.”
“Krysty’s going for Wolfram’s HQ, after the blasters. Best go help them.”
RYAN’S INTUITION was right about the survivors among the sec men. They’d been enlisted by Wolfram and the Magus over a period of several years and had come to totally depend on their evil, talented masters. Whatever they were told seemed to come to pass, and life was tough but rewarding. There’d been trouble over the stickies, but the fortress still functioned and Wolfram had promised them that the good days would swiftly return.
Then there’d been the expedition on the riverboat and the taking of the four prisoners, none of which looked capable of causing any serious trouble. The four had been locked up safe and secure.
All they had to do was watch out for the two men, Ryan Cawdor and John Dix. Word connected them with the legendary Trader, over the years. But he was long dead, and the ancient myth gathered dust in dark corners.
Now these two strangers had come from the forest darkness, bringing fire and unbelievable destruction and death for so many of their colleagues. It was obvious that the camp was finished, that the unbeatable Wolfram and his sinister sidekick were staring into the bleak abyss of defeat.
And it had all happened in less than fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes from safety and comfort to total chaos.
And then someone mentioned the stickies.
“Out there. Know that. Hundreds of them. Fence kept them out. Fire draws them. The explosion must’ve carried for fuckin’ miles at night. They want revenge for what we done. Hundreds of them. Suckers with those razor teeth to strip a man to the bare bone. The flames’ll bring them. Hundreds of the fuckers.”
Even as Ryan and J.B. began to make their cautious way across the compound, the withdrawal began. Leaving their dead and their wounded, the sec force simply melted away into the night, breaking the locks off the rear gate to the ville and moving off in small groups into the waiting woods.
Altogether about forty or so left the camp, most of them heading for the Sippi.
No more than three of them eventually reached safety and civilization. The rest perished beneath the dark pines.
THE WOODS FOR MILES around were moving.
As the dawn gathered power, the shadows became visible. Slumped, stooping figures shuffled with surprising speed through the narrow paths and trails, dull eyes fixed on their bare feet. Suckered hands grasped at the air, and mouths sagged open, thick threads of blood-flecked yellow-green phlegm dribbling over scarred chests.
They followed the omnipotent lure of the distant explosion that had stirred the land all about, woken the creatures from their crimson dreams of torture and agony and fire. The smell and flavor of flames, deep in the heart of the forest, stirred their twisted souls.
There was a destination for them, all coming together from every quarter of the compass, heading for the place of dying and heat, where their dull minds knew their bitter enemies lived.
It was a time of coming together.
Very soon.
KRYSTY RAN into the open door of the largest of the buildings in the compound. A small fire burned brightly in one corner of the pitched roof, but the rest was relatively untouched. She was ready to encounter sec men, but the whole place was deserted.
The smell of sweat and stale food and liquor lingered in the air, still riding over the stench of gasoline that permeated the whole ville.
It was dark, the main generator of the camp having ceased to function in the past four or five minutes, but enough light was filtering in from the coming morning for them to see their way inside.