“Kill it, Dad,” the boy cried, his voice high and thin and ragged with shock.
Ryan crushed the mutie creature and flung it to the floor, lifting his foot to stamp on its dying struggles.
“No!” Krysty called. “Let me look at it.”
Dean had turned and clung for a few moments to his father, arms locked around Ryan’s waist, his whole body trembling. “Thanks a lot, Dad…. That fucker”
“You all right?” Ryan rubbed his finger at the trickle of blood, seeing how close the bite was to the artery. He carefully examined the small wound, seeing what looked like the injection mark of a hypodermic syringe.
“Might be poisoned,” Jak warned.
Krysty was crouched over the butterfly, opening up the bruised, shattered wings with the short barrel of her blaster, peering cautiously at it. “Gaia.”
“What?” Mildred asked.
“Bastard’s got a stinger about six inches long, just like a needle. Hard, like steel. Looks more like something to poke in and suck blood rather than anything for pumping out poison,” she said, pulling a disgusted face.
“Best not take a chance.” Ryan lowered his head toward the circular bleeding wound.
“Watch him, Dean,” Doc warned. “Ryan has probably been a vampire all along, just waiting for his moment to suck your blood and turn you into one of the undead. Listen to the creatures of the night!”
“You haven’t got any sores in your mouth, have you?” Mildred asked, ignoring the old man’s teasing. “Doctor friend of mine tried this on a woman who got bitten by a moccasin snake down on the Brazos. Forgot he’d got a little ulcer in his lip. Woman lived and he died.”
Ryan hesitated a moment. “No.”
He placed his lips against the warm flesh, sucking gently, tasting blood and spitting it out on the concrete floor. He repeated the procedure, harder. This time he was sure there was a strange, metallic taste in with the salt blood, and he spit out more quickly. He sucked and spit a third time. “You all right, Dean?” he asked. “Reckon so. Thanks again, Dad.” Ryan squeezed the boy’s arm. “Done good.” Mildred looked anxiously at Ryan. “Sure you got no problems from that?”
“No, not really. Thought there was an odd taste and my tongue and lips are a bit numb.”
“Bad?”
“No. Wearing off already.”
“Loc an,” said J.B., who’d been looking at the butterfly over Krysty’s shoulder. “Paralyze its victims.”
“Yeah. Guess so.”
Krysty straightened. “Evil-looking thing. So pretty, so deadly. If that had struck an artery, it could easily have done some serious harm.”
She lifted her booted right foot and slammed it down on the feebly fluttering butterfly, crushing it into the floor.
“There,” she said.
Ryan looked outside. “Shows us the hidden dangers. Still don’t know where we are, but it’s a strange and hostile place. Let’s keep it on triple red, friends.” As they readied themselves to leave the gateway, Mildred glanced back, seeing the dull smudge on the gray stone. “It always amazed me that creatures could manufacture something like a local anesthetic in their bodies. Ah, the way of nature! Still, it’s a pity. It was so pretty,” she said.
RYAN WENT FIRST, the others following him in a close skirmish line, J.B. bringing up the rear. Everyone had blasters cocked in readiness, all of them aware of the dangerous strangeness of the place.
A narrow path between the trees showed the same signs of having been recently cut from the lush wilderness with machetes.
The sun was bright, occasionally visible, filtered in golden shafts through the overwhelming green of the forest’s twining branches. The heat was oppressive, and all of them were quickly soaked in sweat.
“Can you use your sextant, J.B.?” Ryan asked. “Doesn’t make that much difference, but it’d be good to know where we are. I swear I’ve never been here before. Wherever ‘here’ is.”
“I can try it.” The Armorer reached for the miniature scientific instrument, one of the rarest examples of surviving predark navigational gear. He squinted through it at the sun, having made all the necessary calculations and settings, then looked at the dial and shook his head.
“Well?”
“Nothing, Ryan. It’s either malfunctioned or we aren’t in Deathlands anymore.”