James Axler – Rat King

separate corridors.

“We’ve got to get Doc and Millie and get out,” J.B. said through gritted teeth,

pressing on despite the fear that started to build within him.

Krysty detected that note in his voice. “Me, too,” she whispered to him, “but we

can fight that. It’s just the remnants of the torture.”

“I know,” gritted the Armorer, worries about his ankle holding up feeding into

the remains of the psychological torture they had all received at Tricks’s

hands. “But what if nerve gas has been released, and that’s fueling it?”

“Then we need to stay alert and move it,” Krysty replied.

J.B. nodded, wiping dust from his glasses. The comp room and lab were ahead.

Almost there…

THE VILLE DWELLER who had been standing guard for Mildred entered the comp room,

his eyes wild with panic and fear.

“This place is falling apart. We’ll all be trapped,” he yelled at her.

Mildred ignored him for a second as she helped Doc to his feet. He looked older,

frailer than he had for some time, and it was only his immense power of will

that kept him from blacking out. When he was steady, she turned to the ville

dweller.

“We’ll all get out of here if we stay calm. Otherwise we’re finished. Do you

understand?”

The tall, muscled man with the pockmarked complexion nodded, for all his years

and scarring looking like an innocent and frightened child. Which, in some ways,

he was. He had never encountered anything like this before.

“Okay,” he breathed, keeping the tremor from his voice, “what do we do now?”

Mildred looked at Doc.

“The mat-trans,” Doc croaked in a trembling and tired voice. “The Moebius will

shut down soon, and then we will not be able to get out that way.”

“What about…?” Mildred asked, indicating the frightened ville dweller.

“True, my good Doctor. We can not leave this poor soul to his fate. If we can

locate Ryan and the others, his people should be with them—”

“We’re here, Doc,” Ryan said as his party reached the comp room. “This place is

falling apart, and we need to get out.”

“Certainly do,” Mildred said quickly, explaining what Doc had told her.

“Shit—we have to move,” Ryan spit. “Mac, Abner, we’ll lead you back to the wags,

then we’ll make our own way.”

“How will you do that?” Mac asked in bemusement.

“Never mind. It’d take too long to explain. But trust me, we’ll be okay. Now

let’s go. Jak, Dean, you help Doc.”

As the albino slipped around to assist Doc, he handed him the LeMat and

lion’s-head swordstick.

“Where did you get these, lad?” Doc asked with a beatific smile.

“Leave things lying around, someone bound to pick up,” the albino said,

grinning. “Now quit talking. Let’s move.”

THE ELEVATORS were still working, but it was a rough ride up to the level where

the wags had been left. The elevator shafts were reinforced against such

movements of the earth, but the shock waves spread out by the explosion in the

armory had started a series of tremors that were threatening to destroy the

redoubt.

They reached the wags without incident. Most of the infighting was concentrated

on the lower levels. Mac and Abner marshaled their few people into one of the

wags, and Ryan hit the outer-door sec code, praying that the door wasn’t too

warped by the earth shifts to be jammed.

It lifted with an agonized and protesting squeal.

“Are you sure you won’t come with us?” Abner asked. “It’s not much of a life,

but mebbe we could move out with your assistance, settle beyond the valley.”

Ryan shook his head. “Thanks, but we always go our own way. Now move before the

door comes down on you.”

“Can you manage this?” he asked Mac.

The sec man nodded shortly and ground the wag into gear as another tremor shook

the floor beneath them, the sec door dropping inches as the concrete frame

split.

“Goodbye, friend Ryan,” he yelled over the roar of the engine and the moaning of

the earth. “It hasn’t been fun, but it’s been good.”

Without looking back, he gunned the wag and drove it out into the enclave,