Ryan knew instantly that it wasn’t a pistol at all. The weapon was a lever-action rifle that had the barrel and stock cut off, reducing it to something less than two feet long.
The Slagger leader ripped through five shots in quick succession, fanning the lever action.
Crain got off one round. The double-aught buckshot spanged off the rusting wag an arm’s span away from the Slagger leader. The pellets slammed through the oxidized metal and unleashed a rust-red metallic fog that coiled over their intended target.
All of the Slagger leader’s bullets hit Crain. From the sharp sound of the detonations, Ryan figured the abbreviated rifle was chambered in .30-30. They blew through Crain’s chest, punching his heart out.
A ragged cheer punctuated with jeering laughter filled the area. “Halleck! Halleck!” some of the Slaggers chanted in appreciation.
Halleck fed bullets into the rifle’s side breech and grinned at his men. “Fucker had it coming. Nobody draws down on me and lives.”
The butt-stroked woman lay on the ground, holding both hands over her face as she wept aloud.
The young Slagger recovered his weapon, then quickly turned it and fired the remaining round into the quivering corpse’s face. Flesh, blood, bone and patches of hair flew outward, eliciting another cheer from the coldhearts. The Slagger wiped the blood from his face—his own, and his victim’s—and reloaded his weapon.
If there had been a way clear, Ryan would have passed by the area. There was too much to risk, and no potential gain in sight.
Except for the voice and screams rattling around in Krysty’s skull.
He pulled back from the crest, moving among the broken rabble. Without warning, pebbles and a small wave of dust hurtled down the slope of one of the shattered slabs to gust into his face.
Ryan didn’t even try to fool himself into thinking it was caused by the wind. He looked up, his single eye narrowing, and spotted the man-size silhouette that sprang at him.
Chapter Two
Help me!
The voice hammered the inside of Krysty Wroth’s skull now. The pain had increased in the short amount of time Ryan had been gone. She blinked back tears and struggled to hang on to her resolve to watch her lover’s back.
I’m dying! The voice was a croaked gasp that slashed through Krysty’s head. “I don’t want to be alone! Please answer me! I know you’re there!
A picture formed in the redhead’s mind, washing out the other sights that her eyes brought to her.
The woman stood wrapped in thin gray fog tendrils that obscured her features. She held her arms out in supplication. Why don’t you help me?
“I can’t,” Krysty whispered out loud, hoping the woman inside her head could hear her. “I’d get chilled.”
No. You must come. Her age could have been anything from twenty to sixty. Her long blond hair wrapped tightly around her head, clinging to her.
“No!” Krysty struggled to see past the woman in the fog, concentrating on the broken terrain of the ville again. Ryan was out there somewhere, and she had his back. “I’m not going to risk getting Ryan chilled.”
Who’s Ryan?
“Ryan’s my lover,” Krysty said. “My life.”
Impossible! The Chosen don’t mate!
Krysty didn’t respond. She peered hard into the fog in her mind, burning holes through it now. The woman’s face cleared. Her complexion was nothing short of perfection, a confection of vanilla brushed with the hint of a rose. Krysty had never seen a woman who had looked like her, never seen anyone who looked so unreal. Gaia, was she hallucinating? Had she caused Ryan and the rest of the companions to come out here following a fever dream? She didn’t know.
You have taken vows of chastity, the woman said in a stern tone that barely covered the anguish that assailed her.
“No.” Some of the pain Krysty was feeling from the woman ebbed, but she felt the woman’s confusion in there now.
But your power—everyone knows mating with a man will break your power! How dare you throw your gift away so cheaply!
The vision in Krysty’s head thinned and became translucent. The woman’s voice sounded more distant in her mind. She saw the broken-down buildings in front of her again, grayed out as though they had no color.