“Brandon. This was a big man, dark hair, lots of scars,” Ryan asked.
She nodded. “Th-that’s him. W-wanted you bad.”
“We aced a lot of his troops,” Ryan explained briefly.
Ann almost smiled. “Good.”
The water in the pot was boiling now, and Jak added a couple of envelopes of brown powder. Soon the tantalizing aroma of beef soup filled the cramped quarters. A cup was brought over, and Mildred spoon-fed the girl tiny sips. The broth seemed to bring her back to life, and soon she was gulping down the brew.
“Not too much,” Mildred warned, taking away the cup. “Your stomach isn’t used to anything yet. Give it a while.”
Ann nodded obediently, but constantly gazed at the tin cup with open avarice.
“How did you get away from Brandon?” Krysty asked.
Feebly, the girl showed her scarred wrists. “Bit through my ropes, jumped into the ocean and swam away. They fired a few shots, but I kept swimming. Anything was better than being tortured by them. Half the other girls were already aced. Some ocean current caught me, and I was dragged here.”
“Just like it did us,” Dean commented.
A great rustling noise sounded from outside the box, and J.B. went to the window for a look. All of the birds were taking wing, swarming into the sky and flying away. Bad.
“Be right back,” he said, and slipped out the doorway.
Doc and Jak placed the wooden board back over the entrance, and Ryan gestured for the girl to continue.
“The ville was mostly dead when I washed ashore. Bodies everywhere. I tried to help and got…taken by some of the men. Thought it would cure them.” Ann shifted the frock coat to hide the bruises on her thighs.’ “Then I got sick, too, and they tossed me in the hole.”
“Bastards,” Mildred growled. “Hope they died hard.”
“What about the machine they found,” Ryan said, returning to the original topic. “Did they take it with them?”
“He, Brandon, suspected you wanted it for something,” Ann replied slowly, as if afraid to speak. “So he had the sec men smash it to pieces.”
“Fuck!” Ryan cursed, rocking back on his heels. The gateway was destroyed.
“We’re trapped,” Krysty said in a hollow voice.
“No, we’re not,” Ryan said, worrying a fist into the palm of his other hand. “Remember that map in the lighthouse.”
“Those weird symbols?” Mildred scoffed. “Could mean anything.”
“Mebbe so. But it’s our best chance for leaving,” Ryan shot back. “Our destination may have changed, but the plan is the same. We find a ville, buy a ride on a ship and leave. Only now we’re going to Forbidden Island.”
“Well, our rad counters will help us avoid the blast craters there,” Doc mused aloud, pursing his lips. “But we shall need to locate another ville. There are no vessels for hire here.”
“Not even a canoe,” Dean said in a serious tone.
“I know where there is a ship,” Ann said, levering herself upward on an elbow. “And I’ll show you, but only if you take me with you. Please…”
J.B. appeared at the doorway. “Company coming,” he reported. “Lots of them.”
“Brandon?”
“Don’t think so.”
“Triple red,” the Deathlands warrior barked, sliding the Steyr off his shoulder and working the bolt.
Going to the window, Ryan watched as whistling objects arced over the wall to land among the dead and bounce along the ground, spewing forth thick streams of black fumes. A bird caught in the gas gave no reaction and continued feasting. Not poison gas, then, which was good. Spreading across the compound, thick tendrils of dark smoke crept along the ground, hiding the dead. Then dim figures on horseback appeared in the smoke, stopping occasionally to stab at the corpses with long spears. Testing to see if any were still alive. Had to be slavers come for fresh muscle.
“Dig in here?” Dean asked, jacking the slide on his Browning semiautomatic pistol.
“Fish in a barrel,” his father answered curtly. “We’ll have to snipe these bastards to pieces. Dean, stay with Mildred and the girl. Everybody else, spread out. Now move!”
Going to the bed, Jak gestured and a knife was in his hand. Kneeling, he pressed it into the palm of the girl. “Any probs, whisper about blasters,” he said fast. “They lean close to hear, stab in throat.”