“We got that?” Jak asked, rapping the hull.
“Hell, no. Wish we did.”
“Could that be what the Ranger was covered with?” Ryan asked, bumping over rubbish in the road. He was trying to avoid as much of the debris as he could, but the stuff was everywhere. They had only eight tires and losing one now could be deadly.
“Sure,” the Armorer said. “Why not?”
Zeroing the trim on the front 75 mm rifles, Krysty frowned. “Then it might still be functional.”
“That sec man did say ‘the Beast,'” Mildred added nervously, “and that’s their term for the robot tank.”
“Hold on,” Ryan said in a whip-crack tone, and he slammed his foot on the gas pedal. Leviathan dramatically increased in speed and noise. “Shard, fastest way out of here!”
Groaning with the effort, the man lurched from his seat and staggered across the tank to grab the back of the driver’s seat.
“Take that corner,” Shard replied, pointing. “No, that one, sir, and follow the small road. It ends at the palisade. There used to be a gate once, long ago. But it’s been walled over.”
“Another secret door?” Ryan asked, switching on the powerful headlights. This far into the slave quarters, there were few lanterns hanging from posts on corners. It was getting more and more difficult for him to avoid the unconscious people strewed in the streets.
“Not secret,” Shard answered. “Useless.”
Downshifting, Ryan took the corner on four wheels, rubber screeching. “Explain,” he snapped.
“The road on the other side leads to nowhere.” Shard paused in thought. “Or so we have been told.”
J.B. snorted. “Wouldn’t trust that blond bitch if she said the knives were sharp.”
MOVING. TIM’S RADIO signal was moving to the southeast.
Locking a tread, the Ranger careened in a new direction and took off around a stone tower with a broken garage door. The thin metal stripping was bent outward, and the main computer reasoned this was where the enemy tank had been hidden. Pivoting, the front video cameras showed the garage was full of munitions and mechanical equipment, a perfect location for its own repairs for the damage incurred by the attacks. Hydraulics were at fifty percent normal, oil pressure was near critical, but still at functional levels. Only one video camera remained, and the motion detectors no longer existed. But the laser was fully operational and that was what mattered.
THE BARRACKS BUSTLED with activity. Every sec man who took the antidote had gathered here, the farthest point in the palisade away from the approaching Beast. All had blasters, and most had been smart enough to grab food or ammo. The good times were over here. The heirs were dead, and they were leaving.
Then the door burst open and a guard backed into the room, staring into the street as if hell itself had appeared. A cold night wind blew into the barracks, whipping clothes and extinguishing candles. Only the crackling fire in the hearth was undisturbed.
“Sweet Jesus!” the guard cried, colliding with a table. Bottles and mugs went flying, adding to the litter on the dirty floorboards. “It… It’s…”
“What? It’s what, you triple-stupe fool?” a corporal demanded, stuffing cans of food into a sack by the light of a lantern. He wore a bandolier of ammo slung across his chest, and two holstered automatics. “More guards? Some slaves?”
“The Beast!” the guard screamed, cowering in a corner and covering his face with both hands. “Don’t look at it! You’ll go blind!”
“THERE!” SHARD GESTURED, pointing straight ahead at a two-story house with bars on the windows and motorcycles parked in front. The building was crawling with sec men, dropping boxes of supplies, yelling orders and scrambling for weapons.
“There?” Krysty asked in disbelief, leaning forward in her chair. The headlights of Leviathan bathed the entire area with brilliant white light, dimming the coal oil lanterns to merely reddish points.
“Yes.
“The guards’ barracks?”
“Good way to block a hole,” Ryan said, steering around the still form of horse. “Looks like the place is only made out of pine boards. Don’t waste a missile.”
“No problem,” the redhead agreed as she pulled the lever and the vehicle bucked as the twin 75 mm rifles fired in unison.