“Mebbe,” Krysty said, sounding unsure.
Ignoring the side streets and alleys, Ryan kept traveling through the main thoroughfares of the downtown area. A few of the smaller buildings were no more than squarish mounds of ivy, the millions of pointy leaves covering whatever edifice of humanity had once stood proudly at that location. The normal hard angles of corners and sharp outlines of the city were pleasantly softened by the living blanket.
“What’s that place?” Dean asked, gesturing.
“Which?” Ryan asked.
“There. The only building not covered by the ivy.”
“Odd that the plants don’t grow there,” his father admitted.
Doc said, “I do not see any charred residue, so it was not burned away.”
“Not trimmed,” Jak added. “Edges not smooth.”
“Millie, why wouldn’t plants grow there?” J.B. asked.
Meticulously, Mildred counted on her fingers. “Gas leak, radiation sources inside, microwave leakage, toxic waste, excessive salt concentrates or maybe acid spills.”
Ryan let Leviathan move on. He wanted nothing to do with any of that stuff. If ivy didn’t go there, they didn’t want to, either.
“From the air, this place must seem to be wild country,” Kiysty observed. “Wait, there’s a parking garage!”
Studying the gate, Ryan didn’t slow. “Cars only. Wrong transmission fluid. We need trucks.”
“Dark night!” J.B. yelled, pressing his face to the window. “There it is!”
“Public works? Sanitation department?” Dean asked.
“Auto store?” Jak asked.
“The Ranger,” J.B said softly, as if it could hear him through the composite hull. He jerked a thumb. “Next street over.”
“Gaia save us,” Krysty prayed, hauling out the binocs and scanning the area. “And we’re a sitting duck.”
“Mebbe we could get inside that garage,” Dean suggested hopefully. “Hide in there.”
Ryan vetoed that idea. “If it’s got infrared, as it almost surely does,
it’ll find us in a minute.”
“Rather face the machine out here anyway,” J.B.
said, going to the starboard Remington and working the bolt. It engaged with a loud snap. “Besides, we can always make a run for it on foot.”
“How could it have found us?” Doc demanded. “The radar is off, and the river should have muddied our tires tracks.”
“Fuck!”
Turning in the direction Jak was facing, the friends saw the Ranger crest a corner and stop dead in its tracks before the facade of a one-hour vision center. Instantly, every dish antenna and radar array the war machine boasted spun madly and froze, pointing straight toward Leviathan. It almost seemed as surprised to see them as they were it.
“Swap seats,” Ryan ordered, freeing his harness. As he left the driver’s seat, the Ranger’s main cannon shifted aim and once more the crawling Leviathan was bathed in the harmless light show.
In sudden understanding, Mildred cursed. “God’s blood, it’s parked in front of an optometrist’s office. The damn thing is here to repair the focusing lens!”
Taking the gunner’s chair, Ryan quickly activated the front missile pod and tracking system. “Angle us more,” he snapped. “I need a clear shot backward!”
“So there is somebody inside that thing!” Krysty remarked, correcting their course. “I knew it wasn’t just a comp!”
“Who cares?” J.B. grabbed his satchel of explosives and moved for the exit. “Come on! We’ll climb on top while it’s standing still and blow open
the hatch.”
Ryan flipped the main sequence control to salvo and hit the launch button. Leviathan bucked six times as the remaining rockets from the pod streaked away on fiery tails, smoky contrails filling the air.
“Those won’t penetrate tank armor!” Mildred told him.
“Don’t have to,” Ryan said, staring hard at the enemy tank.
“Krysty keep moving! Head for an alley!” The woman did as requested, although she had no idea why.
Again, the Ranger pumped out gigawatts of rainbows at the crawling Leviathan as the half dozen Air Force missiles streaked past the tank and punched through the big picture windows of the tall brick building standing on the corner-the one without any ivy. Smoke and glass vomited into the intersection, a maelstrom of chaos masking the Ranger from their view.
“You missed!”
“Now!” Ryan ordered, raising a clenched fist. “Go!”
Krysty yanked the wheel hard about, and Leviathan casually rolled toward an alleyway several yards away.