“What is it?” came the reply.
“The woman with the long red hair. She’s one of us, and you’re not going to Reichel or any other ville until you hand her over.”
“Fuck you!” a voice said, different from the first.
“We captured her like the others. She’s coming with us,” another voice said.
Ryan was losing his patience, but he didn’t want to give the task of trading for Krysty’s life to anyone else. “We have two women here who want to join your group. We’ll turn them over to you for one of ours.”
There was silence for a long time.
“If you don’t agree to this trade, we have a cannon pointed directly at your two boats. If I don’t hear the word ‘yes’ from you in the next five seconds, the weapon’ll make sure none of you’ll be going home.”
“One!”
“An offer they can’t refuse,” Mildred muttered under her breath.
“Two!”
A moment of silence.
“Three!”
“Yes! Yes!” shouted several people in the group.
Doc helped the two women and the raider down from the back of the wag.
And then Krysty appeared out of the bushes.
“Go!” Ryan told the two women and the raider.
They passed Krysty along the way.
A man stepped out onto the beach. He looked to be the raiders’ leader. “We’ll be on our way now.”
Ryan nodded.
The rest of the raiders hurried past the man to the water. The two women were welcomed into the group and then directed toward the waiting boats.
Krysty ran toward her friends, falling into Ryan’s arms, where she held on to him for a very long time.
Epilogue
They kept the cannon trained on the boats until they were out of range, and then out of sight.
The companions offered to take Clarissa and Melanie to a ville on the east coast, but they wanted to go back to the farm, where they thought they might have a chance to make something of their lives, especially now that Baron Fox was gone.
“I’ve got my sister back now, thanks to you,” Clarissa said, riding in the back of the wag, “and I think I can look after her just as well on the farm as I can anywhere else. There’s food and shelter there, medical facilities, electricity, clean water…and a lot of my friends will still be there.”
“It will be a different place now,” Mildred said, “but I think you’ll be able to make it.”
“Good fighter, smart leader,” Jak said.
“You could stay with us, Jak,” Clarissa suggested shyly, smiling.
The albino teenager considered the offer, then shook his head. “Had wife, child once. No more for me.” He looked at the others in the wag. “Stay with friends.”
“I understand,” Clarissa said. “Anyway, I’ll have a niece or nephew to take care of in a little while.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you have one of each to contend with,” Mildred said with a smile. “Girl, you are ready to pop!”
They all laughed at that.
Overhearing the friendly banter, Krysty leaned closer to Ryan and put her head on his shoulder. “Strange, huh?”
“What is?” Ryan asked.
“Life.”
“What’s strange about it?”
“Well, even here in the Deathlands, where death and destruction are a part of the everyday routine, life still finds a way to carry on.”
THEY SAID THEIR GOODBYES and turned the wag around. A little less than half a tank of fuel remained. It wasn’t enough to get them anywhere significant, but it could at least get them someplace safe to spend the night.
They could all use a little rest before moving on to the nearest redoubt.
The Falls ville was a good bet. If nothing else, they could take the time to admire the falls. Although a mere trickle compared to what it had been in predark days, the flow of water was still pretty impressive.
J.B. shifted the wag into gear and headed out.
WHEN THE WAG was gone from the farm complex and he was sure the outlanders wouldn’t be returning, Norman Bauer stepped out of the shadows of the woods across the road from the front gate.
He climbed onto the road and stood there waiting with his ledger under his arm until three sec men came out of the woods to join him.