The old woman nodded her approval, then turned to Mildred. “Now, help me get ready.”
Mildred smiled. There’d been so much chilling in her life recently, it would be wonderful to help bring some new life into the Deathlands.
“My pleasure,” Mildred said, rolling up her sleeves.
“DINNER’S SERVED in twenty,” the sec man shouted as the crew exited the wag. “Show starts in an hour.”
“The showers are this way,” Brody stated.
“What if I don’t want a shower?” Ryan asked.
Brody shook his head. “Everyone’s got to go through. The baron likes his people to be clean when they rut. Protection against disease, healthy offspring and all that. Besides, the water’s hot, and it’ll make you feel good after a day working in the orchard.”
Ryan entered the large room where both men and women were getting undressed. About half of the women were noticeably heavy, and all the men looked fit and healthy.
Brody gave Ryan a plastic crate with the name of a predark dairy imprinted on the side. “Put your clothes in the crate. You can get them washed if you want, or you can put them on again after your shower. Up to you.”
Although his clothes could probably do with a wash, he decided he’d put them on again. If they went into the wash, there was no telling when or if he’d get back the same clothes.
Ryan stepped into the shower. Brody stood off to the side, keeping an eye out for Purvis while Ryan washed up. The one-eyed man was grateful for the chance to wash the blood, dust and grime from his body. He put his head under the water, which was both fresh and warm thanks to the farm’s unlimited supply of water and electricity, and let it flow over him like a river.
As he soaped up and rinsed for the last time, Ryan caught sight of Purvis at the exit to the showers. He decided to ignore him for the time being, knowing that the man wouldn’t do anything while so many slaves were still in the showers with them.
But with Purvis standing there and looking for a fight, the others rinsed off quickly and left, leaving Ryan and Brody alone with him.
Purvis was as tall and as muscular as one might expect from the dominant male of a work crew. He also looked as if he’d been in a few fights during his time on the farm. Several of his teeth were missing, his nose was caved in and there was a bite-sized chunk of flesh missing from the outside of his right thigh.
“Your time has come, One-eye,” Purvis said, taking a couple of steps into the shower.
“He doesn’t want any trouble, Purvis,” Brody argued. “He doesn’t know how things work on the farm, that’s all.”
Ryan decided to say nothing for the moment, giving Purvis the chance to back out of this without getting hurt.
“You got that right, Brody. He don’t know shit about what he’s got himself into.”
“He made a mistake is all,” Brody reasoned. “He was thinking like an outlander, not like a slave. Forget it this time, and it won’t happen again.”
There was a slight grin on Purvis’s face. He was obviously enjoying hearing Brody talk.
But Ryan didn’t like it at all.
“No, it will happen again,” Ryan said. “It will happen every time you beat on a woman, Purvis, or anybody else who’s done you no wrong.”
“You’re all talk.” Purvis took a few steps closer.
“I’ve been called a lot of things,” Ryan said, “but never that.”
The big man hesitated. He gestured to Brody. “I don’t like the odds.”
Ryan nodded. “Get out of here, Brody!”
“But—”
“Get out!”
Brody left without another word.
“Pack your bags, One-eye,” Purvis said. “You’re about to board the last train west.”
Ryan said nothing, too busy assessing the situation to waste time on more talk. The water was still running in the showers. It helped drown out their voices so the sec men couldn’t hear them, but it also made the floor of the shower very slippery. Purvis was a head taller than Ryan and probably outweighed him by fifty pounds. So if Ryan was to have any chance against the bigger man, he’d have to move fast, strike first and strike hard.