But things were quiet, and the twins only ceased to talk incessantly when the scouting party had traversed beyond the edge of old Seattle, entering the fringes of the desert area.
“Typical of you stupes,” Blake remarked, “to stop fuckin’ yammering when it don’t matter no more.”
“It’s the heat, man,” Ant replied.
“Kind of dries your throat too much to talk,” Dee finished.
So, apart from a few outbursts actuated by things like Jak taking water, the party continued in silence. They trudged wearily across the arid desert, the few scraps of scrub tree and mutated, twisted cactus providing not even the briefest respite from the sun, burning orange and purple in the chem-stained sky.
After the twins’ last outburst, they continued in silence for some time. Jak kept his eyes, aching from the bright light, cast down apart from the occasional sweep around and a very occasional glance up to judge the position of the sun.
It was sinking lower in the sky, although the heat at this point was still harsh, beating down hard.
“Soon be dark,” he husked through a phlegm-blocked and dried throat.
“Not soon enough for me,” Blake replied. “Too exposed out here in the day.”
“What you moaning about, man?” Dee questioned him. “We don’t have to fight them. We see a party coming, we just turn tail and head back with the information, covering our asses on the way. Shit, they can’t ambush us here, can they?” he added, opening his arms expansively to the empty wastes of the desert.
Blake shook his head. “Nearer we are to them, the tireder we are and the fresher they are. Get that through your jolt-fucked skull and think about it.”
Jak silently agreed with the older sec man. They were beaten down by the sun and weary from the journey. It was possible that an outrunning mutie party could catch them up and force a stand before they reached the main war party.
On the other hand, so far there had been no sign of any activity. With luck, the Sunchildren were still licking their wounds from the previous day’s firefight.
It was only when he looked up and saw the pall of smoke seemingly rising from the earth that Jak realized how well protected the valley of the Sunchildren was. On their previous, dark-shrouded excursion, he hadn’t realized that the sudden dip of the valley, almost a hollow crater, made the ville invisible on three of its four sides.
They were approaching obliquely, Blake leading them out in a southwesterly direction so that they couldn’t be seen from the gentle incline that formed one side of the valley and serviced the only road into the ville.
The twins had fallen silent as they drew nearer, their attention becoming more focused on their task. It was eerily silent, despite the nearby presence of the ville. The bowl of the valley acted as a sound barrier, and kept the sound contained within its natural walls.
Blake indicated for the twins to spread out to his left, and for Jak to move across to the right.
“I just want us to have a look-see what they might be doing down there. Don’t do anything to attract their attention, for fuck’s sake. We just want them to go about their business, see what they’re about, then get the hell back to the main party.”
“Why can’t we just give them a little taste, dude?” Ant asked, running his hand lovingly along the barrel of his newly cleaned shotgun.
Blake shot him a warning glance. “I know you boys got a reason to hate the muties, but there’s still just four of us. We can’t keep them all down there until the others arrive. Besides, Harv wants us to scout out trouble and report back…and he’s the boss, right?” The twins didn’t answer immediately, so Blake rapped again. “Right?”
“Guess so,” Dee murmured. His brother nodded.
“Okay, so let’s do it,” Blake said softly.
Jak moved away from the other three, leaving them in the rapidly darkening light to move around the rim of the valley. Despite the fact that it would have been almost impossible for him to be seen, he still kept low to the ground, moving in a light-footed crouching run that raised little dust from the dry earth around.