Zero City

“You’re the invaders,” the prisoner said until Ryan tightened the blade, a trickle of blood flowing from the wound.

“Here’s the deal,” he growled as Krysty took away the man’s weapons, a knife and a muzzle-loading pistol. “You get to live if you tell us about that med kit.”

“What med—?” He gagged as Krysty placed the muzzle of her .38 against the man’s crotch and clicked back the hammer.

“One lie, one ball,” she said coldly. “Two lies, no balls, Three and you lose anything remaining.”

The man broke into a sweat, his hands flexing helplessly in the air.

“Gaudy house,” he finally whispered. “Northeast corner of the market. Big fat bitch, Patrica, said she found a med kit. Baron doesn’t believe her, but she turned it in as you’re supposed to so we can’t touch her.”

“Where is it now?” Ryan demanded, tightening his hold slightly.

“Vault in the palace. Don’t have the combination. Nobody does but the baron and Leonard.”

“That his lover, captain of the guards?” Krysty asked.

“Son!” Panic took his eyes. “Don’t kill me!”

In spite of his promise, Ryan was torn on the matter. He knew it was the smart move to kill the man. But a deal had been made, and he gave his word. That didn’t mean shit in the Deathlands, except to the man whose honor backed the pledge.

“Get some rope,” Ryan said.

Holstering her piece, Krysty nodded and turned away, then cried out and dived to the floor. A woman was at the door holding a scattergun. Ryan shoved his prisoner forward as the weapon boomed. The discharge lifted the sec man off the ground, and he crashed amid the green plants, blood and organs splattering everywhere.

The armed guard thumbed back the second hammer of her blaster as Ryan shot her in the knee from under the table. The shotgun fired again, blowing away a dozen panes of glass as the sec woman fell to the ground screaming in pain. Something white-hot scored Krysty’s cheek as she shot the sec woman in the throat, then again in the head. The screaming stopped.

Quickly searching the corpses, the companions found a rough map of the ville, spare cartridges for their blasters, a piece of honeycomb, half an apple and some jerky. Krysty carefully smelled the meat, then risked nibbling a corner.

“Wolf,” she declared thankfully.

The pair divided the food, devouring the scraps as a group of people bearing alcohol lanterns started to come their way.

“Hey, Sue,” called out a voice. “You okay?”

Moving to the far door, Krysty cut loose with a full throated scream of terror as Ryan shot the lantern lying on the floor with his silenced pistol. Instantly, a pool of burning alcohol spread across the greenhouse, igniting the clothing of the dead.

“Intruders in the greenhouse!” a sec man shouted, firing his longblaster wildly into the sky.

Others took up the fight as the companions quietly retreated from the commotion into the blackness of the night.

“Patrica first?” Krysty asked after they had reached a safe distance from the growing conflagration.

Thumbing some fresh rounds into his ammo clip to replace the spent cartridges, Ryan nodded. “She’s our ticket to the baron.”

“And he’s our way out. Let’s go.”

Chapter Fourteen

Dragging a brace of window curtains behind it, the Hummer rolled to a halt in front of the nameless skyscraper. J.B. killed the engine and set the brake.

“Any tracks?” he asked, looking backward out the window.

“Not a thing, John Barrymore,” Doc replied.

“Good,” the man said, sliding out from behind the wheel. “Last night was too close of a call. If those muties had gotten inside, we would have been chilled for sure. Sure as hell don’t want any of the frigging sec men finding our bolt-hole.”

“I wholeheartedly concur, my friend,” Doc agreed, stepping to the ground and closing the door. “And here is the solution to our security dilemma. Voila! The Tower of Babel!”

“Not quite. But, yes, it is tall.”

Somber and impressive, the truncated facade of the skyscraper fronted the apex of the corner, its ten stories of windows frosty white from erosion and age. And if the building had once possessed a name, it had been removed by the rain and the winds long ago.

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