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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] Horribly. It was a close-run thing. The burst of fire from the Uzi had opened up enough of a passage through the shocked and disjointed insects to enable Ryan to sprint through. Several of the creatures struck at him, but he was moving too fast, using the long panga like an ax to clear a wider path, lashing out at any of the giant mutie centipedes that threatened him. Once they saw he was going to make it, the other friends turned and started moving fast toward the top of the track, avoiding a few more of the insects that were wriggling from their sun-blind burrows. One of the larger centipedes reared up in front of him, its head at the height of Ryan's chest, and he swung the panga at it without breaking stride, slicing Page 40 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html through the armored body. There was a strange noise from all around him, like the high-pitched mewing of drowning kittens, and the air was filled with the alien metallic stink. Suddenly he was free of them, following the others helter-skelter down the slope. Ryan glanced a couple of times over his shoulder, but the mutie insects didn't try to pursue them. They all arrived together down by the water, panting and exhausted. Doc's nosebleed had gotten worse, and Mildred had also been sick. "All in good shape," Ryan said, grinning. file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...0Deathlands%2032%20-%20Circle%20 Thrice.html (60 of 215) [12/29/2004 2:12:49 PM] file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathla nds%2032%20-%20Circle%20Thrice.html "Apart from your pants," Krysty observed. "Those little fuckers did a good job on them." Ryan hadn't been aware in the headlong dash of just how close some of the clamping jaws had come to him. But when he sat on a rounded boulder by the brackish lake, he saw that the lower parts of his pants were cut and slashed in several places, as though a straight razor had been used on them. "THERE'S THE SMOKE I saw," Ryan pointed with the SIG-Sauer toward the pallid column of gray that was twining into the overcast sky. It was the middle of the day, but the clouds had returned. Now it was warm and humid, with the threat of possible thunder in the air. "Where there's smoke there's food," J.B. said. "And where there's food, there's trouble," Ryan added. "Always the way." Chapter Ten They crossed over a ridge, leaving the poisoned water behind them, finding themselves in a cleaner and fresher part of the country. There were sweeping banks of scented flowers, the blossoms drooping heavily toward the lush grass, and they forded three fast-running streams of good, sparkling water. All six of them drank deeply. They could see the tall plume of smoke more clearly and could even catch the smell of it when the wind shifted a little. It carried the flavor of cooking meat, which made all of them salivate with hunger. "Hope they're friendly to outlanders," Krysty said. "Won't matter that much if they're not." Ryan's lean face was vulpine with the desire for something to eat and to put a lining on his groaning stomach. file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...0Deathlands%2032%20-%20Circle%20 Thrice.html (61 of 215) [12/29/2004 2:12:49 PM] file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathla nds%2032%20-%20Circle%20Thrice.html They had seen tracks of deer at two of the crossings, and once a flock of doves circled noisily above them. Jak had drawn his Colt Python, holstering it at Ryan's snapped command. "If we want everyone to know there's strangers in the woods, then we can yell out and tell them." IT WAS A SMALL COMMUNITY. They approached it with the greatest caution, in an extended double-red skirmish line. The streams had melted into a larger river, which flowed over bubbling shallows, running deeper a little farther beyond the village, through high cliffs. About a dozen shacks, mostly thatched with reeds, stretched along a main street of trampled mud. The smoke that they'd seen from afar came from what looked to be a communal cooking fire, with two or three iron pots dangling over it. The smell of broiling meat drifting toward the invisible watchers, behind their wall of undergrowth. Page 41 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Ryan counted seventeen people in the half hour they patiently watched and waited. Nine were children below the age of adolescence. Five were women, one of them extremely old. Of the three men, only one looked to be under fifty, and he walked with a heavy limp, dragging a wasted right leg behind him as he moved, leaning heavily on a carved stick. "Step in and take," Jak whispered. "My guess is that the men are out hunting," Ryan replied. "Could come back any time. Don't want to get caught coldcocked and have to chill our way out." "Not unless we have to," J.B. added. "Yeah." A couple of scrawny dogs sniffed around each other, occasionally snarling. Mildred grinned at the sight. "I ever tell you the first time I saw two dogs making it? I was about six and I was out with my Uncle Josh. I asked him what the dogs were doing. 'Well, Millie,' he said. 'The poor animal in front has been struck sightless, and the one behind is helping to push it to the hospital for the blind.' Never forgot that." They all laughed quietly. THE SCENT of the cooking stew was driving them all crazy. file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...0Deathlands%2032%20-%20Circle%20 Thrice.html (62 of 215) [12/29/2004 2:12:49 PM] file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathla nds%2032%20-%20Circle%20Thrice.html "We been waiting here an hour or more, Ryan," Mildred complained. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |