James Axler - Deathlands 25 Genesis Echo

Axler, James - Deathlands 25 Genesis Echo

ISBN: 0-373-62525-1 / 978-0-373-62525-3Publisher: Harlequin Mills & Boon "Let it go, Krysty. He's out. Let it go and get out yourself."The tall woman, her fiery hair in a tight knot at her nape, stepped back, allowing the branch to slip from her shoulders. It rolled a little, then fell, completely free of the main trunk of the fallen spruce. It landed with a terrifying crash on the very spot where Dean's head had been, narrowly missing Krysty's own legs.Ryan had been kneeling by his son, but he stood and started to move to support Krysty. He was too slow as she crumpled like a dead leaf, toppling to the ground on her back, her eyes wide open and staring blankly at the sky."She's chilled herself," Trader whispered with an almost superstitious awe.Ryan crouched at her side, holding her hand, chafing her wrist. "Happens when she calls on the Gaia power. Always happens. She'll be fine in a minute or two." Mildred put a hand on Ryan's shoulder and eased him to one side. "Need to examine her properly.""She's fine, Mildred."Krysty hadn't moved, her face like ivory, her eyes blank and lifeless. A thread of brilliantly crimson blood inched from her nose and mouth.Mildred checked for a pulse, then looked up at Ryan, her face bleak. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. The Volvo stood in the lee of a high bluff that protected it from the worst of the midday beat, the metal ticking and clicking as it cooled a little. "By evening?" Ryan Cawdor asked."Should be," J. B. Dix replied, lying flat on his back, fedora shading his eyes, his glasses folded neatly and stuck in the top pocket of his jacket.Trader had been complaining of some stomach pains earlier in the morning, but that might have had something to do with the fact that he'd eaten a very large bowl of fiery chili beans at ten o'clock, at the kindly invitation of a pair of Navaho sheepherders.Abe was under the land wag, working away with a length of baling wire to fix a loose part of the exhaust system that had been rattling for the past thirty miles."How's your guts coming along, Trader?" the little gunner called."Gettin' better, thanks, Lee. Damn it! I mean, Abe. Yeah, gettin' better after I emptied myself out in that ditch an hour back. But a clean bed, some sleep and home cooking wouldn't be a bad idea.""Be there by evening," the Armorer repeated."Looking forward to it," Ryan agreed. "Lost touch with how long we've been away.""Long enough." J.B. flapped a persistent hornet from his face.Trader was picking at his lip, where the sun had started a small sore. "You men sure changed since you rode with me. All this talk of goin' back. Getting to a fixed place. Wantin' to stop the moving."Ryan nodded slowly. "It's true. All those years with the war wags, we were always moving, weren't we? One day the Lantic, then a few days later in the bayous. Week later chilling stickies in the Shens, then a firefight with the baron of some pesthole ville in the Darks.""Damn right!" Trader whistled between his teeth. "That was the life all right. Never a dull moment. Living on the edge. Fighting over the edge. Running, always running hard, crossing the borderline. We should get back to that. Get us all back to the real basics of life.""Nobody's stopping you, Trader." J.B. looked at the older man. "We heard you were living and we wanted to check that out. Now we know. You want to go back to that life, then we'll wish you all the best. But it's not for us anymore.""Mean you got soft, Armorer?" He turned to Abe. "What do you say, gunner?""I say that I'll sort of go with what other folks decide," Abe said quietly."Well, I guess I'll meet up with all these good folks at the spread yonder." Trader sniffed. "Then I'll decide what we'll be doing after.""No." Ryan stood. "You decide what you ' ll be doing, Trader. We'll do the same for ourselves. I reckon we ought to get this land wag on the highway if we're going to get back by dusk. Let's move it.""IT LOOKS REAL PRETTY, DOC."They stood together, looking at the way the setting sun was throwing their shadows ten yards beyond their feet. There had been a brief rainfall, the bank of dark cloud moving low over the desert, turning the rutted dust to mud in a heavy downpour, lasting no more than ten minutes. Now the land smelled clean and good, purged of the heat of the day.Somewhere, far behind them in the foothills, they both heard a coyote howling."Another quarter hour and we'll be relishing some soup and fresh-baked bread, Sukie. With some of the best souls in the whole world.""I'm getting real antsy and nervous, Doc.""Nervous, my sweet bird of youth?""Suppose they don't like me? I don't think I'll fit in with all of them. Them knowing you and about the time trawling and all that stuff.""What difference does that make?" Doc Tanner had found himself stumbling over the explanation of his bizarre past, and he had grave doubts that the woman had really understood much of it, though she'd made a valiant effort."Old friends, Doc. And me bein' new and not their kind of caliber.""Horsefeathers, madam! That is absolute tosh and complete balderdash!"She pulled a face. "Sorry, Doc. But you and me have been getting on real well, haven't we?""Not even a house on fire could hardly have got on better than we," he offered gallantly, wrinkling his forehead at the sudden thought that there had been something not quite right with the sentence."Sure." She grabbed him by the arm. "I just wish it was you and me, Doc, together.""Well, we shall have to wait and see what the future has to offer, Sukie. For now, we should step it out and get on to the house before dark." He looked around, hesitating and staring into the distance behind them. "Are my rheumy old eyes faltering, or can I make something moving out across the sands of the desert that are red with the blood of the square that broke and I am so sorry, my dear. There goes my tripping tongue and my disconnected brain yet again."She turned to shade her eyes and look westward, toward the vivid coppery glow of the setting sun. "Yeah, there could be something. About ten miles off, though. Can't tell which way it's moving, Doc. Best we get to the house, I guess.""Indeed, I cannot but agree with that. One small thing puzzles me, you know.""What?""We have been in the clearest sight of the ranch for an hour or more, yet nobody has noticed us and come out to greet us." Judas tossed his head and tugged at the reins. "Yes, quite right," Doc said with a smile. "We should indeed stop the talking and commence the walking. There will be a perfectly reasonable explanation, I am quite sure."RYAN WAS AT THE WHEEL, applying the brakes and going through the gearbox. He brought the land wag to a halt and peered out through the windshield."There she is," he said. "Little gray home in the west, like Mildred called it."The sun was low on the horizon behind them. Visible in a slight dip in the land, about three miles along the narrow sandy trail, was the white house.J.B. was in the cab with him. "I'd have thought someone would have been on lookout and spotted us coming a ways back. Though I guess that rainstorm must have laid a lot of the dust. But, even so""There'll be a good reason," Ryan said.THEY HAD STOPPED about a dozen feet from the front door, which stood slightly ajar."Hello!" Doc called, his right hand creeping down to cover the butt of the Le Mat."Trouble, you figure?" Sukie asked."I fear that it is beginning to appear a distinct possibility. Perhaps you should wait here, my dear, and I shall reconnoiter.""I'll come with you.""Best you wait here.""There's no sign of life, Doc. How about I go around the back?"He considered the suggestion. "Perhaps you could go and keep a watch out, there. But I beg you not to go into the house until I have ascertained that it is safe.""Sure thing."He waited until the woman had walked around the side, then stepped up onto the creaking porch. Doc had often heard Ryan and Krysty speak about how they got a sort of a "feeling" that something was wrong."Well, I confess that I have that feeling," he said quietly to himself.The light evening breeze was moving the half-open door very gently to and fro, the hinges creaking with the faintest whisper of sound. The sun was now close to set, and the hall inside was as dark as pitch."Hello," he said again, "is there anybody there? said the traveler. No, I believe that there isn't."The house was silent. Doc stood in the entrance and hesitated for a few moments, hearing the crunching sound of Sukie's boot heels as she walked around the building toward the back door.THE LAND WAG WAS less than a quarter of a mile away, and Ryan had again brought the vehicle to a halt. The sun was so far down on the western horizon behind them that the truck was sitting in a bowl of deepest shadow."I thought I saw someone goin' in the front door," Trader called."Who?""Come on, Ryan. How do I know who it was? Just looked like someone.""Go ahead on foot," J.R suggested. "This one's got a bad feel to it."Ryan reached out and switched off the ignition. In the stillness they all heard the far-off howling of a lone coyote among the foothills.SUKIE WAS STANDING a few paces from the kitchen door when it opened and Doc walked out."Made me jump," she said. "Anyone there?""I only walked straight through, but I called a couple of times. I did not look in any of the other rooms. Can't be anyone there. They would have answered me. I thought that there was the smell of""What? Danger?""No." He bolstered the big Le Mat. "Perhaps it was my imagination. You saw nothing? There wasn't a note left anywhere around?"She answered him very quickly. "Note! Why should there be a note, Doc? If I'd found a note, I'd have given it to you, wouldn't I?""Yes, yes. Take it easy, my dear. You almost acted as if I had been accusing you of""Well, there wasn't no note, all right? Means that we're here on our own."The voice came from just behind them, making them both start. "Not alone. Hi, Doc."Doc spun, eyes widening at the sight of his friend. "Greetings, my dear Ryan. The best of greetings. How are you, and did you find your old companion? There is something amiss here, is there not?""Time for all that later. How long you been here?""Five minutes. No longer. Is John Barrymorc Dix with you? Abe and the Trader?""Covering the front of the house. All fine. Got a wag out front, as well. Was there a note? And who's this woman?""This is no woman, this is my my friend. Susan Smith, known by the diminutive of 'Sukie.' And this is my truest friend, Ryan Cawdor, my dear."She had been staring at the tall, powerfully built man with a horrified fascination, unable to keep from looking at the black patch over his left eye. And the dull gleam of the automatic blaster held in his right hand. "Hi, there," she said. "Doc's sure talked a bundle about you and the others.""Yeah." He turned from her. "A note, Doc. Was there a note? They could've gone away for some good reason. If they did, then they'd likely have left us a note. On the front or, more likely, on the back door. Sure there was nothing?""I saw nothing. Nor did Sukie.""Right, I didn't see nothing, Mr. Cawdor."He ignored her, looking toward the main barn and the corral. "Livestock's gone as well. We checked for tracks, but that bout of heavy rain's washed everything away."They all heard steps and moved toward them. J.B. appeared around one side of the building, raising a hand in greeting to Doc. Trader and Abe walked around the nearer wall of the house, both holding blasters.The introductions took only a handful of seconds."It's Indians," Trader said vehemently, gesturing toward the shadowy outline of the mountains with the barrel of the Armalite."No bullets, no fire, no broken windows, no blood." J.B. ticked the points off on his fingers. "I don't see it as a firefight or an armed raid, Trader.""Gone out hunting," Abe suggested. "Mebbe following deer and didn't notice the time passing. Could be they'll all return in the next hour or so."Ryan considered the idea for a moment. "Possible, Abe. Guess that's the best one yet. But they wouldn't have left all of the doors open like this. It's unthinkable, isn't it? Must fine-comb the place. Soon as possible. First, though, we'll just have to bring the land wag up to the house. Get it parked safely out back. Abe, you can do that.""Sure." He vanished at a quick trot around the side of the building.Ryan continued. "All the rest of us can move inside and get some lamps lit and take us a room-by-room look around. Doc, you and""Sukie." Both her fists were clenched tight in the pockets of her divided skirt.He nodded to her. "Right. You two best go and wait in your room, Doc. Rest of us can search carefully.""I would prefer it if you ceased treating us like a pair of country clodhoppers. We can search for clues, as well, Ryan. We are not totally stupid, you know.""All right. Time's passing and the darkness is coming down on top of us."The house was looming over them like a gaunt, ghostly sepulcher, the windows shadowed, blank eyes staring down at the small group.He turned for a moment back to the stranger among them. "Sure about there not being any sort of message for us?""I said so.""It is more than a remote possibility that Krysty or one of the others could have placed a letter for us, explaining precisely where they are, within the house, Ryan, my old friend." Doc moved a pace to stand next to the woman and placed a protective arm around her shoulders."Sure. Sorry, Doc. Sorry, Sukie.""We will go into my room and keep out of your way, Ryan," Doc said."Fine." He watched them vanish into the kitchen.J.B. was about to lead the way inside the house when he stopped, his eyes caught by something. He peered down at the lapel of his own jacket, breathing out, "Dark night!""How's that?" Ryan said."Rad counters," the Armorer replied. "Just look at your rad counter."Ryan did so, angling it to catch the last fading rays of the setting sun. For a moment a rich crimson light confused him and he moved the little counter again, tilting it to make sure what he was seeing."It's right around into the red. That means we're all standing in one of the biggest radiation hot spots that I ever saw.""Mine shows the same," Trader added. "Can't all've malfunctioned at the same time. Not even shading in the orange. It's way off the top of the danger scale."For a few moments the three friends stood still, looking at each other, trying to work out what freakish combination of circumstances could have brought what the Apaches called "the silent death" to this secure, isolated place. Next page