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another piece of treach-ery, placed the four-and-a-half-inch barrel of the handgun
behind the dying man's ear and squeezed the trigger. The head bounced and a
splatter of blood and brains appeared on the dirt.
"There. Now get out of here."
Still trying to wind the crimson strips of rag around his face, the other wounded
leper rose to his feet. And all four of them began to move wearily off along the
road, toward the cluster of buildings.
"Don't even think about stopping in that town-ship," Ryan warned. "We'll be
there, and we'll chill anyone in the way. Just walk on."
The spokesman turned. "You said stickies was coming. That a lie?"
"No. Truth. But we're goin' to be ready for them. So long."
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Axler, James - Deathlands 16 - Moon Fate
"But you "
Ryan pointed the gun at the man's chest. "So long," he repeated.
Slowly, looking to be in the last stages of exhaus-tion, the four lepers trudged
away, following the blacktop, leaving the corpse of their colleagues where they
lay.
Ryan watched them until he was sure they weren't going to dodge into the
buildings and try to hide. Then he lifted the SIG-Sauer and waved J.B. and Jak
toward him.
"Bring the others!" he shouted. "Let's get ready for the stickies."
Chapter Thirty-Nine
"Do like I want."
"No."
"Want me to beg?"
"No."
"So, I'll beg you, Ryan."
"Still no."
"Please. Just leave me here with some water and a handful of jerky. Blaster and
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Axler, James - Deathlands 16 - Moon Fate
enough ammo so I can spare one for myself at the ending. You know that's what
makes sense for everyone."
Abe was hovering on the edge of delirium, drifting in and out of madness. When
he was sane he would argue logically that Ryan and the others should go on while
they had a chance and leave him behind. When his fever soared he would shout at
them to get out and abandon him. Like he'd do to them if he only could get a
lucky break.
Mildred had finally had to control him physically by binding his wrists and ankles
to keep him still on the stretcher.
Ryan left her with Dean, Christina, Jak, Harold and Dorina while he went with
Doc, Krysty and J.B. to explore what remained of the tiny township of Bear Claw
Ridge.
SEVERAL OF THE constituent parts of the township had already collapsed. The
offices and restaurant of the Overlook Resort Motel had tumbled into ruins,
showing the scorched signs of an ancient fire. The nearby vacation cottages had
also long gone, ab-sorbed into the wilderness. Some of them had been ranged
along a cliff to the northwest, doubtless with wonderful views of the setting sun.
But the earth tremors during the long winters had felled tens of thousands of tons
of rock into the abyss below, tak-ing many of the cottages with it.
All that remained was a squat, single-story shack of rotting wood, its sign still
proclaiming that it had been called Verne's Place. Doors and windows were gone,
and the shingle roof had fallen in. A rattler glided away from under the old porch
as they approached.
Part of the SkyHi Mall still stood. It had been two floors, divided into a number of
small boutiques, but it looked as though one of the quakes had rocked it off its
foundations. It leaned like an elderly dowager, complaining that it was old, ill,
terrified and drunk.
And there was the Beacon Multiplex Cinema.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 16 - Moon Fate
Rectangular and sturdy, its wind-washed concrete shell was the only place in the
tiny settlement that had kept itself together.
The outer glass doors were long gone, shattered into a million shards of bright
crystal. But the inner doors had been armored, layered with protective wire.
They'd been cracked and splintered, and they showed the signs of some serious
attacks, but they still stood against the elements.
The Beacon was where Ryan had helped to carry the wounded Abe.
"We could separate and scatter through the shop-ping mall," J.B. said
thoughtfully. "Wait and pick them off."
Ryan shook his head. "Building's double danger-ous. You move a hand, and you
got the roof girders in on top of you."
Doc was shaking his head in amazement. "This takes me back, my dear friends.
Oh, so far back, to such happy times with my dearest Emily."
"You came up here?" J.B. asked.
"Not here, John Barrymote, but to places like it. In far Montana and in the snowy
fastness of Colorado. The hotels then were not gimcrack little tinplate boxes. They
were grand. Giant trees ranged around the lobby and balconies in serried rows.
Magnificent. Did I tell you of the barge wherein she sat, with& " His voice trailed
away as he was swallowed up by his own be-wilderment.
Ryan took the silence. "Abe's worse. Mildred reck-ons he has to rest."
"It's down to numbers." J.B. looked around. "They come at us in the dark, then
they can do us some serious damage."
"You mean that they might kill some of us," Doc said. "I have always been
fascinated at the euphe-misms employed by dealers in death. High body count.
Necessary removal. Large-item discounting. Successful site clearance. When all
that is meant is the deliberate destruction of other human beings. Now you calmly
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