James Axler Deathlands 015 Chill Factor

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

l%20Factor.html (84 of 289) [12/30/2004 2:02:43 PM]
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%20015
%20-%20Chill%20Factor.html you're going to pull the trigger on what you got,
then you better do it right now."
"I got a knife."
"Sure."
"And I got a knife, mister."
Ryan sighed. "Look, the two of you. Standing where I am you can see me. See I
got a blaster. You don't. I can just cut you both down where you are. Think
about it. Fireblast!"
"How do I know you aren't one of the silver circle men?"
"The what?"
"You know."
Ryan nodded. "The bald man with the pocked face and mustache. He still got the
mustache?"
"See, Kate! He knows Zim!" There was utter, abject terror in the trembling
voice.
"Kate, I met a man called Gregori Zimyanin, way back. Now I think he's lifted
my son to work for him in those mines. I come to get him back. If I can do
it."
"And kill Zim?"
"Sure. Not an easy man to take out of living, but I can sure try. That is " he
took another couple of steps into the cave " if I didn't freeze to death
first."
RYAN LEANED BACK, his coat open, enjoying the feel of the flames on his
cheeks. The fire was set far enough back into what he'd learned were ancient,
pre-
Dark mine workings to make it impossible for it to be seen by any watchers in
the
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Jam...%20Deathlands%20015%20-%20Chil
l%20Factor.html (85 of 289) [12/30/2004 2:02:43 PM]
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%20015
%20-%20Chill%20Factor.html bottom of the valley.
He looked across at his two new companions.
Kate Webb was seventeen years old, as skinny as whipcord, with dark hair
hacked off short. Her only weapon was a short knife made from poor, soft
metal, barely able to keep an edge.
Her grandfather, Cody, was somewhere around the seventy mark. He wasn't sure
about just where. He had no weapon at all.
Page 43
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Both of them wore a ragged assortment of patched and torn furs.
The girl had told Ryan their story, with occasional interruptions from Cody.
They'd been trawled in from New England about eight months ago neither of them
was sure about the precise passage of time brought in through a gateway with a
number of other people from their small rural ville.
It occurred to Ryan at that point that Zimyanin must also have stumbled upon
the significance of the Last Destination control on the mat-trans unit to be
able to go out and back with such facility.
The consequent thought was that if any of the Russkie's men used the nearby
gateway before Ryan could spring Dean and get away, then the setting would
probably be altered. Getting home again to New Mexico would be almost
impossible.
Along with about two hundred slave workers, Kate and Cody had been put to
labor in the depths of the sulfur mines.
"Many guards?" Ryan asked.
"Thicker'n jiggers on a dead dog," the old man replied.
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Jam...%20Deathlands%20015%20-%20Chil
l%20Factor.html (86 of 289) [12/30/2004 2:02:43 PM]
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%20015
%20-%20Chill%20Factor.html
The pair also seemed unsure about how many workers and sec men were around the
mining complex. Kate explained that a lot of people died.
"The shafts are narrow, deep and triple dangerous. Folks fall. Rocks fall.
Ladders fall."
"And the sickness," Cody said petulantly. "Don't forget the sickness."
Ryan had already noticed that both of them were showing signs of rad sickness,
the old man much worse than the girl. She had a couple of small sores near her
mouth, and he could see that she'd also lost her fingernails. Cody's lips were
cracked, the skin on his face covered in nests of tiny, pustulent blisters.
His hair was mostly gone, and all his nails had dropped off. He kept
complaining about feeling sick.
"Used to be a big man, Ryan. That your name, Ryan? Hearing ain't what it was.
Yeah, Ryan. Big man. Look at me now. Get your thumb and finger around my
wrist. Not even half a man."
The small rad counter on the lapel of Ryan's long coat was showing crimson.
CODY'S MIND GOT CLUTTERED and he began to mumble to himself, eventually
falling into a deep sleep. Once be called out. "
Take the wagons to the
sea
."
Kate got up and peered out of the mouth of the cavern. "Morning shift's on,"
she announced.
Ryan was more interested in where the mine shaft went. It seemed to extend way
back beyond the fire. He walked back for a short distance, tripping over the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Wątki