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them. I distinctly felt something foul slithering by my leg."
"Probably just a turd. Come on, we've got to hurry up and get the hell out of his
cesspool, free steam bath or not."
"Go ahead, Jak. Chill the bastard," Dean urged, watching the serpent continue to
coil in the albino's grip.
"No," Jak said, then moved back down the tunnel. Once he was a good distance
away, he boldly tossed the snake down the passageway as far as he could.
"What did you do that for?" Dean demanded when the older boy returned.
"Snake's all confused. We'll be gone long time before he gets back over here."
"Let's forget about the damn thing," Ryan stated. "My worry now is seeing how
hot it's going to get."
The one-eyed man hunkered down his upper body and braved the billowing steam
first. Once on the other side, he was greatly relieved to discover the wet heat had
washed over him without causing much discomfort. All of his friends, as well as
himself, had endured about as much as any human being could stand in the past
four hours.
"Come on through. Go quick. It's not hot enough to burn," he yelled.
One by one, all went through safely.
"Can't be much farther. Seems like we've gone the length of the mall already."
The water had risen to Ryan's stomach by now. Shorter members of the group like
Jak and Mildred were having to keep their mouths closed in fear of the foul water
splashing up. Only good thing about that was it helped close off the chatter.
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Then, as Morgan had said, the tunnel did come to an end, with another flat wall
and another rusted yellow ladder going up to the surface. There was no interior
wheel to turn this time, merely a heavy lid. Ryan went up the ladder and pushed.
"Stuck."
After a supreme effort that once again made his healing shoulder give off the
sensation of being tortured with hot irons, Ryan was able to summon up the
strength to shove the manhole cover up and away, where it fell freely over with a
clatter to the well-worn pavement above. After Ryan poked his head up to visually
recce the area, he gave the all-clear signal and the rest of the group crawled up and
out onto the blacktop of one of Freedom's many unused parking lots, this one at
the far west end, away from the main entrance and from the secondary front of the
stickie attack.
Some fleeing figures could be seen, running along the wall. The pandemonium
that had marked the interior of the colossal building still appeared to be going
strong, but the tunnel had led Ryan and the others far away from any of the
fighting. The group headed back for the tangle of undergrowth that had sprouted
up beyond the wide expanse that had been kept cleared for security reasons, and
took a wide circle to the start of Hawthorne Road.
Ryan looked back at the burning patches of red and orange in the darkness. "Seem
to be making a habit of this," he said.
"What are you talking about, lover?" Krysty asked. The night breeze that had
guided the crude gliding devices operated by the stickies onto the roof of the mall
was still blowing softly, and felt cool on their wet skin.
"I'm talking about leaving nothing behind us but a damn ruin."
"Not our doing, not this time," Mildred stated. "We were caught in the middle."
"I still can't help but think my being there made crazy mutie-loving Lester decide
to attack sooner than he might've. Morgan said they were waiting for more
blasters, supplies and men. Might have been able to put up a better fight."
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"Ancient history now. I'd say our own kind brought Freedom down a hell of a lot
faster than a gang of stickies," Mildred replied. "What's our next move?" J.B.
asked. "Don't know. We're close to the underbelly of Virginia. Guess we could
stay on foot, try walking for a while and see how far we go. I've been thinking
about paying a visit to Nate anyway, see how things are going back home, such as
it is."
Everyone knew Ryan's ambivalent feelings on the stretch of land where he'd
grown up. The last time there, he'd left the young Nathan Freeman in charge as the
new Lord Cawdor, leader of the clan that shared Ryan's name.
"Still wondering about what Poseidon told you back in Georgia? Trouble brewing
up in the Shens?" Krysty asked.
"Some, yeah," Ryan admitted. "Or mebbe I'm just afraid of what I might find."
"Long trip to West Virginia," Doc said, already feeling his long legs start to ache
in anticipation.
"Not if we stick to the highways," Mildred replied.
"I haven't made up my mind yet," Ryan said simply. "Be a lot easier to go back to
the hospital and take another jump, see where the mat-trans winds take us. Not up
to me, though. What do the rest of you want to do?"
There was no response for a moment, and then J.B. spoke for the rest of them.
"Whatever you decide, Ryan, I guess we'll fall in."
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