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destroyed Mack truck. "Some of this stuff isn't burned much."
"Anything good?" the sergeant asked, walking closer, his boots crunching on
the packed sand. With the lanterns behind him, his legs cast long shadows
across the parking lot.
"Don't know. What's an MRE?" The sec man tried to open the foil pack and
started to turn red from the effort. There were directions clearly printed on
the package, but the squiggles were meaningless to the
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man.
Keeping a careful watch on the sky, the two sec men proceeded to the library
while the driver kicked over the white-haired corpse in a weird coat. The
man's shirt was covered with so much blood it was impossible to tell if it was
his or came from the other fellow. "These must be the last of those jolt
dealers the muties aced," the driver theorized. "They came out of hiding to
reclaim their stuff and kilt each other."
"Good." A toothless sec man laughed happily, rattling the library doors. There
was no sound from inside.
"More for us."
The foil finally ripped apart, spilling out an assortment of smaller packs and
pouches. "Hey!" the man cried in delight. "These are food packs!"
"Hell, no wonder they fought," the driver commented. "Let's see what else they
got on them."
Fred rubbed his chin. "Mebbe a little jolt?"
"Could be." The driver grinned, bending over the old man when there was a
sharp metallic click. The driver recoiled just before his chest exploded, and
he flew backward to slam into the pickup with a hole the size of a dinner
plate in his torso.
"Sumbitch!" Benson cursed, clawing for his blaster.
But the other corpse rolled over, firing a squat machine gun from a prone
position. The sec men near the library died on the spot. The sergeant drew his
pistol and got off a wild shot before the LeMat removed his head in a grisly
spray of bones, brains and blood.
The last sec man jumped over the low stone wall and took off for his life.
Stumbling after him, J.B. and
Doc both fired their blasters, but the nimble man disappeared into the ruins.
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"Bedamned, we are shaky," Doc rumbled, clumsily reloading his blaster.
"Just be glad we're still alive," J.B. panted, leaning against the library
wall. He was exhausted from the minor exertion. "When I saw those stupes going
for the library, I almost shot them right there."
"They were not a good pattern yet."
"I know. That's why I waited."
Finished reloading, Doc holstered his piece and took a lantern from the
pickup. Hurrying over to the library, he lifted it to a window. Instantly,
there was a rustling of bodies and the snapping of wings. He ducked quickly
and a juicy gob flew across the lot.
"Our guests seem most perturbed by imprisonment," Doc stated, closing his eyes
until a wave of dizziness passed. "Perhaps we should amend the terms of their
captivity."
"Too dangerous to shoot them through the windows," J.B. said claiming his
rumpled hat from where it had dropped. He winced from the pain in his
pulsating arm as he beat the dust off the fedora, then reset the crown and
brim. "That bat venom is bad news, and they spit way too accurately for my
taste."
"And mine, sir." Moving about, Doc found his sword and ebony cane. "Think
there is enough fuel in
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the well, let's be polite and call it a vehicle to burn them to death?"
Forcing himself to keep standing, J.B. donned the hat, then tilted it an inch
to the proper angle. Dressed again, the man felt more like his old self. "No
way, even if the tank was full."
"How inconvenient," Doc commented, glancing at the skyscraper rising about the
ruins. The upper levels were lost in the distance of the nighttime sky. "And I
can only postulate that we did indeed capture them all, or else we would be
long dead and eaten while we were unconscious."
"Screw them. Let's blow," J.B. said, shivering slightly. "It's colder than a
baron's witch out here, and I'm starving."
Doc slid off his frock coat and it was gratefully accepted. "I shall fix the
flat tire on the Hummer while you shop among the trucks for undamaged MRE
packs. It will be warmer than the exposed street."
"Okay, by me," J.B. chattered, buttoning the garment shut. Lying on the sand,
he had been warmed by the stored heat from the day. Standing, the desert winds
took it away, chilling him to the bone. Hadn't been this cold since the Zarks.
"Just hurry, okay?"
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