[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]passing a soapstone pipe backward and forward. It was obvious that they had no
idea there was anyone close by, watching them.
The wind shifted a little, bringing the smell of roasting meat to Ryan's
nostrils, making him realize that he was feeling kind of hungry. There were
two more rabbits, unskinned, tossed on the ground on the far side of the fire.
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"Sharing time," he whispered to himself, wriggling back down the slope to
rejoin the others.
Jak looked up, his mouth open, ready to call out to the returning figure of
Ryan, who lifted a finger to his lips to silence the teenager. He waited until
he was among the others to tell them what he'd seen up the hill.
"Five, all warriors, armed with hunting bows and arrows. Three have rifles of
some kind. Couldn't make out the detail. Four of them got pistols stuck in
their belts. They weren't especially on the alert." J.B. stood up, slinging
the Uzi across his shoulder. "And you said they got food?"
"Rabbits. Two cooking, two skinned ready. I don't reckon they'd put up a fight
if we took the uncooked pair. Let's go see."
Ryan crawled on hands and knees back up the steep slope, the others spread out
on either side of him. The bushes gave them all cover until they were ready to
make their move on the fringe of the clearing.
The one-eyed man waited a moment, checking that none of the five Apaches was
aware of their presence, less than a dozen yards away. But they all seemed
completely relaxed and confident, three of them now sharing the pipe.
He glanced across at the others, all of them waiting for the signal to move
forward, all of them with their blasters drawn and cocked.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time
Ryan nodded. "Now," he said quietly, pushing through the brush, SIG-Sauer
leveled at the nearest of the Native Americans.
"Nobody moves and nobody gets hurt," he commanded, gesturing with the muzzle
of the handblaster.
For a moment the Apaches sat quite still, shocked at the sudden threatening
appearance of the companions, all of them well armed.
"We're kind of short on food, so we'd appreciate the loan of those two rabbits
in the grass there." A pause. "You agree? Well, you don't disagree."
The tallest of the group narrowed his eyes, saying very clearly, "Children of
Rock, my brothers."
And he drew the revolver from his belt.
Ryan couldn't believe what he was seeing.
The Mescalero were all covered by cocked weapons, and had absolutely no chance
of defending themselves. And all that Ryan had asked for was a couple of
rabbits.
It wasn't something men would normally be willing to give up their lives for.
"Don't!" J.B. yelled, as stunned as Ryan, loath to gun down helpless men.
But the event was inexorably set.
The Apaches were going for their blasters, some slower than others, as if they
couldn't believe what was happening to them, either.
It was Jak who fired first, squeezing the trigger on his enormous .357 Colt
Python.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time
You couldn't possibly have called it a firefight. Perhaps massacre was the
only appropriate word for what happened in the next four seconds.
J.B. fired six rounds of 9 mm ammo from the Uzi. Krysty got off two rounds
from her double-action Smith & Wesson. Ryan shot down the two nearest
Mescalero
Apaches with the SIG-Sauer. Mildred only fired once, but the bullet took away
the lower jaw of the youngest of the Native Americans, opening up his throat
in a welter of gushing blood. Jak had fired once, hitting the leader of the
group in the right thigh. Doc leveled the big Le Mat, ready to use the single
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shotgun round. But he saw that he was already too slow and he held fire. Dean,
as well, was unable to get off a shot. It was done.
The Apaches managed a single shot in retaliation. That came from a rusting,
rebuilt Colt .45 and exploded into the dirt and leaf mold as the man's trigger
finger tightened in his death spasm.
"Hold it," Ryan said unnecessarily.
The warriors were all down, all dead, though a couple still had twitching
legs, or scrabbling fingers as the lines of communications went down between
limbs and brain.
The air in the clearing was heavy with the smell of cordite, a haze of smoke
gradually dissipating. On the spits, over the small fire, the pair of rabbits
was cooking nicely.
Ryan holstered the warm blaster, looking across at his oldest friend. "Now,
why the fuck did they want to do that?" he asked J.B.
The Armorer shook his head. "Dark night! I couldn't even begin to guess. We
had them coldcocked. Could've blasted them from cover if we'd been minded."
"All for a couple of undersized rabbits," Doc said. "Why? Why on earth did
they make us slay them?" His voice was hoarse with emotion.
Krysty looked down at the tangled corpses. "Only kids, some of them," she said
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time quietly. All around them, the
forest was still and silent after the burst of gunfire.
"You hear him say the name we've seen on graffiti?"
"Children of Rock?" Dean said.
"Yeah. Their chief just said that name, then they all went for their blasters.
Must've known that they didn't have a hope of Hades of making it against seven
blasters."
She turned to Ryan. "What do you make of it, lover?"
"Children of the Rock? Never heard of them. Not anyone we came across during
the time we rode with Trader. All kinds of weird groups& But not the Children
of the Rock. I'm sure I'd have remembered."
J.B. had been quickly checking the corpses, waving away the clouds of green-
winged blowflies that were already gathering, drawn by the acrid pools of
spilled salt blood. "Mescalero all right," he said. "Long way from their usual
hunting grounds, south and east of here."
"We eating rabbits?" Jak asked.
Ryan grinned. Trust the albino teenager to strike at the heart of the
business. It hadn't turned out the way they'd wanted, but at least they'd
gotten themselves a good meal out of the savage encounter.
"Keep a sharp look and listen out in case they've got companions who might've
heard the shots."
THEY TIPPED THE BODIES into the fast-falling river, watching as the foaming
water carried them southward toward the distant Cific Ocean.
Then they ate, polishing off the two cooked rabbits, replacing them on the
spits with the now skinned animals, moving them as the pink flesh darkened.
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They lay back in the filtered sunlight, weapons at their sides, sucking the
tender meat off the fragile bones, wiping the grease from their chins.
Conversation was held in abeyance until they had all finished eating.
Doc made a halfhearted effort to stifle a belch. "I do most beg your pardon,
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkajaszek.htw.pl
