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.Stay behind and you die of hunger.Mebbe thirst.Could last a week.Two.""But you'd be insane by then," Krysty added."Come with us, Michael.""I can't be with a woman," he said, his voice shuddering with pent-up horror.Ryan went to punch in the code by the sec doors, waiting a moment to be certain that the grinding of the massive gears had begun.He gestured to Krysty to climb in the back of the APC as J.B.began to move it toward the entrance, the tracks grating along the stone floor."Last chance, Michael.Fireblast! You have to take a chance now and again, lad."The wag was moving at a slow walking pace, J.B.aiming it toward the center of the slowly rising sec doors."Better seal the doors in case there's trouble outside," he called, his voice file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E.Deathlands%2017%20-%20Fury's%20Pilgrims.html (105 of 287) [1/3/2005 12:24:49 AM]d17 Fury's Pilgrimscrackling over the driver's amp mike.Ryan peered out into bright sunlight, unable to see anything beyond a range of high walls.As the wag emerged, he followed it and immediately locked in the closing code of two, three, five.The wag was stopped, engine ticking over, still belching oily smoke from its exhaust.Dean was on the seat nearest the rear doors, looking anxiously out toward his father.His gaze passed Ryan, focusing on the huge titanium-steel sec doors as they dropped closer to the floor."He's not coming, Dad."Ryan shook his head, seeing that the barefoot teenager was still standing where he'd left him, his face immobile."So long," Ryan called.Brother Michael made a gesture with his hands that could have been the sign of the Cross, but Ryan was already turning toward the wag and the rest of the group.He was only a couple of steps away when Dean pointed behind him."Dad! Look!"The doors, painted a mat gray, were less than two feet from the bottom.Underneath them, it was possible to see the bare feet and the ankles of the nineteen-year-old, moving so fast he seemed to be a blur."Never make it," Abe said.But he hadn't even finished the sentence when Brother Michael appeared, seeming to explode through the shrinking space as though a frag gren had propelled him outward.file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E.Deathlands%2017%20-%20Fury's%20Pilgrims.html (106 of 287) [1/3/2005 12:24:49 AM]d17 Fury's Pilgrims"Upon my soul!" Doc exclaimed, his jaw dropping almost to his chest."Gaia!" Krysty glanced at Ryan, her face a study in amazement.For a moment of frozen time, Ryan had a vision of Jak Lauren.The uncanny reflexes of the young albino boy had startled him when they first met.But Brother Michael was even quicker.It crossed Ryan's mind, as something to store away and examine later, that the stranger could possibly be some sort of mutie.Or even, perhaps, a kind of humanoid.J.B.was holding the wag on the throttle, glancing back over his shoulder to see what was happening at the rear."He coming?"Ryan jumped in over the low step, reaching out a hand toward the young man, who took it and joined the others."Yeah," Ryan called, "he's coming along."As the one-eyed man sat down, the sec doors receding behind them, J.B.operated the control to close the rear entrance to the wag."Air-conditioning's fine," he said through the intercom."You got scanners? Pipe them to the screens in back here."The engine changed tone as J.B.put it into neutral."You come up here, Ryan.Check out the master dash and look after some of the stuff.I'll be busy just driving her."file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E.Deathlands%2017%20-%20Fury's%20Pilgrims.html (107 of 287) [1/3/2005 12:24:49 AM]d17 Fury's PilgrimsThere was good light in the back of the APC, and the ride was surprisingly steady.Ryan used the numerous handgrips to move past the others to the second driver's seat alongside the slight figure of J.B.The windshield ahead was armored glass, with fine layers of protective wire set within it.There were also steel shutters that slid into place at a touch of one of the control buttons by the driver's hand.The dash was a mass of flickering lights, dials and gauges.Ryan looked down at them."You sure you can drive this?""Sure.Might take awhile to get good at it.Got basic panel like War wag One did.Think we ought to have the LMGs manned?"Ryan squinted ahead.All they could see was a wide highway covered in heaps of old, dried leaves.It was lined by brick walls around fifteen feet in height, topped with the rusted remnants of coils of razored wire."Let's get to the top and see what we see.Then we'll see."J.B.tapped down with his foot, and the engine faltered for a moment then roared again [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]