Bertha paused, the bottle touching her lips. “Say what?”
Blade smiled. “I asked if you would like to live with us?”
“Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
“You mean I could?” She set the bottle on the floor.
“Would you like to?”
“White Meat told me all about this Home of yours,” Bertha said softly.
“Sounds too good to be true. You just can’t imagine how bad it is in the Twins. The Home almost sounds like heaven.”
“Then you’d like to come back there with us?”
“What’s the catch?” she eyed him warily.
“Catch?”
“Don’t play innocent with me! White Meat also told me that you’re one clever son of a bitch. What’s your angle?”
Blade stared gravely into her eyes. “Be our guide when we reach Twin Cities, help us, and we’ll take you back to the Home when we return.”
“You mean if you return,” she said, disgusted. “I knew it! I knew there’d be a catch!”
Blade remained silent.
“Tell me, Blade.” She grinned craftily. “What’s to stop me from going to the Home on my own? From what I’ve learned, the folks there are real nice. Nicer than you anyway. I bet they’d take me right in, no questions asked.”
“They probably would,” Blade agreed. “The question, though, is whether you could find the Home on your own. Do you think you could without a map? And remember, the country around the Home is literally swarming with mutates. How do you expect to get by them? It’d be awful rough going for one person.”
“I could do it,” Bertha said, her tone lacking conviction.
“Then forget I brought the subject up.” Blade made a move to rise.
“Wait!” she said hastily. “Don’t be in such a hurry. I’m thinking it over.”
“Listen, Bertha.” Blade held her eyes with his own. “I’m not trying to pressure you…”
“Don’t jive me, honky!”
“…because in the final analysis the decision is all yours. You don’t have to come with us to the Twins. Stay here in Thief River Falls and we’ll pick you up on our way back to the Home.”
“If you make it back!” she snorted.
“My point exactly. Which is why we need you. We have a better chance of making it with you to aid us. You can still stay here if you like. We’ll leave you ample food and ammunition. But what happens if the Watchers pay this place a visit? They must make periodic supply runs from wherever their headquarters is located. What about the rats? Do you really want to stay here alone?”
Bertha glanced around the room, her brow knit in thought. “Nope,” she answered at last. “I guess I don’t.”
“You really don’t have that many options,” Blade stressed. “I appreciate how you feel about the Twins, and I know you detest the thought of going back, but it really is your safest bet.”
“Maybe White Meat would stay here with me until you get back.” She grasped at one last straw.
“Hickok is a Warrior. He would never desert his Triad.”
“You think so?”
“Do you want to ask him?”
Hickok and Joshua were descending the stairs with yet another load of provisions.
Bertha gazed at the gunman. “No. Don’t bother him. I’d hate to put the burden on him.”
“Then you’ll come with us to the Twin Cities?”
“What choice have I got?” she said quietly, sadly.
Blade reached out and squeezed her right shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll take real good care of you.”
“There’s just one thing that bothers me about that.”
“What?”
“Who the hell is going to take care of you?”
Chapter Eight
Blade called a meeting and informed the rest of Bertha’s decision to accompany them. He explained his motives for leaving Thief River Falls before the day was out.
“First, we can’t be positive the Watchers won’t return in sufficient force to give us real trouble. Secondly, the rats might decide we’re too tempting a meal to pass up and attack us en masse. Third, there’s a possibility that whatever jumped me earlier has friends waiting outside to ambush us after dark. Finally, we’re under a time constraint to return to our Family.
I’ve decided we leave before sundown.”
Blade, Hickok, and Joshua were sitting at the table. Bertha was lying on her mattress. Geronimo stood at the door.
“What about Bertha?” Hickok protested. “Is she fit enough to travel?”
“Don’t worry about me none, White Meat,” Bertha chimed in. “I’ll manage.”
“We’ll clear a space in the rear of the SEAL for her,” Blade detailed.
“She’ll be comfortable and safer than she would be in here.”
“What about all of this?” Geronimo pointed at the stack of boxes.
“We load all of that into the SEAL, along with the generator, and transport it to a building on the western edge of town. Put it on the second floor in a room we can seal and protect from the rats. If the Watchers return and find it missing, I doubt they’d take the time to search every abandoned building in Thief River Falls. It would take them weeks.” Blade gazed at each of them. “Any questions? Disagreements? Now’s the time to let me know.”
“I would enjoy moving on,” Joshua said. “This place fills me with vivid memories of violent death.”
“I like it,” Geronimo concurred.
“I reckon it’s okay by me, pard.” Hickok was staring at Bertha.
“Good. Joshua, Geronimo, and I will load the SEAL and hide the provisions. Hickok, you stay here and guard Bertha.” Blade stood.
“Thanks, Blade.” Hickok smiled at his friend and walked over to Bertha.
“Looks like you got me babysitting you for a spell, Black Beauty.”
“Will you burp me too?”
Hickok grinned. “I’ll paddle you if you don’t behave yourself.”
“Yes, mother.”
“Get some rest.”
Bertha closed her eyes. “Funny,” she said in a whisper. “This is the first time in years I’m going to sleep feelin’ safe and protected.”
“Before you doze off,” Hickok mentioned, “would you answer a question?”
“What?”
“Why’re you doing this? Going to the Twin Cities? I thought you’d never go back there.”
Bertha stared at the ceiling. “I just changed my mind, is all.”
“Why?” he pressured her.
“Your friend made me see the light.”
“Blade? What’d he say?”
“Not much.”
“Come on!”
“Really.”
Hickok watched Blade heft a box and carry it outside to the SEAL.
“He’s my best friend, Bertha. If he said something I’m going to regret, I need to know.”
“He just told it like it is.”
“All right,” Hickok said gruffly. “Drop the subject.”
Bertha touched his arm. “Besides, Hickok, you know by now I kind of got a thing for you. You’re the prettiest honky I’ve ever seen.”
Hickok opened his mouth to speak, but changed his mind.
“I don’t want to let you out of my sight.” Bertha grinned. “Another woman might come along and steal you away.”
Hickok, uncomfortable, twisted and stared off into the distance. Blast her! Why did she flaunt her affection? Couldn’t she just let events develop naturally? He smiled. The girl sure had a heap of spunk! What was her background like? he wondered. Her description of life in the Twin Cities was terrible! It was amazing she still retained a sense of humor after what she had been through. He thought of the Watchers, grimacing. For what they had done to her, for the indignities and the humiliation and the pain, they would pay! He would see to it personally. Every Watcher he met from this day on would be a dead Watcher shortly after their meeting. Joshua, in a sense, was correct. No one had the right to inflict such abuse on another human being. They would be made to pay. Hickok recalled a portion of the Bible he’d read, something about an eye for an eye. That was his idea of justice. Swift, effective, and personal.