“No! You die!” Clorg raised the Carbine over his head, carefully aiming this time, wanting to be sure. He froze as a shadow fell across both men, and he bent his neck and looked up into two evil black eyes. “No!”
Senselessly, he spun and struck the creature known as Fant across the left leg.
Blade fell back as the left-hand stake came out of the ground. He leaned down and applied both of his arms to the stake securing his right foot.
“No! Not now!” Clorg shouted at the hideous, spidery Fant. “Go away!
Feed later!” Clorg struck Fant a second time.
Fant hissed, revealing pointed fangs, and grabbed Clorg by the neck, lifting him clear off the ground and high into the air. Clorg gasped and gurgled, his legs thrashing.
Blade’s right foot jerked free and he immediately turned his attention to the final stake.
The assembled Wacks, thoroughly unnerved and terrified, broke and ran in all directions, screaming and shrieking.
The last stake was extracted, and Blade frantically tore the stakes from his limbs. He ran to the south, toward the hospital thirty yards away, and glanced back over his shoulder.
Fant had crushed Clorg’s neck and dropped the body to the earth.
Snarling, the disfigured freak began pounding the corpse with its left fist, pulverizing the remains to a pulp.
The Wacks, searching for places to hide and take cover, were trampling one another in their haste and panic. A crowd of them was jammed together at the hospital entrance.
Blade had reached a paved area in front of the Hospital. He stopped to gather his energy and his breath, an intense spasm lancing his left side.
He looked back.
Fant dipped his left hand into the bloody mess at his feet, then stuffed a chunk of flesh into his mouth. He chewed slowly, emitting slurping sounds. The moonish face swung sideways, and Fant spotted the group in front of the hospital. Hissing, Fant charged directly at them, directly at Blade.
Chapter Twenty
“I don’t like it, pard. They’re taking too long!”
“Relax, man. Like I told you. Maggot takes his dear sweet time when he’s feedin’ that ugly puss of his.”
“I’m tired of waiting,” Hickok stated, his left ear pressed against the door, listening.
“What’s your big rush?” Bear asked. He was squatting on his haunches a few feet away. “They’ll come sooner or later.”
“I can’t afford to wait,” Hickok said, frowning.
“Why?”
Hickok stared at Bear. “I’ve got some friends I need to account for, and nothing better have happened to them.”
“Bertha?”
Hickok nodded. “Yep. And three others. I don’t know where they are. I don’t even know if they’re still alive. But I’ve got to find out. They could be needing my help right this moment.”
“So what’s your plan now?” Bear inquired.
“You’ll take me to where Maggot is eating.” Hickok stood.
“Say what?”
“You heard me.”
Bear also stood. “You’re crazy!”
“You said that before,” Hickok reminded him.
“This time I mean it! We can’t do it,” Bear protested, “because Maggot will be with his flunkies. Maybe twelve of them.”
“We go,” Hickok announced, and cautiously opened the door. He peered both ways to insure the corridor was clear.
“How you figure you’re gonna waste Maggot with all his bodyguards there?”
“I’ll think of something,” Hickok assured him.
“You sure you ain’t a Wack?” Bear demanded.
“If I am,” Hickok said, grinning, “what’s that make you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re following me, aren’t you?” Hickok eased out the door into the hall.
“Damn!” Bear exclaimed. He hesitated, considering the risks. “Oh, hell!” Smiling, he followed Hickok.
“Where is Maggot right now?” Hickok asked when Bear joined him.
“About three stories up.” Bear pointed at the ceiling.
“You know this place,” Hickok said. “What’s the best way to get to him without anyone seeing us?”
Bear pondered the question. “We’re lucky that no one uses this lower level too much. We can take the stairs up to the third floor. There might not be too many using the stairwell.”
“Is there any other way?”
“Just the shafts,” Bear casually mentioned.
“The shafts?”
“Wait a minute, Hickok,” Bear immediately objected. “We can’t use the shafts.”
“Why not?”
“Why, the only way up them is the cables!”
“The cables?”
“Yeah. They hang down the middle of the shafts. We’d have to climb them. Three stories!”
“Let’s go.” Hickok beckoned for Bear to lead the way.
“You don’t understand,” Bear complained.
“Then show me.”
Bear shrugged and led Hickok to the right. The corridor was lit by torches attached to the walls at twenty-foot intervals. The door to the pit was at one end of the hallway. In the center were two open doors, revealing two confined chambers, measuring five feet by five feet.
“What the blazes are these?” Hickok asked. They reminded him of two immense closets.
“Beats me,” Bear replied. “No one knows what they were used for. Look at those.” He pointed at two square openings, one in the roof of each closet. “You can climb up and get on top of these things. That’s where the cables are. They’re fastened to the middle of the roofs, and they go straight up to the top of this building, which is eight stories high.”
“Which reminds me,” Hickok said. “Where is this building?”
“Oh. It’s on our turf, of course, in pretty safe territory. Think it was called the Riker Manufacturing Complex before the war. Off of Olsen Memorial Highway.”
“How far from no-man’s-land?” Hickok needed to know.
“From where they found you?”
Hickok nodded.
“About five or six miles.”
Hickok sighed. “Let’s get this over with.” He entered the left cubicle and glanced at the opening above his head.
“Now just a minute…” Bear began.
“Now what’s the matter?” Hickok snapped, impatient with Bear’s constant carping.
“This ain’t such a bright idea,” Bear informed him.
“You say it leads to the floor Maggot is on?”
“Sure enough.”
“And we won’t encounter other Porns using this way?”
Bear grinned. “None of ’em would be loony enough to try it!”
“Good.” Hickok leaped, catching the edges of the opening, pulling his body up and through, bracing his feet on either side of the square after attaining the roof.
Bear stepped into the compartment and looked up. “You’re goin’ to do it?”
“You need to ask?”
“What if the cable breaks?”
“Try and put me back together before you bury me.”
“Damn! You sure are one contrary honky!” Bear muttered. He walked around to the other cubicle and followed Hickok’s example, pushing his Winchester onto the roof before he clambered on top.
“This is a great idea,” Hickok complimented him.
“You think so, huh?” Bear nervously peered into the darkness, uncomfortable, assailed by the oppressive silence and a sensation of being watched. Something rattled to his left. “What was that?” he asked, scooping up his Winchester.
“Just me.” Hickok stood and tested the cable, yanking as hard as he could, wondering what it was secured to on high.
“Don’t do that!” Bear cried out. “You like to scared me half to death!”
Hickok had already replaced the C.O.P. in the holster strapped to his left leg. The Mitchell’s Derringer was firmly attached to his right wrist.