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Dark night!"
There had been a sudden, shockingly violent trio of noises: a scream, a
thunderous roar and a single pistol shot. Then silence.
Chapter Six
Mildred had managed to get the revolver three-quarters out of its holster. Her
index finger caressed the trigger, her eyes still fixed on the panther's face.
The animal was bowstring tense, muscles twitching beneath the coat of fine
black
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time fur. Its ears were still
flattened against the skull, eyes glowing in the dim light.
Mildred kept the blaster at her side, thumb making contact with the spurred
hammer. She was aware of sweat trickling down the small of her back, between
her breasts, over her stomach. The salty liquid beaded her forehead, her
cheeks.
The huge mutie carnivore was so aware of any movement from its intended prey
that Mildred didn't dare to move her gun farther, sensing that the panther
would react immediately by charging across the rest room at her.
The wind outside stirred some of the dried rubbish, trapped in the splintered
ruins of the angled roof, loosing an aspen leaf and sending it spinning down
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into the warm space, whirling around and around.
Mildred watched it out of the corner of her eyes, also watching the eyes of
the panther, seeing that the beast was fascinated by the light brown, spinning
leaf.
Somehow, she knew that the falling dead leaf was going to spark the charge, so
she readied herself for the fastest draw of her life.
But the panther was quicker, moving from its crouch, powering toward her with
a deafening roar of hatred and rage. Mildred screamed and finished drawing the
revolver, thumbing and firing in a single fluid action.
The short-fall thumb-cocking hammer fell on the chambered .38 round, and the
boom of the powerful handgun filled the rest room.
Mildred was aware of the shudder of the explosion running clear up to her
elbow, then the leaping panther hit her, chest high, and knocked her flat on
her back.
J.B. WAS QUICKEST, the Uzi gripped in his right hand as he sprinted the few
steps toward the rest room, crashing into the door and sending it spinning off
broken hinges. Ryan was at his heels, both of them freezing at what they saw
inside.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time
Mildred lay still, sprawled on her back, knees drawn up, one hand gripping the
gleaming revolver, pressing the muzzle against the side of the skull of an
enormous black panther. It was huddled on top of her, snarling, jaws open,
bright crimson blood dribbling over its curved teeth. There was more blood
splashed on its chest, toward the right shoulder.
"No," the woman panted, her eyes wide, staring at the two men, her voice
forced through gritted teeth. "Mine."
Ryan was ready to ignore Mildred and chance a shot at the panther, but events
moved past him.
The animal was recovering from the first snapped shot. A rumbling deep in its
chest threatened another attack. Mildred, shaken by the attack and the fall,
squeezed the trigger of the ZKR 551 a second time, the noise of the .38 round
muffled by the barrel being jammed against the creature's head.
The bullet smashed through the dense wall of the skull, puddling the brains,
exiting on the far side, a chunk of bone and scalp exploding across the room,
splattering against the far wall.
The panther screamed, thrashing away from Mildred, legs kicking, clawing at
itself. She rolled free, scrambling to the opposite wall of the rest room,
holding the revolver ahead of her, gripping the butt in both hands to keep it
steady.
"It's done for, Mildred," J.B. said quietly.
Krysty, Doc, Dean and Jak had come inside, past the smashed door, watching the
slaughter of the big animal.
"Let me give you a hand, Mildred," Krysty offered.
"Thanks," the woman replied, holstering the warm blaster at a second attempt.
She reached to take the proffered hand, pulling herself upright, whistling
between her teeth at the nearness of the escape. "Real close call there."
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time
"How did it get in?" Dean asked. He turned his gaze upward to the hole in the
roof. "Oh, yeah. That way."
"Might be a good idea to move on." Ryan holstered his own blaster. "Sound of
those two shots might travel a long way through a silent forest."
"WE LOOKING FORWARD to hole up for a day or so?" Ryan asked. "Or keep moving?"
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"A rolling stone gathers no bullets, so it is said. Perhaps we might find a
decent roof to protect us for the night." Doc stooped and rubbed at his knee.
"Upon my soul, but I think that I have wrenched my leg."
Ryan looked around the circle of faces, seeing exhaustion and nervous strain
on all of them, but no sign that any of them was frightened. "Can you walk all
right, Doc?"
"Oh, I trust so, my dear fellow. Just a spasm in the tendon behind the right
knee.
No, nothing to concern yourself about. Personally I would rather like to leave
this rest area behind. As you so rightly commented, the noise of the bullets
might attract unwelcome company. The sun is already sinking, but the animal
inside there will not smell any sweeter. Perhaps a fresh campsite for the
night? What think the others?"
Krysty glanced at Ryan, answering first. "Leave this place of death and blood
and find a good camp for the night. The smell of the corpse could attract
other predators, and there isn't much shelter with the roof and door gone."
She shooed a fly away from her face. "Kind of pretty site, but it's tainted,
lover."
Mildred nodded. "I agree."
"And me," added Jak Lauren, who'd been quietly honing the blade of one of his
taped throwing knives on a convenient stone held in his lap.
"I'm up for moving on, Dad," Dean piped up.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time
J.B. had been checking over Mildred's blaster, carefully cleaning it and
reloading the two spent rounds. "Move on," he said gently.
Ryan grinned. "I'll make it unanimous, friends. Let's go along the blacktop."
THERE WAS ANOTHER road sign, broken in two, three miles down the highway. It
looked like it had once given the distance to Sequoia National Park.
Someone had painted something across it, but the weather had faded it so far
that it had become illegible.
But there was fresher graffiti, neatly done in capital and lowercase letters,
painted in gold, with no spelling errors:
Entering the Land of the Children of the Rock. Come in Peace and be Loved.
Come with Anger and encounter Eternity.
"Ring any bells?" Ryan asked.
"No," the Armorer replied, while the others shook their heads in silence.
"Quite recent." Ryan rubbed at it with his right hand, almost expecting it to
smear.
"Must be some kind of ville or group, I guess."
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