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  “Edna. The one I blew in half.”

  “Yes. You have been listening. Then you’re probably aware Eichberg plans to use you as our guide to other towns and cities.”

  “There ain’t no cities no more.” Lawson lay back down in an attempt to put some distance between him and the fetid reek of Strope’s healing face and breath. “What towns remain ain’t worth your effort. They’re far and few between.”

  “Eichberg is the one concerned with distant populations. I have other plans.”

  “Eatin’ all the folks in Rudd don’t sound like much of a plan.”

  Strope ignored the comment. “I lived in a world—worked for a country that was continually fighting for more. Where did it get any of us? What is it that Eichberg hopes to achieve by starting the process all over again? This world needs to be rebuilt. It needs guidance. It needs to grow. I want to see that happen here.”

  The Lawman shifted away from him and stood up. He hurt all over, but there was nothing inside broken bad enough the Ambrufel hadn’t already healed. Lawson was grateful he’d had enough sense to take some extra packages of the stuff from Level E when he’d been holed up in the washroom with Cobe. Giving them to Sara the night before the Rites was one of the brighter things he’d done in his life. Lawson saw no need to hide his condition from Strope any longer. If he’d wanted him dead, no amount of ancient medication could’ve kept the Lawman alive. He moved over to the window and looked out into the night. “Quiet outside… No one left to help rebuild this world of yers.”

  “It shouldn’t require many people. The soil is fertile enough again to begin growing healthier and hardier crops.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it. Only thing that grows around here half-ass hardy is weeds, and you ain’t gonna survive on that fer long.”

  “There are seeds stored back in the Dauphin facility. They’ve been genetically modified to withstand almost any hostile environment. I’m offering you an out, Lawman. Take your people and leave this place to me.”

  Lawson had no idea what genetically modified seeds were, but he was a good enough judge of people. And even though Colonel Strope could no longer be considered human, the Lawman could appreciate motive. Maybe he really did want a fresh start. Maybe. “Why not just kill me and the others right now and start this new world without us? What good is there in lettin’ us go?”

  “You misunderstand.” Strope went to him and led him back to the table, away from any prying eyes in the night. “I would prefer killing you and your friends.”

  “But?”

  “But my main concern is Eichberg. He has too much support… the Russian, Aleea Shon, Eunice Murrenfeld, and Dutz… they will follow him. I need all of them out of Rudd, away from my family.”

  Lawson nodded slowly. It was starting to become clear. “You want to settle here, and you need to set me back off into the wild so the others follow.”

  Strope forced him back down onto the table’s surface. “I don’t expect you’ll be able to kill them. I’m not sure anything can truly destroy us now. But I do need you to draw them away for a time. It will give me the chance to fortify this position.”

  “What if I say no?”

  “You’re not that stupid. Would you prefer being eaten?” Lawson remained quiet. “I didn’t think so. You leave at midnight. I’ve spoken with my daughter, she’ll have the others waiting by the south end of town shortly before.”

  “What about Eichberg? He ain’t just gonna let us stroll out of town.”

  Strope went to the door. “Edna will keep him occupied.”

  “No offence, but I saw what that grenade did to yer woman. She ain’t all there anymore, is she?”

  “Edna has other… abilities.” Something like a grin spread over the thing’s face causing the grey skin to crack and leak. “Two hours until midnight, Lawman. Do your part, and we’ll do ours.” He left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

  A lantern was flickering on the fireplace mantle. Lawson went to it and snuffed out the small flame. He crept back to the window and chanced another look out into the night. He heard something after a full minute of silence. It came from the south, a sound he was very familiar with.

  A horse neighing.

  It was the Lawman’s turn to grin.

  Chapter 6

  Lothair was in a place he’d never been before. He had eaten in hundreds of restaurants during his first life, and even though that had been a long time ago, his improved memory recalled every diner he’d ever stepped into, every meal he’d ever eaten, and each cup of coffee served to him. He spread his hands out over the table’s worn but smooth surface and noted the color in his skin. Lothair decided he didn’t like being human again. He felt weak like this, too vulnerable. He closed his hands into fists and leaned back into the soft red fabric of his seat.

  Edna appeared next to him holding two steaming cups by their handles. “You thirsty?”

  “I don’t drink coffee anymore.”

  “Come on, it’s a dream, I wouldn’t poison you in a dream.” She sat across from him and pushed the mug his way. “There was a time when I respected you more than any other person I knew.”

  “I was frozen before you were even born. You never knew me.”

  “I knew of your work. I was proud to call myself an Eichberg, and to carry on the work you started.”

  Lothair caught himself smiling. It was an old human thing he couldn’t quite shake when he was in the dream state, like the sickly pink color of his skin, and the pale liver spots spattered across the back of his frail hands. He hated humanity. “I was a doctor during World War II. I experimented on hundreds of children. During the fifties and sixties I sold dangerous narcotics to addicts, and likely sent thousands more to their graves. You say you were proud to call yourself an Eichberg… what changed?”

  Edna took a noisy sip from her cup. “You did it all in the name of science. ABZE was a company formed to bring life back to those that were dying or already dead. The Nazi crap, the drug trafficking—it didn’t define who you were and what you were trying to accomplish. You were always a bit of monster… but your goals were noble.”

  Lothair was no longer smiling. “And now?”

  “You’re all monster.”

  He tried his coffee. Lothair used to love the stuff. Now it tasted weak and cold, even though the steam rising was warming his cheeks. “Enough of this. I can’t be made to feel guilty. Michael said you wanted to speak me. How long have you been in communication with him?”

  “In dream? Once or twice… I’m worried about Jenny’s welfare.”

  “Jennifer is no longer human. She can take care of herself. I’m more concerned with the Colonel. What have you been saying to him? He seems more… distant.”

  “Harder to order around, you mean? I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  Eichberg threw the coffee in his great-granddaughter’s face. He willed it to melt the skin, and it did. “Quit wasting my time, bitch. Tell me where the secret facility out west is. What state, what city?”

  Edna clawed the ruined flesh from her face. “The CRYERS experiments were unauthorized. Nothing good came from it… a failed program.”

  Lothair grabbed one of her wrists and pulled it away from her face. Strands of red skin came with it, like melted cheese. “No! It was a success—I see it in your mind. You achieved absolute immortality. Men and women ten times stronger than you or I. Imagine the world we could build with that kind of strength—unlimited, unstoppable.”

  “Every single patient went stark-raving mad.”

  Lothair shrugged. “So we tinker with the formula a bit.”

  Edna twisted free of his grip. “I won’t help you. Michael won’t help you.”

  Eichberg was grinning again, and this time he didn’t fight it. He let the smile spread on his face like disease. “Victory… I saw it in your mind, dear. The CRYERS facility is located beneath a small island nestled in the mountains.”

  Edna slumped down int
o her seat. She had tried to keep it from him, and she had failed. “It was named after a nearby town called Victory Pass… we named the installation Victory Island.”

  “Victory Island,” Lothair repeated. “Perfect.”

  ***

  Lawson didn’t trust the Colonel. He found it hard colluding with any man that exhibited strong cannibalistic tendencies, so the Lawman had decided to leave Rudd an hour sooner than planned. Sara had got word to the boys, and the time had come. They would be on the run once again in a few short minutes when they all met up at the south bridge—or they would be caught and likely consumed on the spot.

  The Lawman shoved the remaining packets of Ambrufel Sara had hidden away into his back pockets, and fastened his gun holster around his waist. He’d lost the gun that went with it, but Lawson had grown used to the feel of the thing on his hip, empty or not. The weapons he cherished most were still hidden away in his law office back in Burn. Lawson regretted not taking them with him when this whole thing started, but it was too late for regrets, and he highly doubted the others would agree to a return trip to Burn to get them.

  Sara watched as he prepared and disappeared into the backroom for a moment. She returned with a long bundle in her arms wrapped in leather. “I’ve been holding onto this damn thing since the last time you were in Rudd.” She placed it on the table and removed the cover revealing an ancient weapon. “I never had no use for it… wouldn’t know how to fire a rifle if I tried.”

  Lawson took it into his hands. “It ain’t no rifle. This here’s what they used to call a double-barrelled shotgun. I found it on my first drop into Big Hole. Not all that practical, considerin’ the fire power I found there since. Still—it can pack one hell of a punch if you get in nice and close.” He checked to see if it was loaded and discovered two dirty gold shell ends in place. Lawson snapped it shut and furrowed his brows. “Sometimes ammunition can go bad if it sits too long… not sure it’ll work if the time comes we need to use it.”

  “Then shove the metal end up one of those things’ shithole. It’s only been gathering dust here over the years.”

  Lawson gave her a wicked smile and the two crept out into the dark.

  Jenny and the boys made their move less than a minute after Eunice Murrenfeld left the town meeting place with another screaming prisoner. They slipped into the shadows between buildings while she raked the skin off the poor man’s back with her finger nails in the center of Rudd’s main street. His cries echoed into the night as he attempted to crawl away from her on his hands and knees. The four watched as the woman straddle-walked behind him.

  Trot moaned when she leapt on the man’s back and started pounding his face into the ground. Jenny’s eyes glowed a green warning in the shadows, and Cobe wrapped his hand over Trot’s mouth. “Quiet,” he whispered into the man’s ear.

  Trot peeled Cobe’s fingers away and whispered back. “It ain’t so much the killing and eating… it’s the dark. I’m scared of the dark.”

  Cobe could understand his fear. Trot had been on his own in the dark when he followed the Lawman out of Burn, hunted most of the way by howlers. He had discovered Lothair Eichberg, and been shoved into the cold confines of the monster’s metal coffin. It had been night when he took an arrow through his ear in the forests of the Dirty Hills, and it was night when the rollers nearly trampled him flat on the open plains. They all had reason to fear the dark—Trot especially.

  Eunice ripped the man’s spine out and his screams ended. Cobe put an arm around Willem’s shoulders and held Trot’s hand as Jenny led them away. They met up with Lawson and Sara a few streets over.

  Trot hugged the Lawman and whimpered like a lost dog reunited with its master. “When I heard you was still alive, I knew you would get us outta this. I just knew it. I done my best to be brave, I tried to be strong for the boys.”

  “I know you did, Trot. I never once doubted it.”

  The six of them gathered in the shadows against the wall of a worn-down house. The stench of rotted flesh drifted out of an open window. Jenny peered inside and looked for signs of movement the others couldn’t see. “All clear… just remains.”

  The Lawman looked at her suspiciously. “I heard you were goin’ to help us. Not sure I care for the idea of it.”

  “I trust her,” Cobe said.

  Willem shrugged. “She ain’t ate any of us yet.”

  “Not the most encouragin’ endorsement,” Lawson grumbled, “but I suppose it’ll do fer now.” He gripped the shotgun in both hands and they started for the south end of town. Jenny strode along beside him, looking out into the dark in all directions.

  Sara jogged up to her. “What about the bridge—won’t one of them be on guard?”

  “Aleea or Ivan,” she answered. “I’m not sure which.”

  It turned out to be both.

  “What’re they doing?” Willem asked. Aleea was naked and sitting on top of an equally bare Ivan. She was moving up and down quickly. “Is she gettin’ ready to eat him?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Sara said.

  Lawson motioned the others to stay behind. He approached the two as quietly as he could—although it seemed stealth wasn’t all that necessary. A herd of rollers could’ve thundered by them and they wouldn’t have noticed with all the grunting and rutting noises they were making.

  He stood in between the Russian’s feet as the man’s heels dug twin trenches into the dirt with each thrust. He aimed the shotgun at the back of the woman’s head. It was a good line, Lawson figured. With a little luck the one shot would blast her brains out and travel directly into the other one’s face. Two fer one.

  He pulled the trigger, expected the kick back into his shoulder. The rifle made a clicking sound. Aleea turned and growled.

  Lawson looked at his useless weapon. “Gawdamn it.”

  Chapter 7

  Aleea pushed off from Tevalov and lunged at the Lawman. There was barely time to react. The shotgun barrel was still pointed in her general direction. Lawson jammed it into her face and he heard the scrape of metal grinding against teeth. He pushed harder, felt something give in the back of her throat, and the barrel continued on up into the lower part of her brain.

  It ain’t her shit hole, but it’s getting the job done.

  Her eyes opened wide as she dropped to her knees. Lawson pulled back on the handle a few inches and shoved forward again, twisting her brains further into mush. The pinpoint pricks of her pupils rolled up and disappeared, leaving nothing but dead pink. The Lawman planted one boot into her chest and dislodged his gun from the corpse.

  Ivan Tevalov was lying below him, his wet erection still throbbing. Lawson backed away as the Russian stood. A malevolent show of yellow teeth appeared at the center of his bearded face. “I’ve never buggered a man before… always wondered what it might be like.”

  Lawson swung the handle-end towards his head, but Tevalov batted it away. Jenny pushed the Lawman out of the way and drove her shoulder into the older cryer’s gut. They rolled over twice in the dirt and stopped on the first few feet of accumulated stones that served as Rudd’s final bridge leading out. The Russian ended up on top—his thick, dirty fingers wrapped around the girl’s throat. “I’ve wanted to do you since the first moment I saw you.” He throttled her harder. “You’ve wanted it too, admit it.”

  Jenny kneed his drooping testicles, but the man only choked her more ferociously. He started to bash the back of her head against the rocks; Jenny was beginning to black out. All that swam in her vision was the white of his glowing eyes, bobbing up in down in mad streaks as her head continued to bounce off stone. She thought she heard the Lawman yelling into the cryer’s ear.

  Lawson had Tevalov in a headlock. He twisted and pulled, but it did no good. He may as well have been trying to uproot the old hanging tree back in Burn with his bare hands for all the good it was doing. The Russian was too strong, the thick bones beneath his grey skin too heavily layered with muscle. He hollered at him to release the gir
l and face him like a man. Ivan kept on throttling and pounding. Lawson tore his ear off with his teeth and spat it away. The thing’s blood tasted foul—it burned and froze the tip of his tongue at the same time.

  Ivan didn’t feel a thing.

  Cobe came to the Lawman’s side and grappled with the creature. Willem joined his brother, grabbing a fistful of white beard. Trot worked from the other end, pulling at the thing’s pale legs. It was a monumental effort from all four but ultimately futile. Tevalov was going to kill the girl, and likely molest her dead body in front of all of them.

  Sara was on her hands and knees, searching desperately for a loose stone in the bridge to plant in the monster’s brain. She felt the rocks shake beneath her palms. Something big and heavy was charging across the bridge out of the dark plains. She crawled off to the side and almost plummeted over the edge. A big horse thundered by. Sara saw someone riding it. A flash of fair skin, a streak of long, blonde hair.

  “Kay!”

  Four more horses rumbled past, kicking up dust and chips of stone.

  Lawson had heard Sara call their daughter’s name. He let go of Tevalov and saw Dust rearing up on his hind legs directly in front of Willem. He grabbed the boy’s one arm and threw him towards Cobe just as the horse’s hooves started down. Ivan Tevalov was too involved trying to murder the girl under him. Dust connected hard with the back of his head, pulverizing a third of the Russian’s skull deep into his brain.

  The grip around Jenny’s throat loosened and she pushed her attacker off. Ivan was on his back now, moaning incoherently and coughing up great wads of blood. Dust reared up again and caught him with both hooves. One made a sickening crunch into his chest, the other caught the bottom half of his face. Cobe was still dragging Willem away and saw one of Tevalov’s glowing white eyeballs pop out of its socket as the horse rested its full weight down.

  Dust and the other horses settled some and backed away from the mangled remains. Ivan and Aleea were still crawling around in the dirt, their bodies heaving and twitching. Even without brains to direct them, the cryers still clung stubbornly to life. Lawson recalled Strope’s words from their secret meeting—I’m not sure anything can truly destroy us now. He rested his forehead against Dust’s snorting nose, calming the animal some more, and thanked his old friend for the timely return.