Page 31 (1/2)

"I know, right? Kahuna was on when he said little cat’s hyper-fierce gnar gnar"

Nix turned to Benny "What language are they speaking?"

"Surferese, I think"

Sheturned, and if he was concerned about the ten zoed to look bored "Oh yeah," he said "Good point" He turned to Dr Skillz "Dude?"

"Dude," he agreed, as if his partner had just said so profound To Benny he said, "You and the crippler chick hang back We’ll jack these land-sharks"

"What?" Benny and Nix asked at the salish said, "Stand over there Out of the way Dig?"

Nix pulled Benny to a safe distance

"Watch out!" warned Benny "These zo

Two of the zo’s smile flickered for awith nearly human speed, he wasn’t stunned to i stepped toward the rushing creatures and swung the ax low and wide The big blade sheared through the knee of the first zom and the calf of the second, and they both went down in a snarling tangle Dr Skillz darted past his crushed their skulls with the iron ball on the end of his spear

"Dog," said Dr Skillz, adjusting his shades, "these land-sharks are seriously truckin’"

"Chyeah," snorted J-Dog "What’s that all about?"

There were eight zo"

Dr Skillz grinned "Always aggro"

They waded in, ax and spear whirling and striking and s Benny and Nix stue as pieces of desiccated flesh and brittle bone pelted the pivoted as one of the zo twisted out of the way and quieted the little zom with a stomp of his steel-reinforced boot And then, suddenly and inexplicably, it was all over Not one of the zo and Dr Skillz stood in the center of a circle of gory detritus Dr Skillz looked around, nodding to hiree off their hel brown hair and a soul patch under his lower lip; J-Dog had long black hair and a goatee They were both very tan, and when they sly white

Benny cleared his throat

"Dude?" he suggested

FROM NIX’S JOURNAL

My ht has PTSD--post-trau says it should be called PFNSD, post–First Night stress disorder, which he insists is PTSD plus souilt"

So is okay with them, as if they aren’t messed up froe There has never been a trauht Even if you coether, they wouldn’t be as bad, so everyone has to be affected

Other people seem to know that they’re supposed to be a little crazy, so they take the craziness and make it work for them Tom says that’s why so many people, especially those who deal with zoms out in the Ruin all the time, took weird nicknames He says, "It’s easier to be like a character in a story than the star of your own tragedy" It tookand Dr Skillz are like that After I met them, I could see in their eyes how hurt they are And how scared But they play a kind of gaainst reality It’s like wearing a carpet coat A bite will still hurt, but it won’t kill you

It makes me wonder in ay I’m crazy

54

THE TRAIL OF PRINTS LEFT BY CHONG AND HIS CAPTOR WAS EASY FOR TOM to follow, but the direction was confusing Instead of heading straight to high ground, where bounty hunters preferred toaround to head almost due east That troubled Tom Could Ga Chong somewhere else?

Tom heard male voices farther up the path, and he cut quickly behind a line of thick brush and crept toward the loudness of people ere not afraid to be heard There were three of the fornized one of the partner of the twofro er bones; the other was brown-skinned and wore ed closer to listen to their chatter

"I still don’t get why you want to try and sell hireed the redhead "Bear don’t want to make deals with you, Stosh He wants to feed you to the zo," insisted Stosh "If I bring hiet You’ll see"

"We’ll see the Bear nail your scalp to a tree with you still wearing it," said Gunslinger, and Redhead laughed with hiht to cut your losses and head north Go up to Eden or Fort Snyder Get outside of Bear’s backyard, ’cause even if youin Fast Tommy or his puke brother, Bear’d just take them from you and do to you what he did to Bobbie Talltrees Stake you out and feed you to the swar--but did he listen? Nope Now look what happened"

"I know," said Stosh softly "That was ugly Bobbie wasn’t a bad guy And it’s not fair for White Bear to blame us for what happened to Charlie Me and my creere all the way the heck up Hillcrest when that happened Nothing we could have done"

"Uh-huh Bobbie tried to run that by the Bear, and look what it got hiet if you don’t put a lot of gone between you and the Bear’s territory"

"No way," said Stosh stubbornly He produced a piece of paper from a pocket and shook it at them "I kno ? You ever saw bounties like that? No! The Bear wants the whole bunch of the them in All of ’em Tommy, that skank Riley chick, the Lost Girl, and Tom’s rat- "Yeah … a man could retire off of this"

"If you’re lucky," said Tom as he stood up from behind the bush, "it’ll cover your funeral expenses"

The three rab for his twin 45s, but Tole ser pitched backward, a neat round hole punched into his forehead above the left eyebrow It was the kind of kill the bounty hunters called a "one and done" Head shot, no need to quiet the body later

That left Stosh and Redhead standing on either side of the corpse, both of the in wide-eyed horror "Holy jeez," whispered Stosh "Tom!"

Redhead sneered "I knoho it is" He narrowed his eyes to feral slits "You just shot an innocent man, pardner You don’t knohat kind of trouble you’re--"

Tom put a bullet in the dirt between the man’s feet

"Save it for someone who cares," he said quietly "Lose the hardware"

The sun offered no option for debate Weapons clanked as they fell to the ground

"All of it," warned To knives, two-shot derringers, strangle-wires, and brass knuckles from hidden pockets

"Kick them away Good Now, listen to uys have one chance to walk out of this alive"

"What are you offering?" dee You answerabout uy to lie to, but you’ll also know I keep o soain You don’t work these hills ever again"

Stosh snorted "What’s it to you where ork? Heard you were leaving town"