Page 8 (2/2)

The look of terror on the Ripper's face was thetiaze, and all the fight drained out of hi about his face that wasn't quite right Nick wasn't sure what it was, so he filed it away in histo do toIf you let o"

Despite his fear of the Chocolate Ogre, the Ripper hesitatedbut he did quickly glance to a particular green button on the console--a button covered by a clear plastic flap to prevent it fro pressed accidentally

This, Nick kneas a "tell" The Ripper's eyes had just given away exactly which button to push that would free Johnnie-O All Nick had to do was press it Nick reached up and flipped open the clear plastic cover

"No! Don't!"

Nick savored the look of terrified helplessness on the Ripper's face for a reen button

Upon taking up residence in the shuttle otten rid of the craft's original payload--a bunch of satellites and experiood Besides, the o hold was the perfect place for the Ripper to store Everlost's finest weapon collection

The Ripper had weapons and artillery of all kinds Having developed an intie of every military base within a hundred miles, the Ripper knew exactly where to find the best ar ite world, and into Everlost

Living-world news reports regularly told of weapons disappearing "Military ement," the reports would say, because the rational world demanded rational explanations The one time an unlucky marine dared to tell the truth of what he saw (a hand that reached in through a hole in space, waved to him, then disappeared with an AK-47 rifle), nobody believed it The ical evaluation, and then proed from military service

The Ripper did not know or care about such consequences All that mattered was the collection, which filled two thirds of the cargo holduntil the day Nick opened the cargo hold doors

To Johnnie-O, it began as a loudin the massive hold around him He had co from his brief empty-headed ordeal, he hadn't yet realized the nature of the Ripper's "collection" The cargo hold door opened like a parting curtain, revealing a million-dollar view of the Atlantic Ocean Then the pile beneath hi atop a nasty rats' nest of guns and explosives

In the flight deck, Nick had, for one crazy instant, thought the cargo doorthe button, he had just blasted them all off into orbit

"Now you done it!" said the Ripper, hitting the button again and again, but the opening sequence couldn't stop once it started "Those doors'll swing open wide--and it's all your stupid fault!" He peeked down into the hold, groaning, then ran for the entry hatch Nick followed They scurried down the unwieldy scaffold as the craft's huge cargo doors slowly, slowly opened Once they reached the bottoo hold, he could see that it held a tottering haystack in shades of khaki and gunray Gun muzzles and rifle butts stuck out every which way, but far worse than those were the rounded tips and tail fins rando out of the weapon pile

"Are thosebombs?"

"Mortar shells, surface-to-air missiles, smart boood stuff"

The pile shifted as the doors continued to swing open Several rifles fell out and toppled to the earth hundreds of feet below Kudzu ju madly And on top of the pile of weapons sat Johnnie-O, looking a little bit worried

"Don't move!" screamed Nick

"Kudzu!" screa to the Ripper, its chain clanking on the deadspot tar from his chain, while up above, the pile swayed precariously in the wide-open cargo bay of the mystically suspended spacecraft

"It's okay," Johnnie-O shouted down to Nick "It's okay, it's not gonna fall"

But he didn't have the view Nick did Nick could see the shifting of gunto slide

Then Nick thought of so

"Your coin!" Nick shouted

Johnnie-O should have had it in his back pocket So it would be there when he finally felt the urge to e-- because just as Nick told the Ripper, Everlost physics was not an exact science, and not even Mary had written about what happens to an Afterlight that gets blown up

"Take your coin!" Nick said "Hurry!"

"I don't got it! I put it back in the bucket"

"What? Why did you do that?"

"For safekeeping!"

Meanwhile the Ripper was in a panic as he struggled to free Kudzu Nick went up to him, and the Ripper looked at Nick wild-eyed "You stay away fronored hi's collar "Now run!" ordered Nick

The Ripper didn't need a second invitation He took off sprinting, putting distance between hi stockpile of artillery, with Kudzu at his heels "Just ju Johnnie-O leaped froo hold, and found ato--but the force of his juan a long cascade, out of the shuttle, to the ground below

Now Nick was the one in danger, and he ran for cover-- afraid to dive into the underbrush of the living world, for fear that diving would take hi, slow sink to the center of the earth And so he ran as fast as his legs could carry him

He was barely twenty yards ahen the first boround

One of the basic natural laws that one learns early in Everlost is that things that cross over always do what they were meant to do Boats float, airships fly, and appliances run even if they're not plugged in Unfortunately the saoes for bombs They explode--especially boood reason to be in Everlost in the first place