the trench, into the gap that the Armorer had left, and lifted Mildred. As the fresher air of the desert night hit her, she began to stir, and Krysty was able to help her out. Mildred fell to the sands as the Armorer had, doubled over as she began to retch and puke.
Doc was harder to lift out. He was a deadweight, and the companions were exhausted from what they had already endured. It took some time for Krysty and Jak, assisted by Ryan, to lift the old man out and lay him on the sands.
Mildred came over to check him almost immediately.
âYou okay to do this?â Krysty asked her.
Mildred fixed her with a stare, then shook her head to clear it as the stare became glassy. âIâm not totally there yet, but itâs enough to see this old buzzard is okay,â she replied.
Docâs vital signs were good. He had passed out from the continuing lack of oxygen. Mildred hoped that the combined effects of the past few hours hadnât caused any lasting damage. Hell, right then she felt as though sheâd lost a few brain cells herself, let alone someone like Doc, who acted occasionally as if he didnât have any to spare.
Muttering to himself, lost in some private dream or nightmare, Doc began to surface. He opened his eyes and took in what was around. Remarkably, and with that facility that only Doc had to buck the odds, he seemed to be completely lucid almost immediately.
âBy the Three Kennedys, what a day this has been,â he remarked mildly. âAny more like that in a hurry, and I fear it shall see the last of me.â
âThatâs not the first time youâve said that, Doc,â Ryan stated.
âAnd I fear it shall not be that last,â Doc mused. âBut we carry on, my dear Ryan, because we have to⦠The option is too fearful to contemplate.â
âYeah, talk shit, you okay,â Jak commented.
Krysty had been surveying the surrounding desert while Mildred tended to Doc, and Ryan joined her.
âNot good, is it?â he murmured to her. âNothing for as far as the eye can see, and nothing we can use as shelter. The only good thing, as far I can reckon, is that weâre completely alone.â
She shook her head slowly, and he noticed that her hair was waving independently of her sway, the sentient red tresses flicking like an irritated catâs tail, gathering close to her head instead of flowing free. âThereâs something, lover. I dunno what it is, and I dunno where it comes from, but thereâs something out there that we really need to beware of.â
âBut what? Itâs like a vast fucking graveyard out there, a killing field with nothing left alive, everything chilledâ¦â Ryan was bewildered. It wasnât that he didnât trust her mutie sense. How much trouble had it saved them in the past? How many imminent dangers had it alerted them to? But what could be out there in this emptiness was something that was beyond him.
âWish I could tell you,â she muttered, drawing closer to him. âAll I know is that itâs there, whatever it isâ¦â
CHECKING THAT DOC WAS returning to normal, Ryan organized a camp for the night, setting watches and putting himself and Jak on first watch. They had no materials with which to build a fire, so those that were sleeping huddled together for warmth in the freezing desert night, warming themselves with some of the self-heats they had taken from the redoubt. The cans, with their thermal reactions that were triggered by the act of opening, always tasted foul. But taste wasnât an issue. It was nutrition, and it was warming. That was all that mattered. They had no time or option to be fussy about the additive-soaked flavors of the ancient food.
Despite the cold and the foul food, the four who were able to sleep soon found themselves falling into slumber, the rigors of the day and night catching up with them.
It left Ryan and Jak alone with the darkness and the void of the desert.
âWhat chances getting past this?â Jak asked softly, after some time. He had been squatting on his haunches, still and silent, surveying the night around him. Ryan had kept his peace, unwilling to break the incredible concentration of the albino mutie. Now he pondered an answer.
âYou tell me,â he said finally. âNo way to make a jump, no telling how far this stretches, and which direction to take.â
âTell you one thingâ¦no, two⦠We now in southeast, and not alone.â
Ryan looked at Jak, puzzled. âHow the fireblasted hell do you know that?â
Jak pointed up at the stars. âKnow sky. Not quite same, but not that different. We head out for west in morning, then sooner or later hit swamps and water.â
âHow far?â Ryan asked. He trusted Jak implicitly, and felt a sense of relief that was soon quashed.
âDunno. Not seen this desert before.â Jak shrugged. âMebbe a day, mebbe two, mebbe more.â
âHave we got enough water and food to last?â Ryan asked. They had used a lot of the water to counter the effects of dehydration after their ordeal leaving the redoubt. There were few bottles left, and already he had known that it would be necessary to ration them. But now? Then something else occurred to him, and he continued. âWhat do you mean, weâre not on our own?â
Jak grinned. In the moonlight his red eyes glowed and his teeth glinted, the predator in him becoming all too clear.
âNever alone in desert. Come out at night, but driven down by storm. Can hear them, getting nearer. Just wait.â
Ryan frowned, but didnât push Jak for further explanation. Instead he hunkered down next to the albino and decided to wait. He didnât have to wait for long.
As the two men crouched, still and silent, their breathing slow and moving into sync with each other, the silence only broken by the snufflings of those sleeping behind them, Ryan became aware of another sound that began to creep into his head, from beyond the limits of normal hearing. At first he thought it was nothing more than the sound of his own nervous system, amplified by the intense silence, then he realized that this was what Jak had been hearing for a long time with his sharpened sense, heightened by years of hunting.
It was a whispering, gentle hissing that grew louder by almost imperceptible degrees until it was clearly audible without his having even been aware of it impinging on his hearing. It was like the whispering of the sands as they moved, but accentuated by more movement within, as though there were several currents moving beneath the surface, making it whisper in different tones, until it built up into an overlap of harmonics that produced strangely shimmering and unsettling sounds.
Ryan inclined his head toward Jak. The albino met his monocular gaze with a vulpine grin that grew ever wider.
The one-eyed warrior was on the verge of blurting out the question. What the hell was this? His answer came to him with a sudden surprise.
Spumes of sand shot up into the night, dunes rose and fell with the disturbances, and suddenly the pale desert floor was filled with dark shapes moving at speeds varying from a crawl to a scuttle.
âAlways
