Point Apocalypse (22 page)

"Can you tell me," I
shoved three cartridges into the magazine and clicked the safety catch into place. "Your uncle, what did he do before he became a loggers' foreman?"

"He was on New Pang council board,"
Jim wrapped a piece of cloth around his finger and wiped the filthy insides of the breech. "He was about to become head of the city administration. The townspeople liked him a lot. They still remember him. Uncle Lars was responsible for supplies and deliveries. He wanted to build new workshops in the estuary and a shipyard. The epidemic changed all that."

"I see," I stared at the
sun rising over the eastern horizon. So had it not been for the plague, Lars Swenson could have become the baron of New Pang. I turned to Jim, "And who initiated this Confederation thing?"

"Ini
ti... nitiated," he struggled with the word.

"I mean, whose idea was it?"

"Ah! I see. It was Uncle Lars's," Jim unwound the cloth from his finger, turned it inside out and continued wiping the grime off the gun.

"Thanks," I
moved stretching my stiff shoulders.

So Lars could have
headed New Pang, had it not been for McLean's curbing of the pandemic. I had to admit the logger had done his best to exaggerate McLean's faults in order to create the image of a ruthless gangster. He'd done it quite subtly, too, mentioning his building the water pipeline and uniting the population during the plague. And still McLean's people burned the infection victims. Having said that, what else could they have done? Here, there're no white-coat researchers capable of creating lab-produced vaccines.

I
hiked my neck to my right shoulder, then to the left. Then I locked my fingers and stretched my arms. So Lars Swanson wanted New Pang for himself. That's why he needed the cyber weapons: no wonder he kept mentioning them. But the riggers wouldn't wage war on McLean. Why should they? They seemed to have a normal working relationship with the city. McLean had apparently pitted them against the loggers. Besides, he kept sending carula shipments to the Fort and he really wanted to find out why Earth needed them so badly.

What a can of worms.
Just my luck to get mixed up in their local politics. All I wanted was to find Neumann, and once I did that, I'd have no business staying here.

I looked around. Two s
till asleep: Wladas and Kathy. Georgie groaned as he tried to turn on his other side. Wong sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, meditating, and worked his wounded hand, clenching and unclenching the fist. Only a small spot of blood showed through the bandage meaning Wladas and I had done a decent job of tending to his wound and a good night's rest had completed the healing.

I slapped my
hips and got up. Time to break camp. I still had to find time to speak to Kathy on the go. We needed to discuss how better to smuggle Neumann out but first, I needed to know what the FSA had promised her for her cooperation. I had no instructions regarding my Pangean contact and didn't plan on bringing back anybody other than Neumann - but Kathy probably counted on it. So I had no idea how she'd behave once she realized we were to part ways. Then again, I couldn't make it without her.

I told Jim to fin
ish cleaning the guns and started waking everyone up. Wong rose without a word, took his gun from Jim and walked off. Georgie grumbled casting unhappy glances at the girl. Wladas shook his head and looked around, uncomprehending, rubbing his thin sallow face and trying to remember where he was.

A few m
inutes later, we sauntered out into the sunlit morning valley. A warm breeze promised a clear hot day.

"Everyone ready?" I
scrutinized them one last time and commanded, "We'll move as before. On encountering the enemy, take cover and defend yourselves. In the event I'm killed, Wong takes over the command. Questions?"

"How about our guns," Georgie grumbled glancing at
Kathy.

She sniffed and looked up at me.
The bruises around her eyes had grown darker, a deep caked gash showing on the bridge of her nose.

"You'll have your guns," I said, "when the moment is right.
Let's go."

Without
going into more detail, I strode down the slope toward the valley.

Chapter Four

Walking Around the Devil's Barn

I
'
d underestimated Georgie's condition. Within half an hour, he'd begun to slow our group down. He limped, cussing under his breath at the piece of shrapnel that had ripped his leg open.

Cathie caught up with me.
"We'll have to leave him," she said in a low voice. "This way, we'll never make it to the oasis by midday."

"No, we won't," I cut her short. "He's
coming along."

We moved further east as we followed the river that showed
now and again through the stony hills on the edge of the plain. I turned to the girl,

"This is a funny route, don't you think? The oasis is to the south
of the cave. We should be going away from the river."

"
Maybe," Kathy stared right in front of her. "To the south is the tigers' pride territory. We won't survive against them. So we're taking the scenic route. Walking around the barn, isn't it what they say? A car would've taken us there in fifteen minutes. But..."

I didn't hear her last phrase. The Information in my head had
started up again, and I nearly jumped hearing its monotonous female voice,

Pangean tiger, the most dangerous predator
indigenous to the Continent. An adult animal weighs up to a thousand pounds. Fully grown males can reach over two meters in length...

It
went on about claws as thick as construction steel; about saber-shaped upper fangs and vital organs protected by a massive rib cage. You needed a pulse gun to pierce the animal's hide: regular firearms might scare it but definitely wouldn't kill it. Its head was large and round with a wide lower jaw. The Pangean tiger was capable of accelerating up to sixty mph over rough terrain.

A
true killing machine. You probably needed a grenade launcher to stop it. Surprisingly, they were easily domesticated to the degree of a loyal working dog that wouldn't dream of attacking its master.

That was an eye-opener! My brain refused to believe the Information. Why cou
ldn't you do the same with Siberian tigers? Still, I had no reason not to trust the software.

"
Kathy," I ventured in order to double-check the information, "have tigers been killed in the past?"

"
Sometimes, yeah. Locals hunt them for their skins. If you make a jacket out of it, it's as good as bulletproof."

"
And the cubs?"

"The cubs?" she turned to me.

"Can't you keep them and their mother in a cage or something? I mean, to train them, like in the circus? Can it be done?"

"
You're nuts, man," Georgie commented in the back. I looked at him.

"No,
you can't," Kathy said. She wanted to add something but paused, raised her hand to her eyes and peered at something in front of her. I never knew what her 'you can't' meant.

The sky darkened over the horizon. Another thunderstorm, I thought.
We could do with a bit of rain. It wasn't even midday yet, but the sun blazed down and the hot wind started to scorch our skin. If we wanted to get to the oasis, we'd better move it, and fresh rain from the east might rev us up a bit. We could collect some water, too.

"We need to go back to the cave,"
Kathy said. "Before it's too late."

"Why?" I said.

"Look up," Georgie said approaching.

At a distance
, the air thickened, swirling, as if the horizon was engulfed in a forest fire. Still, I knew there were no forests there, just rocks and lumps of clay.

"There's a storm coming," Georgie said. "This French bitch is right.
We need to leg it."

Kathy
lunged forward but I blocked her way and clasped her wrist. "If you two keep threatening each other or calling each other names, I'll leave you both here! No water, no guns! Do I make myself clear?"

They sulked. Georgie's jaw moved as he ground his teeth.
Kathy clenched and unclenched her fists.

"We're one team," I let go of her hand.

Georgie spat. The girl turned away. I went on, "A sand storm? What's the worst thing about it?"

"The wind," Georgie said. "It'll
fucking blow you over. The sand will block your lungs and scrape your eyes out. Unless you hit your head on a stone."

"Is it so strong, the wind?"

"It is," Kathy turned to us. "Let's go back."

I looked at the horizon, then at the south where the tigers' territory lay. When would the storm reach us? How long could it last? I didn't want to lose another day
sitting it out by the river. Varlamov could take action any day now, and I didn't even know how and where he intended to use Neumann and how I was supposed to get him back to Earth.

The sand cloud grew. Now I could clearly see its edges.
Still distant but visibly approaching, it was heading for the river. Soon it would cover us. Then we wouldn't be able to find our way anymore.

"We can't go back," I said. "We won't make it."

"We might," Kathy said.

"Look how fast it's growing," I nodded
toward the east. “It'll cover the hills before we get there. But if we go south, we might just catch the edge of it."

"The south is tiger country," Georgie said. "Better turn back."

I looked at the sandstorm
weighing up our chances. "Let's risk it. No good beating about the bush. Animals normally lie low during storms."

"You're
nuts," Kathy exclaimed.

"
Nuts as a clone's ass," Georgie added. "Do you think you can escape the tigers? You'll be lunch before you know it."

"
This is no time to discuss it," I lifted the gun, checked the magazine and stepped forward. "Those who'd rather go back, be my guest. I won't stop you."

After a moment's hesitation
, Wladas walked over to me, pale and silent, his forehead covered in cold sweat. The decision hadn't come to him easily.

Kathy
and Georgie didn't move. After a pause, Jim joined us. Wong walked past us, smiling, the shotgun on his shoulders.

"Forward, at the double, march!"
I glanced back at the two remaining. Georgie spat and hobbled after us, frowning. Kathy paused and trotted behind him.

We ran watching the
storm approach from the east. Very soon the swirling clouds of sand and dust eclipsed the sky. The hot wind lashed our faces; grains of sand stung our eyes as the storm choked us clogging our noses, ears and mouths. The sun glowed yellow through the murky brown haze.

This was only the beginning. "
Stop!" I yelled covering my face with my hand. I grabbed Kathy's shoulder forcing her to stand next to Wladas and ordered them to rope themselves together. Wong didn't need instructions: he'd already made his belt into a noose and fastened it round Georgie's hand. Jim gave me his gun strap. I shoved its end under my belt buckle and we resumed running south, guided by the sun.

The wind grew.
I was forced to slow down as our group huddled together, stumbling and burying their faces in their elbows. Still, they kept going. They had to: the moment the sun went down we'd lose any sense of direction. So we had to keep going.

A
large shadow slid past. Wladas cried out. I raised my gun while Georgie and Kathy yelled at me demanding theirs.

"Jim!" I spat out the sand and called over the wind, "What's on your side?"

"Two, I think!" he answered. "Two tigers."

I
took one hand off the gun and shielded my eyes from the stinging dust. A shadow... then another... and again... how many of them were there?

"Five," I heard
Kathy's finally-composed voice. "They're prowling around."

"Can someone give me a fucking gun?" Georgie
kept screaming.

I was racking my brains for some way to deter
five adult tigers. Even one was enough to tear us all to shreds. That's why I missed the sound that had weaved itself into the storm's roaring. First I took it for the wind singing in my ears. Then I realized it was not the wind but a whistle. A cop's whistle.

Its
trill died away, then repeated, closer this time. As if on cue, the tigers legged it and disappeared in the haze. A white light came on in front of us, similar to one of those Forecomers' beams. But as far as I could remember, there were none of them there.

The bright spot of light shifted up and down as it
approached. Was someone trying to send us a signal?

"Hello!" I stepped forward. "We're here!"