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'Those your people?" Ta
"No. You took mine yesterday."
"Too bad," said Ta
They squealed around a curve and climbed another hul. His pursuers drew nearer. He switched back from telescope to normal screening, but even then he could see the size of the crowd that approached."It must be the Kings," she said. "They're the biggest club around."
"Too bad," said Ta
"For them or for us?"
"Both."
She smiled.
"I'd like to see how you work this thing."
"It looks like you're going to get a chance. They're gaining on us like mad."
The rain lessened, but the fogs grew heavier. Ta
"Maybe ninety miles," she told him.
'Too bad they're chasing us instead of coming toward us," he said, as he primed his flames and set an adjustment which brought cross-hairs into focus on his rearview screen.
"What's that?" she asked.
'That's a cross. I'm going to crucify them, lady," and she smiled at this and squeezed his arm.
"Can I help? I hate those bloody mothers.'*
"In a little while," said Ta
"Do you know how to use that thing?"
"Yes," she replied immediately.
-Good."
He kept watching the lights that danced on the screen.
"Why the hell doesn't this storm break?" he said, as the lights came closer and be could make out shapes within the fog.
When they were within a hundred feet he fired the first grenade. It arched through the gray air, and five seconds later there was a bright flash to his rear, burning within a thunderclap.
The lights immediately behind him remained, and he touched the fifty-calibers, moving the cross-hairs from side to side. The guns shattered their loud syllables, and he launched another grenade. With the second flash, he began to climb another hill."Did you stop them?"
"For a time, maybe. I still see some lights, but farther back."
After five minutes, they had reached the top, a place where the fogs were cleared and the dark sky was visible above them. Then they started downward once more, and a wall of stone and shale and dirt rose to their right. Ta
When the road leveled and he decided they had reached the bottom, he turned on his brightest lights and looked for a place where the road's shoulders were wide.
To his rear, there were suddenly rows of descending lights.
He found the place where the road was sufficiently wide, and he skidded through a U-turn until he was facing the shaggy cliff, now to his left, and his pursuers were coming dead on.
He elevated his rockets, fired one, elevated them five degrees more, fired two, elevated them another five degrees, fired three. Then he lowered them fifteen and fired another.
There was brightness within the fog, and he heard the stones rattling on the road and felt the vibration as the rockslide began. He swung toward his right as he backed the vehicle and fired two ahead. There was dust, mixed with the fog now, and the vibration continued.
He turned and headed forward once more.
"I hope that'll hold 'em," he said, and he lit two cigarettes and passed one to the girl.
After five minutes they were on higher ground again and the winds came and whipped at the fog, and far to the rear there were still some lights.
As they topped a high rise, his radiation gauge began to register an above-normal reading. He sought in all directions and saw the crater far off ahead. 'That's it," he heard her say. "You've got to leave the road there. Bear to the right and go around that way when you get there."
"I'll do that thing."
He heard gunshots from behind him, for the first time that day, and though he adjusted the cross-hairs he did not fire his own weapons. The distance was still too great.
"You must have cut them in half," she said, staringinto the screen. "More than that. They're a tough bunch, though."
"I gather," and he plowed the field of mists and checked his supply of grenades for the launcher and saw that he was ru
He swung off the road to his right when he began bumping along over fractured concrete. The radiation level was quite high by then. The crater was slightly more than a thousand yards to his left.
The lights to his rear fa
"There's another down," he remarked, as they raced across the hard-baked plain.
The rains came more heavily, and he sighted in on another light and fired it. It, too, went out, though he heard the sounds of their weapons about him once again.
He switched to his right-hand guns and saw the crosshairs leap into life on that screen. As three vehicles moved in to flank him from that direction, he opened up and cut them down. There was more firing at his back, and he ignored it as he negotiated the way,
"I count twenty-seven lights," Cornelia said.
Ta
Five minutes later, they were ru
"Five of them are down," she said, but he was listening to the gunfire.
He launched a grenade to the rear, and when he tried to launch a second there^came only a clicking sound from the control. He launched one to either side and then paused for a second.
"If they get close enough, I'll show them some fire," he said, and they continued on around the crater.
He fired only at individual targets then, when he was certain they were within range. He took two more before he struck the broken roadbed.
"Keep ru
Shots richocheted from off his armored sides, and hecontinued to return the fire. He raced along an alleyway of twisted trees, like those he had seen near other craters, and the mists hung like pe
When he bit the roadway once again, he regarded the lights to his rear and asked, "How many do you count now?"
"It looks like around twenty. How are we doing?"
"I'm just worried about the tires. They can take a lot, but they can be shot out. The only other thing that bothers me is that a stray shot might clip one of the 'eyes.' Outside of that we're bullet-proof enough. Even if they manage to stop us, they'll have to pry us out."
The hikes drew near once again, and he saw the bright flashes and heard the reports of the riders' guns.
"Hold tight." he said, and be hit the brakes and they skidded on the wet pavement.
The lights grew suddenly bright, and he unleashed his rear flame. As some bikes skirted him, he cut in the side flames and held them that way.
Then he took his foot off the brake and floored the accelerator without waiting to assess the damage he had done.
They sped ahead, and Ta
"God! You're taking them. Hell! You're taking the whole damn club!"
"It ain't that much fun," he said. Then, "See any lights?"
She watched for a time, said, "No," then said, "Three," then, "Seven," and finally, "Thirteen."