The Dark Tower

Then it would eat.

Fourteen

They were going to need a fallbackposition. She became sure of that almost as soon as the tips of her fingerstouched the bottom of the can. Ten minutes and three torches later, Susa

Before she could say any of these things,however, Roland got in three words that stopped all of hers. “Light,” hepanted. “Up ahead.”

She craned around and at first saw nothing,probably because of the torch she’d been holding out. Then she did: a faintwhite glow.

“More of those globes?” she asked. “Astretch of them that are still working?”

“Maybe. I don’t think so.”

Five minutes later she realized she couldsee the floor and walls in the light of her latest torch. The floor was coveredwith a fine scrim of dust and pebbles such as could only have been blown infrom outside. Susa

“Goodbye, honey!” she screamed. “Goodbye,you eye-covered muthafuck!”

It roared again and thrust itself forward.For one moment she saw it plain: a huge round lump that couldn’t be called aface in spite of the lolling mouth; the segmented body, scratched and oozingfrom contact with the rough walls; a quartet of stubby armlike appendages, twoon each side. These ended in snapping pincers. She shrieked and thrust thetorch back at it, and the thing retreated with another deafening roar.

“Did your mother never teach you that it’swrong to tease the animals?” Roland asked her, and his tone was so dry shecouldn’t tell if he was kidding her or not.

Five minutes after that they were out.

Chapter II:

On Badlands Avenue

One

They exited through a crumbling hillsidearch beside a Quonset hut similar in shape but much smaller than the Arc 16Experimental Station. The roof of this little building was covered with rust.There were piles of bones scattered around the front in a rough ring. Thesurrounding rocks had been blackened and splintered in places; one boulder thesize of the Queen A

“There was some kind of battle here, wasn’tthere?” she asked.

“Yes, I’d say so. A big one, long ago.” Hesounded utterly whipped.

A sign lay facedown on the ground in frontof the Quonset’s half-open door. Susa

Susa

THIS CHECKPOINT IS CLOSED.

FOR-EVER.

Below it, in red, seeming to glare at her,was the Eye of the King.

Two

There was nothing in the Quonset’s mainroom but jumbles of equipment that had been blasted to ruin and more skeletons,none whole. In the adjoining storeroom, however, she found delightfulsurprises: shelves and shelves of ca

Git ready to pull yo sweetie, graymeat!

This was a typically nasty Detta Walkerthought, but it surprised a laugh out of her, all the same.

“What have you found that’s amusing?”Roland called.

“You’ll see,” she called back, straining tokeep Detta out of her voice, at least. In this she did not entirely succeed.“You go

Three

There was a small motor at the rear of therickshaw, but both saw at a glance it had been ages since it had run. In thestoreroom Roland found a few simple tools, including an adjustable wrench. Itwas frozen with its jaw open, but an application of oil (in what was toSusa

“No more than fifteen pounds,” Roland said,wiping his hands on his jeans and looking at the tumbled motor, “but I reckonI’ll be glad we got rid of it by the time we’re done with this thing.”

“When do we start?” she asked.

“As soon as we’ve loaded as much ca

“Roland, you can’t! Not so soon! You’redone up!”

He gestured at Oy, sitting so patiently,and at the maw of darkness forty paces beyond him. “Do you want to be thisclose to that hole when dark comes?”

“We can build a fire—”

“It may have friends,” he said, “thataren’t shy of fire. While we were in yonder shaft, that thing wouldn’t havewanted to share us because it didn’t think it had to share. Now it mightnot care, especially if it’s vengeance-minded.”

“A thing like that can’t think. Surelynot.” This was easier to believe now that they were out. But she knew she mightchange her mind once the shadows began to grow long and pool together.

“I don’t think it’s a chance we can affordto take,” Roland said.

She decided, very reluctantly, that he wasright.