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.Get out of there.""No.Emily, take them."file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E.Deathlands%2017%20-%20Fury's%20Pilgrims.html (281 of 287) [1/3/2005 12:24:50 AM]d17 Fury's PilgrimsMichael began to advance toward the armed group, hands empty, feet sliding over the smooth floor."Going to do what Doc wants," he said."Not for me.Just for him.""Get out of the way." Ryan was almost overwhelmed with the desire to squeeze the trigger on the SIG-Sauer and blow the young man out of his path, but he managed to hold back."No.You have to make me.""I'll chill him," J.B.offered, but Ryan waved a warning hand at the Armorer.He bolstered his own blaster, watching Doc out of the corner of his eye."The equipment is failing, Michael," he said, aware of the speed at which the master clock was ticking on down."Liar!" Doc yelled."They're all scientist murderers, dear heart.They intend to stop us returning home safe and snug.""The odds are thousands to one if everything went well.They had hundreds of top men and women working on this blighted project for years.You and Doc are about the only two successes they ever had.You try and jump back to your own times, and you'll both finish up horribly dead." Ryan looked over at Doc, staring into the barrel of the Le Mat."You got no chance, Doc.No fucking chance.""Still got to try," Michael said.And he came in at Ryan, using the terrifying speed he'd learned through his Oriental martial skills.The whirling feet and clenched fists were only a blur, and Ryan ducked three steps back, knowing that the teenager was the fastest he'd ever seen, knowing that Michael could take him out, permanently, if he wasn't very, very careful.He watched, seeing that his opponent was building up a rhythm as he spun closer.Ryan took a clumsy half step in, stumbling and slipping on the floor.Michael's file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E.Deathlands%2017%20-%20Fury's%20Pilgrims.html (282 of 287) [1/3/2005 12:24:50 AM]d17 Fury's Pilgrimseyes opened wide, and he kicked out at Ryan's shoulder.But Ryan had lifted his right leg, with its steel-tipped combat boot, allowing it to take the jarring impact.Michael's bare foot was toughened, but it couldn't stand against the steel.He staggered, yelping with pain, trying to get his balance, legs spread.The one-eyed man was on his feet in a microsecond and kicked Michael in the groin, trying to temper the force so that he didn't kill him.The toe crushed into the soft genitals, ramming them upward against the pubic bone.Michael gave a pathetic, strangled scream, and fell backward, unconscious.The clock was showing twelve minutes and eighteen seconds."You've done it for him, Beelzebub!" Doc shouted, "and I'll do it for you before leaving this midnight place forever.""Don't, Theo!" Mildred was at Ryan's side, staring down the old man, ignoring the trembling hand that held the Civil War blaster."Don't call me that!""Theo, we're your friends.We love you and we'll do anything to save you a ghastly passing.Get out and talk to us.""Never.""The place is folding up around us.Look!" She gestured to where sparks were exploding from several of the comp screens, many of them already gone to black.Only the clock clicked remorselessly on."You'll die, Doc."He laughed, the hand with the Le Mat sticking out from under the rim of the chron pod."Oh, queen of air and darkness, yes, darkness.I'm sure it's truth you say.And I will die tomorrow, but you will die… today!"file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E.Deathlands%2017%20-%20Fury's%20Pilgrims.html (283 of 287) [1/3/2005 12:24:50 AM]d17 Fury's PilgrimsThe last word a terrible cry of torn emotion as he tightened his finger on the scattergun trigger of the blaster.The boom was preceded by the light crack of Mildred's own target revolver.Firing from the hip, she'd managed to hit the overhead catch, allowing the heavy top of the capsule to drop onto Doc's arm, the impact knocking the Le Mat from his fingers.The old man was left lying helplessly inside, weeping."Best get him out before the clock runs out," J.B.advised."That was one of the best shots I ever saw, Mildred." Ryan went to help J.B.release Doc from the imprisoning capsule."Yeah.I'm real proud of it," she said bitterly."Good way of slamming the door on someone's last best hope."MICHAEL CAME AROUND a few minutes later, standing doubled over, hands pressed in between his thighs, his face as white as parchment."You don't fight fair, Ryan," he said quietly."Not about fighting fair.Not in Deathlands.Learn from it, Michael.""How about the lesson you've taught Doc?""You can't go home anymore [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]