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spittle.
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The eyes were wide open, staring at the black woman.
"My mother told you all of this? I don't believe you."
"It's true, son. I was going to make them do like& like you wanted."
"I heard shots. Two or three."
Dean spoke up, his voice shrill with shock. "The old bitch tried to chill
Krysty and
Mildred. So I stabbed her."
"You stabbed my mother& " The baron laughed. "Never. But the blood?"
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The dowager lifted her left hand, showing the clotted darkness that was
seeping from a slit in her dress near the armpit. "Such a small knife, Alferd,
with a pretty green hilt. Like those necklaces I used to collect from olden
times."
Her voice was gradually fading away.
"It's true!" he said, incredulous.
"The bitch had it coming. I hope her ghost never finds itself any fucking
rest."
Dean spit on the palm of his hand and made the sign of the cross toward the
dying woman.
Nelson actually staggered as though someone had struck him in the face. "You
told them the truth, Mother! The bloody bastard truth!"
He drew the big blaster, cocked and fired it in a single fluid movement.
The bullet hit the dowager in the chest, slightly to the left of her
breastbone, lifting her off her feet and throwing her in tottering, stumbling
steps toward the fire.
Krysty dodged her, keeping both eyes on the baron, the little pistol feeling
like a child's toy against the seven-and-a-half-foot giant.
The only thing that stopped her from opening fire was the knowledge that it
would almost certainly seal the death warrants for all three of them. Their
chances of escaping alive from the ville, having murdered Baron Nelson, were
just about as good as turning shit into gold.
"Life comes way down near the bottom of the totem pole," Nelson said in a
strange, whispering kind of voice.
"That's true, Chief," Mildred replied, unable to look away from the hearth
where the jerking corpse of the dowager had finally toppled facedown into the
fire. Her long hair had blazed like a magnesium flare, making the air in the
room stink.
"Can't we pull her away?" Dean asked. The baron shook his head, smiling with a
sightless, simpering idiocy. "No. The wicked burn in hell. Mother told me
that,
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always. Wizard Sidler and his killers will burn when& Burn slowly. Listen," he
said, nodding as though he could hear the beat of a different drum. "Listen to
skin crack and eyeballs pop."
The intensity of the man's madness held them all in silence.
The stench of roasting flesh was nauseating. Though she was obviously dead,
the horror was magnified by the old woman's feet and legs still moving, as if
she were considering lifting her face from the ferocious heat. "Now what,
Baron?"
The eyes turned toward Krysty. "Such beautiful hair, my dear lady. If we have
a son, will his hair glow like living flames? It is so vivid and brilliant, it
almost seems to be alive."
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Krysty could feel her sentient hair moving, packing itself protectively around
the back of her neck, every strand sensitive to the danger in the room.
"You have three little pellets of lead in that tiny blaster, Krysty." Now the
huge madman was sounding like a wise and benevolent uncle, with a stubborn and
slightly foolish niece. "It won't harm me, but it might make me very cross.
Might make me want to take off your clothes, remove your tight, silken
panties, that fit so snugly between the cleft of your firm buttocks& And
then "
"Shut your filthy mouth!" Dean had taken three angry steps across the room,
threatening the baron with his knife.
"A toy pistol and a babe's bodkin! I tremble with terror, boy."
"My knife was enough to chill your bitch-mother, and it can do the same for
you, you shit-mouthed triple-sick bastard."
The barrel of the Magnum slithered around until it snarled at the boy.
"Now that wasn't the way a child should speak to his father," Nelson chided.
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"I'd never speak to my father like that."
For a moment the big man looked puzzled. "Not your father is& What?" The hand
holding the gun began to shake.
Krysty licked her lips, steadying the .22 on the baron's face.
Nelson wrinkled his nose. "Stink of charred flesh! Typical of the old shitbag!
Hated her. Now she's told you everything. Suppose I'd best chill you all now.
Except the boy. Yeah, now."
Chapter Forty
It was one hour and seventeen minutes into the tenth and final day of the
mission.
They'd been making good time, along a trail that was scarcely dusted with
snow.
The mud and slush had frozen, turning into ruts that jarred and jolted the
wag.
Michael had heeled his burro out to the point position; Capestrano and
Knuckles were on the rig's narrow seat; Ellie and Doc were chatting over the
tailboard, and
Ryan and J.B. were walking their horses about thirty paces behind.
Too far behind to be able to do anything to prevent the tragedy from unfolding
in front of their eyes.
It was only afterward that it was possible to trace the steps Sidler wriggling
free of the baling wire around his wrists, ignoring an urgent, whispered
entreaty from
Jim Jennison to play it cool and careful, and free them all.
He saw the backs of Capestrano and Knuckles, the latter with the taped hilt of
a
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short-bladed skinning knife showing at his belt. Ellie was involved in a
coquettish conversation with Doc, assuming that everything was still safely
under her control.
Wizard Sidler snatched out the knife, hesitating for a fraction of a second.
His lips were pulled back in a feral snarl as he stared at the two men on the
driving seat.
But there was only one person guarding the rear of the rig, and that was the
treacherous actress.
The baron lunged toward Ellie, slipping as he trod on Julio, nearly falling
Page 109
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
over
Twenty Gooseneck's outstretched legs.
Ryan heard the beginning of Knuckles's belated shout of warning as he felt his
knife being stripped from its sheath.
Ellie started around, the smile still pinned to her face. Doc stood in the
stirrups, then his hand fell toward the polished butt of the Let Mat, the old
man moving faster than Ryan had ever seen him move before.
Then there was the shadow from beneath the canvas hood, its teeth glittering
in the moonlight, the steel blinking coldly.
Knuckles's shout reached everyone. "He's got my knife!"
Doc's blaster cleared leather as both Ryan and J.B. went for their weapons.
They weren't fast enough.
Wizard Sidler opened Ellie's throat from ear to ear, slashing backhanded, the
blade severing flesh and arteries and cutting open the woman's windpipe.
Ellie's hands reached out to Doc, her blond hair streaming around her as she
struggled for air, air that came swamped in thick gobbets of blood.
Sidler grinned triumphantly, pushing the dying woman over the tailgate of the
wag, where she fell into the furrowed, icy mud. Ellie fought her way to her
hands and knees, but the arterial blood was pumping out of her, and what
remained of
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her life was measured in slackening beats of the heart.
Ryan had the SIG-Sauer out, ready to put a 9 mm full-metal jacket through [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
spittle.
Page 107
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The eyes were wide open, staring at the black woman.
"My mother told you all of this? I don't believe you."
"It's true, son. I was going to make them do like& like you wanted."
"I heard shots. Two or three."
Dean spoke up, his voice shrill with shock. "The old bitch tried to chill
Krysty and
Mildred. So I stabbed her."
"You stabbed my mother& " The baron laughed. "Never. But the blood?"
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...ands%2018%20-%20Shockscape%20-%20h
tm.html (220 of 259) [12/28/2004 12:57:22 AM]
dummy1
The dowager lifted her left hand, showing the clotted darkness that was
seeping from a slit in her dress near the armpit. "Such a small knife, Alferd,
with a pretty green hilt. Like those necklaces I used to collect from olden
times."
Her voice was gradually fading away.
"It's true!" he said, incredulous.
"The bitch had it coming. I hope her ghost never finds itself any fucking
rest."
Dean spit on the palm of his hand and made the sign of the cross toward the
dying woman.
Nelson actually staggered as though someone had struck him in the face. "You
told them the truth, Mother! The bloody bastard truth!"
He drew the big blaster, cocked and fired it in a single fluid movement.
The bullet hit the dowager in the chest, slightly to the left of her
breastbone, lifting her off her feet and throwing her in tottering, stumbling
steps toward the fire.
Krysty dodged her, keeping both eyes on the baron, the little pistol feeling
like a child's toy against the seven-and-a-half-foot giant.
The only thing that stopped her from opening fire was the knowledge that it
would almost certainly seal the death warrants for all three of them. Their
chances of escaping alive from the ville, having murdered Baron Nelson, were
just about as good as turning shit into gold.
"Life comes way down near the bottom of the totem pole," Nelson said in a
strange, whispering kind of voice.
"That's true, Chief," Mildred replied, unable to look away from the hearth
where the jerking corpse of the dowager had finally toppled facedown into the
fire. Her long hair had blazed like a magnesium flare, making the air in the
room stink.
"Can't we pull her away?" Dean asked. The baron shook his head, smiling with a
sightless, simpering idiocy. "No. The wicked burn in hell. Mother told me
that,
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...ands%2018%20-%20Shockscape%20-%20h
tm.html (221 of 259) [12/28/2004 12:57:22 AM]
dummy1
always. Wizard Sidler and his killers will burn when& Burn slowly. Listen," he
said, nodding as though he could hear the beat of a different drum. "Listen to
skin crack and eyeballs pop."
The intensity of the man's madness held them all in silence.
The stench of roasting flesh was nauseating. Though she was obviously dead,
the horror was magnified by the old woman's feet and legs still moving, as if
she were considering lifting her face from the ferocious heat. "Now what,
Baron?"
The eyes turned toward Krysty. "Such beautiful hair, my dear lady. If we have
a son, will his hair glow like living flames? It is so vivid and brilliant, it
almost seems to be alive."
Page 108
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Krysty could feel her sentient hair moving, packing itself protectively around
the back of her neck, every strand sensitive to the danger in the room.
"You have three little pellets of lead in that tiny blaster, Krysty." Now the
huge madman was sounding like a wise and benevolent uncle, with a stubborn and
slightly foolish niece. "It won't harm me, but it might make me very cross.
Might make me want to take off your clothes, remove your tight, silken
panties, that fit so snugly between the cleft of your firm buttocks& And
then "
"Shut your filthy mouth!" Dean had taken three angry steps across the room,
threatening the baron with his knife.
"A toy pistol and a babe's bodkin! I tremble with terror, boy."
"My knife was enough to chill your bitch-mother, and it can do the same for
you, you shit-mouthed triple-sick bastard."
The barrel of the Magnum slithered around until it snarled at the boy.
"Now that wasn't the way a child should speak to his father," Nelson chided.
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...ands%2018%20-%20Shockscape%20-%20h
tm.html (222 of 259) [12/28/2004 12:57:22 AM]
dummy1
"I'd never speak to my father like that."
For a moment the big man looked puzzled. "Not your father is& What?" The hand
holding the gun began to shake.
Krysty licked her lips, steadying the .22 on the baron's face.
Nelson wrinkled his nose. "Stink of charred flesh! Typical of the old shitbag!
Hated her. Now she's told you everything. Suppose I'd best chill you all now.
Except the boy. Yeah, now."
Chapter Forty
It was one hour and seventeen minutes into the tenth and final day of the
mission.
They'd been making good time, along a trail that was scarcely dusted with
snow.
The mud and slush had frozen, turning into ruts that jarred and jolted the
wag.
Michael had heeled his burro out to the point position; Capestrano and
Knuckles were on the rig's narrow seat; Ellie and Doc were chatting over the
tailboard, and
Ryan and J.B. were walking their horses about thirty paces behind.
Too far behind to be able to do anything to prevent the tragedy from unfolding
in front of their eyes.
It was only afterward that it was possible to trace the steps Sidler wriggling
free of the baling wire around his wrists, ignoring an urgent, whispered
entreaty from
Jim Jennison to play it cool and careful, and free them all.
He saw the backs of Capestrano and Knuckles, the latter with the taped hilt of
a
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...ands%2018%20-%20Shockscape%20-%20h
tm.html (223 of 259) [12/28/2004 12:57:22 AM]
dummy1
short-bladed skinning knife showing at his belt. Ellie was involved in a
coquettish conversation with Doc, assuming that everything was still safely
under her control.
Wizard Sidler snatched out the knife, hesitating for a fraction of a second.
His lips were pulled back in a feral snarl as he stared at the two men on the
driving seat.
But there was only one person guarding the rear of the rig, and that was the
treacherous actress.
The baron lunged toward Ellie, slipping as he trod on Julio, nearly falling
Page 109
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
over
Twenty Gooseneck's outstretched legs.
Ryan heard the beginning of Knuckles's belated shout of warning as he felt his
knife being stripped from its sheath.
Ellie started around, the smile still pinned to her face. Doc stood in the
stirrups, then his hand fell toward the polished butt of the Let Mat, the old
man moving faster than Ryan had ever seen him move before.
Then there was the shadow from beneath the canvas hood, its teeth glittering
in the moonlight, the steel blinking coldly.
Knuckles's shout reached everyone. "He's got my knife!"
Doc's blaster cleared leather as both Ryan and J.B. went for their weapons.
They weren't fast enough.
Wizard Sidler opened Ellie's throat from ear to ear, slashing backhanded, the
blade severing flesh and arteries and cutting open the woman's windpipe.
Ellie's hands reached out to Doc, her blond hair streaming around her as she
struggled for air, air that came swamped in thick gobbets of blood.
Sidler grinned triumphantly, pushing the dying woman over the tailgate of the
wag, where she fell into the furrowed, icy mud. Ellie fought her way to her
hands and knees, but the arterial blood was pumping out of her, and what
remained of
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...ands%2018%20-%20Shockscape%20-%20h
tm.html (224 of 259) [12/28/2004 12:57:22 AM]
dummy1
her life was measured in slackening beats of the heart.
Ryan had the SIG-Sauer out, ready to put a 9 mm full-metal jacket through [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]