James Axler Deathlands 042 Way of the Wolf

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Deathlands 42 - Way of the Wolf
"Read nice on grave marker," Jak offered. "Ryan pretty pissed off have to
write it, though."
"Okay, okay," Dean said. "I get the message. Get off my back." He popped the
lock tabs on the small vinyl case. A small collection of feathered darts lay
on a sponge pad, sheathed by leather straps. "Hot pipe! I found something
here."
"What?"
"Darts for those compressed-air guns." Dean held one up against the full face
of the moon. The liquid trapped inside the thin glass walls glowed vile amber.
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"Tranks," Jak suggested. "Shoot. Make go sleep."
Dean looked at the liquid in the dart shell. "I don't think so. Mebbe we got
something a little nastier here. Those men opened up on us without warning. I
don't think they were intending to take us back to Hazard."
"Got one here. Ask him."
"Be there in a minute." Dean finished up his search, turning up a box of 9 mm
reloads in a thigh pocket of the dead man's pants, a metal box of self-lights
that looked waterproof and a packet of jolt. "We'll ask him together." He put
the packet of jolt into his pocket. None of the companions used the narcotic,
but in a lot of places it could be used in the place of jack for trade. Of
course, a man had to watch his back when trading in those places.
Dean picked up the two handblasters he'd tossed aside and discovered one of
them was a compressed-air pistol. He examined it in the moonlight. The pistol
was a single-action, requiring a dart to be loaded into the breech each time
it was fired. When he pulled the bolt back, he saw that it was empty.
Taking the pistol and the vinyl case of darts, he went back to join Jak. He
reloaded the Browning's magazine from the loose 9 mm rounds in his pocket.
Firelight from the burning man on the ground played over the albino, his
captured
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Deathlands 42 - Way of the Wolf horse and his hostage.
"Anybody else?" Dean asked.
"No." Jak nodded toward the man on the saddle in front of him. "Cover."
Dean leveled the Browning, making the man flinch. "Sure. I got him."
"He tries run, shoot legs, dick, not head or chest. Only need him live for
little while." Jak shoved the hostage to the ground. The horse, relieved of
its burden and already spooked, reared and snorted in fear at the new sound.
It tried to run, but the albino kept it under control.
Dean locked the Browning squarely on the man's crotch.
The captive scrabbled at the ground, trying to find purchase to pull himself
up.
"No," Dean said. He squeezed the trigger and put a bullet through the man's
pants at the V of his legs.
"Oh, goddamn!" the man shrilled, sitting up to grab himself with both hands.
Jak gentled the horse again and hopped down. He tied the reins to a tree, then
returned to look at the hostage.
The man brought his hands up with a look of perplexion on his face. The animal
mewling sounds he made continued. There was no blood on his hands, but clearly
the 9 mm round had cored a hole through the loose folds of his pants.
"Missed," Dean said. "Can you believe it?"
"Mebbe small," Jak suggested. He held his forefinger and thumb a half inch
apart. "Splinter dick." He crouched beside the man, a bloodthirsty grin
spreading across his scarred face. He held one of the leaf-bladed throwing
knives in his hand. "That right?"
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Deathlands 42 - Way of the Wolf
"Fuck you," the man snarled, his voice still shaking with fear.
"Already got it figured," Dean said, "that you aren't equipped for that. Could
be you piss off my friend here, he'll use that knife of his to do a conversion
on you so you're all set to receive instead of give. If you catch my drift."
"Piece of meat," Jak said. "Cutting change all that."
"Don't," the man begged. "Don't cut me."
"Answer questions," Jak suggested. "Lie, I cut off piece."
The man nodded, both hands protectively around his crotch. "Sure, sure."
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"Tell us about the darts," Dean said.
The man swallowed hard.
Without hesitation, Jak flicked out the knife and cut across the knuckles of
one of the man's hands. The man screamed out in pain, his eyes drawn to the
wound across the back of his hand. But he didn't let go of his crotch.
"What did you do that for?" he demanded.
"You hesitate," Jak replied, "gives time think up lie. I want lie, I ask you
question today, come back for answer tomorrow. Tell about darts."
"They got the plague in them," the man responded. "They got the plague in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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