The Blood Mesa

trying to stay away from the others.'

'What's wrong with them? What happened to them?'

'Explanations later,' Matt snapped. 'Climb in the back and let me know when you're ready.'

Jerry nodded. He hurried away from the cab, and a moment later Matt heard him call, 'Okay, I'm in!'

'Hang on!'

Matt started driving again. He glanced at the gas gauge. The tank was a little more than half full, enough for him to keep driving for a while.

But where was he going to go? He needed to do something besides run. That wouldn't stop the evil emanating from the altar.

The interstate was only about three miles away. Was it possible the effect could reach that far? Would everyone driving by on the highway go insane? A nightmare scenario played out in Matt's head in which the altar's effect spread across the entire Southwest. And if that happened, where would it stop?

Would it stop?

He shook those thoughts away. Concentrate on the here and now, he told himself. Deal with the danger close at hand.

Stay alive.

'I see somebody!' Jerry yelled from the back of the truck. 'It's Rich and Maggie!'

'Where are they?' Matt shouted.

'Behind us! Trying to catch up! Slow down and they— Shit!'

'What is it?'

'The others are after them! We gotta help 'em, Mr. Cahill!'

The smartest thing might be to speed up and let Rich Rankin and Maggie Flynn fend for themselves. Matt knew that.

But he couldn't do it. He braked again, bringing the truck to a shuddering halt.

Ronnie grabbed his right arm as he used his left to swing the door open.

'Where are you going?'

'To help them. Get behind the wheel.'

'I can't drive a truck like this!'

He pointed to the clutch and the gear shift lever sticking up from the floorboard. 'Push that down, push that over there like that, and hit the gas. You'll figure it out.'

'Matt!'

But he pulled away from her and dropped to the ground. He ran to the back of the truck. The flaps of the canvas cover were tied back, and the tailgate was down.

'Jerry, toss me my duffel bag.'

Jerry threw the bag onto the tailgate. Matt reached inside it. As he did so, his eyes cut toward the figures running toward the truck. Rich and Maggie were in the lead, but Scott and Chuck were close behind them, followed by April, Noel, and Hammond.

Matt pulled his ax from the duffel bag.

'Shit!' Jerry said. 'What're you gonna—'

Matt strode out to meet them. He was damned sick and tired of the killing, tired of being forced to take lives in order to save lives. But once again, he was in a position where he had no choice. He lifted the ax and held it in both hands.

'Get in the back of the truck,' he told Rich and Maggie as they sprinted past him.

Then he stepped forward and swung the ax.

Fixated on Rich and Maggie, Chuck didn't even try to avoid it. The keen edge of the blade caught him cleanly in the throat. Matt felt it shear easily through flesh. The blade caught a little on the bone, but only for a second before cleaving right on through it.

Chuck ran out from under his head as it popped in the air.

The body, geysering blood from the suddenly empty neck, ran several more steps before it collapsed. Chuck's head thudded to the ground at about the same time.

Matt was already pivoting, trying to continue the same swing and take Scott down with it. Scott's reflexes were too fast, though. He blocked the ax with the shovel he still carried. The collision almost knocked the weapon out of Matt's hands. He hung on, twisted away, and tried a backhanded slash. Scott avoided it.

That brought Scott's guard down enough for Matt to kick him in the stomach. As Scott doubled over, Noel charged past him. Matt clipped the young man on the side of the head with the ax handle. Noel lost his balance and went down.

Hammond and April, unable to run quite as fast as the athletic young men, had fallen behind. Hammond stopped and motioned for April to stay back. He wore a backpack now, and Matt wondered if it had more of the dynamite in it.

'Give it up, Cahill,' Hammond said. More of the rotten flesh sloughed off his face as he grinned. 'You can't get away. I took care of that. All you and the others have to do is join us, and you'll be fine.'

Matt backed away as he gripped the ax. 'I don't think so, Doctor,' he said.

He didn't take his eyes off Hammond and the man's remaining allies. He couldn't look behind him, but he knew he was closer to the truck, which was still idling. The engine's growling rumble was the only small shred of comfort available to Matt right now.

'You're going to die screaming,' Hammond promised. 'Just the way she did.'

Matt knew he shouldn't say it, but he couldn't stop himself.

'She?'

Hammond slipped the backpack off. It was already open, so all he had to do was plunge his hand into it and pull out Astrid Tompkins' battered head. It was barely recognizable.

No one would ever see the young woman's beautiful smile again.

It was all Matt could do not to launch himself forward like a berserker, to lay into them, hacking right and left with the ax. But they still outnumbered him four to one, and if he fell now, that would leave Ronnie and the others on their own. Matt knew that without him around to help them, Hammond's group would hunt them down, one by one if necessary, and slaughter them.

And probably eat them, he thought, remembering the 'garbage dump' Ronnie had uncovered.

The truck's engine suddenly revved. Matt had to glance back. He saw it rumbling toward him in reverse.

'Stop him!' Hammond yelled.

Matt turned. The truck was close enough now that he was able to leap forward and land on the tailgate. Jerry was there to reach down and grab his shirt, making sure Matt didn't tumble out of the vehicle.

'Got him!' Jerry shouted.

With a grinding of gears, the truck lurched forward again, leaving Hammond, Scott, April, and Noel behind. Matt scooted deeper into the bed.

'Who's driving?' he asked.

'Rich thought he could handle it,' Jerry explained.

The cab was pretty full by now, with Rich and Maggie added to Ronnie and Ginger. Rich seemed to be doing all right driving the truck.

'Was . . . was that Astrid's . . .' Jerry couldn't bring himself to say it. 'Was that Astrid?'

'Yeah,' Matt said. 'I'm sorry.'

'This is crazy.'

'That's the word for it,' Matt agreed. He couldn't see Hammond and the others behind them anymore. Night cloaked the mesa. The cones of light from the truck's headlights provided the only illumination other than the stars.

He went to the front of the truck bed and called, 'Rich, stop!'

When Rich had brought the truck to a halt, Matt dropped off the tailgate and hurried up to the cab.

'I'm driving again,' Matt said. 'Rich, stay up here in case I need you to take the wheel. The rest of you, get in the back with Jerry.'

'What are you going to do?' Ronnie asked.