I wouldn’t have it any other way, Horatio transmitted. I like it when life gets interesting.
I don’t! Will sent.
Finally, the tail end of the dust cloud appeared, and it began to recede from the horizon as the forefront approached. The cloud seemed to be coming in at a slight angle, which would take it past the ridge with room to spare.
Rhea had gathered enough telemetry by then to make a rough calculation of its course.
They’re heading northeast, Rhea sent. Slightly away from us.
That route will take them directly to Rust Town in a week’s time, Horatio transmitted. Assuming the bioweapons stick to it.
Sebastian was right! Rhea broadcast. We have to warn Rust Town.
Aradne’s early warning systems will detect them when they’re a few days away, Will replied. They’ll have enough time to muster the army and bring in reinforcements. We don’t have to worry.
Except the people in charge of Aradne want to destroy Rust Town! Rhea sent.
According to Sebastian, Will said. Who isn’t our most reliable source. And besides, that’s not what he said. He didn’t actually say who was responsible. Just that Aradne would no longer have to share water with the slums, once Rust Town was destroyed.
Yes, but the logical inference is that the mayor is responsible, or the security team, or whoever is in charge of Aradne, Rhea transmitted. We have to warn the residents of Rust Town, so they can at least flee. If the bioweapons swerve away after a day or two, then we can turn away and pretend none of this ever happened. But if they don’t…
Yeah well, that’s a nice idea and all, Will sent, but there’s one problem. We can’t keep pace with them. Look how fast they’re crossing those plains!
That’s a good point, Rhea said.
I wonder how they even know where they’re going, Will sent. Could be they’re traveling in a random direction.
Someone has probably laid a scent for them to track, Horatio replied.
The Scorpion… Rhea transmitted. That was just a guess, of course, but it seemed plausible.
Rhea had stopped climbing during the conversation and was about to begin again when she felt subtle vibrations passing through the rock. Apparently the reverberations from the massive bioweapon stampede were reaching even here.
A boulder the size of her body abruptly broke loose beside her, and she started. It bounced from the cliff face several times as it plunged, issuing thick thuds along the way.
I could’ve easily been on that rock… she sent.
But you weren’t, Will said. Stop getting your britches in a knit over what could’ve been, and instead worry about the racket that thing’s making.
He was right to be worried: below, several grotesque heads shot toward the ridge as the boulder continued to strike against the cliff during its descent.
The team remained motionless.
A final thud issued when the rock crashed into the ground and broke in two.
Come on, don’t notice us, Will sent. Don’t notice.
The party waited, watching. Hoping.
And then the wind picked up. It blew from north to south, toward the bioweapons camped on the plains below.
Damn it, Will said. Gotta love it when luck goes against you every step of the way.
Not every step, Horatio said. Rhea wasn’t on the rock that fell, after all…
The closest bioweapons hooted and howled suddenly. Apparently the creatures had spotted the trio. No doubt both the falling boulder and the north-south wind had played parts in that.
Whatever the case, the Hydras rushed the base of the cliff and began to climb.
22
Rhea scaled the rock face with renewed urgency.
While the local bioweapons were swarming the base of the cliff below, those parts of the bigger herd in the dust cloud continued northeast, refusing to detour from their course in any way. Some of the bioweapons on the plains directly below also abandoned the ridge to join in the northeastern trek, perhaps confident that their brethren here would successfully handle Rhea and the others. These deserters raced into the wide dust cloud and promptly vanished.
As that cloud and the herd it contained receded into the northeast, the reverberations passing through the rock face faded. Rhea noticed only with a small part of her mind, as the remainder concentrated on following the path Gizmo had marked on the surface.
On a whim, she paused at one point to shoot at the rocks below, hoping to cause an avalanche. Will joined in, as did Horatio. But all they did was drill small boreholes. They couldn’t start an avalanche.
The rocks drop away when you don’t want them to, Will complained. And when you do, they refuse.
That’s typical of most things in life, Horatio said.
In frustration, Rhea began to fire at the bioweapons themselves, but they shook off her attacks as before and continued to climb unperturbed.
They climbed faster than before; the incoming bioweapons were an effective goad. In moments Horatio was climbing over the crest, and Rhea joined him on the plateau a moment later.
Will let himself down from Horatio’s back. He was staring into the distance to the north, past the tip of the ridge.
“Maybe that can help us.” Will nodded northward.
She turned that way and saw a wall of black that covered the northern horizon from east to west.
“Gritstorm?” Horatio said.
“It’s heading toward us fast,” Will said. “I’d say a minute, maybe two.”
“It won’t reach us before our pursuers…” Horatio said.
“Then we reach it, first,” Will said. “Run!”
The trio ran across the plateau, to a small path that led down between a defile of sorts set amid two peaks. It was wide enough to fit three of their pursuers at once.
As she leaped onto the gentle slope of that defile, a spine-tingling howl came from behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted the lead bioweapons clambering onto the plateau.
“They’re just behind us!” Rhea said as she raced down the slope and into the defile with the others.
“What’s with the howls?” Will shouted. “They have lion heads! They should be roaring! Not howling! Or hissing at least.”
“They’re bioweapons,” Horatio said, running alongside him.
