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"Years ago gangs took control of the Twin Cities," Kraft went on. "They were always fighting over their turf. I belonged to one of those gangs. The Porns."

  Siad raised his head and sniffed the air. "I trust there is a point to all this?"

  "Yeah. There is. I came across this far-out deal once in the basement of a demolished house.. It wasn't exactly a book. I don't know what it was. There were a lot of color pictures, drawings, and stuff in it, I'd never seen anything like it. Books and magazines were scarce in the Twins. Most of them had been burned, used for fuel during the winter. The one I found was a real turn-on," Kraft said. Siad yawned.

  "Part of the front page was missing," Kraft went on. He was rubbing his wrists together, striving to loosen the loops binding them. "It was titled Something-Illustrated. And the story was about this dude named Frankenstein. He was a scientist, and he put together this groddy monster. The thing was inhuman." He paused, glowering. "Just like you, Franky!"

  Siad glanced down. "Don't push your luck. I'm grateful for the opportunity to escape. They'll think I'm dead. But be nice, or else."

  "Be nice!" Kraft practically exploded. "I'll give you nice, shithead! Cut me loose and I'll rack your ass!" Siad squatted next to his prisoner. "I take it you're not fond of mutants."

  "Fond? Mutants are sludge! Every damn one should be wiped off the face of the earth! Ihatemutants!" Kraft thundered.

  "And I'm not very fond of most humans," Siad said. "But at least I have a reason."

  "So do I!" Kraft bellowed.

  "Prejudice is not a reason," Siad stated.

  "It has nothing to do with prejudice!" Kraft retorted.

  "Then why?"

  Kraft leaned toward the hybrid, his features contorted in rage. "Because a mutant killed my sister! Is that reason enough for you?"

  "Your petty feelings don't matter to me," Siad responded.

  Kraft strained against his bonds, to no avail.

  "Don't worry, human," Siad said. "I will put you out of your misery before too long."

  "I'm surprised you haven't killed me already," Kraft noted scornfully.

  "Not yet," Siad stated. "Not until I get hungry."

  "I hope I give you gas!"

  Siad rose and walked to a nearby tree. He sat down with his back against the trunk. "Get some rest, human."

  "Why should I?" Kraft rejoined.

  "Because we have far to travel tomorrow," Siad disclosed. "I have not slept for two days, or we would be traveling now."

  "Where are you taking me?"

  "North," Siad answered.

  "You mind telling me why?" Kraft wanted to know.

  "Yes. Now rest." Siad fell silent.

  Kraft glared at the mutant. His arms were aching and he was chafing his wrists, but he was determined to stay up all night working on the rope. And as soon as he was free, there was going to be one less mutated monstrosity running around!

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  "Thank goodness for the moon," Athena commented.

  Blade gazed skyward at the bright full moon, seeming like a beacon in a

  firmament of starry supplicants. The lunar illumination was sufficient to light up the landscape 15 to 20 yards in every direction. He glanced over his right shoulder at the ridge silhouetted against the heavens. Athena's memory had served them in good stead. She had led them to the first of the two ridges located due east of the Kingdom, the same one they'd seen earlier. In the middle of the ridge had been a gorge. They had vigilantly moved through the rocky gorge and found a stretch of forest beyond.

  "There are the cliffs," Athena mentioned. Blade faced front. The moonlight bathed the second ridge, the one with the cliff wall comprising its eastern side, in a diffuse white glow. Once over that ridge, they would find the Kingdom.

  "The pool should be up ahead," Athena said. Blade followed her as they threaded their way through the underbrush. He looked over his left shoulder to insure Grizzly was still with them. The mutant's ability to glide furtively through the densest vegetation was astonishing. Grizzly was only a yard behind him, but Blade never heard a sound. He knew he shouldn't be surprised, not after Grizzly's performance on the stealth test. The trio wound a path through the murky woods for several minutes.

  "There!" Athena exclaimed, pointing. Blade saw it too. A large pool of water, slightly to their left. "That's what saved my life," Athena stated.

  "That's what I fell, in after I went over the top of the cliffs." Grizzly came up alongside them, scrutinizing the palisade. "How the hell are we going to get up that?"

  "Is there a way up?" Blade asked Athena.

  "None that I know of," Athena answered. "We'll have to go around, to the south. We can bypass the cliffs."

  "But it will take us longer," Blade noted,

  "Can't be helped," Athena said.

  Blade stared at the rim far above. "Can the lookouts see us from up there?"

  "No," Athena replied. "The lookouts are posted on the west side of this ridge, closer to the Kingdom. Their main purpose is to prevent the women from escaping. The Spider doesn't bother posting sentries on this side of the ridge. Who would be crazy enough to try and climb those cliffs? Lookouts on this side aren't necessary."

  Grizzly took several steps toward the cliffs, inhaling deeply.

  "Do you smell something?" Blade asked.

  "Blood."

  "Blood?" Blade hefted his M-16 and moved forward. "Where?" Grizzly indicated a cluster of boulders at the base of the cliffs about 60 yards to the right. "There. I detect fresh blood."

  "We'd better investigate," Blade stated.

  "It's human blood," Grizzly added.

  "You can tell what type from the scent?" Athena inquired doubtfully.

  "The nose knows," Grizzly remarked.

  "Lead the way," Blade directed.

  Grizzly padded toward the boulders, hunched over, his arms at his sides, his fingers partially tensed.

  "Stay behind me," Blade advised Athena.

  "I can take care of myself," she responded.

  "Stay behind me," Blade reiterated, hastening after Grizzly.

  The mutant slowed as he neared the boulders, lifting his nose to the wind. He skirted a cluster of huge circular boulders, then stopped next to a jagged flat one about seven feet across. The top of the flat boulder was four feet from the ground.

  Blade reached Grizzly's side. "Where…" he started to ask, and then he saw the body on the flat boulder. Or what was left of the body. He turned to warn Athena away, too late.

  "Dear God!" she blurted out, standing to Grizzly's left.

  Blade bent down, studying the remains. He could distinguish a solitary arm jutting upward from a mushy mass of pulverized flesh and broken bones.

  "Is it Sergeant Havoc or Kraft?" Athena queried in horror.

  "It's a woman," Grizzly divulged.

  Blade spotted strands of light-colored hair at one end of the grisly remains. "It's the woman the Hatchlings abducted," he said. "The one we saw them with."

  "What could have happened to her?" Athena questioned.

  Blade glanced upward. "It should be obvious."

  "But how?" Athena questioned. "If the Hatchlings went around the cliffs, they wouldn't go anywhere near the top above these boulders."t

  "If they went around the cliffs," Blade observed thoughtfully.

  "What are you saying?" Athena asked.

  Blade gazed up at the rock wall. "Maybe she didn't fall from the top. Maybe there's a way up we don't know about."

  "Up that?" Athena said, nodding at the cliffs. "You're nuts."

  "Am I?" Blade responded. "There's no other explanation for the body being here."

  "So what if there is a way up?" Athena stated. "We're certainly not going to climb up in the dark, are we?"

  Blade began walking to the left. "I'm thinking about it."

  "You're insane," Athena told him.

  Blade grinned. "There are those who might agree."

  Grizzly was examining the face of the ridge. "We could sa
ve time."

  "You're insane too!" Athena commented. "Up there? At night?" Blade followed the base of the cliffs to the left, in the direction of the pool. If the woman had fallen from part way up, and not the top, then there had to be a means of ascending, a ledge or shelf of some kind. He hadn't seen any indication of hand-and footholds chiseled into the rock. But a ledge might blend in, be indistinguishable at close range.

  "There's no way I'm going up there at night!" Athena said nervously.

  "You can stay here," Blade suggested. "Wait for Boone and Thunder to catch up."

  "I'm not staying here by myself," Athena declared.

  Blade was almost to the pool! when he spied a dark space between two rocks. Curious, he crossed to the spot and discovered a deft. "Well look at this." He entered the cleft and there it was, a ledge angling up the cliffs.

  Grizzly and Athena came into the deft.

  "We found what we need," Grizzly said.

  Athena walked up to the rock wall and studied the ledge. "This is the way to the top?"

  "Appears so," Blade confirmed, slinging his M-16 over his right shoulder.

  "We could wind up like that poor woman," Athena commented. "That we could," Blade agreed.

  "And you still intend going up?" Athena pressed him.

  Grizzly slung his M-16-over his left shoulder.

  Blade glanced at the mutant. "I've been meaning to ask you. Why didn't you use your M-l 6 on that Hatchling earlier? Why did you go after it with your claws?"

  Grizzly grinned "I like the personal touch."

  "If we make it to the Kingdom, I hope you won't be shy about using the M-16," Blade said. "And your explosives, for that matter."

  Grizzly checked the straps on his backpack. "I'm not an idiot. When the odds are stacked against me, I'll use whatever is available."

  "Good." Blade turned to Athena. "What will it be? Up with us, or wait here for Boone and Thunder?" Athena swallowed hard as she arched her neck, staring at the ridge far above. "Why can't we just go around?"

  "I think you know the answer," Blade said. "Havoc and Kraft have been captured. There's no telling how long the Hatchlings will let them live. So the sooner we reach the Kingdom, the better." Athena, was dearly in turmoil, torn between her fear and her duty.

  Blade gently placed his right hand on her shoulder. "If you don't want to come, we'll understand. There's no stigma attached if you stay here. You're not in the Force. I don't expect you to lay your life on the line."

  "But I want to be there when the Spider gets his," Athena said. "I'll never sleep at nights if I don't see him dead with my own eyes."

  "Don't let that worry you," Grizzly offered. "I'll bring back this Spider's head for you, if it's necessary." Athena stared into Grizzly's eyes. "You surprise me."

  "How so?" Grizzly responded.

  "You seem so eager to kill."

  Grizzly smiled. "I was bred to kill."

  "But the Spider is a mutant, just like you," Athena mentioned. "You don't mind killing another mutant?"

  "I killed a Hatchling, didn't I?" Grizzly asked.

  "You know what I mean, Athena stated.

  Grizzly slowly nodded. "Yep. I guess I do. And I'll answer your question as honestly as I can. It's no secret I'm not fond of humans. By the same token, I consider most mutants superior to humans in every respect. But this Spider could prove me wrong." He paused, glancing at Blade, then Athena. "Like I told Blade, I believe humans are scum, a blight on the planet. Humans have perpetrated every manner of evil. Your species almost destroyed all the life on this world!"

  "And what about mutants?" Blade interrupted. "Your record is hardly stainless. Remember the Doktor, the genetic engineer responsible for creating you and your kind? He had an entire army of mutants at his disposal, and they killed thousands upon thousands during his reign of terror. So where do you get off claiming humans are any worse than mutants?"

  "Those mutants the Doktor bred, like me, were specifically reared and trained for one purpose. To kill. And you well know the Doktor snuffed out or imprisoned any mutant who opposed him," Grizzly noted.

  "Those mutants were merely fulfilling their biological imperative, as the Doktor liked to say. But you humans, on the other hand, weren't produced from test tubes. You weren't raised to function solely as killers. Yet that's what most of you are. Whether you admit it to yourself or not, as a species you'll kill anything and everything that gets in your way. Even yourselves, when you don't see eye to eye."

  "Bull," Blade said. "Sure, we've had more than our share of mindless wars. And granted, many humans do seem ready to shed blood at the slightest provocation. But by and large the majority of humans are peace-loving, kind individuals."

  "Tell that to the millions who were nuked during World War Three," Grizzly countered. "I'm sure they'd agree."

  "You still haven't told me how you feel about the Spider," Athena interjected.

  "He puzzles me," Grizzly confided.

  "Why?" Athena inquired.

  "Because if the Spider is everything you say he is, then he's no different than you humans," Grizzly said bitterly. "He's just as warped as the worst of your species. And if that's the case, then everything I believe in is all wrong. If this Spider is the scumbag you paint him to be, then I might need to rethink my outlook on life."

  "Why do you keep saying if all the time?" Athena inquired "Do you think I would lie?"

  "I don't know you that well, lady," Grizzly said. "All I have is your word about the Spider."

  "But you saw the Hatchlings!" Athena protested, " Theyattacked us! Surely you can see how evil they are!"

  "I don't see nothing of the kind," Grizzly rejoined. "For all I know, they attacked us because we've invaded their territory. They might like their privacy, and I can appreciate that."

  "But they killed Spader!" Athena noted shrilly.

  "Spader was a jerk," Grizzly said. "And we killed two of them. So if you ask me, the slate is about even."

  "And what about the woman?" Athena demanded, her anger rising. "You saw she was their prisoner!"

  "All I saw was a woman walking with a half-dozen Hatchlings over half a mile away," Grizzly stated.

  "How do I know she was their prisoner?"

  Athena clenched her left fist and shook it at the mutant. "I can't believe you, you know that! I can't believe anyone can be so stupid!"

  "Watch your mouth," Grizzly advised her.

  Athena glanced at Blade for support. "What's with you? Why haven't you said anything? Did you know he felt this way?"

  "No," Blade acknowledged. "Not all of it anyway/' He looked at Grizzly. "I do need some clarification."

  "About what' Grizzly queried.

  "Your motive for coming on this mission," Blade said. "You volunteered, just like the rest of the force. But I gather your motivation might have been different. The others agreed to come because they wanted to save the women from the Spider's clutches. But you, I take it, came not so much because you want to rescue the women as you want to prove something to yourself. You want to prove the Spider isn't the despicable despot everyone claims. Am I right?"

  Grizzly nodded. "That's it in a nutshell."

  Athena snorted contemptuously. "Now I've heard everything! All mutants must be off their rockers!"

  "Don't judge us by your standards," Grizzly mentioned harshly. "We're not the same."

  "Thank the Lord for that!" Athena retorted.

  "I should have known you'd be religious," Grizzly muttered.

  "You're not?"

  "Are you kidding?" Grizzly baited her. "I'm not that stupid!"

  "Don't sell yourself short," Athena said. "You're not as brilliant as you think you are."

  "Okay," Blade interrupted. "That's enough."

  Athena stared at the Warrior. "You're just going to stand there and take all this crap? How can you be so calm?"

  "What would you have me do?" Blade asked. "Shoot Grizzly in the head because he doesn't think like we do? Because we don't sha
re the same beliefs? Because he doesn't have faith in the Spirit?"

  "That'd be a start!" Athena suggested. "You're supposed to be so religious! Do something! Anything!

  Prove he's wrong! Show him!"

  Blade sighed. "Athena, it's not my business to meddle in Grizzly's personal life. Nor are his beliefs my concern, so long as they don't affect the rest of the Force. I know he's wrong, but I can't beat the truth into him. He'll have to find out for himself."

  Athena shook her head. "Some spiritual person you are!"

  "I told you before," Blade said. "I'm not a preacher or a teacher. I'm a Warrior. Yes, I was raised in a religious environment. Yes, I consider myself a spiritual person, but I'm not qualified to preach. For one thing, I don't have the temperament. For another, I do have talent as a Warrior." Athena laughed. "A spiritual Warrior! There's a contradiction."

  "What's so unusual about that?" Blade inquired. "Read a bible sometime. Study Samson and David, to name just two. They were warriors and they were spiritual."

  Athena pursed her lips, perturbed.

  "Can we get this show on the road?" Grizzly inquired. "I thought I joined a military outfit, not a revival!" Blade walked up to the cliff and stepped onto the ledge. "Let's go. Are you coming, Athena, or not?" Athena gazed upward. "I'm not staying here;"

  Blade extended his left hand. "Then take hold. Grizzly and I will help you up. One of us will always have a hand on you."

  "If you don't mind my touch," Grizzly noted, "Me being off my rocker and all." Athena gulped and took Blade's hand. "I hope I don't live to regret this." They began the ascent.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Havoc was waiting for the perfect opportunity to make his break. Dox was

  in front of him, Rhea behind. They were descending the west slope of the ridge

  toward the valley below, toward the Kingdom. The breeze was cool and

  refreshing, invigorating him after the arduous ordeal on the cliffs. "Home," Dox announced happily.

  Havoc could see several lights flickering in the valley.

  "Tell me, human," Dox said, mocking him. "How does it feel to be on the

  verge of your doom?"

  "Speak for yourself," Havoc retorted.

  "Too bad we lost the female," Rhea commented, his voice distorted by his

  crashed nasal passages.