The
Epicene Effect
By
Jerry Leckie
Chapter
Five
They surveyed the landscape on either side of the van. The road was cut
out of a mountainside dotted with a forest of huge boulders, both
upslope and downslope. "Those rocks could hide a fucking army."
A hail of large stones rained down from the
mountainside and bounced off the van. John quickly activated a control
panel in front of him. He twisted a dial as he watched images appear on
the screen. "Look Nick. There's four of them hidden up in the rocks."
Toby and Tom saw four green images on the screen, then looked up at the
mountainside, but didn't see anyone.
"Who are they?" Tom asked.
"They're just poor devils, mostly older guys that
got left behind when everyone else moved closer to a city. Now,
civilization has left them and they're returning to the wild."
"Will they attack us?" Toby asked, fingering his
laser pistol.
John fished around under his seat and extracted a
laser rifle. "Yeah, if we sit here long enough. They're just looking
for food or stuff to trade with other guys like them." Then, to Nick,
"Thank God there's only four of them. We gotta scare 'em off before we
deal with that big rock in the middle of the road."
"Yeah, go ahead," Nick said, uneasily. "I'll watch
the screen for you." John got out on the right side of the van, keeping
it between him and the mountainside. Nick tweaked the controls. "You're
on John."
John aimed the rifle up at the mountainside and
fired. A red lightening bolt splintered rock and kicked up dust. "A
little higher up," Nick instructed.
Before John could fire again, a blast of small
stones hit the right side of the van, making a deafening noise.
Spiderweb cracks appeared in the windows, and John fell to the ground.
"John!" Nick bellowed as he jumped out of the van.
"Nick, watch out!" Toby cried as he saw dozens of
rough looking men advancing toward them from the rocks below. They
wielded slingshots, swinging them above their heads, ready to loosen
another volley of stones. Toby grabbed his laser pistol and kicked open
the van door. He fired into the mob, watching a burst of red light
sever the arm of the man closest to the van. He fired blindly, again
and again. Tom joined him, firing shot after shot, gradually driving
the men back to cover.
"Nick, how is John?" Toby yelled.
"Just knocked out. Help me get him inside." Tom
scampered out, grabbed John's shoulders and dragged him into the back
of the van.
Another rain of large stones thundered down on the
van from the mountainside above. On the right, heads began to reappear
from the rocks. "Keep firing down the slope!" Tom shouted to Toby.
"Keep 'em pinned behind the rocks!" Meanwhile, Tom opened the drivers
door and fired up the mountainside. Nick grabbed the laser rifle and
joined him, firing burst after burst of deadly red light. Pebbles
skittered down and bushes erupted in flames. Tom spotted at lest two
heads bob up and then disappear. "They're on the run. Aim just a little
higher," he yelled to Nick. Another shot. And Tom saw four figures
scampering up the mountainside and over a ridge.
"They're gone," Nick said, "but keep your pistol
trained up there." He motioned to Toby and they fired several more
times down the slope. As they crept closer to the rocks, they saw what
was left of the mob scrambling away five hundred feet below. In their
wake were the charred bodies of perhaps a dozen of their fellows. The
stench of burned flesh made Toby's stomach heave. He knelt and vomited.
Nick retrieved a canteen of water, and Toby rinsed his mouth.
Returning to the van, the three stood there for
several heartbeats, trembling, sweating and breathing heavily.
At length, Nick said, "Let's get inside guys. This
place is too vulnerable. We need to get to a safer stretch of road so I
can look after John." They covered John with a blanket and took their
seats.
Looking forward, through the windshield, Toby asked,
"What about the boulder?"
"Watch this," Nick said with an evil grin. He
flipped open a panel and pressed a button. A red beam shot out of the
nose of the van and the top of the boulder evaporated into dust.
Another dozen blasts and the obstruction was reduced to gravel. "Laser
cannon," Nick explained. He started the engine and cautiously drove on.
Opening the windows, he bid Tom and Toby to keep watch with their
pistols.
Several miles later, they came to a small valley
devoid of trees. Surveying the landscape, Nick parked beside the road.
"If anyone is out there, at least we can see them coming. You guys keep
a lookout. Shoot anything that moves." He crawled to the back of the
van and knelt over John. Patting his face, he crooned, "Come on John
Boy. This is Nick. Come back to me Baby. I love you."
John opened his eyes and winked. "I'm awake. I just
wanted to hear you say that," he said with a smile.
Nick laughed. "You shit. You scared me. How long
have you been awake?" He gave his lover a long, sweet kiss before he
could answer.
"The van was moving again when I woke up. I tried to
sit up, but my head hurt too bad. So I just laid here."
Nick examined the left side of his head. "The skin's
not broken, but you've got a knot there." He opened a medical kit,
fished out a cannister and sprayed medication on the bump, immediately
taking away the pain. Then, he opened a bottle and extracted a capsule.
He put the pill in John's mouth, lifted his head and held the canteen
to his lips. "We need to get going. You want to ride back here or up
front?"
"I feel better already. I'll ride with you." He sat
up and saw Tom and Toby staring at him. Suddenly, his eyes filled with
tears. He drew them into his arms, hugging them tightly. "I'm so
sorry," he whispered.
"What for?" Tom asked.
John looked sheepish. "We were here to protect you,
and we almost blew it. I should have expected that gang to blindside
us."
Toby smiled at him. "We're safe now, aren't we?"
Nick laughed. "Yeah, thanks mostly to you guys and
your quick thinking. Where did you learn to shoot like that?"
Tom and Toby looked at each other and shrugged.
"We've never fired weapons before. We were just scared shitless," Tom
quipped.
"Then that's what I call learning under fire," John
retorted. And, they all had a good laugh as they drove on.
Further conversation in the van was sporadic until
Nick turned off the highway onto a gravel road that led into a thick
pine forest. "We're almost there," he said as the van picked up speed.
The road leveled off but twisted and turned for a few more miles
through the trees until the forest gave way to a mountain meadow
bisected by a wide, shallow stream. There, the road ended.
Without pause, Nick drove into the water and headed
upstream toward its outflow from a fracture in a towering slab of
granite outcropping five hundred feet high and just as wide. As they
approached the fracture, the stream curved around a large boulder. From
this point of view, it was easy to see that the split in the rock was
about thirty feet wide.
"We're home guys," John said with pride as the van
drove into the towering fissure.
As the van entered the fracture in the rock, John
donned the communications headset once more and verified their arrival.
"Don't want to get vaporized by a laser cannon," he said with a cheeky
grin.
For the next ten minutes, the van passed between
sheer walls of black granite that gave onto a lovely mountain valley
framed by jagged peaks rising thousands of feet. Nick drove out of the
stream onto a gravel path that eventually became a paved road further
up the bank. From this vantage point, they could see that the stream
was flanked by a meadow of summer wild flowers.
"Oh, that's beautiful," Tom said with wonder, having
never seen such beauties of nature.
"Wait until you smell them," Nick countered, opening
the windows of the van. Deliciously sweet smells immediately filled the
compartment.
Toby scooted over to sit on Tom's lap. They stuck
their heads out of the window and laughed as the cool breeze whipped
their hair. John sat smiling at the sight and nudged Nick to look at
them in the rear view mirror. "They're beautiful, aren't they Nick?" he
said quietly, almost in awe.
"Yeah, they are. This is where they belong, in a
world that understands and loves them. Where they can be their natural
selves."
The stream grew narrower as they advanced upon a
field of large boulders through which it flowed. The road circled
around the boulders revealing an earthen dam forming a shimmering blue
lake. At the boys' questioning looks, John explained, "We dammed up the
stream to control the outflow so we can get in and out of the valley
during spring thaw. The lake is also our water supply."
They entered another thick stand of pine trees as
they circled the lake. When they passed out of the grove, the boys
gasped at the sight that lay before them. Here, the stream narrowed
considerably and the broad valley floor was dotted with dozens upon
dozens of structures of wood, stone and glass nestled comfortably among
trees and shrubs. The van paused, allowing the awestruck boys to take
in the sight. John spread his arms and proclaimed, "Home!"
Toby was finally able to speak. He took his lover's
hand. "Look Tom, it's beautiful! It's so different from the city. Those
buildings look like they're growing out of the ground."
"Good analogy Toby," John agreed. "You're used to
the steel and glass towers of a city. Our buildings are made from
material found right here in the valley. The glass we salvaged, mostly
from those abandoned towns you passed." He smiled broadly at the boy.
"Most of the structures you're looking at are the homes of individual
people; there are no dormitories here. It may sound overly romantic,
but we like to think that this village is existing in harmony with
nature. And, so are the people who live in it. That includes you now."
Nick started the van. "Well, come on boys. It's past
my lunch time and there are people who want to meet you." But Nick
didn't hurry; he drove slowly enough for Tom and Toby to take in a
close up view of life in the valley. They passed herds of sheep, cattle
and swine, flocks of geese and chickens, fields of vegetable crops,
fruit orchards and vineyards. The streets of the village proper were
faced by houses nestled among trees and shrubs. No two houses seemed to
be exactly alike. People went to and fro about their business, walking
or on bicycles or driving a motor vehicle now and then. Almost everyone
smiled and waved as they passed. One long street was fronted by shops
offering a staggering variety of goods and services, with colors and
smells seducing the eye and nose.
They turned down a side street past the hanger for
an airfield and stopped in front of a house made of logs. Nick turned
to the boys. "Doc Kennedy would like to see you. He'll be the one to
get you settled in. Leave your gear here until we find out where you're
going to bunk."
They piled out of the van as a tall gray-haired man
came down the front steps to greet them. A smile seemed to be
permanently plastered on his face as well as a twinkle in his eyes.
Nick said, "Guys, this is Doctor Paul Kennedy."