James Axler - Black Harvest

Mildred helped Jak to his feet and together they exited the building and started walking down a dirt road that knifed its way between rows of small clapboard houses and large steel shacks.

“You do good work,” Katz said as they walked.

“Thank you,” Mildred answered.

“Mebbe you were a healer once?”

“I know some.”

“Bet it comes in handy out there in the Deathlands.”

“Couple of times.”

“You know, if you’re tired of being an outlander, and mebbe wanted to settle down somewhere, I know the baron would be thrilled to have someone like you around.”

Jak, who had been struggling to keep pace, let out a slight laugh.

“You think?” Mildred said.

“Oh, I know it.”

“Well, I’ve had similar offers before, and I’ve always turned them down. I’m not much of a healer really. More like a dabbler.”

“A good one.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ve been with my friends awhile now and we’ve become sort of a team. I’m not ready to break it up just yet.”

“I understand,” Katz said, nodding. “But if you ever change your mind, you’ll be welcome back here.”

“Thanks,” Mildred said politely. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Here we are.”

They came upon a pre-Dark-looking structure made of bricks. Its three floors rose up from the ground, towering above everything else around it as if it were a fortress.

“Very nice,” Mildred said.

“This is the baron’s residence. The baron lives here, of course, but your friends are staying here, too.”

“Very nice.”

Katz caught the attention of a sec man outside the front door of the building. “They’re guests of the baron as well. Take them to the others.”

The sec men nodded. “This way.”

Mildred said thanks and goodbye to Katz, then she and Jak followed the sec men inside, down several dark corridors until they came upon three rooms at one end of the building.

As they approached, the middle door opened slightly to reveal J.B. standing there with his Uzi in his right hand.

“Just us, John,” Mildred said.

J.B. opened the door wide.

The sec men left Mildred and Jak in the hallway, then headed back to their post.

J.B. opened the door to the third room, where Doc was asleep on his bed. He helped Mildred take Jak to the bed on the far side of the room. The albino youth grimaced several times as he was eased onto the bed, but once he was stretched out, he closed his eyes and was asleep in seconds.

“How is he?” J.B. asked, as he and Mildred exited the room.

“Sleeping like a baby now.”

“He’ll be all right, then?”

Mildred nodded. “He’ll have some pain in a few hours, and there’s always a risk of infection, but he should be as good as new in a couple of days.”

J.B. entered their room and put down his blaster.

“Were you expecting trouble?” Mildred asked.

“Not really. Just didn’t want you to interrupt Ryan and Krysty while you were looking for a room for Jak.”

“Uh-huh,” Mildred said skeptically. She listened closely, and beneath the sound of Doc’s snoring, she could hear the soft moans of pleasure coming from next door. “That sound been giving you any ideas?”

J.B. just smiled.

Mildred began to get undressed.

AFTER A SEARCH of the residence, Katz found Baron DeMann tending to some of his open-air plants behind the mansion. These were special projects that the baron was experimenting with. Most of them were new plants he’d grown from seeds traded for on their last trip to several eastern villes. Half the seeds had been planted in the glasshouses, while the other half had been planted outside in an attempt to see which conditions best suited which plants.

Based on the size of the outside plants, growing them inside the glasshouses seemed the only way they could be grown large enough to extract sufficient amounts of active ingredients.

Katz cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Baron.”

Baron DeMann steadied himself on one knee and looked up from the leaf he was examining. “What is it, Katz?”

“I’ve just come from the clinic.”

“One of the guests was wounded, right?”

“Yes, Baron, a shoulder wound. He was tended to by another one of the outlanders.”

“And he’s doing fine now, I take it.”

Katz nodded. “The dark woman who looked after him…”

“Yes?” The baron got up to his feet.

“I think we could use her talents.”

“She wants to stay with us?”

“I made suggestions about it, but she politely resisted.”

The baron considered this, then smiled. “Not to worry. They’re not going anywhere for a while. I’m sure you’ll have the chance to ask her again under more favorable conditions.”

Katz smiled at that. “Thank you, Baron.”

“Time to go,” the voice said.

Ryan stepped up to the door and pulled it open enough to look out. A sec man was standing in the hallway, one Ryan hadn’t seen before. “Time for the baron’s reception.”

The one-eyed man nodded and closed the door.

Krysty stretched lazily on her cot, getting the blood circulating again after a short but contented sleep. She turned to Ryan and said, “Can’t we stay here a bit longer, lover?”

“Yeah, but I’m curious to meet this baron, and to find out how he keeps his ville running.”

“I sure could do with something to eat,” Krysty said. She rose up off the cot and ran her fingers through her long red hair as if they were combs.

Ryan moved out into the hall where J.B., Doc and Mildred were already waiting.

“What about Jak?” Ryan asked.

“Sleeping,” Mildred said. “He’ll be out for another couple of hours. I’ll stay with him if you want.”

Ryan considered it.

“We’re just going down to the basement,” the sec man offered, overhearing their conversation. “You’ll be free to come back and check on your friend anytime you want.”

“I’ll come down with you to meet the baron,” Mildred said. “Then I’ll come back and stay with him. Maybe bring him some food.”

Ryan nodded, then noticed Doc shifting nervously from side to side behind J.B. He looked strange, different, as if he’d just passed a comb through his hair, then pasted it back with some sort of grease. His frock coat also looked cleaner, as if he’d hung it on a line and beat it with a stick to get all the dust out of its fibers.

Krysty was studying Doc as well. “Lookin’ good, Doc,” she said, joining the others in the hall.

“Thank you for noticing, my dear Krysty.”

The sec man gestured to Ryan’s SIG-Sauer and Krysty’s Smith & Wesson and said, “You won’t be needing your weapons.”

J.B. shook his head as if to say he knew the story would be changing.

Ryan looked hard at the sec man. “We don’t go anywhere without our blasters.”

“All right by me.” The sec man shrugged. “But the baron might have something to say about it.”

Ryan said nothing. The baron could say all he wanted, but they wouldn’t be giving up their blasters without a firefight.

The sec man led them down the hallway.

AS PROMISED, they were led into the basement of the mansion and into a large room that was set up as a dining hall. Paintings hung from the walls, and the floor was covered with a carpet around the edges and a hardwood floor in the center. There was a long, rectangular table on one side of the room with settings for twelve people.

On another table off to one side were pitchers full of fresh water and juices, and carafes of both red and white wine. There was also a series of small finger bowls, each one filled with different colored tablets. “Make yourself at home,” the sec man said. “The baron and the others will be here shortly.”