Nightmare journey by Dean Koontz Page A

pulled her from the tunnel. “I have extremely important news.”
    She was conducted out of the inn and down the main street, an altogether unusual spectacle, trailing water and strings of moss behind her, brushing her sticky, matted hair away from her left ear. She was the center of attention for the spiraling, mutated flies as well as for the Pures and tainteds who watched from the street and from behind curtained windows.
    “I think you had best stand off a bit,” the General said when Merka was brought into his company.
    So she stood alone just outside the shade thrown by the massive oak, stinking even more intolerably for the effect of the relentless heat of the sun.
    “Your name is-”
    “Merka Shanly, Your Excellency. And I have vital news.”
    “You destroyed the espers?”
    She bowed her head a second in contrition, but raised it almost instantly, not about to be subdued. “We encountered them, sir. Kane Grayson was murdered by the creature that looks like a bear, but I managed to escape them after my rifle was batted from my hands.”
    “So far,” the General said, “you've reported nothing more than abysmal failure.”
    His tone did not put her off, for she noticed that his eyes often strayed to the prominence of her breasts and the narrowness of her waist. She wondered, fleetingly, if she had anticipated this meeting and had lost her cloak, subconsciously, on purpose.
    She said, “I will not attempt to justify the way we bungled our assignment, Your Excellency. But I believe I bear news important enough to salvage some of the situation.” Before he could speak, she went on, “Both of the espers carried provisions. The bearlike mutant was toting a huge rucksack that appeared to be well-stuffed. The deviate, Jask Zinn, carried a smaller, gray bag also obviously crammed with supplies. From what I saw of them, the deviate and the tainted creature were functioning in complete accord.”
    “Then Zinn compounds his crimes by consorting openly with tainted beings?”
    She wiped a smear of mud from her pretty face and said, “Yes, Your Excellency. Though it amazed me to see him form such a close contact in so short a time, and with a beast, a twisted man.”
    “He is a mutant now himself,” the General reminded her. He shifted his gaze from her breasts to her eyes and found that these were the most startling blue he had ever seen. “Tell me, what do you extrapolate from the fact that they were provisioned?”
    “That they mean to leave the town.”
    “Of course.”
    She batted away the flies. “And they'll leave it by means of the storm drains.”
    “Yes.”
    “And that-perhaps they intend striking out for Chen Valley Blight.”
    The General's guards were obviously shocked by the suggestion and unwilling to put any credence in it. They looked quickly at one another, smirked openly.
    The General said, “Why do you think this?”
    “If they were to go anywhere outside the Blight, we could follow them.” She licked her lips, tasted foul water, did not grimace but went on: “or radio other enclaves to be on the watch for them. In the Wildlands, however, they are safe from us- though they will have other, worse things to contend with.”
    “I believe that my own conclusions mirror yours,” the General said, putting a stop to the smirking of his guards, who now, abruptly, nodded their heads wisely, as if they had always known and believed what the young girl said was true. The General said, “We will take the necessary steps to head them off before they reach the Chen Valley Blight. You have done well, Merka Shanly.”
    She thanked him, not too profusely (lest he suspect that she was attempting to ingratiate herself) and not too vaguely, just enough to let him know that she was deeply moved by his approval but was somewhat shy about it as well. Neither thing was true, of course.
    “I will send an escort of two soldiers to accompany you back to the fortress immediately. You appear to be exhausted, and little wonder.”
    “I'm fine, Your Excellency.