in here!” Dale burst into
uncontrollable laughter
once more. John said
nothing. He began to feel
sick and he sat down on
the floor while Dale
carried the remaining
body up the staircase. His
eyes had adjusted to the
darkness and he studied
his bleak surroundings.
The place was a hole. A
rotten, stinking hole. No
wonder the old man died
before his extermination
time. Dale came back for
the gun .
“Let’s get outta here,
John. We gotta get you
stitched up before our
next run.” --
“Sold our T.V.,” Dale
replied.
“They’re saying that
everything is safe, that it’s
all under control and all
that crap. But I know it’s
coming. There’s a nuclear
warhead that’s on its way
here right now and they’re
not doing nothing about it!
It’s so obvious. . We’ve
gotta be next. We’ve got
all these powerplants...”
“Shut up.”
“Huh?” '
“Shut up. I don’t want
to hear nô more. The
government can take care
of itself. I don’t care about
their stinking power plants
or nothing.”
Dale could be that way
sometimes. John often
wondered how he could
be so blind. Dale had a
family to worry about.
How could he just con
tinue to live day to day as
if nothing was wrong with
the world?
traveled as quickly as they ■plumbing. An obviously
could along the dark ¡sick man lay on a few
alley. Once the word was ¡blankets in the corner. An
out, they had to move emaciated woman stood
guarding him. Her eyes
fast.
were menacing and in her
frail hand she was clut
The Exterminators ching a large butcher
knife. John began to inch
“Apartment 31—this is his way toward her, con
it/’ John said suddenly. fident that his youthful
He gave the door a prac reflexes and above-
ticed kick that left it average strength . would
dangling from one hinge, give him the advantage.
and rushed in. A horrible Dale raised his gun.
John had hardly taken
stench sickened him as he
stumbled through the a step when she rushed to
doorway.
His hand attack him. He tried to
groped for a light, switch, dodge the knife blade as it
but he found none. In an Sliced through the air
him
with
instant a light shined from towards
close behind — Dale’s lightening speed. A loud
flashlight.lt swung in a low shot broke the silence.
arc across the room and The woman’s body jerked
woman’s
body
stopped abruptly on two The
figures that were lying on jacknifed and crumpled to
a shredded couch—the the floor. John grabbed
only piece of furniture in his right shoulder and felt
the room. One of the a strange warm liquid
through
his
figures, a guy, Johrf oozing
guessed, turned to face fingers. The cut was deep
The truck came to a them.
but clean' it could be sewn
stop and they stepped out
“Hey, we ain’t got no up. fairly easily. He pulled
onto the pavérnent. John dope, man ..try next off his shirt and wrapped it
grabbed a stretcher arid door,” he said to John. tb slow the bleeding. Dale
Dale grabbed a 5mm rifle The guy was obviously said nothing. John knew
from the back. They stoned.
that Dale would have
began to walk cautiously
“Where’s Jim Taylor?” rather have shot the
down a garbage-filled John asked, expecting no woman in the first place.
alley.
Together they lifted the
answer.
body
and
“How do you get in this
“He...his old lady lives woman’s
place?” John asked in a downstairs, man. I don’t carried it up the staircase.
know where he ,is. Never Dale went back down for
whisper.
comes through here no the old man, but John
“I’m not sure.. .Duck!”
decided to drag the body
A garbage can full of more.”
• Dale was already out to the alley so there
ashes came sailing down
from a third story window heading for the basement would be less blood on
and crashed between stairs. The two men made the carpet. When he
Dale was
their way down and John returned,
them.
“Murderers! They’re kicked another door, laugh ling madly. He poin
heading for the Taylors!” which separated entirely ted to the man in the cor
came a scream from from its hinges. The ner.
“Look! Will ya look al
flashlight scanned the
above ther heads.
“We’re right on track,” room—cracked, gray this guy! He’s been dead
Dale continued, “just stay walls, no windows, no for at least a week now.
close to the wall.” They furniture, no carpet, no That’s why it stinks so bad
page 14
Armageddon
The arm was really
beginning to ache. It was
also
bleeding
quite
heavily. They were almost
to the top of the stairs
when a new sound hit
their ears. It was a siren,
but a different siren than
John had ever heard
before. It was louder,
deeper, more comman
ding. It had finally hap
pened. The bomb had
arrived.
“Get back in the cellar®
John heard himself
yelling. They turned and
ran back down the stairs.
John called to the couple
they had seen upstairs,
but they gave no answer.
They were aparently too
stoned to care. John tur
ned and looked at Dale.
Terror had already begun
to creep into his normally
rational mind. His face
was ash-white and his
whole body was shaking
and trembling with fear.
As he looked closer at
Dale, John began to un
derstand his terror. Dale
might never see his family
again. Together they lifted
the broken door and
leaned it against the
opening.
The bomb did not hit in
their immediate location,
or at least it didn’t seem so
at first. Then, there was a
loud explosion that soun
ded like it was right on top
of them. The basement
walls shook, a low rum
bling sound took over the
building began to fall.
They
could
hear
everything above them
going at once. Eight
stories of brick and mortar
began to fall on the
ground floor above them,
and a landslide of rubfl
cascaded down the stafl
and filled one side of thl
room. The dust was so
thick that John found I
nearly impossible to
breathe. Chunks of
plaster and splintereq
wood began to fall from
the ancient ceiling above
them. John beganItq
crawl around in hopes of
finding a place to escape
being crushed. He felt
along the back wall of the
basement and found a
small door. Pulling it open
proved to be too hard a
task for his one good arm.;
He began yelling to Dale
for help, but Dale could®
hear him. Then suddenly
the door gave way as if
something had pushed
from the other side. John
climbed into the small
opening. There was hfl
dly enough room to
move, and he could®
close the door. But at
least he had more of a
chance if he co®
avoid being crushed. Two
minutes later it was over!
John heard Dale’s vol
calling him. John starfl
to turn around in what®
guessed was an old c®
or wood furnace when he
felt something touch his'
arm. At first he thought o|
rats, but then, no, lit
wasn’t a rat. Though small
and frail, John recognij
that what was grasping ®
trembling arm was al
human hand.
The Fugitive
“Wha...who are you?!
John asked. He was surj
prised at the shakiness®
his voice.
“I...I’m Sue...Sus®
Holly,” came a wB
reply.
John climbed out of thl
furnace into a roora
clouded, ¡with dust. He
reached in with his go®
arm and pulled out a fif
teen-year-old girl who
was dressed in dirty rags
and looked like she was
starving to death.
Dale stumbled towards
them.
“Where’d she cornel
from?” he managed to ask
between coughs.
“She was in the fur
nace,” John answered. “1
crawled in there when the
junk started falling from
the ceiling.”
The dust was beginning!
to clear, and John glan-
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