"Holy shit," Sherri muttered.

Cordelia staggered forward. She stepped high over fallen pikes, then ducked to pass under the crossbars of those ahead.

"God, what've they done to her?"

"I think she's in shock," Robbins said.

She stumbled again, and fell to her knees.

Robbins slung the rifle across his back. He started forward.

"Johnny, it might be a trick."

"Maybe," he admitted.

He pushed his way through the crosses until he reached her. She was still on her knees. She stared up at him. Her eyes looked wide and blank.

He slipped his hands under her armpits, and lifted her to her feet.

"It's all right" he said softly.

She raised the sword high.

"Johnny!" Neala cried.

His hand slid up, and gripped her feeble arm.

"It's all right," he said again.

His other arm circled her back, and he pulled her against him. Pressing her tightly to his body and still clutching her arm, he swung her around and carried her through the fallen crosses.

In front of the cabin, Neala took the sword from her hand. Robbins carried her inside. He lowered her to the floor. Rolling onto her side, she drew her legs up to her breasts. She held them there. Her mouth sucked on her knee.

"Cordelia?"

She didn't respond.

Robbins turned to Neala and Sherri. "Maybe we'd better just leave her alone for a while."

He went toward the doorway, Neala at his side.

"I'll stay with her," Sherri offered. "She might need-"

"Fine."

They left Sherri beside the girl, and went outside. They found shade at the rear of the cabin. There, they sat together. They held hands, and talked softly.

Neala lay on her back, and rested her head on Johnny's lap. He stroked her hair. When she yawned, Robbins told her to sleep. She shook her head. Her eyes were full of sorrow. "We have so little time," she said.

"We'll have years," he told her.

Tears came. He brushed them from the corners of her eyes.

Neala opened her eyes. She was lying on her side, her body against Johnny, her face touching his bare chest. She felt as if she'd been asleep for a long time. A breeze moved over her skin in warm, fluttery waves.

There had been no breeze, earlier. With a start, she rolled onto her back. The cabin's shadow stretched a long distance. "Oh God," she moaned. She turned to Johnny. "It's so late," she said.

"We've got a couple more hours."

"I don't want you to go. Not without me."

"You'll be safe here."

"I don't care if I'm safe. I want to go with you."

"Well, we'll see. I justa"

"Hey guys!" Sherri called through the wall. "You'd better get in here."

"Right in," Johnny said.

Neala sat up. She didn't look toward the wall. All afternoon, she had kept her eyes away from it. If Sherri was spying again, she didn't want to know.

She and Johnny got dressed. They hurried to the front of the cabin, and entered its open door.

Cordelia was sitting up.

"She wants to tell us something," Sherri explained.

"Yeah," she said. "It's what they sent me in here for. You're supposed to come out."

"Surprise surprise."

"They won't kill you if you come out."

"Sure," said Sherri. "I'll just bet."

"No, it's true. They'll take you in. You can join with them. They won't kill you."

"Why not?" Neala asked.

"They need youa They've got too much ina""

"They want us for making babies?"

"Yeah."

"What about Johnny? He's hardly capablea"

"He can come, too."

"Stick to the truth," Johnny warned.

Sherri turned to him. "You know what she's talking about?"

"I know they'll accept women, sometimes. Young ones. Pretty ones. For recreation. And breeding, I suppose. That may be why they don't want the Barlow people fooling with them. They don't take men, though."

"Is that true?" Sherri asked Cordelia.

The girl nodded.

"You mean they'd kill Johnny?" Neala asked.

"I suppose"

"You bitch! What're you lying for!"

"I'm sorry," Cordelia whispered. She held up her left hand and plucked a filthy rag away from it. "See what they did?"

Neala glimpsed the stump, and looked away.

"One of them bit it off. As a lesson. To show what they'd do to me if I didn't get you two to come out."

Sherri laughed once, harshly. "This sounds like a great outfit. First they fuck us, then they bite off our fingers."

"And they kill Johnny," Neala added.

"Thanks, but I'll pass," Sherri said.

Cordelia looked up at each of them. "If you don't come with me, you'll all be killed."

"They can't get to us here," Johnny told her. "If they could, they wouldn't have sent you to talk us out."

"It's not them. It'sa someone else." The fear in her eyes chilled Neala. "I saw him last night" she said. Her voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. "He killed Ben. He put Ben's head on a pole. He put all these heads on poles. They call him the Devil, and they won't come to get you because this is his cabin, and he's coming back."

"When?" johnny asked.

"Maybe tonight."

"She's trying to trick us again," Sherri said.

"No, honest. He's real and he's-horrible!"

"We were here last night," Johnny said. "He didn't come then."

"He was out killing. He killed Ben. He would've got me, but I hid."

"If he comes," said Sherri, "we'll just hide."

"You're crazy. He'll kill you all." She pushed herself to her feet. "I'm going back. I'll tell 'em you aren't coming out."

"Don't go back," Johnny said. "Stay here. We'll all get out."

"Oh no you won't. I've seena I've seen him. I'm going back."

She stepped unsteadily toward the open door.

"Cordelia, don't."

"You're fools," she said. She pointed through the doorway. "Your heads'll be out there, by morning."

Her sword was propped beside the door. She reached for it.

"Leave that here," Johnny said.

"Okay," she said.

Then she grabbed it, whirled around, and attacked.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

She drove the blade toward Robbins's chest. He was sitting on the floor. It should have been easy.

But in the few steps she took to reach him, Neala dived at her legs, Sherri scurried toward the fireplace, and Robbins dropped backward. She kicked through Neala's arms, and lunged at Robbins. His leg swung up. It caught the blade. Crying out with pain, he threw himself sideways. The leg of his jeans held the blade. She lost the sword.

Sherri swung the fire poker at her head. She blocked it with her forearm. Neala, sprawled on the floor, grabbed her left leg and bit into her calf. As she tore loose from Neala, Sherri swung again. The poker's black point whipped past her eyes, just missing. She turned and ran. At the door, the poker slashed. It ripped down her back. She raced for the forest of pikes, Sherri close behind. The poker whushed. Missed. A skull leered at her. She ducked under its crossbar. Falling to her knees, she scrambled forward.

She looked over her shoulder. Sherri had stopped.

Neala appeared in the doorway with the rifle. She aimed and fired. Dirt and twigs exploded from the ground beside Cordie.

She lurched forward, plowing through a dozen crosses before another shot blasted the stillness. She threw herself down.

Something under her belly. She knew, without looking, what it had to be. With a gasp, she rolled off it. Her back hit a pole. She froze.

Nothing fell.