49

It takes you three hours to walk the ten miles back to Hachita, during which time you must take a Drink or lose 3 ENDURANCE points.

As you enter the town, you see a clan motorcycle parked in front of the gas station. Two men are crouched nearby, studying tracks in the dust made by the truck’s tyres.

‘We can’t let these two get away,’ says Knott, as you approach the station stealthily. ‘If they bring the others down on us before we’ve fixed the truck, we’ll be lucky to see the colony again.’

The two men are so interested in the tracks that they fail to notice you run across the street and take cover behind the gas station wall. Then the first clansman straightens himself and begins to walk towards the bike, while his partner remains kneeling on the ground, sifting through the remnants of the materials Haskell used to repair the truck’s gas tank.

‘We gotta take ’em now, and we gotta take ’em quietly,’ whispers Knott, as he unsheathes his combat knife. ‘There may be others in the neighbourhood. It’s too risky to start shooting.’

The second clansman is now rising to his feet. Knott pats your forearm and motions you to move with him as he gets ready to launch the ambush.

If you wish to attack the clansman who is standing beside the motorcycle, turn to 251.

If you wish to attack the clansman who is rising to his feet, turn to 88.