331

As the traitor exhales his last breath and falls dead on the ground by your side, Rickenbacker and Cutter come running across the plaza and take cover with you behind the garbage cart. Quickly you tell them how Barlow attacked you, and how you are now absolutely convinced that he was guilty.

‘You’re right,’ says Cutter, glancing down at Barlow’s body. ‘He must have been a clan infiltrator. I’d hazard a guess that this attack is an effort by the Outlaw’s t’ get him out o’ here.’

‘Well they’ve got here too late,’ you reply. ‘His sentence has already been served in full.’

From behind the metal lip of the garbage cart you survey the battle that is raging around the plaza. Most of the colonists have now armed themselves and taken cover, and they are putting up a worthy defence of the vehicles. The few clansmen you do see are either dead or attempting to escape from the town. All, that is, apart from one. He is a blond-haired thug, dressed in a studded leather vest and striped pants, who is busy hammering at the glass door panels of the DC1 school bus with the stock of his machine pistol. The sight of him senselessly attacking the door of the empty bus does not bother you unduly until you remember that there is one person still on board the bus—Kate—and your heart nearly stops with shock.

If you wish to open fire at the clansman before he gains entry to the bus and are able to do so, turn to 270.

If you do not wish to open fire at the clansman, or if you are unable to do so, turn to 181.