Read Chrono Spasm for Free Online Page A

it would do the man gutted the way he was, he couldn’t imagine.
    A few feet away, the wolf stared at Jak as the albino stood his ground. It snarled again, lips pulling back from its vicious teeth. Each tooth was four inches long and looked as sharp as a knife.
    “No dinner today,” Jak stated. “Not here.”
    The wolf tilted its head as if listening. Ricky watched, amazed by the performance. It was almost as if Jak had an instinctive bond with the animal. Something about his manner seemed to calm the angry beast, cowing it despite its greater size.
    Jak had prior experience of taming animals. One time, a few years ago, he had been partnered with a mutie mountain lion, their curious bond inexplicable to his human companions.
    For a long moment, the two faced off, Jak’s gaze never leaving that of the wolf, his hand held close to the .357 Magnum Colt Python he wore holstered at his hip. If it came to it, Jak would shoot the beast, but something that size might take more than one shot, and Jak didn’t like his chances of outmaneuvering a hungry wolf.
    The wolf snarled once again, and Jak replied, his own lips pulling back from his teeth, a noise of warning issuing from deep in his throat. Then, magically—or it seemed so to Ricky—the wolf backed away, hunkering down as if in supplication to Jak.
    The albino turned back, a cunning smile on his lips as he walked toward Ricky and the staked-out victim. It was at that instant that they heard the gunshot cut the air.
    The wolf went down in a hail of bullets and Jak and Ricky dived for cover as that same stream of bullets clipped the ground close to their feet. They were under attack.

Chapter Four
    “What the nukeshit was that?” J.B. cursed as the distant sound of bullets cutting the air echoed across the landscape.
    “It came from down there,” Doc said, using his swordstick to point past the tree cover toward the distant, snowcapped hills.
    Nyarla scrambled to her feet, unwrapping the blanket to free her arms. “Papa?” She was going to run, Krysty could see it in her eyes.
    “It’s okay,” Krysty said, reaching for the young woman’s wrist. “We’re safe up here.”
    Nyarla shook her head, the fear clear in her wide eyes.
    Mildred and Ryan had joined J.B. and Doc as they peered through the trees at the northern edge of the clearing. More gunshots were coming from that way in ones and twos, abrupt rattles echoing through the silent air.
    “How far?” Mildred asked.
    “Close,” Ryan replied, drawing his SIG-Sauer. “And I’ll bet scrip for ammo it’s Jak and Ricky.”
    J.B. pulled out his mini-Uzi as Ryan led the way through the trees, with Doc and Mildred following.
    Krysty remained behind with Nyarla, holding an arm over her shoulders to try to calm her and to keep her warm. “It’s okay,” she encouraged. “Shh. It’ll be okay.”
    * * *
    D OWNSLOPE , J AK AND R ICKY were scrabbling for cover as a fifth shot cut the air close to their hiding place. With the first shot they had dived for the nearest clump of bushes, their shaken leaves sprinkling loose the snow that covered them like dandruff.
    Ricky had his DeLisle carbine in his hands, its black barrel pointing ahead of him like an extension of his body. “Where are they, Jak? You see?”
    Jak looked calm, but he was roiling inside. He was pushing his senses to their limits, reaching out with sound and smell and sight and touch to try to detect from which direction the ambush was coming. “Up there,” he said as another bullet issued from the distant blaster with a muffled burp. “Ridge.”
    Ricky watched where Jak had indicated, his eyes tracing the snowy line that mounted an undulating curve of ground. The stretch of ground was dotted with occasional trees, maybe just one or two every twenty square feet, with a further line of trees capping its highest point—an ideal spot to hide with a scoped rifle and wait for prey, Ricky realized. Between here and there was open territory, the