taring up at the
sky. The night blackness was already beginning to fade into gray.
Morning was coming.

Tasso gripped her pistol and walked around the fire in a circle, back
and forth. On the ground Major Hendricks lay, his eyes closed,
unmoving. The grayness rose in the sky, higher and higher. The
landscape became visible, fields of ash stretching out in all
directions. Ash and ruins of buildings, a wall here and there, heaps
of concrete, the naked trunk of a tree.

The air was cold and sharp. Somewhere a long way off a bird made a few
bleak sounds.

Hendricks stirred. He opened his eyes. "Is it dawn? Already?"

"Yes."

Hendricks sat up a little. "You wanted to know something. You were
asking me."

"Do you remember now?"

"Yes."

"What is it?" She tensed. "What?" she repeated sharply.

"A well. A ruined well. It's in a storage locker under a well."

"A well." Tasso relaxed. "Then we'll find a well." She looked at her
watch. "We have about an hour, Major. Do you think we can find it in
an hour?"

* * * * *

"Give me a hand up," Hendricks said.

Tasso put her pistol away and helped him to his feet. "This is going
to be difficult."

"Yes it is." Hendricks set his lips tightly. "I don't think we're
going to go very far."

They began to walk. The early sun cast a little warmth down on them.
The land was flat and barren, stretching out gray and lifeless as far
as they could see. A few birds sailed silently, far above them,
circling slowly.

"See anything?" Hendricks said. "Any claws?"

"No. Not yet."

They passed through some ruins, upright concrete and bricks. A cement
foundation. Rats scuttled away. Tasso jumped back warily.

"This used to be a town," Hendricks said. "A village. Provincial
village. This was all grape country, once. Where we are now."

They came onto a ruined street, weeds and cracks criss-crossing it.
Over to the right a stone chimney stuck up.

"Be careful," he warned her.

A pit yawned, an open basement. Ragged ends of pipes jutted up,
twisted and bent. They passed part of a house, a bathtub turned on its
side. A broken chair. A few spoons and bits of china dishes. In the
center of the street the ground had sunk away. The depression was
filled with weeds and debris and bones.

"Over here," Hendricks murmured.

"This way?"

"To the right."

They passed the remains of a heavy duty tank. Hendricks' belt counter
clicked ominously. The tank