A trio of roughly and scantily clad young women hovered in the line of trees that borders the clearing
at the rear of Aunt Chilada's property.
"We're gonna hafta make a dash for the building!"
"Is that door open?"
"I sure hope so!"
"Chilada knows we're coming, doesn't she?"
"Yes! But I don't think that she's expecting trouble!"
"Neither were we!"
"True!"
"Yes! And to think that we all had come safely through the Gate unscathed!"
"It pains me to think of it!"
"It gives you pain? What about the seven of our sisters who even now are laying out there sprawled in death?"
>
"Brutally murdered just when they thought that they had reached safety!"
"They thought? We all thought that we had escaped!"
"T'is the dream of every Amazon to make good her escape to the Other World that lays beyond the Gate!"
"Well! We're here now!"
"Yes! What's left of us!"
"So! What are we going to do now?"
"The first thing we're gonna do is to get us across this clearing and seek shelter in that building!"
So! Now! Who wants to go first?"
The three Amazons made it safely across the clearing, each sprinting across in turn.
The back door, as it turned out was not locked and the three women gathered inside the small room,
gasping more in relief than from the exertion that their recent dash to safety had caused them.
Aunt Chilada, who has played a major role in this Amazon edition of an Underground Railroad was on hand to greet them.
"There's only three of you?
Where're the others?
I had word that there was upward of a dozen of you Babes due to arrive!"
The three survivors of their group related their story.
"Uh-oh! Now this's Bad!" Aunt Chilada voiced her opinion along with a measure of sympathy.
"From what you've told me ... I'd say that we've got us a gang of Amazon Killers loose on this side of the Gate!
And that's not good a'tall!
Did you see any of them?
Were they men?
Summa the guys around here like nothin' better than to see a broad with an arrow sticking out of her chest!
An' I wouldn't put it past one or another of 'em to act out their fantasies were they given half a chance!"
The trio looked at one another, each vividly remembering the girl who had gone down at the onset of the attack.
"No, Aunt Chilada! They were women!"
"Amazons! Like us!"
"So? You saw them? And lived to tell about it?
I'll not ask how you managed to do that!
Do y'think that you'd recognize any one of 'em if you saw them again?"
"I sure would!"
"So would I!"
"Me too!"
"Now hold on just a minute, Ladies!"
"Huh?"
"Why?"
"Because you only think you'd recognize them, that's why!"
"I'd know those murderin' bitches anywhere, Aunt Chill!"
"Oh? Well, I'll tell yuh what ...
You women go to the back room and hit the shower while I rustle up some clothes for you!
You'll have the pick of quite a wardrobe as I was expectin' a passle of you!
By the time we get you all gussied up ...
Why ... Your own Mothers wouldn't know you!"
"Gosh! We really do look different, don't we?"
"Yes! Why, I even feel different!"
"Y'do? C'mere, Honey! Let's see!"
"G'wan! Get away from me, ya weirdo!"
"Who you callin' weird?"
"Aw ... C'mon! I was only foolin'!"
"Okay! So if you'll all quit fooling around for a minute?
You've seen for yourselves how difficult it's apt tuh be to recognize an Amazon once she's dressed this way!"
"She's still dressed to kill as far as I'm concerned!"
"That may well be ...
But I won't have you broads blowin' away every babe who strolls into my place here
just on the chance that you'll get it right!
You hear me?"
"Yes'm ... So ... What're we gonna do?"
"For one thing, we're gonna see that you girls get some training in the use of modern weaponry ..."
"Do yuh mean a gun, Aunt Chill?
Hot Damn! I allus wanted tuh take a crack at shooting one of those things!"
"Good! You'll get it!
And while you're doing that ...
I'm gonna reinstitute a Tried and True Methodology of my own here at the restaurant!"
"Tried and True? It sounds complicated, Aunt Chill! What is it?"
"Nothin' to it really ... I call it Aunt Chilada's Happy Hour ...
Open Bar ... Drinks are On the House!"
"And what's that gonna do? Aside from leavin' you with a bunch 'a drunken babes staggerin' around?"
"Hopefully it will loosen a tongue here or there ...
It usually does ..."
"It will?"
"You don't drink much do you, Honey?
No? That's just as well!
But there's plenty of those that do, you see?
And I have an idea that being a party to shooting down ...
How many did you say?
Seven?
Taking part in the assassination of that many Amazon Warriors is gonna be an item
that is just too hot'n'juicy to keep under wraps once one or another of the killers
gets a few free drinks under her belt!"
The word spread spread about quickly and it was during the course of perhaps only the third session of Aunt Chilada's
Happy Hours that bits and pieces of a conversation were overheard at one of the tables.
"Weren't that something last week?"
"It sure was! I haven't had so dam' much fun in years!"
"We're gonna hafta figure some way t'do that more often!"
"Didja see the way that babe went down?"
"Which one?"
"The one with the arrow stickin' out of her chest!
She hit the ground when she went down and lay there flat on her back!"
"Yeah! An' then she arched so high that 'er tits would 'a poked an eye out if a Gleaner
had been makin' ready tuh knife 'er!"
"An' how 'bout the shot I made?"
"Aw - Hell! Yuh shot 'er in the back!"
"Well I didn't mean to now dammit!
She went an' turned away at the wrong time! Tha'sall!"
"Be that as it may ... Those broads made for one fine Body Pile!"
"Yeah! All that fun an' we got paid tuh boot!"
"Made a fine pitcher to put on the cover of that new Amazon Magazine those guys wanna publish!"
"Yeah! An' speakin' of pitchers ... Whose turn izzit tuh buy?"
"They're free! Remember?"
"Oh! Yeah ... Free ... Free at last ..."
And meanwhile ... Out of sight behind the service bar ...
"Are you babes takin' note of the conversation at that table over there?"
"We're ready to go over there and take 'em apart right now, Aunt Chilada!"
"Yeah! Me too! Let's hand 'em their heads on a platter! Wuddaya say?"
"I say Nothin' Doin'! I told you babes that there was t'be no killin' on the premises!"
"So what do we do? Let 'em go?"
"Hell no!" Chilada hissed.
"You're Amazons, aren't you?
So what should you do? Go have a good look an' then hunt them down!
Stalking they call it on this side of the Gate!"
"Y'know, Kimbo?
I think Aunt Chill really had somethin' when she suggested that we take 'em out one at a time when we get the chance!"
"'Specially since Aunt Chill seems tuh make it her business t'know where her customers hang out!"
"Now you take this one here ...
An' her habit of takin' a swim at midnight ...
All by her lonesome ...
"Well ... She won't be doin' that again anytime soon now, will she?"
"Not in this world, she won't!"
"An' here all the practice Aunt Chill gave us with 'er fireams, an' so wha'da'ya do?
Shoot 'er with a gun?
What else?
Heck, no!
Not you, Kimbo!
You go an' put a shaft inta her chest!
Just like we wuz back in Amazon Territory!"
"It just seemed like the thing t'do at the time ..."
"l hafta remember t'bear that in mind next time you'n me're down at the swimmin' hole together!"
News of what was reported as an accidental drowning that had occured at the hotel swimming pool made the rounds
in rapid fashion, and the only repercussions that anyone was aware of were the usual critcisms about unguarded facilities
and the liabilities involved and so forth and so on.
In short, life quickly returned to normal as it so often does when a tragedy of any magnitude does not in some way involve
an individual on some personal basis.
"I guess Aunt Chill had something when she suggested that we cool it and lay low for a while, didn't she, Kimbo?"
"Yeah ...
But this business of just sittin' around is beginnin' t'wear thin!"
"I know whatcha mean!"
"Have y'got any ideas there, Lady?"
"Are y'ready t'go for another swimming lesson?"
"Same place? Isn't that kinda risky?"
"An' since when have you been afraid to take a risk, may I ask?
But no ...
The set-up is similar ...
But it's a different place!"
"How'd y'track 'er down?"
"I go for walks while you babes are practicing at the firing range ..."
"Oh Ho! I wondered where you were wanderin' off to!"
"So, tell me ...
Can y'still handle your sword?
Or has all this shooting business soured you on close work?"
"Ready when you are, Kimbo!"
"That's what I wanted t'hear!
Now look!
The one I got in mind has gone and sold herself out to some rich cat who keeps her stashed safely away
in one of those fancy Gated Communities! The ones with all those high-falutin' phoney Greek columns an' such!"
"A Gate? How do we get through it?"
"We don't ...
We climb over it!"
"Is it as easy as that?"
"It's a piece 'a cake, I'm tellin' ya!"
"It's not electrified is it?"
"Do y'think I'm out for the shock 'a my life?
Naw!
It's just for looks!
I tried it!
So are y'ready or not?"
"Lemme just go get my blade!"
The fence around the Gated Community was a substantial wrought-iron affair
but the Amazons made no great job of scaling it and so were soon on the inside ...
"See? What did I tell ya?"
"So far, so good ... But ..."
"But what?"
"But is our pigeon gonna be in the coop?"
"She has been the last four times I scouted this place!"
"Pssst!
Look!
There she is!
Just about t'go in up to her neck in that Gold Fish Pool!"
"What'd I tell ya!
C'mon! Let's get 'er!"
"Help!
No!
Who are you?!
What are you doing here?!
What do you want?!"
"My! But you're full 'a questions, aren't cha?"
"Who?!
No!
Help!"
"We're gonna hafta shut her up, Kimbo!"
"I was comin' to that!
Don't choo worry!"
"No!
I have money!
I'll pay you!
Please!"
"Well now!
That's a thought!"
"Please!"
"But I'll tell y'what?
D'yuh happen to recall the ambush you babes pulled off so successfully this side of the Amazon Gate?
You were all real jovial about that t'other night as I recollect!"
"Omigod!!
No!
Please!
It wasn't my idea!
Really!
I just went along for a good time!
I ..."
"Well, Toots!
I'm havin' a Fine Time myself!
An' this's for all the Seven Warriors you an' your gang left layin' dead back there!
Just remember that!"
"N-ugh!"
"My! All that fuss!
An' all she makes is one wee little grunt!"
"Well, Kimbo!
Your arrow must 'a stabbed somethin' vital!
I mean ... After all!"
"Yeah ...
I know ...
What more could I expect? Right?"
"What're we gonna do now? Leave her?"
"Naw ...
I think we'd be better off to cart 'er outta here an' dump 'er carcass somewhere out in the woods!"
"Yeah!
Maybe her buddies will think she just wandered off ..."
"At least until they discover whatever's left of 'er!"
"We're gonna hafta hoist 'er up over that dam' fence!"
"Y'think you're back is up to it?"
"Yeah ... Sure ...
If yours is?"
"No fear on that score!"
"Let's go then!"
"At least we won't hafta worry about do any damage to the goods!"
"Nope! Not atall!"
"Witches!?
Aunt Chilada!
Did we hear you right?
Did you say witches?"
"It seems that the Amazons can't seem to leave the Bad Ol' Ways of the Bad Ol' Days behind
even when they do manage t'get through the Gate!
It beats all Hell outta me!
I mean ...
All they gotta do is join up with the Women's Wrestling Federation or something wholesome like that!
An' a' course there's them that do!
But a good share 'a the time it seems that a lot of 'em can't seem t'shake their old habits!
It's born into 'em!
Either that or it's instinctive or something?"
"Well, now Aunt Chilada!
I can see stickin' a knife into another woman's belly every now'n then ...
But witchcraft?
Where'd they come up with an idea like that?"
"I know whatcha mean!
The supernatural was always something I shied away from myself!
Ghosts and Spirits and whatnot were not something that I ever wanted to mess with!"
"So what's happened over here?"
"Sacrificial Ceremonies!"
"Sacrificial what?"
"Ceremonies ... Where a woman is stretched out on an altar and the Witch Master buries a knife in her chest!"
"I've never heard of such a thing!"
"Me neither!"
"Well, now look!
You've all heard and probably know of at least one warrior who chose to Take a Stand
while the others in her Clan made their escape?"
"Well ... Yes ... But isn't that different?"
"It amounts to pretty much the same thing, doesn't it?"
"Well ... Yes ... I suppose so ...
But at least in her case, the warrior who takes a Stand does so as a matter of her own choice ...
And she doses go down fighting after all!"
"But the principle is the same isn't it?
One dies for the benefit of those who survive ..."
"Yes ... But ..."
"Anyway ... Our Amazons over here aren't into it so much for the ceremony and whatever motivates them ..."
"Then what?"
"They enjoy the killing!"
"Well ... At least that much makes sense!"
"And ... From what I have been able to gather while you three Ladies are out making your rounds ...
Is that there is at least an even chance that your group was ambushed with the intent of taking you captive ..."
"You mean that we were bound for a sacrificial slab somewhere?"
"More'n likely!
But there were just too many of you! So they had to resort to Plan B!"
"And what was that?"
"Don't you remember the conversation during the Happy Hour?"
"That's what started all of this!"
"One small correction ...
What started all of this was your warriors being bush-whacked out there on the path leading here!
Am I correct?
No ... What I was referring to was the fact that they wanted your bodies stacked and posed for a magazine cover!"
"That's right!"
"So! What do you say that we initiate a small Ceremony of our own?"
"With one or another of them to serve as the centerpiece on our altar?"
"You got it, Babe!"
"Aunt Chilada is a treasure, isn't she?"
"If you mean that she is a treasure trove of information, then I'm in complete accord!
Now let's hoist this heifer, shall we?"
"Are you sure we're making proper sacrifices?"
"That depends ... What do you mean by proper?"
"Well ... Do y'suppose that all of these women were involved in the ambush?"
"It's for sure that at least some of them were!"
"How can you tell?"
"Did you see the way her eyes bugged out when I told her who we were?"
"I thought that was only when you drove your pike into her chest!"
"Well ... That could be ...
But you know ... Accidents will happen now and then!"
"Yeah! I suppose they do!"
"Well there's one good thing!"
"What's that?"
"We aren't gonna hafta strain our milk dragging any of the bodies beautiful outta here!"
"Hey! Now! That's right!"
"We'll just leave 'em right where they are!"
"Yeah! That way the Witch Master can have the task of explainin' how come he's got all these here dead babes
laying around under foot!"
"Well, Ladies!
I've called you in here this afternoon to give you an update on the local news!
Some of it's good an' some of it isn't ...
So I'll sort of mix the two of 'em as I go along!
First! Some good news!
Bets, over here has proved t'be a natural with a hand-gun!
She's a First-Class shot! Darn near Sniper material!
All of which means that she's ready t'see some real action!"
"Yay! Bets!"
"Way t'go, Gurl!"
"Now ... What isn't so good is the fact that what with all the killing that's been going on around here lately ...
The survivors of the group you've been hunting down have huddled together for mutual protection ...
So you aren't gonna get a shot at any of 'em one at a time the way you've been doin' so far ..."
"We can handle 'em, Aunt Chill!"
"Yeah! With Bets behind a gun and Kimbo an' me doin' the blade work ... We're more'n ready!"
"Okay! So now at least y'won't be blowin' away any innocent bystanders!"
"Huh? Y'mean we did?"
"Not all the gurls you babes saw fit to sacrifice were Amazons, Kimbo!"
"See? I told ja so!"
"Aw now ... Just be cool!
How was I t'know?
One naked babe looks the same as another!"
"Not all of us do, Sistah!
Some of us look a dam' sight better than others!"
"Okay! Now! Can it! Will you?
As things turned out there was no real harm done!"
"There! Y'see?"
"No ... As a matter of fact ...
Knifing a few women other than the Amazons tended to allay the suspicions of the others in their group ...
So while they are no longer travelling alone ...
You won't have to take on an armed camp either!"
"Do you know where we can find them, Aunt Chilada? And when?"
"'Course I do!"
"Are y'ready t'rock'n'roll, Bets?"
"Ready? Me? Hells Belles!
This is gonna be like shootin' fish in a barrel!"
"Awright! Don't anybody so much as breathe and maybe nobody will get hurt!
Though t'tell yuh the truth ...
That hardly seems likely!"
"Hurt? What's she talkin' about?
OmiGod!
It's Them!"
"Yi-Unugh!"
"Bets!
Oh! No!
Bets!"
So much for modern weaponry ...
The Amazon called bets went down pinioned by a pike through her chest without firing so much as a single round ...
With Bets gone there were now only two facing what appeared to be an entire squadron of enemy warriors ...
"It's you and me against the world now, Kimbo!
Let's give a good account for ourselves!"
"Okay!
There's one less warrior to worry us!"
The sudden attack had carried with it an element of surprize ...
Even though Bets had been cut before she could get off a shot.
If her two partners had been counting on Bets firepower to overcome a superior force,
it was not evident in the manner with which the two women handled their swords ...
A woman came at Cass weilding a battle-axe in and overhead swing ...
As the axe descended, Cass retreated a step ...
"N-uguarrgh!"
And then lunged forward, driving her pike clear through the woman's body ...
While Cass was struggling in her attempt to pull her pike from the body of her latest victim,
her partner, Kimbo, was not standing idly by ...
An Amazon dressed in a War Queen's ceremonial regalia appeared suddenly from amongst the throng of warriors,
and Kimbo hesitated only for a moment before she thrust her blade into
the lower region of the woman's stomach ...
With the death of the Amazon Queen, Cass and Kimbo may well have carried the day ...
But just then, a contingent of the Amazon Police force arrived with orders to quell the battle in progress ...
Not knowing at this point just who was who, they took the only sensible course of action ...
And proceeded to shoot down anything that moved!
If the Queen's warriors thought that they had more than they could
handle with Cass and Kimbo,
they proved to be almost no match at all for the heavily armed members of the Amazon police force ...
Those that saw no choice but to resist were as mercilessly cut down by those in a position of authority
as they had been by the two renegades ..
One of the few of the Queen's warriors who was still on her feet managed to escape out through a door at the rear of the building ...
She might have made it had she not caught the attention of one of her companions ...
Who gazed wistfully in the direction of the would-be escapee ...
Even as a lance was thrust through her breast ...
"Get that one! Outside!" The warrior on command barked, and two of the archers rushed outside to comply.
And in a matter of moments the would-be escapee was seen as she paused in her flight as a pair of arrows pierced her chest ...
Back inside, the one who remained of the Queen's party had seen more than enough bloodshed.
"Don't kill me! I surrender!" She said as she threw down her weapon.
"Are we to take any prisoners, Sir?"
"Do we ever?"
"That's what I thought! I just wanted to be sure!"
And so saying, the Amazon leaned forward to thrust her blade into the girl's heart ...
While all this had been going on, Cass and Kimbo had been standing off to one side wondering who had called the Amazon Police.
Each of the two warriors was herself well-versed in killing,
but somehow the single murder of the girl who had been slaughtered after she offered to surrender
did not sit well with either of them.
"We were going to thank you, but ...
What the Hell is going on here?" Cass wanted to know!
"We came to put down a disturbance!
And from the looks of that sword, I would have to suppose that you were in some way involved in this melee! Were you not?"
"Hey! But you can't just come barging in here and kill everyone!"
"Who says we can't? You? Archer!"
The Amazon in command stepped aside. and in a single, fluid motion an archer brought her weapon to bear ...
And loosed a shaft that drove a full third of its length beneath the Amazon's breastbone.
Cass managed to keep to her feet for several moments before she staggered and went to her knees as she toppled to the floor.
"And so, Kimbo! And then there was one!
It was your idea for you and your merry band to follow Queen Magnolia
here to the Promised Land on this side of the Amazon Gate! Wasn't it?"
The Amazon officer leaned down and used both hands to pull the nipples of the dead Queen.
"Queen Magnolia was no great favorite of ours either!
So I guess you could say that you and your ladies did us all a favor!"
The officer chose another among the fallen warriors and treated her to the same indignity as she had Queen Magnolia.
"No sign of life there either!" The officer addressed one of her staff.
"To the wagon, Sir?"
"Of course! Now, then! As I was saying ...
Kimbo, whether you either know or care, the fact that you managed to do for Magnolia and her tribe
saved me considerable time and trouble! To say nothing of my reputation as an upholder of Amazon Law and its Enforcement!
And so, for that reason, I am prepared to be reasonable!"
Kimbo had been standing there holding her breath in spite of herself.
She was about to exhale in relief when the office in command continued abruptly.
"Archer! To the heart! If you please!"
Kimbo staggered under the impact of the arrow that struck her high in the left breast ...
It is doubtful that she heard or made sense of the last words that came from the Amazon Police Commander ...
"I will see to it personally that the Legend has it that you died a Hero's Death, Kimbo!
No Amazon Warrior can ever ask for more!"
"And so you see, Buck!
That's how Justice is served here in Amazon Territory!"
"But Aunt Chilada!
That's just my point!
You aren't in Amazon Territory!
You're here on this side of the Gate! Remember?"
Hmm! Yes! You're right! Of course, Buck!
But now that we've got them picked over and cleaned up a bit ...
"Don't you think think that one or another of these piles would make a wonderful magazine cover?"
