VIIIIt hadn’t been easy securing the massive, black bomb to Ank’s back—even with the heavy-duty ratchet straps they’d found elsewhere amidst the ruins. They’d had to wait for daybreak, for one (for the complex was as dark as it was impenetrable, even with its roof half-collapsed); moreover, the thing was heavy—so much so that the only thing to do was to have Ank lay on his side as Williams secured the belts ... and this while the two were-raptors, who remained just beyond the high walls of the compound, yelped and yowled in the sun—a constant reminder of just how precarious their situation had become. As for Williams, he was still just as confused about Ank’s history and intentions as he had been the night before.
“So let me get this straight: When you woke from your tumble into the ravin
