Stoneface: Book Summary
When the group awakens, they discover that the redoubt they are in has dingy grey walls. It turns out that the gateway appears to be located in a Air force base. While exploring JB finds a APC and they take it after loading up on food and equipment. This redoubt was located in Dulce New Mexico.
Over the next four weeks they travel all the way up to the ruins of Calgary and are in the process of making their way back to Colorado, wanting stop in and visit Dean in the school. They are in South Dakota.
Next thing they know they come under attack from a swarm of scream wings, a deadly form of mutant predator, despite it’s small size. While they are taking refuge from the mutants, they hear a motorcycle. It turns out that they decide to go and rescue the man due to the fact that it was their wag that attracted their attention.
They noticed that the motorcycle was in mint condition, looking as if it came right out of the factory. When the man wakes up they learn that his name is Zadfrak, and he comes from the ville of Helskel. He claims that they have all sort of pre ruin goods located there.
Mildred discovers that he is suffering from Rad Cancer and he confirms that he left Helskel to die in peace. They get the man to show them a good place to make camp and he does so. Zadfrak claims that Helskel has all kinds of pre ruin goods, but won’t go into details. They bed down for the night.
By dawn, Doc is awake and decides to go fishing. Zadfrak goes with him and they catch a whopper of a fish. But before they can land it Doc is attacked by a huge mutant mud sucker. Zadfrak gets hit by it’s spine and is poisoned. While Mildred attends Zadfrak, Jak skins the fish so they can have something to eat.
Before they leave the camp they meet an indian named Touch the Sky, or Joe. He suggests that they steer clear of the ville and it’s predark masters. They leave for the ville.
By late afternoon they reach the ville of Helskel. They are shot at but are eventually allowed to come into it. They meet three secmen Phil, Dog and Suds. They know Zadfrak.
After that, they are taken in to meet the leader of the ville, Lars Hellstrom. They discover that he runs his community through the teachings of Charles Manson, a nut case who murdered numerous people in the sixties. He invites them to stay behind and enjoy Helskel’s hospitality. He then introduces his Warlord, a tall, one eyed woman named Fleur. They also discover that Lars is a telepath.
They spend the day looking around and then learn about Zadfrak’s funeral. They ask when he died, but don’t get any response. They are then told that they are not allowed to attend, though when they go back to their room they are all hit with the urge to return and witness the funeral. They realize that it’s Hellstrom implanting the suggestion in their minds.
They witness the funeral. The man is stripped and then Fleur, naked, straddles him and slashes him several times. They then place the wounded and still living man in a funeral pyre. When they return to the hotel they discover that the tires on their Land Rover were slashed.
Before breakfast, Ryan is taken to see Lars. He has his men try to disarm Ryan and he beats them. Fleur trains her gun on him and is about to kill him, but Ryan has his SIG trained on Hellstrom and makes it perfectly clear that he will kill Lars. He forces his sec men to back off. He then tells Ryan straight out that he wants their help.
He then sets up a outing to go show the group the Mount Rushmore redoubt. On the way there Lars explains what happened to the people in the redoubt and why they need Helskels help, and all about the trade they partake in.
Lars contacts the people inside Mount Rushmore via a remote. He informs them that the harvest has been delayed. They then leave and make camp. During the night they are attacked by a band of natives. When the fight is over five sec men have been killed and all but one of the natives were killed. Ryan discovered that one of the natives happened to be Touches the Sky, and he let the man escape.
They then learn what the harvest is all about. Organs. The surviving sec men literally cut the dead apart, taking the intact organs and placing them on ice to give to the people inside Mount Rushmore.
One the way back to Helskel Lars announces that he wants to make Ryan his Warlord, equal to Fleur. It surprises both of them, and Fleur can’t believe that he made the offer. Ryan wants to turn it down, but Lars say’s if he does his and his friends lives will be in danger. Ryan loses his temper and is ready to kill him when Lars explains what he means. As a member of the family they will be safe, and enjoy ruling over everyone, only second in power to Lars. Ryan says he’ll think about it. He is given 36 hours to decide.
Before Ryan can get some sleep, he goes to get a bath. While he is resting, Fleur comes in, wearing only a bathrobe. She makes it clear what she wants and when Ryan refuses. She explains her history, and how she came to be with Lars and the people. Ryan forces her away, and she leaves, swearing that he has made a powerful enemy.
Ryan goes back to the others and tells them about the encounter.
The next day Lars holds a special ceremony making three of the sec men full members of the family. It happens to be the three men that they met when they first arrived in Helskel.
Through the evening and most of the next day Ryan tries to come up with a plan for the group to escape. Later that evening he meets up with Fleur who apologizes to him for what happened the other night. She then asks him to help bring back one of their sec men who happens to be participating in the use of a dangerous drug. He knows it’s a trap, but goes to do it none the less.
It turns out to be Dog and he is under the influence of the drug known as Werewolf weed. The man is more animal than human, and Ryan is forced to kill him to save his own life. Fleur demands that Ryan be put to death for killing a member of the family, but Lars will not allow it. Instead he allows the pair to fight a duel the next day.
Bright and early next morning Ryan and Fleur mount motorcycles and fight it out using a whip and knife. Ryan eventually wins, snapping Fleur’s wrists. But instead of killing her, he allows the woman to live. At the same time he agrees to take the job that Lars offered. Lars then outlines his plans and lets Ryan know that the others will stay as hostages until he completes the mission. He is allowed to take one other person with him.
The next day they drive to Mount Rushmore. Ryan decides to take Mildred with him because her knowledge in medicine and cryo suspension. Lars takes the pair of them to Mount Rushmore, where he places them inside the chambers where the organs are stored. This is the only way to get them into the facility.
Inside they are forced to blow the cybernetic arm off the man checking the goods, then knock him out and take his name tag, announcing that his name is Bob. They then find another man named Doug and knock him out and take his tag as well. Next thing they know intruder klaxons go off, and they know that they have been discovered.
While trying to find their way through the base they find a coolant room and Ryan ruptures one of the tanks, setting off even more alarms, and it isn’t long before before they find themselves in a mock up of Washington D.C.
The others were placed in a cell until Ryan and Mildred return. Next thing they discover is that Fleur has been stripped of her status and is placed in the cell with them. Despite what she tried to do, they give her a chance to redeem herself and help them escape.
Doc comes up with a plan that requires them to dig shallow graves in the floor and hide in them so they can then sucker the guards into opening the doors allowing them to escape. The trick works, and they kill the guards. To create a diversion they blow the fuel dumps, and in the ensuing chaos they steal a dune buggy. They then head out to Mount Rushmore.
Ryan creates a huge distraction, helping Mildred to escape. The next thing he knows he finds himself in the office of the commander of the base. He is then captured, but the men inside the base treat him farily, even tending to the wounds that he suffered. The doctor goes as far as offering to replace the eye he lost, but before he can get it done he is taken back to the commander.
Mildred uses the cover provided by Ryan to escape. She throws a handful of dirt on the floor to follow the static pattern that sweeps the dust out of the room. She finds where it goes and takes the tunnels until she hits the dust bin where it’s stored. After searching she finds an exit that appears to not have been used since the war. When she exits it, she runs into a strange mutant.
As the others leave, they can see Helskel burning behind them. When they arrive at the basecamp, they get into a brief firefight and kill several of Lars sec men before continuing on towards the canyon where they figure that Lars is waiting.
Ryan is taken back to the commander, who he kills after learning his plans, and having been taken to see the base, including the experiments, the people who were either sick or crazy that they had place into cryonic suspension, and so on.
The mutant that Mildred met was a strange creature, able to change it’s sex at will becoming male or female.
Just after Ryan kills the commander, Mildred finds the main machinery controlling the cooling equipment. She sends Uni back to his home then uses several grenades to severely damage the equipment.
The destruction throws the personnel into a panic. Ryan kills Doug and then heads to the control room where he spots the others through one of the bases remotes.
Hellstrom chases after the others in his AMAC, and in the chase he slams into Fleur, crushing the life out of her. He tries to go after the others.
Ryan uses the gateway inside the cavern to bring the rest into the base, leaving Hellstrom who is enraged at Ryan’s betrayal. He promises to get revenge for what he did no matter how long it takes. The rage and hatred in the man’s voice and on his face startles Ryan.
With the base breaking down all around them they head to the gateway located inside the base and jump out, returning to New Mexico.
End of Stoneface