Twilight Children: Book Summary
Upon waking the group notices that the gateway seems to have been put together in a hap-hazard manner, as there are gaps between the walls, and the workmanship is shoddy, to say the least. When they leave it and enter the control room, they are shocked to see that it appears as if someone had recently built it, carving a cave out of the raw stone, then throwing the controls and gateway together. They have to wonder who built the gateway, and if it was just recently put together.
Exiting they find themselves in a totally alien environment, unlike anything they have ever seen before. The area smells bad, and they are surrounded by a thick fog. For some reason, the land messes with compasses and they can't use the sun to find where they are. Despite the danger, they continue deeper into the strange land.
It isn't long before they encounter their first sign of life. Dean is bitten by a strange mutie insect, and they see several others like it. They also spot plants, but they appear unlike anything they have seen before, being a white colour with veins of yellow running through them.
About an hour out of the redoubt they come across a slow moving river. Michael goes up to investigate it and is attacked by what can only be described as a rat fish. It isn't difficult to kill the creature, but it puts the party on alert. The river isn't water either. It's more like a thick oil, slightly acidic to the touch. They also spot something close to a flying alligator.
Past the river they find the ruins of a small ville called Lonesome Gulch. Entering it they spend time exploring it. The only sign of life they see are a huge flock of mutie reptile birds which attack and force the group to take refuge in a small building. Several of the mutants break their way in and Ryan gets clawed by one on the neck. J.B. sets a trap using gunpowder and is able to kill quite a few of the birds, scaring away the others. They leave the ruined ville and make it back to the redoubt.
Back inside the cave they enter the gateway and close the door to trigger the jump just as a huge, unidentifiable mutant creature tries to attack. It takes them twice closing the door before the jump is finally triggered.
When they awaken they find themselves in the redoubt located near Jak Laurens home in the bayous. The injury on Ryan's neck is getting worse and they decide to head out and try and join up with Jaks people. But when they leave the gateway, they discover that the swamp has become a radioactive wasteland, and it is far too dangerous to stick around so they return to the gateway and make a third jump.
This time they wake up to find themselves in a redoubt located in New Hampshire, quite near the Champlain lake. Ryan has slipped into a coma due to his injury and Michael is deeply unconscious, something having gone wrong with him during the jump. To their horror, the redoubt had been totally stripped during the panicked days after the war. There is no food, nor is there any medicine in the infirmary.
When Michael finally comes to, he attacks Doc and Krysty is forced to knock him out using her pistol. When he comes around the second time, he swears up a storm and Krysty has to threaten his life to make him calm down. Something happened to him during the jump, and it affected him hard.
Mildred is forced to operate on Ryan's neck to save his life. Michael has recovered enough, not sure what happened to him to help. Ryan fights like a wounded tiger, but they are able to cut away the infection and save his life, though he will have a five inch long scar on his neck for the rest of his life. They decide to get some rest.
The next day they all agree to head outside and hunt for food. Mildred wants Ryan to stay behind and get the rest he needs, but he refuses. Eventually he wins the argument and they all head out. Here J.B. determines that they are indeed in New Hampshire. They make their way towards a river where they catch a mess of trout. During the entire time Michael has been acting quite strange, very melancholy. After getting the fish, Dean and Michael head into the forest to try and find some berries to add a little flavour the the meal. Dean returns alone with the fruit and lets them know that Michael set off on his own.
They are all about to head out to search for the teenager when he steps out of the trees. He tells them that he had found a hut with corpses in it and spent bullets on the ground. Ryan demands that he leads them to it. A short while later they spot it and J.B. goes to scout it out. There is a blackened and charred corpse of a man, and a sticky who had suffered from a gut shot and was killed after someone put a bullet through his skull. They know that there is danger near by.
After leaving the shack they encounter a small group of young people. The members of the party are all below the age of twenty five, and they seem to be amazed at Doc Tanner's age. They claim to be from a ville called Quindley which is on the Champlain lake twelve miles away. They are invited to come with the group and stay for a few days. The group it turns out was hunting for one of their members. They identify the corpse in the shack as the man they were looking for.
When they arrive at the ville they see how nice and neat it is. The entire ville is quite self sufficient and fields of vegetables surround it, and are being tended by the young people. Here they meet the villes current leader, a young man named Jehu. Here they learn the name of the true leader of the ville, their god who's named Moses. The villes inhabitants are all under the age of twenty five.
At dinner the reaction to everyone except Michael and Dean ranges from curiosity to mild dislike. The only members of the party that are treated decently are Dean and Michael, who spend a lot of time talking to the women. One of the members, a teenager named Jimmy can't stand to see the older people, and draws his weapon, a knife, and throws it at Doc. Michael saves his life by catching it out of the air, and Jehu slits the offenders throat. They return to the meal as if nothing had happened. During the meal Ryan learns that the reason there are no people over the age of twenty five is because they are killed. Its the way of the ville.
That night Ryan tries to get Dean to tell them what he and the women of the ville talked about. He doesn't want to, claiming that he is really tired and simply goes to sleep.
After breakfast the next day Ryan offers to head into the woods to hunt, but since the ville's people are vegetarians, they instead head out to clear away any vermin they might happen to find. They see a man who is clearly a prisoner brought in to eat. When Ryan questions Jehu about it, he tells Ryan that the man is free to leave at any time. With that they head out into the woods.
While they are out a large group of the villes children are attacked by a small group of five Stickies. The mutants are killed quickly, but not before killing four of the kids, and wounding several others. Everyone heads back to the ville.
Back at the ville Jehu and Dorthy, the two leaders, inform Ryan that their god Moses wishes to speak to them later that day. Ryan lets Jehu know that he thinks they are stupid for not posting sentries around the ville in case of stickie attacks, because Jehu believes that with the death of the five, the threat is over. He makes a mistake of drawing his knife on Ryan, who tells him in no uncertain terms that he'll kill him if he ever tries it again.
They all go to see Moses who lives in total luxury compared to the other people of the ville. He even eats meat. They can't see him as they are taken to his audience chamber and talk to him while he sits behind a two way mirror. He has a deep, rich voice which is almost hypnotic. As they talk he seems to be quite well educated and treats the group with respect, and orders that Doc is to be treated far better than he has been. The meeting ends and they leave.
Michael and Dean have a falling out and Michael leaves with Dorthy. They head out into the woods together and end up having sex for the afternoon. When they are done, she takes him to see a pair of 'Stand ups' where the boy they saw at breakfast is kept, as well as a outlander who tried to rape on of the young girls. The devices are large enough to force a person to stand, and never get any relief off their legs. The outlander can't speak as his tongue was cut out, but the other prisoner begs Michael to kill him. He's about to when Dorthy begs him not to, saying that it would get everyone killed. Reluctantly, he agrees not to. They both return to the ville.
They don't see Michael until breakfast the next morning. Mike states that he doesn't want to talk about the nights events, and before they can make an issue out of it, Jehu informs them that Moses wants fish for his meal and that they are all going to go out fishing. A while later Krysty is sure that she has spotted something in the trees and Dean touches something in the water. A moment later the boat is tipped over and everyone is thrown overboard. A huge mutie pike is responsible of it and kills on of the people with them, a man named Calvin. Dorthy is caught in a net and before they are able to free her J.B. kills a mutie eel. Ryan, Jehu and Michael are finally able to free her from the netting and they revive her. The trip is a bust and they return to the ville. They are far more concerned at Moses reaction than the fact that one of there own people died.
Ryan is taken to see Moses and he is totally blunt and to the point with him about the days events. Moses hints that together they could rule the Deathlands and he should consider joining him. He also informs Ryan that there is to be a ceremony that night to kill the outlander and the other captive.
When Ryan rejoins the group its obvious that there had been a fight between Dean and Michael. Michael is in love with Dorthy and ends up leaving the group to be with her, stating in no uncertain terms that his loyalty no longer lies with Ryan.
Over the noon meal they discuss what is happening. Ryan decides that they should leave the next morning, but they won't let Michael know about their plans. They are simply going to leave him behind because it is obvious that he wants to stay with the girl.
During the afternoon while Krysty and Ryan are together, they run into Michael and Dorthy. They talk politely together and Michael asks when they are planning to leave, not when we are planning to leave. It's clear now what his choice is. Before they part, Michael wants to talk to them. Krysty knows its so he can say goodbye.
That night the prisoners are brought in and placed in mock ups of humans. They are then doused in cooking oil. Doc, Mildred and Dean opt to return to their quarters as they don't want to have to witness the deaths. Before they are lit, a group of Stickies attack, causing a great deal of confusion. Somehow, during the fighting the two prisoners are set on fire and die. It turns out that the attack was nothing but a ruse, a decoy, as they hear the weapons fire from their friends. Before they can do anything, Doc, Dean and Mildred are taken captive and so are the ville's children.
Ryan goes to see Moses to get permission to take a boat and go after the mutants, but Moses refuses. Ryan doesn't like it one bit but returns to his friends after arranging for new quarters and saying that they plan to leave at first light.
During the night Michael comes to Ryan and lets him know that he already stole a boat and has it waiting. He can't stay behind and allow the children to die a horrible death at the hands of the muties, and wants to rescue his friends. It bothers him greatly that Moses doesn't even care about the loss.
They all slip away and take the boat to get back their friends. When they arrive where they believe that the muties are camped. They head about a mile inland before they spot the camp. After a quick recon by Ryan, they determine that there are around thirty of the mutants in it. They decide to come in from all four corners and inflict as much damage as possible. Ryan runs into two going for wood and kills both, then opens up on another who is about to slit the throat of a child. This starts the dance.
In less than two and a half minutes, the fight is over and the mutants are killed. The only casualty on their side is a young girl who got in Krysty's way and she nearly took the girls head off. The send the surviving children packing in the direction of the ville, and then return to the boat themselves.
They decide to stop at the ville and let Moses know that the children are now on their way back. As they pass through the ville, it appears as if it is deserted, they meet no resistance. Inside Moses home they find that both Dorthy and Jehu have been beaten. Ryan tells Moses that the kids are on the way back, but he really doesn't care. Instead he orders Jehu to go and get the others to kill the outlanders. Doc tries to stop him, but he will only obey Moses. In the end, Ryan is forced to kill him. After being shot, he tips over a torch and set the building on fire.
Doc blows open the mirrored window, giving them a glimpse of the so called god for the first time. The disgusting dwarf is then caught in the blaze of his home and is killed. With the death of their leader, the ville's inhabitants simply allow the outlanders to pass and they all head towards the redoubt, Dorthy opting to go with them.
She is terrified, and as the jump is occurring, she manages to get up and exit the gateway. The last thing Ryan hears is Michael's cry of anguish.
During this time, Abe and Trader have been staying around the ruins of Seattle, constantly sending out messages with any traders they encounter. During the time they have spent together Abe realises that Trader is nothing like he remembers. The man is now quite prone to mis-remembering things and can easily get off track. He finally remembers that most of the time Trader really only would spend time with Ryan and J.B. To make matters worse, Trader still has a volatile temper so he has to be quite careful with everything he says. They have only another ten weeks before they will leave the ruins and continue on their way.
A week after the ville of Quindley was destroyed a trader who deals in blaster arrives to find it deserted. He was given a note by Trader and Abe to give to Ryan and his band, but since they are long gone, he simply tosses the note away, knowing there isn't anything he can do.