Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [107]
Ocastya bent at the waist effortlessly and looked at her legs. “I am still damaged. I am unable to walk.”
Great. I’m not exactly the one to sling her over my shoulder and take off with her.
Scatter turned to her. “One of the ATVs is nearby.”
“Won’t help.” Hella shook her head and felt helpless. “I’ve never driven one.” Opportunities to drive something like the ATV hadn’t come along, and she’d always preferred traveling on Daisy.
“Easily remedied.” Scatter hovered close to her then wrapped his face over hers with a suddenness that startled her into stepping back.
Hella thought her brain was overheating. She felt as if she had a fever. Then, in the time it took to blink, she knew how to drive an ATV.
Scatter peeled off her and hovered in the air again. “Hurry, Hella.”
Pushing her curiosity to the back of her mind and focusing on survival, Hella sprinted through the tent flap and turned left, automatically knowing the ATV’s location as well. She clambered onto the vehicle as though she’d been doing it all her life. The engine caught when she pressed the start button. She put it in gear as one of Trazall’s warriors spotted her and brought up his weapon. Before he could shoot, his head exploded in a geyser of blood.
“Move.” Stampede’s voice cut through all the chaos.
Hella drove the ATV into the medical tent, ripping through the opening. She got off only long enough to slide Ocastya from the table onto the rear of the vehicle. The cargo space on the four-wheeler was limited, but Ocastya folded up a lot easier than a human being would have. Hella used the cargo straps to tie the fractoid into place. “It’ll help if you can hang on.”
Ocastya gripped the rear roll bar with her two hands. “I will.”
Clambering back aboard the ATV, Hella revved the engine and drove forward. There wasn’t enough room in the medical tent to try turning around. Putting her arm across her face, she drove the ATV through the flaming back wall. The weakened canvas gave way at once. The flames clung to her only momentarily; then she was speeding through the campsite.
A pair of hardshells vectored in on an intercept course. Hella heard Stampede’s rifle roar, and one of them went down as he brought his weapon up. She drove over a dead Sheldon, probably one of the men Trazall had brought with him, and the ATV’s front wheel pulled up as the vehicle vaulted into the air over the armadilloid’s body.
The hardshell managed a short burst from his weapon. At least one of the rounds struck the underside of the vehicle, and Hella hoped it didn’t do any lasting damage. The man tried to duck away, but he got slammed by a hail of bullets from an approaching insectoid. The ATV hit him in the chest and knocked him backward.
Hella drove with desperation, amazed that she wasn’t already dead. Stampede laid down covering fire all around her, knocking down gunners and driving others to shelter. Most of them had their own problems staying alive without giving her chase. Hella took advantage of that.
Amazed at her dexterity and familiarity with the vehicle, Hella tried not to think too much about her actions and just let them flow. She blew through the campsite and roared up the hill toward Stampede. She was surprised at how little attention she drew once she was out of the camp, but most of Pardot and Riley’s people were in full retreat. Trazall’s crew was more interested in claiming what they could of the expedition’s goods.
When she reached the promontory where she’d left Daisy, Stampede was at her heels. She unstrapped Ocastya, and Stampede threw her up onto Daisy’s back. The mountain boomer pawed the ground in protest.
“Easy, girl.” Hella patted the lizard on the side of the neck, but she stood on one side of Daisy and secured Ocastya while Stampede did so on the other side. “Where do we go?”
“North.” Stampede didn’t hesitate. “We can lose ourselves in the mountains. At least have a chance of escaping.”
Hella vaulted into the saddle and took a last look at the campsite. Smoke hovered over the area, but occasional gunfire announced