Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [119]
Nearly two klicks from the expedition, Stampede pointed to a tall outcrop. “There.” He took off toward it.
Hella reined Daisy over and charged up the mountainside after him. By the time she reached him, Stampede was already setting his long rifle up on its fold-out legs to get a steady shot.
“We’re one point seven klicks from the expedition.” Stampede lay behind his weapon and squinted through the sniper scope. “How far do you think we are from the mil-plex?”
Hella lay beside Stampede and peered through the spotter scope he’d unpacked as well. “Seven point five, eight.” She’d kept track through her spotter scope, ticking off landmarks and mapping the distance, because he’d told her to in order to backstop his own efforts.
“That’s what I figure. With the broken terrain and the thickness of the brush, I’m guessing it’ll take us about an hour at almost a dead run to make it back to the mil-plex.”
“At least.” Covering that distance while dodging pursuers was the part that worried Hella. Well, that and being pinned between two enemy forces.
“We do this right, we’ll arrive at sundown. Things will be confusing for both sides. We play our cards close to the vest, we can lose ourselves in the confusion.”
Ocastya flowed into a puddle on the ground then straightened out into a prone position. She watched them with interest.
“All we have to do is stay ahead of them.”
Stampede spoke calmly, but Hella sensed the tension resonating through him. “And not get shot by Riley’s people or Trazall’s.”
Stampede laughed. “Yeah. I didn’t think I’d have to remind you about that part.” He took deliberate aim. “Once we start this, things are going to happen pretty fast.”
“I know.” Hella’s stomach churned, but she knew most of that was from having to wait. Once everything started …
Stampede fired. The recoil blasted back against him and the harsh crack rolled over them.
Peering through the spotter scope, Hella watched. For a moment she believed that Stampede had missed. Everyone in the line of travelers continued what they were doing.
Stampede fired again. Before he fired the third time, the first bullet punched into one of the hardshells and knocked him from his feet. The second round tore through an ATV and exploded the gas tank, turning it into a flaming deathtrap for the man aboard it. The third round missed its intended target because the group went to ground.
A few of the hardshells fired back, but their aim was nowhere near where Stampede, Hella, and Ocastya took cover. Stampede managed four more shots before the defense bots vectored in on their position. A barrage of twenty-millimeter cannon rounds slapped into the ground around them and left smoking craters.
“Pull back.” Stampede withdrew just as a fresh onslaught ripped through the trees only a few meters from where he’d been. He slung the large rifle over his shoulder as a hail of broken rock rained down over them. “Let’s go.”
Staying low, using the discrepancy between the lower area and the protective ridges, Hella sprinted back to the small copse of boulders where she’d left Daisy ground tethered. Ocastya matched her stride for stride.
When she reached the mountain boomer, Hella vaulted into the saddle, took up the reins, and kicked Daisy softly in the sides as Ocastya flowed up behind her.
Panicked by the hail of gunfire and mortars knocking holes in the wilderness around them, Daisy dug in and launched herself into a careening sprint. Hella let the lizard have her head and concentrated on staying on top of her. The creature’s muscles bunched and released in great explosions of movement that echoed through Hella.
“We’ve only got to be fast over a short haul.” Stampede breathed rhythmically over the comm link. He kept pace with the lizard, running faster than anything human could match. “Riley will allow the ATVs out for a brief run, but he’ll call them back. He won’t chance getting his forces divided and picked apart if he’s being ambushed.”
Hella hoped that was true. She stayed low in the saddle, becoming another layer