Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [43]
Hella knew what a gaming center was. Gambling went on in trade camps and along the trails as well. She’d never been drawn to the games. Staying alive every day was gamble enough. She didn’t know why other people didn’t recognize that. “Stampede taught me.”
“He knows how to read?” Riley couldn’t hide his surprised look.
Hella shook her head and snorted. “He couldn’t have taught me any other way, now could he?”
“Why did he teach you?”
“Because he thinks reading is important.”
“Do you?”
Hella kept walking. Around her, other camp defenders raced from corpse to corpse. “You don’t use reading for much while you’re on the trail. Usually for identifying salvage. Occasionally Stampede and I share a book.”
“Share a book?”
“Take turns reading out loud. We don’t waste batteries on vox-players.” Hella hated that she was talking so much and wished she could find some way to shut up. She reminded herself that Stampede’s comm link was on and he could be listening in. The whole situation was embarrassing—at both ends.
“Oh.”
Hella studied Riley’s reaction. She wanted to know if “oh” was a negative reaction and if Riley thought she was being an idiot. Then she told herself that worrying about what he thought proved she was an idiot … at least about that.
“You can learn a lot of things from books.” She sounded more defensive than she wanted to.
“I suppose.” Riley didn’t look convinced.
“Do you read?”
“Manuals. But most of those are computer downloads.”
Hella had seen computers only a few times. “I’ve never used a computer.”
“Really? Because that surprises me. You’ve got nanobots in your body. That should give you some kind of affinity for computer hardware and software, I’d think.” Riley seemed contemplative so Hella didn’t know if he thought her nanobots were like a disease or not.
She also didn’t like admitting that she didn’t know much about the nanobots inside her system. “If I ever get curious about that, maybe I’ll look into it.” She pulled an M4A1 assault rifle from under the dead man. The weapon looked to be in good shape. With a little cleaning, she’d be able to barter it successfully.
“Is it all that important to rob the dead?”
Anger sparked inside Hella. “They’re dead. They’re not going to use any of this stuff again.” She kept moving, forcing Riley to stay up with her. “Besides that, only a short time ago, one of these guys would have killed you. Or anybody else.” She took a breath. “And it’s not robbing them. It’s salvage. It’s also important. These are goods that Stampede and I can use to stay alive. Either we can use them with part of our kit, or we can trade them for stuff we can use. A meal. A room. Supplies.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.”
“You didn’t.” Hella didn’t want to let him see that she felt defensive, and she was angry at herself for feeling that way because it meant she felt vulnerable.
“I’m just trying to understand. This world … is different from where I grew up.” Riley looked around. “It’s hard and it’s dangerous and it doesn’t care for you very much.”
“Your world cares about you?” The idea was intriguing.
“I think so.” Riley smiled. “We live in homes, Hella. With our families. We’re safe. When we go to bed at night, we don’t have to worry that someone will have a knife at our throats in the morning. There’s always food on the table, and we don’t have much sickness.”
Hella remembered Colleen Trammell’s concern about her daughter and almost asked about that, but she stopped herself. One thing that travelers on the trails learned quickly was to keep their curiosity to themselves. “Pardot is the leader there?”
Riley shook his head. “He’s on the council, but he’s not the leader. His voice is heard, and he gets a lot of respect.”
“Then why is he out here?”
“Because our community is strong and we want to keep it that way. That means we have to find new things and adapt them if we can use them. Dr. Pardot is good with technology. He’s reverse-engineered power sources,