Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [47]
“You going to be able to go back to sleep?”
She looked at him, his shaggy face shadowed and barely revealed by the thin moonlight. “Sure.” She shrugged. “If I don’t, I’ll just sleep in the saddle tomorrow.”
“Until the Sheldons wake you up.” Stampede examined her.
“I’m fine. Really. Go back to sleep.”
Stampede looked as if he wanted to argue then decided against it. He lumbered over to his bed and lay down. He was calm, complete, and looked totally relaxed. In seconds, he was snoring.
Hella took a few more sips of water. She wanted to get up and start her day, try to shake the cobwebs of the nightmare from her head, but she knew she was too tired and there was too much night left. If she got up, she’d be almost useless during most of the next day. It wouldn’t have been fair to Stampede.
She lay back down and closed her eyes, and she sent a mental message to Colleen Trammell to stay out of her mind.
After being cooped up in the barn the whole previous day, Daisy was restless. She tramped anxiously and strained at the reins in a manner that she seldom exhibited. Hella grew tired of fighting her and wished they could get through the gates and back into the forest. That was what Daisy wanted.
Riley had his men already suited up and on their vehicles. They had replenished their rolling larders with purchases at Blossom Heat. Stampede had told Hella to help examine the goods, and that had been the most boring hour Hella had spent in a long time.
Pardot checked over the expedition carefully, making certain everything was accounted for. As she watched, Hella felt sorry for Riley. The captain was put through his paces unmercifully.
Colleen Trammell came out of the main building last. Hella watched the woman with interest. Colleen didn’t appear to be still in a drug-induced stupor, but she looked hard used and moved slowly. Before climbing into the sidecar assigned to her, Colleen looked back at Hella.
The woman’s lips moved, but Hella heard the woman’s voice in her mind.
I’m sorry about last night.
Shamefaced, Hella broke eye contact. She didn’t want to deal with any more of the woman’s misery.
Faust came over to see her off. A grin stretched his big lips as she slid down from Daisy and greeted him with a fierce hug.
“I wish you could have hung around a little longer, imp.”
“Me too. We’ll be back this way. Soon.”
Faust thumped her on the back one more time then released her and stepped back. “You’ve grown up, imp. I’m proud of you. Stampede has done all right by you.”
“He wasn’t the only one.”
The big gorilloid smiled broadly at that, and anyone who didn’t know him would have been afraid for his life. “You take care of yourself, Hella. And you take care of Shaggy too.”
“I will.” Hella hugged him one more time then squealed in delight as he effortlessly tossed her up onto Daisy’s broad back. Hella flipped once and came down in the saddle effortlessly, just the way she had when he’d tossed her onto a horse when she’d been younger.
Daisy swung her broad head over to Faust, and he patted her gently. Then Stampede gave the order to move out, and the expedition got under way.
Faust stood watching after them from the catwalk, but he finally disappeared as they entered the forest.
Hella and Stampede ate a walking lunch because Pardot wanted to stay moving. Thankfully the landscape stayed firm. After a day of drying out, the Redblight had crept back toward arid.
Taking a piece of jerky from the bag she’d packed on Daisy’s saddlebags, Hella popped it into her mouth as she walked at Stampede’s side. Salt taste exploded across her tongue, and more flavor came when she chewed. The growling engines trailed behind them.
“Pardot still hasn’t told you where we’re going?”
Stampede shook his head as he chewed a block of dried grass. He was an omnivore, able to eat meat and vegetables, but he still needed a high intake of fiber to meet his dietary needs. “He doesn’t know.”
“How can that be?”