Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [48]
“What did she see in the vision?”
“That he’s not being so forthcoming with.” Stampede looked at her. “I don’t suppose you’ve learned anything over this connection you have with Dr. Trammell.”
“No.”
“That’s just a bad break.”
“Yeah.” Hella wished she wasn’t privy to the woman’s nightmares either.
Early in the afternoon, they stopped at a clean creek to take on fresh water. Since the recent rains, there was plenty of water, and they didn’t have to worry about getting sick from stagnant areas.
While walking upstream to water Daisy, Hella found a dead armadillo biker. The Sheldon lay half submerged in the creek. He’d suffered burns and two gunshot wounds, both of those through the chest. Hella was surprised that he’d lived as long as he had, given the severity of the wounds.
She called Stampede over to survey the body.
“Stripped.” Stampede flipped the corpse over with his big toe. The body moved limply. “Since all his personal belongings are gone, that means one thing, Red.”
“He wasn’t out here alone.” Hella didn’t like the certainty that she felt.
Stampede smiled but the effort was devoid of mirth. “That’s right. His buddies stole his stuff, but none of them thought well enough of him to burn him before they left him.” He grabbed the dead biker by one foot. “Didn’t care about him and didn’t care if anyone else got sick when they found this guy later.” Effortlessly he dragged the corpse over to a clearing and piled leaves and grass on him.
Hella helped.
“What are you doing?” Riley stood only a short distance away. He held his rifle canted with the butt resting against his hip.
“Gonna burn this body.” Stampede didn’t pause in his preparations.
“If you burn that, you’re going to reveal our position.”
“We’re not staying here.” Stampede piled more branches on the dead man. “We’re moving on. If those Sheldons decide to double back and find out what’s burning, we’ll be long gone. And we can see if they’re still in the area.” He gestured to Hella.
Kneeling, Hella used flint and tinder to spread sparks across the dead leaves. She blew on the embers till they caught and flames leaped hungrily. By the time she was standing, fire had spread to the dead man’s dry clothing and gray smoke clouded under the overhanging branches.
“Burning that body is risky.”
Stampede glanced at the security captain. “Leaving it out here is just an open invitation to disease. The last thing anyone in the Redblight wants is to spread disease across the trails. Maybe you don’t have disease where you come from, but it’s an issue out here.”
Hella thought about the rats Colleen had been working with in the nightmare. They knew what disease was.
For a moment Riley looked as if he would say something, but evidently he thought better of it. “We need to get moving.”
Stampede hoisted his rifle over one broad shoulder and started back to the expedition. “Make sure you’ve taken on all the fresh water you can. In case we have to go up into the brush if we get unlucky enough to catch up with the Sheldons.”
With a lithe leap, Hella sprang up onto Daisy’s foreleg and vaulted into the saddle. The mountain boomer shifted restlessly and tossed her head. She didn’t like being around dead things either, unless she was eating them, and Hella knew for a fact that Daisy would eat an armadillo biker. She’d seen Daisy do it before, and the experience had left her queasy for hours.
Hella took first watch that night. She bedded Daisy down then took her sniper rifle, her low-light binocs, and a bag of food with her when she walked down the hill to take up a position outside camp. Halfway through the night, Stampede intended to relieve her.
She wasn’t as tired as she’d normally have been. Despite the battle at the trade camp and the nightmares, she’d gotten more sleep than she was used to. She already missed the bath. After hours of riding and walking the trails, she was covered in road dirt and had a few bites