Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [81]
“Is she a dragon?”
“No, she’s a lizard.”
Stampede carried over gear from the pond. “She’s just the biggest lizard you’ll ever see.”
Daisy swung her head over to bump up against Stampede.
Frowning, Stampede stood there and put up with the unwanted adoration. “Daisy’s also one of the most obnoxious things you’ll ever cross paths with.” He glanced at the deer. “I guess we’re having venison tonight?”
“We are.” Hella took her saddle from hiding and threw it across Daisy’s shoulders. She secured the straps then secured the deer as well, tying it behind the saddle with leather straps.
“We’ll be having it in a few more hours, then.” Stampede pushed Daisy’s head away and squinted at the sun. “We still have some traveling time left. If we don’t reach the expedition by tomorrow at noon, Riley may form up a unit to come after us. I don’t want him getting anyone lost.”
Shortly before they chose a campsite, Hella dismounted Daisy, strung the deer up from a tree branch, and field dressed the kill. The lizard gobbled the intestines eagerly then—after Hella had cut steaks for Stampede and herself—quickly disposed of the rest of the deer as well with smacking crunches.
Later, over a small campfire, Hella roasted the steaks on sticks and added spices from their kit. When the meat was cooked, she and Stampede ate and spread out their bedrolls close to the coals. Scatter simply watched them and talked.
Hella was fatigued from everything she’d been through in the past couple of days and the lack of easy sleep the previous night. Passing out didn’t count as natural sleep. She struggled to stay awake.
Scatter sat by the fire and fed small sticks to the coals, watching with interest as the twigs caught fire and briefly blazed. From the way he was sitting and the way he stared into the fire, Hella knew his thoughts were somewhere else.
“You soak up solar power; I know that. Don’t you sleep?”
Looking up, Scatter shook his head and smiled. “No. I am not fatigued.”
“It’s going to be a long night for you.”
“The quiet will be good. I can think about all that I have experienced. I can review what I have learned. I can remember the books I read last night and reread them in my mind. There is much I can do. You should not worry. I will see you in the morning.”
Hella thought she might talk to him a little longer, but she closed her eyes just to rest them, and the bottom of the world fell out from under her.
The next morning, before the sun was up, Hella packed the leftover venison strips into pieces of bread and passed half of them off to Stampede. They ate while traveling.
Scatter rode behind Hella on Daisy. He’d asked and Daisy hadn’t minded. It wasn’t that Scatter was tired. From the relentless way he walked, Hella felt certain the fractoid could have walked them all into the ground. He liked being up high so he could see more and so he could ask her questions about things he didn’t know.
The conversation seemed never ending because explaining one thing would lead to several other things. As she doled out the information, Hella felt even more guilty for not telling Scatter that he’d never be able to go home again.
An hour before the sun hit its apex for the day, they reached the trade road. That started a whole new wave of questions from Scatter. Hella lunched in the saddle while Stampede kept pace behind them.
Less than two hours later, they reached the expedition.
The campsite was a half mile off the trade road, nestled under a copse of pecan trees around a small pond. Security guards in hardshells ringed the site, and a handful of travelers—most of them looking like peddlers—were held up at Riley’s checkpoints. The security bots were active too.
Before Hella reached the campsite, word had reached Riley that they’d returned. He came out to meet them and ended up getting caught up in the small group of peddlers who smelled someone in charge of the campsite they could get to.
“Trade, sir. Neither malice nor