Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [92]
“You’ve got another pair back at the camp. You’ll have to squish all the way back when you get those wet, but that’s better than stepping on a spine-fin while you’re wading through that swamp.”
Hella knew that was true. Spine-fin were some kind of mutated cross between a catfish and lizard. Equally at home in the water and on land, they remained a constant threat to the uninitiated or the unwary. The spines were sometimes as long as twenty-five centimeters and pierced flesh like edged steel. They also carried enough toxin to cause a great deal of pain but no permanent injury. The larger ones were a meter long and weighed upward of forty kilos.
She morphed her hands into weapons, reminded herself that bullets tended to ricochet off the water surface, and waded in. Her throat grew tight with anticipation with each step she managed into the muddy bottom.
The swamp got deep quicker than she’d thought it would. Nearly twenty meters out, the water was up to her hips. Another ten meters and it had risen to her shoulders. Her stomach tightened and she thought she would be sick.
Throw up and you’re just going to chum the water. Everything in here that feeds on everything else is going to show up for breakfast. She made herself breathe deeply and willed herself to remain calm, but she’d have rather been facing a dozen Sheldons than be out in the water.
“Easy does it, Red. You get water in your ear, and our comm link is going to get garbled.”
“I know that.” Hella didn’t mean for the reply to come out so sharply, but it was gone before she knew it. “Sorry. I don’t like this.”
“I know. It doesn’t feel any better from up here.”
Hella visualized Stampede in her mind as she pushed forward and started swimming toward the bubbling spot in the swamp. He’d be behind his rifle, both eyes open, one trained through the scope, finger resting on the trigger guard.
“Gotta go under.” Hella took a big breath of the stinking air, hoped she’d be able to hold it in her lungs, and dived. The water felt warmer as she swam down to the object resting on the swamp bed.
Only a few feet down, the object that had landed there glowed a dull red. The bubbling water muddied the image, but she felt confident that nothing that had a brain would be anywhere near the thing. With all the action, the outlines of the thing were blurred and indistinct.
She put out a hand and managed to get within a few meters before the heat made her pull her hand back. Nearly out of breath, she surfaced. When she blinked the murk from her eyes, she spotted the telltale triangular head floating barely out of the water as it arrowed toward her.
The muddy-green alligator was easily twice as long as she was tall, not the biggest she’d seen in the Amichi Mountains, but a lot bigger than she’d ever wanted to meet face-to-face. Treading water, knowing she’d never get away in time, she lifted her arms, turned her hands to weapons, and took quick aim.
“Stampede!” Her voice sounded odd in her ears, and she didn’t think the communication got through.
The alligator opened its mouth, exposing the pink-white gums and throat and the curved, yellow teeth. Then its head evaporated in a bloody mist. Decapitated, the vicious creature slid past her, jostling her with its scaled torso and one leg.
“Thank you.” Hella glanced up at the hillside and made out Stampede behind his rifle. She couldn’t hear if he made a response. Sliding the rope from her shoulder, she took a few quick breaths and went down again.
Face almost scalding from the heat, Hella dragged the grappling hook over the orange blob till tension tightened the rope. She swam backward, shoved the alligator’s corpse out of her way, and stopped when she could put her feet in the mud. Leaning back, she hauled on the rope.
The object stubbornly remained immobile, causing her to wonder if it buried itself too deeply in the mud. Then finally the suction gave way, and the object slid toward her. Despite her best efforts, the grappling hook slipped off twice before she got the thing into the shallows so she could see what she