Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [94]
Her mind wrapped in agony, Hella looked at her cooked wrist and tried to move her fingers. When she couldn’t, when she realized that her hand no longer obeyed her, she grew even more afraid. Finally, thankfully, Riley grabbed an ampoule from his med kit and stabbed her in the leg with it. The pain, and her conscious mind, drained away. The last thing she remembered seeing was the fractoid woman’s crazed, soot-blackened gaze as Scatter held her tenderly in his arms and broadcast that machine language.
Hella struggled through the cobwebs that wrapped her mind. She tried to open her eyes, but they felt as heavy as bricks. When she tried to take a deep breath, it felt as if someone were sitting on her chest.
“Easy.” Stampede spoke softly. “You need to rest, Red.”
Everything came back to Hella in a rush. Adrenaline spiked through her system when she thought about her ruined hand. She opened her eyes and tried to sit up.
Moving gently, Stampede pushed her back into her bedroll. No, it wasn’t her bedroll. She gazed around the unfamiliar tent.
“Pardot gave us access to one of the med tents.” Stampede sat cross-legged beside her. His rifle rested across his knees.
“My hand?”
Stampede tried to speak and couldn’t for a moment. “It’s bad. Pardot was all for amputating it.”
Hella drew her injured arm up to her chest. The pain still throbbed, but it felt a million klicks away.
“I wouldn’t let him.” Stampede’s ears flattened. “I don’t think he was as invested in the situation as he needed to be to make that kind of call.”
“More interested in his new toy?”
“Yeah.”
“Even though it’s broken.”
“Not entirely broken. Scatter has been able to talk to her a little. The fractoid woman isn’t tracking very well.”
“I know the feeling.”
Stampede touched her shoulder lightly. “We’ll get through this.”
“I know.” Hella closed her eyes for a second and realized she was parched. “Is there any water around here?”
Stampede picked up a nearby canteen and held it for her to drink.
Hella remained silent for a while, trying hard not to remember how bad her arm looked. Was the meat really so cooked that it was ready to fall off the bone?
“Scatter wanted to talk to you when you woke up, but Pardot won’t let him.” Stampede looked through the tent door. “Pardot put Scatter under lockdown. When he escaped and came to the swamp where we were, Pardot dropped all pretense of being friends.” He paused. “If you hadn’t been laid up, Red, we’d have bailed on them at that point.” He heaved a sigh. “I really should have already made that decision. That way maybe you wouldn’t be in the shape you’re in.”
“What did Scatter want?”
“When he found out Pardot wanted to amputate your hand, he got all worked up.”
“Why?”
Stampede hesitated. “He thinks he can save it. Or you can.”
“Because of the nanobots.”
“Something like that.”
Hella studied the thick gauze wrapped around her hand and wrist. Thinking of what she was about to do almost made her sick to her stomach. “Help me sit up.”
“You should rest.”
“According to Pardot, I should have my hand chopped off. And if we stay here, I don’t see a good ending happening for us. Do you?”
After a brief pause, Stampede shook his head and twitched his ears. “No. I don’t.”
“Then help me sit up.”
Stampede lifted her gently into a sitting position.
“I need this bandage removed.”
“You don’t want to do this. Trust me.”
“I’m going to have to see it sooner or later, and it’s going to have to be checked for infection.” Hella pushed away all her fear and sickness, but she was afraid it would snap and rush back in on her if she wasn’t strong enough to handle it. “I need to do this now.”
“All right.” Stampede pulled a small throwing knife from somewhere on his person and slit the white gauze that covered her wound. “You might lose some skin. Maybe more. Normally you don’t cover a burn because there’s a tendency for the wound to stick, but Pardot said the wound had to be covered to prevent infection.”
Hella nudged