by Mel Odom
"Why?"
"Because we couldn't feed you off the land. All we would have been doing was hunting the whole time, and during that time, you people would have been sitting ducks. When people run out of food out in the Redblight, it doesn't take them long to decide to fit someone from among them in a pot."
Riley's face hardened in disgust. "Cannibals?"
"They don't see it that way. They think of themselves as survivors."
Riley hesitated.
Hella answered before he could ask the question that was on his mind. "No, I haven't ever eaten someone. Neither has Stampede. We know how to hunt and trap and fish, and there's only two of us to feed. We're sustainable on our own. Autonomous."
"I'm glad to hear that. Just so you know, we're buying more food here."
"Stampede and I know that, and we know you've got plenty left to trade with to get more food. Like I said, we weren't going to bring you out here and watch you starve." Hella kept walking. "But that's what the leader of these Purple Dragons was faced with."
"Watching his people turn into cannibals?"
"Yes. And if they did that, they'd have to have someone to blame."
"They'd blame him."
Hella nodded. "So he chose to attack Blossom Heat."
"Why?"
"If they were able to take the camp, their problems would be over. At least for a while. If they couldn't—which they weren't—he'd be able to cut the numbers of his gang down to a more manageable size."
"He knew they would die."
"If they believed long enough that they could sack the camp."
"So all of this was just for attrition?"
"To thin the herd, yeah."
Riley looked around at all the dead and the devastation; then he looked at Hella. "The world I come from isn't like this. We aren't staring down the barrels of guns all day. There's peace." He paused. "You should come back with me and let me show you."
For a moment Hella stood quietly, mesmerized by the idea of seeing where Riley had come from. The idea of a city filled with people appalled her, but getting to see it even for a short time would be fascinating.
"Maybe." Her answer made Riley smile, but she knew he had too many secrets for her to completely trust him.
An explosion detonated only a short distance away. Riley's hardshell closed up automatically, covering his face as dirt and rock peppered them. Looking to the left, toward the sound of the explosion, Hella watched as the mutilated body of one of the scavengers dropped back to earth.
A woman, perhaps the dead man's mother, howled in anguish and rushed over to the smoldering corpse. Two younger children trailed after her. Then an older man joined them, and they collapsed in tears.
Hella felt sorry for them but knew there was nothing she could do. It was already too late, but the rest of the family had learned something that might save another's life later on.
Riley cursed softly. "Booby trap?"
"Yes."
"This isn't a good place to live, Hella. There is more to the world. Think about my offer."
Hella relaxed in the bathtub and thought about turning the hot water back on. The bathwater hadn't chilled, but it wasn't as hot as it had been. She didn't know if she wanted to listen to the water gurgle, though. At the moment the bath was quiet and the scent of the vanilla candles filled the room.
She kept trying to imagine the place Riley had described to her and couldn't. Even after reading magazines and books with Stampede, she couldn't wrap her mind around a place with streets and buildings and homes.
A heavy fist knocked on the door.
By the time Hella lifted her hand from the water, it was a weapon. "Who is it?"
"Me." Stampede's voice sounded tired.
"Do you need in?"
"No. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. I heard there were a couple people killed during the salvage."
"You don't think I'm foolish enough to get caught by a booby trap."
"No, but the thought crossed my mind that someone standing next to you might have been."
Hella smiled and dropped her hand back into the water. "Thanks for caring."
"I'll always care, Red. I also wanted to tell you that we're pulling out in the morning. I tried to talk Pardot into letting the Purple Dragons have more time to scatter or starve out, but we've already stayed here a day longer than he wanted to."
That meant she might be in the last bath. At least she could work in a shower in the morning.
"Look, I heard Riley talking to you about taking you back with them."
Hella closed her eyes and tried to relax. She really didn't want to have that conversation at that moment. "He offered. Doesn't mean I'm going."
"I know. I just want you to be careful. That's all."
Be careful? Hella wanted to argue that point Their lives weren't about being careful or safe. They risked their lives every time they agreed to a guide job.
"I came back from the salvage in one piece, didn't I?" She knew her tone came out sharper than she'd intended.
"You did." Stampede paused. "Faust and I are having dinner in the big room below. Want to join us?"
"When?"
"How long do you want to soak?"
"Forever. I finally feel clean."
"You'll miss dinner if you do that, and what they're serving is better than stringy rabbit and a few wild onions and carrots."
"Give me twenty more minutes."
"Sure. It'll take that long to drink a beer." Stampede's footsteps retreated from the door.
Hella slipped back under the water and submerged completely, shutting off all sensory input except the beating of her heart. She wanted to stay a couple more days at Blossom Heat but only to stay in the bathtub and prune up till she couldn't stand herself.
That wasn't an option, though. However, as she lay there, she gave Riley's description of his world more thought. In his world she'd be able to bathe every night and she'd be in a home that wasn't filled with other people and noise and demands. She couldn't imagine why Riley—or any of the expedition for that matter—would leave such a place.
That made her think even more fervently about what Pardot had them searching for. Riley had mentioned they'd found one of something, but one of what?
Just as she was about to surface to take a breath and maybe turn on the hot water again, Colleen Trammell screamed inside her mind.
CHAPTER 12
The raw agony of the woman's scream reverberated inside Hella's skull. She thought her head would burst open; then she was afraid it wasn't going to burst because bursting was the only thing that could possibly alleviate the excruciating pain.
The visions knocked aside some of the throbbing, though. Images of Colleen standing in a laboratory, dressed all in white and wearing a white surgeons mask, formed in Hella's mind. Colleen sat at a table and watched a group of small rodents inside a plastic cage.
Leprous contusions covered most of the rats, several running sores that wept thick, green pus. A number of the rats inside the cage lay dead. Two lay on their sides and kicked through what had to be their death throes.
Tears tracked down Colleen's face, but her features were devoid of expression. Calmly she shoved her hands into waldos, mechanical gloves built into the cage, and caught one of the rodents in one hand. The creature was so sick, it couldn't move much even though it was panicked. Its ears, nose, and paws were white as paper from improper blood circulation. "Give me the serum."
A lab-coated assistant standing nearby took a vial from a protective case. The contents were colorless, and the fluid looked like water.
"Load the injector." Colleen waited patiently but Hella sensed the impatience and fear inside the woman. Hella tried to break free of the experience, not wanting to observe whatever was coming, and couldn't. Colleen's hold on her mind was too strong.
The assistant attached the vial to a tube hooked into an apparatus that looked like a small, sleek pistol inside the plastic rodent cage. Colleen squeezed t
he trigger experimentally, and the apparatus cycled with a soft whir. Cautiously, she cupped the rodent in one gloved palm, slid the needle into the animal's hindquarters, and triggered the injector.
The apparatus whined as it cycled, and the rodent struggled to escape Colleen's grip. Tiny bubbles formed in the tubing as fluid drained. Colleen waited, her breath held and her chest tight with anxiety so strong that Hella felt it.
The rodent squirmed and squealed, barely audible because it was so weak and the plastic cage was so thick. Pink returned to the rodent's ears, nose, and extremities. More energy flowed through it, and it fought against the big, black glove that held it.
"Everything looks good, Dr. Trammell." The assistant's voice was thin and quiet. "The serum is working."
Colleen didn't say anything. Hella felt the woman's doubt and fear. Her breath rasped dryly against the back of her throat.
The rodent suddenly convulsed, and Hella thought the reaction was even more horrifying because she couldn't feel the movement. Blood suddenly streamed from the creature's eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and anus. Small, crimson bubbles popped over its nose as it panted. It managed one final, shuddering breath, then lay still.
"No." Colleen's voice broke as she moaned.
Hella didn't understand the woman's reaction. The rodent was just a creature, not even edible unless someone were desperate. And that was only if it had been healthy, which it obviously was not.
Then suddenly the rodent was gone, replaced by the body of a small girl with mouse-brown hair. She lay on her side, blood streaming from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
"No! Alice!"
Sheer panic thrummed inside Hella, and she tried to look away from the dead girl in the cage. It wasn't real.
She had been dreaming.
Hella sat up in bed with someone holding her by the shoulders. Instinctively she fought against the hold and morphed her hands into weapons.
"Hella!" Stampede's voice rang out in the darkness of the room as he grabbed her wrists. Moonlight filtered in through the window and gave her just enough light to see him standing at the side of her bed. "Hella!"
"Okay. You can let me go." Irritably she pushed at his hands, knocking them from her wrists.
"What happened?"
"Bad dream."
Stampede studied her. "Not like you to have bad dreams."
"Plenty of reasons after this morning." Hella scooted up in bed and placed her back against the headboard mounted on the wall. She didn't want to talk to Stampede about what she'd seen. Giving voice to the horror in that lab seemed obscene. She wouldn't give the nightmare any more time than it had already demanded.
"Want to talk about it?"
"No." Never. Hella reached for the water bottle on the nightstand, uncapped it, and took a few sips. Her throat was so parched, it felt as though it would crack. For the first time, she realized she was covered in perspiration.
"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?"
"Finally got him to fess up to it this morning. He's got this expedition out here because of some vision Dr. Trammell had back wherever they came from."
"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."