Stefan smiled right back. "Always."
A casual walk in the countryside was one thing. Going anywhere without a weapon was totally different. Stefan made sure his rifle was locked and loaded then followed after Sawyer and Dahl.
He blinked at the brightness of the sunlight when Sawyer opened the door. That was another reason he wanted power restored. The difference between kerosene lamplight and outdoor light sucked.
He closed the door behind him after stepping out then followed Sawyer and Dahl once again. If there was anyone in the area—human or mech—he didn't want them to find the entrance and get inside the complex.
It took just a few minutes to make their way around to the front of the complex. Everything looked as it had the day before, but that wasn't saying much. It was all rock and dirt and the occasional bush. It would be relatively hard to know if anyone had been there unless they were actually standing right there.
"See anything?" he asked.
Sawyer was looking through binoculars, surveying the land down the hill from them. "There's riders about three clicks out, five of them on three horses."
"Five people?" Stefan raised his rifle and looked down the scope, pointing it in the same directions Sawyer was looking. "That's Sam, Butler, and Foster, but I don't recognize the other two men."
"I do," Sawyer replied. "That's Ralph Henderson and his son Tim. What they're doing with the others, I have no idea."
Stefan chuckled when he realized who was riding with who. "I do."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, Foster stayed behind because someone had caught his interest, remember?"
"Not really, no."
"Oh, well, yeah, Foster found someone he was interested in getting to know better. I'd bet my next cup of coffee that it's that young man riding on the back of his horse with him."
"Okay, but why are they bringing him here?"
Stefan lowered his rifle and glanced at Sawyer. "Do you remember when we met?"
"Yeah."
"Did you like leaving me behind?" They hadn't been on the same team at the time, so it had happened more than once.
Sawyer frowned. "No, I didn't."
"Well, I doubt Foster does either."
Stefan wasn't sure how he felt about Foster bringing someone not in the unit back with him, especially considering what Roark had to talk to them about. He couldn't fault Foster's desire to have someone at his side, though. He had Sawyer, after all.
"So, I guess we just sit and wait for them to get here, huh?" It wouldn't take that long. They were on horseback.
"Not much else to do."
Stefan started to turn away when he heard a gunshot in the distance. He turned back and swung his rifle up, peering through the scope again. "Mechs!"
He'd barely spoken before he was standing there by himself. Dahl went hauling ass back toward the bunker complex while Sawyer took off on foot.
Damn, he could run fast.
Stefan ran down the hill until he could find a better vantage point. He found a flat plateau at the top of a cliff overlooking the road that wound through the hill up to the complex. He dropped down onto his stomach and sighted in his rifle.
Foster and the others were riding hard toward the complex, but the mechs were right on their tail. A couple of scarabs, three spiders, and a scorpion. Stefan didn't think they were going to make it to safety before they got clobbered, but he'd do everything within his power to help them if he could.
Stefan carefully sighted down his scope and squeezed off a round, nailing one of the scarabs. When he knocked out the second scarab, one of the spiders stopped chasing the others and started cutting through the rock and underbrush, making a beeline right toward Stefan.
It took Stefan two tries to get the spider, and his heart was beating out of control by the time he was done. He took a deep calming breath then started searching for another target. Foster, Sam, and Butler were riding hell-bent for the complex. Sawyer was running right for them.
