They swam away with an angry twitch of tail feathers.
He finished off his meal, drank some water, then relieved himself in the nearby bushes. He’d hoped to get to Drek’s camp in a day, but he hadn’t factored in the numerous detours. From the sun’s position, he estimated a few hours of daylight remained. Unable to see obstructions on a moonless night, he couldn’t travel after dark.Better get a move on. Log as many muh-ruga as I can.
Strolling to the crawler, he heard apfftand then something pinged off the reinforced vehicle.
Pfft! Pfft!
Searing pain pierced his thigh, and he fell to the ground, blood spurting from his leg.
Pfft!A plume of dirt shot up right next to his head. He rolled away.I’m under attack!
Leg on fire, he used his arms to crawl on his belly. Another blast seared his shoulder.They’re going to kill me.Agony shot through him as he dragged himself the last few ruga and hauled himself into the reinforced vehicle.
Hands shaking, his fingers slippery with blood, he activated the automatic pilot. The crawler fired up and headed out of the rest stop. Through the view screenhe spotted two armed males, faded hats pulled low over their determined faces, barricaded behind a vehicle at the entrance.
They fired at the crawler.
Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!
Although the reinforced hull was impenetrable, he flinched at every hit. The men kept shooting until the very last second before the crawler plowed into their vehicle, forcing them to leap out of the way.
Shots continued to bounce off the hull as the vehicle growled down the road.
“Pikur zok vinik okum!”he swore and collapsed onto a narrow bench seat, clutching his bleeding right leg. He could barely move his left arm from the pain in his shoulder. Earth weapons were no match against vaporizers, but in a hand-to-hand battle against a Progg who’d stupidly left his weapon in the crawler, they were quite effective.
Something hard had lodged in his thigh and shoulder. Until his body expelled the embedded foreign objects and healed itself, he’d continue to suffer.
I could have been killed.A couple of shots had come perilously close to his head. Progg physiologywas a marvel of bodily repair, but it couldn’t mend having one’s brains splattered.
It appeared the survivors still had fight in them and weren’t going to give up. Their courage stood in stark contrast to Knife’s acts of cowardice.
Belatedly, it dawned on him that he could have used the tracker’s help to find Grav. Only a tracker could safely approach both Progg and humans. But the idea to search for his brother hadn’t occurred until after he’d killed Knife, and he had no regrets about vaporizing the man.
The crawler climbed over a vehicle, the rocking motion sending stabbing pain through his injured limbs. Vision grayed, and, for a moment, he almost passed out. Every jolt would be excruciating, but he couldn’t halt the vehicle and wait for his body to heal; he had to put maximum distance between him and his attackers as fast as he could.
If they managed to overtake the crawler, they could tip it over. They couldn’t get inside, but he’d be trapped with few food rations. All they would have to do was wait it out.
He tried to get up to see if they were in pursuit, but spiking pain blurred his vision, and he collapsed. His body would push out the projectiles embedded inhis shoulder and thigh and knit the wound closed, but replenishing the lost blood would take a while. His shirt and pants leg were stained and sticky, but it appeared the bleeding had slowed.
The crawler crashed through a pileup of cars, and agony splintered through him.
This time, he did pass out.
Chapter Seven
Go. Go. Go. Faster. Faster.
She pedaled on the shoulder of the interstate like the demons of hell were at her back, because they were. She’d lain under the pickup for hours, afraid of exposing herself if she moved.
A guardian angel must have been sitting on her shoulder, whispering for her to wait. As the shadow of dusk spread over the city, Caleb and Zack returned, stopping beside the truck. She could see their sneakers. Then a set of mid-calf boots joined them.
She took shallow breaths, hardly daring to breathe.
“We couldn’t find her,” Caleb said.
“It’s getting too dark to see,” Zack added.
“That is not my problem,” the Progg spoke. “That is your problem. Deliver her to me by morning.”
