This was exactly what he’d been worried about so he brushed a quick kiss on Devora’s cheek, grabbed a survival bar and followed his friend to the other bus.
* * *
Hours later after working on the second bus’s undercarriage with Ethan and doing the best they could to put a temporary patch on the leak, Les was hot, tired and dirty. They’d had to move the bus to reach a portion of the rutted trail where they could get under it to work on the problem and he was a mess.
“Think it’ll hold?” Ethan asked.
“We should get out of the ruts and onto the hillside trail early tomorrow,” Les said, wiping his hands as best he could on his tee shirt. “Maybe if it doesn’t get scraped or banged too much, yeah, it’ll hold.”
He had posted guards, mostly as a precaution against roaming wildlife, once he’d been told by Devora that the animals the colonists who’d settled Randal Four called bears and mountain lions were native to this area. “A big predator won’t be afraid to attack a human if its hungry,” she’d said.
One of his guards came up to him now, looking him over with a mixture of disgust and amusement. “There’s a creek about a hundred yards in that direction,” she said, pointing. “You two might want to wash up a bit before getting on the buses. Or going on a date,” she added, winking at Les.
He stifled a curse. The refugee group was like a small community and he guessed gossip spread as fast here as it would in a town. “Thanks,” he muttered.
The creek was as he’d expected—cold and fast. The water was runoff from the foothills. At least there was a place where the water had carved out a pond for itself and after gritting his teeth against the chill he stripped and climbed in, dunking himself repeatedly. He had a bit of soap someone had saved from the grocery truck and had to use small towels also from the truck to dry off. He had no change of clothes so got dressed again in the utilities he’d been wearing and the Lally O tour tee shirt. Nothing he could do about it. He hoped Devora wouldn’t mind too much.
When he got back to the buses, his companions were pretty much outside. He’d agreed to allow a small campfire and the group was loosely congregated around the fire, relaxing, talking, eating snacks from the truck they’d looted. Les was glad the refugees could enjoy a night of relative peace. Tomorrow if all went well they’d be in the Glastine refugee camp and who knew what the conditions were like there. Based on what he’d seen at the makeshift camp in the arena where Lally had been performing, it could be a real nightmare.
The thought had him straightening his spine and searching for Devora and Jenny.
“Your woman’s in the bus, putting the kid to sleep,” said someone as he passed.
“Thanks.” Sandy sat with a few other people and he detoured to speak with her. “I’m about to take Devora for a walk if you can come babysit now.”
“Sure.” She got up with no hesitation and walked to the bus with him. “I hope the two of you have a nice time on your walk.”
Les ignored her remark and climbed quietly into the bus. Devora smiled at him and put a finger to her lips, indicating the sleeping toddler. He nodded and made a beckoning gesture so she got up to follow him. She and Sandy exchanged a few low-voiced comments before the babysitter ascended into the bus and left the couple alone.
* * *
Devora was nervous, not knowing what Les wanted to talk about. She loved the idea of time alone with him and she could tell he’d taken a bath in the creek—his hair was still wet. She wished she could have done the same. Reflecting on the kinds of preparations she used to make before going on a date, even a group date with old friends, she chuckled to herself. The world had sure changed. “I’m not dressed for a date,” she said, glancing at her stained shirt and dusty pants.
“You look like a million credits to me,” he said, reaching out to take her hand. “I picked out a good spot for star gazing, not too far away from the group, but we can have a bit of privacy anyway.”
“Will it be safe?” she asked.
“I’ve got my gun,” Les said. “I’m not anticipating any trouble from infected all the way up here in the foothills. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you, lady.”
They were now a good distance from the buses and Les stopped at the base of a rock formation. “Let me give you a boost. There’s a flat rock surface perfect for star gazing.”
Les took her in his arms and lifted her to the rock he was talking about. She made her way to the other side to give him room to join her, which he did shortly, pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her.
“Now this is nice,” she said, relaxing into him. “You’re warm.” She wished she could stop thinking about the situation they were in and what might lie ahead. “Did you and Ethan fix the other bus?”
“Temporary patch job, best we can do out here in the wilderness,” he said. “It needs a garage to fix properly but that isn’t happening. She just has to get over the pass tomorrow and then it’s literally downhill to Glastine.”
Devora leaned her head back to stare at the sky, where a myriad of stars had come out, blazing in the heavens. “So pretty. Makes our problems seem insignificant compared to the whole galaxy.”
He murmured agreement.
“I love to pick out the constellations,” she said. “My Dad used to take us camping and he’d point out the biggest stars and the patterns they make. See, there’s the sleeping cat and over there is the Archer. He was always my favorite.”
Les’s laughter rumbled through his chest. “If you say so. I didn’t grow up on Randal Four, remember? My home stars are all different.”
Devora moved so she could see his face. Raising her arm, she pointed to a pulsating red star and said, “That’s the cat’s eye, there are the stars forming its spine and then the smaller ones are its tail.”
He squinted at the sky and then at her. “How did I miss that? Clear as mud.”
