“What’ll we do?” he asked Rutger.
Willow arrived a minute later while they were discussing making a travois. Sticking her back in the car seemed wrong.
“We’re nearly there, you two pussies. We put her in the truck. Maura will keep an eye on her. Besides, she’ll heal this same as she did the others.” She kneeled by Cyn’s side and placed a hand on her arm, stayed there a few seconds.
He left her alone, waited, but she only rose, shaking her head.
“I still cannot see it. Though the damage in her brain is visible now. I can even feel the healing happening but maybe it’s gone beyond what she can fix herself.
“We should hurry,” Rutger said.
“Of course. Put her in the truck, and I’ll see if I can speed things up.
He and Rutger exchanged looks. “We can both pull with Toother. If we get ahead, you make sure you keep up.”
If there was nothing there at the end, no Big Daddy vehicle, what would they do then? That hopeless prospect was best ignored. Not yet. Death wasn’t getting her yet.
45
Cyn woke,swaying, and found herself in the truck again, but lying down. Groaning, she levered herself onto her elbow then into a sitting position and peered about through bleary vision.
“Cyn?”
Was that Maura? Yes, she was in the front seat with… Little Mo up on the dashboard still. They were both watching her, as far as her screwy eyes could tell.
“That’s me.” She popped a hand up, let it flop down.
“Almost there. There’s a door up ahead that Rutger has hauled open.”
“Let Little Mo out!” someone sang out.
The front door of the truck creaked open, and Mo sprang to the seat then walked to the left and disappeared. The door slammed, and Maura was there again, peering at her, looking worried. “We think we found it. Your Big Daddy.”
“Oh. Good.” She nodded then winced at the shooting pain in her neck.
Her head size thumped in and out with each heartbeat and as the truck bumped over obstacles. Then it jolted, stopped.With both hands cradled under her jaw, she could look around without it hurting badly.
To the left was gray wall. Ahead, past Toother in harness, was a blue liquid-ish wall, where the colors seemed to flow, with an opening that slowly widened—a dark opening. When enough light entered, the insides of the room bloomed before her.
Revealed was a long room occupied by the vehicle Willow had once sketched to Little Mo’s instructions, as well as mattresses and scattered rubbish, but the latter she barely glanced at.
Big Daddy.
“Here be dragons,” she whispered.
“What?” Maura swiveled. “Dragons?”
“An old belief about the edge of the world where unknown dangers might lie.” It seemed appropriate. They’d found the holy grail of their era. A machine that might, just might, hold an untold wealth of information, and more. Could it also be dangerous? Of course it could.
She smiled. To her it was Hope with a big hugeH.
“Help me out of here.” She leaned to the side and reached for the door handle, couldn’t get her butt to shift, and fell over.Crap.Embarrassing, to go from Ghoul Lord vanquisher to this.
She was up on her elbow trying to inch nearer to that cursed door, when Rutger hauled it open.
Tsking, he helped her climb out, letting her walk with her arm about his waist. Her black combat boots looked and felt as if they were miles away. Her shit-kicker boots.
She sure wished she’d get to kick more shit and teddy bears before her time on Earth was up.
