Borderlander by Joshua Guess

Author:Joshua Guess [Guess, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Amazon: B075HMF4L4
Published: 2017-09-08T07:00:00+00:00

19

Dex had assumed he’d sleep through the excitement. This belief was founded on his own experience and a reasonable expectation that dozens of men armed to the teeth didn’t seem like a peacekeeping force happy to watch from a distance after their friends were brutally killed.

The latter was correct. An attack did come. But the former was wildly off base. Rather than the expected half a day or more of stupor after extended use of his artificial glands, he woke up in four hours feeling rested, sore but not aching, and ravenously hungry.

Penn was still there, sitting a few feet away idly humming to himself. He saw Dex sit up and grimaced. “Sorry. Did I wake you?”

Dex shook his head. “No, my stomach did. I’m starving.”

Penn smiled. “Well, that I can help with. Couple people brought you some spoils of war. Turns out those mercenaries were carrying way better food packs than the ones we get.” He sorted through a small pile of containers next to him, selected one, and handed it over. “This one is steak and mashed potatoes. Figure that has to be better than protein cubes.”

Dex reached out for it, but drew back. His hand shook badly enough that he wasn’t sure he could even hold on to the pack. “Uh, would you mind opening that for me? Guess I’m not all the way back to normal just yet.”

Penn nodded, frowning faintly. “That a side effect?”

“Not usually,” Dex said. “But I pushed myself pretty hard.” He flexed the hand and wrist, carefully tensed the muscles in his forearm and then upward toward the shoulder. The shakiness lessened slightly, but there were still tremors when he reached out for the pack again. “Well, shit.”

“Let me give you a hand, then,” Penn said kindly.

Dex fidgeted uncomfortably. “Are you...offering to feed me?”

“Sure,” Penn said. “Look, you need food. Your fingers aren’t listening to you right now. And it’s not like this is the first time in my life I’ve ever had to do it. When I was young, I took care of my grandmother. Then I got married, had kids. Fed them too. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, and I don’t mind.”

“Kids,” Dex said softly. “Damn. I didn’t even think about stuff like that. I wonder how many people here are away from their children?”

Penn produced one of the disposable utensils that came with the meal packs and loaded it up with a cube of steak. As he held it out for Dex, he smiled wistfully. “More than you’d think. People don’t like to talk about it, you know. Reminds them of what they’ve left behind. Don’t beat yourself up too hard, son. Getting snatched and brought here isn’t a picnic. Doesn’t make you a bad person to think of yourself first. Just human.”

Dex chewed on that as he chewed the food—though barely, as the void in his belly was a demanding god—and wondered how many stories of the people here would end that way. Would their families ever

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