Glory Boy by Partlow Rick

Author:Partlow, Rick [Partlow, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2016-12-05T05:00:00+00:00

***

Fifty minutes later, I staggered into the clearing, tripping over a root and nearly falling on my face. I was exhausted, a feeling I hadn’t experienced for months, and I knew why; my headcomp had been telling me for a while now. It had burned through the readily available calories in my system to power the nanites trying to heal me and was now eating away at my blood sugar and body fat. I had to get something to eat or get myself into an automed or I was going to keel over. The augments could keep me running or they could keep me healing, but not both.

I slumped to a seated position and dragged in a few deep breaths. I was here now; this was the extraction point, a clearing over a hundred meters across, left over from a forest fire not that long ago, just a kilometer or so from a creek that I’d had to ford. The question was whether anyone else was going to show up. I pulled my hood off, feeling the night chill evaporating the sweat that covered my face, then absently remembered to grab my Gauss pistol out of its holster. How much good it would do me if the Tahni found me was questionable, but it was all I had left.

What if we didn’t get out of this one? I forced myself to consider it, now that I had the time. What if Mat and Cowboy and Daniela and the others couldn’t get to us; or worse, what if they were already dead?

The research station, I decided. I’d wait here and rest up for a few hours to see if Deke or Holly or Brian showed up, then I’d head for the research station. Jaden and Abel had died, so they wouldn’t be questioned, which meant the research station was a viable fallback. There was food there, and shelter, and maybe an automed. I chewed on my lip as I thought about it, about the possibility that I was the last one left, and I fought back the panic that tried to overwhelm me.

“Is this a private party,” I heard his voice before I detected him, which I guess was a testament to how shaken up I was, “or can anyone join in?”

I didn’t start at the words because I recognized the voice immediately. Instead, I looked around and saw Deke walking into the clearing along the trail I’d just come up, yanking off his hood and settling down on the ground next to me. I let out a long hiss of breath and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t know,” I said, trying to make my voice lighter than my mood. “If I let you in, anyone might think they can sit here. We gotta’ maintain some kind of standard, right?”

He sniffed what might have passed for a laugh. “Any trouble getting here?”

I shook my head. “Haven’t seen or heard a damn thing. You?”

“That fucking High Guard trooper hit the

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