Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Driving Lesson Chapter 3 Page 2

George looked around. They were on a sandy hill in the middle of nowhere. The low outcropping of rocks on the middle of the hill might provide some shelter. There were stunted bushes attempting to grow at the base of the rocks.

"What do we do now?" George asked, "Do we get out?"

Tricia shook her head. "We must always be careful out here."

George noticed that Tricia had left the engine running. Ready to run, he assumed.

"She'll meet with us," Mabel in the back seat said, "Meanwhile, keep your eyes out."

George looked out again. The only detail he found of interest was the scattered bones near the pickup's front wheel. The bones looked like they were freshly picked. The remains of Iona's dinner, perhaps?

It did not look like there had been a camp fire in the area. George always imagined that fire was a prerequisite for camping in the wilderness. At least, that was what network television taught him.

George turned to face the front of the vehicle.

"Hey, it's Squirt!"

The boy in the passenger seat squeaked with surprise. Close to the windscreen of the vehicle was the face of a girl wearing a helmet of purple fur and bone plates, crafted in the likeness of a cat's head. It was Iona. She was crouching on the hood of the vehicle.

The girl wore a cloak of purple fur, which had dark-brown bone plates attached. She had a breastplate of similar bone, along with brown leather clothing. In addition, she had purple gloves shaped like the paws of a cat and matching fur boots. Iona did not need a breathing mask for the wasteland's arid air.

"Is the area safe?" Tricia asked.

"Yeah, it's safe," Iona replied, "for us, that is." She climbed up to sit on the roll bar above the pickup's windscreen.

Tricia backed the vehicle close to a rock and turned off the engine.

Mabel jumped out of her seat at the back with a rifle in her hand. "Anywhere we can eat?" she asked, "I'm famished."

George got out of the pickup too, grateful for the chance to stretch.

Iona pointed towards the rocks. "There's a small cave with clean air. Unless you want to put up a tent."

"Too much work," Mabel decided, "Let's see the cave." She took a backpack out of the one of the lockers in the back of the pickup before she followed after Iona.

Tricia removed another backpack from another of the lockers. "Just let me set the traps..." She stretched a wire across the cargo and pushed something under the steering wheel. She checked her sword and sidearm pistol, then slung an assault rifle over her shoulder. "Right, let's go."

George followed Tricia as they went after the other two Vixens.

The cave that Iona showed them was a small crack in the rocks with no space for them to stand. It was dark within. Mabel lit a small LED lamp.

Iona stayed outside to keep watch.

George took off his mask. The air in the cave was cool and gentle on his nose. Iona had found a good place.

"You should rest up and eat even if you're not hungry," Tricia advised, "There's not many places where you can take off your mask to eat."

"But we've a tent if necessary, right?" George asked.

"If desperate, we can put up a tent," Tricia said, "Setting it up is easy with it's 'quick deploy' function. It's the packing after that is tedious."

"That's because we were too cheap to spring for a tent that's quick to set up and collapse!" Mabel added.

That was not something to be proud of.

"Say, why hasn't Laura made such a tent for us?" Tricia pondered aloud.

"That's a good question," Mabel replied. She tore open a nutrition bar and took a bite.


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