Page 12 of Rebel
“How many miles can the buggy get us?” Lore asked.
“Sixty,” Tide said. “We have an hour of fuel left, and then we have to go on foot for thirty miles.” He glanced at me. “Which with rest breaks would take us all day.”
I leaned forward in my seat. “You don’t have to worry about me. I have enough stamina to keep up with you all.”
His smile was smug. “I doubt that very much.”
“Rogue has trained and fought every day of her life for the last few years,” Xavier said. “She can keep up. But the nights in the Limira dustlands are freezing, and it’ll be dark in a few hours, and then it will stay that way for fourteen hours. We’ll need to camp out for the first eight, and then when the temperature rises, we can continue using the star lamps we’ve powered during the day to get us to the station.”
“There’s only one thermal tent,” Lore pointed out.
“We’ll have to make do,” Tide said tersely. “There are a couple of thermal blankets, and we can rotate using the tent until the temperature begins to rise enough to continue our journey.”
Vex hadn’t spoken for the longest time, but when he did, it was with a question that hadn’t even entered my mind. “What about predators?”
Once again, silence loomed, and then Lore answered. “The majority of Limira X is unexplored. The satellite station is in a walled and secure squad with a landing pad for shuttles, so …”
“You have no idea,” Vex finished for him.
“No.”
Oh, great. “Please, tell me you have weapons.”
The silence said it all.
Well, this was going to be fun.
6
The dustlands were hot, as in perspiration-on-your-brow hot and sweaty-thighs hot. The shuttle buggy had given up on us three miles back, and we’d been walking ever since. The guys carried packs with supplies, and even though they’d insisted there was no need, I’d snagged a pack too. It was heavy but not unmanageable. However, the air was a little on the thin side here, and my chest ached from exertion. The guys seemed unaffected by the heat, and there was no way I was going to be the one holding them back. My lungs would have to adjust to the atmosphere.
There was nothing but more dry land and dead-looking shrubbery as far as the eye could see. As the minutes passed, breathing became easier, and my stride lengthened.
“We should take a break,” Vex said.
“Tired, Trad?” Tide asked.
Xavier shot Tide a lethal look. Oh, God. The animosity between those two was getting worse. I’d obviously missed something.
“I think Vex was asking for me.” I smiled. “But I’m fine. I can go for a bit longer.”
Tide frowned and then nodded. “We keep going for a bit longer.”
The sun beat down, and there wasn’t a breeze in sight, and then the terrain shifted slightly and mountains came into view in the distance to the east. We continued for another mile before the sky began to darken to a deeper blue.
“Damn it,” Lore said. “It looks like night is catching up to us. We have an hour, if that, before it gets dark. We need to set up camp.”
The guys broke into a jog toward the denser thatch of shrubbery up ahead, and then packs were pulled off and supplies pulled out. I had the tent, and Xavier took it from me. He and Lore had it set up in no time. They’d obviously had practice.
“You and Tide take the first shift in the tent,” Xavier said to Lore. “Rogue can fit in there with the two of you. Vex and I will take the thermo-blankets. We can switch every hour.”
Lore looked like he was about to protest, but Xavier cut him off. “Rogue is staying in the tent until the temperature rises. She’s human, and the human body won’t be able to cope with just the thermo-blanket when the temperature plummets. The tent is the only option.”
In other words, there was no getting out of sharing a tent with me.
“I don’t bite.” I grinned to showcase my teeth to Lore. “Not unless you want me to.”
He blinked down at me, his golden eyes ringed in inky-dark lashes flaring, and then he took a step back. “I’ll set up the lamps.”
