Typical gaudiness, he thought disdainfully, but I didn't know there were any transport centers this far from the coast. Must 'ave been at the center of the blast... He shook his head in grudging admiration then. Fools they may 'ave been, but they did know how to build to last. I could almost wonder why the demons won. Almost.
Chapter 4
Her stomach growled when she woke up the following morning, the light from the sun making it just far enough down to cast a greyish cast over the immense cavern. She shifted slightly, masking a groan as the rough hide scraped across her skin, but managed to force herself up to a sitting position so she could look around.
The first thing she looked at were her own wrists, the angry red slashes in each looking even worse than she remembered, and she shuddered at the memory of the pain.
She should be dead, she knew that. There was no way that she could have survived what she did. Her mother had taught her a lot growing up, and her father taught her even more. Injuries were a fact of life on a farm, and she had learned about heatstroke and dehydration from the moment she could crawl.
The insides of her wrists were puffy with the burn, a burn worse than any she'd ever had, and Elan had to wonder how badly the rest of her looked. A brief glance under the hides told her that it wasn't a pretty sight, and it looked about as bad as it felt. She didn't know what her face was like, but that was probably for the best.
"Drink."
She started then, jumping and twisting, then falling and wincing. The sound had come from behind her, and when she opened her eyes again she could see Kaern standing in the dim backlighting of the filtered sunlight.
"W...what?"
"Drink," he told her again, then tossed a leather wrap to her lap. "And eat. Ye need to replace the blood you lost, else yer not gonna make it, lass."
Drink. Elan shivered, but nodded. She knew that. She took the water skin that was lying beside her and took several long swallows from it before sealing it and putting it back down. Only then did she unwrap the leather roll, pick out one of the jerky strips, and begin gnawing at it.
She knew that she needed food, but despite the rather vocal opinions of her stomach, she didn't feel much like eating until she began to wash the food around her mouth. It wasn't the best tasting thing she'd ever had, to be sure, but it had been pounded with berries and nuts, she thought, and the meat was enough to make her mouth water, so she chewed quickly and swallowed.
And then her hunger really hit.
*****
Kaern watched in approval as she polished off about three days of rationed strips in a few minutes, not worrying too much about the food itself. He'd scored another three rabbits in the deadfalls the night before and would have them roasting before too long. For the moment, though, she needed the nutrients in the jerky more than he did.
"Keep drinking," he told her as he dropped his gear near the burnt out fire. "Ye need the liquid."
Elan nodded again and took another long drink. Only when she was done did she realize that she was also in a need to dispense with some liquid. She squirmed a bit, grimacing, and looked around.
"What?" Kaern asked, eyeing her.
"I...well...need..."
He held up a hand. "Say no more, lass. I should have remembered, been there meself. Come, I'll help you up."
She hesitated then, but suddenly felt foolish for doing so. It wasn't like she had anything he hadn't seen already, nor did she look or feel particularly human at the moment, so she nodded and took his hand as he lightly lifted the hides from her and helped her up.
When he led her deeper into the cave rather than outside, she objected softly. "I can't here... It'll smell and..."
"Relax, lass," he told her, "and touch that square right there if ye will."
"This?" She pointed to something on the wall.
"Aye."
She reached out and touched it, and jumped in surprise when it glowed suddenly and a section of the wall slid up in a flash so fast she could barely follow it.
"Magic..." she uttered in shock and fear.
Kaern snorted. "Nay, lass. No magic here, just some wonderful toys made by some very foolish folk. Come with me now."
He led her in, then to another vanishing section of the wall, and finally to an odd-looking chair with a hole in it. It looked almost like the place Momma and Pappa had built outside their farm, but far neater.
"Sit here. Do what ye must," he told her. "I'll be outside."
He helped her sit down, then stepped outside and let the door close. As soon as it did, a light lit up around her, and she started again, staring around herself in worry and fear. Slowly she reached out and touched the wall, running her finger through the dust to reveal what was underneath. It was white, very white, and everything felt cold to the touch but smooth in a way even her blades didn’t match. It was very strange.
*****
Kaern eyed the stock in the control room with interest, noting that it was indeed a transport center. The place looked fairly intact, actually, which was unusual for those old remnants of fallen civilization. He immediately crossed to the emergency kit that was mounted on the wall and yanked it down to check it.
"Bah," he muttered, shaking his head. "Nothing but toys."
The kit was full, but it was one of the more advanced models and contained a great many tools, none of which were of much use to Kaern. He closed it up and set it on the desk. He'd take it anyway.
The girl could probably put them to some use, once she knew enough not to be a threat to herself and others. In the meantime, he'd carry it. The kits were small and lightweight anyway, and probably contained some drugs that were of use, at least. The rest of the room was equally intact, though covered in depths of dust that were certainly indicative of the years since it had been used. How much of the dust was the remains of people killed in the blasts that turned the land above to a wasteland, he didn't care to know.
He was eyeing a structural map when the door to the lavatory opened and the girl came stumbling out.
"Ye done?" he asked softly, not looking back.
"Y...yes," she said, leaning heavily against the wall.
"Alright, lass," he said, straightening up. "Come then, we'll put ye back down for a while. After ye get some more to drink."
She groaned softly, which brought a slight smirk to his face, but nodded wearily as he caught her arm and helped her walk back out into the main area. As they passed the door, Kaern made sure that it wasn't gene-locked anymore before he let it close.
*****
Periods of sleep and waking passed in a blur for Elan, mostly feeling like some fog-filled dream that only became clearer on a very slowly progressive incline. She wasn't certain how long she was in the stupor induced by her injuries, not to mention the ground cactus spines her rescuer fed her, but felt that it was probably a couple days at least.
She didn't know if it was night or day anymore, but suddenly realized that she was bathed in light from above and didn't understand how.
She shifted then, the dry rasp of the hide against her skin a far-off irritation rather than a searing pain, and sat up painfully as the muscles in her wrists stretched as she propped her weight against them.
"How are ye feelin?"
She looked over to see the man, Kaern, sitting cross-legged near a smoldering fire. The smoke was floating up into the huge expanse of space above their heads, and Elan could see it shifting and drifting above them.
"Better," she replied, mildly surprised to find that it was the truth.
"Aye." He nodded. "Ye are that. I think ye'll survive this bout with whatever foolishness or bad luck ye encountered. Better then ye deserve probably."
Elan clenched her fists then, knuckles whitening and the flesh of her wrists screaming at her as memories flashed back through her mind.