Bounty Hunter 1: The Bounty Hunter's Revenge Read Online Free PDF Page A

were
standing, but half of the roof was still intact. We dragged the body of the
animal into one of the far corners of the room that blocked it from the sun,
and then settled ourselves down in the opposite corner in direct sunlight.
    “We need the light for power, Burke.
I’ll try to keep you comfortable but it may get a little warm in here,” Cass
explained.
    I felt the faceplate rejoin itself to
the rest of the helmet and the suit locked itself in place, supporting me even
better than before. I felt like I was elevated in midair, as if I was laying
down but still upright at the same time. A faint rush of cool air filled the
inside of the suit. I heard Cass say one more thing but I was already too far
gone, fast asleep, and more worn out than I had ever been in my entire life.
     
     
    * * *
     
     
    A few days passed in a blur. Days, at
least, as I viewed them. I slept away dozens of hours and the sun was still in
the sky and showed no signs of nearing the horizon. Time was without meaning
for me during those days, and I moved awkwardly and slowly when Cass granted me
limited control of the armor. My right leg was kept rigid the entire time and
felt more like a crutch than a usable leg. She refused to allow me control of
that limb and, even though I couldn’t blame her, it was still frustrating.
    We discovered what parts of the suit
were damaged over those first days. I had to laugh when I found that the blades
that ran down the length of the armor’s forearms were broken in a different
order than my actual arms. My left arm had a usable blade, while the right
blade in my intact arm spilled out of its sheath in shattered pieces. I
collected them and put them aside for later use. Something sharp would not be
easily found alone on an uninhabited world.
    The suit’s communication systems were
broken, not that it would have mattered much on a planet as large as the one we
were stranded on. I suspected that there must have been more than one base
built here for other thieves and outcasts but they would be impossible to find
without knowing where they were in advance.
    Cass told me that the visor should stay
operational despite the cracks. I almost told her that it didn’t matter if
there was no combat in the future, but I stopped myself. Despite how bleak my
situation looked I kept reminding myself to stay positive. For all I knew Adam
assumed I was dead and I could ambush him if he came to claim my body. Maybe
the thieves had a second group that shared the base.
    On the worst days, when I couldn’t
convince myself that there was hope, I pushed aside all thoughts and focused
solely on survival.
    We rounded up all of the bodies of the
dead thieves after a few days of resting. We rifled through their pockets and
made a small pile of everything useful. We found a little food and water, which
Cass took it upon herself to ration out to me. I conceded to that since she
could stretch it out as long as possible when used in tandem with whatever
scarce supplies the suit still had.
    Each thief had a weapon and a small
stash of ammunition along with the occasional grenade. They were separated out
into a different pile. Several had had communication devices that were rendered
useless when the main base had been destroyed. Still, I knew that I could use
them for salvage along with the other odd pieces of electronics I found on
their bodies. Some had alcohol, which I had no practical use for but kept
anyway despite Cass’s objections.
    I was lucky enough to find a cooking
plate on one of the men. Cass was confident that she could power it if we found
a way to connect it to the suit’s power supply. With all of the electronics
that I could potentially scavenge from I now had a way to prepare the meat that
we had dragged to the base with us.
    The men had been laying in their own
filth for almost two weeks and had been gnawed at by whatever animals came out
during the night. There weren’t many pieces of clothing that weren’t