Left for Dead

06

Two days later Sunshine was insisting she needed to get back out in her tent. She managed to talk Pony & Cola around, & Mikey agreed that he'd hit the road, too, not bringing up her leg at all.

When the pair were getting on their bikes is when he stopped her.

"Why won't you stay in one place?" Mikey asked, leaning on Sunshine's bike and crossing his arms.

Sunshine, already hidden behind her bandana & goggles, stared at him for a long moment, but Mikey's patience and her own need to get on the move won out.

"I don't know if the City can track my cuff or not. I don't even know if they would, if they can. But I don't like to hole up anywhere for more than two days, especially with other rebels, in case the boss comes calling." Sunshine finally admitted.

"You can't live like that forever."

Sunshine looked up from her cuff in surprise. "It's been nearly a year & they haven't come for me yet. I figure after a year I can start staying places for a month at a time, then longer. Find a little waystation & finally settle down in another year or two."

"What if they find you now? Hurt & sick & alone in a tent?"

Sunshine shrugged. "If they take me back to the City, it'll be in a bag, by their guns or mine."

"How about we just go hole up somewhere for a couple days so we can watch each other's backs?" Mikey suggested. "I need a few more days away from G, you need a few more days to heal up and finish those antibiotics I know you were smart enough to steal."

Sunshine grinned behind her bandana, caught, then the expression faded. "I don't really like trusting other rebels."

"I trust you." Mikey said, staring into her goggles. He knew she was watching him.

Sunshine fidgeted for a moment. "Why?"

"You know my crew is high on the hit lists. You know where we live, you know my name. You've known it all for months, and nothing bad has happened. You've saved my ass more than once now." Mikey shrugged. "I could be ghosted or gotten four times over by now if that was what you wanted."

"You could just be getting me vulnerable to eliminate that threat, especially given my... job history."

Mikey said nothing, just looked at her, hurt.

"Jesus Christ, going soft is gonna get me killed. Fine, let's go. I know a fucking farmhouse not far from here."

The house had a couple broken windows and the doors were boarded over, but it was sturdier & roomier than Sunshine's tent. Mikey had to help her through the window because of her leg, but once inside the pair got to work clearing emergency exits and ways to bring their bikes in, to remain undiscovered.

There was only one bed in the master bedroom, but neither of them would be using it; the house was too drafty. They dragged the mattress, couch cushions, and all the blankets & pillows they could find into the kitchen & lit the wood stove.

Mikey insisted that Sunshine take the mattress, and she didn't have it in her to argue, instead watching him settle down on the couch cushions.

Thanks to her fever & the draft, she shivered all night, her chill made worse by having switched back to her shorts to stop the jeans from chafing her stitches any more.

The next morning dawned, finding Sunshine pale & exhausted.

"Shit, Sunshine, here." Mikey dumped his blankets on her, then scared up some water & PowerPup for them both. "Did you get any sleep?"