Free WastelandRogue by Brenda Williamson

world, then directed her thoughts toward her next step.
    A vehicle seemed a promising mode of transportation. She
looked for Sevrin’s steam-trekker. Not only would she cover territory quicker,
the vehicle might contain weapons and other handy supplies.
    She found the machine parked beneath camouflage netting.
Near it, she spotted steel storage boxes with government markings. Since the
day she was born, the government had been nonexistent except in stories passed
down from older generations. Sevrin was too young to have been a part of the
Century Wars that wiped out trillions of humans and turned vast areas of the
world into wastelands. So where did he acquire such beneficial items?
    With no time to waste pondering Sevrin’s accumulated wealth,
she climbed onto the metal-ribbed track wheel, opened the door on the vehicle
and slid into the driver’s seat. She studied the gauges on the panel in front
of her, recalling what she did of the things Sevrin did to make it go. She had
never operated a motorized anything before.
    “How hard can it be?”
    The red button on the panel beckoned her first. She pressed
it. Nothing happened. She turned a black knob. Still nothing. She flipped a switch
that produced a gurgling burp like water made in a pipe. As she listened, a
seething hiss similar to the sound her water kettle made when heated appeared
to start things. The needle in one gauge moved. When it passed a thick white
line, she tried the switch, the knob and then the red button. One of them
brought the engine roaring to life.
    The loudness startled her. Would Sevrin hear it?
    Hastily, she pushed the right-hand pedal on the floorboard.
The vehicle lurched forward. It crashed into the stack of steel boxes, climbing
over and crushing them. She took her foot from the pedal, but it didn’t stop
the steam-trekker as she thought it would and she jammed her left foot against
the left pedal. No help.
    The massive machine continued to pulverize what it could
until too many mangled boxes wedged the un-propelled vehicle and stopped it
from rolling forward. She tried the middle pedal and the steam-trekker lumbered
in reverse, the track wheel squashing everything caught beneath.
    As she came out from under the propped-up netting, she
glanced at the mineshaft shack’s door. Sevrin had to have felt the vibrations
in the cavern. How quickly could he climb the ladder and emerge from the
building? Would he stop and put on clothing?
    That would be a glorious sight, his nudity a veritable
delight to any female’s eye. Her insides trembled when she recalled the
sensations she experienced by his passionate lovemaking. The touch of his
fingers as he glided them over her skin gave her goose bumps. His sweet kisses
made her feel special. She thought of his concern for her health and the gentle
ways he cared for her as she recovered from the blood poison.
    Tears welled in her eyes and she swatted away the ones that
escaped to her cheeks.
    Shaking off the memories and hardening her resolve with
reminders that Shay needed her help, she turned the steering wheel and pushed
the forward motion pedal.
    Aimed toward the sunrise, she relied on instinct as a guide.
It didn’t take long to roll out of sight of the shack and away from Sevrin possibly
stopping her.
    Rye covered a great distance with the vehicle, much quicker
than she imagined. When the unmerciful heat of the sun gave her a headache, she
considered stopping. She favored sleeping in the day, especially in the
afternoon, but she pushed on. Then the engine produced a few grumbling sounds
of exhaustion and quit, making the choice for her.
    She pressed the red button to restart it. A dull roaring
followed a clickety-clack and then nothing.
    “Well, I’m farther along than if I walked.” She opened the
door to get out and then stopped and looked in the back for useful items to
take with her.
    She turned and knelt on the seat to reach as far as she
could for another lizard-skinned flask Sevrin