Bounty Hunter 1: The Bounty Hunter's Revenge Read Online Free

move.
    “Burke! Don’t! Move!”
    “Adam?”
    “Cass. Do you remember what happened?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you sure?” she asked.
    “No.”
    “Do you know where we are?”
    “No.”
    “Go back to sleep.”
     
     
    I opened my eyes. Everything was dark. I
couldn’t move my arms or legs and I felt like something heavy was sitting on my
back. My chest was facing the ground, or at least it felt that way. My visor
must have been down but the suit’s power was off. It displayed nothing and I
couldn’t see out of it.
    “Cass.”
    Nothing.
    “Cass?”
    Still nothing.
    I blinked a few times as if that could magically
clear the darkness in front of me and make the visor turn on. Miraculously, it
seemed to work at first. I thought I saw a faint light growing brighter each
time I squeezed my eyes open and shut. I closed my right eye and only used my
left, and I was in total darkness. I closed my left eye and only looked through
my right eye, and I could see the light. Not a miracle, then. There was a crack
in the faceplate.
    The hole was small, maybe the same size
as a fingertip, but I gazed curiously out of it. It must have been dark out or
else I would have noticed it sooner. The sand looked strange bathed in what I
guessed was moonlight. It looked dark and blue and cold. I strained my memory
and tried to recall if this planet had any moons. I couldn’t remember. I tried
to move.
    “Burke!”
    The suit came to life around me and the
pressure on my back seemed to lessen. I still couldn’t move my limbs but I
successfully wiggled my fingers and toes. Not paralyzed then, just stuck in the
suit.
    “You’re still not allowed to move. Keep
trying and I’ll power down again.”
    “Sorry. How bad is it?”
    The visor blinked on and off in front of
me. I could see that Cass was trying to conserve as much power as she could. I recalled
that this planet had a much longer day and night cycle than most planets. She
needed to store as much power until the night was over and she could recharge
in the sunlight.
    The visor’s display was damaged, and
cracks ran over the screen like fault lines spreading chaotically from the
single hole near my right eye. Cass didn’t waste energy displaying what was
outside and instead showed me my vitals. I had broken my right leg, my left
arm, and a number of ribs. I had several fractures. I was confused how I had
survived the fall at all.
    “I only had a few seconds,” Cass
explained, as if she had guessed my thoughts. “I don’t know how you pulled out
the scrambler but I came back online with only enough time to seal you in,
dampen the fall, and harden the side of the armor that I thought would hit the
ground. I didn’t have time to process the trajectory and had to guess your
front or your back. You’re lucky I guessed right.”
    I laughed and pain shot through my body
like a siren. I stopped laughing.
    “No moving,” she said gently. “I’m sorry
I couldn’t do better. I’ve been keeping you hydrated and nourished but we’ll
run out in a few weeks. I had to use a lot of trial and error with the suit’s
pressure to set your bones properly. I,” she stopped for a moment, as if unsure
how to go on.
    “I’ll be able to see how you’re healing
in a few days. You may not be able to take the chest plate off until you can
get outside medical attention. Your leg took the worst of the fall, and I
wasn’t able to set it properly. You may never be able to use your right leg
without the armor helping you ever again. I’m sorry, Burke.”
    “You did your best. I’m alive. Adam did
this, not you,” I felt like I was straining to talk now, with each extra word
my chest began to tighten. “Why?”
    “No. You need to rest. You have to stay
still for a few more days and then we’ll try to move. To sleep now.”
    “A few more days?”
    “To sleep.”
     
     
    “Burke. Something is here.”
    I don’t know how much time had passed. A
few days, maybe. I reminded myself not to move