Interlude #2
Walking back to the rover, Alana grabbed her rifle and checked the magazine. Scanning a second time for signs of an ambush, she found nothing. Alana sighed and returned, this time with a bit more annoyance, to the tent. If she was needed so urgently, Lusa had better be awake.
She peeled back the corner of the entrance flap. Peeking in, Alana immediately snapped her head back, muttering expletives. Two sleeping bags, only one occupied. At the noise, a girl’s head popped out, black hair plastered to her face and more freckles than Pinga. Alana quickly raised her rifle.
“Who the fuck are you? Where’s Lusa?”
Lusa’s head joined the girl’s, with roughly the same hairstyle. “Alana!”
“Who is this? Why is she here?” Alana nudged her rifle at Lusa’s new fuckbuddy.
“This is Caoi-Kerr,” Lusa stammered. “It’s a long story and the geostat window was short. I could only get a quick message out.”
Exaggerating a gag, Alana holstered her pistol. “Wash first. Both of you. This tent smells like a brothel.”
A few minutes later Lusa emerged from the tent, head low. “Thanks for coming.” Lusa may be an adult, but she couldn’t help but see her as an overgrown teenager. Getting old sucked.
Occupying herself with the pan of deer bacon, Alana handed Lusa a metal mug of Koffi. “Stretch your legs. Can’t have you walking sideways into whatever shit you’ve gotten us into.”
Annoyed, but still needing caffeine, Lusa took it. “I didn’t ask you here to comment on my sex life.”
Alana glared before turning back to the pan. “I don’t know how you and your mom drink that awful sludge.” Alana flipped the deer bacon with a fork. “Where’s your friend?”
“She’s scared of you.” Lusa waved a hand over her face. “For good reason. There’s beef between Chargers and Styx.”
“Ah. Maybe you should have warned her, then.” Alana sipped her tea and put the mug down. “I’ll deal with it. And then you’re going to explain why I’m here.”
“Don’t kill her. This is Pinga’s fault.” Lusa tensed, ready to stop her if she had to. Alana had seen her in action and had no doubt that she could, but she had no intention of harming the girl. Yet.
Alana handed Lusa her fork. “Don’t let my bacon burn.”
Thankfully the flap lay on the ground, the tent airing out.
Alana had no desire to stew in the aftermath of whatever they had been doing in there.
Lusa might not be blood related, but the Lake was a strange experience.
The last twenty-something years watching the same group of kids grow up made them all yours to some extent.
It made navigating everything awkward on both sides.
She checked the safety and threw her rifle in the tent. It landed softly on the sleeping bag. Kerr’s eyes flew from the gun to Alana’s unnaturally green irises.
“That could have gone off.” The girl opted for bravado, but she was clearly terrified.
Alana held up the magazine.
“Fine, come in.” Kerr pulled her legs into her body, as if they might shield her.
Alana ducked into the tent and sat on the sleeping bag opposite. “Did Lusa hurt you?”
“What?” Kerr screwed up her face.
“Lusa has been known to hurt her partners. She hurt Danica.”
“Dani…”
“My daughter.” Alana picked at the sleeping bag. She’d provided an egg and Cam had borne her. This girl wouldn’t know that, though and Lusa wouldn’t have been stupid enough to tell her. She hoped.
“You’ve had a kid?” Kerr blurted out. Alana should be annoyed, but her freckled face and mussed up hair was sufficiently disarming.
“My partner’s daughter. I was just along for the ride.”
Kerr kept her mouth shut, but her face had a megaphone.
“It was a very strange ride,” Alana conceded “but we’re not here to talk about that.”
“No,” Kerr tilted her head. “You came all this way to sabotage her relationship, yeah?”
“Is that what this is?” Alana tilted her head to match Kerr. “How is that going to work?”
Kerr seethed, clearly without an answer.
Gathering her discarded rifle, Alana blew dismissively. “Whatever. Keeping kids from being fucking stupid is no longer my job. But stick to your own gang. Fewer people die that way.”
Her tone was clearly getting under Kerr’s skin. Whatever fear there had been evaporated and Lusa’s weird girlfriend glared at her. “You didn’t.”
Alana held her gaze for a moment. She was right. Alana had left the Styx and now lived with Cam, an Adlet. “Uh huh. I’m a hypocrite. And people died. Back to my question.”
“Lusa didn’t hurt me. And I know about her kink.” Kerr probably thought her smirk was defiant, but Alana found it immature.
Kink. That was one way to put it. “She told you?”
Kerr nodded. “She said she loses control. That I needed to stop her if she does.” She flexed the fingers on her artificial hand. “I am stronger than her with my cyberware turned on. Even if it’s off, this arm is prosthetic. She can’t break it.”
Alana took a deep breath. “She told you.” she repeated, more as a statement. Kerr nodded.
Danica hated her for breaking them up, insisting it had been an accident.
Even now, things between them were rocky.
But if Lusa had warned a girl she’d just met and then taken steps to mitigate it, maybe Danica was right and she’d been punishing Lusa for years for nothing.
Alana sighed. Not nothing. She still hurt Danica and she wasn’t about to change her mind based on a girl so obviously besotted with her. She would have to think on it.
“Fine.” Alana thumbed a fang. “Is my face going to be a problem?”
“No?” Kerr scrunched up her face. “I do have questions, though, yeah?”
“Save them for later.” Alana exited the tent. “You need to explain why I’m here first.”
Kerr scrambled after her. “I don’t actually know…” She stopped midsentence. Alana glanced behind to see her frozen, captivated at the sight of Lusa in the sunlight. Lusa looked up at Kerr, blushed and then hid her face, busying herself with the pan of bacon.
“Fuck,” she breathed. This girl was leaking premium grade oxytocin all over the ground. And by the looks of it, so was Lusa.
“I don’t know what you did to get her to look at you like that, but she’s dangerous.” Alana pointed a firm finger before she sighed. She was the adult here. She needed to be the bigger person. “Don’t fuck it up. For your own safety.”
Kerr grinned and hopped to catch up.