bandana, and then her heavy camouflage pants.
“Taz, what are you doing?” Up said into the wind,
leaning farther over the edge of the temple. Waves taller
than he was smashed violently into the black rocks dotting
the beach. It was not the kind of night you’d want to go for
a swim.
She’d been ashen-faced all day. He thought of the young
man in the robot costume, the blood spurting from his
chest, the stained metal scrap Taz had killed him with.
Up climbed down the temple a lot faster than he’d
climbed up.
The sand was soft, gentle, a rolling massage on her
aching, boot-trapped feet. She wiggled her toes and
breathed in the air. There were no metal smells here. No
burning robots, no zapper fire, no blood. She took a step,
and jumped back as the remnants of the most recent wave
tickled her feet, cool and churning and so, so inviting. She
walked out into the surf, feeling the pull of the undertow,
letting it lead her deeper. She stood, waist-deep in the water,
waiting for the next wave to come and take her -
Strong arms wrapped around her just as it arrived.
She kicked, and opened her mouth to scream, but
swallowed salty water instead. She gasped as her head
emerged from the water and she found herself thrown over
a broad, slippery shoulder.
“Up, you big idiota!” she coughed, trying to spit out the
taste of salt. “What are you doing? Put me down!”
Up was rubbing the salt from his own eyes. “What am I
doing? What are you doing, Taz? Are you trying to kill
yourself?”
She hammered on his back with her fists, for once hating
his strength. “Kill myself, what are you talking about? I’m
a goddamned Starship Ranger, not a child. Put me down!”