CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Abe blinked his eyes open…and he groaned.
“What hit me?” he said, even before he could make sense of the blur that was the world.
“I shot you...with a Zappfly,” a guttural voice said from somewhere beside him. Beside him and under.
That was when Abe noticed the world was bouncing. That explained why he felt so dizzy…but why did he feel so dizzy? Why was the world bouncing under him?
Then the world went back into full clarity, and he realized that whoever had answered his question was also carrying him, strewn across his shoulder, and that this being was moving at a fair clip across cracked, dry ground. The air smelled faintly of smog.
So that Steef that had shot him was carrying him across Glukksonia, most likely to collect whatever bounty the Glukkons had placed on his head. In all his adventures, Abe had been captured many times, but he couldn’t recall the last time it had happened. The encounter with Molluck back in RuptureFarms he remembered as if it had just happened yesterday, but the others just seemed to run together…
“Where are you taking me?” he asked.
“Mantin City, to…King Glok.”
He licked the edges of his mouth. “Why?”
“There’s…a lot of moolah…on your head, Mudokon,” the Steef replied. “And I aim…to get plenty of it.”
Abe’s frown deepened. He didn’t feel strong enough to get out of this Steef’s iron grip, nor did he intend to meet his end by being thrown into a cell in Mantin City. He wanted to get to Mantin City to destroy Glok, but not imprisoned and then executed. He would have to be patient.
He glanced down the Steef’s back, at the faded poncho the bounty hunter was wearing. There was a large bag hanging behind his waist, and Abe could hear small animalistic squeaks coming from the bag. The hunter had said Zappflies…that meant this was one of those natural-critter-using guys. That meant there might be Fuzzles…
The thought of setting Fuzzles on the Steef and then running for the hills seemed like a good idea. He slowly began moving his hand, slowly enough that the Steef wouldn’t notice, down toward the ammo bag.
At the sound of a second set of footsteps close behind him, Abe looked over his shoulder. He was surprised to see the same Wolvark bounty hunter that had attacked him at the gorge only a few feet away from his face.
“How do you like the life of a prisoner?” the gruff Wolvark laughed.
Abe gritted his teeth. “What have you done with my friends, beast?”
The bounty hunter shrugged. “Dumped ’em whenever we picked you up. I don’t need them; there was no bounty on ’em.”
Abe spat distastefully. “I’ll escape, Wolvark. And when I do, I’m going to blow your brains out…and laugh about it.”
“I don’t think so.” The Wolvark shook his head, and curled one hand into a fist. Before Abe could even say Uh-oh, that fist had smacked him in the face and sent him back into the realm of unconsciousness.
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