1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 165
bag, and packets of SpagBol scattering in the machine’s
wake.
Tally sank lower into the frantic water, struck by the
thought that she would be left here, naked and alone, with
nothing. She was already half frozen.
But the machine dipped forward, just like a hoverboard,
and moved on. It headed toward the sea, vanishing
as quickly as it had appeared, leaving her ears pounding
and the river’s surface boiling.
Tally crept out shivering. Her body felt ice cold, her fingers
barely able to clench into a fist. She made her way back
to her camp, grasping clothes to her body, putting them on
before the setting sun could dry her. She sat and wrapped
her arms around herself until the shaking stopped, glancing
fearfully at the red horizon every few seconds.
The damage was less than she’d feared. The hoverboard’s
operation light was green, and her knapsack, dusty
but unharmed. After a search for SpagBol and a count of the
remaining packets, Tally found that she had lost only two.
But the sleeping bag was shredded. Something had
chopped it to pieces.
Tally swallowed. There was nothing left of the bag bigger
than a handkerchief. What if she had been in it when
the machine had come?
She folded the hoverboard quickly and packed everything
away. The board was ready to go almost instantly. At
least the strange machine’s windstorm had dried it off.