She blushed, then giggled a little. "I can't believe I actually just considered it. You're a wonder," she smiled, then smoothed her face again."There'...s no easy way for me to ask. Ben, if your parents are considering selling the ranch, if they could afford this truck, if they're thinking of buying land in California ... why do you have to have the Army pay for your college?"Ben made a strange deflating sound, as he let the air in his lungs out slowly and noisily. Concerned, Sandy turned again to. At the moment, he had more pressing concerns. Somewhere out there, in the scouring dust and burning wind, something was hunting him.If he was lucky, it was another human. The hunter was human-shaped. He knew that from the one glimpse he had gotten just before it had vanished behind cover. Unfortunately, that wasn’t much comfort. The demons that called this nightmare realm home could almost pass for human.Almost.He glanced into the sky as he did every few minutes. Logan had quickly learned that. The Chinese manufactured device carried a guaranteed battery life of twenty-five hours. No way the charge should exhaust itself after a few hours of sleep. Friggin’ imports.My little light was almost useless. A dozen lightning bugs would’ve shed more light.Hauling myself out of the sleeping bag turned out to be a real chore. My stiff muscles protested every move I made and my back was killing me. Payback for not having an air mattress. The atmosphere in the tent was rather brisk, a polite way. "So," Allison went on, "why don't you come to dinner — tonight, shall we say, and you can explain to me all about your painful condition and we'll see if it agrees with what my friend told me. How about that?" Err, all right," George agreed, uncertain of what else he could say.When George arrived at Allison's he was feeling even more trepidation than he felt these days turning up at Erica's. It was the uncertainty, he supposed, that was making him feel so nervous and causing the collar of his.