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"Sure," Benny said, though the concept was incredibly alien to hi … they don’t actually think they’re at the beach, do they?"

"Hard to say," said Toa a hundred zo jokes in their surfer lingo It’s their way of surviving, and I guess it works for them Don’t ask me how" He paused and smiled "Lot of people can’t stand them I like them a lot"

"Weird world," said Nix

"You have no idea, sweetie," said Toet the ninja death stare for calling Nix sweetie Toestured to the southeast "Now … the Greenot word out to hi We’ll have friends out there and safe places to rest"

"Chong’s ," Benny said hopefully "She’d probably think that it would scare the pants off hi out of his syste’s not big on roughing it"

"And Morgie?" Too"

Benny and Tom looked at her "You seem pretty certain," Tom said

"I am" But she didn’t explain, and they didn’t press the issue

"Okay," said Toet out of here, then I have a week’s worth of stuff I need to get done today You two better say your good-byes"

"There’s no one I need to say good-bye to," Nix began, but Tom cut her off

"That’s not true and you know it We’re leaving Mountainside, Nix … we’re not discarding the people who live here The Kirschs, Captain Strunk, the Chongs … they’ve been kind to you, and they deserve the courtesy and respect of a proper good-bye"

Nix gave a contrite nod, her face flushed with e friends behind If Morgie and Chong aren’t going, then are you planning on walking away frooing next week This is going to be hard on the is never easy," said Too"

FROM NIX’S JOURNAL

People in the Ruin

Traders: They bring all sorts of stuff froons pulled by horses covered in carpet and chainfroet it for you for a price, and traders’ goods are always expensive

Scavengers: These people are nuts They go into towns and raid houses, stores, warehouses, and other places for all sorts of things: supplies, canned goods, stockpiles of seeds and flour, clothing, weapons, books, and everything else Soo in first and clear out the zoms, but then they have to share their profits with the into zombie-infested areas Toer is two years, but if they survive, they can h money to retire He says he knows of only three who have retired He’s quieted over two dozen others eren’t as lucky

Loners: These people scare everyone They live alone (or in sroups), and once they’ve staked out their territory they’ll kill anyone who comes close--human or zom There’s a rumor in town that some of them are cannibals

13

Tom went back into town to buy some last-minute supplies Nix and Benny went into the house and upstairs to Benny’s room and then out of histo sit on the porch roof Benny dragged a couple of big pillows out and placed the into pale white wisps that looked like wet tissue paper over a blue ceiling From up there they could see the whole town To the west, the flat reservoir backed up against the steep wall of mountains and the miles of fence line that framed the town on the north, east, and west Adjacent to the town, miles upon miles of enclosed farmland vanished over the horizon lines It had always baffled Benny why the townsfolk had not pushed out the fence line to incrementally reclaim more and more of the Ruin The traders who plundered warehouses and construction sites in abandoned towns could bring in as much chain link and poles as people wanted, but the town lied in years There was Town and there was the Ruin, and that was as far as people seemed able to think

As much as it bothered Benny, it nearly drove Nix crazy She not only wanted to expand the town, she wanted to go to the coast, take boats, and reclai islands just off the California coast: Catalina, San Cleh to sustain a few thousand people and fertile enough to farm Nix had a list of islands in the little leather journal she always carried; and detailed plans for how to remove the zoriculture

They lay back on the pillows and looked up at the gulls and vultures soaring high on the therie," Nix said

"I know Me too"

"But I have to go"

"I know," said Benny

They heard voices down in the yard Toer to his lips and they lay flat on their stoe of the roof

Below the with a bounty hunter Benny had met a few times at New Year’s parties Sam "Basher" Bashman He was a slim, dark-haired man who carried two baseball bats Both were old and battered, but from what Tom had said, Basher had owned them since the days when he played second base for the Philadelphia Phillies in a world that no longer existed

"So, you’re really bent on taking your brother and his girlfriend out there?" asked Basher

"Absolutely," Tom said

"Why? No one’s seen the jet since that one time And I’ve asked everyone about that"

"Still have to look," said To weird, man You haven’t been out there , and it’s not zoht to take over his territory You think this trip’s wise, man?"

"Not really," Tom admitted

"Then why do it?"

Toe "If I don’t take theo by themselves"

There wasaway, heading back to town

Benny sat up and stared into the middle distance

Nix turned to look at hiht reener

"Benny … ? Can I ask you a question and get a real answer?"

Depends on the question, thought Benny There were some questions he’d rather throw hiht? If Too, if it was just Lilah and o?"

"Without Tom?"

"Yes"

He settled back and looked at the clouds for alood question The crucial question, and he’d wrestled with it and chewed on it since they’d seen the jet last year Did he want to go?

Benny weighed his feelings very carefully The ansas not a thing he could just reach inside and grab It was buried deep, hidden in the soil of his subconscious and his needs and desires On some level he knew that he needed to knoho he was before he could rationally and accurately answer that question, and since last Septe to explore who he was Especially in terms of who he was at this moment If he didn’t knoho he was no could he knoho he would be out there in the Ruin? What if he wasn’t up to the challenge? What if after being out there he realized that he preferred the coe after all?

Ugly, troublesoliest part was that the one thing he was sure of was that he could find those answers only out in the Ruin For good or ill

"Yes," he said eventually "Yes … I’d go with you no matter what"

Nix smiled and took his hand "I believe you" She added, "If you’d answered right away I would have known you were lying Telling h to think it through"

He said nothing, but he squeezed her hand