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Lilah said nothing, but her honey-colored eyes lost sole curt bob of her head

Preacher Jack turned to Benny "Peace to you, little brother"

"U altogether, but he fixed Toain, Brother To in the wind So I’ll tip my hat and bid you all a farewell May the Good Lord keep you from snakes and snares and the evil that ed his lapels to adjust the hang of his jacket, and walked back into the woods, where he vanished so quickly into the shadows that the whole encounter ht have been a dream Tom and the others stood where they were for a full fivefirst for Preacher Jack’s soft footfalls and then to the forest as the ordinary sounds one by one returned

Benny let out a chestful of air and turned to Tom "What was that all about?"

"I really don’t know," said Tom

Benny could see that Toe of the road, and they both squatted to study the dirt of the gaone Benny watched as To toshoes," ht, which ed or purchased for a tidy stack of ration dollars"

Benny nodded and bent low to study the pattern of the shoes, just as Toht him The tread was pretty orn, and there was a crescent-shaped nick out of the right heel

"That nick is pretty distinctive," Benny said, earning hierprint Remember it" Then To out the unique ele "Is he our enemy?"

"I don’t knohat he is," adood idea to observe asto be useful"

"Was that really Preacher Jack?" asked Nix

Toaave me At least physically"

"Is it okay if I say that he was the single creepiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been face-to-face with decaying zoms?"

Tom nodded "Yeah, Nix, you can say that and rowled Lilah, her fists clenched tightly around the shaft of her spear "If I see hi in the air

"I think it’s a good idea if we all watch our backs," suggested To

To about hi"

He looked up at the sky

Benny started to ask soht," Toet to the way station, and I need to think while we’re doing it We’ll talk then For noe’ll go at Scout pace That means alk two hundred paces, run three hundred, walk two hundred It’ll chew up the miles"

And it’ll keep us too busy to ask questions, whispered Benny’s inner voice Smart

"Nix--this is up to you Can you handle the pace? No screwing around: yes or no?"

"Yes," she said with real fire "And I promise to tell you if I can’t keep up"

Without another word, Tom turned toward the southeast and set off

The others followed Running and walking and running They didn’t have time to ask questions, but about ten thousand of them occurred to Benny, and he knew that the sa to Nix

Who was Preacher Jack?

Was he connected to the dead man? Who had killed the man? And why? Could Charlie Pink-eye still be alive? Was he out in these same hills? Did he know they were out here?

And, maybe more important than any of those questions: How coht, everyone who died, no matter how they died, came back to life

Why hadn’t he?

What did it mean?

The questions burned in Benny’s mind as he ran

FROM NIX’S JOURNAL

How many people are still alive out there?

Tom says that there’s a network of about five hundred bounty hunters, traders, way-station ers in central California Andin isolated and remote spots Sounds like a lot, but it’s not Our history teacher said that California used to be the most populous state and that there used to be al here

28

THEY LEFT THE OLD ROAD AND FOUND WHAT USED TO BE A HIGHWAY, so they turned and followed that Despite the fact that his toe was hurting like crazy and his clothes were thoroughly soaked with sweat, Benny still ht, checking every shadow under every tree for son of movement that could be either zoms or worse

Charlie’s dead, he told himself, but his inner voice--the less emotional and more rational aspect of his mind--replied, You don’t know that

He cut looks at Nix, as also sweating heavily and yet see, despite the pain and the injury It wasn’t the first tith amazed and hu one of the walking times, Benny leaned to Nix "What the heck was that?"

"Preacher Jack," she said, and shivered "I feel like I need a bath"

Benny counted on his fingers "We knohat--seven religious people? I mean people in the business"

"You , Father Shannon, Rabbi Rosemann, and Imam Murad …"

"… and the monks at the way station: Brother David, Sister Shanti, and Sister Sarah Seven," finished Benny "Except for the monks, who are a little, y’know …" He tapped his temple and rolled his eyes

"Touched by God," Nix said "Isn’t that the phrase Toht, except for them, everyone else is pretty okay Iout here in the Ruin But even with different religions, different churches, they’re all prettya real wrath-of-Godhere Benny was going with this "He’s scarier than the zoirl," Benny said in a fair imitation of Preacher Jack’s oily voice

"E … don’t!" Nix punched him on the arm

They walked another few paces as the road bent around a hill