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"Nope," I said cheerily "We’re going together And the first thing I’o rescue uys will have to decide if you want to go with " I looked overout in an abandoned house if you want and wait"

"Nah I like keeping you out of trouble I’ll be coo so about going to the place where you know there are cannibals?" Jamal said He looked at his brother "I’ with a card or twofrohed "Jauess I’ve been called worse"

"He didn’tat his brother "What he rateful that you stuck up for us, but s and staying here in Eden"

"Pfft Eden, et kicked out of Eden for sticking your nose in business you’ve been told to ignore … not for sticking up for people and doing the right thing"

Jaoing to have a religious conversation with you right now Or ever, probably I’ood kids are excluded because people are afraid and being selfish because of it Plain and simple"

"Us, neither," said Ronald, receiving a nod of agreement from his brother

"Good Then it’s settled We start out touys, Peter, Buster, andjoined us near the o after we find Bodo?"

No one said anything for a fullto think that none of us had a clue where we’d be living less than twenty-four hours from now I tried not to focus on that aspect of it

Ja it when it was even with his cheek

I lifted an eyebrow "Are you raising your hand?"

He nodded

I gestured "Go ahead By allbefore … before we lanced at his brother, who nodded, so he continued "It’s south of here a little bit, but not far at all, really We could probably walk there in a day or two"

"Where is it?"

"Not where What," he saidbreath and huffed it out, pressing his lips together once before answering

"It’s a prison"

Peter and I looked at each other He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a look that said, Why not?

"You mean, like Alcatraz?" I asked

Jamal smiled "No That prison was on an island - and probably would have been perfect But seeing as how it’s in San Francisco, it probably isn’t very realistic for our purposes"

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid I had no idea where Alcatraz was prior to Ja about used to be the biggest penitentiary in South Florida A friend of ours’ uncle was in there, so he told us about it He showed ot barbed wire all around it and fences, of course And big buildings filled with rooood for not only living in but for defensive purposes too, if you knohat I ht about all the possibilities "Does it have land around it too, or is it all concrete?"

Jarass and stuff But it’s kind of out of the city, so it probably does have land around it"

My et some cattle and horses like the kids here have, and a loom or two and supplies that actually create other supplies instead of just getting used up … we could start a whole new self-sustaining corabbed Peter’s aroing to take to make a bread oven like they have"

"Okaaay," he said cautiously "Care to share what’s burning your brain cells at an alar," said Ronald, getting animated too "It’s exactly what Jamal and I said to each other We need a place to start over To start fresh Where we can invite people to join us and share with us It’ll be the neorld! Better than the old one! Without intolerance or racism or hatred or any of that nonsense"

Peter held up his hands "Ho, ho, hold on there, guys You’re all getting a little bit ahead of yourselves here, I think" He dropped his hands and looked at each of us before beginning again "How do you know it’s available and that there aren’t already kids there? And how are just the four of us going to be able to hold down a place that big? The logistics of running a whole community are … astronomically complicated"

I patted him on the back "That’s where you coure that all out for us and tell us what to do You’re the new mayor of Apocalypsis"

"Why Apocalypsis?" asked Jaot us there in the first place, for one And it also kind of shows that we’re flipping the world around a little bit, changing the way it’s been or shaped No longer round but et it?"

Ronald nodded, s "I like it I vote yes"

"Yes forwith his brother and for the first ti me clearly that they are, in fact, related

"Fine," said Peter "If you guys like it, I like it"

I rubbed his back "See how easy that was? Now do the rest and let us know our parts"

Peter stood up "First thing’s first We need to pack" And he was back to breaking down the pantry’s contents into the going-with-us pile and the staying-behind pile

"You guys should get some rest Why don’t you crash here, and we’ll talk?" asked Ronald

"I have to go talk to so to need a good night’s sleep before we head out"