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Had to eat, man Caine had to understand that

He’d get to Coates and find the freaky dreairl in plenty of time

Bug reached into his pocket and pulled out the map Caine had drawn onto a piece of printer paper It was pretty good, pretty clear It led from Coates, down around the hills, out into the desert An “X”Caine had labeled “Ghost Town” A second “X,” almost on top of the toas labeled “Mine”

On theIt read:

Bug is following my orders Do what he says Anyone who tries to stop him deals with me Caine

Bug was to gather up the dreauys he could round up at Coates, get her to the “X” labeled “Mine”

“I don’t know if it dreahts are dreaet inside its head”

Bug had nodded like he understood, though he didn’t

“I want to knohat it plans forit food, ill it do to me? You tell Orsay that if she can tell e, I will cut her loose She’ll be free”

Then Caine had added, “Free from me, anyway”

It was an i first choice of any food they got in the future And Bug knew he’d better succeed People who failed Caine came to bad, bad ends

It was a very long walk to Ralph’s The place was still guarded Bug could see two armed kids on the roof, two by the front door, two by the loading dock in back And the place was hopping, kids crowding at the door, pushing and yelling

Many were there to get their daily ration of a couple of cans of horrible food, doled out by bored fourth graders who had already grown cynical

“Dude, don’t try and play irl away “You were here two hours ago getting food You can’t just change clothes and trick me”

Others were not there to get food but electricity Ralph’s was on the highway, outside of the town proper Obviously it still had electricity, because extension cords had been strung through the front door and power strips attached Kids were lined up charging iPods, rechargeable flashlights, and lap-tops