He spent a few more minutes collecting his thoughts, then exited the room and sought out Marshal Tempo, the leader of Meku City's Pale Riders.

  He found the old man standing near the Dealership's entrance, barking orders at his men -- a few of them had attached a set of chains to the body of the Living Hell and were attempting to drag its huge, bloated corpse out of the settlement. "What are you, a bunch of old women?" he shouted down at them. "Pull! Pull!"

  Tempo was an imposing, intimidating figure, despite his age. He was tall and strong and stood as straight as a tree, and his long white beard made him look something like Zeus. Stu approached him with some trepidation. "Marshal Tempo?"

  The man turned to look at him. "Ah, it's you. Stu, was it?"

  "That's right."

  "You were asleep for some time. Are you feeling better?"

  "Yes, quite a bit better."

  "The doctor told me your wounds weren't serious, but I worried, still. I thought I might not get the chance to thank you."

  "Thank me?"

  "For warning us about Madhouse's plan."

  "Oh. Well, that was mostly Luna and Lucky."

  "And for killing the mutate," he added. He gave Stu a slightly suspicious look. "I'm not easily impressed. Seeing you stand your ground when the mutate came charging at you, though...that was impressive. I've never seen anything quite like it."

  "I surprised myself," he said, rather lamely.

  "I understand you're not from Meku City."

  "No. I'm, uhh, a visitor. I'm trying to get to Lon Halos."

  "That's what Luna told me. Remarkable young woman. I was acquainted with her parents, you know, before the outbreak. I tried to get her and her brother to settle in Beggar's Town, after they died, but she preferred the Harbor."

  Stu frowned. "You knew their parents?"

  "Her father was a mechanic. I brought my motorcycles to him, sometimes."

  "What happened to them?"

  "They died, of course," he said sadly. "They were killed by a mutate, I believe, a few years after the initial outbreak. Luna survived, and raised her brother on her own."

  "Oh." That certainly added some pathos to their story.

  "But we were talking about Lon Halos. You wanted to go there?"

  "Yes," he said, nodding. "There's someone I need to find there. His name is Dr. Snowe. Have you heard of him?"

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  "Can't say that I have."

  That was too bad. "Well, anyway, Lucky told me that the Pale Riders have some kind of messenger service that covers the whole country. I was hoping I could hitch a ride with--"

  "I'm sorry," he broke in, "but I'm afraid that won't be possible. These are...let's call them uncertain times. I can't spare any of my own men at the moment, and I'm not expecting any Riders out of Pretoria anytime soon, either."

  Stu's shoulders slumped. "You can't help me, then?"

  "Well, I can give you this," he said, digging into his coat pocket. He removed a small white coin, about the size of a silver dollar, and handed it to Stu. "That's a Rider's coin," he said. "You show that to any Pale Rider you might meet on your journey, and they'll help you out." But then he frowned. "Probably. Not all of the Rider gangs are as...civilized as we are here in Meku. You can trust Marshal Felix, in Pretoria, and Marshal Yang, and Marshal Cogswell, but the further west you go, the crazier they're going to get. I've heard some funny stories about Marshal Vorn, in Talife."

  "Thanks," he said, accepting the coin. "I think."

  The old man patted him on the shoulder. "Cheer up. You're alive, aren't you? In Meku City, that's an accomplishment." And then he started shouting at his men again: "Let's go, ladies! Put your backs into it!"

  * * *

  Dejected, and with no idea of how he was supposed to get to Lon Halos now that Marshal Tempo had turned him down, Stu spent a few minutes wandering around the Dealership, his hands sunk deep in his pockets. Eventually, lost in thought, he found himself climbing to the top of a makeshift watchtower that had been built adjacent to the settlement's wall of stacked-up cars. From here, he could see the ruins of Meku City -- the cracked pavement of the streets, the fires and detritus, the crumbling, distant skyscrapers. A city of death, and the dead.

  He still had trouble processing it sometimes. How was all this even real? How had it happened, that he had come to to this place? Why had it happened? What had Virge and Wayman and Dr. Snowe wanted with him -- with Stuart Brakely, a perfectly ordinary computer repairman?

  He sighed. Hours passed.

  "He's up here," he heard a voice say, just before sunset.

  It was Lucky, and Luna was with him. The two of them crowded into the watchtower. "Look what I found," Luna said, and she held up his Excalibur-brand baseball bat.

  He took it from her. "Ah," he said distantly. "Thanks."

  The siblings exchanged a glance. "We talked to Marshal Tempo," Lucky said. "I guess the Pale Riders can't get you to Lon Halos, huh?"

  "I guess not."

  "So what are you going to do?"

  "I don't know."

  Luna followed his gaze. "It looks pretty bad out there, doesn't it?"

  "Pretty bad," he agreed.

  "Meku City...the Astrian Union...the whole world, actually. It's a mess, and if you don't know what you're doing, or where you're going, it can get pretty damn dangerous."

  "You don't have to tell me."

  "You still want to go to Lon Halos?"

  "Of course."

  Luna exchanged another glance with her brother. "Then I guess we'll just have to take you there ourselves."

  Stu blinked and turned to face her. "What?"

  "I've got a glider. It shouldn't take more than a week or two to make the trip, although it depends on the weather, and I've heard some scary things about the Sunny Mountains." She shrugged. "But I think it's doable."

  "You'd really do that for me?"

  "I did tell you I'd be your guide in this world, if you helped me kill the Brute," Lucky piped up. "And you still need a guide, don't you?"

  "But--"

  "I think we owe you," Luna said. "Besides...I'm curious. About you, about this Dr. Snowe, about this world you say you came from. The people who brought you here were willing to die for you. There's something about that I just can't shake. It could be there's something happening in Lon Halos, some kind of struggle that..." She trailed off and shook her head. "I don't know. But if you want to go to Lon Halos, I'd be willing to take you."

  "I...I don't know what to say."

  Lucky gave him a playful little punch. "Say thank you." But then the kid looked to the horizon, and his smile faded a bit. "It's a long way to Lon Halos, isn't it?"

  "A long way," Luna agreed. "But we'll get there."

  Stu found himself smiling. This zombie-world was a dark, dark place, full of horror and death, but...

  He glanced at Lucky and Luna, their faces dappled gold in the sunset.

  It wasn't all bad, he decided. There was still a bit of light left to be found in it, if you knew where to look.