They did what they could for Lucky's ankle, and for the cut on Stu's scalp -- which, although not serious as far as he could tell, had left one whole side of his face covered in blood. That accomplished, they finished their meal and went to sleep. At least, Lucky and Luna did; Stu himself, who hadn't had a single good night's sleep since arriving in this world, remained awake for hours, racked by fears, worries, and questions.

  What was that sound just now? Was that a zombie, entering the house, or was it just the wind, banging a shutter? How were they going to find Madhouse? How long would it take to get to Lon Halos? Was Dr. Snowe still alive, and could he really send him back to his own world? Why had Virge and Wayman kidnapped him in the first place? What was the ICON system? What skill should he purchase next? What kind of world was this, with its different continents and countries? Had he been declared missing yet, back home? Would they hold a funeral for him? Would Berly be there?

  And these intrusive thoughts were accompanied, inevitably, by the horrible, distorted faces of the zombies he'd encountered over the last few days -- the Brute, the rager, the Level 6 whose skull he had smashed in with his bare hands, and the glowie, with her rictus grin and ear-piercing shriek. In his mind's eye, he could see their heads exploding, their throats bursting, their limbs flying off. Their ghostly faces floated into view, one after the other.

  This stuff was starting to get to him. It was starting to mess him up.

  He finally did fall asleep, probably around two or three in the morning. When we woke, he saw that the sun -- visible through a little decorative ventilation window in the attic -- was already well above the horizon.

  He yawned and looked around. Lucky was still sleeping, but Luna was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, he left the attic, making his way down its creaking steps, and checked the rest of the house, but there was no sign of Luna down here, either. Where had she gone? Had she left them, to go find and fight Madhouse on her own?

  He was just about to report all this back to Lucky when the door to the house suddenly burst open. Alarmed, Stu spun around, expecting to find himself face to face with yet another zombie, but what he saw instead was Luna, kicking a young man in the rear as she bullied him into the house. She had tied his hands behind his back, and was holding him at gunpoint with Lucky's railgun.

  Stu was so startled that all he could think to say was, "What the hell?"

  "Caught him sneaking around outside," she said. She prodded the man with the gun. "Go ahead. Introduce yourself."

  "Nail," he said, a little resentfully. "My name's Nail."

  "He had some very interesting things to tell me. Lucky awake yet?"

  "No."

  "You'd better go get him."

  Stu went upstairs and shook Lucky awake. A few minutes later the four of them had gathered in the kitchen -- Lucky sitting backwards on a chair, Stu leaning against one wall, and Luna aiming the gun at Nail, who was on his knees in the middle of the floor.

  "You can untie me," Nail said quietly. "I'm not going to do anything to you." He was a teenager, probably only a few years older than Lucky, with brown skin and shaggy black hair. Luna had apparently smacked him in the face at one point; his right eye was red and swollen.

  "Better safe than sorry," Luna said. "You're in the Wild Pack."

  "Not anymore."

  "Yeah, tell us about that."

  The young man looked up at Stu and Lucky. "Who are they?"

  "Tell us," she insisted.

  He sighed. "Not everyone in the Pack was happy about Madhouse taking over. A lot of us wanted the Hyena. I was one of them."

  "So?" Lucky pressed.

  "So the other day Madhouse shows up at Southside. Pretty much everyone at Southside supported the Hyena; the place was full of his guys. We thought Madhouse was coming to make peace with us, and it did seem like that at first. He and Hyena got real chummy, laughing it out like old friends. But that night..." He shook his head, disgusted.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  "What happened?"

  "There were a ton of zombies in the parking garage, including some irregulars -- there was a big sinkhole on the other side of the school, see; if they fell into the garage, they couldn't get out again, so there got to be more and more of them in there. Some of us wanted to get in there and kill them, but the Hyena thought they might be useful--"

  "Useful?" Stu interjected, incredulous. "Zombies?"

  "They can make pretty good weapons," Nail said, "if you know how to wrangle them. Bombers, especially." He dismissed that digression with a shake of his head. "Anyway. That night...Madhouse unlocked the door to the parking garage."

  "He let them into Southside?" Lucky asked. "Deliberately?"

  "To kill the Hyena and all the rest of us who didn't agree with him taking over," he acknowledged. "Madhouse is...well, there's a reason they call him Madhouse. But that was his plan all along, to kill us, to get us out of the way. I heard him talking about it with the Hyena, just before the zombies got him. He's got big plans. He's going to attack the Dealership next, to draw the Pale Riders out of Beggar's Town."

  "The Dealership?" Stu asked.

  "It's a little village about ten miles northeast of here," Lucky said, "but not far from Beggar's Town." He fixed his gaze on Nail. "When?"

  "As soon as possible."

  "Today?"

  "Maybe. Depends on how long it takes him to get up to Rom's Mall."

  "He's got my glider," Luna grumbled. "It won't take him long."

  "How many men does he have?"

  "I don't know. Fifty out of Rom's Mall, maybe? Another fifty out of the Overpass?"

  The kid snorted. "A hundred men? That's not enough to take down the Pale Riders."

  "He's got more than men, though. He's got a mutate."

  They all stared at him. "What? A mutate?"

  "A big lizard thing, about forty feet long. They call it the Living Hell. He captured it a few weeks ago -- stunned it with his Centurion rifle and locked it up in the back of a big truck. He's going to release it in the Dealership, and then, when everyone panics, and the Pale Riders come rushing in to save the day, he's going to ambush them. He's trying to get the Bladers and the Bad Guys involved, too."

  "Well, this isn't good," Luna muttered.

  "How do we know you're not just making all this up?" Lucky demanded.

  The young man scowled. "I'm done with the Wild Pack," he said. "A bunch of my friends got killed last night, and it was all thanks to Madhouse. You think I want to follow his flag into Beggar's Town now? Hell no."

  "So what were you doing sneaking around here this morning?"

  He shrugged. "Same as you, I'd imagine. Just looking for a place to crash. I...don't have anywhere left to go."

  Luna handed the railgun to Lucky. Sighing, she bent down and untied his wrists. "I'd better not see you again," she told him.

  Nail climbed to his feet and rubbed his wrists. Stu thought he might have expressed some gratitude, but all he did was scowl at them even harder. And then he ran out of the house.

  "Was that really a good idea?" Lucky asked. "Letting him go?"

  "I don't think he's a threat to us. You heard him. He doesn't want anything to do with Madhouse anymore." She looked sad and weary. "He'll find another gang to run with, I'm sure. Maybe the RNT's will take him in." She shook her head. "We have more important things to worry about."

  "Like warning the Dealership?"

  "Yeah. And warning the Pale Riders, too. They're tough, and they're heavily armed, but even they might have trouble handling a big mutate like this Living Hell thing. Who knows how many it might kill before they manage to stop it?" She smacked a fist into her palm. "We have to go after Madhouse. He's the one responsible for all this shit. The Hyena was bad news, but uniting the gangs? Taking out the Pale Riders? He was never that ambitious." She frowned. "Plus he stole my glider."

  "What are we waiting for, then?" Lucky asked. "Let's get to the Dealership."

  * * *

  They left immediately. Unfortunately their progress was rather slow; Lucky could only hobble, and they were forced to go far out of their way to avoid a horde of zombies shuffling along Highway 8. They passed by the clothing store where the Wild Pack gangsters had been partying the night before; there was no sign of them now. "Madhouse might have picked them up," Luna suggested. "Or he might have killed them, if he thought they were still loyal to the Hyena."

  Stu thought it might speed things up if he carried Lucky, but the kid was too proud to be carried; he insisted that he was well enough to walk. Luna wasn't happy about it -- time, after all, was of the essence -- but she couldn't get him to change his mind either, and she seemed to doubt that Stu could carry her brother for more than a few blocks anyway.

  "No offense," she said," but you're pretty scrawny."

  "I'm stronger than I look."

  "He ran both of us out of the school," Lucky reminded her. "You saw him kick that door down."

  She shrugged dismissively. "Adrenaline."

  They walked on. With Lucky inevitably falling behind, Stu and Luna took the lead, and soon fell into conversation.

  "So where are you from?" she asked him. "Really?"

  "Lucky already told you."

  "Come on. Don't give me this "other world" business. Lucky may have fallen for that story--"

  "Well, actually--"

  "--but you can't sell that crap to me. Where are you from? Out of town? Meriweather?"

  He sighed. "I'm sorry you don't believe me," he said. "I guess I don't blame you, though. If you had showed up in my world, claiming to be from some zombie nightmare place, I wouldn't have believed you, either."

  "There's no zombies in your world?"

  "No. It's a nice place."

  She snorted. "Right." But then she softened a bit. "Thanks for your help, though. Lucky was right before -- you did save us last night. And it seems like you've been helping him out."

  "He's been helping me out. If not for him I'd probably still be wandering around those subway tunnels." He gave her a sideways glance. "You're a mechanic?"

  "That's right," she said proudly. "I can fix anything."

  Stu looked around, at the destroyed city. "A useful skill," he said softly, "in a broken world."