Free American Apocalypse Wastelands by Nova Page B

got a few heads nodding except for the woman sitting on her luggage. She just shook her head and muttered something that he ignored.
    â€œThat’s the ticket! Why, you stick with us and I bet I can get you in. You know they say these communities are really nice and spaces are going quickly. Why, I heard they were not going to be making a lot of these communities so you’d be getting in on the ground floor, and—”
    â€œSave it,” Max spit out.
    â€œBut—”
    Max patted the girl on the head. “Take care of Mr. Bunny.”
    â€œDon’t worry, I will. Say goodbye, Mr. Bunny.” She waved his little furry paw.
    Max growled, “Move out.”
    We walked away. I heard the luggage-sitter say, “Worked that ol’ sales magic again, didn’t you, honey?” and laugh.
    His only reply was, “You heard the man. Move out!”
    Â 
    Max was moody the rest of the day. So was Night. Later that evening, after we had eaten and before she went on watch, she pulled me aside.
    â€œDo you ever think about kids, Gardener?”
    I thought about it a bit. It was a serious question, especially coming from her, so I wanted to answer her honestly. “Not really.” I saw the light in her eyes change. “But that kid today was cute. You want to know something?”

    She nodded her head.
    â€œI wanted to kill all those people and take the kids. Mr. Bunny deserves better.”
    She nodded again. A faint grin appeared. “That might have been a little extreme, Gardener.”
    I shrugged, “I know. I’d have to kill them away from the kids and then come up with a convincing story.”
    â€œGardener.” She shook her head. “You know there are other ways.”
    â€œSure. You can buy them.”
    She punched me. “You know what I am saying.”
    â€œI know.” The only thing was, I had never thought of it like that: Night and me, hatching little gunslingers. Maybe a couple of gunslingers and a Mr. Bunny lover. She could be a ninja bunny lover . . . “What are you thinking?”
    I told her about hatching gunslingers and a ninja bunny lover. I was surprised. Her eyes welled up and she pulled me close.
    She whispered in my ear, “When?”
    â€œWhen we find a safe place to settle down.”
    We quit talking and I became distracted. My last thought before losing myself in her was, But I don’t think I want to stop killing.

CHAPTER TEN
    We kept moving. It took us almost a week to get beyond the heavily built-up areas, partly because the sprawl covered so much land, but mostly because Night and I were not physically up to the challenge yet.
    Instead of pushing for miles, Max would run us through tactical drills. He would stop, pull us off to the side of the trail, and ask us questions: “What would you do if we began taking fire from over there?” Over there, in this case, being a creek bed. Or, “Suppose the point tells you he suspects there are people waiting to ambush us. How are you going to do a counterambush?”
    We would work each scenario from the perspective of being in charge, and we’d create a plan and detail what was expected of each person when the plan was executed. There was no sense of unreality anymore about doing this. This was our reality.
    We met only one organized group along the way. We came up on them from behind. They had someone watching their back, and he reacted as we approached. I got a brief glimpse of women and children ahead of them, but
they moved off the trail within seconds after I had been spotted. It was tense for a minute or two.
    I had point and gave the FREEZE AND FADE sign, followed by FORM ON ME. I wanted to talk to them. They must have been doing the same thing, because within a minute four more men joined the drag guy. They spread out and stared at us.
    â€œFeel like talking?” I yelled at them.
    â€œYeah.” This came from their leader, a black male in