It took less than thirty minutes to cover the rest of the distance, but to Ruddy it seemed like hours. They crested a hill and passed an old, rusty gate. It was chained open.

  “I guess you don’t have too many unwanted visitors?” Ruddy asked.

  Xeke drove them down the winding dirt road into the camp. “We’ve got better things than gates. If Fred didn’t want us here, we never would have gotten close, believe me.”

  Ruddy twisted in his seat, taking in the buildings as they passed. “Wow. This place is bigger than I thought it would be.”

  “We’ve added on,” Xeke said. He pointed at a plain two-story ranch house surrounded by neat garden plots. “That’s Fred’s place. She built it herself. Just past are the cabins where most of us live. But we’re going to the infirmary.”

  They pulled up in front of a long, single story building. “I hope Jeanette is ready for us,” Xeke said. “She was a medical student before the Event, closest thing we have to a doctor. Between her and our healer, Deanna, they can take care of most everything.”

  A man rushed out the door toward them.

  Xeke turned to Ruddy and grinned. “It’s our lucky day. That’s Corey. Fred says he’s the best healer in the world.” He paused. “I wonder what he’s doing here? I hope no one else is hurt.”

  Corey had a long fuzzy beard and his arms were covered with tattoos. He wore a leather vest with patches sewn on, and a Harley Davidson t-shirt with worn-out jeans and boots.

  “He doesn’t live here?” Ruddy said. He hopped out of the truck and went to Teri’s door.

  “No,” Xeke said. “He’s a friend of Fred’s. He visits sometimes.”

  “Well he looks more like a biker than a doctor,” Ruddy said. “Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?”

  Xeke gave Ruddy a look.

  He of all people ought to know better than to judge a book by its cover, someone said in Ruddy’s head.

  He looked around. Who said that? Hello? I wasn’t judging, just saying ...

  No one answered. There was no telling how many mind readers were in this place.

  And I’ve already offended one of them. Perfect.

  Teri’s body was dead weight. Her head and one of her arms flopped to the side when Ruddy picked her up.

  He winced. God, I’m sorry, Teri.

  “Let me give you a hand,” Xeke said. Teri grew light in his arms.

  “Thanks.”

  Corey led them to an exam room and they put her on the table.

  “Can you tell me what happened?” Corey asked.

  “She got shot,” Ruddy said. “She was really sick when I found her ... actually she found me. She was running from the government. They caught her in the hospital, but she escaped and I ...”

  “Shot,” Corey said. “Got it.” He took one of Teri’s hands and closed his eyes, then staggered back from the table and vomited into a trash can.

  “Woah! Are you okay?” Ruddy said.

  Corey looked up. His eyes blazed with anger. “What happened to her?”

  “She got shot …”

  “No. The broken bones, the scars. The abuse. Did you do this?”

  Xeke stepped between them. “Ruddy didn’t have anything to do with it. It was her father.”

  Corey took a deep breath and wiped his mouth. “Sorry. I should have known better. Fred wouldn’t have let anyone like that within ten miles. I just didn’t expect it.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Ruddy and Xeke said it in unison, then looked at each other.

  Corey closed his eyes and took Teri’s hand again. “The wound is septic. This is going to take hours. You guys should go get cleaned up and get some rest.”

  “I’ll stay here,” Ruddy said.

  “No, I don’t need interruptions. She’ll need you more once she’s up, and that’s not going to be tonight, I guarantee it. Go, get some sleep and some food. I can feel you need it from here. It’s distracting.”

  “So she’s going to live?” Ruddy said.

  “Yes.”

  Ruddy turned so they wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes.

  “Come on, Ruddy, we’ll let Corey work.” Xeke put his hand on Ruddy’s back and led him out. “I, for one, am looking forward to a shower and a hot meal … among other things. I wonder if Tamara and April missed me.” Xeke grinned. “It’s good to be home.”

  “Where is everyone?” Ruddy asked as Xeke led him toward the cabin. “From what you said, I thought they’d be waiting on us.”

  How many pointless questions can one person ask? Xeke thought. “There’s a lot of work to do around here. We can’t drop everything every time something happens.”

  “Oh.”

  “You’ll meet them all at dinner, don’t worry,” Xeke said. “Let’s go grab some clothes and hit the showers.”

  “Nothing’s going to fit me,” Ruddy said.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Joe Freeman’s a big guy. It’ll be close enough.”

  Xeke rummaged through Freeman’s dresser, and a few minutes later came out of the cabin with an armload of clothes.

  “You sure he won’t mind?” Ruddy said.

  “We share everything here,” Xeke said.

  Jesus. People can just go in and steal your clothes. What kind of place is this?

  Xeke blinked. “What?”

  “What? I didn’t say anything.”

  “Sorry, I thought you … never mind. This way.”

  Ruddy hung back when they entered the showers. “Great, gym class all over again,” he muttered.

  “Don’t worry. There are stalls.” Xeke opened a closet door. There were shelves of towels, baskets with home-made soap, and dozens of half empty shampoo bottles. “Just grab what you need. We make a lot of it ourselves, but conditioner is hard to come by. If you use it all up, the girls won’t be happy.”

  They went into a long room lined on both sides by curtained shower stalls. Steam was escaping from one.

  The curtain tore open and a wet, naked girl shot out, landing in Xeke’s arms. “Xeke!”

  “Nice to see you too, Tamara.” He embraced her.

  Tamara wrinkled her nose. “I need another shower now.” She rubbed his face. “And you swore you’d have this damned beard shaved off next time I saw you.”

  Ruddy stared into a corner, his eyes darting everywhere but where the naked girl was standing. Xeke had never seen anyone turn such a shade of red. Even his hands were blushing. It was obvious where Ruddy had gotten his nickname.

  Holy hell, she looks like Lara Croft! It was Ruddy’s voice, in his head.

  What the hell is going on? Xeke thought. He turned back to Tamara and squeezed her hand. “We just got back. Don’t worry, I’ll shave right after my shower. We’ve had a long day, and Ruddy here is new. I want to show him around.” He leaned in and whispered. “Um, I don’t think he’s used to the scenery.”

  Tamara looked at Ruddy for the first time, and joined him in blushing. It was much more attractive on her. “Oh. Uh. Sorry. I ... let me finish my shower. I’ll see you at dinner. It was nice to meet you, Ruddy.”

  “Hi,” Ruddy said as she ducked back into the stall.

  “I guess I should have warned you,” Xeke said. “I’m so used to it I don’t even think about it.”

  “It’s okay. Sorry I acted like an idiot.”

  Xeke sighed. “Let’s get cleaned up so we can eat.”

  No TV, but the girls walk around naked. What a place.

  “Yeah,” Xeke said. “You’ll get used to it.”

  Xeke felt a lot better after his shower. He was still exhausted and starving, but at least he was clean.

  I wonder where April is? he thought as he shaved off the last of his beard.

  “Who’s April?” Ruddy asked.

  “She’s … wait.”

  They looked at each other. “You didn’t say that out loud, did you?” Ruddy said.

  “No.”

  “But I heard you!”

  Xeke nodded. “Obviously.”

  Ruddy’s eyes were wide. “Do you think I’m like Teri?”

  “Maybe.” Xeke dried his face off and shrugged. “Fred’s the only person I ever heard of with more than one talent, though. I bet Teri’s doing it.”

  “Yeah,” Ruddy said. “Hey! That means she’s feeling better, right?”

  “Maybe.” Xeke tossed the towel into a bin. “Let’s go see about getting you two set up in cabins. We could put Teri in with Tamara and April. April’s a mentalist, too. Tom and Kenneth have room for you.”

  “I’d rather stick close to Teri. I’m not sure she’s ready to be around a bunch of strangers. We should probably take it slow.”

  “If that’s what you want, there’s an empty cabin near mine,” Xeke said. “That way if you need anything, I’ll be close.”

  A crowd of people were making their way to the cafeteria. The smell of food made his stomach rumble.

  “It’s later than I thought,” Xeke said. “Dinner’s ready. Do you want to eat first, or go get settled?”

  Ruddy patted his stomach. “Eat.”

  “OK.” Xeke caught sight of a familiar woman hurrying toward him. “Speaking of April …”

  A small-framed brunette approached Xeke. She wore yoga pants and a lace-sleeved flowing green blouse that cinched above the waist.

  “Well, well, look who’s back,” the brunette said. “Tamara said she ran into you. I don’t guess you were planning on coming to say hello to me anytime soon?”

  “You know you were the first on my list. I’m just introducing our new guest to the place. Ruddy, this is April.”

  “Hi,” Ruddy said.

  “Nice to meet you, Ruddy.

  April leaned close to Xeke, brushing her lips against his ear. “What’s going on? What happened to you? Who is this?”

  “What are you talking about?” Xeke said.

  “I can’t sense your thoughts. Or his.”

  “What do you … oh. Oh, that must be the girl we came in with. She’s a mentalist.”

  She shook her head. “It’s more than that. You guys just popped in. No one saw you coming.”

  “What?” Xeke said. “That’s impossible. Fred must have seen us. And Corey looked like he expected us.”

  “Well, Fred didn’t tell any of us,” April said. “We’re all a little freaked. I can’t see you at all unless I really look, and even then … if I didn’t know you so well, I don’t know if I’d recognize you. I’d probably walk right past you without noticing.”

  He shook his head. “It’s Teri. She’s hiding us.”

  “Who’s Teri?”

  “The girl we came in with.”

  “What girl?”

  “She’s … look, it’s a long story, and we’re both starving. Can we talk about this later?”

  Her mouth tightened. “After dinner, then. Come by the cabin. We’ll be there.”

  Ruddy stared at him as April walked away. “You have two girlfriends? Two?”

  “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  Ruddy looked at him like he’d grown a second head.

  Xeke laughed. “Really, it’s not unusual here. People are a lot more … free about these things. We hang out and enjoy each other’s company, that’s all.”

  “Yeah, easy for you to say. You’re the one dating two hot girls.”

  “It’s really no big deal, Ruddy.” Xeke inhaled. “Mmmm. They roasted a goat.”

  Ruddy scrunched his face up. “Ewww. A goat? I didn’t know you could eat goats.”

  “Don’t turn your nose up at it. We work hard for the food here. At least try it, and if you don’t like it, don’t make a big deal out of it. But I don’t see how you could possibly hate it. Dennis’ roast goat is the tenderest, juiciest, most flavorful meat I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Oh boy.” Ruddy’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “I can’t wait.”

  “Your loss,” Xeke said. He noticed Cymber approaching them.

  Thank god. He grabbed her in a bear hug. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  Another girlfriend? Ruddy thought.

  “No,” Xeke said. “More like a big sister.”

  Cymber smiled. “I was just on my way to meet our new guest. Is this him?”

  Xeke nodded. “Ruddy, this is Cymber. She takes care of the day to day operations of Penatuka for Fred. Cymber, this is my friend Ruddy.”

  Ruddy looked like one of those department store mannequins, frozen in place and staring. As far as Xeke could tell, he wasn’t even breathing. He chuckled and turned back to Cymber.

  She was staring at Ruddy like she’d never seen a human being before in her life.

  Xeke cleared his throat. Cymber blinked. After a moment of awkward silence, she extended her hand and said, “I’m ... it’s good to meet you, Ruddy. Ruddy Unglesby, right?”

  Ruddy nodded, and failed to notice her hand. She let it drop back to her side just as he reached out with his own. It was trembling. Cymber smiled and reached out again, squeezing his hand.

  Oh, god, I want to die. Why do I always have to make such an idiot of myself?

  Xeke put his hand on Ruddy’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go on without me?” Xeke said. “It’s that building right there. I’ll join you in a minute, I need to go over a few things with Cymber first.”

  Ruddy coughed and nodded. “Right. It was nice to meet you, Cymber.” He walked away in the direction Xeke had indicated, his head drooping.

  Xeke turned to Cymber. “What was that all about? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s just he’s got the most beautiful aura I’ve ever seen.” She stared after him. “He’s got no darkness in him at all. He’s ... I’ve never seen something so ... Xeke, it sounds like a cliche, but I think you’ve found the one man on earth with a pure heart.”

  Xeke sputtered. “What? Ruddy? Are you sure?”

  Cymber gave him an odd look. “Am I sure? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, it’s just, I mean, Ruddy’s a good guy. But he’s kind of an idiot. Honestly, he’s been getting on my nerves ever since ...”

  Cymber punched him in the arm.

  “Ow! What the hell?”

  “That kind of talk doesn’t exactly do wonders for your aura, Xeke.”

  He rubbed his arm. “I’m not being mean. It’s the truth. He’s just ... he doesn’t know how to do anything. He tries, I’ll give him that much, but he keeps screwing things up. I tried to ...” He swallowed at the look on Cymber’s face.

  “Well, aren’t we the soul of compassion today? Maybe since you know everything, you should be teaching him instead of complaining about it.” She turned and walked after Ruddy.