He ate ravenously at dinner. Thankfully, there were no executions that day. But Martyr Ditmar did take the stage again and announced that the buses were ready to take any interested recruits down to the main drag for a couple of hours of what passed for R&R. One of the older Martyrs handed everyone ration cards and explained they were good for either a cup of coffee or tea, or a small amount of food from one of the few stores that had opened back up.

“Fuckin’ tea,” Roland grumbled into Manny’s ear as they headed out for the buses. “That’s what these jumped-up puritans consider a recreational beverage. This garbage country…”

Manny had noticed the post-human growing increasingly jittery and irritable throughout the day. He’d seen Roland cautiously cough up another small bag of pills right before lunch. That had sated him for a while, but considering his post-human metabolism, Manny thought he had to be pretty close to sober.

“I am so fucking lucid I can’t stand it,” Roland muttered.

“What is it with you people and being high all the time?” Manny whispered back. “Can’t you stand being sober for a few days?”

“Not if I can help it,” Roland said. He pointed to his head. “There’s just too much going on in here, too much input. It’s like my whole body itches, but I can’t scratch.”

“Ah,” Manny said, since he wasn’t sure what else to say.

The bus hit downtown Plano after twenty minutes or so. It wasn’t an impressive sight. There were maybe a dozen little shops and one cafe open, plus a pretty sad looking farmers’ market. He could see no signs of any bars, any clubs, anything that even vaguely resembled night life. The main drag was crowded with people, throngs of soldiers and young women in long dresses, and new immigrants to the Heavenly Kingdom.

“Where should we go first?” Manny asked, as soon as they’d filed off the bus.

“Well,” Roland grunted, “unless you’re in the mood for shitty coffee or some root vegetables, I say we check out that gallows.”

Manny had avoided looking too long at the gallows. It was empty now. But just staring at it made him feel sick. There was something sinister and unsettling about the ground beneath it. It was as if he could feel the death radiating outwards.

“What could we possibly learn there?” Manny asked.

The big man shrugged, “Not much. But if they wind up hanging anyone tonight I might be able to sniff out where they’re keeping their prisoners. That’d be useful data.”

“Well, I’m gonna be useless for that,” Manny said. “What should I do?”

“I dunno man. Grab some coffee?”

“What?”

Roland locked eyes with him. He didn’t do that often. His gaze was normally as shifty and jittery as the rest of him.