Manny moaned again, hand at his blood-soaked belly. He didn’t appear to be bleeding still, but he was pale and his face showed agony too obvious to ignore. Sasha doubted he’d be capable of driving a car in the immediate future.

“I can drive,” Tule said in a cracked, broken-sounding voice.

“Right!” Roland said. “Well, that’s lovely. Get your asses up and get moving. You’ve got about two minutes before shit and fan start their lovely dance.” The post-human’s good humor was incongruous in this blood-soaked room, addressed to two people who’d lost a friend today. He grabbed one of the guard’s pistols, which he’d shoved in his waistband, and handed it to Sasha.

“Safety’s off,” he said cheerily, “so once you pull the trigger, stuff’ll happen.”

Sasha took the gun, then went over to help Manny up. Tule did the same thing with her wounded friend. Neither Manny or Rick were in great shape. But Manny, at least, seemed capable of standing under his own power. Once Sasha got him to his feet he stayed there. She looked him in the eye and, while he seemed sort of dazed and glassy, his pupils fixed on hers and he nodded.

“We have to go,” she said.

“Se trata de tiempo de mierda,” he muttered.

“What?” Sasha asked.

“I said it’s about fucking time.”

“Just follow me,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “I’ll take care of everything.”

“Oh fuck that,” Manny said. He put a hand on her shoulder and moved as if to push in front of her and shield her with his body. Then he grabbed his side, groaned, and staggered back.

“Alright, yeah. You lead the way.”

Men.

Tule was up now. She had an arm around her friend and, together, they moved almost as fast as a single elderly person with bad hips. Manny was not much more mobile. Sasha looked back at Roland.

“Where should we meet you?”

“The next street behind this building is called Alma. Take it and go left until you hit a road named Cross Bend. I should be there by the time you arrive.”

“What if we can’t find a–”

He cut her off: “Not finding a car is not an option. Talking more is not an option. I have to go kill people; you find something with wheels and get Tule in the driver’s seat.”

Sasha started to say something, but the sirens had drawn very close indeed. She heard several shouts from outside the front of the building. Roland cursed. He’d already gathered up two of the rifles and slung them across his back. He had a large pistol in his left hand. At the sound of the shouting he brought his right hand up to his belly and dug it deep inside his skin. Sasha watched in horror as he tore a heavy, blood-caked weapon out of his gut.