Tule nodded, and the truck jerked forward again.

The drive out was so easy it scared Sasha. In fact, it seemed to scare everyone but Roland. Manny’s knuckles grew whiter and whiter as they navigated their way out of the old Metroplex. Tule’s expression didn’t change, but her body shook with nervous energy and her jaw was set so tight that the veins on her neck bulged from the strain. It was a mercy that Rick was unconscious by that point.

Convoys of military vehicles rolled past them, sometimes escorting ambulances and other emergency vehicles, sometimes bringing more soldiers to the chunk of the city Roland had devastated. Sasha’s heart leapt up into her throat every single time, but somehow no one stopped their truck.

Roland assured them all that it would be fine. (“I kicked their asses so hard it’ll take ’em an hour to find their cheeks.”) His only discomfort came once they left the zone of active danger. He seemed to deflate then.

After a half hour on the road, Roland’s wounds had mostly healed. The new skin that grew back underneath seemed weirdly dark compared to the skin above it. Roland scratched at it in irritation and then, as casually as if he’d been tossing an apple core, he ripped off his face in one smooth motion and tossed the bloody skin out the window.

“Jesus, dude,” Manny said, disgusted. “Could you have waited until we weren’t all in the car?”

Sasha stared in shock. Her hands started to tremble and she felt the urge to vomit. But she fought it down, and forced her stomach to an uneasy calm. You’ve seen worse than this now, and that was true. She looked back at Roland and forced herself to take in his new face, which she guessed was really his old face. Neither iteration of him had been exactly handsome. She watched, in queasy fascination, as he picked the rest of the white skin from his hands and tossed it out the window. When he’d finished he glanced up at Sasha.

“What?” he asked. “Please tell me you’re not racist. This’d be a very bad time for you to be racist.”

“She’s not racist, dude,” Manny said. “You just ripped your skin off. That freaks people out.”

“Oh,” said Roland. “Right, sorry.”

“It’s OK,” she said. “This is just my first time seeing someone rip off their own skin.”

“First,” Roland grunted, “but probably not last.”