Manny nodded. He gulped down more of the liquor, took another hit from the blunt, and stared off into the sun, which had started to set over the Colorado River. It was a beautiful day. He thought it was fitting that this would be his last day in the city of his birth. It was like Austin had dressed up to say goodbye to him.

“I never really thought I could fix the world,” Manny said, “but I thought I might be able to fix my own life, you know? Be clever enough, good enough, to escape to somewhere better.”

“Yeah?” Tule grinned. “Did you give up on that? Or did you decide Rolling Fuck is ‘somewhere better’?”

“I dunno,” Manny said, “but it’s definitely somewhere different. I think right now, that’s enough.”

Rolling Fuck had moved south since the battle, to Georgetown. Tule pulled onto Highway 35, waved her way through a handful of checkpoints, and tore ass until they reached the outskirts of the camp. By then the flask was long empty, and the blunt burnt down. That was fine, though. Manny was a bit of a lightweight, and he felt pretty wasted as they pulled up to the greeter’s station. Skullfucker Mike and Topaz were waiting for them.

“Welcome home, pal,” Mike said, and wrapped him in a rib-crushing embrace. Topaz kissed his cheek and gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She was still fucked up, he knew, over Marigold’s death, and over whatever had happened with Roland. So was Manny, for that matter.

Roland’s brain had reknit within about an hour of his injury. Manny had expected things to go back to normal then, or as normal as Roland ever was. But the post-human had been left with no clear memories of Manny, Sasha, or anything that had happened inside the Heavenly Kingdom. He remembered Mike’s name, and he talked frequently about a shack on the top of some mountain in Arizona, but that was it.

Manny tried not to dwell on it. Together, he, Mike, Topaz, and Tule started to walk toward the enormous modified strip-mining machine at the heart of Rolling Fuck. Mike put a hand on Manny’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Got some bad news for you, bud.”

“What?” Manny asked, hyper-vigilance spiking anxiety into his brain.

“Sasha left,” said Topaz, her voice as gentle as it ever got.

“What?” he asked. “Where? Back to the AmFed or…”

“No,” Mike replied. “She went with Jim, in that stupid aircraft of his. I think he offered her a job.”

“Is that bad?” Manny asked. He wasn’t sure how to feel. He’d wanted to get to know her better. But he’d also gotten the distinct impression she wouldn’t be happy in Rolling Fuck.

“Depends on your perspective,” Topaz said. “Jim can give her a lot of the things she might need right now. He’s also the worst person on earth.” She paused for a moment, then reconsidered.

“Okay, second worst.”

“You talking about Roland?” Manny asked.