“Fuck you,” she replied.

“Kid’s got a right to talk about him, Topes,” Mike said. “They went through a nightmare together.”

“Yeah,” Topaz said, looking up at Manny, “and now he’s left you alone with the shit you did together, while he wanders off into the desert to get wrecked, hasn’t he?”

Roland had, in fact, started his walk to Arizona about a day ago, laden down with several backpacks full of painkillers and psilocybin. He hadn’t bothered to say goodbye but, then again, he hadn’t remembered Manny at all.

“He can’t help it,” Manny told her. He’d been thinking about this a lot. “Roland warned me, before he went out there. He told me he couldn’t handle the guilt, the killing. He made it clear how much it fucked him up. And I still asked him to go anyway.”

“Sure,” Topaz said, her voice icy and sharp. “And you don’t have guilt over anything that happened out there? You think Mike and I don’t have blood on our hands?”

“Skullfucker Mike,” Mike gently insisted.

“We spent years fighting alongside Roland,” Topaz continued. “We shed a lot of blood together. He told us he’d always be there, to help us deal with whatever came after.”

“And then one day he was gone,” Mike said in a dull, haunted tone. “He left us just like he left you.” The big man shook his head, as if to clear out the darkness inside. “I don’t hold it against him. It’s just how he is.”

“Fuck that,” Topaz spat. “He doesn’t get to do that and not be a son-of-a-bitch. The rest of us have to live with our consciences. He takes a bullet-train to Forgetsville, and that’s fine?”

“It’s not fine,” Mike said, “but it is Roland. We have to take him as he is.”

“You do, maybe. I’m happy cutting the fucker out of my life. You’d do well to do the same, Manny, when he comes back next time.”

“You think there’ll be a next time?” Manny asked.

“Of course.”

“Alright, cut the shit,” Tule said, as they reached the lift that would lead them up to the Main Roller. “Manny’s here for good now. We’ve all got plenty to sniffle over, but it’s time to properly welcome this dumbass to the city.”

“What’s that look like?” Manny asked.

“We’ll probably take some MDMA,” Mike said.

“And I’ve got a couple dozen pounds of dynamite,” Topaz added. “Explosives are stupid fun when you’re rolling.”

“We can toss it while we do donuts in the jeep,” Tule said. “I’ll crack open a case of whippits. We’ll make a night of it.”

Skullfucker Mike squeezed Manny into a bear hug. Topaz joined. And, after a few seconds, so did Tule.

“This is gonna be the best party of your life,” he said. “At least, ’til whatever we do tomorrow.”