Nori couldn’t believe her eyes. She immediately locked down on his arm and leaned backward, trying to force him down again, but Bulco ignored her. Like a bull brushing off a fly, he got to his feet and jerked his arm forward, throwing the tall woman off him. A chorus of guns cocking filled the air as the rest of the gang members aimed at the woman now in the open.

“Hold your fire!” Bulco shouted.

“What are you waiting for?” Nori yelled back at him, shivering from disappointment and the rush of adrenaline. “I know what you do to people who cross you. Just get it over with already.”

The large man shook his head. “I admire you, kid; you got balls. Tell you what, why don't we work together? You obviously figured out how to level. That’s what makes you so strong and nimble, right? Believe me, I know. With the two of us working together, we can clear the Warped and bring some order to the survivors.”

“Yeah, right,” Nori said mockingly, still on the floor. “You’re such a humanitarian guy, all you want to do is help people, don’t you?”

Bulco’s face clouded. “You think you know about me? About who I am?”

Nori’s eyes hardened. “I know you dragged men from the shelters and threw them to the Warped. I know you fought other gangs and killed their members. You’re a monster, even more than those Warped. At least they don’t harm their own kind.

Bulco’s eyes flashed with anger. “You think you know everything, do you, kid? Wake up! This is the end of the world; we have to toughen up if we want to survive.”

“And that means killing other survivors, right?” Nori’s voice was mocking.

Bulco’s jaw clenched. “Sometimes.”

“I’ll never be a part of that.”

“Suit yourself, kid. New plan. We go into the Hummer, we’re driving straight to the spaceship, and you’re going to show me how to open the front door. Now throw me your gun, or I’ll order my men to open fire.”

Nori looked at him with impotent rage, then threw the gun at him. “Drop dead.”

He caught the Disruptor easily. “Not likely.”

He looked down at the weapon in his hand and frowned. “Level five required? How the hell did you use it?”

Nori crossed her arms. “You figure it out.”

The large man nodded slowly and put the gun in his belt. “You took that level suppression trait. Smart.”

Nori's eyes widened with surprise. The large brute was sharper than he looked.

“Get into the car,” he waved his huge pistol, “we’re heading back there.”