BENNY AND NIX KEPT MOVING, HEADING EAST. WHEN THEY LOOKED BACK there was no sign of Saint John, and the sound of the quads had all but faded out. All that remained was a faint buzz far away. There were no more yells or gunshots, either. The forest became quiet, but it did not at all feel like a natural calm.

“I don’t understand this,” said Nix.

“Don’t understand what? That guy back there or the whole freaking day?”

“People,” she said angrily. “The world ended, most of the people on the whole planet died . . . there’s no more reason for people to fight each other. There’s so much farmland we can use that no one will ever need to go hungry again. Even out here in the desert there are berries and figs and streams of pure drinking water. There’s no need to fight. But that’s all we’ve done. First Charlie and the Hammer, then White Bear and Preacher Jack, and now all this. I don’t understand it. When are we going to stop fighting? When are we going to actually want peace? When are we going to stop being so damn stupid?”

Benny shook his head. “I know, it’s crazy.”

“I mean,” Nix went on, “are we being naive about this? Are we just a couple of stupid kids who think that the world should make some kind of sense?”

“I know,” Benny said again. “I was kind of hoping we’d left that stuff behind with Gameland.”

“It can’t be everywhere,” she growled softly. “It can’t be.”

As she said it, Benny noticed that she looked up at the sky, which was just visible through the canopy of juniper branches.

“They said they saw the jet,” said Benny. “That’s something.”

She only grunted, and they walked in silence for several minutes.

Eventually Benny paused for a moment to use the sun and his wristwatch to orient himself. He squatted down and ran his fingers along the topsoil, which was darker than it had been when they’d first entered the forest.

“We should be pretty close to where Lilah went looking for Eve’s parents,” he said. “There’s some moisture in this dirt. Maybe we’re getting near to the creek Eve mentioned.”

Nix nodded, but she studied the woods. “I wonder where Lilah is. Did Chong find her? And where are they both right now?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Benny. “There was a lot of fighting going on back at the field.”

“I didn’t hear Lilah’s pistol anywhere,” said Nix. “In fact, the only gun I heard was that guy Carter’s shotgun. I don’t think the reapers have guns.”

Benny thought about that, and nodded. “I didn’t see any either. That’s something.”

“Reapers,” murmured Nix. “There’s no way that name is going to be anything but bad.”