This made him stop. Unsurprisingly, he’d come across few signs of civilization so far, and those obviously abandoned for years if not decades. Burnt-out vehicles, weed-infested farms, the hulk of slouching towers and rusted machinery, most of them a grand mystery as to their original purpose. The western part of the country was known for its vast open spaces, no area more than the one through which he’d been slogging. He’d yet to see another person, living or dead, not even so much as a skeleton.

And now, this building. A house. Lived in, current, no sign of decay or overgrown vegetation.

The door nearest him opened.

A woman came out.

This woman walked toward him, no weapon in her hands. He didn’t know what to do but felt no fear. He could kill her in the time it took her to sneeze if he had to. As she approached, he saw that she was middle-aged, average in every way except for the smile that brightened her face in a way he’d rarely seen back in the Remnant Nation.

She stopped. She spoke.

“Hungry?”

She had a plan, now she needed help.

Her plan was crazy, so she needed crazy help. That’s why, with hair pinned up, wig in place, yellow robes of the pilgrims pulled over her shoulders—big and frumpy, scratchy—face dirtied, eyes hidden with archaic glasses, she found herself walking the backways and alleys of the city. She wandered toward the docks and the dying pools, the warehouses and the mills. Where the people were. The most devout of them all.

It had been many years since she’d worn a disguise—why worry about safety when you have an entire squad of Evolutionary Guards constantly at your side, ready to inflict harm without so much as a sniff. And why not enjoy the prestige of being a God, especially after she’d worked so hard for so many years to gain such a divine status. All in all, she’d had a good run and always knew, deep down, that things would have to change someday. Haven’t they always?

She would be the greatest of them all, a phrase from a book she’d once read.

And not just for herself.

She was ambitious, power-hungry, vicious when needed. But she also cared about the world and believed with utter certainty that her vision for the future was the best. Period. No matter how brutal a time it took to get there, it needed getting there. Evolution. It was all about Evolution, no going backward. She’d use the contents of the Box in the right way.