Most of the towns that were still standing at the end of the war had been abandoned in favor of cities and larger towns, which had managed to build strong walls and post armed guards to keep out the remaining, roving degenerates. Now those “ghost towns” dotted the vast expanse of the badlands, in what used to be the heart of America.

There were four ghost towns within an hour of New Temperance by bus. We’d been to two of them—one razed, one standing abandoned—on school field trips, and they were beyond creepy. The only thing scarier than living in a town ruled by the Church would be living in a town not ruled—thus not protected—by the Church.

“Seriously?” My pulse raced and my legs ached to move. “You’re just going to abandon me in a ghost town?”

“No.” Reese smiled at me in the dark, and moonlight shone on his teeth. He had a friendly smile. “I’ll stay with you. You’ve only got eight or ten more hours of transition, and after that we’ll meet everyone else at home base.”

Finn took my hand. “Stash her if you want, but I’m staying with her.”

“Damn it, Finn,” Devi whispered. “You are not taking Maddock with you.”

“Wait. What’s the point of stashing me if we’re going to have to kill any degenerates that surround the place anyway? Can’t we just kill them now and not get followed anywhere?”

Devi’s brows rose, and she seemed to be reassessing me. “You up for that? Have you ever faced a degenerate?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged, and a can from my satchel poked my spine. “It didn’t go so well, but if anyone has a spare gun, I’m sure I can point and shoot.”

“No guns,” Reese whispered. “Even if the noise wasn’t a problem, you can’t shoot degenerates. Well, you can, but that only releases them to find a new host in our world. You have to exorcise demons to send them back to their world.”

Oh yeah. “Then why does Finn have a gun?”

“Because you can’t exorcise regular people.” Devi’s grim focus narrowed on me. “Answer the question. Are you ready for this?”

The brain-rattling squeal of stressed steel ripped through the night, a block over at the most, followed by a familiar screechy roar. That burning sensation in my legs flared, and my hands began to flex as if they wanted a weapon. “No choice,” I mumbled, and the three of them were instantly on alert. They headed for the east end of the alley at a jog, though no one had so much as pointed in that direction. I trailed behind, as close to Finn as I could get without stepping on his heels.

“How many?” he asked, and Reese cocked his head, moving silently on concrete even in heavy boots.