T E D D Y

I dragged myself to my feet, my fingers digging between the grooves in the brick wall.

NODE's leader walked down the center aisle, motioning for me to follow. "Let's go somewhere where there's more room."

And be led into a trap? My lips peeled back, snarling. "What if I don't wanna move?"

Rudy paused, the heel of his red hi-top hovering over the ground. "I thought you'd get it."

"What's there to get?"

He flashed a grin over his shoulder. "Let's just say this is my sacred shrine."

My snarl died. My jaw unclenched. I started to say something, and couldn't.

"What?" Sancha looked from me to Rudy, then back to me. "What's he talking about?"

I wet my lips. "That place you called a cat farm?"

"With the stupid greeting cards?"

I followed the other Carrier past the pews, toward the open doors and the end of the light, where night cast blackout curtains over the world. "That's where my sister died. And where I buried her."

The lot behind the church looked dead and dry, a husk over the Earth — during the day. Night washed it with a cold blue haze and trimmed the edges of trees star-white. The glowing head of a car was folded around a thick trunk, its filmy windows casting patches of pale light on the ground.

Rudy whirled to me, and I raised my arms to protect my face.

He laughed. "Don't worry. I just wanna talk."

I risk a peek between my forearms.

Rudy raised his face to the moon. "You don't know how glad I was to find out you existed. For a long time, I thought I was the only Carrier left. The last of my kind. How sad is that? I was starting to question whether it was even worth being alive. But you're here now. I can be somewhat okay again."

My arms lowered. "Oh."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "That's it? That's your reaction?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, looking back at the church. "It's been a long time since someone was glad to see me."

"Oh."

"How did you know about the shrine?"

Rudy's penetrating eyes focused on my face. "I was familiar with the area before the Carrier sightings. I used to visit the clearing. The burial mound made it pretty obvious what it was. It was always well-cared for, but you were never there."

"No," I agreed. "I wasn't. Not for a while."

"Why not?"

I shrugged. "It never got easier. Not even after all this time."

"Ay. I feel that."

"And the old church?"

Rudy stared at something past my head for a long while. "My mom must have thought no one could kill so brutally in a church. But that didn't stop him."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

I close my eyes. A sigh whistled from the hole in my cheek. "I'm sorry. About everything. I didn't want to... you know."

Rudy chuckled. "Nah. You didn't stand a chance against me anyway. Why'd you think they let you keep your weapons?"

"Why did they, actually?"

Rudy grinned, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "Because they all came for the same reason you did. And I beat them all."

"For real?"

"For real."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Then why make NODE? You can survive on your own for years and no one could touch you."

"That's not what I want."

I raised an eyebrow. If I had Rudy's power, I'd... No, there's no point in thinking about it. It's stupid. Just a stupid, painful dream.

"Go on." Rudy grinned. "Ask me what I want."

"Fine. What do you want?"

"I want you to help me become king."

"What?"

He turned on me, his silver eyes wide and excited. "The apocalypse equalized the world. All nations, whether superpower or satellite, have been dragged down to the same level. With my power, I can unite the states. We can finally come out on top, for the first time in hundreds of years."

"Oh."

Rudy's eye twitched. "... Your reactions are really disappointing."

"It's hard to take you seriously when you're half my size and dressed like the Bounty Paper Guy's illegitimate child."

He glanced down at his plaid flannel shirt, frowning. He looked away, yanking his shirt collar like it was choking him.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad idea. But the states weren't united even before the Walker Pandemic. From what I've heard, the cartels that were in charge there have an even tighter hold than they did twenty-five years ago. You'd have to either ally with them or declare war. Either might make things even worse."

"What choice to I have?" Rudy snarled. "Things will get worse regardless of what I do. But I plan on getting us through this. Will you help me or not?"

"Why should I? This country has always been a death trap. I'm used to it." I turn my feet back to the church. "All I wanted was to tend my shrine and be left alone. That's it."

"I can get a bigger one built."

I sneak a glance over my shoulder. "Eh?"

His arms were crossed, his mechanical eyes narrowed, his feet squared. "Stone walls, stained-glass windows. Cat houses. Whatever you want."

"Don't even joke about that."

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

I frown at the ground. Crickets chastise me from the bushes.

"I have the materials and the manpower. I've built up quite the following since people started heart-hunting."

I turned around, glaring directly into the kid's freaky-looking eyes.

"So." He extended his hand. "Will you help me become king?"

I growled, crushing his fingers. He winced, his joints cracking. I grinned. "You'll need a stronger grip than that if you want to haggle with gangs, Your Highness."