The “newcomers” had scattered to the wind in the night, running for their lives from a torrent of bullets, axes, and knives. All of them killers, rapists, not by design but by choice. Dolores meant to kill them all.
But there were miles upon miles of ground to cover, to find where all the cockroaches had fled. Some, she suspected, were being aided by other hosts like her, who had yet to reach the center of their maze.
She and Teddy had split apart in the hunt, both on horseback to cover more ground. Alone and cresting a hill, while the sun began its slow ascent into the sky, Dolores saw something all together strange; a naked man with a rifle in his hands, wandering with no clear destination. Her head tilted, eyes squinting against the morning light, and drew her gun from its saddle holster.
Hidden memories were coming back to her in flashes over the past several hours. One of which was the sense of herself, sitting naked in a chair, answering questions. Noticing, if only vaguely, other naked hosts beyond glass walls.
Still, she pulled back the gun’s hammer, and guided her horse in the stranger’s direction.