Burn the place down.

“Somebody’ll see the smoke and…”

If Karch or Dex told anybody you were comin’ this way, they’ll find the bodies and know what you did.

“I can say the old man killed ‘em both.”

What old man? The one you let get away?

“Fuck. Karch needed killin’ but… fuck”

I caught up to the old man about an hour later but kept my distance and stayed hid. He stopped once to take a drink from a canteen and I crept in close enough I coulda shot him easy. Idiot left me with those guns. Woulda served him right. An hour later he stopped to take a piss. Still I just hid there askin’ myself if I should pop him or not.

I lost sight of him and ran to catch up but was yanked off my feet and hit the ground hard. When I opened my eyes, I had a rope snare around my right ankle and the old man was standin’ over me.

“If you’re gonna travel with me, don’t hang back so far,” he said. He helped me to my feet but kept a hold of my hand. “My name is Hank,” he said.

“Merridew,” I said.

He shook his head. “I’ve read that book, too. What’s your real name, son?”

“Jimmy,” I said. He shook my hand and then turned and started walkin’ again.

I couldn’t remember the last time a stranger’d told me their name. And then I realized… that voice in my head, the one that called me Merridew, had gone quiet.