After The Apocalypse (Book 2): Church of Chaos by Gen Griffin Page A

me or would you rather stay here?” Seth stood over me as I laid on a makeshift pallet bed with a snoring, snuffling Moira curled into my side.
    The little girl had refused to let me go, but her traumatized exhaustion had been very visibly taking her over during the last hour. Gauge had suggested I lay beside her until she fell asleep and then extract myself from her tiny, iron-like grip. Moira was now sound asleep but I hadn't worked up the motivation to slip away from her.
    “Do you want me to go with you?” I tried to hide my own exhaustion. The disappointment of not finding my parents had hit me heavily in the hours since we'd left the meat market. Gauge had sent some of his people, a tall scrawny boy named Derek and a chubby girl with a nose-ring whose name was Eden, to look for leads into what had happened to the man who the inhabitants and shoppers of the meat market had dubbed 'Preacher George'.
    “It's up to you,” Seth said. “I'm just going to talk to a few people I know. Try and turn up a few more weapons. See if anyone can tell me whether Bud Moon is still in town or if he's headed back to the Cube.”
    “You're going to go looking for Bud Moon?” I didn't know if I should admire his bravery or condemn his stupidity.
    “He knows what happened to your parents,” Seth pointed out calmly. “He's the one who brought them to Ra-Shet. He should have some kind of record as to who he sold them to.”
    “Isn't going directly to Bud Moon insanely dangerous?” I asked. “Don't get me wrong. It makes perfect sense that Bud Moon would have records about where he sold my parents to, but can you really just waltz right up to him and ask him to hand over his paperwork?”
    “Aren't you the same girl who said that I do whatever I want, whenever I want?” he asked.
    I sighed. “Let me work myself loose from Moira. I can't let you face Bud Moon on your own. They're my parents. I should be helping find them.”
    Seth shook his head at me. “Honestly, it would probably be better if you didn't go with me to face Bud Moon.”
    I stopped mid-way through trying to pry Moira's fingers out of my dress. “You don't want me to go with you?”
    “I'm not going to walk into Bud Moon's house as the nice guy who just wants to help a pretty girl find her parents, Pilar. I'm going in there as-,” he hesitated and then looked around us, “as me. The real me.”
    It made sense. I took a deep breath and nodded. “Would you hate me if I asked you to wait to confront Bud until tomorrow?”
    “Depends on why you want me to wait.”
    “I want to go with you. I just don't think I can handle seeing Bud tonight. Not with the meat market so fresh in my mind.” I closed my eyes and tried to pull myself together. “I'll be able to handle going with you if you can wait until tomorrow.”
    “I still need to go out and find out whether or not he's around,” Seth reminded me. “But if you want me to wait on you to deal with Bud, I will.”
    I nodded. “Do you think it's safe for me to stay here?”
    Seth looked around the dark, mud colored room for a minute and then nodded. “It's safe enough.”
    “You trust Gauge?” I asked.
    Seth nodded again. “He may not know who I am, but I do know who he is. His little group here isn't exactly a secret. They're activists. Mostly non-violent pacifists who think the key to change and reform is to protest the less savory aspects of life in Ra-Shet.”
    “Like the meat market?” I recalled seeing Gauge outside the meat market this morning.
    “Exactly,” Seth confirmed.
    “Why would pacifist protesters want my gun?” I asked thoughtfully, recalling the agreement we had made earlier.
    “I have no idea.” Seth pursed his lips thoughtfully. “But guns have a lot of cash value. He may need the money he can get from selling it.”
    I considered and then decided his explanation was plausible. “I think I'll just stay here while you're gone. I need some time alone to gather my