Page 14 of Gunslinger Girl

“Just east?”

“Yeah.” She cooled her tone. “Just east.”

Olivia snickered. “Runaways. Cute. Did you think you were going to stroll into Columbia and find the streets paved with gold and all the prosperity you could carry? You would have been lucky to find a bed to rent in the lower slums. What were you thinking?”

“We were thinking”—her voice cracked—“that we had to get away from where we were.” No, she thought. I needed to get away. Pity swallowed at the lump that had formed in her throat. “It doesn’t matter. But I… can’t go back there.”

“Comprendo, chiquita,” said Santino. “But you can’t come with us.”

“Why not?” balked Max, getting to his feet.

“Max—”

“She’s hurt and alone, with nothing. Her friend is dead and she says she can’t go home. So why can’t she come with us?”

“I do have something,” Pity interjected. “I’ve got my guns.”

Olivia snickered. “Hon, you ain’t even got that.”

“If she’s a good shot,” Max pressed, “Beau might take her on. He’s always complaining about the lack of—”

“Max,” Santino warned. “We have a job to finish.”

“The job’s done,” he countered.

“The package still needs to be delivered.”

“And it will be, whether she’s with us or not,” said Max.

“What makes you think a girl like her is going to want to go where we’re going?” Olivia said.

“Why?” Pity spat, irritated at being pecked over like a bit of corn by crows. “Where are you going?”

“End of the world.” One side of Max’s mouth turned up proudly. “We’re headed for Cessation.”

CHAPTER 5

Hell, as Pity had heard the city described, sounded exactly like what she knew of Cessation: hedonistic, ungodly, full of sinners. Outside the CONA embrace, where there was no government, no morals, and no law. As different from the communes as it could be—a city dedicated unto itself.

“Sounds great,” she said.

Max brightened. “Really?”

“No. But I don’t have much choice, do I?” She stared at the locked cabinet. And I’m not going anywhere without my guns.

Santino looked at Olivia, who shrugged. “I say we dump her at the nearest CONA outpost. And that’s only so we didn’t waste our time saving her sorry ass.”

Pity waited as Santino deliberated her fate. It was his decision to make—that much was obvious. Her heart pounded harder with every passing moment, each beat like a shard of glass piercing the back of the eye, but she forced herself to hold his golden-brown gaze. What if he decided to leave her? Were they anywhere near the 87th? By now her father might know they—

A different sort of pain stabbed her.

—she was gone. Pity didn’t know how much dust he’d kick up over her, but she had a good idea what would happen if she ended up back within his reach.

At last, Santino took a deep breath. “Stopping might mean curious officials, and we don’t need that. So we take her with us. But Olivia holds on to her weapons, and, Max, she’s your responsibility. Now and when we get home. Me entiendes?”

Max nodded.

“Great—Maxxy gets a pet and we get another damn passenger.” Olivia stomped over to a storage crate and typed a code into the lock. It clicked open. She drew out a squat metal cylinder. “C’mon, I’ll help you swap the cell.”