They took turns sitting with him, but it was Sam who was at Ranger’s side when his eyes finally opened, wincing against the light from the window.
“Sam,” he said in a voice that sounded like dry skin rubbing deep in his throat.
“Don’t talk,” Sam said, but Ranger took no notice.
He took a sip of water from a glass by his bed, then another, wincing each time he had to swallow. “I spent the first day trying to find a car that worked, but their computers were all fried from the blast. Then I figured that the cars in Indian Springs might have escaped the EMP, so I tried to walk there.”
“You nearly died,” Sam said.
“When I was lying in the desert, after my legs gave out,” Ranger said, “there were all these mad dreams chasing around inside my head.”
“Delirious with the heat, I expect,” said Sam.
“Seemed real at the time,” Ranger said. “Which got me thinking about that memory of you and Dodge running out of the swamp. Vienna was right. I should have felt angry, or shocked, but I didn’t. It’s just like a movie clip inside my head.”
“It never happened that way,” Sam said.
“And there were some other memories too,” Ranger said. “Memories about stuff that Dodge had done in the past. Stuff that should have made me dislike him, or at least distrust him. But I don’t. I’ve always liked Dodge. Why would I feel that way, if he had done bad things in the past?”
“She did that to you,” Sam said.
“Who? This Ursula creature that you keep talking about?”
“Yeah,” Sam said.
Ranger closed his eyes and laid his head back weakly on the pillow. “She’s been poking around inside my head. That ain’t right.”
“She’s gotta be stopped,” Sam agreed.