“We should have a name for them, Anna said.The Sick, or the Infected? Something. Something to differentiate them from the real people we see - I mean, the normal survivors like us.The Thirsty? Dave suggested.The Thirsty? Anna said sarcastically. Like, look out Dave - there's a Thirsty behind you?The Arseholes, Mini said. The Scary Arseholes.That works, I said with a grin. Look out Dave, there's an arsehole behind you!”

“She is crazy. Head to head with an ogre. Loony Lolli, Sketchy Dave, Crazy Val. You're all a bunch of freaks."Val made a formal bow, dipping her head in their direction, and then sat on the blanket.Loony Luis, more likely," Lolli said, kicking her flip-flop in his direction.Luis One-Eye," Dave said.Luis smirked. "Bug-head Dave."Princess Luis," Dave said. "Prince Valiant."Val laughed, thinking of the first time Dave had called her that. "How about Dreaded Dave?"Luis leaned over, grabbing his brother in a headlock, both of them rolling on the cloth, and said, "How about Baby Brother? Baby Brother Dave?"Hey," Lolli said. "What about me? I want to be a princess like Luis.”

“We were eating lunch when a chicken walked out of the woods.“Anna, look behind you.”She turned around. “What the heck?”We watched as the chicken came closer. It pecked the ground, not in any kind of hurry.“There was one more after all,” I said.“Yeah, the stupid one,” Anna pointed out. “Although it’s the last one standing, so it’s done something right.”It came right up to Anna and she said, “Oh, hi. Do you not know what we did to the rest of your kind?”

“I think back to the last thing Dave said to me and try to imagine what escaping oxygen would look like. It looks a lot like drowning.”

“Cecil reached for Dave, but Dave stepped back. "Dave, why are you doing this? You're not getting paid. Lovejoy called you off the case. You want the truth? You're compulsive. You can't leave it alone. You're like Adam Streeter, you know that? You live for danger." "I live for justice," Dave said."Justice is a dream," Cecil scoffed, "a romantic ideal. Who the fuck gets justice in this life?(...)”

“Anna took his hand to gauge the swelling. 'Let's at least put something cold around it. Frozen peas work pretty well.''Do I have to eat them?''No, you just have to inject them into a vein,' Anna said.”