A wasteland of strangers (36 page)

He can't help that he was born a catalyst. Or do anything about it other than destroy himself, and he isn't made that way. Hope hasn't died in him yet. Neither has a streak of idealism. That's why he keeps moving from place to place. It's what makes him both crave human contact and shy away from it. It's what makes him run.

John Faith is looking for a place where enough people can see past the outer man to the one who lives inside; a place where he'll be accepted for what he is, not what he appears to be. He's looking for what he's never had and wants more than anything else.

He's looking for a home.

And what he keeps finding, wherever he goes, is a wasteland of strangers.