Up to 73K words. got about 8 chapters of 30 cleaned up for the alpha reader. I also have something that amused me to write:
Seven years of apocalypse had made everything surprisingly green. This stretch of the Magtrak wasn’t overgrown yet, but the woods surrounding it seemed to be working overtime. There was plenty of wildlife around, too. No raptors, thank God, but lots of regular small critters — and a slightly terrifying moment when the brush ahead of him rustled and a bear came out.
Morgan had stopped, and so had the bear. Morgan had heard that black bears were fairly small, for apex predators, but this one looked reasonably huge. It was also wearing a bowler hat, which was somehow oddly reassuring.
Carefully, Morgan stepped back a few paces; just as carefully, so did the bear. It raised one paw in the air, almost hesitantly, and waved it about. Just as hesitantly, Morgan waved back. After a moment, the bear turned and went back into the underbrush. Fairly loudly, almost as if to make sure Morgan could hear.
Once the bear was gone, Morgan made it a point not to run down the Magtrak as fast as he could. He certainly set a brisk walking pace, but it wasn’t a run. And he didn’t look back, either. He didn’t want to freak himself out. And he really didn’t want to freak out the bear.
If you were suddenly gifted with personhood and encountered the creature that had almost driven your kind into extinction, you would probably be wary and respectful too.
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Now I want more stories about Bowlerhat Bear. Then again, he seems too smart to do anything interesting.