TRUE BELIEVERS: Chapter 25 — A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

True Believers is a full-length novel by Thom Dunn, based on his play of the same name. It’s a satirical tale of star-crossed lovers, aspiring comic book creators, crazed fanboys, cybernetically enhanced humans, women in refrigerators, real-life superheroes, and girls who dress like Slave Leia as their lives intertwine over a whirlwind weekend at a comic book convention in the early 2010s.

The book will be serialized on Medium throughout the month of April 2020. Here is the first chapter. Check back every day for more chapters!

It doesn’t take long for Kt to fall back into her city-walking stride, combat boots carrying her with confidence and authority as she walks down 37th Street. She holds her chin up high to stave off catcalls and anyone else who might threaten or interrupt her — New York’s scarier aspects also fill her with adrenaline — and she only peers down occasionally to check the drying progress of the Red Bull stains on her dress. She’s surprised by how quickly it evaporates in the brisk autumn air, though she’s also glad that she remembered her leather jacket because the moisture makes the chilly night that much colder.

After she crosses 11th Ave, Kt sees the convention center again, lit up like a beacon framed against the New York Harbor. She wonders briefly how much energy…