Parched, ragged, and dragging a heavy iron chain, a lone Gambler hobbles eastward through the endless desert. Barely a day behind him, a blood-thirsty Marshal in a priest's collar is exterminating everything in her path, hellbent on catching her prey. When the Gambler inadvertently rescues a young boy from a town gone mad, the boy sticks to him like glue as they escape together before the Marshal arrives to burn the town to the ground. But when the Marshal finally confronts the Gambler, he must make a terrible choice if he hopes to escape with his life.

Griffin Conner, a med-school dropout having left in a haze of disgrace, is forced to return to Bethune General Hospital as its newest orderly and work alongside his family.

Aspiring novelist Jane Black suddenly winds up unemployed. Hoping for a more conventional lifestyle, she goes in search of a job, hoping to find something with a 40-hour work week and maybe even dental insurance. Her adventures in the corporate world are not so ordinary, however, and she learns that a normal life may not be so normal after all.