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Speaker 1: on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Chapter twelve, Sasha the Lord did
Speaker 1: not mean for Sasha to be a cleaner. That was
Speaker 1: her first big lesson as a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Speaker 1: She was good enough at it, and she had too
Speaker 1: much self respect to complain, but the work felt so
Speaker 1: unrewarding that she knew it must not be what God
Speaker 1: wanted for her. She'd spent her first night in the
Speaker 1: Kingdom being pampered and provided for by her fellow sisters,
Speaker 1: in the faith. They'd fed her, cleaned her, found her
Speaker 1: fresh clothes, and given her all the emotional rewards she
Speaker 1: could have ever wanted. And then the next day, Helen
Speaker 1: had woken her up at seven in the morning to
Speaker 1: help clean out an old Republic barracks that was being
Speaker 1: transitioned over to housing for soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Speaker 1: She knew it was honorable work, she knew it was
Speaker 1: necessary work, and she knew from the issues of Revelator
Speaker 1: she'd read that establishing the Kingdom of Heaven was a
Speaker 1: job that would not be accomplished easily or without pain.
Speaker 1: She'd accepted this when she'd made the choice to venture
Speaker 1: down here, but by the time she'd scrubbed her twelfth
Speaker 1: the toilet of the day, Sasha had decided that her
Speaker 1: mind and her loyalty were better used elsewhere. Oddly enough,
Speaker 1: something her father had told her about the corporate world
Speaker 1: stopped her from whining. Never complain, never speak ill of
Speaker 1: your colleagues, and always ask if there's more work you
Speaker 1: can do. It had been his advice to survive and
Speaker 1: thrive in business, but she took it to heart here,
Speaker 1: and by the end of her first full day in
Speaker 1: the kingdom. She'd scrubbed more toilets than any other girl.
Speaker 1: She hated the work, but she also took up reverse
Speaker 1: sort of pride in it. That brought a little guilt
Speaker 1: because she wasn't here to serve her pride, but also
Speaker 1: wouldn't the Lord God be happy to see her commitment.
Speaker 1: I'll ask Helen about that, Sasha told herself. She'll tell
Speaker 1: me how much of my pride is justified and how
Speaker 1: much isn't. She didn't see Helen again until the end
Speaker 1: of that day, when a truck came to gather all
Speaker 1: the girls up and take them back to the House
Speaker 1: of Miriam. They all washed up and then sat together
Speaker 1: around a large oaken table while Helen led them in prayer.
Speaker 1: She read a chunk of the Book of Isaiah and
Speaker 1: then gave a quick lecture on the value of physical labor.
Speaker 1: Each callous on your hands is a kiss from God,
Speaker 1: before inviting them to tuck in. The dinner wasn't luxurious
Speaker 1: by Sasha standards, just biscuits, a thin brown gravy, and
Speaker 1: a palm sized slice of beef for each of them,
Speaker 1: but they had oranges for dessert, which was a treat,
Speaker 1: and Sasha felt more comfortable than she'd ever have believed.
Speaker 1: Among her new sisters, Caroline had fled from Florida, North
Speaker 1: America's Bananaist Republic. She'd been shot in the arm making
Speaker 1: her way to the Heavenly Kingdom. She said almost nothing.
Speaker 1: Sasha wasn't sure she even spoke English. But Caroline worked hard.
Speaker 1: There was an intensity in her eyes that was a
Speaker 1: little scary and humbling at the same time. Then there
Speaker 1: was Susannah from the black Stone Nation. Sasha couldn't help
Speaker 1: but notice she was the only black girl there. Susannah
Speaker 1: had spent most of their work day singing to herself.
Speaker 1: She had a beautiful singing voice. And then there were
Speaker 1: the three other am fed girls, Emmeline, Rosie, and Anne.
Speaker 1: They had all left a few weeks before Sasha had
Speaker 1: made her own journey. Anne had actually gone to the
Speaker 1: same middle school as Sasha. She wasn't great with names,
Speaker 1: so most of the other girls in her group were
Speaker 1: still more of a collection of smiling faces than real
Speaker 1: people at this point. But they'd all been so warm
Speaker 1: to her. There was a real effort from all of
Speaker 1: them to make regular physical contact. They put hands on
Speaker 1: each other's shoulders, and cheeks they hugged constantly. Sasha experienced
Speaker 1: more touching in her first twenty four hours here than
Speaker 1: she'd experienced in her last five years in the American Federation.
Speaker 1: There was something intoxicating about being touched and feeling so
Speaker 1: cared for. The only girl she didn't like was May.
Speaker 1: Like Sasha, May was within spitting distance of age eighteen,
Speaker 1: She'd fled from the UCS, and she had a gift
Speaker 1: for letting people around her know when they fell short
Speaker 1: of God's standards. During their work day, she'd spent more
Speaker 1: time policing the other girl's posture than she'd spent scrubbing toilets.
Speaker 1: When Anne had hitched up her shirt sleeves. It was
Speaker 1: May who had scolded her for a modesty. When Susannah
Speaker 1: took off her shoes and socks during their lunch break,
Speaker 1: May had yelled that she was an unfair temptation to
Speaker 1: the young soldiers walking by on the street. Sasha knew
Speaker 1: it was unfair and definitely Unchristian to feel this way,
Speaker 1: but May looked like someone who lived to tell other
Speaker 1: people what to do. She had the pinched features, squinting eyes,
Speaker 1: and high pitched voice of a born snitch. May kept
Speaker 1: her hair tied up in a bun so tight and
Speaker 1: short it looked military. She never smiled and never seemed
Speaker 1: to relax, And there was something about the frenzied way
Speaker 1: she'd pray alone quietly in the corner throughout the day
Speaker 1: that made Sasha leery. She hated that she'd noticed those things.
Speaker 1: She knew God didn't want her focusing on what other
Speaker 1: people were doing wrong. And besides, she told herself, what
Speaker 1: are you really angry about that? She's too serious about
Speaker 1: her faith. Isn't that way you left home? Gluttony is
Speaker 1: a sin too, you know, May said. Sasha realized with
Speaker 1: a start that May had addressed her. She had been
Speaker 1: eating her orange and absent minded and tired after a
Speaker 1: long day of labor. She hadn't realized how messy she'd
Speaker 1: been about peeling it. Her hands and sleeves were covered
Speaker 1: with a sticky juice. She looked around at the table
Speaker 1: and noticed that the other girls had been much more
Speaker 1: careful with their dessert. Sorry, Sasha started, I wasn't thinking.
Speaker 1: May rolled her eyes and started to say something else,
Speaker 1: but Helen cut her off. It's quite all right, dear.
Speaker 1: None of us is perfect. She cast a reproach for
Speaker 1: lie at May, and we all lose ourselves and thoughts, sometimes,
Speaker 1: especially in the wake of great change. The Lord understands.
Speaker 1: She looked out to the rest of the table with
Speaker 1: a gaze that seemed to take in each of the
Speaker 1: girls collectively and individually. Then she spoke, we are all
Speaker 1: here because we recognize the primacy of God's word on earth.
Speaker 1: But we are no more perfect and no more beloved
Speaker 1: by our Lord than the enemies we face. Never forget that, girls,
Speaker 1: our foes, are as dear to Him as we are.
Speaker 1: They must be purged when they seek to interfere with
Speaker 1: God's will, But we should feel sorrow for such losses,
Speaker 1: and we should never ever Her eyes went to May again,
Speaker 1: let our fortune, in hearing God's word, bleat us of compassion,
Speaker 1: or lead us to arrogance. Sasha's heart swelled at this.
Speaker 1: She'd never admired a woman more. Helen had a way
Speaker 1: of imparting wisdom without judgment, of shining a light on
Speaker 1: the truth without seeming like it was her truth alone.
Speaker 1: Helen wasn't a preacher, but Sasha had never heard anyone
Speaker 1: speak the word of God with more conviction. After dinner,
Speaker 1: they had an hour of free time to read their bibles,
Speaker 1: share a few stories of their old lives, and drink
Speaker 1: a single cup of sweet lemon tea. By nine o'clock
Speaker 1: it was bedtime. Sasha was rankled a bit by the
Speaker 1: fact that she and her fellow young women were being
Speaker 1: ordered into bed at a set hour, but she was
Speaker 1: so exhausted by her day of labor that she couldn't
Speaker 1: work up much frustration over the mild injustice. Perhaps, when
Speaker 1: she'd had more time to adjust, she'd bring this up
Speaker 1: to Helen. She collapsed in her bunk bed, certain she'd
Speaker 1: fall asleep in an instant. Instead, she lay awake for
Speaker 1: the better part of an hour, thinking of Alexander. She'd
Speaker 1: still heard nothing more from him or about him. She'd
Speaker 1: asked Helen a couple of times today, and the older
Speaker 1: woman had almost seemed gree Somehow, Sasha knew the anger
Speaker 1: wasn't towards her, and that was doubly confusing Sasha. Anne's
Speaker 1: voice broke her reverie. The other girl was situated just
Speaker 1: below her on the bunk bed. Sasha was surprised to
Speaker 1: hear her still awake. Yes, is something the matter? No,
Speaker 1: Anne said, I just couldn't sleep. I thought maybe you
Speaker 1: were awake too. I guess we're both in the same boat.
Speaker 1: Then Sasha kept her voice low, more to avoid waking
Speaker 1: any of the others than out of fear of breaking
Speaker 1: the rules. In more ways than one, Anne said, I'm
Speaker 1: waiting for a man I love too. Sasha's heart beat
Speaker 1: a little faster. It was like that, with everything that
Speaker 1: made her think of Alexander, her mind didn't need a
Speaker 1: great deal of prodding to turn towards him. Your love
Speaker 1: is at the front, to Sasha asked, I think so,
Speaker 1: Anne said, I was lucky enough to get to see
Speaker 1: him once I arrived in Kappel first, back before the
Speaker 1: kingdom took Plaano. We met once then, and once more
Speaker 1: after the city fell and they moved us into the
Speaker 1: House of Miriam. Jealousy seized Sasha's heart. She tried to
Speaker 1: replace it with gratitude in the Lord he'd send her
Speaker 1: someone who can understand her pain and frustration. Wasn't that
Speaker 1: a blessing? That must be hard for you, she said,
Speaker 1: getting to see him and then being separated. The words
Speaker 1: came out a bit stilted and cold. She hoped Anne
Speaker 1: hadn't noticed it is, Anne said, but it isn't half
Speaker 1: so rough her place as you're in. I can't imagine
Speaker 1: how anxious you must be arriving here and not seeing him.
Speaker 1: He's not the only reason I came, Sasha said, a
Speaker 1: bit defensively. But yes, it's hard. I'm scared. I don't
Speaker 1: know why I feel so silly, Admitting that it's certainly
Speaker 1: not silly, Anne assured her, But I get it. Everyone
Speaker 1: here is so focused on gratitude and God's wisdom. It
Speaker 1: almost makes you feel like a traitor for feeling afraid
Speaker 1: or unhappy. Anne's voice dropped a few decibels, as if
Speaker 1: she was ashamed of her next words, I almost feel
Speaker 1: like a liar when I smile. I don't think the
Speaker 1: Lord wants us to be liars, Sasha said, But I
Speaker 1: think happy or trying to seem happy is a sacrifice
Speaker 1: we make for the kingdom. It helps keep everyone else
Speaker 1: around us strong. Hmm, Anne said, and then yawned. Her
Speaker 1: voice sounded heavy with sleep. There must have been something
Speaker 1: contagious in the sound, because Sasha felt her own eyelids
Speaker 1: start to droop. That's a nice way to look at it,
Speaker 1: Anne said, I like the way you think, Sasha. Helen
Speaker 1: woke all of them up the next morning. She was
Speaker 1: gentle with it, a hand on each girl's shoulder and
Speaker 1: a word in each of their ears, but there was
Speaker 1: no mistaking that she meant now. So Sasha got up
Speaker 1: her feet hit the floor just as Anne took her
Speaker 1: first steps forward towards the dining room. They all filed in,
Speaker 1: silent and groggy. The girls took their breakfasts in the
Speaker 1: form of a thick, tasteless protein shake, and then they
Speaker 1: were loaded onto a heavy military looking bus and driven
Speaker 1: off to a large, red brick office building. According to
Speaker 1: the bullet poxed signs, it had once been an administrative
Speaker 1: building for the corporation that had run most of the
Speaker 1: Republic schools. Sasha swept up bullet casings and added glass.
Speaker 1: She scrubbed toilets and wiped the blood off the walls,
Speaker 1: and tried not to think too hard about how it
Speaker 1: had gotten there. Conversation wasn't forbidden, but there was a
Speaker 1: lot of ground to cover, and May was quick to
Speaker 1: scold anyone who dawdled. Sasha and Anne both kept moving,
Speaker 1: but they passed each other in the halls often each
Speaker 1: time the other girl would favor Sasha with a supportive smile,
Speaker 1: and Sasha would return it. They broke for lunch a
Speaker 1: little afternoon, stale cheese sandwiches and orange juice, but instead
Speaker 1: of getting back to work after their meal, they were
Speaker 1: met again by the bus that had taken them there.
Speaker 1: They were told to file inside. Sasha wound up in
Speaker 1: between Anne and Susannah in the middle row of the bus.
Speaker 1: It was hot, the air circulation was bad, and the
Speaker 1: smell of sweat was thick on the bus, but the
Speaker 1: windows were down, and once the bus got going, the
Speaker 1: air that blew in felt like Heaven, Lord God. I've
Speaker 1: been waiting for this all day, said Susannah. I'd stay
Speaker 1: on this thing all night if they led me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Anne said, this is actually a lot more comfortable than
Speaker 1: the bunk room. Even when the powers working and the
Speaker 1: fans are on the the power go out a lot,
Speaker 1: Sasha asked. She felt dumb for even giving voice to
Speaker 1: the question, but her seatmates didn't treat it like a
Speaker 1: stupid question. Not a lot, Anne said, But we'll lose
Speaker 1: an hour or two most days, and it can be
Speaker 1: out for quite a while. When Austin gets a drone
Speaker 1: through that doesn't happen often, Susannah assured her. I've been
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom ten days and we've only had to
Speaker 1: take shelter once twice for me. Anne said, but I've
Speaker 1: been here almost three weeks. I'm not scared, Sasha assured them.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious. You should be scared. Susannah said, it sucks.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a long ride, and Sasha was embarrassed at
Speaker 1: how long it took her to realize the destination. This
Speaker 1: was the same route they'd taken from the House of Miriam,
Speaker 1: just in reverse. She and the other girls were being
Speaker 1: taken downtown. Won't she got a good look at the gallows,
Speaker 1: she understood why. There were six people lined up in
Speaker 1: front of the little stairway that led to the platform.
Speaker 1: They looked like prisoners. Susannah looked just as confused as Sasha,
Speaker 1: but Anne seemed to understand what was going on. She
Speaker 1: scrunched her face in disgust. Oh no, she said, I
Speaker 1: hate it when they make us watch this. The two
Speaker 1: martyrs who had guarded them all day opened the doors
Speaker 1: and told them to form up outside of the bus.
Speaker 1: Sasha did as she was told, while grabbing as many
Speaker 1: long looks at the gallows as she could manage. None
Speaker 1: of the people who stood out in front of the
Speaker 1: platform looked like soldiers, or robber barons, or much of
Speaker 1: anything at all. They just seemed young and scared fags.
Speaker 1: The martyr, standing next to the driver at the bus
Speaker 1: door grunted as Sasha stepped past him. He waited until
Speaker 1: the other girls had all filed off the bus before
Speaker 1: he stepped around to stand in front of them. Sasha
Speaker 1: hadn't paid the man too much attention during the day, because,
Speaker 1: in truth, he scared her. He looked old, over forty
Speaker 1: at least, and his face was heavy with scars and tattoos.
Speaker 1: There were faded blue crosses inked on each of his forearms.
Speaker 1: There wasn't much skin visible under his armor in helmet,
Speaker 1: but the skin she could see was tanned red like leather.
Speaker 1: His eyes were cold and seemed fixed into a permanent
Speaker 1: and squint. When he addressed the group, it was with
Speaker 1: a voice that sounded like it came to them through
Speaker 1: a filter of gravel and glass. These people, he said,
Speaker 1: and spat after the word people, gender traitors. There were
Speaker 1: a few gasps from among the crowd. He continued it
Speaker 1: took us a while to crack into the Republic's old files,
Speaker 1: but we finally got a list of all the fags
Speaker 1: who refused to accept their God given gender. They thought
Speaker 1: surgery could hide him. But there's no hide in the
Speaker 1: truth from the eyes of God or his true servants,
Speaker 1: and there's only one fair punishment for someone who turns
Speaker 1: their back on natural law. Sasha's heart started to pound.
Speaker 1: She'd known, of course, that Pastor Mike didn't approve of transgenderism,
Speaker 1: of gender change, surgery, of homosexuality, or of anything else
Speaker 1: that didn't fit into the neat biblical lines of what
Speaker 1: a man and a woman ought to be, but it
Speaker 1: always phrased his objections with such compassion. Queer and trans
Speaker 1: people weren't monsters deserving of death. They were victims of
Speaker 1: the fallen secular world, same as anyone else. Sasha agreed
Speaker 1: they needed re education, but this the crowd, perhaps three
Speaker 1: hundred strong, cheered as the prisoners were led up to
Speaker 1: the gallows. Sasha's heart beat like a bass drum. She
Speaker 1: couldn't hear anything else. The voices of the crowd, of
Speaker 1: her sister's faded behind the beating sound of the blood
Speaker 1: that coursed through her head, but her eyes continued to work,
Speaker 1: and she watched in horror as they fit nooses around
Speaker 1: each victim's neck. The young people cried and screamed and begged,
Speaker 1: but the martyrs paid them no mind. Some of them
Speaker 1: chanted in tongues while they prepared the killing machine. Sasha
Speaker 1: saw joy in their eyes. She found it revolting. Before long,
Speaker 1: they'd finished their preparations and six people were strung up
Speaker 1: on the gallows before the brays and cries of the crowd.
Speaker 1: Sasha didn't think it was possible for her heart to
Speaker 1: beat any faster, but it kept speeding up. She felt
Speaker 1: light headed and nauseous, and a little like she needed
Speaker 1: to go to the bathroom. Her knees grew weak, and
Speaker 1: she found herself leaning on Anne. The other woman looked
Speaker 1: almost as scared as Sasha did, but she weathered it better.
Speaker 1: She put an arm around Sasha, supporting her, and two
Speaker 1: of them looked on as the executioner called out and
Speaker 1: pulled the lever that sent six human beings dropping down
Speaker 1: to dangle until they were dead. The snap of their
Speaker 1: necks was the only thing Sasha heard above the sound
Speaker 1: of her own pounding heart. She watched them twitch and
Speaker 1: jerk for a second too, and then her body grew
Speaker 1: too light and her legs collapsed beneath her. The world
Speaker 1: went black. She awoke back in the House of Miriam.
Speaker 1: Her sisters knelt or stood around her. Sasha was gratified
Speaker 1: to see she wasn't the only one who had passed out.
Speaker 1: Anne lay next to her, clearly disoriented, along with two
Speaker 1: other women whose name Sasha hadn't quite memorized. Helen set
Speaker 1: in between them, wet washcloth in her hand, and stroked
Speaker 1: their faces. There there, DearS, you've had a terrible shock,
Speaker 1: and there's no shame in your reactions. No shame. May
Speaker 1: spat the words. There was a glow to her face
Speaker 1: and a manic glint in her eyes. Ma'am, with all
Speaker 1: due respect, I don't know how these girls can call
Speaker 1: themselves committed to the heavenly kingdom if the sight of
Speaker 1: defying justice hurts them so much. Sasha saw anger in
Speaker 1: Helen's eyes, but the older woman didn't let it carry
Speaker 1: over into her voice. Instead, she fixed May with a
Speaker 1: cool gaze and said, in an even tone, Miss May,
Speaker 1: one can believe in our Lord's justice and still regret
Speaker 1: the pain that comes with it. That does not signal
Speaker 1: a lack of devotion. It signals compassion, a trait Jesus
Speaker 1: Christ had an abundance. May frowned and pursed her lips,
Speaker 1: but she kept them shut for now. Helen turned back
Speaker 1: to Sasha and the other girls who had fallen. Death
Speaker 1: is never easy to witness, girls. It should be a
Speaker 1: horrible thing to witness. She glanced back to May. And
Speaker 1: we should all be worried if a day ever comes
Speaker 1: when we can see such violence without pain in our hearts.
Speaker 1: But these are dire times. The world has fallen too
Speaker 1: much for pacifism to bring back the rule of God,
Speaker 1: and so we must use violence. Do you understand? Sasha nodded.
Speaker 1: She heard the other girls give stuttering, hollow replies. Even
Speaker 1: the girls who'd managed to stay standing looked shaken. May
Speaker 1: was the only one who wore a smile. They gave
Speaker 1: her a wide berth the rest of the day. Whoever
Speaker 1: was in charge of their schedule paid some deference to
Speaker 1: the fact that they had been forced to watch in execution.
Speaker 1: There was no more cleaning that day. They spent the
Speaker 1: rest of the daylight hours seated around the common area
Speaker 1: in the House of Miriam sewing uniforms. Sasha had never
Speaker 1: sewn before, but Anne sat next to her and taught
Speaker 1: her the basics. Her hands were still shaking when they
Speaker 1: got to work, but Anne helped her, and eventually, focusing
Speaker 1: on the meticulous task allowed her to blot out the horror.
Speaker 1: Once she got a good grip on the basics of
Speaker 1: what was required of her, she was able to lose
Speaker 1: herself and quiet productive flow. She was almost disappointed when
Speaker 1: Helen called them to dinner. They ate the same food
Speaker 1: as the day before, They prayed, and then they had
Speaker 1: an hour of relatively free time. They couldn't leave the
Speaker 1: House of Miriam since it was after eight, but they
Speaker 1: could talk. Sasha gravitated naturally to Susannah and Anne. The
Speaker 1: topic of conversation turned at once to the execution. Is
Speaker 1: that always what it's like? Susannah asked. Anne nodded, her
Speaker 1: voice shook a little when she said, I passed out
Speaker 1: last time too. I thought it'd be easier the second
Speaker 1: time around, but it really wasn't. It feels wrong, Sasha whispered.
Speaker 1: She glanced over to May, who was holding court with
Speaker 1: a few of the other girls at the other end
Speaker 1: of the common area. I'm not saying it's okay what
Speaker 1: those people were doing, but surely they deserved a chance
Speaker 1: to repent. Susannah nodded, I don't think Jesus would want
Speaker 1: us to murder people just for being wrong. It's one
Speaker 1: thing to kill an atheist or an apostate who's attacking you.
Speaker 1: It's another thing to just Her voice caught a bit
Speaker 1: hank people. Anne shook her head in an absent sort
Speaker 1: of way. Kyle told me it was necessary. Kyle, Susannah asked,
Speaker 1: my intended Anne said, I watched the first execution with
Speaker 1: him when I passed out. He was so sweet. I
Speaker 1: came to when he was holding me, petting my head.
Speaker 1: Anne's eyes shone with love, and Sasha had to fight
Speaker 1: hard to keep the jealousy from her own face. He
Speaker 1: explained that the Heavenly Kingdom couldn't afford to re educate
Speaker 1: the fallen. There are too many, and we are too surrounded.
Speaker 1: If someone is capable of changing, God will know, and
Speaker 1: he will ensure they get their just reward in heaven.
Speaker 1: Sasha was not entirely convinced, but she also wasn't willing
Speaker 1: to argue with Anne. It felt a little dicey, just
Speaker 1: admitting her continued discomfort with the executions, so she stayed quiet,
Speaker 1: and the talk turned to more comfortable matters, what they
Speaker 1: expected from the next day's work and what sort of
Speaker 1: lives they lead. When the fighting was over and they
Speaker 1: were settled down with the gallant warriors, they knew they'd
Speaker 1: marry soon. The girls all filed off to their small
Speaker 1: snug beds after a long day of work and stress.
Speaker 1: The bed felt so good that it made Sasha feel guilty.
Speaker 1: Alexander was fighting right now, he'd surely seem more death
Speaker 1: than she had, and he didn't have the option of
Speaker 1: fainting or crying about it. As she drifted off to
Speaker 1: sleep again, Sasha promised herself that she would never faint
Speaker 1: or cry out in the face of death again. If
Speaker 1: this was the way God had ordained, his kingdom must come,
Speaker 1: she owed it to herself and to her Lord to
Speaker 1: stand and see it. Next day, they all went back
Speaker 1: to the same battered administrative building as the day before.
Speaker 1: Sasha scrubbed and swept ate her lunch and got right
Speaker 1: back to work. She forced herself into enthusiasm for the
Speaker 1: menial labor with the same discipline she'd used when it
Speaker 1: had been time to study for an exam and a
Speaker 1: class she hated. The same tactic worked in both high
Speaker 1: school and the Heavenly Kingdom. About two hours before the
Speaker 1: end of their workday, Sasha's rhythm was interrupted by the
Speaker 1: sound of a crash and a scream from one of
Speaker 1: the girls in the bathroom next door to the room
Speaker 1: she was in. Sasha dropped her scrub brush and darted over.
Speaker 1: She was the first one into the room. It took
Speaker 1: her a moment to piece together what must have happened.
Speaker 1: Susannah had been scrubbing a sink that had been badly
Speaker 1: damaged by shell fire. The sink had collapsed while she
Speaker 1: had scrubbed it, and a jagged edge of porcelain had
Speaker 1: torn open the girl's hand. There was already an enormous
Speaker 1: amount of blood by the time Sasha arrived. Susannah looked pale.
Speaker 1: She backed up against the wall and was just screaming wordlessly.
Speaker 1: Sasha had taken three semesters of premed classes in the
Speaker 1: last two years. She had a good basic instruction in
Speaker 1: first aid. She pulled her shirt off over her head
Speaker 1: and wrapped it around the gash on the other girl's hand.
Speaker 1: It was the spare shirt she had brought from home,
Speaker 1: and it had an antimicrobial weave that should make it
Speaker 1: relatively safe as a wound dressing. She pulled it tight,
Speaker 1: watted the extra fabric up over the wound, and applied
Speaker 1: as much pressure as she could. Susannah kept screaming, but
Speaker 1: the flow of blood from her wounds slowed. Breathe with me,
Speaker 1: Sasha told Susannah as she stared into the other girl's eyes.
Speaker 1: In she inhaled, and out she exhaled. She repeated this
Speaker 1: several times until Susannah stopped screaming and started breathing in
Speaker 1: time with her. Several of the girls had crowded around
Speaker 1: the entrance to the bathroom at this point. When Sasha
Speaker 1: glanced up, she could see May's face in the back
Speaker 1: of the crowd. She looked disgusted, probably at the fact
Speaker 1: that Sasha had torn off her shirt. Please call for
Speaker 1: the martyrs, Sasha asked, no one in particular. Tell them
Speaker 1: Susanna needs medical attention. I don't think she has any
Speaker 1: clotting agents in her blood. No one moved, so Sasha
Speaker 1: locked eyes with Anne and told her, please go now.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't take any chance as with a wound like this.
Speaker 1: Anne nodded, broke away from the glawking group and stumbled
Speaker 1: off to find help. Sasha looked back to Susannah. She
Speaker 1: coaxed the other girl to sit down against the wall
Speaker 1: and sat down next to her, applying pressure to her
Speaker 1: hand the entire time. Sasha's shirt was now soaked through
Speaker 1: with hot, sticky blood. Her hands were wet to but
Speaker 1: she didn't feel squeamish about this. She'd expected to after
Speaker 1: her reaction to the hangings, but somehow the sight of
Speaker 1: all this blood actually combed her. She knew what to
Speaker 1: do here. It felt good to take effective action. The
Speaker 1: martyrs arrived a minute or so later, with a medic
Speaker 1: close behind. By that point, Susannah's bleeding had stopped entirely.
Speaker 1: The medic was impressed, and he said, so you have
Speaker 1: some kind of training, ma'am, you handled this very well.
Speaker 1: Three semesters of premed. She had answered, it was only
Speaker 1: high school premed, but they made us do a lot
Speaker 1: of first aid drills. The medic gave her a significant
Speaker 1: look and then asked, what's your name, miss Sasha? She
Speaker 1: had started before correcting herself. Sasha Susannah was taken off
Speaker 1: to whatever served as a hospital for the Heavenly Kingdom
Speaker 1: while Sasha and the rest of the girls finished their
Speaker 1: work day. It was uneventful after that, but the other
Speaker 1: girl's attitudes towards her seemed to have shifted. Anne had
Speaker 1: given her a big hug, of course, but every one
Speaker 1: was more respectful. Several of them came to her to
Speaker 1: ask minor things, advice on how best to clean a
Speaker 1: room or clear a pile of rubble. At one point,
Speaker 1: Sasha had divided four girls up into two teams to
Speaker 1: remove a huge amount of shattered glass. While she directed
Speaker 1: the effort, May had walked by the room and butted
Speaker 1: her head in. Just because she knows a little first
Speaker 1: day doesn't make her a foreman, she sneered. The other
Speaker 1: girls didn't pay May any mind. They left for the
Speaker 1: day at the usual time and arrived back at the
Speaker 1: house of Miriam in the early evening. Helen was waiting
Speaker 1: for them at the door. Behind her stood an older
Speaker 1: man in a white lab coat. He had a cross
Speaker 1: pinned to his lapel and a larger red cross on
Speaker 1: his arm band. As the girls all filed into the building,
Speaker 1: Sasha saw Helen point to her and whisper something to
Speaker 1: the man. He nodded. Miss Sasha, he called out, as
Speaker 1: she headed to her seat at the dinner table. Sasha
Speaker 1: peeled off and approached him. Helen stood near by, distant
Speaker 1: enough to make it clear that this conversation was between
Speaker 1: her and the man, but close enough that her presence
Speaker 1: provided a warm kernel of certainty and support. Yes, Sasha asked.
Speaker 1: The man had a sharp, narrow jaw and a long nose.
Speaker 1: There were deep bags under his eyes, and his hair
Speaker 1: was at the grayest end of pepper gray. He wasn't
Speaker 1: very large, but he used his physicality well. He moved
Speaker 1: like he was used to controlling the room. Sasha. I'm
Speaker 1: doctor Brandt. One of our medics was very impressed with
Speaker 1: your work earlier today on the injured girl. Sir, all
Speaker 1: I did was trying to stanish the bleeding. Anyone could
Speaker 1: have handled that. It didn't require any special knowledge. No,
Speaker 1: he interrupted her, it did not. The knowledge of how
Speaker 1: to stim bleeding is not rare or special, but the
Speaker 1: willingness to jump in during an emergency and to get
Speaker 1: blood on one's own hands is rather rare. I understand
Speaker 1: you have some form of medical training, very little Sir,
Speaker 1: I took three semesters of pre medical courses in high school.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about a medical career before. I yes, well,
Speaker 1: three semesters of any kind of training almost makes you
Speaker 1: a doctor. Here, we're not exactly flooded with qualified medical experts.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt lacked Helen's gift for interrupting without seeming rude,
Speaker 1: but he was clearly a busy man, and the fact
Speaker 1: that he'd offered praise made it hard for Sasha to
Speaker 1: take offense. Miss Helen. He snapped back at the older woman,
Speaker 1: I'm putting this one on special duty. Would that be
Speaker 1: all right? Of course, doctor Brandt. Helen said she smiled
Speaker 1: at Sasha, and there was honest pride in that smile,
Speaker 1: more pride than she had ever seen in her mother's eyes.
Speaker 1: Sasha resisted the urge to tear up and response. Doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt turned to Sasha next and asked, what do you
Speaker 1: know about the people of the road. She frowned. Post
Speaker 1: humans were a popular topic of discussion in her high school.
Speaker 1: Sasha had seen waste Land Warriors a couple of years back,
Speaker 1: and benisenthralled as everyone else, but her school curriculum didn't
Speaker 1: talk much about them and definitely downplayed their influence in
Speaker 1: the rest of the continent. Her father had called them
Speaker 1: a bunch of idiots dancing around the desert doing drugs
Speaker 1: and robbing people. She decided to use a variant of
Speaker 1: that for her answer. Their drug addled pagans fornicating and
Speaker 1: spurning the will of God. Doctor Brandt smiled. He had
Speaker 1: such a serious face and such stern features that Sasha
Speaker 1: was shocked by the honest kindness of that smile. I'd
Speaker 1: say that's basically accurate, he chuckled, perhaps even a bit charitable.
Speaker 1: It turns out one of these groups sent some emissaries
Speaker 1: into Plano just before the city fell. They were on
Speaker 1: some trade mission. They wound up getting stuck in a
Speaker 1: pin with a few other prisoners. We didn't even realize
Speaker 1: who we had until their people contacted us and demanded
Speaker 1: their release. Sasha's eyes widened. All she could think of
Speaker 1: were the grainy video fragments from one section of Waste
Speaker 1: Land Warriors. It was supposedly a recording of an attack
Speaker 1: on an Agiss Biosystems convoy headed from Milwaukee to Denver.
Speaker 1: The convoy had been well armed, but it had been
Speaker 1: taken apart in a matter of seconds. The assailants moved
Speaker 1: so fast that the documentarians had needed to slow the
Speaker 1: video to make them visible as anything but flashes on
Speaker 1: the screen. How could something that fast and deadly be captured?
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt answered her question before she could ask it.
Speaker 1: I'm going to guess her wondering how he managed to
Speaker 1: capture three of those Frankenstein abominations. Yes, Sir Sasha said, well,
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt popped the glasses off his face and buffed
Speaker 1: the lenses on his shirt while he spoke. Most members
Speaker 1: of any given group aren't quite like that. Oh, they're
Speaker 1: all pagans, are atheists, just some kind of heathen. They
Speaker 1: have a lot of aesthetic modifications led tattoos and body lighting,
Speaker 1: and some sensory upgrades, but few of them have military
Speaker 1: style implants. I see, As you know, cities and civilized
Speaker 1: nations tend to ban those implants within their borders. Doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt slid his glasses back into place on his nose,
Speaker 1: So the people of the road have to send their
Speaker 1: less modified citizens out to negotiate, et cetera. Which means
Speaker 1: we've got a bit of a tiger by the tail
Speaker 1: situation here. What do you mean, sir, Sasha asked, Well,
Speaker 1: the stories about these types are absolutely true. Some of
Speaker 1: them have hundreds of warriors packed to the gills with
Speaker 1: nightmare technology. There are individuals who are capable of taking
Speaker 1: on entire companies of human war fighters. The tribe these
Speaker 1: particular captives hail from, well, their name is quite obscene.
Speaker 1: The City of Wheels would be the most polite variant.
Speaker 1: They're is lost as it gets when it comes to
Speaker 1: the Word of God. But they've got about six hundred
Speaker 1: post human citizens. Sasha thought back to what a dozen
Speaker 1: of those things had done to that convoy. She tried
Speaker 1: to imagine the carnage six hundred of them could unleash
Speaker 1: upon the heavenly kingdom. A shiver ran down her spine exactly.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt nodded at her like I said, we've got
Speaker 1: a tiger by the tail. They might not intervene while
Speaker 1: we have their people, So we've got to make sure
Speaker 1: our captives are well taken care of. That's where you
Speaker 1: come in me. Two of the captives are women, Sasha,
Speaker 1: They'll need to be inspected by some one besides me.
Speaker 1: We do have some qualified female ill nurses, but an
Speaker 1: SDF drone hit one of our troop transports about two
Speaker 1: hours ago, and I'm afraid they're both in the thick
Speaker 1: of that mess. So you're coming with me to handle
Speaker 1: this job. I'm proud to do it, sir. She wasn't
Speaker 1: sure what else to say, and besides, it was true.
Speaker 1: The first captive sat on a small concrete bench in
Speaker 1: the back of an eight by ten cell. Her hair
Speaker 1: had been shaved into a mohawk, but the purple hair
Speaker 1: was deflated and greasy. Now there was stubble on the
Speaker 1: sides of her head. Her face was round but lean.
Speaker 1: There were slight laugh lines at the corners of her
Speaker 1: cheeks in the edges of her eyes. She wore a
Speaker 1: sleeveless purple and black dress that was by now filthy.
Speaker 1: Her arms were covered in a strange series of tattoos,
Speaker 1: dozens of branching lines that each terminated in a box.
Speaker 1: They looked almost like circuit diagrams. Sasha quickly realized that
Speaker 1: each box held a little led screen. Most of the
Speaker 1: screens were set to a dull red color, but once
Speaker 1: she stepped into the women's cell, they flashed bright orange.
Speaker 1: The woman looked up and snarled at doctor Brandt. Do
Speaker 1: you want shipbird? She looked over to Sasha and then added, sorry,
Speaker 1: ship birds Sasha. Doctor Brandt sighed, kneading the bridge of
Speaker 1: his nose. Meet Marigold Fulton. Jesus fucking Christ, what are
Speaker 1: you six fucking ten? Marigold said to Sasha. Then she
Speaker 1: looked to doctor Brandt. That's fucked up, man. Doctor Brandt
Speaker 1: winced at both curses. Sasha glanced down and saw that
Speaker 1: his right hand was bawled up into a fist and
Speaker 1: clinched tight. Marigold, this is Sasha, he said through gritted lips.
Speaker 1: She'll be performing your intake exam. We need to make
Speaker 1: sure you're uninjured, uninfectious, and not hiding any weaponry. I
Speaker 1: would recommend compliance your kind always do. The woman spat back, Sasha,
Speaker 1: you've got this. Doctor Brandt gave her a curt nod,
Speaker 1: turned on his heels, and headed back out of the cell.
Speaker 1: There was an armed guard just outside the cell. As
Speaker 1: doctor Brandt had instructed, Sasha pulled along privacy screen out
Speaker 1: from the far end of the wall and clasped it
Speaker 1: to a set of hooks on the other end. The
Speaker 1: captives were being held in the old plain Oh jail,
Speaker 1: which made this one of the rare buildings in the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom being used for its intended purpose. Sasha was
Speaker 1: grateful for the privacy screen. She was also unbearably nervous
Speaker 1: about what came next. I'm going to have to ask you.
Speaker 1: In one smooth motion, Marigold pulled the dress up over
Speaker 1: her shoulders and off of her body. She wore nothing
Speaker 1: underneath it. Her pert breasts, her little belly, her pubic mound,
Speaker 1: and its shock of purple hair were suddenly just there.
Speaker 1: You're gonna do your job? Are you just gonna stand there?
Speaker 1: And Jill off? Marigold asked what Jill Marigold gave a
Speaker 1: harsh laugh. It's senton him from masturbation. Lady, masturbation. You
Speaker 1: don't do that, do you, Sugar. I'm gonna guess the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom frowns on girls having fun without the help
Speaker 1: of boys, Sasha grimaced. The Heavenly Kingdom doesn't frown on
Speaker 1: women having fun, but it does encourage self control. Mr.
Speaker 1: What you're talking about, it's a distraction, it's worldly. Marigold
Speaker 1: whistled and mocked surprise, and said, spoken like a lady
Speaker 1: who truly needs an orgasm. What I need to do
Speaker 1: is draw some of your blood and some of your
Speaker 1: saliva and then perform a cavity search. Marigold's lips curled
Speaker 1: up into a catlike smile. She opened her legs. Sasha
Speaker 1: had seen other women's vaginas before, but only in textbooks
Speaker 1: and movies. This was the first time she'd found herself
Speaker 1: staring directly down the barrel of one, so to speak.
Speaker 1: She gulped, Darlen, am I your first? Don't be scared.
Speaker 1: I got some crumb in me, but I never wound
Speaker 1: up putting defensive teeth in there. Now, my frien Topaz, stop,
Speaker 1: I know what you're trying to do. Just stop. Sasha
Speaker 1: hadn't thought the woman's smile could get any wider, but
Speaker 1: it did. And what am I trying to do? Child?
Speaker 1: You're trying to to fluster me, to distract me or
Speaker 1: Marigold rolled her eyes as she replied, I'm bored you
Speaker 1: Fox have kept me in one holding area or sell
Speaker 1: or another for almost a week. I spent three days
Speaker 1: shifting in the corner of a gym, but at least
Speaker 1: Rick and Tully were there too. The woman smiles softened
Speaker 1: for a moment, she looked troubled, vulnerable. You don't have
Speaker 1: any idea where my people are, do you? Sasha shook
Speaker 1: her head. She felt guilty for some reason. That was stupid.
Speaker 1: She hadn't done anything wrong, but she felt the need
Speaker 1: to assuage the other woman's fears. I don't I'm sure
Speaker 1: they're all right, though. We wouldn't execute them just for
Speaker 1: being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Marigold snorted,
Speaker 1: maybe you wouldn't love your friends, though I've seen your
Speaker 1: gallows doesn't seem like the kind of things someone builds
Speaker 1: just for show. We have a right to enforce our laws,
Speaker 1: God's laws. What am I doing defending the kingdom to
Speaker 1: someone who's clearly blind to the word. Sasha shook her head.
Speaker 1: She opened the blood testing kit doctor Brandt had given
Speaker 1: her and stepped back towards Marigold. Look, I've got to
Speaker 1: do this. Just hold still and it'll be quick. It was.
Speaker 1: The other woman offered no resistance when Sasha told her
Speaker 1: to stand. She stood. When Sasha reached a gloved hand
Speaker 1: up inside her to search for foreign objects, Marigold said nothing.
Speaker 1: She didn't even and flinch. Instead, she kept her eyes
Speaker 1: locked on Sasha's The other woman barely blinked. In about
Speaker 1: two minutes. Sasha had finished her examination and collected her samples.
Speaker 1: She started to step back, but Marigold's hand shot out
Speaker 1: whip fast and grasped her around the wrist. Listen. Sasha
Speaker 1: stopped and listened. She wasn't sure why. It was something
Speaker 1: about the other woman's tone. She'd heard the term command
Speaker 1: voice before. Sasha hadn't understood what that term meant until now.
Speaker 1: When Marigold spoke again, it was in a hushed tone,
Speaker 1: barely more than a whisper. I don't know what brought
Speaker 1: you here, but you're obviously smart. You don't have those
Speaker 1: dead zelod eyes. She jerked her head in the direction
Speaker 1: of the guard outside. When I mentioned the gallows, you
Speaker 1: looked fucking ill. I'm gonna guess you haven't been here long.
Speaker 1: You're probably having second thoughts. Help me get my people
Speaker 1: out of here. If we can get back to my city,
Speaker 1: you'll be safe. We'll take you wherever you need to go.
Speaker 1: I Sasha wasn't sure what to say. She should have
Speaker 1: slapped the other woman or spitting her eye, but she didn't.
Speaker 1: Don't say anything. You'll be back here. I promise, think
Speaker 1: about what I've said, think about where you are, just
Speaker 1: fucking think. She let go. Sasha stepped back. The two
Speaker 1: women locked eyes for a long moment, and then Marigold
Speaker 1: grabbed her slip dress off the floor and slid it
Speaker 1: back down her thin frame. Sasha unclipped the privacy curtain
Speaker 1: and headed back out into the hallway. The other woman, captive, Tullie,
Speaker 1: was tall and muscular. She had a wide face with
Speaker 1: cheek bones so sharp they were almost jagged. Her skin
Speaker 1: was a dusky brown. Her eyes were alert and moved
Speaker 1: rapidly between Sasha, doctor Brandt, and the guard who led
Speaker 1: them into the room. Her name is Tullie, doctor brand said,
Speaker 1: and she's probably going to threaten you. Pay her no mind.
Speaker 1: He turned away and left, while the guards stayed behind
Speaker 1: and kept a close eye on the tall woman. Sasha
Speaker 1: was scared to approach Tuli at first. The woman's forearms
Speaker 1: were corded with muscles, and she had biceps that looked
Speaker 1: as broad as Sasha's thighs. But the woman didn't move
Speaker 1: an inch or say a word the entire time Sasha
Speaker 1: worked on her. Tullie didn't even blink. She com I
Speaker 1: to every one of Sasha's requests without eye contact or
Speaker 1: any other form of acknowledgement. The woman seemed dead to
Speaker 1: the world. Somehow, Toollie's quietness and seeming stupefaction were more
Speaker 1: uncomfortable than Marigold's aggressive words. Sasha finished her work in
Speaker 1: short order. Once the last vial was sealed and her
Speaker 1: gloves removed, she took a final look at the captive.
Speaker 1: I hope you get back to your home soon. Sasha
Speaker 1: immediately regretted the words. This woman is the enemy. Why
Speaker 1: would you try to comfort her? She won't even look
Speaker 1: at you. Tullie let out a dull laugh. She had
Speaker 1: been so silent earlier that it shocked Sasha. The other
Speaker 1: woman turned her head and stared at Sasha. I will
Speaker 1: return home soon, and fire and blood will come to
Speaker 1: this place because you've held me here. You're a dead
Speaker 1: woman walking enjoy the last beats of your heart. Sasha
Speaker 1: didn't know what to say. What could you say to that?
Speaker 1: So she took her samples and left. Doctor Brandt dropped
Speaker 1: her off outside the house of Miriam and told her
Speaker 1: he'd send a jeep out tomorrow morning to take her
Speaker 1: to the hospital. Sasha thanked him and headed inside. The
Speaker 1: other girls were already almost finished with dinner when Sasha
Speaker 1: sat down and joined the group. She gave a quiet
Speaker 1: smile to Susannah and nodded at the other girl's bandaged hand.
Speaker 1: When dessert a banana this time, was over, Miss Helen
Speaker 1: took Sasha aside while the other girls broke off to
Speaker 1: read their bibles and drink their nightly tea. I have
Speaker 1: some news for you, yes, ma'am, Sasha asked. Alexander has
Speaker 1: been rotated back from the front, and that strange look
Speaker 1: of mingled frustration and anger crossed Helen's face again. You'll
Speaker 1: be able to see him tomorrow after lunch. Sasha's heart pounded,
Speaker 1: an excitement that made her feel guilty and elated at
Speaker 1: the same time. I'm afraid it won't be a long visit,
Speaker 1: Helen continued, But you'll have a bit of time with him,
Speaker 1: and then Helen's sighed again just a little. Sasha was
Speaker 1: sure she wasn't supposed to have noticed it, but Miss
Speaker 1: Helen's eyes looked a bit watery. Sasha was so happy,
Speaker 1: so excited, that her brain glossed over this fact. Instead,
Speaker 1: she gave Miss Helen a hug It wasn't nearly the
Speaker 1: first one they'd shared, but this was the first time.
Speaker 1: The older woman seemed hesitant in returning it, but she
Speaker 1: did after a moment, and Sasha's joy drunk brain wrote
Speaker 1: over any sense of doubt she ought to have felt.
Speaker 1: Sasha buzzed with uncontained energy. The rest of the night.
Speaker 1: Sleep was near impossible. She tossed until the small hours
Speaker 1: of the morning, turning over her memories of chat conversation
Speaker 1: she'd had with Alexander. His face felt so clear and
Speaker 1: real in her memory that she could almost touch it,
Speaker 1: and tomorrow she'd be able to do just that. Sasha
Speaker 1: finally passed out about two hours before Helen came round
Speaker 1: to wake them up. She should have been exhausted. Instead,
Speaker 1: she found herself out of bed, feet planted firmly on
Speaker 1: the ground before her mind was even fully awake. Her
Speaker 1: subconscious was that eager to start the day. She rinsed
Speaker 1: herself with extra care that morning. May seemed to notice
Speaker 1: the added efforts she put into primping and called her
Speaker 1: out for it. You're not working at the hospital to
Speaker 1: snag a doctor, she sneered, You know that, right. Sasha
Speaker 1: tried to ignore the comment. Susannah, whose hand was still
Speaker 1: banned from her injury the other day, spoke up in
Speaker 1: her defense. There's nothing wrong with being extra clean, May.
Speaker 1: It's probably important for the work she's doing over there.
Speaker 1: Sasha's dealing with wounds and stuff. She's not scrubbing toilets
Speaker 1: like you. Sasha was gratified by how that made May's
Speaker 1: face blush. She flashed Susannah a grateful smile and shuffled
Speaker 1: out of the washroom as quick as she could manage.
Speaker 1: She headed outside and took in her first deep gulp
Speaker 1: of the cool morning air. Cool might have been too
Speaker 1: strong a word to use, but the fresh air felt
Speaker 1: good on her skin. It only took her a few
Speaker 1: seconds to spot the battered and dirt specked jeep doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt had sent to pick her up. A young man,
Speaker 1: maybe as young as her, with a weak chin and
Speaker 1: an acne pocked face, sat behind the wheel. Sasha waved
Speaker 1: to him, ran up and hopped in. It wasn't a
Speaker 1: quick ride to the hospital. Large sections of the road
Speaker 1: were destroyed, blocked by rubble, or jammed with traffic from
Speaker 1: refugees entering the Heavenly Kingdom. Seeing that had gratified Sasha,
Speaker 1: more souls coming to God, she thought. For the most part,
Speaker 1: she lost herself and thoughts of Alexander until forty minutes later.
Speaker 1: The jeep rolled to a creaky stop in front of
Speaker 1: the medical city of Plano. The enormous hospital complex looked
Speaker 1: badly damaged and largely abandoned. Many of the windows had
Speaker 1: been shot out or shattered by large blasts. Several buildings
Speaker 1: had chunks of wall and roof that had fallen in,
Speaker 1: but there were lights on in many of the windows,
Speaker 1: and the hum of generators filled the air of the
Speaker 1: front courtyard. Dozens of people milled about, filled with purpose,
Speaker 1: running wires and wheeling patients. Sasha was excited at the
Speaker 1: thought that she might get to do some actual work
Speaker 1: in a functioning emergency room. When she found doctor Brandt,
Speaker 1: he quickly disabused her of those notions. We're doing all
Speaker 1: right today. What I need you to do is come
Speaker 1: in here and help me catalog which medicines have spoiled.
Speaker 1: The power had gone out during the fighting for the city.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt explained in the medical storage room had been
Speaker 1: without refrigeration for almost two days. He showed her how
Speaker 1: to check medical vials for signs of spoilage, handed her
Speaker 1: a clipboard to mark her findings, and told her to
Speaker 1: get to work. It was a menial, painstaking task, and
Speaker 1: Sasha found herself missing the hell out of cleaning. She
Speaker 1: hated it, but she devoted herself to the work, and
Speaker 1: minute by minute the time passed. Eventually it was time
Speaker 1: for her meeting with Alexander. Sasha pulled herself away from
Speaker 1: the rows of vials and jars and blister packs and
Speaker 1: headed outside to where she knew the jeep would be waiting.
Speaker 1: Her driver that afternoon was a different martyr, slightly older
Speaker 1: but still young. She was so preoccupied with thoughts of
Speaker 1: Alexander that she almost forgot to greet the man. He
Speaker 1: didn't seem to be in a talkative mood either, though,
Speaker 1: and they rode in silence back to the center of town.
Speaker 1: Sasha was so focused on the butterflies in her stomach
Speaker 1: and trying to catch glimpses of her hair and face
Speaker 1: in the rear view mirror that she didn't notice the
Speaker 1: crowds thronging downtown until the jeep rolled to a stop
Speaker 1: and it was time for her to disembark. A familiar
Speaker 1: sense of queasy dread gripped Sasha's guts as she exited
Speaker 1: the vehicle and looked out over the crowd. They were
Speaker 1: converged around the gallows. Once again, Sasha craned her neck,
Speaker 1: and she was able to see four men in filthy,
Speaker 1: tattered rags standing before the killing instrum it. It took
Speaker 1: her a second to recognize two of the men as
Speaker 1: the porters who had first unloaded her from the crate.
Speaker 1: An older, bearded martyr and jet black body armor stood
Speaker 1: before them. He held a bible in one hand and
Speaker 1: a formidable looking handgun in the other. Sasha started to
Speaker 1: push her way through the crowd for a better look.
Speaker 1: She hadn't made it far when the bearded martyr addressed
Speaker 1: the crowd. These four men were all once employees of
Speaker 1: the secular abomination that calls itself the Republic of Texas.
Speaker 1: He said, in his booming, stentorian voice. The heavenly Kingdom
Speaker 1: offered them mercy in the form of indentured servitude. All
Speaker 1: we asked, he scanned his eyes across the crowd. The
Speaker 1: left corner of his lip curled up into a slight growl.
Speaker 1: All we asked for was their honest, obedient, labor, and
Speaker 1: they repaid this mercy by stealing food and supplies meant
Speaker 1: for the heavenly Kingdom's brave soldiers. He lifted his big
Speaker 1: pistol up into the sky and fired off four shots
Speaker 1: in quick secession. These men stole from God. There is
Speaker 1: only one proper punishment for such a sin. He turned
Speaker 1: back towards the gallo and knotted it a hooded martyr
Speaker 1: who stood behind him with a hand on the thick
Speaker 1: wooden lever that operated the whole grim apparatus. The other
Speaker 1: man pulled downwards, and the four bodies on the scaffold
Speaker 1: dropped with a sickening chorus of snaps. Sasha felt her
Speaker 1: stomach turned sour this time. Though she watched, she didn't
Speaker 1: take her eyes off the gallows until the last man
Speaker 1: had ceased his twitching. It's not a pleasant side, is it?
Speaker 1: That voice? Sasha recognized it immediately. It was the voice
Speaker 1: she'd heard a hundred different times over her deck, hidden
Speaker 1: up in her room back in the am fed. It
Speaker 1: was the voice of the first man she'd ever really loved.
Speaker 1: It was Alexander. Sasha turned around, and her heart nearly
Speaker 1: burst at the sight of him. It was tall, broad
Speaker 1: and muscular in a way that somehow seemed comforting and
Speaker 1: not scary. His mop of curly brown hair, lopsided smile,
Speaker 1: and round, permanent jawline were all exactly as she remembered
Speaker 1: from their dozens of chat sessions. He wore alive green
Speaker 1: fatigues that looked stained and burned in a few places.
Speaker 1: His hair was greasy, and there were great big bags
Speaker 1: on her his eyes. But he was here, He was real.
Speaker 1: She collapsed into him. Before she realized it, she'd started
Speaker 1: to sob. I love you, I love you. I love you.
Speaker 1: I thought you were dead. I love you. He hesitated
Speaker 1: for several long beats before he returned her embrace, but
Speaker 1: he returned it with gusto. His hands crept down from
Speaker 1: her sides to her buttocks. He squeezed her. It was
Speaker 1: a gesture she'd fantasized about several times in her weaker,
Speaker 1: more carnal moments. It was not something she'd expected a
Speaker 1: godly man like Alexander to do out in public, surrounded
Speaker 1: by people. In the immediate aftermath of an execution. Sasha
Speaker 1: pulled back and coughed in surprise. She didn't say anything,
Speaker 1: though she didn't want to. Mar their first meeting with that,
Speaker 1: and she also remembered something Pastor Mike had written in
Speaker 1: Revelator that the beastly nature of man must be salved
Speaker 1: by the goodness of women. Alexander had just been several
Speaker 1: days up at the front. He must have seen terrible things.
Speaker 1: It was understandable that his self control would not be
Speaker 1: at its peak right now. Still, she didn't like the
Speaker 1: way he looked her up and down. There was something
Speaker 1: of the wolf in his eyes. It was not the
Speaker 1: look she dreamed of seeing. But then he spoke, Sasha,
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you. I didn't know if i'd
Speaker 1: ever get to see you here. I wasn't sure if
Speaker 1: you'd be willing to truly commit yourself to our Lord,
Speaker 1: but I prayed that you would. And now, by the
Speaker 1: grace of God, you're here, and you're even more beautiful
Speaker 1: than you looked online. Sasha blushed. How could she not look.
Speaker 1: He waved a hand towards the gallows and the bodies.
Speaker 1: Things are still sort of a mess around here, but
Speaker 1: I know one cafe near by us up and running again.
Speaker 1: I've got enough rash and tokens to get us both
Speaker 1: a cup of coffee. What would you say to that,
Speaker 1: I'd say yes. She smiled at him. Her earlier reservations dissolved,
Speaker 1: and she took his hand and followed him down the street,
Speaker 1: past the gallows in the dispersing crowd, and towards the cafe.
Speaker 1: In a minute, they were there. It was a small place,
Speaker 1: one rectangular room with a coffee maker, a half dozen
Speaker 1: tables in an outer patio area with another half dozen tables.
Speaker 1: There was a generator, power and air conditioning inside. So
Speaker 1: they sat there. Alexander ordered them two large cups of
Speaker 1: black coffee. He sat down while he waited for their
Speaker 1: order and stared into her eyes. She stared back for
Speaker 1: a while. That was all they did. It's so good
Speaker 1: to see you, Sasha said. I've been working at the
Speaker 1: hospital and I've seen so many wounded men. I couldn't
Speaker 1: stop thinking I was going to see you in one
Speaker 1: of those beds, broken and bleeding. He smiled at her.
Speaker 1: Then he reached his left hand out and sat it
Speaker 1: on top of hers. Sasha shivered. She couldn't help it.
Speaker 1: Things stirred inside her. She felt a sudden, powerful urge
Speaker 1: to possess his body, to hold him and squeeze him
Speaker 1: and be explored in turn. She clamped her mouth tight
Speaker 1: and focused on trying not to give all her thoughts
Speaker 1: away through the blush in her cheeks. Sasha, he said,
Speaker 1: it brings me such joy to see you here, and
Speaker 1: don't worry. I know the situation at the Ladiest barracks
Speaker 1: is rather primitive, but I'm talking to my commanding offices.
Speaker 1: As soon as we get married, you'll be a part
Speaker 1: of my household. We'll be able to live together. We'll
Speaker 1: build a life, and that life will help build the heaven,
Speaker 1: the kingdom. She was stunned for a moment. Sasha began
Speaker 1: to tear up, and all she could do was not
Speaker 1: at him. This was like a dream. It was, of course,
Speaker 1: rather different from her actual dreams, which had involved Alexander
Speaker 1: in a house, but not so many bleeding and dying men,
Speaker 1: nor a gallows. Their coffee arrived, Alexander took a sip
Speaker 1: and she followed suit. He continued, I know you're working
Speaker 1: at the hospital now. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: you had to spend so much time scrubbing toilets. As
Speaker 1: soon as I can get you off those duties, I will.
Speaker 1: Oh no, she interjected, I love working with doctor brand.
Speaker 1: It's important and I want to do my part to
Speaker 1: help the kingdom thrive. Something passed across Alexander's face. It
Speaker 1: looked like irritation, perhaps at her interruption, but it was
Speaker 1: gone quickly and his smile returned. That's admirable, Sasha. You're
Speaker 1: a remarkable young woman. If that's what you want, I'm
Speaker 1: sure you can continue to help out there until you're
Speaker 1: with child. With child, Sasha felt guilty for the horror
Speaker 1: in her voice. Of course she wanted children, she just
Speaker 1: didn't want them now or particularly soon. Alexander nodded, we
Speaker 1: must be fruitful in multiply so the heaven the kingdom
Speaker 1: can remain and expand his smile was so warm, so kind.
Speaker 1: I know you've read more of past and my ex
Speaker 1: writing than I have. Sasha, you're a very smart girl,
Speaker 1: but God made you to bring forth more children. You
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to delay your purpose, would you? Maybe? A little?
Speaker 1: She thought? No? She lied good. He smiled again, And
Speaker 1: don't worry. You won't have to do it alone. Mallia
Speaker 1: already has a child, and Adelaide's two months pregnant. They'll
Speaker 1: help you too. The world stopped at least it did
Speaker 1: for Sasha. She could tell people were still moving around her,
Speaker 1: but Sasha's reality had shrunk to the pounding sound of
Speaker 1: her heart in a twisting in her gut. Adelaide and Mallia.
Speaker 1: Alexander gritted his teeth. There was something almost practiced in
Speaker 1: the way he said. What came next? Adelaide and Mallia
Speaker 1: are my wives as you will be. Alexander, you didn't
Speaker 1: say anything about other wives. You never mentioned them at all.
Speaker 1: Why are how can you be telling me all this now?
Speaker 1: His smile turned sad, or at least it gave the
Speaker 1: illusion of sadness. Sasha was still too shocked for anger.
Speaker 1: She felt like a whole had just been knocked in
Speaker 1: her heart. She knew she should be angry, but she
Speaker 1: also felt like there must be something missing, something she
Speaker 1: didn't understand yet. Alexander was a sweet boy. He wouldn't
Speaker 1: do this to her. Look, he said, I'm sorry. This
Speaker 1: is never easy. You understand how important the Heavenly Kingdom is, Sasha.
Speaker 1: Nothing in the world could Madam are and the kingdom
Speaker 1: will not survive without people like you. One of my
Speaker 1: jobs here is to push young women like you to
Speaker 1: take the terrible risk of coming here, and so you lied.
Speaker 1: She croaked, barely able to believe what was happening. You,
Speaker 1: poor false witness, Alexander. I I did not lie. His
Speaker 1: voice hardened, and so did his eyes. I did not
Speaker 1: tell you about every fact of my life here, but
Speaker 1: I did not lie. He sighed, took a sip from
Speaker 1: his coffee, and continued, I'm part of a special unit
Speaker 1: within the Kingdom, formed on the order of the past.
Speaker 1: To himself, he calls us jacobeans. It is our job
Speaker 1: to see the next generation of modus. We take personal
Speaker 1: responsibility for the Kingdom's expansion. Finding you and bringing you
Speaker 1: here was one part of my work in this great cause.
Speaker 1: If I'd told you every detail about life here, every
Speaker 1: single thing, you wouldn't have come, and your soul would
Speaker 1: have stayed in jeopardy. He took another deep, arrogant sip
Speaker 1: of his coffee. I'm sorry if this hurts you, but
Speaker 1: it was for the greater good. We must sometimes do
Speaker 1: distasteful things to serve God's design. Sasha's vision went red.
Speaker 1: She stood and without thinking, grabbed her now lukewarm mug
Speaker 1: of coffee and splashed the whole thing in Alexander's face.
Speaker 1: He yelled at her and sputtered like a goldfish, but
Speaker 1: she was already up and heading for the door. She
Speaker 1: flung it open, walked out into the crowded street, and
Speaker 1: lost herself from the press of the crowd and the
Speaker 1: boiling waves of her own anger. The Black Effect Presents
Speaker 1: features honest conversations and exclusive interviews, a space for artists,
Speaker 1: everyday people and listeners to amplify, elevate, and empower Black
Speaker 1: voices with great conversations. Make sure to listen to The
Speaker 1: Black Effect Presents Podcast on I Heart Radio, Apple podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Tanya sam Post
Speaker 1: of The Money Moves Podcast powered by Greenwood. This daily
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Speaker 1: make sure you leave a review. Adoption of teens from
Speaker 1: foster care is a topic not enough people know about,
Speaker 1: and we're here to change that. I'm April Din't what,
Speaker 1: the host of the new podcast Navigating Adoption presented by
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Speaker 1: adoption stories told by the families that lived them, with
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Speaker 1: or subscribed to Navigating Adoption presented by adopt Us Kids,
Speaker 1: brought to you by the U. S Department of Health,
Speaker 1: that Human Services Administration for Children and Families, and the
Speaker 1: Act Council. Chapter thirteen Manny Manny woke up feeling like
Speaker 1: his mouth was filled with cotton and his head was
Speaker 1: filled with spiders. It took him a few long seconds
Speaker 1: to remember where he was and what had happened to
Speaker 1: bring him here. He activated his deck and was shocked
Speaker 1: to see that more than a day had passed since
Speaker 1: he dropped into bed. His first guess was that he
Speaker 1: was suffering some side effect from Skullfucker Mike's blood. He
Speaker 1: couldn't think of any other times he'd slept that long,
Speaker 1: although he also couldn't think of any other times he'd
Speaker 1: survived a drone attack and an intentional car crash in
Speaker 1: the same minute. Meret. He cursed and then called out Reggie.
Speaker 1: He looked over to the cot the journalist had been
Speaker 1: sleeping on. It was dark in the little room Nana
Speaker 1: Yazi had provided. He could see the outline of Reggie's
Speaker 1: empty cot and not much else. The room was just
Speaker 1: one ten by tin section of an old shipping crate.
Speaker 1: Manny knew the only things in the room besides their
Speaker 1: cots were a table with a built in coffee maker
Speaker 1: and a pair of folding chairs. Manny sat up, groaned
Speaker 1: as every palpable thing in his body popped, and then
Speaker 1: rose to his feet. As he stumbled to the door,
Speaker 1: his deck started to populate with messages from friends and
Speaker 1: family back in Austin. By the time his hand touched
Speaker 1: the knob, there were more than fifty translucent messages hovering
Speaker 1: at the edges of his field of vision. He blinked,
Speaker 1: selected a mass response template, filled it with the names
Speaker 1: of everyone who had sent him something, and typed out
Speaker 1: an update not dead details. Later. He almost sent it,
Speaker 1: but then he noticed one of the names, Aisha Martinez,
Speaker 1: Oscar's wife. He could only see the first few lines
Speaker 1: of the message without opening it, but what he saw
Speaker 1: made it clear she was terrified for her husband. Manny
Speaker 1: De selected her from the list and sent the mass
Speaker 1: message off to everyone else, and then scrolled through his
Speaker 1: messages until he found Oscar's message stack. The other fixer
Speaker 1: still hadn't said anything, not since the assault had begun.
Speaker 1: Many opened up Aisha's message. He tried to read it,
Speaker 1: he really did, but his brain wouldn't let his eyes
Speaker 1: focus on the words. His heart started to pound, his
Speaker 1: gut curdled, and instead of reading it, he typed her
Speaker 1: a quick response, I'm alive. I'm so sorry, but I
Speaker 1: don't know where Oscar is or if he's made it out,
Speaker 1: And then he typed a sentence he knew instantly he'd regret.
Speaker 1: I will do everything I can to find your husband.
Speaker 1: Then he sent the message and stepped out of the
Speaker 1: room into the dying light of the late North Texas afternoon.
Speaker 1: Rolling fuck unspooled around him. It was crowded, or at
Speaker 1: least more crowded than it had been yesterday. Dozens of
Speaker 1: people and non human people were packed onto the gantry
Speaker 1: ways and into the sundry buildings added around the rollers
Speaker 1: and up on the spires. One building that jutted off
Speaker 1: the rear roller looked like a carousel ride, with little
Speaker 1: rocket ships instead of horses. It appeared to function as
Speaker 1: a spinning bar. Drunk people rode little ships while bartenders
Speaker 1: in the middle kept them liquored up. Someone shoved by him,
Speaker 1: a heavily chromed person with three tails, each topped by
Speaker 1: the fully articulated and seemingly sentient head of a cat.
Speaker 1: One of the cat heads belched a small puff of
Speaker 1: fire at Manny as their wearer passed. He shook his
Speaker 1: head and squeezed his way over to the main roller.
Speaker 1: It helped little to pretend he was just pushing his
Speaker 1: way onto the Austin Metro. While he walked, he noticed
Speaker 1: a message from Reggie. He blink, clicked it open and
Speaker 1: heard Reggie's voice in his ear at the rooftop bar,
Speaker 1: drinking my way through some research fund me. When you
Speaker 1: wake up, I'm onto something. Of course, Manny had already
Speaker 1: been on his way there before he'd seen Reggie's message.
Speaker 1: That was the simple reality of British journalists. If it
Speaker 1: was posible for one to be drinking, that's what they'd
Speaker 1: be doing. The walk took about ten minutes. He crossed
Speaker 1: a combination of gantry ways, staircases, and even one webbed net.
Speaker 1: The bar was packed when he arrived, but it was
Speaker 1: easy enough to pick out Reggie. Both his holographic screens
Speaker 1: were up and active on the bar top in front
Speaker 1: of them. He was seated next to Skullfucker Mike, and
Speaker 1: they were deep in conversation when Manny walked up. Hey, brother,
Speaker 1: Reggie said, you've been out for a long time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Manny said, nothing like that's ever happened to me before.
Speaker 1: How long were you out? The journalist thought for a
Speaker 1: moment and then answered, odd, guess like a day, he said.
Speaker 1: Mike told me that's not weird. Yeah, the chrome man chuckled.
Speaker 1: All medicines got side effects, My weird ass blood is
Speaker 1: no different, y'all. Cute little humans ain't made for it.
Speaker 1: Skullfucker Mike and Reggie were both clearly drunk, and just
Speaker 1: as clearly not as drunk as they planned to be
Speaker 1: by the end of the night. Mike flashed a grin
Speaker 1: at Manny and offered a hug that the fixer accepted awkwardly. Guy,
Speaker 1: it's good to see you, Mike said, I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of jelly us of your nap. I missed
Speaker 1: sleep like that with all this chrome in me. He
Speaker 1: waved a hand vaguely over his head. I can't get
Speaker 1: exhausted like that anymore. You miss it when it's gone.
Speaker 1: I got a drink like thirty of these fucking things.
Speaker 1: Mike gestured to the half full drink in front of him.
Speaker 1: It looked like a pina colada, a strange incense the odor.
Speaker 1: Waffed it up from it just to pass out like
Speaker 1: a normal person. Reggie was drinking the same thing. He
Speaker 1: offered his half full glass to Manny. These things are
Speaker 1: the best man vodka and opium coladas. They got a
Speaker 1: little bit of th HC in him too, Mike added,
Speaker 1: in a high sing song voice. Manny waved them off.
Speaker 1: I'm good, thanks, I just woke up a minute ago.
Speaker 1: I probably shouldn't immediately take three different drugs. Reggie and
Speaker 1: skullfucker Mike both looked at him like he was an alien. Weird,
Speaker 1: they said at the exact same time. Mike laughed and
Speaker 1: Reggie looked back at his screen as a push notification
Speaker 1: popped up with a cheery shitting tits he cursed, Manny
Speaker 1: and skullfucker. Mike leaned into the screen. The notification was
Speaker 1: a news wire update with a journalist who must have
Speaker 1: been embedded with either the s d F or Austin's forces.
Speaker 1: The title said, at all as the Heavenly Kingdom prepares
Speaker 1: for another assault, s d F and Austin abandoned Waco.
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised they're pulling out, Mike said. Your people
Speaker 1: are good enough fighters on a normal day, but the
Speaker 1: s d f's built to dominate a bunch of squabbling militias.
Speaker 1: They were never going to hold off a sustained assault
Speaker 1: from a real army. The sleep was fully banished now
Speaker 1: Manny was awake, and the gravity of what had happened
Speaker 1: over the last few days sank in again. Amide and
Speaker 1: de Shaun, We're probably dead, so was mister Perrone an
Speaker 1: oscar A holy shit, Holy shit? What am I going
Speaker 1: to tell Ayesha? And then the darker, more selfish thoughts.
Speaker 1: Am I going to have time to fly out of Austin?
Speaker 1: How the hell did the martyrs turn into a real
Speaker 1: fucking army overnight? He asked, with more fear in his
Speaker 1: voice than he meant to display. Well, Reggie said, as
Speaker 1: he gestured to a series of curated social media posts
Speaker 1: from people in and around Sea Dad de mrta best
Speaker 1: as we configure, they sort of stole most of the
Speaker 1: Republic's army. There are reports of entire units of Republic soldiers,
Speaker 1: thousands of fidus turning at once. He gestured to a
Speaker 1: live updating political map of Texas. It was a map
Speaker 1: many consulted regularly. The Heavenly Kingdom's territory was outlined and read.
Speaker 1: There was a lot more red on the map today.
Speaker 1: It seemed impossible that Sancharados Manny breathed Galveston. Yeah, Reggie
Speaker 1: gave a grim nod. Fell about ten hours ago. Heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdoms pushing into the Lake Houston suburbs right now the
Speaker 1: holding position in Dallas, though digesting the gains, still ain't
Speaker 1: gonna be long before they hit Austin, Mike said, maybe
Speaker 1: a week, maybe two. Many stood there for a moment.
Speaker 1: He thought about his father, his friends. He thought about
Speaker 1: the house where he'd grown up in the view of
Speaker 1: Austin Sprawl from his roof. He imagined golden Cross banners
Speaker 1: flapping in the breeze above, burnt out buildings. He pictured
Speaker 1: gallows filled with people strung out along Sixth Street. A
Speaker 1: knot of nausea started to build in his belly. What
Speaker 1: will you do, Emmanuel? He heard Mr Perrone's voice echo
Speaker 1: in his conscience. Manny shook the dead man's words away.
Speaker 1: I need to get back home, he insisted. Is there
Speaker 1: some way you can get me a ride? Skullfucker? Mike
Speaker 1: took a long pull from his drink. He squinted it Manny,
Speaker 1: and the chromed man's eyes focused. One iris looked a
Speaker 1: lot larger than the others. Mike swayed a bit in
Speaker 1: his seat, but he seemed lucid mostly. And what are
Speaker 1: you gonna do in Austin? He said, pick up a
Speaker 1: gun and die fighting, unless you're hiding some serious mods
Speaker 1: under that skin. I don't think your help will make
Speaker 1: a rat ship worth a difference. I know I'm not
Speaker 1: going there to fight. I need to what fly away?
Speaker 1: Go to fucking California. Try your luck in Europe. Mike
Speaker 1: shook his head. You've got a chance to actually do something.
Speaker 1: Help us get our people out of Dallas, and we
Speaker 1: can fuck the Kingdom's advance, maybe even throw him back.
Speaker 1: Manny thought about it, sighed and said, I think I
Speaker 1: do need a drink, skullfucker. Mike nodded. He pointed over
Speaker 1: to a table lie with a dozen different beer taps,
Speaker 1: the normal stuff, self service. I recommend the Wheat Hayes.
Speaker 1: Pretty mild, but it's good for stock humans like yourself.
Speaker 1: Manny got up, grabbed a glass from a dispenser at
Speaker 1: the edge of the bar, and walked over to the
Speaker 1: beer table. Each keg had a thick strip of white
Speaker 1: tape across the front. The only details given about each
Speaker 1: beer were vague, almost allegibly scrawled names. Many found two
Speaker 1: labels that both looked like they might say Wheat Hayes.
Speaker 1: He picked one at random, then headed back to the
Speaker 1: bar and sat next to Reggie. Mike looked impressed for
Speaker 1: some reason. Good choice, he said, with a nod. Manny
Speaker 1: took a sip. It was really good, a mild, pale
Speaker 1: ale with just a hint of sour. He leaned in
Speaker 1: and looked at the maps and scrolling updates on reggie screen.
Speaker 1: The journalist finished writing down a couple of notes and
Speaker 1: shook his head. I'm really sorry, man, truly, he gestured
Speaker 1: towards the live map. This is so fucked. You're gonna
Speaker 1: stay here to cover the fall, Mike asked. Reggie shook
Speaker 1: his head. He looked frustrated. Got a message from my
Speaker 1: editor a bit ago. They're trying to work out an
Speaker 1: extract for me. I'm gonna send a team at here
Speaker 1: to drive me west to El Paso. I guess it's
Speaker 1: not safe to fly out of Austin right now, so
Speaker 1: he trailed off. The three of them drank in silence
Speaker 1: for a minute. Schoolfucker Might, gulped down the last of
Speaker 1: his glass and ordered another, along with three shots of bourbon.
Speaker 1: Manny started to turn down the shot, but it was
Speaker 1: soon apparent that Mike wanted all three shots for himself.
Speaker 1: He downed them all in the space of around a second,
Speaker 1: belched loudly, and then returned to staring at Reggie. Screen fuck,
Speaker 1: he sighed out again. Funcke he fuck fuck. Manny was
Speaker 1: halfway through his beer when Donald Ferris approached. The old
Speaker 1: documentarian wore a burgundy velvet waistcoat underneath a slightly battered
Speaker 1: but well tailored tweed jacket. He had a glass of
Speaker 1: probable whiskey in his hand, and the soberst eyes. Manny
Speaker 1: had seen that day. Hello, gentlemen, schoolfucker Mike getting caught
Speaker 1: up on the latest catastrophes. All away, yep, said Mike,
Speaker 1: how you been. The older man shrugged and took his
Speaker 1: seat at the table. He gulped his whiskey and looked
Speaker 1: down the table at Manny. It was strange to see
Speaker 1: an actual old person this close up. The creases on
Speaker 1: his forehead and around his lips were so deep they
Speaker 1: could have been carved with a knife. There were spots
Speaker 1: on him, a clear sign he'd taken no juven treatments
Speaker 1: at all. His face had a deep, craggy richness that
Speaker 1: lent every word he said, a certain vague majesty. Donald
Speaker 1: Ferris spoke, and many felt compelled to listen. You can
Speaker 1: hope this. You know who is stuck negotiating with the
Speaker 1: kingdom now, and they are most recalcitrant. But the Fuccians
Speaker 1: quite a second, Reggie interrupted, Fuccians really. Donald and Mike
Speaker 1: exchanged a look, then a laugh. Donald replied, the city's
Speaker 1: not exactly famed for consistency. Almost any collective now and
Speaker 1: you can think of would be appropriate. He took another
Speaker 1: sip from his glass and set it down on the
Speaker 1: bar top with a clack. Donald Ferris leaned in at
Speaker 1: that and eyed the glass as he rotated it around
Speaker 1: on the table. He tapped it again, smiled, and looked
Speaker 1: back up to the group. Now, young man, let me
Speaker 1: explain why you should go risk your life on a
Speaker 1: daring and dangerous rescue mission. Many grunted and shook his
Speaker 1: ed reflexively defensive. I'd rather not talk about it right now,
Speaker 1: if that's cool, he said. I just woke up. This
Speaker 1: place is ridiculous, and I'm not going to decide to
Speaker 1: go into terrible danger because some old man gilt trips
Speaker 1: me at a bar. Suit yourself. Donald smiled. I can't
Speaker 1: imagine how stressful this is all bidden for you. I'm
Speaker 1: a little surprised you'd choose to trip bowls at a
Speaker 1: time like this. What do you mean, Manny asked, with
Speaker 1: growing anxiety. That's a white haze, right, I think Mike
Speaker 1: said it was a wheat haze, but I couldn't really
Speaker 1: read the labels. Shit, Mike cursed, while Donald Ferris fought
Speaker 1: back a laugh. What, Manny asked, Mike should have warned you.
Speaker 1: The wheat haze is normal alcohol. The white haze packs
Speaker 1: about two hits of the surgic diethyl acid put pint
Speaker 1: be anxious, not in. Manny's gut began to pound in pulse.
Speaker 1: He looked to skullfucker Mike, furious. What the funk man?
Speaker 1: Mike winced, He looked genuinely rueful. I'm really sorry, he said.
Speaker 1: I'm not used to it making a difference. Most people
Speaker 1: here take two or three hits, as said, with their
Speaker 1: breakfast cigarettes. Oh shit. Manny slumped forward and put his
Speaker 1: head in his hands. He started to hyperventilate. The edges
Speaker 1: of his vision blurred, and Manny couldn't tell if that
Speaker 1: was from the drugs kicking in or just a consequence
Speaker 1: of his own panic. He could feel Oscar's face hanging
Speaker 1: out just at the back of his mind, afloat on
Speaker 1: a river of guilt. He didn't want to know what
Speaker 1: a headful of acid would do with those feelings. I
Speaker 1: gotta get back to the room, he said, I can't
Speaker 1: handle that. Donald put a hand on his shoulder. He
Speaker 1: was stronger than Manny would have guessed. You've got a
Speaker 1: headful of surprise acid. Boy. The last thing you need
Speaker 1: is to sit in a dock room and stew with
Speaker 1: your demons. He exchanged another look with skullfucker Mike and
Speaker 1: said brain Breakers ought to be kicking off right now.
Speaker 1: That's the place for a man in your condition. But started, Manny,
Speaker 1: what the hell is that? Reggie asked, Wait, Manny continued.
Speaker 1: Donald ignored him and replied to Reggie, it's the best
Speaker 1: damn party on the continent, or at least the best
Speaker 1: one humans can attend and survive. I don't really want to,
Speaker 1: Manny s uarded. Scofucker Mike added his hand to Manny's shoulder.
Speaker 1: You really do trust us on this. In the end, scofucker,
Speaker 1: Mike and Donald convinced him to go. Reggie surprisingly opted
Speaker 1: to stay at the bar and continue his work. He
Speaker 1: said he was close to something, man, He really wished
Speaker 1: he'd chosen to come along. He didn't know the journalist well,
Speaker 1: but Mike and Donald were complete strangers. Man. He was
Speaker 1: not looking forward to the drugs kicking in. He also
Speaker 1: wasn't sure a giant rave room was the best place
Speaker 1: for him to be when they did. As they approached it,
Speaker 1: many realized he'd seen the structure when they first arrived
Speaker 1: at the City of Wheels. Brain Breakers was a three
Speaker 1: story cube at the top of Rolling Fox highest gantry.
Speaker 1: The cube appeared to have been knitted together from long
Speaker 1: strands of black metal. Multi colored light pulsed inside it
Speaker 1: and bled out through the gaps in the knitted metal
Speaker 1: of the sides. Schoolfucker Mike led them down the gantry
Speaker 1: towards the cube. There didn't appear to be any kind
Speaker 1: of entrance. The wall on this side was the same
Speaker 1: knitted steel as every other side, but once they reached it,
Speaker 1: Mike simply stepped into the wall. The woven metal writhed
Speaker 1: like something alive and curled back to admit the big
Speaker 1: post human. The metal tendrils caressed Mike's body as he
Speaker 1: walked through. Manny flashed a questioning look at Donald, It
Speaker 1: it feels nice, he explained. Manny Side, exasperated and furious.
Speaker 1: Is this whole damned city built around drugs and fondling? Yes?
Speaker 1: Donald grinned a spidery old man grinned now insoid with
Speaker 1: you many Side swallowed and walked up to the wall.
Speaker 1: The metal, which felt surprisingly soft and warm, slithered around
Speaker 1: him in Mother of God, it felt good. That might
Speaker 1: have had something to do with the acid percolating in
Speaker 1: the back of his brain. The sensation was a cross
Speaker 1: between being tickled and being caressed. He was reminded uncomfortably
Speaker 1: of his mother's stroking his forehead when he had a
Speaker 1: fever as a child, And then he was through. It
Speaker 1: took him a moment to realize he was breathing heavily
Speaker 1: and covered in cold sweat. It was then that Manny
Speaker 1: got his first view of the interior of Brain Breakers.
Speaker 1: It looked a little like a space station, designed by
Speaker 1: see Esher, with a drunken hr Geiger as the contractor.
Speaker 1: There were a half dozen different stages protruding at various
Speaker 1: levels from the walls. Three of the stages were currently occupied.
Speaker 1: One performer was an enormous, seemingly sentient xylophone that pranced
Speaker 1: about on stage, playing itself with eight knob and arms.
Speaker 1: Another stage held four human looking individuals. They were all naked,
Speaker 1: and they were all fighting. Many watched and slacked, jawed
Speaker 1: awe as they punched and bit and kicked and choked
Speaker 1: each other. Every impact sent a chorus of warbling sounds
Speaker 1: pouring out from speakers at the base of the stage.
Speaker 1: The longer he listened, the more hypnotic the music seemed.
Speaker 1: The third inhabited stage held what looked like a normal
Speaker 1: DJ booth with a presumptive person behind it. Many guessed
Speaker 1: that was the source of the bass, heavy rhythmic pounding
Speaker 1: that filled the square. The remaining stages were empty for now,
Speaker 1: but the place was so full of sound that Manny
Speaker 1: couldn't imagine two more acts making things any louder. It
Speaker 1: was chaotic and confusing and a little uncomfortable, but after
Speaker 1: a few seconds many started to pick up on an
Speaker 1: overarching rhythm. All three acts were making very different music
Speaker 1: at very different paces, but somehow it all tied together.
Speaker 1: The inner walls of the place were covered in projection art.
Speaker 1: Giant human sized silhouettes stalked the walls, floor, and roof.
Speaker 1: At times, they moved so fast they looked almost like
Speaker 1: wisps of smoke. But here and there one would stop
Speaker 1: long enough for Manny to get a solid look. He
Speaker 1: saw several different figures, a tall, muscular but androgynous person,
Speaker 1: a small, lithe young woman, a broad, squat man with
Speaker 1: a bald head. They danced around each other, flittering up
Speaker 1: and down the walls. Their pace and the nature of
Speaker 1: their motions varied depending on the tempo and pitch of
Speaker 1: the music nearest to them. It was mesmerizing. Manny stared
Speaker 1: for what felt like minutes. The sensation of his body
Speaker 1: faded away from him, and his vision tunneled in on
Speaker 1: the dancing figures. Their dance had looked joyous and sensual
Speaker 1: at first, but the longer he watched, the more frenetic
Speaker 1: it seemed. The more danger he spotted in their jerking limbs,
Speaker 1: the arc of their necks, the uncontrolled way they spun
Speaker 1: round and into one another. Anxieties started to build in
Speaker 1: the pit of his stomach. And then there was a
Speaker 1: person beside him, Mike, Hey, buddy, He grinned. The other
Speaker 1: man's pupils were the size of dinner plates. He clenched
Speaker 1: and ground his teeth back and forth. Is it o'kay
Speaker 1: if I put a hand on your shoulder? Uh? Sure,
Speaker 1: Manny said, surprising himself cool. Mike smiled and did so.
Speaker 1: His hand felt supportive, comforting. How you like him the party?
Speaker 1: Mannie really wasn't sure it was beautiful here. Now that
Speaker 1: skullfucker Mike had pulled his attention from the dancing silhouettes,
Speaker 1: He'd started to focus more in the crowds of people,
Speaker 1: dancing and drinking and fucking across the assorted dance floors,
Speaker 1: cuttle spaces, and bar tops of brain breakers. Most of
Speaker 1: the celebrants were visibly chromed. He saw a woman with
Speaker 1: six arms, a couple of things he could only describe
Speaker 1: as dick centaurs, a man with the head of a dolphin,
Speaker 1: and countless people in bizarre costumes built of light and
Speaker 1: fur and liquid metal. It was hard to tell how
Speaker 1: much of this was real and how much of it
Speaker 1: was the drugs. The acid was hitting his head pretty
Speaker 1: damn hard, skullfucker, Mike squeezed his shoulders and brought Manny
Speaker 1: back again. The fixer blinked and then finally responded, it's
Speaker 1: a good, good, fucking great. Let's get you some whippets
Speaker 1: and head over to the fireworks table. They're about to
Speaker 1: open it up fireworks inside. Mike laughed. It's hardly a
Speaker 1: party without explosives. Brother, Just go with it, and so
Speaker 1: many did. He and Mike did some whippets, which meshed
Speaker 1: gloriously with the acid. Then they stood up on stumbling
Speaker 1: feet and headed over to the fireworks table. Things seemed
Speaker 1: to be just getting started over there. Many inspected. A
Speaker 1: few different brightly colored explosive toys. Before something burst next
Speaker 1: to his ear, and he looked up to see Skullfucker
Speaker 1: Mike firing a massive Roman candle towards the musical punching
Speaker 1: people on the stage. The sound of it holly held
Speaker 1: a sound. It might have been the most compelling thing
Speaker 1: his ears had ever heard. The acid is definitely hitting
Speaker 1: hard now, Manny thought, Holy funk, Holy funk, what is this?
Speaker 1: The rest of his night faded into a blur of
Speaker 1: lights and music and strange, indefinable sense memories. It was
Speaker 1: disorienting and exhilarating an equal measure. Hours went by, the
Speaker 1: ass had faded, and eventually Manny found himself on a
Speaker 1: bunch of cushions, sitting around a table with Skullfucker Mike
Speaker 1: and other Fuccians. He couldn't remember any of their names,
Speaker 1: but after a few minutes of relative lucidity, Manny was
Speaker 1: able to piece together that they were all friends of
Speaker 1: the people who'd been captured. One of the men, a
Speaker 1: bearded guy with multi jointed fingers the length and width
Speaker 1: the rulers, reached over Manny to grab a beer. He
Speaker 1: pulled it back, took a sip, and settled into his seat.
Speaker 1: My favorite memory of Marigold, he said, is from back
Speaker 1: when we were still building this city. Right after we
Speaker 1: stole the bagger. She got a hair up her ass
Speaker 1: that there ought to be a big purple clubhouse at
Speaker 1: the top for folks to do cocaine in and watch sunsets.
Speaker 1: I remember she strapped an arm little wood to her back,
Speaker 1: grabbed a can of spray paint, took a big rail
Speaker 1: of meth, and just started climbing up the center Spendle
Speaker 1: like she was gonna do the whole damn job herself.
Speaker 1: She got fucking stuck two thirds of the way up,
Speaker 1: just hanging out there with her panties in the breeze,
Speaker 1: screaming like a scared cat. Mike laughed. I remember that
Speaker 1: me and Topez had to climb up in freer, and
Speaker 1: then she climbed the rest of the way up and
Speaker 1: started laying down boards. Fingerman nodded, yeah, I remember when
Speaker 1: I climbed up there an hour or so later, She's
Speaker 1: all frantic and fiddling with nails and bolts and turned
Speaker 1: to funck but like making progress too, And I asked her, Marigold,
Speaker 1: why are you doing this? This ain't a one person job,
Speaker 1: and she said, I know, but unless I start building it,
Speaker 1: it'll never be real. There was quiet for a while.
Speaker 1: Many could feel the pain in the pause and see
Speaker 1: it on everyone's face. He didn't want to say anything.
Speaker 1: He was pretty sure there was nothing worth while he
Speaker 1: could say. But then he spoke, anyway, can you tell
Speaker 1: me about the others, the other two who were captured.
Speaker 1: Another of Mike's friends, a tall black woman in a
Speaker 1: bright blue shark Onesie, nodded and replied. Rick's a little dude,
Speaker 1: a great painter and a pretty good pyrotechnician. He's no
Speaker 1: kind of fighter, but he's got a real sweet way
Speaker 1: about him. He puts people at ease, so he goes
Speaker 1: out on a lot of these delegations to be a
Speaker 1: good face for the city. Marigold is always the main negotiator,
Speaker 1: but we sent Tulli out too. She's newish to the city.
Speaker 1: Used to be an activist in Albuquerque before the King
Speaker 1: took over and started boiling people. She's a good talker.
Speaker 1: We had her studying under Mary so she could pick
Speaker 1: up some of the load in the future. They're all
Speaker 1: good people, Fingerman added, Marigold saved my life a few times.
Speaker 1: Back during the revolution she helped found this place. It
Speaker 1: started out as just a big caravan RVs and mobile
Speaker 1: hydroponics units. She'd find isolated communities, bring them food and such.
Speaker 1: No government was much use back then, so for a
Speaker 1: lot of folks, Mary's caravan was the line between life
Speaker 1: and death. Yea, said skullfucker Mike. She's the one who
Speaker 1: found topaz in me. After the boss went missing. We
Speaker 1: were pretty lost, doing a lot of freelance violence, but
Speaker 1: not making anything, not building a damn thing. Marigold told us.
Speaker 1: Her vision for this big, stupid city got us hooked
Speaker 1: on the idea. Many noticed tears at the corner of
Speaker 1: skullfucker Mike's eyes that felt somehow wronged him. Someone so
Speaker 1: powerful and inhuman shouldn't be able to cry and make
Speaker 1: it look so normal. But there he was crying. And then,
Speaker 1: for the first time in the trip, the thing Manny
Speaker 1: had most feared happened. He thought about Oscar. He remembered
Speaker 1: a picnic he'd taken with a stringer, his wife, Aisha,
Speaker 1: and their two kids. It had been a lovely spring day,
Speaker 1: one of the dozen ish days a year in Austin
Speaker 1: where the air felt good on your skin. They drank
Speaker 1: cheap beer and eaten hot dogs and watched the kayakers
Speaker 1: roll along the Colorado River. I sent him out there,
Speaker 1: and now he's probably dead. You know there's something else
Speaker 1: we share, Mike said, his voice low and somber. We've
Speaker 1: both spent way too much of our lives feeling helpless.
Speaker 1: Manny cocked a disbelieving eyebrow up at skullfucker Mike. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the chromed man chuckled. I know what you're thinking, but
Speaker 1: you'd be surprised how often the fancy hardware doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Mike's face twitched and more tears poured down his face.
Speaker 1: He took a deep breath, fixed Manny with bloodshot puffy eyes,
Speaker 1: and spoke again. We all spend a lot of life helpless,
Speaker 1: So when you have a chance to do something to
Speaker 1: make a difference for someone personally, I recommend you fucking
Speaker 1: take it. Manny woke up the next day feeling out
Speaker 1: of place and vaguely unstuck from time. He could hear
Speaker 1: Reggie snoring on the next bed. The room was very dark,
Speaker 1: and it was impossible to tell what time it might be.
Speaker 1: Manny thought about activating his deck, but decided against it.
Speaker 1: There was something almost nauseating about the thought of being
Speaker 1: flooded with the outside world right now. He stood up
Speaker 1: and went outside to wander the spindles and gantries of
Speaker 1: Rolling Fuck for a while. At one point a man
Speaker 1: walked by with a plate full of breakfast burritos, and
Speaker 1: so Manny had breakfast. A little while later he found
Speaker 1: a self served coffee house stationed next to one of
Speaker 1: the fondle boats, and so he had coffee. He was
Speaker 1: just starting to think about turning on his deck and
Speaker 1: welcoming in the world when Donald Ferris found him. Manny,
Speaker 1: my boy, I hope your asset hangovers not too bad.
Speaker 1: Manny shrugged. I actually feel all right. It was a
Speaker 1: It was good and helped me sort some things out.
Speaker 1: The older man smiled, I'm genuinely happy to hear that.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like a headful of acid to help you
Speaker 1: see what's important. Now. Listen, I hate to interrupt your morning,
Speaker 1: but there've been some developments Nana Yazzi, and I need
Speaker 1: to talk to you. Manny went with him back down
Speaker 1: into the main roller in that weird conference room where
Speaker 1: they'd met on his first day in the city. There
Speaker 1: were more people there now. Nana Yazzi sat in the
Speaker 1: same spot. At the end of the table. Reggie was
Speaker 1: there fiddling with one of his screens. Schoffucker Mike sat
Speaker 1: next to him, and then at the other end of
Speaker 1: the table was a large black dude Manny had never
Speaker 1: seen before. He was muscular, but in the lean, wiry
Speaker 1: way of a construction worker or a particularly swollen hobo.
Speaker 1: He had a long, gaunt face with prominent sheet bones
Speaker 1: and an oft broken nose. His hands were big, there
Speaker 1: was something menacing about them, but his face was the
Speaker 1: least threatening thing in the world. His eyes were lidded,
Speaker 1: half focused, and dreamy. His jaw was just a little slack.
Speaker 1: He had short hair, stubble really, and a patchy six
Speaker 1: day beard. He looked stone owned. Welcome, Manny, said Nana Yazzi.
Speaker 1: She gestured towards the big man. This is Rowland. If
Speaker 1: you choose to help us rescue your people, he'll be
Speaker 1: your escort into the heavenly Kingdom and your escape plan.
Speaker 1: Donald shut the door behind them, walked around to the
Speaker 1: other side of the table and sat down next to
Speaker 1: Nana Yazzi. We've tried to give you time and space
Speaker 1: on this, he said, but I'm afraid both of those
Speaker 1: things are running out. All our intelligence suggests the Heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom is very close to another all out as salt.
Speaker 1: They'll move on Waco in four or five days. It
Speaker 1: could be outside of Austin in a week's time. You
Speaker 1: are free to make whatever call you want, or offer
Speaker 1: to fly you to Austin. Still stands, Miho, said Nana Yazzi.
Speaker 1: But I am afraid we need you to make a decision. Now,
Speaker 1: I'll do it, Manny said. Almost everyone looked surprised. Donald coughed.
Speaker 1: Nana Yazzi's eyes went wide, Reggie did a double take. Schoolfucker.
Speaker 1: Mike just smiled and nodded at Manny. Roland didn't look
Speaker 1: as if he'd been affected in any way. In fact,
Speaker 1: Manny was pretty sure he was drumming along to some
Speaker 1: music only he could hear. It might have been Ronnie
Speaker 1: James Dio's Holy Diver Give us over attention. We need
Speaker 1: everything you've got. Fast waiting on reparations would beat the
Speaker 1: podcast tune in every Thursday, politics and wordplay. We fight
Speaker 1: for the people because they got us in the worst way.
Speaker 1: From the Hill Cooper, the Bombay to Kanya from the
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Speaker 1: break because we're waiting repations. Listen to Waiting on Reparations
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Speaker 1: The Gangster Chronicles podcast is a weekly conversation that revolves
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Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen Rowland. Once he'd been dismissed, Roland had made
Speaker 1: it his immediate business to get as high as post
Speaker 1: humanly possible before he was needed it. This was not
Speaker 1: a difficult task. Rolling Funck had been built to keep
Speaker 1: buzzes going. The main rollers bar stocked an assortment of
Speaker 1: beers mixed with LSD laudanum dimethyl trip to mein and
Speaker 1: a half dozen shogun chemicals. Roland started off by sampling
Speaker 1: them all. He drank until the fireworks showing his head
Speaker 1: was indistinguishable from the actual fireworks outside and those real
Speaker 1: Am I just fucking lit? Roland decided that answering that
Speaker 1: question wouldn't make him happier. He lost himself for a
Speaker 1: while and drifted from one of the fondel boats to
Speaker 1: a dance party in a field underneath the main gantry.
Speaker 1: After hours of that, Roland had his fill of rhythm,
Speaker 1: so he found his way to a coke benge in
Speaker 1: a weird purple house atop one of the spindles. The
Speaker 1: rest of the night he spent testing the limits of
Speaker 1: his talks and filters, and his tolerance for human contact.
Speaker 1: The latter came first. He abandoned the coke party and
Speaker 1: stumbled through rolling funk until he reached a small booth
Speaker 1: with baggies of umnuloch, a d M T based hallucinogen
Speaker 1: made from synthetically grown giraffe liver. Thinks got fuzzy after that.
Speaker 1: At there was a fireworks fight on a spindle that
Speaker 1: caught a shack on the fire. He downed a shipload
Speaker 1: of mescal and as the sun breached, and then quite
Speaker 1: suddenly it was afternoon and he was lying on his
Speaker 1: back across the baking hot metal of one of the spindles.
Speaker 1: Schoolfucker Mike stood above him, naked as the day he
Speaker 1: was born, and holding some sort of frosty purple beverage
Speaker 1: in a large teeky cup. Hey Man, Mike said, as
Speaker 1: he took a sip. Nanny as he told me to
Speaker 1: find you. You straight enough to talk to people. Roland nodded.
Speaker 1: He wasn't, really, but he could sober up fast. Maybe
Speaker 1: sober wasn't the right word. His brain could flood itself
Speaker 1: with focusing drugs to offset the hallucinogens, and he had
Speaker 1: a vial of liquid meth amphetamine somewhere in his pack
Speaker 1: that might do the trick. Roland sat up, grunted, and
Speaker 1: waved a hand at Mike. Then he dug around in
Speaker 1: his pack for the vial. He found it and drained half.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go, he said. Let's go to the
Speaker 1: place and do the things. Mike helped him down the spindle.
Speaker 1: Roland's unsteady legs were proof that he'd managed to find
Speaker 1: him self a worthy drug bench. The satisfaction he felt
Speaker 1: from that mixed well with the initial meth euphoria. By
Speaker 1: the time they reached the conference room, he was wired
Speaker 1: as fuck and kind of wishing he'd picked a different
Speaker 1: drug to spend his mood. Roland sat down and eased
Speaker 1: into his chair. A short, young Anglo fellow entered next
Speaker 1: and sat down on the opposite side of the conference table.
Speaker 1: He looked and smelled nervous. Roland paid him little mind.
Speaker 1: He was too jittery from the meth to want to talk.
Speaker 1: He decided a nice dose of some downers would help
Speaker 1: his situation and rooted around for his heroine kit. At
Speaker 1: that moment, another young man entered the room. He was short, Hispanic,
Speaker 1: and about twenty one years old. Nana Yazzi embraced the
Speaker 1: kid schoofucker might clapped him on the shoulder. They started talking.
Speaker 1: The kid said something that seemed to surprise most of
Speaker 1: the people in the room. Roland half paid attention to
Speaker 1: all that while he loaded up his syringe and tied
Speaker 1: off his arm. He stopped when he realized everyone else
Speaker 1: in the room was staring. Hey, something wrong, he asked Rowland.
Speaker 1: Nana Yazi said in a warm voice as she gestured
Speaker 1: to the Hispanic kid. This is Mannie. He's going to
Speaker 1: be your partner for the mission. He grew up in
Speaker 1: the Republic and he's a skilled negotiator. He'll help you
Speaker 1: blend in while you do your work. Er hh cool,
Speaker 1: Roland grunted and returned to his heroine, Rowland. If you
Speaker 1: wouldn't mind, Reggie was about to speak. Naniyazi's smile was
Speaker 1: as indulgent as ever. He's uncovered something important about the
Speaker 1: heavenly Kingdom. It might be useful to you, Roland shrugged.
Speaker 1: Mossy's gallis to which bartenders and plain O make a
Speaker 1: pass a whisky Sark can't imagine caring. But if you
Speaker 1: let me finish this. He jiggled the syringe in the air,
Speaker 1: I might be able to at least pay attention right now.
Speaker 1: I'm quite too methed out to focus. The old man
Speaker 1: leaned forward and sighed. The kid looked horrified. He started
Speaker 1: working his mouth and what Roland was pretty sure must
Speaker 1: be the prelude to some sort of expression of shock
Speaker 1: or offense. Schoofucker Mike preempted him. Let Roland shoot up.
Speaker 1: Trust me, drugs aren't going to make him any more
Speaker 1: or less effective here. Rowland grinned. Skullfucker Mike clearly knew him,
Speaker 1: even if he could only sort of remember skullfucker Mike.
Speaker 1: He went back to tying off his arm and shooting up,
Speaker 1: while the younger Brits stumbled into the start of his speech. Yes, well, uh,
Speaker 1: I've been going over the last few days of successful
Speaker 1: vehicle based bombings on checkpoints from Galveston and Lake Houston
Speaker 1: and all across the Dallas Fort Worth area. In total,
Speaker 1: I've identified three hundred twenty one bombings that appear to
Speaker 1: have been carried out as part of this overall offensive.
Speaker 1: Two hundred and forty of those bombings involve autonomous vehicles
Speaker 1: hitting dedicated autonomous vehicle checkpoints. Right on cue, a projection
Speaker 1: map flickered to life on the wall behind him. Hundreds
Speaker 1: of red dots populated a map of the conflict riddled
Speaker 1: regions of north central Texas. It looked like the pattern
Speaker 1: of attacks you'd want in order to funnel the st
Speaker 1: f's limited resources towards the least defensible chunks of their line.
Speaker 1: What was weird was that so many bomb rigged autonomous
Speaker 1: vehicles had gotten through the scanners. So Roland asked, how
Speaker 1: the fuckers do it? Unch zero days? Reggie shook his head.
Speaker 1: That's what I thought at first, he said. But these
Speaker 1: attacks actually started more than a month before this offensive.
Speaker 1: If they were relying on exploits, the s d F
Speaker 1: I T folks would have caught something by now. The
Speaker 1: most likely explanation is that the martyrs found some way
Speaker 1: to make vehicles that aren't autonomous. Seemed that way, yeah,
Speaker 1: Manny said. The martyrs have tried to hide drivers and
Speaker 1: autonomous vehicles before the s d F watches for it,
Speaker 1: which means the martyrs have figured out something new, said
Speaker 1: the journalist, some new way to hide a human driver
Speaker 1: that doesn't register on conventional senses, and that way is
Speaker 1: nanny Yazi asked. Reggie's face reddened. He grunted and swallowed,
Speaker 1: and then spoke, I've got no idea, but I think
Speaker 1: I know where they're putting these new vehicles together. He
Speaker 1: snapped his fingers and the projected image changed to a
Speaker 1: map of a city called McKinney and the Dallas suburbs.
Speaker 1: It zoomed into an aerial shot of one enormous factory
Speaker 1: building near the outskirts of the city. The BBC pays
Speaker 1: for access to a few independent satellites that overlooked this
Speaker 1: part of North America. We also pay the s D
Speaker 1: for limited access to some of their drone surveillance footage.
Speaker 1: From all that, I was able to trace out paths
Speaker 1: for seventy eight of the vehicles used in these attacks.
Speaker 1: Every one of them started their journey here. The projection
Speaker 1: changed again to it looked like a stock photograph of
Speaker 1: the front of a large white factory building. The Tesla
Speaker 1: logo was displayed prominently by the front door. It's an
Speaker 1: old Tesla plant. They finished it about a year before
Speaker 1: the Civil War. It's been in and out of operation
Speaker 1: since then. As best as I can tell, the last
Speaker 1: normal vehicle rolled off the line three years ago before
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom started cacking things up. McKinney was one
Speaker 1: of the first parts of the old Metroplex to fall,
Speaker 1: so they've had plenty of time to fiddle with shit.
Speaker 1: Roland raised his arm and realized belatedly that the needle
Speaker 1: was still dangling out of it. The old man sighed again,
Speaker 1: but Roland bravely ignored him. So what does this have
Speaker 1: to do with your captives, he asked, And then sign
Speaker 1: on to help you guys spy or blow up of
Speaker 1: factories in this data to the SDF for Austin if
Speaker 1: you think it matters, schoolfucker. Mike put a hand forward
Speaker 1: in a placating gesture. We're not asking you to do
Speaker 1: anything about this, he said, but you and Manny will
Speaker 1: be our only eyes and ears inside the Kingdom. If
Speaker 1: you get a hint of how they've accomplished all this,
Speaker 1: it will be valuable to us in the SDF. We'll
Speaker 1: find a way to make it worth your while. I mean,
Speaker 1: the drinks are free, right, Roland asked. I don't know
Speaker 1: what else you got that I might want Mike smiled
Speaker 1: and gestured to Roland's backpack of narcotics, which sat next
Speaker 1: to him on the big redwood table. By my account,
Speaker 1: you've gone through about half your stash that's coming out here.
Speaker 1: If you're able to get us any worthwhile info, I'll
Speaker 1: make sure the bags full before you leave. Roland narrowed
Speaker 1: his eyes. It would be a giant pain in the
Speaker 1: ask to find good percoset between here and Campltown. He sighed, alright,
Speaker 1: fucking fine. If we hear something, we'll look into it,
Speaker 1: but don't hold your breath. After the meeting, schoolfucker, Mike
Speaker 1: took Roland down to the city's makeshift more because so
Speaker 1: he could steal a dead man's face. Rolling Fox Militia
Speaker 1: had found the fresh corpse of some guy Roland's rough
Speaker 1: height and build. He'd fled Dallas and made it almost
Speaker 1: as far as Waco before getting hit by a drone attack.
Speaker 1: The foe Fuk had been gutted by shrapnel, but his
Speaker 1: face was intact enough for Roland's chameleon implant. Roland hadn't
Speaker 1: used the thing in so long he worried it might
Speaker 1: not work. He stared down at the man's face and
Speaker 1: took in his features. The fellow was white, but his
Speaker 1: skin was burnt a deep reddish brown. He'd clearly spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time under the Texas sun. He appeared
Speaker 1: to be in his early forties and clearly hadn't taken
Speaker 1: many juven treatments. His hairline was fine, but the man's
Speaker 1: eyes and the edges of his lips were creased with wrinkles.
Speaker 1: His dead, staring eyes were blue. There were deep dark
Speaker 1: bags beneath them. Plenty of time to sleep, now, Buddy
Speaker 1: Roland thought. He closed his eyes, focused on the dead
Speaker 1: man's face and felt his facial bones start to tear
Speaker 1: themselves apart and then reform. He felt the pigments and
Speaker 1: his skin shift two, which was always strange. The sensation
Speaker 1: to his pigments opening up and taking in more light
Speaker 1: felt a little like stripping off a thin layer of clothing.
Speaker 1: While Roland did this, skullfucker Mike ran a scanner over
Speaker 1: the corpse and located the I D card in its
Speaker 1: right forearm. Mike used a tool that looked like a
Speaker 1: long metal straw to suck the I D free and
Speaker 1: then shoot the tag into Roland's own arm. He took
Speaker 1: a second for Roland's body to pull the data. His
Speaker 1: name was Erin Weathers. He was single. He worked as
Speaker 1: a mechanic in Arlington for most of his life. He
Speaker 1: had a clean criminal record, save for a drunk driving
Speaker 1: arrest in his early thirties. Roland, now Aaron, left the
Speaker 1: morgue with skullfucker Mike and headed for the ride that
Speaker 1: would take him into the Heavenly Kingdom. He used the
Speaker 1: walk as an opportunity to smoke a couple of grams
Speaker 1: of fine Afghan opium. He was still smoking when they
Speaker 1: reached the battered old pickup truck on the outskirts of
Speaker 1: Rolling Fox campground. The kid Manny was in the driver's seat. Hey,
Speaker 1: Manny said, and stared wide eyed at him. You look different,
Speaker 1: he added with a forced smile. Yeah, Roland replied and
Speaker 1: pulled himself into the passenger seat. Mike tapped him on
Speaker 1: the shoulder. What Roland asked, I'm gonna need your bag, man.
Speaker 1: He pointed to the still smoking opium pipe in Roland's
Speaker 1: hand and that the Heavenly Kingdoms got a pretty strict
Speaker 1: policy on intoxicans. You're not going to get a backpack
Speaker 1: full of narcotics through their checkpoints. Roland growled at Mike.
Speaker 1: He couldn't fault the other post humans logic, but he'd
Speaker 1: be damned if he was going to spend several days
Speaker 1: surrounded by a bunch of religious nuts and do its sober.
Speaker 1: Roland locked eyes with skullfucker. Mike opened his bag and
Speaker 1: grabbed a heavy handful of drugs. He swallowed them all
Speaker 1: one by one, pillbottles and Baggi's vellucinogens and vials of amphetamines.
Speaker 1: He ordered his gut to reduce its acidity so he
Speaker 1: could store the drugs for later regurgitation and consumption. Then
Speaker 1: he took one last deep hit from his opium pipe
Speaker 1: and handed it and the bag to Mike Man. He
Speaker 1: popped the car and to drive, and they rolled off
Speaker 1: into the night. They drove in silence for a while.
Speaker 1: Roland's hind brain would have marked the time if he
Speaker 1: hadn't done such a successful job of pickling it with
Speaker 1: opium before they left. The quiet got awkward and boring
Speaker 1: pretty quick though. He considered putting on music, but of
Speaker 1: course his head wear was severed from all outside networks.
Speaker 1: He couldn't connect to the car any more than he
Speaker 1: could blink send an email, he decided to ask Manny
Speaker 1: to put something on Niggay Music. Can you music? Rowland
Speaker 1: realized he was slurring and his words were not coming
Speaker 1: out the way he'd intended. The kid Manny looked irritated.
Speaker 1: How fucked up are you right now? Roland gave a
Speaker 1: shrug that meant very You know my ass is on
Speaker 1: the line here too. I'm not made of whatever fucked
Speaker 1: up science you've got in your veins. I'd appreciate it
Speaker 1: if you took this seriously on an objective level. The
Speaker 1: kid's request was fair. This must be a big moment
Speaker 1: for him, going off on a dangerous mission to enemy territory,
Speaker 1: et cetera. But to Rowland, this was Tuesday or whatever
Speaker 1: day it actually was. He'd disabled his clock and calendar
Speaker 1: years ago because funk that noise. Funk that noise, he said,
Speaker 1: without meaning to good God, I'm so high what Manny
Speaker 1: sounded confused and perturb Sorry, man Roland rubbed his eyes,
Speaker 1: a little dazed from the opium. I wasn't talking to you.
Speaker 1: I am the only other person in this car, Manny said, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know him. Highest shit words come out sometimes they
Speaker 1: aren't meant for anyone they just happened. The car slowed
Speaker 1: and Manny pulled over to the shoulder of the cracked
Speaker 1: old highway. When the car came to a stop, he
Speaker 1: put his head in his hands and breathed in in
Speaker 1: and out very slowly. It took Roland a moment to
Speaker 1: realize the kid was going through a panic attack. He's
Speaker 1: never done anything like this before. Of course, he's terrified.
Speaker 1: Roland wondered if he should do something to comfort the kid.
Speaker 1: You know, he said, I've killed about twelve thousand armed people.
Speaker 1: Many turned to stare at him. He looked shocked, but
Speaker 1: Roland noted with satisfaction the statement had disrupted his panic.
Speaker 1: What what the I mean, give or take a handful?
Speaker 1: Roland continued, I burnt my brains, killed canter out with
Speaker 1: crocodile and sheep vodka while back. Why would you tell
Speaker 1: me this? Why would you think this would help? Because,
Speaker 1: Roland said, We're about to go into a very dangerous
Speaker 1: place together. You're scared you're gonna die, and I want
Speaker 1: you to know, however many arm nut jobs are in
Speaker 1: that city, I can murder them, all of them. Manny
Speaker 1: stared at him. He still looked terrified and vaguely pissed,
Speaker 1: but his heart rate was steadier, his breathing had slowed.
Speaker 1: Roland declared his gambit a success. Okay, the kid finally said,
Speaker 1: that's actually comforting. Thank you. There was silence for a beat,
Speaker 1: and then Roland spoke again that all sudden, I'd prefer
Speaker 1: not to kill anyone. I'd really prefer that. I was
Speaker 1: on a pretty good no murder streak until a couple
Speaker 1: of days back. I'm trying to stay on the wagon.
Speaker 1: So a talk, well, be a good face, man. This
Speaker 1: will all be easier if I don't have to commit murder.
Speaker 1: Manny looked a bit nervous again, but he popped the
Speaker 1: car into drive and rolled back onto the highway. I'll
Speaker 1: do my best, he said. They were an hour outside
Speaker 1: of Dallas when they hit the first checkpoint and the
Speaker 1: king Him's guards ordered them out of the truck. Roland
Speaker 1: stepped out with his hands up. Manny had done the same.
Speaker 1: The guards scanned them, verified their status as Republic citizens,
Speaker 1: and then the questioning started. What brings you to the
Speaker 1: heavenly Kingdom? Their leader, a fat man with a kalashnikov,
Speaker 1: asked Manny, we heard about the amnesty. Manny replied, and
Speaker 1: we thought it sounded good. We we want to live
Speaker 1: under the rule of God. The fat man grunted. So
Speaker 1: you're both good, god fearing men, then, yes, sir, Manny nodded,
Speaker 1: of course, and praise be to God for all the
Speaker 1: victories you've won here. The fat man sniffed at the
Speaker 1: air and looked over to his partner. I'm not wild
Speaker 1: about another skin here, Hanson. You think we need any
Speaker 1: more Mexicans? Hanson shrugged, orders say, the faithful are all welcome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the fat guy continued, if they're faithful. He looked back
Speaker 1: to Manny. Why did it take a couple of devout
Speaker 1: men like yourselves so long to make a break for
Speaker 1: the heavenly kingdom. We've been at this fight for a while,
Speaker 1: you know I. I I mean we we were scared, and
Speaker 1: we didn't we weren't sure what to believe. What you're
Speaker 1: supposed to believe is the word of God, the man snarled.
Speaker 1: And that's as clear as day to everyone who lives
Speaker 1: inside the kingdom. He looked back at his men and
Speaker 1: smiled an evil wolfie grin Hanson, malloy, I think we
Speaker 1: might need to question these two more intensively. Radio command,
Speaker 1: and that was the last thing the fat man said.
Speaker 1: Probably ever, Roland shoved a hand into the martyr's mouth,
Speaker 1: pulled downwards, and shattered his jaw in four places. Then
Speaker 1: he leapt into the others. It went quickly. He gouged eyes,
Speaker 1: broke jaws, severed tongues, and then started in on their limbs.
Speaker 1: By the end of it, all four men were still alive,
Speaker 1: but none of them were in any shape to report
Speaker 1: on what they'd seen. Manny vomited several times. What I
Speaker 1: want to do in your best, Manny, Roland asked, more
Speaker 1: irritated than angry. Once he'd finished, the kid recoiled, Roland
Speaker 1: realized Manny had started to shake a little. He also
Speaker 1: realized there was still a part of a man's ear
Speaker 1: in his mouth. A hell, you scared him, Sorry, kid,
Speaker 1: he said, and squatted down next to Manny. Look, the
Speaker 1: odds were always good that this first try was going
Speaker 1: to be a scratch. The good news is they've got
Speaker 1: other checkpoints. Will hop on the access road and find
Speaker 1: the next one. It'll be fine. What did you too
Speaker 1: to Manny started? I stopped them from talking, he said,
Speaker 1: very quickly. No one's dead. There'll be a He glanced
Speaker 1: down at the burbling, bleeding mess of shattered humans. They'll
Speaker 1: be I, but we need to move now before someone
Speaker 1: else comes along. And I got to break them too.
Speaker 1: Roland popped open the cab so he could change into
Speaker 1: a clean set of spare clothes. It was grateful that
Speaker 1: skullfucker Mike had packed them bags to lend their story
Speaker 1: extra versimilitude. Manny changed too, and once his hands stopped shaking,
Speaker 1: they rolled off to the next checkpoint. Roland tried not
Speaker 1: to think too much about the men he'd just broken.
Speaker 1: That helped that one of them had been an asshole.
Speaker 1: It helped that none of them had died. But still
Speaker 1: they hit the next checkpoint eight minutes later, and things
Speaker 1: went much better this time. For one thing, it was busier.
Speaker 1: There were already a dozen other cars in line when
Speaker 1: they pulled in. The guy who was questioning them was
Speaker 1: less of an asshole, and he seemed to buy Manny's claim.
Speaker 1: We weren't brave enough to make the journey until now,
Speaker 1: but we prayed all night about this. I know it's
Speaker 1: the right thing to do. Roland had to fight to
Speaker 1: avoid rolling his eyes. The line worked, though the man
Speaker 1: at the checkpoint waved the men and issued them a
Speaker 1: temporary transit pass. This is good for six hours. The
Speaker 1: checkpoint officer said, that's plenty of time to find the
Speaker 1: immigration center and poured in if you're caught driving around
Speaker 1: the Kingdom after that, it won't end well for you.
Speaker 1: They drove on, but it was slow going. After the checkpoint,
Speaker 1: the roads into Dallas were choked with ruined vehicles and
Speaker 1: actual traffic. It looked as if hundreds of people had
Speaker 1: taken the Heavenly Kingdom up on its amnesty offer. Roland
Speaker 1: couldn't fault them for that. The Kingdom seemed to be winning.
Speaker 1: As they rolled towards Plano, they were stopped regularly by
Speaker 1: patrolling martyrs and asked to present their papers, But bit
Speaker 1: by bit they made their way onto and through the
Speaker 1: packed and crumbling highways of Old Dallas. At one point
Speaker 1: they found themselves installed traffic on Highway seventy five, overlooking
Speaker 1: the cratered ruins of the Lakewood Blast. He felt cold
Speaker 1: October air. He smelled barrel fires and heard the sharp
Speaker 1: crack of rifle ry. He saw flashes of a face.
Speaker 1: It might have been Gem's, and he remembered the feeling
Speaker 1: of a cold metal handle attached to something heavy dense.
Speaker 1: He remembered yelling too, a small, sweaty hand held tight
Speaker 1: in his own. He remembered guilt. What's up, Manny asked.
Speaker 1: He looked over at Roland and his eyes widened. Dude,
Speaker 1: you're shaking. Don't tell me you're flipping out now. We're
Speaker 1: way too deep in this thing. Roland shook his head.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's nothing, he said. Just a piece of
Speaker 1: an old memory hit me in the face. I think
Speaker 1: I was in town when that fucker went off. The
Speaker 1: young man's pupils grew as big as saucers virga, he spent.
Speaker 1: You're fullish shit, Roland shrugged. I don't know. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: just a piece of a memory. I might be confusing
Speaker 1: it with something else. Sure got triggered by seeing the
Speaker 1: blast side, though Manny was not sadatisfied by that answer.
Speaker 1: I refuse to believe that someone could watch an atom
Speaker 1: bomb evisceerate a city and not have a clear memory
Speaker 1: of it. I had to take anti radtills my whole
Speaker 1: childhood because of that bomb. I don't have any clear memories, kid,
Speaker 1: none from further back than about I guess fibery years ago.
Speaker 1: I don't have a whole lot of clear memories since
Speaker 1: then either, but that's from the drugs. What the hell
Speaker 1: happened to you, Manny asked, I thought you post humans
Speaker 1: all had hard drives running through your blood. Were you
Speaker 1: too cheap to pay for a photographic memory? Roland scratched
Speaker 1: his neck. He wasn't ditchy, it was a nervous gesture.
Speaker 1: He was a little fascinated at the fact that this
Speaker 1: line of questioning made him feel nervous. He really couldn't
Speaker 1: remember the last time a conversation had made him feel
Speaker 1: that way. Weird. I got hurt, was all he could
Speaker 1: honestly say. I don't remember much of anything from before
Speaker 1: the revolution. Now I don't really remember the revolution. The
Speaker 1: line of cars started moving again. Manny popped the car
Speaker 1: back into drive, and they rolled further into the Heavenly Kingdom.
Speaker 1: Both men were quiet for a minute until Roland spoke again,
Speaker 1: That's why I'm doing this, you know. He wasn't sure
Speaker 1: why he was saying all this, but Roland found he
Speaker 1: couldn't stop himself. Jim, the guy who brought me on,
Speaker 1: he knows some fucking East Coast surgeon who specializes in
Speaker 1: post human brains. They think they can give me back
Speaker 1: my memory. This rescue mission is that's how I pay
Speaker 1: for that. Are you sure you want those memories back? Mann?
Speaker 1: He asked, what fun do you mean? I don't even
Speaker 1: know who I am or was right now. Wouldn't you
Speaker 1: want that ship back if you lost it? Many glanced
Speaker 1: over to him they locked eyes. I don't know, the
Speaker 1: kid said, you say you killed at least twelve thousand people.
Speaker 1: I've been working as a fixer for the last two years,
Speaker 1: and I've seen a lot of fucked up eyes, dead
Speaker 1: eyes on men who've done too much killing. But none
Speaker 1: of them hold a candle to what's going on there.
Speaker 1: He pointed to Roland's face. I don't know. I got
Speaker 1: a feeling your past is one big fucked up nightmare.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're better off without it. Roland was quiet for
Speaker 1: a while, and Manny didn't say anything else. They crept
Speaker 1: along and stops and starts, and inched closer to Plano
Speaker 1: as the sun cracked open the horizon. Kid At a point,
Speaker 1: Roland decided he'd worried about the same thing himself since
Speaker 1: Jim made the offer every hour or so, he still
Speaker 1: found himself thinking about the driver of that technical The
Speaker 1: man had reeked of love, and yeah, the guy had
Speaker 1: been fighting to establish a crystal fascist nightmare state. Somehow,
Speaker 1: that didn't mitigate his death. In Roland's head, most causes
Speaker 1: were ship. Most men who fought for anything fought for nightmares.
Speaker 1: That guy and all his friends had just been doing
Speaker 1: what felt right based on the ship lives they'd lived.
Speaker 1: The same thing had to be true for most of
Speaker 1: the soldiers and insurgents Rowland had killed. How many civilians
Speaker 1: did you kill, Roland? How many lives did you in
Speaker 1: just to keep the battle drugs flowing? When he thought
Speaker 1: about it that way, he really didn't want his memories back.
Speaker 1: But then, of course there was Topaz. He loved her
Speaker 1: so much, or rather, the pieces of him that remembered
Speaker 1: her loved her so much. Roland knew he wanted those
Speaker 1: memories back. He kneeded them back. Every time he thought
Speaker 1: about her face, something twisted inside him, as if his
Speaker 1: guts were being tugged in whatever direction he thought she
Speaker 1: might be. It was a weird way to feel about
Speaker 1: a woman he only remembered in fragments. Roland shook his
Speaker 1: head in a nervous attempt to shake the thoughts from
Speaker 1: his mind. Then he stared ahead at the line of cars.
Speaker 1: The immigration center was chaotic, crowded, and heavy with the
Speaker 1: smell of scared humans. It was also a happier place
Speaker 1: than Roland would have expected. Martyrs and fresh, olive drab
Speaker 1: uniforms with bright golden crosses and blazoned on the arms,
Speaker 1: handed out food, water, and even cups of instant coffee
Speaker 1: to the adults. They posed for pictures with children. The
Speaker 1: whole place almost had the air of a party about it.
Speaker 1: There was some one filming too. Roland guessed he must
Speaker 1: be a propagandist for the Kingdom, putting together some sort
Speaker 1: of documentary. They stood in line for two full hours
Speaker 1: before it was their turn in front of the intake officer.
Speaker 1: He was an older man with a big, bushy mustache,
Speaker 1: red jowls, and a droopy rooster all of a throat.
Speaker 1: He had a whiny voice that baraged them with questions
Speaker 1: as soon as they sat down at his desk. How
Speaker 1: many apostles did Christ have? What was the name of
Speaker 1: the hill where our Lord was crucified? What is the
Speaker 1: fifth commandment? Manny answered every question while Roland sat there
Speaker 1: and smiled vacantly like an invalid. They decided in the
Speaker 1: car that playing dumb was his best option. He'd probably
Speaker 1: wind up starting a fight if he talked to the man,
Speaker 1: And besides, Boland didn't know shit about the Bible. He
Speaker 1: didn't even have any memory fragments of church services. And
Speaker 1: why is it that you're answering all the questions, young man?
Speaker 1: The officer finally asked, what about your friend here erin?
Speaker 1: Is it? Ah? Yeah? Roland replied, I just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't test so good. Mom said, I ain't a thinker,
Speaker 1: but you are a Christian? Yes, oh yes, sir, he
Speaker 1: nodded enthusiastically. I love God. I am all about God.
Speaker 1: The intake officer narrowed his eyes at Roland. Manny flashed
Speaker 1: him a look of fury, and then quickly turned it
Speaker 1: into a smile directed at the officer. He's a he's slow, sir.
Speaker 1: His mama took care of him, but she died in
Speaker 1: a drone strike two months back from the SDF. I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to make sure he's okay. The man grunted
Speaker 1: and then looked to Roland. I imagine that must make
Speaker 1: you angry losing your mother. Roland nodded and put on
Speaker 1: his best fasimile of an angry face. They're bad men.
Speaker 1: I want to hurt them back. The intake officer chuckled. Well,
Speaker 1: I've got good news for you. Then. The Heavenly Kingdom
Speaker 1: needs soldiers. I'm sending you both to a training platoon.
Speaker 1: In a few days, you'll be martyrs and you'll have
Speaker 1: a chance to get your revenge. Wait, Mann, he asked,
Speaker 1: we're being drafted. The officer narrowed his piggy eyes. The
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom is fighting for its life. Boys. Every person
Speaker 1: we let in has a job. There are no shirkers here,
Speaker 1: no layabouts. If you aren't willing to help build the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God on earth, we have no use for you.
Speaker 1: And I've decided you boys will best serve God in
Speaker 1: our infantry. And just like that, Roland found himself inducted
Speaker 1: into a military for what was at least the set
Speaker 1: time in his life. The intake officer gave them more papers,
Speaker 1: signed a mustering order, and sent them off with directions
Speaker 1: to find the barracks that was apparently their new home.
Speaker 1: Manny handled the rest of the interaction, well. He even
Speaker 1: managed to act enthusiastic after his first startled outburst, But
Speaker 1: once they were out of ear shot back in the truck,
Speaker 1: he started to hyperventilate again. It looked like another panic attack. Gerda,
Speaker 1: He cursed. This was such a fucking bad idea. Hey,
Speaker 1: Roland patted the kid on the shoulder. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: all right, buddy. Some aspect of his comforting tactic must
Speaker 1: have gone wrong, because the kid just looked pissed. Do
Speaker 1: you not realize how fun this is? Manny shoved Roland back.
Speaker 1: We're supposed to be affecting a rescue here, he yelled.
Speaker 1: They're going to have us drilling and training day and night.
Speaker 1: Will be surrounded by soldiers. I thought we'd just be
Speaker 1: squatting in an apartment saying some piece be with you is.
Speaker 1: When we went outside, I thought we were going to
Speaker 1: track down those hostages and like a day. Now, what
Speaker 1: the funk are we supposed to do? Roland thought about
Speaker 1: that for a moment. He thought about the martyrs he'd
Speaker 1: faced on the battlefield three days ago and their motley
Speaker 1: armor and batter rusted weaponry. Look, he said, this for
Speaker 1: a real army, we'd be fucked. But you've seen how
Speaker 1: these guys fight. They had numbers and some professionals, but
Speaker 1: the bulk of their forces are just poor dumb fox
Speaker 1: with a week's worth of training and whatever gun was
Speaker 1: lying around. We're not going to be drilling from dawn
Speaker 1: till dusk, he gestured at the truck's dashboard. They're letting
Speaker 1: us drive our own fucking truck up there. This ain't
Speaker 1: gonna be like a real army. I guarantee you will
Speaker 1: have time to do our ship. Stay calm, stick close
Speaker 1: to me, do what I do. I'm real fucking good
Speaker 1: at soldiering. If you follow my lead, they love us
Speaker 1: and our job will be that much easier. And what
Speaker 1: if something goes wrong? Man, he asked, what if they
Speaker 1: catch us? Rolland shrugged. If they catch us, them will
Speaker 1: already be in the middle of their army. That will
Speaker 1: save me so much time. Hey, I've written a novel.
Speaker 1: It's called After the Revolution. You can find it as
Speaker 1: a podcast under After the Revolution, and you can find
Speaker 1: it at a t r book dot com as a
Speaker 1: free e pub if you like it. I am crowdfunding
Speaker 1: the sequel so that I and keep making my books free.
Speaker 1: That will be it after the revolution, the sequel on
Speaker 1: go fund me. That's after the revolution, the sequel on
Speaker 1: go fund me. Look for your children's eyes and you
Speaker 1: will discover the two magic of a forest. Find a
Speaker 1: forest near you and start exploring it. Discover the Forest
Speaker 1: dot Org. Brought to you by the United States Forest
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