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Speaker 1: the fourth dot Org brought to you by the United
Speaker 1: States Fourth Service and the AD Council. Chapter fifteen Sasha
Speaker 1: the Man on the gurney was the most comprehensively broken
Speaker 1: human Sasha had ever seen. His jaw had been ripped
Speaker 1: completely out of its socket and shattered in four places.
Speaker 1: His eyes had been gouged into horrible, smashed grape looking things.
Speaker 1: His hands and fingers were all broken, as were his
Speaker 1: feet and shins. His ears appeared to have been bitten off.
Speaker 1: His tongue had been severed, and the wound cauterized with
Speaker 1: something that had charred the flesh black. Sasha hadn't known
Speaker 1: a person could take such punishment and survive. The chart
Speaker 1: at the end of the bed identified him as Sergeant Lufkin,
Speaker 1: a two year veteran martyr who had been guarding a
Speaker 1: checkpoint outside of Dallas. He was conscious. Every now and
Speaker 1: then he'd thrash about and let out a burbling moan,
Speaker 1: but the man didn't appear capable of any sort of
Speaker 1: intelligible communication. Well these aren't combat injuries, doctor Brand said.
Speaker 1: These men look almost like they've been in a car wreck,
Speaker 1: only the damage is too precise and too deliberately targeted.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like it. It was Sasha's duty
Speaker 1: to administer the men's pain killers. Just a tiny drop
Speaker 1: of morphine each. It wasn't enough by any proper hospital standards.
Speaker 1: The soldiers were all in clear agony, but the Heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom was short on pain killers, and this was the
Speaker 1: most they could afford to spare for invalids, as doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt had called them. This frustrated Sasha. Her mother's hospital
Speaker 1: could have restored all four men to full health and
Speaker 1: vigor with perhaps a month of treatment and physical therapy,
Speaker 1: but the Heavenly Kingdom forbade that grown organs and limbs
Speaker 1: cloning contravened the Lord's will. Sasha agreed with that in theory.
Speaker 1: She'd fled to the Heavenly Kingdom partly because she believed
Speaker 1: juven treatments had robbed the ampt of its humanity. But still,
Speaker 1: it seemed so wrong that these men would go the
Speaker 1: rest of their lives as twitching and sinceate lumps of flesh.
Speaker 1: The number of things that felt wrong about this place
Speaker 1: grew every day. The executions had been the first big
Speaker 1: shock to her system, but she'd accepted Helen's justification. The
Speaker 1: Bible was filled with decent men doing awful things in
Speaker 1: times of war. The gallows weren't pretty, but they were
Speaker 1: hardly without biblical precedent. She'd been unable to justify Alexander's
Speaker 1: actions in the same way. Oh, yes, she knew polygamy
Speaker 1: was condoned by the Word of God. She'd read about
Speaker 1: Lammick and Abraham, and Solomon and David, and of course Jacob,
Speaker 1: the patriarch of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and a
Speaker 1: parent namesake for Alexander's order. She still hated what he'd
Speaker 1: done to her. Sasha couldn't bring herself to believe that
Speaker 1: a man as truly good as Pastor Mike would condone
Speaker 1: their actions. Polygamy is a biblically sound strategy for a
Speaker 1: people on the edge of destruction, He'd written in one
Speaker 1: of his Revelator columns. But it is not the human ideal,
Speaker 1: and our Lord's eyes, the most perfect union is one man,
Speaker 1: one woman, and as many children as they can bear.
Speaker 1: Had he decided since that the heavenly Kingdom was a
Speaker 1: people on the edge of destruction. After the disastrous meeting
Speaker 1: with Alexander, Sasha had made her way back to the
Speaker 1: House of Miriam. Helen was seated at her desk when
Speaker 1: Sasha barged in. The older woman looked tired resigned and
Speaker 1: almost depressed. It seemed as if she'd been waiting for Sasha. Hello, dear,
Speaker 1: she said, with a sad smile. I assume you just
Speaker 1: met Alexander. Yes, Sasha couldn't help but shout. What they're
Speaker 1: doing is vile, Helen. He wanted me as his third wife.
Speaker 1: He lied to convince me to come down here. He says.
Speaker 1: There's a whole group of martyrs. They call themselves Jacobeans,
Speaker 1: and they're just catfishing girls down here. We have to
Speaker 1: tell someone. This isn't okay, this is so wrong. I
Speaker 1: just I can't. Sasha started to sob. She'd been too
Speaker 1: angry to cry in front of Alexander. But the House
Speaker 1: of Miriam was a safe place. Helen was a safe person.
Speaker 1: Sasha's grief caught up with her anger, and she found
Speaker 1: herself doubled over on the floor, racked by sobs. She
Speaker 1: lost herself in sorrow for a few long heartbeats, and
Speaker 1: then Helen was are beside her. She felt the older
Speaker 1: woman's strong arms around her, felt a hand running through
Speaker 1: her hair. There there, child, it's all right, it's going
Speaker 1: to be okay. We have to do something, Sasha choked
Speaker 1: out Pastor Mike needs to know what's being done in
Speaker 1: his name. She looked up into Helen's eyes. She saw
Speaker 1: pain and anger there, Sasha. Helen said, this will be
Speaker 1: hard for you to understand, but the Pastor is well
Speaker 1: aware of what those men are doing. I've spoken to
Speaker 1: him about it myself. Sasha stiffened. She pulled away from Helen,
Speaker 1: and Helen let her go. They sat next to each
Speaker 1: other on the floor in silence until Sasha spoke again.
Speaker 1: Authenticity is the strongest arrow in our quiver. She quoted,
Speaker 1: When did that stop being true? When did it become
Speaker 1: okay to lie in the name of the Lord? Helen
Speaker 1: sighed and shook her head. It's not okay, But so
Speaker 1: much about this world we live in is not okay.
Speaker 1: They still murder forty thousand babies per year in the
Speaker 1: American Federation, hundred thousand in the California Republic. Sodomi and
Speaker 1: cloning are rampant across the world. We the faithful are
Speaker 1: surrounded on all sides. Sasha recognized that last line. It
Speaker 1: was the opening sentence of Pastor Mike's infamous Sinful Continent
Speaker 1: in the hands of an angry god Callumn. Sasha couldn't
Speaker 1: deny the truth of those words. Everything Helen said was accurate.
Speaker 1: But but how are we any better than them if
Speaker 1: we stooped to dishonesty to fill the heavenly kingdom. Helen
Speaker 1: stiffened and straightened her back. We are better than them, dear,
Speaker 1: because our goals are godly. There was a hint of
Speaker 1: pride in her voice. We are fighting for the one
Speaker 1: singular truth. You must never forget that the men and
Speaker 1: women fighting for that truth are flawed. We are all falluable,
Speaker 1: we will all fall short of God's standards. But we
Speaker 1: are also the only ones trying to meet God's standards.
Speaker 1: And that makes what Alexander did okay. Helen shook her head.
Speaker 1: Sasha saw tears in the corner of the older woman's eyes. No, child,
Speaker 1: nothing makes it okay. You are wronged. That boy played
Speaker 1: with your heart. He lied to you about his love,
Speaker 1: and that's an unforgivable thing. But you're here now, aren't you,
Speaker 1: And that's what matters most. Helen held her and talked
Speaker 1: with her for the next few hours. By the time
Speaker 1: the other girls came back, she felt better. Not good exactly,
Speaker 1: but better, stable enough to not burst into tears. During dinner.
Speaker 1: She kept quiet at meal time and was glad that
Speaker 1: the others seemed too exhausted from their day of labor
Speaker 1: to say much either. After dinner, they had another hour
Speaker 1: of personal time. Anne and Susannah zeroed in on her
Speaker 1: with military precision. Sasha's vaunted poker face hadn't been enough
Speaker 1: to hide her sorrow. Her new friends had guided her
Speaker 1: to a corner of the room where they'd have relative privacy.
Speaker 1: What's wrong, Anne asked in a low voice. She and
Speaker 1: Susannah both laid their hands on Sasha's shoulders. Sasha reached
Speaker 1: up to grasp both their hands. It happened automatically, as
Speaker 1: if by reflex, but it brought her great comfort. She
Speaker 1: closed her eyes and stood quiet for a moment as
Speaker 1: her mind and heart calmed down. I met Alexander to day,
Speaker 1: she said. Anne looked confused. Susannah frowned, then laughed and asked,
Speaker 1: what did have? Bad breath? Where his eyes all? She
Speaker 1: blew out her cheeks and crossed her eyes. Anne laughed,
Speaker 1: but Sasha stayed quiet. Susanna smile faded. Sash. She said,
Speaker 1: in a quiet voice, what happened? Sasha looked from Susanna
Speaker 1: to Anne. She felt a surge of gratitude and her
Speaker 1: new friends for being there at all. She took a
Speaker 1: deep breath in and then told them what had happened.
Speaker 1: She went quickly in the hope that her clipped recitation
Speaker 1: of events would make it all seem less devastating. Oh, Sasha,
Speaker 1: Anne said, I am so sorry. This has to be
Speaker 1: some sort of mistake. Helen didn't seem to think so,
Speaker 1: Sasha said, I don't think Alexander lied about the sons
Speaker 1: of Jacob being powerful here. It's chaos right now, sash.
Speaker 1: Susanna assured her. Maybe a few guys can get away
Speaker 1: with acting like this now during the war, but once
Speaker 1: it's over, Pastor Mike won't let them treat us like this.
Speaker 1: Anne nodded. Kyle getsitated back from the front tomorrow, she said,
Speaker 1: I'll ask him about the sons of Jacob. Maybe he'll
Speaker 1: know something we can do. Sasha knew from the look
Speaker 1: she'd seen in Helen's eyes that further protest against the
Speaker 1: Jacobeans would be useless, and besides, she thought the most
Speaker 1: painful thing was Alexander's dishonesty. He's already hurt me as
Speaker 1: much as he can She tried to convince herself of that,
Speaker 1: just as she tried to enjoy the company of her
Speaker 1: friends without dwelling on the face of the boy who
Speaker 1: betrayed her. She was less than successful. Bedtime came, the
Speaker 1: girls washed up, said their good nights, and snuggled up
Speaker 1: in their beds. As usual, Sasha's mind stayed awake and active.
Speaker 1: She wasn't having second thoughts exactly, of course, not never,
Speaker 1: but so much about today felt wrong. Alexander and the
Speaker 1: sons of Jacob, of course, but also that the brave
Speaker 1: men she'd worked on that afternoon would never walk or
Speaker 1: see or talk again. This is war, she reminded herself.
Speaker 1: A great deal of it is going to seem wrong.
Speaker 1: The next morning and afternoon went by in a haze
Speaker 1: of industrious activity, breakfast and bandages, preparing medications for doctors
Speaker 1: and nurses. Sasha lost herself in the work and for
Speaker 1: a few hours wasn't happy or sad. Her shift at
Speaker 1: the hospital ended at five, She took her nightly jeep
Speaker 1: ride back to the House of Miriam, but rather than
Speaker 1: going right inside, she decided to take a walk around
Speaker 1: the downtown strip. She had a few ration scripts in
Speaker 1: her pocket, enough that she could have bought coffee or
Speaker 1: even a meal in the one functioning restaurant still in town.
Speaker 1: But she wasn't hungry. She just wanted to walk. This
Speaker 1: part of the Heavenly Kingdom looked less like a war
Speaker 1: zone and more like a functional polus. With every passing day.
Speaker 1: Most of the piles of rubble and spent shell casings
Speaker 1: were gone. Now there was still quite a lot of
Speaker 1: damage to all the buildings and very few intact windows
Speaker 1: to be found, but that strange spoiled milk smell was gone.
Speaker 1: Some shops were open again, along with a small farmer's
Speaker 1: market about ten minutes down from the House of Miriam.
Speaker 1: There were people out too, not many families yet, but
Speaker 1: she saw a lot of sweaty, tired looking soldiers. They
Speaker 1: wandered in small groups and clustered around the strips only
Speaker 1: functional cafe. There were refugees too, and new immigrants to
Speaker 1: the Kingdom. Greeters in blue and white uniforms. The foot
Speaker 1: soldiers of the Kingdom's Immigration Department, led columns of them
Speaker 1: down the main drag and into old government buildings that
Speaker 1: had been repurposed into housing collectives. Sasha felt herself filled
Speaker 1: with a strange pride at odds with all the doubt
Speaker 1: that still roiled in her gut. From right here, the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom looked exactly like what had been promised to her.
Speaker 1: It was still rough, raw and unfinished, but it overflowed
Speaker 1: with the good intentions of godly men and women. Helen
Speaker 1: had been right. Sasha could see that now, as ugly
Speaker 1: as Alexander's lies were, as detestable as she found the
Speaker 1: whole idea of the Jacopeans, the Heavenly Kingdom was still
Speaker 1: a thing of beauty. It was still worth fighting for.
Speaker 1: She just had to accept that it would never be perfect.
Speaker 1: And Hello, Sasha. She stopped. The hare prickled up on
Speaker 1: the back of her neck. Sasha turned round to face Alexander.
Speaker 1: Sasha had been lost in thoughts, so it was hard
Speaker 1: to say for how long they'd been following her. Three
Speaker 1: other men were with him. They all wore clean, pressed,
Speaker 1: new uniforms and sidearms at their waists. She didn't recognize
Speaker 1: the rank insickneas on their shoulders, but she did notice
Speaker 1: that each of them wore a large gold badge in
Speaker 1: the shape of a lion's head on their lapel. She'd
Speaker 1: seen a lot of uniformed martyrs during her short time
Speaker 1: with the Heavenly Kingdom. She'd never seen a badge like
Speaker 1: that before. Hello, Alexander. She tried to keep her voice
Speaker 1: cool but respectful. Hello, brothers, Peace be with you and
Speaker 1: also with you. The other young men mumbled by habit,
Speaker 1: are you walking alone right now, Medea, Alexander asked, his
Speaker 1: lips curled up into an unctuous smile. That worries me.
Speaker 1: These streets still on as safe as they should be.
Speaker 1: Let us walk with you a while. Sasha stiffened. There
Speaker 1: was something dark in Alexander's eyes. She wondered if it
Speaker 1: had always been there and she just ignored it before
Speaker 1: her heart began to race. Sweat beat it on the
Speaker 1: back of her neck. There were a lot of people
Speaker 1: around still, but she was away from the most crowded
Speaker 1: part of the main drag. It wouldn't be hard for
Speaker 1: three strong young men to move her somewhere less visible.
Speaker 1: I'd prefer to walk alone, she tried to keep her tone.
Speaker 1: Even Sasha felt like they must still have heard the
Speaker 1: trembling in her voice. That's nonsense, Sasha, Alexander said. No
Speaker 1: woman wants to be alone when they can enjoy the
Speaker 1: company of their protect us. He stepped towards her, reached
Speaker 1: a hand out and brushed the hair away from her eyes.
Speaker 1: Alexander stroked her cheek. His hand drifted down to her shoulder,
Speaker 1: where he applied firm pressure. Sasha wanted to pull away,
Speaker 1: but Alexander was much stronger than she was. He had
Speaker 1: a gun, and two friends with guns, and apparently the
Speaker 1: personal support of Pastor Mike, so she stood still and
Speaker 1: tried to stop her heart from beating quite so fast. Sasha,
Speaker 1: he said, in the gentle, sweet voice that had helped
Speaker 1: to carry her here. You deserve to be cared for.
Speaker 1: I know the full truth was a shock to you,
Speaker 1: and I'm not angry at your reaction, really, but you
Speaker 1: still hold it on to fragments of the secular world.
Speaker 1: You need to drop that veil from your eyes and
Speaker 1: accept that God wants this. He wants men like us,
Speaker 1: Alexander gestured to his friends, men with superior talents, to
Speaker 1: breed and fill the world with more holy warriors. Sasha
Speaker 1: closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in and out,
Speaker 1: and then another. Just go with it, a part of
Speaker 1: her said, he won't hurt you if you just tell
Speaker 1: him what he wants to hear. She knew that wasn't right,
Speaker 1: though she hadn't risked her life to cross into the
Speaker 1: heavenly kingdom just to compromise her morals. Now I am
Speaker 1: doing good and valuable work here, she replied, in the
Speaker 1: calmest voice she could muster. I don't want to be
Speaker 1: your third wife. I know God has another purpose for me,
Speaker 1: and I intend to seek it. At his hand clinched
Speaker 1: tight on her shoulder, Sasha's eyes widened in fear. There
Speaker 1: was something dull, black, and hungry in his eyes. The
Speaker 1: two men behind him straightened their backs and started glancing around,
Speaker 1: scoping out the area. Sasha, Alexander said, I brought you here.
Speaker 1: You are my responsibility. I don't believe you're thinking clearly.
Speaker 1: We should take a walk and find somewhere private to
Speaker 1: talk about all this. I've come indeed a home near by.
Speaker 1: Come on, walk with me. He pushed at her. The
Speaker 1: whole time he spoke, and grew angrier with each passing word,
Speaker 1: so that by the time he said walk with me,
Speaker 1: his voice had grown tight and cold. Sasha steadied her heart,
Speaker 1: met his eyes with as steady a gaze as she
Speaker 1: could manage, and said, I don't want to walk with you.
Speaker 1: Her heart was pounding so loud she was sure Alexander
Speaker 1: and his friends could hear it, but Sasha didn't move.
Speaker 1: She was sure at any minute now he would grab
Speaker 1: her full on and force her forward. But before he
Speaker 1: had the chance, a familiar voice called out to her, Sasha,
Speaker 1: is that you? It was doctor Brandt, and all her
Speaker 1: focus on Alexander and his posse. She hadn't even noticed
Speaker 1: the electric hum of the doctor's jeep as it pulled
Speaker 1: up behind them on the main street. Yes, sir, she cried,
Speaker 1: her voice a bit higher and more frantic than she'd
Speaker 1: meant it to sound. What do you need getting the
Speaker 1: back girl? You can flirt with soldiers later. The Heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom needs your skills. We've got a bit of an issue.
Speaker 1: Alexander's face went purple. The two men behind him seemed confused.
Speaker 1: One put a hand on his gun, but Alexander waved
Speaker 1: him back. He shot Sasha a vicious look and then
Speaker 1: turned to doctor Brandt. Suddenly composed any idea How long
Speaker 1: you'll need her? What are you a lieutenant? Doctor Brandt scoffed,
Speaker 1: She'll be gone as long as the Kingdom needs her.
Speaker 1: I don't see a ring on either of your fingers,
Speaker 1: so I'm fairly certain it's not your place to care
Speaker 1: how long this takes Sasha. He beckoned to her with
Speaker 1: his index finger. Come on now, girl, gladly, she said
Speaker 1: with a genuine smile. Sasha darted past Alexander and his
Speaker 1: men and hopped up into the back seat of the jeep.
Speaker 1: She tried to keep her head and eyes down while
Speaker 1: the doctor's driver gunned the engine and sped off down
Speaker 1: the main street. Once they were underway, Doctor Brandt turned
Speaker 1: back to her. Sasha. He asked, was anything going on
Speaker 1: with those young men? Anything untoward? I ask because you
Speaker 1: seem positively elated. I've picked you up to deal with
Speaker 1: a problem. Do I tell him the truth? Sasha wondered
Speaker 1: to I had it. I was lured to the Kingdom
Speaker 1: by a catfisher. He'll never take me seriously. Then, this
Speaker 1: job was her favorite part of serving the Kingdom. Sasha
Speaker 1: didn't want to do or say anything that might disrupt it.
Speaker 1: And besides, Doctor Brandt was a busy man. Lives were
Speaker 1: in his hands every day. I can't distract him with this. No, no,
Speaker 1: everything's fine, I'm fine. Doctor Brandt gave her a stern look.
Speaker 1: Sasha smiled a tense smile in response. He shrugged and
Speaker 1: turned his head back to the road. All right, he said,
Speaker 1: And then there was a problem with one of your
Speaker 1: patient's blood tests. Oh, Sasha frowned. I'm so sorry. What
Speaker 1: did I do wrong? Nothing at all, doctor Brandta shared her.
Speaker 1: But that vile woman, Marigold, she's pregnant. Pregnant, Sasha was shocked.
Speaker 1: Most adult women in the American Federation had aphrodity rings installed.
Speaker 1: Sasha had refused hers, but the government offered them for free.
Speaker 1: They provided complete control over reproduction and allowed women to
Speaker 1: select whether or not they wanted to be fertile. She'd
Speaker 1: assumed anyone with as many bile modifications as Marigold would
Speaker 1: have a ring as well. Maybe she just wants a
Speaker 1: baby for some reason. Sasha hadn't initially considered that a possibility.
Speaker 1: It was hard to imagine someone has fallen as Marigold
Speaker 1: choosing to raise children. Yes, Sasha, doctor Brandt said, or
Speaker 1: at least that first test indicated so false positives do
Speaker 1: still happen. That's why we're headed back. We need you
Speaker 1: to administer another test so we can be certain. Well, shit,
Speaker 1: Marigold grunted. I didn't expect to see you back this soon.
Speaker 1: You need a friend, darling. The heathen woman looked the
Speaker 1: same as she had on their last interaction. Her hair
Speaker 1: was less greasy, so they must have let her wash,
Speaker 1: but she wore the same slip dress and sat in
Speaker 1: the same corner of the same cell. Sorry, no, Sasha said,
Speaker 1: I'm here to administer a pregnancy test. Mirragold's eyes widened
Speaker 1: for a few seconds. The woman was speechless, her mouth
Speaker 1: opened and closed. She nodded and clutched her left knee
Speaker 1: with her left hand. Okay, the captive said, right, where
Speaker 1: do you want me to do it? Do? Sasha looked
Speaker 1: down at the stick in her hand and then realized
Speaker 1: how these things worked. I'm sure doctor Brandt doesn't expect
Speaker 1: me to watch her. Pea, you can go over to
Speaker 1: your normal space. I'll just I'll turn around. She handed
Speaker 1: Marigold the test and spun around on her heels so
Speaker 1: the other woman wouldn't see how much she'd already started
Speaker 1: to blush. Damn, girl, are you that squicked out by
Speaker 1: the human body? What Sasha asked without turning around. Your
Speaker 1: face is as red as a damn beat. I'm sorry why,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Marigold laughed. You can turn around now,
Speaker 1: I'm decent and done. Sasha turned around. Marigold smirked at her.
Speaker 1: You know, she said, that instinct to apologize might actually
Speaker 1: come in handy around here. I'm sure the sort of
Speaker 1: men who jump in on this bullshit will appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Sasha recovered her senses and felt a bit of anger
Speaker 1: at Marigold's words. I don't appreciate you saying those things.
Speaker 1: She said. The men here are good and brave and uh.
Speaker 1: Sasha's voice caught it broke just a little. Marigold saw
Speaker 1: and heard her doubt. The other woman didn't laugh like
Speaker 1: Sasha expected. In fact, her smile fell away. Marigold looked
Speaker 1: at her with something like pity. I know you don't
Speaker 1: believe that, she said. Sasha closed her eyes and took
Speaker 1: a deep breath in. Then she replied, no men are perfect,
Speaker 1: just as no women are perfect. But everyone here in
Speaker 1: the Kingdom tries every day to abide by the Lord's will.
Speaker 1: That's what elevates us above. Marigold interrupted, does your Lord
Speaker 1: say women don't get last names. We don't use last
Speaker 1: names in the Kingdom because they distract us. We can't
Speaker 1: afford connect. The men keep their surnames, don't they. That
Speaker 1: was true. Sasha hadn't thought about it much, what with
Speaker 1: everything else that was going on. But doctor Brandt went
Speaker 1: by his last name, didn't he? And Alexander had a
Speaker 1: surname too. She's trying to weaken your faith in the kingdom.
Speaker 1: Don't give into the doubts of the serpent. It doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: Sasha said, and immediately regretted it. Any response would surely
Speaker 1: just egg Marigold on and sure enough, Oh it doesn't.
Speaker 1: Then why is that the rule? Well, it's obviously because
Speaker 1: we need some way to tell families apart from one another.
Speaker 1: Marigold smirked. Now, and the only lineage that matters is
Speaker 1: a man's, isn't it. Women are just appendages in your
Speaker 1: belief system. I am not an appendage, Sasha shouted, surprised
Speaker 1: at her own anger. She heard shuffling feet, and a
Speaker 1: second later the guard had one hand on the door
Speaker 1: and another on his rifle. Ever then, all raight, miss,
Speaker 1: he asked, yes, Sasha called back to him over her shoulder.
Speaker 1: I'm fine, sorry, she's just Sasha fixed Marigold with a
Speaker 1: withering gaze. She's very frustrating. Marigold smirked at that, then
Speaker 1: she held out the test. Sasha hesitated for just a
Speaker 1: second before taking the strip from the other woman. Marigold
Speaker 1: smiled at that too. You're pregnant, Sasha said, yep. Marigold nodded. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: Sasha tried to sound genuine. Marigold's eye roll didn't help that, cause,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, the other woman said, this is a real
Speaker 1: joyous moment for me. I hope your people let me
Speaker 1: live long enough to know whether or not my kid
Speaker 1: will deserve a last name. You know, Sasha said, in
Speaker 1: growing anger. This place isn't perfect, but if you've got
Speaker 1: to know the people here, you'd understand they are the
Speaker 1: best people I've ever met. I wish you could have
Speaker 1: seen the welcome I received. I've never felt so loved.
Speaker 1: Marigold asked, like, all you needed to do was show
Speaker 1: up to earn their acceptance. Yes, Sasha admitted, suspicious. Did
Speaker 1: they sort of swarm you but in a nice way,
Speaker 1: everyone hugging you and holding you and offering you, say,
Speaker 1: physical affection? Yes? Marigold nodded, as if she'd just gotten
Speaker 1: the answer to a longstanding question. They love bombed you
Speaker 1: what It's a tactic, colts use, Marigold explained, you sort
Speaker 1: of overwhelmed someone with love and acceptance and camaraderie and
Speaker 1: all that It nurtures loyalty and dependence. She shrugged. It's
Speaker 1: a smart way to manipulate young people in your position.
Speaker 1: You've just fled your home and family for a strange
Speaker 1: and dangerous land. You're scared and alone and isolated, and then,
Speaker 1: like magic, you've got a family in a support network.
Speaker 1: You are so cynical. Sasha had the fight back, the
Speaker 1: urge to say damned cynical. This woman was making her
Speaker 1: forget herself. She opened her mouth as if to deliver
Speaker 1: a tongue lashing, but the words wouldn't come, and instead
Speaker 1: she just narrowed her eyes at Marigold and stared for
Speaker 1: a few seconds. I'm leaving now, she said, I'm going
Speaker 1: to go enjoy the companionship of my new family. You
Speaker 1: enjoy this cell. Then Sasha turned on her heels and
Speaker 1: walked out. She returned late to the house of Miriam.
Speaker 1: The other girls had already finished dinner. Helen had left
Speaker 1: out Sasha's plate a ham sandwich, carrot sticks and apple
Speaker 1: and a small block of cheese, and she took it
Speaker 1: into the common room, where the other girls were talking
Speaker 1: and winding down from their day. Look who finally showed up?
Speaker 1: May sneered when she walked in. I guess you're too
Speaker 1: important to eat with the rest of us now, I
Speaker 1: Sasha started to reply. Then she saw Anne and Susannah
Speaker 1: huddled in the same corner where they'd all sat last night.
Speaker 1: There were tears in Anne's face, and her eyes looked
Speaker 1: swollen in red. She made no noise, but her back
Speaker 1: and shoulders shook as she sat there, half shielded from
Speaker 1: view and Susannah's embrace. Sasha gave Mayo withering glare, but
Speaker 1: turned and moved past her towards her friends. She heard
Speaker 1: the other girl scoff and say something to her coteria
Speaker 1: of friends. Sasha could hear what, though, and she didn't
Speaker 1: much care. She squatted down next to Anne and put
Speaker 1: a hand on the back of her neck. Hey, she said,
Speaker 1: not sure of what else to say. Susannah met Sasha's
Speaker 1: eyes and offered up a sad smile. Anne continued to
Speaker 1: sob for a few minutes, they just held her. Sasha
Speaker 1: burned with morbid curiosity over what exactly had happened. She
Speaker 1: knew it must have something to do with Kyle, and
Speaker 1: had been set to meet with him today. Had he
Speaker 1: revealed himself to be a son of Jacob too. He's dead,
Speaker 1: Anne whispered in a cracked, broken voice. I went to
Speaker 1: meet him at the Cafe Clement, and there were two
Speaker 1: martyrs there waiting for me. They both she stifled a sob.
Speaker 1: They both smiled when they told me he'd been killed.
Speaker 1: They said I should thank God for the blessing of
Speaker 1: a death and battle. I'm so sorry Anne, Sasha said,
Speaker 1: Susannah and I are here, though, we'll take care of you.
Speaker 1: She hoped that might comfort Anne a little, but the
Speaker 1: other girl lost herself in another fit of tears. Sasha's
Speaker 1: heart broke for her. The pain over her own comparatively
Speaker 1: minor tragedy flowed into the empathy she help for Anne,
Speaker 1: and soon Sasha was crying too. She was sure some
Speaker 1: of the other girls were whispering about them. Egged on
Speaker 1: by May, she didn't care. After a few more minutes
Speaker 1: of tears, Anne managed to clear her throat and speak again.
Speaker 1: The man the martyrs I met told me the same thing.
Speaker 1: She said. They told me I'd be taken care of,
Speaker 1: that they'd find God's choice for me among the martyrs.
Speaker 1: I tried to tell them, I don't want anyone else,
Speaker 1: not now I need to mourn, But they said, they said.
Speaker 1: Anne's voice caught in her throat, and she fought to
Speaker 1: throttle another sob before she continued. He said, the heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom might not be able to wait for my grief
Speaker 1: to pass. What's that supposed to mean, Susannah asked. Sasha
Speaker 1: didn't say anything, because the only answer that occurred to
Speaker 1: her was surely unhelpful. She had a strong suspicion that
Speaker 1: the sons of Jacob had turned their eyes on Anne.
Speaker 1: Sasha stared into Marigold's vagina. She'd seen it before, of course,
Speaker 1: the first time they'd met, but it hadn't been her
Speaker 1: focus then, and she'd tried very hard not to look
Speaker 1: at it too much, although the point was to look.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt had picked her up halfway through her shift
Speaker 1: at the hospital to conduct a pap smere on the
Speaker 1: captured woman. She'd only had about an hour to practice.
Speaker 1: It's a procedure I've done myself a hundred times, doctor
Speaker 1: brand had told her, but that was back in the
Speaker 1: am Fed. It's a sivil thing for a man to
Speaker 1: touch a woman other than his wife. That's why the
Speaker 1: Israelites used midwives. That's why we used midwives. And I
Speaker 1: think this kind of work might be why God drew
Speaker 1: you here. His words made her proud. She liked doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt for all his prickliness. She also liked to learn
Speaker 1: it and feeling like she had a useful skill that
Speaker 1: made her special. So she'd paid close attention as doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt had walked her through the procedure. It had been fun,
Speaker 1: and the act of learning had distracted her from her
Speaker 1: worries about Anne and her own grief over Alexander. Merrigold
Speaker 1: shuddered as Sasha slid the speculum in past her labia.
Speaker 1: You could stand to be a little gentler, and would
Speaker 1: it kill you to, I don't know, warm it up
Speaker 1: first or something. Doctor Brandt didn't say to do that.
Speaker 1: Sasha kept her voice firm, This is for the baby's good.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry if it's uncomfortable. This is my first time.
Speaker 1: The woman snorted, Oh, well, in that case, you're doing
Speaker 1: a great jow maybe a little less hard, and mine
Speaker 1: slopes down. You're going against the grain, the grain. Marigold
Speaker 1: rolled her eyes in disdain, but didn't dignify Sasha with
Speaker 1: a response, you're pushing the wrong way. Sasha readjusted, and
Speaker 1: Marigold gave a sigh of relief. That sucks less at least, thanks.
Speaker 1: Sasha busied herself with the swabbing and rubbing that came next.
Speaker 1: She worked slow, methodical, with as much care and gentleness
Speaker 1: as the instruction she had received from Dr Brandt would allow.
Speaker 1: She did her best to focus, but the other woman
Speaker 1: kept talking. You don't look old enough to have graduated
Speaker 1: high school. I'm gonna guess they don't train teenagers to
Speaker 1: do pap smears in the am fed Marigold added, do they?
Speaker 1: With surprising earnestness, no, Sasha grunted, I'm gonna guest doctor
Speaker 1: what's his name? Taught you then? Because why he's too
Speaker 1: scared of my demon snatch to come in here? Hi
Speaker 1: do with the jab himself. Sasha's face reddened. She did
Speaker 1: not like the words snatch or Marigold's casual mention of demons,
Speaker 1: but she kept her eyes straight and stared into the
Speaker 1: other woman's vagina. I have one too. It's not that
Speaker 1: big a deal, she told herself. It's impressive you were
Speaker 1: able to learn that. I'm serious. Real props, lady, you're
Speaker 1: the only woman I've seen do a damn thing around here.
Speaker 1: How do you trick them into treating you sort of
Speaker 1: like a person? Sasha's ire Rose and Rose Lord, Calm
Speaker 1: my heart, she prayed. I know she's just trying to
Speaker 1: set me off. It's just desperation, she told herself. How
Speaker 1: long do you think they'll let you keep playing like
Speaker 1: you've got a real life. I'm gonna guess it won't
Speaker 1: be too long before somebody puts a baby in you.
Speaker 1: You know that'll be the end of all this, right,
Speaker 1: like your life, using your brain all that, you're going
Speaker 1: to be a broodmare before to stop. Sasha didn't yell,
Speaker 1: but she used her firmest voice, and she was quite
Speaker 1: loud about it, despite herself. She looked up from her
Speaker 1: work and at Marigold's face. The other woman didn't look
Speaker 1: surprised or chagrinned. One edge of her lips curled up
Speaker 1: into a wry grin, her eyes twinkled. Sasha had never
Speaker 1: actually seen someone's eyes twinkled before there we go. I
Speaker 1: wondered where the edge was the edge of what Sasha asked,
Speaker 1: without thinking, idiot, this is exactly what she wants you
Speaker 1: to do, the edge of your patients, the point where
Speaker 1: meekness ends. I was worried they've beating it out of you.
Speaker 1: No one beat me, Sasha insisted, And there's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with being meek. The Lord asks us to put on
Speaker 1: a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Maybe
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be in a cell if you'd accepted that
Speaker 1: for yourself. I'm in a cell because I came here
Speaker 1: to trade. We weren't waging any kind of war. We
Speaker 1: weren't harming anyone. We wanted freaking cheetos in exchange for
Speaker 1: our latest coffee crop. Your people killed the old government
Speaker 1: and captured us. Sasha closed her eyes, breathed in and out,
Speaker 1: and tried to calm herself. For some reason, Marigold's words
Speaker 1: made her feel anxious and angry. She wanted to say
Speaker 1: the anger was towards the other woman, but that wasn't
Speaker 1: quite right. Marigold had been sarcastic and caddy, but she'd
Speaker 1: also been complimentary, thoughtful, and far from cruel. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you'll be sent back to your people soon. The heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom doesn't want any kind of fight with with your
Speaker 1: city yet. Sasha finished her work. She withdrew the speculum
Speaker 1: and started gathering up her kit. I do hope you're
Speaker 1: not laboring under the impression that this war will ever end,
Speaker 1: Marigold said, because it won't, not while your kingdom exists.
Speaker 1: You're wrong. We'll take Austin soon and then there will
Speaker 1: be peace. And what about San Antonio? Sasha shrugged, a
Speaker 1: heathen nation, but they haven't launched any strikes against us.
Speaker 1: If they'll let us be, will let them be remain
Speaker 1: and expand? Marigold quoted one of the slogans Pastor Mike
Speaker 1: had coined during the early days of the kingdom. The
Speaker 1: other woman had a surprisingly deep understanding of their movement.
Speaker 1: Marigold continued, The Kingdom of God will remain and expand
Speaker 1: until it reunites this broken land from sea to shining sea.
Speaker 1: That's your profit, right, you're mighty, Pastor sure sounds like
Speaker 1: a recipe for eternal war. Mexico, the Navajo, the California Republic,
Speaker 1: and the King of God, Damn Albuquerque don't seem likely
Speaker 1: to sign up for a theocracy, and those are just
Speaker 1: the big powers in the Southwest. Pastor Mike would have
Speaker 1: had an answer to that, of course. He'd said that
Speaker 1: as the Heavenly Kingdom grew, it would draw in millions
Speaker 1: from around the world and become a shining beacon to
Speaker 1: the fallen peoples of the world. Fighting would be replaced
Speaker 1: by peaceful annexation. She'd believed that once before she'd left
Speaker 1: the American Federation. It had seemed sensible. With Alexander's romantic
Speaker 1: words in her ear and the fiery prose from Revelator
Speaker 1: in her mind, how could she not believe? But now
Speaker 1: she'd spent time in the reality of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Speaker 1: She'd met beautiful people and seeing wondrous things, But she
Speaker 1: had also helped treat a seemingly endless train of broken
Speaker 1: men whose bodies had been shattered by war. She'd watched
Speaker 1: a dozen people be executed by hanging. Sasha was anxious,
Speaker 1: and Marigold must have picked up on it. The other
Speaker 1: woman's eyes changed. There was something almost predatory in them.
Speaker 1: She leaned forward. I know I'm hitting nerves Sasha, that's
Speaker 1: because you're too smart for this ship. You got suckered
Speaker 1: into a fucking nightmare. It's time to wake up. Sasha
Speaker 1: kept Marigold's words in her mind. She headed back to
Speaker 1: the hospital. A fresh wave of wounded men had been
Speaker 1: sent over from the Lake Houston Front, and she wound
Speaker 1: up working three hours later than normal just to help
Speaker 1: handle the load. It was a whirlwind of bloody bandages,
Speaker 1: screaming martyrs, and irate, exhausted doctors trying to do too
Speaker 1: much with far too little. By the time she got
Speaker 1: off shift, it was dark outside and downtown was almost deserted.
Speaker 1: Her driver dropped her off in a weird spot at
Speaker 1: the other end of Main Street. It was a good
Speaker 1: two blocks away from the normal location, but she chalked
Speaker 1: that up to the fact that this wasn't her normal driver.
Speaker 1: She didn't really mind the extra walk. In fact, after
Speaker 1: a long day under the hospital's fluorescent lights, a dark
Speaker 1: walk and some fresh air seemed relaxing, So she strolled,
Speaker 1: and she tried to forget the faces of the men
Speaker 1: she'd seen that day. For a few blissful minutes. Marigold's
Speaker 1: words fled from her head, and she lost herself and
Speaker 1: the peace that came at the end of a good
Speaker 1: day's labor. The streets of the heavenly Kingdom felt safe.
Speaker 1: She'd done meaningful work. The Lord must be hey, hey, no, please,
Speaker 1: I really don't want to. Sasha heard a familiar female
Speaker 1: voice cry out in distress. A man yelled something, but
Speaker 1: she couldn't tell. The woman let out a brief scream
Speaker 1: that was muffled by something. Her voice sounded familiar. Very
Speaker 1: familiar was that Anne. Sasha rounded a corner and saw them.
Speaker 1: It was Anne, all right. The girl had a bag
Speaker 1: over her head, but Sasha clearly recognized her friend. Two
Speaker 1: men in black uniforms held her by either arm and
Speaker 1: forced her to walk forward with them. Two other men
Speaker 1: walked beside them. They all wore red berets. The man
Speaker 1: who seemed to be their leader locked eyes with her.
Speaker 1: It was Alexander, Sasha. He said, in a clipped tone,
Speaker 1: you're out late. She stopped stared. Anne continued to thrash
Speaker 1: between the men. Her cries were muffled by the bag,
Speaker 1: but far from inaudible. She seemed terrified. You you all
Speaker 1: need to let her go, Sasha insisted she belongs at
Speaker 1: the house. Of Miriam, Alexander laughed, where do you think
Speaker 1: we gotta from, silly girl. Two of the other men
Speaker 1: laughed at that. They seemed nervous, though she could see
Speaker 1: both hunger and a strange sort of anxiety in their eyes.
Speaker 1: Alexander was all hunger. Alexander, please, please, what he asked,
Speaker 1: with a wry smirk. Deny this girl the bliss of
Speaker 1: servant God? Why would you want that for her? Do
Speaker 1: you even believe any more? Sasha, his lips, the lips
Speaker 1: she dreamed about for months, the lips she'd watched say
Speaker 1: such lovely things to her. Curled up in disgust. Look
Speaker 1: at you. You're wearing surgical scrubs. You look like a man.
Speaker 1: You've lost your proper place in the world. It disgusts
Speaker 1: me that they let you do that work. Have you
Speaker 1: forgotten what God himself calls on you to be Titus
Speaker 1: two five, Sasha, Our Lord wants you to be discreet, chaste,
Speaker 1: homemaker's good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word
Speaker 1: of God may not be blasphemed. Remember that, Sasha, none
Speaker 1: of you are her husband. Alexander laughed, That's not true
Speaker 1: at all. He put a hand on the shoulder of
Speaker 1: one of the men restraining and Tamasha married her to day,
Speaker 1: were just help in the happy couple to their merital bed.
Speaker 1: Then why is there a bag over her head? Why
Speaker 1: is she fighting? Because it was a rather abrupt marriage,
Speaker 1: Alexander frowned, and her mind is still polluted with ungodly
Speaker 1: ideas about how a marriage should look tillmas chose her.
Speaker 1: The spirit of the Lord spoke to him when he
Speaker 1: saw her from afar. It is right and good that
Speaker 1: they should be wed. And he moves up to the
Speaker 1: front tomorrow Tonight will be his first and maybe a
Speaker 1: last chance to help the kingdom remain and expand. He
Speaker 1: held out a seal, a golden badge in the shape
Speaker 1: of a shield with a heavenly cross and blazoned on
Speaker 1: the front. This comes from the pasta I have the
Speaker 1: authority to grant marriages to any worthy men who wish them.
Speaker 1: He smiled again. Sasha's heart fluttered. She felt nausea rise
Speaker 1: up inside her. So back away. Let us pass, and
Speaker 1: I'd suggest you dedicate some more time to thinking about
Speaker 1: why God brought you here when your time comes. I
Speaker 1: think you'd prefer doing this without the bag. But I'm
Speaker 1: fine either way. Really, it was past dinner and past
Speaker 1: bedtime when she entered the house of Miriam. Helen was
Speaker 1: seated at her desk. She looked up as Sasha entered,
Speaker 1: and in an instant Sasha knew there was no use
Speaker 1: in reporting what had happened to Anne. Helen's eyes were
Speaker 1: bloodshot and puffy with tears. She knew. Sasha the older woman, said,
Speaker 1: I have some bad news. I saw them, Sasha said,
Speaker 1: is that what's going to happen to all of us?
Speaker 1: Is this place just a bolding area until we get
Speaker 1: married off? This place is your home, Helen said, in
Speaker 1: a voice that was almost pleading. It's here, and I'm
Speaker 1: here to shepherd you to the next phase of your life.
Speaker 1: Don't you believe I want the best for you? I do,
Speaker 1: Sasha said, her voice softened. But Anne didn't want this,
Speaker 1: she told me so. Didn't she deserve time to grieve?
Speaker 1: She did, Helen said, But the Lord demands sacrifices from
Speaker 1: all of us, sometimes more sacrifices than seemed fair. Anne
Speaker 1: is in a dark place now, but the Lord will
Speaker 1: send his light to guide her. Helen seemed to straighten
Speaker 1: up as she spoke Sasha saw resolve settle into the
Speaker 1: older woman flint gray eyes. So may it be, she said,
Speaker 1: May the peace of the Lord be with you. Sasha
Speaker 1: started to walk off. She didn't trust herself to stay
Speaker 1: and talk. She was sure more of her anger would
Speaker 1: bleed out into the conversation, and she wasn't sure what
Speaker 1: Helen would do if she got the impression that Sasha's
Speaker 1: loyalty had started to waver. Sasha dear, she said, and
Speaker 1: Sasha looked back. You forgot your dinner. It's in a
Speaker 1: bag on the table. Sasha took it and Aiden's silence
Speaker 1: as fast as decorum would allow. Then she cleaned up
Speaker 1: for bed and headed back into the dormitories. As soon
Speaker 1: as she saw the light glinting off of Susannah's open eyes,
Speaker 1: she knew the other girl was awake. Sasha knelt down
Speaker 1: at her bed and the two shared a long look.
Speaker 1: Susannah held out her hand and Sasha took it. What happened,
Speaker 1: she asked. They let us out early and dropped us
Speaker 1: off down town. Susanna's eyes were wet with tears. Anna
Speaker 1: and I had a coffee and we visited the market.
Speaker 1: It was nice, normal, almost we headed for the house
Speaker 1: of Miriam once it's order to get dark, and she gulped.
Speaker 1: They were just there waiting with Miss Helen. Susannah swallowed
Speaker 1: loudly and her eyes grew watery, but she didn't cry.
Speaker 1: Sasha was proud of her friend. That was them, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: Susannah asked, those men were the sons of Jacob. Sasha
Speaker 1: just nodded. How long until they take me too? What
Speaker 1: grows in the forest trees? Sure? No. What else grows
Speaker 1: in the forest, our imagination, our sense of wonder, and
Speaker 1: our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from
Speaker 1: this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
Speaker 1: near you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot Org.
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
Speaker 1: the AD Council. The Gangster Chronicles podcast is a weekly
Speaker 1: conversation that revolves around the underworld and criminals and entertainers
Speaker 1: to victims, crime and law enforcement. We cover all facets
Speaker 1: of the game. Gainster Chronicles podcast doesn't glorify from modilicit activities.
Speaker 1: We just discussed the ramifications and repercussions of these activities
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Speaker 1: Find Against the Chronicles podcast and my Heart Radio app
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Speaker 1: the new true crime podcast, The Shadow Girls. I always
Speaker 1: wanted to know what it felt like to kill somebody
Speaker 1: and started laughing. Prosecutors described him as a serial killer
Speaker 1: servant kicking up these girls, getting him in a position
Speaker 1: of vulnerability. When he got hold of their neck, that
Speaker 1: was it. I'm Caroline Asia, a journalist and lifelong resident
Speaker 1: of the Pacific Northwest. I grew up near the banks
Speaker 1: of the Green River and in the shadow of the
Speaker 1: killer that bears its name. The camera time, just one time,
Speaker 1: he started fantasizing about having sex with his mother, and
Speaker 1: he fantasized about killing her. But this podcast isn't only
Speaker 1: about tracking down the killer. It's about the victims. We
Speaker 1: stayed in the woods. He always liked to go into woods,
Speaker 1: all the kind of strange you know how it feels
Speaker 1: about prostitutes. Listen to The Shadow Girls on the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, Chapter sixteen, Manny. The Barracks had been a
Speaker 1: high school, once built to serve several thousand of the
Speaker 1: Plano area's wealthy as students. The dozen huge gray buildings
Speaker 1: were centered around an enormous courtyard that included a practice
Speaker 1: football field, several tennis courts, and a running track. The
Speaker 1: compound was boxed in by a high concrete wall topped
Speaker 1: in razor wire. What had been to defend the scions
Speaker 1: of wealth and privilege from their jealous peers also made
Speaker 1: the former school an ideal training ground for the Kingdom soldiers.
Speaker 1: Manny could see hundreds of young men just within the courtyard.
Speaker 1: They ran laps or charged through a makeshift obstacle course
Speaker 1: that had been assembled over the old football field. Manny's
Speaker 1: head throbbed just watching them. I hope we don't have
Speaker 1: to do too much of that ship, he thought, as
Speaker 1: he scratched the bandage over his severed deck, at least
Speaker 1: not today. Dozens of men sat in small groups around
Speaker 1: the courtyard, reading together from books or cooling down from workouts,
Speaker 1: and sweat drenched under clothes. Many could hear the sharp
Speaker 1: crack of rifle fire from a shooting range nearby. The
Speaker 1: whole place buzzed with a sort of busy, nervous energy
Speaker 1: that might have been contagious if not for the ugly
Speaker 1: stairs Manny attracted, you picked the wrong skin to wear,
Speaker 1: Roland muttered at him as a troop of pale, young
Speaker 1: infantrymen clumped past them. Many couldn't help but notice that
Speaker 1: he seemed to be the only person on the training
Speaker 1: field who wasn't lily white. This might be a problem,
Speaker 1: he said. Roland nodded in response. He spat at the
Speaker 1: ground and muttered, should I ask skullfucker Mike to sew
Speaker 1: you into some new skin before we left? Mannie frowned.
Speaker 1: I'm almost certain that's not how martyrs. A rough voice
Speaker 1: cried out from behind them. Turn round, boys, let me
Speaker 1: see you rise. Manny stopped on instinct. He stiffened his
Speaker 1: back and turned around. Roland did the same thing, but
Speaker 1: with a heavy sigh and a roll of his eyes.
Speaker 1: The shout had come from a tall, square jawed man
Speaker 1: with hair that had gone a majestic shade of silver gray.
Speaker 1: He wore a black uniform shirt with brass cross pins
Speaker 1: and the epaulets, black cargo pants and a big black
Speaker 1: handgun slung low on his left hip. His name tag
Speaker 1: identified him as Ditmar. Mannie didn't know enough about the
Speaker 1: martyr's brigades to tell the man's rank. Roland turned as
Speaker 1: Ditmar closed the distance between them. He stopped about a
Speaker 1: foot in from them, looked Roland up and down, and
Speaker 1: then turned to Mannie. The fixer forced himself to meet
Speaker 1: the grizzled martyr's gaze. Mannie wasn't sure how to look
Speaker 1: like a fanatical Richtian soldier. There was no way to
Speaker 1: fake the manic glint of true commitment, so he chose
Speaker 1: a different tack. He thought about Major Clark, the defiant
Speaker 1: set of his jaw and the promise of violence frozen
Speaker 1: into the ice of his blue eyes. D Shaun Clark
Speaker 1: was not a fanatic, but he was a warrior. Many
Speaker 1: knew he might be able to fake that, so he
Speaker 1: screwed up his face into his best imitation and hoped
Speaker 1: it would pass muster well. The silver haired old soldier
Speaker 1: growled and narrowed his eyes, but then his face broke
Speaker 1: out into a grin. His tone lifted up an octave.
Speaker 1: By God, he said, it's good to have you boys here.
Speaker 1: He clapped a hand on both Manny and roland shoulders
Speaker 1: and pulled them into an embrace. Your souls are safe now,
Speaker 1: my boys. Thank God for your warrior hearts. Now. He
Speaker 1: pulled back and straightened up. I'm Martyr Ditmar. Where are
Speaker 1: you bound for intake? Manny said, with more confidence than
Speaker 1: he felt. We just arrived today. He glanced down at
Speaker 1: his papers for a moment and then said, this says
Speaker 1: we're Infantry Reserve Division. Martyr Ditmar seemed surprised. Really, he asked,
Speaker 1: I'd have expected them to put you at least he
Speaker 1: nodded at Manny in the storming battalion. The storming battalion. Yes,
Speaker 1: The elder martyr nodded, you've got the right complexion for it.
Speaker 1: That's got to be a bad sign. Manny thought, don't
Speaker 1: press the question too much now, you may not want
Speaker 1: the answer. Instead, he put a hand on Roland's shoulder.
Speaker 1: Wherever we go, I gotta stay with Aaron. He's strong,
Speaker 1: but he took a few hits to the head too many.
Speaker 1: I help him get around. The martyr gave a smile
Speaker 1: that seemed genuine. Well, then he said, you'll want to
Speaker 1: get your butts down to Cadet Processing. It's a hundred
Speaker 1: meters down that away. He clapped them both on the shoulders.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you here. Smile boys, your heroes
Speaker 1: now warriors in Christ. Go forth, God bless you, Martyr,
Speaker 1: Manny said. Roland followed up with his best attempt at
Speaker 1: honest enthusiasm. Yea God, he said, in a two wide smile.
Speaker 1: We should go, Manny said quickly. I don't want to
Speaker 1: terry on the Lord's time. That's the spirit. Martyr did
Speaker 1: Are replied, I'll see you both on the training field.
Speaker 1: They stomped off towards the Cadet process and building, which
Speaker 1: until recently had been the high school's administrative building. There
Speaker 1: were posters for school dances and after school clubs on
Speaker 1: the walls. It looked like a student body election had
Speaker 1: been under way when the Heavenly Kingdom captured this place.
Speaker 1: Manny and Roland queued up behind a half dozen other
Speaker 1: confused looking young men and waited for their turn at
Speaker 1: the processing desk. The intake process lasted around an hour.
Speaker 1: They took his name as date of birth and his measurements,
Speaker 1: and then Manny helped Aaron answer the same questions it
Speaker 1: would have been triflingly easy for anyone with a deck
Speaker 1: and a good connection to find evidence of Manny's career
Speaker 1: as a war zone fixer. But the martyr handling their
Speaker 1: information wrote things down on actual paper. Manny got the
Speaker 1: distinct impression that many of the martyrs had disabled their decks.
Speaker 1: He also knew from experience that data speeds tended to
Speaker 1: be pretty ship this close to the fighting. Someone will
Speaker 1: check eventually, he warned himself, You'd better be fast about
Speaker 1: this whole business. Roland stayed on his best behavior through
Speaker 1: the whole process, although he grew twitch eer and twitch
Speaker 1: eer as the minutes wore on. Manny wasn't sure if
Speaker 1: the chromed man was allergic to bureaucracy or just frustrated
Speaker 1: at having sobered up. Once they were done with the
Speaker 1: first stage of the intake process, they were ushered over
Speaker 1: to another room filled with folded stacks of clothing and
Speaker 1: dince with the scent of moth balls. They were shot
Speaker 1: uniforms and then bundled off to a locker room to change.
Speaker 1: Manny was somewhat nervous about stripping down and changing in
Speaker 1: front of Roland, a dude he barely knew if the
Speaker 1: post human felt the same nervousness, he didn't show it.
Speaker 1: Roland pulled off his clothes in a couple of seconds,
Speaker 1: revealing a body that was tight with wiry muscle and
Speaker 1: covered in thick surgical scars. Roland started to pull on
Speaker 1: his beady you pants and noticed Manny hadn't yet started
Speaker 1: to strips up. Roland asked, you smell nervous. Manny shrugged.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm a little prude. Still must be the
Speaker 1: Catholic in me. Don't let them hear that. Roland knifed
Speaker 1: those fucker's all hang you with your rosary beads. He
Speaker 1: pulled the pants up and buttoned them. Then he paused
Speaker 1: again and looked back at Manny. You h you oh Catholic?
Speaker 1: He asked. Manny shook his head. No, I don't believe,
Speaker 1: but my family does. Ah. Roland nodded, you fake belief.
Speaker 1: Well that's a talent. It's not a talent, Manny said,
Speaker 1: it's a survival skill. Grow up in Texas and you
Speaker 1: either learned to fake what you need to fake where
Speaker 1: you learn to fight. Someone knocked on the door. You
Speaker 1: ready yet, a voice called out to them. Almost Manny
Speaker 1: responded and then he started to strip his clothing off.
Speaker 1: A few minutes and a change of clothes later, they
Speaker 1: arrived on the field where their training unit, twenty four
Speaker 1: sweat drenched young men, were doing push ups. Manny was
Speaker 1: surprised to see that these martyrs, at least weren't all white.
Speaker 1: There was one black man right in the middle of
Speaker 1: the group. It took Manny a second to recognize that
Speaker 1: the instructor drilling them was Ditmar, the man they'd met
Speaker 1: on their way to the base. He broke into a
Speaker 1: broad smile when he saw them. God's will is truly magnificent,
Speaker 1: is it not? And then he nodded down to the
Speaker 1: Groundfall it and join us, lads. Let's see what you've got.
Speaker 1: Manny and Roland dropped down and joined the unit in
Speaker 1: another set of push ups. If Roland had any trouble
Speaker 1: at all with the workout regimen, he didn't show it.
Speaker 1: The chrombed man barely sweated, and Manny had a feeling
Speaker 1: that his sweat was more for show than the result
Speaker 1: of an actual biological process. Even with the show, it
Speaker 1: was obvious to every one that Roland was not having
Speaker 1: any trouble with the exercises. God's blessed us with a
Speaker 1: new sampson, Ditmar said. A hundred or so push ups
Speaker 1: in the rest of the men, Manny included, had collapsed
Speaker 1: from the exertion, but Roland just kept going. For a while.
Speaker 1: They all sat there, huffing and exhausted and watching him go.
Speaker 1: Ditmar smiled and shook his head a little awed at
Speaker 1: the sight. Finally, he waved for Roland to stop. You've
Speaker 1: made your point, son, and we're all blessed to have
Speaker 1: you here with us. Now get up, all of you
Speaker 1: and sit around me. Manny stood, shook the soreness from
Speaker 1: his arms, and moved to take a seat in the
Speaker 1: semicircle of young martyrs. Once they were all properly positioned,
Speaker 1: Ditmar squatted down and cast his eyes around the group,
Speaker 1: settling on each of them in turn. I don't know
Speaker 1: how you all got here, he said, in a quiet,
Speaker 1: somber voice, but I know what brought each of you here,
Speaker 1: the speed rid of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: He cleared his throat. Now, he said, very soon, you'll
Speaker 1: all be going into battle sooner than i'd prefer. We
Speaker 1: don't have time for the kind of training you boys deserve.
Speaker 1: You'll be fighting against men with more experience, better weaponry.
Speaker 1: It's a scary thought, but I'll tell you all right now,
Speaker 1: if you go into that battle with the same blind
Speaker 1: faith that brought you here, you'll do just fine. God
Speaker 1: won't let any other end come to pass. It was
Speaker 1: dark by the time ditmar led them all into the
Speaker 1: dining facility. The sight of the high school cafeteria set
Speaker 1: off a surprising pang of nostalgia in Manny's heart. He
Speaker 1: hadn't enjoyed school, but something about the gray, fabric colored walls,
Speaker 1: the colorful posters, and the dozens of identical faux wood
Speaker 1: tables made him long for a simpler time. For a second,
Speaker 1: he was almost able to forget where he was, what
Speaker 1: he was doing, and pretend this was just another day
Speaker 1: in school. That illusion was broken when he looked at
Speaker 1: his fellow martyrs. Hundreds of them had filed into the cafeteria,
Speaker 1: dressed in a motley assortment of battle dress uni forms
Speaker 1: from the old U. S Army, the Republic of Texas,
Speaker 1: and even the Mexican Army. Most of them were young,
Speaker 1: not even into their twenties. Around a quarter of them, though,
Speaker 1: were old for soldiers in their forties or fifties. There
Speaker 1: was no military discipline in their appearance. Many of the
Speaker 1: men had beards or long, unruly hair. These fox aren't soldiers,
Speaker 1: Roland whispered to him as they took their seats at
Speaker 1: one of the fake wooden tables on the left side
Speaker 1: of the room. This is what cann father looks like. Kid.
Speaker 1: The heavenly Kingdom just expects these people to die. Many
Speaker 1: felt a surge of anxiety. He was sure someone else
Speaker 1: must have heard Rowland, but when he glanced around, he
Speaker 1: saw their table mates were all deep in conversation with
Speaker 1: each other. Most of them, at least Jonathan, the only
Speaker 1: other non white person in their training unit, seemed to
Speaker 1: have been excluded. The other soldiers leaned away from him.
Speaker 1: The focus of the table seemed to be a tall,
Speaker 1: square jawed young man with a Georgian twang to his
Speaker 1: accent Martyrs. A loud voice cried from a podium at
Speaker 1: the center of the cafeteria. The sound of hundreds of
Speaker 1: bodies on hundreds of chairs turning to face the noise
Speaker 1: filled the room. There was a tall, painfully thin man
Speaker 1: clad in a long black robe. An enormous wooden cross
Speaker 1: hung from his neck. His hair was greasy, unruly, and
Speaker 1: shock white. He had a patchy beard and the overall
Speaker 1: look of an unkimpt madman. But then he spoke. My
Speaker 1: brother said, is a blessed thing to have you all
Speaker 1: here today. He began in a voice that was little
Speaker 1: more than a whisper. There was a raw rasp to
Speaker 1: his voice. He sounded almost hoarse. Something about that quality
Speaker 1: drew Manny's attention. In the coming days, your instructors will
Speaker 1: prepare you for the great battles that lie ahead. You
Speaker 1: will be given the best arms and armorah Kingdom can provide.
Speaker 1: But just by being here, each of you has shown
Speaker 1: you already have a weapon more powerful than any tool
Speaker 1: in our armory. Faith in God Almighty. His voice raised
Speaker 1: in pitch. Now it was still raspi and horse, but
Speaker 1: it picked up a sharp, booming quality. He spoke faster,
Speaker 1: his cheeks grew red. Put on the armor of God,
Speaker 1: he cried, And you will stand firm against the schemes
Speaker 1: of the devil. Be strong and courageous. Do not panic
Speaker 1: before the enemy. For in every battle, the Lord your
Speaker 1: God will go ahead of you. He will never fail
Speaker 1: you nor abandon you. At this several of the men
Speaker 1: around the room pounded their fists on the tables. One
Speaker 1: man in the back let out a whoop. These outbursts
Speaker 1: inspired other men to cry out praise God. Manny glanced around,
Speaker 1: trying to gauge if more or less than half of
Speaker 1: the room was joining in. He didn't want to stay
Speaker 1: quiet if that was going to look weird. But then
Speaker 1: the pastor went quiet. A sense of anticipation filled the room.
Speaker 1: There were about four hundred cadets all dining together in
Speaker 1: this shift, and of course the officer in charge, a tall,
Speaker 1: gangly redhead with no chin but a strangely beautiful baritone voice,
Speaker 1: led them in prayer before the meal. Manny repeated the
Speaker 1: words after him, but he didn't hear them. He did
Speaker 1: have to elbow Rowland once when he saw the big
Speaker 1: post human wasn't chanting along with the other soldiers. Just then,
Speaker 1: a pair of big doors to the left of the
Speaker 1: stage swung open. Didmar walked out with a hefty brown
Speaker 1: canvas bag over his shoulder. He was followed by an
Speaker 1: armed guard and then two men in shackles. The captives
Speaker 1: wore striped white prison pajamas, and they both looked the
Speaker 1: worse for wear. One of them, a middle aged black man,
Speaker 1: looked familiar. Many thought he must be a captured sd
Speaker 1: F fighter. His lip looked as if it had recently
Speaker 1: been split, and there was a nasty gash on his forehead.
Speaker 1: He kept his head down and his shoulder slumped. His
Speaker 1: posture was one of complete resignation. The other man was
Speaker 1: Manny's heart skipped a beat Oscar. He'd been beaten too,
Speaker 1: although not as badly as the soldier. He looked not
Speaker 1: so much frightened as bewildered, starving, and probably reeling from
Speaker 1: one or more head injuries. Dude Roland nudged Manny's rib
Speaker 1: cage and whispered to him the fuck Many realized his
Speaker 1: masket slipped. He let himself stare in horror rather than
Speaker 1: the excitement evident in everyone else's face. No one else
Speaker 1: seemed to have noticed yet, they were all focused on
Speaker 1: the prisoners. But Many forced a grim smile onto his
Speaker 1: face and tried to look at least like he was
Speaker 1: deeply satisfied. An armed martyr prodded Oscar and the SDF
Speaker 1: man in their backs with his rifle and ushered them
Speaker 1: up onto the stage. Dead silence reigned over the cafeteria,
Speaker 1: no one spoke. It took Manny a few seconds to
Speaker 1: realize he was actually holding his breath. Once the captives
Speaker 1: were up on stage, the armed martyrs pulled them down
Speaker 1: to their knees. Ditmar set his bag down and zipped
Speaker 1: it and pulled out a wooden rod about two feet
Speaker 1: in length and as thick around as Manny's forearm. Warriors
Speaker 1: of God. The priest in toned in a low whisper.
Speaker 1: Manny felt himself lean into the man's words, even as
Speaker 1: dread pickled the pit of his stomach. These men appointed
Speaker 1: themselves enemies of our heavenly kingdom, foes of God. He
Speaker 1: raised a hand up to Ditmar. His hand shook, but
Speaker 1: not out of fear. He positively vibrated with excitement. Who
Speaker 1: among you will take up the rod and punish these men?
Speaker 1: The chair scraping floor, sound of some one standing up
Speaker 1: very quickly rose behind him. Manny glanced back and saw
Speaker 1: that one of the men from his cadet group had
Speaker 1: been the first to stand. He was tall, with broad,
Speaker 1: thick shoulders and chest muscles that spoke of a youth
Speaker 1: spent laboring in the field. He had thin, dirty blonde hair,
Speaker 1: a thick jaw and blue eyes that shone with excitement.
Speaker 1: What your ne a, martyr, the priest asked Eric Friedman, Sir.
Speaker 1: The young man cried back, Martyr Freedman, Ditmar cried out
Speaker 1: as he held the rod up. Come forward and do
Speaker 1: the Lord's work. The young man walked forward, stepped up
Speaker 1: onto the stage and took the rod from Ditmar's hand.
Speaker 1: He glanced down at the captives. His eyes passed over
Speaker 1: Oscar and lingered on the battered black soldier. Strike a
Speaker 1: blow for the Lord, the priest whispered, and Martyr Freedman obliged.
Speaker 1: His first swing was weak and sure and poorly aimed.
Speaker 1: It struck the soldier on his shoulder. He didn't cry out.
Speaker 1: Martyr Freedman's second strike was harder, suer. He hit the
Speaker 1: soldier right in the gash on his forehead, and the
Speaker 1: man dropped with a muffled cry. Eric hit him again,
Speaker 1: and again and again. Ditmar grabbed another rod from the
Speaker 1: bag and held it out. Stand up, Men of God.
Speaker 1: The priest's voice rose again to a pitch so high
Speaker 1: it was almost a shriek. Step up and be the
Speaker 1: hands of justice. Just for a moment, Oscar saw him. Surprise,
Speaker 1: then confusion, and then anger passed over the stringer's face
Speaker 1: in the space of about a second. Manny didn't want
Speaker 1: to think about what Oscar saw in his face, and
Speaker 1: then Min rushed the stage, and Oscar disappeared in the
Speaker 1: swarm of martyrs to be rushing to share in the beatings.
Speaker 1: Roland took the opportunity provided by the chaos to lean
Speaker 1: back and whisper a question to Manny's going on, Gey,
Speaker 1: I know that guy, the one on the left. Mannie
Speaker 1: whispered back, He's one of my stringers. He works for me.
Speaker 1: He's my friend. Roland nodded and then stood up and
Speaker 1: rushed up to the stage. By the time he reached it,
Speaker 1: a dozen other martyrs had joined Eric and beating the
Speaker 1: two captives. There was blood on the floor, blood on
Speaker 1: the sticks, and bloods splattering the martyr's new uniforms. Oscar
Speaker 1: cried out from each blow. It sounded like his mouth
Speaker 1: was full of blood. And then Roland took a rod
Speaker 1: from Ditmar's hand and in the space of a second,
Speaker 1: brought it down on both men's skulls with dull, meaty thuds.
Speaker 1: The soldiers went still. The screaming stopped, and every eye
Speaker 1: in the room turned to Roland. The chrombed man looked
Speaker 1: out at the crowd. There was an agonizing moment of silence,
Speaker 1: and then Manny knew what he had to do. Praise God,
Speaker 1: he screamed out. The room joined in, and soon a
Speaker 1: chorus of cheers filled the cafeteria. After that, Rowland was
Speaker 1: everyone's favorite martyr. Once the men's bodies were dragged off
Speaker 1: the stage and dinner began, the martyrs could barely contain
Speaker 1: their admiration for his strength. That was incredible. Eric said,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to go into battle with you. What
Speaker 1: did you do before? A young man with a thick
Speaker 1: Oklahoma twang asked, from the way, you cracked those skulls
Speaker 1: out of guess you've been doing that for years. Roland
Speaker 1: gave short, non committal responses. His taciturn attitude didn't stop
Speaker 1: the other martyrs from talking about him with supreme glee.
Speaker 1: Their words sickened Manny, but their focus on Roland gave
Speaker 1: him a chance to breathe and mourn and avoid looking
Speaker 1: over at the stage while Ditmar's men dragged Oscar's body away.
Speaker 1: By the time the excitement had subsided and dinner had ended,
Speaker 1: Manny felt like he could just barely make it to
Speaker 1: his bunk without breaking down. He lacked behind Roland and
Speaker 1: the others as they all filed into the barracks. Manny
Speaker 1: was grateful for Roland's ability to draw attention until during
Speaker 1: the walk that young black martyr sidled up to Manny
Speaker 1: an intry uced himself. I'm Jonathan, he said, and I'm
Speaker 1: honored to meet you. Why, Manny asked, I think you
Speaker 1: and I were the only ones who weren't cheering during
Speaker 1: that ah, Manny said with a nod. He took a
Speaker 1: careful look at Jonathan's face. The other man's chubby cheeks
Speaker 1: and soft smile seemed almost calculated to make him look guileless.
Speaker 1: Whatever he says, he's one of them, be careful. I
Speaker 1: understand why it was necessary, Manny said, but I don't
Speaker 1: have to like it. Neither do I. Jonathan said, we
Speaker 1: have to fight them. We're fighting for God here, after all,
Speaker 1: but we don't have to become monsters. Manny nodded, he
Speaker 1: didn't say anything. Jonathan took that as an invitation to
Speaker 1: say more. I think we're going to have a harder
Speaker 1: time here than the others, he said, and gestured to
Speaker 1: the very Caucasian crowd ahead of them. We've got a
Speaker 1: lot to overcome here, but I think that just means
Speaker 1: God will shower more glory on us for the effort.
Speaker 1: Manny was proud that, in his sorrowful and half panicked state,
Speaker 1: he managed to avoid shouting what the fuck at Jonathan. Instead,
Speaker 1: he matched the martyr smile and just said praise God.
Speaker 1: Their next morning started with an hour of calisthenics. The
Speaker 1: workout was strenuous, but Manny actually enjoyed it. The speed
Speaker 1: with which they were dragged outside and forced into motion
Speaker 1: kept him from picturing Oscar's face for a while. After
Speaker 1: the workout, they dove into the real meat of the day,
Speaker 1: a trip to the gun range. It had been set
Speaker 1: up on what had once been a marching band's practice field.
Speaker 1: Dozens of vaguely human shaped targets had been cut out
Speaker 1: of sheet metal and set up at varying intervals behind
Speaker 1: a crude sandbag line. Their group of about two dozen
Speaker 1: new recruits were each issued weapons of varying quality. Manny
Speaker 1: received a jankie old kalashnikov that rattled like a Morocca
Speaker 1: Rowland was given and almost knew G thirty six assault rifle.
Speaker 1: The range instructor was a one legged old martyr with
Speaker 1: a prodigious belly and an equally overgrown white beard. He
Speaker 1: walked them through the basics of how to operate a
Speaker 1: variety of different assault rifles. You can't know what weapon
Speaker 1: you'll end up needing to use, and then set them
Speaker 1: up on the sandbag line and told them to start firing.
Speaker 1: Manny took aim at a target around a hundred feet
Speaker 1: in front of him. It was hard to tell if
Speaker 1: he hit it or not. Several other men had aimed
Speaker 1: at the same target. Again, Manny got the feeling that
Speaker 1: the purpose of this training was not to make the marksman.
Speaker 1: Basic familiarity was all the Heavenly Kingdom had time to provide. Roland,
Speaker 1: of course, proved a fabulous shot. He stitched a smiley
Speaker 1: face and bullet holes across four of the metal targets
Speaker 1: and earned genuine praise from the instructor. By Godson, you've
Speaker 1: got a gift. This only increased Roland's social cachet with
Speaker 1: the martyrs. They crowded around him during the walk to
Speaker 1: the next activity of the day, lunch in a lecture
Speaker 1: on assault tactics. This was held in a little concrete amphitheater,
Speaker 1: something that had presumably once served the school's drama department.
Speaker 1: Manny tried to sit down next to Rowland, but Eric
Speaker 1: and a gaggle of his friends settled around the post
Speaker 1: human First, they babbled excitedly to him. Manny wasn't sure
Speaker 1: what they were saying, but every time he glanced back,
Speaker 1: Roland looked absolutely miserable. Manny wound up in the back,
Speaker 1: seated next to Jonathan. The Martyr. Patted his leg. Don't worry, brother,
Speaker 1: he said. It's gonna be tough for us to earn
Speaker 1: their respect, but once we're all out in the field together,
Speaker 1: they'll stop caring about your skin. You are sure about that,
Speaker 1: Manny asked, Happy he was never going to wind up
Speaker 1: in the field with any of these people. Of course,
Speaker 1: I am, Jonathan said, I grew up in Atlanta. You know,
Speaker 1: I knew it was going to be rough coming out here.
Speaker 1: But that's the sacrifice we make for God. I know
Speaker 1: he's going to bring this nation back together. Tell you
Speaker 1: the truth. I'm honored to be a part of that.
Speaker 1: Jonathan's eyes shone when he spoke he's a true believer.
Speaker 1: Manny realized there's not a doubt in his mind that
Speaker 1: he's doing the right thing. That was scary, and things
Speaker 1: got scarier still when their next instructor stepped into the amphitheater.
Speaker 1: The man was old and grizzled too. He had both
Speaker 1: his legs, but his right arm was missing below the elbow,
Speaker 1: and a jagged scar ran up the left side of
Speaker 1: his face. The skin on most of his forehead was
Speaker 1: bald and modeled as if he'd been badly burned. Afternoon, boys,
Speaker 1: and God bless you, I'm Monculla's. Today you're going to
Speaker 1: learn how to assault a fortified position. Most of the
Speaker 1: strategies who walked them through began and ended with the
Speaker 1: application of shoulder fired rockets and incendiary grenades. Manny couldn't
Speaker 1: help but notice that no time was spent talking about
Speaker 1: how to avoid civilian casualties. He wasn't even sure specialist
Speaker 1: Carruthers knew how to pronounce the word civilian. Remember what
Speaker 1: it says in the Book of Samuel, Boys, the older
Speaker 1: man drawled. Now go and strike and devote to destruction
Speaker 1: all that you have. Do not spare them, but kill
Speaker 1: both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep,
Speaker 1: camel and donkey. He laughed, which made a few of
Speaker 1: the young martyrs comfortable enough to laugh too. I don't
Speaker 1: expect you'll run into any camels or donkeys out in Austin,
Speaker 1: but there will be men, women, children, and infants. If
Speaker 1: they stand in your way, they all equally deserve to
Speaker 1: be purged. Manny didn't like the eagerness he saw in
Speaker 1: the faces of his fellow students. The pit in his
Speaker 1: stomach grew Throughout the day. While Martyr Carruthers explained how
Speaker 1: to use the various heavy munitions they might be called
Speaker 1: upon to deploy, there weren't enough rockets or mortars for
Speaker 1: them to actually train on any of the those things.
Speaker 1: Manny wasn't sure how good a gist anyone really got.
Speaker 1: He wondered how much that would matter when these men
Speaker 1: took to the field. He ate ravenously at dinner. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: there were no executions that day, but Martyr Ditmar did
Speaker 1: take the stage again and announced that the busses were
Speaker 1: ready to take any interested recruits down to the main
Speaker 1: drag for a couple of hours of what passed for
Speaker 1: R and R. One of the older martyrs handed everyone
Speaker 1: ration cards and explained they were good for either a
Speaker 1: cup of coffee or tea, or a small amount of
Speaker 1: food from one of the few stores that had opened
Speaker 1: back up. Fucking tea, Roland grumbled into Manny's ear as
Speaker 1: they headed out for the buses. That's what these jumped
Speaker 1: up Puritans considered recreational beverage this fucking country. Manny had
Speaker 1: noticed the post human growing increasingly jittery in irritable throughout
Speaker 1: the day. He'd seen Roland cautiously cough up another small
Speaker 1: bag of pills right before lunch that had sated him
Speaker 1: for a while. But considering his post human metabolism, man
Speaker 1: he thought he had to be pretty close to sober.
Speaker 1: I am so fucking lucid. I can't stand it. Roland muttered,
Speaker 1: what is it with you people and being hi all
Speaker 1: the time? Manny whispered back, can't you stand being sober
Speaker 1: for a few days? Not if I'm gonna help it,
Speaker 1: Roland said. He pointed to his head. There's just too
Speaker 1: much going on in there, man, too much input. It's
Speaker 1: like my whole body itches, but I can't scratch ah,
Speaker 1: Manny said, since he wasn't sure what else to say.
Speaker 1: The bus hit downtown Plano after twenty minutes or so.
Speaker 1: It wasn't an impressive site. There were maybe a dozen
Speaker 1: little shops in one cafe open, plus a pretty sad
Speaker 1: looking farmer's market. He could see no signs of any bars,
Speaker 1: any clubs, anything that even vaguely resembled nightlife. The main
Speaker 1: drag was crowded with people, throngs of soldiers and young
Speaker 1: women in long dresses and new immigrants into the heavenly Kingdom.
Speaker 1: Where should we go first, Manny asked. As soon as
Speaker 1: they'd filed off the bus, well Roland grunted. Unless you're
Speaker 1: in the mood for shake off for your some rude vegetables,
Speaker 1: I'd say we check out that gallows. Manny had avoided
Speaker 1: looking too long at the gallows. It was empty now,
Speaker 1: but just staring at it made him feel sick. There
Speaker 1: was something sinister and unsettling about the ground beneath it.
Speaker 1: It was as if he could feel all the death
Speaker 1: radiating outwards. What could we possibly learn there, the Big
Speaker 1: man shrugged. Not much. But if they wind up hanging
Speaker 1: anyone tonight, I might be able to sniff out where
Speaker 1: they're keeping the prisoners. That'd be useful data. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be useless for that, man, he said, what should
Speaker 1: I do? I don't know, man, grab some coffee what
Speaker 1: Roland locked eyes with him. He didn't do that often.
Speaker 1: His gaze was normally as shifty and juttery as the
Speaker 1: rest of him. Look, kid, you've done a great job
Speaker 1: above and beyond the collie and a duty or whatever,
Speaker 1: and you're good company too. But I got half a
Speaker 1: dozen satellites worth a sensory equipment in my brain and
Speaker 1: hundreds of wee bitty microscopic robots floating around the air
Speaker 1: feeding me news. There's really not much for you to
Speaker 1: do here. Chill out, find whatever passes for relaxation here
Speaker 1: and do it. I'll get you when it's time to go.
Speaker 1: Many started to protest, but then he thought, the hell,
Speaker 1: he's right, I'm useless. I've earned a cup of flavorless
Speaker 1: gringo coffee. So we thanked Roland and headed off in
Speaker 1: the direction of the strip's functioning coffee house, the Cafe Clement.
Speaker 1: It looked like it was less crowded than the others.
Speaker 1: As he reached for the door, someone slammed into him.
Speaker 1: She was a young blonde, younger than Manny at any rate.
Speaker 1: She wore baggy surgical scrubs. Her jaw was tight and clenched.
Speaker 1: Her brown eyes were wide with fear, and there were
Speaker 1: deep bags under them. Oh oh my, she said, I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry, sir. Please let me. It's okay, Manny said,
Speaker 1: no damage done. Are you all right? You look terrified.
Speaker 1: I'm just just trying to avoid someone. It's nothing serious.
Speaker 1: Manny wasn't sure why, but he pulled the ration cards
Speaker 1: he'd been given out of his pocket and offered one
Speaker 1: to the stranger. Here, if you want, we can grab
Speaker 1: a table together and I'll sit with my back to
Speaker 1: the door. You're not big, I can block you. She
Speaker 1: looked surprised and a little hesitant, but after a few
Speaker 1: blinks she nodded and said, I actually appreciate that a lot.
Speaker 1: Thank God for you, sir. Oh yeah, Manny agreed, praise him.
Speaker 1: They sat and ordered coffee. The young woman kept craning
Speaker 1: her neck around Manny to peek at the door behind them. Look,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask what's up with you? But
Speaker 1: can I get your name? At least that might make
Speaker 1: this less awkward. I'm man Immanuel Manny for short, Sasha,
Speaker 1: She said, I just got here a few days ago.
Speaker 1: You this is my second day. She looked surprised. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have guessed what with the uniform, he laughed. It
Speaker 1: a turns out they just hand these to anyone whole
Speaker 1: hold a gun. I didn't even really have a choice. Well,
Speaker 1: if that's where you wound up, I'm sure it's where
Speaker 1: the Lord wants you. Praise God for that. She didn't
Speaker 1: seem like she was joking, but there was something about
Speaker 1: her tone and the way her jaw and never unclenched
Speaker 1: that made Manny suspect she was a little less than
Speaker 1: convinced about her own words. For the next few minutes
Speaker 1: they talked in between SIPs of mediocre coffee. He learned
Speaker 1: she was from the American Federation and enough of a
Speaker 1: true believer that she'd smuggled herself into the heavenly kingdom.
Speaker 1: She didn't seem like a zella, though. More than anything,
Speaker 1: she seemed scared. How do you like it here, he
Speaker 1: finally asked, Is it what you'd expected? She didn't respond
Speaker 1: for quite a while. Instead, she stared into his eyes.
Speaker 1: Manny stared back. It was a strange feeling, She must
Speaker 1: have been trying to search out where he was trustworthy,
Speaker 1: or trying to trick her into revealing her disloyalty. He
Speaker 1: maintained eye contact and tried not to seem like a
Speaker 1: member of whatever the Heavenly Kingdom called their secret police.
Speaker 1: Apparently it worked. Of course, I'm happy here in God's Kingdom,
Speaker 1: she smiled, an empty smile. I've been blessed to meet
Speaker 1: so many dedicated people. But um, I've also met some
Speaker 1: people who am I am well, she coughed. Not everyone
Speaker 1: here seems to have the Lord in their heart. Manny
Speaker 1: almost laughed at the irony and her admitting that to him,
Speaker 1: but he kept his mouth shut and just nodded. Sasha
Speaker 1: took a long sip of her coffee. He felt a
Speaker 1: little bad for staring. She was very pretty, but she
Speaker 1: was also pretty young, and of course she'd volunteered to
Speaker 1: join a theocratic murder state. That was probably another reason
Speaker 1: he shouldn't get too attached. So anyway, Sasha explained, I've
Speaker 1: run into some men I don't like very much, and
Speaker 1: they keep finding me when I get off from my
Speaker 1: shift at the hospital. I'm sure they're waiting outside the
Speaker 1: house of where I'm staying right now. I just don't
Speaker 1: want to deal with that again. Well, Manny smiled his
Speaker 1: most charming smile. I'm happy to help you waite them out.
Speaker 1: I've got another hour at least before the buses take
Speaker 1: us back to the barracks. And so for a while
Speaker 1: they just talked. She told him about her work in
Speaker 1: the hospital, and he tried to say as little as
Speaker 1: possible about his two shitty days as a martyr. Sasha
Speaker 1: didn't seem to mind that he didn't have much to
Speaker 1: say about himself. Manny got the feelings she was just
Speaker 1: happy to have someone to talk with. Most of her
Speaker 1: words passed over him until she mentioned something about a prisoner.
Speaker 1: She's from one of the road people from some moving
Speaker 1: city with an obscene name, and she's pregnant. So I'll
Speaker 1: be seeing her again tomorrow, probably to do a more
Speaker 1: thorough examination. I feel weird about it. She was so strange,
Speaker 1: so different from anyone I've met, but I really don't
Speaker 1: like Wait, a prisoner is this at the hospital? Sasha
Speaker 1: seemed confused by that question, and Manny worried he might
Speaker 1: have overplayed his hand. Why do you The rest of
Speaker 1: her question was cut off by the sound of a
Speaker 1: bullhorn outside. Manny couldn't make out most of what was
Speaker 1: being said until he heard prisoners and SDF in an
Speaker 1: electronically dis ordered the southern drawl. Oh no, Sasha moaned,
Speaker 1: what what are they talking about? It's another execution. Many
Speaker 1: stood up and stepped towards the door. He had to
Speaker 1: see who it was. Even before he got there, a
Speaker 1: terrible feeling had started to boil up in the pit
Speaker 1: of his gut. He pushed the door open, jogged towards
Speaker 1: the gallows, and pushed his way back through the crowd.
Speaker 1: He could see Roland standing twenty feet off to the
Speaker 1: left from the wooden platform, but Manny's eyes were focused
Speaker 1: on the four men and two women in shackles at
Speaker 1: the foot of the gallows. Five of them were strangers,
Speaker 1: the sixth was Mr Coron. The Black Effect Presents features
Speaker 1: honest conversations and exclusive interviews, a space for artists, everyday
Speaker 1: people and listeners to amplify, elevate, and empower Black voices
Speaker 1: with great conversations. Make sure to listen to The Black
Speaker 1: Effect Presents Podcast on I Heart Radio, Apple Podcast, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. Hey Leath the Listeners tag
Speaker 1: here last season on Lethal Lit. You might remember I
Speaker 1: came to Hollow Falls on a mission clearing my aunt
Speaker 1: Beth's name and making sure justice was finally served. But
Speaker 1: I hadn't counted on a rash of new murders tearing
Speaker 1: apart the town. My mission put myself and my friends
Speaker 1: in danger. Though it wasn't all bad, I'm gonna be Realty, Tig,
Speaker 1: I like you, but now all signs point to a
Speaker 1: new serial killer in Hollow Falls. If this game is
Speaker 1: just starting, you better believe I'm gonna win. I'm Tig Torres,
Speaker 1: and this is Lethal Lit. Catch up on season one
Speaker 1: of the hit murder mystery podcast Lethal Lit, a tag
Speaker 1: Torre's mystery out now, and then tune in for all
Speaker 1: new thrills in season two, dropping weekly starting February nine.
Speaker 1: Subscribe now to never miss an episode. Listen to Leave
Speaker 1: the Lit on the I Heart Radio app, apple Pie Casts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi. I'm Robert sex Reese,
Speaker 1: host of The Doctor sex re Show, and every episode
Speaker 1: I listened to people talk about their sex and intimacy issues,
Speaker 1: and yes, I despise every minute of it. She she
Speaker 1: made mistakes too, kill everyone at her wedding. But hell
Speaker 1: is real. We're all trapped here and there's nothing any
Speaker 1: of us can do about it. So join me. Won't you?
Speaker 1: Listen to the Doctor Sex re Show every Tuesday on
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcast. Chapter seventeen, Roland. Roland smelled the execution
Speaker 1: before it started. There's been a lot of strong smells
Speaker 1: in downtown Plano when he arrived, gunpowder and sour fear sweat,
Speaker 1: the acrid stink of anxiety, and the warm, wet odors
Speaker 1: of grief and confusion. He'd smelled the stale reek of
Speaker 1: military rations, the sharp pang of anemia, and the boiling
Speaker 1: hot testosterone that wafted off the martyrs like a jet stream.
Speaker 1: But a half hour into his time down town, something
Speaker 1: else had drifted over the packed masses of refugees and
Speaker 1: pilgrims and militiamen. It was hard to define a bit
Speaker 1: of tension, a bit of anticipation. The odor was faint
Speaker 1: enough to suggest something unconscious, a collective emotion, the aggregate
Speaker 1: scent of a crowd of people who weren't consciously aware
Speaker 1: of how they felt. There was no neurotransmitter, no pheromone
Speaker 1: he could identify in particular. This scent was more elusive.
Speaker 1: He was only able to lock it down through the
Speaker 1: memory fragments that triggered colgray sky, a biting chill in
Speaker 1: the air. Hundreds of men and women bundled up, clustered
Speaker 1: around barrel fires, everyone talking, excitement in their voices. Anxiety
Speaker 1: on the air mingled with the gun oil in anticipation
Speaker 1: something was about to happen. A few seconds later, the
Speaker 1: scent of anxious anticipation started to rise. Roland heard the deep,
Speaker 1: bouncing thrumb of heavy rubber wheels on pavement. His hind
Speaker 1: brain tied the sound to a particular species of obsolete
Speaker 1: armored personnel carrier originally manufactured in Bulgaria. After following its
Speaker 1: root for several seconds, his hind brain guest the APC
Speaker 1: was bound for the main square. Roland spent the next
Speaker 1: few minutes jockeying for a good position close to the gallows.
Speaker 1: He wasn't sure that's where the convoy was headed. It
Speaker 1: seemed like a good guest, though, and he was quickly
Speaker 1: proven right. When the APC pulled up to a stop
Speaker 1: just a hundred feet away. The crowd stopped and gawked
Speaker 1: as the heavy doors slid open. Soldiers in full body
Speaker 1: armor stepped out, dragging six men and women, and honest
Speaker 1: to God, manacles and chains out into the dying light.
Speaker 1: The captives were all stf Roland didn't even have to
Speaker 1: make an educated guess on that one. The Heavenly Kingdom
Speaker 1: had made sure to dress them in their tattered and
Speaker 1: bloodstained uniforms. They were all of them emaciated and broken looking.
Speaker 1: The evidence of torture was so clear that Roland's enhanced
Speaker 1: eyes weren't even necessary. The captives had broken, bleeding finger nails,
Speaker 1: black eyes, painful limps, and feet that looked like they
Speaker 1: could barely stand to touch the ground. One of the martyrs,
Speaker 1: a tall man wearing a red beret instead of a
Speaker 1: combat helmet, strode ahead of the group. He had a
Speaker 1: voice hamp in one and he raised the other up
Speaker 1: in the air in a prayerful gesture that was matched
Speaker 1: by most of the crowd, Brothers and sisters. The martyr's
Speaker 1: voice boomed, today, the Lord and his loyal soldiers have
Speaker 1: delivered unto you a blessing. It The crowd tightened around Rowland.
Speaker 1: He could see here feel as people rushed out from
Speaker 1: the cafes and shops to watch. The fear and excitement
Speaker 1: was so thick in the air, old was sure even
Speaker 1: unmodified humans could have sensed it. Here we have six
Speaker 1: prisoners from the s DF the martyr began. These men
Speaker 1: and women were all captured in the last week. Rather
Speaker 1: than accept their defeat, they chose to fight as insurgents
Speaker 1: against the heavenly kingdom. God and his martyrs are merciful,
Speaker 1: but these sinners have spat on that mercy. Now it
Speaker 1: is our privilege to execute upon them the judgment written
Speaker 1: this honor. Have all his saints praise he the Lord.
Speaker 1: A ragged cheer went up from the crowd. Many of
Speaker 1: the assembled sounded less than enthusiastic, at least to Roland's ears,
Speaker 1: but there were still dozens and dozens of voices full
Speaker 1: of reckless hate. The prisoners marched forward with their escort,
Speaker 1: every nearer to the gallows. Roland's ear tingled, and he
Speaker 1: sensed Manny's presence out in the street. Now the kid
Speaker 1: smelled afraid, with a faint, fading tinge of phermonal arousal h.
Speaker 1: Roland backed away and escaped the main press of the crowd.
Speaker 1: In a few seconds, he was behind Manny and he
Speaker 1: put a hand on the fixer's back. The young man
Speaker 1: jumped and then shot rolland a furious look hell. Manny
Speaker 1: caught himself and instead pointed up to the line of
Speaker 1: doomed men and women. Old, I know that. Hey, a
Speaker 1: girl ran up to them. She smelled scared too, but
Speaker 1: the scent was much deeper on her, sunken into her skin.
Speaker 1: She'd been scared for quite some time. She seemed to
Speaker 1: know Manny, and he definitely knew her. Sasha, Manny said,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I just needed to. He paused, shook his head,
Speaker 1: and then put a hand on Roland's shoulder. This is
Speaker 1: my comrade, Martyr Aaron. We fled here together once the
Speaker 1: SDF retreated from Farmer's branch. Aaron, this is Sasha. It's
Speaker 1: good to meet you, Martyr Aaron, she said, and flashed
Speaker 1: him an anxious smile. I'm so glad God's grace has
Speaker 1: brought us all together. Oh yeah, Roland said, in his
Speaker 1: most convincing voice. God so so good. I'm really just
Speaker 1: he gestured towards the gallows. I'm a psych to see this. Oh,
Speaker 1: look crossed over her face disgusted mixed with building anxiety.
Speaker 1: She was dressed to play the part of the good
Speaker 1: Christian woman, her hair done up in a tasteful bun,
Speaker 1: her face unadorned by makeup, her sleeves long, and her
Speaker 1: clothing baggy. But her scent didn't lie. It suggested she
Speaker 1: was pretty far from all in on this whole Heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom thing. You're not excited to see God's justice, Roland asked.
Speaker 1: The young woman frowned and shook her head. I understand
Speaker 1: the necessity of such brute, of such extreme measures, but
Speaker 1: I don't have to like it, Manny, do you? She
Speaker 1: started to ask Manny something, but the young man broke
Speaker 1: off from their little group and darted forward towards the gallows. Oh,
Speaker 1: Sasha finished, in surprise. I'll uh, I'll go check on him,
Speaker 1: Roland said, it's a probably best if you wait here. Huh.
Speaker 1: She looked confused, but she nodded. Roland followed behind Manny
Speaker 1: and caught up him about four people deep into the
Speaker 1: growing crowd around the scaffold. The fixer's eyes were locked
Speaker 1: on one of the SDF prisoners, a middle aged man
Speaker 1: with a prominent black mustache and a look of courageous
Speaker 1: resignation in his brown eyes. He stood in the middle
Speaker 1: of the gallows, calm as a stone in the ocean,
Speaker 1: while one of the martyrs fitted a noose around his neck. Manny,
Speaker 1: Roland said, that's Mr Barrowne. Manny said, someone you know.
Speaker 1: Then Manny swallowed and nodded his head, tears threatened at
Speaker 1: the corners of his watery eyes. Roland felt like it
Speaker 1: would probably be a good idea to get the kid
Speaker 1: away from the gallows before he did something stupid. Roland's
Speaker 1: hind brain helpfully informed him that there were only around
Speaker 1: sixty armed men in the whole square, but he also
Speaker 1: knew there were one hundred and eighty three armed men
Speaker 1: within a mile of their current position. If ship started now,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't end for a while. Roland put a hand
Speaker 1: on Manny's shoulder. We have to do something, Manny said,
Speaker 1: What do you want me to do? Roland asked, Rush
Speaker 1: up there, beat that red barred funk NuGet with an
Speaker 1: own side arm, and then cock punched the rest of
Speaker 1: him into submission. You can beat them, Manny said, yeah.
Speaker 1: Roland nodded, But if I do, that's the end of
Speaker 1: the mission. And probably the end of those hostages. I
Speaker 1: can't save your buddy, and you probably even that girl
Speaker 1: if she wants to come. But the Kingdom's going to
Speaker 1: assume some monster man from rolland fucked just terrorism them.
Speaker 1: They'll bury those captives too deep for us to find.
Speaker 1: And then Austin's as fucked as a blind pussy in
Speaker 1: a dick forest. A man the crowd turned and stared
Speaker 1: at Roland volume. Man volume. Roland guessed he'd heard just
Speaker 1: the tail end of his last sentence. The word pussy
Speaker 1: had probably piqued his ears. Before the man could say anything,
Speaker 1: Roland pointed towards the gallows and let out aloud whoop,
Speaker 1: followed by a Praise God, Praise God. The inadvertent eavesdropper
Speaker 1: started cheering along with him and turned back to the
Speaker 1: impending execution. Roland turned back to Manny. The boy was quiet,
Speaker 1: his face controlled, but fat tears ran down his cheeks
Speaker 1: and his shoulders shook with silent sobs. Roland directed him
Speaker 1: back away from the worst of the crowd. Mr Perrone
Speaker 1: baked the cake for my twelfth birthday, Mannie whispered. He
Speaker 1: showed as Monty Python. He dropped us off at soccer practice.
Speaker 1: Manny had started to babble. He smelled on the edge
Speaker 1: of an outright panic attack. Roland's hind brains started to
Speaker 1: identify potential improvised weaponry options among the crowd. He settled
Speaker 1: on a small, thick set man He's got a real denscranium,
Speaker 1: good weight distribution. He'll make a great club. Roland shook
Speaker 1: himself out of it. Then he tried to shake Manny
Speaker 1: out of it by literally shaking him by the shoulders. Hey, listen,
Speaker 1: you're friend up there. It's gonna die or a lot
Speaker 1: of other people are going to die. Those are the
Speaker 1: two options. I know it sucks, I know it's shit,
Speaker 1: but we cannot fix this. If you stay calm, though,
Speaker 1: we can fix something worse. Do you understand me. Manny's
Speaker 1: eyes came unglazed, The flow of tears slowed, then stopped.
Speaker 1: It was an impressive feet of willpower. Most people didn't
Speaker 1: have that kind of control over their emotions. Roland had
Speaker 1: to guess Manny's work as a fixer had at least
Speaker 1: prepared him to function in the middle of a waking nightmare. Okay,
Speaker 1: the kid said, but I have to watch. Roland wanted
Speaker 1: to argue, but one look at Manny's eyes made it
Speaker 1: ear that arguing wouldn't do any good, so instead he
Speaker 1: stood there next to Manny and kept his hand on
Speaker 1: the boy's shoulder until the terrible thing was done. It
Speaker 1: was as ghastly as these things always were. Most of
Speaker 1: the crowd cheered every snapneck, every jerk of a dying
Speaker 1: soldier's legs. Shock Waves of memory racked Roland's mind at
Speaker 1: the sight. He felt warm spring air blow across his
Speaker 1: cold chest. He saw a small sea of familiar strangers,
Speaker 1: men and women he'd known once upon a bloodier day.
Speaker 1: He felt a big gun kick in his hands. He
Speaker 1: felt a warm splash of blood across his chest and face.
Speaker 1: He heard the heavy final thump of a tiny body
Speaker 1: heading the ground. He saw Topaz, She looked ill. He
Speaker 1: saw skullfucker Mike with a hand on her shoulder. He
Speaker 1: heard Jim's voice, make sure the camera's catch this next one.
Speaker 1: Jim cried, We've got an honest to god Shaney with
Speaker 1: us today. Back in the present, Roland watched as Manny's
Speaker 1: friends turn came around. Manny swallowed, his face went pale.
Speaker 1: Tears streamed down the boy's face, and Roland felt a sudden,
Speaker 1: peculiar urge to bury him in a hug. He did
Speaker 1: not do that, though, roll and just stood still with
Speaker 1: a firm hand on Manny's shoulder while they tightened the
Speaker 1: noose around mister Perrone's neck and dropped him down to
Speaker 1: hang until he was dead, dead dead. Roland was proud
Speaker 1: of how straight Manny stood, how the boy held back
Speaker 1: from sobbing, and how once the sad spectacle was over,
Speaker 1: Manny turned back around and headed towards the Christian girl, Sasha.
Speaker 1: She still stood where they had left her. Roland could
Speaker 1: tell she'd been crying too, although she'd taken some pains
Speaker 1: to describe it. She was hard to get a read
Speaker 1: on that one. She struck him as one of the faithful,
Speaker 1: but she didn't strike him as a nut. Maybe she'd
Speaker 1: just gotten suckered into this awful place. Roland could surely
Speaker 1: understand that. He was pretty sure he'd been suckered into
Speaker 1: dumber things. Praise God, she said, with hesitation. Praise God,
Speaker 1: Manny responded. Roland didn't say much. She gave him a look,
Speaker 1: but not an angry one. That was she locked eyes
Speaker 1: with Manny. Roland was pretty sure she'd blocked the rest
Speaker 1: of the world out. She must have seen the signs
Speaker 1: of his tears too. She coughed a little and continued,
Speaker 1: that was awful. I know it's necessary, but on for
Speaker 1: stop hating that. It's a good thing to hate, Manny said.
Speaker 1: And then, look, we have to get back to base.
Speaker 1: Curfuse coming up soon. But if you want to hide
Speaker 1: from those U undesirables tomorrow, I'll be waiting outside the cafe.
Speaker 1: They kept talking, but what they said was beyond Roland's interest.
Speaker 1: He was busy listening as the prison convoy drove off.
Speaker 1: Now that he knew the sound of the prisoner transport
Speaker 1: a PC urally tracing it back to its origin point
Speaker 1: was child's play. Aaron Manny's voice jerked his attention back
Speaker 1: to the conversation happening in front of him. We should
Speaker 1: probably go, Manny said. The busses will leave soon. Oh ship, surely,
Speaker 1: surely right, right, surely right, we should go. Roland smiled
Speaker 1: at Sasha. It was lovely to meet you. Good evening.
Speaker 1: He put a hand on Manny's shoulder, and together they
Speaker 1: headed off to the buses. Manny only stopped twice to cry.
Speaker 1: Manny didn't say much. The rest of the night. Roland
Speaker 1: was proud of him for holding back his tears during
Speaker 1: the bus ride, and they walked to the barracks. The
Speaker 1: kid broke down as soon as he got into bed,
Speaker 1: of course, but he kept his sobs silent, and Roland
Speaker 1: was pretty sure none of the other recruits noticed. It
Speaker 1: helped that they were all exhausted. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, Roland puped up, then popped a handful of
Speaker 1: ambient and percocets and washed them down with a tall
Speaker 1: glass of the beer he'd brewed in his own guts.
Speaker 1: He offered Manny some, but the boy declined, so Roland
Speaker 1: had a second glass, and then a third. It wasn't
Speaker 1: enough to get him wasted, but the cocktail of drugs
Speaker 1: did a tolerable job of leading him into unconsciousness. He
Speaker 1: drifted off to sleep an hour or so after the
Speaker 1: rest of the men in the barracks. The next day
Speaker 1: was more army style bullshit push ups and wind sprints
Speaker 1: in a big dumb obstacle course. Roland had to be
Speaker 1: real careful to act challenged. As the day went on,
Speaker 1: he instructed his body to elevate his blood pressure and
Speaker 1: temperature to flush his face red with blood and to
Speaker 1: send enough sweat from his pores to make a passable
Speaker 1: imitation of exertion. It was tedious and he hated it,
Speaker 1: but the first half of the day went by pretty fast.
Speaker 1: Then it was time for a close quarters firefight drill.
Speaker 1: The men were given actual rifles sans ammunition, and di
Speaker 1: eide it up into assault teams. They spent the next
Speaker 1: five hours taking turns defending or attacking different rooms in
Speaker 1: an old apartment complex that had been commandeered by the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom. There was a lot of shouting from instructors
Speaker 1: who sure as ship wanted the recruits to think they
Speaker 1: knew more about urban warfare than they did. At the
Speaker 1: end of one particularly long set of door bridge and drills,
Speaker 1: one of the instructors dropped to his knees and started
Speaker 1: chanting in tongues. He seemed to be celebrating that one
Speaker 1: of his slowest squads had finally nailed a textbook entry.
Speaker 1: Roland wasn't sure what the hell to make of it.
Speaker 1: The man almost smelled that he was having a schizophrenic break.
Speaker 1: The heavy wash of neurotransmitters wafting off him made it
Speaker 1: clear This wasn't just some gesture for show. He seemed
Speaker 1: legitimately overcome with joy. Other soldiers and even a couple
Speaker 1: of instructors started kneeling around him. They were all chanting
Speaker 1: in some strange language. The first instructor kept repeating what
Speaker 1: sounded like hom noshkalashka, hom nosh kalashka. Rowland's heidenbrain knew
Speaker 1: a lot of languages, but this sounded like nonsense to him.
Speaker 1: He noticed the speech patterns of each chanting man were
Speaker 1: pretty consistent with American English. The actual words gibberish, though,
Speaker 1: and many grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed gently down.
Speaker 1: Roland took the hint and then took a knee. The
Speaker 1: kids started to chant in a low voice Latish kila
Speaker 1: josepha tinchala. It was more gibberish, but Roland followed suit.
Speaker 1: He started to sped out nonsense of his own, and
Speaker 1: a tone low enough that it didn't rise above the
Speaker 1: din of chanting maniacs. Manny's strategy, he realized, was to
Speaker 1: make big, exaggerated mouth motions without actually speaking at a
Speaker 1: high volume. It made him look right without drawing any attention.
Speaker 1: The whole weird scene went on for a little over
Speaker 1: two minutes. Eventually, the instructor stopped chanting and lay on
Speaker 1: his back, sweaty and spent. The other soldiers seemed to
Speaker 1: have ended their fits in the same way. Roland could
Speaker 1: tell from their heart rates and body temperature that about
Speaker 1: half of the men had been faking it, just like
Speaker 1: he and Manny. The humid stink of guilt was heavy
Speaker 1: in the air. Roland's heart went out for them. It
Speaker 1: must be agony to believe so hard and something so
Speaker 1: dumb that you'd castigate yourself for not buying into it enough.
Speaker 1: After that, they filed into the mess hall. They said
Speaker 1: their prayers, ate their dinners, and then queued up for
Speaker 1: the buses downtown. The ride was uneventful. In the instant
Speaker 1: their feet hit the square, many went off to find Sasha.
Speaker 1: Roland shook his head in appreciation for the all consuming
Speaker 1: power of human desire, and then bounded off to check
Speaker 1: out the presumed location of the jail. It was about
Speaker 1: a three mile jog. At full speed, Roland could have
Speaker 1: cleared the distance in a few minutes, but a low
Speaker 1: profile was the name of the game. He stuck to
Speaker 1: a fast walk and kept to the shadows and alleys
Speaker 1: as best he could. Plano hadn't been a very dense
Speaker 1: city before the Martyrs had taken over, so there were
Speaker 1: a lot of times where he was basically out in
Speaker 1: the open. He had to trust that his uniform in
Speaker 1: the general state of chaos and the newly founded kingdom
Speaker 1: would obscure him. This was the first look he'd gotten
Speaker 1: of the Kingdom on foot, Roland decided he didn't care
Speaker 1: much for it. There was a great deal of foot
Speaker 1: and vehicle traffic, but most of the people seemed to
Speaker 1: be either soldiers or refugees without anywhere else to go.
Speaker 1: He passed two checkpoints where twitchy looking martyrs performed data
Speaker 1: scans on decks and personal hard drives. He even saw
Speaker 1: one soldier sorting through paperback books in the trunk of
Speaker 1: some poor fox car. Roland noticed several white vans with
Speaker 1: black crosses painted on the side. They cruised the streets,
Speaker 1: clearly on patrol for something. He watched one stop in
Speaker 1: front of a family of refugees heavy with backpacks and
Speaker 1: carrying intake papers in their hands. Men in white jumpsuits
Speaker 1: with gold cross badges piled out and surrounded the family.
Speaker 1: Roland concealed himself behind a dumpster and watched as the
Speaker 1: patriarch of the family handed them his papers and spoke
Speaker 1: in a frantic, animated tone. One of the men pointed
Speaker 1: at his daughter, who wore a stained T shirt and
Speaker 1: a ragged pair of denim shorts. They were baggy and
Speaker 1: hardly stylish, but the men in the jumpsuits seemed furious.
Speaker 1: They pointed and shouted. The man put his hands in
Speaker 1: the air and tried to say something, but one of
Speaker 1: the jumpsuited men smashed his head with a cane. Cold
Speaker 1: rage bubbled up inside Roland. Fuck this place, he simmered
Speaker 1: to himself. Fuck these jinkiest throwback fundamentalists and their fastist bullshit.
Speaker 1: He wanted to charge out from behind the dumpster and
Speaker 1: tear into these low rent his bomb motherfucker's. He wanted
Speaker 1: to shove those thick wooden rods so far up their
Speaker 1: asses they'd be shipping splinters for weeks. The mission, he
Speaker 1: reminded himself, the fucking mission, And so he watched as
Speaker 1: the men in white beat the old guy. He watched
Speaker 1: as they pulled the poor bastard's daughter into a van
Speaker 1: and forced a hideous gray woolen dress over her head.
Speaker 1: It didn't fit, and it looked liable to give her
Speaker 1: heat stroke in the late Texas summer. She didn't fight them, though.
Speaker 1: Roland moved on reluctantly and found what his hind brain
Speaker 1: suspected was the old jail. The a PCs he'd seen
Speaker 1: last night were parked out front. The compound was guarded
Speaker 1: and busy. Roland counted fourteen guards just outside. Mind you,
Speaker 1: there were human guards, no powered armor, no heavy artillery,
Speaker 1: nothing at hand that could do much more than tickle him.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't present a danger, but they would cause a
Speaker 1: hell of a lot of noise if he attempted a
Speaker 1: daylight prison break. He scrambled up onto a half collapsed
Speaker 1: condo building that had been abandoned after a heavy mortar
Speaker 1: shell gutted the inside. It provided a good view of
Speaker 1: the jail. For the next hour, Roland just watched. His
Speaker 1: hindbrain mapped the pattern of the guard rotations and noted
Speaker 1: the security protocols they followed when each new vehicle arrived.
Speaker 1: He took a lot of deep breaths and gradually pulled
Speaker 1: enough sense from inside the jail to have a decent
Speaker 1: idea of how many people were in there. He'd never
Speaker 1: smell Old Marigold or the other rolling fu negotiators before,
Speaker 1: but his nose picked up on three people with a
Speaker 1: handful of aftermarket modifications. Most of the martyrs he'd met
Speaker 1: had been limited to civilian grade healing sweets and sensory upgrades.
Speaker 1: It was a safe bet that these were their targets. Then,
Speaker 1: and you've got the message, put down the phone. Roland
Speaker 1: wasn't sure where or when he'd heard that aphorism, but
Speaker 1: it came into his head, and a moment later he
Speaker 1: realized the sun was pretty low in the sky. It'd
Speaker 1: be bus time soon. He headed back through the high
Speaker 1: shadows and across the cracked and bullet scarred boulevards until
Speaker 1: he was able to merge back into the evening crowd
Speaker 1: at the square. Manny and the Christian girl had moved
Speaker 1: on from the cafe by that point. He actually ran
Speaker 1: into them in front of some building with a sign
Speaker 1: that identified it as the House of Miriam. They were
Speaker 1: saying weird, chaste, religiously goodbyes, Oh hello, Aaron. Sasha smiled
Speaker 1: when she saw him. Manny turned around and flashed him
Speaker 1: a weary smile. Too. Roland could see pain in the
Speaker 1: kid's eyes, but it was at least cut with a
Speaker 1: bit of arousal. He decided that was a good thing.
Speaker 1: Ever since Oscar's death, Manny had been adding the line
Speaker 1: between function and complete emotional collapse. He decided to encourage
Speaker 1: the fixer's weird little friendship with the Christian girl. Hey,
Speaker 1: Roland said, how is the guffey? Smelled like it was
Speaker 1: mostly chickory and food die when I walked by earlier.
Speaker 1: But maybe they sold you all the good stuff they
Speaker 1: did not, Manny said, you must be blessed with an
Speaker 1: exceptional nose. Sasha said and gave him an odd look.
Speaker 1: Then she asked, what did you get up to? I
Speaker 1: checked out the farmer's market. Roland lied, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: Some h some good freaking cucumbers up in there. That's
Speaker 1: where I was cucumbers. Sasha's odd look deepened. Man He
Speaker 1: brought a hand up to the bridge of his nose
Speaker 1: and needed his brow and frustration. We should head back
Speaker 1: to the buses. I'll I'll see you tomorrow, Sasha. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: of course, Sasha replied with a genuine smile. If this
Speaker 1: was a sane world, Roland thought the two of them
Speaker 1: would have had a real date by now, but this
Speaker 1: was the Heavenly Kingdom. They were surrounded by extremist militants,
Speaker 1: and Sasha probably wasn't even allowed to look at condoms. Also,
Speaker 1: she's one of those militants, Roland reminded himself. He let
Speaker 1: the kids say their goodbyes and then walked back to
Speaker 1: the bus with Manny. The kids seemed unsettled. I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm making a real dumb decision, he said, what
Speaker 1: Roland asked, talking with that girl? Manny shrugged. She's told
Speaker 1: me all she knows about those prisoners already. But we're
Speaker 1: supposed to meet at the one shitty cafe in this
Speaker 1: town tomorrow. I know it's stupid, but I kind of
Speaker 1: want to make that meeting. Why is it stupid, Rowland asked.
Speaker 1: They had to drop their voices a little as they
Speaker 1: drew closer to the line for the buses, because Manny said,
Speaker 1: we're not going to be here long. Sasha confirmed, our
Speaker 1: people are in the jail, and you scattered it out today,
Speaker 1: right yep, So we're confirmed twice over. It's time to
Speaker 1: do this thing and get out. I don't have time
Speaker 1: to eat shitty food with a pretty girl. Roland turned
Speaker 1: and fixed his eyes on Manny's. He leaned in until
Speaker 1: their noses were almost touching, and then he poked the
Speaker 1: boy's chest with his index finger for emphasis while he
Speaker 1: spoke Emmanuel Sanche's listen to me. There is always time
Speaker 1: to eat shitty food with a pretty girl. Fuck the war, funk,
Speaker 1: what's a good idea? Go eat some garbage and stare
Speaker 1: into her eyes. Do something human in this in human place.
Speaker 1: Late night will be a better time for the rescue. Anyway.
Speaker 1: Manny was silent for several long seconds, then he said okay.
Speaker 1: The next day started with more PT as usual. Then
Speaker 1: it rolled right into an extra long trip to the
Speaker 1: firing range and three more hours of close assault drills.
Speaker 1: Roland found himself disgusted by the Kingdom's tactics. Their go
Speaker 1: to was to dump heavy artillery on any embedded resistance.
Speaker 1: No heed was paid to the civilian cost. They were
Speaker 1: fine having untrained kids lob mortars in de crowded neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: The Lord will recognize his own Martyr. Carruthers had said
Speaker 1: over and over again that evening, before the dinner prayer,
Speaker 1: the raspy voiced priest. The raspy voiced Priest came by
Speaker 1: to speak to all the recruits in the chow hall.
Speaker 1: Roland missed Martyr Ditmar's introduction of the priest. He was
Speaker 1: too busy puking up and surreptitiously eating his last bag
Speaker 1: of drugs. But his ears perked up when the wild
Speaker 1: haired old nut fuck launched into his speech. The burdens
Speaker 1: placed upon the warriors of God are great. You men
Speaker 1: have sworn yourselves to a ponderous duty, but that duty
Speaker 1: does not end on the battlefield. If the heavenly Kingdom
Speaker 1: is to remain and expand, we will need you to
Speaker 1: fight in the field and with your other God given attributes.
Speaker 1: This elicited a dim chorus of chuckles from the audience.
Speaker 1: It took Roland an embarrassing amount of time to realize
Speaker 1: what the preacher was talking about. Not jeez, this speech
Speaker 1: is about fucking. The Lord commands us to be fruitful
Speaker 1: and multiplied. The priest wheezed, But he also calls us
Speaker 1: to respect the sacred bonds of holy matrimony in times
Speaker 1: of war, at the times we all live in now.
Speaker 1: This might seem to create some difficulty, But that's only
Speaker 1: because most of us are trained to think of marriage
Speaker 1: in the secular context. The average married couple in the
Speaker 1: American Federation dates for eight years before being wet. In California,
Speaker 1: it's closer to ten. Of course, in both those places,
Speaker 1: dating is more or less a form of cash less prostitution.
Speaker 1: Roland had to strain to avoid rolling his eyes. Next
Speaker 1: to him, many listened dutifully. His face was almost unreadable.
Speaker 1: Perhaps people who don't trust their creator need years of
Speaker 1: time to decide if another person is a suitable partner. Happily,
Speaker 1: we have the will of God to guide us. You,
Speaker 1: young men, are strong and virile and faithful. Your Lord
Speaker 1: wants you to find love. He wants you to bring
Speaker 1: more children into this world. This is why, as the
Speaker 1: hour of Action draws closer, we still encourage each of
Speaker 1: you to spend time every day going out into the
Speaker 1: city and mingling with the other sheep of our great flock. Aha.
Speaker 1: Suddenly Roland understood, and it seemed odd to him that
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom, a state still so unformed and tumultuous,
Speaker 1: devote time and resources to busting their military recruits downtown.
Speaker 1: It made sense now, They wanted all these young men
Speaker 1: to find women and fill them up with babies before
Speaker 1: they went off to die. It was grim as hell,
Speaker 1: but it was also quite logical. The truth of it is,
Speaker 1: the pastor rasped, marriage is a simple process. When you
Speaker 1: find the right person, the right arrangements can be made
Speaker 1: in an hour or two. That is why I'm here
Speaker 1: along with Pastor Sandor Ellsworth and Biggins. You can find
Speaker 1: does at any hour of the day or night to
Speaker 1: bless your unions. Once God shows you to your wives,
Speaker 1: and there are more pastors at the House of Jacob
Speaker 1: near the square. I urge you to go out into
Speaker 1: the kingdom in search of love and make use of us.
Speaker 1: Our chief job and our chief joy, is to help
Speaker 1: our noble martyrs find the love and bless God promises
Speaker 1: every faithful man. Wives are his blessing to us. Children
Speaker 1: are our duty to him. Now, the man said, with
Speaker 1: a rakish grin, go forth and multiply the flock. The
Speaker 1: line for the buses was extra long that day. By
Speaker 1: the time Rowland and Manny actually made it to the square,
Speaker 1: there were nearly an hour later than usual. Manny rushed
Speaker 1: right off to find Sasha. Rowland found his way to
Speaker 1: an alley and then darted across town and towards the jail.
Speaker 1: Once again. They'd already confirmed the location of their targets,
Speaker 1: so Rowland's last job was to mark out a good
Speaker 1: exit route from the city. He didn't expect it be
Speaker 1: a quiet prison break that would draw attention and fighters.
Speaker 1: The good news was that nothing within the Heavenly Kingdom
Speaker 1: looked particular cularly well organized. A ton of fighters patrolled
Speaker 1: the streets, but most of Plano was still pretty war torn.
Speaker 1: Their camera grid was far from comprehensive. If they had
Speaker 1: a sizeable drone force, it was kept nearer to the
Speaker 1: front than here. The quickest route seemed to be to
Speaker 1: head straight north from the jail, up k Avenue and
Speaker 1: past an old housing development filled with crumbling mansions. That
Speaker 1: route would take them past two fortified bases. There'd be
Speaker 1: a couple hundred infantry to deal with, along with their attendant,
Speaker 1: a PC's and a handful of drones. Roland felt confident
Speaker 1: he could have punched a hole through all that on
Speaker 1: his own, but he expected to have four or five
Speaker 1: civilians in tow The odds of one of them taking
Speaker 1: a stray round were just too high. Another possible route
Speaker 1: took him up and to the left, towards an old
Speaker 1: tollway that seemed to mark the end of the Heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom's static defenses. They controlled a lot of the territory beyond,
Speaker 1: but the patrols there looked random. There were no fortifications
Speaker 1: or checkpoints. It was a much longer route than the other,
Speaker 1: but potentially one that required a lotless fighting. The last
Speaker 1: option was to veer right and take Park Avenue to Richardson.
Speaker 1: The Heavenly Kingdom had control that territory for even less
Speaker 1: time than they had held Plaino, and the fighting there
Speaker 1: had been heavier. They'd pass a lot of checkpoints, but
Speaker 1: not much in the way of troop concentration, as long
Speaker 1: as they kept south and away from Dallas proper. The
Speaker 1: scouting work itself was exhilarating. Roland had a lot of
Speaker 1: ground to cover, so he spent most of his time
Speaker 1: sprinting and scaling buildings, leaping from roof to roof and
Speaker 1: in between shattered windows. His senses were in full use.
Speaker 1: There were always passing convoys of civilians, or patrols of martyrs,
Speaker 1: or those odd white police fans. Somewhere nearby. He was
Speaker 1: close to caught a dozen times, and he loved every
Speaker 1: minute of the work. By the time he got back
Speaker 1: to the main square, it was quite late and almost
Speaker 1: time for the buses to leave. He did a quick
Speaker 1: loop of the square to see if he could find
Speaker 1: Manny and Sasha. He caught traces of their sense, but
Speaker 1: neither of them seemed to be out and about. He
Speaker 1: eventually tracked Sasha's pheromone trail back to the house of Miriam,
Speaker 1: but Manny seemed to be gone. That was strange. Roland
Speaker 1: headed back to the buses and the hope of finding
Speaker 1: him there. But Manny wasn't in line or on any
Speaker 1: of the buses. So Roland headed back to the base
Speaker 1: and tried to ignore the un ease as it blossomed
Speaker 1: in his belly. Maybe he headed back early. Maybe the
Speaker 1: date went bad. That made sense. Sasha seemed nice for
Speaker 1: a religious extremists, but you couldn't predict Zellot's. It was
Speaker 1: so damn easy to set them off. Manny might have
Speaker 1: just said the wrong thing. That decided it'd be safest
Speaker 1: to head back to base and chill in the barracks.
Speaker 1: The bus pulled into the school comb training facilities little
Speaker 1: vehicle depot. Roland noticed at once that Martyr Ditmar and
Speaker 1: a small bodyguard of armed men were waiting. That was unusual.
Speaker 1: Roland's hindbrain warned him that this was probably related to
Speaker 1: Manny's disappearance. He felt a thin drip of adrenaline start
Speaker 1: tapping on the back of his amygdala. It was the
Speaker 1: feeling he associated with shit about to happen. Roland tried
Speaker 1: to enjoy it without letting it push him into action.
Speaker 1: Before he knew what was really going on, Martyr Aaron
Speaker 1: Ditmar said as he approached Roland. The instructor's bodyguards stayed
Speaker 1: close behind. Would you come with me. We've got some
Speaker 1: news for you. Where's a manual? Roland asked, We'll explain everything.
Speaker 1: The older martyr said, just come with me. Roland followed
Speaker 1: him into the maze of buildings and towards a small
Speaker 1: office occupied by a white haired man in what looked
Speaker 1: like the Heavenly Kingdom's equivalent of a dress uniform. It
Speaker 1: was blue, bedecked with medals and had a shining silver
Speaker 1: cross on each epaulette. The fancy man looked very tired.
Speaker 1: Roland could smell cheap caffeine wafting from his pores. This
Speaker 1: is Commandant Dawkins, Martyr Ditmar explained, he's in charge of
Speaker 1: this facility. We've been telling him about you. Martyr Ditmar
Speaker 1: is hard to embrass, the commandant said, But to his eyes,
Speaker 1: you're some sort of latter day Sampson. The strongest man
Speaker 1: I've ever seen, said Martyr Ditmar. He's a darned fine
Speaker 1: shot too, something of a marvel. Where's my friend, Roland asked,
Speaker 1: where's a manual? The commandant gave an indulgent smile. It
Speaker 1: didn't meet his tired eyes. Listen, Martyr, I know you
Speaker 1: can appreciate how important unit cohesion is during a situation
Speaker 1: as stressful as combat. You've had to make some changes
Speaker 1: in order to ensure unity. A manual is one of
Speaker 1: a number of soldiers we've transferred to special duty. Roland
Speaker 1: could read between the lines. He was sure if he
Speaker 1: checked in the barracks that Manny Jonathan and the other
Speaker 1: handful of non white recruits would all be absent. What
Speaker 1: kind of special duty? Ditmar growled behind him. Now, listen, Son,
Speaker 1: just because the commandant called you a Samson doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you're in charge around here, we're prosecuting a war. You
Speaker 1: won't be privy to every decision made above you when
Speaker 1: you're just going to have to get used to that.
Speaker 1: The commandant was a bit calmer. He put his hands
Speaker 1: forward in a placating gesture and tried it again. Your
Speaker 1: friend is fine, he's better than fine. He's going to
Speaker 1: get a chance to serve his Lord and the heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom and glorious martyrdom. You should be happy for him.
Speaker 1: Ditmar stepped forward and squatted down next to him. He
Speaker 1: put a hand on Roland's thigh. A third of a
Speaker 1: second later, Roland had calculated the best way to rip
Speaker 1: that arm free of its socket and beat the other
Speaker 1: men in the room to death with it, but he
Speaker 1: held still for now. Manny would have been proud. Listen, boy,
Speaker 1: Ditmar said, I know you got used to having that
Speaker 1: brown kid help you talk with people, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: he did a fine job. I get that you're not
Speaker 1: much for social graces, but we're going to take care
Speaker 1: of you now, all right. You've got a whole army
Speaker 1: of brothers here. Just do what you do best and
Speaker 1: we'll handle the rest. Okay, Roland said. He put a
Speaker 1: hand on Martyr Ditmar's wrist and clinched it hard enough
Speaker 1: that everyone in the room heard the bones snap. The
Speaker 1: look of dawning terror on the other man's face was
Speaker 1: the best high Roland had gotten in days. He savored
Speaker 1: it for a quarter second before finishing his sentence. I'll
Speaker 1: do what I do best. Then, 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 can 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
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Speaker 1: podcast about deception, greed and forgery in the art world.
Speaker 1: I just walked in and saw this great red painting
Speaker 1: presuming to be a rothco. Of course, art forgeries only
Speaker 1: happen because there's money to be made a lot of money.
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Speaker 1: It was an incredible mans of money. You knew the
Speaker 1: painting was fake. Um Listen to Art Fraud starting February
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