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Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, Roland. Roland smelled the execution before it started.

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Speaker 1: There'd been a lot of strong smells in downtown Plano

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Speaker 1: when he arrived. Gunpowder and sour, fierce wet, the acrid

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Speaker 1: stink of anxiety, and the warm, wet odors of grief

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Speaker 1: and confusion. He'd smelled the stale reek of military rations,

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Speaker 1: the sharp pang of anemia, and the boiling hot testosterone

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Speaker 1: that wafted off the martyrs like a jet stream. But

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Speaker 1: a half hour into his time downtown, something else had

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Speaker 1: drifted over the packed masses of refugees and pilgrims and militiamen.

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Speaker 1: It was hard to define. A bit of tension, a

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Speaker 1: bit of anticipation. The odor was faint enough to suggest

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Speaker 1: something unconscious, a collective emotion, the aggregate scent of a

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Speaker 1: crowd of people who weren't consciously aware of how they felt.

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Speaker 1: There was no neurotransmitter, no pheromone he could identify in particular.

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Speaker 1: This scent was more elusive. He was only able to

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Speaker 1: lock it down through the memory fragments that triggered col

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Speaker 1: gray sky, a biting chill in the air. Hundreds of

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Speaker 1: men and women bundled, clustered around barrel fires, everyone talking,

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Speaker 1: excitement in their voices, Anxiety on the air mingled with

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Speaker 1: the gun oil in anticipation something was about to happen.

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Speaker 1: A few seconds later, the scent of anxious anticipation started

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Speaker 1: to rise. Roland heard the deep bouncing thrumb of heavy

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Speaker 1: rubber wheels on pavement. His hind brain tied the sound

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Speaker 1: to a particular species of obsolete armored personnel carrier originally

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Speaker 1: manufactured in Bulgaria. After following its route for several seconds,

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Speaker 1: his hind brain guessed the APC was bound for the

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Speaker 1: main square. Roland spent the next few minutes jockeying for

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Speaker 1: a good position close to the gallows. He wasn't sure

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Speaker 1: that's where the convoy was headed. It seemed like a

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Speaker 1: good guess, though, and he was quickly proven right. When

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Speaker 1: the APC pulled up to a stop just a hundred

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Speaker 1: feet away. The crowd stopped and gawked as the heavy

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Speaker 1: doors slid open. Soldiers in full body armor stepped out,

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Speaker 1: dragging six men and women and honest to God, manacles

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Speaker 1: and chains out into the dying light. The captives were

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Speaker 1: all l stf. Roland didn't even have to make an

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Speaker 1: educated guess on that one. The in the kingdom had

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Speaker 1: made sure to dress them in their tattered and bloodstained uniforms.

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Speaker 1: They were all of them emaciated and broken looking. The

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Speaker 1: evidence of torture was so clear that Roland's enhanced eyes

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Speaker 1: weren't even necessary. The captives had broken, bleeding fingernails, black eyes,

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Speaker 1: painful limps, and feet that looked like they could barely

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Speaker 1: stand to touch the ground. One of the martyrs, a

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Speaker 1: tall man wearing a red beret instead of a combat helmet,

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Speaker 1: strode ahead of the group. He had a voice hamp

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Speaker 1: in one hand. He raised the other up in the

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Speaker 1: air in a prayerful gesture that was matched by most

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Speaker 1: of the crowd. Brothers and sisters. The martyr's voice boomed, today,

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Speaker 1: the Lord and his loyal soldiers have delivered unto you.

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Speaker 1: Are blessing it. The crowd tightened around Roland. He could

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Speaker 1: see here feel as people rushed out from the cafes

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Speaker 1: and shops to watch. The fear and excitement was so

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Speaker 1: thick in the air. Roland was sure even unmodified humans

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Speaker 1: could have sensed it. Here. We have six prisoners from

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Speaker 1: the s DF, The martyr began. These men and women

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Speaker 1: were all captured in the last week. Rather than accept

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Speaker 1: their defeat, they chose to fight insurgents against the heavenly Kingdom.

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Speaker 1: God and his martyrs are merciful, but these sinners have

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Speaker 1: spat on that mercy. Now it is our privilege to

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Speaker 1: execute upon them the judgment written this honor. Have all

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Speaker 1: his saints praise he the Lord. A ragged cheer went

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Speaker 1: up from the crowd. Many of the assembled sounded less

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Speaker 1: than enthusiastic, at least to Roland's ears, but there were

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Speaker 1: still dozens and dozens of voices full of reckless hate.

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Speaker 1: The prisoners marched forward with their escort, ever nearer to

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Speaker 1: the gallows. Roland's ear tingled, and he sensed Manny's presence

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Speaker 1: out in the street. Now the kids smelled afraid. With

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Speaker 1: a faint, fading tinge of phrmonal arousal, Roland backed away

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Speaker 1: and escaped the main press of the crowd. In a

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Speaker 1: few seconds he was behind Manny, and he put a

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Speaker 1: hand on the fixer's back. The young man jumped and

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Speaker 1: then shot rolland a furious look the hell. Manny caught

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Speaker 1: himself and instead pointed up to the line of doomed

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Speaker 1: men and women. Oh I know that. Hey, a girl

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Speaker 1: ran up to them. She smelled scared too, but the

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Speaker 1: scent was much deeper on her, sunken into her skin.

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Speaker 1: She'd been scared for quite some time. She seemed to

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Speaker 1: know Manny, and he definitely knew her Sasha. Manny said,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I just needed to. He paused, shook his head,

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Speaker 1: and then put a hand on Roland's shoulder. This is

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Speaker 1: my comrade, Martyr Aaron. We fled here together once the

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Speaker 1: SDF retreated from Farmer's branch. Aaron, This is Sasha. It's

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Speaker 1: good to meet you, Martyr Aaron, she said, and flashed

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Speaker 1: him an anxious smile. I'm so glad God's grace has

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Speaker 1: brought us all together. Oh yeah, Roland said, in his

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Speaker 1: most convincing voice. God so so good. I'm really just

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Speaker 1: he gestured towards the gallows. I'm a psych to see this.

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Speaker 1: Oh look crossed over, her face discussed mixed with building anxiety.

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Speaker 1: She was dressed to play the part of the good

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Speaker 1: Christian woman, her hair done up in a tasteful bun,

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Speaker 1: her face unadorned by makeup, her sleeves long, and her

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Speaker 1: clothing baggy. But her scent didn't lie, It suggested she

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Speaker 1: was pretty far from all in on this whole heavenly

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Speaker 1: Kingdom thing. You're not excited to see God's justice, Roland asked.

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Speaker 1: The young woman frowned and shook her head. I understand

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Speaker 1: the necessity of such brute, of such extreme measures, but

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Speaker 1: I don't have to like it, Manny, do you? She

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Speaker 1: started to ask Manny something, but the young man broke

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Speaker 1: off from their little group and darted forward towards the gallows. Oh,

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Speaker 1: Sasha finished in surprise. I'll er I'll go check on him.

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Speaker 1: Roland said, it's a probably best if you wait here. Huh.

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Speaker 1: She looked confused, but she nodded. Roland followed behind Manny

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Speaker 1: and caught up to him about four people deep into

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Speaker 1: the growing crowd around the scaffold. The fixer's eyes were

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Speaker 1: locked on one of the SDF prisoners, a middle aged

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Speaker 1: man with a prominent black mustache and a look of

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Speaker 1: courageous resignation in his brown eyes. He stood in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the gallows, calm as a stone in the ocean,

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Speaker 1: while one of the martyrs fitted a noose around his neck.

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Speaker 1: Manny Roland said, that's Mr Browne. Manny said, someone you

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Speaker 1: know then Manny swallowed and nodded his head. Tears threatened

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Speaker 1: at the corners of his watery eyes. Roland felt like

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Speaker 1: it would probably be a good idea to get the

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Speaker 1: kid away from the gallows before he did something stupid.

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Speaker 1: Roland's hind brain helpfully informed him that there were only

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Speaker 1: around sixty armed men in the whole square, but he

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Speaker 1: also knew there were one hundred and eighty three armed

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Speaker 1: men within a mile of their current position. If ship

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Speaker 1: started now, it wouldn't end for a while. Roland put

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Speaker 1: a hand on Manny's shoulder. We have to do something,

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Speaker 1: Manny said, What do you want me to do? Roland asked,

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Speaker 1: Rush up there, beat that red braid fucking I get

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Speaker 1: with his own side arm and then cock punched the

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Speaker 1: rest of him into submission. You can beat them, Manny said, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Roland nodded. But if I do, that's the end of

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Speaker 1: the mission and probably the end of those hostages. I

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Speaker 1: can't save your buddy, and you probably even that girl

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Speaker 1: if she wants to come. But the Kingdom's going to

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Speaker 1: assume some monster man from rolland fucked just terrorism them.

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Speaker 1: They'll bury those captives too deep for us to find,

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Speaker 1: and then Austin's as fucked as a blind pussy in

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Speaker 1: a dick forest. A man in the crowd turned and

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Speaker 1: stared at Roland volume. Man volume. Roland guessed he'd heard

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Speaker 1: just the tail end of his last sentence. The word

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Speaker 1: pussy had probably piqued his ears. Before the man could

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Speaker 1: say anything, Roland point it towards the gallows and let

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Speaker 1: out aloud whoop, followed by a Praise God, Praise God.

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Speaker 1: The inadvertent eavesdropper started cheering along with him and turned

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Speaker 1: back to the impending execution. Roland turned back to Manny.

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Speaker 1: The boy was quiet, his face controlled, but fat tears

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Speaker 1: ran down his cheeks, and his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

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Speaker 1: Roland directed him back away from the worst of the crowd.

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Speaker 1: Mr Perone baked the cake for my twelfth birthday. Manny whispered.

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Speaker 1: He showed us Monty Python. He dropped us off at

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Speaker 1: soccer practice. Manny had started to babble. He smelled on

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Speaker 1: the edge of an outright panic attack. Roland's hindbrains started

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Speaker 1: to identify potential improvised weaponry options among the crowd. He

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Speaker 1: settled on a small, thick set man. He's got a

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Speaker 1: real denscranium, good weight distribution. He'll make a great club.

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Speaker 1: Roland shook himself out of it. Then he tried to

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Speaker 1: shake Manny out of it by literally shaking him by

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Speaker 1: the shoulders. Hey, listen, you're friend up there. It's gonna

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Speaker 1: die or a lot of other people are going to die.

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Speaker 1: Those are the two options. I know it sucks, I

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Speaker 1: know it's ship, but we cannot fix this. If you

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Speaker 1: stay calm, though, we can fix something worse. Do you

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Speaker 1: understand me. Mannie's eyes came unglazed, The flow of tears slowed,

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Speaker 1: then stopped. It was an impressive feet of willpower. Most

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Speaker 1: people didn't have that kind of control over their emotions.

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Speaker 1: Roland had to guess Mannie's work as a fixer had

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Speaker 1: at least prepared him to function in the middle of

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Speaker 1: a waking nightmare. Okay, the kid said, but I have

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Speaker 1: to watch. Roland wanted to argue, but one look at

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Speaker 1: Mannie's eyes made it clear that arguing wouldn't do any good,

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Speaker 1: so instead, he stood there next to Mannie and kept

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Speaker 1: his hand on the boy's shoulder until the terrible thing

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Speaker 1: was done. It was as ghastly as these things always were.

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Speaker 1: Most of the crowd cheered every snap neck, every jerk

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Speaker 1: of a dying soldier's legs. Shock Waves of memory racked

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Speaker 1: Roland's mind at the sight. He felt warm spring air

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Speaker 1: blow across his cold chest. He saw a small sea

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Speaker 1: of familiar strangers, men and women he'd known once upon

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Speaker 1: a bloodier day. He felt a big gun kick in

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Speaker 1: his hands. He felt a warm splash of blood across

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Speaker 1: his chest and face. He heard the heavy final thump

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Speaker 1: of a tiny body heading the round. He saw Topaz,

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Speaker 1: She looked ill. He saw schoolfucker Mike with a hand

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Speaker 1: on her shoulder. He heard Jim's voice, make sure the

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Speaker 1: camera's catch this next one. Jim cried, We've got an

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Speaker 1: honest to God Shaney with us today. Back in the present,

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Speaker 1: Roland watched as Manny's friends turn came around. Manny swallowed,

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Speaker 1: his face went pale. Tears streamed down the boy's face,

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Speaker 1: and Roland felt a sudden, peculiar urge to bury him

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Speaker 1: in a hug. He did not do that, though. Roland

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Speaker 1: just stood still with a firm hand on Manny's shoulder

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Speaker 1: while they tightened the noose around mister Perrone's neck and

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Speaker 1: dropped him down to hang until he was dead, dead dead.

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Speaker 1: Roland was proud of how straight Manny stood, how the

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Speaker 1: boy held back from sobbing, and how once the sad

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Speaker 1: spectacle was over, Manny turned back around and headed towards

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Speaker 1: the Christian girl, Sasha. She still stood where they had

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Speaker 1: left her. Roland could tell she'd been crying too, although

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Speaker 1: she'd taken some pains to describe it. She was hard

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Speaker 1: to get a read on that one. She struck him

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Speaker 1: as one of the faithful, but she didn't strike him

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Speaker 1: as a nut. Maybe she'd just gotten suckered into this

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Speaker 1: awful place. Roland could surely understand in that. He was

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Speaker 1: pretty sure he'd been suckered into dumber things. Praise God,

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Speaker 1: she said, with hesitation. Praise God, Manny responded. Roland didn't

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Speaker 1: say much. She gave him a look, but not an

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Speaker 1: angry one. That was she locked eyes with Manny. Roland

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Speaker 1: was pretty sure she'd blocked the rest of the world out.

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Speaker 1: She must have seen the signs of his tears too.

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Speaker 1: She coughed a little and continued, that was awful. I

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Speaker 1: know it's necessary, but I'll never stop hating that. It's

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Speaker 1: a good thing to hate, Manny said, and then look,

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Speaker 1: we have to get back to base. Curfuse coming up soon.

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Speaker 1: But if you want to hide from those undesirables tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: I'll be waiting outside the cafe. They kept talking, but

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Speaker 1: what they said was beyond Roland's interest. He was busy

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Speaker 1: listening as the prison convoy drove off. Now that he

212
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,040
Speaker 1: knew the sound of the prisoner transport a PC urally

213
00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,040
Speaker 1: tracing it back to its origin point was child's play.

214
00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,559
Speaker 1: Aaron Manny's voice jerked his attention back to the conversation

215
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Speaker 1: happening in front of him. We should probably go, Manny said.

216
00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:06,520
Speaker 1: The busses will leave soon. Oh ship, surely, surely right, right,

217
00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,040
Speaker 1: surely right, we should go. Roland smiled at Sasha. It

218
00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,000
Speaker 1: was lovely to meet you. Good evening. He put a

219
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,320
Speaker 1: hand on Manny's shoulder, and together they headed off to

220
00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:20,240
Speaker 1: the buses. Manny only stopped twice to cry. Manny didn't

221
00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:22,560
Speaker 1: say much the rest of the night. Roland was proud

222
00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:24,880
Speaker 1: of him for holding back his tears during the bus ride,

223
00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,120
Speaker 1: and they walked to the barracks. The kid broke down

224
00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:28,840
Speaker 1: as soon as he got into bed, of course, but

225
00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,280
Speaker 1: he kept his sobs silent, and Roland was pretty sure

226
00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:33,880
Speaker 1: none of the other recruits noticed. It helped that they

227
00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,640
Speaker 1: were all exhausted. At the end of the day, Roland

228
00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,480
Speaker 1: puked up, then popped a handful of ambient and percocets

229
00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,320
Speaker 1: and washed them down with a tall glass of the

230
00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,199
Speaker 1: beer he'd brewed in his own guts. He offered Manny some,

231
00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,840
Speaker 1: but the boy declined, so Roland had a second glass,

232
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Speaker 1: and then a third. It wasn't enough to get him wasted,

233
00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:51,640
Speaker 1: but the cocktail of drugs did a tolerable job of

234
00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,800
Speaker 1: leading him into unconsciousness. He drifted off to sleep an

235
00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:56,520
Speaker 1: hour or so after the rest of the men of

236
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Speaker 1: the barracks. The next day was more army style bullshit,

237
00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,679
Speaker 1: bush ups and windsprints in a big dumb obstacle course.

238
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,320
Speaker 1: Roland had to be real careful to act challenged. As

239
00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,160
Speaker 1: the day went on. He instructed his body to elevate

240
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,880
Speaker 1: his blood pressure and temperature, to flush his face red

241
00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:19,800
Speaker 1: with blood, and to send enough sweat from his pores

242
00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,120
Speaker 1: to make a passable imitation of exertion. It was tedious

243
00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:24,679
Speaker 1: and he hated it, but the first half of the

244
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,440
Speaker 1: day went by pretty fast. Then it was time for

245
00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,360
Speaker 1: a close quarters firefight drill. The men were given actual

246
00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:34,000
Speaker 1: rifles sans ammunition, and divided up into assault teams. They

247
00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,880
Speaker 1: spent the next five hours taking turns defending or attacking

248
00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:39,200
Speaker 1: different rooms in an old apartment complex that had been

249
00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,719
Speaker 1: commandeered by the Heavenly Kingdom. There was a lot of

250
00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:44,320
Speaker 1: shouting from instructors who sure as ship wanted the recruits

251
00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:46,840
Speaker 1: to think they knew more about urban warfare than they did.

252
00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:49,920
Speaker 1: At the end of one particularly long set of door

253
00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:51,959
Speaker 1: breach and drills, one of the instructors dropped to his

254
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,520
Speaker 1: knees and started chanting in tongues. He seemed to be

255
00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,360
Speaker 1: celebrating that one of his slowest squads had finally nailed

256
00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,440
Speaker 1: a textbook entry. Roland wasn't sure what the to make

257
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:02,400
Speaker 1: of it. The man almost smelled that he was having

258
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:06,160
Speaker 1: a schizophrenic break. The heavy wash of neurotransmitters wafting off

259
00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,600
Speaker 1: him made it clear this wasn't just some gesture for show.

260
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,960
Speaker 1: He seemed legitimately overcome with joy. Other soldiers and even

261
00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,720
Speaker 1: a couple of instructors started kneeling around him. They were

262
00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:19,240
Speaker 1: all chanting in some strange language. The first instructor kept

263
00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,800
Speaker 1: repeating what sounded like hom noshkalashka, hom noshkalashka. Roland's heidenbrain

264
00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,400
Speaker 1: knew a lot of languages, but this sounded like nonsense

265
00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,000
Speaker 1: to him. He noticed the speech patterns of each chanting

266
00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,160
Speaker 1: man were pretty consistent with American English. The actual words

267
00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:34,800
Speaker 1: were gibberish, though, and many grabbed him by the shoulder

268
00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,640
Speaker 1: and pushed gently down. Roland took the hint and then

269
00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:40,200
Speaker 1: took a knee. The kids started to chant in a

270
00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:44,720
Speaker 1: low voice, letish kila, josepha tinchala. It was more gibberish,

271
00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,439
Speaker 1: but Roland followed suit. He started to spend out nonsense

272
00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,000
Speaker 1: of his own, in a tone low enough that it

273
00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,560
Speaker 1: didn't rise above the din of chanting maniacs. Manny's strategy,

274
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,560
Speaker 1: he realized, was to make big, exaggerated mouth motions without

275
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:58,199
Speaker 1: actually speaking at a high volume. It made him look

276
00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,400
Speaker 1: right without drawing any attention. The whole weird scene went

277
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,199
Speaker 1: on for a little over two minutes. Eventually, the instructor

278
00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,839
Speaker 1: stopped chanting and lay on his back, sweaty and spent.

279
00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:09,280
Speaker 1: The other soldiers seemed to have ended their fits in

280
00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,920
Speaker 1: the same way. Roland could tell from their heart rates

281
00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:13,800
Speaker 1: and body temperature that about half of the men had

282
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,520
Speaker 1: been faking it, just like he and Manny. The humid

283
00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,160
Speaker 1: stink of guilt was heavy in the air. Roland's heart

284
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,720
Speaker 1: went out for them. It must be agony to believe

285
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,600
Speaker 1: so hard and something so dumb that you'd castigate yourself

286
00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,600
Speaker 1: for not buying into it enough. After that, they filed

287
00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,240
Speaker 1: into the mess hall. They said their prayers ate their dinners,

288
00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:32,640
Speaker 1: and then queued up for the buses down town. The

289
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,160
Speaker 1: ride was uneventful. In the instant their feet hit the square,

290
00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,880
Speaker 1: Manny went off to find Sasha. Roland shook his head

291
00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:40,760
Speaker 1: in appreciation for the all consuming power of human desire,

292
00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,200
Speaker 1: and then bounded off to check out the presumed location

293
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,800
Speaker 1: of the jail. It was about a three mile jog.

294
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,080
Speaker 1: At full speed, Roland could have cleared the distance in

295
00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,240
Speaker 1: a few minutes, but a low profile was the name

296
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,360
Speaker 1: of the game. He stuck to a fast walk and

297
00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,400
Speaker 1: kept to the shadows and alleys as best he could.

298
00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,120
Speaker 1: Plano hadn't been a very dense city before the martyrs

299
00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:58,840
Speaker 1: had taken over, so there were a lot of times

300
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,960
Speaker 1: where he was basically out. He opened he had to

301
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,240
Speaker 1: trust that his uniform in the general state of chaos

302
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:06,160
Speaker 1: and the newly founded Kingdom would obscure him. This was

303
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:08,320
Speaker 1: the first look he'd gotten of the Kingdom. On foot,

304
00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,280
Speaker 1: Roland decided he didn't care much for it. There was

305
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,400
Speaker 1: a great deal of foot and vehicle traffic, but most

306
00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,920
Speaker 1: of the people seemed to be either soldiers or refugees

307
00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,320
Speaker 1: without anywhere else to go. He passed two checkpoints where

308
00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,360
Speaker 1: twitchy looking martyrs performed data scans on decks and personal

309
00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,560
Speaker 1: hard drives. He even saw one soldier sorting through paperback

310
00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:28,600
Speaker 1: books in the trunk of some poor fox car. Roland

311
00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,440
Speaker 1: noticed several white vans with black crosses painted on the side.

312
00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,800
Speaker 1: They cruised the streets, clearly on patrol for something. He

313
00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,280
Speaker 1: watched one stop in front of a family of refugees,

314
00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,240
Speaker 1: heavy with backpacks and carrying intake papers in their hands.

315
00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,560
Speaker 1: Men in white jumpsuits with gold cross badges piled out

316
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,960
Speaker 1: and surrounded the family. Roland concealed himself behind a dumpster

317
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,320
Speaker 1: and watched as the patriarch of the family handed them

318
00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:52,600
Speaker 1: his papers and spoke in a frantic, animated tone. One

319
00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:54,480
Speaker 1: of the men pointed at his daughter, who wore a

320
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,960
Speaker 1: stained T shirt and a ragged pair of denim shorts.

321
00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,600
Speaker 1: They were baggy and hardly stylish, but the men in

322
00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,720
Speaker 1: the jump suits seemed furious. They pointed and shouted. The

323
00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:04,280
Speaker 1: man put his hands in the air and tried to

324
00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:06,680
Speaker 1: say something, but one of the jump suited men smashed

325
00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:10,520
Speaker 1: his head with a cane. Cold rage bubbled up inside Roland.

326
00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,040
Speaker 1: Fuck this place, he simmered to himself, Fuck these jinkiest

327
00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,880
Speaker 1: throwback fundamentalists and their fascist bullshit. He wanted to charge

328
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,920
Speaker 1: out from behind the dumpster and tear into these low

329
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,680
Speaker 1: rent his bomb motherfucker's. He wanted to shove those thick

330
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,000
Speaker 1: wooden rods so far up their asses they'd be shipping

331
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,200
Speaker 1: splinters for weeks. The mission, he reminded himself, the fucking mission,

332
00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:31,880
Speaker 1: And so he watched as the men in white beat

333
00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,160
Speaker 1: the old guy. He watched as they pulled the poor

334
00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,760
Speaker 1: bastard's daughter into a van and forced a hideous gray

335
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,600
Speaker 1: woolen dress over her head. It didn't fit, and it

336
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:41,560
Speaker 1: looked liable to give her heat stroke in the late

337
00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,080
Speaker 1: Texas summer. She didn't fight them, though. Roland moved on

338
00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:47,920
Speaker 1: reluctantly and found what his hind brains suspected was the

339
00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,680
Speaker 1: old jail. The a PCs he'd seen last night were

340
00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,880
Speaker 1: parked out front. The compound was guarded and busy. Roland

341
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,960
Speaker 1: counted fourteen guards just outside. Mind you, there were human guards,

342
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,920
Speaker 1: no powered armor, no heavy artillery, nothing at hand that

343
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,480
Speaker 1: could do much more than tickle him. They wouldn't present

344
00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:05,359
Speaker 1: a danger, but they would cause a hell of a

345
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:07,720
Speaker 1: lot of noise if he attempted a daylight prison break.

346
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,920
Speaker 1: He scrambled up onto a half collapsed condo building that

347
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,959
Speaker 1: had been abandoned after a heavy mortar shell gutted the inside.

348
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,240
Speaker 1: It provided a good view of the jail. For the

349
00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,520
Speaker 1: next hour, Roland just watched. His hindbrain mapped the pattern

350
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,199
Speaker 1: of the guard rotations and noted the security protocols they

351
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,080
Speaker 1: followed when each new vehicle arrived. He took a lot

352
00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,119
Speaker 1: of deep breaths and gradually pulled enough sense from inside

353
00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,080
Speaker 1: the jail to have a decent idea of how many

354
00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,080
Speaker 1: people were in there. He'd never smelled Marigold or the

355
00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,240
Speaker 1: other rolling fuck negotiators before, but his nose picked up

356
00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,000
Speaker 1: on three people with a handful of aftermarket modifications. Most

357
00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,080
Speaker 1: of the martyrs he'd met had been limited to civilian

358
00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:45,080
Speaker 1: grade healing sweets and sensory upgrades. It was a safe

359
00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:47,880
Speaker 1: bet that these were their targets. Then, and you've got

360
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:51,120
Speaker 1: the message. Put down the phone. Roland wasn't sure where

361
00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:53,560
Speaker 1: or when he'd heard that aphorism, but it came into

362
00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:55,920
Speaker 1: his head, and a moment later he realized the sun

363
00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,800
Speaker 1: was pretty low in the sky. It'd be bus time soon.

364
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,480
Speaker 1: He headed back through the eyeshadows and across the cracked

365
00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,080
Speaker 1: and bullet scarred boulevards until he was able to merge

366
00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:06,840
Speaker 1: back into the evening crowd at the square. Manny and

367
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,040
Speaker 1: the Christian girl had moved on from the cafe by

368
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,199
Speaker 1: that point. He actually ran into them in front of

369
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,399
Speaker 1: some building with a sign that identified it as the

370
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,280
Speaker 1: House of Miriam. They were saying weird, chaste, religiously goodbyes,

371
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,119
Speaker 1: Oh hello Aaron. Sasha smiled when she saw him. Manny

372
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,520
Speaker 1: turned around and flashed him a weary smile too. Roland

373
00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:26,359
Speaker 1: could see pain in the kid's eyes, but it was

374
00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,920
Speaker 1: at least cut with a bit of arousal. He decided

375
00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,760
Speaker 1: that was a good thing. Ever since Oscar's death, Manny

376
00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,280
Speaker 1: had been writing the line between function and complete emotional collapse.

377
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,600
Speaker 1: He decided to encourage the fixer's weird little friendship with

378
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,280
Speaker 1: the Christian girl. Hey, Roland said, how is the guffy?

379
00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:44,600
Speaker 1: Smelled like it was mostly chickory and food die when

380
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,560
Speaker 1: I walked by earlier. But maybe they sold you all

381
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,560
Speaker 1: the good stuff they did not, Manny said, you must

382
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,400
Speaker 1: be blessed with an exceptional nose, Sasha said, and gave

383
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:55,879
Speaker 1: him an odd look. Then she asked, what did you

384
00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:00,159
Speaker 1: get up to? I had checked out the farmer's market, Roland,

385
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,560
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, some uh, some good freaking cucumbers

386
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,200
Speaker 1: up in there. That's where I was cucumbers. Sasha's odd

387
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,480
Speaker 1: look deepened. Manny brought a hand up to the bridge

388
00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,320
Speaker 1: of his nose and needed his brow and frustration. We

389
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,560
Speaker 1: should head back to the buses. I'll I'll see you tomorrow, Sasha. Yeah, yes,

390
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:20,200
Speaker 1: of course, Sasha replied with a genuine smile. If this

391
00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:22,320
Speaker 1: was a sane world, Rowland thought the two of them

392
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:24,480
Speaker 1: would have had a real date by now. But this

393
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,640
Speaker 1: was the Heavenly Kingdom. They were surrounded by extremist militants,

394
00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,840
Speaker 1: and Sasha probably wasn't even allowed to look at condoms. Also,

395
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,359
Speaker 1: she's one of those militants, Roland reminded, himself. He let

396
00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:36,480
Speaker 1: the kids say their goodbyes and then walked back to

397
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:39,800
Speaker 1: the bus with Manny. The kids seemed unsettled. I feel

398
00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,520
Speaker 1: like I'm making a real dumb decision, he said, what

399
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,680
Speaker 1: Rowland asked, talking with that girl? Manny shrugged. She's told

400
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:49,080
Speaker 1: me all she knows about those prisoners already. But we're

401
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,080
Speaker 1: supposed to meet at the one shitty cafe in this

402
00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,080
Speaker 1: town tomorrow. I know it's stupid, but I kind of

403
00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,480
Speaker 1: want to make that meeting. Why is it stupid? Rowland asked.

404
00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:58,320
Speaker 1: They had to drop their voices a little as they

405
00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:01,880
Speaker 1: drew closer to the line for the buses, because Manny said,

406
00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,199
Speaker 1: we're not going to be here long. Sasha confirmed, our

407
00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,399
Speaker 1: people are in the jail, and you scattered it out today,

408
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,080
Speaker 1: right yep, So we're confirmed twice over. It's time to

409
00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:12,040
Speaker 1: do this thing and get out. I don't have time

410
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 1: to eat shitty food with a pretty girl. Roland turned

411
00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:17,639
Speaker 1: and fixed his eyes on Manny's. He leaned in until

412
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:19,800
Speaker 1: their noses were almost touching, and then he poked the

413
00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,600
Speaker 1: boy's chest with his index finger for emphasis while he

414
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: spoke Emmanuel Sanche's listen to me, there is always time

415
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,920
Speaker 1: to eat shitty food with a pretty girl. Fuck the war, funk,

416
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,200
Speaker 1: what's a good idea? Go eat some garbage and stare

417
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,040
Speaker 1: into her eyes. Do something human in this in human place.

418
00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,760
Speaker 1: Late night will be a better time for the rescue. Anyway.

419
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,480
Speaker 1: Manny was silent for several long seconds, then he said okay.

420
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,920
Speaker 1: The next day started with more pete as usual. Then

421
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:54,919
Speaker 1: it rolled right into an extra long trip to the

422
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 1: firing range and three more hours of close as salt drills.

423
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:01,280
Speaker 1: Roland found himself disgusted by the king tactics. Their go

424
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,240
Speaker 1: to was to dump heavy artillery on any embedded resistance.

425
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,240
Speaker 1: No heed was paid to the civilian cost. They were

426
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,040
Speaker 1: fine having untrained kids lob mortars in de crowded neighborhoods.

427
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,640
Speaker 1: The Lord will recognize his own. Martyr Carruthers had said

428
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,359
Speaker 1: over and over again that evening before the dinner prayer,

429
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,520
Speaker 1: the raspy voiced Priest, the raspy voiced Priest came by

430
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,440
Speaker 1: to speak to all the recruits in the chow hall.

431
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,720
Speaker 1: Roland missed Martyr Ditmar's introduction of the priest. He was

432
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,440
Speaker 1: too busy puking up and surreptitiously eating his last bag

433
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 1: of drugs, but his ears perked up when the wild

434
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,080
Speaker 1: haired old nut fuck launched into his speech. The burdens

435
00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:37,840
Speaker 1: placed upon the warriors of God are great. You men

436
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,280
Speaker 1: have sworn yourselves to a ponderous duty, but that duty

437
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,200
Speaker 1: does not end on the battlefield. If the heavenly Kingdom

438
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 1: is to remain and expand, we will need you to

439
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,320
Speaker 1: fight in the field and with your other God given attributes.

440
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,920
Speaker 1: This elicited a dim chorus of chuckles from the audience.

441
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 1: It took Roland an embarrassing amount of time to realize

442
00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,200
Speaker 1: what the preacher was talking about. Not jeez, this each

443
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,280
Speaker 1: is about fucking. The Lord commands us to be fruitful

444
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,119
Speaker 1: and multiply. The priest wheezed. But he also calls us

445
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,400
Speaker 1: to respect the sacred bonds of holy matrimony in times

446
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,200
Speaker 1: of war, at the times we all live in now.

447
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,400
Speaker 1: This might seem to create some difficulty, but that's only

448
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,560
Speaker 1: because most of us are trained to think of marriage

449
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,159
Speaker 1: in the secular context. The average married couple in the

450
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:25,040
Speaker 1: American Federation dates for eight years before being wet. In California,

451
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,280
Speaker 1: it's closer to ten. Of course, in both those places,

452
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,280
Speaker 1: dating is more or less a form of cash less prostitution.

453
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,920
Speaker 1: Roland had to strain to avoid rolling his eyes. Next

454
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,240
Speaker 1: to him, many listened dutifully. His face was almost unreadable.

455
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,280
Speaker 1: Perhaps people who don't trust their creator need years of

456
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:44,440
Speaker 1: time to decide if another person is a suitable partner. Happily,

457
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,240
Speaker 1: we have the will of God to guide us. You

458
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 1: young men, are strong and virile and faithful. Your Lord

459
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,720
Speaker 1: wants you to find love. He wants you to bring

460
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: more children into this world. This is why, as the

461
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,760
Speaker 1: hour of action draws closer, we still encourage each of

462
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,159
Speaker 1: you to spend time every day going out into the

463
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:05,199
Speaker 1: city and mingling with the other sheep of our great flock. Aha.

464
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 1: Suddenly Roland understood it. It seemed odd to him that

465
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom, a state still so unformed and tumultuous,

466
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,639
Speaker 1: devote time and resources to bussing their military recruits downtown.

467
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:18,440
Speaker 1: It made sense now, they wanted all these young men

468
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:20,520
Speaker 1: to find women and fill them up with babies before

469
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,080
Speaker 1: they went off to die. It was grim as hell,

470
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 1: but it was also quite logical. The truth of it is,

471
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,800
Speaker 1: the Pastor rasped. Marriage is a simple process. When you

472
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,480
Speaker 1: find the right person, the right arrangements can be made

473
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: in an hour or two. That is why I'm here

474
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,160
Speaker 1: along with Pastor Sandor Ellsworth and Biggins. You can find

475
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 1: us at any hour of the day or night to

476
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: bless your unions. Once God shows you to your wives,

477
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 1: and there are more pastors at the House of Jacob

478
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 1: near the square. I urge you to go out into

479
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 1: the kingdom in search of love and make use of us.

480
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,359
Speaker 1: Our chief job and our chief joy, is to help

481
00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:57,520
Speaker 1: our noble martyrs find the love and bless God promises

482
00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 1: every faithful man. Wives are his lessing to us. Children

483
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,800
Speaker 1: are our duty to him. Now, the man said with

484
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 1: a rakish grin, go forth and multiply the flock. The

485
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,160
Speaker 1: line for the buses was extra long that day. By

486
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 1: the time Roland and Manny actually made it to the square,

487
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,160
Speaker 1: there were nearly an hour later than usual. Manny rushed

488
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,679
Speaker 1: right off to find Sasha. Rowland found his way to

489
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: an alley and then darted across town and towards the jail.

490
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 1: Once again. They'd already confirmed the location of their targets,

491
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 1: so Rowland's last job was to mark out a good

492
00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,119
Speaker 1: exit route from the city. He didn't expect it be

493
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 1: a quiet prison break that would draw attention and fighters.

494
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 1: The good news was that nothing within the Heavenly Kingdom

495
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,720
Speaker 1: looked particularly well organized. A ton of fighters patrolled the streets,

496
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 1: but most of Plano was still pretty war torn. Their

497
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: camera grid was far from comprehensive. If they had a

498
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 1: sizeable drone force, it was kept nearer to the front

499
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,440
Speaker 1: than here. The quickest route seemed to be to head

500
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 1: straight north from the jail, up k Avenue and pasted,

501
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 1: an old housing development filled with crumbling mansions. That route

502
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,119
Speaker 1: would take them past two fortified aces. There'd be a

503
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,640
Speaker 1: couple hundred infantry to deal with, along with their attendant

504
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,840
Speaker 1: d PC's and a handful of drones. Roland felt confident

505
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: he could have punched a hole through all that on

506
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 1: his own, but he expected to have four or five

507
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,240
Speaker 1: civilians in tow The odds of one of them taking

508
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: a stray round were just too high. Another possible route

509
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 1: took him up and to the left towards an old

510
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 1: tollway that seemed to mark the end of the Heavenly

511
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 1: Kingdom's static defenses. They controlled a lot of the territory beyond,

512
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,440
Speaker 1: but the patrols there looked random. There were no fortifications

513
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 1: or checkpoints. It was a much longer route than the other,

514
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,560
Speaker 1: but potentially one that required a lotless fighting. The last

515
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,560
Speaker 1: option was to veer right and take Park Avenue to Richardson.

516
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: The Heavenly Kingdom had controlled that territory for even less

517
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,720
Speaker 1: time than they had held Plano, and the fighting there

518
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,280
Speaker 1: had been heavier. They'd pass a lot of checkpoints, but

519
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: not much in the way of troop concentration, as long

520
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,800
Speaker 1: as they kept south and away from Dallas proper. The

521
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,679
Speaker 1: scouting work itself was exhilarating. Roland had a lot of

522
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:54,480
Speaker 1: ground to cover, so he spent most of his time

523
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 1: sprinting and scaling buildings, leaping from roof to roof and

524
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,400
Speaker 1: in between shattered windows. His senses were in full use.

525
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 1: There were always passing convoys of civilians, or patrols of martyrs,

526
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 1: or those odd white police fans somewhere nearby. He was

527
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,080
Speaker 1: close to caught a dozen times, and he loved every

528
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,400
Speaker 1: minute of the work. By the time he got back

529
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,640
Speaker 1: to the main square, it was quite late and almost

530
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:15,920
Speaker 1: time for the buses to leave. He did a quick

531
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: loop of the square to see if he could find

532
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,439
Speaker 1: Manny and Sasha. He caught traces of their sense, but

533
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,439
Speaker 1: neither of them seemed to be out and about. He

534
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: eventually tracked Sasha's pheromone trail back to the house of Miriam,

535
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: but Manny seemed to be gone. That was strange. Roland

536
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:31,080
Speaker 1: headed back to the buses and the hope of finding

537
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: him there. But Manny wasn't in line or on any

538
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 1: of the buses. So Roland headed back to the base

539
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,119
Speaker 1: and tried to ignore the unease as it blossomed in

540
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: his belly. Maybe he headed back early. Maybe the date

541
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 1: went bad. That made sense. Sasha seemed nice for a

542
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: religious extremists, but you couldn't predict Zellots. It was so

543
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,280
Speaker 1: damn easy to set them off. Manny might have just

544
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: said the wrong thing. That decided it'd be safest to

545
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 1: head back to base and chill in the barracks. The

546
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,880
Speaker 1: bus pulled into the school Coomb training facilities, little vehicle deep.

547
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,880
Speaker 1: Roland noticed at once that Martyr Ditmar and a small

548
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:06,639
Speaker 1: bodyguard of armed men were waiting. That was unusual. Roland's

549
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,919
Speaker 1: hindbrain warned him that this was probably related to Manny's disappearance.

550
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: He felt a thin drip of adrenaline start tapping on

551
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: the back of his amygdala. It was the feeling he

552
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,639
Speaker 1: associated with shit about to happen. Roland tried to enjoy

553
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: it without letting it push him into action. Before he

554
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: knew what was really going on, Martyr Aaron Ditmar said

555
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 1: as he approached Roland, the instructor's bodyguard stayed close behind.

556
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,400
Speaker 1: Would you come with me. We've got some news for you.

557
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: Where's a manual? Roland asked, we'll explain everything. The older

558
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:40,880
Speaker 1: martyr said, just come with me. Roland followed him into

559
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 1: the maze of buildings and towards a small office occupied

560
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,159
Speaker 1: by a white haired man in what looked like the

561
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom's equivalent of a dress uniform. It was blue,

562
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,119
Speaker 1: bedecked with medals and had a shining silver cross on

563
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 1: each apulett. The fancy man looked very tired. Roland could

564
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:59,200
Speaker 1: smell cheap caffeine wafting from his pores. This is Commandant Dawkins,

565
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: Martyr dit Are explained, he's in charge of this facility.

566
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 1: We've been telling him about you. Martyr Ditmar is hard

567
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,680
Speaker 1: to embrass, the commandant said, but to his eyes, you're

568
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: some sort of latter day sampson. The strongest man i've

569
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 1: ever seen, said Martyr Ditmar. He's a darn fine shot too,

570
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,479
Speaker 1: something of a marvel. Where's my friend? Roland asked, where's

571
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,440
Speaker 1: a manual? The commandant gave an indulgent smile. It didn't

572
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,879
Speaker 1: meet his tired eyes. Listen, Martyr, I know you can

573
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:30,479
Speaker 1: appreciate how important unit cohesion is during a situation as

574
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 1: stressful as combat. We've had to make some changes in

575
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,520
Speaker 1: order to ensure unity. Emmanual is one of a number

576
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 1: of soldiers we've transferred to special duty. Roland could read

577
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 1: between the lines. He was sure if he checked in

578
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 1: the barracks that Manny Jonathan and the other handful of

579
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 1: non white recruits would all be absent. What kind of

580
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 1: special duty? Ditmar growled behind him. Now, listen, son, just

581
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,400
Speaker 1: because the commandant called you a Samson doesn't mean you're

582
00:28:56,400 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 1: in charge around here. We're prosecuting a war. You be

583
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: privy to every decision made above you when you're just

584
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: going to have to get used to that. The commandant

585
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 1: was a bit calmer. He put his hands forward in

586
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 1: a placating gesture and tried it again. Your friend is fine,

587
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: he's better than fine. He's going to get a chance

588
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: to serve his Lord and the heavenly Kingdom and glorious martyrdom.

589
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 1: You should be happy for him. Ditmar stepped forward and

590
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 1: squatted down next to him. He put a hand on

591
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: Roland's thigh. A third of a second later, Roland had

592
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:27,760
Speaker 1: calculated the best way to rip that arm free of

593
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 1: its socket and beat the other men in the room

594
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,800
Speaker 1: to death with it, but he held still for now.

595
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 1: Manny would have been proud. Listen, boy, Ditmar said, I

596
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: know you got used to having that brown kid help

597
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:39,800
Speaker 1: you talk with people, and I'm sure he did a

598
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: fine job. I get that you're not much for social graces,

599
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 1: but we're going to take care of you now, all right,

600
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,920
Speaker 1: You've got a whole army of brothers here. Just do

601
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: what you do best and we'll handle the rest, okay,

602
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 1: Roland said. He put a hand on Martyr Ditmar's wrist

603
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: and clenched it hard enough that everyone in the room

604
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: heard the bones snap. The look of dawning terror on

605
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: the other man's face was the best high Roland had

606
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 1: gotten in days. He savored it for a quarter second

607
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:15,320
Speaker 1: before finishing his sentence. I'll do what I do best. Then, hey,

608
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:17,760
Speaker 1: I'm Robert Evans. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I

609
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed the chapters to come. You can find

610
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 1: the free e pub of every chapter and eventually the

611
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: whole book at a t r book dot com, complete

612
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 1: with illustrations. If you want to support me in writing

613
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,520
Speaker 1: the sequel, you can crowdfund me at After the Revolution

614
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 1: the Sequel at go fund me. Just type and go

615
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 1: fund me after the Revolution the Sequel. Um. I'd like

616
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: my books to always be free, so I'm just going

617
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 1: to try to crowdfund the next one and see how

618
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 1: that works. So After the Revolution the Sequel on go

619
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:46,960
Speaker 1: fund me. You can also find the community of fans

620
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 1: of this book online at our slash after the Revolution

621
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: on Reddit. So after the Revolution the Sequel on go

622
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 1: fund me and our slash after the Revolution on Reddit.

623
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: A t r book dot com for the whole book. Thanks,