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Speaker 1: Chapter six, Sasha, history is a messy thing class. Even

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Speaker 1: a question as simple as when did the Second American

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Speaker 1: Civil War begin doesn't have a clear answer. Some scholars

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Speaker 1: say the first shots were fired during the failed Montana

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Speaker 1: Seccession Movement of twenty forty. Others will name the Dallas

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Speaker 1: Water Riots of forty one or the bombing of the

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Speaker 1: Diamond Building six months later by leftist militants. You can

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Speaker 1: make a good evidence based case for any of these.

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Speaker 1: Mister Dane was a good lecturer, with a rich baritone

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Speaker 1: voice and a habit of animating his lectures with vibrant

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Speaker 1: hand gestures. He was Sasha's favorite teacher and one of

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Speaker 1: her favorite people. Mister Dane was a heathen, of course,

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Speaker 1: but he was still a sweet man. She appreciated his

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Speaker 1: even handed perspective and his commitment to the unbiased study

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Speaker 1: of history. It broke her heart that no one else

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Speaker 1: in her Advanced Placement Continental History class seemed to appreciate him.

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Speaker 1: The other twenty four students stared ahead with slackened aws

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Speaker 1: and unfocused eyes. They were all deep in their decks,

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Speaker 1: messaging friends, browsing snap bids, or playing whatever game was

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Speaker 1: popular right now. Decks were far too entrenched in modern

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Speaker 1: life for schools to force them off during class time. Instead,

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Speaker 1: the school filtered the WiFi and forced students to download

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Speaker 1: apps that restricted access during school hours. This had led

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Speaker 1: to a thriving underground trade and apps that countered the

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Speaker 1: school spyware and covertly lifted the blocks. The district I

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Speaker 1: T team was locked in a perpetual losing battle to

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Speaker 1: spot and crack these programs. But on a practical level,

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Speaker 1: the teachers, like Mr Dane, just had to accept the intrusion.

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Speaker 1: The students didn't ignore him entirely, but very few of

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Speaker 1: them gave him their full attention. They didn't give anything

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Speaker 1: their full attention. Really. Most of her peers went through

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Speaker 1: their days half reading two or three conversations, playing games,

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Speaker 1: and scrolling through several social media feeds, even when they

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Speaker 1: were out in the world surrounded by people. Pastor Mike

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Speaker 1: called it the death of Joy. That was the name

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Speaker 1: of the essay and revelator that had first turned Sasha

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Speaker 1: on to the heavenly Kingdom. He'd railed against distraction culture,

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Speaker 1: which he said not only robbed mankind of a relationship

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Speaker 1: with God, but it also robs us of the little moments,

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Speaker 1: the quiet joys of living are drowned by a flood

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Speaker 1: of data. It's a mosquito bite on the human soul,

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Speaker 1: and the masses have convinced themselves that the abatement of

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Speaker 1: discomfort from scratching this itch is the same ashappiness. All

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Speaker 1: around her classmates scratched their itches while mister Dane lectured.

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Speaker 1: He looked so lonely up there, they all looked lonely.

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Speaker 1: So mister Dane cleared his throat in an attempt to

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Speaker 1: pull at least a few of his students out of

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Speaker 1: their stupor. As we close this unit, I'd like to

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Speaker 1: ask you all a simple question. What should we call

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Speaker 1: the war that split the United States? Your textbook calls

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Speaker 1: it the Second American Civil War. In the Northwest, and

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Speaker 1: the Christian States they call it the Revolution. By next Monday,

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Speaker 1: I'd like each of you to upload an essay arguing

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Speaker 1: which name is more appropriate. One thousand words please. The

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Speaker 1: bell rang. The other students got up slowly in twos

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Speaker 1: and threes and made for the door. Sasha was one

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Speaker 1: of the first up, but mister Dane called to her

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Speaker 1: before she reached the exit. Miss Marian, would you mind

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Speaker 1: holding back a moment, Sasha stiffened. She glanced involuntarily up

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Speaker 1: to one of the government's propaganda posters on the wall.

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Speaker 1: It showed a young man with a brightly colored backpack,

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Speaker 1: surrounded by burnt out buildings in rubble. A green rocket

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Speaker 1: hung above him like the sword of Damocles, an instant

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Speaker 1: away from impact. Next to the young man were the

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Speaker 1: words think again, step back, Yes, sir, she asked. As

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Speaker 1: she approached his desk. Mister Dane fixed her with a

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Speaker 1: kind smile. He looked around forty, although that was no

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Speaker 1: guarantee of anything. His eyes and lips were creased with

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Speaker 1: smile lines. Though she liked that about him. You seemed

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Speaker 1: a bit distracted to day, Sasha. That's not uncommon for

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Speaker 1: most of my students, he gave a slightly forced laugh.

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Speaker 1: But you're normally so engaged. I just wanted to make

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Speaker 1: sure everything's okay. Over the last year, Sasha had started

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Speaker 1: building up a dock pile of what she called defensive smiles.

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Speaker 1: She had one for when her parents were worried, another

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Speaker 1: for her few friends, and another for the school administrators.

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Speaker 1: The smiles were calculated to reassure everyone that she was

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Speaker 1: still normal. Sasha and she certainly wasn't planning to escape

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Speaker 1: to the heavenly Kingdom. But she'd never worked up a

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Speaker 1: smile from Mr Dane. She genuinely enjoyed his class, so

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Speaker 1: it hadn't seemed necessary. She just decided to go with

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Speaker 1: her friend smile and hope that worked. I'm okay, I'm

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Speaker 1: just you know, inspiration head her. The news today is

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Speaker 1: so scary. What's happening down in Texas. I'm worried. Mr

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Speaker 1: Dane visibly relaxed. Ah, yes, I can see why you'd

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Speaker 1: be troubled by that. I think it's taken everyone a

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Speaker 1: bit by surprise. He paused and struggled with his words.

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Speaker 1: I expect it must be somewhat more difficult for you

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Speaker 1: than the rest of the class. Being a Christian. Her

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Speaker 1: smile faltered a bit. She knew she was supposed to

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Speaker 1: act like one of the tame preachers the government trotted out,

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Speaker 1: the men and women who'd Christianity was all about peace

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Speaker 1: and love. They'd say that the Lord's truth could coexist

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Speaker 1: with the equal truths of other faiths and with the

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Speaker 1: secular world of the am fed. That all felt wrong

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Speaker 1: to her, but a little irritation was worth avoiding suspicion.

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Speaker 1: My faith is stronger than a handful of terrorists, she

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Speaker 1: said to mister Dane. There are a lot of Christians

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Speaker 1: in the secular forces. You know they'll when in the end,

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Speaker 1: won't they. Mister Dane's smile remained unchanged, but his eyes

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Speaker 1: bored into hers. Sasha was more comfortable with eye contact

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Speaker 1: than most teens, but she found this deeply uncomfortable, invasive.

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Speaker 1: Even after several long seconds, he spoke, I fear it's

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Speaker 1: going to be a long, bloody fight before that happens.

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Speaker 1: We're very lucky to be insulated from all that madness,

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Speaker 1: you know, he sighed. An eleventh grader, However, A Jefferson

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Speaker 1: I was killed fighting in Dallas yesterday. The news just broke.

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Speaker 1: Sasha hadn't been aware, but thank God for him and

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Speaker 1: his sacrifice. She thought, that's awful, she said, I can't

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Speaker 1: imagine what his parents must be going through. No, you can't,

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Speaker 1: he agreed, And then mister Dane broke eye contact. He

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Speaker 1: looked down at the ground, and his voice dropped an

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Speaker 1: octave as he asked, did you know I had a son?

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Speaker 1: Genuine surprise passed over Sasha's face. No, sir, I didn't.

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Speaker 1: He shrugged and gave up on his smile. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: much more than a ghost now, Anyway, I married young,

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Speaker 1: I was a dad at nineteen, and by the time

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Speaker 1: he was nineteen, the whole country was coming apart. He

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Speaker 1: reached down to his desk and picked up a small,

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Speaker 1: rather battered looking red button. It had the letters R

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Speaker 1: J printed in lower case letters across the front. Mister

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Speaker 1: Dane stared at it. Something twitched under his left eyelid.

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Speaker 1: He bit his upper lip. He was silent for a

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Speaker 1: long beat, and he swallowed and looked up at Sasha.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what this is? No, she said, reluctant

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Speaker 1: and pretty certain. She ought to have known. In the

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Speaker 1: years leading up to the revolution, there were a lot

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Speaker 1: of different activist movements founded and spread by anonymous radicals.

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Speaker 1: They'd organized flashed demonstrations and co ordinated direct action campaigns.

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Speaker 1: The pins were one sort of I D badge, so

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Speaker 1: when you showed up for a flashed demo, you could

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Speaker 1: quickly identify your comrades. He shook his head ruefully. It

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Speaker 1: sounds silly now. All I can say is, at the

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Speaker 1: time it made sense, and it felt meaningful. The anonymous

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Speaker 1: voice I listened to was a guy named Red John.

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Speaker 1: He had all these videos about history, politics. He explained

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Speaker 1: the whole world and what was wrong with it in

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Speaker 1: a way that just felt right. I started playing his

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Speaker 1: stuff for my boy Mikey when he was thirteen or fourteen.

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Speaker 1: I just wanted him to know what was going on.

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Speaker 1: I thought I was doing the right thing. Mister Dane's

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Speaker 1: eyes looked watery and heavy with the ghost of old tears.

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Speaker 1: He seemed to have trouble keeping his voice steady. Mikey

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Speaker 1: grew up believing hard, and when the fighting broke out,

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Speaker 1: he was young and strong and so very ready to

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Speaker 1: fight for the world he believed we all deserved. Mr

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Speaker 1: Dane set the pen back on the desk with its

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Speaker 1: cover facing down. His eyes were red. He died in Denver,

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Speaker 1: mister Dane said, and his voice broke a little shot

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Speaker 1: through the head. When the National Guard pushed into Westminster,

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Speaker 1: Sasha put a hand on mister Dane's shoulder. It was

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Speaker 1: an instinctive move, blessedly honest. She silently thanked God for

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Speaker 1: this moment of connection to the educator she so admired.

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Speaker 1: He smiled back at her, Thank you. I don't mean

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Speaker 1: for this to be a lecture. I don't think those

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Speaker 1: tend to work. Just he glanced back at the table.

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Speaker 1: Just be careful about putting your faith in charismatic men

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Speaker 1: and their ideas. I will, she said. A minute later,

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Speaker 1: as she left the classroom, a notification pip lit up

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Speaker 1: on the top right corner of her vision. She wink

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Speaker 1: clicked it and saw a message from Brother Andrew bus

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Speaker 1: stop twenty three a four thirty p m. The rest

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Speaker 1: of the day passed normally enough. In the afternoon, they

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Speaker 1: had an assembly about the suicide of a classmate. It

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Speaker 1: was the third this year. Principal Hargrave delivered the same

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Speaker 1: platitudes they'd all heard a hundred times. There was a

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Speaker 1: lot of talk about suicide hot lines and chat rooms.

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Speaker 1: Of all the counseling services the school had available, Sasha

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Speaker 1: knew none of it would help. Almost twenty percent of

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Speaker 1: teens in the m FED would attempt suicide Every year.

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Speaker 1: That number ticked up a few tenths of a percent,

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Speaker 1: and the government had no idea how to stop it.

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Speaker 1: Pastor Mike blamed the rash of suicides on the emptiness

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Speaker 1: of secular life, the spiritual whole. At the center of

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Speaker 1: capitalism and the self worship had fed. Sasha thought he'd

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Speaker 1: hit that right on the money. Even the United Christian

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Speaker 1: States still engaged in global capitalism and doing so that

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Speaker 1: a dark God in permanent opposition to the Lord Almighty.

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Speaker 1: Pastor Mike again, she knew Principal hargraves lectures were pointless,

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Speaker 1: but she sat through the assembly and gave the right

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Speaker 1: smiles to the right people. The rest of the day,

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Speaker 1: she focused on her studies as best she could, despite

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Speaker 1: the growing anxiety in her gut. Two weeks ago, she'd

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Speaker 1: read a Pastor Mike article and revelator, don't talk yourself

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Speaker 1: out of Heaven. It had clearly been written for the

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Speaker 1: conflicted faithful just like her. I've received messages from hundreds

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Speaker 1: of you who say I'd love to open myself up

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Speaker 1: to martyrdom. But I'm a doctor, or a police officer

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Speaker 1: or an engineer, and I think I can do more

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Speaker 1: to glorify God where I am right now. Brothers and sisters,

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Speaker 1: these are the doubts of the serpent. Don't be fooled.

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Speaker 1: No one stays in comfort because they want to bring

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Speaker 1: glory to the Almighty. Our Lord does not speak to

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Speaker 1: us from comfortable places. He spoke to Moses in a

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Speaker 1: desolate desert, from a burning bush. He delivered his greatest

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Speaker 1: sermon atop a mountain. Jehovah wants our souls to be

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Speaker 1: so on fire with devotion that our own lives mean

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Speaker 1: nothing before his flame. The heavenly Kingdom is that cleansing flame.

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Speaker 1: What a gift it is here now in your lifetime.

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Speaker 1: What a tragedy it would be to miss this chance

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Speaker 1: at salvation. She recited that passage again and again throughout

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Speaker 1: what she now knew would be her last day at school.

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Speaker 1: The words steadied her as she waved goodbye to mister

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Speaker 1: Dane at the end of the day. These are the

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Speaker 1: doubts of the serpent, they calmed her. When she looked

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Speaker 1: into her backpack, which held the small go back she'd

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Speaker 1: put together that morning. It was just a change of

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Speaker 1: clothes and a handful of hygiene items that seemed woefully inadequate,

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Speaker 1: but anything more would have looked suspicious. Leaving, I'm leaving.

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Speaker 1: It was only now, on the cusp of leaving, that

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Speaker 1: Sasha realized how much she was going to miss movie

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Speaker 1: night with her friends. Central heating in the winter, reliable

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Speaker 1: internet access. Our Lord does not speak to us from

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Speaker 1: comfortable places. It took her an embarrassing amount of time

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Speaker 1: to find the bus stop. She was scared to use

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Speaker 1: her deck. She'd shut it off as soon as she'd

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Speaker 1: left school, and she didn't know the city bus system

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Speaker 1: very well. She'd taken buses to school for years, but

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Speaker 1: her parents car had always driven her around the city.

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Speaker 1: She was ashamed of how anxious she felt about riding

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Speaker 1: a city bus. Here she was on her way to

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Speaker 1: a war zone and possible martyrdom, scared of public transit,

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Speaker 1: Be strong and courageous and do the work. She recited

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Speaker 1: David's advice to Solomon, do not be afraid or discouraged

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Speaker 1: for the Lord God, My God is with you. That

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00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,280
Speaker 1: helped a little. Thinking of Alexander's smile, his green eyes,

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Speaker 1: and the strong lines of his jaw helped more. Sasha

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Speaker 1: didn't like admitting that to herself. It felt too carnal,

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Speaker 1: almost sacrilegious, but she knew that what mattered to God

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Speaker 1: were her actions. Even if her flight to Zion wasn't

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Speaker 1: done with a completely pure heart, God would forgive her

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Speaker 1: her sacrifice to build the new Jerusalem with outweigh the

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Speaker 1: sinful part of her mind that couldn't stop imagining how

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Speaker 1: Alexander's strong arms would feel when they finally wrapped around her.

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Speaker 1: She waited at stop twenty three. A four thirty came

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Speaker 1: and went by four forty five pm. Her chest burned

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Speaker 1: with barely restrained panic. She was sure the people passing

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Speaker 1: by all knew her secret plans. A pair of police

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Speaker 1: officers passed her at one point. One of them, a

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Speaker 1: woman not much older than Sasha, flashed her a smile.

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Speaker 1: For a long time, she was convinced it had been

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Speaker 1: a sign that her communics had been intercepted and the

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00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,880
Speaker 1: police or the FBI were onto her plan. But the

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Speaker 1: police didn't come to stop her, and after a quarter

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Speaker 1: hour that felt like days, a brown sedan rolled up

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Speaker 1: to the bus stop. Its window peeled down, and Sasha

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00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:51,959
Speaker 1: locked eyes with a careworn young man in the back.

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Speaker 1: Sasha Marian. He asked yes, She said, are you brother Andrew?

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Speaker 1: As I was with Moses, so will I be with

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Speaker 1: That was the pass phrase Alexander had told her to expect.

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Speaker 1: It was all Sasha could do to stop from bawling

252
00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:10,040
Speaker 1: right then and there. She got in the car. The

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Speaker 1: man inside was exactly what she'd have expected of a

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Speaker 1: man and brother Andrew's profession. He had long, straw colored

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Speaker 1: hair and a ragged beard. There were deep pockets of

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00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 1: exhaustion under his brown eyes and well creased smile lines

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00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,560
Speaker 1: around his lips. He wore a simple black suit with

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Speaker 1: no tie. Everything about the way he looked and the

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00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,079
Speaker 1: way he dressed spoke of quiet devotion and humble service.

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00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:33,840
Speaker 1: Here finally was a man of God. Not a pressed,

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00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,640
Speaker 1: preening dandy like the pastor at her father's church, not

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00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,240
Speaker 1: a hip, young pretender like the Baptist minister who had

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Speaker 1: given a speech on inclusion at her school last year.

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Speaker 1: Here was a real, road weary man of the Lord.

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Speaker 1: I know how you must feel right now, Sasha, he said.

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Speaker 1: You're relieved. You never thought you'd make it this far.

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Speaker 1: You didn't know if you'd have the courage to take

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Speaker 1: the final leap of faith. But you have now, child,

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Speaker 1: and your soul is secure. Sasha melted. The knot of

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Speaker 1: anxiety that had twisting in her guts suddenly untied itself.

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00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,760
Speaker 1: Her eyesight blurred, and she realized that she'd started to cry.

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00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:07,760
Speaker 1: It was all she could do to look over to

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00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,800
Speaker 1: brother Andrew and whisper thank you. Together they drove to

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Speaker 1: a little, white walled suburban house, maybe five miles away

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00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,600
Speaker 1: from the only home she had ever known. The car stopped,

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Speaker 1: but Brother Andrew gestured for her to stay in the

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00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,000
Speaker 1: vehicle while he stepped out and knocked on the door.

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00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,880
Speaker 1: Another man, shorter and balding, stepped out. They both hustled

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00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,120
Speaker 1: back to the car, their eyes darting left and right.

280
00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,520
Speaker 1: As soon as they made it inside, the car sped

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00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,400
Speaker 1: off fast enough that the acceleration pushed Sasha back in

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00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,040
Speaker 1: her seat. The new man sat across from her in

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00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,400
Speaker 1: the autonomous car, second row of bench seats. He was older,

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00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,240
Speaker 1: in his fifties. If he hadn't taken any juven treatments,

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00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,480
Speaker 1: he had tired eyes with deep bags beneath them. While

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00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,640
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew radiated calm, self satisfaction, this man seemed nervous

287
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,320
Speaker 1: and a little frantic. He clutched a small briefcase with

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00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,840
Speaker 1: white knuckled hands. Sasha smiled in an unconscious attempt to

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00:14:55,840 --> 00:15:00,640
Speaker 1: call him. He smiled back. Brother Andrew spoke, Miss Marian,

290
00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,320
Speaker 1: this is brother Brian. He's going to disable your deck.

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00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,200
Speaker 1: It's the only way we can get you across the

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00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,760
Speaker 1: border to our people in the Christian States. Brother Andrew

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00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,440
Speaker 1: smiled and put a hand on Brother Brian's shoulder. The

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00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:13,960
Speaker 1: other man took this cue to open up his suitcase.

295
00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:18,040
Speaker 1: He started to assemble something small, silver and intricate. Brother

296
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,120
Speaker 1: Andrew kept speaking, All it would take is one phone

297
00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:23,040
Speaker 1: call from your parents or your school when the police

298
00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,800
Speaker 1: could spot your precise location from the GPS unit in

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00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,600
Speaker 1: your deck. This car is a dead zone, so you're

300
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:30,800
Speaker 1: safe inside it, but as soon as you exit, you'll

301
00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:32,840
Speaker 1: be back on the map, so we need to remove

302
00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,760
Speaker 1: your deck before that happens. Will it hurt? Sasha remembered

303
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:38,920
Speaker 1: how it had felt when they'd first implanted her deck,

304
00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:41,880
Speaker 1: like having a new tooth forcibly inserted into her jaw.

305
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:44,440
Speaker 1: She'd been four or five at the time. Her head

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00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,600
Speaker 1: had hurt for days. Brother Brian didn't look up from

307
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,200
Speaker 1: his briefcase as he answered her. Yes, I've got a

308
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,680
Speaker 1: topical anesthetic, but nothing stronger. It'll hurt. Sasha nodded gravely.

309
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,920
Speaker 1: She had anticipated this. A little pain was a small

310
00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:00,280
Speaker 1: price to pay to become one of God's elect few.

311
00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,120
Speaker 1: She thought of Paul and Silas stripped and beaten with

312
00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,480
Speaker 1: clubs on the orders of a heathen magistrate. God shows

313
00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:10,680
Speaker 1: his love through salvation, We show ours through sacrifice. The

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00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,120
Speaker 1: memory of Pastor Mike's words helped ease her fears she'd

315
00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:16,840
Speaker 1: miss her deck, but Alexander had said there'd be replacements

316
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,920
Speaker 1: in the heavenly Kingdom. In another minute, Brother Brian had

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00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,880
Speaker 1: finished assembling the tool. It looked like a cross between

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00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:26,360
Speaker 1: a syringe and a handheld shot back. At Brother Andrew's urging,

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00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:28,400
Speaker 1: she moved over to sit on the bench seat next

320
00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,040
Speaker 1: to him. Now lay across my lap, an angle your

321
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,600
Speaker 1: temple towards Brother Brian. A pang of fear flitted across

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00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,320
Speaker 1: her heart. These were men of God, but they were

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00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,560
Speaker 1: also men she didn't know, who were much older and

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00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,120
Speaker 1: larger than her. She had to fight down the urge

325
00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,760
Speaker 1: to panic and flee. You were trusting these men to

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00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,400
Speaker 1: smuggle you across a border, dummy. She hesitated for a

327
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,760
Speaker 1: few sweaty seconds, but eventually Sasha nodded and laid down

328
00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,640
Speaker 1: on Brother Andrew's lap. Her heart beat so loudly that

329
00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,320
Speaker 1: she could hear it crashing in her skull like ocean waves.

330
00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,600
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew put his strong hands on her. He tightened

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00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,960
Speaker 1: his grip. He's holding me down, she realized, and although

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00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:06,199
Speaker 1: he tried to restrain her in a comforting way, the

333
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,000
Speaker 1: liquid mass of panic in her chest almost boiled over.

334
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,479
Speaker 1: There was a sudden, sharp pain as Brother Brian plunged

335
00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:14,720
Speaker 1: the needle in through her temple, and then a dull,

336
00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:19,280
Speaker 1: throbbing feeling like a migraine. Sasha felt dizzy, disoriented, and

337
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,840
Speaker 1: then nauseous in turns. She blacked out for a few seconds.

338
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,439
Speaker 1: When she came back to herself, she realized she had

339
00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,800
Speaker 1: been vomiting. The floor of the car was coated in

340
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:30,160
Speaker 1: the remains of her lunch. Some of it had gotten

341
00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:34,199
Speaker 1: on Brother Andrew's pants leg. Brother Bryan looked disgusted, but

342
00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,520
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew was all smiles and comfort. Jesus, here's your

343
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,919
Speaker 1: suffering sister. He knows what you are giving up in

344
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,719
Speaker 1: his name. You will reap the dividends of this investment

345
00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,600
Speaker 1: in your soul. He helped her up and guided her

346
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,160
Speaker 1: to the opposite bench, where she laid down and continued

347
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,720
Speaker 1: to clutch her throbbing head. She drifted off or passed out,

348
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,040
Speaker 1: and when she came to, the interior of the car

349
00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,399
Speaker 1: had been scrubbed clean. Leaving behind only a brown stain

350
00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:01,159
Speaker 1: and the lingering smell of sick and antiseptic. Sasha guessed

351
00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 1: an hour or more had passed, although without her deck

352
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,920
Speaker 1: it could have been more. They were in the woods now,

353
00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:09,919
Speaker 1: driving along a country road. Brother Andrew explained that they

354
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,439
Speaker 1: were just a few minutes away from the border, and

355
00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,080
Speaker 1: almost as far as an automobile could take them. Soon

356
00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:17,320
Speaker 1: they'd stop in the town of Franklin, right on the

357
00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:19,359
Speaker 1: border of the U. C S, and she'd meet the

358
00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:21,040
Speaker 1: men who would help her on the next stage of

359
00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,840
Speaker 1: her journey. The main border stations are blanketed with cameras,

360
00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:26,960
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew said, but we're right in the thick of

361
00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,480
Speaker 1: the Blue Ridge Mountains here. They can't watch every inch

362
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,880
Speaker 1: of them. We have some coyotes here who know where

363
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,639
Speaker 1: the holes are. One of them will spirit you across. Coyotes,

364
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,280
Speaker 1: Sasha asked. It's an old term, he said, A coyote

365
00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,840
Speaker 1: is someone who helps smuggle people across national borders. Usually

366
00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,560
Speaker 1: the phrase has somewhat mercenary connotations. But the men we

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00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:49,560
Speaker 1: work with, our true believers, soldiers in the Army of God.

368
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,040
Speaker 1: You needn't fear, Miss Marian. A few minutes later, they

369
00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:55,800
Speaker 1: rolled into Franklin. She'd never heard of the place before,

370
00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:57,840
Speaker 1: but a quick look around told her most of what

371
00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,720
Speaker 1: she'd needed to know. Most of the bill things were empty,

372
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,000
Speaker 1: the storefronts were boarded up, the city hall was in disrepair,

373
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,160
Speaker 1: and the skeleton of a once mighty Walmart supercenter dominated

374
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,000
Speaker 1: the south side of town. There was clear fire damage

375
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,960
Speaker 1: around its roof and entrances. Twenty or so years ago,

376
00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,320
Speaker 1: when the Civil War had been at its height, Franklin

377
00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,040
Speaker 1: had swollen with refugees. When the war had ended, the

378
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,640
Speaker 1: refugees had gone elsewhere, and the city had been left

379
00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:24,640
Speaker 1: gutted and exhausted in their absence. The car stopped outside

380
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,399
Speaker 1: of a public park. Sasha noticed that the grass was

381
00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:30,240
Speaker 1: overgrown and the sidewalks around it were cracked and broken.

382
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,240
Speaker 1: She shared a quick prayer with brothers Andrew and Brian,

383
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,399
Speaker 1: then they bid her farewell. The car pulled away and

384
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,080
Speaker 1: Sasha was alone. She'd been told to find a park

385
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,840
Speaker 1: bench and wait just a few minutes, so that's what

386
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,720
Speaker 1: she did. A few minutes turned into ten, then fifteen,

387
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,480
Speaker 1: then twenty. Sasha began to worry again. That was when

388
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,520
Speaker 1: she really started to miss her deck. Normally, she'd been

389
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:54,520
Speaker 1: able to catch up on the latest news from Zion,

390
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,240
Speaker 1: read one of her favorite issues of Revelator, and maybe

391
00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,400
Speaker 1: even touch base with Alexander. Without it, she only had

392
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,719
Speaker 1: the throbbing pain in her head to keep her occupied.

393
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,880
Speaker 1: Sasha's mind wandered to the rolling mountains on the horizon.

394
00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 1: She'd never spent so much as a night out camping before.

395
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,000
Speaker 1: The wildest animal she'd ever seen was a squirrel, and

396
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 1: there aren't bears out there. That scared her more than

397
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,679
Speaker 1: the prospect of being arrested, or even the fear of

398
00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:20,440
Speaker 1: what might happen to her nearer to the fighting. Dying

399
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,840
Speaker 1: alone in a drone strike or from a sniper's bullet

400
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,399
Speaker 1: would be quick and expected. Given where she was going,

401
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:27,920
Speaker 1: She'd spent a lot of time thinking about dying from

402
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,159
Speaker 1: sudden violence. It had acquired a patina of romance in

403
00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:33,840
Speaker 1: her mind's eye. But dying on some mountain to a

404
00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,560
Speaker 1: slavering monster from another age. Sasha shuddered, seized by a

405
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,000
Speaker 1: chill entirely at odds with the extreme heat of this

406
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,680
Speaker 1: August day, it was a hundred and nine at least.

407
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:45,359
Speaker 1: Sasha rooted through her bag and pulled out a small

408
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,080
Speaker 1: leather bound bible she'd received as a Christmas gift from

409
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,840
Speaker 1: her dad two years ago. She opened it at random

410
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,200
Speaker 1: and found herself in the Book of Jonah. In my distress,

411
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,399
Speaker 1: I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From

412
00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:58,480
Speaker 1: deep in the realm of the dead, I called for help,

413
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 1: and you listened to my cry. She read on through

414
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,480
Speaker 1: the rest of Jonah's cries to the whale, vomiting him

415
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,960
Speaker 1: up onto the shores near Nineveh. The word of God

416
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,720
Speaker 1: calmed her. She grew so engrossed in her scripture that

417
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:12,440
Speaker 1: she was taken completely by surprise when the coyote found

418
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,879
Speaker 1: her on the park bench. Miss marian a man's voice,

419
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 1: weathered and gravelly, said from behind her, you'd serve us

420
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,480
Speaker 1: both whale by putting that book away. This is not

421
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,240
Speaker 1: a safe place. She looked up the coyote. He was

422
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:27,879
Speaker 1: older than she'd expected, in his mid forties at least.

423
00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:30,680
Speaker 1: He had a mop of greasy blonde hair, a round face,

424
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,280
Speaker 1: kind blue eyes, and a slight paunch that spoke more

425
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,240
Speaker 1: to his age than an activity. He had thick biceps

426
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,440
Speaker 1: and forearms that bulged with corded muscle. His thighs were

427
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:41,400
Speaker 1: large too. He had the look of a man who

428
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,280
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time on his feet. Mister, she

429
00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,439
Speaker 1: asked Jonah. He said, you can call me Jonah. And

430
00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 1: again the knots and her stomach melted away. She rejoiced inside.

431
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 1: Over and over her faith had flagged, and over and

432
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,520
Speaker 1: over the Lord had sent her signs of his love

433
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,560
Speaker 1: and approval. That's what trusting and reason gets you. She

434
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,400
Speaker 1: had missed herself fear and pain. God is watching out

435
00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,760
Speaker 1: for me. Her childish fear of bears faded away. Suddenly

436
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,359
Speaker 1: the world and her future felt bright and exciting again.

437
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,400
Speaker 1: After years of delay, she was finally on the doorstep

438
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,639
Speaker 1: of Zion. Jonah, I'm ready to go. You lead the

439
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,160
Speaker 1: way and I will follow. It took about an hour

440
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 1: for Sasha to decide that she liked camping, and then

441
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,159
Speaker 1: two more hours to decide that she never wanted to

442
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,879
Speaker 1: camp ever again. By the time they stopped for the night,

443
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 1: she'd gouged herself open on half a dozen different tree branches,

444
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:32,840
Speaker 1: smashed her left toe into a rock, and somehow managed

445
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,720
Speaker 1: to draw every allergy on the East Coast into her nose.

446
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,399
Speaker 1: The headaches from her improvised surgery and her throbbing sinuses

447
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,920
Speaker 1: warred for dominance. She couldn't sleep, food had no taste,

448
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,800
Speaker 1: and her hands were too grubby and generally snotty to

449
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,960
Speaker 1: allow her to read the Bible. Jonah was not as

450
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 1: talkative as brother Andrew. He'd given her a brief rundown

451
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:54,240
Speaker 1: of things to avoid out in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

452
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,679
Speaker 1: He'd told her how to recognize timber rattlers, diamondbacks, and

453
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 1: copper heads, although for some reason she had much more

454
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,200
Speaker 1: trouble retaining that information than she'd had memorizing the Pythagorean

455
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,440
Speaker 1: theorem or the date and importance of the Battle of Hastings.

456
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 1: She was supposed to watch for pointy heads, she knew that,

457
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:12,560
Speaker 1: but every time a snake slithered past her, it moved

458
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,359
Speaker 1: way too fast for her to tell the shape of

459
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 1: its head. Other than that quick lecture and a few

460
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,680
Speaker 1: admonishments for her to step lightly, Jonah hadn't said much.

461
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,760
Speaker 1: He'd given her food each night, protein bars and nuts. Mostly,

462
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 1: he'd been kind enough to let her snuggle with the

463
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 1: heated blanket he'd brought along. She knew she'd gotten snot

464
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,640
Speaker 1: on it, but he never complained. When they settled into

465
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,200
Speaker 1: camp on the second night, Sasha was surprised to see

466
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: her coyote start to gather wood and build a fire.

467
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,920
Speaker 1: He laughed when he saw the dumbfounded look on Sasha's face.

468
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 1: He pulled out a small yellow bottle of lighter fluid,

469
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,840
Speaker 1: squirted it onto the wood, and then lit the edge

470
00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 1: of it with his lighter. The fire leapt to life,

471
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 1: burning away at the pine needles until they caught the

472
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,119
Speaker 1: smaller sticks and limbs stacked round in a small box. Next,

473
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,600
Speaker 1: he pulled two silver pouches out of his backpack and

474
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 1: handed them to her. The labels informed her that one

475
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,920
Speaker 1: contained chicken and dumplings and the other Macaronian cheese. Her

476
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 1: mouth was watering before the first and to night, Miss Marian,

477
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,120
Speaker 1: Ye get a fire and a hot mail. We're over

478
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: the line. And that was how Sasha learned she'd crossed

479
00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 1: the border into the United Christian States. She had successfully

480
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,840
Speaker 1: fled her country and the secular rule of law entirely.

481
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:20,879
Speaker 1: The u c S wasn't a true godly state, not

482
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 1: by her standards. It's multi denominational acceptance was a denial

483
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: of the harsh truth of God's love. Not everyone who

484
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,680
Speaker 1: called themselves a Christian truly lived in such a way

485
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 1: as to earn God's gift of salvation. But just being

486
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,680
Speaker 1: in a country that acknowledged the primacy of God Almighty

487
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: in their law and public policy was enough. For now.

488
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 1: There's no abortion here, she thought, with awe. No atheists

489
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:47,119
Speaker 1: on television mocking the Lord no callow acceptance of primarital sex.

490
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 1: She felt a thrill at being in a place that

491
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: was so much closer to her conception of right. It

492
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 1: didn't even matter that she was still stuck in the woods. Jonah,

493
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,200
Speaker 1: she asked, do you live here most of the time? Yes.

494
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: He had a quiet, soulful voice that made him seem

495
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,080
Speaker 1: even older than he looked. What made you decide to

496
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,960
Speaker 1: start smuggling people out of the am fed? She stared

497
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,520
Speaker 1: into the tree line as his hands stuffed thin sticks

498
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,240
Speaker 1: into the base of the growing fire. Sasha watched his

499
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: jaw clinch and unclinched, as if he was mentally rehearsing

500
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 1: his response before he said it out loud as a

501
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,880
Speaker 1: United States armor arranger. Once been a Christian my whole life,

502
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 1: though Southern Baptist, grew up in a country just as

503
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 1: lost to sin and vius as yours is, and when

504
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 1: the fighting started. I saw an opportunity to bring my

505
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 1: nation back to its godly roots. Hands emptied, Jonah rooted

506
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 1: around his bag and pulled out a kettle. He filled

507
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 1: it with water from a heavy fabric bag and placed

508
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,320
Speaker 1: it on a flat rock near the edge of the fire.

509
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 1: Then he stood up, gestured for her to follow, and

510
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,120
Speaker 1: walked over to a nearby copse of trees. I joined

511
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: a local militian Marietta near Atlanta. He said, most of

512
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:54,119
Speaker 1: us are Vettes like me, anither Baptist or Pentecostal. He

513
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: crouched down next to a tree that had been cracked

514
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 1: in half by lightning. It was dead and very dry.

515
00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:01,640
Speaker 1: The ground around was littered with tree limbs and thick

516
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:04,199
Speaker 1: slabs of bark. He started gathering up some of the

517
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: larger pieces. Mom, get down, are and l Some of

518
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 1: these are a little damp, but we'll stick them around

519
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 1: the edges to dry out. The most important thing right

520
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: now is to get some middle in size logs in

521
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 1: there so we can build up a little bit of coals.

522
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 1: Sasha wiped a runnel of snot from her face and

523
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 1: knelt down to help. Jonah continued his story while they

524
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,440
Speaker 1: filled their arms anyway, things heated up. The army started

525
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,960
Speaker 1: calling in their deep reserves guys lack maidman out for

526
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:29,920
Speaker 1: Dagham near a decade. That was after the fids Nut

527
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 1: Dallas so go an active duty again didn't sound good

528
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 1: to anyone. He lifted away a fallen limb and revealed

529
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: a massive log, roughly the size of Sasha's torso. Jonah

530
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,439
Speaker 1: shifted everything he'd gathered over to his right arm and

531
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 1: then hafter the log with one hand. He nodded at

532
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,120
Speaker 1: Sasha's much smaller pile. We've probably got enough, he said.

533
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 1: They headed back to the camp site. She could see

534
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 1: Jonah was doing that twitchy jaw thing again, thinking carefully

535
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,680
Speaker 1: about every word. I grew up real patriotic, you understand.

536
00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 1: I love my country, fought for it down south. But

537
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,680
Speaker 1: I also grew up with a Confederate flag on the

538
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 1: back of my dad's truck. I wasn't on board with

539
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: those Marxists who started the Civil War, So when Governor

540
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 1: Galen had his referendum on secession, well I fell right.

541
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,160
Speaker 1: I was on board with the u c S back

542
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 1: before it was even born. They sat around the fire again.

543
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: Jonah started to add in larger branches. He slowly built

544
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: the fire in a U shape around the flat stone. Now,

545
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 1: I is never a fanatic when a church most Sundays,

546
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,920
Speaker 1: but I had jew neighbors, a couple of Muslims in

547
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: the unit. Good guys. Wasn't real political, you know. But

548
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,479
Speaker 1: Pastor Elgin's gave a speech only time I saw him

549
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 1: in person. He said, diversity wasn't making us strong anymore.

550
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: A melting pots all well and good, but the quality

551
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,960
Speaker 1: of the soup depends on the recipe. That made sense

552
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 1: to me. He sat back, popped the kettle onto the rock,

553
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,640
Speaker 1: and looked over to Sasha. The ideal was a Christian

554
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,439
Speaker 1: recipe would make for a stronger nation, but the U

555
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,360
Speaker 1: c s wound up being a dag un prosperity gospel

556
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: pile of nonsense better in the Amphid. Sure, maybe we've

557
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,879
Speaker 1: got less queer politicians, less rich Jews running things, but

558
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,439
Speaker 1: it's still corrupt here. Sasha wasn't really sure how to

559
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:07,240
Speaker 1: handle this disclosure. She'd run into similar attitudes among believers online,

560
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 1: uncomfortable references to Jewish gay or gay Jewish conspiracies. That

561
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,919
Speaker 1: sort of nonsense had always gotten on her nerves, but

562
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,600
Speaker 1: she'd written its purveyors off as edge lords and trolls.

563
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 1: Part of her thought they might be CIA plants hell

564
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:21,880
Speaker 1: bent on making the Kingdom look bad, but she knew

565
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,159
Speaker 1: they didn't speak for the actual heart of the movement.

566
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 1: Sasha wanted to speak up, but she held her tongue.

567
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:29,879
Speaker 1: The fact that Jonah had been nothing but kind and

568
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,200
Speaker 1: respectful to her didn't change the fact that he was

569
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,639
Speaker 1: twice her size, who knew what he might do if

570
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,679
Speaker 1: he got agitated. Sasha fought for calm and recalled a

571
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 1: specific passage from Revelator and one of their guides for

572
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,760
Speaker 1: young women immigrating to the Kingdom. No, daughters, that our

573
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: Lord made your brothers and husbands both strong of body

574
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 1: and quick to anger. It is your job to soothe,

575
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 1: not in sight. And if his wrath falls upon you

576
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: in a sudden burst, remember the forgiveness and patience of

577
00:28:55,840 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 1: our Lord. Let his example guide your reactions. So she

578
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 1: smiled at Jonah and said, tonight, I'm happy enough to

579
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: be in a godly land. He smiled back. Sasha hoped

580
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: God was proud of her for being meek as Mary.

581
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 1: When she thought about it that way, The rest of

582
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 1: the night was surprisingly tolerable. The food wasn't good by

583
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 1: her normal standards, but it was hot and savory, and

584
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 1: after days of protein bars, it was exactly what her

585
00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 1: suffering stomach needed. Sasha wasn't aware of wind she drifted

586
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 1: off to sleep. Jonah woke her up the next morning,

587
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 1: not long after the crack of dawn. He handed her

588
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 1: a box of wet napkins and walked off into the

589
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 1: woods for a few minutes while she cleaned herself off

590
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 1: as much as possible. When she was done, he led

591
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:37,800
Speaker 1: her down the mountain and into a small town on

592
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 1: the border. It was Sasha's first real look at life

593
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,600
Speaker 1: in the UCS, and it did not disappoint. In the

594
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: twenty or so minutes they were outside, she saw nine churches.

595
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 1: There were crosses on every house in a dizzying variety.

596
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,040
Speaker 1: She saw Bible quotes printed on windows of shops and cafes,

597
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 1: and the strangers who passed them in the street all

598
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,719
Speaker 1: flashed warm smiles of you, offered their blessings. Sasha had

599
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 1: never seen such public to splay of religion. She floated

600
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: through those first few minutes on a cloud of giddiness

601
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 1: unlike anything she'd ever known. The architecture and the environment

602
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 1: were similar to what she'd grown up with, but everything

603
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 1: else seemed alien and the most exciting way possible. Sasha

604
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,960
Speaker 1: felt so light she did almost feel the Holy Spirit

605
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 1: lift her up. Her gleeful reverie only ended when Jonah

606
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 1: led her up to the door of an unassuming brownstone house.

607
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 1: They were taken in by another man, whom Jonah had introduced,

608
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: a Saul. Saul looked a little younger and a lot

609
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 1: less weathered than Jonah. He had the thin arms and

610
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: stooped posture of a lifelong scholar, and his conservative, button

611
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: up white shirt made him look more like a youth

612
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:39,960
Speaker 1: pastor than a people smuggler. Welcome sister, he smiled, but

613
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 1: his voice was more haggard than warm. You want to

614
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,520
Speaker 1: get inside, please, There's no sense tempting the law. Saul's

615
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 1: house was packed to the rafters with toilet paper, jugs

616
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: of water, bends of freeze, dried food, and bags upon

617
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,160
Speaker 1: bags of clothing. The house had almost no furniture and

618
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: no decorations aside from a large wooden cross above the hearth.

619
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 1: There were a couple of stools arranged around a crate

620
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 1: on the round, which seemed to have served as an

621
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: improvised coffee table. Saul sat them down, left for a moment,

622
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: and came back with a hot French press filled with coffee.

623
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: I'd suggest drinking your fill. It's hard to come by

624
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom right now, most things are. I'm afraid.

625
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 1: I'm not scared of hardship, she said, a little too loud.

626
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 1: You sound like a little kid. Keep your stupid mouth

627
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: shut or they'll think you can't handle it. Saul was

628
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 1: conspicuously silent, but Jonah spoke up. She handle yourself well

629
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 1: out in the woods, he said, not bad for a

630
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 1: city girl. Didn't have a lott a woodcraft, but did

631
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: have an open heart. He took well to it, ma'am.

632
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 1: Saul chuckled as he began to pour in hand out

633
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 1: cups of coffee, first to her and then to Jonah.

634
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,640
Speaker 1: Sasha wasn't entirely sure why, but she waited until both

635
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: men had taken their first SIPs to take hers. She

636
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 1: didn't know much about coffee, but she was pretty sure

637
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: this wasn't the beverage at its best. Would you like

638
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 1: to pray with us, miss Marian, Saul asked, Of course.

639
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 1: He extended his hands out on either side, so did Jonah.

640
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 1: Sasha took Saul's left and Jonah's right. Havely, Father, Saul began,

641
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 1: bless this young woman who comes to you with a

642
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:05,840
Speaker 1: full heart from a land of sin and shirk. She's

643
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,800
Speaker 1: given up all pretense of control and yielded herself fully

644
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 1: to your grace. Lord, Please guide her in this next journey.

645
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 1: We pray that she makes it safely to your kingdom

646
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,000
Speaker 1: and into the arms of her husband to be. Sasha

647
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,360
Speaker 1: almost paid. Where did he hear that she and Alexander

648
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: hadn't even met yet, there'd been no proposal. Was he

649
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 1: just speaking in the general hope that she'd get married,

650
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: or had Alexander told him something? May she obey him

651
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: as she does you, Heavenly Father, and may you quicken

652
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 1: her womb like Rachel, so that she delivers a new

653
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 1: Joseph to our cause. That didn't sit well either. Sasha

654
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 1: wanted children very badly. She knew they were in her future,

655
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 1: but not now, certainly not soon enough that she'd be

656
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 1: praying for them already. She was grateful that they had

657
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,080
Speaker 1: their heads bowed in prayer. If any of this had

658
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 1: come up in conversation first, she was sure she'd have

659
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,120
Speaker 1: reacted an obvious shock, but Sasha calmed herself, thought of

660
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:57,479
Speaker 1: her duty to God, and centered her mind just as

661
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 1: the prayer ended. And A Sam A lady, it is

662
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,760
Speaker 1: a brave thing you're doing, Sasha said, as he reached

663
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: for his cup and took another sip. Even here in

664
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 1: God's country, not many are willing to answer the call.

665
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,920
Speaker 1: Oh sure, they'll all tell you it's the drone strikes

666
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 1: that scared them. I can do more good by working

667
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 1: my job and sending money, as if the Lord asked

668
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 1: Abraham to sacrifice a bag of gold in his name.

669
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 1: Saul kept talking, but Sasha's attention drifted the spot on

670
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,080
Speaker 1: her head where the deck had been itched. All of

671
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 1: a sudden, she scratched it, and for the second time,

672
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,800
Speaker 1: she found herself truly missing the gadget. If she had

673
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 1: her deck, she could call Alexander and find out what

674
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 1: was going on, But instead she just squirmed a little

675
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:37,880
Speaker 1: in her chair and hoped the men didn't notice how

676
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,479
Speaker 1: uncomfortable she'd become. Miss Marian You all right, Jonah had noticed,

677
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 1: of course he had. Sasha cursed herself and then cursed

678
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: herself again for cursing. Yes, sorry, I'm kind of tired,

679
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: even with the coffee, and I'm um worried about my

680
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: friend in the Kingdom. She definitely stressed the word friend

681
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 1: too much. Do you think I'll be able to find

682
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 1: a deck once I'm there? I've heard a lot of

683
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 1: different ma'am that with Saul, and his voice had no

684
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,480
Speaker 1: more feigned mirth. You're about to be smuggled illegally across

685
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 1: a heavily fortified border. There are all sorts of worldly

686
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,200
Speaker 1: goods in the heavenly Kingdom. Were not poppers or savages.

687
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 1: But as to whether you'll get a deck, well, that

688
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,400
Speaker 1: rather depends on what our Lord wants for you. Sasha

689
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:17,840
Speaker 1: lowered her head a little in submission. There wasn't the

690
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,720
Speaker 1: time to press further. Maybe that time would never come.

691
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 1: You knew there'd be sacrifices, she reminded herself. How are

692
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 1: you going to smuggle me across the border? She asked.

693
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,239
Speaker 1: Saul finished his coffee and set his mug down on

694
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,839
Speaker 1: the makeshift table. I'll show you, he said. He let

695
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 1: her pass the living room and into a spacious and

696
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,160
Speaker 1: very chilly garage. They're a trio of workers with face

697
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 1: masks were busy sealing up large crates of unfinished wood.

698
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,800
Speaker 1: She couldn't quite make out the words stamped on the sides,

699
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 1: but the blocky font looked military. There was a time

700
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:50,840
Speaker 1: when it was easy enough to sneak the faithful across

701
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 1: on foot, Saul explained, but international concerns have forced the

702
00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 1: government to take a rather hard line. I'm afraid this

703
00:34:57,239 --> 00:34:59,760
Speaker 1: is the best way to get across the border. Wait.

704
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:02,279
Speaker 1: Sasha's gut went sour. She felt the acid in her

705
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 1: stomach churn a greasy boil. Are you trying to tell

706
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:08,000
Speaker 1: me I'm going to be nailed inside a crate? Saul's

707
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,200
Speaker 1: face turned. There was no pretense anymore. He was disgusted

708
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:14,160
Speaker 1: with her. Sasha didn't really know why. All she'd done

709
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,920
Speaker 1: was asked questions. But then Jonah was there with a

710
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,600
Speaker 1: hand on Saul's shoulder and a calm voice in her ear.

711
00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,240
Speaker 1: Think of this as a blessing, said Jonah. Most people

712
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,719
Speaker 1: never test the blind part of blind faith. He was right,

713
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 1: darn it, and there was something freeing in the idea

714
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,760
Speaker 1: of just giving herself up to Providence. She'd done everything

715
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: God had asked of her. Now he would either deliver

716
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 1: her desire on or the arms of the law. Either way,

717
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:40,480
Speaker 1: She'd done everything she could to obey the call of

718
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 1: her faith. All the little sins of her life, the

719
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,040
Speaker 1: cursing and the anger, and those dark, gnawing desires she

720
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 1: still struggled to tamp down. Those would all be forgiven.

721
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,200
Speaker 1: She was truly giving herself to Christ now, so nothing

722
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 1: else mattered. You're right, she said, I'm sorry, I questioned it.

723
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,320
Speaker 1: I'll do whatever it takes to reach the heavenly kingdom.

724
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 1: She took another hard look at the cramped wooden box

725
00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,359
Speaker 1: and the piles of aid supplies surrounding it. How was

726
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 1: she going to fit in there? Whatever it takes? Chapter

727
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 1: seven Manny Manny was used to war, he wasn't quite

728
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: as used to being on the losing side of one.

729
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:27,920
Speaker 1: As chaotic as things gotten Sida de Muerta, his guys

730
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 1: had always held the upper hand. Manny had come to

731
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,839
Speaker 1: expect safe supply lines and reliable transport to and from

732
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:37,960
Speaker 1: the battlefield. During past defensives, the martyrs hadn't controlled the skies.

733
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:40,920
Speaker 1: His first hint that this had changed came when the

734
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 1: fifty caliber machine gun atop their transport fired into the sky.

735
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 1: It was soon joined by the echoing boom of the

736
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,279
Speaker 1: lead vehicle's twenty millimeter cannon and a sparking whoosh as

737
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 1: anti drone rockets arched up into the sky. Nuts Reggie

738
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 1: yelped as the gunfire jolted him awake. He drifted off

739
00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,600
Speaker 1: a half hour or so into the ride. Manny grabbed

740
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:01,839
Speaker 1: onto him and looped his own legs around the bench

741
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 1: for stability. An instant later, the transport veered off of

742
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 1: the road and into the high grass surrounding the highway.

743
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 1: There was a flash somewhere to the left, followed by

744
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,919
Speaker 1: the roar and heat of an explosion. When Mannie looked back,

745
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,200
Speaker 1: he saw the smoldering wreckage of one of their escort

746
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:19,080
Speaker 1: vehicles drones. He shouted into the journalist's gear over the

747
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 1: blistering gunfire. Mannie scanned the skies as their transport plowed

748
00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 1: through the tall grass. Wounded soldier screamed as the vehicle

749
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:28,399
Speaker 1: banked and bounced and sent them slamming into each other.

750
00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:30,840
Speaker 1: He caught sight of a small drone, maybe the size

751
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,320
Speaker 1: of his torso. It was matt black and an almost

752
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 1: perfect oval. The only break in its seamless form was

753
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 1: the bulge of a missile pod on its belly. A

754
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 1: red light blinked above the weapon. The drone slowed to

755
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 1: a stop, maybe a hundred feet above them. There wasn't

756
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,480
Speaker 1: time to think. The fixer shoved his journalist hard off

757
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 1: the back of the transport and then leaped off himself.

758
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 1: He hit the ground with a painful thump that knocked

759
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 1: the air out of his lungs and the scents from

760
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 1: his mind. For a second, the whole world was stars

761
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,759
Speaker 1: and shock. Mannie rolled to a rough stop against what

762
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:02,320
Speaker 1: felt like a large rock. Something cracked inside his chest,

763
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:05,799
Speaker 1: and then there was another explosion, this one louder and

764
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,319
Speaker 1: closer than the last one. The heat hit him like

765
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,080
Speaker 1: an ocean wave. Many was vaguely aware of the scent

766
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:14,239
Speaker 1: of burning hair, his hair. He cried out, but he

767
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,239
Speaker 1: couldn't hear his own screams. Many's ears rang like the

768
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 1: inside of a church bell. It was several moments before

769
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,279
Speaker 1: the pain and shock subsided enough for him to open

770
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,440
Speaker 1: his eyes. He looked down at himself. First, his pajamas

771
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 1: were scorched and his arms were scraped and bloody from

772
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:30,120
Speaker 1: the fall. His backpack was gone, but there were no

773
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,480
Speaker 1: signs of serious injury. None of his bones seemed broken.

774
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,120
Speaker 1: What remained of the transport smoldered half a football field away.

775
00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 1: He saw a few writhing, burning shapes. Inside Many's stomach

776
00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:45,440
Speaker 1: turned Reggie. The pain of the fall head momentarily wiped

777
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 1: the journalist from his mind. Many scanned the field and

778
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,680
Speaker 1: found the other man curled into a fetal ball a

779
00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 1: dozen or so feet to his left. He ran over,

780
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:56,160
Speaker 1: gave the journalist a quick scan, and determined Reggie wasn't

781
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,640
Speaker 1: seriously injured either. A small slipper of shrapnel had pierced

782
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 1: the other aunt's bicep. He was just as scraped and

783
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 1: bloody as Manny, but also basically intact, except his eyes

784
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:08,319
Speaker 1: didn't quite focus when Manny looked into them. Maybe a

785
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 1: minor head injury. The journalist said something, a lot of something's,

786
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,160
Speaker 1: in fact, but Manny's hearing was all tenitus. There was

787
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 1: no time to talk anyway. He hoisted Reggie up by

788
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,919
Speaker 1: the armpits, ignored the other man's pained expression, and pulled

789
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:23,520
Speaker 1: him along as he beat feet away from the flaming wreckage.

790
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 1: In the ongoing firefight, another blast way of rolled over him,

791
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:29,760
Speaker 1: this one more distant, and then another coming from somewhere

792
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,720
Speaker 1: above them in the sky. The extent of their injuries

793
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,200
Speaker 1: meant that their run was more like a hobble. Reggie

794
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: had dislocated his unshrapnelled arm. Manny had fucked his knee

795
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 1: up in the fall and done something awful to his ribs.

796
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 1: The two stumble staggered as fast as they could manage

797
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 1: towards an abandoned gas station by the side of the

798
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,759
Speaker 1: old highway. They reached their temporary salvation and took cover

799
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:53,240
Speaker 1: inside the dusty, cobwebbed building. Cut cut, cut, cut, cut.

800
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 1: Reggie screamed as he slumped down against the wall. It

801
00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:57,719
Speaker 1: took Manny a second to process the fact that he

802
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,759
Speaker 1: could hear again. You're all right, he out it. You're fine.

803
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,920
Speaker 1: We're going to be okay. Manny had no idea if

804
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 1: that was true, but he knew managing fear would be

805
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:09,520
Speaker 1: critical to their survival. The gas station had been abandoned

806
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:11,800
Speaker 1: for a decade or more. Most of the glass was gone,

807
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 1: but the basic structure of the inside counter was still intact.

808
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,320
Speaker 1: He and Reggie took cover behind it, careful to avoid

809
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,040
Speaker 1: the piles of shattered glass and shrapnel. There were old

810
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 1: bullet holes in the wall all around them. At one

811
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:24,600
Speaker 1: time There'd been a plexiglass window on the inside wall

812
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:26,400
Speaker 1: behind the counter with a little bucket in it, so

813
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,600
Speaker 1: the cashier could do business at night without letting customers inside.

814
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 1: Most of the plexiglass had been removed, leaving a gaping

815
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,680
Speaker 1: wound in the building's concrete hide. Manny stuck his head

816
00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:37,239
Speaker 1: out of the hole and looked out at the sight

817
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:40,400
Speaker 1: of the massacre. Both transports had been hit. Much of

818
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:42,759
Speaker 1: the field was a flame. The six sweet smell of

819
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 1: burning human flesh wafted over them like a dense fog.

820
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 1: Manny saw two of the escort trucks still firing into

821
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:50,960
Speaker 1: the sky. There was another flash above as one of

822
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,239
Speaker 1: them hit a drone. It corkscred out of the air

823
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,399
Speaker 1: burst on the ground and ignited the dry grass. What

824
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,160
Speaker 1: the funk do we do, Reggie shout asked. There was

825
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,239
Speaker 1: panic in his voice and quite a lot of pain,

826
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:03,840
Speaker 1: but the journalist didn't seem to have lost his wits.

827
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 1: We need to get out of here, Manny said, Well,

828
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,439
Speaker 1: those drones are still occupied. The highway was a couple

829
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,359
Speaker 1: of hundred feet away. The civilian vehicles following them had

830
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 1: scattered when the attack began. Some of them had clearly

831
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:17,360
Speaker 1: been hit by machine gun fire from one of the drones.

832
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,319
Speaker 1: Others had crashed, rolled into ditches, and been abandoned by

833
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 1: their occupants. Manny spotted one, an ancient white jeep that

834
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:26,320
Speaker 1: looked like it had taken around Through the window. He

835
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,840
Speaker 1: could see blood inside the vehicle, but the engine and

836
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:31,760
Speaker 1: wheels seemed intact. The tree line of a sparse forest

837
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: was just on the other side of the highway, a

838
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:36,800
Speaker 1: half mile away. If they could reach it, Reggie, he

839
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: put a hand on the journalist's shoulder. The two men

840
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 1: locked eyes, and many tried to force all the fear

841
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 1: out of his voice. When I say so, run very fast,

842
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,920
Speaker 1: straight towards that white jeep. Understood the brit brought a

843
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:50,759
Speaker 1: hand to his dislocated shoulder and winced in intense pain,

844
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:52,799
Speaker 1: but then looked back to Manny and let out a

845
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,880
Speaker 1: sharp sigh. Fucking all right, shit, yeah. Manny took that

846
00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:59,279
Speaker 1: as a yes. He glanced back at the firefight in

847
00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:02,439
Speaker 1: the field. The fire part was literal, now at least

848
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:04,799
Speaker 1: a full acre was aflame. The smoke seemed to have

849
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 1: interfered with the drone censors. That was probably the only

850
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,839
Speaker 1: reason their last two escorts had stayed unfucked for so long.

851
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 1: Manny watched in horror as a large beetle black drone

852
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,399
Speaker 1: buzzed down low and opened up with a machine gun.

853
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:18,919
Speaker 1: He saw bursts of red as the rounds tore into

854
00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:21,319
Speaker 1: the escorts gunner and flung him off the truck's bed.

855
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,240
Speaker 1: Time to go, Manny slapped Reggie's uninjured shoulder and sprinted

856
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,000
Speaker 1: as fast as his jankie ankle could carry him. It

857
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: was increasingly obvious that his leg was supremely fucked. The

858
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,080
Speaker 1: middle of Manny's back itched the whole run in anticipation

859
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,960
Speaker 1: of a bullet. That peculiar sense was even louder than

860
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:40,040
Speaker 1: the pain. They reached the jeep, Manny went for the

861
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:42,719
Speaker 1: driver's side door, pulled it open, and jerked back as

862
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:45,359
Speaker 1: the soupy remains of a pulped human being oozed out

863
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:49,280
Speaker 1: onto the asphalt. He heard Reggie start to wretch behind him.

864
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:51,880
Speaker 1: It was fucked in there, for sure. The man he

865
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:53,680
Speaker 1: was sort of sure it had been a man, had

866
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:56,000
Speaker 1: taken a couple of rounds from a very large weapon.

867
00:42:56,560 --> 00:42:59,840
Speaker 1: Manny guessed they'd been fifty caliber mass reactive bolts because

868
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:02,520
Speaker 1: the impact had torn the man apart. He wasn't sure

869
00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 1: if additional rounds or bone shrapnel had hit the two

870
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:08,319
Speaker 1: kids in the back seat, but they were all exceptionally dead.

871
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:11,000
Speaker 1: Many pulled his shirt off and did his best to

872
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:13,280
Speaker 1: wipe the corpse from as much of the seat as possible.

873
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:16,320
Speaker 1: He hopped in and glanced over to the journalist. Reggie

874
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:19,399
Speaker 1: wretched outside, Hey, get the funk in, We don't got all.

875
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:23,000
Speaker 1: A concussive blast echoed from the field. That was one

876
00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:25,560
Speaker 1: more escort down. The fight was as good as over.

877
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:27,800
Speaker 1: Many felt a tinge of panic rise up in the

878
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 1: base of his spine. Reggie still hesitated. Dude, either deal

879
00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:33,680
Speaker 1: with some gore in your clothes or stay here and die.

880
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:36,320
Speaker 1: Your choice. The Brits snapped out of it, went for

881
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:39,919
Speaker 1: the passenger door and hopped inside. Manny wasn't a great driver,

882
00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:42,160
Speaker 1: or even a very good one, but this was a

883
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 1: simple vehicle, and he was blessed with the motivation of

884
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:46,960
Speaker 1: not wanting to die. He turned the car back on

885
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:49,719
Speaker 1: and the engine woke up with a rich electronic hum.

886
00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:52,239
Speaker 1: The fixer flipped the vehicle into drive and gunned for

887
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:55,120
Speaker 1: the tree line. The jeep bounced and swayed over the

888
00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:58,720
Speaker 1: lumpy grassland ter rain. Reggie puked out the window. Manny

889
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,360
Speaker 1: felt nauseous too. He honestly wasn't sure if it was

890
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:03,800
Speaker 1: more for the pieces of people scattered inside the vehicle

891
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:08,880
Speaker 1: or sheer motion sickness. Fifteen seconds went by, thirty a minute.

892
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:11,319
Speaker 1: Manny allowed himself to think they might make it out

893
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:16,120
Speaker 1: of this alive. And then he heard the buzz, that sickening,

894
00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:18,839
Speaker 1: familiar machine hum that every war zone kid knew, as

895
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,239
Speaker 1: well as the sound of their own mother's voice. A

896
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,920
Speaker 1: drone closing in. Manny jerked his head out the window

897
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,160
Speaker 1: and scanned the sky. The jeep had a pothole, and

898
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:29,320
Speaker 1: his head slammed to the top of the window frame.

899
00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 1: He saw stars and almost lost control of the vehicle entirely.

900
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:35,000
Speaker 1: It veered to the right and lifted up onto only

901
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,640
Speaker 1: two wheels. He righted the jeep, spun it back to

902
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,319
Speaker 1: the left, and gunned it again. As he turned the

903
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:41,680
Speaker 1: other way, he stuck his head out again and scanned

904
00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:45,160
Speaker 1: behind them. There it was the black beadily fucker buzzing

905
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,239
Speaker 1: towards them. It was close enough that he could see

906
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:49,279
Speaker 1: the glint of its camera optics and the barrel of

907
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,200
Speaker 1: the heavy machine guns slung underneath it. Manny knew it

908
00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:54,520
Speaker 1: was picking up speed to compensate for the recoil of

909
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:56,880
Speaker 1: its weapon. It would be low on ammunition now and

910
00:44:57,080 --> 00:44:59,719
Speaker 1: probably wait to fire until it was too close to miss.

911
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 1: The tree line was so near he could almost grab it.

912
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,800
Speaker 1: Another fifteen seconds and they'd be there, But the drone

913
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,839
Speaker 1: was close. They didn't have that long. He looked over

914
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 1: to the journalist, get ready to bail, Get ready to

915
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:14,399
Speaker 1: what Manny saw the muzzle flash, and in the same

916
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:16,880
Speaker 1: instant he spun the wheel hard to the right. The

917
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 1: drone's first round chunked through the back of the jeep,

918
00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:21,799
Speaker 1: cracked the axle, and blew apart the left tire, but

919
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:23,719
Speaker 1: the jeep was in the air. An instant later. It

920
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,040
Speaker 1: flipped over like a drunken dolphin, and the rest of

921
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:28,480
Speaker 1: the drone shots blasted chunks out of the ground where

922
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,880
Speaker 1: the jeep would have been. By the end of the burst,

923
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,200
Speaker 1: the recoil had robbed the drone of its momentum and

924
00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 1: brought it to a spinning halt in the sky. The

925
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:38,440
Speaker 1: jeep rolled twice and bounced Manny and Reggie around like

926
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:42,120
Speaker 1: rocks in a tumbler. It hurt it hurt shiploads, but

927
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:44,360
Speaker 1: Manny was high enough on adrenaline in fear that he

928
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:47,600
Speaker 1: could almost ignore the pain. Blood streamed from his forehead,

929
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 1: something ached terribly between his shoulders. When the jeep came

930
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,440
Speaker 1: to a stop, he was deeply surprised to be alive.

931
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,400
Speaker 1: Let's go, he shouted to Reggie, not even a hundred

932
00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:59,239
Speaker 1: percent sure if the journalist had survived the crash. Manny

933
00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:01,359
Speaker 1: pulled himself up out of the open window and then

934
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:03,920
Speaker 1: reached his hands back blind into the jeep while he

935
00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:06,799
Speaker 1: scanned the sky around them. He felt reggie small hands

936
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,280
Speaker 1: grip his own. They were wet with sweat, maybe blood

937
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:12,640
Speaker 1: probably both. Manny squeezed pulled him up. The too hopped

938
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:15,440
Speaker 1: down quick as they could with their sundry wounds. The

939
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:18,319
Speaker 1: drone had probably veered around and started another loop so

940
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:20,400
Speaker 1: it could build up the speed for one more accurate

941
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:23,239
Speaker 1: burst of fire. Many couldn't quite hear the buzz yet,

942
00:46:23,239 --> 00:46:25,239
Speaker 1: but he couldn't hear much of anything over the sound

943
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 1: of his pounding heart. Reggie pulled ahead of him in

944
00:46:27,719 --> 00:46:30,480
Speaker 1: a lopsided run. Manny tried to pick up speed, but

945
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:35,319
Speaker 1: his knee just wouldn't let him. Ah. There it was.

946
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:38,600
Speaker 1: He had three, maybe four seconds before that big gun

947
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:40,840
Speaker 1: opened up again. The tree line was only about a

948
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:44,120
Speaker 1: hundred feet away, so close and yet too far for

949
00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:46,839
Speaker 1: him to possibly make it in time. I really didn't

950
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,360
Speaker 1: want to die here. I was so close to getting out.

951
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 1: He thought of a picture he'd seen of the Bavarian Alps,

952
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 1: white snow filled valleys and rich pine forests. I'm never

953
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:59,239
Speaker 1: going to see that or anything else, Reggie looked back

954
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:02,440
Speaker 1: as he neared the reline. Many appreciated the gesture. It

955
00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:06,280
Speaker 1: was dumb as fuck, though I run. The fixer bellowed

956
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:09,120
Speaker 1: at the top of his lungs. The journalist didn't hesitate

957
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:11,880
Speaker 1: this time. He bolted past the tree line and disappeared

958
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 1: into the wooded thicket. Manny felt a weight lift off

959
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,600
Speaker 1: his shoulders. He was about to be torn apart by

960
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:19,840
Speaker 1: some nut fuck martyr with an itchy trigger finger and

961
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:22,880
Speaker 1: a joystick. But he'd done his job. He'd gotten his

962
00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:26,640
Speaker 1: journalists to safety. Well not quite safety, he thought, but

963
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,239
Speaker 1: whatever best I could do under the circumstances. The hum

964
00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:32,840
Speaker 1: grew louder. Manny tried to coax a little more speed

965
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:34,799
Speaker 1: out of his wounded leg, even though he knew he

966
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:36,760
Speaker 1: was too far away now to make the tree line.

967
00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:39,279
Speaker 1: Even at a dead sprint. It would have been nice

968
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:43,880
Speaker 1: to see Berlin or Paris. Oh well. He heard the

969
00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:46,600
Speaker 1: thumping sound of heavy gunfire and braced himself for the

970
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:49,880
Speaker 1: instant of agony that would precede his end. But instead

971
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:52,640
Speaker 1: he heard the sound of impact and crunching metal behind him,

972
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:55,839
Speaker 1: followed by a high pitched mechanical wine. Something heavy and

973
00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:58,600
Speaker 1: black crashed into the ground ahead of him. He made

974
00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:01,360
Speaker 1: it to the tree line, pushed the underbrush, got perhaps

975
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:03,880
Speaker 1: twenty feet into the woods, and collapsed against a tree.

976
00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:06,359
Speaker 1: For a few seconds, he just let the pain wash

977
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:09,600
Speaker 1: over him, his knee, his shoulders. He could feel something

978
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:12,160
Speaker 1: stuck deep in his back too, maybe a shard of

979
00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:14,640
Speaker 1: glass or some shrapnel. From the start of the firefight,

980
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,520
Speaker 1: he had quite a few deep cuts the trauma nanites,

981
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:19,920
Speaker 1: and his circulatory system had clotted most of them, but

982
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:22,680
Speaker 1: the deeper ones still oozed blood. It was hard to

983
00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:25,120
Speaker 1: tell just how injured he really was, since his body

984
00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:27,520
Speaker 1: was also covered in blood and viscerraph from the jeep's

985
00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:32,279
Speaker 1: previous occupants. Espera, he thought, how am I alive? His

986
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:35,560
Speaker 1: brain gradually spun up to meet his body. Someone had

987
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:38,960
Speaker 1: shot that murder beetle out of the sky. But who Reggie?

988
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:40,960
Speaker 1: Where would he have gotten a gun? And the man

989
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 1: was British. He couldn't shoot Reggie. He shouted over here.

990
00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:49,960
Speaker 1: The brit called back. He sounded weirdly cheerful. I'm er

991
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 1: think we've made some friends. For the first time in

992
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:56,120
Speaker 1: his life, Manny found himself face to face with two

993
00:48:56,160 --> 00:48:59,560
Speaker 1: post humans. The first appeared to be a lady. She

994
00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:01,239
Speaker 1: was hunk it up in the branches of a tree,

995
00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:03,359
Speaker 1: and she cradled a very large gun in her hands.

996
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 1: Most of her body sort of faded into the forest.

997
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:08,840
Speaker 1: She was only easy to see now because of her smile.

998
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,319
Speaker 1: The shine of her teeth was quite unlike anything else

999
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:13,440
Speaker 1: he'd ever seen. They appeared to be made of some

1000
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:16,759
Speaker 1: sort of strange, swirling colored metal. Where a normal person

1001
00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:20,319
Speaker 1: would have had incisors, she had long, curved fangs. The

1002
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:22,919
Speaker 1: other chrombed was a black man. He was of average height,

1003
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,560
Speaker 1: with a muscular body and a wide build. His head

1004
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:27,799
Speaker 1: was shaved, and he had a plump, friendly face and

1005
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:31,279
Speaker 1: round cheeks that accentuated his broad smile. He wore a

1006
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:34,160
Speaker 1: red kilt and a silver breastplate over his muscular chest.

1007
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:37,480
Speaker 1: It gleamed in the afternoon sun. His only weapon appeared

1008
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:40,440
Speaker 1: to be an enormous sledgehammer, larger than Reggie's entire body.

1009
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,600
Speaker 1: He smiled and nodded in Manny. His whole body twitched

1010
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:45,600
Speaker 1: as he stood there, as if a constant stream of

1011
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:49,200
Speaker 1: electricity buzzed through him. Reggie stood in front of the man.

1012
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,560
Speaker 1: It looked like the journalist had run into the post

1013
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:54,680
Speaker 1: humans during his flight from the drone. He looked terrified

1014
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:58,640
Speaker 1: in the friendly sort of way only the British could manage. Hey, y'all,

1015
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:02,280
Speaker 1: Manny said. He wasn't sure how nomadic half god warrior

1016
00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:05,560
Speaker 1: people preferred to be addressed. Y'all seemed a safe bet,

1017
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:09,280
Speaker 1: hey guy, said the woman up in the tree soap

1018
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:13,200
Speaker 1: said the kilted man um. Can we help you, Manny asked?

1019
00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:15,920
Speaker 1: The man chuckled. He had a deep, throaty laugh that

1020
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 1: bounced off the trees and seemed to get louder as

1021
00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:22,080
Speaker 1: it reverberated. Na, buddy, you guys a look pretty near death.

1022
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:25,399
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess you don't have anything I want nice pajamas, though,

1023
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:28,600
Speaker 1: He pointed down to Manny's blood soaked and burned pajama bottoms.

1024
00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:32,120
Speaker 1: The fixer's face turned red with embarrassment. They might have whiskey,

1025
00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:35,120
Speaker 1: said the woman. Ask if they have whiskey. The big

1026
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:39,359
Speaker 1: man smiled, lowered his mall, and spoke the name's schoofucker Mike,

1027
00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:41,920
Speaker 1: He said. The lady who shut down your drone is

1028
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:45,799
Speaker 1: Topaz McMillan. Do you guys have whiskey? Manny didn't, but

1029
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:50,160
Speaker 1: Reggie did. Holy fuck, he shouted, I actually do. Somehow,

1030
00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:52,960
Speaker 1: the journalist hadn't lost his backpack in the chaos. He

1031
00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:56,040
Speaker 1: unzipped the main compartment, dig around for a few seconds,

1032
00:50:56,040 --> 00:50:58,920
Speaker 1: and produced a small metal flask. Reggie passed it off

1033
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 1: to skullfucker Mike, who took a belt of it and

1034
00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:04,279
Speaker 1: let out a dog's bark. He didn't bark like a dog,

1035
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:06,760
Speaker 1: it was the exact sound of a large hound barking.

1036
00:51:07,239 --> 00:51:10,399
Speaker 1: Schofucker Mike passed the flask up to Topaz. She took

1037
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,640
Speaker 1: a poll and cooed appreciatively. All right, Scully, I like

1038
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:17,320
Speaker 1: these guys. They get a ride. A ride, asked Reggie,

1039
00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:21,319
Speaker 1: a ride to where to rolling fuck? She said, to

1040
00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:35,279
Speaker 1: the City of Wheels Chapter eight Rowland. So you were there, right,

1041
00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:39,759
Speaker 1: Sardar asked you saw the white house burn. Sardar was

1042
00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:43,080
Speaker 1: Jim's mechanic. He was a short, slightly pudgy kid with

1043
00:51:43,120 --> 00:51:45,720
Speaker 1: a wide, handsome face and scan a couple of shades

1044
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:49,240
Speaker 1: darker than Roland's own. This was maybe his twentieth question

1045
00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:52,759
Speaker 1: since Jim's aircraft had dropped their transport off two hours ago.

1046
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:55,680
Speaker 1: The other members of Jim's team hadn't said so much

1047
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:58,200
Speaker 1: as a word to Rowland. They all listened, though he

1048
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:00,480
Speaker 1: could see the tension in their shoulders and feel the

1049
00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:03,000
Speaker 1: vibrations in the air as their ears twitched and their

1050
00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:06,040
Speaker 1: eyes darted over to watch his replies. The fact that

1051
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,680
Speaker 1: they were all cramped together inside the armored confines of

1052
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:12,160
Speaker 1: a maddis a PC made it easy to read the room.

1053
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:14,839
Speaker 1: Roland wasn't a hundred percent sure if the young mirk

1054
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:16,960
Speaker 1: had been put up to the task of questioning him,

1055
00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:20,480
Speaker 1: or if Sardar was just an inquisitive soul. Roland smelled

1056
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:23,279
Speaker 1: a light drizzle of nervousness waft off the boy. He'd

1057
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:26,759
Speaker 1: caught several glances between Sardar and Bigsby, but neither of

1058
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:30,120
Speaker 1: those facts were proof of anything. Nervousness was a perfectly

1059
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:32,960
Speaker 1: natural reaction to hanging out in a cramped metal box

1060
00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:35,840
Speaker 1: with a guy you'd just been trying to murder. I

1061
00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:39,440
Speaker 1: remember pieces of it, Roland replied, fucking somebody in the

1062
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:42,360
Speaker 1: Lincoln bedroom, stealing liquor from the kitchens, shooting in the

1063
00:52:42,360 --> 00:52:45,719
Speaker 1: ball return the White House bowling alley. Sardar shook his head.

1064
00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:48,879
Speaker 1: That's fucking loco. You're like a history book. I bet

1065
00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:52,239
Speaker 1: I read about ship you did back in high school. Probably,

1066
00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:55,320
Speaker 1: Roland said with a shrug. He had about nine clear

1067
00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:58,120
Speaker 1: memories of his life before the shack on Camelback Mountain,

1068
00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:00,839
Speaker 1: and none of them felt very his story. Rick, can

1069
00:53:00,880 --> 00:53:04,919
Speaker 1: I get your autograph? Man, Sardar asked Bigsby the post

1070
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:06,880
Speaker 1: human Rowland had been about to arm club in a

1071
00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:10,239
Speaker 1: submission a day ago. Shook his head and groaned in embarrassment.

1072
00:53:10,719 --> 00:53:12,880
Speaker 1: One of the women he'd buried in his collapsed hovel

1073
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:15,920
Speaker 1: grunted out a laugh. Her name was Nadine or something

1074
00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:18,719
Speaker 1: with an inn. Anyway, she and her partner as Ame

1075
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:22,080
Speaker 1: were both close assault specialists, like the rest of the crew,

1076
00:53:22,200 --> 00:53:25,080
Speaker 1: except Sardar. They've been cold to Roland ever since he'd

1077
00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:28,560
Speaker 1: beat the living hell out of them. Something occurred to him. Hey,

1078
00:53:28,680 --> 00:53:32,240
Speaker 1: I got a question for you, he said to Sardar. Yeah,

1079
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:34,480
Speaker 1: your crew has been real pissy to me this whole ride.

1080
00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:37,880
Speaker 1: Roland nodded at Bigsby. How exactly did you guys expect

1081
00:53:37,880 --> 00:53:41,279
Speaker 1: that fight to go down? Sardar pursed his lips. He

1082
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:43,600
Speaker 1: seemed at a loss for a second. Then he said,

1083
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:46,680
Speaker 1: Jim framed it as just a standard quilt team action.

1084
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:49,000
Speaker 1: We've done that sort of thing a couple of times.

1085
00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:51,440
Speaker 1: Last year. There was this crumbed out Nazi in Idaho,

1086
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:54,759
Speaker 1: so he tricked you. Then Roland interrupted, convinced you this

1087
00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:57,040
Speaker 1: was just another assassination when all he really wanted to

1088
00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:00,600
Speaker 1: do was get my attention. Roland looked around and realized

1089
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:03,200
Speaker 1: the rest of the transport was glaring at him. Bigsby

1090
00:54:03,320 --> 00:54:05,759
Speaker 1: spat on the ground in front of Roland's foot. We'd

1091
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:08,680
Speaker 1: deviced you if he'd given us another minute. Roland just

1092
00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:11,879
Speaker 1: laughed and turned his eyes back to Sardar. It's clear

1093
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:13,920
Speaker 1: you and the other guy, he gestured at the young

1094
00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:16,400
Speaker 1: man next to Sardar, are the only smart bastards in

1095
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:18,360
Speaker 1: the unit. Since you didn't get back up when I

1096
00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:22,759
Speaker 1: beat you down, Sardar squirmed a little, clearly uncomfortable me

1097
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:26,040
Speaker 1: and pedro He gestured to the other man. We're just engineers.

1098
00:54:26,080 --> 00:54:28,520
Speaker 1: We don't go toe to toe with the with whatever

1099
00:54:28,600 --> 00:54:32,160
Speaker 1: you are all this conversation, the most he'd had in years,

1100
00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:35,840
Speaker 1: made Roland feel uncomfortably lucid. He rooted around in the

1101
00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:38,879
Speaker 1: tattered old backpack he'd brought with him. It contained one

1102
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:42,000
Speaker 1: rusty Mateba auto revolver that he'd found under the floorboards

1103
00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:44,920
Speaker 1: of his collapsed shack, and five point oh eight seven

1104
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:49,799
Speaker 1: kilograms of assorted narcotics, mostly opiates. Roland remembered how fun

1105
00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:52,719
Speaker 1: it was to watch things explode while high on oxy.

1106
00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:55,600
Speaker 1: He pulled a pillbottle out of the sack, delauted, and

1107
00:54:55,640 --> 00:54:58,640
Speaker 1: poured half of it into his mouth. Roland swallowed, then

1108
00:54:58,719 --> 00:55:02,439
Speaker 1: guzzled the second half. Jesus said, will the man he'd

1109
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:04,960
Speaker 1: stabbed in the throat with a piece of wood yesterday,

1110
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:06,960
Speaker 1: This is the guy who kicked the ship out of us.

1111
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:10,480
Speaker 1: I am sorry about that, Roland said. If I'd known

1112
00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:12,000
Speaker 1: we were going to wind up sharing an a PC,

1113
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:17,600
Speaker 1: I probably would have just choked you out. Mortar fire incoming.

1114
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:21,319
Speaker 1: Roland's hindbrain ran the calculations estimated it at a round

1115
00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:24,320
Speaker 1: eight miles out. He sat up straight, since his focus

1116
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:27,520
Speaker 1: towards the sound of the fire. Bigsby and asime reacted

1117
00:55:27,520 --> 00:55:30,320
Speaker 1: the same way. They'd clearly splurged on the good ears.

1118
00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:32,560
Speaker 1: The rest of the team didn't seem to have heard.

1119
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:37,680
Speaker 1: They're shooting ahead. As Amey said, sixty millimeter mortars. Get up, folks,

1120
00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:40,200
Speaker 1: Biggsby added, as he pulled his own S thirty barret

1121
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:44,799
Speaker 1: assault rifle from its resting place on the wall behind him.

1122
00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:47,759
Speaker 1: The funk was that Asimey cocked an eyebrow, her left

1123
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:50,840
Speaker 1: ear twitched, her tan, lean face flushed red with excitement.

1124
00:55:50,960 --> 00:55:54,480
Speaker 1: I don't recognize that one me either, Biggsby grunted. The

1125
00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:57,400
Speaker 1: other post human looked to Roland with clear frustration. You

1126
00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:01,719
Speaker 1: recognize that, Roland did. It's an M one forty two,

1127
00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:05,800
Speaker 1: he said, Mobile rocket Artillery Antique U S Military issue.

1128
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 1: Will looked over to Biggsby, confused, I've never heard of

1129
00:56:09,239 --> 00:56:11,680
Speaker 1: anything like that in the s d f's armory. It's

1130
00:56:11,719 --> 00:56:14,640
Speaker 1: not the s d F, Roland explained, slurring his words

1131
00:56:14,640 --> 00:56:17,200
Speaker 1: more than a little. The opiates had just started to hit.

1132
00:56:17,560 --> 00:56:20,880
Speaker 1: Holy shit, I loved allotted. He thought, that's in coming,

1133
00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:24,920
Speaker 1: can't you tell? He said, not a not from this distance.

1134
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:28,680
Speaker 1: Asimee answered, she glanced awkwardly over to her partner, Nadine,

1135
00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:31,239
Speaker 1: put a hand on her thigh and squeezed. Could you

1136
00:56:31,480 --> 00:56:33,960
Speaker 1: not be monstrously fucked up when we're about to go

1137
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:38,000
Speaker 1: into battle, Biggsby asked. He seemed angry. Roland debated, offering

1138
00:56:38,040 --> 00:56:40,719
Speaker 1: one of his handfuls of pills. He decided he'd much

1139
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:43,919
Speaker 1: rather save them for later. First off, I didn't sign

1140
00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:46,319
Speaker 1: up for battle, he explained, as he popped and chewed

1141
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:49,320
Speaker 1: a pair of morphine tablets. Second, we still got about

1142
00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:52,080
Speaker 1: almost eight miles before we at the front. Plenty of

1143
00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:56,280
Speaker 1: time to sober up. Eight miles, asked Sardar. The Richardson

1144
00:56:56,360 --> 00:56:59,840
Speaker 1: line is fifteen miles out. More mortars crumped in the distance.

1145
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:02,759
Speaker 1: Roland heard blossoms of heavy machine gun fire too, and

1146
00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:05,920
Speaker 1: the hums of dozens of assault drones. Hey Beggs, the

1147
00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:09,280
Speaker 1: voice of the APC's driver crackled over the vehicle intercom.

1148
00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:11,120
Speaker 1: There's a lot of craziness coming in from the man

1149
00:57:11,239 --> 00:57:13,480
Speaker 1: S d F channels. It sounds like a major assault.

1150
00:57:13,600 --> 00:57:15,480
Speaker 1: The martyrs have pushed all the way to deep Ellum.

1151
00:57:15,600 --> 00:57:18,000
Speaker 1: Some of the field commanders are talking about a full retreat,

1152
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:22,720
Speaker 1: Jesus shitting christ Will, Bigsby, and Nadine all cursed at

1153
00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 1: the same time. Roland thought it was cute. It tugged

1154
00:57:25,520 --> 00:57:27,919
Speaker 1: at his heart strings a little. He missed being part

1155
00:57:27,920 --> 00:57:30,640
Speaker 1: of a close knit team. Some of his stronger memory

1156
00:57:30,680 --> 00:57:33,720
Speaker 1: fragments involved really good times he'd had during and after

1157
00:57:33,760 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 1: the war. He remembered blowing up an armored school bus

1158
00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:39,120
Speaker 1: with a guy named Mike, throwing rotten oranges at a

1159
00:57:39,160 --> 00:57:42,400
Speaker 1: government sniper with Jim. His brain also brought up snatches

1160
00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:45,000
Speaker 1: of late night drinking sessions and watching cartoons on an

1161
00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:47,680
Speaker 1: old projector in the desert. When he closed his eyes,

1162
00:57:47,720 --> 00:57:49,880
Speaker 1: he could smell the burning man's innita smoke of their

1163
00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:52,480
Speaker 1: camp fire. Payne tugged at his heart, but he was

1164
00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 1: jerked out of his reverie by the sound of an explosion.

1165
00:57:55,560 --> 00:57:57,600
Speaker 1: It was big and close enough that everyone in the

1166
00:57:57,640 --> 00:58:00,280
Speaker 1: APC heard it, even though Roland's hind brain put the

1167
00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:04,440
Speaker 1: distance at over seven miles away. V. B. I, E. D. Bigsby,

1168
00:58:04,560 --> 00:58:07,240
Speaker 1: and as Amy said at the same time, real big one.

1169
00:58:07,400 --> 00:58:10,600
Speaker 1: As Amy nodded. Roland could tell that the explosives rigged

1170
00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:13,280
Speaker 1: vehicle had been an E series Mercedes truck. But he

1171
00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:15,640
Speaker 1: didn't bring that up. No one liked to know it all.

1172
00:58:16,360 --> 00:58:19,560
Speaker 1: Biggsby's mouth opened and closed, the telltale sign of someone

1173
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:23,080
Speaker 1: having a subvocal conversation through their deck. Roland could have

1174
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:25,680
Speaker 1: read his lips, but that would have been rude. Instead,

1175
00:58:25,760 --> 00:58:28,840
Speaker 1: he looked over to Sardar. If the gig gets called

1176
00:58:28,840 --> 00:58:31,240
Speaker 1: on account of war, you want to get ship faced

1177
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:34,840
Speaker 1: in Austin with me? The kid blinked, then replied, I mean,

1178
00:58:35,080 --> 00:58:37,520
Speaker 1: of course, but I'm pretty sure boss Man's gonna want

1179
00:58:37,560 --> 00:58:39,520
Speaker 1: us to do the job, even if it's hot out there.

1180
00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:43,440
Speaker 1: Roland growled a little without thinking, and Sardar cringed. I

1181
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:46,360
Speaker 1: did not sign up to defend against an act of invasion.

1182
00:58:46,560 --> 00:58:50,959
Speaker 1: I'm here to funk up property, not people. Jim says,

1183
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:54,200
Speaker 1: that's still the plan. You funk up the property, Biggsby grunted.

1184
00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:56,160
Speaker 1: My fam and I are here to funk up the people.

1185
00:58:57,160 --> 00:58:59,680
Speaker 1: A red hot cherry of anger bloomed in Roland's heart.

1186
00:59:00,320 --> 00:59:03,040
Speaker 1: That wasn't the deal, he said, and Jim knows it.

1187
00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:04,760
Speaker 1: One of you call him and loot me in on

1188
00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:08,240
Speaker 1: your screen. I'll set this right. Call him yourself, spat

1189
00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:12,040
Speaker 1: Biggsby he can't, Sardar pointed out, he's got a dead deck,

1190
00:59:12,360 --> 00:59:15,919
Speaker 1: no signal at all, true null. Why the hell would

1191
00:59:15,960 --> 00:59:19,480
Speaker 1: you go null? Asimee started to ask, Biggsby interrupted her,

1192
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:22,720
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter why this ascopters null. I'm on with

1193
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:25,600
Speaker 1: Jim and he says you're under contracts. Still, we'll make

1194
00:59:25,640 --> 00:59:28,440
Speaker 1: sure you don't have to cack anybody. For a moment,

1195
00:59:28,560 --> 00:59:31,200
Speaker 1: Roland focused his attention outside the little a p C.

1196
00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:35,000
Speaker 1: His hindbrain coalated the bursts and vibrations that echoed out

1197
00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:37,919
Speaker 1: around the battlefield. It compared them with his peda bites

1198
00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:40,480
Speaker 1: of stored combat data and the last map of Dallas

1199
00:59:40,480 --> 00:59:43,680
Speaker 1: he downloaded before severing his deck. In a couple of seconds,

1200
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:45,880
Speaker 1: he had what his hindenbrain assured him was an eighty

1201
00:59:45,880 --> 00:59:49,200
Speaker 1: percent accurate projection of the current fighting. It didn't look

1202
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:51,880
Speaker 1: good for the defenders. And what if it's too much

1203
00:59:51,880 --> 00:59:54,600
Speaker 1: for you guys out there? Rowland asked, you can expect

1204
00:59:54,640 --> 00:59:56,600
Speaker 1: my ass to murder a bunch of strangers to get

1205
00:59:56,600 --> 00:59:59,920
Speaker 1: you and your fam home safe. Biggsby rolled his eyes.

1206
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:02,360
Speaker 1: It's a bunch of fucking martyrs. Maybe they caught the

1207
01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:04,120
Speaker 1: s D off with their pants down, but they'll loose

1208
01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 1: steam soon enough. Those savages are all baseline sapien. We

1209
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:12,040
Speaker 1: got chrome on our side, Roland shrugged. If you're wrong,

1210
01:00:12,120 --> 01:00:13,920
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take one of your nipples home with me.

1211
01:00:14,320 --> 01:00:17,480
Speaker 1: Just a heads up. The other post human's face turned purple.

1212
01:00:17,640 --> 01:00:21,680
Speaker 1: It grew purpler still when Sardar laughed at the remark, Sorry, Beggs,

1213
01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:24,840
Speaker 1: it's fucking funny, man. It wasn't a joke. Roland has

1214
01:00:24,840 --> 01:00:28,160
Speaker 1: shared them both. They hit Dallas proper ten minutes later.

1215
01:00:28,480 --> 01:00:31,080
Speaker 1: Their arrival was heralded by the sounds of car horns,

1216
01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:34,440
Speaker 1: squealing brakes, and frustrated shouts, the songs of a city

1217
01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:37,280
Speaker 1: at war. Flashes of memory from this same city in

1218
01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:40,360
Speaker 1: a different war shot through Roland's mind. They kept him

1219
01:00:40,400 --> 01:00:43,240
Speaker 1: occupied while Bigsby and his squad prepped their combat gear.

1220
01:00:43,800 --> 01:00:46,600
Speaker 1: There was something almost comforting about the sound of men

1221
01:00:46,640 --> 01:00:49,520
Speaker 1: and women arming for battle. He remembered the way Mike

1222
01:00:49,640 --> 01:00:52,000
Speaker 1: ran through the lyrics of Iye of the Tiger before

1223
01:00:52,000 --> 01:00:54,480
Speaker 1: every op, and the careful way Jim had loaded his

1224
01:00:54,520 --> 01:00:57,520
Speaker 1: pre battle meth pipe. The crump of mortar fire and

1225
01:00:57,520 --> 01:01:00,600
Speaker 1: the boom of heavier artillery grew louder and outer. The

1226
01:01:00,640 --> 01:01:04,640
Speaker 1: sour sinse of gamma, amino, butaric acid, cortisol, and epinephrin

1227
01:01:04,720 --> 01:01:08,400
Speaker 1: filled the cabin. Bigsby's team had good game faces, but

1228
01:01:08,440 --> 01:01:12,280
Speaker 1: they were nervous. Biggs the driver's voice crackled over the intercom.

1229
01:01:12,600 --> 01:01:15,600
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a shipload of hostile drone activity. Sky is

1230
01:01:15,640 --> 01:01:18,240
Speaker 1: fucking angry right now. Might be best at dismountain hit.

1231
01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:21,360
Speaker 1: Roland smelled the fuel burning off in the wake of

1232
01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:23,800
Speaker 1: the hell fire missile roughly a second before it hit.

1233
01:01:24,160 --> 01:01:26,680
Speaker 1: He knew the archaic munition didn't have the ability to

1234
01:01:26,720 --> 01:01:29,320
Speaker 1: penetrate a man as a PC, but he still warned

1235
01:01:29,360 --> 01:01:33,360
Speaker 1: his fellows missiles are common. What Sardar asked, and then

1236
01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:36,280
Speaker 1: it hit. The impact rocked the vehicle on its axles

1237
01:01:36,280 --> 01:01:39,080
Speaker 1: and bounced its hapless passengers into the hard metal edges

1238
01:01:39,080 --> 01:01:42,000
Speaker 1: of the cabin. Roland bounced with them, although for him

1239
01:01:42,040 --> 01:01:45,200
Speaker 1: the pain of impact was more curiosity than actual discomfort.

1240
01:01:45,600 --> 01:01:48,160
Speaker 1: The driver braked hard. Roland heard and felt as the

1241
01:01:48,160 --> 01:01:50,840
Speaker 1: APEC collided with what sounded like the outer wall of

1242
01:01:50,840 --> 01:01:54,400
Speaker 1: a large concrete building. He smelled blood on Sardar and

1243
01:01:54,480 --> 01:01:57,160
Speaker 1: nadine from the sound of the blast and the resulting crash.

1244
01:01:57,360 --> 01:02:00,840
Speaker 1: He guessed the APC's front axle had splintered. Ryan, the

1245
01:02:00,920 --> 01:02:03,680
Speaker 1: driver was unconscious. He'd hit his head hard enough that

1246
01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:05,880
Speaker 1: the trauma nanites in his blood stream had knocked him

1247
01:02:05,880 --> 01:02:08,000
Speaker 1: out while they worked to stop the swelling in his brain.

1248
01:02:08,640 --> 01:02:12,160
Speaker 1: Out out, move it, motherfucker's, Biggsby shouted. There was a

1249
01:02:12,200 --> 01:02:14,480
Speaker 1: hiss as the rear inside exit hatches of the a

1250
01:02:14,560 --> 01:02:18,360
Speaker 1: PC fired open light streamed into the vehicle. Biggsby was

1251
01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:21,440
Speaker 1: out first, his very large rifle at the ready. Nadine

1252
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:24,400
Speaker 1: and Asime followed behind him. The former had a Juggernaut

1253
01:02:24,400 --> 01:02:27,480
Speaker 1: auto shotgun, the latter had an IM fourteen sniper rifle.

1254
01:02:28,120 --> 01:02:31,000
Speaker 1: There were no infantry near by, not yet, but Rowland

1255
01:02:31,080 --> 01:02:34,400
Speaker 1: closed his eyes, concentrated, and after a second his hindbrain

1256
01:02:34,480 --> 01:02:36,840
Speaker 1: guessed that the nearest ground troops were about a quarter

1257
01:02:36,880 --> 01:02:40,000
Speaker 1: of a mile away, six men in Airy's pattern powered armor,

1258
01:02:40,040 --> 01:02:43,840
Speaker 1: followed by fifty unmodified human soldiers, a half dozen technicals,

1259
01:02:43,960 --> 01:02:47,120
Speaker 1: and two drone carriers. The men in the Airy suits

1260
01:02:47,120 --> 01:02:50,080
Speaker 1: were the only thing that concerned him. Powered armor couldn't

1261
01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:52,520
Speaker 1: make an unmodified human into a true match for a

1262
01:02:52,560 --> 01:02:55,720
Speaker 1: god fucking monster engine like himself, but it could give

1263
01:02:55,720 --> 01:02:58,480
Speaker 1: a squad the firepower they needed to do some real damage.

1264
01:02:58,800 --> 01:03:01,160
Speaker 1: If they could hurt Rowland, they could kill Biggsby and

1265
01:03:01,240 --> 01:03:03,880
Speaker 1: his team. His hindbrain told him that the power armored

1266
01:03:03,920 --> 01:03:06,800
Speaker 1: soldiers would be in weapons range within two minutes, just

1267
01:03:07,080 --> 01:03:09,800
Speaker 1: enough time to roll a blunt. He grabbed a blunt

1268
01:03:09,800 --> 01:03:11,480
Speaker 1: wrap and a bag of ground weed out of his

1269
01:03:11,520 --> 01:03:13,680
Speaker 1: backpack and started to roll. As he walked out of

1270
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:17,040
Speaker 1: the abandoned a PC, Sardar and Pedro had taken cover

1271
01:03:17,120 --> 01:03:19,960
Speaker 1: behind the vehicle and started to administer basic first aid

1272
01:03:20,000 --> 01:03:22,760
Speaker 1: to their wounded driver. Will was a few meters ahead

1273
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:25,520
Speaker 1: on overwatch, covering them all with his heavy M ninety

1274
01:03:25,520 --> 01:03:28,480
Speaker 1: four belt fed grenade launcher. The others were nowhere to

1275
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:31,400
Speaker 1: be seen. Roland heard them though, About fifteen meters west

1276
01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:34,640
Speaker 1: of the stricken transport. He felt them take up firing positions.

1277
01:03:35,040 --> 01:03:38,000
Speaker 1: Should I warn Biggsby about the armored guys, Roland wondered.

1278
01:03:38,160 --> 01:03:41,440
Speaker 1: He shook his head and said nah out loud. Sardar

1279
01:03:41,520 --> 01:03:44,640
Speaker 1: stared at him. The weed was dry and slightly yellowed

1280
01:03:44,640 --> 01:03:47,480
Speaker 1: with age. Roland had certainly smoked better, but he'd smoked

1281
01:03:47,480 --> 01:03:50,600
Speaker 1: worse often enough not to complain. He drizzled the crumbled

1282
01:03:50,640 --> 01:03:53,040
Speaker 1: herb into the blunt wrap and rolled it between his fingers.

1283
01:03:53,400 --> 01:03:55,600
Speaker 1: He licked the seam and sealed it. As he watched

1284
01:03:55,600 --> 01:03:59,000
Speaker 1: Sardar shoot a stem capsule into Ryan's neck, the driver

1285
01:03:59,120 --> 01:04:02,480
Speaker 1: started to regain consciousness. Roland lit his blunt, took a hit,

1286
01:04:02,560 --> 01:04:04,920
Speaker 1: and offered it to the man. Welcome back to the

1287
01:04:05,000 --> 01:04:07,720
Speaker 1: land of the living, he said, with a cheerful grin pot.

1288
01:04:07,920 --> 01:04:11,160
Speaker 1: Sardar gave him a stern look. Is this really the time?

1289
01:04:12,040 --> 01:04:14,360
Speaker 1: The screech of a rocket propelled grenade filled the air

1290
01:04:14,840 --> 01:04:17,480
Speaker 1: outgoing fire? It must have been from a nearby SDF

1291
01:04:17,560 --> 01:04:20,760
Speaker 1: position engaged with the advancing martyrs. Of course there's time,

1292
01:04:20,840 --> 01:04:23,840
Speaker 1: said Roland. We got a solid ninety seconds until they're here.

1293
01:04:24,040 --> 01:04:26,760
Speaker 1: Might as well get high. The kid rebuffed his offer.

1294
01:04:27,120 --> 01:04:29,000
Speaker 1: Roland would have been a little hurt if he hadn't

1295
01:04:29,040 --> 01:04:31,520
Speaker 1: secretly hoped they'd turn him down. It took a lot

1296
01:04:31,520 --> 01:04:33,680
Speaker 1: of pot to get him high. One whole blunt was

1297
01:04:33,720 --> 01:04:35,560
Speaker 1: about the right amount for where he wanted to be.

1298
01:04:36,760 --> 01:04:39,640
Speaker 1: Bigsby opened up with his heavy machine gun. A vague

1299
01:04:39,680 --> 01:04:42,800
Speaker 1: worry started to grow inside Roland. The armored martyrs had

1300
01:04:42,840 --> 01:04:45,400
Speaker 1: moved faster than anticipated. Am I going to have time

1301
01:04:45,440 --> 01:04:47,919
Speaker 1: to finish smoking. He was thankful that he'd at least

1302
01:04:47,960 --> 01:04:50,840
Speaker 1: loaded up on pain killers before reaching the front. The

1303
01:04:50,880 --> 01:04:53,440
Speaker 1: machine gun was joined by the sharp crack of Nadine's

1304
01:04:53,440 --> 01:04:56,520
Speaker 1: sniper rifle and the rich bellow of Asime's auto shotgun.

1305
01:04:56,840 --> 01:04:59,880
Speaker 1: It sounded like she was firing tungsten core penetrators rather

1306
01:05:00,120 --> 01:05:02,880
Speaker 1: the explosive Dragon's breadth round she'd loaded during the assault

1307
01:05:02,880 --> 01:05:06,280
Speaker 1: on roland Shack. That was probably smart. Are you going

1308
01:05:06,320 --> 01:05:09,439
Speaker 1: to do something, Sardar asked. Roland could smell his fear

1309
01:05:09,480 --> 01:05:11,840
Speaker 1: wafted off him like a fine mist. He heard the

1310
01:05:11,880 --> 01:05:14,280
Speaker 1: heavy hum of a suit mounted rotary chain gun, and

1311
01:05:14,320 --> 01:05:17,960
Speaker 1: then another incoming fire. A few rounds arced and ricocheted

1312
01:05:17,960 --> 01:05:20,560
Speaker 1: off the body of the a PC Stardar and Pedro

1313
01:05:20,720 --> 01:05:23,760
Speaker 1: dove for cover and pulled Ryan with them. Roland didn't move.

1314
01:05:24,080 --> 01:05:26,600
Speaker 1: His hindbrain had plotted the trajectories of the errand rounds

1315
01:05:26,640 --> 01:05:29,840
Speaker 1: as soon as they'd left their barrels. There'd been no danger, well,

1316
01:05:30,080 --> 01:05:32,400
Speaker 1: no danger to them. By the sound of it. The

1317
01:05:32,440 --> 01:05:35,200
Speaker 1: power armored martyrs had pinned a Biggs be down. Roland

1318
01:05:35,200 --> 01:05:38,000
Speaker 1: could smell Medine's blood in the air. She was alive,

1319
01:05:38,240 --> 01:05:41,520
Speaker 1: but injured Will started to fire and pumped a steady

1320
01:05:41,520 --> 01:05:43,680
Speaker 1: stream of explosives out in a high arc in front

1321
01:05:43,680 --> 01:05:46,440
Speaker 1: of the martyrs. Roland felt as the men scattered. He

1322
01:05:46,480 --> 01:05:49,360
Speaker 1: also felt the footfalls of dozens of normal infantry two

1323
01:05:49,800 --> 01:05:52,600
Speaker 1: meters behind the power armored vanguard. He heard the rich

1324
01:05:52,680 --> 01:05:56,440
Speaker 1: thunk of Recoilis rifles being bolted into the ground. Roland

1325
01:05:56,440 --> 01:05:59,120
Speaker 1: puffed on his blunt as he considered the tactical situation.

1326
01:05:59,520 --> 01:06:01,680
Speaker 1: Bigsby and his team seemed to have knocked out one

1327
01:06:01,720 --> 01:06:04,560
Speaker 1: of the armored martyrs, but they were alone and unsupported.

1328
01:06:04,760 --> 01:06:07,240
Speaker 1: The STF was in full retreat, and the small squad

1329
01:06:07,280 --> 01:06:09,880
Speaker 1: didn't have the firepower or the chrome to hold off

1330
01:06:09,960 --> 01:06:14,240
Speaker 1: what was coming. Roland did, but he very much disliked

1331
01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:17,439
Speaker 1: the idea of murdering several dozen brainwashed idiots. These kids

1332
01:06:17,480 --> 01:06:20,880
Speaker 1: weren't responsible for anything beyond buying into artful propaganda and

1333
01:06:20,920 --> 01:06:23,919
Speaker 1: lofty promises. He didn't see them as worse than any

1334
01:06:23,960 --> 01:06:26,520
Speaker 1: other gaggle of armed eighteen to twenty two year olds

1335
01:06:26,560 --> 01:06:29,640
Speaker 1: in the history of war. Hey, Sardar, you got a wrench,

1336
01:06:29,880 --> 01:06:34,960
Speaker 1: Roland asked, what, Yes, Sardar replied, can I borrow it? Um?

1337
01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:37,920
Speaker 1: The young mercenary raised an eyebrow in confusion. It's not

1338
01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:41,600
Speaker 1: a sex thing, Roland has shared him. I never assumed

1339
01:06:41,600 --> 01:06:44,720
Speaker 1: it was, Sardar said, then can I have it? Sardar

1340
01:06:44,800 --> 01:06:47,840
Speaker 1: stared at him for a long beat and then said, okay.

1341
01:06:48,400 --> 01:06:51,120
Speaker 1: He handed over his wrench. It was nice, more than

1342
01:06:51,160 --> 01:06:53,760
Speaker 1: two feet long and made from fifteen point four pounds

1343
01:06:53,760 --> 01:06:58,040
Speaker 1: of stamped steel. This is perfect, Roland told Sardar. Perfect

1344
01:06:58,080 --> 01:07:02,280
Speaker 1: for what Sardar asked, wounding, Roland replied, and with that

1345
01:07:02,520 --> 01:07:05,600
Speaker 1: he was off. Roland could break thirty miles an hour

1346
01:07:05,720 --> 01:07:07,840
Speaker 1: at a dead sprint, but with all the pain killers

1347
01:07:07,840 --> 01:07:10,400
Speaker 1: in weed he'd just taken, and that didn't sound super fun.

1348
01:07:10,720 --> 01:07:13,720
Speaker 1: So he strolled along at a brisk eighteen miles per hour,

1349
01:07:13,800 --> 01:07:16,000
Speaker 1: darted by will and zig zagged his way past a

1350
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:18,840
Speaker 1: few hundred errant rounds. The armored Martyrs fired to suppress

1351
01:07:18,880 --> 01:07:22,520
Speaker 1: bigsby squad. Two of the big recoilist rifles fired their

1352
01:07:22,560 --> 01:07:27,200
Speaker 1: giant explosive tipped munitions. Roland reached Nadine and Asame's position.

1353
01:07:27,480 --> 01:07:30,960
Speaker 1: The former was down, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. Her

1354
01:07:31,000 --> 01:07:33,560
Speaker 1: lover fired from cover. Roland felt as one of the

1355
01:07:33,560 --> 01:07:36,720
Speaker 1: explosive rounds arched towards their position. The other was headed

1356
01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:40,200
Speaker 1: towards Bigsby. Roland's hindbrain guessed that Biggsby would survive the

1357
01:07:40,280 --> 01:07:44,000
Speaker 1: hit Nadine and Asame wouldn't. He jumped forward and grabbed

1358
01:07:44,040 --> 01:07:46,520
Speaker 1: them both while still airborne, and the second before missile

1359
01:07:46,600 --> 01:07:49,400
Speaker 1: met masonry. He threw them back out of the blast radius.

1360
01:07:49,600 --> 01:07:51,560
Speaker 1: He knew the landing would hurt, but both women were

1361
01:07:51,640 --> 01:07:55,160
Speaker 1: chromed enough to survive. After he tossed them, Roland slid

1362
01:07:55,200 --> 01:07:56,960
Speaker 1: to a stop on top of the pile of ruined

1363
01:07:56,960 --> 01:08:00,000
Speaker 1: bricks they'd hidden behind. The rocket propelled munition hit Abou

1364
01:08:00,040 --> 01:08:02,880
Speaker 1: up three feet below him. The seventy five millimeter round

1365
01:08:02,880 --> 01:08:06,200
Speaker 1: contained a half kilogram of hexagen, enough explosive power to

1366
01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:07,960
Speaker 1: tear a hole in the side of a small tank.

1367
01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:10,800
Speaker 1: It detonated and turned the pile of bricks into a

1368
01:08:10,840 --> 01:08:14,760
Speaker 1: shrapnel volcano. Roland hopped again. His hind brain made it

1369
01:08:14,760 --> 01:08:16,960
Speaker 1: clear that he wouldn't avoid all, nor even most of

1370
01:08:16,960 --> 01:08:20,240
Speaker 1: the shrapnel. Medlin brick tore through his biceps, his gut,

1371
01:08:20,280 --> 01:08:23,479
Speaker 1: his legs, and his pectorals. Most of the shrapnel stopped

1372
01:08:23,479 --> 01:08:26,600
Speaker 1: at the subdermal carapace that protected his vital organs. A

1373
01:08:26,600 --> 01:08:29,400
Speaker 1: few pieces went further. They tore one kidney in half

1374
01:08:29,439 --> 01:08:32,240
Speaker 1: and pierced one of his hearts, But Roland had multiple

1375
01:08:32,280 --> 01:08:35,840
Speaker 1: redundant backups for every important organ. His medical nanites had

1376
01:08:35,840 --> 01:08:38,839
Speaker 1: already started to purge the foreign matter and repair the damage.

1377
01:08:38,840 --> 01:08:41,640
Speaker 1: When he hit the ground, the battle high rolled in,

1378
01:08:41,760 --> 01:08:45,919
Speaker 1: and roland synapses flooded with endorphins, serotonin, and enough morphine

1379
01:08:45,960 --> 01:08:49,280
Speaker 1: to kill a middleweight elephant. The chemical elation of imminent

1380
01:08:49,320 --> 01:08:52,920
Speaker 1: combat filled his senses. Roland wasn't just high on war.

1381
01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:56,760
Speaker 1: He was tripping balls. Sweet shitting fox, I've missed this.

1382
01:08:57,640 --> 01:09:00,320
Speaker 1: Roland flipped a jaunty salute to Biggsby as he rented

1383
01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:03,160
Speaker 1: forward past the man. This time he let his legs

1384
01:09:03,200 --> 01:09:05,519
Speaker 1: pump as fast as they could and rushed towards the

1385
01:09:05,560 --> 01:09:09,320
Speaker 1: five advancing armored martyrs in the quarter second before contact,

1386
01:09:09,479 --> 01:09:12,920
Speaker 1: Roland had his first solid look at the enemy. Their

1387
01:09:12,960 --> 01:09:16,400
Speaker 1: suits were definitely some iteration of the basic Aries design.

1388
01:09:16,760 --> 01:09:19,719
Speaker 1: They had the familiar insectoid helmet with its bulbous eyes

1389
01:09:19,760 --> 01:09:23,840
Speaker 1: and heavy nasal sensor blister. The shoulders, chests, growing thighs,

1390
01:09:23,880 --> 01:09:27,519
Speaker 1: and shin were all heavily reinforced. These were breaching suits

1391
01:09:27,720 --> 01:09:30,320
Speaker 1: meant to lead in advance and absorb an enormous amount

1392
01:09:30,320 --> 01:09:33,679
Speaker 1: of incoming fire. The armor was painted the dull yellow

1393
01:09:33,720 --> 01:09:36,719
Speaker 1: of a Texas grassland. Roland could see red and blue

1394
01:09:36,720 --> 01:09:39,439
Speaker 1: on the edges of the pauldron's Republic of Texas colors,

1395
01:09:39,680 --> 01:09:42,599
Speaker 1: but the suits had clearly been painted over repurposed by

1396
01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:45,719
Speaker 1: their new owners. Two of the men had large white

1397
01:09:45,760 --> 01:09:49,160
Speaker 1: crosses daubed across their chests. One man had a cross

1398
01:09:49,160 --> 01:09:52,200
Speaker 1: painted over his face plate. The paint jobs seemed new.

1399
01:09:52,600 --> 01:09:56,439
Speaker 1: These suits had been captured or handed over recently. Their

1400
01:09:56,439 --> 01:09:59,160
Speaker 1: wearers moved like competent fighters who weren't used to the

1401
01:09:59,200 --> 01:10:02,920
Speaker 1: capabilities full powered armor. Two of the martyrs had shoulder

1402
01:10:02,960 --> 01:10:06,599
Speaker 1: mounted missile pods with angry looking rockets inside them. Three

1403
01:10:06,600 --> 01:10:10,120
Speaker 1: of them mounted rotary chain cannons between their targeting systems

1404
01:10:10,120 --> 01:10:13,080
Speaker 1: and reflex augmentation hardware. They could have hurt him if

1405
01:10:13,080 --> 01:10:16,240
Speaker 1: they'd had their ship together, but they didn't, and he

1406
01:10:16,320 --> 01:10:18,559
Speaker 1: hit the point man like a bag of concrete thrown

1407
01:10:18,600 --> 01:10:21,439
Speaker 1: by a gorilla. Roland didn't even bother to swing the

1408
01:10:21,439 --> 01:10:24,040
Speaker 1: wrench yet, He just let his substantial body weight turn

1409
01:10:24,160 --> 01:10:27,200
Speaker 1: him into a post human battering ram. The first soldier

1410
01:10:27,280 --> 01:10:29,519
Speaker 1: hit the ground. Roland atop him with a whine of

1411
01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:32,360
Speaker 1: pistons and internal motors. He tried to bring his as

1412
01:10:32,400 --> 01:10:34,559
Speaker 1: salt cannon to bear on Roland, but the barrel was

1413
01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:38,040
Speaker 1: too long. Roland slammed Sardar's wrench into the man's crotch

1414
01:10:38,080 --> 01:10:40,799
Speaker 1: eleven times in the space of a second. The suit's

1415
01:10:40,880 --> 01:10:44,040
Speaker 1: growing armor was rated to stop a fifty caliber rifle round.

1416
01:10:44,280 --> 01:10:47,360
Speaker 1: It caved in on the third hit. Stop, he shouted

1417
01:10:47,400 --> 01:10:50,320
Speaker 1: inside his own mind, Stop, you're going to kill him.

1418
01:10:50,520 --> 01:10:53,920
Speaker 1: Roland pulled back with considerable effort. His brain wanted more

1419
01:10:54,080 --> 01:10:56,839
Speaker 1: in every impact fed a few more endorphins into the hopper,

1420
01:10:57,160 --> 01:10:59,360
Speaker 1: but he managed to stop himself before he did a

1421
01:10:59,439 --> 01:11:02,880
Speaker 1: reparable arm This hesitation made him a target, though One

1422
01:11:02,920 --> 01:11:05,400
Speaker 1: of the armored martyrs shot him four times and ripped

1423
01:11:05,439 --> 01:11:08,600
Speaker 1: deep gouges in his torso. Roland rushed the man and

1424
01:11:08,640 --> 01:11:11,599
Speaker 1: slapped his weapon aside. The drugs flooded into him again

1425
01:11:11,600 --> 01:11:14,040
Speaker 1: as he swung his wrench up underhanded into the poor

1426
01:11:14,080 --> 01:11:18,000
Speaker 1: fellow's chin. Bone shattered on the first swing. Biggsby fired.

1427
01:11:18,200 --> 01:11:20,400
Speaker 1: Roland felt one of the other armored martyrs go down

1428
01:11:20,520 --> 01:11:23,679
Speaker 1: knee caps and throats, shot out. The two remaining martyrs

1429
01:11:23,680 --> 01:11:26,519
Speaker 1: opted to retreat, but it was a fighting retreat. They

1430
01:11:26,560 --> 01:11:29,799
Speaker 1: bounded backwards and launched a flurry of rockets towards Roland.

1431
01:11:29,800 --> 01:11:33,559
Speaker 1: Discover fire these he had to avoid. Roland could eat

1432
01:11:33,600 --> 01:11:37,840
Speaker 1: small arms fire all day. Rockets were not small. He

1433
01:11:37,880 --> 01:11:40,519
Speaker 1: shoved the wrench into his waistband and threw himself into

1434
01:11:40,560 --> 01:11:43,040
Speaker 1: an elegant back flip. He may be wanted to impress

1435
01:11:43,080 --> 01:11:46,280
Speaker 1: Bigsby a little. He landed fourteen feet back from his

1436
01:11:46,320 --> 01:11:49,160
Speaker 1: prior position, and the same continuous motion he picked up

1437
01:11:49,160 --> 01:11:52,160
Speaker 1: two fist sized chunks of concrete off the ground, flipped

1438
01:11:52,160 --> 01:11:55,759
Speaker 1: back again, and launched both improvised missiles at the retreating martyrs.

1439
01:11:56,479 --> 01:11:59,679
Speaker 1: The rockets impacted one after the other and spaces Roland

1440
01:11:59,720 --> 01:12:02,920
Speaker 1: had been in the millisecond before. Shrapnel from the detonations

1441
01:12:02,960 --> 01:12:05,799
Speaker 1: tore at his skin and penetrated his less critical organs.

1442
01:12:06,400 --> 01:12:09,960
Speaker 1: Roland's hindbrain registered at least thirty new injuries, none of

1443
01:12:09,960 --> 01:12:12,880
Speaker 1: them were serious enough that he felt actual pain. He

1444
01:12:12,960 --> 01:12:16,559
Speaker 1: backflipped again, definitely show boating, and landed eight feet ahead

1445
01:12:16,560 --> 01:12:18,960
Speaker 1: of the last rocket and right in front of Biggsby's

1446
01:12:19,000 --> 01:12:21,879
Speaker 1: fighting position. Right as he landed, the chunks of concrete

1447
01:12:21,880 --> 01:12:24,320
Speaker 1: he'd thrown impacted the face plates of both martyrs at

1448
01:12:24,320 --> 01:12:28,080
Speaker 1: around eleven ft per second. That impact wouldn't be enough

1449
01:12:28,120 --> 01:12:30,680
Speaker 1: to kill men in Airy's armor, probably, but it was

1450
01:12:30,760 --> 01:12:33,120
Speaker 1: enough to break most of their suit sensors and shatter

1451
01:12:33,200 --> 01:12:36,120
Speaker 1: a lot of the bones in their faces. Roland fixed

1452
01:12:36,160 --> 01:12:38,479
Speaker 1: Biggsby with an evil grin as the last two power

1453
01:12:38,560 --> 01:12:41,680
Speaker 1: armored men staggered back, wavered on their feet and collapsed.

1454
01:12:42,400 --> 01:12:45,599
Speaker 1: Son of Biggsby started to curse in a low, odd voice,

1455
01:12:46,120 --> 01:12:52,439
Speaker 1: because I'll be taking that nipple now. Hey, everybody, Robert

1456
01:12:52,479 --> 01:12:54,439
Speaker 1: Evans here. I hope you just enjoyed the chapter you

1457
01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:56,719
Speaker 1: listen to. I hope you enjoyed the chapters to come.

1458
01:12:57,080 --> 01:12:59,360
Speaker 1: If you would like to read the text version of

1459
01:12:59,400 --> 01:13:01,800
Speaker 1: this book either on the web or on your e

1460
01:13:01,920 --> 01:13:04,200
Speaker 1: reader as an e pub, you can find those on

1461
01:13:04,240 --> 01:13:08,040
Speaker 1: the website a t r book dot com. So again,

1462
01:13:08,280 --> 01:13:11,320
Speaker 1: the free ad free e pub and the text of

1463
01:13:11,360 --> 01:13:14,480
Speaker 1: every chapter will be on a t R book dot com.

1464
01:13:14,479 --> 01:13:14,879
Speaker 1: Thanks