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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty Rowland, that looks like them, Sasha whispered into

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Speaker 1: his ear. The three of them were stationed on the

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Speaker 1: third floor of an old office building that overlooked the

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Speaker 1: Kingdom's vehicle pool. Based on the posters and decorations inside,

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Speaker 1: the people in this office had once helped coordinate for

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Speaker 1: a string of restaurants supply stores. Roland suspected the coming

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Speaker 1: of the war might have been a relief to the

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Speaker 1: people who'd been stuck working here. He was positioned by

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Speaker 1: the window, sitting down so only the edge of his

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Speaker 1: face would have been visible to any one looking in

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Speaker 1: from the outside. Manny had elected to take a nap

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Speaker 1: out of view behind one of the desks. His ability

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Speaker 1: to fall asleep any time anywhere marked him out as

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Speaker 1: a true expert and war zone survival. Sasha had situated

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Speaker 1: herself on the other side of the window frame. Roland

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Speaker 1: had warned her to keep her head out of view

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Speaker 1: until he saw new arrivals to the vehicle depot. He'd

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Speaker 1: called for her eyes six times already and gotten six negatives.

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Speaker 1: Now it seemed their target had arrived. Are you sure,

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Speaker 1: he asked? Pretty sure, she said, and nodded. The driver

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Speaker 1: walks with a limp. One of his legs is shorter

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Speaker 1: than the other. I think it's a birth defect. He

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Speaker 1: must have come from some part of the continent where

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Speaker 1: those still happened. Good eye. Roland was genuinely impressed. The

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Speaker 1: girl had potential. So what do we do now, she

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Speaker 1: asked you, rouse manny, I'll keep an eye on things.

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Speaker 1: When they depart, I'll carjack them into unconsciousness and bring

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Speaker 1: back the uniforms. And that's more or less how it went.

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Speaker 1: The garden driver departed in a jeep. Five minutes later.

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Speaker 1: Roland bounded down from one of the rear windows and

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Speaker 1: landed on the hood as they took a right hand

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Speaker 1: turn out of view of the vehicle depot. The guard

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Speaker 1: did not do his job title proud, Roland slammed his

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Speaker 1: face into the dashboard and knocked him out. He also

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Speaker 1: knocked out most of the man's teeth, but his hind

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Speaker 1: brain told him the guy's odds of a fatal brain

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Speaker 1: hemorrhage were only about six percent acceptable. He broke the

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Speaker 1: driver's job with a right cross, took the wheel, and

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Speaker 1: steered the vehicle to a stop. While he was still

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Speaker 1: hanging outside it. Roland tossed both men in the back

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Speaker 1: the jeep and pulled into the office buildings underground parking lot.

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Speaker 1: He stripped them both and cursed when he realized that

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Speaker 1: the guard's bleeding face had stained the neck of his

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Speaker 1: uniform shirt. He found some bottled water in the trunk

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Speaker 1: and managed to wash out the worst of it, but

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Speaker 1: the stain would still be visible to anyone who really

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Speaker 1: took the time to look. Still, it'd probably be enough

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Speaker 1: to get them through the door of the jail. He

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Speaker 1: stashed both men in a janitorial closet and dragged an

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Speaker 1: old metal dumpster in front of it to wedge the

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Speaker 1: door shut. Someone would probably find them before they starved

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Speaker 1: to death. He felt a pang of guilt for how

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Speaker 1: little he cared about what happened to those men. I

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Speaker 1: should feel worse about this. Roland knew the battle drugs

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Speaker 1: had suppressed his conscience. He knew that the longer they

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Speaker 1: stayed in this dangerous place, and the more fighting he did,

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Speaker 1: the more tempted he'd be to kill outright. Roland leaned

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Speaker 1: against the dumpster and closed his eyes. He tried to

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Speaker 1: force himself to take long, slow breaths and meditate on

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Speaker 1: the flow of air in and out of his lungs.

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Speaker 1: He helped taking a breather would prompt his system to

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Speaker 1: reduce the drip. Instead, he found himself flashing back to

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Speaker 1: more violence. Red siren lights screeched and blinked on walls

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Speaker 1: of institutional White men and women in lab coats ran

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Speaker 1: and screamed and died, died, died as he squeezed the

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Speaker 1: trigger of his sig Sour Roland kicked at a loft

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Speaker 1: door and the metal buckled inwards, revealing a room with

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Speaker 1: giant glass organ filled vials. He shook his head and

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Speaker 1: tried to banish the memories. He'd started flashing back to

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Speaker 1: this place when they had rescued Manny. But the memories

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Speaker 1: had kept coming even once the violence subsided. Please, Roland,

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Speaker 1: the old woman begged through blood stained teeth. He looked

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Speaker 1: down at the hole in her gut, the red blood

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Speaker 1: on her white lab coat. She slid backwards on the

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Speaker 1: tile floor until her shoulders hit one of the racks

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Speaker 1: of that grown organs. Please don't do this, Roland shook

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Speaker 1: his head. He didn't know why this was happening exactly.

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Speaker 1: It was likely just a glitch, some unforeseen interaction between

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Speaker 1: the wet wear of his hind brain, the procedural memory

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Speaker 1: stored at his DNA, and the battle drugs that flowed

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Speaker 1: through his system. He questioned again whether he really wanted

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Speaker 1: his memories back. This wasn't the time to ponder that question, though.

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Speaker 1: Roland headed back upstairs to grab Manny and saw. He

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Speaker 1: led them down to the garage and handed Manny the

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Speaker 1: unbloodied uniform. Dude, that's really obvious, Manny pointed to the

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Speaker 1: bloodstains on Roland's own uniform. They're going to notice that,

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Speaker 1: you think so. Roland was so used to normal humans

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Speaker 1: not noticing much of anything, he sometimes underestimated their senses.

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Speaker 1: I've got an idea, Sasha said, pop the hood. Roland

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Speaker 1: and Manny were both a little surprised, but he popped

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Speaker 1: it for her. The girl stared at the engine, reached

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Speaker 1: for the dipstick and pulled it free from its slot.

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Speaker 1: She rubbed her hand down the shaft and it came

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Speaker 1: away covered in sticky black grease. She rubbed the grease

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Speaker 1: onto Roland's collar, coated the dipstick again, and repeated the

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Speaker 1: process two more times. When she was done, he looked

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Speaker 1: like he'd been working on an engine rather than beating

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Speaker 1: a man half to death. Fucking brilliant, Roland said. Manny

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Speaker 1: nodded his agreement. Then he said, all right, let's go

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Speaker 1: abducted doctor. The abduction itself was easy. Doctor Brandt lived

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Speaker 1: in an undamaged mansion about two miles away from downtown.

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Speaker 1: As one of the kingdom's few medical professionals, Doctor branded

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Speaker 1: A apparently earned himself some luxury Sasha hid in the

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Speaker 1: trunk so the doctor wouldn't notice anything was off until

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Speaker 1: he entered the vehicle. Where's Jerry and Samuel, doctor Brandt asked,

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Speaker 1: as he opened the door and sat down inside the jeep.

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Speaker 1: Many gunned the engine and peeled away. Roland put a

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Speaker 1: hand on doctor Brandt's thigh and squeezed just hard enough

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Speaker 1: for the man to feel like his thigh bone might shatter.

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Speaker 1: I stuffed him in a closet somewhere, he explained, with

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Speaker 1: a smile. My name is Manny, the fixer said. The

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Speaker 1: guy who's about to break your leg is named Roland.

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Speaker 1: We're kidnapping you, ah, said doctor Brandt. Roland had to

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Speaker 1: give credit where credit was due. The doctor endured the

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Speaker 1: pain with a stony face and without any signs of panic.

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Speaker 1: We need you to help us get into the jail.

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Speaker 1: Manny continued, where those negotiators from Rolling Fuck are being held.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt grimaced, either from the obscenity or just due

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Speaker 1: to the continued pain of Roland's iron grip. And what

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Speaker 1: makes you think I'll give you any aid? There was

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Speaker 1: a bit of strain in his voice now, but the

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Speaker 1: doctor's features stayed decidedly neutral. I may be a doctor,

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Speaker 1: but I'm no us prepared to die for my kingdom

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Speaker 1: than anyone else here. You might as well just go

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Speaker 1: ahead and kill me. Roland relaxed his grip. The doctor's

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Speaker 1: sighed in relief. Yeah, we thought you might say something

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Speaker 1: like that, said Manny. That's why Roland and I prepared

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Speaker 1: an alternate proposal. Roland drew the guards stolen side arm

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Speaker 1: from its holster. He gripped the pistol in one hand

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Speaker 1: and then crushed it in his grip like he was

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Speaker 1: bawling up a piece of paper. The doctor's eyes widened

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Speaker 1: in shock and horror. So Manny said, my friends, just

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Speaker 1: full of chrome, high grade stuff. He could walk right

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Speaker 1: through a tank if he wanted. You're an educated man,

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Speaker 1: you know what people like him can do. The doctor

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Speaker 1: nodded but didn't say anything. Our offer is simple. You

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Speaker 1: help us out and we'll leave with our people. You

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Speaker 1: refuse to help, and we'll get our people anyway. Only

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Speaker 1: Roland here will take a little detour to burn half

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Speaker 1: the city to the ground. I see Roland could smell

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Speaker 1: the fear wafting off doctor Brandt now, but the man's

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Speaker 1: expression didn't change. You wouldn't be a doctor if you

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Speaker 1: didn't see value in human lives. Manny's voice was soft,

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Speaker 1: reasonable tone, wouldn't have been out of place in a boardroom.

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Speaker 1: If you refuse to help us, we won't hurt you,

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Speaker 1: won't harm a hair on your head. But my friend

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Speaker 1: here will break this city and a few thousand of

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Speaker 1: the people in it. You'll be hail and healthy, so

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Speaker 1: you can pick up the pieces, and you'll know that

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Speaker 1: every ounce of that suffering could have been prevented if

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Speaker 1: you just helped us out. It's true, Sir Sasha spoke

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Speaker 1: up Doctor Brandt. Stiffened, she sat up from her hidden

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Speaker 1: position in the back. The doctor was a smart man.

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Speaker 1: He put together that she was not being held as

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Speaker 1: a prisoner. His eyes narrowed in contempt Sasha. Doctor Brand's

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Speaker 1: voice was cold. I'm sorry to see you in such

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Speaker 1: poor company, sir, I'm really sorry, but but nothing, he snapped,

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Speaker 1: and now the anger showed on his face. Have you

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Speaker 1: been a traitor this whole time? Or did your will

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Speaker 1: simply fail Sasha? Manny spoke up. We really don't have

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Speaker 1: time for this, Roland disagreed. His hind brain estimated Sasha

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Speaker 1: and the doctor could afford a solid eight minutes of

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Speaker 1: emotional closure before they got too close to the jail.

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Speaker 1: Is eight minutes a lot of time for you people.

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Speaker 1: Everyone stared at him, their individual disagreements forgotten for a moment.

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Speaker 1: Roland realized late that he had spoken out loud. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: he said, I was just supposed to be in my head.

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Speaker 1: They still stared. Well, now you only have like seven

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Speaker 1: minutes and forty seconds, Ignore that, said Manny. He's a maniac.

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Speaker 1: That's why you don't want us to let him loosen

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Speaker 1: your city, doctor Brandt. Sasha added, I know you're a

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Speaker 1: good man. The Lord put you on this earth to

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Speaker 1: save lives. This is your chance to do that. The

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Speaker 1: doctor needed the bridge of his nose with his hand,

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Speaker 1: hated an admirable job of not giving too much away

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Speaker 1: with his body language. But Roland could smell the truth.

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Speaker 1: The scent of stress wafting off the doctor faded. It

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Speaker 1: was a sign the man had made a decision. There

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Speaker 1: was something about choosing that calmed the human soul. You

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Speaker 1: are correct, of course, Sasha. I never approved of us

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Speaker 1: holding those women in the first place. It was foolish

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Speaker 1: to antagonize things like him. He nodded towards Roland. If

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Speaker 1: I can avert a massacre, I will, But I sincerely

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Speaker 1: hope you planned to escape with them, Sasha. I won't

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Speaker 1: hide to protect a traitor. I'll leave, Sasha said. The

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Speaker 1: doctor gave a somber nod. I won't be able to

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Speaker 1: get you out of the jail with those prisoners, you know,

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Speaker 1: he said to Rowland. I can get you inside, and

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Speaker 1: I can probably get them to send the prisoners into

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Speaker 1: an examination room, but the guards won't let them leave

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Speaker 1: the building. I'll take care of that part, Rowland promised.

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Speaker 1: I'm real good at making doors. Rowland was aware of

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Speaker 1: the old saying no plan survives contact with the enemy.

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Speaker 1: For some reason, his hind brain remembered the original version

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Speaker 1: of the quote from an old Prussian general named moltkea

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Speaker 1: no plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond first

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Speaker 1: contact with the main hostile force. People who observed Roland

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Speaker 1: and Battle tended to think he just sort of winged

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Speaker 1: it and ballsed his way through on violent potential alone.

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Speaker 1: But Rowland was at his core a planner. Having a

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Speaker 1: plan was essential to take maximum advantage of the way

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Speaker 1: his hind brain worked. A plan was nothing more than

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Speaker 1: a clear set of tactics meant to accomplish a concrete goal.

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Speaker 1: In this case, the goal was free the prisoners and

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Speaker 1: take his new friends to safety. The plan he constructed

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Speaker 1: to achieve that goal was based mainly on Sasha's recollections

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Speaker 1: and his own espionage on the jail. He knew it

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Speaker 1: would change once the shooting started, but the fact that

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Speaker 1: he had a rubric would give his hindbrain something to

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Speaker 1: focus on while it zeroed in on the best tactics

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Speaker 1: for the evolving situation. At any rate, the plan Manny

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Speaker 1: and Sasha had cooked up actually did survive. First contact

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Speaker 1: with the enemy, Rowland and Manny had posed as guards

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Speaker 1: and followed doctor Brandton Sasha right through the door. The

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00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,319
Speaker 1: martyrs inside were all used to seeing the doctor and

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00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,520
Speaker 1: his assistant, and they didn't pay a different set of

217
00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,600
Speaker 1: armed guards any mind. When doctor Brandt requested they send

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00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:43,120
Speaker 1: all the prisoners into the examination room, the officer in

219
00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,400
Speaker 1: charge didn't even blink at the request. The only thing

220
00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,480
Speaker 1: that had seemed off to Rowland was an odd scent

221
00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:51,120
Speaker 1: of anxiety in the air. It wafted off the guards

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00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,240
Speaker 1: and hung in a thick cloud above the entrance room.

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Speaker 1: The Odor reminded Rowland of countless hours spent sitting with

224
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Speaker 1: nervous men in the cramped belly of an a PC

225
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,960
Speaker 1: or a drop aircraft. He assumed this had something to

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00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,480
Speaker 1: do with a giant explosion he'd caused earlier, or his

227
00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,160
Speaker 1: escape from the training facility. Of course, these guys are

228
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,199
Speaker 1: unhigh alert, he thought. Some nut fuck monster man blew

229
00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,840
Speaker 1: up a factory this morning. Doctor Brandt led them into

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00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,360
Speaker 1: a large waiting room and closed the door. He let

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00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:20,840
Speaker 1: out a long nervous sigh and slumped back against the wall. Okay,

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00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:23,200
Speaker 1: you'll have your prisoners soon enough, and no one else

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Speaker 1: will need to die. Right, he looked straight at Roland. Right,

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00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,559
Speaker 1: Roland said, and then added, until you Fox invaded Dallas.

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Speaker 1: I've gotten years without killing anyone I'm actually pretty good

236
00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,640
Speaker 1: at it. The doctor did not seem comforted by this fact.

237
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,360
Speaker 1: Roland opened his mouth again, but Manny put a hand

238
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Speaker 1: on his shoulder. No, he said, and Roland nodded. I

239
00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,720
Speaker 1: could have avoided so many violent misunderstandings with this kid's help.

240
00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,680
Speaker 1: Roland mold this over and wondered if Manny might be

241
00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:53,120
Speaker 1: interested in an adjoining mountain top shack. Just then the

242
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,200
Speaker 1: door opened, a guard entered. He was followed by the

243
00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,880
Speaker 1: three prisoners, and then two more guards. Rolling Fox negotiators

244
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,800
Speaker 1: are all handcuffed to each other. Roland had been shown

245
00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:05,360
Speaker 1: pictures of all three captives before they departed the City

246
00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,400
Speaker 1: of Wheels, so it wasn't hard to recognize Marigold, Tullie,

247
00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,920
Speaker 1: and Rick. But they all looked different. Marigold's bright purple

248
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:14,840
Speaker 1: hair was limp and greasy. The sockets on her augmented

249
00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:17,400
Speaker 1: arm had been filled in with some sort of resinous substance.

250
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,440
Speaker 1: Toulli bald in her pictures, now had a head full

251
00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:23,200
Speaker 1: of peach fuzz. Her necklaces and amulets and rings were

252
00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:26,480
Speaker 1: all gone. Of course, she looked pale and deflated. Roland

253
00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:28,840
Speaker 1: could see the ghost of an old black eye likely

254
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,800
Speaker 1: earned during the initial capture. She walked with a limp,

255
00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,360
Speaker 1: but otherwise looked healthy enough. And then there was Rick.

256
00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,000
Speaker 1: His wounds were fresh and extensive. He was covered in bruises,

257
00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,040
Speaker 1: and it looked like his guards had cut into him,

258
00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,560
Speaker 1: writing over several of his scarified tattoos with a combat knife.

259
00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,840
Speaker 1: His left eye was broken and looked dead. Roland could

260
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,360
Speaker 1: tell the man's orbital bone had been shattered, and with

261
00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,040
Speaker 1: the slow, juttering way his good eye looked around the room,

262
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,400
Speaker 1: it was likely he'd suffered at least one concussion. Doctor

263
00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,800
Speaker 1: Brandt sighed and went right to the injured young man.

264
00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,160
Speaker 1: Have the other sit down, he told the guards. He

265
00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,520
Speaker 1: started to examine Rick, his jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed.

266
00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,760
Speaker 1: Roland felt the doctor's heart rate accelerate and anger. You've

267
00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,720
Speaker 1: been at him again, haven't you, Doctor Brandt sounded angry.

268
00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:14,720
Speaker 1: I told you all this had to stop. He's clearly concussed.

269
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Speaker 1: You could have killed him. The lead guard shrugged and

270
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,199
Speaker 1: rolled his eyes. One of the other guards snickered. Roland

271
00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:22,120
Speaker 1: could tell by the look of fury on the doctor's

272
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,319
Speaker 1: face that he was not used to being treated this way. Soldier,

273
00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,360
Speaker 1: I am the senior medical doctor of this entire kingdom.

274
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,520
Speaker 1: I will bring your superior into this and I will,

275
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,160
Speaker 1: Roland heard, and then smelled six new men into the jail.

276
00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:38,120
Speaker 1: His mind rocketed downstairs, away from the petty argument and

277
00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,440
Speaker 1: started to analyze the new arrivals. There were soldiers, he

278
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,480
Speaker 1: could tell by the sound of their footfalls and the

279
00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:46,199
Speaker 1: strong smell of gun oil and powder that wafted off

280
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:49,240
Speaker 1: of them. One of them smelled familiar. He'd been present

281
00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:52,560
Speaker 1: when Manny had been abducted to the factory. Roland guessed

282
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:54,800
Speaker 1: this was the guy Sasha had told him about during

283
00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:59,480
Speaker 1: their impromptu rescue mission. Huh, Roland said out loud. Manny

284
00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,840
Speaker 1: was the only one who seemed to notice what Manny asked,

285
00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:04,800
Speaker 1: in a voice low enough that the guards wouldn't hear

286
00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,920
Speaker 1: it over the sound of doctor Brandt dressing them down.

287
00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:09,880
Speaker 1: That guy, Alexander, he just entered the building with a

288
00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,960
Speaker 1: squad of armed men. What does that mean? Uhh, Roland shrugged.

289
00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,040
Speaker 1: Probably an ambush. Roland was a bit embarrassed that it

290
00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,720
Speaker 1: had taken him this long to piece it together. That's

291
00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,240
Speaker 1: why the guards had been so accommodating of doctor Brand's

292
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:26,160
Speaker 1: unusual request. It's why they'd smelled so nervous. Somehow the

293
00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,760
Speaker 1: rescue attempt had been spotted before it had gone down.

294
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,440
Speaker 1: The soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom must have assumed the

295
00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,600
Speaker 1: doctor was a traitor too. Roland stood up. He knew

296
00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:37,640
Speaker 1: that violence would need to happen here. There were too

297
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:40,520
Speaker 1: many decent people's lives at stake for anything else. The

298
00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:43,360
Speaker 1: instant his forebrain made that decision. His hind brain started

299
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,640
Speaker 1: pouring adrenaline and battle drugs into his synapses. He felt

300
00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,200
Speaker 1: the electric crackle of chemical glee start deep in the

301
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,000
Speaker 1: back of his neck. It spread out to his shoulders,

302
00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:54,800
Speaker 1: down his arms, to the tip of his fingers. Roland

303
00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:58,280
Speaker 1: fought back against the building euphoria. While he analyzed the situation,

304
00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,400
Speaker 1: the world slowed down around him. He had plenty of

305
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:03,400
Speaker 1: time to watch as the guards started to reach for

306
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,200
Speaker 1: their side arms. The word ambush had keyed them in,

307
00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,000
Speaker 1: but it didn't matter. They still moved too slow to

308
00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,600
Speaker 1: effect anything. His hind brain calculated that Manny and Sasha

309
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,200
Speaker 1: were relatively safe. No one had a gun on them

310
00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,680
Speaker 1: just now. The prisoners were his priority. Then they were

311
00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,920
Speaker 1: exposed both to the door that enemy reinforcements would soon

312
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,520
Speaker 1: rush through and to the guards already in the room.

313
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,320
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt was a tertiary responsibility. He seemed like a

314
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,360
Speaker 1: decent enough guy in spite of it all. Alexander and

315
00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:33,560
Speaker 1: his men are two point oh four seconds from the door,

316
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:37,280
Speaker 1: maybe faster if they dropped into a dead sprint. Roland

317
00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:40,080
Speaker 1: stepped forward into the lead guard. He grabbed the man

318
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:42,520
Speaker 1: by the hair, lifted him into the air, and slammed

319
00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,880
Speaker 1: his skull hard into the second guard's face. Bone cracked

320
00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,720
Speaker 1: sixteen point three and twenty eight point seven percent chances

321
00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:52,320
Speaker 1: of fatal hemorrhage, respectively. Roland dropped the first man and

322
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,840
Speaker 1: plunged his fingers into the third guard's eyes. He gouged deep,

323
00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,520
Speaker 1: stopped just short of the man's brain, and then pulled

324
00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,560
Speaker 1: his hand free. The man staggered back, opened his mouth

325
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,120
Speaker 1: and started to scream. A surge of battle drugs hit

326
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:06,840
Speaker 1: roland synapses at just that moment, and in a fit

327
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,400
Speaker 1: of gleeful piaque, he grabbed the man by the jaw

328
00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,040
Speaker 1: and pulled. His intent had been to yank the man's

329
00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,200
Speaker 1: head into his knee, but he pulled a little too

330
00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:17,120
Speaker 1: hard and ripped the whole jaw free. The man fell back,

331
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,160
Speaker 1: gurgled bled. Huh my bad, Roland said to no one

332
00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,240
Speaker 1: in particular. He shoved the jaw into his front pocket,

333
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:26,760
Speaker 1: figuring it might make a useful weapon when the reinforcement

334
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,280
Speaker 1: showed up. In the meantime, he set to work ripping

335
00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,440
Speaker 1: the prisoner's manacle chains apart. It'd have taken too long

336
00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,760
Speaker 1: to remove the manacles, but at least with the chains free,

337
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,560
Speaker 1: they'd all be able to move with what are you,

338
00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:41,080
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Roland, What doctor Brandt, Manny, and Sasha

339
00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,640
Speaker 1: finally reacted? Roland had to remind himself that their brains

340
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,200
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to properly process what he'd done

341
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:50,600
Speaker 1: while it was happening. The whole altercation had lasted barely

342
00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,680
Speaker 1: a quarter second. To Manny, Sasha, and Doctor Brandt, the

343
00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:58,000
Speaker 1: violence had been disorienting and almost unintelligible. The three negotiators

344
00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,200
Speaker 1: from rolling Fuck we're not stock sapy in. They'd reacted

345
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,440
Speaker 1: faster and gone to ground almost as soon as he'd

346
00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,480
Speaker 1: rushed the first man. At least the women had. The

347
00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:08,840
Speaker 1: young man was too dazed and battered to react much

348
00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,120
Speaker 1: at all, so his friends pulled him down and shielded

349
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,000
Speaker 1: him with their bodies of the other three. Manny was

350
00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,560
Speaker 1: the first to react. He grabbed Sasha by the shoulder

351
00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,560
Speaker 1: and shoved her down below the window line. Roland was proud.

352
00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,160
Speaker 1: He would have said something about that, but everything went

353
00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:26,159
Speaker 1: disastrously wrong a fraction of a second later. Roland had

354
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,040
Speaker 1: known Alexander and his men were rushing the door. He'd

355
00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:32,119
Speaker 1: estimated a solid one point four seconds before they breached

356
00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:35,640
Speaker 1: the entryway. That's why he'd occupied himself by checking on everyone.

357
00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:38,600
Speaker 1: He'd trusted his senses and trusted that the Heavenly Kingdom

358
00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:42,040
Speaker 1: didn't have any gear he hadn't already seen. That proved

359
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,720
Speaker 1: to be a mistake, because, unbeknownst to Roland, two men

360
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,280
Speaker 1: in powered armor hung off the outside wall of the building,

361
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,119
Speaker 1: directly underneath the window. Their suits were bleeding edge stealth

362
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,919
Speaker 1: technology utterly absent from Roland's pieda bites of memory. His

363
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,679
Speaker 1: passive sensors had missed them entirely. Roland first realized they

364
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,239
Speaker 1: were there and that he'd air it terribly when they

365
00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:11,760
Speaker 1: opened fire. Close to a hundred thirty caliber slugs tore

366
00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:14,080
Speaker 1: through the wall of the jail at roughly forty two

367
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,000
Speaker 1: hundred feet per second. They were fired at such close

368
00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,040
Speaker 1: range and with such total surprise that Roland was unable

369
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,800
Speaker 1: to dodge or prep his subdermal armor for impact. Nineteen

370
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,520
Speaker 1: rounds hit him fifteen in his center of mass, one

371
00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:28,880
Speaker 1: in his left thigh, and three in his right shoulder.

372
00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,680
Speaker 1: Two hit Manny, ripping a hole through his left hand

373
00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:34,560
Speaker 1: and another through his kidney. Doctor Brandt, who had only

374
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,080
Speaker 1: half turned to face Rowland at this point, was torn

375
00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:41,040
Speaker 1: apart in a fusillade of steel. Rowland also registered hits

376
00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,120
Speaker 1: on their not yet rescued captives, one in Tullie's left

377
00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,040
Speaker 1: butt cheek, one that severed Rick's index finger, and another

378
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,439
Speaker 1: in the young man's shoulder. Roland staggered back from the

379
00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,439
Speaker 1: impact of the rounds just as Alexander's point man burst

380
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,960
Speaker 1: through the door. The coordination between the two teams was impressive,

381
00:18:57,119 --> 00:18:59,199
Speaker 1: as was the fact that the suited man hadn't hit

382
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:01,679
Speaker 1: their allies on the other side of the door. On

383
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,040
Speaker 1: a normal day, Roland would have ripped the shotgun out

384
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,280
Speaker 1: of the point man's hands and castrated him with it.

385
00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:09,200
Speaker 1: But this was not a normal day, and Roland's brain

386
00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,080
Speaker 1: was occupied with a damage to his body. The point

387
00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,200
Speaker 1: man fired twice and sent one ounce tungsten slugs through

388
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,000
Speaker 1: both of Roland's knees. He dropped, rolled, moaned, and then

389
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:21,280
Speaker 1: the rest of the team was in the room. They

390
00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,119
Speaker 1: moved well, not like vets, but like men who'd trained

391
00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:26,840
Speaker 1: a lot for entries like this. They all wore heavy

392
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,040
Speaker 1: body armor. It wasn't powered, but it provided solid protection

393
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:34,600
Speaker 1: against small arms fire the mostly packed auto shotguns. Smart choice,

394
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,040
Speaker 1: Roland thought, when fighting post humans, go for tissue damage.

395
00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,199
Speaker 1: He was hurt, nothing fatal yet, but the loss of

396
00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,320
Speaker 1: momentum and control had cost him dearly. Now six men

397
00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:46,600
Speaker 1: had a beat on him with weaponry powerful enough to

398
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,320
Speaker 1: do some real damage. Roland listened as one of the

399
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:51,720
Speaker 1: stealth suit smashed the remainder of the window in and

400
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,280
Speaker 1: crawled inside the room. This armor was much more subtle

401
00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,560
Speaker 1: than the standard Air's pattern power armor. Aside from plating

402
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:00,240
Speaker 1: at the chest and shins, it didn't look like it

403
00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,080
Speaker 1: added a substantial amount of protection. But the suit was

404
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,320
Speaker 1: covered in high definition display panels. The man was hard

405
00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:08,760
Speaker 1: for Roland to see. He would have been nigh invisible

406
00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,359
Speaker 1: to a normal human. Shit Roland's bat blood and looked

407
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,280
Speaker 1: up just as a very satisfied looking young man stepped

408
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,280
Speaker 1: into the room. He was tall, handsome, and well built.

409
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,639
Speaker 1: He wore the same armor as his men, but lacked

410
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,040
Speaker 1: a helmet. Instead, he had a red beret with a

411
00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,200
Speaker 1: lacquered gold cross pin to the front. Roland took one

412
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,920
Speaker 1: look at the boy's prominent jawline and well tanned skin.

413
00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:31,520
Speaker 1: He grudgingly agreed that it would have been a crime

414
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,120
Speaker 1: to cover up that face. How new were those fucking suits,

415
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,800
Speaker 1: he asked the fancy man. The Republic had some very

416
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,560
Speaker 1: choice gear in its armory. The youth replied, My superiors

417
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:44,959
Speaker 1: will be happy to hear how well it worked against you.

418
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,719
Speaker 1: He sauntered into the room like a conquering king, waving

419
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,760
Speaker 1: his pistol lazily at the captives. Hello, Sasha, he said,

420
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,840
Speaker 1: with a smile and a cheery wave of his free hand. Alexander,

421
00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:59,840
Speaker 1: she replied, in a tone as cold as ice. The

422
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,000
Speaker 1: young man Alexander stopped in front of Rowland, peered down

423
00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,359
Speaker 1: and grinned the ship eatingst grin in the history of

424
00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:09,000
Speaker 1: eating shit, you know, he said, it was rather easy

425
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,920
Speaker 1: drawing you into this trap. Once you played your hand

426
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,240
Speaker 1: at the training camp, we knew you'd come here sooner,

427
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,640
Speaker 1: Oh lady, I was rather surprised to see you involved, Sasha.

428
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 1: He looked up at her, a wonda. Was this your

429
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 1: plan all along? Or are you merely an opportunist clutching

430
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,639
Speaker 1: to these men because my proposition injured your ego? He

431
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,200
Speaker 1: laughed prickishly. Roland wanted to hit him, but the situation

432
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,880
Speaker 1: merited further analysis before action. Much of the damage done

433
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:36,840
Speaker 1: to him in the ambush had already healed, and none

434
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:39,600
Speaker 1: of it was substantial enough to impede his deadliness. But

435
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 1: his position was rather tenuous. The second armored soldier crouched

436
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,200
Speaker 1: at the window, adhered to the outside wall. The first

437
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,639
Speaker 1: stealth suited soldier had one gun trained on Manny and

438
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 1: another aimed at Roland. Alexander's men all had him dead

439
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,720
Speaker 1: to rights, shotguns leveled in fingers on triggers. He could

440
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:57,959
Speaker 1: perhaps move fast enough to take out one or two

441
00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,240
Speaker 1: of them, but the others would do a significant amount

442
00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,480
Speaker 1: of damage in the meantime, and more to the point,

443
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,600
Speaker 1: Roland could do nothing to insure Sasha and Manny's safety.

444
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 1: He considered their deaths unacceptable. I really am a bit disappointed,

445
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,119
Speaker 1: and how easy this owl was? The young fuck continued,

446
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,919
Speaker 1: I thought, we'd be infomo of a fight here. I

447
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:19,200
Speaker 1: guess the stories about your kind were exaggerated after all,

448
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 1: I suspected, so no amount of scientific tinkering can replace

449
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:28,240
Speaker 1: the blessings of God Behind a righteous man. Roland sensed movement,

450
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:31,560
Speaker 1: not from Manny. He was frozen still next to Sasha

451
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,760
Speaker 1: under the gun of one of the power armored troopers.

452
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,720
Speaker 1: It didn't come from any of Alexander's men either. It

453
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:39,680
Speaker 1: was Marigold. The woman had gritted her teeth and inched

454
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: her hand towards the body of the guard. Roland a

455
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,879
Speaker 1: dee jawed he watched she wrapped her hand around the

456
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,159
Speaker 1: grip of his side arm. Alexander stepped around him and

457
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,320
Speaker 1: headed towards Sasha. The other soldiers still had their weapons

458
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,480
Speaker 1: trained on Roland. They didn't seem to have noticed Marigold.

459
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:58,119
Speaker 1: I warn't you, didn't I, Sasha? Alexander asked, as a

460
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 1: smile played across his lips. I'll warn't you what came

461
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,639
Speaker 1: of defying God's will? And then you allied yourself with

462
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: a baste whose very existence is a sin against a

463
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,439
Speaker 1: heavenly father. If Christ had intended, Roland never got to

464
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,160
Speaker 1: hear the rest of that sentence because Alexander never got

465
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 1: to say it. He was interrupted by Marigold, pulling the

466
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,399
Speaker 1: pistol free of its holster and swinging it up towards

467
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,399
Speaker 1: the groin of the squad's point man. She fired twice,

468
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,760
Speaker 1: switched targets, and pumped two more rounds into the unarmored

469
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 1: belly of a second man. Roland was up and off

470
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,159
Speaker 1: the ground. Between the second and third shot. He swung

471
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,240
Speaker 1: his fist hard into the face plate of the nearest

472
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 1: soldier's helmet. The plexiglass shattered, and Roland's knuckles pushed shards

473
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 1: into the man's cheeks and eyes. The martyr screamed and

474
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,199
Speaker 1: fired a shot that went wide because Roland doved the

475
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 1: left as he retracted his fist and pivoted to rush

476
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 1: the power armored man holding a gun on Manny and Sasha.

477
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: There were no good options here. Marigold's intervention had given

478
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: them all a chance, but Roland had been forced to

479
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,960
Speaker 1: make a choice between going after the armored men and

480
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,560
Speaker 1: saving his friends, or taking out the entry team and

481
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,680
Speaker 1: saving Ari Golden her friends. He heard her fire two

482
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 1: more shots and heard them impact, but then his attention

483
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: was consumed by the two men in powered armor. They

484
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: recovered first, and both men opened up on Roland as

485
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 1: he charged. There was no dodging at this distance. It

486
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:16,919
Speaker 1: was barely possible to mitigate the damage in any way.

487
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 1: Roland took thirty high velocity rounds to the face, neck, shoulders,

488
00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: and upper chest. Some of them were stopped by his

489
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,639
Speaker 1: subdermal armor, most weren't. He felt, holy shit, real pain

490
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 1: for the first time in what felt like years. Roland's

491
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,639
Speaker 1: wired nervous system rewarded this with a flood of chemical bliss.

492
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 1: As he charged, he smiled and whooped like a sixteen

493
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 1: year old. Railing his first line of blow, he dove

494
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: into the first man hands first, grabbed his enemy by

495
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: the neck, and then bum rushed him into the man

496
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,639
Speaker 1: hanging outside the window. This knocked the top of the

497
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:48,879
Speaker 1: second man's body free from the wall and sent him

498
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 1: reeling half back into open air. The man's feet were

499
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,439
Speaker 1: still attached to the building, but his body flailed free.

500
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,440
Speaker 1: Roland kept his grip and focus on the first armored man.

501
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,760
Speaker 1: The martyr's neck armor had hardened to resist crushing strength

502
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,200
Speaker 1: of Roland's grip, so he shook the man's head back

503
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 1: and forth and slammed it into the frame of the

504
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 1: building as hard as possible. The soldier pumped another dozen

505
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: rounds point blank into Roland's body. He saw red, he

506
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: felt red. He was numbly aware of the tremendous amount

507
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:16,720
Speaker 1: of damage being done to him, but none of it

508
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: had yet rendered him unable to throttle this motherfucker, so

509
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:23,160
Speaker 1: he continued to squeeze until the armor's neck seals failed, cracked,

510
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 1: and Roland's fingernails bit deep into the meat of the

511
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,240
Speaker 1: man's throat and crushed his windpipe. Roland tossed the body

512
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 1: aside and went for the second man, still flailing outside

513
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: the window. He was interrupted when Alexander fired a slug

514
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,480
Speaker 1: into his temple. The round impact at his reinforced skull

515
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,119
Speaker 1: and ricochet off, but the impact the force of the

516
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:45,160
Speaker 1: blow itself made him seize stars it hurt Roland staggered

517
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: back into the side. Then several things happened in very

518
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,679
Speaker 1: quick succession. Marigold fired another round, her last. It was

519
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,080
Speaker 1: followed by the sound of the two remaining guards opening

520
00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,359
Speaker 1: up with their shotguns. Roland heard as she was torn apart.

521
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,600
Speaker 1: Just as his eyes started to focus again, Alexander fired

522
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,439
Speaker 1: two more shots directly into his head. The man on

523
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: the wall finally found his grip again, and Roland felt

524
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 1: the power armored soldiers steady himself to open fire. Roland shaken,

525
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,400
Speaker 1: hind brain advised him that going for the armored man

526
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 1: was probably his best decision, so he surged forward, less

527
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,439
Speaker 1: steady than before and hunched his shoulders in anticipation of

528
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: taking another slugger for to the brain pan, but that

529
00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 1: didn't happen. For the second time to day, Roland was

530
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,200
Speaker 1: surprised by the actions of a normal human. This time

531
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 1: it was Sasha. She'd gotten up from where she and

532
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 1: Manny had taken shelter from the gunfight and crawled over

533
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,760
Speaker 1: to the body of the first guard Roland had disabled.

534
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 1: He'd been dimly aware of this in the semi conscious way.

535
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,640
Speaker 1: He was aware of the traffic passing outside his brain

536
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 1: had opted to not focus on it, since the heavily

537
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: armed men were a more pressing concern. But then Sasha

538
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: had removed the unconscious guard's helmet and rushed towards Alexander.

539
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 1: She swung first for his gun hand. Roland heard her

540
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 1: knock the pistol free of his grip. Then she hit

541
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 1: him in the face over and over and over again.

542
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 1: Roland felt the urge to banker, but just then the

543
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: power armored man became a concern again. The fucker managed

544
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,359
Speaker 1: to get off three more shots before Roland ripped the

545
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 1: weapon free from its forearm mount and used it to

546
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: cave in the armored face plate. Blood spurted out, and

547
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,480
Speaker 1: the man fell limp back out the window. His feet

548
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,159
Speaker 1: continued to adhere to the outside wall while his jerking,

549
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 1: bleeding body dangled in the breeze. Roland turned just in

550
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: time to take another two slugs from another two shotguns,

551
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 1: but then the men were empty. They pumped most of

552
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 1: their rounds into Marigold's body. They fumbled to reload, panicked

553
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:32,919
Speaker 1: and clearly unused to carrying out the task in a

554
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,400
Speaker 1: combat situation. Roland could smell the terror as it wafted

555
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,199
Speaker 1: off their bodies. Their fear hit his nervous system like

556
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,199
Speaker 1: an ounce of crystal meth. He loomed towards them, and

557
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 1: for a second, the only sounds in the room were

558
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: his footsteps and the dull thwap of Sasha pounding her

559
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:51,320
Speaker 1: helmet into Alexander's now shattered skull. Roland whipped his left

560
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 1: arm out. A massive blade not unlike a straight razor,

561
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,680
Speaker 1: tore through the flesh of his inner forearm and locked

562
00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,879
Speaker 1: into place. The men screamed. One dropped a shotgun and

563
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 1: tried to run. Roland tore into him first, using the

564
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: blade to sever the fucker's arms. Battle drugs and pure

565
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:10,360
Speaker 1: liquid satisfaction flowed into roland synapses. His dick went hard,

566
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,119
Speaker 1: and he screamed in wordless joy as he slashed downwards

567
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 1: and sliced off the man's face. The poor bastard fell away, burbling,

568
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,360
Speaker 1: and Roland turned towards the last soldier. He died an

569
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 1: equally terrible death, and then it was done. The battle

570
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,439
Speaker 1: was over. Quiet reigned. The only sounds audible to a

571
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:29,880
Speaker 1: normal human would have been the blood spurting from dead

572
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 1: and dying bodies, and the sound of sobbing. Tully sobbed

573
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 1: for Marigold, Sasha sobbed for Roland, guest her lost innocence.

574
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: And then out in the city beyond came the sound

575
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: of a hundred sirens. The martyrs were coming for them. Hey,

576
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,080
Speaker 1: I'm Robert Evans. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I

577
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed the chapters to come. You can find

578
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 1: the free e pub of every chapter and eventually the

579
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 1: whole book at a t r book dot com, complete

580
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: with illustrations. If you want to support me in writing

581
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 1: the sequel, you can crowdfund me at After the Revolution

582
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 1: the Sequel at go fund Me. Just type and go

583
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 1: fund me after the Revolution the Sequel. Um. I'd like

584
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 1: my books to always be free, so I'm just going

585
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 1: to try to crowdfund the next one and see how

586
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 1: that works. So After the Revolution the Sequel on go

587
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: fund Me. You can also find the community of fans

588
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 1: of this book online at our slash after the Revolution

589
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,680
Speaker 1: on Reddit. So After the Revolution the Sequel on go

590
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: fund me and our slash after the Revolution on Reddit.

591
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 1: A t r book dot com for the whole book. Thanks,