Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen, Sasha. Sasha didn't feel safe out on the
Speaker 1: street after Anne's abduction. The next day, she'd volunteered for
Speaker 1: four extra hours of duty in the emergency ward. She
Speaker 1: changed bandages and administered antibiotic salves and delivered food to
Speaker 1: wounded soldiers until her eyes started to glaze over and
Speaker 1: doctor Brandt ordered her home. She'd barely had the energy
Speaker 1: to eat that night, but by the time her driver
Speaker 1: dropped her off at the House of Miriam, it was
Speaker 1: dark and there'd been no one waiting for her. That
Speaker 1: strategy hadn't worked. The day after that, doctor Brandt had
Speaker 1: even tried to send her home early. Sasha had talked
Speaker 1: him out of it, but not out of sending her
Speaker 1: back downtown at the normal time. She was sure her
Speaker 1: driver must have noticed how anxious she was. By the
Speaker 1: time they reached the main drag, she was drenched in
Speaker 1: sweat her hands were shaking. She asked him to drop
Speaker 1: her off a half block down from the normal spot
Speaker 1: so she could enter the square from the left side
Speaker 1: and get a good look at who was hanging out
Speaker 1: near the House of Miriam. Alexander had been there, of course,
Speaker 1: sitting out in front of a building two doors down
Speaker 1: from the house, along with one of his friends. Avoiding
Speaker 1: them had brought her to the Cafe Clement, and then
Speaker 1: something she could only assume was God's providence had bumped
Speaker 1: her into a manual. He was sweet and fun to
Speaker 1: talk to, and it was actually refreshing to have a
Speaker 1: conversation with some one who didn't constantly quote scripture or
Speaker 1: pastor Mike. She was surprised at herself for feeling that way.
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago, she'd have given anything to have
Speaker 1: an open conversation about her beliefs, but now that she
Speaker 1: was deep within the Kingdom, it was nice to talk
Speaker 1: about normal things with a normal boy. The next day
Speaker 1: had brought her back to the hospital, which was filled
Speaker 1: with wounded soldiers from an air strike on a troop transport.
Speaker 1: Sasha had spent nine hours without a break helping doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt cut clothing off of horribly burned young men. She'd
Speaker 1: applied slick, gummy burned dressings and changed ivy drips of
Speaker 1: pain killers. The day was long, bloody, and brutal. Four
Speaker 1: men died in front of her eyes, and there was
Speaker 1: no time to really think about it. She knew that
Speaker 1: she should have been more horrified at what she was seeing.
Speaker 1: But the exposed organs and burnt, shriveled limbs didn't feel
Speaker 1: like parts of people. Even the screams felt more like
Speaker 1: rhode hazards or bad weather than damaged pieces of human beings.
Speaker 1: They were obstacles to be dealt with. She and doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt dealt with them well. A still small voice in
Speaker 1: the back of her mind recoiled in horror at the
Speaker 1: sheer volume of human misery she saw that day, But
Speaker 1: that voice was quieter than it had been on other days,
Speaker 1: and it grew quieter as the day went on and
Speaker 1: the death toll mounted. Sasha had read about post traumatic
Speaker 1: stress disorder back in school. She understood the mechanics of it.
Speaker 1: The people tended to cope with terrifying situations by suppressing
Speaker 1: their fear. But this didn't feel like that. It felt
Speaker 1: like she was just doing her job, and she enjoyed
Speaker 1: her job. Before she knew it, ten hours had gone by,
Speaker 1: and doctor Brandt demanded she find a ride back to
Speaker 1: the House of Miriam and get some rest. That was
Speaker 1: the first time in the entire day when Sasha felt
Speaker 1: truly scared. It started in her chest, her heart fluttered
Speaker 1: faster and faster, until the flutter turned to a pounding
Speaker 1: so loud it felt like someone was smashing a hammer
Speaker 1: on the inner walls of her cranium. She pressed her
Speaker 1: back hard into the seat of the jeep and hoped
Speaker 1: her growing panic wasn't obvious to the driver. He dropped
Speaker 1: her off on the other side of the square again.
Speaker 1: She didn't see Alexander or his comrades near the House
Speaker 1: of Miriam this time, but she knew that didn't mean
Speaker 1: they weren't watching the place. She had plans to meet
Speaker 1: Emmanual again anyway. Sasha half expected him to have moved
Speaker 1: on since she'd been so late, but he was there,
Speaker 1: standing out in front of the Cafe Clement when she arrived.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm so late, she said. He shrugged in response,
Speaker 1: I just got here myself. They dismissed us late. We
Speaker 1: had a special lecture before dinner about a His face
Speaker 1: grew red and he trailed off about what she poked.
Speaker 1: Maybe let's just sit down first, huh. So they found
Speaker 1: a seat and ordered their coffee. Manny tried to change
Speaker 1: the subject by asking Sasha about her day, but she
Speaker 1: was curious about his reaction and would not be dissuaded.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you all about my day if you tell
Speaker 1: me about that lecture and why just thinking about it
Speaker 1: made your face go red. He grew redder and stared
Speaker 1: down into his coffee. Pastor came over to lecture us
Speaker 1: about our duty and helping to heaven the kingdom grow.
Speaker 1: You know our duty, Emmanual gave her a significant look.
Speaker 1: She gathered his meaning, and then she blushed too. That's
Speaker 1: uh why they bust us out here every day, he continued.
Speaker 1: It's so we can get to know the local women
Speaker 1: and then get to know them in the biblical sense.
Speaker 1: She laughed in spite of herself. I think that was
Speaker 1: the first off color joke I've heard in weeks. It
Speaker 1: felt good and risque. It was actually the same sort
Speaker 1: of thrill she'd gotten back home when she'd sneakily read
Speaker 1: issues of Revelator and browsed the media feeds of various
Speaker 1: martyrs brigades. You know, Emmanual, she said, You're not quite
Speaker 1: like anyone else I've met here. It's nice to meet
Speaker 1: someone who wasn't afraid to joke. I didn't think i'd
Speaker 1: missed that. He was quiet for a little while Manny
Speaker 1: stirred his coffee awkwardly cast his eyes down, he went paler,
Speaker 1: you seem different too, I dunno this place. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: not exactly what we thought it would be. She should
Speaker 1: have gotten angry at that. It was the kind of
Speaker 1: common that could have gotten a manual into a lot
Speaker 1: of trouble. Why would he say that to me, she wondered?
Speaker 1: And why am I okay with all this? Maybe it
Speaker 1: was Marigold rubbing off on her. Maybe it was just
Speaker 1: gradual disillusionment, the climax of a process that had started
Speaker 1: with Alexander's betrayal. But the Heavenly Kingdom no longer felt
Speaker 1: magical or even all that wholly. It's complicated here, she
Speaker 1: finally said. I mean, before I came here, I knew
Speaker 1: it couldn't be perfect no places, but yes, it's not
Speaker 1: what I'd hoped to find exactly. Sasha felt a spike
Speaker 1: of panic as soon as the words left her mouth.
Speaker 1: You barely know this man, Sasha. His whole job might
Speaker 1: be ferrying out potential disloyalty. She coughed and tried to
Speaker 1: walk her admission back a little. It's still better than
Speaker 1: the st f or any of the other Heathen states,
Speaker 1: I have to keep telling myself that what's important is
Speaker 1: what we're fighting for, not the imperfections we have to
Speaker 1: live with. In this moment, hum he gave an on
Speaker 1: committal grunt that surprised her. She hadn't expected anything specific exactly,
Speaker 1: but that surprised her. He started to say something else,
Speaker 1: then his eyes went wide. Who he started to say?
Speaker 1: Sasha heard boot falls. She felt the presence of several
Speaker 1: tall men behind her. The heavy, familiar scent of Alexander's
Speaker 1: cologne filled her nostrils. Madyr Emmanuel Sanchez, Miss Sasha, may
Speaker 1: the blessings of the laud be with you and also
Speaker 1: with you, Sascha replied by rote. Emmanuel chimed in a
Speaker 1: second or two later. He sounded a bit awkward, like
Speaker 1: he wasn't exactly sure which words to use. Alexander pulled
Speaker 1: up a chair and set it against the right side
Speaker 1: of the table. He sat down, placing himself between them.
Speaker 1: He rested one arm on the table, but his left
Speaker 1: arm hung directly over his side arm. He looked at Immanuel, smiled,
Speaker 1: and then looked at Sasha. She felt a wave of
Speaker 1: nausea grabbed her by the guts and tug. His lips
Speaker 1: curled up, revealing his straight white teeth. Excuse me, Manny said,
Speaker 1: but who are you? Alexander looked back to Manny, his
Speaker 1: expression unchanged. Mata, Alexander du Bois. I'm a friend of Sasha's,
Speaker 1: he glanced back at her with a wink that curdled
Speaker 1: her stomach. And I'm also in charge of recruitment for
Speaker 1: the Storming Battalion. Never heard of it, Emmanuel said in
Speaker 1: a gruff, clipped tone. Sasha realized she was shaking a little.
Speaker 1: Alexander's lips curled up into an even more ghoulish variant
Speaker 1: of his already unsettling smile. He replied, there's a reason
Speaker 1: for that, Mada Sanchez. The Storming Battalion plays a key
Speaker 1: role in our success on the battlefield. They've been central
Speaker 1: in every one of our victories. We don't publicize their
Speaker 1: work for various reasons, but I assure you it's a
Speaker 1: distinct honor to be crouded by me. That's actually why
Speaker 1: I'm here, Emmanuel. We've chosen you. By now, it felt
Speaker 1: like the pit of Sasha's stomach was boiling. Something terrible
Speaker 1: was clearly happening, even Emmanual seemed to realize that his
Speaker 1: face had gone pale. His pupils were the size of
Speaker 1: dinner plates. I ah, thank you for the honor, but
Speaker 1: I'm happy with my unit. I feel that's where the
Speaker 1: Lord needs me. My friend Aaron Alexander put a hand up,
Speaker 1: flat palm facing Emmanual. Your comrade will be taken care of,
Speaker 1: and we'll be the judges of where the LRD needs you.
Speaker 1: Trust me, We've got a lot more experience interpreting his
Speaker 1: will than you do. There's a reason the cross flies
Speaker 1: over this entire city. Emmanuel half stood in his chair.
Speaker 1: It was a sudden gesture, and a faintly aggressive one.
Speaker 1: Sasha noticed his hands were bawled up into fists. His
Speaker 1: eyes darted left and right. He seemed to be looking
Speaker 1: over the heads of Alexander and his men Alexander ten.
Speaker 1: Both the men put hands over their side arms, but
Speaker 1: Emmanuel didn't take any further action. After a few turns
Speaker 1: of his head, he stopped looking, relaxed his hands, and
Speaker 1: sat back down. Okay, he said, I get the feeling
Speaker 1: you want me to go with you now, Alexander smiled.
Speaker 1: It was a vicious, oily thing, and it confirmed in
Speaker 1: Sasha's heart that he had something terrible planned. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: exactly what I want. He cocked his head up and
Speaker 1: pursed his lips in an exaggerated gesture of consideration. Well, actually,
Speaker 1: I want you to go with these men. I need
Speaker 1: to stay here and have a wood with Sasha. Emmanuel
Speaker 1: looked into her eyes. He was scared clearly, but he
Speaker 1: kept his voice steady when he spoke, Sasha, I've got
Speaker 1: to go do my duty find errand for me. Will
Speaker 1: you tell him I am wish him the best, and
Speaker 1: I hope to see him soon. He put definite emphasis
Speaker 1: on that last word, and then he gave Sasha a
Speaker 1: very deliberate nod before he stood and stepped towards Alexander's men.
Speaker 1: Take him to the factory for his intake process, and
Speaker 1: I'll be along. Showtly, Alexander said. He put a hand
Speaker 1: on Emmanuel's forearm as the young man passed by, and said,
Speaker 1: you should give a prayer of thanks, brother, God has
Speaker 1: blessed you with a great honor. Emmanuel smile was as
Speaker 1: false as Alexander's God bless you, Martyr du Bois. I'll
Speaker 1: pray that you and all your men grow closer to
Speaker 1: our lord. Was that a threat, she wondered, before deciding,
Speaker 1: of course it was. In a more normal situation, Sasha
Speaker 1: would have moulled that over. It certainly was not the
Speaker 1: sort of comment she'd have expected from a true martyr,
Speaker 1: But just then she was far too consumed with terror,
Speaker 1: both for Emmanuel and for herself. Alexander's guards led Manny away,
Speaker 1: and Alexander took his place at the table. He took
Speaker 1: a long sip from Emmanuel's cooling coffee and smiled his
Speaker 1: snake smile again. I must say, Sasha, I thought you
Speaker 1: had better taste than that. For the first time in
Speaker 1: her life, Sasha found herself trying to stare daggers at someone.
Speaker 1: Oh if only I could shoot knives out of my eyes,
Speaker 1: she thought, as she imagined one striking Alexander in the
Speaker 1: forehead with enough force to burst out the back of
Speaker 1: his skull. Is that something chromed people can do, she wondered,
Speaker 1: and decided she'd ask Marigold if she had forgot another
Speaker 1: chance to talk to the woman. Hey, he snapped his
Speaker 1: fingers in front of her eyes, and she hated him
Speaker 1: a little more. She was sort of surprised to learn
Speaker 1: that was possible. Look, I know coming here can be disorienting.
Speaker 1: I know this is a lot to get used to.
Speaker 1: But him a fucking it's people like him who filled
Speaker 1: this continent with them mongrel spawn and tore American civilization
Speaker 1: to splinter us. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ,
Speaker 1: she said. We are all the fruit fruit of the
Speaker 1: same tree. Yeah, I know, I've met Pastor Mike. I
Speaker 1: know God made us all, and I also know he
Speaker 1: made some of us better than others. There's a reason
Speaker 1: civilization reached its peak under white Man, and there's a
Speaker 1: reason it crumbled once. We let them take the reins
Speaker 1: for a while, it's not worth arguing with him, she
Speaker 1: told herself. So Sasha decided to ask a blunt question.
Speaker 1: What's going to happen to Emmanual? Alexander smiled, Exactly what
Speaker 1: I said was going to happen to him. He's going
Speaker 1: to the factory for a trainin' and then he'll participate
Speaker 1: in the invasion of Waco as part of the Storming Battalion.
Speaker 1: And what is that? In a way, it's the luckiest
Speaker 1: unit in the Heavenly Kingdom's whole military. They are the
Speaker 1: first ones in guaranteed glory. He took another long, slow
Speaker 1: sip from Manny's coffee, his eyes bored into her all
Speaker 1: the while, and guaranteed modyed um. Sasha felt a little
Speaker 1: pride for not crying. Tears threatened at the corners of
Speaker 1: her eyes. Praise be to God, she choked out, followed
Speaker 1: by I still have duties tonight at the house. May
Speaker 1: I go? Alexander sneered at that, and then he waved
Speaker 1: his hand in a gesture that was surely meant to
Speaker 1: be casual and dismissive. It looked calculated, though, like it
Speaker 1: was important to him that she feel like this didn't
Speaker 1: matter to him. For some reason, that observation made Sasha
Speaker 1: feel a little stronger. Go on. Then he said, we'll
Speaker 1: talk tomorrow. Maybe we'll do more than talk. Maybe not.
Speaker 1: She stood up, still fighting back tears, and left the
Speaker 1: cafe without a response. Sasha wanted to go to someone, anyone,
Speaker 1: in the wake of all this. There's nothing to do.
Speaker 1: The smarter, colder part of her brain, the part that
Speaker 1: always sounded like her mother, warned her, anything you say
Speaker 1: will only make it worse. She knew that was true.
Speaker 1: Even Helen couldn't do anything for Emmanual. Now she'd made
Speaker 1: it very clear that military matters took precedence over everything
Speaker 1: else in the Heavenly Kingdom. It made sense, and yet
Speaker 1: shouldn't right and wrong be what matter most here? She
Speaker 1: wasn't even sure what either of those words meant anymore?
Speaker 1: Was this really what God wanted? Was this how a
Speaker 1: society based on his laws operated? Sasha told herself over
Speaker 1: and over again that she'd made the right decision, that
Speaker 1: the Kingdom wasn't perfect, but it was the best of
Speaker 1: all the other options. That voice grew quieter and less
Speaker 1: convincing as she walked through the doors of the House
Speaker 1: of Miriam and noticed another missing person. Where's Suzanne, she
Speaker 1: asked Helen, after scanning the dining room for her friend.
Speaker 1: The older woman smiled, but it wasn't the warm look
Speaker 1: Sasha had come to expect. Helen looked strained, tired, perhaps
Speaker 1: even a little ill. Suzanne met her husband today, Sasha
Speaker 1: narrowed her eyes and fought down an immediate surge of rage.
Speaker 1: She met him or did he see her and claim her?
Speaker 1: Like Anne suitor? Helen did not like that. She almost
Speaker 1: growled her next words, be very careful with what you insinuate,
Speaker 1: Miss Sasha. I know this isn't what any of you
Speaker 1: dreamed of, but you did come here to help further
Speaker 1: the kingdom. This is how that looks Sasha knew in
Speaker 1: that moment that there was nothing thing else she could
Speaker 1: say to Helen. What would be the point? So she
Speaker 1: nodded meekly, and she apologized, and then she ate her
Speaker 1: dinner like a robot and cleaned up for bed. Throughout
Speaker 1: all that, Marigold's words rang louder in her memory. You
Speaker 1: got suckered into a fucking nightmare. It's time to wake ups.
Speaker 1: Time to wake ups, Time to wake ups, time to
Speaker 1: wake Sasha went to bed around nine. She'd had a
Speaker 1: long and exhausting day. Tomorrow was sure to be more
Speaker 1: of the same, but she couldn't sleep. Now that she
Speaker 1: was safely in bed, hidden from the world, the tears
Speaker 1: refused to stay hidden behind her eyes. It was all
Speaker 1: Sasha could do to avoid audible sobs. She lay awake
Speaker 1: for an hour, maybe more, until she heard a thwack
Speaker 1: followed by a thump. She opened her eyes and rolled
Speaker 1: over to face the door, and the time it took
Speaker 1: to complete that motion, she heard the door whosh open.
Speaker 1: And then a series of thumps so rapid they sounded
Speaker 1: like one long drum roll. Sasha felt a rush of air,
Speaker 1: and then since the presence of a new person. The
Speaker 1: instant before she completed her roll, she looked up to
Speaker 1: see a man at the side of her bed. He
Speaker 1: was big, broad, and clad in a torn and bloodied
Speaker 1: Martyrs uniform. He had a heavy metal pipe in his hand.
Speaker 1: Sasha rose her hands up in an instinctive gesture of
Speaker 1: self defense. The moment before she saw the holking man's
Speaker 1: face and realized who he was, Aaron. The man blinked.
Speaker 1: He looked confused for a moment, and then he laughed,
Speaker 1: all right, Yes, saw my name, Han, you can call
Speaker 1: me Roland. What do you What's happening? Are we under attack? Yes,
Speaker 1: sorta by me. I knocked out the old lady. He
Speaker 1: gestured his head back towards the other girls sleeping in
Speaker 1: their beds. I knocked them all out too, just minor concussions,
Speaker 1: but they're out cold. I am very confused, Sasha said,
Speaker 1: in a flat voice, and very frightened. You're not frightened.
Speaker 1: She was surprised to realize that he was right. Sasha
Speaker 1: knew she should have been scared, but her heart rate
Speaker 1: didn't elevate, she didn't start to sweat. She did feel confused,
Speaker 1: but she also felt calm. Maybe I've just been so
Speaker 1: scared the last few days my body can't handle any
Speaker 1: more of it. Maybe I've reached the limit of my
Speaker 1: capacity for fear. I guess you're right, she said, I
Speaker 1: should be afraid. This is also She trailed off, grasping
Speaker 1: for words. Yeah, it's fucked, Roland said, and then he
Speaker 1: pulled up a canteen that had been hanging from his
Speaker 1: shoulder and took a deep poll. The scent of alcohol
Speaker 1: wafted over to her. You want some, he asked. I
Speaker 1: made it in my guts, filled a ganteen as I
Speaker 1: finished up at the base. Wait, Sasha said, what happened
Speaker 1: at the base? Roland gave another shrug and took another pull.
Speaker 1: The boss guys told me Manny had been reassigned to
Speaker 1: some sort of I don't know, suicide battalion. This pissed
Speaker 1: me off, so I broke exactly half of their bones.
Speaker 1: Sasha could hear sirens now often the distance. It sounded
Speaker 1: like there were rather a lot of them. She imagined
Speaker 1: this was connected to whatever Roland had done. I'm going
Speaker 1: to guess you and E Manual aren't really martyrs, are you,
Speaker 1: he chuckled. I mean maybe some days, sister. Just now,
Speaker 1: I don't say any causes worth dying for, but I
Speaker 1: get your meaning. And no, I don't give a shit
Speaker 1: about your heavenly kingdom. Man he actively hates it. We're spies,
Speaker 1: or we were spies. Now he's a captive and I'm
Speaker 1: a terrorist again. Oh, she said, And then I think
Speaker 1: I would like a drink. He handed her the canteen
Speaker 1: and she took a generous gulp. Sasha had only tried
Speaker 1: alcohol once before. She'd been thirteen, not yet a Christian,
Speaker 1: and at a party she'd been far too young to attend.
Speaker 1: She remembered the sensation of gentle warmth spreading down her throat,
Speaker 1: and the sense of elation and well being that had followed.
Speaker 1: She'd taken a few more SIPs, which had made the
Speaker 1: world far too spinny for her comfort. She'd vomited not
Speaker 1: long after, but she figured if there was ever a
Speaker 1: time to try alcohol again, it's now. The drink tasted
Speaker 1: like beer, but it burned like a shot of hard liquor.
Speaker 1: Sasha passed the canteen back. She felt like taking more
Speaker 1: would be a bad idea. All right, then, Roland said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make a few guesses. I guess one is
Speaker 1: that you're a little less than enthusiastic about the heavenly
Speaker 1: Kingdom now that you've seen it up close. Guests too
Speaker 1: is that you're looking for a way out. And Guests
Speaker 1: three is that you know something about where my little
Speaker 1: buddy went. Huh, Immanuel, Manny, you know where he is?
Speaker 1: I don't, she started. I'll bet you do. Even if
Speaker 1: you don't know, you do. I know you were there
Speaker 1: when he was taken. I could smell it in the street.
Speaker 1: Smell it. He sighed, and needed the bridge of his nose.
Speaker 1: This is the time where you explained things. The time
Speaker 1: where I explained things comes later, or maybe never. He
Speaker 1: lifted up the pipe in his hand so she could
Speaker 1: see how bloody and dented it was. I have the pipe.
Speaker 1: Whoever's got the pipe doesn't have to explain shit. Sasha
Speaker 1: couldn't argue with his logic, and she did want to
Speaker 1: see Emmanual free and safe. Look, she said, this, this boy,
Speaker 1: I know, Alexander. He found us at the cafe. We
Speaker 1: were just sitting down to coffee. He had two men
Speaker 1: with him, and he said, Emmanuel had been selected for
Speaker 1: the Storming Battalion. Do you have any idea where they
Speaker 1: took him? The kids sent trail grows cold about a
Speaker 1: mile from here. Sasha racked her brain. Of course, she
Speaker 1: didn't know where the Heavenly Kingdom did this sort of training.
Speaker 1: But Alexanders said something about the factory, and at that
Speaker 1: Roland's eyes lit up. He turned around as if to leave.
Speaker 1: I know where he is. Then he looked back and
Speaker 1: down to Sasha and said, moment of truth time, Darlin,
Speaker 1: you want to stay here in this ship pile Kingdom?
Speaker 1: Or He jerked his thumb to the door. Do you
Speaker 1: want me to break you out? And I'll make offers
Speaker 1: like that often, so take it as a compliment. This time.
Speaker 1: It didn't take long for Sasha to make up her mind. Yes,
Speaker 1: she said, I'd like to go with you. Chapter nineteen.
Speaker 1: Manny he knew where they were taking him as soon
Speaker 1: as the transport exited Highway seventy. It took Exit forty
Speaker 1: B White Avenue, Kenny. He visited the town a few
Speaker 1: times as a kid, before things in this part of
Speaker 1: df W had gone entirely to ship. Many thought of
Speaker 1: the satellite photos Reggie had shown them. He thought about
Speaker 1: that Tesla plant and what strange mysteries it must hide.
Speaker 1: Somewhere in that plant was the answer to how the
Speaker 1: martyrs had so thoroughly befucked the stf's defense network. Many
Speaker 1: hadn't exactly planned to find an answer to that question
Speaker 1: on this trip. Now it seemed like he wouldn't have
Speaker 1: a choice in the matter. His escorts, Alexander's men, hadn't
Speaker 1: said much. They directed him to the proper transport and
Speaker 1: told him to keep his mouth shut when he asked
Speaker 1: for an explanation. Manny did as they asked, because he
Speaker 1: half expected them to gun him down if he made
Speaker 1: a real fuss. Roland's bound to find me. He can
Speaker 1: find any fucking one. I just need to stay alive
Speaker 1: long enough for him to get here. Once upon a time,
Speaker 1: the Tesla factory had been an immaculate sign of what
Speaker 1: some commenters called the Texan Renaissance. After the fall of
Speaker 1: the old United States, the Republic of Texas had been
Speaker 1: one of the first functional states to arise in the Southwest.
Speaker 1: Dallas had been wrecked by the Lakewood Blast, but the
Speaker 1: rest of the state still had tens of millions of
Speaker 1: people and abundant natural resources. For a while, the hardcore
Speaker 1: libertarian policies of the Republic had created a minor economic miracle.
Speaker 1: Tesla had gotten this factory going about three years before
Speaker 1: that boom went bust. The first room they were taken
Speaker 1: to had clearly been some sort of reception area and
Speaker 1: probably a showroom at one point. There were three large
Speaker 1: oval shaped plinths that had once held cars, and a
Speaker 1: handful of metal desks bolted hard into the ground. There
Speaker 1: were also several benches stripped of whatever they had once
Speaker 1: been upholstered with, and a few dozen folding chairs that
Speaker 1: were clearly recent additions. Manny could see signs that the
Speaker 1: walls had been attacked at several places in an attempt
Speaker 1: to strip them of wires. The damage was obvious, but
Speaker 1: not as extensive as he'd expected. Bess de Muertas standards,
Speaker 1: this building was in good shape. A dozen martyrs occupied
Speaker 1: the room. They wore quality, nonpowered body armor and totaled
Speaker 1: rifle that must have been looted new from their Republic's armories.
Speaker 1: One of the desks was manned by a haired looking
Speaker 1: young man in an off white suit. He wore no
Speaker 1: sign of rank, but did have a white cross arm
Speaker 1: band around his left bicep and a golden cross pin
Speaker 1: on his lapel. He was balding, baby faced, and the
Speaker 1: deep bags under his eyes spoke of severe exhaustion. His
Speaker 1: face lit up when he saw Manny. Another, my prayers
Speaker 1: have been answered, as the Lord wills it, one of
Speaker 1: Manny's escorts replied. They brought him to the desk, and
Speaker 1: the besuited man looked up at him. He had a
Speaker 1: hungry look in his eyes. He'd started to sweat a
Speaker 1: little too. You may call me Isaac. What's your name,
Speaker 1: young man, Emmanuel Emmanuel Sanchez. The little Man jotted that
Speaker 1: down on a piece of paper and then continued asking questions.
Speaker 1: What's your date of birth? Do you have any family
Speaker 1: history of allergies or illnesses? Have you ever undergone surgery before?
Speaker 1: What biomodifications, if any, are currently active in your system?
Speaker 1: Do you have any inactive modifications? And so? After about
Speaker 1: ten minutes of questioning, the little Man told Mannie to
Speaker 1: stand up and follow him into an examination room. His
Speaker 1: tone was cordial, even warm, but Manny tasted doom behind it.
Speaker 1: He smelled death in this place, and his soul cried
Speaker 1: out against heading further into its bowels. But there was
Speaker 1: nothing to do but follow. Alexander's men left after dropping
Speaker 1: him off, but there were plenty of guards on the
Speaker 1: front room. Two of them followed Mannie and the young
Speaker 1: man backed through the double doors and into the heart
Speaker 1: of the facility. They walked through what had once been
Speaker 1: an open floor office. There were a few overturned desks
Speaker 1: and chairs, but mostly the place was barren and half
Speaker 1: cannibalized for scrap. It was ill lit and derelict. What
Speaker 1: are we doing here, Manny asked. Isaac put a hand
Speaker 1: on his shoulder and smiled. We're doing God's work, he said,
Speaker 1: the same as everywhere in this blessed kingdom. I know that,
Speaker 1: Manny said, in a slow, careful tone, but I don't
Speaker 1: understand why I was pulled out of training or why
Speaker 1: I was removed from my unit. What is this place?
Speaker 1: Isaac didn't answer. Instead, he walked Mannie to a door
Speaker 1: in the back of the empty office and opened it
Speaker 1: to reveal a small, well lit, white room with a bench,
Speaker 1: a weight scale, and a computer terminal built into the
Speaker 1: wall above a rolling cabinet. Isaac weighed him, marked down
Speaker 1: his height, and then pulled a strange measuring device out
Speaker 1: of the cabinet. It looked like a cross between a
Speaker 1: protractor and a pen vice. This is a craniometer, Isaac explained,
Speaker 1: once he saw the confusion on Manny's face. It's for
Speaker 1: measuring the size of your skull. Isaac set right to work.
Speaker 1: He fit the strange device around Mannie's head and tightened
Speaker 1: it until the vice grip bit into Mannie's scalp. Isaac
Speaker 1: jotted down some more numbers on his notepad and removed
Speaker 1: the craniometer. He looked pleased that alone was enough to
Speaker 1: turn Mannie's stomach. Can you please tell me what this
Speaker 1: is all about? Isaac's eyes darted up from his paper
Speaker 1: for just a moment. He gave Mannie an insincere, distracted smile.
Speaker 1: Everything will be explained soon enough, young man, right now,
Speaker 1: which should be enough to know you're doing the Lord's work.
Speaker 1: Manny was very, very tired of that response. Isaac finished
Speaker 1: his notes and led many out a back door in
Speaker 1: the room and into what Manny had to assume was
Speaker 1: the final step in their journey. The scent of blood
Speaker 1: in the air was too heavy for anything else to
Speaker 1: be the case. Manny felt hair stand up on the
Speaker 1: back of his neck, his shoulders went tinse, and a
Speaker 1: moment later he felt the strong hands of his guards
Speaker 1: on either bicep. This new room was part mechanic shop,
Speaker 1: part abattoir. It had once been the main factory floor,
Speaker 1: and it was filled with the half looted carcasses of
Speaker 1: robotic auto workers. Several of those machines had been restored
Speaker 1: to some level of functional capacity. Manny could see twentiish
Speaker 1: new vehicles in various states of construction across the vast space.
Speaker 1: Instead of sleek, consumer, gray electronic cars, most of these
Speaker 1: vehicles seemed to be very old and worn sedans and trucks.
Speaker 1: A handful of them were outdated and nigh obsolete. Military drones.
Speaker 1: Palettes of plastic explosives sat outside several of the vehicles.
Speaker 1: Many could see human workers packing blocks of it into
Speaker 1: a battered off white Kia a few dozen feet in
Speaker 1: front of him. None of this was particularly shocking. Vehicle
Speaker 1: based improvised explosive devices had been de rigueur for terrorists
Speaker 1: insurrections for the last seventy years. Two things about this
Speaker 1: factory struck Manny as strange. The first is that none
Speaker 1: of the vehicles in construction had any armor added to them.
Speaker 1: Most V B I E. D s would be covered
Speaker 1: in thick slabs of concrete and welded scrap metal to
Speaker 1: ensure they made it safely to their target. The vehicles
Speaker 1: here seemed like they would look normal when they finally
Speaker 1: rolled off the reassembly line. The second odd thing was
Speaker 1: the dozens of surgical tables and the rather significant amount
Speaker 1: of red blood coating the floor underneath them. Five of
Speaker 1: the beds were occupied with bodies covered by blood speckled
Speaker 1: white sheets. The men under them appeared dead. Oh god,
Speaker 1: Manny forgot his cover in the dawning horror of the moment.
Speaker 1: What the hell is this place? What's your mouth? Young man?
Speaker 1: Isaac snapped. This is a temple of the Lord, where
Speaker 1: young heroes delivered themselves into the waiting arms of eternity.
Speaker 1: A all man in a lab coat made his way
Speaker 1: over to them. He had gray hair and warm brown
Speaker 1: eyes behind horn rimmed spectacles. He gave Manny a warm
Speaker 1: smile and extended out a hand in greeting. The Lord
Speaker 1: be with you, Emmanuel I'm doctor Ernst. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: must be full of questions right now, gentlemen, he glanced
Speaker 1: towards the guards who still had their hands on Manny.
Speaker 1: You can let him go now. This young man is
Speaker 1: a hero and he should be treated as such. The
Speaker 1: hands loosened. Manny heard the men step back. He flashed
Speaker 1: a nervous smile back at the doctor. Keep him talking,
Speaker 1: Manny thought, The longer you drag this out, the more
Speaker 1: time Roland will have. What is going on here? These uh,
Speaker 1: he grappled for the correct terminology, These martyrdom devices seem different.
Speaker 1: And I don't know what's going on with with with
Speaker 1: all the medical equipment and the bodies. Doctor Ernst finished
Speaker 1: his question without so much a break in his warm smile. Yes,
Speaker 1: God bless him, but diplomacy is not Isaac's strong suit.
Speaker 1: He gets rather focused on the task at hand. Many
Speaker 1: noticed that the odd little man had already wandered off
Speaker 1: towards a rolling tray of medical equipment near one of
Speaker 1: the surgical beds. That set Manny's heart beating even faster.
Speaker 1: Follow me, said doctor Ernst, and I'll explain everything. The
Speaker 1: doctor led him to one of the shrouded bodies and
Speaker 1: pulled its covering down, revealing the dead man's face. Manny
Speaker 1: wasn't exactly surprised to see that it was Jonathan, the
Speaker 1: young man from Atlanta he'd met just a few days before.
Speaker 1: Jonathan was, of course quite dead. A bloody red line
Speaker 1: ran across his skull, just above his ears. His eyes
Speaker 1: were closed, and his lips were turned up in a
Speaker 1: beatific smile. You know this man, yes, doctor Ernst asked gently. Yes,
Speaker 1: of course you do. The doctor chuckled. You're both colored
Speaker 1: men and the heavenly kingdom. I'd be surprised if you
Speaker 1: hadn't developed a connection. It's only natural to gravitate towards
Speaker 1: your own kind. Manny fought down the urge to slap
Speaker 1: Doctor Ernst. Jonathan here started his journey to martyrdom just
Speaker 1: a few hours ago. I know he appears dead, but
Speaker 1: as it was with our Lord and of your appearances,
Speaker 1: quanby quite deceiving. His brain is still quite alive and alert.
Speaker 1: It's just been moved. Doctor Arn't gestured over to the KIA.
Speaker 1: Many saw that another lab coated worker was now carrying
Speaker 1: a peculiar metal box over to the V B I E. D.
Speaker 1: The box was about head sized and covered with sockets
Speaker 1: and plugs. A single green light flickered on one side.
Speaker 1: See they're loading him into his chariot now, and soon
Speaker 1: he'll pilot this anointed engine of Heavenly Will to the
Speaker 1: ruin of our enemies. Many thought, backed that last day
Speaker 1: before the invasion, to Reggie's questions about that mysterious checkpoint bombing.
Speaker 1: This must be how they did it. He realized v
Speaker 1: sdf's checkpoints were perfectly capable of reading the itinerary of
Speaker 1: any autonomous vehicle that drove towards them. They'd shoot anything
Speaker 1: that didn't broadcast its destination, but the Kingdom had found
Speaker 1: a way to hide a human driver capable of taking
Speaker 1: over once the car was past the checkpoint. His eyes
Speaker 1: drifted over to a combat drone lying half disassembled on
Speaker 1: the table a few yards to his left. It was
Speaker 1: a hefty, beetle black monster with a heavy underslung machine gun.
Speaker 1: It reminded Manny terribly of the drone that had almost
Speaker 1: killed him in Reggie a few days earlier. This explains
Speaker 1: why the STF drone jammers didn't work. The Heavenly Kingdom
Speaker 1: wasn't really using drones. Manny realized with dawning horror that
Speaker 1: the drone's open cavity was likely the intended resting place
Speaker 1: of his brain. Ah. Doctor Ernst smiled, I see you've
Speaker 1: already spotted your chariot. Yes, Emmanuel, you are quite fortunate.
Speaker 1: Martyre Ditmar noted your intelligence and suggested you be implanted
Speaker 1: into a drone. I assure you, it's a high honor,
Speaker 1: even in this sacred place. Manny's heart thudded like the
Speaker 1: tolling of a church bell. For a while, he couldn't
Speaker 1: hear anything else. He felt himself gripped by a sudden
Speaker 1: claustrophobic terror. The worst thing wasn't even the thought of
Speaker 1: being cut open, torn apart. It was the thought of
Speaker 1: being trapped inside that little metal box, forced to kill
Speaker 1: and die in the name of a cause he abhorred.
Speaker 1: Manny knew he'd started to shake, but there was nothing
Speaker 1: he could do to quell the terror. Doctor Ernst to
Speaker 1: put a hand on his shoulder. Many assumed it was
Speaker 1: meant to reassure him. It did not have that effect, Immanual.
Speaker 1: I know this is quite a lot to take in,
Speaker 1: but all you really need to know is that you've
Speaker 1: been blessed, truly blessed with the chance to play a
Speaker 1: real role in making the Heavenly Kingdom a reality. The
Speaker 1: Storming Battalion are God's elite, the holiest of our martyrs.
Speaker 1: I'm sure once the shock wears off, you'll realize what
Speaker 1: a privilege this is. Manny heard footsteps. He didn't need
Speaker 1: to look to know his guards were stepping back up
Speaker 1: behind him. He felt the noose titan and his hope
Speaker 1: slip ever farther away. Where the hell is Rowland? I
Speaker 1: am um, he stuttered, Can I have some time to
Speaker 1: er to prey on this? Of course? Emmanual Doctor ernst
Speaker 1: smile never looked false or forced. He put a hand
Speaker 1: on Manny's shoulder. It will be a few minutes before
Speaker 1: we're ready to begin the operation. I commend you devotion.
Speaker 1: This is an ideal time to pray for guidance. A
Speaker 1: few minutes, his heart pound so hard he thought it
Speaker 1: might beat its way free from his chest. He was
Speaker 1: sure Doctor Ernest must have heard it, but if he did,
Speaker 1: he said nothing about it. Instead, the doctor led Manny
Speaker 1: over to a small carpeted area that looked to have
Speaker 1: been set aside as a prayer room for the soon
Speaker 1: to be martyred members of this battalion. It consisted of
Speaker 1: a half dozen shares, at least they're padded, a three
Speaker 1: foot tall white stone statue of Christ on a cross,
Speaker 1: and two small inn tables, each with a couple of
Speaker 1: dog eared bibles. Manny sat down, bereft of any better idea,
Speaker 1: He grabbed a Bible and flipped it open to a
Speaker 1: random page. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty
Speaker 1: cubits high and six cubits wide. Manny rolled his eyes
Speaker 1: the flaming ale as a cubit. He skimmed the next
Speaker 1: few verses until he realized which story he'd stumbled upon.
Speaker 1: His religious schooling hadn't been intense, but he had gone
Speaker 1: to church most Sundays for the better part of a decade.
Speaker 1: He'd listened to enough sermons and attended enough Sunday school
Speaker 1: classes to know the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
Speaker 1: three stupid assholes who'd wandered into a furness entrusted in
Speaker 1: Deus ex deos to save them. If we are thrown
Speaker 1: into the blazing furnace, the god we serve is able
Speaker 1: to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us
Speaker 1: from your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not,
Speaker 1: we want you to know, your Majesty, that we will
Speaker 1: not serve your gods or worship the image of gold
Speaker 1: you have set up. It struck Manny that his current
Speaker 1: predicament had more than a little in common with these
Speaker 1: ancient men, if they'd ever existed in the first place.
Speaker 1: The chief difference was that, of course Manny wasn't praying
Speaker 1: for the help of a god. He was, however, strongly
Speaker 1: hoping for rescue from a godlike being that felt close
Speaker 1: enough to give him a sense of kinship towards the
Speaker 1: men and the story. The king's command was so urgent
Speaker 1: and the furnace so hot, that the flames of the
Speaker 1: fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrak, Mishak and
Speaker 1: to bed Nego, And these three men firmly tied fell
Speaker 1: into the burning furnace. He hadn't remembered that bit from
Speaker 1: Sunday School, the part where the king's soldiers were burnt
Speaker 1: alive by the heat of his fire. Many wondered what
Speaker 1: kind of soldiers would so willingly step into a pointless
Speaker 1: death at some mad king's command, and then he remembered
Speaker 1: where he was. He looked up from the Bible at
Speaker 1: the twenty or so armed men stationed around the factory.
Speaker 1: I really really hope someone comes along to burn them
Speaker 1: to death. Many heard footsteps behind him. He looked back
Speaker 1: this time and saw Doctor Arnst advancing with two guards
Speaker 1: in Isaac. The bald little man was visibly excited. An
Speaker 1: obscene smile played across his features. He held an almost
Speaker 1: comically large needle in his hands. Many looked over from
Speaker 1: him to the doctor Immanuel. Doctor Ernst said, it's time.
Speaker 1: Many stood. His mind raced for some sort of delaying tactic.
Speaker 1: I need to uh pray more. I I need more pray.
Speaker 1: Time Confusion passed over all the men's faces. Time is
Speaker 1: of the essence here. Doctor Ernst insisted. Don't delay this
Speaker 1: important work because you're scared. Trust in the Lord, open
Speaker 1: your heart to his will. See, I have, I I
Speaker 1: totally have, Manny stammered, and I'm pretty sure he's actually
Speaker 1: not down with us. Yeah, I think he wants me
Speaker 1: to be a soldier, a regular soldier with a gun,
Speaker 1: not a brain in a drone. Doctor Ernst glanced back
Speaker 1: at the two guards flanking him. He nodded and they advanced.
Speaker 1: One man had a kalashnikov on his back, the other
Speaker 1: had a holstered side arm. Both men were much larger
Speaker 1: and more muscular than Manny. He glanced around for a weapon,
Speaker 1: as if anything left around would be useful against two firearms.
Speaker 1: There was still a Bible in his hands that probably
Speaker 1: would have been enough for Roland. Manny had no doubt
Speaker 1: the posthuman could kill a dozen men with a book,
Speaker 1: more if it was hard cover. Immanuel, the doctor's voice
Speaker 1: was low, soft and as comforting as a lullaby. I
Speaker 1: know this is a frightening thing, but you must trust me,
Speaker 1: You must trust all of us. The heavenly Kingdom would
Speaker 1: not spend your life this way if we were not
Speaker 1: certain your sacrifice would further the will of our Lord.
Speaker 1: That is why you came here, Emmanuel. I know if
Speaker 1: you listen to God, you'll see what's right. Manny closed
Speaker 1: his eyes. He listened not for the voice of God,
Speaker 1: but for the sound of footsteps. After a few seconds pause,
Speaker 1: he heard the yards moved towards him again. He gripped
Speaker 1: hard on the Bible in his hand, and he tried
Speaker 1: not to think too much about what he had already
Speaker 1: decided he had to do. The footsteps grew closer until
Speaker 1: Manny could almost feel the heat coming off the other
Speaker 1: men's bodies. Very good, Emmanuel, doctor Ernst cood, God loves you.
Speaker 1: Manny opened his eyes. The guards were right in front
Speaker 1: of him, now reaching for him. Manny swung the Bible
Speaker 1: up underhanded into the kalashnikov man's chin. Then he dove
Speaker 1: to the right and slammed his head into the other
Speaker 1: man's crotch with all the force his five foot ten
Speaker 1: inch frame could bring to bear. The man howled. Manny
Speaker 1: half fell, caught himself, and dropped into a dead run,
Speaker 1: aimed straight for Isaac. Both the bald headed needleman and
Speaker 1: doctor Ernst stared at him in astonishment. Belatedly, Isaac raised
Speaker 1: his arms up in defense. The gesture did nothing to
Speaker 1: stop Manny from plowing into him and knocking him to
Speaker 1: the ground. He punched the other man in the face hard,
Speaker 1: and then scrambled back to his feet too. He felt
Speaker 1: the pain of the gunshot before he heard it, or rather,
Speaker 1: he didn't register the sound of the gunshot as a
Speaker 1: gunshot until the pain made it clear. He'd been shot,
Speaker 1: and then Manny was on the ground. His world shrunk
Speaker 1: to the space below his belly button, which now pulsed
Speaker 1: with spurts of deep red blood. His hands covered the wound,
Speaker 1: pressing back against it in an instinctive attempt to protect himself.
Speaker 1: He stared in fascination at the spreading red. He watched
Speaker 1: as his blood turned chunky and thick. The spurting faded
Speaker 1: away to a slow ooze. The pain caught up to
Speaker 1: him now, and Manny's vision went black for a moment.
Speaker 1: The world faded into view after a while. Doctor Ernst
Speaker 1: Isaac and both guards were standing above him. The guard
Speaker 1: with a handgun had a drawn a wisp of smoke
Speaker 1: trailed up from the barrel. Manny watched, enthralled as it
Speaker 1: curled up to the sky and gradually disappeared into the
Speaker 1: air around them. You've made a grievous error, my boy.
Speaker 1: Doctor Ernst's voice was grave, now, devoid of all compassion.
Speaker 1: You was so close to paradise it almost brings me
Speaker 1: to tears. The doctor was only a few feet away,
Speaker 1: but his voice sounded distant and muffled. I'm dying, aren't I,
Speaker 1: Manny thought, No, if that was a kill shot. I'd
Speaker 1: be dead by now, the bleatings already stopped. The thought
Speaker 1: did little to calm his nerves. He'd thoroughly blown his cover.
Speaker 1: Even if they never guessed his true purpose in coming
Speaker 1: to the Heavenly Kingdom. He'd be executed for trying to flee.
Speaker 1: This is going to put us even further behind schedule.
Speaker 1: That was Isaac. His nose was bleeding, but it didn't
Speaker 1: look broken. I wish I was better at punching. Take
Speaker 1: about side, Doctor Arts said to the guards, and make
Speaker 1: it quick. There's no sense in stringing him up in
Speaker 1: public for simple cowardice. So this is how it's going
Speaker 1: to end. Manny was confused by how it peace. He
Speaker 1: felt with that some of it was guilt. Alejandra was dead,
Speaker 1: Amide was dead, Oscar was dead, mister Perrone was dead.
Speaker 1: This was nothing more than he deserved. He was pleasantly
Speaker 1: surprised to find that, as the little robots in his
Speaker 1: blood flooded his system with happy drugs, that sense of
Speaker 1: guilt began to fade. He felt wonderfully detached from the world.
Speaker 1: He wondered if this was how Roland felt all the time,
Speaker 1: this connected and pleasant in a vague, indefinable way. The
Speaker 1: guards bent down. Many felt their hands on his arms.
Speaker 1: He felt them lift him up. He felt a terrible,
Speaker 1: shifting pain in his gut as another rush of clotting
Speaker 1: blood poured out of him. Many thought of mister Perrone.
Speaker 1: He could almost see his face. Maybe the Christians were
Speaker 1: right about the afterlife. That was a nice thought. Actually,
Speaker 1: he thought mister Perrone would be proud of him. I
Speaker 1: tried to do something, Sir, I really did. Many didn't
Speaker 1: see the source of the noise. It sounded like something
Speaker 1: heavy falling from a high height onto something soft and squishy,
Speaker 1: some one soft and squishy. He realized the guards dropped him.
Speaker 1: Men started to yell. Gunshot gunshot gunshot Manny thought, and
Speaker 1: he giggled a little bit. The sounds of chaos and
Speaker 1: violence that had erupted inside the factory could only be
Speaker 1: Roland's doing. Many lifted up his head with considerable effort
Speaker 1: and looked over towards the waiting area, where most of
Speaker 1: the guards had sat idle. It was a mess now.
Speaker 1: Several of the chairs in one of the big tables
Speaker 1: mashed together with a chunky red paste that resembled good salsa.
Speaker 1: People salsa, he thought, and then giggled again. Manny caught
Speaker 1: a glimpse of Roland as the chromed man rocketed across
Speaker 1: the factory floor and into a trio of guards. The
Speaker 1: men didn't even have the chance to fire their weapons.
Speaker 1: The first guard burst like a balloon full of jelly.
Speaker 1: It was hard to tell exactly what happened next, as
Speaker 1: it occurred under a red cloud of human viscera. Manny
Speaker 1: slipped in his own blood and fell back onto the floor.
Speaker 1: He stared up at the ceiling for a little while
Speaker 1: and just focused on trying to keep his breath steady.
Speaker 1: There was nothing else he could do here anyway. Immanuel Sasha,
Speaker 1: he thought, Lah, he said, it's okay. He felt her
Speaker 1: warm hand on his forehead. Don't talk. You've been shot,
Speaker 1: but you're probably not going to die. Probably, he had
Speaker 1: to admire her fundamental honesty. I'm going to try to
Speaker 1: drag you out of here. If you can walk, that
Speaker 1: would be really helpful. She grabbed Manny under the armpits
Speaker 1: and tried to pull him up. He let out a
Speaker 1: coughing cry at the pain of being moved again, but
Speaker 1: he also realized late in the game that he still
Speaker 1: had some control over his legs. He pushed up, and,
Speaker 1: with Sasha's help, fought gravity well enough that he soon
Speaker 1: stood under mostly his own power. Sasha wrapped one of
Speaker 1: his arms around her shoulder and took some of the
Speaker 1: weight off his weakened limbs, and then together they hobbled
Speaker 1: free of the Chanel factory that had almost been his tomb.
Speaker 1: An hour later, Manny sat with Roland and Sasha on
Speaker 1: the roof of an old Bank of America and watched
Speaker 1: as the Tesla factory burned in the distance. Manny had
Speaker 1: passed out almost as soon as Sasha had got him
Speaker 1: out the door. He recalled waking up a few times
Speaker 1: during the run away from the factory. At some point
Speaker 1: Roland had met up with them and started carrying him.
Speaker 1: He'd come too on the roof of the old bank
Speaker 1: building just in time to see Roland dribble a trail
Speaker 1: of weird ass blood into his gunshot wound. He'd felt
Speaker 1: a little revulsion at the act, but it had passed
Speaker 1: once his pain dissolved. I should really find a way
Speaker 1: to bottle that stuff, he thought. What happened, Manny asked,
Speaker 1: once reality had solidified a little more. Roland found me,
Speaker 1: Sasha said, just after they took you, I told him
Speaker 1: that Alexander had mentioned a factory, and then well he
Speaker 1: seemed to know this must be the factory they'd been
Speaker 1: talking about. Thanks for that, Reggie, he told me he
Speaker 1: was going to Eh. She coughed a little and her
Speaker 1: cheeks reddened an embarrassment, feed them their own dicks, and
Speaker 1: that I should wait until they were engaged to run
Speaker 1: and drag you out. A large explosion echoed across the city.
Speaker 1: Escape and the Trio watched a small orange mushroom cloud
Speaker 1: light up the sky where the Tesla factory had been.
Speaker 1: It's about damned time, Roland grumbled. The detonators those fuckers
Speaker 1: stole from the Republic were garbage. Hey. He looked over
Speaker 1: to Manny. The hell was that place anyway? Yes, Sasha added,
Speaker 1: and how exactly did you end up getting shot there?
Speaker 1: Manny related the whole story as best he could. Sasha's
Speaker 1: face went pale white with outrage and disgust when he
Speaker 1: explained exactly how the Heavenly Kingdom had managed to get
Speaker 1: its suicide vehicles past the sd f's checkpoints. Oh God,
Speaker 1: she moaned, Oh God, above, no, no, no, Roland just laughed.
Speaker 1: That's as clever as a two headed crow. I'll give
Speaker 1: him that. He clapped Sasha on the shoulder. Come on, lady,
Speaker 1: you can't still be surprised by how funk the kingdom is.
Speaker 1: How many people did you watch them? Hang? Sasha didn't respond.
Speaker 1: She just sat there, eyes red and watery, and stared
Speaker 1: out at the burning factory. Manny felt like he should
Speaker 1: have said something, but his mind was still catching up
Speaker 1: to his body after the events of the last couple
Speaker 1: of hours. Staring straight ahead represented the extent of his abilities.
Speaker 1: Right now, Sorry, Roland said, in response to the silence.
Speaker 1: I forget your kids aren't used to this sort of ship.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you it gets easier. What almost dying? Asked Manny.
Speaker 1: We're being betrayed by the only thing you ever believed in,
Speaker 1: asked Sasha. Roland shrugged. Both. I guess. I mean neither
Speaker 1: is much fun. But hey, y'all pop some cherries today,
Speaker 1: so it's gotta bean nothing but downhill from here on out.
Speaker 1: Neither of them responded, but Roland plowed right along. I
Speaker 1: meant downhill and like the positive sense of the word,
Speaker 1: you know, sledding like that something more silence Roland's side
Speaker 1: and took a loud gulp from a piece of sheet
Speaker 1: metal he'd been into a makeshift cup. The beverage inside
Speaker 1: smelled like another batch of his gut liquor. It burned
Speaker 1: Manny's nose from three feet away. A minute went by,
Speaker 1: and then another Without a word. They listened as emergency
Speaker 1: sirens sounded, and drew closer to the side of the blast.
Speaker 1: So what the fund do we do now, Manny asked.
Speaker 1: Roland grunted and then belched, Well, we'd probably gotta roll
Speaker 1: back into town, break those ladies out of jail, and
Speaker 1: then I don't know, we should probably leave right. Manny
Speaker 1: rolled his eyes. The casual recklessness of Roland's confidence had
Speaker 1: been fun and reassuring when he wasn't recovering from a
Speaker 1: gunshot wound. The events at the Tesla plant had proved
Speaker 1: to Manny that the post humans protection wasn't enough to
Speaker 1: guarantee his safety or Sasha's. He was the deadliest thing
Speaker 1: Manny had ever seen, but he couldn't be everywhere at once. Wait,
Speaker 1: who are you breaking out of jail? Sasha asked those
Speaker 1: three negotiators. Manny said, from the city of Wheels, the
Speaker 1: woman and you examined and their male companion. Sasha gave
Speaker 1: Manny a look he couldn't quite parse out what he asked.
Speaker 1: Is that why you started talking to me? She asked,
Speaker 1: because you knew I was working with those women and
Speaker 1: you thought I might be able to get you into
Speaker 1: the jail. No, started Manny, I mean sort of right,
Speaker 1: finished Roland. That was sure as shed a big BLUs.
Speaker 1: Many glared at the post human Roland had all attacked
Speaker 1: and diplomacy of a chainsaw. That's why I'm here in
Speaker 1: the first place, he reminded himself. Look, Roland continued, there's
Speaker 1: no point in dressing any of this up. Sasha, you
Speaker 1: fled your home to join a militant terrorist organization that
Speaker 1: butcher civilians. Manny, you kind of manipulated her in the
Speaker 1: hope of getting information. I just beat like twenty people
Speaker 1: to death, plus I fed Martyr Ditmar his own hand,
Speaker 1: and I feel genuinely bad about that. Roland shook his head.
Speaker 1: I'm really trying not to fall completely off the murder
Speaker 1: wagon here, guys, but when I get angry and the
Speaker 1: battle drug start flowing, he shivered, I get ugly. Once again,
Speaker 1: Roland's words were met with stunned silence, and once again
Speaker 1: he cloud forward. Nonetheless, what I'm saying is this whole
Speaker 1: situation as ugly as fun and none of us as
Speaker 1: a hero. But we're probably the least shitty people in
Speaker 1: the city with any kind of power. So let's all
Speaker 1: forgive each other's trespasses and use that power to try
Speaker 1: to save a couple of nice people from being crucified
Speaker 1: or whatever it is Christians due to the people who
Speaker 1: piss them off. Is it just hanging I Sasha started
Speaker 1: to respond, then shook her head in exasperation. Probably not,
Speaker 1: she said. Instead, all right, Roland clapped and put on
Speaker 1: a bright smile. So how do we get in there?
Speaker 1: I mean, I can just sort of balls my way
Speaker 1: through the front door or the ceiling, but since this
Speaker 1: is an actual jail, it's probably reinforced. There's a good
Speaker 1: chance they'll kill the hostages before I punched my way
Speaker 1: into the cells. Manny could almost hear the wheels turn
Speaker 1: and Sasha's head as she caught her thoughts up with
Speaker 1: what was now apparently her reality. To her credit, she
Speaker 1: responded in short order, that's probably the case. She nodded.
Speaker 1: There are armed guards outside of each cell. And there's
Speaker 1: a real disgust for those captives. Among the martyrs, they
Speaker 1: probably would shoot those women rather than let them escape.
Speaker 1: And what about the guy? I never saw him. I
Speaker 1: dealt with the women Marigolden. Oh what was her name? Tully?
Speaker 1: But I assume he was in the same jail. He is,
Speaker 1: Roland confirmed, or at least he was last time I
Speaker 1: sniffed around there. Manny's mind finally spun up to full speed.
Speaker 1: The pain in his guts had subsided, as had the lightheaded,
Speaker 1: bloodless feeling he'd woken up with. He felt comforted by
Speaker 1: the mere fact of having a simple problem to solve.
Speaker 1: At the core, this question was a logistical one, just
Speaker 1: like the problems he faced every day as a fixer.
Speaker 1: He needed to deliver his team to a certain location
Speaker 1: the jail, in a limited time frame, So Manny's first
Speaker 1: job was to figure out what connections he'd need to
Speaker 1: make in order for that to be possible. Sasha, he asked,
Speaker 1: who can help us get inside that jail? Do you
Speaker 1: know anyone who has the authority to come and go
Speaker 1: from there with impunity? Dr? Brandt? She replied, he's a
Speaker 1: good man, I think, but he's committed. He's not going
Speaker 1: to work with us to betray the Kingdom. He doesn't
Speaker 1: need to, Manny assured her. I'm going to guess he's
Speaker 1: a smart guy, right, He has to be somewhat worldly
Speaker 1: to be an actual doctor. Sasha nodded, he's not a
Speaker 1: mindless zale it. If that's what you're asking most of us,
Speaker 1: aren't you know there was a reasonable case for supporting
Speaker 1: the Heavenly Kingdom at just She trailed off, and Many
Speaker 1: put his hands out in a placating gesture. No, No,
Speaker 1: that's not not what I'm getting at. I want to
Speaker 1: make sure this guy has a sober, realistic understanding of
Speaker 1: what someone like Roland can do. Sasha's eyes went cloudy,
Speaker 1: but she nodded. He talked about them with me a little,
Speaker 1: She said, I would say he has a healthy respect
Speaker 1: for post humans, good Manny said, So we find him
Speaker 1: and we make him an offer. Either Roland tears the
Speaker 1: heart out of the Kingdom or doctor Brand helps us
Speaker 1: get those captives out of the jail. If he's a
Speaker 1: sensible man, who'll have to see the reason in that.
Speaker 1: Sasha didn't look so sure about that, but after some consideration,
Speaker 1: she nodded, and agreed that it was at least possible. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we find this doctor Brandt, we use him to
Speaker 1: get inside the jail. Roland does Roland things, and then
Speaker 1: we beat feet to get out of Sea Demuerta. Oland
Speaker 1: shrugged and took another deep pull from his gut beverage.
Speaker 1: He seemed on board. Sasha raised another question, though, okay,
Speaker 1: so who are you two supposed to be? Then? Every
Speaker 1: time Dr Brandton I visited the jail, we had a
Speaker 1: driver in, an armed guard. But you two don't exactly
Speaker 1: look like you fit the bill. Right now, you, she
Speaker 1: appointed to Manny, clearly just took a bullet, and you,
Speaker 1: she jabbed a finger at Roland, look like you just
Speaker 1: murdered dozens of people, which I guess you did, right,
Speaker 1: Manny clapped his hands. That's easy enough to fix. It's
Speaker 1: what five am. Now the city is starting to wake up.
Speaker 1: Do you know what shift Dr Brandt's expected to work today, Sasha?
Speaker 1: Lately he's been doing seven to seven and Roland. Manny continued,
Speaker 1: do you know where the vehicle pool is? The big
Speaker 1: Man nodded, Oh yeah, I dragged that down there in
Speaker 1: my first recon day. It's about thirty minutes away on
Speaker 1: foot for you guys five minutes from me. We'll go slow,
Speaker 1: said Manny. Sasha, you let us know when you recognize
Speaker 1: Dr Brand's jeep and driver will stop them, relieve them
Speaker 1: with their uniforms and drive on to the doctor's house. Roland,
Speaker 1: you think you can take out two men without bloodying
Speaker 1: up their uniforms? He gave another shrug. All right, Manny nodded.
Speaker 1: That's plan A, then, and what's plan B? Sasha asked,
Speaker 1: close your eyes and hide behind Roland Chapter twenty. Roland,
Speaker 1: that looks like them, Sasha whispered into his ear. The
Speaker 1: three of them were stationed on the third floor of
Speaker 1: an old office building that overlooked the Kingdom's vehicle pool.
Speaker 1: Based on the posters and decorations inside, the people in
Speaker 1: this office had once helped coordinate for a string of
Speaker 1: restaurants supply stores. Roland suspected the coming of the war
Speaker 1: might have been a relief to the people who'd been
Speaker 1: stuck working here. He was positioned by the window, sitting
Speaker 1: down so only the edge of his face would have
Speaker 1: been visible to anyone looking in from the outside. Manny
Speaker 1: had elected to take a nap out of view behind
Speaker 1: one of the desks. His ability to fall asleep anytime,
Speaker 1: anywhere marked him out as a true expert in war
Speaker 1: zone survival. Sasha had situated herself on the other side
Speaker 1: of the window frame. Roland had warned her to keep
Speaker 1: her head out of view until he saw new arrivals
Speaker 1: to the vehicle depot. He'd called for her eyes six
Speaker 1: times already and gotten six negatives. Now it seemed their
Speaker 1: target had arrived. Are you sure, he asked. Pretty sure,
Speaker 1: she said, and nodded. The driver walks with a limp.
Speaker 1: One of his legs is shorter than the other. I
Speaker 1: think it's a birth defect. He must have come from
Speaker 1: some part of the continent where those still happen. Good eye.
Speaker 1: Roland was genuinely impressed. The girl had potential. So what
Speaker 1: do we do now, she asked, you rouse, Mannie. I'll
Speaker 1: keep an eye on things. When they depart, I'll carjack
Speaker 1: them into unconsciousness and bring back the uniforms. And that's
Speaker 1: more or less how it went. The guard and driver
Speaker 1: departed in a jeep. Five minutes later. Roland bounded down
Speaker 1: from one of the rear windows and landed on the
Speaker 1: hood as they took a right hand turn out of
Speaker 1: view of the vehicle depot. The guard did not do
Speaker 1: his job title proud, Roland slammed his face into the
Speaker 1: dashboard and knocked him out. He also knocked out most
Speaker 1: of the man's teeth, but his hind brain told him
Speaker 1: the guy's odds of a fatal brain hemorrhage were only
Speaker 1: about six percent acceptable. He broke the driver's jaw with
Speaker 1: a right cross, took the wheel, and steered the vehicle
Speaker 1: to a stop while he was still hanging outside it.
Speaker 1: Roland tossed both men in the back of the jeep
Speaker 1: and pulled into the office buildings underground parking lot. He
Speaker 1: stripped them both and cursed when he realized that the
Speaker 1: guard's bleeding face had stained the neck of his uniform shirt.
Speaker 1: He found some bottled water in the trunk and managed
Speaker 1: to wash out the worst of it, but the stain
Speaker 1: would still be visible to anyone who really took the
Speaker 1: time to look. Still, it'd probably be enough to get
Speaker 1: them through the door of the jail. He stashed both
Speaker 1: men in a janitorial closet and dragged an old metal
Speaker 1: dumpster in front of it to wedge the door shut.
Speaker 1: Some one would probably find them before they starved to death.
Speaker 1: He felt a pang of guilt for how little he
Speaker 1: cared about what happened to those men. I should feel
Speaker 1: worse about this. Roland knew the battle drugs had suppressed
Speaker 1: his conscience. He knew that the longer they stayed in
Speaker 1: this dangerous play, and the more fighting he did, the
Speaker 1: more tempted he'd be to kill out right. Roland leaned
Speaker 1: against the dumpster and closed his eyes. He tried to
Speaker 1: force himself to take long, slow breaths and meditate on
Speaker 1: the flow of air in and out of his lungs.
Speaker 1: He helped taking a breather would prompt his system to
Speaker 1: reduce the drip. Instead, he found himself flashing back to
Speaker 1: more violence. Red siren lights screeched and blinked on walls
Speaker 1: of institutional White men and women in lab coats ran
Speaker 1: and screamed and died, died, died as he squeezed the
Speaker 1: trigger of his sig sour Roland kicked at a lock
Speaker 1: door and the metal buckled inwards, revealing a room with
Speaker 1: giant glass organ filled vials. He shook his head and
Speaker 1: tried to banish the memories he'd started flashing back to
Speaker 1: this place when they had rescued Manny. But the memories
Speaker 1: had kept coming even once the violence subsided. Please, Roland,
Speaker 1: the old woman begged through blood stained teeth. He looked
Speaker 1: down at the hole in her gut, the red blood
Speaker 1: on her white lab coat. She slid backwards on the
Speaker 1: tile floor until her shoulders hit one of the racks
Speaker 1: of that grown organs. Please don't do this, Roland shook
Speaker 1: his head. He didn't know why this was happening exactly.
Speaker 1: It was likely just a glitch, some unforeseen interaction between
Speaker 1: the wet wear of his hind brain, the procedural memory
Speaker 1: stored at his DNA, and the battle drugs that flowed
Speaker 1: through his system. He questioned again whether he really wanted
Speaker 1: his memories back. This wasn't the time to ponder that question, though.
Speaker 1: Roland headed back upstairs to grab Manny and Sasha. He
Speaker 1: led them down to the garage and handed Manny the
Speaker 1: unbloodied uniform. Dude, that's really obvious, Manny pointed to the
Speaker 1: blood stains on Roland's own uniform. They're going to notice that,
Speaker 1: you think so. Roland was so used to normal humans
Speaker 1: not noticing much of anything, he sometimes underestimated their senses
Speaker 1: I've got an idea, Sasha said, pop the hood. Roland
Speaker 1: and Manny were both a little surprised, but he popped
Speaker 1: it for her. The girl stared at the engine, reached
Speaker 1: for the dipstick and pulled it free from its slot.
Speaker 1: She rubbed her hand down the shaft and it came
Speaker 1: away covered in sticky black grease. She rubbed the grease
Speaker 1: onto Roland's collar, coated the dipstick again, and repeated the
Speaker 1: process two more times. When she was done, he looked
Speaker 1: like he'd been working on an engine rather than beating
Speaker 1: a man half to death. Fucking brilliant, Roland said. Manny
Speaker 1: nodded his agreement. Then he said, all right, let's go
Speaker 1: abducted doctor. The abduction itself was easy. Doctor Brandt lived
Speaker 1: in an undamaged mansion about two miles away from downtown.
Speaker 1: As one of the kingdom's few medical professionals, Doctor Brandt
Speaker 1: had apparently earned himself some luxury. Sasha hid in the
Speaker 1: trunk so the doctor wouldn't notice anything was off until
Speaker 1: he entered the vehicle. Where's Jerry and Samuel, Doctor Brandt asked.
Speaker 1: As he opened the door and sat down inside the jeep.
Speaker 1: Many gunned the engine and peeled away. Roland put a
Speaker 1: hand on doctor Brandt's thigh and squeezed just hard enough
Speaker 1: for the man to feel like his thigh bone might shatter.
Speaker 1: I stuffed him in a closet somewhere, he explained, with
Speaker 1: a smile. My name is Manny, the fixer said. The
Speaker 1: guy who's about to break your leg is named Roland.
Speaker 1: We're kidnapping you, ah, said doctor Brandt. Roland had to
Speaker 1: give credit where credit was due. The doctor endured the
Speaker 1: pain with a stony face and without any signs of panic.
Speaker 1: We need you to help us get into the jail,
Speaker 1: Manny continued, where those negotiators from Rolling Fuck are being held.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brant grimaced, either from the obscenity or just do
Speaker 1: to the continued pain of Roland's iron grip. And what
Speaker 1: makes you think I'll give you any aid? There was
Speaker 1: a bit of strain in his voice now, but the
Speaker 1: doctor's features stayed decidedly neutral. I may be a doctor,
Speaker 1: but I'm no less prepared to die for my kingdom
Speaker 1: than anyone else here. You might as well just go
Speaker 1: ahead and kill me. Roland relaxed his grip. The doctor's
Speaker 1: sighed in relief. Yeah, we thought you might say something
Speaker 1: like that, said Manny. That's why Roland and I prepared
Speaker 1: an alternate proposal. Roland drew the guard stolen side arm
Speaker 1: from its holster. He gripped the pistol in one hand
Speaker 1: and then crushed it in his grip like he was
Speaker 1: bawling up a piece of paper. The doctor's eyes widened
Speaker 1: in shock and horror. So Manny said, my friends just
Speaker 1: full of chrome, high grade stuff. He could walk right
Speaker 1: through a tank if he wanted. You're an educated man,
Speaker 1: you know what people like him can do. The doctor nodded,
Speaker 1: but didn't say anything. Our offer is simple. You help
Speaker 1: us out and we'll leave with our people. You refuse
Speaker 1: to help, and we'll get our people anyway. Only Roland
Speaker 1: here will take a little detour to burn half the
Speaker 1: city to the ground. I see Roland could smell the
Speaker 1: fear wafting off Doctor Brandt now, but the man's expression
Speaker 1: didn't change. You wouldn't be a doctor if you didn't
Speaker 1: see value in human lives. Manny's voice was soft. His
Speaker 1: reasonable tone wouldn't have been out of place in a boardroom.
Speaker 1: If you refuse to help us, we won't hurt you,
Speaker 1: won't harm a hair on your head. But my friend
Speaker 1: here will break this city and a few thousand of
Speaker 1: the people in it. You'll be hail and healthy, so
Speaker 1: you can pick up the pieces, and you'll know that
Speaker 1: every ounce of that suffering could have been prevented if
Speaker 1: you just helped us out. It's true, sir. Sasha spoke up.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt stiffened, she sat up from her hidden position
Speaker 1: in the back. The doctor was a smart man. He
Speaker 1: put together that she was not being held as a prisoner.
Speaker 1: His eyes narrowed in contempt Sasha. Doctor Brand's voice was cold.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to see you in such poor company, sir,
Speaker 1: I'm really sorry. But but nothing, he snapped, and now
Speaker 1: the anger showed on his face. Have you been a
Speaker 1: traitor this whole time? Or did your will simply fail Sasha?
Speaker 1: Manny spoke up, We really don't have time for this,
Speaker 1: Roland disagreed. His hind brain estimated Sasha and the doctor
Speaker 1: could afford us solid eight minutes of emotional closure before
Speaker 1: they got too close to the jail. Is eight minutes
Speaker 1: a lot of time for you people. Everyone stared at him,
Speaker 1: their individual disagreements forgotten for a moment. Roland realized late
Speaker 1: that he had spoken out loud. Sorry, he said, I
Speaker 1: was just supposed to be in my head. They still stared. Well,
Speaker 1: now you only have like seven minutes and forty seconds,
Speaker 1: Ignore that, said Manny. He's a maniac. That's why you
Speaker 1: don't want us to let him loosen your city, Doctor Brandt.
Speaker 1: Sasha added, I know you're a good man. The Lord
Speaker 1: put you on this earth to save lives. This is
Speaker 1: your chance to do that. The doctor needed the bridge
Speaker 1: of his nose with his hand. Hated an admirable job
Speaker 1: of not giving too much away with his body language.
Speaker 1: But Roland could smell the truth. The scent of stress
Speaker 1: wafting off the doctor faded it as a sign the
Speaker 1: man had made a decision. There was something about choosing
Speaker 1: that calmed the human soul. You are correct, of course, Sasha.
Speaker 1: I never approved of us holding those women in the
Speaker 1: first place. It was foolish to antagonize things like him.
Speaker 1: He nodded towards Rowland. If I can avert a massacre,
Speaker 1: I will, But I sincerely hope you plan to escape
Speaker 1: with them, Sasha. I won't hide to protect a traitor.
Speaker 1: I'll leave, Sasha said. The doctor gave a somber nod.
Speaker 1: I won't be able to get you out of the
Speaker 1: jail with those prisoners, you know, he said to Rowland.
Speaker 1: I can get you inside, and I can probably get
Speaker 1: them to send the prisoners into an examination room, but
Speaker 1: the guards won't let them leave the building. I'll take
Speaker 1: care of that part, Rowland promised. I'm real good at
Speaker 1: making doors. Rowland was aware of the old saying no
Speaker 1: plan survives contact with the enemy. For some reason, his
Speaker 1: hind brain remembered the original version of the quote from
Speaker 1: an old Prussian general named Moltka. No plan of operations
Speaker 1: extends with any certainty beyond first contact with the main
Speaker 1: hostile force. People who observed Roland and battle tended to
Speaker 1: think he just sort of winged it and ballsed his
Speaker 1: way through on violent potential alone. But Roland was at
Speaker 1: his core a planner. Having a plan was essential to
Speaker 1: take maximum advantage of the way his hind brain worked.
Speaker 1: A plan was nothing more than a clear set of
Speaker 1: tactics meant to accomplish a concrete goal. In this case,
Speaker 1: the goal was free the prisoners and take his new
Speaker 1: friends to safety. The plan he constructed to achieve that
Speaker 1: goal was based mainly on Sasha's recollections and his own
Speaker 1: espionage on the jail. He knew it would change once
Speaker 1: the shooting started, but the fact that he had a
Speaker 1: rubric would give his hindbrain something to focus on while
Speaker 1: it zeroed in on the best tactics for the evolving situation.
Speaker 1: At any rate, the plan Manny and Sasha had cooked
Speaker 1: up actually did survive first contact with the enemy. Roland
Speaker 1: and Manny had posed as guards and followed Doctor Brandt
Speaker 1: and Sasha right through the door. The martyrs inside were
Speaker 1: all used to seeing the doctor and his assistant, and
Speaker 1: they didn't pay a different set of armed guards any mind.
Speaker 1: When Doctor Brandt requested they send all the prisoners into
Speaker 1: the examination room, the officer in charge didn't even blink
Speaker 1: at the request. The only thing that had seemed off
Speaker 1: to Roland was an odd scent of anxiety in the air.
Speaker 1: It wafted off the guards and hung in a thick
Speaker 1: cloud above the entrance room. The Odor reminded Rowland of
Speaker 1: countless hours spent sitting with nervous men in the cramped
Speaker 1: belly of an a PC or a drop aircraft. He
Speaker 1: assumed this had something to do with a giant explosion
Speaker 1: he'd caused earlier, or his escape from the training facility.
Speaker 1: Of course, these guys are un high alert, he thought.
Speaker 1: Some nut fuck monster man blew up a factory this morning.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt led them into a large waiting room and
Speaker 1: closed the door. He let out a long, nervous sigh
Speaker 1: and slumped back against the wall. Okay, you'll have your
Speaker 1: prisoners soon enough, and no one else will need to die. Right,
Speaker 1: he looked straight at Rowland. Right, Roland said, and then added,
Speaker 1: until you Fox invaded Dallas. I've gotten years without killing anyone.
Speaker 1: I'm actually pretty good at it. The doctor did not
Speaker 1: seem comforted by this fact. Roland opened his mouth again,
Speaker 1: but Manny put a hand on his shoulder. No, he said,
Speaker 1: and Roland nodded. I could have avoided so many violent
Speaker 1: misunderstandings with his kid's help. Roland molled this over and
Speaker 1: wondered if Manny might be interested in an adjoining mountain
Speaker 1: top shack. Just then the door opened, a guard entered.
Speaker 1: He was followed by the three prisoners and then two
Speaker 1: more guards. Rolling. Fox negotiators were all handcuffed to each other.
Speaker 1: Roland had been shown pictures of all three captives before
Speaker 1: they departed the city. Of wheels, so it wasn't hard
Speaker 1: to recognize Marigold, Tulli, and Rick, but they all looked different.
Speaker 1: Marigold's bright purple hair was limp and greasy. The sockets
Speaker 1: on her augmented arm had been filled in with some
Speaker 1: sort of resinous substance. Toullie Bald in her pictures, now
Speaker 1: had a head full of peach fuzz. Her necklaces and
Speaker 1: amulets and rings were all gone. Of course, she looked
Speaker 1: pale and deflated. Roland could see the ghost of an
Speaker 1: old black eye, likely earned during the initial capture. She
Speaker 1: walked with a limp, but otherwise looked healthy enough. And
Speaker 1: then there was Rick. His wounds were fresh and extensive.
Speaker 1: He was covered in bruises, and it looked like his
Speaker 1: guards had cut into him, writing over several of his
Speaker 1: scarified tattoos with a combat knife. His left eye was
Speaker 1: broken and looked dead. Roland could tell the man's orbital
Speaker 1: bone had been shattered, and with the slow juttering way
Speaker 1: his good eye looked around the room, it was likely
Speaker 1: he'd suffered at least one concussion. Doctor Brandt sighed and
Speaker 1: went right to the injured young man. Have the others
Speaker 1: sit down, he told the guards. He started to examine Rick.
Speaker 1: His jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed. Roland felt the doctor's
Speaker 1: heart rate accelerate and anger. You've been at him again,
Speaker 1: haven't you, Doctor Brandt sounded angry. I told you all
Speaker 1: this had to stop. He's clearly concussed. You could have
Speaker 1: killed him. The lead guard shrugged and rolled his eyes.
Speaker 1: One of the other guards snickered. Roland could tell by
Speaker 1: the look of fury on the doctor's face that he
Speaker 1: was not used to being treated this way. Solja, I
Speaker 1: am the senior medical doctor of this entire kingdom. I
Speaker 1: will bring your superior into this and I will, Roland heard,
Speaker 1: and then smelled six new men into the jail. His
Speaker 1: mind rocketed downstairs, away from the petty argument and started
Speaker 1: to analyze the new arrivals. They were soldiers, he could
Speaker 1: tell by the sound of their footfalls and the strong
Speaker 1: smell of gun oil and powder that wafted off of them.
Speaker 1: One of them smelled familiar. He'd been present when Manny
Speaker 1: had been abducted to the factory. Roland guessed this was
Speaker 1: the guy Sasha had told him about during their impromptu
Speaker 1: rescue mission. Huh. Roland said, out loud. Manny was the
Speaker 1: only one who seemed to notice what Manny asked, in
Speaker 1: a voice low enough that the guards wouldn't hear it
Speaker 1: over the sound of doctor Brandt dressing them down. At
Speaker 1: Guy Alexander, he just entered the building with a squad
Speaker 1: of armed men. What does that mean? Uh uh, Roland shrugged.
Speaker 1: Probably an ambush. Roland was a bit embarrassed that it
Speaker 1: had taken him this long to piece it together. That's
Speaker 1: why the guards had been so accommodating of doctor Brand's
Speaker 1: unusual request. It's why they'd smelled so nervous. Somehow the
Speaker 1: rescue attempt had been spotted before it had gone down.
Speaker 1: The soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom must have assumed the
Speaker 1: doctor was a traitor too. Roland stood up. He knew
Speaker 1: that violence would need to happen here. There were too
Speaker 1: many decent people's lives at stake for anything else. The
Speaker 1: instant his forebrain made that decision. His hind brain started
Speaker 1: pouring adrenaline and battle drugs into his synapses. He felt
Speaker 1: the electric crackle of chemical glee start deep in the
Speaker 1: back of his neck. It spread out to his shoulders,
Speaker 1: down his arms to the tip of his fingers. Roland
Speaker 1: fought back against the building euphoria. While he analyzed the situation,
Speaker 1: the world slowed down around him. He had plenty of
Speaker 1: time to watch as the guards started to reach for
Speaker 1: their side arms. The word ambush had keyed them in,
Speaker 1: but it didn't matter. They still moved too slow to
Speaker 1: effect anything. His hind brain calculated that Manny and Sasha
Speaker 1: were relatively safe. No one had a gun on them
Speaker 1: just now. The prisoners were his priority. Then they were
Speaker 1: exposed both to the door that enemy reinforcements which soon
Speaker 1: rush through, and to the guards already in the room.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt was a tertiary responsibility. He seemed like a
Speaker 1: decent enough guy in spite of it all. Alexander and
Speaker 1: his men are two point oh four seconds from the door,
Speaker 1: maybe faster if they dropped into a dead sprint. Roland
Speaker 1: stepped forward into the lead guard. He grabbed the man
Speaker 1: by the hair, lifted him into the air, and slammed
Speaker 1: his skull hard into the second guard's face. Bone cracked
Speaker 1: sixteen point three and seven percent chances of fatal hemorrhage, respectively.
Speaker 1: Roland dropped the first man and plunged his fingers into
Speaker 1: the third guard's eyes. He gouged deep, stopped just short
Speaker 1: of the man's brain, and then pulled his hand free.
Speaker 1: The man staggered back, opened his mouth, and started to scream.
Speaker 1: A surge of battle drugs hit roland synapses at just
Speaker 1: that moment, and in a fit of gleeful peaque, he
Speaker 1: grabbed the man by the jaw and pulled. His intent
Speaker 1: had been to yank the man's head into his knee,
Speaker 1: but he pulled a little too hard and ripped the
Speaker 1: whole jaw free. The man fell back, gurgled, bled, huh
Speaker 1: my vad, Roland said to no one in particular. He
Speaker 1: shoved the jaw into his front pocket, figuring it might
Speaker 1: make a useful weapon when the reinforcement showed up. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, he set to work ripping the prisoner's manacle
Speaker 1: chains apart. It'd have taken too long to remove the manacles,
Speaker 1: but at least with the chains free, they'd all be
Speaker 1: able to move with what are you? Oh my god, Roland?
Speaker 1: What Doctor Brandt, Manny and Sasha finally reacted. Roland had
Speaker 1: to remind himself that their brains wouldn't have been able
Speaker 1: to properly process what he'd done while it was happening.
Speaker 1: The whole altercation had lasted barely a quarter second. To Manny, Sasha,
Speaker 1: and doctor Brandt. The violence had been disorienting and almost unintelligible.
Speaker 1: The three negotiators from Rolling Fuck were not stock Sapien.
Speaker 1: They'd reacted faster and gone to ground almost as soon
Speaker 1: as he'd rushed the first man. At least the women had.
Speaker 1: The young man was too dazed and battered to react
Speaker 1: much at all, so his friends pulled him down and
Speaker 1: shielded him with their bodies. Of the other three, Manny
Speaker 1: was the first to react. He grabbed Sasha by the
Speaker 1: shoulder and shoved her down below the window line. Roland
Speaker 1: was proud. He would have said something about that, but
Speaker 1: everything went disastrously wrong a fraction of a second later.
Speaker 1: Roland had known Alexander and his men were rushing the door.
Speaker 1: He'd estimated a solid one point four seconds before they
Speaker 1: breached the entryway. That's why he'd occupied himself by checking
Speaker 1: on everyone. He'd trusted his senses and trusted that the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom didn't have any gear he hadn't already seen.
Speaker 1: That proved to be a mistake, because unbeknownst to Roland,
Speaker 1: two men in powered armor hung off the outside wall
Speaker 1: of the building, directly underneath the window. Their suits were
Speaker 1: bleeding edge stealth technology utterly absent from Roland's pieda bites
Speaker 1: of memory. His passive sensors had missed them entirely. Roland
Speaker 1: first realized they were there and that he'd aired terribly
Speaker 1: when they opened fire. Close to a hundred thirty caliber
Speaker 1: slugs tore through the wall of the jail at roughly
Speaker 1: forty two hundred feet per second. They were fired at
Speaker 1: such close range and with such total surprise that Roland
Speaker 1: was unable to dodge or prep his subdermal armor for impact.
Speaker 1: Nineteen rounds hit him fifteen in his center of mass,
Speaker 1: one in his left thigh, and three in his right shoulder.
Speaker 1: Two hit Manny, ripping a hole through his left hand
Speaker 1: and another through his kidney. Doctor Brandt, who had only
Speaker 1: half turned to face Rowland at this point, was torn
Speaker 1: apart in a feu salade of steel. Rowland also registered
Speaker 1: hits on their not yet rescued captives, one in Tullie's
Speaker 1: left butt cheek, one that severed Rick's index finger, and
Speaker 1: another in the young man's shoulder. Roland staggered back from
Speaker 1: the impact of the rounds as Alexander's point man burst
Speaker 1: through the door. The coordination between the two teams was impressive,
Speaker 1: as was the fact that the suited man hadn't hit
Speaker 1: their allies on the other side of the door. On
Speaker 1: a normal day, Roland would have ripped the shotgun out
Speaker 1: of the point man's hands and castrated him with it.
Speaker 1: But this was not a normal day, and Roland's brain
Speaker 1: was occupied with a damage to his body. The point
Speaker 1: man fired twice and sent one ounce tungsten slugs through
Speaker 1: both of Roland's knees. He dropped, rolled, moaned, and then
Speaker 1: the rest of the team was in the room. They
Speaker 1: moved well, not like vets, but like men who'd trained
Speaker 1: a lot for entries like this. They all wore heavy
Speaker 1: body armor. It wasn't powered, but it provided solid protection
Speaker 1: against small arms fire the mostly packed auto shotguns. Smart choice,
Speaker 1: Roland thought, when fighting post humans, go for tissue damage.
Speaker 1: He was hurt, nothing fatal yet, but the loss of
Speaker 1: momentum and control had cost him dearly. Now six men
Speaker 1: had a beat on him with weaponry powerful enough to
Speaker 1: do some real damage. Roland listened as one of the
Speaker 1: stealth suit smashed the remainder of the window in and
Speaker 1: crawled inside the room. This armor was much more subtle
Speaker 1: than the standard Airy's pattern power armor. Aside from plaiting
Speaker 1: at the chest and shins, it didn't look like it
Speaker 1: added a substantial amount of protection. But the suit was
Speaker 1: covered in high definition display panels. The man was hard
Speaker 1: for Roland to see. He would have been nigh invisible
Speaker 1: to a normal human ship. Roland spat blood and looked
Speaker 1: up just as a very satisfied looking young man stepped
Speaker 1: into the room. He was tall, handsome, and well built.
Speaker 1: He wore the same armor as his men, but lacked
Speaker 1: a helmet. Instead, he had a red beret with a
Speaker 1: lacquered gold cross pin to the front. Roland took one
Speaker 1: look at the boy's prominent jawline and well tanned skin.
Speaker 1: He grudgingly agreed that it would have been a crime
Speaker 1: to cover up that face. How new were those fucking suits,
Speaker 1: he asked the fancy man. The Republic had some very
Speaker 1: choice gear in its armory. The youth replied, My superiors
Speaker 1: will be happy to hear how well it worked against you.
Speaker 1: He sauntered into the room like a conquering king, waving
Speaker 1: his pistol lazily at the captives. Hello, Sasha, he said,
Speaker 1: with a smile and a cheery wave of his free hand. Alexander,
Speaker 1: she replied, in a tone as cold as ice. The
Speaker 1: young man Alexander stopped in front of Rowland, peered down
Speaker 1: and grinned the ship, eatingst grin in the history of
Speaker 1: eating shit, you know, he said, it was rather easy
Speaker 1: drawing you into this trap. Once you played your hand
Speaker 1: at the training camp. We knew you'd come here sooner,
Speaker 1: Old Lada. I was rather surprised to see you involved, Sasha.
Speaker 1: He looked up at her, a wonda Was this your
Speaker 1: plan all along? Or are you merely an opportunist clutching
Speaker 1: to these men because my proposition injured your ego? He
Speaker 1: laughed prickishly. Roland wanted to hit him, but the situation
Speaker 1: merited further analysis before action. Much of the damage done
Speaker 1: to him in the ambush had already healed, and none
Speaker 1: of it was substantial enough to impede his deadliness, but
Speaker 1: his position was rather tenuous. The second armored soldier crouched
Speaker 1: at the window adhered to the outside wall. The first
Speaker 1: stealth suited soldier had one gun trained on Manny and
Speaker 1: another aimed at Rowland. Alexander's men all had him dead
Speaker 1: to rights, shotguns leveled in fingers on triggers. He could
Speaker 1: perhaps move fast enough to take out one or two
Speaker 1: of them, but the others would do a significant amount
Speaker 1: of damage in the meantime, and more to the point,
Speaker 1: Roland could do nothing to ensure Sasha and Manny's safety.
Speaker 1: He considered their deaths unacceptable. I really am a bit disappointed,
Speaker 1: and how easy this owl was? The young fuck continued.
Speaker 1: I thought we'd be infomo of a fight here. I
Speaker 1: guess the stories about your kind were exaggerated, after all,
Speaker 1: I suspected so no amount of scientific tinkering can replace
Speaker 1: the blessings of God Behind a righteous man, Roland sensed movement,
Speaker 1: not from Manny. He was frozen still next to Sasha
Speaker 1: under the gun of one of the power armored troopers.
Speaker 1: It didn't come from any of Alexander's men either. It
Speaker 1: was Marigold. The woman had gritted her teeth and inched
Speaker 1: her hand towards the body of the guard. Roland to
Speaker 1: dee jawed. He watched she wrapped her hand around the
Speaker 1: grip of his side arm Alexander stepped around him and
Speaker 1: headed towards Sasha. The other soldiers still had their weapons
Speaker 1: trained on Rowland. They didn't seem to have noticed Marigold.
Speaker 1: I warn't you, didn't I, Sasha, Alexander asked, as a
Speaker 1: smile played across his lips. I'll warn't you what came
Speaker 1: of defying God's will? And then you allied yourself with
Speaker 1: a baste whose very existence is a sin against a
Speaker 1: heavenly father. If Christ had intended. Roland never got to
Speaker 1: hear the rest of that sentence, because Alexander never got
Speaker 1: to say it. He was interrupted by Marigold, pulling the
Speaker 1: pistol free of its holster and swinging it up towards
Speaker 1: the groin of the squad's point man. She fired twice,
Speaker 1: switched targets, and pumped two more rounds into the unarmored
Speaker 1: belly of a second man. Roland was up and off
Speaker 1: the ground between the second and third shot. He swung
Speaker 1: his fist hard into the face plate of the nearest
Speaker 1: soldier's helmet. The plexiglass shattered, and Roland's knuckles pushed shards
Speaker 1: into the man's cheeks and eyes. The martyr screamed and
Speaker 1: fired a shot that went wide because Roland dove to
Speaker 1: the left as he retracted his fist and pivoted to
Speaker 1: rush the power armored man holding a gun on Manny
Speaker 1: and Sasha. There were no good options here. Marigold intervention
Speaker 1: had given them all a chance, but Roland had been
Speaker 1: forced to make a choice between going after the armored
Speaker 1: men and saving his friends, or taking out the entry
Speaker 1: team and saving Marigold and her friends. He heard her
Speaker 1: fire two more shots and heard them impact, but then
Speaker 1: his attention was consumed by the two men in powered armor.
Speaker 1: They had recovered first, and both men opened up on
Speaker 1: Roland as he charged. There was no dodging at this distance.
Speaker 1: It was barely possible to mitigate the damage in any way.
Speaker 1: Roland took thirty high velocity rounds to the face, neck, shoulders,
Speaker 1: and upper chest. Some of them were stopped by his
Speaker 1: subderm alarmor, most weren't. He felt holy shit, real pain
Speaker 1: for the first time in what felt like years. Roland's
Speaker 1: wired nervous system rewarded this with a flood of chemical bliss.
Speaker 1: As he charged, he smiled and whooped like a sixteen
Speaker 1: year old. Railing his first line of blow. He dove
Speaker 1: into the first man. Hands first, grabbed his enemy by
Speaker 1: the neck and then bum rushed him into the man
Speaker 1: hanging outside the window. This knocked the top of the
Speaker 1: second man's body free from the wall and sent him
Speaker 1: reeling half back into open air. The man's were still
Speaker 1: attached to the building, but his body flailed free. Roland
Speaker 1: kept his grip and focus on the first armored man.
Speaker 1: The martyr's neck armor had hardened to resist the crushing
Speaker 1: strength of Roland's grip, so he shook the man's head
Speaker 1: back and forth and slammed it into the frame of
Speaker 1: the building as hard as possible. The soldier pumped another
Speaker 1: dozen rounds point blank into Roland's body. He saw red,
Speaker 1: He felt red. He was numbly aware of the tremendous
Speaker 1: amount of damage being done to him, but none of
Speaker 1: it had yet rendered him unable to throttle this motherfucker,
Speaker 1: so he continued to squeeze until the armor's neck seals failed, cracked,
Speaker 1: and Roland's finger nails bit deep into the meat of
Speaker 1: the man's throat and crushed his windpipe. Roland tossed the
Speaker 1: body aside and went for the second man, still flailing
Speaker 1: outside the window. He was interrupted when Alexander fired a
Speaker 1: slug into his temple, the round impact at his reinforced
Speaker 1: skull and ricocheted off, but the impact the force of
Speaker 1: the blow itself made him seize stars it hurt Roland
Speaker 1: staggered back into the side. Then several things happened in
Speaker 1: very quick succession. Marigold fired another round her last. It
Speaker 1: was followed by the sound of the two remaining guards
Speaker 1: opening up with their shotguns. Roland heard as she was
Speaker 1: torn apart. Just as his eyes started to focus again,
Speaker 1: Alexander fired two more shots directly into his head. The
Speaker 1: man on the wall finally found his grip again, and
Speaker 1: Roland felt the power armored soldiers steady himself to open fire.
Speaker 1: Roland shaken, hind brain advised him that going for the
Speaker 1: armored man was probably his best decision, so he surged forward,
Speaker 1: less steady than before, and hunched his shoulders in anticipation
Speaker 1: of taking another slugger for to the brain pan, but
Speaker 1: that didn't happen. For the second time to day, Roland
Speaker 1: was surprised by the actions of a normal human. This
Speaker 1: time it was Sasha. She'd gotten up from where she
Speaker 1: and Manny had taken shelter from the gunfight and crawled
Speaker 1: over to the body of the first guard Roland had disabled.
Speaker 1: He'd been dimly aware of this in the semi conscious way.
Speaker 1: He was aware of the traffic passing outside, his brain
Speaker 1: had opted to not focus on it, since the heavily
Speaker 1: armed men were a more pressing concern. But then Sasha
Speaker 1: had removed the unconscious guard's helmet and rushed towards Alexander.
Speaker 1: She swung first for his gun hand. Roland heard her
Speaker 1: knock the pistol free of his grip. Then she hit
Speaker 1: him in the face, over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: Roland felt the urge to thank her, but just then
Speaker 1: the power armored man became a concern again. The fucker
Speaker 1: managed to get off three more shots before Roland ripped
Speaker 1: the weapon free from its forearm mount and used it
Speaker 1: to cave in the armored face plate. Blood spurted out,
Speaker 1: and the man fell limp back out the window. His
Speaker 1: feet continued to adhere to the outside wall while his jerking,
Speaker 1: bleeding body dangled in the breeze. Roland turned just in
Speaker 1: time to take another two slugs from another two shotguns,
Speaker 1: but then the men were empty. They'd pumped most of
Speaker 1: their rounds into Marigold's body. They fumbled to reload, panicked
Speaker 1: and clearly unused to carrying out the task in a
Speaker 1: combat situation. Roland could smell the terror as it wafted
Speaker 1: off their bodies. Their fear hit his nervous system like
Speaker 1: an ounce of crystal meth. He loomed towards them, and
Speaker 1: for a second, the only sounds in the room were
Speaker 1: his footsteps and the dull thwap of Sasha pounding her
Speaker 1: helmet into Alexander's now shattered skull. Roland whipped his left
Speaker 1: arm out A massive blade not unlike a straight razor,
Speaker 1: tore through the flesh of his inner forearm and locked
Speaker 1: into place. The men screamed. One dropped his shotgun and
Speaker 1: tried to run. Roland tore into him first, using the
Speaker 1: blade to sever the fucker's arms. Battle drugs and pure
Speaker 1: liquid satisfaction flowed into roland synapses. His dick went hard,
Speaker 1: and he screamed in wordless joy as he slashed downwards
Speaker 1: and sliced off the man's face. The poor bastard fell away, burbling,
Speaker 1: and Roland turned towards the last soldier. He died an
Speaker 1: equally terrible death, and then it was done, the battle
Speaker 1: was over. Quiet reigned. The only sounds audible to a
Speaker 1: normal human would have been the blood spurting from dead
Speaker 1: and dying bodies, and the sound of sobbing. Touli sobbed
Speaker 1: for Marigold, Sasha sobbed for Roland guest her lost innocence.
Speaker 1: And then out in the city beyond came the sound
Speaker 1: of a hundred sirens. The martyrs were coming for them. Hey,
Speaker 1: I've written a novel. It's called After the Revolution. You
Speaker 1: can find it as a podcast under After the Revolution,
Speaker 1: and you can find it at a t r book
Speaker 1: dot com as a free e pub if you like it.
Speaker 1: I am crowdfunding the sequel so that I can keep
Speaker 1: making my books free. That will be it After the Revolution,
Speaker 1: The Sequel on go fund me. That's After the Revolution
Speaker 1: the Sequel on go fund me.