WEBVTT - After the Revolution: Chapters Twenty One, Twenty Two, and Twenty Three 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:05.400 Outer space, a vast unknown frontier. We don't yet know 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:09.200 the dangers that lark beyond the stars, but unfortunately for 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:13.560 Captain Sidney Owens and Jenna Prescott, they're about to find out. 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:21.680 Magmaal from I Heart Radio and Bamford Productions. Listen to 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:26.000 Magmaal on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:31.000 wherever you get your podcast. What's Up Guys on a 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.040 Shop Aloud and I am Troy Millions and we are 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.600 the host of the Earnier Leisure podcast when we break 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:38.920 down business models and examine the latest trans and finance. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.080 We hold court and have exclusive interviews with some of 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.760 the biggest names of business, sport and entertainment, from DJ 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.559 Khaled to Mark Cuban, Rick Ross and Shaquille O'Neil. I 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.040 mean our alumni list is expansive. Listen in as our 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.680 guests revealed their business models, hardships and triumphs and their 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.040 respective fields. The knowledge is in death and the questions 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:56.760 are always delivered from your standpoint. We want to know 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.240 what you want to know. We talked to the legends 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:01.920 of business, sports and entertainment about how they got their 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.760 start and most importantly, how they make their money. Earni 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.360 a Leisha is a college business class mixed with pop culture. 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:09.760 I want to learn about the real estate game, unclears, 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.280 how the stock market works. We got you interested in 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.040 starting a trucking company or vending machine business. Not really 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.560 sure about how taxes or credit work. We got it 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.080 all covered. The Earnie Leisure podcast is available now. Listen 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.960 to Ernie Leisure on the Black Effect Podcast Network, I 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:36.080 Heart Radio, app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mama, 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:46.240 what is the chicken fit draft draft? Really? Giraffe Giraffe, 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:48.640 You're not gonna get it all right. Just make sure 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.640 you know the big stuff, like making sure your kids 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.120 are buckled correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes. 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:58.480 Get it right visits a dot gov slash The right 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:00.640 Seat brought to you by the nat is no Highway 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:06.000 Traffic Safety Administration. In the ad Council, Chapter twenty one. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:11.440 Sasha Alexander hadn't seen it coming. He hadn't expected her 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.920 at all. The sound of his furious scream was the 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.320 most beautiful thing Sasha had ever heard. She hit him 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.600 again and again, and he fell back and then down 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.200 to the ground. Blood streamed from his nose in a 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.440 gash above his brow. His eyes looked unfocused, his lip 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.040 was split. He tried to scream or cry out or 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:29.800 beg her, but she didn't give him the time to 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.040 say one damn word. Instead, she hit him again and 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.400 again and again. She didn't make the conscious choice to 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:38.800 dive down on top of him, and in fact, Sasha 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.000 was rather surprised to find herself straddling the prone, broken 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.839 boy soldier. But once she was there, she kept hitting 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.200 him until she felt his skull give way and the 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.200 helmet had something soft, squishy and hot that lay beyond. 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.200 She sat back and for what seemed like a year, 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.400 just stared at the helmet and bedded in Alexander's ruined face. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.359 Blood pulsed out from around the edges where it met 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:01.960 the skin. The way the blood bubbled up looked just 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.040 a bit like the water and one of the fountains 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.080 outside the hospital her mother ran. For some reason, that 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.720 similarity did more to raise her hackles than the act 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.800 of killing her. Ears still rang, and so it was 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.320 easy to lose herself. In contemplation of Alexander's body. Her 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.360 mind turned to the Book of John and the words 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.760 of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Do not be 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.280 like Kine who belonged to the evil One and murdered 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.840 his brother? And why did he murder him? Because his 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.960 own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous? Had 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.840 Alexander's actions truly been righteous? Sasha knew if she searched 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.960 the Bible she could find scriptural justifications for everything Alexander 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.800 had done. That's why she'd come here in the first place, 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.800 wasn't it The heavenly Kingdom was finally going back to 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.840 the letter of the Bible, the word of God. Only 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.120 now that she had seen what that looked like, Sasha 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.040 had found she could not abide it. Am I still 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.080 a Christian? She couldn't say. Her faith had been such 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.880 a part of her identity. It had been everything, And 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.560 now it felt like a Hi. What am I if 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.000 not a righteous servant of the Lord? Where do I 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:09.000 go from? Here? Eisash little problem? Here? Roland's voice jerked 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.680 her out of her contemplation. She looked back at the man, 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.720 and her mind recoiled in terror. His skin had been 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.719 shredded by gunfire. It hung in pale tatters down his 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:20.800 face and arms. His clothing had largely been shot away, 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.200 and The rags that remained were so drenched in blood 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:25.640 that they clung to him. He looked almost as if 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.440 he was clad in a single giant scab. One of 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.719 his eyes was unfocused, dislocated, and something had happened to 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:34.280 his left arm. It looked as if an enormous straight 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.240 razor had burst out of the forearm. Where did you 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.520 get that? She asked. Sasha was surprised and a bit 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:45.120 disturbed by her curiosity. Roland seemed surprised too this. He 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.920 looked at the blade. I really no, had sort of 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.280 forgotten it was in there. He lifted his arm and 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.600 its blood soaked blade up and looked at it like 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.760 a small child opening a prized gift on Christmas morning. 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.640 Then he flicked his arm down towards the ground, and 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:00.799 the blade slid back into the meat of his forearm 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:04.560 with a wet thwack look. He said, we got more 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.840 present ship to deal with right now. You're all those sirens. 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.640 She actually couldn't. Her hearing had begun to recover from 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:14.200 the gunfight, but Roland was just barely audible allowed tonight, 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.240 as hums still rang through her ears. Sasha was pretty 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.800 sure she'd suffered permanent damage. I can't hear much right now, 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:24.280 she said, the gun of fire, you know. Oh, he frowned. 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.040 I forgot that can happen to you folks. Well, uh, 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:29.800 there's a shipload of cops or martyrs or militia whatever. 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.160 A bunch of them are coming, probably two or three hundred. 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.839 They got tanks and drones and ship. God Almighty, Sasha 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.920 felt fear rise up in her heart again. Yeah, listen, 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:40.720 God's not really the dude to worry about right now. 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:42.960 Manny's all fucked up. I stopped his bleeding, but you're 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.680 gonna need to get him out of here. Manny, she'd 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.400 forgotten all about him. Sasha realized with a start that 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.440 she'd blotted the rest of the room from her mind. 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.400 She looked around and took it all in. Manny was 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.119 still lying where she'd left him, nursing a gunshot wound 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.720 to the belly. He was pale, sweaty, and he looked 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.479 to be in terrible pain. But he was conscious and alive. 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.479 That was more than she could say for Marigold. The 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.880 poor woman had been shredded by shotgun fire. Sasha couldn't 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:11.200 bring herself to look too closely at the shattered steaming remains, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.240 but Marigold's friends were alive. The young man Rick was 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.279 unconscious and drenched in blood, but most of that blood 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.480 didn't seem to be his own. His head was in 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.359 Tullie's lap. She'd been wounded in the buttocks and bled 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.760 quite a lot, but the wounds seemed to have clotted. 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:28.680 There were tears and a haunted, pained look in her eyes. 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.880 Oh my god, Sasha said, once her mind started to 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.480 process the visual stimuli. Lord in Heaven, No, no, no, no, 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.120 that poor woman, that unborn child. How could this happen? 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.720 How could this be? Sasha? Roland shouted, This is a 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.120 very bad time for you to have emotions. Try killing 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.520 those for a while. How just think about the fact 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.320 that every one but me will die if he don't 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.680 get your ship together? And then get your ship together. 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.240 Her initial action was anger and frustration. Is he that 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.240 disconnected from humanity? Does he think people can just turn 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.679 their empathy off? Off? But then she stopped herself, listened 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.760 to him, and tried. She imagined herself putting on a 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.760 heavy jacket, something that blocked out pain and horror rather 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:13.440 than the cold. It worked, Okay, she said, what do 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.440 I need? To do. You need to take Monny and uh, 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.480 what's her name and what's his face? Touli and Rick right, 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.040 take the non dead people, run down and out the 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.240 back door and find me a car. Then you need 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.240 to a car. He stopped sifting through the dead men's 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.120 firearms to roll his eyes at her. Yes, a car. 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.040 I'm not going to carry all you lame bloods out 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.600 of here on my fucking shoulders. Were need a getaway vehicle. 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.320 I can't drive, she said. All the cars in the 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.480 am fete are autonomous. He shrugged, you'll figure it out. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.360 Many moans just then, almost as if it was in 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.640 response to Roland's suggestion. Sasha knew it was more likely 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.800 she'd just been too focused on the big post human 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.280 to notice Manny's pained moans the whole time. Can he drive? 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:57.160 Sasha asked, sure, Roland said, with sudden cheer, He's only 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.160 lost what two quarts of blood? I gave him a 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.040 little mine. I'm sure be right his rain soon. Manny 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.440 moaned again, handed his blood soaked belly. He didn't appear 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:07.480 to be bleeding still, but he was pale, and his 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.000 face showed agony, too obvious to ignore, Sasha doubted he'd 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.440 be capable of driving a car in the immediate future. 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.720 I can drive, Tuli said, in a cracked, broken sounding voice. 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.080 Right Roland said, well, that's lovely. Get your asses up 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.320 and get moving. You've got about two minutes before ship 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.480 and fans start their lovely dance. The post humans good 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.560 humor was incongruous in this blood soaked room. Addressed to 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.520 two people who lost a friend today, he grabbed one 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:35.959 of the guard's pistols, which he shoved in his waistband 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.480 and handed it to Sasha. Safeties off, he said, cheerily, 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.960 So once you pull the trigger, stuff will happen. Sasha 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.400 took the gun and then went over to help Manny up. 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.400 Tually did the same thing with her wounded friend. Neither 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.080 Manny or Rick were in great shape, but Manny at 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.440 least seemed capable of standing under his own power. Once 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.000 Sasha got him to his feet, he stayed there. She 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.360 looked him in the eye, and while he seemed sort 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.240 of dazed and glassy, his pupils fixed on hers, and 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:07.200 he nodded. We have to go. She said, sitrat the tempoima. 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:11.400 He muttered what Sasha asked, said, it's about fucking time. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.120 Just follow me, she said, with more confidence than she felt. 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.520 I'll take care of everything. Oh funck that, Manny said. 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:20.440 He put a hand on her shoulder and moved as 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.240 if to push in front of her and shield her 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.040 with his body. Then he grabbed a side, groaned, and 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:29.920 staggered back. All right, yeah, you lead the way men. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.079 Tuli was up now. She had an arm around her friend, 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.720 and together they moved almost as fast as a single 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.560 elderly person with bad hips. Manny was not much more mobile. 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.000 Sasha looked back at Roland. Where should we meet you? 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.199 The next street behind this building is called Alma. Take 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:48.120 it and go left until you hit a road named 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.600 Cross Bend. I should be there by the time you arrive. 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.120 What if we can't find up, he cut her off. 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.240 Not finding a car is not an option. Talking more 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.600 is not an option. I have to go kill people. 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.360 You find something with wheels. Get Tullie in the driver's seat. 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.839 Sasha started to say something, but the sirens had drawn 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.080 very close. Indeed, she heard several shouts from outside the 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.240 front of the building. Roland cursed. He'd already gathered up 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.360 two of the rifles and slung them across his back. 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.960 He had a large pistol in his left hand. At 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:17.839 the sound of the shouting, he brought his right hand 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.520 up to his belly and dug it deep inside his skin. 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.600 Sasha watched in horror as he tore a heavy, blood 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.480 caked weapon out of his gut. Roland walked up to 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.280 the front window of the room and fired the weapon once, twice, 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.560 three times. Its report was deep and bassy, like the 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:34.880 sound of a heavy drum being struck. There was a 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.800 brief island of quiet, followed by a trio of explosions 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.000 that rattled the walls of the jail. Look. Roland said 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.000 as he glanced back to her, I gotta go be 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.920 a distraction. Find the car, get to cross bend in Alma, 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.200 I'll be therein He glanced out the window again and shrugged. 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:53.520 Ten maybe eleven minutes, okay should? Sasha started to ask 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:58.240 talking time is done. Toullie's flat voice interrupted, He moves, 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.120 We move now. She pulled her friend towards the door. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.119 There would have been something almost comical about the agonizing 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.160 slowness with which they actually moved, but the gesture had 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.480 its intended effect. Sasha took Manny by the hand. She 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:13.880 let Tully lead the way to the door, but once 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.680 they were in the hallway, the young woman had no 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.480 idea where to go. Sasha took the lead then and 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.480 guided her new comrades towards a flashing red exit sign 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.120 that she knew led to a rear stairwell. For a 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.840 brief passing second, she'd been worried that they might encounter 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.760 other guards or jailers during their flight. That concern proved groundless. 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.800 Gunfire had torn through the walls of the examination room 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.520 and ripped apart the interior of the jail. She saw 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.680 a few gouts of blood by the walls, and one 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.440 sinister looking pool of it beneath a desk. It all 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.000 drove an important lesson home for Sasha. Bullets don't stop 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.280 when they miss. The stairwell was as deserted as the 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.760 rest of the jail. They hoppled down at as quickly 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.960 as three wounded people could manage. Sasha stayed in the back, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.720 under the instinctive assumption that it'd be best for morale 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.839 if she didn't rush ahead. Their progress down the stairs 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:03.280 was painfully slow, almost every step punctuated by the sound 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.040 of gunfire out on the street. Below. It sounded like 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.360 a full scale war had broken out there. There was 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.560 a lot of screaming, and Sasha tried not to think 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.760 too much about which of the nice young martyrs she'd 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.080 met in the square were now dying by Roland's hand. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.800 What about Anne, what about Susannah? You're abandoning them? Sasha 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.440 shook the thoughts clear from her head. There'd be time 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:26.000 for self loathing later. Tulli and Rick reached the bottom 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.959 floor first. They leaned back against the wall together and 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.480 caught their breath. Rick was as white as a sheet 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.319 and looked like he could still barely stand. Tullie was 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.120 doing better, but not by a wide margin. When she 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:39.199 and Manny hit the bottom floor, he went straight for 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.959 the exit door. He clearly intended to be the first 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.440 out in case anyone had a weapon trained on the door. 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.680 Sasha stopped him. That wasn't hard, because he was only 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.360 a little more stable than Tulli. She pushed him back, 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.080 put a hand on the door, and then drew the 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.920 pistol Roland had given her. She fixed Manny with what 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.760 she hoped was a firm, fearless look. You're in no 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:00.560 state to be heroic, he looked, to her as if 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.480 he wanted to fight her, But then he looked down 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.520 at the shaking hand he had pressed into the sopping 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.480 wound in his side. Yeah, all right, you down to 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.600 do the hero stuff. Then she nodded, well, then be 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.280 my guest. Sasha didn't know how to use a gun. 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:18.040 The m FED band almost all private firearm ownership. Her 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.040 grandfather had owned a couple of bolt action hunting rifles, 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:23.600 and he'd let Sasha hold them a few times. That 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.560 was as close as she'd gotten to firearms training. She'd 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.440 never actually shot the darn things. Once he died, her 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.480 father had sold the guns rather than deal with the 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.959 hassle and expense of a license. So she burst out 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.120 onto the street with the pistol held high in front 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.720 of her, like she'd seen in movies. It took her 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.760 a few seconds to realize, sheepishly, that this behavior was 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:44.720 more likely to get her gun down than aid in 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.440 her defense. Thankfully, there'd been no martyrs watching the rear exit. 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:50.760 Sasha waved for the others to follow her out and 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.760 stashed the pistol under her shirt. For a few minutes, 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.520 they'd ran, or rather hobbled, in what seemed like the 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.480 right direction. The city still rang with the sound of sirens, unfire, 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.240 and the occasional concussive blast, but it seemed to be 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.719 moving away from them. Plano wasn't exactly crowded, but there 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:08.760 were enough people out on the street to notice the 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.120 fresh wounds on Tulli, Rick, and Manny. No one approached them, 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.040 though Sasha wasn't sure if they passed unnoticed, but they 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.280 were able to pass through the city without incident. Fear 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:20.360 and the flight reflex were enough to carry them a 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.120 few blocks in relative haste. Once they were out of 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.080 sight of the jail. Rick put up a hand as 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.200 he slumped back against the wall. Tulli continued to hold 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.600 him up. She was pale, sweaty, and pained looking. Ryan 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.120 shook and shuddered. His eyes were unfocused and he was 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:39.040 clearly in shock. He needs to rest, Tulli said. Manny 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.760 stopped next to them and leaned against the wall as well. 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.800 He dodded at Tulli and then looked back to Sasha. Yeah, 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.120 dit oh, I might prefer to lay down a die 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.200 at this point. We need to find a car anyway, 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.680 Tullie said, as she helped lower Rick down to sit 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.400 against the wall. If I carry him for much longer, 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:59.480 I'm going to drop. Sasha realized everyone was looking at her. 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:04.840 Is that my job? Manny looked mortified, Tulie looked angry. 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.960 Rick bless Him, was too deep and shocked to react. Yes, 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.680 Tullie said, in a toneless voice that still somehow implied 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.800 deep disappointment. Okay, then Sasha said, when I find the car, 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.920 I assume you'll know how to hot wire it. Tullie laughed. 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:22.960 It wasn't a nice laugh. If you're hiding a real 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.360 nice deck somewhere in that's silly head of yours. Or 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.080 you find a car that's older than my dad. Maybe 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.000 otherwise we're going to need something with keys in it. 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.680 What so I'm just supposed to carjack someone. Tullie stared 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.640 dead eyed at her. Manny gave a pained, helpful smile. 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:43.080 I mean you've got a gun, he said. Sasha felt 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.560 the heat rise in her again. Why not, I've given 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.680 up every other principle I have to day, I might 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.000 as well commit armed robbery, the guilt staying her guts, 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.320 but not as badly as it should have. Perhaps she 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.600 was still numb from watching Doctor Brandton. Marigold die. Or 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.480 maybe it's because I killed Alexander. Maybe I'm evil now 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.160 and this is what that feels like. There was no 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:05.120 time to mold the possibilities. Sasha left Manny and the 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.400 others to catch their breath and darted down an alley 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.160 towards a larger street that sounded like it might have traffic. 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.360 She passed two parked cars and looked inside with a 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:15.920 vain hope that, just maybe someone might have left their 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.480 keys behind. It was to no avail. Sasha soon found 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.360 herself on the cracked and shell popped asphalt of Alma Road. 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.040 The buildings on either side of this stretch of street 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.280 had taken significant damage during the Heavenly Kingdom's birth Pains. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.040 There were no people out on the sidewalks or visible 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.120 in the windows. Anyone alive had probably hunkered down to 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.160 avoid the shooting. There was still traffic on the road, though, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.720 three trucks in a dented, fume spewing white sedan shot 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.000 by her at the speed of wartime traffic. Sasha drew 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.520 her gun, looked at it, and then hurriedly stashed it 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.000 inside her blouse again. When she realized how dumb that 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.120 had been, Godly women do not carry guns. A series 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.240 of four loud booms sounded in the distance. Sasha didn't 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.560 know enough about weaponry to guess what those had been, 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.240 but she knew they'd had something to do with Roland. 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:03.760 People are dying, so I can find us a car 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:07.359 and get everyone to safety. She started walking down the street, 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.000 face pointed towards oncoming traffic, hands waving above her head 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.800 in the international gesture for oh God, please help me. 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.040 Two more cars zoomed past without even slowing to check 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.440 on her. It was odd how that shocked her after 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.280 everything else she'd seen in the Heavenly Kingdom. The faithful 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.760 protect and support each other, Pastor Mike had claimed, But not, 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.119 it seemed, when a half human monster was on a 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.680 rampage through their city. That helped debate her guilt at least, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.280 or it did right up until the moment a familiar 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.920 Jankie brown truck rumbled to a stop next to her. 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.760 Excuse me, ma'am, do you need She turned around, and 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.359 the man's face lit up in surprise, Miss Sasha. It 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.040 was Darryll, the kindly old foreman who driven her to 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.680 the House of Miriam on her first day in the Kingdom? 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.720 Was that really only days ago? It seemed like years. 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.520 Sasha felt like an old woman, even though she was 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.840 just on the edge of eighteen. You hurt? He slammed 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.120 the car into park and open his door one sec 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:02.879 I got a first aid kit in the back. Where'd 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.760 you get hit? Sasha looked down at her chest and 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.639 realized she looked like she'd been badly injured. The blood 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.919 wasn't hers, of course, but Darrell couldn't have known that. 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:13.560 He thought she was hurt and he was trying to help. 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.479 Am I really going to rob a good Samaritan? She was? 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.760 Sasha waited until Darrel had closed the door, grabbed his 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.399 medical kit, and turned towards her. Then she drew her 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.840 pistol and leveled it at his weathered, grease stained, and 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:30.439 now thoroughly surprised face. Huh, I need your truck. I 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:34.000 need your truck, she said. Darrell dropped the medical kit 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.040 and put both his palms out. Oh now, girl, all right, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.720 why don't you just put that gun down. Darrel ain't 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.119 gonna hurt you. I'll take you anywhere you need to go. 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.760 Let's just be real, calm, real slow about all this. 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.760 Did somebody hurt you. I need your truck. It was 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:50.960 so hard to keep her voice, even, so hard to 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:52.919 do this cruel thing to a man who'd only been 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:55.919 kind to her. Sasha could feel white hot tears streamed 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.399 down her face. I must look like a crazy person, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:02.520 she thought. Maybe that will help now, Miss Sasha, Darrell said, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:04.399 I'm a guess. You don't know how to drive a truck. 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:08.080 Mine ain't autonomous, it's old stick shift. Please, why don't 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:09.680 you let me take you where you need to go? 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:13.639 Sasha's mind raced. It was the same species of nervousness 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.199 that had always gripped her during major exams in college 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.840 admissions essays. She ran through and discarded a dozen different 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.120 courses of action in her head. What if he won't 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:24.679 give me the keys, What if he takes another step forward? 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:28.120 What if he moved? It started with a single glance. 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.240 Darrell's eyes darted towards the driver's side door of his truck. 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.119 She almost didn't catch it, but for whatever reason, the 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.520 gesture rose goose pimples on the back of her neck 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:42.520 and forearms. I need your truck. Her voice was cold, strong, firm. 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:46.080 Darrell nodded at her, his body posture stayed the same, 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.399 but his eyes changed. There was something hard and haunted 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:52.879 in them. Now, all right, miss Sasha, I'm just gonna 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.960 reach in here for m keys. He took a step 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.680 back and moved towards the door. The bottom fell out 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:00.919 of Sasha's gut, and she screw aimed at him to stop, 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.240 don't make another move. He dove for the door, pulled 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:06.760 it open, and reached a hand down beside the driver's seat. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:09.080 Sasha saw a flash of metal in his hand, and 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.840 she opened fire. She wasn't sure how many times she 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.600 pulled the trigger, but soon the gun was empty. Sasha 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.080 watched as Darrell stumble back into the truck and then 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.919 slid to the ground. Most of her shots had gone wide, 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:22.840 very wide. She'd chattered two of the truck's windows and 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.560 put four or five rounds into the vehicle's body, but 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.080 at least one had hit Darrell right in his throat, 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.879 a kill shot. He slumped to the ground, gagged on blood, 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.160 and jerked like an electrified marionette. Part of her wanted 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.000 to run to him, to hold him while he died 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.480 and say she was sorry. Then she saw the gun 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.480 at his feet. It didn't dissipate her guilt. After all, 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.000 she drawn on him first, but at least she hadn't 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:48.360 shot and killed an unarmed man. She'd killed an armed man, 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.959 an armed man who only ever helped me. Sasha slumped 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:54.840 against the hood of the truck and lost herself in 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.840 a storm of sobs. She didn't realize she dropped her 0:20:57.840 --> 0:20:59.960 gun until it hit the asphalt with a dull clank. 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.119 She couldn't control her hands or her breathing. Her frantic 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:05.760 sobbing had robbed all the air from her lungs. Her 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.200 legs weakened, and she started to stumble to the ground 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:10.639 when a pair of warm, semi strong arms caught her 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.840 from behind. Hey, Hey, it's all right, it's all right, Manny, 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.720 it's ok. You're gonna be ok. Her world went black 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.239 for a little while. Sasha felt Manny lift her up, 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:23.760 heard the sound of the truck's engine rumble back to life. 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:26.199 But she couldn't see, and she couldn't move, and she 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:30.080 couldn't stop crying. Time lost any sort of meaning. When 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:33.080 she came back to herself, there were in motion. Manny 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.439 sat next to her, and Rick next to him, tully drove. 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.879 Sasha's eyes were drawn to Manny. He held Darrell's pistol 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.320 in his left hand. She couldn't help but stare at 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:44.920 the four spots of dried blood on the silver slide. 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:49.080 You all right, Sasha, Manny asked. His question passed through 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.639 her ears without hitting her mind. Sasha couldn't stop staring 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:56.240 at Darrell's blood. I did that. I ended him. She'd 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.440 ended two men to day. She felt no guilt about Alexander, 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.679 but that was almost more disturbing. It seemed impossible that 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:04.800 she had been a pampered suburban girl less than a 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:08.800 month ago. Now she was a murderer. Whoever sheds human 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:12.480 blood by humans, shall their blood be shed? Sasha felt 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:14.560 as if a thick cloud of doom had fallen on 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.600 her shoulders. The truck veered off to the right and 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:20.920 slammed to a sudden stop. Sasha was flung forward into 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:23.720 the back of Tullie seat. A trio of vehicles zoomed 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:26.760 past them, speeding in the opposite direction, like several bats 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.159 fleeing the same hell. Sasha realized, with a moment's focus, 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:32.399 that there was an awful lot of traffic heading away 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:36.240 from them as fast as possible, promp Tullie cursed and 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:39.160 fought with a stick shift. The truck lurched forward again 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:41.600 and made it back onto the road for a few seconds. 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:44.520 Then another speeding car roared into the oncoming lane, and 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:46.600 she was forced to veer off to the shoulder again. 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:50.480 The sounds of gunfire grew louder. Sasha heard the thrumb 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:53.680 of helicopter blades too, a second before one buzzed right 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.919 over their heads. It looked like a military vehicle, painted 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:00.399 matt black and laden with weapons. Sasha watched as zoomed 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:02.560 ahead and rose up over a pair of high rise 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.560 apartment buildings near the horizon line. There was a loud 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:08.359 crump sound, and black smoke billowed out from the side 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:10.960 of the craft. It spun around drunkenly in the air 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:13.640 for one very long second before slamming into the roof 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:16.840 of one of the high rises. The resultant blast rocked 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:19.399 the truck. Two Lee veered left and right around a 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.200 pothole at another speeding truck, respectively. Her knuckles were white, 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.040 her jaw was clinched. Sasha could see Tulie's eyes in 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:28.679 the rear view mirror. She looked terrified and angry at 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:31.640 the same time, Rick moaned in pain with every shake 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:34.399 and jostle. Manny closed his eyes, shook his head, and 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:38.160 muttered something low under his breath. Are we close, Sasha 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:40.520 asked Manny. He squinted and looked out at the road 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:44.560 for a second. I mean, he shrugged. Yeah, probably, I'm 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:48.480 gonna guess. Rollands close to the explosions and also causing them. 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:51.879 Smoke now dominated the horizon, which grew less horizony and 0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:55.080 more imminent with each passing second. In spite of all that, 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:57.520 Sasha's eyes kept being drawn back to the gun in 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.199 Manny's hand and the dry red brown stains on the 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:03.720 slide that was a good man's blood. She thought, how 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:08.159 did it come to this? Hey, Jesus girl, it was Tuli. 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:10.840 Sasha looked up to the rear view mirror and locked 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:13.560 eyes with the other woman. But the funk up Chica, 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:16.800 Tuli said. For the first time, Sasha heard real anger 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:19.560 and not just cold indifference in her voice. The other 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:22.960 woman continued, My best friend was just shot to pieces, 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:25.679 My lover is bleeding out, and you're all fucked up 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:28.960 because you've gunned down some crystal fascist ship fuck Suck 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:30.879 your heart into your guts. I don't know where you 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:32.960 came from, girl, but you're in a hardass part of 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:38.200 the world. Now it's time to fortify. Fortify. Sasha held 0:24:38.200 --> 0:24:42.320 onto that word like a life preserver. Fortify survive. Then 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:45.640 you can lose your head in tears and shame. Okay, 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:48.760 she nodded. She started to apologize, but was interrupted when 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:52.000 the truck screeched to another's sudden halt and threw everyone forward. 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:54.720 Sasha's head hit the front seat again, and her world 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:59.240 dissolved into stars. Ship. Tulie cried something rammed the rear 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:02.720 of the truck. Sasha lost all orientation to reality. When 0:25:02.720 --> 0:25:04.760 her head and eyes cleared, the first thing she saw 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:08.199 was Tullie nursing a broken nose. Blood poured down the 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:12.120 other woman's face. Many seemed intact. Sasha looked behind them 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:14.560 and saw a small sedan had dashed itself against the 0:25:14.560 --> 0:25:16.959 bed of their truck. It must have been following right 0:25:17.000 --> 0:25:19.960 behind when Tullie hit the brakes. Sasha swung her eyes 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:24.000 front to see why they'd stopped. She saw Rowland. He 0:25:24.080 --> 0:25:26.440 stood maybe ten feet in front of the truck's hood. 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:29.439 That arm raiser of his was extended again, but the 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:32.520 blade was cracked and half shattered. His other hand held 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:35.000 some sort of large, black assault rifle he hadn't been 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:38.000 carrying in the jail. The pistol grip grenade launcher he'd 0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:40.280 been carrying was still with him, but he'd holstered it 0:25:40.320 --> 0:25:43.160 in an open hole in his belly. The left side 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:45.320 of his cheek had been ripped away. Most of his 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:47.560 hair was burnt off, and Sasha made out at least 0:25:47.600 --> 0:25:50.159 one clear bullet hole in his forehead. There might have 0:25:50.200 --> 0:25:52.560 been more. All the caked on blood and gore made 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:55.840 it hard to discern. His clothing had been mostly shot, burned, 0:25:55.920 --> 0:25:58.720 or torn away. The dominant colors on his body were 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:01.359 black and red, with a few horrible spots of white 0:26:01.400 --> 0:26:04.480 where bones shone through. In the open air, the city 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:07.520 behind him was all smoke and fire. Emergency lights from 0:26:07.560 --> 0:26:10.400 several vehicles blinked madly in the miasthma, but there were 0:26:10.400 --> 0:26:13.960 no martyrs or emergency workers visible, at least none that 0:26:13.960 --> 0:26:18.000 were standing. Sasha saw several terribly still bodies lying among 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:21.480 the piles of rubble. Roland staggered towards the truck and 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:24.560 flung the passenger's side door open. He slumped into the 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:27.720 seat bringing with him an overpowering stink of blood and fire. 0:26:28.200 --> 0:26:30.840 He leaned back in his seat and took three long breaths, 0:26:31.160 --> 0:26:34.919 and then he spoke, way, heads pretty clear, but you 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:36.399 might want to hang a right and then take a 0:26:36.520 --> 0:26:40.560 left avoid the traffic. Truly nodded, and the truck jerked 0:26:40.600 --> 0:26:46.120 forward again. The riot out was so easy it scared Sasha. 0:26:46.359 --> 0:26:49.399 In fact, it seemed to scare everyone but Roland. Manny's 0:26:49.440 --> 0:26:52.000 knuckles grew whider and wider as they navigated their way 0:26:52.000 --> 0:26:55.919 out of the old Metroplex. Toulli's expression didn't change, but 0:26:56.000 --> 0:26:58.399 her body shook with nervous energy, and her jaw was 0:26:58.440 --> 0:27:00.800 set so tight that the veins on her neck bulged 0:27:00.800 --> 0:27:03.320 from the strain. It was a mercy that Rick was 0:27:03.400 --> 0:27:07.800 unconscious by that point. Convoys of military vehicles rolled past them, 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:11.920 sometimes escorting ambulances and other emergency vehicles, sometimes bringing more 0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:14.520 soldiers to the chunk of the city. Roland had devastated 0:27:14.960 --> 0:27:17.760 Sasha's heart leapt into her throat every single time, but 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.359 somehow no one stopped their truck. Roland assured them all 0:27:21.400 --> 0:27:23.679 that it would be fine. I kicked their asses so 0:27:23.720 --> 0:27:26.080 hard it'll take him an hour to find their cheeks. 0:27:26.359 --> 0:27:28.800 His only discomfort came once they left the zone of 0:27:28.840 --> 0:27:32.560 active danger. He seemed to deflate. Then, after a half 0:27:32.640 --> 0:27:35.320 hour on the road, his wounds had mostly healed. The 0:27:35.400 --> 0:27:38.640 new skin that grew back underneath seemed weirdly dark compared 0:27:38.680 --> 0:27:41.840 to the skin above it. Roland scratched at it an irritation, 0:27:41.960 --> 0:27:44.199 and then as casually as if he'd been tossing an 0:27:44.240 --> 0:27:46.960 apple core, he ripped off his face in one smooth 0:27:47.000 --> 0:27:51.479 emotion and tossed the bloody skin out the window. Jesus, dude, 0:27:51.640 --> 0:27:54.800 Manny said, disgusted. Couldn't you have waited until we weren't 0:27:54.800 --> 0:27:58.320 all in the car? Sasha stared in shock. Her hands 0:27:58.320 --> 0:28:00.520 started to tremble, and she felt the eared to vomit, 0:28:00.880 --> 0:28:03.000 but she fought it down and forced her stomach to 0:28:03.040 --> 0:28:06.560 an uneasy calm. You've seen worse than this now, and 0:28:06.640 --> 0:28:09.399 that was true. She looked back at Rowland and forced 0:28:09.440 --> 0:28:12.199 herself to take in his new face, which she guessed 0:28:12.240 --> 0:28:15.239 was really his old face. Neither iteration of him had 0:28:15.240 --> 0:28:19.320 been exactly handsome. She watched in queasy fascination as he 0:28:19.400 --> 0:28:21.399 picked the rest of the white skin from his hands 0:28:21.400 --> 0:28:23.960 and tossed it out the window. When he'd finished, he 0:28:24.040 --> 0:28:27.600 glanced up at Sasha. What he asked, Please tell me 0:28:27.640 --> 0:28:29.800 you're not a racist. This would be a real bad 0:28:29.840 --> 0:28:32.919 time for you to be racist. She's not racist, dude. 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:35.560 Manny said, you just ripped your skin off. That freaks 0:28:35.560 --> 0:28:41.440 people out. Oh, said Rowland, right, Sorry, it's okay, She said, 0:28:41.720 --> 0:28:43.960 this is just my first time seeing someone rip off 0:28:44.000 --> 0:28:48.280 their own skin. First. Roland grunted, but probably not last. 0:28:49.280 --> 0:28:51.840 Sasha didn't have the guts to question him, so she 0:28:51.960 --> 0:28:54.280 kept quiet for the rest of the ride, so did 0:28:54.320 --> 0:28:57.000 most of the other passengers. For a long time, the 0:28:57.080 --> 0:29:00.280 only sounds inside the truck were Rick's unconscious moan and 0:29:00.360 --> 0:29:04.440 Rowland's occasional directions to Tulli. He led them through underpopulated 0:29:04.440 --> 0:29:07.880 neighborhoods and around checkpoints, past blackened buildings and wrecks of 0:29:07.920 --> 0:29:11.560 military vehicles destroyed during the Heavenly Kingdom's first Great advance. 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:14.680 Sasha was surprised at the emptiness of most of the city. 0:29:14.960 --> 0:29:17.920 She began to understand why Manny called this place Sioda 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:21.160 di Muerta. It took them two hours to escape the 0:29:21.200 --> 0:29:23.800 city sprawl and finally make their way out onto the 0:29:23.840 --> 0:29:27.360 open plains. They avoided the main highway that linked Dallas 0:29:27.400 --> 0:29:30.320 to Waco. Instead spider webbed their way across a series 0:29:30.320 --> 0:29:33.000 of farm roads. Every few minutes they'd rolled past the 0:29:33.040 --> 0:29:36.520 bones of a rural town. Every town out here seemed abandoned, 0:29:36.720 --> 0:29:39.160 as dead and dry as the acres of yellow grass 0:29:39.200 --> 0:29:42.400 that swallowed them up. A little before dark, they rolled 0:29:42.400 --> 0:29:45.280 over a decrepit bridge across a dry river bed. A 0:29:45.320 --> 0:29:49.920 bullet riddled sign identified this area as Basqui County. Rowland 0:29:50.000 --> 0:29:52.360 put a hand on Manny's shoulder and pointed towards a 0:29:52.400 --> 0:29:55.560 big metal barn on the horizon. Take us up there. 0:29:55.720 --> 0:29:59.600 We should probably stop for the night. What Tullie spoke up? 0:29:59.720 --> 0:30:01.680 Why we could be at rolling fuck in an hour? 0:30:02.640 --> 0:30:05.320 Roland shook his head. We got two routes back to 0:30:05.360 --> 0:30:07.560 the city. Either we find the main highway and deal 0:30:07.600 --> 0:30:10.560 with Kingdom patrols, or we keep ride in these country roads. 0:30:10.600 --> 0:30:12.720 That'll take at least another two or three hours and 0:30:12.760 --> 0:30:15.320 a lot of time off road in the dark. There's 0:30:15.320 --> 0:30:18.040 no better recipe for cracking an axle or blowing at tire. 0:30:19.000 --> 0:30:21.320 Tuly fumed, but she rolled the truck up and through 0:30:21.360 --> 0:30:23.120 a gap in what had once been the fence line 0:30:23.120 --> 0:30:26.240 of a farm. There were a lot of farmhouses around them, 0:30:26.280 --> 0:30:29.600 stretched out across acres and acres of fields and pecan orchards. 0:30:29.960 --> 0:30:34.040 They all looked abandoned, devoid of light, half reclaimed by vegetation. 0:30:34.440 --> 0:30:36.880 The bar and Roland led them to was just as empty. 0:30:37.160 --> 0:30:39.160 There were large holes in the sheet metal roof, and 0:30:39.240 --> 0:30:41.240 chunks of the metal walls had been peeled away for 0:30:41.320 --> 0:30:44.800 scrap metal. The underlying structure had been built from metal girders, 0:30:44.800 --> 0:30:48.000 though it seemed solid. They got out of the truck, 0:30:48.280 --> 0:30:50.960 Roland helped Tully carry her lover across the last few 0:30:51.040 --> 0:30:53.880 yards of field and into the old barn. The innards 0:30:53.880 --> 0:30:56.720 of the building were dusty. Rusted tools hung from the wall, 0:30:56.800 --> 0:30:59.600 and boxes of assorted goods littered the floor. Some of 0:30:59.600 --> 0:31:02.160 them had ripped open by scavengers, but most looked like 0:31:02.200 --> 0:31:05.880 they'd sat unmolested since the property had been abandoned. Manny 0:31:05.960 --> 0:31:09.120 found an old couch inside. Roland and Tullie helped Rick 0:31:09.200 --> 0:31:11.800 on to it. Then Roland walked off into the middle 0:31:11.840 --> 0:31:14.080 of the barn and started to root around in boxes. 0:31:14.520 --> 0:31:16.400 He came back a minute later with a load of 0:31:16.440 --> 0:31:18.440 canned goods in one arm and a handle of brown 0:31:18.520 --> 0:31:20.800 liquor in the other. He sat the whole lot down 0:31:20.840 --> 0:31:22.960 on the ground next to the couch, held up a 0:31:23.000 --> 0:31:25.840 can labeled water in big red letters, and then punched 0:31:25.840 --> 0:31:28.240 his finger through the top of the can. He handed 0:31:28.280 --> 0:31:30.600 it to Tulli and she helped Rick drink. He was 0:31:30.640 --> 0:31:33.360 semi conscious now, Sasha thought there might be a little 0:31:33.360 --> 0:31:36.840 more color in his cheeks. Roland opened three more cans, 0:31:37.080 --> 0:31:39.160 one of water and two filled with some sort of 0:31:39.160 --> 0:31:42.600 gloopy beef stew. He ripped the aluminum tops open with 0:31:42.640 --> 0:31:45.880 his bare fingers and then passed them around. Sasha was 0:31:45.880 --> 0:31:48.440 still too deep in the throes of depression and adrenaline 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:51.280 dumpage to have any kind of appetite. The brown gray 0:31:51.280 --> 0:31:53.800 color of the stew didn't help with that, but Manny 0:31:53.840 --> 0:31:56.040 insisted she take a gulp, and as soon as the 0:31:56.040 --> 0:31:59.400 food hit her tongue, Sasha realized she was starving. She 0:31:59.480 --> 0:32:02.000 took two were deep gulps of the salty, mushy mass 0:32:02.040 --> 0:32:05.120 before passing it along to Tulli. The crew ate and 0:32:05.160 --> 0:32:09.200 rehydrated without conversation, although not in silence. The sounds of 0:32:09.200 --> 0:32:11.880 gulping and lip smacking filled the barn for a few minutes, 0:32:12.320 --> 0:32:15.240 Roland didn't join in the eating. Instead, he popped open 0:32:15.280 --> 0:32:17.360 the liquor bottle and drained it dry over the course 0:32:17.400 --> 0:32:20.640 of about ninety seconds. The big man closed his eyes, 0:32:20.840 --> 0:32:23.240 a smile crept up onto his features, and he gave 0:32:23.280 --> 0:32:26.280 a deep, contented sigh. When the food was almost gone, 0:32:26.320 --> 0:32:28.480 he stood up and staggered back into the piles of 0:32:28.520 --> 0:32:31.480 gear to grab two more bottles. These ones were filled 0:32:31.520 --> 0:32:34.000 with an off yellow liquid. He sat one down in 0:32:34.040 --> 0:32:37.360 between Manny and Sasha and immediately began to gustle the second. 0:32:38.080 --> 0:32:40.800 Many glanced at Sasha, then at Tulli, then down at 0:32:40.800 --> 0:32:43.120 the bottle. He popped the top and took a belt. 0:32:43.320 --> 0:32:45.800 Then he offered it to Sasha. If there was ever 0:32:45.880 --> 0:32:47.760 a time to dive into drinking, it's the day I 0:32:47.840 --> 0:32:50.920 killed two people. Sasha took the bottle and stared at 0:32:50.920 --> 0:32:54.080 it for a second. The label said Talisker and identified 0:32:54.120 --> 0:32:56.800 it as a product of Scotland. The bottle itself was 0:32:56.840 --> 0:33:01.840 covered in dust. Hey, Rowland, she asked, suddenly curious, did 0:33:01.840 --> 0:33:04.720 you know this place would have food and water and alcohol? 0:33:05.600 --> 0:33:08.560 Roland paused draining his second bottle and fixed Sasha with 0:33:08.640 --> 0:33:11.760 his strange blue eyes. He looked tired for the first 0:33:11.760 --> 0:33:14.440 time since she'd met him. Sasha wasn't sure if that 0:33:14.480 --> 0:33:16.720 was due to the rampage he just carried out or 0:33:16.760 --> 0:33:21.080 her question. I've been here before, he half mumbled, years ago, 0:33:21.200 --> 0:33:22.959 back before this old chunk of dirt was as much 0:33:22.960 --> 0:33:25.719 of a ship hole as it is now. Wait did 0:33:25.800 --> 0:33:28.640 you used to live here? Manny asked, I don't know. 0:33:29.040 --> 0:33:31.920 Roland shrugged. What do you mean you don't know? You 0:33:32.000 --> 0:33:35.160 clearly know this farm. He shrugged and gave a vague 0:33:35.200 --> 0:33:38.320 wave with his free hand. I have memories of this place, 0:33:38.480 --> 0:33:41.160 bright lights at night, people dancing, drugs and wine, and 0:33:41.200 --> 0:33:43.760 people in songs. I have memories of packing the supplies 0:33:43.800 --> 0:33:47.640 into boxes, buying ammunition. He nodded towards the still locked 0:33:47.680 --> 0:33:50.320 door of the barn. I remember locking that thing up, 0:33:50.360 --> 0:33:53.040 but I don't remember why exactly. I might have lived here, 0:33:53.120 --> 0:33:55.440 it might have belonged to a friend. Either way, I 0:33:55.480 --> 0:33:57.280 feel like the last time I was here was back 0:33:57.320 --> 0:34:01.760 before the revolution. His mind is full of holes, Manny explained, 0:34:01.960 --> 0:34:04.280 something happened to him a few years back. He remembers 0:34:04.280 --> 0:34:06.800 pieces of who he is, what he's done, but not everything. 0:34:07.720 --> 0:34:10.560 Tulli kicked Sasha gently in the hip. She gestured to 0:34:10.600 --> 0:34:13.680 the bottle of whiskey. If you're not drinking past the bottle, 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:17.160 some of us have grieving to do. On impulse, Sasha 0:34:17.200 --> 0:34:19.600 took a pull from the bottle. She started to hand 0:34:19.640 --> 0:34:21.480 it over to Tulli, but then the taste hit her 0:34:21.560 --> 0:34:23.719 and she gagged. It was like someone had lit a 0:34:23.719 --> 0:34:26.360 fire in her throat, one that tasted of burning pete. 0:34:26.840 --> 0:34:29.319 She coughed and hacked for several seconds, while Tulli and 0:34:29.400 --> 0:34:33.080 Roland laughed. Once she regained her breath, Sasha finally handed 0:34:33.120 --> 0:34:36.480 off the bottle. You'll get better at it, the woman said, 0:34:36.640 --> 0:34:38.680 her lips twisted up into what might have been a 0:34:38.680 --> 0:34:44.359 real smile. Whiskey is in acquired taste, like cigars nanarchy. 0:34:44.960 --> 0:34:47.920 Tully took a very deep pole and sighed and satisfaction. 0:34:48.320 --> 0:34:50.920 She handed the bottle off to Manny and started gently 0:34:50.920 --> 0:34:53.960 petting Rick's face. The wounded man was asleep, but he 0:34:54.000 --> 0:34:56.840 seemed much healthier than he had been a half hour earlier. 0:34:57.560 --> 0:35:01.200 How are you doing, Sasha, Manny asked. His eyes met hers, 0:35:01.280 --> 0:35:05.480 and Sasha saw a deep concern in his gaze. I'm fine, 0:35:05.800 --> 0:35:09.440 she said, not really meaning it. She's all funked up 0:35:09.480 --> 0:35:11.920 over the guy she killed for the truck. Toullie grunted, 0:35:12.200 --> 0:35:15.560 shouldn't be fucker picked the wrong side, So did I. 0:35:16.040 --> 0:35:18.240 Sasha tried to keep the anger out of her voice. 0:35:18.760 --> 0:35:21.760 At first. Darrow was a good man. He didn't deserve 0:35:21.800 --> 0:35:26.800 to die. Neither did Marigold, said Toulli. Neither did Major Parne. 0:35:27.040 --> 0:35:29.759 Manny added in a quiet voice. They hung him on 0:35:29.800 --> 0:35:32.680 the day you and I met. The whole world's full 0:35:32.719 --> 0:35:36.120 of good dead people, said Tullie. My advice, don't cry 0:35:36.160 --> 0:35:39.440 over someone you shot in self defense. That's a karmic freebie. 0:35:40.200 --> 0:35:42.800 The guy had a gun, Manny added, seems like he 0:35:42.880 --> 0:35:45.800 just did what she had to do. Rowland was quiet 0:35:45.840 --> 0:35:48.600 through all this. He kept drinking, but his pace had slowed. 0:35:48.800 --> 0:35:51.040 His face took on a dark cast, and he slumped 0:35:51.120 --> 0:35:54.200 down into his chair. He seemed to collapse in on himself. 0:35:54.200 --> 0:35:57.840 A little look Cheka, Tulie said. There was a slight, 0:35:57.920 --> 0:36:00.680 drunken slurry were words. Now. I know I gave you 0:36:00.719 --> 0:36:02.719 a hard time, and it was dumb as fucky in 0:36:02.760 --> 0:36:04.920 a mood of this kingdom. But I gave you credit 0:36:04.960 --> 0:36:08.120 for breaking free and for helping us escape. You might 0:36:08.160 --> 0:36:10.200 be a little dumb, but you aren't bad people in 0:36:10.239 --> 0:36:12.880 my book. Don't beat yourself up over doing what you 0:36:12.960 --> 0:36:16.040 had to do. There was quiet for a little while 0:36:16.480 --> 0:36:19.280 Manny passed the bottle to Sasha. She took another gulp 0:36:19.320 --> 0:36:22.160 and managed to hold it down. This time. Tullie nodded 0:36:22.200 --> 0:36:25.399 an approval. When Sasha passed the whiskey on, Sasha found 0:36:25.440 --> 0:36:28.360 her eyes drawn once more to Darrell's gun. It was 0:36:28.400 --> 0:36:32.120 tucked into Tullie's waistband. Roland cleared his throat and gave 0:36:32.160 --> 0:36:35.840 a loud, flimmy cough. Sasha looked back at him. You 0:36:35.840 --> 0:36:38.279 didn't ask me for an opinion, he said, but since 0:36:38.320 --> 0:36:40.759 everyone else's way in and I might as well. There 0:36:40.800 --> 0:36:44.960 ain't nothing wrong with feeling bad about murder, even justified murder. 0:36:45.000 --> 0:36:47.520 But personally, I don't think that's what's fucking you up. 0:36:48.320 --> 0:36:51.200 What do you mean, she asked. He drained the last 0:36:51.200 --> 0:36:53.680 of the whiskey bottle and tossed it off into the darkness. 0:36:53.880 --> 0:36:57.080 It landed with a clank. I got real good senses, 0:36:57.120 --> 0:36:59.120 you know. I can't turn him off. So I heard 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:01.960 your heart right. I smelled the narrow transmitters running through 0:37:02.000 --> 0:37:05.000 you synapses. I could taste the guilt wafting off you, 0:37:05.320 --> 0:37:08.000 but that's not the only thing I taste. He locked 0:37:08.040 --> 0:37:11.239 his unsteady gaze on hers. Sasha stared into the cold 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:14.120 blue of his pupils. A chill ran down her spine, 0:37:14.320 --> 0:37:16.399 Sweat beat it on the back of her neck. When 0:37:16.400 --> 0:37:19.200 he spoke next, his voice was barely above a whisper. 0:37:20.000 --> 0:37:22.360 Back at the jail. When you crushed that guy's skull 0:37:22.440 --> 0:37:26.840 with a helmet, you've enjoyed yourself. You liked it. Sasha 0:37:26.920 --> 0:37:29.160 broke his gaze. She stared down at her lap and 0:37:29.200 --> 0:37:31.719 struggled to find a reply, but there was nothing else 0:37:31.760 --> 0:37:40.960 for her to say. Rowland was right. Hello and welcome 0:37:41.000 --> 0:37:43.120 to our show. I'm Zoie de Chanelle, and I'm so 0:37:43.200 --> 0:37:45.600 excited to be joined by my friends and cast mates 0:37:45.719 --> 0:37:48.560 Hannah Simone and Lamar and Morris to recap our hit 0:37:48.640 --> 0:37:52.040 television series New Girl. Join us every Monday on the 0:37:52.040 --> 0:37:54.680 Welcome to Our Show podcast, where we'll share behind the 0:37:54.680 --> 0:37:57.640 scenes stories of your favorite New Girl episodes, revealed the 0:37:57.680 --> 0:38:01.239 truth behind the legendary game True American, and discuss how 0:38:01.280 --> 0:38:03.920 this show got made with the writer's guest stars and 0:38:04.000 --> 0:38:06.680 directors who made the show so special. Fans have been 0:38:06.719 --> 0:38:09.000 begging us to do a New Girl recap for years, 0:38:09.120 --> 0:38:12.000 and we finally made a podcast where we answer all 0:38:12.080 --> 0:38:15.600 your burning questions like is there really a bear? In 0:38:15.719 --> 0:38:18.839 every episode of New Girl. Plus each week you'll hear 0:38:19.040 --> 0:38:22.319 hilarious stories like this at the end, when he says, 0:38:22.360 --> 0:38:24.719 you got some Schmidt on your face. I feel like 0:38:24.840 --> 0:38:27.319 I pitched that job. I believe that I feel like 0:38:27.320 --> 0:38:29.000 I did. I'm not on a thousand percent. I want 0:38:29.000 --> 0:38:31.560 to say that was I tossed that one out. Listen 0:38:31.560 --> 0:38:33.520 to the Welcome to Our Show podcast on the I 0:38:33.640 --> 0:38:37.680 Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. 0:38:39.840 --> 0:38:42.400 I'm Ev Rodsky, author of the New York Times bestseller 0:38:42.400 --> 0:38:45.759 Affair Play and Find Your Unicorn Space, activists on the 0:38:45.760 --> 0:38:49.239 gender division of labor, attorney and family mediator. And I'm 0:38:49.360 --> 0:38:52.440 Dr as eating A Rutcar, a Harvard physician and medical 0:38:52.440 --> 0:38:55.799 correspondent with an expertise and the science of stress, resilience, 0:38:55.880 --> 0:38:59.640 mental health, and burnout. We're so excited to share our podcast, 0:38:59.800 --> 0:39:02.879 Him Out, a production of I Heart Podcasts and Hell 0:39:02.920 --> 0:39:06.560 of Sunshine. We're uncovering why society makes it so hard 0:39:06.600 --> 0:39:09.520 for women to treat their time with the value it deserves. 0:39:09.560 --> 0:39:13.000 So take this time out with us. Listen to Time Out, 0:39:13.200 --> 0:39:16.120 a fair Play podcast on the I Heart Radio app, 0:39:16.200 --> 0:39:21.600 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When P. T. 0:39:21.719 --> 0:39:24.720 Barnum's Great American Museum burned to the ground in eighteen 0:39:24.760 --> 0:39:28.080 sixty five, what rose from its ashes would change the world? 0:39:28.800 --> 0:39:32.359 Welcome to Grim and Mild Presents, an ongoing journey into 0:39:32.360 --> 0:39:36.880 the strange, the unusual, and the fascinating. For our inaugural season, 0:39:36.920 --> 0:39:39.360 we'll be giving you a backstage tour of the always 0:39:39.400 --> 0:39:44.120 complex and often misunderstood cultural artifact that is the American 0:39:44.239 --> 0:39:47.000 Side Show. So come along as we visit the shadowy 0:39:47.040 --> 0:39:49.759 corners of the stage and learn about the people who 0:39:49.760 --> 0:39:51.920 were at the center of it all in a place 0:39:51.920 --> 0:39:55.800 where spectacle was king. We will soon discover there's always 0:39:55.800 --> 0:39:58.840 more to the story than meets the eye, So step 0:39:58.920 --> 0:40:02.000 right up and get in line. Listen to Grim and 0:40:02.040 --> 0:40:05.440 Mile Presents now on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:40:05.520 --> 0:40:09.080 or wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more over at 0:40:09.160 --> 0:40:17.040 Grim and Mild dot com. Slash Presents Chapter twenty two. 0:40:17.960 --> 0:40:22.200 Manny Rolling Fuck was as bright, shiny and chaotic as 0:40:22.280 --> 0:40:24.839 it had been when he left, but Manny could see 0:40:24.840 --> 0:40:28.400 a real change among the citizens themselves. Gone were the 0:40:28.440 --> 0:40:32.200 lounging crowds of half naked people instead of the perpetual party. 0:40:32.440 --> 0:40:35.440 A war camp spread out around the great superstructure of 0:40:35.480 --> 0:40:38.839 the city. Hundreds of men and women were busy dawning armor, 0:40:38.920 --> 0:40:42.600 applying war paint, and checking over stacks of weaponry. Manny 0:40:42.640 --> 0:40:46.200 saw crates of guided mortars, piles of rocket launchers, boxes 0:40:46.200 --> 0:40:49.440 of high velocity ammunition, and enough firearms to equip every 0:40:49.480 --> 0:40:53.120 citizen a dozen times over. There was no discernible rolling 0:40:53.200 --> 0:40:56.520 fuck uniform that Manny could see. Some of the city's 0:40:56.560 --> 0:40:59.759 warriors war powered body armor, painted in garish colors and 0:40:59.800 --> 0:41:04.560 bid decked with various quotations Fuck your Day seemed particularly popular. 0:41:05.120 --> 0:41:08.120 Many of them wore pieces of pop culture costumery mixed 0:41:08.120 --> 0:41:12.000 in with their gear. Manny recognized Darth Vader's helmet, hell 0:41:12.080 --> 0:41:14.880 Boy's red right hand, and a surprising number of people 0:41:14.920 --> 0:41:17.760 with Mickey Mouse's face spray painted on their chest armor. 0:41:18.400 --> 0:41:20.879 An equal number of Fuckians wore no armor at all. 0:41:21.280 --> 0:41:24.120 Some of them were dressed in their normal flowing lounge garments. 0:41:24.440 --> 0:41:26.640 The weapons they wore were the only signs that they 0:41:26.640 --> 0:41:30.480 had plans beyond debauchery. Others were naked or mostly so. 0:41:30.960 --> 0:41:33.000 He saw one man wearing the helmet of a Greek 0:41:33.040 --> 0:41:36.440 hoplight and carrying two Viking axes on his back. He 0:41:36.480 --> 0:41:39.000 saw a woman with a Dragonov rifle on her back, 0:41:39.080 --> 0:41:42.200 an old German stallhelm on her head, an Ottoman mirror 0:41:42.280 --> 0:41:45.520 armor on her chest. She waved at them, excited. It 0:41:45.560 --> 0:41:49.000 took Manny a second to recognize Topas's face under the helmet. 0:41:49.400 --> 0:41:53.799 They're here, there, she stopped. Tullie had stopped too. She 0:41:53.920 --> 0:41:56.640 cast her face down. Many could see the shimmer of 0:41:56.680 --> 0:41:59.840 tears on her cheeks. A crowd gathered around them. In 0:41:59.840 --> 0:42:02.560 a few seconds, they were encircled by dozens of heavily 0:42:02.640 --> 0:42:05.640 armed post humans in a dizzying array of war costumes. 0:42:05.840 --> 0:42:08.239 Skofucker Mike pushed his way to the front and ran 0:42:08.360 --> 0:42:11.600 up to embrace Tulli. Manny was surprised when she started 0:42:11.640 --> 0:42:14.200 to sob. The big man held her tight, but looked 0:42:14.200 --> 0:42:18.520 to Rowland what happened. Roland gave him a look that said, 0:42:18.840 --> 0:42:22.560 you know, damn well what happened. But then he spoke, anyway, 0:42:22.960 --> 0:42:26.959 your friend didn't make it schofucker. Mike's jaw went tight, 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:30.000 his eyes bulged, and he held onto Tulli a little tighter. 0:42:30.400 --> 0:42:32.640 Manny thought back to the night they'd spent in brain 0:42:32.680 --> 0:42:36.080 Breakers and the things he'd said about Marigold. Manny hadn't 0:42:36.120 --> 0:42:37.919 really known the woman at all, but he could tell 0:42:37.960 --> 0:42:40.600 Mike had cared deeply for her. He looked around at 0:42:40.640 --> 0:42:43.040 the crowd closing in on them, the dozens of half 0:42:43.160 --> 0:42:46.680 human god monsters with helpless rage carved onto their faces. 0:42:47.520 --> 0:42:52.200 What happened, Mike demanded. Roland opened his mouth to speak, 0:42:52.480 --> 0:42:54.919 closed it and ran a hand over his bald head. 0:42:55.239 --> 0:42:58.000 He opened his mouth again, managed to squeeze out an 0:42:58.000 --> 0:43:01.120 eye before he slumped his shoulders and hung his head. 0:43:01.960 --> 0:43:05.959 I wasn't fast enough, he said. Finally, they had better gear, 0:43:06.239 --> 0:43:10.400 newer suits than I had expected. Schoolfucker. Mike stared at him. 0:43:10.440 --> 0:43:13.240 Behind him, Topaz slid down to the ground and buried 0:43:13.239 --> 0:43:16.400 her head on her knees. Murmurs swept the crowd, and 0:43:16.440 --> 0:43:20.960 then Sasha spoke up, Your friends saved my life. Mike 0:43:21.000 --> 0:43:23.360 looked over and seemed to notice her for the first time, 0:43:24.280 --> 0:43:27.840 and who were you? His voice was not unfriendly, It 0:43:27.960 --> 0:43:31.959 wasn't exactly warm either. My name is Sasha, she said, 0:43:32.120 --> 0:43:34.480 her voice clearly on the edge of a sob. She 0:43:34.600 --> 0:43:37.200 looked from Mike to Toulli, to Topaz, to the crowd, 0:43:37.239 --> 0:43:40.040 and then back to Manny. He saw panic in her eyes, 0:43:40.200 --> 0:43:42.840 barely held in check by a cage of steely resolve. 0:43:43.600 --> 0:43:46.760 I made a mistake. I left my home for the Kingdom. 0:43:46.760 --> 0:43:48.759 I thought it was the right thing to do. I 0:43:48.800 --> 0:43:50.799 met Marigold while I was there, and she helped me 0:43:50.800 --> 0:43:53.920 see how wrong I'd been. She pointed to Roland. I 0:43:54.000 --> 0:43:56.600 tried to help him free your people. We all tried, 0:43:56.719 --> 0:43:59.719 but they were ready for us. They shot him. She 0:44:00.040 --> 0:44:02.600 estra to Rowland. They shot him a lot. They had 0:44:02.680 --> 0:44:05.000 us all dead to rights, and then Marigold. I don't 0:44:05.040 --> 0:44:07.160 know how, but she got a gun. She shot two 0:44:07.200 --> 0:44:10.399 of them, and then they shot her. She died, saving us. 0:44:11.280 --> 0:44:14.360 The silence that followed was louder than any artillery barrage 0:44:14.360 --> 0:44:18.399 Manny had ever sat through. Finally, Skullfucker Mike nodded at her. 0:44:18.760 --> 0:44:21.719 There were tears in his eyes, and Manny soon realized 0:44:22.040 --> 0:44:25.040 tears on every face in the crowd. Some people fell 0:44:25.080 --> 0:44:28.920 to their knees, others embraced and held their friends. One voice, 0:44:29.040 --> 0:44:32.000 hoarse and heavy with pain, howled out in anguish. It 0:44:32.160 --> 0:44:34.640 was met by another voice, and then another, and then 0:44:34.680 --> 0:44:37.799 another as Fukky and after Fucian tilted their head back 0:44:37.880 --> 0:44:40.279 and roared their grief out to the empty blue of 0:44:40.320 --> 0:44:44.960 the Texas sky. Rolling Fuck preferred to mourn through activity. 0:44:45.360 --> 0:44:48.120 The wailing and gnashing of teeth over Marigold didn't stop 0:44:48.160 --> 0:44:50.600 the city's medics from taking Rick and Tully to whatever 0:44:50.640 --> 0:44:54.240 buildings served as their equivalent of a clinic. Topaz stayed 0:44:54.280 --> 0:44:57.200 behind with a gathering crowd of mourners while skullfucker Mike 0:44:57.239 --> 0:45:00.640 gathered up Manny, Sasha and Rowland. There will be time 0:45:00.680 --> 0:45:03.399 to process later, He'd said, as much to himself as 0:45:03.400 --> 0:45:06.120 to them. There's a war council soon and they'll be 0:45:06.120 --> 0:45:10.240 wanting to debrief you. Fine, Roland said, but I'm stopping 0:45:10.280 --> 0:45:12.360 at the bar first. I need some opium and some 0:45:12.520 --> 0:45:16.720 got him tequila. Manny expected skullfucker Mike to be angered 0:45:16.719 --> 0:45:19.799 by that, given the circumstances, but the other chromed man 0:45:19.840 --> 0:45:22.560 just nodded and said I could use a drink or 0:45:22.640 --> 0:45:25.879 nine myself. They headed for the lift underneath the main 0:45:26.000 --> 0:45:28.799 roller Manny started to prepare himself for the meeting with 0:45:28.880 --> 0:45:31.720 this war Council, whatever that term meant. In a place 0:45:31.760 --> 0:45:35.560 like this, whatever happens, it's bound to be weird. They 0:45:35.560 --> 0:45:38.640 reached the lift skullfucker Mike opened the door and gestured 0:45:38.680 --> 0:45:41.839 for everyone to enter, and so. Less than an hour 0:45:41.920 --> 0:45:44.800 after arriving back in the City of Wheels, Manny, Sasha, 0:45:44.840 --> 0:45:48.040 and Rowland found themselves seated around the same redwood table 0:45:48.040 --> 0:45:50.800 where they had first met Nana Yazi and Donald Ferris. 0:45:51.440 --> 0:45:54.160 The room was more crowded this time around, with two 0:45:54.200 --> 0:45:57.520 new people he didn't recognize. One was a shirtless man 0:45:57.640 --> 0:46:00.439 with writhing snake tattoos across his chest and a pair 0:46:00.440 --> 0:46:02.640 of chaps that did nothing at all to cover up 0:46:02.640 --> 0:46:05.239 his junk. It didn't help that the man's legs were 0:46:05.239 --> 0:46:08.319 spread as wide as possible. He seemed to be deliberately 0:46:08.360 --> 0:46:12.080 showing off. Manny looked away and found himself staring at 0:46:12.080 --> 0:46:14.920 a very tall, very muscular, young seeming woman with a 0:46:14.960 --> 0:46:19.040 mohawk made from thick chrome spikes. She had light brown skin. 0:46:19.239 --> 0:46:22.560 Her cheeks were covered in several long, thin diagonal scars. 0:46:22.960 --> 0:46:26.040 The woman's eyes had no pupils. They looked gray at first, 0:46:26.280 --> 0:46:29.160 until Mannie realized they were actually just filled with static. 0:46:29.640 --> 0:46:32.000 When Manny finally pulled his gaze away from her, he 0:46:32.040 --> 0:46:35.080 was met with the biggest surprise of the day. Deshaun 0:46:35.160 --> 0:46:38.880 Clark was seated two chairs down from Nana Yazi. Major 0:46:38.960 --> 0:46:42.800 Clark many. The Major's lips cracked open into a wide 0:46:42.800 --> 0:46:45.359 mouthed grin. The left side of his face was still 0:46:45.360 --> 0:46:47.680 covered in hemostatic gauze, and the edges of the skin 0:46:47.719 --> 0:46:50.680 around the gauze looked black and burnt. His right hand 0:46:50.719 --> 0:46:53.200 was a smooth, angry pink color, a sure sign that 0:46:53.280 --> 0:46:56.400 had been severed and regrown in the recent past. Major 0:46:56.440 --> 0:47:00.360 Clark was bloody but unbowed. It's damn good to see him. Annie. 0:47:00.400 --> 0:47:02.200 I can't tell you how proud I was to hear 0:47:02.239 --> 0:47:06.919 you'd volunteered for this mission, Mr Pirrone, Manny started to say, 0:47:07.120 --> 0:47:10.480 But Major Clark put up his hand, I know, he said. 0:47:11.360 --> 0:47:14.640 Donald Ferris ahemmed, which Manny took as a gentle reminder 0:47:14.680 --> 0:47:17.640 that now was not the time for personal business. The 0:47:17.680 --> 0:47:19.919 old brit gestured first to the man with the riding 0:47:20.000 --> 0:47:24.399 snake tattoos. This is Jim Shannon, he said. He heads 0:47:24.480 --> 0:47:27.960 up a small mercenary outfit. I'm the guy who roped 0:47:28.080 --> 0:47:31.360 Roland into helping, Jim said with a wink. And this 0:47:31.600 --> 0:47:34.680 cheery lass. Donald pointed to the woman with a chromehawk 0:47:35.000 --> 0:47:37.880 is Kashore. She's been the city's elected wally too for 0:47:37.920 --> 0:47:41.920 the past three years. And who might this young lady be, 0:47:42.360 --> 0:47:45.720 Nanna Yazzi asked, nodding at Sasha. The old woman stood 0:47:45.719 --> 0:47:48.600 and stepped forward to greet Sasha with a hug. Sasha 0:47:48.640 --> 0:47:51.880 tensed up. She looked scared to return the embrace, so 0:47:52.000 --> 0:47:54.440 Nana Yazzi backed off and favored the girl with a 0:47:54.440 --> 0:47:58.200 warm smile. I'm sorry, child, I didn't mean to pressure you. 0:47:58.320 --> 0:48:01.799 I'm just happy or hear with us. Sasha relaxed at that, 0:48:02.000 --> 0:48:06.600 but she still didn't step forward. Her name, Sasha said Rowland. 0:48:06.880 --> 0:48:08.759 She used to be with the Kingdom, now she's not. 0:48:09.360 --> 0:48:12.360 He paused a second, considered his words, and added, she 0:48:12.480 --> 0:48:15.120 beat one of em to death with a helmet. Oh my, 0:48:15.400 --> 0:48:18.759 oh dear. Nana Yazzi tisked and shook her head. I'm 0:48:18.800 --> 0:48:22.040 so sorry, Sasha, that must have been a terrible experience 0:48:22.080 --> 0:48:25.880 for you. She enjoyed it, Jim said with a harsh 0:48:25.880 --> 0:48:28.600 bark of a laugh. I'm sure Rowland smells it too. 0:48:28.960 --> 0:48:31.640 Isn't that a radhun You loved killing whoever the fuk 0:48:31.719 --> 0:48:34.759 you killed, and you feel shitty about that? Will let 0:48:34.800 --> 0:48:37.640 me suit stop right now, or you'll leave this room. 0:48:38.200 --> 0:48:40.840 Nana Yazzi's voice was firm, but devoid of any anger 0:48:40.920 --> 0:48:45.040 or heat. Tomanny's shock, Jim stopped the Posthuman nodded and said, 0:48:45.400 --> 0:48:48.600 I apologized, Sasha, that was a dick move, and then 0:48:48.600 --> 0:48:52.480 he lowered his eyes just a little. In contrition. Nana 0:48:52.520 --> 0:48:55.360 Yazzi offered Sasha a seat and then busied herself in 0:48:55.400 --> 0:48:58.160 the corner, making Sasha a cup of tea. Once that 0:48:58.280 --> 0:49:00.520 was done and they were all settled in, Anna sat 0:49:00.520 --> 0:49:03.919 back down and looked at Manny. What happened, is all, 0:49:03.960 --> 0:49:08.200 she asked. Manny started talking. He told her, and by extension, 0:49:08.200 --> 0:49:10.520 the whole table, everything that had happened since he and 0:49:10.600 --> 0:49:13.960 Rowland left rolling fuck. He told them about their trouble 0:49:14.000 --> 0:49:16.520 with the checkpoints on the way into town. He walked 0:49:16.560 --> 0:49:19.359 them through the intake process, his and Roland's few days 0:49:19.400 --> 0:49:21.799 as martyrs in training, and what he'd seen in the 0:49:21.840 --> 0:49:24.320 few sections of Plano he'd been allowed to haunt during 0:49:24.360 --> 0:49:26.960 his time there. The woman with the Chrome Hawk was 0:49:27.000 --> 0:49:29.600 particularly interested in what he and Rowland had to say 0:49:29.640 --> 0:49:32.800 about the Kingdom's preferred assault tactics. They're not going to 0:49:32.880 --> 0:49:36.200 be kicking indoors in fighting house to house, Roland explained, No, 0:49:36.400 --> 0:49:38.920 just start shelling at the first sign of resistance. They 0:49:38.920 --> 0:49:42.800 don't care about civilian casualties. When Manny explained what the 0:49:42.880 --> 0:49:45.520 Kingdom had been doing at the old Tesla factory, almost 0:49:45.560 --> 0:49:49.520 everyone looked horrified. Donald Ferris spat at the ground. Most 0:49:49.520 --> 0:49:51.800 of the others cursed or at least shook their heads. 0:49:52.239 --> 0:49:56.080 Nana Yazi teared up. Jim, though seemed almost enthusiastic about 0:49:56.120 --> 0:50:00.640 the revelation. Fascinating, he muttered just loud enough for Manny 0:50:00.760 --> 0:50:04.400 to hear. Once everyone was caught up the table fired 0:50:04.440 --> 0:50:06.880 off a few questions at him and more towards Rowland. 0:50:07.080 --> 0:50:09.399 They seemed mostly curious as to what they'd been able 0:50:09.400 --> 0:50:12.440 to glean about the number of recruits in the Heavenly Kingdom. 0:50:12.560 --> 0:50:15.319 Manny didn't have much useful there, so he shut up, 0:50:15.560 --> 0:50:18.680 leaned back, and let Rowland give the answers. An awkward 0:50:18.760 --> 0:50:22.759 silence descended on the table. After a few minutes well, 0:50:23.280 --> 0:50:26.640 Donald Ferris said, finally, I suppose we were fools to 0:50:26.680 --> 0:50:29.520 hope for much more than what you've got as it stands. 0:50:29.520 --> 0:50:31.760 Were left grappling to try an account for the sheer 0:50:31.840 --> 0:50:34.760 number of men the Kingdom has deployed to assault Austin 0:50:35.960 --> 0:50:38.919 twenty thousand Madas Jim spoke up and give a take 0:50:39.000 --> 0:50:43.680 a grand Manny's blood went cold. The SDF at its 0:50:43.719 --> 0:50:46.520 height hadn't been more than six thousand fighters, and those 0:50:46.520 --> 0:50:49.680 were spread out across the serried battle grounds of North Texas. 0:50:50.080 --> 0:50:52.440 The whole free city of Austin didn't have more than 0:50:52.480 --> 0:50:55.640 five thousand people in its full time defense corps. Twenty 0:50:55.680 --> 0:50:59.960 thousand men was impossible, he said, that's just fucking impossible. 0:51:00.680 --> 0:51:03.520 I'd be inclined to agree with you, kid, said Jim, 0:51:03.760 --> 0:51:06.440 if my own men hadn't double checked the count for us. 0:51:06.840 --> 0:51:09.600 The Kingdom's already marshaled half of that force on the 0:51:09.600 --> 0:51:12.759 outskirts of d'a f w near Lancaster. They'll be in 0:51:12.800 --> 0:51:16.000 Waco tomorrow if no one stops him. Hell, they could 0:51:16.000 --> 0:51:20.000 be pound in Austin with artillery by doc Donald Ferris 0:51:20.040 --> 0:51:24.400 nodded mister Shennon. Here he gestured, to Jim, as agreed 0:51:24.440 --> 0:51:27.279 to lend a hand along with several dozen of his mercenaries. 0:51:27.640 --> 0:51:29.959 Add that to the warriors of Rolling Fuck, and we've 0:51:30.000 --> 0:51:33.440 got seven hundredish post humans. It's a large enough force 0:51:33.520 --> 0:51:38.160 to hold Waco and badly bloody their nose. But Cushuri 0:51:38.239 --> 0:51:40.719 spoke for the first time. She had a deep, gravelly 0:51:40.800 --> 0:51:43.239 voice that sounded like she'd been eating cigarettes for the 0:51:43.280 --> 0:51:46.600 last ten years. Rolling Funck is not in the business 0:51:46.600 --> 0:51:50.480 of volunteering for our own Vietnams. My people aren't signing 0:51:50.600 --> 0:51:53.520 up for a war. I can guarantee our presence on 0:51:53.560 --> 0:51:56.560 the battlefield for up to forty eight hours, enough time 0:51:56.640 --> 0:52:00.600 for vengeance, she continued. After that, you're her in cats. 0:52:01.520 --> 0:52:03.960 Is that a problem, Manny asked, I mean I saw 0:52:04.080 --> 0:52:07.200 Roland lay waste to half a city, six hundred of him. 0:52:07.400 --> 0:52:10.840 There's only one of him, Kishore said. Jim nodded in 0:52:10.960 --> 0:52:15.600 agreement and fixed Manny with his uncomfortable gray eyes. Let see, kid, 0:52:15.760 --> 0:52:18.719 he said me. Anyone a Roland Fox war is as 0:52:18.719 --> 0:52:21.439 good for a few dozen normal troops in a straight fight. 0:52:21.680 --> 0:52:25.360 More of we're talking half trained partizans, but nobody is 0:52:25.480 --> 0:52:29.160 like Roland. Many looked over to Roland. The big man 0:52:29.280 --> 0:52:32.960 seemed distinctly uncomfortable with all the attention. He stared down 0:52:33.000 --> 0:52:35.480 at his hands, which seemed to be occupied with tearing 0:52:35.560 --> 0:52:38.399 up a paper drink coaster. The Matas have a lot 0:52:38.400 --> 0:52:42.680 of half trained potizans, but they've also got tanks, artilleryous suits, 0:52:42.880 --> 0:52:47.000 the resources of a nation state or close enough, rolland 0:52:47.000 --> 0:52:49.240 fuck can hold that off for a while. But without 0:52:49.320 --> 0:52:51.960 rolland the best they can do is delay the inevitable. 0:52:52.560 --> 0:52:56.080 Now with Roland, Jim continued, this is a two hour 0:52:56.239 --> 0:52:59.279 five tops. We set up our troops in some little 0:52:59.320 --> 0:53:01.880 chunk of the city and stop dropping mortars and rockets 0:53:01.960 --> 0:53:04.719 on the van God. They pull up and circle us 0:53:04.719 --> 0:53:08.399 and start deploying their artillery to bombas to kingdom. Come then, 0:53:08.600 --> 0:53:11.520 when they a good and packed together, we dropped Roland 0:53:11.560 --> 0:53:15.080 on the asses. Because Shore He nodded, yes, She said, 0:53:15.280 --> 0:53:17.640 he'll hit them and disrupt their whole order of battle 0:53:17.680 --> 0:53:20.960 while our cavalry rolls around their flanks and charges. That 0:53:21.000 --> 0:53:23.439 should be enough to make them panic. Then we'd chase 0:53:23.520 --> 0:53:27.520 them down until they lose cohesion. Roland's heads stayed down. 0:53:27.800 --> 0:53:30.239 He didn't speak. Manny looked from him to Jim to 0:53:30.320 --> 0:53:34.280 Nanna Yazzi and Donald Ferris. So what's the problem, Manny asked. 0:53:34.400 --> 0:53:36.520 If Roland and Rolling Funk are all in, there should 0:53:36.520 --> 0:53:39.880 be a walk in the park. Rowland, Nanny Yazzi said, 0:53:39.960 --> 0:53:43.799 prefers not to fight. But I just saw him. You 0:53:43.960 --> 0:53:46.800 just saw me break a long streak of not killing people. 0:53:47.120 --> 0:53:50.359 Roland's voice sounded odd, hollow and dry, and utterly without 0:53:50.400 --> 0:53:52.480 any of the mirth or mischief Manny had come to 0:53:52.520 --> 0:53:55.600 expect from the chromed man. I did that to get 0:53:55.640 --> 0:53:58.319 my memories back, Manny, he shrugged, And I did it 0:53:58.400 --> 0:54:00.640 for you because you're my buddy. But I got no 0:54:00.719 --> 0:54:03.240 stake in Austin. But you know what the Heavenly Kingdom 0:54:03.239 --> 0:54:05.920 will do if they take the city, Manny protested. You've 0:54:05.920 --> 0:54:07.880 seen what they did to Plano. They'll do that to 0:54:07.960 --> 0:54:10.279 millions of decent people if they can. You have the 0:54:10.320 --> 0:54:13.840 power to stop that. You're telling me you won't. Roland 0:54:13.840 --> 0:54:17.840 met his eyes and just said, yes, Hugh, son of 0:54:17.840 --> 0:54:20.640 a bitch. Manny felt the anger well up inside him. 0:54:20.760 --> 0:54:24.359 It merged with his grief over Major Pirone's death, Oscar's death, 0:54:24.560 --> 0:54:27.319 and his rage at the Heavenly Kingdom, the martyrs and 0:54:27.360 --> 0:54:29.919 every other group of assholes who'd helped turn his young 0:54:30.000 --> 0:54:33.480 life into a parade of nightmares. Hugh absolute, son of 0:54:33.480 --> 0:54:37.680 a bitch, You fucking coward. Manny didn't think, couldn't think. 0:54:37.800 --> 0:54:39.719 He pulled back his fist and swung as hard as 0:54:39.719 --> 0:54:42.839 he could for Roland's face. The chrombed man didn't move, 0:54:43.000 --> 0:54:45.360 didn't even blink. Manny hit him right in the nose. 0:54:45.800 --> 0:54:48.480 He was softer than Manny would have guessed, didn't feel 0:54:48.520 --> 0:54:51.719 any different from punching a normal human. Manny swung again 0:54:51.760 --> 0:54:54.400 and again until he felt something crack in his knuckles. 0:54:54.719 --> 0:54:56.759 He cried out from the pain and pulled back to 0:54:56.880 --> 0:55:00.120 nurse his wounded hand. For a few seconds, Manny or 0:55:00.120 --> 0:55:02.480 God about the rest of the room. He closed his 0:55:02.520 --> 0:55:04.680 eyes and let his thoughts dissolve into an ocean of 0:55:04.719 --> 0:55:08.480 physical pain. The agony of his broken hand was almost soothing. 0:55:08.880 --> 0:55:11.480 It was better than thinking about Mr. Pirrone. It was 0:55:11.520 --> 0:55:14.919 better than thinking about Alejandro or Oscar. It was better 0:55:14.960 --> 0:55:18.120 than thinking about his soon to be shattered home. Manny 0:55:18.200 --> 0:55:20.880 felt a hand on his shoulder. The sensation pulled him 0:55:20.920 --> 0:55:23.480 out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up and saw 0:55:23.600 --> 0:55:27.759 nanny Azzi. She smiled, her sad smile and said, Manny, 0:55:27.800 --> 0:55:32.239 everyone here understands your pain. Not me, said Jim, I've 0:55:32.320 --> 0:55:36.120 never been a big fan Austin too, damn rolland threw 0:55:36.200 --> 0:55:38.399 his empty pint glass at the other post human's face. 0:55:38.640 --> 0:55:42.160 It shattered on impact, embedding shards deep into Jim's cheeks 0:55:42.200 --> 0:55:45.560 and forehead. His head snapped back and he blinked in shock. 0:55:45.600 --> 0:55:49.880 A few times. Sorry, he said, I deserve that, and 0:55:49.960 --> 0:55:53.720 I deserved that. Roland said to Manny, no hard feelings 0:55:53.719 --> 0:55:56.760 I get while you're pissed, But kid, you gotta understand something. 0:55:57.200 --> 0:56:00.440 Austin's home to you, to me, it's just another city 0:56:00.640 --> 0:56:03.839 held by just another side. Half my remaining memories are 0:56:03.840 --> 0:56:05.880 of one cause or another asking me to go murder 0:56:05.920 --> 0:56:09.280 in their name. I'm fucking done with it. Minnie looked 0:56:09.320 --> 0:56:12.520 to Major Clark, the STF officer's eyes were lit by 0:56:12.520 --> 0:56:15.200 a familiar cold fire. He spoke in a tone of 0:56:15.239 --> 0:56:18.960 barely controlled anger. That is, you're right, of course, you 0:56:19.000 --> 0:56:21.279 can choose to leave, just as I will choose to 0:56:21.360 --> 0:56:26.200 fight and die. I wonder what Manny will choose. Manny 0:56:26.280 --> 0:56:29.280 hadn't really settled on that himself. Before he could stumble 0:56:29.320 --> 0:56:33.920 through his response Sasha spoke. I'll fight, she said. I 0:56:33.920 --> 0:56:36.040 don't know much about guns, but I'll do my best. 0:56:36.640 --> 0:56:39.319 Roland slumped back in his chair and tossed his arms 0:56:39.400 --> 0:56:43.320 up in a dramatic show of frustration. At two, Jesus, girl, 0:56:44.280 --> 0:56:47.239 i'll fight, Manny said to Major Clark, doing his best 0:56:47.239 --> 0:56:50.839 to talk over Roland. I'll choose to fight too. This 0:56:50.880 --> 0:56:53.160 isn't gonna work, you know, Roland said, I'm not going 0:56:53.200 --> 0:56:55.800 to be shamed into fighting again. It's just not going 0:56:55.880 --> 0:56:59.640 to fucking happen. Jim leaned in. He fixed Roland with 0:56:59.680 --> 0:57:03.240 a look that seemed almost hungry. I think it will happen. 0:57:03.680 --> 0:57:06.680 I think the peculiar arc of your moral compass won't 0:57:06.760 --> 0:57:09.880 let you leave these kids to die. He seemed surprised 0:57:09.880 --> 0:57:14.840 by the revelation. Huh, fascinating enough of that. Donald Ferris 0:57:14.880 --> 0:57:17.760 sounded angry. I won't stand to see this man badget 0:57:17.880 --> 0:57:20.320 and press it into fighting against his will. We might 0:57:20.320 --> 0:57:24.880 as well dissolve the counsel for now and reconvene without Roland. Good. 0:57:25.000 --> 0:57:27.520 Roland stood up and stomped over to the exit. That's 0:57:27.520 --> 0:57:29.200 all you people need for me. I'm gonna go get 0:57:29.240 --> 0:57:31.880 good and pissed. And start my walk back to Arizona. 0:57:32.280 --> 0:57:34.160 He flipped his middle finger out at the room and 0:57:34.200 --> 0:57:37.280 slammed the door behind him. As he left, all eyes 0:57:37.360 --> 0:57:41.640 turned to Manny. I should probably go talk to him. 0:57:42.560 --> 0:57:46.200 Don't do anything you're not comfortable doing. Emmanuel Donald said, 0:57:46.800 --> 0:57:50.439 fuck that. Jim said, the bestard's on the ropes. Shame him, 0:57:50.480 --> 0:57:53.880 shame him good. As he headed for the exit, Mannie 0:57:53.880 --> 0:57:56.800 looked to Major Clark. The old soldier's one good eye 0:57:56.920 --> 0:58:00.400 was narrow and focused. Manny, he said, if he didn't 0:58:00.440 --> 0:58:02.280 want to tuck, he wouldn't have gone up to the bar. 0:58:02.520 --> 0:58:06.080 He'd have just left. There's no honor lost. In another conversation, 0:58:06.520 --> 0:58:11.000 another try, Roland was three beers in by the time 0:58:11.040 --> 0:58:14.480 Manny reached him, and knowing rolling fuck that could mean 0:58:14.480 --> 0:58:17.480 he'd already ingested enough acid to kill a large octopus. 0:58:18.160 --> 0:58:22.560 Hey man, he said, heybody. Roland replied in a voice 0:58:22.600 --> 0:58:27.360 that was just super stoned. Sorry about getting angry. Back there, 0:58:27.680 --> 0:58:30.320 the post Humans spun his empty pint glass around on 0:58:30.360 --> 0:58:32.880 the bar table. It was a strange sight to see. 0:58:33.320 --> 0:58:35.919 Manny had gotten so used to seeing Roland is something 0:58:35.960 --> 0:58:40.040 akin to a Greek god. He certainly wasn't omniscient or omnipotent, 0:58:40.160 --> 0:58:43.480 but he was unspeakably powerful and just as irresponsible to 0:58:43.560 --> 0:58:46.920 leave out around humans. And yet here he was fiddling 0:58:46.920 --> 0:58:49.520 with an empty pint glass like a nervous college freshman 0:58:49.640 --> 0:58:52.439 standing at the back wall of some house party. Many 0:58:52.520 --> 0:58:56.000 felt a surge of sympathy. It's okay, man, I think 0:58:56.040 --> 0:58:58.760 I actually get it, he said, like I've had plenty 0:58:58.760 --> 0:59:00.960 of chances to join I of the SDF or the 0:59:01.000 --> 0:59:04.640 Austin Defense Forces. I never did. Maybe some of that's 0:59:04.640 --> 0:59:07.439 because I'm scared help. Up until like a few days ago, 0:59:07.920 --> 0:59:09.720 my plan was to get the funk off this continent 0:59:09.720 --> 0:59:12.360 as soon as I could afford it. Manny paused and 0:59:12.400 --> 0:59:15.320 bit his lip. It was an instinctive gesture, his gut's 0:59:15.360 --> 0:59:18.640 reaction to a sudden burst of self awareness. Manny hadn't 0:59:18.640 --> 0:59:22.160 thought about any of this before. I don't know, he said. 0:59:22.320 --> 0:59:24.560 This ship has been going on basically my whole life. 0:59:24.640 --> 0:59:26.600 I can't remember a time when I wasn't scared of 0:59:26.680 --> 0:59:29.560 something like this happening. I didn't understand any of it 0:59:29.600 --> 0:59:31.760 as a kid, but I can remember being seven or 0:59:31.840 --> 0:59:34.720 eight years old and just being so angry at the soldiers, 0:59:35.040 --> 0:59:38.200 even our soldiers. I thought, if all you assholes would 0:59:38.200 --> 0:59:40.400 just refuse to be led into battle, none of this 0:59:40.480 --> 0:59:44.040 could happen. You know, that's not how it works, Ryan 0:59:44.400 --> 0:59:46.800 Roland asked as he turned away from Manny and waved 0:59:46.800 --> 0:59:50.480 at the bartender. We love this war ship. At least 0:59:50.520 --> 0:59:52.840 someone us due those of us who were Oh the 0:59:52.880 --> 0:59:56.360 bartender arrived, Roland ordered my time mixed with the margharita 0:59:56.400 --> 0:59:58.320 and one of those what you got him column? Oh yeah, 0:59:58.320 --> 1:00:02.720 a fucking mohito Roland. Manny's voice was gentle but firm. 1:00:03.120 --> 1:00:05.240 How many beers did you drink before I got here? 1:00:06.200 --> 1:00:09.560 No beers, Roland said in a casual voice. Mushroom rum, 1:00:09.760 --> 1:00:12.280 sweet but not bad. He licked his lips as he 1:00:12.320 --> 1:00:15.360 watched the bartender work through the herculean task of crafting 1:00:15.400 --> 1:00:19.560 his request at beverage. Roland Manny said, and the chrombed 1:00:19.560 --> 1:00:22.840 man turned back to him. Ah, sorry, it's just been 1:00:22.880 --> 1:00:25.600 too long a stretch of sober for me. I got excited. 1:00:25.760 --> 1:00:28.600 What the funk was I saying? That war is fun? 1:00:29.000 --> 1:00:31.320 Oh yeah, as long as you don't think you will die. 1:00:31.760 --> 1:00:34.120 That's why all throughout history he had so many generals 1:00:34.120 --> 1:00:37.320 and politicians kicking off conflicts because they felt safe and 1:00:37.400 --> 1:00:40.479 when you're pretty sure you'll live, war is an absolute hoot. 1:00:41.080 --> 1:00:44.480 That's the problem with me and fighting the problem as 1:00:44.520 --> 1:00:47.400 you like it too much. Roland grabbed his hand. The 1:00:47.480 --> 1:00:50.240 chrombed man moved so fast Manny didn't even see the 1:00:50.320 --> 1:00:54.160 motion blur. Roland's hand was just wrapped around his wrist, immovable. 1:00:54.480 --> 1:00:57.680 He squeezed hard enough that it hurt. Roland's eyes bulged 1:00:57.680 --> 1:00:59.800 out and stared into Manny with a man of intense 1:00:59.840 --> 1:01:03.640 at that was frightening. I fucking love it. It's like 1:01:03.760 --> 1:01:06.280 sex on heroin and bungee jumping and getting rammed in 1:01:06.320 --> 1:01:08.080 the assid and that first shadow liquor you is snake 1:01:08.120 --> 1:01:10.360 when you're fourteen, all at once, and mixed with the 1:01:10.400 --> 1:01:13.560 best actual battle drugs the most bloated military budget and 1:01:13.600 --> 1:01:17.040 history can buy. He loosened his grip and turned half 1:01:17.040 --> 1:01:20.000 away from Manny. That's why I shouldn't do it, because 1:01:20.040 --> 1:01:22.920 I'll get carried away like I got carried away in Dallas. 1:01:23.320 --> 1:01:25.400 Maybe this time I won't be able to stop when 1:01:25.400 --> 1:01:28.720 it's time to stop. Many kept his eyes on Rowland's. 1:01:28.960 --> 1:01:31.080 The big man turned a little further to the left, 1:01:31.160 --> 1:01:33.960 but he didn't look away. How do you know that 1:01:34.000 --> 1:01:37.080 your intervention won't make things better, Manny asked. Maybe if 1:01:37.120 --> 1:01:39.000 we can kill enough in the martyrs, their power will 1:01:39.040 --> 1:01:41.760 be broken forever. Maybe your intervention will be the first 1:01:41.760 --> 1:01:44.600 step towards making this a more livable part of the globe. 1:01:45.240 --> 1:01:48.080 Roland laughed. It started as a low chuckle that then 1:01:48.160 --> 1:01:52.000 cascaded into a series of rolling, rib cracking howls. Manny 1:01:52.040 --> 1:01:54.200 didn't get the joke, and he couldn't find any humor 1:01:54.240 --> 1:01:56.880 in his words, so he sat tight until Roland's mirth 1:01:56.960 --> 1:01:59.720 subsided and the chromed man had recovered enough to explain 1:01:59.800 --> 1:02:04.680 him self. Sor right, sorry, he said, between chuckles. It's 1:02:04.720 --> 1:02:07.680 just a ship. Kid, you're too young to know how 1:02:07.760 --> 1:02:10.720 funny that is. Roland straightened up and wiped a tear 1:02:10.760 --> 1:02:13.600 from his eye. So you're talking about me the exact 1:02:13.680 --> 1:02:16.000 same way people talked about the U. S. Military back 1:02:16.000 --> 1:02:18.880 when I was a kid. The bartender came by and 1:02:18.920 --> 1:02:21.720 sat down Roland's drink, an enormous jug filled with a 1:02:21.800 --> 1:02:25.320 multi hued mix of alcoholic beverages. The post human took 1:02:25.320 --> 1:02:27.840 a deep poll from his my Tai garito man. He 1:02:27.880 --> 1:02:30.480 took the chance to ask a question I thought you 1:02:30.520 --> 1:02:33.000 didn't remember anything further back than a few years ago. 1:02:33.880 --> 1:02:36.560 I don't remember anything clearly, Roland said, But I do 1:02:36.640 --> 1:02:39.120 remember bits and pieces, and I remember being a young 1:02:39.160 --> 1:02:41.680 man and watching the news break in an off base bar. 1:02:42.200 --> 1:02:45.640 Some election had gone bad in Bolivia. The president announced 1:02:45.640 --> 1:02:48.680 he was sending in soldiers to keep the peace. Did 1:02:48.680 --> 1:02:51.640 it work, Manny asked, I don't, no kid, would your 1:02:51.640 --> 1:02:54.800 school teach you about Bolivia? That there was a genocide 1:02:54.800 --> 1:02:57.920 at oh Man, he said, as Roland's points sunk in 1:02:58.520 --> 1:03:02.400 right yep. Roland grunted and took another deeper pull from 1:03:02.400 --> 1:03:06.040 his ridiculous beverage. They were quiet for a while. Mannie 1:03:06.040 --> 1:03:08.520 took the opportunity to take a long look at Roland. 1:03:08.800 --> 1:03:11.040 His face held only a few lines around his eyes 1:03:11.040 --> 1:03:14.280 and lips, and yet he still looked old, positively ancient. 1:03:14.640 --> 1:03:17.400 There appeared to be a tremendous weight to the man's eyes, 1:03:17.640 --> 1:03:20.760 accentuated by the deep wrinkles underneath them. It looked as 1:03:20.800 --> 1:03:23.439 if the chrombed man's face was sagging underneath the weight 1:03:23.520 --> 1:03:27.440 of what he had seen Rowland. Mannie asked, do you 1:03:27.440 --> 1:03:30.480 have any idea of where you came from? I think 1:03:30.520 --> 1:03:34.320 I was born round Mississippe ba No, Manny interrupted, not 1:03:34.480 --> 1:03:36.480 like where you were born, but how you became what 1:03:36.560 --> 1:03:39.120 you are to day. You said, you've been disconnected from 1:03:39.120 --> 1:03:41.040 the internet for the last ten years. I've got a 1:03:41.080 --> 1:03:43.400 guess your implants or even older than that. But the 1:03:43.440 --> 1:03:47.160 way everyone here talks about you, you're still king shit ah. 1:03:47.280 --> 1:03:50.320 Roland said, yeah that. I got no real idea what 1:03:50.440 --> 1:03:52.240 happened there. I know I was in the army. I'm 1:03:52.240 --> 1:03:56.040 pretty sure that's when the tankering started, sure, Manny said, 1:03:56.240 --> 1:03:58.160 but didn't A lot of the road people start as 1:03:58.280 --> 1:04:01.920 especial forces who went rogue. Why are you special? You 1:04:02.000 --> 1:04:04.480 had no clear answer to that, buddy, He smiled, as 1:04:04.520 --> 1:04:07.160 if he just remembered something good. I guess I've got 1:04:07.160 --> 1:04:09.840 that surgery coming up. Once I get my memories back, 1:04:09.840 --> 1:04:13.040 I'll let you know what I find out. Manny laughed too, 1:04:13.080 --> 1:04:16.080 but his was cold and bitter. Sure, I'll probably be 1:04:16.120 --> 1:04:20.120 in a refugee camp at that point, or dead, damn kid. 1:04:20.640 --> 1:04:24.160 Roland said, yeah, man, he said, I'm really not trying 1:04:24.200 --> 1:04:26.760 to manipulate you here. It's just now I get it. 1:04:26.840 --> 1:04:29.960 I get and Roland waved him off. It's fair. You 1:04:30.040 --> 1:04:32.600 get every right to be piste. I just can't. He 1:04:32.720 --> 1:04:36.040 trailed off many put a hand on Roland's shoulder. He 1:04:36.080 --> 1:04:38.960 didn't understand how the post human felt. How could he? 1:04:39.280 --> 1:04:41.760 Man He couldn't even conceive of having that kind of power. 1:04:42.160 --> 1:04:44.240 But he could see why it was a difficult choice. 1:04:44.880 --> 1:04:47.520 There was a part of Manny, a dark, manipulative chunk 1:04:47.520 --> 1:04:49.320 of his soul, that knew he was on his way 1:04:49.320 --> 1:04:53.240 to changing Roland's mind. This was essentially the same strategy 1:04:53.280 --> 1:04:56.040 he used on the job. You built empathy with people 1:04:56.080 --> 1:04:59.720 through a combination of shared experiences in regular engagement. That 1:05:00.040 --> 1:05:02.720 but he paid dividends when you needed some lieutenant's approval 1:05:02.760 --> 1:05:05.800 to cross the checkpoint. It would pay dividends here if 1:05:05.840 --> 1:05:09.920 he was careful and consistent. As fucked up man he thought, 1:05:10.000 --> 1:05:12.320 you're manipulating your friend into killing a bunch of people. 1:05:13.240 --> 1:05:15.600 You know what, Manny said, I'm sorry, I didn't mean 1:05:15.640 --> 1:05:18.640 to Roland drain the rest of his mug beuched and 1:05:18.640 --> 1:05:22.000 looked over at Manny. He looked unsteady, half conscious. The 1:05:22.080 --> 1:05:24.640 chrombed man put his left hand over Manny's hand while 1:05:24.640 --> 1:05:27.240 it rested on his shoulder. He fixed Manny with his 1:05:27.280 --> 1:05:31.120 half focused eyes and nodded FuG it. Roland said, I'll 1:05:31.120 --> 1:05:33.200 fucking help you and be a dick if it didn't. 1:05:34.200 --> 1:05:37.280 Thank you, Manny said with a nod, I know, do not 1:05:37.240 --> 1:05:39.680 not say anything else, kid, I don't really want to 1:05:39.680 --> 1:05:43.440 think about what I just promised to do. Man He 1:05:43.520 --> 1:05:46.440 found Sasha sitting around a fire pit outside the city, 1:05:46.480 --> 1:05:50.080 proper deep in conversation with Donald Ferris. She sat on 1:05:50.080 --> 1:05:53.000 the ground, legs splayed out wide with her button the grass. 1:05:53.520 --> 1:05:57.240 Donald sat in a folding chair. It wasn't cold outside precisely, 1:05:57.400 --> 1:05:59.320 but it had cooled off a great deal from the 1:05:59.320 --> 1:06:02.080 heat of the day. The air held just the barest 1:06:02.120 --> 1:06:04.200 hint of winter. It was shaping up to be one 1:06:04.200 --> 1:06:06.760 of those odd September days where Texas seemed on the 1:06:06.800 --> 1:06:10.520 verge of an actual seasonal shift. One look at Sasha's 1:06:10.520 --> 1:06:12.800 face told him that she was at least as unsettled 1:06:12.840 --> 1:06:15.160 as Roland. He didn't want to crowd her, so he 1:06:15.200 --> 1:06:18.960 squatted down on the other side of Donald. Emmanuel. The 1:06:19.000 --> 1:06:21.240 old man's voice was as smooth and rich as Manny 1:06:21.320 --> 1:06:24.600 remembered from the narration of his documentary, It's good to 1:06:24.640 --> 1:06:27.720 see you. Sasha's been telling me her story. She actually 1:06:27.800 --> 1:06:32.560 just turned to the subject of you, eh. Manny asked, yes, 1:06:32.720 --> 1:06:34.960 she was telling me how she met you and Marigold, 1:06:35.000 --> 1:06:37.200 and how you both helped to find her way free 1:06:37.240 --> 1:06:40.680 of the kingdom. Oh, he said, and looked at Sasha. 1:06:41.120 --> 1:06:43.680 I never really met Marigold. I didn't realize you knew 1:06:43.680 --> 1:06:46.920 her well. Sasha shook her head. I only knew her 1:06:46.960 --> 1:06:49.360 a little while. I was just supposed to be administering 1:06:49.400 --> 1:06:51.960 tests to her. But I couldn't stop her from talking, 1:06:52.000 --> 1:06:54.960 and she made sense. She made more sense than what 1:06:55.000 --> 1:06:57.960 was going on out in the Kingdom every day. Sasha 1:06:58.040 --> 1:07:01.000 stared down into the fading embers of the fire. I 1:07:01.040 --> 1:07:04.600 feel stupid forever believing in that place. What do you 1:07:04.640 --> 1:07:08.760 believe now, Donald asked, I don't know, She said. It 1:07:08.840 --> 1:07:11.800 seems arrogant to decide that God doesn't exist just because 1:07:11.840 --> 1:07:14.400 I let myself get taken in by a colt. M 1:07:14.880 --> 1:07:17.240 The old man nodded. The good news is you're young. 1:07:17.480 --> 1:07:19.840 You've got plenty of time to figure things out. Again, 1:07:20.280 --> 1:07:22.479 his cheeks turned up into a smile and his face 1:07:22.560 --> 1:07:26.160 blossomed with wrinkles. Now he looked up at Manny, what 1:07:26.280 --> 1:07:29.720 have you been up to, my dear boy talking to Roland. 1:07:29.760 --> 1:07:32.600 Manny said he agreed to help. By the way, he's 1:07:32.720 --> 1:07:36.880 going to fight. Donald Ferris's smile turned into a frown. 1:07:37.320 --> 1:07:40.480 Manny hadn't been expecting that. How did you do it, 1:07:40.720 --> 1:07:44.840 he asked, in a somber, grave voice. We just talked 1:07:44.880 --> 1:07:47.800 for a while, Manny said. He explained why he didn't 1:07:47.800 --> 1:07:51.080 want to fight. It sounded very reasonable. Manny paused, and 1:07:51.080 --> 1:07:53.800 then made the choice to lie just a little. I 1:07:53.880 --> 1:07:56.200 wasn't trying to change his mind. I didn't ask him 1:07:56.240 --> 1:07:59.200 to help. That last part was true. At least. I 1:07:59.240 --> 1:08:01.800 do feel bad, though, I'm sure he changed his mind 1:08:01.880 --> 1:08:04.760 because of me. Is it really on you if he 1:08:04.840 --> 1:08:08.160 chooses to fight, Sasha asked, I killed two men. Both 1:08:08.160 --> 1:08:10.439 of those deaths are on me. But you didn't order 1:08:10.560 --> 1:08:14.840 Roland to do anything. No. Donald Ferris agreed, But I 1:08:14.960 --> 1:08:17.599 doubt Roland would have made the decision to intervene if 1:08:17.640 --> 1:08:23.160 Manny hadn't pressed. That's probably true, Manny admitted. Donald looked 1:08:23.160 --> 1:08:27.040 from Manny to Sasha. There's a war ritual peculiar to 1:08:27.080 --> 1:08:30.000 the men and women in whatever's of this community. I 1:08:30.040 --> 1:08:34.559 think you'd benefit from seeing it. A ritual, Sasha asked, 1:08:35.120 --> 1:08:37.800 not a religious one? I assure you, but yes, they 1:08:37.840 --> 1:08:40.680 call it their war ritual. He extended a hand out 1:08:40.720 --> 1:08:43.599 to the field around Rolling Fuck. Many looked out at 1:08:43.600 --> 1:08:45.680 it for the first time since coming out here and 1:08:45.720 --> 1:08:49.360 realized that people seem to be packing up right now. 1:08:49.560 --> 1:08:52.519 Donald said, the citizens are packing up their tints and 1:08:52.560 --> 1:08:55.799 their arvis and preparing the city for departure. It's moving 1:08:55.800 --> 1:08:58.960 out with their army. They'll drive that thing. He jerked 1:08:58.960 --> 1:09:01.000 a thumb in the direction of the City of Wheels, 1:09:01.560 --> 1:09:04.479 right up to the damn battlefield. It'll be behind them 1:09:04.520 --> 1:09:07.160 the whole time they're fighting. I think they've stole the 1:09:07.240 --> 1:09:11.640 idea from the ancient Celts. Anyway, he said. Once the 1:09:11.640 --> 1:09:14.320 city's in position, they'll open up these little boxes that 1:09:14.360 --> 1:09:16.400 look quite a lot like bee hives, and they'll let 1:09:16.400 --> 1:09:19.559 out a swarm of about a thousand little drones. Those 1:09:19.600 --> 1:09:22.840 are mostly just facial recognition cameras attached to wings and 1:09:22.840 --> 1:09:26.400 a wee engine. They'll record everything and send data on 1:09:26.439 --> 1:09:29.120 the faces of every enemy fighter to a central computer 1:09:29.240 --> 1:09:32.519 in the city. What did does that do, Manny asked. 1:09:33.080 --> 1:09:36.320 It gives us a chance to identify those men or women, 1:09:36.439 --> 1:09:39.679 so we can scrape their social media profiles and display 1:09:39.720 --> 1:09:43.280 pictures and videos from their lives. Once they die, the 1:09:43.320 --> 1:09:47.400 whole city, everyone who isn't fighting turns out to watch that. 1:09:47.400 --> 1:09:50.960 That sounds fucking terrible, Manny said, what do we gain 1:09:51.040 --> 1:09:54.680 from watching the home movies of dead men? A memorial? 1:09:55.600 --> 1:09:58.639 Manny didn't understand, but he could see that Donald Ferris 1:09:58.640 --> 1:10:01.840 was revving himself up for an all explanation. He let 1:10:01.920 --> 1:10:05.880 the old man speak. I was a small child when 1:10:05.880 --> 1:10:08.759 my country invaded a Rack, along with the United States 1:10:08.760 --> 1:10:11.439 and a few other nations. The war was news, yes, 1:10:11.479 --> 1:10:14.040 but that's all it was. Even our own soldiers were 1:10:14.040 --> 1:10:17.479 more numbers than real people. I'd hear that two Royal 1:10:17.560 --> 1:10:20.200 Marines had died in a roadside bombing, and it meant 1:10:20.280 --> 1:10:22.360 less to me than when my neighbor broke his legs 1:10:22.400 --> 1:10:26.120 slipping down the stairs. War isn't like that for us, 1:10:26.280 --> 1:10:28.599 Manny said, I don't know anyone in Austin who hasn't 1:10:28.640 --> 1:10:31.160 lost a friend or family to the fighting. It affects 1:10:31.240 --> 1:10:34.320 us all, So it does, my boy, So it does. 1:10:34.400 --> 1:10:36.360 And if any of our warriors die to day, you 1:10:36.400 --> 1:10:39.320 can bet it'll affect everyone in this social experiment we 1:10:39.400 --> 1:10:42.519 call a city. But you didn't let me finish. The 1:10:42.600 --> 1:10:45.839 first thing that was truly toxic about my childhood knowledge 1:10:45.840 --> 1:10:49.200 of war is that it erased the other side. Our 1:10:49.280 --> 1:10:52.320 boys didn't do body counts, so there were seldom reports 1:10:52.320 --> 1:10:55.479 on how many civilians we killed, how many enemy fighters died. 1:10:56.000 --> 1:10:58.840 That information was out there, but you had to look hard. 1:10:59.280 --> 1:11:03.120 Most people ever did. Donald Ferris shrugged and then winced 1:11:03.120 --> 1:11:06.599 from the motion. It's easy to get people to care 1:11:06.640 --> 1:11:09.360 about their own soldiers, but if you want to stop wars, 1:11:09.520 --> 1:11:11.439 or at least make them less common, you've got to 1:11:11.439 --> 1:11:13.600 get people to give a shit about the soldiers on 1:11:13.600 --> 1:11:16.720 the other side. That, my young friend, is where your 1:11:16.760 --> 1:11:19.360 people are even worse than my own. You're close enough 1:11:19.400 --> 1:11:21.680 to the war to not just feel indifferent about these 1:11:21.720 --> 1:11:25.200 martyrs marching off to die. You actively want them to die. 1:11:25.600 --> 1:11:30.240 That's understandable, but it's also poisonous. When you dehumanize others, 1:11:30.320 --> 1:11:34.320 you become less human yourself. Many nodded, not sure of 1:11:34.360 --> 1:11:38.360 what to say. In my youth, Donald Ferris continued, the 1:11:38.400 --> 1:11:41.519 country that occupied this continent was the most powerful nation 1:11:41.600 --> 1:11:44.480 on earth. They held the keys to the deadliest military 1:11:44.520 --> 1:11:47.880 machine ever constructed. It was easy to get Americans to 1:11:47.880 --> 1:11:51.160 support involvement in a thousand little conflicts, because each only 1:11:51.200 --> 1:11:54.640 required a small fraction of the nation's military power and 1:11:54.760 --> 1:11:58.439 only risked a few American lives. But millions of people 1:11:58.479 --> 1:12:01.840 around the world died, women and children and old men 1:12:01.840 --> 1:12:05.080 and dumby young boys, from Yemen to Turkey to Guatemala. 1:12:05.520 --> 1:12:08.759 To justify those murders, Americans had to make those people 1:12:08.840 --> 1:12:12.120 less than human. And once they've done that, it wasn't 1:12:12.120 --> 1:12:14.320 such a great jump to do it to their neighbors. 1:12:15.240 --> 1:12:17.639 He stared up at the setting sun, and Manny saw 1:12:17.720 --> 1:12:21.200 tears in his eyes. What you're going to see tomorrow 1:12:21.400 --> 1:12:24.400 is the best attempt I've seen so far to bridge 1:12:24.400 --> 1:12:34.040 the empathy gap between a people and their folds. Look 1:12:34.080 --> 1:12:36.960 for your children's eyes to see the true magic of 1:12:37.000 --> 1:12:40.679 a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look 1:12:40.760 --> 1:12:43.519 and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of 1:12:43.560 --> 1:12:47.040 a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They see 1:12:47.120 --> 1:12:50.320 treasure and pebbles, They see a windy path that could 1:12:50.400 --> 1:12:54.439 lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless. Guide 1:12:54.600 --> 1:12:57.880 is this fascinating world? Find a forest near you and 1:12:57.960 --> 1:13:00.960 start exploring it. Discover the forest dot Org brought to 1:13:00.960 --> 1:13:03.559 you by the United States Force Service and the AD Council. 1:13:04.400 --> 1:13:07.560 This is Roxanne Gay, host of The Roxanne Gay Agenda, 1:13:07.720 --> 1:13:11.680 the Bad Frominist Podcast of Your Dreams. Now, what is 1:13:11.760 --> 1:13:14.760 the Roxanne Gay Agenda, you might ask, Well, It's a 1:13:14.800 --> 1:13:17.960 podcast where I'm going to speak my mind about what's 1:13:18.040 --> 1:13:21.960 on my mind, and that could be anything. Every week 1:13:22.080 --> 1:13:25.679 I will be in conversation with an interesting person who 1:13:25.720 --> 1:13:28.800 has something to say. We're going to talk about feminism, race, 1:13:29.280 --> 1:13:33.760 writing and books and art, food, pop culture, and yes, politics. 1:13:34.160 --> 1:13:37.720 I started each show with a recommendation. Really, I'm just 1:13:37.760 --> 1:13:40.240 going to share with you a movie or a book, 1:13:40.479 --> 1:13:43.200 or maybe some music or a comedy set, something that 1:13:43.280 --> 1:13:46.000 I really want you to be aware of and maybe 1:13:46.040 --> 1:13:50.040 engage with as well. Listen to the Luminary original podcast, 1:13:50.439 --> 1:13:54.679 The Roxanne Gay Agenda, The Bad Feminist Podcast of Your Dreams, 1:13:55.080 --> 1:13:58.800 every Tuesday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 1:13:58.920 --> 1:14:05.120 or wherever you get your podcast. What grows in the 1:14:05.200 --> 1:14:08.960 forest trees, Sure no one else grows in the forest. 1:14:09.200 --> 1:14:13.120 Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our family bonds 1:14:13.160 --> 1:14:18.679 grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect 1:14:18.720 --> 1:14:23.360 with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest is 1:14:23.400 --> 1:14:26.439 closer than you think, find a forest near you and 1:14:26.479 --> 1:14:29.800 start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot Org. Brought to 1:14:29.800 --> 1:14:32.879 you by the United States Forest Service and the ad Council, 1:14:36.120 --> 1:14:42.200 Chapter twenty three. Sasha Rolling Fuck trundled forward, crunching its 1:14:42.200 --> 1:14:44.519 way over the Texas Plains and leaving a carpet of 1:14:44.520 --> 1:14:48.240 flattened grass and broken trees in its wake. And Sasha Marian, 1:14:48.439 --> 1:14:51.000 situated in a little purple building atop one of the 1:14:51.000 --> 1:14:55.360 city's tallest spires, couldn't quite believe her eyes. In spite 1:14:55.360 --> 1:14:57.640 of its many wheels, the city didn't look like the 1:14:57.720 --> 1:14:59.840 kind of thing that should be able to move. It 1:15:00.120 --> 1:15:03.160 was as if the Empire State Building had taken up jogging. 1:15:04.080 --> 1:15:06.400 Sasha had been more or less alone since the War 1:15:06.439 --> 1:15:09.240 Council had concluded. She'd wanted to go up to the 1:15:09.240 --> 1:15:11.559 bar with Manny and Rowland, since they were the only 1:15:11.600 --> 1:15:14.680 people here she even sort of knew, but their conversation 1:15:14.760 --> 1:15:17.519 had seemed a private sort of thing. At first, she 1:15:17.640 --> 1:15:19.840 thought that her hosts had made an oversight in leaving 1:15:19.840 --> 1:15:22.479 her unwatched. Surely they wouldn't let someone who had been 1:15:22.520 --> 1:15:24.960 their enemy just a few days ago wander freely through 1:15:25.000 --> 1:15:27.920 their home. But as the hours went by, it became 1:15:27.960 --> 1:15:32.360 clear that's exactly what they'd done, so Sasha explored it 1:15:32.439 --> 1:15:35.400 had been exhilarating. Actually, every inch of the city was 1:15:35.479 --> 1:15:38.559 different and strange and new to her. Across the gantries 1:15:38.600 --> 1:15:41.400 there were numerous market stalls with fresh meat and produce. 1:15:41.760 --> 1:15:44.719 At first she recognized all the foods, but the higher 1:15:44.720 --> 1:15:48.120 and further she went, the stranger everything seemed. The meat 1:15:48.160 --> 1:15:51.320 went from beef and chicken to alligator, in, zebra and mammoth, 1:15:51.360 --> 1:15:55.200 and eventually something Sasha thought might be from an actual dinosaur. 1:15:55.760 --> 1:15:57.880 She was sure it was all lab grown, and the 1:15:57.920 --> 1:16:01.439 produce was certainly gene modified. At one point, she came 1:16:01.439 --> 1:16:03.799 across a kiosk filled with fruit that had been tweaked 1:16:03.800 --> 1:16:06.880 to take the shape of gigantic erect penises. There were 1:16:06.880 --> 1:16:10.760 penis watermelons, penis oranges, penis apples, and even bags of 1:16:10.760 --> 1:16:14.800 tiny penis shaped grapes. She knew she should have felt disgusted. 1:16:15.080 --> 1:16:18.639 Two weeks ago, Sasha would have been horrified, but somehow 1:16:18.680 --> 1:16:22.439 she just wasn't. She felt a vague sense of unease 1:16:22.520 --> 1:16:25.280 awkwardness at the sight of so many genitals, but after 1:16:25.320 --> 1:16:27.759 all she'd seen in the heavenly kingdom. It didn't exactly 1:16:27.840 --> 1:16:31.640 horrify her either, how could it. The fondel boats were 1:16:31.680 --> 1:16:34.920 another matter. The sight and the strange, musky, sweet smell 1:16:35.000 --> 1:16:37.680 that wafted out of the grinding, groping crowd inside it 1:16:37.760 --> 1:16:41.000 made her queasy. This is exactly as depraved as Pastor 1:16:41.000 --> 1:16:43.960 Mike said it would be, she thought. But she also thought, 1:16:44.479 --> 1:16:46.679 is this really worse than all that violence and death? 1:16:46.960 --> 1:16:51.000 Who were they hurting? The Lord? Said a shrill, small 1:16:51.080 --> 1:16:53.639 voice in the back of her mind. Why would God 1:16:53.680 --> 1:16:56.759 hate this and not the hanging of good people? Sasha wondered, 1:16:57.120 --> 1:16:59.400 Why would this make him angry but not the butchery 1:16:59.439 --> 1:17:03.400 inside that factory? You know what the Bible says, Sasha, 1:17:03.640 --> 1:17:06.479 There is no getting around that. The scriptures were clear. 1:17:07.120 --> 1:17:10.360 Well maybe they're wrong. Then maybe they've always been wrong, 1:17:10.600 --> 1:17:12.880 or maybe I read them wrong. Maybe they didn't say 1:17:12.920 --> 1:17:16.080 what I thought they said. It was odd, how freeing 1:17:16.160 --> 1:17:20.880 that thought was. She made her way past a fondo boat, and, 1:17:21.000 --> 1:17:23.880 for no reason beyond curiosity and the desire to stretch 1:17:23.880 --> 1:17:27.559 her muscles, Sasha started to climb upwards. The gantries that 1:17:27.600 --> 1:17:30.000 made up the bulk of rolling fox walking space were 1:17:30.080 --> 1:17:33.559 fairly easy for a human to traverse. They had high walls, 1:17:33.600 --> 1:17:36.200 so even the very drunk were unlikely to fall, and 1:17:36.280 --> 1:17:38.839 in spite of the city's clutter and bustle, its designers 1:17:38.840 --> 1:17:41.240 had done a good job of making two clear lanes 1:17:41.280 --> 1:17:44.599 for foot traffic. But the gantries only gave Sasha access 1:17:44.640 --> 1:17:47.439 to a handful of the strange, glittering buildings that dotted 1:17:47.479 --> 1:17:51.120 the city's rolling superstructure, so she left them and she 1:17:51.240 --> 1:17:54.400 climbed up. It was not an easy climb. Here and 1:17:54.400 --> 1:17:56.720 there she found small sections of ladder or not a 1:17:56.840 --> 1:17:59.519 rope to ease her passage. For the most part, though, 1:17:59.560 --> 1:18:01.839 she climbed aimed hand over hand up the criss crossed 1:18:01.840 --> 1:18:05.479 metal girders. She passed several buildings filled with people drinking 1:18:05.520 --> 1:18:09.240 and partying. Sasha didn't stop to talk. The climb was hard, 1:18:09.240 --> 1:18:12.080 but at least it allowed her to avoid awkward conversation 1:18:12.160 --> 1:18:15.400 with whatever manner of creatures lived in this place. By 1:18:15.400 --> 1:18:17.759 the time she reached the top of the spindle, Sasha's 1:18:17.760 --> 1:18:20.240 body was drenched in sweat and her arms were too 1:18:20.280 --> 1:18:22.960 sore to pull her up one more foot. She was 1:18:23.000 --> 1:18:25.680 grateful to whoever had decided to cap this spindle. With 1:18:25.720 --> 1:18:28.479 a tiny purple shack, and she was even more grateful 1:18:28.479 --> 1:18:32.320 that the shack appeared unoccupied. Sasha pulled herself inside and 1:18:32.400 --> 1:18:35.000 collapsed on the floor for a while. It was all 1:18:35.080 --> 1:18:38.200 she could do to regain her breath. She wondered, in 1:18:38.240 --> 1:18:40.719 a vague sort of way, if she'd just broken into 1:18:40.800 --> 1:18:43.720 someone's home. Nobody had warned her that there would be 1:18:43.800 --> 1:18:46.559 certain places she couldn't travel here, but no one had 1:18:46.600 --> 1:18:49.280 told her much of anything at all. After she'd arrived, 1:18:49.320 --> 1:18:52.640 Sasha took stock of her surroundings. The interior of the 1:18:52.720 --> 1:18:56.400 room was plush. The walls were carpeted in thick, cushiony velvet. 1:18:56.720 --> 1:18:58.800 The floor below her seemed to be some sort of 1:18:58.840 --> 1:19:01.880 black shag. There was a framed picture on one wall. 1:19:02.200 --> 1:19:04.800 Sasha didn't recognize the artist, but it looked like a 1:19:04.800 --> 1:19:08.200 cross section drawing of a handgun with fetuses as the bullets. 1:19:08.720 --> 1:19:10.599 The sight of it made her feel a bit sick, 1:19:10.880 --> 1:19:12.880 but there was also something about the art that drew 1:19:12.920 --> 1:19:15.679 her eyes. The center of the room was a low, 1:19:15.840 --> 1:19:18.920 flat table that appeared to be made entirely of mirrored glass. 1:19:19.280 --> 1:19:21.280 There was a pile of white powder on the center 1:19:21.280 --> 1:19:23.880 of the table, along with a strange, rectangular piece of 1:19:23.920 --> 1:19:27.400 green paper. Sasha picked up the paper and stared at it. 1:19:27.400 --> 1:19:31.040 It took her a moment to realize what it was. Money, 1:19:31.280 --> 1:19:33.760 said a voice from behind her. Oh, it used to 1:19:33.800 --> 1:19:38.759 be once upon a time. Sasha frose stiffened. She turned around, 1:19:39.000 --> 1:19:41.679 not sure what to expect, but with an apology already 1:19:41.720 --> 1:19:44.280 spilling out of her mouth. I'm sorry, sir, I didn't. 1:19:44.760 --> 1:19:47.280 Something in the man's smile and the relaxed slump of 1:19:47.320 --> 1:19:49.880 his shoulders made her stop talking. He stood in the 1:19:49.920 --> 1:19:52.160 doorway of the little building, just a few feet in 1:19:52.200 --> 1:19:54.599 front of her. She had no idea how he could 1:19:54.600 --> 1:19:56.920 have climbed up and in there without her hearing him. 1:19:57.280 --> 1:20:00.000 She didn't remember the man's name, but she recognized him 1:20:00.040 --> 1:20:03.639 from the war council. Those writhing snake tattoos identified him 1:20:03.640 --> 1:20:07.240 as clearly as a name tag. I'm she trailed off. 1:20:07.400 --> 1:20:09.920 He smiled at her. There was something about his eyes 1:20:09.960 --> 1:20:14.200 that seemed off wrong. She couldn't place it. His pupils 1:20:14.240 --> 1:20:16.840 were somehow different than they should have been when he spoke, 1:20:16.880 --> 1:20:21.200 though his voice was warm and friendly. You are Saschamarian, 1:20:21.400 --> 1:20:23.439 the girl who was brave enough to flee her home 1:20:23.479 --> 1:20:26.160 and family for the heavenly Kingdom, and then brave enough 1:20:26.200 --> 1:20:28.559 to leave it when she realized what it truly was. 1:20:29.320 --> 1:20:33.000 His head dipped down into a slight bow. I'm Jim Shannon. 1:20:33.160 --> 1:20:36.800 It's an honor to meet you, miss Marian. Jim squatted 1:20:36.800 --> 1:20:39.080 down on his haunches and dropped his arms in between 1:20:39.120 --> 1:20:42.240 his legs. It was a casual motion, but he executed 1:20:42.280 --> 1:20:45.280 it with almost mechanical precision. There was something to his 1:20:45.360 --> 1:20:49.120 movements that spoke of terrible potential energy, kinetic force just 1:20:49.240 --> 1:20:53.479 waiting to be unleashed. It's nice to meet you, she said, 1:20:53.800 --> 1:20:57.240 because what else could she say. Jim smile didn't change, 1:20:57.360 --> 1:21:00.599 but his eyes did. His pupils contracted and then changed 1:21:00.680 --> 1:21:04.559 shape from a circle to a spiraling rounded star. No, 1:21:05.000 --> 1:21:08.679 it's not, he said. That's not a lie to each other, Eh, Sasha, 1:21:08.920 --> 1:21:12.639 I'm weird. I move wrong. My eyes. As he spoke, 1:21:12.720 --> 1:21:15.639 his star pupils started to spin in a hypnotic spiral. 1:21:16.040 --> 1:21:19.080 Are wrong. They don't look human. I can hear your 1:21:19.080 --> 1:21:22.400 hotbeat elevate as we speak. I can smell codazol in 1:21:22.439 --> 1:21:25.679 your brain and elevated levels of blood glucose. I can 1:21:25.720 --> 1:21:28.439 see in your eyes that me saying this has made 1:21:28.479 --> 1:21:33.240 you even more nervous. Yes, she admitted, Yes, you're right, 1:21:33.600 --> 1:21:37.680 you scare me. That's perfectly normal, miss Marian. It is 1:21:37.720 --> 1:21:41.120 not an act of weakness to admit fear. Quite the opposite. 1:21:41.400 --> 1:21:45.360 You feel better now, don't you? She actually did. There 1:21:45.439 --> 1:21:47.599 was a queer sort of relief in admitting her fear 1:21:47.640 --> 1:21:51.639 and discomfort in this man thing's presence. I do feel better, 1:21:51.800 --> 1:21:55.840 she said. Why is that? Admitting fear is the first 1:21:55.880 --> 1:21:58.880 step to conquering it. You don't strike me as someone 1:21:58.920 --> 1:22:01.600 who wants to live in fear, miss Marian. You do 1:22:01.800 --> 1:22:06.080 strike me as someone who seeks control, strength, power over 1:22:06.120 --> 1:22:10.160 your own life. I, she sputtered, I don't. I don't know. 1:22:10.479 --> 1:22:12.240 A week ago, i'd have told you God was in 1:22:12.280 --> 1:22:15.400 control of my life. Sasha looked down at her lap, 1:22:15.560 --> 1:22:19.040 suddenly embarrassed. It wasn't very long ago, but it feels 1:22:19.080 --> 1:22:22.839 like a lifetime. It was so peaceful, just handing over control. 1:22:23.720 --> 1:22:26.200 Jim nodded and leaned his head forward a few inches. 1:22:27.240 --> 1:22:31.200 That didn't end well, though, did it. Sasha shook her head. 1:22:32.080 --> 1:22:34.400 You traveled to the heaven the Kingdom with a certain 1:22:34.439 --> 1:22:38.520 set of beliefs about the universe. Those beliefs met reality, 1:22:38.920 --> 1:22:42.920 Reality broke them into little pieces. There's no shame in that. 1:22:43.240 --> 1:22:45.639 It happens to all of us. Now you're a bit 1:22:45.680 --> 1:22:49.479 older and a few bits wiser. She looked up at him. 1:22:49.520 --> 1:22:53.000 His smile seemed somehow softer. Now she felt like opening up, 1:22:53.200 --> 1:22:56.519 confiding in this stranger. Sasha wondered if that was another 1:22:56.560 --> 1:23:00.000 aspect of his modifications, some alteration of his body chemists 1:23:00.040 --> 1:23:02.439 tree in physical appearance that allowed him to seem more 1:23:02.439 --> 1:23:06.760 familiar and trustworthy to her. She opened up anyway, I 1:23:06.800 --> 1:23:08.519 just don't know what to do now. I guess I 1:23:08.560 --> 1:23:10.320 could go home, but I don't think I was wrong 1:23:10.320 --> 1:23:12.040 in leaving home. I don't want a life in the 1:23:12.080 --> 1:23:16.200 American Federation. I know that. I just you don't know 1:23:16.320 --> 1:23:19.519 what's right, Jim finished, in a voice that was gentler 1:23:19.520 --> 1:23:21.599 than she would have guessed he was capable of sounding. 1:23:22.200 --> 1:23:25.200 She nodded as she struggled for her next words. I 1:23:25.280 --> 1:23:27.360 know I can't go back. I don't know where to 1:23:27.400 --> 1:23:29.920 go next. I don't have any money or really any 1:23:30.000 --> 1:23:33.640 useful skills, so I can't go to California or Cascadia. 1:23:33.800 --> 1:23:36.160 I doubt this place will take me. She gestured down 1:23:36.200 --> 1:23:38.679 at the rolling city below them, and even if they would, 1:23:38.800 --> 1:23:43.120 I don't really feel comfortable here either. Hmm. Jim nodded 1:23:43.200 --> 1:23:46.360 and leaned back. Perhaps he said, you should wear a 1:23:46.479 --> 1:23:48.880 less about where you want to end up and more 1:23:48.920 --> 1:23:52.280 about what you want to end up doing. I don't 1:23:52.320 --> 1:23:55.679 have any options, Sasha said, fighting down a rising panic 1:23:55.760 --> 1:23:58.120 that tickled the back of her throat. I didn't even 1:23:58.120 --> 1:24:00.599 finish high school. I've spent the last two years preparing 1:24:00.640 --> 1:24:02.240 to join the Kingdom. I don't know how to do 1:24:02.320 --> 1:24:05.960 anything useful. That's where you're wrong, Jim said, in a 1:24:06.000 --> 1:24:09.320 firm voice. You lied well enough to hide your intention 1:24:09.360 --> 1:24:12.320 from your parents and am fed law enforcement. You did 1:24:12.320 --> 1:24:15.800 that for years. Sasha wanted to argue that she hadn't lied, 1:24:16.080 --> 1:24:18.760 not according to Pastor Mike's definition of the word, but 1:24:18.880 --> 1:24:22.240 she stayed silent while he spoke. You escaped from one 1:24:22.240 --> 1:24:25.280 of the most fortified bodhas in the world, Jim continued, 1:24:25.479 --> 1:24:28.400 and you did useful work in a medical facility. Then 1:24:28.439 --> 1:24:31.439 you helped facilitate the escape of several prisoners from a 1:24:31.520 --> 1:24:35.240 Kingdom jail. You functioned effectively in a firefight and killed 1:24:35.240 --> 1:24:38.040 a trained soldier in hand to hand combat. Then you 1:24:38.120 --> 1:24:40.760 killed another man and stole a vehicle to aid your 1:24:40.760 --> 1:24:44.960 comrades in an escape. Am I missing anything? Sasha looked 1:24:44.960 --> 1:24:48.160 down again. She didn't speak. She felt bad about taking 1:24:48.160 --> 1:24:51.920 praise from murder, especially for Darrell's murder. She did, however, 1:24:52.040 --> 1:24:54.800 feel a tiny swell of pride at Jim's words. It 1:24:54.840 --> 1:24:58.240 was immediately accompanied by a flood of guilt. Killing is 1:24:58.320 --> 1:25:02.280 not something to be proud of, she said, Oh, I disagree, 1:25:02.560 --> 1:25:06.400 Jim chuckled. Killing is a highly technical skill, and you've 1:25:06.400 --> 1:25:09.960 proven yourself a talented amateur. With some training and a 1:25:10.000 --> 1:25:13.840 spot of chrome, you could really be something. He trailed off. 1:25:14.160 --> 1:25:17.040 Sasha was quiet for a moment. She looked into Jim's 1:25:17.040 --> 1:25:19.920 eyes and tried to read something in them that proved 1:25:19.920 --> 1:25:22.559 a fool's Errand there was nothing in those orbs but 1:25:22.640 --> 1:25:25.960 cool confidence, And even that might be false. What did 1:25:25.960 --> 1:25:28.439 any gesture or look mean from a man who could 1:25:28.439 --> 1:25:31.679 control every aspect of his body right down to his pupils. 1:25:32.439 --> 1:25:34.760 I don't want to get better at killing, she told him. 1:25:35.040 --> 1:25:38.680 I don't want to fill my body with unnatural things. 1:25:38.720 --> 1:25:42.080 Just thinking about it makes me feel ill. And yet 1:25:42.680 --> 1:25:46.160 Jim said, what do you mean? And yet, she asked, 1:25:46.920 --> 1:25:50.240 And yet that thought intrigues you too. It's no use, 1:25:50.280 --> 1:25:54.439 hadn't it? I can taste deceit. Sasha shuddered a little 1:25:54.439 --> 1:25:56.639 at that, but she couldn't deny that he was right. 1:25:57.080 --> 1:25:59.120 As much as the idea repulsed her, she had spent 1:25:59.160 --> 1:26:02.920 too much time hourless to not crave power. I'm not 1:26:03.000 --> 1:26:05.880 looking to push you into anything, Sasha, but I would 1:26:05.920 --> 1:26:09.519 like to provide you with a unique opportunity. What do 1:26:09.560 --> 1:26:13.280 you mean, she asked. He smiled, plopped down on his butt, 1:26:13.320 --> 1:26:15.439 and swung his legs in to sit cross le get 1:26:15.439 --> 1:26:18.320 on the shag carpet. Jim stuck a finger into the 1:26:18.320 --> 1:26:21.560 thick black fibers of the carpet and started tugging at them. 1:26:21.640 --> 1:26:24.400 It was an idle, nervous gesture, and Sasha found it 1:26:24.400 --> 1:26:27.719 oddly endearing. Part of her suspected that had been his goal. 1:26:28.760 --> 1:26:30.760 I mean that I would be willing to take you 1:26:30.880 --> 1:26:36.480 on as a project. A project, he nodded. My organization 1:26:36.680 --> 1:26:40.400 has access to skilled surgeons, military grade agmatics, and vat 1:26:40.400 --> 1:26:43.320 growing organs. I'll front the bill and I'll train you, 1:26:43.720 --> 1:26:47.839 and in return, you'll work for me forever. She asked. 1:26:48.280 --> 1:26:50.840 Jim laughed. She felt a little annoyed by that, and 1:26:50.880 --> 1:26:55.160 it must have shown on her face because he stopped. Sorry, sorry, 1:26:55.479 --> 1:26:59.040 he said, It's just that'd be dead slavery. You must 1:26:59.080 --> 1:27:01.559 not know this, but helped kill the last country that 1:27:01.600 --> 1:27:04.840 lived on this land in that sort of thing. So 1:27:04.880 --> 1:27:08.439 how much time would I owe you, Sasha asked, five years, 1:27:08.640 --> 1:27:12.120 he said. Sasha's heart trembled with excitement at the offer. 1:27:12.560 --> 1:27:15.000 When she thought about the way the adrenaline had coursed 1:27:15.040 --> 1:27:17.320 through her during the fight in the clinic, she wanted 1:27:17.400 --> 1:27:20.400 to say yes, But when she thought about Darrell bleeding 1:27:20.439 --> 1:27:23.480 out next to his car, the shame inside her overwhelmed 1:27:23.560 --> 1:27:27.240 everything else. Sasha knew she couldn't handle more weights like 1:27:27.280 --> 1:27:30.559 that on her conscience. I don't want to kill people, 1:27:31.000 --> 1:27:34.680 she said in a tiny voice. Shame dripped from every syllable. 1:27:35.560 --> 1:27:40.280 That's fine, Jim said, his grin widening. We always need medics. 1:27:40.439 --> 1:27:43.400 You've shown an aptitude for that already. I have a 1:27:43.400 --> 1:27:46.800 feeling you'll take well to combat engineering. There's plenty for 1:27:46.880 --> 1:27:50.240 you to do without pulling a trigger. If I work 1:27:50.280 --> 1:27:52.719 for you, Sasha said, I have a feeling I won't 1:27:52.720 --> 1:27:57.400 be able to avoid pulling triggers. None entirely, Jim shrugged. 1:27:57.640 --> 1:28:00.040 But any shooting you do would be an immediate it 1:28:00.160 --> 1:28:03.479 self defense, and you'd have the right to refuse an 1:28:03.520 --> 1:28:07.320 emissions that violate your moral code. I know that's important 1:28:07.360 --> 1:28:10.400 to you. The way he said that last bit set 1:28:10.439 --> 1:28:14.360 the hackles on her neck. Arise, Is it not important 1:28:14.400 --> 1:28:18.760 to you? She asked, morality? I mean? He swung his 1:28:18.840 --> 1:28:21.519 hands out to the side, palms up in a vaguely 1:28:21.520 --> 1:28:24.760 Buddhic pose. When I was a young man, not much 1:28:24.760 --> 1:28:27.320 older than yourself, I knew a lot of gallant men 1:28:27.360 --> 1:28:30.519 who claimed to live by codes of honor. Such things 1:28:30.520 --> 1:28:33.559 were fashionable in the warrior culture of a Diyan empire. 1:28:34.120 --> 1:28:36.519 None of those codes stopped the men I knew from 1:28:36.560 --> 1:28:39.880 serving that great beast we called a state. When you 1:28:40.000 --> 1:28:43.519 see enough good moral men enable war crimes, you stop 1:28:43.600 --> 1:28:47.920 seeing value in the term morality. So what matters to you, 1:28:48.200 --> 1:28:52.879 Sasha asked, what do you believe in change? Miss Marian? 1:28:53.160 --> 1:28:56.679 He smiled, revealing rows of pearly white teeth, the snake 1:28:56.720 --> 1:29:00.400 tattoos on his chest and shoulders, writhed in excitement, I 1:29:00.479 --> 1:29:03.519 believe in change. I grew up in a time when 1:29:03.560 --> 1:29:06.679 the climate changed and my home became a deadly broiler. 1:29:06.920 --> 1:29:11.640 Politics changed, and democracy became a dictatorship of capital. For 1:29:11.680 --> 1:29:14.639 a time, I believed in the promises of change handed 1:29:14.640 --> 1:29:18.680 out by progressive politicians and scent of old revolutionaries. But 1:29:18.800 --> 1:29:20.840 every one of them was either co opted by the 1:29:20.880 --> 1:29:24.760 system or killed by it. He shrugged and cast his 1:29:24.840 --> 1:29:27.600 eyes down to the carpet for a while, just a 1:29:27.640 --> 1:29:31.400 moment his mask slipped, Sasha saw a deep, yawning pit 1:29:31.439 --> 1:29:33.600 of despair in the tight lines at the edge of 1:29:33.600 --> 1:29:35.880 his lips, and the subtle twitch of muscles below his 1:29:35.960 --> 1:29:39.519 left eye. It passed, and a black velvet smile took 1:29:39.520 --> 1:29:42.880 its place. Then I met a man who showed me 1:29:42.960 --> 1:29:46.320 the way. Nothing new could grow on this continent until 1:29:46.360 --> 1:29:48.439 the weeds of the old were pulled out by the 1:29:48.560 --> 1:29:52.240 root and tossed into the compost pile of history. So 1:29:52.640 --> 1:29:56.160 he said, forget the old debates about what system should 1:29:56.160 --> 1:29:59.760 replace capitalism. Kill the state, and the seeds of a 1:30:00.000 --> 1:30:03.320 OUs the new worlds will sprout on its corpse. You've 1:30:03.360 --> 1:30:07.160 seen two of those sprouts already, Sasha shook her head. 1:30:07.479 --> 1:30:11.200 If you're referring to the heavenly kingdom, it's a nightmare. 1:30:11.680 --> 1:30:15.120 The old Us can't have been worse than that, Jim shrugged. 1:30:15.479 --> 1:30:19.400 Depends on your perspective. I suppose tell miss Sasha, you 1:30:19.560 --> 1:30:23.320 left the Amphid, the old u SA's most direct successor state. 1:30:23.880 --> 1:30:27.439 Why was that? Because it's a soulless pit, She said, 1:30:27.680 --> 1:30:31.200 the words almost leaping from her throat. Jim smiled at that. 1:30:31.920 --> 1:30:35.320 This isn't though, is it? He gestured out at the 1:30:35.320 --> 1:30:39.760 city of wheels below them. No, Sasha said, whatever else 1:30:39.800 --> 1:30:43.920 it was, rolling fuck was not soulless. Nada is the 1:30:44.000 --> 1:30:48.000 Navajo nation, Jim said, or Cascadia the black Stone Nation. 1:30:48.120 --> 1:30:51.040 Even the moments are up to some interesting things these days, 1:30:51.400 --> 1:30:54.600 one faction at least. So which do you believe in? 1:30:54.880 --> 1:30:58.599 Who do you fight for? He grinned again, Night the child, 1:30:59.160 --> 1:31:02.240 As I told you, I fight for change, to cast 1:31:02.320 --> 1:31:05.040 down the ossified bones of the old world and make 1:31:05.120 --> 1:31:08.719 space for the new. I owe allegiance to no national 1:31:08.800 --> 1:31:14.400 god save perhaps Lady Airis, who he smiled. A bit 1:31:14.400 --> 1:31:17.400 of smugness leached into the expression. She could see it 1:31:17.479 --> 1:31:20.200 clear as day right around his eyes. It should have 1:31:20.280 --> 1:31:23.679 repelled her more than it did. Heiris was the Greek 1:31:23.680 --> 1:31:26.880 goddess of discord, back when people cared about what the 1:31:26.920 --> 1:31:30.759 Greeks believed. She set the spark that lit the Trojan walk. 1:31:31.080 --> 1:31:33.040 I know it's a bit sillier reaching back to that 1:31:33.160 --> 1:31:37.320 old mythology, but I can't help myself. There's something about 1:31:37.360 --> 1:31:40.840 those old gods that calls to me. I can identify 1:31:41.040 --> 1:31:44.040 with them. He leaned in. There was an eagerness to 1:31:44.080 --> 1:31:47.800 his posture, his tone, his eyes. The snakes jerked and 1:31:47.880 --> 1:31:51.680 spun on his muscled chest and arms. I'm offering you 1:31:51.800 --> 1:31:55.280 a chance to join us on Olympus. Dear Sasha, you've 1:31:55.280 --> 1:31:58.439 spent your time in worship. It's time to embrace your 1:31:58.439 --> 1:32:02.960 own godhead, lee of your antique books behind, and rewrite 1:32:03.000 --> 1:32:06.720 the world with your will. I don't know if that's 1:32:06.760 --> 1:32:10.200 what I want, Sasha said in a still small voice. 1:32:10.760 --> 1:32:13.080 She tried to ignore how much part of her ached 1:32:13.160 --> 1:32:16.320 for what he promised. The thought of killing again nauseated 1:32:16.360 --> 1:32:18.719 her as much as it excited her. But the thought 1:32:18.720 --> 1:32:21.719 of having power, the kind of power she'd seen Roland 1:32:21.760 --> 1:32:27.200 exercise that was intoxicating. She hated how badly she'd started 1:32:27.240 --> 1:32:31.200 to want it. Well, you don't have to decide now. 1:32:31.520 --> 1:32:34.800 Jim shrugged his shoulders and gave an amiable smile. The 1:32:34.880 --> 1:32:38.519 floor rumbled underneath them. There was a loud clattering wine 1:32:38.560 --> 1:32:41.000 as the whole structure of Rolling Fuck came to a 1:32:41.040 --> 1:32:44.599 slow stop. Jim waited for the scrunching noise to cease 1:32:44.640 --> 1:32:48.040 and said, come and watch what we do today, then 1:32:48.200 --> 1:32:55.679 make you call Rowland. Dawn broke just as Rolling Fuck 1:32:55.760 --> 1:32:58.360 pulled to a long, slow stop by the shore of 1:32:58.439 --> 1:33:01.439 Lake Wago. The city had taken the long way around 1:33:01.439 --> 1:33:03.840 the reservoir, which had added at least an hour to 1:33:03.880 --> 1:33:06.759 their journey, but also put a sizeable water barrier between 1:33:06.840 --> 1:33:10.480 Rolling Fuck and the advancing forces of the Heavenly Kingdom. 1:33:10.640 --> 1:33:12.760 It had been a tight fit at several points, and 1:33:12.880 --> 1:33:15.960 Roland had enjoyed watching the wheeled city crunch over several 1:33:16.000 --> 1:33:19.240 abandoned homes in many a street lamp. But eventually the 1:33:19.280 --> 1:33:22.400 pilots and navigators had found a suitably large public park 1:33:22.479 --> 1:33:25.960 and brought Rolling Fuck to rest there. It's a nice sunrise, 1:33:26.240 --> 1:33:29.040 Manny said. The kids stood next to Rowland on a 1:33:29.080 --> 1:33:32.560 wooden deck built onto the side of the main roller Skofucker. 1:33:32.560 --> 1:33:35.400 Mike had assured them this spot provided the best advantage 1:33:35.400 --> 1:33:38.120 point to watch the rising sun. It looked like he'd 1:33:38.120 --> 1:33:40.400 been right on that. The sky around them was a 1:33:40.400 --> 1:33:43.040 heavy blend of red and orange that brought up fragmented 1:33:43.080 --> 1:33:46.919 memories of my ties and fireballs and Roland's head. Clouds 1:33:46.920 --> 1:33:49.559 clustered at the top of the horizon ripe to bursting 1:33:49.560 --> 1:33:51.639 with the color and light of the new days sun. 1:33:52.600 --> 1:33:56.720 Roland nodded. Yeah, the shame no one who lives here 1:33:56.760 --> 1:33:59.120 gets to see it. Manny said, I've never seen the 1:33:59.160 --> 1:34:02.599 city this empty. Roland looked over at his young friend. 1:34:03.000 --> 1:34:04.960 The boy had seen a lot for his age, and 1:34:05.080 --> 1:34:07.920 Roland could see how much it pained him. Sorrow had 1:34:07.920 --> 1:34:11.120 assent all its own. The plunging levels of nora panephren 1:34:11.160 --> 1:34:13.840 and serotonin brought out the sharp stink of cordozol in 1:34:13.880 --> 1:34:17.839 the greasy odor of opioids. Lurking just below those smells 1:34:17.880 --> 1:34:21.000 was the odd, spicy tinge of the I L eighteen protein. 1:34:21.520 --> 1:34:24.400 Roland could almost hear it weaken the valves of Manny's heart. 1:34:25.439 --> 1:34:28.200 I imagine this sucks extra much for you. I mean, 1:34:28.479 --> 1:34:32.679 you've been where they are right twice, Manny said. Roland 1:34:32.720 --> 1:34:36.720 nodded again, exactly recall, he admitted. But I expect I 1:34:36.720 --> 1:34:39.960 had something to do with the first time Manny looked 1:34:39.960 --> 1:34:42.880 over to Roland, chemically, it was clear the kid was 1:34:42.920 --> 1:34:47.519 battling a maluge of sadness, trauma, and anxiety. His actual thoughts, though, 1:34:47.680 --> 1:34:49.680 were just as hidden from Roland as they would be 1:34:49.720 --> 1:34:53.479 from any stock human, perhaps more so. There were moments 1:34:53.479 --> 1:34:56.040 when Roland feared he was losing the ability to read 1:34:56.120 --> 1:34:59.280 human emotions or even display them properly on his face. 1:35:00.600 --> 1:35:04.040 Was that look you've given me? He asked? Finally, what 1:35:04.160 --> 1:35:06.720 do you mean? I can't tell what a look on 1:35:06.760 --> 1:35:10.160 your face means, Roland explained, And I'm curious. Are you 1:35:10.200 --> 1:35:14.200 angry at me? Manny shrugged, and then he sighed. His 1:35:14.280 --> 1:35:19.400 shoulders slumped, his head drooped forward and down just a bit. No, 1:35:19.920 --> 1:35:22.960 he said, I'm not angry. What would I even be 1:35:23.040 --> 1:35:25.519 angry about? If you can't remember what you did back? 1:35:25.560 --> 1:35:28.320 Then are you even the same person who did those things? 1:35:28.760 --> 1:35:30.840 And even if you are, maybe you were doing the 1:35:30.960 --> 1:35:33.720 right thing. I assume someone was at some point in 1:35:33.720 --> 1:35:37.839 that fucking mess of a war. Maybe everyone was, Roland offered. 1:35:38.240 --> 1:35:40.639 I know the heavenly Kingdom think what they're doing is right. 1:35:40.760 --> 1:35:43.160 Manny said, I also don't give a shitting dick what 1:35:43.240 --> 1:35:45.840 they think they're murderers. They can all sit and spin. 1:35:46.880 --> 1:35:48.960 You're confident in me murdering the lot of them? Is 1:35:49.000 --> 1:35:51.840 there anything to do? Then? I'm confident it's better than 1:35:51.920 --> 1:35:56.000 letting them win, Manny said. Roland nodded quietly and stared 1:35:56.000 --> 1:35:58.960 out at the rising sun. The red had faded and 1:35:59.000 --> 1:36:01.439 the orange had grown rider He could see the shape 1:36:01.439 --> 1:36:04.200 of the sun behind the clouds missed rose off the 1:36:04.240 --> 1:36:06.439 field in front of the man. Across the lake, a 1:36:06.520 --> 1:36:09.000 low light fog rolled in over what appeared to be 1:36:09.000 --> 1:36:13.719 an old golf course. You're probably right about that, Roland said, 1:36:14.080 --> 1:36:17.040 But where does it end. It ends when they're beaten 1:36:17.200 --> 1:36:21.040 and Austin is safe. Manny's words were forceful, but he 1:36:21.080 --> 1:36:24.360 looked down and away from Roland when he spoke. You 1:36:24.439 --> 1:36:27.439 know that's not true, Roland said. I forget my own 1:36:27.520 --> 1:36:29.000 name a lot of the time, and I still know 1:36:29.080 --> 1:36:31.960 you're full of it killing these fox buys Austin time, 1:36:32.120 --> 1:36:34.479 and probably not a lot of it. There are still 1:36:34.520 --> 1:36:37.639 millions of guns and millions of piste off desperate people 1:36:37.640 --> 1:36:41.320 in this ragged chunk of country. So what are you saying, Roland? 1:36:41.479 --> 1:36:43.400 It'd be better to just let the one place around 1:36:43.439 --> 1:36:47.719 here that isn't terrible get eaten by darkness, no, Roland said, 1:36:48.080 --> 1:36:51.000 but read the writing on the damn wall this place. 1:36:51.360 --> 1:36:53.720 He waved a hand out in a gesture that encompassed 1:36:53.720 --> 1:36:57.320 the whole horizon is fucked. Don't stay here and die 1:36:57.400 --> 1:37:00.839 with it. Manny crossed his arms in front of himself 1:37:00.880 --> 1:37:03.479 and leaned forward onto the railing of the deck. His 1:37:03.560 --> 1:37:05.760 head slumped into his hands, and he was quiet for 1:37:05.800 --> 1:37:08.759 a while. Roland knew the army of the Heavenly Kingdom 1:37:08.800 --> 1:37:11.400 was less than forty miles distant. The scent of that 1:37:11.560 --> 1:37:14.720 vast ramshackle horde had grown more prominent over the last 1:37:14.800 --> 1:37:17.559 few minutes. His nose took in the stink of diesel, 1:37:17.680 --> 1:37:20.960 the ozone odor of discharging batteries, and the cumulative reek 1:37:21.000 --> 1:37:24.120 of hundreds of vehicles worth of engine oil. Behind those 1:37:24.160 --> 1:37:27.280 prominent smells lurked the foul gangren, a stench of ten 1:37:27.320 --> 1:37:30.200 thousand men, sweating fear and stress out of every pore. 1:37:31.200 --> 1:37:33.800 Roland looked down over the deck and onto the yellow 1:37:33.840 --> 1:37:35.840 grass that led up to the shores of the lake. 1:37:36.400 --> 1:37:39.599 The warriors of Rolling Fock had started to assemble themselves. There, 1:37:40.160 --> 1:37:42.240 a large group of men and women had started to 1:37:42.360 --> 1:37:46.080 unpack dozens of quadrafracts. The four legged robots had been 1:37:46.080 --> 1:37:49.080 built by Boston Dynamics back before the fall of the 1:37:49.120 --> 1:37:52.240 Old US. They'd been meant to ferry men and equipment 1:37:52.320 --> 1:37:55.960 up steep Afghan mountain sides. Roland stared at them, and 1:37:56.320 --> 1:37:59.000 he stalked through the lab, a razor sharp machete in 1:37:59.040 --> 1:38:01.479 one hand and a machine pistol in the other. The 1:38:01.600 --> 1:38:04.240 air reeked of blood ahead of him. He could smell 1:38:04.280 --> 1:38:06.840 the fierce weat wafting off two engineers as they hid 1:38:06.840 --> 1:38:10.640 beneath an overturned metal table. Pieces of robotic equipment were 1:38:10.640 --> 1:38:14.000 scattered on the floor. Roland reached out his senses and 1:38:14.080 --> 1:38:16.439 felt that these were the last two people alive in 1:38:16.479 --> 1:38:19.840 the facility. He stepped forward, swinging his blade in an 1:38:19.920 --> 1:38:23.439 arc that he knew would end in flesh. Roland shook 1:38:23.439 --> 1:38:25.880 his head and pulled himself out of the past. The 1:38:25.960 --> 1:38:29.680 flashes of memory were growing more frequent. Guilt came with them. 1:38:29.720 --> 1:38:32.040 It took some effort to force his mind to focus 1:38:32.080 --> 1:38:35.120 again on the world around them. Roland looked back out 1:38:35.160 --> 1:38:39.439 at the mustering yard. Warriors dawned armor, a fantastic array 1:38:39.520 --> 1:38:43.280 of old fashioned polished steel plate mail, ultra modern powered 1:38:43.320 --> 1:38:47.160 body armor, antique flack vests, and a significant number of costumes. 1:38:47.640 --> 1:38:50.240 He watched a man in armor that mixed the aesthetic 1:38:50.280 --> 1:38:53.760 of a polish winged hussar with an Imperial stormtrooper help 1:38:53.760 --> 1:38:56.360 a woman in a crop top Neil green GIEI suit 1:38:56.400 --> 1:38:58.640 as she locked a pair of rocket launchers onto the 1:38:58.640 --> 1:39:01.559 flanks of one of the four leg at robots. Over 1:39:01.600 --> 1:39:03.760 to his left, another group of warriors had started to 1:39:03.800 --> 1:39:07.680 assemble the city's vehicle pool. Ramps had descended from garages 1:39:07.720 --> 1:39:10.360 in the bellies of the rollers. A slow, steady stream 1:39:10.400 --> 1:39:12.920 of armored vehicles motored their way down the ramps and 1:39:12.960 --> 1:39:15.880 into the ragged lines on the field. The bulk of 1:39:16.000 --> 1:39:19.160 rolling Fox vehicles were either modified a PCs or armored 1:39:19.200 --> 1:39:23.000 motorcycles sporting portable field guns or automatic grenade launchers on 1:39:23.080 --> 1:39:26.240 side cars. There were tactical arguments for the use of 1:39:26.280 --> 1:39:29.439 such vehicles in open field combat, of course, but Rowland 1:39:29.520 --> 1:39:31.840 suspected they had mainly been picked because they were fun 1:39:31.920 --> 1:39:35.280 to drive. Almost every vehicle's engine had been souped up 1:39:35.360 --> 1:39:38.679 well beyond any potential battlefield benefit. Most of them also 1:39:38.760 --> 1:39:42.599 had nitrous oxide tanks, although Roland suspected those were more 1:39:42.640 --> 1:39:45.599 for huffing than they were for speed. Where did they 1:39:45.600 --> 1:39:49.679 get all this stuff, Manny asked Roland. I had no idea, 1:39:49.920 --> 1:39:52.679 Roland said, But when the old government fell left behind 1:39:52.720 --> 1:39:56.240 a lot of equipment, basses and basses full of mothballed ordinance. 1:39:56.680 --> 1:39:58.680 I guess as these guys got in early before the 1:39:58.800 --> 1:40:01.559 rush and grabbed what they could good. At that moment, 1:40:01.640 --> 1:40:04.719 Roland caught sasha scent moving down one of the spindles 1:40:04.760 --> 1:40:07.479 above the main roller. His hind brain guessed she was 1:40:07.520 --> 1:40:10.799 headed to the deck he and Manny occupied. Roland couldn't 1:40:10.800 --> 1:40:13.360 smell Jim, who was good at staying hidden, but he 1:40:13.439 --> 1:40:15.600 knew that Sasha couldn't have known where they were on 1:40:15.680 --> 1:40:19.040 her own. That meant Jim had likely sniffed Manny out 1:40:19.280 --> 1:40:22.439 and made the same assumption about Roland's location that Rowland 1:40:22.479 --> 1:40:25.839 had made about Jim's. It wasn't long before the sliding 1:40:25.840 --> 1:40:28.719 metal door slid open and Jim and Sasha walked out 1:40:28.760 --> 1:40:31.880 onto the deck. Jim was in his familiar battle gear, 1:40:32.240 --> 1:40:35.200 his blood red chaps almost shone in the blinding light 1:40:35.240 --> 1:40:38.360 of the morning sun. He had a smug self satisfied 1:40:38.400 --> 1:40:41.479 grin and gigantic pupils that spoke of recent drug use. 1:40:41.720 --> 1:40:45.200 Beside him, Sasha looked disheveled and exhausted but jittery. He 1:40:45.240 --> 1:40:49.000 could smell the coffee wafting from her pores. Hey fuck nuts, 1:40:49.200 --> 1:40:52.880 Roland said, Hey, Sasha. She looked confused for a moment. 1:40:53.160 --> 1:40:57.160 Jim just nodded and said, hey, shit bird, Hey manny 1:40:57.400 --> 1:40:59.840 Manny waved vaguely at them, without turning his head to 1:41:00.040 --> 1:41:02.200 eat them. He continued to look out at the army 1:41:02.240 --> 1:41:05.360 assembling in the field. It's a pretty cool showdown there, 1:41:05.560 --> 1:41:08.120 Roland said. I kind of wish I had some dissociatives 1:41:08.240 --> 1:41:10.960 and maybe a blunt. Now would be the time for one. 1:41:11.800 --> 1:41:15.880 Ah she, Jim said, Just so happens, I got both. 1:41:16.360 --> 1:41:19.400 He stepped up alongside Rowland, extended his full arm, and 1:41:19.400 --> 1:41:21.640 then tapped his left index finger to the back of 1:41:21.720 --> 1:41:24.479 his right hand. The tip of that finger detached and 1:41:24.600 --> 1:41:27.280 rolled up onto his knuckle. A line of white powder 1:41:27.320 --> 1:41:29.720 poured out onto the back of Jim's other hand. He 1:41:29.840 --> 1:41:33.800 offered it to Roland. Sure, Roland said, and railed the line. 1:41:34.600 --> 1:41:38.000 Ketamine wasn't Roland's favoritest of drugs. He preferred m x 1:41:38.040 --> 1:41:40.040 C if he was going to snort a dissociati event. 1:41:40.160 --> 1:41:42.640 In all honesty, a big bottle of d x M 1:41:42.680 --> 1:41:45.639 heavy cough syrup mixed with vodka was even more his speed. 1:41:45.920 --> 1:41:49.800 But hey, drugs was drugs. Once Roland had finished, Jim 1:41:49.840 --> 1:41:53.120 poured out another line and offered it to Manny. No thanks, 1:41:53.400 --> 1:41:56.880 said the fixer. It's pretty good stuff, Roland said, in 1:41:56.880 --> 1:42:00.479 a helpful tone. Ketamine goes well with unspeakable violence. Might 1:42:00.520 --> 1:42:02.519 be fun to watch the battle that decides the future 1:42:02.560 --> 1:42:06.200 of your people from inside a cahole. Manny looked defended. 1:42:06.920 --> 1:42:09.599 Roland shrugged. He glanced at Jim, who gave him an 1:42:09.640 --> 1:42:12.720 I don't know why you're looking at me. Look, I'll 1:42:12.720 --> 1:42:16.080 try some, Sasha said, I mean, fuck it, why not? 1:42:17.160 --> 1:42:19.599 It was a little cute how she stumbled over the fuck. 1:42:19.960 --> 1:42:22.879 Roland found it in daring. It seemed Manny did too. 1:42:23.040 --> 1:42:26.519 The cocktail of dopamine, testosterone, at oxytocin that waffed it 1:42:26.520 --> 1:42:30.040 off and made his feelings as clear as day. Hell yeah, girl, 1:42:30.400 --> 1:42:33.880 Jim said, with an exaggerated Southern twang. Get all over 1:42:33.920 --> 1:42:38.320 here and rail this. That means snorted, Roland said, helpfully. 1:42:38.960 --> 1:42:42.040 Sasha approached Jim's arm. She looked him in the eye, 1:42:42.200 --> 1:42:45.040 then looked over to Roland, and last to Manny. Then 1:42:45.120 --> 1:42:47.000 she stared down at the powder as if she was 1:42:47.040 --> 1:42:49.880 hoping it would say something to her. It didn't, but 1:42:50.040 --> 1:42:52.320 she leaned in any way and snorted about half of 1:42:52.360 --> 1:42:55.200 it before she sneezed and then wretched, and then staggered 1:42:55.200 --> 1:42:57.439 to the side of the deck and vomited over the side. 1:42:58.360 --> 1:43:01.760 Jim and Roland laughed in your joy. Manny, being a 1:43:01.800 --> 1:43:04.160 good person, moved to hold her hair back and help 1:43:04.160 --> 1:43:07.519 her deal with the pukey aftershocks. While the humans engaged 1:43:07.520 --> 1:43:09.840 with their frailties, Roland and Jim did a couple more 1:43:09.880 --> 1:43:15.120 lines each. That was terrible, Sasha said. A few minutes later, heah, 1:43:15.600 --> 1:43:19.040 Jim chuckled, It takes some getting used to, and then 1:43:19.040 --> 1:43:22.439 the door slid open again. Skullfucker. Mike walked out onto 1:43:22.479 --> 1:43:26.360 the deck. Boy ass hats, he called out, We're about 1:43:26.360 --> 1:43:28.280 to war up. You should get down to the field 1:43:28.320 --> 1:43:30.240 as app if you want to see the face taking 1:43:31.520 --> 1:43:35.479 what Manny asked, Excuse me, Sasha said. At the same time, 1:43:35.840 --> 1:43:38.280 Mike just laughed and clapped them both on the shoulders. 1:43:38.600 --> 1:43:40.920 I'll explain down in the field. Get a move on. 1:43:41.240 --> 1:43:43.840 He nodded to Sasha and added, there's a puke wash 1:43:43.880 --> 1:43:48.000 station just inside into the right, next to the bathroom. Right. 1:43:48.360 --> 1:43:51.120 Jim rubbed his hands together in excitement. Why don't you 1:43:51.280 --> 1:43:53.880 kids go roll with skull fucking Mike. I've got to 1:43:53.880 --> 1:43:56.160 get rolland up to my mechanics so we can suit 1:43:56.240 --> 1:43:59.880 him up. Roland didn't like the eagerness in Jim's eyes 1:44:00.120 --> 1:44:02.280 or the excitement in his voice when he said that 1:44:02.600 --> 1:44:05.600 there was something indecent about it. But a promise was 1:44:05.640 --> 1:44:08.400 a promise, so Roland nodded and gave Manny a little 1:44:08.439 --> 1:44:11.960 squeeze on the shoulder. I'll see you soon, buddy, This 1:44:12.040 --> 1:44:18.760 won't take long, Manny. Schoolfucker Mike Manny asked as the 1:44:18.840 --> 1:44:21.720 chromed man led them through the gantries and towards the elevator. 1:44:22.320 --> 1:44:25.080 What exactly is so special about Roland? I mean, he's 1:44:25.080 --> 1:44:27.400 a nice guy, but what makes him so much scarier 1:44:27.479 --> 1:44:30.680 than the other chromed folks like you and Topaz? What 1:44:30.760 --> 1:44:33.880 do you know about Roland's past? Mike asked? In return, 1:44:34.640 --> 1:44:37.760 very little Manny admitted he doesn't seem to remember much 1:44:37.880 --> 1:44:39.720 I've sussed out that he was in the army back 1:44:39.760 --> 1:44:42.800 before the revolution. He's talked about fighting in Turkey, but 1:44:42.880 --> 1:44:45.120 also in Dallas and Denver and a bunch of other 1:44:45.160 --> 1:44:50.000 American cities. Mike nodded, Yeah, we met in Dallas back 1:44:50.040 --> 1:44:54.240 before it was Muerta. I had just been dishonorably discharged 1:44:54.240 --> 1:44:57.680 from the Marine Corps for He frowned, shook his head, 1:44:57.720 --> 1:45:01.160 and continued, it doesn't matter what. For I was broke 1:45:01.200 --> 1:45:03.680 and I had a body fellow, Uncle Sam's chrome. He 1:45:03.800 --> 1:45:06.600 wanted it back. I wound up taking shelter in the 1:45:06.600 --> 1:45:09.920 White Rock Commune. Roland was there too. He was pretty 1:45:09.920 --> 1:45:13.040 political back in those days, always quoting baccoon In and 1:45:13.080 --> 1:45:17.160 Asealon and Red John. Did you guys actually know Red John? 1:45:17.320 --> 1:45:20.439 Sasha asked. Up until that point, she'd walked quietly in 1:45:20.439 --> 1:45:22.960 the rear of their little group. The few times Manny 1:45:23.040 --> 1:45:25.479 had glanced back, she'd had her head down, stuck in 1:45:25.520 --> 1:45:28.760 her own little world. But now she was alert and engaged. 1:45:29.200 --> 1:45:31.400 Many guessed it was hearing the name of the famous 1:45:31.439 --> 1:45:35.640 revolutionary that had done it. That's odd, he thought. I 1:45:35.720 --> 1:45:38.559 never met the guy, Mike said, But Rowland did. He 1:45:38.680 --> 1:45:41.000 was in real deep with that whole circle. So was 1:45:41.040 --> 1:45:44.040 that weird fucker Jim. I was tight with Roland, but 1:45:44.040 --> 1:45:46.599 I've never gotten to the political side of things. I 1:45:46.680 --> 1:45:50.760 liked smashing stuff and they needed stuff smashers. How does 1:45:50.800 --> 1:45:55.599 this relate to why Rowland's Rowland? Manny asked, Well, I've 1:45:55.600 --> 1:45:57.680 known old Roland for a while mag when he was 1:45:57.680 --> 1:46:01.000 still fully himself. He was always cage about his background. 1:46:01.080 --> 1:46:04.040 But we had our theories, and mine was that he'd 1:46:04.040 --> 1:46:08.559 been part of Project Orange. What was that, Sasha asked, 1:46:08.840 --> 1:46:13.240 Holy fuck? Manny said he'd heard of Project Orange, although 1:46:13.240 --> 1:46:16.400 he wasn't surprised Sasha hadn't. The am FED was the 1:46:16.439 --> 1:46:19.719 closest descendant of the old United States. They'd have kept 1:46:19.760 --> 1:46:23.120 most of the bad stuff out of their history books. Well, 1:46:23.200 --> 1:46:26.439 you know, Mike said. Through the twenties, the military struggled 1:46:26.439 --> 1:46:30.120 with declining enlistment numbers. All the little resource wars climate 1:46:30.200 --> 1:46:33.120 change sparked created a need for a capable, nimble force 1:46:33.160 --> 1:46:36.439 that could project power without requiring a public commitment of force. 1:46:37.080 --> 1:46:39.320 So back in the late thirties, the U. S Military 1:46:39.360 --> 1:46:42.719 started fucking hard with gene editing tools and bio mods. 1:46:43.200 --> 1:46:46.559 At first, it was just basic upgrades to select combat units. 1:46:46.600 --> 1:46:49.360 Early versions of the healing suites, y'all both have now. 1:46:49.760 --> 1:46:52.559 Then they moved on to carbon fiber laced bones, bullet 1:46:52.600 --> 1:46:57.240 resistant skin, nanohaling suites. The end result was Project Orange, 1:46:57.400 --> 1:47:00.080 the best warriors in the whole military loaded down with 1:47:00.160 --> 1:47:05.840 experimental self adapting, neural and physiological upgrades. Yeah, man he added, 1:47:05.920 --> 1:47:07.880 it was a real success, right till they wiped out 1:47:07.880 --> 1:47:11.799 a whole city. Schofucker. Mike nodded and looked back to Sasha. 1:47:12.280 --> 1:47:15.960 He's talking about the Battle of Inserlik. I've heard of that, 1:47:16.040 --> 1:47:18.960 Sasha said. A US air strike hit a giant munition's cache. 1:47:19.360 --> 1:47:23.759 Like ten thousand people died. Schofucker. Mike gave a noncommittal grunt. 1:47:24.320 --> 1:47:27.439 There was one version of the story, he said. The 1:47:27.520 --> 1:47:30.920 story I heard, the story everyone told back then, is 1:47:30.960 --> 1:47:34.320 that it was Project Orange. They blew up a city. 1:47:34.360 --> 1:47:38.320 Sasha asked, they didn't blow it up. Manny said, they 1:47:38.400 --> 1:47:42.840 just butchered everyone, mostly in hand to hand combat. The 1:47:42.920 --> 1:47:47.720 DARPA guys miscalculated. Mike nodded to Manny. They entirely revamped 1:47:47.760 --> 1:47:50.519 the endocrine systems of these soldiers and made them immune 1:47:50.520 --> 1:47:54.120 to exhaustion and gave them perfect situational awareness, but it 1:47:54.200 --> 1:47:57.479 also made bloodshed. He trailed off and frowned while he 1:47:57.520 --> 1:48:01.840 searched for his next word, A dick dive. So what 1:48:01.920 --> 1:48:06.439 happened to Project Orange, Sasha asked, Well, said Mike, The 1:48:06.520 --> 1:48:10.000 scientists did with scientists do. They refined things. They revised 1:48:10.040 --> 1:48:13.120 their hypotheses and tweaked their creations until the Joint chiefs 1:48:13.160 --> 1:48:15.800 had another job for the Orange team. They must have 1:48:15.840 --> 1:48:18.160 done well for a while, and Sir Luke was thirty 1:48:18.240 --> 1:48:20.760 nine and no one heard shipped from them until forty one, 1:48:20.840 --> 1:48:24.400 when they hit that protest in Denver, six hundred dead, 1:48:24.680 --> 1:48:27.679 Manny said, reciting the facts he'd memorized a half dozen 1:48:27.720 --> 1:48:32.599 times during his elementary education, including a sitting senator. They 1:48:32.640 --> 1:48:35.679 reached the lift doors, which slid open once they got close. 1:48:36.000 --> 1:48:38.840 Sasha and Manny stepped in first, and Mike came after them. 1:48:38.960 --> 1:48:40.920 He fiddled with the control screen on the wall for 1:48:40.960 --> 1:48:43.280 a moment. I'm just making sure this thing is set 1:48:43.320 --> 1:48:45.920 to normal human speeds. We don't want any more puke 1:48:46.000 --> 1:48:48.840 from yall today, Mike winked at Sasha. As the lift 1:48:48.920 --> 1:48:52.040 doors closed, there was a soft clump sound, and Manny 1:48:52.080 --> 1:48:56.280 felt the lift descend, So yeah, schoolfucker, Mike continued. The 1:48:56.320 --> 1:48:59.120 President deployed the Orange Team against a fortified camp that 1:48:59.120 --> 1:49:02.360 had blocked off access to most of downtown Denver. They 1:49:02.400 --> 1:49:05.120 cleared out the camp sure enough. After the bloodbath, some 1:49:05.200 --> 1:49:07.879 hackers with a Jesture collective took close to a terabyte 1:49:07.920 --> 1:49:11.000 out of the Pentagon servers. It contained a few files 1:49:11.000 --> 1:49:13.760 on Project Orange and a partly redacted report on the 1:49:13.760 --> 1:49:20.080 Insurlic massacre. And then Sasha asked, Mike shrugged. Then they disappeared. 1:49:20.240 --> 1:49:22.439 They weren't used during the revolution, and they'd have been 1:49:22.479 --> 1:49:24.519 pretty damn handy for the old US. At a couple 1:49:24.560 --> 1:49:27.719 of points midway through the war, we recovered some intel 1:49:27.800 --> 1:49:30.880 that they'd been wiped out some terrible accident in orbit. 1:49:31.080 --> 1:49:37.040 Only only Roland Manny said softly, yep, skullfucker. Mike nodded. 1:49:37.400 --> 1:49:40.479 That was certainly my suspicion, still is, But the fucker's 1:49:40.520 --> 1:49:43.519 never confirmed it or denied it, not that he remembers 1:49:43.560 --> 1:49:47.320 now Anyway. The lift reached the ground with a gentle bump. 1:49:47.520 --> 1:49:50.679 Its doors slid open to reveal an army six hundred 1:49:50.680 --> 1:49:53.120 people in three large clumps out by the shore of 1:49:53.200 --> 1:49:56.240 Lake Waco. To the left was the city's vehicle pool. 1:49:56.400 --> 1:49:58.400 In the center where the infantry but decked in a 1:49:58.479 --> 1:50:03.200 ridiculous melange of medieval weaponry, small arms and handheld field artillery. 1:50:03.280 --> 1:50:06.200 And then to the right were the quadrifracts. The sight 1:50:06.320 --> 1:50:08.960 of them took Manny's breath away. There were well over 1:50:09.000 --> 1:50:12.160 a hundred of the strange horse like robots. Most of 1:50:12.200 --> 1:50:14.760 them were still being fussed over by the riders, having 1:50:14.760 --> 1:50:18.120 bolts tightened, weapons belted on to their chassis, or, in 1:50:18.160 --> 1:50:21.799 a few cases old timy leather saddle strapped onto their backs. 1:50:22.240 --> 1:50:24.639 Manny saw one saddle with what looked like a large 1:50:24.640 --> 1:50:28.519 purple dildo attached to it. The quadrifract riders were the 1:50:28.560 --> 1:50:31.880 most uniform group of warriors on the field. While rolling 1:50:31.880 --> 1:50:35.360 Fox infantry wore everything from Roman legionary armor to bikinies 1:50:35.439 --> 1:50:38.880 made of bullets, the cavalry wore nothing. Even from here 1:50:38.920 --> 1:50:40.880 he could see that every nipple in the group was 1:50:40.920 --> 1:50:43.559 as hard as diamond. They were all covered in the 1:50:43.600 --> 1:50:46.960 same sort of led tattoos that Jim wore, but where 1:50:47.000 --> 1:50:50.160 his took the form of ever writhing snakes, theirs appeared 1:50:50.200 --> 1:50:52.920 in blotches of gray black static all up and down 1:50:53.000 --> 1:50:58.280 their bodies. What are they, Sasha asked, voicing Manny's thoughts too. 1:50:59.160 --> 1:51:02.639 The elite skullfucker, Mike said. The best of the city's 1:51:02.640 --> 1:51:06.960 warriors real tough motherfucker's mostly former soldiers who logmened their 1:51:06.960 --> 1:51:10.080 government issue upgrades way back in the day. Some of 1:51:10.120 --> 1:51:12.880 em have five or ten thousand hours of combat experience 1:51:12.880 --> 1:51:17.280 stored in their bodies. Why aren't you out there, Mannie asked, Eh, 1:51:17.439 --> 1:51:21.680 he grunted. Quadfracts make my ass look big. Besides, Tobez 1:51:21.720 --> 1:51:24.040 is a sniper. She keeps to the rear and I 1:51:24.160 --> 1:51:26.400 keep to her. It's not as fun as fuckin shoot 1:51:26.479 --> 1:51:29.040 up at the fronty front. His lips curled up into 1:51:29.040 --> 1:51:32.040 a wistful smile. But we all got to grow up sometime. 1:51:32.960 --> 1:51:36.280 While Sasha and Manny gawkeed, the main roller's other lift descended. 1:51:36.600 --> 1:51:39.599 The doors opened just twenty feet to their right. Nanni 1:51:39.680 --> 1:51:42.920 Yazzi was the first one out. She moved slowly. Some 1:51:43.080 --> 1:51:45.479 of that was surely due to her advanced age, but 1:51:45.520 --> 1:51:48.000 there was also a note of ritual to her movements. 1:51:48.400 --> 1:51:50.600 It was something in the arc of her spine, the 1:51:50.680 --> 1:51:53.360 cadence of her step, the way she held her head. 1:51:53.720 --> 1:51:56.840 The enormous gold bladed knife in her hand didn't hurt either. 1:51:57.840 --> 1:52:01.280 Behind her walk the citizens of Rolling Fuck. There were 1:52:01.320 --> 1:52:03.680 around fifty of them in the lift, but as that 1:52:03.760 --> 1:52:06.760 group walked forward, ropes and ladders began to roll out 1:52:06.800 --> 1:52:10.040 from all around the enormous wheeled city. Within a matter 1:52:10.080 --> 1:52:13.240 of minutes, hundreds and hundreds of people had descended. More 1:52:13.320 --> 1:52:15.880 continued to disgorge from the lifts. Under the main roller 1:52:15.920 --> 1:52:18.639 and the rear roller. The riders had all formed into 1:52:18.760 --> 1:52:21.519 ordered ranks. They stood at something very much like a 1:52:21.560 --> 1:52:25.400 military attention. It was the only time he'd seen posthumans 1:52:25.400 --> 1:52:29.080 do anything in an orderly fashion. Nanni Yazi stood in 1:52:29.120 --> 1:52:32.000 front of the cavalry, and the human civilians clustered behind 1:52:32.040 --> 1:52:35.719 her in a big semicircle. The other warriors gathered behind them. 1:52:35.840 --> 1:52:38.360 Mike maneuver their little group to a hill that overlooked 1:52:38.400 --> 1:52:41.080 the whole scene. It took almost twenty minutes for the 1:52:41.240 --> 1:52:44.960 entire city to gather. What are they doing, sculp fucker, Mike, 1:52:45.439 --> 1:52:48.240 Sasha asked, only stumbling a bit over the curse word 1:52:48.280 --> 1:52:51.280 and his name. This is what I wanted you to see, 1:52:51.400 --> 1:52:58.040 he replied, She's about to take their faces. Rowland the 1:52:58.120 --> 1:53:01.200 process of getting ready for war. The bile rise up 1:53:01.200 --> 1:53:05.120 in his gut. That was curious. Roland's stomach didn't still 1:53:05.160 --> 1:53:07.639 produce bile, not the same kind of violet had when 1:53:07.640 --> 1:53:10.200 he was human. It had been years since his nervous 1:53:10.240 --> 1:53:13.000 system had been natural enough to respond to anxiety with 1:53:13.040 --> 1:53:16.400 any kind of physical symptom, and yet there it was. 1:53:16.720 --> 1:53:19.760 The bile, or the hallucination of bile, curdled at the 1:53:19.760 --> 1:53:22.439 bottom of his stomach while Jim's men strapped him into 1:53:22.479 --> 1:53:26.160 the murder suit. The armor they'd constructed was altogether different 1:53:26.160 --> 1:53:28.240 from the powered armor he'd faced a few days ago 1:53:28.320 --> 1:53:31.240 in Dallas. It was also different from what little he 1:53:31.280 --> 1:53:34.000 remembered of the armor he'd warned as an American soldier. 1:53:34.439 --> 1:53:37.479 That made sense, of course. Roland's wet waar got better 1:53:37.520 --> 1:53:41.200 with time and experience. Gear did not age so well. 1:53:41.800 --> 1:53:44.760 He watched while Sardar bolted a gauntlet into place over 1:53:44.800 --> 1:53:47.320 his left forearm. In hand, he could tell it was 1:53:47.400 --> 1:53:50.559 made of boron nitride carbon tubes, but the weapon's blister 1:53:50.680 --> 1:53:53.719 carried a sextette of tiny rockets that were not familiar 1:53:53.720 --> 1:53:58.080 to him. Sar, what are these things? A smile split 1:53:58.120 --> 1:54:02.840 the little man's dark handsome features. Scatter rocklets, he said 1:54:02.880 --> 1:54:07.120 with relish. Each of them contains twelve guided solid fuel warheads. 1:54:07.400 --> 1:54:09.800 The left hand or all anti personnel built to blow 1:54:09.880 --> 1:54:13.200 up big the right hand rockets. He tapped the second countlet, 1:54:13.360 --> 1:54:15.599 which sat on the work table next to him. Those 1:54:15.640 --> 1:54:18.639 pack a tiny bronze dart. One will penetrate a Leopard 1:54:18.640 --> 1:54:22.679 Mark five's front armor. No problem. Roland's side and looked 1:54:22.720 --> 1:54:25.120 around at the Workshop of Death that Jim had flown 1:54:25.160 --> 1:54:27.479 out here. From the outside, it had looked a bit 1:54:27.560 --> 1:54:30.920 like a shipping container, but painted a glossy white. Its 1:54:31.000 --> 1:54:33.720 edges were rounded and smooth, and the whole thing looked 1:54:33.760 --> 1:54:35.959 slick enough that it could have been an apple product. 1:54:36.600 --> 1:54:39.680 Inside the box was wall to wall weaponry in armor 1:54:40.040 --> 1:54:43.840 Jim's personal stash. Roland couldn't actually name any of the 1:54:43.840 --> 1:54:47.520 weapons inside. Most were similar enough to older weapons systems 1:54:47.520 --> 1:54:50.680 that he could make an educated guess as to their capabilities, 1:54:51.040 --> 1:54:53.520 but there were strange new things on the walls that 1:54:53.560 --> 1:54:57.240 he'd never seen before. Jim sat in a comfy chair 1:54:57.280 --> 1:54:59.840 at the rear of the workshop and watched Sardar work 1:55:00.000 --> 1:55:02.560 while he sipped Scotch out of an enormous ram's horn. 1:55:03.320 --> 1:55:06.000 So this so, is this like your man cave or what? 1:55:06.320 --> 1:55:09.720 Roland asked him. Jim took a deep gulp and then smiled. 1:55:10.720 --> 1:55:14.080 I find it relaxes me, he said. I spent a 1:55:14.080 --> 1:55:16.680 lot of time carried in this collection over the years. 1:55:16.920 --> 1:55:19.480 I spent a lot of time working on that suit, too, 1:55:19.600 --> 1:55:22.840 So don't fuck it up. Something tingled at the back 1:55:22.880 --> 1:55:25.800 of Roland's mind. The suit had clearly been built to 1:55:25.880 --> 1:55:29.520 his specifications. That suggested Jim had been planning this for 1:55:29.560 --> 1:55:32.840 a while, but Roland had been retired at Cameltoe until 1:55:33.040 --> 1:55:36.120 very recently. So how hey, man, I need your port 1:55:36.400 --> 1:55:39.120 Sardar said. The squat mechanic held up a pair of 1:55:39.160 --> 1:55:42.640 fiber optic cables that terminated in peculiar boxy plugs. Not 1:55:42.840 --> 1:55:46.160 unlike old ethernet cable they were connected to a metal 1:55:46.160 --> 1:55:49.200 breastplate on the table. Roland pointed to a pair of 1:55:49.280 --> 1:55:53.040 lumpy white scars on his lower back. The input sockets 1:55:53.040 --> 1:55:55.120 are in there. They've scarred up. You'll have to cut 1:55:55.160 --> 1:55:57.400 him back open, but it should fit. But it should 1:55:57.440 --> 1:56:00.200 still fit. The nice thing about DARPA engineering that a 1:56:00.200 --> 1:56:02.400 little bit of blood and skin never gets in the way. 1:56:03.280 --> 1:56:06.720 Sardar set to work carving the sockets back open. Roland 1:56:06.720 --> 1:56:09.120 felt the pain as a distant sort of itch. He 1:56:09.200 --> 1:56:11.680 was having a hard time focusing his senses on his 1:56:11.720 --> 1:56:15.480 immediate surroundings. The smells of the advancing army presented an 1:56:15.520 --> 1:56:19.280 almost overpowering flood of data. Roland had loaded up on 1:56:19.360 --> 1:56:22.280 ketamine and vodka to quiet his hindbrain, but all that 1:56:22.480 --> 1:56:25.800 interfered with his introspection. He built this thing for me 1:56:25.880 --> 1:56:29.360 to wear. Jim, how long have you been planning this? Yes, 1:56:30.000 --> 1:56:35.000 Jim said, His forthrightness surprised Roland. Your pacifism is a mistake, 1:56:35.400 --> 1:56:39.480 Jim continued, brought on by your overactive conscience. There is 1:56:39.560 --> 1:56:42.000 still so much you need to do in the world. 1:56:42.480 --> 1:56:45.600 I figured at some point you'd realize that yourself, so 1:56:45.720 --> 1:56:49.480 I kept my men working. Sardar lifted the heavy metal 1:56:49.480 --> 1:56:52.800 breastplate up over Roland's head and settled it over his shoulders. 1:56:53.320 --> 1:56:56.760 The weight was comforting. A cold electric shock ran through 1:56:56.760 --> 1:57:00.000 his body as the armor connected to his central nervous system. 1:57:00.240 --> 1:57:02.920 Roland felt parts of himself wake up that he hadn't 1:57:02.920 --> 1:57:06.920 truly realized were asleep. Something in him had missed that feeling, 1:57:07.120 --> 1:57:10.320 and he felt guilty for that. I'm taking this thing 1:57:10.400 --> 1:57:13.200 off the instant. The fight's over, Jim. You wasted your money. 1:57:13.880 --> 1:57:18.080 Jim smile only deepened. You've forgotten how fun it is, Rowland, 1:57:18.800 --> 1:57:20.440 and you've forgotten what it is like to be a 1:57:20.520 --> 1:57:24.200 fucking human. Roland countered, Have you always been a sociopath? 1:57:24.560 --> 1:57:26.640 Is this what I was like back before whatever took 1:57:26.680 --> 1:57:30.760 my memories? Jim's amused, smiled and shift by so much 1:57:30.760 --> 1:57:34.360 as a nanometer. Roland felt a spike of irritation before 1:57:34.400 --> 1:57:37.680 he was distracted by Sardar. Raise your hand, please, the 1:57:37.760 --> 1:57:40.640 mechanic said. He lifted a four barreled machine gun on 1:57:40.680 --> 1:57:43.640 a circular frame and slid it around Roland's right arm. 1:57:44.080 --> 1:57:47.640 Sardar bolted the weapon into place while he explained it's 1:57:47.640 --> 1:57:50.880 a stack charged machine gun magnetically fired, similar to the 1:57:50.880 --> 1:57:53.800 old metal storm weapons. But this fucker's capable of putting 1:57:53.800 --> 1:57:57.520 out twenty thousand rounds per second. How long an a fire, 1:57:57.960 --> 1:58:01.920 Sardar laughed, but less than this second. The mechanic turned 1:58:01.960 --> 1:58:04.440 back to his table, and Roland tried to direct his 1:58:04.480 --> 1:58:08.600 wandering mind back to the conversation with Jim. You're going 1:58:08.720 --> 1:58:11.480 to love it, his old friend said, I know you've 1:58:11.520 --> 1:58:13.880 been lovin' it when you've fought your way out of 1:58:13.960 --> 1:58:16.880 that citia. I could smell the dopamine waftin off your 1:58:16.960 --> 1:58:19.880 brain from all the way out here. Sardar snapped a 1:58:19.920 --> 1:58:23.400 queasts around Roland's thigh. The armor also sported a bulky 1:58:23.400 --> 1:58:27.240 weapons blister on its outside edge gas grenade launcher. The 1:58:27.280 --> 1:58:30.440 mechanic explained, should co great with all the frag rocklets. 1:58:31.040 --> 1:58:34.200 Uh so we're committing war crimes now, Roland asked Jim, 1:58:34.360 --> 1:58:37.800 with more indignation than he really felt. Jim rolled his eyes. 1:58:38.280 --> 1:58:41.280 Is just he a gas? He said, mostly? At least 1:58:41.640 --> 1:58:44.680 I may have included some aerosolized L S D in there. 1:58:44.920 --> 1:58:49.080 I've been on a big psychochemical warfare kicked lately. For 1:58:49.120 --> 1:58:52.200 a little while, Sardar worked in silence, Jim drank and 1:58:52.320 --> 1:58:55.520 Roland stared near him, but not at him. The self 1:58:55.520 --> 1:58:57.960 inflicted haze in his head had cleared a bit. That 1:58:58.000 --> 1:59:00.880 meant his hind brain grew louder. By now it was 1:59:00.920 --> 1:59:04.200 all but shouting about the approaching army. Roland felt a 1:59:04.240 --> 1:59:09.360 trickle of adrenaline, oxytocin, and endorphins. His left hand twitched involuntarily. 1:59:09.640 --> 1:59:12.160 He felt the power of the weapons system around him, 1:59:12.280 --> 1:59:15.000 and he felt the power in his own body. Something 1:59:15.080 --> 1:59:18.040 like a rousal gripped him. Roland fought it down as 1:59:18.080 --> 1:59:20.680 best he could, but it lingered there at the edge 1:59:20.680 --> 1:59:25.240 of his consciousness. I've been remembering more, he said to Jim, 1:59:25.320 --> 1:59:27.720 as much to distract himself as out of a desire 1:59:27.760 --> 1:59:31.320 to get it off his chest. Jim cocked an eyebrow 1:59:31.360 --> 1:59:34.800 in interest. I've had a few big flashes of memories. 1:59:34.880 --> 1:59:36.960 Once when we drove into Dallas, past the side of 1:59:37.000 --> 1:59:40.880 the Lakewood Blast, I remembered. He locked eyes with Jim, 1:59:41.040 --> 1:59:44.840 and Jim nodded back his eyes said, I know so, 1:59:45.040 --> 1:59:48.840 Roland moved on. The memories come most intensely when I'm 1:59:48.840 --> 1:59:52.640 in combat. I remembered hiking with Topez. I remembered burning 1:59:52.680 --> 1:59:55.400 the TAZ in Denver. I got flashes of you and 1:59:55.440 --> 1:59:59.040 me in Mexico, and a lot more. I'm still certain 1:59:59.080 --> 2:00:01.720 through it. It's confus using because there's no timeline for 2:00:01.760 --> 2:00:05.120 any of this, just associated memories I know happened. At 2:00:05.160 --> 2:00:11.360 some point, Jim leaned forward, his eyes flashed with excitement. Interested, 2:00:11.520 --> 2:00:14.240 he said, tell me. Have you been able to draw 2:00:14.320 --> 2:00:17.560 any conclusions about who you were from what you've remembered? 2:00:17.880 --> 2:00:22.480 Have you gotten any insight into the old Roland? Roland frowned. 2:00:22.840 --> 2:00:25.160 He'd been so focused on trying to remember his old 2:00:25.160 --> 2:00:26.960 life that he hadn't given much thought to what the 2:00:26.960 --> 2:00:30.000 memories he had said about the man he'd been. As 2:00:30.000 --> 2:00:32.880 he pondered, Roland's mind lingered on the memory of shooting 2:00:32.960 --> 2:00:35.880 the chainey boy in the back of the head. I 2:00:35.920 --> 2:00:37.680 think I used to be a lot more like you, 2:00:38.160 --> 2:00:42.160 Roland said. Jim grinned, his lips curled up to reveal 2:00:42.320 --> 2:00:46.680 long rows of white, straight teeth. That's true, he said, 2:00:47.080 --> 2:00:53.400 Why else do you think I've missed you so much? Sasha? 2:00:54.360 --> 2:00:57.480 A part of Sasha had believed that after the Heavenly Kingdom, 2:00:57.640 --> 2:01:00.960 nothing she saw would ever shock her again. That part 2:01:01.000 --> 2:01:04.320 of her was proven wrong when Nana Yazzi's aged arthritic 2:01:04.360 --> 2:01:07.480 hand began to messily carve at the first warrior's face. 2:01:08.080 --> 2:01:10.320 Her target was the young woman with the chrome hawk 2:01:10.400 --> 2:01:13.480 Sasha had seen in the war council. The carving was 2:01:13.520 --> 2:01:15.800 a messy thing. It took the better part of a 2:01:15.840 --> 2:01:18.440 minute for her to slice and peel the skin free. 2:01:18.840 --> 2:01:22.280 Sasha noticed that there was very little blood. It was messy, 2:01:22.600 --> 2:01:25.160 but not as messy as it should have been. Once 2:01:25.160 --> 2:01:27.920 she was finished, Nana Yazzi stepped back with the woman's 2:01:27.960 --> 2:01:31.280 face in her hand. As she did, dozens of citizens 2:01:31.280 --> 2:01:35.080 stepped forward. They pulled out daggers, swords, straight razors, and 2:01:35.120 --> 2:01:38.080 switch blades of their own. Each civilian paired off with 2:01:38.120 --> 2:01:40.880 a warrior and began to carve. Some of them were 2:01:40.920 --> 2:01:44.240 quick and practiced. The motion of their hands reminded Sasha 2:01:44.280 --> 2:01:46.560 of an autopsy video she'd watched in one of her 2:01:46.600 --> 2:01:50.040 pre met classes, but the other citizens were cruder with 2:01:50.120 --> 2:01:53.960 their cutting. A few verged on brutal hacking and slashing 2:01:53.960 --> 2:01:56.720 at the faces and necks of their persons. None of 2:01:56.760 --> 2:01:59.960 the post human warriors showed any signs of pain or discomfort. 2:02:00.440 --> 2:02:05.160 They just stood, unmoving and without their faces, seemingly without emotion. 2:02:06.120 --> 2:02:09.920 I don't understand, Sasha said. She hadn't expected to say 2:02:09.960 --> 2:02:13.880 it out loud, The words just slipped out. It's a 2:02:13.920 --> 2:02:18.360 symbolic thing, scoffucker Mike explained. Before they leave, the city's 2:02:18.400 --> 2:02:21.240 warriors give up their identities to the group. They leave 2:02:21.280 --> 2:02:24.160 their humanity behind, and bloody tatters in the hands of 2:02:24.200 --> 2:02:26.880 their friends and loved ones. It's a way of making 2:02:26.920 --> 2:02:29.880 sure the city civilians don't leave a war without blood 2:02:29.920 --> 2:02:33.000 on their hands. And it makes em look fucking terrifying, 2:02:33.280 --> 2:02:36.840 someone said from behind them. Sasha turned around. A short, 2:02:36.960 --> 2:02:39.640 fit man approached them. He had a thin build, but 2:02:39.760 --> 2:02:42.640 his body was girded with lithe muscle. There was something 2:02:42.680 --> 2:02:45.640 familiar about his face, the short mop of curly black 2:02:45.640 --> 2:02:49.160 hair atop his head. The man smiled when Sasha saw him, 2:02:49.320 --> 2:02:55.360 revealing pointed metallic fangs. Hey wait a second, Low, Topez scoffucker, 2:02:55.440 --> 2:02:58.760 Mike said. Manny looked shocked as well. He stared at 2:02:58.760 --> 2:03:03.160 the man in surprise. Topaz, what happened? There was a 2:03:03.160 --> 2:03:05.960 woman with those exact same teeth yesterday when we arrived 2:03:06.000 --> 2:03:08.920 at the city. Sasha hadn't gotten a woman's name, but 2:03:09.000 --> 2:03:12.160 she'd borne a striking resemblance to this man. I felt 2:03:12.160 --> 2:03:14.360 like a man to day, Topaz said, what with the 2:03:14.400 --> 2:03:18.839 war and all? Sasha finally realized what had happened. Of course, 2:03:18.960 --> 2:03:23.040 she thought these people can change their physiology on a dime, Ah, 2:03:23.240 --> 2:03:26.760 Manny said with a nod schofucker. Mike walked up to Topaz, 2:03:26.800 --> 2:03:29.800 and the two embraced and then kissed. They twined their 2:03:29.880 --> 2:03:32.960 arms together, and a few seconds later, Topaz seemed to 2:03:33.000 --> 2:03:37.080 finally notice Sasha's presence. Sorry, he smiled as he spoke. 2:03:37.240 --> 2:03:41.440 But I don't believe I got your name, Sasha, Saschamarian. 2:03:42.080 --> 2:03:45.760 Topaz stepped closer. Well, Sascha Maarian, he said, in a 2:03:45.800 --> 2:03:49.240 low voice, How are you liking? Are strange ways and customs? 2:03:50.040 --> 2:03:55.200 They're interesting? Sasha said diplomatically. Do you find this place 2:03:55.320 --> 2:03:59.040 more to your liking than the heavenly Kingdom? Topaz stepped closer. 2:03:59.320 --> 2:04:02.120 Sasha took a step back and then another. The man's 2:04:02.120 --> 2:04:04.400 expression was friendly enough, but there was a sort of 2:04:04.480 --> 2:04:06.960 queer menace in the set of his shoulders. It may 2:04:07.000 --> 2:04:09.360 have had something to do with the very large rifle 2:04:09.440 --> 2:04:13.760 slung across his back. Sasha started to sweat. Fear gripped 2:04:13.760 --> 2:04:18.400 her mind. Topaz back off, schoolfucker. Mike's voice was devoid 2:04:18.400 --> 2:04:22.800 of anger, but firm. You're scaring her. Topaz stopped and 2:04:22.880 --> 2:04:26.720 stared at Mike. His expression went from placid smile to rage, 2:04:26.720 --> 2:04:29.200 and then back to a smile, almost faster than Sasha 2:04:29.240 --> 2:04:33.560 could process. Sorry, darling, he said in an artificially chipper voice. 2:04:33.840 --> 2:04:36.120 I just wanted to make sure our guest was enjoying 2:04:36.120 --> 2:04:39.520 her stay here. He looked to Sasha again. You are, 2:04:39.720 --> 2:04:45.120 aren't you? Yes, good, Topaz purred, Hopefully you won't be 2:04:45.200 --> 2:04:47.640 joining any more extremist groups to get my friends killed. 2:04:48.280 --> 2:04:51.040 He turned immediately to Manny, and with barely a pause 2:04:51.080 --> 2:04:54.600 for breath, embraced him and kissed his forehead. I'm proud 2:04:54.600 --> 2:04:57.520 of you, buddy, as far as I'm concerned your family. 2:04:58.240 --> 2:05:00.920 Manny mumbled his thanks and returned the hug, but he 2:05:00.960 --> 2:05:03.920 glanced at Sasha and they shared a what the hell look? 2:05:04.440 --> 2:05:08.080 Skullfucker Mike seemed to want a plaster over the awkwardness. Yep, 2:05:08.280 --> 2:05:11.520 he said, We've made some wonderful friends these last couple 2:05:11.520 --> 2:05:14.360 of days. He pantomime looking down at his watchless wrist 2:05:14.440 --> 2:05:17.360 and checking the time. Oh my goodness, he said, in 2:05:17.400 --> 2:05:20.160 mock surprise. Look at the time, Topez, We've got a 2:05:20.160 --> 2:05:22.360 war to get to. You kids had better find some 2:05:22.440 --> 2:05:27.240 decent seats. Topaz smiled at skullfucker Mike, his eyes lingered 2:05:27.240 --> 2:05:30.640 on the big man's face and then drifted back to Sasha. 2:05:31.000 --> 2:05:36.280 Enjoy the show, he said, with an empty smile, Rowland. 2:05:37.400 --> 2:05:40.000 It was windy. On the landing pad. He and Jim 2:05:40.040 --> 2:05:43.560 stood next to a heavy black feetoll aircraft, the steed 2:05:43.600 --> 2:05:47.280 that would carry him into today's massacre. Roland could taste 2:05:47.320 --> 2:05:49.800 the dying summer and the faint stirrings of a North 2:05:49.880 --> 2:05:52.760 Texas fall in the air. It was cooler than he'd 2:05:52.760 --> 2:05:55.760 have expected this time of the year, grayer too. A 2:05:55.840 --> 2:05:59.000 gust of chill wind blew across his face, and Roland 2:05:59.000 --> 2:06:02.600 found himself fall ling back in time again. He was shorter, 2:06:02.800 --> 2:06:05.320 The world seemed sharper, even though his senses were dim 2:06:05.360 --> 2:06:08.400 and unenlightened. Roland felt a hand abound his own. It 2:06:08.480 --> 2:06:11.600 felt big, powerful, and comforting. He looked up and saw 2:06:11.600 --> 2:06:14.600 a woman standing over him. She was tall, a giant. 2:06:14.800 --> 2:06:16.920 Her hair was brown and straight and long and clear 2:06:16.960 --> 2:06:19.560 as day in his mind's eye, but her face was blank, 2:06:19.720 --> 2:06:22.680 obscured even in memory. His head turned to track the 2:06:22.680 --> 2:06:25.520 passage of a blowing leaf. He felt chill winter air 2:06:25.600 --> 2:06:27.480 on his arm, and he watched as a red sedan 2:06:27.560 --> 2:06:30.200 rumbled past them, straining water into the airs and had 2:06:30.200 --> 2:06:34.400 a puddle on the asphalt. Rowland pay attention. Jim's voice 2:06:34.440 --> 2:06:37.440 snapped him back to reality. The other chrombed man held 2:06:37.480 --> 2:06:40.280 a paper thin table in front of Roland's face. That 2:06:40.360 --> 2:06:43.040 memory flash had been the most immersive yet, although not 2:06:43.160 --> 2:06:46.000 the longest. He was a little confused at that why 2:06:46.040 --> 2:06:48.440 that moment had it just been the similarity in weather 2:06:48.640 --> 2:06:52.800 or Rowland? Jim was angry. It was actually somewhat refreshing 2:06:52.800 --> 2:06:55.640 to see genuine emotion on the other man's post human face. 2:06:56.200 --> 2:06:58.960 Veins bulged at his neck and his eyes were fully open. 2:06:59.360 --> 2:07:03.880 Roland caught a harsh whiff of methamphetamine from his breath. Alright, alright, 2:07:03.920 --> 2:07:07.320 fucking chill, Roland muttered, what am I looking at? He 2:07:07.440 --> 2:07:09.880 needn't have asked. Once he focused on the tablet, it 2:07:09.880 --> 2:07:11.960 was obvious that it displayed a map of the area 2:07:12.080 --> 2:07:15.960 around Lake Waco. Rolling Fox warriors and vehicles were displayed 2:07:15.960 --> 2:07:19.120 in little blue pinpoints. Jim scrolled up a few inches 2:07:19.160 --> 2:07:21.840 and Roland saw a swarm of red. It was half 2:07:21.880 --> 2:07:24.560 over the Brazos right now, and it crept millimeter by 2:07:24.560 --> 2:07:28.520 millivater towards their position. The river slowed him down a bit, 2:07:28.640 --> 2:07:31.200 Jim said, but the bridges there was still in good order. 2:07:31.360 --> 2:07:33.960 I'd say they'll hit rock Creak in about ten minutes. 2:07:34.640 --> 2:07:37.560 Roland nodded and asked, couldn't we have killed those bridges 2:07:37.640 --> 2:07:41.280 bought some hours. Jim gave a careless shrug. Why would 2:07:41.320 --> 2:07:43.920 we want to slow him down? We're ready enough, No 2:07:44.000 --> 2:07:47.520 sense in dragging this out. There was a strong smell 2:07:47.520 --> 2:07:50.000 of ozone as the v Toal aircraft next to them 2:07:50.000 --> 2:07:53.000 woke up. Red lights glowed on the missile pods slung 2:07:53.080 --> 2:07:56.120 under its belly. The chain gun on its nose cycled. 2:07:56.240 --> 2:07:59.000 The whole thing hummed with potential energy. It was too 2:07:59.040 --> 2:08:01.200 modern for Roland to know the make and model, but 2:08:01.240 --> 2:08:04.320 it reminded him of the Russian Coba Assault transport, which 2:08:04.320 --> 2:08:06.480 had been state of the art back in the mid forties. 2:08:07.480 --> 2:08:11.280 So is the plan, he asked Jim. Well, his friend said, 2:08:11.440 --> 2:08:13.640 we know they've got at least a half dozen mobile 2:08:13.680 --> 2:08:18.320 antie batteries old U s Patriot threes inaccurate garbage. Nothing. 2:08:18.360 --> 2:08:21.440 I'm worried about. The name conjured up a ghost of 2:08:21.440 --> 2:08:24.880 another memory. A big Patriot battery wheeled around on its 2:08:24.920 --> 2:08:28.080 truck sized chassis. He heard the machine whine of the motors, 2:08:28.080 --> 2:08:29.920 and then the reek of fear hit his nose, as 2:08:30.040 --> 2:08:32.760 rich and heavy as Texas thunder. There were missiles in 2:08:32.800 --> 2:08:34.680 the air aimed at him as he fell. They were 2:08:34.760 --> 2:08:37.240 child's plate at dodge in his suit. He descended, his 2:08:37.360 --> 2:08:39.880 fear stink rolled up towards him from the soldiers below. 2:08:40.200 --> 2:08:43.760 The poor fucker's Rowland, Jim shouted, I'm not gonna have 2:08:43.880 --> 2:08:47.200 to find another murder guerilla to take your place. What No, 2:08:47.800 --> 2:08:51.800 Roland shook his head. Sorry, he said, just memories. Jim 2:08:51.840 --> 2:08:54.480 gave him a long look and if then you need 2:08:54.520 --> 2:08:58.720 to talk about right now? No, Roland said, it's just 2:08:59.240 --> 2:09:03.480 the memories are coming amy faster now, it's distracting. That 2:09:03.520 --> 2:09:07.760 makes sense. Jim said, I'd imagined stimula that reminds you 2:09:07.800 --> 2:09:10.520 of your past, could prompt your brain into a sudden healing. 2:09:11.800 --> 2:09:13.880 He reached into a bag at his hip. It looked 2:09:13.920 --> 2:09:16.880 like a standard dump pouch meant for half spent magazines 2:09:16.920 --> 2:09:19.080 in the heat of battle, but Jim pulled out a 2:09:19.120 --> 2:09:22.560 fully loaded crack pipe. Even unlit, it smelled like burning 2:09:22.600 --> 2:09:26.360 tires at a non percent peel. Jim held the pipe 2:09:26.440 --> 2:09:29.680 up to Roland. All right. Roland grabbed the pipe and 2:09:29.760 --> 2:09:32.280 lifted it to his lips. Jim reached out and flipped 2:09:32.280 --> 2:09:35.040 on the lighter built into his index finger. He held 2:09:35.120 --> 2:09:37.600 it under the glass bubble of the pipe. The rocks 2:09:37.680 --> 2:09:41.200 vaporized into white smoke rolland inhaled and felt the vapor 2:09:41.320 --> 2:09:44.800 dissolve into his blood stream through his mucus membranes. There 2:09:44.880 --> 2:09:47.600 was a tingle as the crack reached his brain's ventral 2:09:47.680 --> 2:09:50.680 tegmental area, and said, in essence, you know how much 2:09:50.720 --> 2:09:53.440 dopamine you were planning to produce? Make a shipload more 2:09:53.480 --> 2:09:57.960 than that. The happy chemicals flooded Roland's mind. His anxiety 2:09:58.000 --> 2:10:00.640 at the recently churned up memories faded, as did the 2:10:00.680 --> 2:10:06.520 memories themselves better. Jim asked, super good, Roland said, can I, 2:10:07.000 --> 2:10:09.839 Jim waved, show a man keep the pipe. In fact, 2:10:10.080 --> 2:10:12.280 he pulled his index finger free from his hand and 2:10:12.320 --> 2:10:15.320 gave it to Roland. Keep that. I'll grow a new one. 2:10:16.000 --> 2:10:18.880 Who Roland took the finger, flicked at a light, and 2:10:18.920 --> 2:10:22.880 took another deep pole of burning crack, so he said, 2:10:22.880 --> 2:10:26.600 as he exhaled a plume of crack smoke. The plan right, 2:10:26.840 --> 2:10:29.640 said Jim, like I told you, Rock creak is where 2:10:29.680 --> 2:10:32.800 we planned to hit him. The Edmund Fitzgerald. Here, Jim 2:10:32.840 --> 2:10:35.000 banged a hand on the side of the veetoll craft. 2:10:35.280 --> 2:10:38.400 It's gonna take you up to around fifteen thousand feet 2:10:38.400 --> 2:10:41.240 and then drop you right on the heads. I expect 2:10:41.280 --> 2:10:44.160 we'll take some flak afterwards, but this bird can handle it. 2:10:44.440 --> 2:10:47.160 And besides, he raised his voice and jerked his head 2:10:47.200 --> 2:10:50.800 towards the cockpit. Anderson's piloting it to day, and it's 2:10:50.800 --> 2:10:54.040 not like I give a shit if he does. In response, 2:10:54.080 --> 2:10:56.280 the nose gun wheeled around on its mount and locked 2:10:56.280 --> 2:10:58.440 on to Jim. There was a clinking sound as it 2:10:58.520 --> 2:11:01.680 ratcheted around into its chain er. Jim rolled his eyes. 2:11:02.000 --> 2:11:05.320 Fucking pilots. Anyway, me and my people will be with 2:11:05.360 --> 2:11:09.120 the Roland fuck folks getting shot at. He tapped Roland's helmet. 2:11:09.480 --> 2:11:11.720 When we're ready for you, I'll ping you both, and 2:11:11.720 --> 2:11:14.840 Anderson can drop you on top of the asses. So 2:11:15.280 --> 2:11:17.800 Roland asked, I've just got a fall on top of 2:11:17.840 --> 2:11:22.040 a hostile army and start shooting. Jim nodded, right, then, 2:11:22.400 --> 2:11:28.520 let's get started. Manny. Years ago and what now seemed 2:11:28.560 --> 2:11:31.200 like another life, Manny had gone to watch an outdoor 2:11:31.240 --> 2:11:35.400 movie at Silker Park in Austin Ghostbusters. He was pretty 2:11:35.440 --> 2:11:38.880 sure it had been Ghostbusters, hundreds and hundreds of people 2:11:38.880 --> 2:11:41.720 had shown up, families with children, and couples on dates, 2:11:41.760 --> 2:11:45.160 and so so many dogs. The sound hadn't been great, 2:11:45.240 --> 2:11:47.839 and the projectionist could have been better, but he remembered 2:11:47.880 --> 2:11:52.960 the evening fondly. Rolling fuck before a battle reminded him 2:11:52.960 --> 2:11:56.320 of that experience. The people were different. Very few of 2:11:56.320 --> 2:11:59.680 them were children, but clusters of citizens, friend groups and 2:11:59.680 --> 2:12:02.280 family leaves and families of friends had set up little 2:12:02.360 --> 2:12:05.160 viewing nooks across the wheeled city itself and in the 2:12:05.200 --> 2:12:07.520 field in front of it. The whole scene would have 2:12:07.520 --> 2:12:09.920 been idyllic if they weren't about to watch a battle. 2:12:10.600 --> 2:12:14.240 The vehicle's cavalry and infantry were already almost out of view. 2:12:14.720 --> 2:12:17.720 He could just barely see shapes out on the horizon 2:12:18.080 --> 2:12:21.280 setting up firing positions on top of buildings in Rock Creek. 2:12:21.800 --> 2:12:24.920 They moved so damn fast. Manny didn't think he'd ever 2:12:24.960 --> 2:12:27.480 get used to the pace of post human life. He 2:12:27.560 --> 2:12:30.560 knew Topaz and Skullfucker Mike were somewhere out there, he 2:12:30.640 --> 2:12:33.480 knew where they'd be soon, and in spite of their confidence, 2:12:33.760 --> 2:12:36.760 he worried for them more than anyone. He worried for 2:12:36.920 --> 2:12:41.480 Roland drinks for everyone. Donald Ferris said he had a 2:12:41.520 --> 2:12:43.880 tray full of drinks in his hands, fresh from the bar. 2:12:44.240 --> 2:12:47.240 He sat down next to Nanayazi and smiled. Manny and 2:12:47.280 --> 2:12:49.400 Sasha sat on the opposite side of them in a 2:12:49.440 --> 2:12:52.240 booth in the main roller's bar, looking out over Waco. 2:12:53.040 --> 2:12:56.640 Donald started handing out beverages, first bubbly drinks in long 2:12:56.680 --> 2:13:01.520 brown bottles that smelled familiar Coca cola, the old documentarian said, 2:13:01.840 --> 2:13:04.600 not the stuff they still sell all over, the original 2:13:04.640 --> 2:13:08.120 recipe with cocaine and alcohol. It's great ship. We go 2:13:08.320 --> 2:13:11.680 through gallons of it every day. Nany Yazzi took a 2:13:11.680 --> 2:13:14.760 sip from hers and smiled. It's quite good, she said, 2:13:15.120 --> 2:13:18.840 and the intoxicating effect is mild. Our chromed comrades have 2:13:18.880 --> 2:13:23.040 a stronger variant. Of course, we're all humans here. Donald 2:13:23.040 --> 2:13:26.520 smiled more or less. Manny took one of the cokes, 2:13:26.640 --> 2:13:30.000 sipped it, and nodded to Sasha. It's really good, he said, 2:13:30.320 --> 2:13:33.240 you should try it. It was good, and it didn't 2:13:33.240 --> 2:13:36.120 seem like it was too strong. Minny took another sip 2:13:36.160 --> 2:13:38.760 and smiled. As Sasha grabbed her bottle and took a gulp. 2:13:39.120 --> 2:13:41.680 She seemed to like it. There was a loud pop 2:13:41.760 --> 2:13:44.920 sound from somewhere up above. Minny tinsed up, but then 2:13:44.920 --> 2:13:47.280 he tracked its origin to one of the landing pads 2:13:47.280 --> 2:13:49.640 that extended from a gantry tower at least a hundred 2:13:49.680 --> 2:13:53.240 feet above them. Dozens of small black shapes flitted out 2:13:53.280 --> 2:13:56.000 from it and soared forward off in the same direction 2:13:56.040 --> 2:14:00.480 the army had gone spidrones. Donald Ferris explained, they'll be 2:14:00.520 --> 2:14:03.440 at the front by the time the fighting starts. This 2:14:03.560 --> 2:14:06.960 all seemed so weird, Sasha said, I think I read 2:14:07.000 --> 2:14:10.120 about people doing something similar during the Civil War. They'd 2:14:10.120 --> 2:14:13.640 set up picnic blankets on hills overlooking the battle. Donald 2:14:13.640 --> 2:14:16.640 Ferris grunted and shifted in his seat a bit awkwardly. 2:14:17.040 --> 2:14:19.920 Nani Yazzi smiled and said, it is a bit like that. 2:14:20.480 --> 2:14:23.320 The difference is that we're not doing this to be voyeurs. 2:14:23.600 --> 2:14:28.120 We won't see much fighting. What will we see? Just watch? 2:14:28.320 --> 2:14:31.080 Donald Ferris said, and reached for a tiny shot glass 2:14:31.120 --> 2:14:34.320 filled with a yellow brown liquid. But ever drink first, 2:14:34.480 --> 2:14:37.680 it'll help. Manny took one of the shot glasses and 2:14:37.720 --> 2:14:40.280 moved to belt it down, but Nanyazzie put her hand 2:14:40.280 --> 2:14:43.920 on his. That's fine, te quel, a son, I'd recommend sipping, 2:14:44.920 --> 2:14:47.680 so he sipped it, and it was good. The burn 2:14:47.840 --> 2:14:50.080 rolled down his throat and mixed with the cocaine and 2:14:50.120 --> 2:14:53.879 alcohol from the Coca cola, A comfortable, warm haze settled 2:14:53.880 --> 2:14:56.800 over Manny. He was about to encourage Sasha to try 2:14:56.840 --> 2:14:59.960 some when another sound intruded. The high hum of drone 2:15:00.000 --> 2:15:03.560 bones filled the air. Manny fought down an irrational surge 2:15:03.600 --> 2:15:06.760 of anxiety. He wasn't sure he'd ever feel comfortable with 2:15:06.760 --> 2:15:09.840 the sound of drones again. Each of these drones was 2:15:09.880 --> 2:15:12.600 the size and rough density of a rottweiler. They flew 2:15:12.600 --> 2:15:15.080 in pairs, connected by what looked like a thick, bindy 2:15:15.120 --> 2:15:18.280 white tube that hung between them. Several pairs settled in 2:15:18.320 --> 2:15:20.600 front of the main roller's bar in a stable hover. 2:15:20.880 --> 2:15:22.760 With a whirr and a click, the white tubes in 2:15:22.800 --> 2:15:26.440 between them opened up and unfurled into screens. A second later, 2:15:26.640 --> 2:15:30.080 the screens lit up. Manny took another sip of truly 2:15:30.160 --> 2:15:34.080 fabulous tequila and looked back across his new friends. Donald 2:15:34.160 --> 2:15:37.440 Ferris looked somber as Solomon gray as a granite wall. 2:15:38.000 --> 2:15:40.880 Nana Yazzi seemed almost excited, as if she'd reached the 2:15:40.920 --> 2:15:44.160 first jump scare in a good horror movie. Sasha hadn't 2:15:44.200 --> 2:15:46.640 touched her liquor. She didn't seem to have taken more 2:15:46.640 --> 2:15:49.760 than a few SIPs of the coke. Manny found himself wondering, 2:15:49.800 --> 2:15:52.280 what would happen to her after all this? What am 2:15:52.320 --> 2:15:54.920 I going to do after this? Manny realized with a 2:15:54.960 --> 2:15:57.200 bit of shock that Oscar's wife was the only person 2:15:57.280 --> 2:16:00.080 he'd messaged in almost a week. He hadn't sent anything 2:16:00.120 --> 2:16:03.240 to his family or his friends back in Austin. He'd 2:16:03.240 --> 2:16:05.640 had the excuse of his deck being deactivated when he'd 2:16:05.640 --> 2:16:08.040 been inside the Kingdom, but now that he was back 2:16:08.080 --> 2:16:11.120 and his deck was functional, his lack of communication felt 2:16:11.200 --> 2:16:14.480 less and less defensible. Just thinking about Ayisha and the 2:16:14.600 --> 2:16:17.080 terrible news he still had yet to deliver brought a 2:16:17.120 --> 2:16:19.640 spike of anxiety that was somehow worse than his fear 2:16:19.680 --> 2:16:23.360 over the coming battle. There's a certain sound that happens 2:16:23.400 --> 2:16:25.800 when a large group of people all noticed something at 2:16:25.800 --> 2:16:28.880 the same time. That sound shook Manny out of his 2:16:28.960 --> 2:16:31.720 contemplation and alerted him to the fact that something had 2:16:31.720 --> 2:16:34.640 started to happen on the screens. He looked up, and 2:16:34.680 --> 2:16:37.160 he saw that all the screens scattered around the city 2:16:37.160 --> 2:16:39.920 and hovering over the field now shared the same images. 2:16:40.560 --> 2:16:42.840 One side of the screens displayed a video feed of 2:16:42.879 --> 2:16:45.720 a man in full tactical armor, his eyes covered by 2:16:45.760 --> 2:16:48.760 goggles and his head protected by a black helmet. He 2:16:48.800 --> 2:16:50.960 was seated in the coupo law of an armored vehicle 2:16:51.120 --> 2:16:54.480 rolling fast over the highway. Next to that video feed 2:16:54.560 --> 2:16:57.039 was a picture of the same man, Sam's armor in 2:16:57.080 --> 2:17:00.280 more peaceful days. He was fair skinned, with red hair 2:17:00.360 --> 2:17:03.160 and an easy smile. He wore a shirt that Manny 2:17:03.200 --> 2:17:06.039 guest signified his allegiance to some sports team. In the 2:17:06.080 --> 2:17:09.440 am fed the images sat there alone for a second. 2:17:11.400 --> 2:17:13.959 Manny looked out at the horizon towards Rock Creek, where 2:17:14.040 --> 2:17:17.440 Rolling Fox soldiers had embedded themselves. He saw three black 2:17:17.440 --> 2:17:20.080 gray contrails rush out from an old office building and 2:17:20.120 --> 2:17:23.400 out towards the highway. The Heavenly Kingdom's forces were just 2:17:23.600 --> 2:17:27.080 barely visible to his naked eye, tiny ant size tanks 2:17:27.080 --> 2:17:30.680 and transports. All three rockets hit, and the black smoke 2:17:30.720 --> 2:17:33.760 of the detonations obscured the head of the vehicle column. 2:17:34.560 --> 2:17:37.400 And then on the video feed, a rocket burst right 2:17:37.440 --> 2:17:40.320 above the man in the cupola. Manny watched as he 2:17:40.360 --> 2:17:43.320 was torn apart in a hail of shrapnel. The video 2:17:43.520 --> 2:17:46.240 and the still image of his smiling face were replaced 2:17:46.240 --> 2:17:48.560 a second later by a looping video of an older 2:17:48.600 --> 2:17:51.320 man playing with a baby girl. He picked her up 2:17:51.320 --> 2:17:53.520 and spun her around, and the camera zoomed in on 2:17:53.600 --> 2:17:56.840 his joyous smile. Another video played of a younger man 2:17:57.000 --> 2:18:00.800 attending his high school graduation. More videos and still images 2:18:00.840 --> 2:18:03.640 popped up, displaying gentle moments in the lives of at 2:18:03.680 --> 2:18:06.880 least a dozen different men, and then all the screens 2:18:06.920 --> 2:18:11.280 cut violently to video of and exploding a PC. Manny 2:18:11.400 --> 2:18:15.520 jerked back in surprise. He saw that Sasha had reacted similarly. 2:18:15.879 --> 2:18:20.600 Nannyazi just sat and stared, her face unreadable. Donald Ferris frowned, 2:18:20.840 --> 2:18:23.240 and when he noticed Manny looking back at him, he 2:18:23.320 --> 2:18:25.760 waved a gentle hand towards the screen and mouthed the 2:18:25.800 --> 2:18:29.960 word watch. Manny turned back to the screens in time 2:18:30.000 --> 2:18:33.199 to see them populate with more faces and more looping videos. 2:18:33.720 --> 2:18:37.600 He watched his children open birthday presents and celebrated graduations. 2:18:37.840 --> 2:18:40.680 He saw young men pose with teammates or hug their kids. 2:18:41.000 --> 2:18:44.160 He saw pizza parties and Christmas Mornings and laughter and love, 2:18:44.200 --> 2:18:48.280 and then another vehicle detonated. The screen cleared, and then 2:18:48.320 --> 2:18:51.880 it populated again with scenes from four More Lives next 2:18:51.879 --> 2:18:54.959 to video of a detonating Leopard tank. The parade of 2:18:55.000 --> 2:18:58.119 shattered lives went on as rockets, mortars, and now gunfire 2:18:58.200 --> 2:19:01.000 lashed out from Rock Creak and towards the vehicle column. 2:19:01.560 --> 2:19:04.279 Rowland isn't even there yet. This is just the beginning, 2:19:04.879 --> 2:19:07.680 Manny stared out, numb and queasy, and watched as the 2:19:07.680 --> 2:19:11.600 Heavenly Kingdom's armored spearhead changed direction and began the drive 2:19:11.640 --> 2:19:15.360 to Rock Creek. They were firing now, too, pouring explosive 2:19:15.400 --> 2:19:18.680 shot and long range rockets into the neighborhood. This is 2:19:18.720 --> 2:19:21.360 what you wanted, he reminded himself, as the parade of 2:19:21.400 --> 2:19:27.640 death sped up Rowland. It was downright cold at fifteen 2:19:27.680 --> 2:19:30.560 thousand feet. Rowland relished the bite in the air and 2:19:30.640 --> 2:19:33.520 stared out the Edmund Fitzgerald's side window. As he hit 2:19:33.600 --> 2:19:37.199 Jim's crack pipe for the last time, his synapses bubbled 2:19:37.200 --> 2:19:40.119 with dopamine. Now he couldn't stop his lips from curling 2:19:40.200 --> 2:19:42.120 up into a grin as he looked out onto the 2:19:42.160 --> 2:19:46.160 distant fields below. Five minutes to drop point, the pilot's 2:19:46.240 --> 2:19:49.320 voice echoed through the cargo compartment. Normally it would have 2:19:49.360 --> 2:19:52.000 held an array of smart bombs are close as salt drones. 2:19:52.360 --> 2:19:56.039 Today it held only Rowland. He stepped forward towards the 2:19:56.080 --> 2:19:58.680 rear bay doors of the craft. The feeling of the 2:19:58.760 --> 2:20:01.760 cold deck under his feet and the elevated hemoglobin levels 2:20:01.760 --> 2:20:04.280 in his blood brought the threat of another rush of 2:20:04.320 --> 2:20:07.440 memory to Roland's mind. The dizzy glee of the crack 2:20:07.520 --> 2:20:11.440 Hi helped him shrug it off. Combat soon, battle and 2:20:11.520 --> 2:20:15.560 battle drugs. He tried to temper his excitement. He didn't 2:20:15.600 --> 2:20:17.760 want to crave that high as much as he did. 2:20:18.160 --> 2:20:20.720 It'll just take a few seconds, he told himself, and 2:20:20.760 --> 2:20:23.920 then I can disengage. He could already feel the Heavenly 2:20:24.000 --> 2:20:27.480 Kingdom's army far below settling in Their nose had been 2:20:27.480 --> 2:20:31.800 bloodied by rolling fox rocketry, but they'd suffered relatively few casualties. 2:20:31.840 --> 2:20:35.199 So far. The plan did seem to be working. Dozens 2:20:35.200 --> 2:20:37.600 of vehicles and thousands of men had already moved into 2:20:37.640 --> 2:20:40.959 position around the Rock Creek neighborhood. Roland could hear the 2:20:40.959 --> 2:20:44.760 sounds of their mortars, RECOILSS rifles and assault guns opening fire. 2:20:45.480 --> 2:20:47.680 He reached out with his senses and tried to find 2:20:47.760 --> 2:20:50.760 Topaz and Skullfucker Mike in the mess, but their scents 2:20:50.800 --> 2:20:53.640 and heat profiles were obscured by shell fire and smoke. 2:20:54.200 --> 2:20:56.680 Roland was able to locate Jim, as well as Bigsby 2:20:56.680 --> 2:20:59.240 and his assault team. They were hunkered down at the 2:20:59.320 --> 2:21:02.640 edge of the neighbor hood, embedded in an abandoned apartment complex, 2:21:02.640 --> 2:21:06.080 and engaged in a furious firefight with the Heavenly Kingdom's vanguard. 2:21:06.600 --> 2:21:09.720 Roland could smell the dopamine rushing into jim synapses from 2:21:09.760 --> 2:21:12.920 fifteen thousand feet in the air. His heart began to 2:21:12.959 --> 2:21:15.920 beat faster. He felt his left hand start to shake, 2:21:16.240 --> 2:21:19.840 not in fear, but in delirious anticipation of the battle drugs. 2:21:20.280 --> 2:21:23.200 Another flash of memory took him, and his hand shook 2:21:23.240 --> 2:21:25.400 so bad he could barely hold the needle straight. He'd 2:21:25.400 --> 2:21:28.000 already missed the vain troice. God damn it, God damn it, 2:21:28.040 --> 2:21:30.840 he cursed, before taking a deep breath and preparing himself 2:21:30.879 --> 2:21:34.440 to try again. Sixty seconds to drop. The pilot's voice 2:21:34.440 --> 2:21:37.720 pulled Roland back into the moment that memory had felt weird. 2:21:37.959 --> 2:21:40.279 It had been blurry in his mind's eye, but Roland's 2:21:40.320 --> 2:21:42.920 arms and hands had felt smaller than was I shooting 2:21:42.959 --> 2:21:45.959 up dope as a teenager? He knew the answer, based 2:21:45.959 --> 2:21:50.400 on his current predilections, was probably. Roland shook his mind 2:21:50.400 --> 2:21:53.680 away from the past and focused again on the war downstairs. 2:21:54.240 --> 2:21:57.240 The Kingdom had moved quickly. He guessed around four thousand 2:21:57.240 --> 2:21:59.760 of their men were already in position. These would be 2:21:59.800 --> 2:22:03.480 the elite, their most veteran fighters, the soldiers wearing power 2:22:03.560 --> 2:22:06.320 armor or writing in real armored transports and not up 2:22:06.320 --> 2:22:09.119 gunned trucks. He could feel the rest of the Kingdom's 2:22:09.160 --> 2:22:11.880 army flung out far behind them, in a long tail 2:22:12.000 --> 2:22:14.920 that stretched back to the brazos. How many of these 2:22:14.920 --> 2:22:19.080 men will die today? How many are already dead? Seconds 2:22:19.640 --> 2:22:22.599 his nose caught the distant gasoline wreek of a flamethrower 2:22:22.680 --> 2:22:25.640 opening up on a squad of advancing martyrs. That's gotta 2:22:25.680 --> 2:22:29.440 be Jim right. Five seconds the jump light turned from 2:22:29.480 --> 2:22:31.879 red to green, and the bomb bay doors opened with 2:22:31.920 --> 2:22:34.480 a rush of air and wind that cracked the uncovered 2:22:34.520 --> 2:22:38.720 skin on Roland's face. Three, said the pilot. He stepped 2:22:38.720 --> 2:22:41.160 out to the ledge and planted his feet. The world 2:22:41.200 --> 2:22:44.720 whipped by around them at a maddening speed. Roland looked down, 2:22:44.879 --> 2:22:48.440 focused and saw the Heavenly Kingdom's army underneath him. Dozens 2:22:48.440 --> 2:22:50.840 of vehicles and thousands of men had taken up position 2:22:50.879 --> 2:22:53.800 in a large park and several buildings surrounding Rock Creek. 2:22:54.240 --> 2:22:56.880 Two large gatherings of mortars in a trio of Leopard 2:22:56.920 --> 2:22:59.360 tanks made up the bulk of the artillery now pouring 2:22:59.440 --> 2:23:03.040 fire into rolling Fox forces. There were also several large 2:23:03.080 --> 2:23:06.320 field guns and rocket batteries currently being bolted into place 2:23:06.320 --> 2:23:10.400 in an old parking lot behind the park. Competent Roland 2:23:10.400 --> 2:23:12.600 was impressed by how the Kingdom's soldiers had parked their 2:23:12.680 --> 2:23:15.840 armored transports to help complete a fortress wall around one 2:23:15.879 --> 2:23:18.920 side of Rock Creek. They'd sent a few probing attacks 2:23:18.920 --> 2:23:21.880 of power armored troopers, but he could tell they wouldn't 2:23:21.959 --> 2:23:24.880 launch a full assault until they'd flattened the neighborhood to 2:23:25.640 --> 2:23:28.840 a trickle of endorphins and serotonin joined the soggy mush 2:23:28.840 --> 2:23:32.200 of dopamine and roland synapses. He closed his eyes and 2:23:32.400 --> 2:23:35.720 with a thought, activated the sundry weapons systems that Sardar 2:23:35.800 --> 2:23:39.199 had wired into his body. The missiles in their pods hummed, 2:23:39.200 --> 2:23:41.720 and the barrels around his right arm chimed in readiness. 2:23:42.240 --> 2:23:46.440 Lyrics from a half remembered song flitted across his mind. 2:23:46.480 --> 2:23:52.200 Time time, time for another peaceful war. One Roland stepped 2:23:52.240 --> 2:23:54.680 off the back of the craft and into the skies. 2:23:54.720 --> 2:24:01.119 Embrace Sasha. The faces flashed by, along with video clips 2:24:01.160 --> 2:24:04.600 and curated posts from social media, and of course, scenes 2:24:04.640 --> 2:24:07.440 of death. Some of the men died from sniper fire, 2:24:07.560 --> 2:24:10.200 cut down as they ran for cover. Others died in 2:24:10.280 --> 2:24:13.840 long range firefights or from shrapnel. The pace of death 2:24:13.840 --> 2:24:16.920 had gradually risen over the course of the battle. Some 2:24:17.080 --> 2:24:18.959 of that was due to the fact that the martyrs 2:24:18.959 --> 2:24:21.520 had sent in several assault teams to test the metal 2:24:21.560 --> 2:24:25.080 of the defenders. Those men had died fast and badly. 2:24:25.640 --> 2:24:28.120 Many of them had been burnt alive. The sight of 2:24:28.120 --> 2:24:30.600 it all should have horrified her. She wanted it to 2:24:30.640 --> 2:24:33.360 horrify her. Everyone else at the table had tears in 2:24:33.400 --> 2:24:36.360 their eyes. Even Nanny Yazzi was crying, and that lady 2:24:36.360 --> 2:24:38.920 looked like she'd been through some ship. Since when do 2:24:39.040 --> 2:24:42.240 you curse like that? Sasha felt a pang of guilt. 2:24:42.280 --> 2:24:44.800 At how easily the swear word had come to her mind. 2:24:45.280 --> 2:24:49.280 Then she felt really, really stupid. She was literally watching 2:24:49.320 --> 2:24:52.960 people die. She'd killed two human beings less than forty 2:24:53.040 --> 2:24:56.720 eight hours ago. What the fuck does cursing matter? But 2:24:56.879 --> 2:24:59.520 still the guilt was there. Perhaps what she felt was 2:24:59.560 --> 2:25:02.200 a betray ill of her past self, or maybe she 2:25:02.320 --> 2:25:05.160 was just dumb. Sasha shook it off. She tried to 2:25:05.200 --> 2:25:08.480 focus on the carnage. It was horrible, she knew that 2:25:08.560 --> 2:25:12.600 in a detached, academic sense. She couldn't quite feel the horror, though. 2:25:12.959 --> 2:25:15.160 It was as if shooting Darrell had opened up a 2:25:15.200 --> 2:25:18.560 great gnawing hole inside her heart, and that whole had 2:25:18.600 --> 2:25:22.600 spread like a black film over her entire body. All 2:25:22.600 --> 2:25:26.360 her feelings seemed so distant now. She wanted to cry 2:25:26.400 --> 2:25:29.600 about Darrell. She wanted to cry about this. She wanted 2:25:29.640 --> 2:25:32.320 to cry for Susannah and Anne, left alone in that 2:25:32.400 --> 2:25:34.920 living hell of a kingdom. She wanted to cry for 2:25:35.000 --> 2:25:39.119 herself too, but she couldn't, and so she didn't. Instead, 2:25:39.280 --> 2:25:41.640 she sat and watched as the warrior gods of this 2:25:41.720 --> 2:25:45.840 strange city helped the martyrs earn their title. Sasha looked 2:25:45.840 --> 2:25:48.480 out at the citizens of Rolling Fuck, most of the 2:25:48.480 --> 2:25:50.840 people she could see were crying, and even those who 2:25:50.840 --> 2:25:55.280 weren't looked shaken, horrified. The perpetual party atmosphere she'd come 2:25:55.280 --> 2:25:57.959 to associate with the City of Wheels was gone. It 2:25:58.040 --> 2:26:01.240 had been suspended to allow for pain. Sasha wanted to 2:26:01.320 --> 2:26:04.440 hurt with them, but instead she thought about the offer 2:26:04.480 --> 2:26:07.240 that man Jim had made. She thought about the squeaking 2:26:07.320 --> 2:26:10.119 sound of the razor blade ripping out of Roland's forearm. 2:26:10.600 --> 2:26:13.080 She'd seen the way he fought. She longed for the 2:26:13.160 --> 2:26:15.240 high that had come with the violence and the clinic, 2:26:15.400 --> 2:26:17.800 but she couldn't stand more of the guilt killing Darrell 2:26:17.840 --> 2:26:21.120 had brought her. I could be emetic, Sasha thought, Jim 2:26:21.120 --> 2:26:24.240 said so. She looked up to the screens again at 2:26:24.240 --> 2:26:27.039 the parade of Death. She wasn't sure if any of 2:26:27.080 --> 2:26:29.880 the dead had been rolling Fox soldiers. It didn't look 2:26:29.920 --> 2:26:32.520 like it, But as she settled back in to watch, 2:26:32.720 --> 2:26:36.039 something glitched on the screens. The stream of faces sped 2:26:36.160 --> 2:26:38.480 up well past the point where she could focus on 2:26:38.480 --> 2:26:42.000 any of them. Then the floe stopped, sputtered, the picture 2:26:42.040 --> 2:26:45.920 glitched out, and then righted itself. Whatever algorithm handled the 2:26:45.920 --> 2:26:49.440 show eventually stabilized and the individual images on each screen 2:26:49.560 --> 2:26:53.200 shrank to accommodate many, many more people, a flood of 2:26:53.240 --> 2:26:56.160 the dead and moments from their lives. The nature of 2:26:56.200 --> 2:26:59.440 their deaths changed too. Most of the first waves seemed 2:26:59.440 --> 2:27:02.440 to come from a sudden burst of explosive detonations, but 2:27:02.480 --> 2:27:05.879 the explosions stopped and the dying continued, and whatever was 2:27:05.959 --> 2:27:09.160 killing the martyrs now moved too fast to be clearly seen. 2:27:10.080 --> 2:27:13.879 What's happening? She heard Manny, ask, is something wrong? No, 2:27:14.560 --> 2:27:23.240 the old man said, that's just Rowland. Rowland. Forty five 2:27:23.280 --> 2:27:26.160 seconds after his feet hit dirt, Rowland was out of AMMO. 2:27:26.560 --> 2:27:29.039 He'd managed to do a tremendous amount of damage in 2:27:29.080 --> 2:27:31.960 that short span of time, decimating their mortar batteries with 2:27:31.959 --> 2:27:34.760 cluster rockets and clearing the martyrs away from their field 2:27:34.760 --> 2:27:38.400 guns with a mix of gas and fragmentation grenades. He'd 2:27:38.400 --> 2:27:41.680 emptied his machine gun and three long bursts, mostly aimed 2:27:41.720 --> 2:27:44.119 at the infantry who had been clustered behind the APC 2:27:44.240 --> 2:27:47.880 barricades when he landed. Then he'd taken to scavenging rifles 2:27:47.920 --> 2:27:50.720 from the dead and emptying those into targets of opportunity. 2:27:51.280 --> 2:27:54.480 By the one minute mark, Rowland's hindbrain estimated he'd killed 2:27:54.560 --> 2:27:57.920 or wounded close to a thousand men. The sheer ferocity 2:27:57.959 --> 2:28:00.720 of his initial assault sent the kingdoms for his reeling 2:28:00.760 --> 2:28:03.080 and cleared a circle of ground around him about two 2:28:03.200 --> 2:28:06.600 hundred meters wide. Rowland finished gunning down the crew of 2:28:06.600 --> 2:28:09.240 a Patriot battery and ran for an abandoned anti tank 2:28:09.320 --> 2:28:12.760 rifle lying next to a pile of bodies. Bullets smacked 2:28:12.760 --> 2:28:16.240 into him from all sides, diversionary fire meant to distract 2:28:16.320 --> 2:28:19.520 him from the uparmored maddess APC that suddenly gunned its 2:28:19.560 --> 2:28:22.200 engine and barreled towards him. They think they can run 2:28:22.240 --> 2:28:25.879 me over, Rowland realized, with something like glee, so he 2:28:25.959 --> 2:28:28.959 slowed down, reducing his sprint to something like a normal 2:28:29.040 --> 2:28:32.600 human running speed, while the vehicle closed the gap between them. 2:28:32.640 --> 2:28:35.400 He jumped at the last moment, landed on the APC's 2:28:35.480 --> 2:28:37.720 roof and punched a hole through the top armor with 2:28:37.760 --> 2:28:40.520 both of his fists. Then he gripped the ragged metal 2:28:40.560 --> 2:28:43.200 at the sides of the hole and tore the APC open. 2:28:43.760 --> 2:28:45.600 The smell of fear hid his nose as he tore 2:28:45.680 --> 2:28:48.240 through the concrete wall. The room held a dozen men, 2:28:48.360 --> 2:28:50.760 a mix of guards and officers. One man in the 2:28:50.760 --> 2:28:52.920 middle wore the stars of a general in the United 2:28:52.959 --> 2:28:56.680 States Army. Some of the soldiers screamed, a few opened fire, 2:28:56.760 --> 2:28:59.640 but the general just stood there while Rowland killed. He 2:28:59.680 --> 2:29:03.720 didn't even blink. No fear poured off him. It's our fault, 2:29:03.840 --> 2:29:06.040 the general said once they were the only men left 2:29:06.080 --> 2:29:09.039 alive in the room. This is all our fault, Roland time. 2:29:09.360 --> 2:29:12.400 A bullet hit his face and Roland snapped back to reality. 2:29:12.920 --> 2:29:15.160 The men in the APC below him were dead. It 2:29:15.240 --> 2:29:17.440 looked as if he'd shredded them with his bare hands. 2:29:17.760 --> 2:29:19.880 But while he'd been lost in a memory, two more 2:29:19.920 --> 2:29:23.680 APCs had roared up and disgorged a dozen power armored soldiers. 2:29:24.400 --> 2:29:27.879 They shot him with big guns, weapons meant to hurt monsters. 2:29:27.920 --> 2:29:31.039 He avoided some of their rounds, but not most. Roland 2:29:31.120 --> 2:29:33.160 lost the better part of his right hand, a chunk 2:29:33.160 --> 2:29:35.720 of his skull in his left knee. It hurt, but 2:29:35.800 --> 2:29:38.440 that didn't stop him. He leapt off the maddis and 2:29:38.520 --> 2:29:41.240 soon he was among them, ripping off armored plates and 2:29:41.320 --> 2:29:45.080 shattering bones with his bare hands. The battle drugs poured 2:29:45.200 --> 2:29:47.480 into his brain and lit his synapses up like the 2:29:47.520 --> 2:29:51.520 New York Skyline. Roland led out a terrible whooping cry 2:29:51.600 --> 2:29:54.040 that was half laugh and half scream, and he tore 2:29:54.120 --> 2:29:56.400 into the men as they tried in vain to do 2:29:56.480 --> 2:30:00.200 him real harm. It took nineteen seconds to elimin ate 2:30:00.240 --> 2:30:03.360 them all. As the last man dropped, Roland realized with 2:30:03.400 --> 2:30:06.320 some surprise that he could hear Jim's voice, distant but 2:30:06.400 --> 2:30:10.199 getting closer. His old friend was charging, screaming out war whoops, 2:30:10.240 --> 2:30:13.320 and firing those big dumb pistols. Then he heard the 2:30:13.360 --> 2:30:17.119 familiar crack of a Dragonov sniper rifle Topaz his rifle. 2:30:17.400 --> 2:30:19.880 He remembered it now the sound was as familiar to 2:30:19.959 --> 2:30:22.600 him as the voice of his own mother. Holy shit, 2:30:23.160 --> 2:30:26.000 Roland realized that for the first time in years, he 2:30:26.080 --> 2:30:29.120 could remember the sound of his mother's voice. Her name 2:30:29.200 --> 2:30:31.480 and face were still lost in memory, but all this 2:30:31.640 --> 2:30:34.840 violence was clearly knocking some things loose. He took a 2:30:34.879 --> 2:30:37.920 step back behind one of the intact a PC's to 2:30:38.000 --> 2:30:40.400 avoid a spray of heavy machine gun fire and take 2:30:40.480 --> 2:30:43.680 stock of the situation. Now that he focused, he could 2:30:43.720 --> 2:30:46.800 feel the hoofbeats of rolling Fox cavalry. He could sense 2:30:46.840 --> 2:30:49.160 that many of the city's infantry had charged out from 2:30:49.200 --> 2:30:51.800 their positions in Rock Creek to meet the martyrs in 2:30:51.879 --> 2:30:55.520 hand to hand combat. The Heavenly Kingdom was not in flight, 2:30:55.920 --> 2:30:59.000 not yet, but they would break soon. Roland knew it. 2:30:59.240 --> 2:31:02.080 He could smell it in the air. Time to stop, now, 2:31:02.240 --> 2:31:05.000 time to let schullfucker, Mike Topaz and the others finished 2:31:05.000 --> 2:31:08.440 the fight. He'd done enough, He knew he'd done enough, 2:31:09.080 --> 2:31:13.480 and yet the drugs. Even after just a few seconds 2:31:13.520 --> 2:31:16.199 out of direct combat, the high was starting to fade, 2:31:16.400 --> 2:31:19.640 and Roland wanted more. He thought about cracking another skull 2:31:19.680 --> 2:31:22.080 in his hand. Itched. He heard one of the martyrs 2:31:22.080 --> 2:31:25.080 open up with an automatic grenade launcher and thought about 2:31:25.080 --> 2:31:28.040 how good that gun would feel bucking against the meat 2:31:28.040 --> 2:31:31.119 of his shoulder. The man with the grenade launcher was close. 2:31:31.520 --> 2:31:34.240 Roland could close the distance between them and two maybe 2:31:34.280 --> 2:31:38.080 three seconds. No, you don't need to do this, stop. 2:31:38.440 --> 2:31:44.000 Fewer people will die if you just Roland charged. Manny. 2:31:45.120 --> 2:31:48.160 Manny had seen nine people killed by bullets or bombs. 2:31:48.320 --> 2:31:50.600 He'd seen a good deal more fresh corpses in the 2:31:50.640 --> 2:31:53.920 aftermath of firefights. He had a strong stomach, and he 2:31:53.959 --> 2:31:57.640 was not easily distressed by gore. The opening stages of 2:31:57.720 --> 2:32:00.400 this battle and the war ritual had been on settling, 2:32:00.640 --> 2:32:04.400 but not because of the violence that changed soon after 2:32:04.520 --> 2:32:09.440 Roland landed. He's just tearing people apart, Manny said, without 2:32:09.480 --> 2:32:13.320 really meaning to say anything at all. Donald Ferris replied 2:32:13.320 --> 2:32:18.040 with a grim nod. It's hard to watch, Nani Yazzi admitted, 2:32:18.080 --> 2:32:20.800 as another dozen lives and did messily on the screens 2:32:20.840 --> 2:32:24.320 before them. It'll be over soon, though. They can't take 2:32:24.440 --> 2:32:27.440 much more of this. I haven't seen any of your 2:32:27.480 --> 2:32:32.560 people die yet, Sasha said, Is that abnormal? No. Donald's 2:32:32.640 --> 2:32:35.360 voice was grim. There will be a lot of injuries, 2:32:35.400 --> 2:32:39.920 but I don't expect rolling fuck will lose a single warrior, good, 2:32:40.240 --> 2:32:44.320 Sasha said, is it? Donald asked, of course, it's good. 2:32:44.320 --> 2:32:47.680 You silly fuck. Nana Yazzi snapped, that was the first 2:32:47.720 --> 2:32:51.560 time Manny could recall hearing her angry. I disagree, the 2:32:51.600 --> 2:32:54.560 old man grumbled. We're on a precipice here, the edge 2:32:54.600 --> 2:32:57.320 of a deep cliff. Every time this happens, we get 2:32:57.360 --> 2:33:01.480 a little closer to falling off. What you mean, Manny asked, 2:33:02.040 --> 2:33:05.039 he means, Nani Yazzi replied with a bit of drunken 2:33:05.080 --> 2:33:07.879 slur to her voice. He doesn't trust the people of 2:33:07.920 --> 2:33:10.360 this city. He thinks they'll get a taste for war, 2:33:10.480 --> 2:33:13.680 and this whole experiment will turn into a nightmare. You 2:33:13.800 --> 2:33:17.240 can't trust the dark, Donald Ferris insisted, And we're in 2:33:17.280 --> 2:33:20.120 the dark here, he waved out at the field and 2:33:20.120 --> 2:33:22.440 the hundreds of people watching the faces of the dead 2:33:22.440 --> 2:33:26.080 and tearful silence. Right now, we've managed to lash together 2:33:26.120 --> 2:33:28.959 a chain of rituals that keep them peaceful. How long 2:33:29.000 --> 2:33:32.640 can that last? Naniyazzi glared at him, and then shifted 2:33:32.640 --> 2:33:35.480 her gaze to Manny. She pointed a finger at Donald. 2:33:36.000 --> 2:33:38.920 He thinks we should have let your people die. I 2:33:38.959 --> 2:33:43.200 think we have a responsibility to intervene. I'm not saying 2:33:43.280 --> 2:33:47.320 we don't, Donald Ferris insisted, I'm just saying I've seen 2:33:47.400 --> 2:33:51.160 how this story ends. History may not repeat itself, but 2:33:51.280 --> 2:33:57.199 it does rhyme pithy, Nanayazzi said, But oh. She stopped 2:33:57.240 --> 2:34:00.959 mid sentence and stared out into the screens. Manny looked back, 2:34:01.080 --> 2:34:03.359 just in time to watch the flow of dead faces 2:34:03.400 --> 2:34:06.800 speed up again. The screens jerked and shuddered to accommodate 2:34:06.840 --> 2:34:10.040 the new flow. Once they adjusted, Manny was shocked again 2:34:10.080 --> 2:34:13.119 at the violence on display. He saw men run through 2:34:13.120 --> 2:34:16.440 with lances, gutted by scimitars, burnt by napalm, and trampled 2:34:16.480 --> 2:34:20.680 under the spiked hoves of quadrufracts. Oh God, he moaned. 2:34:21.320 --> 2:34:25.560 Ah yes, Naniyazi sighed, that would be the cavalry. It 2:34:25.640 --> 2:34:32.039 won't be much longer now they're here to finish the job. Rowland, 2:34:32.920 --> 2:34:36.320 the knights of Rolling Fuck were a sight to see. Truly. 2:34:36.560 --> 2:34:39.480 It wasn't often that Roland came across something that registered 2:34:39.520 --> 2:34:42.800 as completely new to the deep, battered banks of his memory. 2:34:43.320 --> 2:34:46.080 But there was no deja vous here, no sense that 2:34:46.120 --> 2:34:49.920 he'd watched anything like it before. Rolling Fox writers worked 2:34:49.959 --> 2:34:53.120 in two and three person squads, mostly using a mix 2:34:53.160 --> 2:34:56.359 of hand grenades, small arms, flame throwers, and melee weapons 2:34:56.360 --> 2:35:00.840 for shock value. Their timing was exquisite. One hundred riders 2:35:00.920 --> 2:35:03.760 hit the martyrs at the same time. They didn't seem 2:35:03.800 --> 2:35:07.720 to have specific targets or goals beyond causing mayhem, but 2:35:07.800 --> 2:35:11.320 they did this expertly, spiking armored vehicles and field guns 2:35:11.320 --> 2:35:15.040 with white phosphorus charges and scattering any clusters of martyrs 2:35:15.040 --> 2:35:18.879 they could find. The woman Kashore rode past him, her 2:35:18.920 --> 2:35:21.400 face skinned and weeping blood as she lobbed a hand 2:35:21.400 --> 2:35:24.600 grenade towards a group of martyrs hunkered behind the shattered 2:35:24.640 --> 2:35:28.080 remains of a public restroom. She pulled a maquah wheedle 2:35:28.280 --> 2:35:31.480 with an iron trunk and gleaming obsidian blades free from 2:35:31.480 --> 2:35:34.000 her belt. As her steed leapt over the burning wreckage 2:35:34.000 --> 2:35:38.000 of a jeep and bounded towards the survivors. Roland followed her, 2:35:38.240 --> 2:35:40.640 tearing a piece of rebar free from some rebble as 2:35:40.720 --> 2:35:43.600 he charged. The restrooms were at one end of what 2:35:43.680 --> 2:35:46.160 had once been a giant playground in a public park. 2:35:46.600 --> 2:35:48.880 It had been derelict for more than a decade, but 2:35:48.959 --> 2:35:51.600 the corpses of swing sets and remnants of slides were 2:35:51.640 --> 2:35:54.880 still visible. Several hundred of the martyrs had fallen back 2:35:54.920 --> 2:35:58.160 to this position, trying to create some sort of defensive line. 2:35:58.840 --> 2:36:01.560 Panic and mass death robbed them of a lot of cohesion, 2:36:01.879 --> 2:36:04.320 but they still managed to pour a lot of fire 2:36:04.400 --> 2:36:07.840 into Roland and Cashori as they charged. A rocket propelled 2:36:07.879 --> 2:36:11.080 grenade hit the chest of her quadrifract and burst, ripping 2:36:11.120 --> 2:36:13.400 off one of the machine's legs and sending the Chrome 2:36:13.480 --> 2:36:16.840 woman tumbling to the ground, gravel and rubble embedding itself 2:36:16.879 --> 2:36:20.520 into the red musculature of her bleeding face. Roland didn't 2:36:20.520 --> 2:36:23.680 stop for her. He charged ahead, absorbed a few dozen 2:36:23.760 --> 2:36:26.200 rounds of small arms fire, and dodged a handful of 2:36:26.280 --> 2:36:29.440 rocket propelled grenades. He hit a group of twenty three 2:36:29.440 --> 2:36:32.760 men clustered behind a long, still glass barricade and several 2:36:32.760 --> 2:36:35.879 heavy metal crates. These martyrs had been trying to get 2:36:35.920 --> 2:36:38.320 a trio of anti tank guns back into the fight. 2:36:38.959 --> 2:36:41.280 They gave up on that once Roland had closed to 2:36:41.320 --> 2:36:44.120 about twenty feet. One of them, an older man with 2:36:44.160 --> 2:36:48.039 a spine, shouted words of encouragement and charged forward, firing 2:36:48.120 --> 2:36:51.360 with a dozen of his men. These soldiers weren't wearing 2:36:51.360 --> 2:36:53.720 powered armor. They weren't good enough to hit more than 2:36:53.760 --> 2:36:57.240 one and twenty shots. They wore old, up cycled body armor. 2:36:57.400 --> 2:37:00.160 Only a few of them had bayonets. They present into 2:37:00.360 --> 2:37:03.320 no real threat. Twenty seconds and I can put every 2:37:03.320 --> 2:37:05.480 one of these fuckers down for the rest of the fight. 2:37:06.000 --> 2:37:09.440 No one needs to die. His hand twitched, the river 2:37:09.560 --> 2:37:12.480 of dopamine, and his synapses shrank to a babbling brook. 2:37:12.959 --> 2:37:16.520 Roland felt a craving rise, maybe just a few more 2:37:17.320 --> 2:37:20.199 he was among them. Roland found that brave old fucker 2:37:20.320 --> 2:37:22.200 picked him up by the skull and used him as 2:37:22.200 --> 2:37:24.920 a flail until the bones of his face came loose 2:37:24.959 --> 2:37:27.959 and Roland's hands. He deployed the razor in his wrist 2:37:28.040 --> 2:37:31.039 and started slicing off hands and ears. He moved on 2:37:31.160 --> 2:37:34.680 to slashing tendons and muscles, and eventually just hacked at 2:37:34.680 --> 2:37:38.199 his enemies like a drunken butcher. One boy dropped his gun, 2:37:38.520 --> 2:37:40.720 tried to back away, and fell on his ass as 2:37:40.800 --> 2:37:44.440 Roland stalked towards him, The protesters screamed and screamed. They 2:37:44.480 --> 2:37:46.760 swung sticks and tried to bash him with their shields, 2:37:46.760 --> 2:37:49.360 and he knocked their clumsy strikes aside and waded into 2:37:49.400 --> 2:37:52.680 the mass. Roland didn't even consider drawing a gun. He 2:37:52.840 --> 2:37:55.680 tore every fistful of human flesh, sent a wave of 2:37:55.760 --> 2:37:59.360 orgiastically bubbling through his brain. A young woman screamed and 2:37:59.400 --> 2:38:01.440 tried to run, and he grabbed her hair and pulled 2:38:01.440 --> 2:38:03.560 in the sound of her neck snapping almost made in 2:38:03.640 --> 2:38:07.520 shriek with joy. Please, said a different man, before Roland 2:38:07.520 --> 2:38:10.240 shattered his skull against the pavement and left up to 2:38:10.320 --> 2:38:13.240 chase down a trio of fleeing martyrs. He was back 2:38:13.240 --> 2:38:16.200 and in serlick, bloody and injured, an almost snowblind from 2:38:16.200 --> 2:38:19.080 the battle drugs, Roland shoved his way through the door 2:38:19.120 --> 2:38:21.520 and into the air raid shelter. He'd already pulled a 2:38:21.560 --> 2:38:24.199 grenade free from his harness when he found himself face 2:38:24.280 --> 2:38:26.279 to face with a room full of women and children, 2:38:26.440 --> 2:38:31.400 old men and young boys, civilians, unarmed and with sudden shock, 2:38:31.840 --> 2:38:35.120 Roland realized he didn't care about that last part. His 2:38:35.200 --> 2:38:41.119 synapses screamed for more. Roland obliged them, My god, stop stop. 2:38:41.200 --> 2:38:43.640 He came back to himself and realized he was on 2:38:43.680 --> 2:38:46.359 the ground and locked into a pretty darn good half Nelson. 2:38:46.520 --> 2:38:49.160 It took him a moment to realize that woman Kaushore 2:38:49.520 --> 2:38:53.920 was the one holding him. Oh, he said, what the fuck? Man? 2:38:54.640 --> 2:38:57.400 Roland looked around. None of the martyrs near him were 2:38:57.440 --> 2:39:00.760 still standing. It was hard even for his hindbrain to 2:39:00.800 --> 2:39:04.360 identify how many people had fallen around him. He guessed 2:39:04.400 --> 2:39:07.320 south of a hundred, but not far south. The number 2:39:07.400 --> 2:39:10.280 was shocking. It implied a longer blackout than any of 2:39:10.320 --> 2:39:13.840 the others. What was scarier was the sheer violence evident 2:39:13.879 --> 2:39:16.520 in these men's death. Most of them were in more 2:39:16.560 --> 2:39:19.200 than two pieces. Are you going to flip out? If 2:39:19.240 --> 2:39:23.199 I let go? Roland shook his head and CASHOREI released him. 2:39:23.240 --> 2:39:26.080 He turned around, still seated, and looked at the young woman. 2:39:26.760 --> 2:39:29.160 She was filthy with grime and blood, some of it 2:39:29.200 --> 2:39:32.680 her own. Her skinless face wept red, but even so 2:39:33.040 --> 2:39:36.200 he could still see the judgment in her eyes. That 2:39:36.600 --> 2:39:42.080 was not fucking necessary. She said, I'm sorry, I Roland. 2:39:42.440 --> 2:39:45.640 It was skufucker. Mike Topaz trailed behind him at a 2:39:45.680 --> 2:39:49.600 sizeable distance, sweeping the field with a rifle. Roland tried 2:39:49.640 --> 2:39:52.160 to catch his eye. He avoided Roland's gaze for a 2:39:52.200 --> 2:39:55.400 second or two, but then they connected and she stared 2:39:55.440 --> 2:39:58.120 at him with those big, brown, tear stained eyes. This 2:39:58.240 --> 2:40:00.640 isn't what I wanted, Rowland, This isn't what we said 2:40:00.680 --> 2:40:04.040 we were fighting for. This is just butchery. He felt 2:40:04.080 --> 2:40:06.760 angry at her blind rage that warred with his love. 2:40:07.000 --> 2:40:10.119 Of course, it's butchery, he screamed. The world is built 2:40:10.120 --> 2:40:14.279 by butcher's dude, Kashore. He slapped him hard, and Roland 2:40:14.320 --> 2:40:18.080 came back to himself. Skollfucker Mike was closer now. Roland 2:40:18.080 --> 2:40:20.760 looked for Topaz and found him. He was closer too, 2:40:21.040 --> 2:40:24.560 and looked worried, but he didn't say anything. Is Roland 2:40:24.600 --> 2:40:28.879 all right? Mike asked Kashouri. Was he hit? Sure? But 2:40:28.959 --> 2:40:31.760 that's not the problem, Kashore, he said, he just went 2:40:31.840 --> 2:40:34.560 bug funk on like a company of those guys, ripped 2:40:34.560 --> 2:40:38.560 them apart with his bare hands. It's a fucking relapse, 2:40:38.800 --> 2:40:41.880 said skullfucker Mike. He knelt down in front of Roland 2:40:41.920 --> 2:40:44.760 and put a hand on his shoulder. Buddy, he said, 2:40:45.120 --> 2:40:48.280 it's done. They're starting to run whole army. You'll be 2:40:48.360 --> 2:40:51.280 routed in a few minutes. You just sit here and 2:40:51.360 --> 2:40:55.840 catch your breath and routed. Roland looked around and realized 2:40:55.879 --> 2:40:59.359 his hands were shaking. He felt a vast, throbbing emptiness 2:40:59.360 --> 2:41:02.400 in his sinnapp this, he realized that the emptiness was 2:41:02.440 --> 2:41:04.760 always there, and had been for as long as he 2:41:04.800 --> 2:41:07.600 could remember. Most days, he hid it under a haze 2:41:07.640 --> 2:41:10.280 of narcotics, but now that he'd had it filled for 2:41:10.360 --> 2:41:14.240 just a minute, its emptiness hurt like an amputated limb. 2:41:14.720 --> 2:41:18.680 He looked out and saw that, yes, skullfucker Mike was correct. 2:41:19.160 --> 2:41:22.039 Several pockets of Martyr still held out, but the bulk 2:41:22.120 --> 2:41:24.680 of the vanguard was either dead or fleeing for the 2:41:24.720 --> 2:41:28.280 line of transports and technicals that stretched back to the Brazos. 2:41:29.200 --> 2:41:31.320 It felt like the rest of the army had started 2:41:31.360 --> 2:41:34.800 the slow process of halting and reversing its advance. The 2:41:34.920 --> 2:41:38.280 Kingdom had decided to pull back. Are you done or not, 2:41:38.520 --> 2:41:41.160 Roland asked an evil voice in the back of his head. 2:41:41.440 --> 2:41:44.680 If you're not done, if you want more, you'd better 2:41:44.760 --> 2:41:49.240 go get it. Roland leaned back. He looked from skullfucker 2:41:49.320 --> 2:41:52.560 Mike took a shore and finally to Topaz. Then he 2:41:52.640 --> 2:41:55.480 reached behind him, grabbed a busted rifle he could use 2:41:55.520 --> 2:42:00.200 as a club, and stood up Rowland. No, skulfucker, Mike 2:42:00.320 --> 2:42:03.720 started to say. Roland didn't hear the rest. He bolted 2:42:03.720 --> 2:42:06.400 off as fast as he could run in the direction 2:42:06.560 --> 2:42:12.560 of the fleeing martyrs. Sasha it was amazing how much 2:42:12.560 --> 2:42:14.440 she could tell about the course of the battle just 2:42:14.600 --> 2:42:17.400 from watching the faces of its casualties. The pace of 2:42:17.440 --> 2:42:20.000 the killing had escalated to a certain level and then 2:42:20.040 --> 2:42:22.840 started to slowly fall. More and more of the men 2:42:22.920 --> 2:42:26.279 died with their backs to the enemy running. Sasha guessed 2:42:26.280 --> 2:42:28.280 that meant the army or at least a lot of 2:42:28.320 --> 2:42:31.320 it had started to break. The pace of death slowed 2:42:31.360 --> 2:42:35.920 to a trickle. Well, then Donald Ferris grumbled, it seems 2:42:35.920 --> 2:42:38.200 like that's more or less settled. I'm going to get 2:42:38.280 --> 2:42:41.039 us another round. I think we've all eaten enough, guild father. 2:42:41.600 --> 2:42:46.800 He stopped, his jaw dropped. Oh no. Sasha turned back 2:42:46.800 --> 2:42:48.440 to the screen to see that the roll of the 2:42:48.480 --> 2:42:51.720 dead had started to increase again. These men were running too, 2:42:51.920 --> 2:42:54.840 but most of them weren't dying to arranged weaponry. They 2:42:54.840 --> 2:42:57.760 were being grabbed from behind, ripped apart, or club to 2:42:57.800 --> 2:43:00.720 death by something moving far too fast for humanized to 2:43:00.760 --> 2:43:05.640 focus on. Roland Manny said in a dull voice filled 2:43:05.680 --> 2:43:09.080 with sorrow. Sasha scanned the faces of her table mates. 2:43:09.560 --> 2:43:13.000 Manny looked almost overwhelmed with guilt. His eyes were watery, 2:43:13.040 --> 2:43:15.840 and he just kept shaking his head and muttering to himself. 2:43:16.200 --> 2:43:19.560 Nanni Yazzi's mouth was closed, her face looked tight and 2:43:19.600 --> 2:43:23.920 frozen in horror. Donald Ferris was quite clearly furious. His 2:43:24.040 --> 2:43:26.800 face was so red. Sasha worried his heart might give out, 2:43:27.320 --> 2:43:31.760 and yet she felt nothing. That's curious, isn't it. Sasha 2:43:31.760 --> 2:43:34.280 could remember how angry she'd gotten as a girl when 2:43:34.320 --> 2:43:37.600 she read some story about anti Christian brutality and Turkey 2:43:37.680 --> 2:43:41.160 or Illinois. She remembered being horrified by the executions she 2:43:41.240 --> 2:43:44.240 had witnessed, but she could only picture her emotional state 2:43:44.280 --> 2:43:47.120 and those moments from a great distance, as if she 2:43:47.160 --> 2:43:49.320 were staring at it through the fogged up lens of 2:43:49.320 --> 2:43:53.000 a telescope. Why am I not angry? Why am I 2:43:53.040 --> 2:43:57.080 not horrified? Her concern over this fact actually generated a 2:43:57.120 --> 2:44:01.080 stronger emotional reaction than anything happening out on that battlefield. 2:44:01.600 --> 2:44:04.840 Sasha stared out at the cameras and the continuing parade 2:44:04.840 --> 2:44:08.320 of violence. She heard Manny cursing under his breath. She 2:44:08.440 --> 2:44:12.080 heard Nana Yazi fight back a sob, but Sasha felt nothing, 2:44:12.400 --> 2:44:18.560 save perhaps a bit of jealousy. Rowland, the scene out 2:44:18.560 --> 2:44:21.040 by the Brasos felt less like a battlefield and more 2:44:21.120 --> 2:44:24.320 like a playground. This might be the highest I've ever been, 2:44:24.640 --> 2:44:26.680 he thought, as he broke a man's neck with the 2:44:26.680 --> 2:44:29.560 back of his hand. Bullets whizzed by as a few 2:44:29.560 --> 2:44:31.840 of the Braver soldiers tried to cover the retreat of 2:44:31.840 --> 2:44:35.240 their comrades. Most of them, even the drivers, had abandoned 2:44:35.280 --> 2:44:38.760 their transports. Hundreds of men were already wading into the river, 2:44:39.000 --> 2:44:41.600 tearing off their armor and tossing aside their weapons as 2:44:41.600 --> 2:44:45.240 they plunged in. The Heavenly Kingdom's army would not rally 2:44:45.320 --> 2:44:48.760 any time soon. A martyr turned and drew his knife 2:44:48.800 --> 2:44:51.840 in a feeble attempt at resistance. Roland caved in the 2:44:51.879 --> 2:44:54.200 man's stern hum with a fist and squashed his heart 2:44:54.240 --> 2:44:57.199 like a june bug. Ten meters ahead, he saw three 2:44:57.240 --> 2:45:00.240 soldiers preparing to make their stand behind, and overt earned 2:45:00.240 --> 2:45:03.080 a flatbed truck. As he ran, Roland grabbed at his 2:45:03.200 --> 2:45:06.560 garded rifle off the ground, a Thompson submachine gun. He 2:45:06.640 --> 2:45:10.560 realized it didn't feel like a reproduction either. Roland brought 2:45:10.600 --> 2:45:13.280 the gun up to his shoulder. The Thompson gun bucked 2:45:13.320 --> 2:45:15.800 in his hand. Roland laughed as he danced through the 2:45:15.879 --> 2:45:18.720 Charnel house that had once been a forward operating bass. 2:45:19.080 --> 2:45:21.320 Most of the National guardsmen were dead, but his nose 2:45:21.360 --> 2:45:23.119 told him one of them was still in the game. 2:45:23.560 --> 2:45:26.120 Roland turned past a hesco and saw the young man 2:45:26.400 --> 2:45:29.520 propped half up against a pile of sandbags. The boy 2:45:29.560 --> 2:45:31.720 held a hand to a bleeding hole in his gut. 2:45:32.080 --> 2:45:35.680 His black face was bloodless, pale, and young, so young. 2:45:36.160 --> 2:45:38.360 Roland didn't know if he'd ever seen a soldier who 2:45:38.400 --> 2:45:43.320 looked that young. There was something familiar about the boy's face, Rowland, 2:45:43.680 --> 2:45:47.879 the kid said, and recognition dawned in Roland's eyes, and 2:45:47.879 --> 2:45:50.520 then he was back. He was about fifty yards further 2:45:50.560 --> 2:45:53.320 ahead than he'd been before he blacked out. The Thompson 2:45:53.360 --> 2:45:55.440 gun was still in his hand, pointed at a man 2:45:55.520 --> 2:45:58.000 twelve yards to his left who was scrambling to get 2:45:58.000 --> 2:46:01.480 a wire guided rocket launcher into a ring position. Roland 2:46:01.520 --> 2:46:04.280 put a bullet through his brain. He turned past the 2:46:04.320 --> 2:46:07.480 burning wreckage of a semi truck. A dozen bullets impacted 2:46:07.560 --> 2:46:11.680 his chest inside. Then three martyrs charged him. Their bayonets fixed. 2:46:12.000 --> 2:46:14.840 The hit wasn't bad, nothing but a flesh wound schofucker. 2:46:14.920 --> 2:46:17.360 Mike looked worse. He lost most of his left arm. 2:46:17.720 --> 2:46:20.039 Topaz had taken three rounds to the dome, but she 2:46:20.160 --> 2:46:23.400 was still firing her dragon off. Roland's mind stretched into 2:46:23.400 --> 2:46:25.560 the city of Dallas around them. There were a lot 2:46:25.560 --> 2:46:27.840 of men coming their way, but those men were mostly 2:46:27.879 --> 2:46:31.920 police swat officers, nothing substantial, no one who could stop 2:46:31.959 --> 2:46:34.280 them from getting this bomb. Where it needed to go. 2:46:35.160 --> 2:46:37.560 Roland screamed as he broke his Thompson gun over the 2:46:37.560 --> 2:46:40.400 head of another martyr. Then he reeled back and dropped 2:46:40.440 --> 2:46:43.680 the gun. That last memory had felt different, like it 2:46:43.840 --> 2:46:47.160 unlocked something. Roland shook his head. The last martyr in 2:46:47.160 --> 2:46:50.000 front of him broken ran. Roland didn't even think to 2:46:50.120 --> 2:46:52.800 chase him. His head hurt in a way he couldn't 2:46:52.800 --> 2:46:56.000 remember it ever hurting before. What the hell is going on? 2:46:56.400 --> 2:46:59.039 It had all started the second he'd thought about the bomb. 2:46:59.120 --> 2:47:02.680 As small as nukes go, just about one megaton. It 2:47:02.800 --> 2:47:06.359 matches the ones that fought Leonarwood. The Guardian already released 2:47:06.360 --> 2:47:09.680 the hacked documents showing the government considered bombing several of 2:47:09.680 --> 2:47:13.240 the separatist camps. I think we can trust the American 2:47:13.320 --> 2:47:17.560 people to put two and two together, Jim smiled. Roland 2:47:17.560 --> 2:47:20.440 did not. This was his plan, but he didn't like it. 2:47:20.760 --> 2:47:23.080 He knew, though, that it was the only way forward 2:47:23.160 --> 2:47:26.480 for the revolution. There has to be another way, said 2:47:26.520 --> 2:47:30.959 skullfucker Mike. This feels wrong, really really wrong. The floodgates 2:47:30.959 --> 2:47:33.520 of Roland's mind opened, and a tidal wave of memory 2:47:33.640 --> 2:47:37.080 swept him away. He dropped to his knees, the martyrs 2:47:37.120 --> 2:47:39.959 around him continued to flee, too shocked and awed to 2:47:40.000 --> 2:47:43.760 take advantage of his vulnerability. The battle drugs were gone now, 2:47:44.040 --> 2:47:46.959 or at least he couldn't feel them anymore. Hundreds of 2:47:47.000 --> 2:47:51.560 memories assaulted his consciousness thousands. For the first time in years, 2:47:51.879 --> 2:47:56.199 Roland knew who he'd been, who he was again. I'm back, 2:47:57.280 --> 2:48:01.160 Roland stood. He took one halting step forward, and then another, 2:48:01.520 --> 2:48:03.640 and then he leaned against the frame of a broken 2:48:03.680 --> 2:48:06.680 ABC for a little while as he pictured his mother's 2:48:06.720 --> 2:48:09.840 face and voice for the first time in years. He 2:48:09.920 --> 2:48:13.160 wanted to sob, but there was no time. He knew 2:48:13.160 --> 2:48:15.400 who he was now, and he knew what he was 2:48:15.440 --> 2:48:18.720 bound to do if he stayed this way. Roland's conscience 2:48:18.760 --> 2:48:22.160 wouldn't allow that, so he trudged forward until he found 2:48:22.240 --> 2:48:25.720 the right tool, a handheld grenade launcher clutched in the 2:48:25.760 --> 2:48:28.520 dead hands of a martyr. He took the weapon and 2:48:28.600 --> 2:48:32.840 sat cross legged and the blood soaked Texas dirt. Roland 2:48:32.879 --> 2:48:35.400 looked up at the sky one last time and allowed 2:48:35.480 --> 2:48:38.440 himself a long moment to remember his parents and his 2:48:38.480 --> 2:48:41.200 brother in the day he and Topaz had first met, 2:48:41.920 --> 2:48:51.800 and then he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. Manny, 2:48:53.200 --> 2:48:56.440 Nanny Yazi, Sasha, Donald Ferris, and Manny had all rushed 2:48:56.480 --> 2:48:59.160 to a transport as soon as Roland's face showed up 2:48:59.160 --> 2:49:02.160 on the screen. It seems the drones either didn't know 2:49:02.320 --> 2:49:05.279 or didn't care enough to separate dead friends from dead foes. 2:49:05.640 --> 2:49:09.199 Maybe that was the point Nanayazi drove. It took about 2:49:09.280 --> 2:49:11.560 six minutes for the shiny green jeep to make its 2:49:11.560 --> 2:49:13.879 way over the broken roads and towards the side of 2:49:13.879 --> 2:49:18.280 the battle. No one spoke they reached the battlefield. There 2:49:18.280 --> 2:49:21.280 are so many dead people. Manny had seen a lot 2:49:21.280 --> 2:49:24.280 of carnage in his life, but nothing like this. The 2:49:24.360 --> 2:49:27.520 stinches of burning flesh, opened bowls, and burning fuel were 2:49:27.560 --> 2:49:31.000 so overwhelming they almost knocked him down. Donald Ferris and 2:49:31.080 --> 2:49:34.560 Nana Yazzi looked just as queasy. Only Sasha whethered the 2:49:34.600 --> 2:49:37.800 sights and smells with calm. She stayed focused enough to 2:49:37.800 --> 2:49:40.760 spot skullfuckor Mike and the mess and direct Nana Yazzi 2:49:40.879 --> 2:49:44.920 his way. Rolling Fox soldiers were out in force. They 2:49:44.920 --> 2:49:47.600 stalked through the killing fields in groups of four or five, 2:49:47.920 --> 2:49:51.440 searching for survivors or just looking for loot. Mike stood 2:49:51.480 --> 2:49:54.080 with Topaz and Cashore, and a couple of chrombed Manny 2:49:54.160 --> 2:49:57.400 didn't recognize. Most of them were seated by a handful 2:49:57.440 --> 2:49:59.520 of large metal crates in the center of what had 2:49:59.560 --> 2:50:03.800 once been a large playground. Oh God, the dead men 2:50:03.920 --> 2:50:06.920 here had been torn apart. There was so much blood, 2:50:07.120 --> 2:50:09.879 more than Manny had ever seen. It sluiced around on 2:50:09.920 --> 2:50:13.000 the concrete like some sort of macab kittie pool. The 2:50:13.080 --> 2:50:15.560 jeep came to a wet stop in front of the group. 2:50:15.879 --> 2:50:18.440 The act of breakings into spray of gore out across 2:50:18.440 --> 2:50:22.600 skullfucker Mike's legs. Hey, he said, what are you all 2:50:22.600 --> 2:50:27.640 doing here? Rowland? Manny said, what happened to Rowland? Mike 2:50:27.680 --> 2:50:30.680 looked confused. Topaz raised his head up to look out 2:50:30.720 --> 2:50:33.760 at them. Many was surprised to see tears rolling down 2:50:33.800 --> 2:50:36.440 his face. His lip trembled a bit, but when he 2:50:36.520 --> 2:50:39.600 spoke there was steel and fury in his voice. He 2:50:39.800 --> 2:50:44.320 decided to keep killing. I'm sure he's still killing now. No, 2:50:44.680 --> 2:50:47.440 Manny said, he's dead, or that's what the drone said. 2:50:47.680 --> 2:50:50.040 We have to find him. Get out of that seat, 2:50:50.240 --> 2:50:53.760 Mike said to Nanny Izzie, I'm driving in an instant. 2:50:53.800 --> 2:50:56.840 Topaz his tears stopped, and before Manny could say anything, 2:50:57.160 --> 2:51:00.440 Topaz hopped into the back seat of the jeep. Fast. 2:51:00.640 --> 2:51:03.760 Topaz told skullfucker Mike as he took over from Nana Yazzi, 2:51:04.200 --> 2:51:08.160 go very fast. It didn't take long to find him. 2:51:08.360 --> 2:51:11.640 Roland's route through the army was painted in red. Hundreds 2:51:11.640 --> 2:51:14.120 of dead men, maybe more than a thousand, made a 2:51:14.160 --> 2:51:17.680 clear path with their corpses. That path didn't end until 2:51:17.720 --> 2:51:20.280 they were almost at the brazos and they saw where 2:51:20.360 --> 2:51:24.400 Roland had fallen. Roland's armored body was splayed out limp 2:51:24.680 --> 2:51:27.360 next to the carcass of an old semi truck. There 2:51:27.360 --> 2:51:30.120 were two very dead men directly in front of him, 2:51:30.280 --> 2:51:32.120 but neither of them looked to have done him in. 2:51:32.959 --> 2:51:36.240 Roland hadn't gone down to enemy fire. He jammed a 2:51:36.400 --> 2:51:38.800 very large gun in his mouth and blown the top 2:51:38.840 --> 2:51:41.959 off of his head. To all signs and to all logic, 2:51:42.280 --> 2:51:46.199 he looked dead. Donald Ferris shook his head and muttered something. 2:51:46.560 --> 2:51:50.480 Sasha just stared. Nana Yazzi put her hand on Manny's shoulder. 2:51:51.320 --> 2:51:54.640 He was she started to say, but she was interrupted 2:51:54.959 --> 2:51:57.640 by Roland as he lifted his ruined head up to 2:51:57.640 --> 2:52:00.960 look at them. His eyes were still in foe. Blood 2:52:01.040 --> 2:52:03.560 drooled down his nose, out of his mouth, and down 2:52:03.600 --> 2:52:06.720 from the gaping exit wound in his forehead. He spat 2:52:06.760 --> 2:52:10.480 out several teeth. Many saw daylight through his skull, but 2:52:10.600 --> 2:52:14.440 still Roland was able to speak. How the funk are 2:52:14.520 --> 2:53:50.960 you people? He asked, m M. This is Roxanne Gay, 2:53:51.200 --> 2:53:54.199 the host of The Roxanne Gay Agenda, the bad feminist 2:53:54.240 --> 2:53:57.760 podcast of your Dreams. Each week I talked to an 2:53:57.800 --> 2:54:03.039 interesting person about feminism, race, writing in books, and art, food, 2:54:03.240 --> 2:54:08.320 have culture, and yes, politics, we can't escape politics. Listen 2:54:08.360 --> 2:54:12.039 to the luminary original podcast, The Roxanne Gay Agenda every 2:54:12.120 --> 2:54:15.920 Tuesday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 2:54:16.080 --> 2:54:21.720 wherever you get your podcasts. Hey lead the listeners. Tig here. 2:54:22.000 --> 2:54:25.160 Last season on Lethal Lit, you might remember, I came 2:54:25.200 --> 2:54:28.840 to Hollow Falls on a mission clearing my aunt best 2:54:28.959 --> 2:54:34.000 name and making sure justice was finally served. But I 2:54:34.040 --> 2:54:37.080 hadn't counted on a rash of new murders tearing apart 2:54:37.160 --> 2:54:41.320 the town. My mission put myself and my friends in danger. 2:54:42.040 --> 2:54:45.480 Though it wasn't all bad, I'm going to be a 2:54:45.520 --> 2:54:50.199 reality tig. I like you, but now all signs point 2:54:50.280 --> 2:54:53.520 to a new serial killer in Hollow Falls. If this 2:54:53.600 --> 2:54:56.920 game is just starting, you better believe I'm gonna win. 2:54:58.320 --> 2:55:03.240 I'm tig Torres. This is Lethal Lit. Catch up on 2:55:03.360 --> 2:55:05.959 season one of the hit murder mystery podcast Lethal Lit 2:55:05.959 --> 2:55:08.760 A take Tara's mystery out now, and then tune in 2:55:08.840 --> 2:55:11.560 for all new thrills in season two, dropping weekly starting 2:55:11.560 --> 2:55:14.920 February nine. Subscribe now to never miss an episode. Listen 2:55:14.959 --> 2:55:16.760 to Leave the Lit on the I Heart Radio app, 2:55:16.879 --> 2:55:22.360 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The art 2:55:22.360 --> 2:55:26.560 world it is essentially a money laundering business. The best 2:55:26.560 --> 2:55:29.200 fakes are still hanging on people's walls. You know they 2:55:29.240 --> 2:55:33.000 don't even know or suspect that their fakes. I'm at 2:55:33.040 --> 2:55:37.240 like Baldwin and this is a podcast about deception, greed, 2:55:37.360 --> 2:55:40.920 and forgery in the art world. I just walked in 2:55:41.080 --> 2:55:46.039 and saw this great red painting presuming to be a rothco. 2:55:46.720 --> 2:55:50.400 Of course, art forgeries only happen because there's money to 2:55:50.440 --> 2:55:54.000 be made, a lot of money. I'm listening to how 2:55:54.040 --> 2:55:56.880 what they're paying for the thing. It was an incredible 2:55:57.120 --> 2:56:03.680 mansome money. You knew the painting was fake. Um Listen 2:56:03.760 --> 2:56:07.480 to Art Fraud starting February one on the I Heart 2:56:07.600 --> 2:56:12.000 Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, 2:56:12.920 --> 2:56:12.960 M