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Speaker 1: Chapter three, Sasha the drone gun rotated on its access

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Speaker 1: and brought a new, slightly different chunk of city escape

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Speaker 1: into view. The world was a dull gray green color

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Speaker 1: through the lens of the weapon's camera. Once again, there

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Speaker 1: were no humans in sight. That was the norm, but

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Speaker 1: Sasha still logged in for her scheduled gun time every day.

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Speaker 1: Her parents would have been mortified if they'd known how

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Speaker 1: she was spending her few hours of free time, but

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Speaker 1: she had a good VPN, or at least it was

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Speaker 1: good enough to hide her activity from her non tech

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Speaker 1: savvy elders. She doubted they'd ever suspect her of something

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Speaker 1: like this. Sasha was a good student. Her grades guaranteed

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Speaker 1: her admission to the American University in d C. At

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Speaker 1: one point, she'd had a shot at being her high

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Speaker 1: school's valedictorian and maybe of gaining admission to Stanford, But

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Speaker 1: then she discovered the True Gospel and given herself to Christ.

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Speaker 1: Her grades were still good, but probably not good enough

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Speaker 1: to earn her an educational visa to the californ in

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Speaker 1: your Republic. The extra time the old heir had dedicated

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Speaker 1: to school was now spent glued to a gun camp

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Speaker 1: browsing live feeds from various Christian militias and reading everything

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Speaker 1: she could from the few pastors brave enough to preach

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Speaker 1: the word the New Herd. Didn't want to go to

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Speaker 1: school near San Francisco, capital of what Pastor Mike had

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Speaker 1: called the world's most sinful nation. Sasha didn't even really

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Speaker 1: want to go to college in d C. What was

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Speaker 1: the point, Sash her dad called from the kitchen, dinners

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Speaker 1: on cheese Enchilada's. There was still nothing in her line

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Speaker 1: of sight. For the eleventh month in a row. She

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Speaker 1: was spending sixty five am fed dollars for the privilege

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Speaker 1: of staring through a camera at nothing for a half

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Speaker 1: hour a day. Sasha had been warned about this when

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Speaker 1: she'd signed up to support the Woodlands Martyrs Brigade. Their

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Speaker 1: drone guns didn't see much action. The front had been

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Speaker 1: stable for the last year. Rumors said the number of

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Speaker 1: backers had even gotten to fire during their turn was

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Speaker 1: under a dozen. Sasha had hoped she'd be a special case.

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Speaker 1: Something moved. Just as she thought about killing the app

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Speaker 1: and going downstairs, something moved across her drones field of vision.

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Speaker 1: It happened again, and Sasha realized that the somethings were

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Speaker 1: armored soldiers sprinting past her weapon. She locked the drone

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Speaker 1: on one and for the first time ever, selected the

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Speaker 1: fire approval button. A second went by, then another, and

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Speaker 1: then a red box replaced her firing redicule. Target declined.

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Speaker 1: Friendly fire, Sasha, her mother called up in that grating

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Speaker 1: voice that mint. She was almost frustrated enough to start

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Speaker 1: yelling get down here. She stared at the box for

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Speaker 1: another long moment. Friendly fire. That made sense as she

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Speaker 1: belatedly realized the men had been rushing out of territory

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Speaker 1: occupied by the martyrs. Good thing they check up on

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Speaker 1: us before we pull the trigger. Her heart pounded a

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Speaker 1: little at the thought of killing the wrong soldier. But

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Speaker 1: at the same time she noticed something odd. The men

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Speaker 1: were still coming. They rushed past the drone camera in

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Speaker 1: waves ten ft apart, ducking low and hefting heavy weapons.

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Speaker 1: She must have watched at least a hundred of them,

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Speaker 1: asked before she realized what this meant. A new offensive.

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Speaker 1: Oh God, dial Alexander, she told her deck. A calm

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Speaker 1: window popped up about six inches in front of her hand,

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Speaker 1: to the left of the large drone control screen that

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Speaker 1: hovered above her. Anyone without a deck would have just

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Speaker 1: seen a seventeen year old girl lying on her bed

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Speaker 1: and poking at the air, But Sasha saw the space

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Speaker 1: in front of her as a giant screen curved around

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Speaker 1: her body. She opened another window and flung it up

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Speaker 1: on her right side. It was populated with links to

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Speaker 1: the camera feeds of all the personality she followed. Most

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Speaker 1: of them were located somewhere in the Republic of Texas,

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Speaker 1: and more than half of the feeds were dark. It

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Speaker 1: was hard to tell just what was happening on the others.

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Speaker 1: Sasha decided she'd get a faster update on the situation

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Speaker 1: through her news aggregator. She reduced the other windows and

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Speaker 1: shifted them to her periphery. Then she opened a new

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Speaker 1: window and waited a half second for her curated news

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Speaker 1: feed to populate. Her deck kept ringing Alexander while she

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Speaker 1: scanned the headlines reports of explo jans across the Dallas Front,

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Speaker 1: Texas extremists advance into stf Republic territory. Reports from Dallas

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Speaker 1: suggested a new offensive by Heavenly Kingdom. A half dozen

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Speaker 1: rings later, Alexander picked up Sasha. He asked his voice

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Speaker 1: sounded distant. There was noise on the line. After a

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Speaker 1: second or so, Sasha heard a boom and then a strange,

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Speaker 1: crackling sound that had to be gunfire. It didn't sound

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Speaker 1: like it did in the movies, or even in the

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Speaker 1: few VR shooters she'd played. Sasha's heart had started to

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Speaker 1: pound by the time she responded, Yes, Alexander, I was

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Speaker 1: just on my drone and it looks like something's happening.

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Speaker 1: The media saying it's another offensive. They're right for once,

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Speaker 1: said Alexander, and they're still wrong at the same time.

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Speaker 1: This is something new, Sasha. I'm sorry I couldn't tell

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Speaker 1: you before, but it'll all be clear soon. Is this

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Speaker 1: just the martyrs Brigade? He smiled, and Sasha's face went red. No, Sasha,

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Speaker 1: something wonderful is Are you near the front? Are you

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Speaker 1: part of the fighting? Sasha interrupted, She'd never have done

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Speaker 1: that normally, but she could hear what's outed like gunfire

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Speaker 1: over his line, and Sasha was scared. I'm with the

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Speaker 1: second wave, he said the tracks. I'm moving us into

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Speaker 1: position now. I'll probably have to Whatever else he'd been

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Speaker 1: about to say was cut short as all of Sasha's

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Speaker 1: deck apps closed at once, her digital world was replaced

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Speaker 1: by a red box that read parental lockdown. Come to dinner,

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Speaker 1: Sasha mom. She screamed down the stairs as her eyes

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Speaker 1: welled up with tears at the unfairness of it all. Alexander,

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Speaker 1: the man she was pretty sure she loved, was going

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Speaker 1: into battle for the first time. He was fighting right

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Speaker 1: now to re establish the rule of God on earth.

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Speaker 1: I should have read him a poem or said something

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Speaker 1: beautiful and stirring, something about how my love for him

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Speaker 1: was as everlasting as God's own love. It should have

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Speaker 1: been a powerful moment, but her heretic horror of a

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Speaker 1: mother had ruined it. For Inchiladas, Sasha stormed downstairs right

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Speaker 1: with fury, but unable to vent it. Her parents couldn't

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Speaker 1: know she'd been giving money to a militant group. They

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Speaker 1: wouldn't have to drop in on her talking to Alexander

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Speaker 1: to know what she had planned. Six kids from her

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Speaker 1: high school had already left for the Republic of Texas

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Speaker 1: to fight in one militia or another. It was a

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Speaker 1: problem across the American Federation, but here in Virginia, parents

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Speaker 1: were particularly wary. The border of the United Christian States

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Speaker 1: was just an hour's drive from her front door. Ratlines

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Speaker 1: in the UCS brought thousands of young volunteers yearly from

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Speaker 1: the heart of corporate America to the various militia groups

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Speaker 1: that battled across Texas. Sasha Marian, What did we interrupt

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Speaker 1: that was so important? You had to yell? I was praying, mother.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't really a lie. Pastor Mike had said that

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Speaker 1: every deed done in support of the heavenly Kingdom was

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Speaker 1: an act of prayer. Gwendolen Marian frowned back at her daughter.

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Speaker 1: She was a stern woman with a broad Germanic face

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Speaker 1: and dirty blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun.

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Speaker 1: Faint crow's feet trickled out from her eyes, but those

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Speaker 1: were from voice rather than times formerly inevitable march. Gwendoline

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Speaker 1: was the chief of surgery at Annapolish General Hospital. She'd

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Speaker 1: been taking juven treatment since she was twenty. She'd only

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Speaker 1: decided to let the crow's feed through once Sasha had

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Speaker 1: turned seventeen. You can pray as much as you want, honey,

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Speaker 1: but right now it's dinner time, and this is something

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Speaker 1: we do as a family. Sasha thought juven was unnatural

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Speaker 1: heretical God had created each human to age a certain way.

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Speaker 1: Using science to disrupt that natural process was an act

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Speaker 1: of blasphemy. She yearned to say something cutting hurtful in response,

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Speaker 1: but she fought it down. You don't have to obey

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Speaker 1: your father and mother if they try to keep you

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Speaker 1: out of the Kingdom of Heaven, words from one of

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Speaker 1: Pastor Mike's weekly casts rang in her ears. But the

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Speaker 1: Lord God still calls on us to respect our parents,

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Speaker 1: he'd added that well behaved kids were the ones who

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Speaker 1: caused the least suspicion and had the best chance of

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Speaker 1: successful escape. Yes, ma'am, was all she said as the

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Speaker 1: families settled into their chairs. Her brother, Ian was just

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Speaker 1: five and unusually quiet for his age. He smiled at

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Speaker 1: her as their father doled him out an enchilada sash.

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Speaker 1: Who's Alexander, he asked, and Sasha felt the blood run

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Speaker 1: out of her face. Their father, Tony, smiled wrily at

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Speaker 1: the remark as he spooned a proportionately larger serving onto

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Speaker 1: his own plate. Alexander, Huh, maybe this means another boyfriend.

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Speaker 1: It's been what four years? Tony had opted for fewer

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Speaker 1: cosmetic jeven treatments than his wife. Sasha loved her father's

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Speaker 1: receding hairline, his slight jowls, his graying hair. He was

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Speaker 1: still a heretic, but at least he wasn't a vain one.

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Speaker 1: He's not my boyfriend Dad, just a boy I talk

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Speaker 1: with sometimes. We pray together. Gwendolen rolled her eyes a little.

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Speaker 1: Such an exciting adolescence you're having, she said. Sarcasm swelled

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Speaker 1: every word. Sasha didn't rise to the bait. Her self.

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Speaker 1: Control was iron now. She wouldn't give them any cause

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Speaker 1: to worry or call the authorities. It was better even

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Speaker 1: for them to think Alexander was some boy from school.

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Speaker 1: If they thought her principles were thawing, they'd be less

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Speaker 1: likely to suspect what he had planned. The Marryan family

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Speaker 1: ate companionably for several minutes. Tony talked about some cock

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Speaker 1: eyed nut who'd come into his office at Deutsche Bank

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Speaker 1: looking for a loan. He wanted three million to get

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Speaker 1: this build a blimp to take tourists from the am

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Speaker 1: Fed to Louisiana without crossing UCS territory. And I'm like,

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Speaker 1: first of all, I can name a hundred boat charters

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Speaker 1: to do the same thing and second. Sasha tuned most

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Speaker 1: of it out and tried to focus on eating, But

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Speaker 1: knowing Alexander was out there facing death for his faith

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Speaker 1: killed any appetite she otherwise might have had. She ate

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Speaker 1: mechanically without really tasting it until her plate was almost clean.

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Speaker 1: Sasha was planning her exit when her mother spoke up

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Speaker 1: by the way. The school called today and said, you

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Speaker 1: still haven't been by to get sized for your graduation robes.

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Speaker 1: They need at least forty eight hours to print them out.

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Speaker 1: You're running out of time. Sorry, mom, she said, I

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Speaker 1: know that important. I've just had a lot on my

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Speaker 1: mind lately. The f s T s were last week.

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Speaker 1: Sasha had gotten very good at telling her parents what

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Speaker 1: they needed to hear without actually lying. The Federation Standardized

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Speaker 1: Test had been last week, and she'd certainly had a

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Speaker 1: lot on her mind lately, but the fs T hadn't

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Speaker 1: been keeping her up at night. It was little more

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Speaker 1: than a rubber stamp for a student like Sasha. That's okay, sweetie,

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Speaker 1: Gwendolen said, I know how important your school work is

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Speaker 1: to you. I just want you to have a fun

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Speaker 1: graduation experience. That's important. There's a war going on a

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Speaker 1: few hundred miles from your door. Men are dying for

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Speaker 1: God's kingdom, and you think school matters to me. But

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Speaker 1: Sasha just smiled, told her mom she loved her, and

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Speaker 1: went back upstairs to her room. As soon as it

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Speaker 1: was politic to do so, she reactivated her VPN and

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Speaker 1: popped her deck into stealth mode, which displayed a curated

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Speaker 1: selection of websites and chat apps for her mom and

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Speaker 1: dad in case they came by. She drew a new

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Speaker 1: Price of It window about two feet in front of

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Speaker 1: her face and split it in half between a face

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Speaker 1: calm with Alexander and a news feed full of her

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Speaker 1: favorite militia press offices. Her jaw dropped Voice of the

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Speaker 1: Prophet's main headline was Republic of Texas forces clashed with martyrs.

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Speaker 1: Judgment day is here, she read in a social media

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Speaker 1: post from one of her favorite sources in the area,

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Speaker 1: a twenty something mechanic who lived on the fringe of

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Speaker 1: the Republic and supported the Heavenly Kingdom. He'd posted a

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Speaker 1: picture of the Governor's mansion in Plano. It was burnt

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Speaker 1: around several of the windows and riddled with holes. Gone

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Speaker 1: was the Republic's flag replaced by a white banner with

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Speaker 1: a burning black cross in the center. Sasha sent out

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Speaker 1: another call request to Alexander and switched over to Al

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Speaker 1: Jazeera's feed to learn more. It galled her to use

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Speaker 1: a news source run by Muslims, but she had learned

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Speaker 1: from experience that Al Jazeera had the best reporters on

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Speaker 1: the ground in the Republic. They negotiated coverage deals with

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Speaker 1: several of the militia groups, including Alexander's. The first thing

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Speaker 1: she noticed was that their last article had gone up

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Speaker 1: over an hour ago, but the titles of the foremost

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Speaker 1: recent articles painted a vivid picture Republic capital in Galveston, burning,

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Speaker 1: military coup, Republic media feeds go dark, SDF under attack.

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Speaker 1: In Dallas, Pastor Mike Donnegan announces new offensive for Heavenly Kingdom.

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Speaker 1: How could there possibly be a new offensive against the

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Speaker 1: secular forces in Dallas? The Richardson line had been locked

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Speaker 1: in a stalemate for the last year. Alexander had told

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Speaker 1: her often, how outnumbered and outgunned the martyrs of the

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Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom were we hold in our own But only

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Speaker 1: by the grace of God, was his usual refrain. The

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Speaker 1: idea of them advancing again on the SDF seemed impossible.

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Speaker 1: Nothing is impossible with God. She could almost hear Alexander's

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Speaker 1: voice echo in her mind's ear. She glanced over at

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Speaker 1: his chat screen, but it was still just showed the

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Speaker 1: standard dialing symbol. Frustrated, Sasha brought up her militia news feed.

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Speaker 1: This was one of her most cherished possessions. It had

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Speaker 1: taken months for her to sort out the most influential

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Speaker 1: Christian militias in the area, find their official spokes feeds,

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Speaker 1: and cross index them base on which groups agreed with

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Speaker 1: the strict neo Calvinist doctrine she Alexander and Pastor Mike

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Speaker 1: all knew to be the one true word of God.

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Speaker 1: And for the first time since she had started the feed,

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Speaker 1: each and every militia she followed had posted the exact

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Speaker 1: same message, The first battle of Armageddon has begun. Sasha

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Speaker 1: was confused for a minute. She'd done her homework. She

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Speaker 1: knew the final battle of the end Times was supposed

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Speaker 1: to occur at Mount Meghito in Israel, but she thought

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Speaker 1: back to Pastor Mike's sermons. He had talked about the

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Speaker 1: battles of Armageddon many times. The coming end times and

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Speaker 1: the central place of the Heavenly Kingdom and the world's

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Speaker 1: last battles were constant refrains in his sermons. Sasha had

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Speaker 1: always believed the battles of Armageddon would come. She just

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Speaker 1: thought they had more time. Sasha was frustrated and a

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Speaker 1: little hurt. Alexander must have known this was in the

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Speaker 1: offing and kept it from her, she understood, of course,

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Speaker 1: but she was furious at herself for being so far

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Speaker 1: away from the action that he had been forced to

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Speaker 1: hide this from her. The first battle of Armageddon was

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Speaker 1: beginning just a few hours south of her bedroom. She

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Speaker 1: could either stay here and rot in the American Federation,

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Speaker 1: or prove God with her devotion and move there. It

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Speaker 1: didn't even seem like a choice. Really. If goodmen were

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Speaker 1: fighting and dying to restore the Kingdom of God on earth,

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Speaker 1: it fell to her to travel there and support those men.

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Speaker 1: She thought of Alexander, his liquid green eyes, his scraggly beard,

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Speaker 1: the way his still boyish voice broke in excitement when

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Speaker 1: he lost himself in the spirit of the Lord. Her

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Speaker 1: beloved was out there right now, fighting and maybe bleeding,

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Speaker 1: to bring the truth back to the world. The least

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Speaker 1: she could do was join him. Weeks ago, Alexander had

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Speaker 1: given her the contact information for a man named Brother Andrew.

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Speaker 1: He called the other man a deliverer. Sasha knew her

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Speaker 1: parents and the AMFID authorities would have described Brother Andrew

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Speaker 1: as a people smuggler. She hadn't reached out to Brother

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Speaker 1: Andrew yet. In her fantasy, she had always waited to

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Speaker 1: graduate before escaping to the Heavenly Kingdom. She was still

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Speaker 1: a few weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday and had

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Speaker 1: hoped to at least spin that with her parents before

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Speaker 1: setting off. But right now, as she scrolled through articles

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Speaker 1: about the martyrs breakthrough and immersed herself and snap bits

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Speaker 1: of cheering soldiers raising cross banners over newly captured neighborhoods,

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Speaker 1: Sasha felt a powerful anxiety overtake her. She needed to

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Speaker 1: be there. There was no other option. Sasha flicked open

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Speaker 1: a window on the left side of her viewspace, typed

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Speaker 1: in the address she'd memorized for Brother Andrew, and sent

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Speaker 1: him a message, I am ready to go. Hey everybody,

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Speaker 1: Robert Evans here. I hope you just enjoyed the chapter

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Speaker 1: you listen to. I hope you enjoyed the chapters to come.

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Speaker 1: If you would like to read the text version of

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Speaker 1: this book either on the web or on your e

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Speaker 1: reader as an e pub, you can find those on

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Speaker 1: the website a t r book dot com. So again,

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Speaker 1: the free ad free e pub and the text of

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Speaker 1: every chapter will be on a t r book dot com.

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Speaker 1: Thanks