Speaker 1: Chapter twelve, Sasha the Lord did not mean for Sasha
Speaker 1: to be a cleaner. That was her first big lesson
Speaker 1: as a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom. She was good
Speaker 1: enough at it, and she had too much self respect
Speaker 1: to complain, but the work felt so unrewarding that she
Speaker 1: knew it must not be what God wanted for her.
Speaker 1: She'd spent her first night in the Kingdom being pampered
Speaker 1: and provided for by her fellow sisters in the Faith.
Speaker 1: They'd fed her, cleaned her, found her fresh clothes, and
Speaker 1: given her all the emotional rewards she could have ever wanted.
Speaker 1: And then the next day, Helen had woken her up
Speaker 1: at seven in the morning to help clean out an
Speaker 1: old Republic barracks that was being transitioned over to housing
Speaker 1: for soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom. She knew it was
Speaker 1: honorable work, she knew it was necessary work, and she
Speaker 1: knew from the issues of Revelator she'd read that establishing
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Heaven was a job that would not
Speaker 1: be accomplished easily or without pain. She'd accepted this when
Speaker 1: she'd made the choice to venture down here, but by
Speaker 1: the time she'd scrubbed her twelfth toilet of the day,
Speaker 1: Sasha had to ida that her mind and her loyalty
Speaker 1: were better used elsewhere. Oddly enough, something her father had
Speaker 1: told her about the corporate world stopped her from whining.
Speaker 1: Never complain, never speak ill of your colleagues, and always
Speaker 1: ask if there's more work you can do. It had
Speaker 1: been his advice to survive and thrive in business, but
Speaker 1: she took it to heart here, and by the end
Speaker 1: of her first full day in the kingdom, she'd scrubbed
Speaker 1: more toilets than any other girl. She hated the work,
Speaker 1: but she also took a perverse sort of pride in it.
Speaker 1: That brought a little guilt because she wasn't here to
Speaker 1: serve her pride, But also wouldn't the Lord God be
Speaker 1: happy to see her commitment. I'll ask Helen about that,
Speaker 1: Sasha told herself. She'll tell me how much of my
Speaker 1: pride is justified and how much isn't. She didn't see
Speaker 1: Helen again until the end of that day, when a
Speaker 1: truck came to gather all the girls up and take
Speaker 1: them back to the House of Miriam. They all washed
Speaker 1: up and then sat together around a large oaken table
Speaker 1: while Helen led them in prayer, she read a chunk
Speaker 1: of the Book of Isaiah, and then gave a quick
Speaker 1: lecture on the value of physical labor, each callous on
Speaker 1: your hand as a kiss from God, before inviting them
Speaker 1: to tuck in. The dinner wasn't luxurious by sasha standards,
Speaker 1: just biscuits, a thin brown gravy, and a palm sized
Speaker 1: slice of beef for each of them. But they had
Speaker 1: oranges for dessert, which was a treat, and Sasha felt
Speaker 1: more comfortable than she'd ever have believed. Among her new sisters,
Speaker 1: Caroline had fled from Florida, North America's bananaist Republic. She'd
Speaker 1: been shot in the arm making her way to the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom. She said almost nothing. Sasha wasn't sure she
Speaker 1: even spoke English. But Caroline worked hard. There was an
Speaker 1: intensity in her eyes that was a little scary and
Speaker 1: humbling at the same time. Then there was Susannah from
Speaker 1: the black Stone Nation. Sasha couldn't help but notice she
Speaker 1: was the only black girl there. Susannah had spent most
Speaker 1: of their work day singing to herself. She had a
Speaker 1: beautiful singing voice. And then there were the three other
Speaker 1: am fed girls. Emmeline, Rosie, and Anne. They had all
Speaker 1: left a few weeks before Sasha had made her own journey.
Speaker 1: Anne had actually gone to the same middle school as Sasha.
Speaker 1: She wasn't great with name so most of the other
Speaker 1: girls in her group were still more of a collection
Speaker 1: of smiling faces than real people at this point, But
Speaker 1: they'd all been so warm to her. There was a
Speaker 1: real effort from all of them to make regular physical contact.
Speaker 1: They put hands on each other's shoulders and cheeks, They
Speaker 1: hugged constantly. Sasha experienced more touching in her first twenty
Speaker 1: four hours here than she'd experienced in her last five
Speaker 1: years in the American Federation. There was something intoxicating about
Speaker 1: being touched and feeling so cared for. The only girl
Speaker 1: she didn't like was May. Like Sasha, May was within
Speaker 1: spitting distance of age eighteen, She'd fled from the UCS,
Speaker 1: and she had a gift for letting people around her
Speaker 1: know when they fell short of God's standards. During their
Speaker 1: work day, she'd spent more time policing the other girl's
Speaker 1: posture than she'd spent scrubbing toilets. When Anne had hitched
Speaker 1: up her shirt sleeves, it was May who had scolded
Speaker 1: her for a modesty. When Susannah took off her shoes
Speaker 1: and socks during their lunch break, May had yelled that
Speaker 1: she was an unfair temptation to the young soldiers walking
Speaker 1: by on the street. Sasha knew it was unfair and
Speaker 1: definitely Unchristian to feel this way, but May looked like
Speaker 1: someone who lived to tell other people what to do.
Speaker 1: She had the pinched features, squinting eyes, and high pitched
Speaker 1: voice of a born snitch. May kept her hair tied
Speaker 1: up in a bun so tight and short it looked military.
Speaker 1: She never smiled and never seemed to relax, and there
Speaker 1: was something about the frenzied way she'd pray alone quietly
Speaker 1: in the corner throughout the day that made Sasha leery.
Speaker 1: She hated that she'd noticed those things. She knew God
Speaker 1: didn't want her focusing on what other people were doing wrong.
Speaker 1: And besides, she told herself, what are you really angry
Speaker 1: about that? She's too serious about her faith. Isn't that
Speaker 1: way you left home? Gluttony is a sin too, you know,
Speaker 1: May said. Sasha realized with a start that May had
Speaker 1: addressed her. She had been eating her orange and absent
Speaker 1: minded and tired after a long day of labor. She
Speaker 1: hadn't realized how messy she'd been about peeling it. Her
Speaker 1: hands and sleeves were covered with a sticky juice. She
Speaker 1: looked around at the table and noticed that the other
Speaker 1: girls had been much more careful their dessert. Sorry, Sasha started,
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking. May rolled her eyes and started to
Speaker 1: say something else, but Helen cut her off. It's quite
Speaker 1: all right, dear. None of us is perfect. She cast
Speaker 1: a reproach for lie at May. And we all lose
Speaker 1: ourselves and thoughts sometimes, especially in the wake of great change.
Speaker 1: The Lord understands. She looked out to the rest of
Speaker 1: the table with a gaze that seemed to take in
Speaker 1: each of the girls collectively and individually. Then she spoke,
Speaker 1: we are all here because we recognize the primacy of
Speaker 1: God's word on earth. But we are no more perfect
Speaker 1: and no more beloved by our Lord than the enemies
Speaker 1: we face. Never forget that, girls, our foes are as
Speaker 1: dear to Him as we are. They must be purged
Speaker 1: when they seek to interfere with God's will, But we
Speaker 1: should feel sorrow for such losses, and we should never
Speaker 1: ever Her eyes went to May again, let our fortune
Speaker 1: in hearing God's word bleat us of compassion, or lead
Speaker 1: us to arrogance. Sasha's heart swelled at this. She never
Speaker 1: admired a woman more. Helen had a way of imparting
Speaker 1: wisdom without judgment, of shining a light on the truth
Speaker 1: without seeming like it was her truth alone. Helen wasn't
Speaker 1: a preacher, but Sasha had never heard anyone speak the
Speaker 1: word of God with more conviction. After dinner, they had
Speaker 1: an hour of free time to read their bibles, share
Speaker 1: a few stories of their old lives, and drink a
Speaker 1: single cup of sweet lemon tea. By nine o'clock it
Speaker 1: was bedtime. Sasha was rankled a bit by the fact
Speaker 1: that she and her fellow young women were being ordered
Speaker 1: into bed at a set hour, but she was so
Speaker 1: exhausted by her day of labor that she couldn't work
Speaker 1: up much frustration over the mild injustice. Perhaps, when she'd
Speaker 1: had more time to adjust, she'd bring this up to Helen.
Speaker 1: She collapsed in her bunk bed, certain she'd fall asleep
Speaker 1: in an instant. Instead, she lay awake for the better
Speaker 1: part of an hour, thinking of Alexander. She'd still heard
Speaker 1: nothing more from him or about him. She'd asked Helen
Speaker 1: a couple of times today, and the older woman had
Speaker 1: almost seemed angry. Somehow, Sasha knew the anger wasn't towards her,
Speaker 1: and that was doubly confusing Sasha. Anne's voice broke her reverie.
Speaker 1: The other girl was situated just below her on the
Speaker 1: bunk bed. Sasha was surprised to hear her still awake. Yes,
Speaker 1: is something the matter? No, Anne said, I just couldn't sleep.
Speaker 1: I thought maybe you were awake too. I guess we're
Speaker 1: both in the same boat. Then Sasha kept her voice low,
Speaker 1: more to avoid waking any of the others than out
Speaker 1: of fear of breaking the rules in more ways than one.
Speaker 1: Anne said, I'm waiting for a man I love too.
Speaker 1: Sasha's heart beat a little faster. It was like that,
Speaker 1: with everything that made her think of Alexander, her mind
Speaker 1: didn't need a great deal of prodding to turn towards him.
Speaker 1: Your love is at the front, too, Sasha asked, I
Speaker 1: think so, Anne said, I was lucky enough to get
Speaker 1: to see him once I arrived in Kappel first, back
Speaker 1: before the Kingdom took Plaino. We met once then and
Speaker 1: once more after the city fell and they moved us
Speaker 1: into the House of Miriam, Jealousy seized Sasha's heart. She
Speaker 1: tried to replace it with gratitude in the Lord, he'd
Speaker 1: send her someone who can understand pain and frustration. Wasn't
Speaker 1: that a blessing? That must be hard for you, she said,
Speaker 1: getting to see him and then being separated. The words
Speaker 1: came out a bit stilted and cold. She hoped Anne
Speaker 1: hadn't noticed it is. Anne said, but it isn't half
Speaker 1: so rough a place as you're in. I can't imagine
Speaker 1: how anxious you must be arriving here and not seeing him.
Speaker 1: He's not the only reason I came, Sasha said, a
Speaker 1: bit defensively, But yes, it's hard. I'm scared. I don't
Speaker 1: know why I feel so silly, Admitting that it's certainly
Speaker 1: not silly, Anne assured her, But I get it. Everyone
Speaker 1: here is so focused on gratitude and God's wisdom. It
Speaker 1: almost makes you feel like a traitor for feeling afraid
Speaker 1: or unhappy. Anne's voice dropped a few decibels, as if
Speaker 1: she was ashamed of her next words, I almost feel
Speaker 1: like a liar when I smile. I don't think the
Speaker 1: Lord wants us to be liars, Sasha said, but I
Speaker 1: think being happy, or trying to seem happy, is a
Speaker 1: sacrifice we make for the kingdom. It helps keep everyone
Speaker 1: else around us strong. Hm hm, Anne said, and then yawned.
Speaker 1: Her voice sounded heavy with sleep. There must have been
Speaker 1: something contagious in the sound, because Sasha felt her own
Speaker 1: eyelids start to droop. That's a nice way to look
Speaker 1: at it, Anne said, I like the way you think, Sasha.
Speaker 1: Helen woke all of them up the next morning. She
Speaker 1: was gentle with it, a hand on each girl's shoulder
Speaker 1: and a word in each of their ears, but there
Speaker 1: was no mistaking that she meant now. So Sasha got up.
Speaker 1: Her feet hit the floor just as Anne took her
Speaker 1: first steps forward towards the dining room. They all filed in,
Speaker 1: silent and groggy. The girls took their breakfasts in the
Speaker 1: form of a thick, tasteless protein shake, and then they
Speaker 1: were loaded onto a heavy military looking bus and driven
Speaker 1: off to a large, red brick office building. According to
Speaker 1: the bullet poxed signs, it had once been an administrative
Speaker 1: building for the corporation that had run most of the
Speaker 1: Republic schools. Sasha swept up bullet casings and shattered glass.
Speaker 1: She scrubbed toilets and wiped the blood off the walls,
Speaker 1: and tried not to think too hard about how it
Speaker 1: had gotten there. Conversation wasn't forbidden, but there was a
Speaker 1: lot of ground to cover, and May was quick to
Speaker 1: scold anyone who dawdled. Sasha and Anne both kept moving,
Speaker 1: but they passed each other in the halls often. Each
Speaker 1: time the other girl would favor Sasha with a supportive smile,
Speaker 1: and Sasha would return it. They broke for lunch a
Speaker 1: little afternoon, stale cheese sandwiches and orange juice, but instead
Speaker 1: of getting back to work after their meal, they were
Speaker 1: met again by the bus that had taken them there.
Speaker 1: They were told to file inside. Sasha wound up in
Speaker 1: between Anne and Susannah in the middle row of the bus.
Speaker 1: It was hot, the air circulation was bad, and the
Speaker 1: smell of sweat was thick on the bus, but the
Speaker 1: windows were down, and once the bus got going, the
Speaker 1: air that blew in felt like Heaven, Lord God, I've
Speaker 1: been waiting for this all day, said Susannah. I'd stay
Speaker 1: on this thing all night if they led me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Anne said, this is actually a lot more comfortable than
Speaker 1: the bunk room, even when the hours working in the
Speaker 1: fans are on. Does the power go out a lot?
Speaker 1: Sasha asked. She felt dumb for even giving voice to
Speaker 1: the question, but her seatmates didn't treat it like a
Speaker 1: stupid question. Not a lot, Anne said, but we'll lose
Speaker 1: an hour or two most days, and it can be
Speaker 1: out for quite a while when Austin gets a drone through.
Speaker 1: That doesn't happen often. Susannah assured her. I've been in
Speaker 1: the Kingdom ten days and we've only had to take
Speaker 1: shelter once twice for me. Anne said, but I've been
Speaker 1: here almost three weeks. I'm not scared, Sasha assured them.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious. You should be scared. Susannah said, it sucks.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a long ride, and Sasha was embarrassed at
Speaker 1: how long it took her to realize the destination. This
Speaker 1: was the same route they'd taken from the House of Miriam,
Speaker 1: just in reverse. She and the other girls were being
Speaker 1: taken downtown. Won't she got a good look at the gallows,
Speaker 1: she understood why there were six people lined up in
Speaker 1: front of the little stairway that led to the platform.
Speaker 1: They looked like prisoners. Susannah looked just as confused as Sasha,
Speaker 1: but Anne seemed to understand what was going on. She
Speaker 1: scrunched her face in disgust. Oh no, she said, I
Speaker 1: hate it when they make us watch this. The two
Speaker 1: martyrs who had guarded them all day opened the doors
Speaker 1: and told them to form up outside of the bus.
Speaker 1: Sasha did as she was told, while grabbing as many
Speaker 1: long looks at the gallows as she could manage. None
Speaker 1: of the people who stood out in front of the
Speaker 1: platform looked like soldiers, or robber barons, or much of
Speaker 1: anything at all. They just seemed young and scared fags.
Speaker 1: The martyr standing next to the driver at the bus
Speaker 1: door grunted as Sasha stepped past him. He waited until
Speaker 1: the other girls had all filed off the bus before
Speaker 1: he stepped around to stand in front of them. Sasha
Speaker 1: hadn't paid the man too much attention during the day, because,
Speaker 1: in truth, he scared her. He looked old, over forty
Speaker 1: at least, and his face was heavy with scars and tattoos.
Speaker 1: There were faded blue crosses inked on each of his forearms.
Speaker 1: There wasn't much skin visible under his armor and helmet,
Speaker 1: but the skin she could see was tanned red like leather.
Speaker 1: His eyes were cold and seemed fixed into a permanent squint.
Speaker 1: When he addressed the group, it was with a voice
Speaker 1: that sounded like it came to them through a filter
Speaker 1: of gravel and glass. These people, he said, and spat
Speaker 1: after the word people a gender traitors. There were a
Speaker 1: few gasps from among the crowd. He continued. It took
Speaker 1: us a while to crack into the Republic's old files,
Speaker 1: but we finally got a list of all the fags
Speaker 1: who refused to accept their God given gender. They thought
Speaker 1: surgery could hide him. But there's no hide in the
Speaker 1: truth from the eyes of God or his true servants,
Speaker 1: and there's only one fair punishment for someone who turns
Speaker 1: their back on natural law. Sasha's heart started to pound.
Speaker 1: She'd known, of course, that Pastor Mike didn't approve of transgenderism,
Speaker 1: of gender change surgery, of homosexuality, or of anything else
Speaker 1: that didn't fit into the neat biblical lines of what
Speaker 1: a man and a woman ought to be, but it
Speaker 1: always phrased his objections with such compassion. Queer and trans
Speaker 1: people weren't monsters deserving of death. They were victims of
Speaker 1: the fallen secular world, same as anyone else. Sasha agreed
Speaker 1: they needed re education, but this the crowd, perhaps three
Speaker 1: hundred strong, cheered as the prisoners were led up to
Speaker 1: the gallows. Sasha's heart beat like a bass drum. She
Speaker 1: couldn't hear anything else. The voices of the crowd, of
Speaker 1: her sister's faded behind the beating sound of the blood
Speaker 1: that coursed through her head. But her eyes continued to work,
Speaker 1: and she watched in horror as they fit nooses around
Speaker 1: each victim's neck. The young people cried and screamed and begged,
Speaker 1: but the martyrs paid them no mind. Some of them
Speaker 1: chanted in tongues while they prepared the killing machine. Sasha
Speaker 1: saw joy in their eyes. She found it revolting. Before long,
Speaker 1: they'd finished their preparations, and six people were strung up
Speaker 1: on the gallows before the brays and cries of the crowd.
Speaker 1: Sasha didn't think it was possible for her heart to
Speaker 1: beat any faster, but it kept speeding up. She felt
Speaker 1: light headed and nauseous, and a little like she needed
Speaker 1: to go to the bathroom. Her knees grew weak, and
Speaker 1: she found herself leaning on Anne. The other woman looked
Speaker 1: almost as scared as Sasha did, but she weathered it better.
Speaker 1: She put an arm around Sasha, supporting her, and the
Speaker 1: two of them looked on as the executioner called out
Speaker 1: and pulled the lever that sent six human beings dropping
Speaker 1: down to dangle until they were dead. The snap of
Speaker 1: their necks was the only thing Sasha heard above the
Speaker 1: sound of her own pounding heart. She watched them twitch
Speaker 1: and jerk for a second two, and then her body
Speaker 1: grew too light, and her legs collapsed beneath her. The
Speaker 1: world went black. She awoke back in the house of Miriam.
Speaker 1: Her sisters knelt or stood around her. Sasha was gratified
Speaker 1: to see she wasn't the only one who'd passed out.
Speaker 1: Anne lay next to her, clearly disoriented, along with two
Speaker 1: other women whose name Sasha hadn't quite memorized. Helen set
Speaker 1: in between them, wet washcloth in her hand, and stroked
Speaker 1: their faces. There, there, DearS, you've had a terrible shock,
Speaker 1: and there's no shame in your reactions. No shame may
Speaker 1: spat the words. There was a glow to her face
Speaker 1: and a manic glint in her eyes. Ma'am, with all
Speaker 1: due respect, I don't know how these girls can call
Speaker 1: themselves committed to the heavenly kingdom if the sight of
Speaker 1: to find justice hurts them so much. Sasha saw anger
Speaker 1: in Helen's eyes, but the older woman didn't let it
Speaker 1: carry over into her voice. Instead, she fixed May with
Speaker 1: a cool gaze and said in an even tone, Miss May,
Speaker 1: one can believe in our Lord's justice and still regret
Speaker 1: the pain that comes with it. That does not signal
Speaker 1: a lack of devotion. It signals compassion, a trait Jesus
Speaker 1: Christ had an abundance. May frowned and pursed her lips,
Speaker 1: but she kept them shut for now. Helen turned back
Speaker 1: to Sasha and the other girls who had fallen. Death
Speaker 1: is never easy to witness, girls. It should be a
Speaker 1: horrible thing to witness. She glanced back to May. And
Speaker 1: we should all be worried if a day ever comes
Speaker 1: when we can see such violence without pain in our hearts.
Speaker 1: But these are dire times. The world has fallen too
Speaker 1: much for pacifism to bring back the rule of God,
Speaker 1: and so we must use violence. Do you understand? Sasha nodded.
Speaker 1: She heard the other girls give stuttering, hollow replies. Even
Speaker 1: the girls who'd managed to stay standing looked shaken. May
Speaker 1: was the only one who wore a smile. They gave
Speaker 1: her a wide berth the rest of the day. Whoever
Speaker 1: was in charge of their schedule paid some deference to
Speaker 1: the fact that they had been forced to watch in execution.
Speaker 1: There was no more cleaning that day. They spent the
Speaker 1: rest of the daylight hours seated around the common area
Speaker 1: in the House of Miriam sewing uniforms. Sasha had never
Speaker 1: sewn before, but Anne sat next to her and taught
Speaker 1: her the basics. Her hands were still shaking when they
Speaker 1: got to work, but Anne helped her and eventually, focusing
Speaker 1: on the meticulous task allowed her to blot out the horror.
Speaker 1: Once she got a good grip on the basics of
Speaker 1: what was required of her, she was able to lose
Speaker 1: herself and quiet productive flow. She was almost disappointed when
Speaker 1: Helen called them to dinner. They ate the same food
Speaker 1: as the day before. They prayed, and then they had
Speaker 1: an hour of relatively free time. They couldn't leave the
Speaker 1: House of Miriam since it was after eight, but they
Speaker 1: could talk. Sasha gravitated naturally to Susannah and Anne. The
Speaker 1: topic of conversation turned at once to the execution. Is
Speaker 1: that always what it's like, Sue, Sanna asked. Anne nodded.
Speaker 1: Her voice shook a little when she said, I passed
Speaker 1: out last time too. I thought it'd be easier the
Speaker 1: second time around, but it really wasn't it feels wrong,
Speaker 1: Sasha whispered. She glanced over to May, who was holding
Speaker 1: court with a few of the other girls at the
Speaker 1: other end of the common area. I'm not saying it's
Speaker 1: okay what those people were doing, but surely they deserved
Speaker 1: a chance to repent. Susannah nodded. I don't think Jesus
Speaker 1: would want us to murder people just for being wrong.
Speaker 1: It's one thing to kill an atheist or an apostate
Speaker 1: who's attacking you. It's another thing to just Her voice
Speaker 1: caught a bit hank people. Anne shook her head in
Speaker 1: an absent sort of way. Kyle told me it was necessary. Kyle,
Speaker 1: Susannah asked, my intended Anne said, I watched the first
Speaker 1: execution with him when I passed out. He was so sweet.
Speaker 1: I came to when he was holding me, petting my head.
Speaker 1: Anne's eyes shone with love, and Sasha had to fight
Speaker 1: hard to keep the jealousy from her own face. He
Speaker 1: explained that the Heavenly Kingdom couldn't afford to re educate
Speaker 1: the fallen. They are too many and we are too surrounded.
Speaker 1: If someone is capable of changing, God will know, and
Speaker 1: he will ensure they get their just reward in heaven.
Speaker 1: Sasha was not entirely convinced, but she also wasn't willing
Speaker 1: to argue with Anne. It felt a little dicey just
Speaker 1: admitting her continued discomfort with the executions, so she stayed quiet,
Speaker 1: and the talk turned to more comfortable matters, what they
Speaker 1: expected from the next day's work and what sort of
Speaker 1: lives they lead. When the fighting was over and they
Speaker 1: were settled down with the Gallant warriors, they knew they'd
Speaker 1: marry soon. The girls all filed off to their small
Speaker 1: snug beds after a long day of work and stress.
Speaker 1: The bed felt so good that it made Sasha feel guilty.
Speaker 1: Alexander was fighting right now, he'd surely seem more death
Speaker 1: than she had, and he didn't have the option of
Speaker 1: fainting or crying about it. As she drifted off to
Speaker 1: sleep again, Sasha promised herself that she would never faint
Speaker 1: or cry out in the face of death again. If
Speaker 1: this was the way God had ordained, his kingdom must come,
Speaker 1: she owed it to herself and to her Lord to
Speaker 1: stand and see it. The next day, they all went
Speaker 1: back to the same battered administrative building as the day before.
Speaker 1: Sasha scrubbed and swept ate her lunch and got right
Speaker 1: back to work. She forced herself into enthusiasm for the
Speaker 1: menial labor with the same discipline she'd used when it
Speaker 1: had been time to study for an exam and a
Speaker 1: class she hated. The same tactic worked in both high
Speaker 1: school and the Heavenly Kingdom. About two hours before the
Speaker 1: end of their workday, Sasha's rhythm was interrupted by the
Speaker 1: sound of a crash and a scream from one of
Speaker 1: the girls in the bathroom next door to the room
Speaker 1: she was in. Sasha dropped her scrub brush and darted over.
Speaker 1: She was the first one into the room. It took
Speaker 1: her a moment to piece together what must have happened.
Speaker 1: Susannah had been scrubbing a sink that had been badly
Speaker 1: damaged by shellfire. The sink had collapsed while she had
Speaker 1: scrubbed it and a jagged edge of porcelain had torn
Speaker 1: open the girl's hand. There was already an enormous amount
Speaker 1: of blood. By the time Sasha arrived. Susannah looked pale.
Speaker 1: She backed up against the wall and was just screaming wordlessly.
Speaker 1: Sasha had taken three semesters of premed classes in the
Speaker 1: last two ears. She had a good basic instruction and
Speaker 1: first aid. She pulled her shirt off over her head
Speaker 1: and wrapped it around the gash on the other girl's hand.
Speaker 1: It was the spare shirt she had brought from home,
Speaker 1: and it had an antimicrobial weave that should make it
Speaker 1: relatively safe as a wound dressing. She pulled it tight,
Speaker 1: watted the extra fabric up over the wound, and applied
Speaker 1: as much pressure as she could. Susannah kept screaming, but
Speaker 1: the flow of blood from her wounds slowed. Breathe with me,
Speaker 1: Sasha told Susannah as she stared into the other girl's eyes.
Speaker 1: In she inhaled, and out she exhaled. She repeated this
Speaker 1: several times until Susannah stopped screaming and started breathing in
Speaker 1: time with her. Several of the girls had crowded around
Speaker 1: the entrance to the bathroom. At this point, when Sasha
Speaker 1: glanced up, she could see May's face in the back
Speaker 1: of the crowd. She looked disgusted, probably at the fact
Speaker 1: that Sasha had torn off her shirt. Please call for
Speaker 1: the martyrs, Sasha asked, no one in particular, Tell them
Speaker 1: Susanna needs medical attention. I don't think she has any
Speaker 1: clotting agents in her blood. No one moved, so Sasha
Speaker 1: locked eyes with Anne and told her, please go now.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't take any chances with a wound like this,
Speaker 1: and nodded. Broke away from the glocking group and stumbled
Speaker 1: off to find help. Sasha looked back to Susannah. She
Speaker 1: coaxed the other girl to sit down against the wall
Speaker 1: and sat down next to her, applying pressure to her
Speaker 1: hand the entire time. Sasha's shirt was now soaked through
Speaker 1: with hot, sticky blood. Her hands were wet too, but
Speaker 1: she didn't feel squeamish about this. She'd expected to after
Speaker 1: her reaction to the hangings, but somehow the sight of
Speaker 1: all this blood actually combed her. She knew what to
Speaker 1: do here. It felt good to take effective action. The
Speaker 1: martyrs arrived a minute or so later, with a medic
Speaker 1: close behind By that point, Susanna's bleeding had stopped entirely.
Speaker 1: The medic was impressed, and he said, so you have
Speaker 1: some kind of training, ma'am. You handled this very well.
Speaker 1: Three semesters of premed. She had answered, it was only
Speaker 1: high school premed, but they made us do a lot
Speaker 1: of first aid drills. The medic gave her a significant
Speaker 1: look and then asked, what's your name, miss Sasha. She'd
Speaker 1: arted before correcting herself. Sasha. Susannah was taken off to
Speaker 1: whatever served as a hospital for the Heavenly Kingdom while
Speaker 1: Sasha and the rest of the girls finished their work day.
Speaker 1: It was uneventful after that, but the other girl's attitudes
Speaker 1: towards her seemed to have shifted. Anne had given her
Speaker 1: a big hug, of course, but everyone was more respectful.
Speaker 1: Several of them came to her to ask minor things,
Speaker 1: advice on how best to clean a room or clear
Speaker 1: a pile of rubble. At one point, Sasha had divided
Speaker 1: four girls up into two teams to remove a huge
Speaker 1: amount of shattered glass. While she directed the effort, may
Speaker 1: had walked by the room and butted her head in
Speaker 1: Just because she knows a little first aid doesn't make
Speaker 1: her a foreman, she sneered. The other girls didn't pay
Speaker 1: May any mind. They left for the day at the
Speaker 1: usual time and arrived back at the house of Miriam
Speaker 1: in the early evening. Helen was waiting for them at
Speaker 1: the door. Behind her stood an older man in a
Speaker 1: white lab coat. He had a cross pinned to his
Speaker 1: lapel and a larger red cross on his arm band.
Speaker 1: As the girls all filed into the building, Sasha saw
Speaker 1: Helen point to her and whisper something to the man.
Speaker 1: He nodded, Miss Sasha, he called out. As she headed
Speaker 1: to her seat at the dinner table. Sasha peeled off
Speaker 1: and approached him. Helen stood near by, distant enough to
Speaker 1: make it clear that this conversation was between her and
Speaker 1: the man, but close enough that her presence provided a
Speaker 1: warm kernel of certainty and support. Yes, Sasha asked. The
Speaker 1: man had a sharp, narrow jaw and a long nose.
Speaker 1: There were deep bags under his eyes, and his hair
Speaker 1: was at the grayest end of pepper gray. He wasn't
Speaker 1: very large, but he used his physicality well. He moved
Speaker 1: like he was used to controlling the room. Sasha, I'm
Speaker 1: doctor Brandt, one of our medics. Was very impressed with
Speaker 1: your work earlier today on the injured girl. Sir all
Speaker 1: I did was trying to stanch the bleeding. Anyone could
Speaker 1: have handled that. It didn't require any special knowledge. No,
Speaker 1: he interrupted her, it did not. The knowledge of how
Speaker 1: to stim bleeding is not rare or special, but the
Speaker 1: willingness to jump in during an emergency and to get
Speaker 1: blood on one's own hands is rather rare. I understand
Speaker 1: you have some form of medical training, very little, Sir.
Speaker 1: I took three semesters of pre medical courses in high school.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about a medical career before. I yes, well,
Speaker 1: three semesters of any kind of training almost makes you
Speaker 1: a doctor. Here, we're not exactly flooded with qualified medical experts.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt lacked Helen's gift for interrupting without seeming rude,
Speaker 1: but he was clearly a busy man, and the fact
Speaker 1: that he'd offered praise made it hard for Sasha to
Speaker 1: take offense. Miss Helen. He snapped back at the older woman,
Speaker 1: I'm putting this one on special duty. Would that be
Speaker 1: all right? Of course, doctor Brandt. Helen said, she smiled
Speaker 1: at Sasha, and there was honest pride in that smile
Speaker 1: more pride than she had ever seen in her mother's eyes.
Speaker 1: Sasha resisted the urge to tear up. In response, Doctor
Speaker 1: Brandt turned to Sasha next and asked, what do you
Speaker 1: know about the people of the road. She frowned. Post
Speaker 1: humans were a popular topic of discussion in her high school.
Speaker 1: Sasha had seen waste Land Warriors a couple of years back,
Speaker 1: and benis enthralled as everyone else, but her school curriculum
Speaker 1: didn't talk much about them and definitely down played their
Speaker 1: influence in the rest of the continent. Her father had
Speaker 1: called them a bunch of idiots dancing around the desert
Speaker 1: doing drugs and robbing people. She decided to use a
Speaker 1: variant of that for her answer. Their drug addled pagans
Speaker 1: fornicating and spurning the will of God. Doctor Brandt smiled.
Speaker 1: He had such a serious face and such stern features
Speaker 1: that Sasha was shocked by the honest kindness of that smile.
Speaker 1: I'd say that's basically accurate, he chuckled, perhaps even a
Speaker 1: bit charitable. It turns out one of these groups sent
Speaker 1: some emissaries into Plano just before the city fell. They
Speaker 1: were on some trade mission. They wound up getting stuck
Speaker 1: in a pin with a few other prisoners. We didn't
Speaker 1: even realize who we had until their people contacted us
Speaker 1: and demanded their release. Sasha's eyes widened. All she could
Speaker 1: think of were the grainy video fragments from one section
Speaker 1: of Waste Land Warriors. It was supposedly a recording of
Speaker 1: an attack on an Agis Biosystems convoy headed from Milwaukee
Speaker 1: to Denver. The convoy had been well armed, but it
Speaker 1: had been taken apart in a matter of seconds. The
Speaker 1: assailants moved so fast that the documentarians had needed to
Speaker 1: slow the video to make them visible as anything but
Speaker 1: flashes on the screen. How could something that fast and
Speaker 1: deadly be captured? Doctor Brandt answered her question before she
Speaker 1: could ask it. I'm going to guess her wondering how
Speaker 1: he managed to capture three of those Frankenstein abominations. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: Sasha said, well, Doctor Brandt popped the glasses off his
Speaker 1: face and buffed the lenses on his shirt while he spoke.
Speaker 1: Most members of any given group aren't quite like that. Oh,
Speaker 1: they're all Pagans are atheists, just some kind of heathen.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of aesthetic modifications. Led tattoos and
Speaker 1: body lighting and some sensory upgrades, but few of them
Speaker 1: have military style implants. I see, as you know, cities
Speaker 1: and civilized nations tend to ban those implants within their borders.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt slid his glasses back into place on his nose.
Speaker 1: So the people of the road have to send their
Speaker 1: less modified citizens out to negotiate, et cetera. Which means
Speaker 1: we've got a bit of a tiger by the tail
Speaker 1: situation here. What do you mean, Sir Sasha asked, Well,
Speaker 1: the stories about these types are absolutely true. Some of
Speaker 1: them have hundreds of warriors packed to the gills with
Speaker 1: nightmare technology. There are individuals who are capable of taking
Speaker 1: on entire companies of human war fighters. The tribe these
Speaker 1: particular captives hail from, well, their name is quite obscene.
Speaker 1: The City of Wheels would be the most polite variant
Speaker 1: there is lost as it gets when it comes to
Speaker 1: the Word of God. But they've got about six hundred
Speaker 1: post human citizens. Sasha thought back to what a dozen
Speaker 1: of those things had done to that convoy. She tried
Speaker 1: to imagine the carnage six hundred of them could unleash
Speaker 1: upon the heavenly Kingdom. A shiver ran down her spine exactly.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt nodded at her like I said, we've got
Speaker 1: a tiger by the tail. They might not intervene while
Speaker 1: we have their people, so we've got to make sure
Speaker 1: our captives are well taken care of. That's where you
Speaker 1: come in. Me. Two of the captives are women, Sasha.
Speaker 1: They'll need to be inspected by some one beside it's me.
Speaker 1: We do have some qualified female nurses, but an sdf
Speaker 1: drone hit one of our troop transports about two hours ago,
Speaker 1: and I'm afraid they're both in the thick of that mess.
Speaker 1: So you're coming with me to handle this job. I'm
Speaker 1: proud to do it, sir. She wasn't sure what else
Speaker 1: to say, and besides, it was true. The first captive
Speaker 1: sat on a small concrete bench in the back of
Speaker 1: an eight by ten cell. Her hair had been shaved
Speaker 1: into a mohawk, but the purple hair was deflated and greasy. Now.
Speaker 1: There was stubble on the sides of her head. Her
Speaker 1: face was round but lean. There were slight laugh lines
Speaker 1: at the corners of her cheeks in the edges of
Speaker 1: her eyes. She wore a sleeveless purple and black dress
Speaker 1: that was by now filthy. Her arms were covered in
Speaker 1: a strange series of tattoos, dozens of branching lines that
Speaker 1: each terminated in a box. They looked almost like circuit diagrams.
Speaker 1: Sasha quickly realized that each box held a little led screen.
Speaker 1: Most of the screens were set to a dull red color,
Speaker 1: but once she stepped into the women's cell, they flashed
Speaker 1: bright orange. The woman looked up and snarled at doctor Brandt.
Speaker 1: Fun do you want ship bird? She looked over to
Speaker 1: Sasha and then added, sorry, ship birds, Sasha. Doctor Brandt sighed,
Speaker 1: kneading the bridge of his nose. Meet Marigold Fulton. Jesus
Speaker 1: fucking Christ, what are you six? Fucking ten? Marigold said
Speaker 1: to Sasha. Then she looked at doctor Brandt. That's fucked up, man.
Speaker 1: Doctor Brandt winced at both curses. Sasha glanced down and
Speaker 1: saw that his right hand was bawled up into a
Speaker 1: fist and clinched tight. Marigold, this is Sasha, he said,
Speaker 1: through gritted lips. She'll be performing your intake exam. We
Speaker 1: need to make sure you're uninjured, uninfectious, and not hiding
Speaker 1: any weaponry. I would recommend compliance your kind always do.
Speaker 1: The woman spat back, Sasha, you've got this. Doctor Brandt
Speaker 1: gave her a curt nod, turned on his heels, and
Speaker 1: headed back out of the cell. There was an armed
Speaker 1: guard just outside the cell. As doctor brand had instructed,
Speaker 1: Sasha pulled along privacy screen out from the far end
Speaker 1: of the wall and clasp it to a set of
Speaker 1: hooks on the other end. The captives were being held
Speaker 1: in the old plain Oh jail, which made this one
Speaker 1: of the rare buildings in the Heavenly Kingdom being used
Speaker 1: for its intended purpose. Sasha was grateful for the privacy screen.
Speaker 1: She was also unbearably nervous about what came next. I'm
Speaker 1: going to have to ask you. In one smooth motion,
Speaker 1: Marigold pulled the dress up over her shoulders and off
Speaker 1: of her body. She wore nothing underneath it. Her pert breasts,
Speaker 1: her little belly, her pubic mound, and its shock of
Speaker 1: purple hair were suddenly just there. You're gonna do your job?
Speaker 1: Are you just gonna stand there and Jill off Marigold
Speaker 1: asked what. Jill Marigold gave a harsh laugh. It's a
Speaker 1: senton ym from masturbation, Lady, masturbation. You don't do that,
Speaker 1: do you, Sugar. I'm gonna guess the Heavenly Kingdom frowns
Speaker 1: on girls having fun without the help of boys. Sasha grimaced.
Speaker 1: The Heavenly Kingdom doesn't frown on women having fun, but
Speaker 1: it does encourage self control. Mr. What you're talking about,
Speaker 1: it's a distraction, It's worldly. Marigold whistled and mocked surprise,
Speaker 1: and said, spoken like a lady who truly needs an orgasm.
Speaker 1: What I need to do is draw some of your
Speaker 1: blood and some of your saliva and then perform a
Speaker 1: cavity search. Marigold's lips curled up into a catlike smile.
Speaker 1: She opened her legs. Sasha had seen other women's vaginas before,
Speaker 1: but only in textbooks and movies. This was the first
Speaker 1: time she'd found herself staring directly down the barrel of one,
Speaker 1: so to speak. She gulped, Darlen, am I your first?
Speaker 1: Don't be scared. I got some chrumb in me, but
Speaker 1: I never wound up putting defensive teeth in there. Now,
Speaker 1: my friend, Topaz, stop, I know what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1: Just stop, Sasha hadn't thought the woman's smile could get
Speaker 1: any wider, but it did. And what am I trying
Speaker 1: to do? Child? You're trying to to fluster me, to
Speaker 1: distract me or Marigold rolled her eyes as she replied,
Speaker 1: I'm bored. You Fox have kept me in one holding
Speaker 1: area or sell or another for almost a week. I
Speaker 1: spent three days shifting in the corner of a gym,
Speaker 1: but at least Rick and Tuly were there too. The
Speaker 1: woman smiles softened for a moment. She looked troubled, vulnerable.
Speaker 1: You don't have any idea where my people are, do you?
Speaker 1: Sasha shook her head. She felt guilty for some reason.
Speaker 1: That was stupid. She hadn't done anything wrong, but she
Speaker 1: felt the need to assuage the other woman's fears. I
Speaker 1: don't I'm sure they're all right, though we wouldn't execute
Speaker 1: them just for being in the wrong place at the
Speaker 1: wrong time. Marigolds snorted, maybe you wouldn't love your friends.
Speaker 1: Though I've seen your gallows. It doesn't seem like the
Speaker 1: kind of things someone builds just for show. We have
Speaker 1: a right to enforce our laws, God's laws. What am
Speaker 1: I doing defending the kingdom to someone who's clearly blind
Speaker 1: to the word. Sasha shook her head. She opened the
Speaker 1: blood testing kit doctor Brant had given her and stepped
Speaker 1: back towards Marigold. Look, I've got to do this. Just
Speaker 1: hold still and it'll be quick. It was. The other
Speaker 1: woman offered no resistance when Sasha told her to stand.
Speaker 1: She stood. When Sasha reached a gloved hand up inside
Speaker 1: her to search for foreign object, Marigold said nothing. She
Speaker 1: didn't even flinch. Instead, she kept her eyes locked on Sasha's.
Speaker 1: The other woman barely blinked. In about two minutes, Sasha
Speaker 1: had finished her examination and collected her samples. She started
Speaker 1: to step back, but Marigold's hand shot out whip fast
Speaker 1: and grasped her around the wrist listen. Sasha stopped and listened.
Speaker 1: She wasn't sure why. It was something about the other
Speaker 1: woman's tone. She'd heard the term command voice before, Sasha
Speaker 1: hadn't understood what that term meant until now. When Marigold
Speaker 1: spoke again, it was in a hushed tone, barely more
Speaker 1: than a whisper. I don't know what brought you here,
Speaker 1: but you're obviously smart. You don't have those dead zelad eyes.
Speaker 1: She jerked her head in the direction of the guard outside.
Speaker 1: When I mentioned the gallows, you looked fucking ill. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna guess you haven't been here long. You're probably having
Speaker 1: second thoughts. Helped me get my people out of here.
Speaker 1: If we can get back to my city, you'll be safe.
Speaker 1: We'll take you wherever you need to go. I Sasha
Speaker 1: wasn't sure what to say. She should have slapped the
Speaker 1: other woman or spitting her eye, but she didn't. Don't
Speaker 1: say anything. You'll be back here, I promise. Think about
Speaker 1: what I've said, think about where you are. Just fucking think.
Speaker 1: She let go. Sasha stepped back. The two women locked
Speaker 1: eyes for a long moment, and then Marigold grabbed her
Speaker 1: slip dress off the floor and slid it back down
Speaker 1: her thin frame. Sasha unclipped the privacy curtain and headed
Speaker 1: back out into the hallway. The other woman, captive Tullie,
Speaker 1: was tall and muscular. She had a wide face with
Speaker 1: cheek bones so sharp they were almost jagged. Her skin
Speaker 1: was a dusky brown. Her eyes were alert and moved
Speaker 1: rapidly between Sasha, doctor Brandt, and the guard who led
Speaker 1: them into the room. Her name is Tullie, Doctor Brandt said,
Speaker 1: and she's probably going to threaten you. Pay her no mind.
Speaker 1: He turned away and left, while the guards stayed behind
Speaker 1: and kept a close eye on the tall woman. Sasha
Speaker 1: was scared to approach Tulli at first. The woman's forearms
Speaker 1: were corded with muscles, and she had biceps that looked
Speaker 1: as broad as Sasha's thighs. But the woman didn't move
Speaker 1: an inch or say a word the entire time Sasha
Speaker 1: worked on her. Tullie didn't even blink. She complied to
Speaker 1: every one of Sasha's requests without eye contact or any
Speaker 1: other form of acknowledgment. The woman seemed dead to the world. Somehow,
Speaker 1: Toullie's quietness and seeming stupefaction were more uncomfortable than Marigold's
Speaker 1: aggressive words. Sasha finished her work in short order. Once
Speaker 1: the last vial was sealed and her gloves removed, she
Speaker 1: took a final look at the captive. I hope you
Speaker 1: get back to your home soon. Sasha immediately regretted the words.
Speaker 1: This woman is the enemy. Why would you try to
Speaker 1: comfort her? She won't even look at you. Tullie let
Speaker 1: out a dull laugh. She had been so silent earlier
Speaker 1: that it shocked Sasha. The other woman turned her head
Speaker 1: and stared at Sasha. I will return home soon, and
Speaker 1: fire and blood will come to this place because you've
Speaker 1: held me here. You're a dead woman walking enjoy the
Speaker 1: last beats of your heart. Sasha didn't know what to say.
Speaker 1: What could you say to that? So she took her
Speaker 1: samples and left. Doctor Brandt dropped her off outside the
Speaker 1: house of Miriam and told her he'd send a jeep
Speaker 1: out tomorrow morning to take her to the hospital. Sasha
Speaker 1: thanked him and headed inside. The other girls were already
Speaker 1: almost finished with dinner when Sasha sat down and joined
Speaker 1: the group. She gave a quiet smile to Susannah and
Speaker 1: nodded at the other girl's bandaged hand. When dessert a
Speaker 1: banana this time, was over, Miss Helen took Sasha aside
Speaker 1: while the other girls broke off to read their bibles
Speaker 1: and drink their nightly tea. I have some news for you, yes, ma'am,
Speaker 1: Sasha asked. Alexander has been rotated back from the front,
Speaker 1: and that strange look of mingled frustration and anger crossed
Speaker 1: Helen's face again. You'll be able to see him tomorrow
Speaker 1: after lunch Sasha's heart pounded, an excitement that made her
Speaker 1: feel guilty and elated at the same time. I'm afraid
Speaker 1: it won't be a long visit, Helen continued, but you'll
Speaker 1: have a bit of time with him, And then Helen's
Speaker 1: sighed again, just a little. Sasha was sure she wasn't
Speaker 1: supposed to have noticed it, but Miss Helen's eyes looked
Speaker 1: a bit watery. Sasha was so happy, so excited, that
Speaker 1: her brain glossed over this fact. Instead, she gave miss
Speaker 1: Helen a hug. It wasn't nearly the first one they'd shared,
Speaker 1: but this was the first time. The older woman seemed
Speaker 1: hesitant in returning it, but she did after a moment,
Speaker 1: and Sasha's joy drunk brain wrote over any sense of
Speaker 1: doubt she ought to have felt. Sasha buzzed with uncontained energy.
Speaker 1: The rest of the night. Sleep was near impossible. She
Speaker 1: tossed until the small hours of the morning, turning over
Speaker 1: her memories of chat conversation she'd had with Alexander. His
Speaker 1: face felt so clear and real in her memory that
Speaker 1: she could almost touch it, and tomorrow she'd be able
Speaker 1: to do just that. Sasha finally passed out about two
Speaker 1: hours before Helen came round to wake them up. She
Speaker 1: should have been exhausted. Instead, she found herself out of bed,
Speaker 1: feet planted firmly on the ground before her mind was
Speaker 1: even fully awake. Her subconscious was that eager to start
Speaker 1: the day. She rinsed herself with extra care that morning.
Speaker 1: May seemed to notice the added effort she put into
Speaker 1: primping and called her out for it. You're not working
Speaker 1: at the hospital to snag a doctor, she sneered. You
Speaker 1: know that right. Sasha tried to ignore the comment. Susannah,
Speaker 1: whose hand was still bandaged from her injury the other day,
Speaker 1: spoke up in her defense. There's nothing wrong with being
Speaker 1: extra clean May. It's probably important for the work she's
Speaker 1: doing over there. Sasha's dealing with wounds and stuff, She's
Speaker 1: not scrubbing toilets like you. Sasha was gratified by how
Speaker 1: that made May's face blush. She flashed Susannah a grateful
Speaker 1: smile and shuffled out of the washroom as quick as
Speaker 1: she could manage. She headed outside and took in her
Speaker 1: first deep gulp of the cool morning air. Cool might
Speaker 1: have been too strong a word to use, but the
Speaker 1: fresh air felt good on her skin. It only took
Speaker 1: her a few seconds to spot the battered and dirt
Speaker 1: specked jeep doctor Brandt had sent to pick her up.
Speaker 1: A young man, maybe as young as her, with a
Speaker 1: weak chin and an acne pocked face, sat behind the wheel.
Speaker 1: Sasha waved to him, ran up and hopped in. It
Speaker 1: wasn't a quick ride to the hospital. Large sections of
Speaker 1: the road were destroyed, blocked by buble, or jammed with
Speaker 1: traffic from refugees entering the Heavenly Kingdom. Seeing that had
Speaker 1: gratified Sasha. More souls coming to God, she thought. For
Speaker 1: the most part, she lost herself in thoughts of Alexander
Speaker 1: until forty minutes later, the jeep rolled to a creaky
Speaker 1: stop in front of the medical city of Plano. The
Speaker 1: enormous hospital complex looked badly damaged and largely abandoned. Many
Speaker 1: of the windows had been shot out or shattered by
Speaker 1: large blasts. Several buildings had chunks of wall and roof
Speaker 1: that had fallen in, but there were lights on in
Speaker 1: many of the windows, and the hum of generators filled
Speaker 1: the air of the front courtyard. Dozens of people milled about,
Speaker 1: filled with purpose, running wires and wheeling patients Sasha was
Speaker 1: excited at the thought that she might get to do
Speaker 1: some actual work in a functioning emergency room. When she
Speaker 1: found doctor Brandt, he quickly disabused her of those notions.
Speaker 1: We're doing all right today. What I need you to
Speaker 1: do is come in here and help me catalog which
Speaker 1: medicines have spoiled. The power had gone out during the
Speaker 1: fighting for the city, doctor Brandt explained, and the medical
Speaker 1: storage room had been without refrigeor ration for almost two days.
Speaker 1: He showed her how to check medical vials for signs
Speaker 1: of spoilage, handed her a clipboard to mark her findings,
Speaker 1: and told her to get to work. It was a menial,
Speaker 1: painstaking task, and Sasha found herself missing the hell out
Speaker 1: of cleaning. She hated it, but she devoted herself to
Speaker 1: the work, and minute by minute the time passed. Eventually
Speaker 1: it was time for her meeting with Alexander. Sasha pulled
Speaker 1: herself away from the rows of vials and jars and
Speaker 1: blister packs and headed outside to where she knew the
Speaker 1: jeep would be waiting. Her driver that afternoon was a
Speaker 1: different martyr, slightly older but still young. She was so
Speaker 1: preoccupied with thoughts of Alexander that she almost forgot to
Speaker 1: greet the man. He didn't seem to be in a
Speaker 1: talkative mood either, though, and they rode in silence back
Speaker 1: to the center of town. Sasha was so focused on
Speaker 1: the butterflies in her stomach and trying to catch glimpses
Speaker 1: of her hair and face in the rear view mirror
Speaker 1: that she didn't notice the crowds thronging downtown until the
Speaker 1: jeep rolled to a stop and it was time for
Speaker 1: her to disembark. A familiar sense of queasy dread gripped
Speaker 1: Sasha's guts as she exited the vehicle and looked out
Speaker 1: over the crowd. They were converged around the gallows. Once again,
Speaker 1: Sasha craned her neck and she was able to see
Speaker 1: four men in filthy, tattered rags standing before the killing instrument.
Speaker 1: It took her a second to recognize two of the
Speaker 1: men as the porters who had first unloaded her from
Speaker 1: the crate. An older bearded martyr and jet black body
Speaker 1: armor stood before them. He held a bible in one
Speaker 1: hand and a formidable looking handgun in the other. Sasha
Speaker 1: started to push her way through the crowd for a
Speaker 1: better look. She hadn't made it far when the bearded
Speaker 1: martyr addressed the crowd. These four men were all once
Speaker 1: employees of the secular abomination that calls itself the Republic
Speaker 1: of Texas. He said, in his booming, stentorian voice, the
Speaker 1: Heavenly Kingdom offered them mercy in the form of indentured servitude.
Speaker 1: All we asked, he scanned his eyes across the crowd.
Speaker 1: The left corner of his lip curled up into a
Speaker 1: slight growl. All we asked for was their honest, obedient labor.
Speaker 1: And they repaid this mercy by stealing food and supplies
Speaker 1: meant for the Heavenly Kingdom's brave soldiers. He lifted his
Speaker 1: big pistol up into the sky and fired off four
Speaker 1: shots in quick secession. These men stole from God. There
Speaker 1: was only one proper punishment for such a sin. He
Speaker 1: turned back towards the gallows and knotted at a hooded
Speaker 1: martyr who stood behind him. With a hand on the
Speaker 1: thick wooden lever that operated the whole grim apparatus. The
Speaker 1: other man pulled downwards, and the four bodies on the
Speaker 1: scaffold dropped with a sickening chorus of snaps. Sasha felt
Speaker 1: her stomach turned sour this time. Though she watched, she
Speaker 1: didn't take her eyes off the gallows until the last
Speaker 1: man had ceased his twitching. It's not a pleasant side,
Speaker 1: is it? That voice? Sasha recognized it immediately. It was
Speaker 1: the voice she'd heard a hundred different times over her deck,
Speaker 1: hidden up in her room back in the ham fed.
Speaker 1: It was the voice of the first man she'd ever
Speaker 1: really loved. It was Alexander. Sasha turned around, and her
Speaker 1: heart nearly burst at the side of him. He was tall, broad,
Speaker 1: and muscular in a way that somehow seemed comforting and
Speaker 1: not scary. His mop of curly brown hair, lopsided smile,
Speaker 1: and round, permanent jawline were all ex lee as she
Speaker 1: remembered from their dozens of chat sessions. He wore alive
Speaker 1: green fatigues that looked stained and burned in a few places.
Speaker 1: His hair was greasy, and there were great big bags
Speaker 1: under his eyes. But he was here, He was real.
Speaker 1: She collapsed into him. Before she realized it, she'd started
Speaker 1: to sob. I love you, I love you, I love you.
Speaker 1: I thought you were dead. I love you. He hesitated
Speaker 1: for several long beats before he returned her embrace, but
Speaker 1: he returned it with gusto. His hands crept down from
Speaker 1: her sides to her buttocks. He squeezed her. It was
Speaker 1: a gesture she'd fantasized about several times in her weaker,
Speaker 1: more carnal moments. It was not something she'd expected a
Speaker 1: godly man like Alexander to do out in public, surrounded
Speaker 1: by people in the immediate aftermath of an execution. Sasha
Speaker 1: pulled back and coughed in surprise. She didn't say anything, though,
Speaker 1: she didn't want to mar their first meeting with that,
Speaker 1: and she also remembered something Pastor Mike had written in
Speaker 1: Revelator that the beastly nature of man must be salved
Speaker 1: by the goodness of women. Alexander had just been several
Speaker 1: days up at the front. He must seen terrible things.
Speaker 1: It was understandable that his self control would not be
Speaker 1: at its peak right now. Still, she didn't like the
Speaker 1: way he looked her up and down. There was something
Speaker 1: of the wolf in his eyes. It was not the
Speaker 1: look she dreamed of seeing. But then he spoke, Sasha,
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you. I didn't know if I'd
Speaker 1: ever get to see you here. I wasn't sure if
Speaker 1: you'd be willing to truly commit yourself to our Lord,
Speaker 1: but I prayed that you would. And now, by the
Speaker 1: grace of God, you're here, and you're even more beautiful
Speaker 1: than you looked online. Sasha blushed. How could she not look?
Speaker 1: He waved a hand towards the gallows and the bodies.
Speaker 1: Things are still sort of a mess around here, but
Speaker 1: I know one cafe near by us up and running again.
Speaker 1: I've got enough rash and tokens to get us both
Speaker 1: a cup of coffee. What would you say to that,
Speaker 1: I'd say yes. She smiled at him. Her earlier reservations
Speaker 1: dissolved as she took his hand and followed him down
Speaker 1: the street, past the gallows, in the dispersing crowd, and
Speaker 1: towards the cafe. In a minute, they were there. It
Speaker 1: was a small place, one rectangular room with a coffee maker,
Speaker 1: a half dozen tables in an outer patio area with
Speaker 1: another half dozen tables. There was a generator, power and
Speaker 1: air conditioning inside, so they sat there. Alexander ordered them
Speaker 1: two large cups of black coffee. He sat down while
Speaker 1: he waited for their order and stared into her eyes.
Speaker 1: She stared back for a while, that was all they did.
Speaker 1: It's so good to see you, Sasha said. I've been
Speaker 1: working at the hospital and I've seen so many wounded men.
Speaker 1: I couldn't stop thinking I was going to see you
Speaker 1: in one of those beds, broken and bleeding. He smiled
Speaker 1: at her. Then he reached his left hand out and
Speaker 1: sat it on top of hers. Sasha shivered. She couldn't
Speaker 1: help it. Things stirred inside her. She felt a sudden,
Speaker 1: powerful urge to possess his body, to hold him and
Speaker 1: squeeze him and be explored in turn. She clamped her
Speaker 1: mouth tight and focused on trying not to give all
Speaker 1: her thoughts away through the blush in her cheeks. Sasha,
Speaker 1: he said, it brings me such joy to see you here.
Speaker 1: And don't worry. I know the situation at the Ladies
Speaker 1: Barracks is rather primitive, but I'm talking to my commanding offices.
Speaker 1: As soon as we get married, you'll be a part
Speaker 1: of my household. We'll be able to live together, We'll
Speaker 1: build a life, and that life will help build the heaven,
Speaker 1: the kingdom. She was stunned for a moment. Sasha began
Speaker 1: to tear up, and all she could do was not
Speaker 1: at him. This was like a dream. It was, of course,
Speaker 1: rather different from her actual dreams, which had involved Alexander
Speaker 1: in a house, but not so many bleeding and dying men,
Speaker 1: nor a gallows. Their coffee arrived, Alexander took a sip
Speaker 1: and she followed suit. He continued, I know you're working
Speaker 1: at the hospital now. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: you had to spend so much time scrubbing toilets. As
Speaker 1: soon as I can get you off those duties, I will.
Speaker 1: Oh no, she interjected, I love working with doctor brand.
Speaker 1: It's important and I want to do my part to
Speaker 1: help the kingdom thrive. Something passed across Alexander's face. It
Speaker 1: looked like irritation, perhaps at her interruption, but it was
Speaker 1: gone quickly and his smile returned. That's admirable, Sasha. You're
Speaker 1: a remarkable young If that's what you want, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you can continue to help out there until you're with child.
Speaker 1: With child, Sasha felt guilty for the horror in her voice.
Speaker 1: Of course she wanted children, she just didn't want them
Speaker 1: now or particularly soon. Alexander nodded, we must be fruitful
Speaker 1: in multiply, so the heavenly kingdom can remain and expand.
Speaker 1: His smile was so warm, so kind. I know you've
Speaker 1: read more of past and my ex writing than I have. Sasha,
Speaker 1: you're a very smart girl, but God made you to
Speaker 1: bring forth more children. You wouldn't want to delay your purpose,
Speaker 1: would you? Maybe? A little? She thought? No? She lied good.
Speaker 1: He smiled again. And don't worry. You won't have to
Speaker 1: do it alone. Mollia already has a child, and Adelaide's
Speaker 1: two months pregnant. They'll help you too. The world stopped,
Speaker 1: at least it did for Sasha. She could tell people
Speaker 1: were still moving around her, but Sasha's reality had shrunk
Speaker 1: to the pounding sound of her heart in a twisting
Speaker 1: in her gut. Ad late and Mollia. Alexander gritted his teeth.
Speaker 1: There was something almost practiced in the way he said.
Speaker 1: What came next? Adelaide and Malia are my wives, as
Speaker 1: you will be? Well, Alexander, you didn't say anything about
Speaker 1: other wives. You never mentioned them at all. Why are
Speaker 1: how can you be telling me all this now? His
Speaker 1: smile turned sad, or at least it gave the illusion
Speaker 1: of sadness. Sasha was still too shocked for anger. She
Speaker 1: felt like a whole had just been knocked in her heart.
Speaker 1: She knew she should be angry, but she also felt
Speaker 1: like there must be something missing, something she didn't understand yet.
Speaker 1: Alexander was a sweet boy. He wouldn't do this to her. Look,
Speaker 1: he said, I'm sorry. This is never easy. You understand
Speaker 1: how important the Heavenly Kingdom is, Sasha. Nothing in the
Speaker 1: world could Madam are, and the kingdom will not survive
Speaker 1: without people like you. One of my jobs here is
Speaker 1: to push young women like you to take the terrible
Speaker 1: risk of coming here. And so you lied, She croaked,
Speaker 1: barely able to believe what was happening, You, poor false witness. Alexander.
Speaker 1: I I did not lie. His voice hardened, and so
Speaker 1: did his eyes. I did not tell you about every
Speaker 1: aspect of my life here, but I did not lie.
Speaker 1: He sighed, took a sip from his coffee, and continued.
Speaker 1: I'm part of a special unit within the Kingdom, formed
Speaker 1: on the order of the past. To himself, he calls
Speaker 1: us jacobeans. It is our job to see the next
Speaker 1: generation of modus. We take personal responsibility for the Kingdom's expansion.
Speaker 1: Finding you and bringing you here was one part of
Speaker 1: my work in this great cause. If I had told
Speaker 1: you every detail about life here, every single thing, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't have come, and your soul would have stayed in jeopardy.
Speaker 1: He took another deep, arrogant sip of his coffee. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry if this hurts you, but it was for the
Speaker 1: greater good. We must sometimes do distasteful things to serve
Speaker 1: God's design. Sasha's vision went red. She stood and, without thinking,
Speaker 1: grabbed her now lukewarm mug of coffee and splashed the
Speaker 1: whole thing in Alexander's face. He yelled at her and
Speaker 1: sputtered like a goldfish, but she was already up and
Speaker 1: heading for the door. She flung it open, walked out
Speaker 1: into the crowded street, and lost herself in the press
Speaker 1: of the crowd and the boiling waves of her own anchor.
Speaker 1: Hey I'm Robert Evans. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed the chapters to come. You can
Speaker 1: find the free e pub of every chapter and eventually
Speaker 1: the whole book at a t r book dot com,
Speaker 1: complete with illustrations. If you want to support me in
Speaker 1: writing the sequel, you can crowdfund me at After the Revolution.
Speaker 1: The sequel at go fund me. Just type and go
Speaker 1: fund me after the Revolution the sequel. Um. I'd like
Speaker 1: my books to always be free, so I'm just going
Speaker 1: to try to crowdfund the next one and see how
Speaker 1: that works. So after the Revolution the sequel on go
Speaker 1: fund me. You can also find the community of fans
Speaker 1: of this book online at our slash after the Revolution
Speaker 1: on Reddit. So after the Revolution the sequel on go
Speaker 1: fund me and are slash after the Revolution on Reddit.
Speaker 1: A t r book dot com for the old book.
Speaker 1: Thanks