Speaker 1: Hey, lead the listeners tag here. Last season on Lethal Lit,
Speaker 1: you might remember I came to Hollow Falls on a
Speaker 1: mission clearing my aunt Best's name and making sure justice
Speaker 1: was finally served. But I hadn't counted on a rash
Speaker 1: of new murders tearing apart the town. My mission put
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Speaker 1: believe I'm gonna win. I'm tig Torres, and this is
Speaker 1: Lethal Lit. Catch up on season one of the hit
Speaker 1: murder mystery podcast Lethal Lit, a tig Torre's mystery out now,
Speaker 1: and then tune in for all new thrills in season two,
Speaker 1: dropping weekly starting February nine. Subscribe now to never miss
Speaker 1: an episode. Listen to Leave the Lit on the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Speaker 1: listen to podcast. Chapter three, Sasha the drone gun rotated
Speaker 1: on its axis and brought a new, slightly different chunk
Speaker 1: of city escape into view. The world was a dull,
Speaker 1: gray green color through the lens of the weapon's camera.
Speaker 1: Once again, there were no humans in sight. That was
Speaker 1: the norm, but Sasha still logged in for her scheduled
Speaker 1: gun time every day. Her parents would have been mortified
Speaker 1: if they had known how she was spending her few
Speaker 1: hours of free time, but she had a good VPN,
Speaker 1: or at least it was good enough to hide her
Speaker 1: activity from her non tech savvy elders. She doubted they'd
Speaker 1: ever suspect her of something like this. Sasha was a
Speaker 1: good student. Her grades guaranteed her admission to the American
Speaker 1: University in d C. At one point, she'd had a
Speaker 1: shot at being her high school's valedictorian and maybe of
Speaker 1: gaining admission to Stanford. But then she discovered the true
Speaker 1: Gospel and given herself to Christ. Her grades were still good,
Speaker 1: but probably not good enough to earn her in educational
Speaker 1: visa to the California Republic. The extra time the old
Speaker 1: heir had dedicated to school was now spent glued to
Speaker 1: a gun camp, browsing live feeds from various Christian militias,
Speaker 1: and reading everything she could from the few pastors brave
Speaker 1: enough to preach the word. The new herd didn't want
Speaker 1: to go to school near San Francisco, capital of what
Speaker 1: Pastor Mike had called the world's most sinful nation. Sasha
Speaker 1: didn't even really want to go to college in d C.
Speaker 1: What was the point? Sash her dad called from the kitchen,
Speaker 1: dinners on cheese Enchilada's. There was still nothing in her
Speaker 1: line of sight. For the eleventh month in a row,
Speaker 1: she was spending sixty five am fed dollars for the
Speaker 1: privilege of staring through a camera at nothing for a
Speaker 1: half hour a day. Sasha had been warned about this
Speaker 1: when she'd signed up to support the Woodlands Martyrs Brigade.
Speaker 1: Their drone guns didn't see much action. The front had
Speaker 1: been stable for the last year. Rumors said the number
Speaker 1: of backers had even gotten to fire during their turn
Speaker 1: was under a dozen. Sasha had hoped she'd be a
Speaker 1: special case. Something moved. Just as she thought about killing
Speaker 1: the app and going downstairs, something moved across her drones
Speaker 1: field of vision. It happened again, and Sasha realized that
Speaker 1: the somethings were armored soldiers sprinting past her weapon. She
Speaker 1: locked the drone on one and for the first time ever,
Speaker 1: selected the fire approval button. A second went by, then another,
Speaker 1: and then a red box replaced her firing redicule. Target
Speaker 1: declined friendly fire. Sasha her mother called up in that
Speaker 1: grating voice that mint she was almost frustrated enough to
Speaker 1: start yelling get down here. She stared at the box
Speaker 1: for another long moment. Friendly fire. That made sense as
Speaker 1: she belatedly realized the men had been rushing out of
Speaker 1: territory occupied by the martyrs. Good thing, they check up
Speaker 1: on us before we pull the trigger. Her heart pounded
Speaker 1: a little at the thought of killing the wrong soldier,
Speaker 1: but at the same time she noticed something odd. The
Speaker 1: men were still coming. They rushed past the drone camera
Speaker 1: in waves ten feet apart, ducking low and hefting heavy weapons.
Speaker 1: She must to have watched at least a hundred of
Speaker 1: them pass before she realized what this meant. A new offensive.
Speaker 1: Oh God, dial Alexander, she told her deck. A calm
Speaker 1: window popped up about six inches in front of her hand,
Speaker 1: to the left of the large drone control screen that
Speaker 1: hovered above her. Anyone without a deck would have just
Speaker 1: seen a seventeen year old girl lying on her bed
Speaker 1: and poking at the air, but Sasha saw the space
Speaker 1: in front of her as a giant screen curved around
Speaker 1: her body. She opened another window and flung it up
Speaker 1: on her right side. It was populated with links to
Speaker 1: the camera feeds of all the personalities she followed, most
Speaker 1: of them were located somewhere in the Republic of Texas,
Speaker 1: and more than half of the feeds were dark. It
Speaker 1: was hard to tell just what was happening on the others.
Speaker 1: Sasha decided she'd get a faster update on the situation
Speaker 1: through her news aggregator. She reduced the other windows and
Speaker 1: shifted them to her periphery. Then she opened a new
Speaker 1: window and waited a half second for her curated news
Speaker 1: feed to populate. Her deck kept ringing Alexander while she
Speaker 1: scanned the lines. Reports of explosions across the Dallas Front,
Speaker 1: Texas extremist advance into stf Republic territory. Reports from Dallas
Speaker 1: suggested a new offensive by Heavenly Kingdom. A half dozen
Speaker 1: rings later, Alexander picked up Sasha. He asked. His voice
Speaker 1: sounded distant. There was noise on the line. After a
Speaker 1: second or so, Sasha heard a boom and then a
Speaker 1: strange crackling sound that had to be gunfire. It didn't
Speaker 1: sound like it did in the movies, or even in
Speaker 1: the few VR shooters she'd played. Sasha's heart had started
Speaker 1: to pound by the time she responded, yes, Alexander, I
Speaker 1: was just on my drone and it looks like something's happening.
Speaker 1: The media saying it's another offensive. They're right for once,
Speaker 1: said Alexander, and they're still wrong at the same time.
Speaker 1: This is something new, Sasha. I'm sorry I couldn't tell
Speaker 1: you before, but it'll all be clear soon. Is this
Speaker 1: just the martyrs Brigade? He smiled, and Sasha's face went red. No, Sasha,
Speaker 1: something wonderful is Are you near the front? Are you
Speaker 1: part of the fighting? Sasha interrupted. She'd never have done
Speaker 1: that normally, but she could hear what sounded like gunfire
Speaker 1: over his line, and Sasha was scared. I'm with the
Speaker 1: second wave, he said the tracks. I'm moving us into
Speaker 1: position now. I'll probably have to Whatever else he'd been
Speaker 1: about to say was cut short as all of Sasha's
Speaker 1: deck apps closed at once. Her digital world was replaced
Speaker 1: by a red box that read parental lockdown. Come to dinner, Sasha, mom.
Speaker 1: She screamed down the stairs as her eyes welled up
Speaker 1: with tears at the unfairness of it all. Alexander, the
Speaker 1: man she was pretty sure she loved, was going into
Speaker 1: battle for the first time. He was fighting right now
Speaker 1: to re establish the rule of God on Earth. I
Speaker 1: should have read him a poem, or said something beautiful
Speaker 1: and stirring, something about how my love for him was
Speaker 1: as everlasting as God's own love. It should have been
Speaker 1: a powerful moment, but her heretic horror of a mother
Speaker 1: had ruined it for Inchillada's Sasha stormed downstairs, ripe with fury,
Speaker 1: but unable to vent it. Her parents couldn't know she'd
Speaker 1: been giving money to a militant group. They wouldn't have
Speaker 1: to drop in on her talking to Alexander to know
Speaker 1: what she had planned. Six kids from her high school
Speaker 1: had already left for the Republic of Texas to fight
Speaker 1: in one militia or another. It was a problem across
Speaker 1: the American Federation, but here in Virginia, parents were particularly wary.
Speaker 1: The border of the United Christian States was just an
Speaker 1: hour's drive from her front door. Ratlines in the u
Speaker 1: c S brought thousands of young volunteers yearly from the
Speaker 1: heart of corporate America to the various militia groups that
Speaker 1: battled across Texas. Sasha Marian, what did we interrupt that
Speaker 1: was so important? You had to yell, I was praying, mother.
Speaker 1: It wasn't really a lie. Pastor Mike had said that
Speaker 1: every deed done in support of the heavenly kingdom was
Speaker 1: an act of prayer. Gwendolen Marian frowned back at her daughter.
Speaker 1: She was a stern woman with a broad Germanic face
Speaker 1: and dirty blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun.
Speaker 1: Faint crow's feet trickled out from her eyes, but those
Speaker 1: were from choice rather than times formerly inevitable March. Gwendolen
Speaker 1: was the chief of surgery and Annapolis General Hospital. She'd
Speaker 1: been taking juven treatment since she was twenty. She'd only
Speaker 1: decided to let the crow's feed through once Sasha had
Speaker 1: turned seventeen. You can pray as much as you want, honey,
Speaker 1: but right now it's dinner time, and this is something
Speaker 1: we do as a family. Sasha thought juven was unnatural, heretical.
Speaker 1: God had created each human to age a certain way.
Speaker 1: Using science to disrupt that natural process was an act
Speaker 1: of blasphemy. She yearned to say something cutting, hurtful in response,
Speaker 1: but she fought it down. You don't have to obey
Speaker 1: your father and mother if they try to keep you
Speaker 1: out of the Kingdom of Heaven. Words from one of
Speaker 1: Pastor Mike's weekly casts rang in her ears, but the
Speaker 1: Lord God still calls on us to respect our parents.
Speaker 1: He'd added that well behaved kids were the ones who
Speaker 1: caused the least suspicion and had the best chance of
Speaker 1: successful escape. Yes, ma'am, was all she said, as the
Speaker 1: families settled into their chairs. Her brother Ian was just
Speaker 1: five and unusually quiet for his age. He smiled at
Speaker 1: her as their father told him out an enchilada, Sash.
Speaker 1: Who's Alexander? He asked, and Sasha felt the blood run
Speaker 1: out of her face. Their father, Tony, smiled riley at
Speaker 1: the remark as he spooned a proportionately larger serving onto
Speaker 1: his own plate. Alexander, Huh, maybe this means another boyfriend.
Speaker 1: It's been what four years. Tony had opted for fewer
Speaker 1: cosmetic juven treatments than his wife. Sasha loved her father's
Speaker 1: receding hairline, his slight jowls, his graying hair. He was
Speaker 1: still a heretic, but at least he wasn't a vain one.
Speaker 1: He's not my boyfriend, dad, just a boy I talk
Speaker 1: with sometimes, we pray together. Gwendolen rolled her eyes a little.
Speaker 1: Such an exciting adolescence you're having, she said. Sarcasm swelled
Speaker 1: every word. Sasha didn't rise to the bait. Her self.
Speaker 1: Control was iron now. She wouldn't give them any cause
Speaker 1: to worry or call the authorities. It was better even
Speaker 1: for them to think Alexander was some boy from school.
Speaker 1: If they thought her principles were thawing, they'd be less
Speaker 1: likely to suspect what he had planned. The merry and
Speaker 1: family ate companionably for several minutes. Tony talked about some
Speaker 1: cock eyed nut who'd come into his office at Deutsche
Speaker 1: Bank looking for a loan. He wanted three million to
Speaker 1: get this build a blimp to take tourists from the
Speaker 1: am Fed to Louisiana without crossing UCS territory. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: first of all, I can name a hundred boat charters
Speaker 1: to do the same thing. And second, Sasha tuned most
Speaker 1: of it out and tried to focus on eating. But
Speaker 1: knowing Alexander was out there facing death for his faith
Speaker 1: killed any appetite she otherwise might have had. She ate
Speaker 1: mechanically without really tasting it until her plate was almost clean.
Speaker 1: Sasha was planning her exit when her mother spoke up
Speaker 1: by the way. The school called today and said, you
Speaker 1: still haven't been by to get sized for your graduation robes.
Speaker 1: They need at least forty eight hours to print them out.
Speaker 1: You're running out of time. Sorry, mom, she said, I
Speaker 1: know that's important. I've just had a lot on my
Speaker 1: mind lately. The f s T s were last week,
Speaker 1: Sah She had gotten very good at telling her parents
Speaker 1: what they needed to hear without actually lying. The Federation
Speaker 1: Standardized Test had been last week, and she'd certainly had
Speaker 1: a lot on her mind lately, But the f s
Speaker 1: T hadn't been keeping her up at night. It was
Speaker 1: little more than a rubber stamp for a student like Sasha.
Speaker 1: That's okay, sweetie, Gwendolen said, I know how important your
Speaker 1: school work is to you. I just want you to
Speaker 1: have a fun graduation experience. That's important. There's a war
Speaker 1: going on a few hundred miles from your door. Men
Speaker 1: are dying for God's kingdom, and you think school matters
Speaker 1: to me. But Sasha just smiled, told her mom she
Speaker 1: loved her, and went back upstairs to her room. As
Speaker 1: soon as it was politic to do so. She reactivated
Speaker 1: her VPN and popped her deck into stealth mode, which
Speaker 1: displayed a curated selection of websites and chat apps for
Speaker 1: her mom and dad in case they came by. She
Speaker 1: drew a new private window about two feet in front
Speaker 1: of her face and split it in half between a
Speaker 1: face calm with Alexander and a news feed full of
Speaker 1: her favorite militia press offices. Her jaw dropped voice of
Speaker 1: the prophets may in headline was Republic of Texas forces
Speaker 1: clashed with martyrs. Judgment day is here, she read in
Speaker 1: a social media post from one of her favorite sources
Speaker 1: in the area, a twenty something mechanic who lived on
Speaker 1: the fringe of the Republic and supported the Heavenly Kingdom.
Speaker 1: He'd posted a picture of the governor's mansion in Plano.
Speaker 1: It was burnt around several of the windows and riddled
Speaker 1: with holes. Gone was the Republic's flag, replaced by a
Speaker 1: white banner with a burning black cross in the center.
Speaker 1: Sasha sent out another call request to Alexander and switched
Speaker 1: over to Al Jazeera's feed to learn more. It galled
Speaker 1: her to use a new source run by Muslims, but
Speaker 1: she had learned from experience that Al Jazeera had the
Speaker 1: best reporters on the ground in the Republic. They negotiated
Speaker 1: coverage deals with several of the militia groups, including Alexander's.
Speaker 1: The first thing she noticed was that their last article
Speaker 1: had gone up over an hour ago, but the titles
Speaker 1: of the foremost recent articles painted a vivid picture Republic
Speaker 1: Capital in Galveston, burning, military coup, Republic media feeds go dark,
Speaker 1: SDF under attack. In Dallas. Pastor Mike Donnegan announces new
Speaker 1: offensive for Heavenly Kingdom. How could there possibly be a
Speaker 1: new offensive against the secular forces in Dallas? The Richardson
Speaker 1: line had been locked in a stalemate for the last year.
Speaker 1: Alexander had told her often how outnumbered and outgunned the
Speaker 1: martyrs of the Heavenly Kingdom were withhold on our own,
Speaker 1: but only by the grace of God, was his usual refrain.
Speaker 1: The idea of them advancing again on the STF seemed impossible.
Speaker 1: Nothing is impossible with God. She could almost hear Alexander's
Speaker 1: voice echo in her mind's ear. She glanced over at
Speaker 1: his chat screen, but it was still just showed the
Speaker 1: standard dialing symbol. Frustrated, Sasha brought up her militia news feed.
Speaker 1: This was one of her most cherished possessions. It had
Speaker 1: taken months for her to sort out the most influential
Speaker 1: Christian militias in the area find their official spokes feeds
Speaker 1: and cross index them based on which groups agreed with
Speaker 1: the strict Neo Calvinist doctrine. She Alexander and Pastor Mike
Speaker 1: all new to be the one true Word of God,
Speaker 1: and for the first time since she had started the feed,
Speaker 1: each in every militia she followed had posted the exact
Speaker 1: same message, The first battle of Armageddon has begun. Sasha
Speaker 1: was confused for a minute. She'd done her homework. She
Speaker 1: knew the final battle of the end Times was supposed
Speaker 1: to occur at Mount Meghito in Israel. But she thought
Speaker 1: back to Pastor Mike's sermons. He had talked about the
Speaker 1: battles of Armageddon many times. The coming end Times and
Speaker 1: the central place of the Heavenly Kingdom in the world's
Speaker 1: last Battles were constant refrains in his sermons. Sasha had
Speaker 1: always believed the battles of Armageddon would come. She just
Speaker 1: thought they had more time. Sasha was frustrated and a
Speaker 1: little hurt. Alexander must have known this was in the
Speaker 1: offing and kept it from her. She understood, of course,
Speaker 1: but she was furious at herself for being so far
Speaker 1: away from the action that he had been forced to
Speaker 1: hide this from her. The first battle of Armageddon was
Speaker 1: beginning just a few hours south of her bedroom. She
Speaker 1: could either stay here and rot in the American Federation,
Speaker 1: or prove God with her devotion and move there. It
Speaker 1: didn't even seem like a choice. Really. If goodmen were
Speaker 1: fighting in dying to restore the Kingdom of God on Earth,
Speaker 1: it fell to her to travel there and support those men.
Speaker 1: She thought of Alexander, his liquid green eyes, his scraggly beard,
Speaker 1: the way his still boyish voice broke in excitement when
Speaker 1: he lost himself in the spirit of the Lord. Her
Speaker 1: beloved was out there right now, fighting and maybe bleeding,
Speaker 1: to bring the truth back to the world. The least
Speaker 1: she could do was join him. Weeks ago, Alexander had
Speaker 1: given her the contact information for a man named Brother Andrew.
Speaker 1: He called the other man a deliverer. Sasha knew her
Speaker 1: parents and the AMFID authorities would have described Brother Andrew
Speaker 1: as a people smuggler. She hadn't reached out to Brother
Speaker 1: Andrew yet. In her fantasy, she had always waited to
Speaker 1: graduate before escaping to the heavenly Kingdom. She was still
Speaker 1: a few weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday and had
Speaker 1: hoped to at least spin that with her parents before
Speaker 1: setting off. But right now, as she scrolled through articles
Speaker 1: about the martyr's breakthrough and immersed herself and snap bits
Speaker 1: of cheering soldiers raising cross banners over newly captured neighborhoods,
Speaker 1: Sasha felt a powerful anxiety over take her. She needed
Speaker 1: to be there. There was no other option. Sasha flipped
Speaker 1: open a window on the left side of her view space,
Speaker 1: typed in the address she'd memorized for brother Andrew, and
Speaker 1: sent him a message, I am ready to go. What
Speaker 1: grows in the forest trees? Sure? No. What else grows
Speaker 1: in the forest, Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and
Speaker 1: our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from
Speaker 1: this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
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Speaker 1: Breakfast wherever you get your podcasts, Chapter four. Manny Manny
Speaker 1: woke up needing to piss and also to the sound
Speaker 1: of explosions. He couldn't quite tell which was more to
Speaker 1: blame for his sudden, unwelcome consciousness. His lizard brain woke
Speaker 1: up and shouted, get the funk out of their, you asshole.
Speaker 1: A second later, Many got to his feet, grabbed his
Speaker 1: gear bag and looked around for the journalist. Reggie still
Speaker 1: seemed asleep, but he stirred just as Manny started towards him,
Speaker 1: and another thundering boom shook the world. Christ, who's that,
Speaker 1: Reggie asked, in a slurred voice heavy with sleep. Mortars,
Speaker 1: Manny explained, I think I heard rockets too. Shit, The
Speaker 1: brit Eck sailed sharply. Is this bad? Manny shrugged. Those
Speaker 1: sound like small mortars, very short range. But we're miles
Speaker 1: behind the line. So a deafening explosion shook the world.
Speaker 1: It was loud enough that Manny didn't even properly hear it.
Speaker 1: He felt it hard and hot against his skin. The sheer,
Speaker 1: impossible noise of it pulled the air from his lungs
Speaker 1: and the thoughts from his head. The next instant, he
Speaker 1: was flat on the ground. His eyes darted left and
Speaker 1: right for cover. He spotted something, an artificial cave built
Speaker 1: into a corner of the main room, perhaps a hundred
Speaker 1: feet away. It looked like some sort of shrine or temple.
Speaker 1: Many could see. The walls were thick with melted candles,
Speaker 1: colorful drawings in a variety of brass cymbals. He grabbed
Speaker 1: Reggie by the shoulder and shook hard. The other man jerked,
Speaker 1: locked eyes with Manny and mouthed what the fixer pointed
Speaker 1: towards the shrine, pulled himself up and sprinted towards it.
Speaker 1: The journalists followed, and soon both men were huddled in
Speaker 1: the little substructure, staring out at the devastation that had
Speaker 1: overtaken the Richardson autonomous project. They could see two holes
Speaker 1: in the roof the huge circular kitchen bar looked like
Speaker 1: it had taken a direct hit. Beer spurted from shattered taps,
Speaker 1: and many could see what looked like blood staining the
Speaker 1: white oak of the bar. Counter Flames licked somewhere off
Speaker 1: in the distance on the other side of the vast structure.
Speaker 1: The air smelled of smoke and burning grass. More blasts
Speaker 1: sounded in the distance, including a few that were just
Speaker 1: too loud to be mortar fire. Now that he focused,
Speaker 1: Manny could also hear the chatter of machine guns. It
Speaker 1: was distant, but not nearly as distant as it should
Speaker 1: have been. Many dug into his pocket, found where the
Speaker 1: deck was clipped inside, and thumbed the power button. Static
Speaker 1: flashed at the edge of his vision as his implants
Speaker 1: started up. He nearly always ran in minimalist mode, which
Speaker 1: gave him access to his maps and his communications sweet
Speaker 1: and nothing else. He selected his address book and sub
Speaker 1: vocalized his cousin's name, Alejandro. It dialed and dialed and dialed. Amen.
Speaker 1: Reggie said, his voice oddly, calm. I think we might
Speaker 1: need to get the funk out of here. Reggie looked
Speaker 1: over at the bridge and then towards the flames. They
Speaker 1: were bigger now and closer. He could see a dozen
Speaker 1: or so men and women fighting the fire with hoses
Speaker 1: and extinguishers. They didn't seem to be winning. Elsewhere, he
Speaker 1: saw small groups breaking cover to run for the exits.
Speaker 1: The sound of alarm bells echoed across the big structure.
Speaker 1: Alejandro hadn't responded, which meant he was fighting or dead.
Speaker 1: I Either way, Manny and Reggie would need to find
Speaker 1: their own ride out of this mess. It had been
Speaker 1: a while since the last mortar had landed on the complex,
Speaker 1: and the small arms fire still sounded distant. This seemed
Speaker 1: as good a time to make a break for it
Speaker 1: as they were likely to get, so they ran until
Speaker 1: they hit the nearest exit doors shoved them open. And
Speaker 1: staggered outside into the balmy Texas night. The asphalt parking
Speaker 1: lot outside was filled with newly minted refugees, perhaps two
Speaker 1: hundred of them, most carried at least to go back.
Speaker 1: A few had managed to drag out more. They were
Speaker 1: ringed by a widening cordon of armed men and women,
Speaker 1: fifty at the most. The militia clutched antique weapons, mostly
Speaker 1: small arms, and stuck like glue to the Hescoe barriers
Speaker 1: that ringed the old parking lot. Here and there, Manny
Speaker 1: caught sight of a man with an RPG or a
Speaker 1: light machine gun. It was a forcement for scaring off bandits.
Speaker 1: The rockets still thudding in the distance told Manny these
Speaker 1: men and women faced considerably more than their match. A
Speaker 1: green blink of light caught his attention. Reggie had engaged
Speaker 1: his lapel camera. Brit fixed him with a look that said, dude,
Speaker 1: what did you expect me to do? Most of the
Speaker 1: survivors were probably recording to their decks, too, but Reggie's
Speaker 1: little camera could do considerably more. It scanned the world
Speaker 1: around him in a three hundred and sixty degree arc.
Speaker 1: It also recorded the journalist's own physical data, his heart rate,
Speaker 1: his respiration, his adrenal levels. Everything he saw and felt
Speaker 1: was being recorded for later consumption. The brit was carving
Speaker 1: out a little slice of the war for safer parts
Speaker 1: of the world to Binge Watch. Vehicle started to arrive.
Speaker 1: The project's motor pool included three tracks built to carry
Speaker 1: large groups of people in semi armored semi safety. The
Speaker 1: commune's rapid reaction force set to work, loading children and
Speaker 1: wounded up first. There was no panic, no hysteria, just
Speaker 1: an exhausted efficiency that spoke of long practice. Manny saw
Speaker 1: glassy eyes and clenched jaws, but very little open rage.
Speaker 1: They're so very used to it, he realized. Scattered throughout
Speaker 1: the crowd, Manny saw people whose bodies rattled with a
Speaker 1: sort of palsied shock that artillery leaves in its wake.
Speaker 1: Reggie just stared out at them, mouth slack. His left
Speaker 1: knee twitched, the foot below it pumped against the ground.
Speaker 1: Many guessed he was caught between the urge to step
Speaker 1: out and talk to some of them and the voice
Speaker 1: of sanity in the back of his head that knew
Speaker 1: how tone deaf that would be. Manny put a hand
Speaker 1: on the journalist's shoulder. We need to get the funk
Speaker 1: out of here, and our ride is off calms, he said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to suggest we hitch with the R A
Speaker 1: P where their guests. They'll make room for us, but
Speaker 1: if you'd rather drag us, I know a safe neighborhood
Speaker 1: about six miles into the city. We could probably hire
Speaker 1: a ride there. It looks like they're a bit short
Speaker 1: of room, as is, said the brit Those tracks can't
Speaker 1: hold more than people each. Many smiled a little twenty four,
Speaker 1: but that's just if you're attached to things like seats.
Speaker 1: Ten minutes later, Reggie and Manny clung to the hood
Speaker 1: of the track as it barreled down the broken streets
Speaker 1: of Ciadad de Muerta, bound for a staging area in
Speaker 1: deep Ellum. The fighting sounded much closer by the time
Speaker 1: they left Manny guests. The small arms fire couldn't be
Speaker 1: more than a couple of blocks away. He and the
Speaker 1: journalist held on with white knuckles and tried not to
Speaker 1: linger long on what would happen if they lost their grip.
Speaker 1: The martyrs had passed the command post the bridge, shouted
Speaker 1: in sudden realization. His voice strained to be audible over
Speaker 1: the roar of the engines. Holy shit, they have to
Speaker 1: be right. Many thought about the geography for a moment.
Speaker 1: It was possible that the martyrs had only broken through
Speaker 1: in a few chunks of the line, but that would
Speaker 1: mean to Shaun and the others were alive and surrounded
Speaker 1: or fleeing. Those were the best case scenarios. I think
Speaker 1: we might be fucked, Manny said, stunned by the realization.
Speaker 1: For the last year, Major Clark had been his most
Speaker 1: reliable source in the SDF. That post had seemed immovable,
Speaker 1: impregnable for its significance in his little chunk of the world.
Speaker 1: The tracks slowed to a stop. Parked facing them were
Speaker 1: too smaller armored SDF tracks with swiveling cannons on their roofs.
Speaker 1: Soldiers scurried around them. They pulled sections of thin, frosted
Speaker 1: gray still glass barricades off the vehicles and started setting
Speaker 1: them up to form a new defensive line. Many watched
Speaker 1: two militia women wrestle with a large olive green case
Speaker 1: covered in boxy cyrillic script. They prided it open, and
Speaker 1: Manny saw a huge metal tube and what looked like
Speaker 1: a lot of antique optical equipment. It was probably an
Speaker 1: old wire guided missile launcher, something that had been antique
Speaker 1: before the revolution. He'd never seen the stf use anything
Speaker 1: that old. They had drones half this size that carried
Speaker 1: even more firepower, had them yesterday, at least, he thought.
Speaker 1: The track slowed to a cautious stop and hanked. Manny
Speaker 1: glanced back at the driver. She had her hands in
Speaker 1: the air in a universal please don't shoot us gesture.
Speaker 1: Two of the soldiers peeled off from their efforts and approached,
Speaker 1: weapons in hand but not aimed. The driver opened her
Speaker 1: door and shouted something down at them. One of the
Speaker 1: men responded and gestured vaguely downtown. Manny couldn't make out
Speaker 1: exactly what was being said, but the driver's face contorted
Speaker 1: in a fury that was impossible to miss. Something's fucked.
Speaker 1: Manny said to the journalist, I think we're about to
Speaker 1: lose our ride. Look. He pointed to the makeshift barricade
Speaker 1: and the dozen or so soldiers who filtered past it
Speaker 1: and towards the track. The driver yelled, and one of
Speaker 1: the other passengers near the front started to shout. The
Speaker 1: soldier's face remained impassive, but he put a hand on
Speaker 1: his side arm and repeated a command Manny didn't even
Speaker 1: need to hear. A few seconds later, a soldier with
Speaker 1: a megaphone arrived and addressed Manny, Reggie and the new
Speaker 1: refugees citizens, your vehicle has been requisitioned for medical use
Speaker 1: by the SDF. Please dismount on a worldly fashion. Injured
Speaker 1: in pregnant individuals may stay aboard. The man repeated the order,
Speaker 1: this time in Spanish. Reggie's jaw clinched. Manny could see
Speaker 1: fear in his eyes, but the other man just nodded
Speaker 1: and started to climb down off the track. Manny did
Speaker 1: the same. Not all off the tracks passengers were as compliant.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of shouting and even a few
Speaker 1: shoving matches between the militiamen and the passengers, but in
Speaker 1: the end the STF got their way. Manny gathered fairly
Speaker 1: quickly that they planned to send the civilians a mile
Speaker 1: or so back to a holding area behind the new line.
Speaker 1: Then at was the last sucking place in the world
Speaker 1: he wanted to be, so he approached the officer who
Speaker 1: had been arguing with their driver. The man had no
Speaker 1: rank in signey on his uniform, but that wasn't unusual.
Speaker 1: For militia. His fatigues were old U S Army issue.
Speaker 1: His arm band identified him as part of the Citizen's Front.
Speaker 1: Manny found that odd most of the militia at this
Speaker 1: barricade were with Raza Front or the p p A.
Speaker 1: This much intermixing wasn't normal. It pointed to a lot
Speaker 1: of casualties among the stf DI scope Signor Manny started, Chico,
Speaker 1: no ur remismo. I don't have time to debate, no Signor.
Speaker 1: My cousin, Alejandro was with Citizens Front, ninth Battalion. He
Speaker 1: was our ride. We were taking this journalist. Manny jerked
Speaker 1: his head towards Reggie, who stood a few feetback, and
Speaker 1: we got caught up in the attack. The officer nodded,
Speaker 1: then grunted. Manny studied his face for a moment. The
Speaker 1: man was middle aged, with a weak chin and enough
Speaker 1: extra meat on his bones to suggest this was his
Speaker 1: first front line duty in a while. His eyes were bloodshot,
Speaker 1: his hands clenched, his attitude softened a bit at Alejandro's name,
Speaker 1: Alejandro Hernandez. Yeah, he's a good man, or was? The
Speaker 1: officer said darkly. All our front line units were wiped
Speaker 1: out or near enough. The whole stf's been pushed all
Speaker 1: the way back to Cidad de Mrta. If he's alive,
Speaker 1: he's a prisoner. The man shook his head. Sorry, Chico,
Speaker 1: there's not much I can do for you or your friend.
Speaker 1: We need to get to Waco. I know there's a
Speaker 1: hospital there that must be where you're sending the serious injuries.
Speaker 1: Right Dallas doesn't have anything left with a fully are
Speaker 1: The officer nodded, These tracks are headed to the field
Speaker 1: Hospital in Oak Lawn, but we've got a couple of
Speaker 1: deuce and a half sloading up at Fireba Jamenez. If
Speaker 1: you can get there on your own, al radio ahead
Speaker 1: and ask Major Peron if he's got space. I know Peron.
Speaker 1: Manny almost shouted, I went to school with his nephew, Hector.
Speaker 1: He couldn't stop himself from wincing, as he said, if
Speaker 1: you'd give him my name, that might help. The other
Speaker 1: man's eye cocked up in a really motherfucker look. But
Speaker 1: then the soldier asked, and your name is Manny Sanchez.
Speaker 1: He nodded, good luck. Then, Manny, al radio a head.
Speaker 1: You and your friend get to the firebase. Rapido Combrende
Speaker 1: Many nodded and turned to Reggie, We've got a ride,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be a bit of a hike.
Speaker 1: It was less a hike and more of a panicked jog.
Speaker 1: The streets around them were filled with dozens of people
Speaker 1: carrying their possessions and bags and rusted old shopping carts.
Speaker 1: Manny had never seen Dallas this crowded. Less than a
Speaker 1: million people still lived in the old Metroplex, but most
Speaker 1: of them seemed to be out in the streets to
Speaker 1: watch the world end. Sirens sounded courtesy of the city's
Speaker 1: old civil defense system, mixed every few seconds with the
Speaker 1: distorted voice of a woman reminding them that all motor
Speaker 1: vehicle use was prohibited. Any civilian vehicles on the road
Speaker 1: will be assumed hostible and targeted. The road traffic was
Speaker 1: all military. There was less of it than Manny would
Speaker 1: have hoped to see. In the space of a few seconds,
Speaker 1: he watched three pairs of cougar assault vehicles race up
Speaker 1: towards the front, carrying squads of armored troopers in their
Speaker 1: open beds. He also saw one convoy of five anti
Speaker 1: tank drones. Each was the size of a four door
Speaker 1: sedan with two linked chain guns on a turret that
Speaker 1: scanned the sky in fast jerky arcs. There was a
Speaker 1: troubling amount of dead space on the road between the
Speaker 1: two units. By the sound of it, the fighting had
Speaker 1: only grown more intense throughout the morning. The crack of
Speaker 1: small arms fire had been nearly drowned out by the
Speaker 1: all consuming roar of close support drones in the sky
Speaker 1: above them. The only noises to rise above that din
Speaker 1: were the stippling bangs of mortar fire and the pop
Speaker 1: pop popping of cluster box fire based Jemenez was about
Speaker 1: two miles back from the new front. It was mainly
Speaker 1: a staging area for the STFs Autonomous Artillery Division. The
Speaker 1: a a D was made up of men and mostly
Speaker 1: drones from all the secular militia groups active in the
Speaker 1: Dallas area. The firebase itself wasn't well fortified. The only
Speaker 1: physical defense was a fence topped with razor wire to
Speaker 1: keep civilians out. That wouldn't be much of a barrier
Speaker 1: for a determined assault. Until a couple of hours ago,
Speaker 1: Yemenez had been far enough from the front that an
Speaker 1: assault wasn't considered possible. After an hour of mixed jogging
Speaker 1: and running, Manny and Reggie took a left onto park lane,
Speaker 1: the fire base came into view. It had been built
Speaker 1: in the bones of an old apartment complex. Several buildings
Speaker 1: had been converted into offices and the rest left as
Speaker 1: barracks space. The apartments were situated across the road from
Speaker 1: a tall, very thin, parentheses shaped building that looked out
Speaker 1: over a large field dotted with landing pads. The name
Speaker 1: Top Golf Driving Range was still visible on the side
Speaker 1: of the building. Several hundred militiamen were hard at work
Speaker 1: throwing up defenses. Still, glass sheets had been set up
Speaker 1: to screen a dozen machine gun nests. Further back, soldiers
Speaker 1: piled sandbags in front of two howitzers. Manny and Reggie
Speaker 1: weren't the only civilians trying to gain entrance. Fifty or
Speaker 1: so people clustered by a checkpoint in the middle of
Speaker 1: the road, a hundred yards ahead of the construction efforts.
Speaker 1: The checkpoint was new, just a sandbag machine gun emplacement
Speaker 1: manned by six fighters in powered body armor. They were
Speaker 1: overwatched by a pair of ancient Abrams tanks positioned on
Speaker 1: either side of the road. The soldiers in the middle
Speaker 1: checked the documents and let the occasional civilian through they
Speaker 1: turned most people back. There were a lot of shouts
Speaker 1: and violent estures on the part of the civilians. While
Speaker 1: Manny watched, one of the guards raised their rifle up
Speaker 1: and fired it just to the left of a screaming
Speaker 1: man's face. He recoiled in pain and fear, clutched his ears,
Speaker 1: and staggered away from the checkpoint. The weight was only
Speaker 1: about ten minutes, but with the thudding artillery at their back,
Speaker 1: each of those minutes felt like an hour. But soon
Speaker 1: they stood face to face with one of the armored
Speaker 1: militia folks. Reggie went stiff at once, his pupils the
Speaker 1: size of dinner plates. He had never seen powered armor
Speaker 1: up close before. Many couldn't blame the man for being unnerved.
Speaker 1: The reflective, bug eyed, blistic glass of the helmets and
Speaker 1: humanly broad shoulder armor made the wearers look like Crone
Speaker 1: and Bergie and guerrilla mantis hybrids. The shortest armored soldier
Speaker 1: was well over seven feet tall and almost as broad
Speaker 1: as two men. Their gender was impossible to discern, but
Speaker 1: a feminine voice leapt from the speakers. State your business,
Speaker 1: she said, if you're looking for shelter, you'll have to
Speaker 1: head to North Park Center. We don't have room for you.
Speaker 1: Am Emmanuel Sanchez Major Perune. Should have my friend and
Speaker 1: I on your list. The woman was silent for a
Speaker 1: little while. As she called up the list, she clucked
Speaker 1: her tongue between her teeth, and the high fidelity mike
Speaker 1: in her suit made it sound like she'd done it
Speaker 1: next to his ear. Well, hell, there you are, Her
Speaker 1: helmeted head bobbed at them. All right, you're in, come
Speaker 1: through quick. You stop being my fuckin problem. As soon
Speaker 1: as you're inside. They made their way towards the actual
Speaker 1: front gate of the fire base, passing squads of militias
Speaker 1: struggling with hescoes and setting up firing positions behind the
Speaker 1: still glass palisade. Manny and Reggie walked past it all
Speaker 1: and to the firebase's front gate. They were let in
Speaker 1: without any fuss, which surprised Manny a bit, but he
Speaker 1: wasn't about to question it. On the other side of
Speaker 1: the gate, they found themselves adrift, unescorted, and surrounded by
Speaker 1: pure chaos. There were other civilians inside the walls, huddled
Speaker 1: in small groups around piles of backpacks. They sat wide
Speaker 1: eyed and shaking and waited for whatever deliverance the st
Speaker 1: F could provide. Soldiers rushed through the clots of humanity
Speaker 1: in groups of two or three. Often their arms were
Speaker 1: filled with machinery or paper, or even crates of munitions.
Speaker 1: Everyone's eyes were fight and full of fear. For a while,
Speaker 1: Reggie and Manny milled around with no real aim, unable
Speaker 1: to enter any of the buildings. Manny found them an
Speaker 1: unclaimed place to sit that looked like it would be
Speaker 1: easy for Mr. Perune to find, and then they just
Speaker 1: sat there. At one point, Reggie offered him a protein bar.
Speaker 1: Manny tried to eat it, but three bites in he
Speaker 1: accepted that his appetite just wasn't there. What do I
Speaker 1: do if Dallas falls? He ran through his finances over
Speaker 1: and over again, mulling over which European visas he could
Speaker 1: afford and how long he'd be able to survive in
Speaker 1: each country. I could make it a year, maybe eighteen months.
Speaker 1: In Croatia, he'd been studying German for the last year.
Speaker 1: Though I can learn Croatian any here, he tried to
Speaker 1: convince himself. He also tried to ignore what he'd been
Speaker 1: leaving behind. If he hopped the next flight from Austin
Speaker 1: to the EU. He didn't want to think about Oscar's
Speaker 1: wife and child, how they'd get by without their dad's income.
Speaker 1: He didn't want to think about his own father or
Speaker 1: the rest of his family and how they'd fair if
Speaker 1: Austin fell. You can only afford to take care of
Speaker 1: you here, Manny. It was two hours be or Major
Speaker 1: Perne found them. The older man's skin was a deep
Speaker 1: sunsharred brown that seemed at odds. With his narrow face
Speaker 1: and thin wire glasses. He had the look of a
Speaker 1: high school history teacher who had been transplanted into a
Speaker 1: war zone. There was something drawn and strained in his
Speaker 1: expression that spoke of deep exhaustion. His eyes were bloodshot
Speaker 1: and his nose was swollen slightly red. Manny could remember
Speaker 1: seeing that same face a bit younger and wearing a
Speaker 1: T shirt rather than digiKam at a hundred different slumber parties.
Speaker 1: Mr Perrone was Hector's dad. Mr Perrone made them kettle
Speaker 1: corn and let them watch violent movies on the family
Speaker 1: projector Major Perone. Manny had to remind himself he's Major Perone,
Speaker 1: the Major favorite Manny with a sad smile. Madre di dio,
Speaker 1: s Emmanuel, it's fucking good to see you. Have you
Speaker 1: seen your cousin Alejandro? He was with us last night,
Speaker 1: Manny said, before the attack. A pained look crossed the
Speaker 1: Major's face. Okay, he nodded and forced to smile back
Speaker 1: across his lips. I hear you boys need a ride, yeah, U,
Speaker 1: Manny said, If you could get us back to Waco,
Speaker 1: I have enough connections in the area to get him.
Speaker 1: Manny nodded back to the journalist. Into Austin and what
Speaker 1: is your name, sir, Major Perrone asked the journalist as
Speaker 1: he extended his hand. Reggie the brit responded, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for helping us. I'm afraid there's not much
Speaker 1: I can do right now. The situation is still very fluid.
Speaker 1: We've set a new defensive line running from the Lakewood
Speaker 1: Crater to love Field. With any luck, the martyrs have
Speaker 1: spent the bulk of their strength and will hold them there.
Speaker 1: And if not, Reggie asked, Mr Perrone laughed and scratched
Speaker 1: his head. Well, if the line breaks, then I'd guess
Speaker 1: our collective pooch is screwed. We'll begin the evacuation if
Speaker 1: it gets much worse. But right now we're still waiting
Speaker 1: for convoys of wounded to get back through the lines.
Speaker 1: He gestured out at the considerable amount of fenced off
Speaker 1: open space in the firebase. This whole place is about
Speaker 1: to be a big, open air hospital. He gave Reggie
Speaker 1: a severe look. I won't tell you not to record them,
Speaker 1: because quite frankly, everyone here is too busy to police that.
Speaker 1: But I will ask that you showed tact in respect
Speaker 1: in your documentation, of course, said Reggie, with enough sincerity
Speaker 1: that Manny believed him. All right. He clapped Manny on
Speaker 1: the shoulder, and after a second's pause, embraced him. Hold
Speaker 1: on out here for a while. I'll try to send
Speaker 1: some food in a little bit. Manny and Reggie both
Speaker 1: thanked Major Braun, and he trundled off into the old
Speaker 1: top golf building to do his part in co ordinating
Speaker 1: the defense. So what now, Reggie asked, We wait, said Manny.
Speaker 1: Three hours passed. More and more wounded men streamed into
Speaker 1: the base, carried on stretchers and an ambulances, and in
Speaker 1: several cases stacked like firewood on flatbed trucks. The wounded
Speaker 1: were set up on cots and piles of blankets in
Speaker 1: the grass, and wherever possible, in paved sections of the
Speaker 1: driving ranger's old parking lot. Medics, far too few medics
Speaker 1: hustled from soldier to soldier at a frantic, mannic unsustainable pace.
Speaker 1: For a while, there was nothing to do but follow
Speaker 1: Reggie around while he interviewed the wounded men and women
Speaker 1: who were stable enough to talk. They all reported shock
Speaker 1: at the speed and ferocity of the attack. Their testimonies
Speaker 1: drove home the fact that this was something new. Tendrils
Speaker 1: of fear crept up Manny's spine. It was all he
Speaker 1: could do to keep moving with his journalist amen. Reggie said,
Speaker 1: look at that fellow. He pointed to a soldier with
Speaker 1: the top half of his head wrapped in blood soaked bandages.
Speaker 1: Something about the man's broad and square chin looked familiar.
Speaker 1: Isn't that one of the men we met yesterday? Reggie
Speaker 1: asked the major. Holy sh it, Reggie was right. That
Speaker 1: had to be de Shaun Clark. Manny ran over to him.
Speaker 1: As he drew closer, it became clear that Deshaun was
Speaker 1: an even worse shape than he looked at a distance.
Speaker 1: His shirt had been ripped open, exposing a muscular chest
Speaker 1: drenched in blood. Three white plugs of hardened Selock's wound
Speaker 1: spray were visible across his abdomen. He'd been shot repeatedly
Speaker 1: and had what looked like a shrapnel wound on the
Speaker 1: side of his head. At least he's breathing, Manny thought,
Speaker 1: Major Clark, he said, and to Manny's surprise, the warrior
Speaker 1: poet stirred. Manny, Sweet Jesus, is that you, Deshaun asked
Speaker 1: in a slured voice, Yes, Sir, Manny said, You know,
Speaker 1: I was damn sure you'd been killed. Haven't had all
Speaker 1: that much time to think about you in the last
Speaker 1: few hours, of course, what with everyone dying and all.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're alive, Manny said, and he was. Major
Speaker 1: Clark had always been good to him. Do you know
Speaker 1: what happened to him? Eid and Colonel Milgram, Manny asked,
Speaker 1: before the thought had fully crystallized in his mind. Major
Speaker 1: Clark tried to lift his head and almost cried out
Speaker 1: from the sheer agony of the movement. He didn't speak
Speaker 1: for a few seconds. He just took deep, slow breaths,
Speaker 1: but he started to whisper. The last sunbeam lightly falls
Speaker 1: from the finished Sabbath on the pavement here and there
Speaker 1: beyond it is looking down a new maid double grave.
Speaker 1: What Manny asked, confused, Walt Actually, Major Clark laughed, winced,
Speaker 1: and then explained, Walt Whitman, that is sorry. Imminent death
Speaker 1: makes me go for the deep cuts. So they're dead.
Speaker 1: Then Manny asked, Major Clark coughed, and again his lips
Speaker 1: curled up in an agonized cringe. I think, so, he
Speaker 1: managed to say. I think everyone from the command post
Speaker 1: is dead. I was out grabbing a smoke when they
Speaker 1: hit us. Came in a nowhere drone, artillery, heavy stuff.
Speaker 1: Whole place lit up like Christmas. Two booms sounded in
Speaker 1: the distance. Major Clark tensed up. Reggie cringed to Manny
Speaker 1: the whole situation seemed almost too unreal to justify a
Speaker 1: reaction like that, Major Clark said, after I grabbed who
Speaker 1: I could and tried to save as many men as
Speaker 1: possible fighting retreat. You know, we linked up with as
Speaker 1: many fighters as we could, but every time we'd set
Speaker 1: a line, they'd break through. They had so many damn drones.
Speaker 1: I've never seen martyrs use drones like that. What do
Speaker 1: you mean Reggie asked, well, they've always had drones, but
Speaker 1: usually just as defensive aids for when we'd make a push.
Speaker 1: We've got enough jammers that their hardware was no use
Speaker 1: in our territory since none of their ship goes autonomous.
Speaker 1: So what, the journalist asked, as he drew in a
Speaker 1: bit closer. Do you think they've changed their minds on
Speaker 1: autonomous drones? Or is this something else? Major Clark rolled
Speaker 1: his head just a little. It seemed to be the
Speaker 1: only gesture he could make without hurting himself. I don't know, kid,
Speaker 1: he said, whatever's happening, it's totally new, and it's totally
Speaker 1: fucked us. Major Clark was taken by another coughing fit.
Speaker 1: This one lasted a long time. Blood bubbled up and
Speaker 1: out from the corners of his mouth. Manny wanted to
Speaker 1: call for a medic, but he couldn't see any of
Speaker 1: them who weren't dealing with patients who were even worse off. Eventually,
Speaker 1: the coughing subsided and Major Clark drifted off into unconsciousness.
Speaker 1: They sat with him until the night fell and mister
Speaker 1: Perrone finally came to get them. He looked exhausted and
Speaker 1: somehow broken. His skin was sallow and so pale it
Speaker 1: was almost yellow. His uniform was soaked with old sweat stains,
Speaker 1: and he had two lit cigarettes in his mouth when
Speaker 1: he found Manny and Reggie. Manny wasn't sure he'd ever
Speaker 1: seen the older man's smoke. Mister Perrone noted his surprise.
Speaker 1: I've taken up smoking again, he said, with a hollow laugh,
Speaker 1: since her own expect to survive to the end of
Speaker 1: the week. That bad Manny asked worse, shook his head
Speaker 1: and then seemed to notice the Major, Is that d
Speaker 1: Shawn Clark? Yes, Sir Manny said, is he He's alive
Speaker 1: and he seems to be stable for now. Major Perrone
Speaker 1: looked relieved. That's one spot a mercy. Then hopefully we'll
Speaker 1: get him out in time. On that note, I've confirmed
Speaker 1: that we've got a convoy of wounded heading out tomorrow
Speaker 1: a m as soon as our scouts clear the route.
Speaker 1: You'll both have a seat in that convoy. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Sir Reggie started. Mr Perrone cut him off.
Speaker 1: It's no problem, son, do your job and tell people
Speaker 1: what's happened here. What are you going to do, Sir
Speaker 1: Manny asked Mr Perrone looked into his eyes. He'd always
Speaker 1: had an intense stare. His edge had been evident, even
Speaker 1: when he'd been driving the boys to soccer practice or
Speaker 1: taking them out for pizza. Now his eyes bored into
Speaker 1: Manny's heart so deeply that the fixer finally understood what
Speaker 1: that phrase meant. I'm going to die here, Emmanuel, he said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to die here like your cousin Alajandro died here,
Speaker 1: because it's the only thing I can do that might
Speaker 1: protect our home. Manny felt an intense urge to look away,
Speaker 1: to cast his eyes down, but he didn't. He held
Speaker 1: mister Perrone's gaze and braced himself for what came next.
Speaker 1: What about you, mister Perrone asked, What will you do
Speaker 1: if they reach Austin? Wait? Is that on the bloody table?
Speaker 1: Reggie interrupted. Mister Perrone paused for a moment and considered
Speaker 1: his words. I don't know, he said, no one does.
Speaker 1: But the martyrs just broke through it Lakewood. We won't
Speaker 1: hold Dallas for another day. He pulled Manny into a
Speaker 1: hug and kissed him on the cheek. When he pulled back,
Speaker 1: he kept his hands on many shoulders. I've always been
Speaker 1: proud of you, Emmanuel. I think that what you do here,
Speaker 1: he nodded to Reggie, has value. But there are times
Speaker 1: when our homelands require more of us. What are you
Speaker 1: prepared to give for Austin Manny clinched his jaw. I
Speaker 1: plan to be on a plane out of here in
Speaker 1: the next twelve hours, if possible. But I don't know, sir,
Speaker 1: is all, he said. It was hard to meet mister
Speaker 1: Perrone's eyes. When he did, he was sure the older
Speaker 1: man saw the guilt in them. Mr Perrone didn't say anything, though,
Speaker 1: He just led Mannie and Reggie over to where the
Speaker 1: convoy was assembling and slipped them a pair of m R.
Speaker 1: E's and some bottled water. The best I can do,
Speaker 1: he said, apologetically. He left them at the disembarkation point.
Speaker 1: Manny's last clear sight of the man who had helped
Speaker 1: raise him was of his slumped, sweat stained shoulders trudging
Speaker 1: back to the fire Bass command center. They sat there
Speaker 1: for hours, neither of them talked much. One by one,
Speaker 1: the wounded men were loaded carefully into the assortment of
Speaker 1: old half tracks, buses, and trailers that made up the convoy.
Speaker 1: Once they were seated, there was another two hours of
Speaker 1: white time before the convoy got moving. Both Reggie and
Speaker 1: Manny found time to nap, but neither of them were
Speaker 1: really rested when the dawn broke and the convoy set forward.
Speaker 1: By the time the ramshackle assortment of trucks and broken
Speaker 1: soldiers started on its way to wake O, the sound
Speaker 1: of mortar fire was so constant it had almost become
Speaker 1: white noise. The small arms fire wasn't as loud, but
Speaker 1: it was also clearly much closer than it had been
Speaker 1: when they'd arrived at Firebasimnez. As the convoy rolled out
Speaker 1: on to the old access road that led eventually to Waco,
Speaker 1: a flight of drones roared past them and towards the
Speaker 1: new front line. Those aunt STF drones? Are they? Reggie asked,
Speaker 1: without actually looking at Manny. His gaze was focused on
Speaker 1: the two medics in the back of the truck as
Speaker 1: they moved from soldier to soldier. No. Manny confirmed, those
Speaker 1: are Austin's Civil Defense Forces. The brit whistled through his teeth.
Speaker 1: So you think this means the st F ran through
Speaker 1: their drones could be as all? Manny said. The track
Speaker 1: and its escort lumbered through the cracked remnants of the
Speaker 1: old highway system, the accumulated hangers on civilian vehicles piled
Speaker 1: high with refugees. As they rolled along, The civilians stayed back,
Speaker 1: leary of the convoy's guns but trusting in its presence
Speaker 1: for protection. By the time the convoy finally left the
Speaker 1: Dallas Sprawl, their tails stretched back to the horizon line.
Speaker 1: Manny had seen similar sights before, when his parents had
Speaker 1: fled the d f W area for Austin's relative safety.
Speaker 1: Here in there on and in the cars behind them,
Speaker 1: he saw small figures that had to be children, kids
Speaker 1: like he'd been fleeing the same city he'd had to
Speaker 1: flee for the same basic reason. Manny's stand out memory
Speaker 1: from that time wasn't the terror of seeing a mortar
Speaker 1: land for the first time, or anything about their flight
Speaker 1: out of the city at all. It was from the
Speaker 1: next day at their first refugee camp, when he saw
Speaker 1: his father in line for their daily ration of food.
Speaker 1: A journalist had passed by, taking the sort of pictures
Speaker 1: Reggie's lapel camera now snapped mindlessly. Manny's dad had been crying,
Speaker 1: ashamed that he'd needed charity, and even more ashamed to
Speaker 1: have fled the family home. More than anything about that time,
Speaker 1: Manny remembered how his father had hidden his face from
Speaker 1: the photographer. The gesture had told Manny more about their
Speaker 1: new status in the world than anything an adult had
Speaker 1: actually said. Behind him now were cars full of mothers
Speaker 1: and fathers and children who were about to have their
Speaker 1: own searing experiences. Manny hated how familiar this felt to him.
Speaker 1: He hated at for Reggie it counted as the adventure
Speaker 1: of a lifetime. Many looked at the journalist, at the
Speaker 1: awe and innocent excitement in his eyes, and tried to
Speaker 1: imagine Reggie's life back home. None of the individual pieces
Speaker 1: of that life would be new to Manny. His world
Speaker 1: also had bars and parties, and apartment leases and term papers.
Speaker 1: The thing he couldn't imagine was the sense of security,
Speaker 1: living life without the constant threat of war. He'd been
Speaker 1: so close to securing that life for himself if it
Speaker 1: only waited six months, But they hadn't, and now Manny
Speaker 1: had a choice to make stand and fight or run
Speaker 1: with what he had and hoped for the best. Manny
Speaker 1: leaned back as much as his precarious seat allowed and
Speaker 1: stared out at the burning city that had once been Dallas. Goddamn,
Speaker 1: he muttered to himself. I gotta get the funk out
Speaker 1: of Texas. I'm Colleen wit Joined me the host of
Speaker 1: Eating While per podcast. While I eat a meal created
Speaker 1: by self made entrepreneurs, influencers, and celebrities over a meal
Speaker 1: they once eight when they were broke. Today I have
Speaker 1: the lovely aj Crimson, the official Princess of comfin Asia,
Speaker 1: Kidding and Asia. This is the professor. We're here on
Speaker 1: Eating While Broke, and today I'm gonna break down my
Speaker 1: meal that got me through a time when I was broken.
Speaker 1: Listen to Eating While Broke on the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Adoption
Speaker 1: of teens from foster care is a topic not enough
Speaker 1: people know about, and we're here to change that. I'm
Speaker 1: April Dinuity, host of the new podcast Navigating Adoption presented
Speaker 1: by adopt us Kids. Each episode brings you compelling, real
Speaker 1: life adoption stories told by the families that lived them,
Speaker 1: with commentary from experts. Visit adopt us Kids dot org,
Speaker 1: slash podcast, or subscribe to Navigating Adoption presented by adopt
Speaker 1: us Kids, brought to you by the U. S Department
Speaker 1: of Health, the Human Services Administration for Children and Families,
Speaker 1: and the ACT Council. Hello and welcome to our show.
Speaker 1: I'm Zoe de Chanelle and I'm so excited to be
Speaker 1: joined by my friends and cast mates Hannah Simone and
Speaker 1: Lamar and Morris to recap our hit television series New Girl.
Speaker 1: Join us every Monday on the Welcome to Our Show podcast,
Speaker 1: where we'll share behind the scenes stories of your favorite
Speaker 1: New Girl episodes, revealed the truth behind the legendary game
Speaker 1: True American, and discuss how this show got made with
Speaker 1: the writers, guest stars, and directors who made the show
Speaker 1: so special. Fans have been begging us to do a
Speaker 1: New Girl recap for years, and we finally made a
Speaker 1: podcast where we answer all your burning questions like is
Speaker 1: there really a bear in every episode of New Girl?
Speaker 1: Plus each week you'll hear hilarious stories like this at
Speaker 1: the end when he says you got some schmid on
Speaker 1: your face. I feel like I pitched that joke. I
Speaker 1: believe that I feel like I did. I'm not on
Speaker 1: a thousand percent I want to say that was I
Speaker 1: tossed that one out. Listen to the Welcome to our
Speaker 1: show podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Chapter five, Rowland. Twenty
Speaker 1: years ago, Camelback Mountain had towered over a wealthy suburb
Speaker 1: of Phoenix, Arizona. Then had come the Civil War. Power, food,
Speaker 1: and water shortages made the cities hundred and thirty degrees
Speaker 1: summers insufferable for all but the hardiest or most chromed.
Speaker 1: Millions fled for less vicious climates or simply died from
Speaker 1: exposure and starvation. Now Phoenix was a looted, crumbling ghost,
Speaker 1: but Camelback Mountain still hosted a version of human civilization.
Speaker 1: Camel Toe was a city of roughly five thousand. The
Speaker 1: name had started because the settlement's founders, homeless teens, thought
Speaker 1: it was funny. A few hundred orphaned or abandoned kids
Speaker 1: had settled in the McMansions clustered around the mountains, western
Speaker 1: edge and foothills. They'd scrounged grow lamps and engines and weaponry,
Speaker 1: and today the denizens of the tow had the strongest
Speaker 1: city state between California and the Kingdom of Albuquerque. Rowland
Speaker 1: was their guardian. Mind you, they'd never asked him to
Speaker 1: guard them. The police had been doing quite well, thank
Speaker 1: you very much. When he'd shown up and built his
Speaker 1: shack in the middle of their only park. A delegation
Speaker 1: of armed towins had showed up to politely e vict Rowland,
Speaker 1: and he'd been forced to carve off their foreskins as
Speaker 1: a show of dominance. They'd sent a single negotiator next
Speaker 1: and worked out a thoroughly beneficial arrangement. Rowland would aid
Speaker 1: in the city's defense in exchange for his now departed shack,
Speaker 1: and twice a year all the narcotics he could carry
Speaker 1: home from their harvest. It was an arrangement Rowland had enjoyed.
Speaker 1: He was frustrated that Jim's men had forced him to
Speaker 1: destroy his beloved hovel, but it was hard for him
Speaker 1: to be angry all the same. The sun was out now,
Speaker 1: and it was early enough that the day's heat had
Speaker 1: yet to set in the great red desert, and the
Speaker 1: carcass of Phoenix stretched out around them, and to Roland's
Speaker 1: eyes it was all beautiful. Once Jim had called the fight,
Speaker 1: a pair of boxy armored Hella transports had flown in
Speaker 1: another squad of his men. They assembled a brunch spread
Speaker 1: complete with a table and two wicker chairs. Roland hoped
Speaker 1: his old friend was doing this to show off and
Speaker 1: not planning an actual meal. The acid twisted Roland's guts
Speaker 1: into knots and effectively killed his appetite. He was still
Speaker 1: high enough that the familiar boulders around his home seemed
Speaker 1: to flex and wobble like great mounds of red jelly.
Speaker 1: Jim's face, however, was rock solid. Roland focused on it
Speaker 1: while the rest of the world blurred. A towel came
Speaker 1: into his hands, and he realized a moment later that
Speaker 1: Jim had handed it to him. Roland wiped the crusted
Speaker 1: gore from around his shoulder, where the tiny robots in
Speaker 1: his blood had finished reattaching his arm. It was a
Speaker 1: messy process that involved a lot of shuffling bad blood
Speaker 1: out of the skin and sludgy red globs. The globs
Speaker 1: looked a bit like the boulders now that he thought
Speaker 1: about it. Jim's merks were over by one of the aircraft,
Speaker 1: getting worked over by a medical team that must have
Speaker 1: been waiting in the wings this whole time. The acrylic
Speaker 1: stink of fear wafted off them from thirty feet away.
Speaker 1: Once the table was up and the spread was set.
Speaker 1: Roland and Jim sat down to watch the last rays
Speaker 1: of sunrise turned into boring old daylight. A lackey handed
Speaker 1: them both steaming mugs of coffee. Roland took his black
Speaker 1: and Turkish so thick was almost putting. Most humans made
Speaker 1: it too weak for his taste, but this cup was perfect.
Speaker 1: He sipped deeply, and the warbly acid lines straightened and
Speaker 1: grew just a little bit thicker. Took forever to teach
Speaker 1: him how to make it right, Jim said, having human
Speaker 1: orderlies is a bit of a trial. I think there's
Speaker 1: something about us that breaks their brains just a bit.
Speaker 1: Jim sipped his coffee and added, I gotta theory about that.
Speaker 1: By the way, Roland let out a harsh, flimmy exhalation
Speaker 1: that meant I don't care. Jim continued all the same,
Speaker 1: sipping his coffee and then launching into a spiel. My
Speaker 1: theory is that Homo sapiens just aren't built to acknowledge
Speaker 1: a higher form of life, not one that's flesh and blood,
Speaker 1: and staring him in the face, demanded service. I think
Speaker 1: deep in the human brain there's the race memory of
Speaker 1: running up against neander Tolls. They were bigger and stronger
Speaker 1: and faster than humans, but we they still wipe the
Speaker 1: neander Tolls out. I think humans look at us the
Speaker 1: same way the ancestors looked at ne and a Tolls.
Speaker 1: Roland grunted because that was easier than talking, and because
Speaker 1: he really wasn't listening. His eyes were focused on the
Speaker 1: shimmering surface of the coffee sober. His brain kept his
Speaker 1: thermal vision on a different mental track from his color
Speaker 1: and infra red vision. But while he was tripping, they
Speaker 1: all just sort of blended together into one multi tone,
Speaker 1: massive information. So he stared and thralled as red heat
Speaker 1: bled off into the white air around them. The math
Speaker 1: of it all was rendered as a beautiful swatch of colors,
Speaker 1: some of which weren't even visible to human eyes. Roland
Speaker 1: lost himself for a moment. If you any other man,
Speaker 1: I'd prick you with a sober stick right now, Jim said, clearly, irked.
Speaker 1: It's been a long time since someone's ignored me. Not ignoring,
Speaker 1: Roland managed to say. The words came out wet and mushy.
Speaker 1: He'd taken around to the lung, apparently, and the repair
Speaker 1: efforts played hell on his throat. His eyes were still
Speaker 1: locked on the psychedelic sprawl of color. Lifting off from
Speaker 1: his coffee. He had to force himself to take another sip.
Speaker 1: The mild stimulant surge helped him break off his perseveration,
Speaker 1: and he met Jim still weirdly solid gaze. Sorry, this
Speaker 1: coffee is more interesting than your bullshit, Roland explained. Blame
Speaker 1: the acid, Jim laughed. The snake tattoos on his torso
Speaker 1: curled and corkscrewed and simulated excitement. You know, he said.
Speaker 1: There's a new movement in the posthuman community started up
Speaker 1: in Idaho, one of the Intentional communes. They take a
Speaker 1: pretty strong anti narcotic policy. Apparently it distracts us from
Speaker 1: the impoltant work we should be doing. Fuck that, Roland said,
Speaker 1: and spat on the ground for emphasis. I don't disagree.
Speaker 1: Jim nodded and produced an enormous and very phallic blunt.
Speaker 1: He lit it, pulled deep, and passed it over. Roland
Speaker 1: took a long drag and eased into a slump as
Speaker 1: the t h C did its slow work, so Jim,
Speaker 1: Roland said. After a few more passes, once the acid
Speaker 1: and weed had time to push his braid into a
Speaker 1: hazy new equilibrium. Why are you here, Jim gave an
Speaker 1: eloquent shrug, popped the blunt out of his mouth, and
Speaker 1: stared at the curling smoke. Roland stared too, and his
Speaker 1: eyes was wreathed in a our truce black halo of
Speaker 1: heat that seemed to almost vibrate near the cherry tip.
Speaker 1: To catch up, Jim said, and to offer you a job. Job,
Speaker 1: Roland snorted, I need not your filthy lucre. Look at
Speaker 1: this wealth that surrounds me. He made a broad gesture
Speaker 1: that encompassed the remains of his novel. What could you
Speaker 1: possibly offer well, Jim said, For startus, I can replace
Speaker 1: your hot played. I think Bigsby broke it with his body,
Speaker 1: so I'll steal another one. Roland said, what do you
Speaker 1: really have? I'm gonna guess a few million won't pique
Speaker 1: your interest. Roland blew a fat, wet raspberry. I don't
Speaker 1: even care what currency you're talking about. What good old money?
Speaker 1: Do me? Not even Cascadian script uh, Jim asked with
Speaker 1: a grin Cascadia. Roland had heard the name, of course last.
Speaker 1: He remembered the Pacific Northwest's Premier Independence movement had been
Speaker 1: agitating to secede from the Coastal Pact. Is that a
Speaker 1: thing now as a six years ago? Jim said. He
Speaker 1: took a deep pull of the blunt, handed it back
Speaker 1: to Roland and exhaled a thick white cloud as he spoke.
Speaker 1: And they just finished their own civil war, So the
Speaker 1: value skyrocketing. You really don't get out much these days,
Speaker 1: do you. Roland's response was another deep gulp of his coffee. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Jim continued, I know you don't care for cash, but
Speaker 1: there is something I think you might want, and I
Speaker 1: can buy it back for you if you'll help me out. Wait,
Speaker 1: buy it back by what back? Roland recognized the snake
Speaker 1: man's smile on Jim's face. He had the vague sense
Speaker 1: that he'd seen it before enough that the sight of
Speaker 1: it set his hackles arise and sparked an itch in
Speaker 1: his left trigger finger. He took a deep hit from
Speaker 1: the blunt and handed it over to Jim. The other
Speaker 1: man took the blunt with his left hand and made
Speaker 1: a gun shape with the fingers of his right hand.
Speaker 1: He pantomimed a shot to the head. His lips made
Speaker 1: a barely audible pow memories. Jim said, I know you're
Speaker 1: only playing with half a deck. Maybe less surprised you
Speaker 1: remember my mug. To be honest, Jim took a final
Speaker 1: drag from the blunt, which was barely the length of
Speaker 1: a um nail now, and passed it off to Roland.
Speaker 1: But science, Ah, she's kept right on lurching forward the
Speaker 1: last ten years. There's a neuro team up at m
Speaker 1: I a t They reckon they've made a breakthrough al
Speaker 1: Zama's research. Initially, but they think they figured out how
Speaker 1: to straight up recover memories from damaged brain tissue. The
Speaker 1: attack has reversed a lot of injuries the old science
Speaker 1: said was permanent. Roland felt a painful, tugging sensation in
Speaker 1: his chest. He thought back to the woman from his
Speaker 1: dreams with a damascene teeth. He saw her every few weeks,
Speaker 1: trapped in some foggy memory or another. Her name felt
Speaker 1: like it was always on the tip of his tongue.
Speaker 1: He didn't know what she'd meant to him, but the
Speaker 1: thought of her twisted his heart into knots. It was maddening,
Speaker 1: not even knowing what she'd been to him, or he
Speaker 1: to her. Roland frowned, turned his head and locked eyes
Speaker 1: with Jim eating a bunch of fed funded school scientists.
Speaker 1: You're gonna help me, Roland asked. He had a strong
Speaker 1: feeling none of the governments on this continent or fans
Speaker 1: of me. Jim waved a careless hand less the issue,
Speaker 1: he said, those am motherfucker's a pragmatists. I've been in
Speaker 1: and out of the Northeast half a dozen times just
Speaker 1: this year. You do work they value and they ignore
Speaker 1: a little terrorism memories hazy, Roland said, but I know
Speaker 1: little is inaccurate. I think we killed a skyscraper. You
Speaker 1: don't remember that the Diamond Building and photo one a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty floors, A rich pigs wallowing in ship.
Speaker 1: We slipped a bombing during an Austeritius summit led by
Speaker 1: the CEOs of the Big Fall, bugged the conference room
Speaker 1: so we could hear him scream when that first blast
Speaker 1: cut the support beams. It was better than sex. There
Speaker 1: was a peculiar joy in Jim's eyes, his chest snakes
Speaker 1: writhed in orgiastically. Roland felt queasy. Rowland, Jim added, the
Speaker 1: sons of bitches had it coming, maybe, Roland said, but
Speaker 1: I know we didn't just kill CEOs. I remember other times.
Speaker 1: Kids not kids, Jim insisted, as young enough to take
Speaker 1: full advantage of juven the future undying lords of capital,
Speaker 1: they had to go. Oh, Roland shivered. Even if they did,
Speaker 1: I'm sort of glad I don't remember it. Jim shrugged,
Speaker 1: swirled his coffee cup, and stared into it for a minute.
Speaker 1: If he'd been anyone else, Roland would have been able
Speaker 1: to read his emotions by the sense coming off of
Speaker 1: him and the micro expressions on his face. Most post
Speaker 1: humans were just as easy to read as regular humans.
Speaker 1: It took a mix of very specific surgeries and a
Speaker 1: hell of a lot of time spent in practice to
Speaker 1: hide anything from Roland. It said a lot that Jim
Speaker 1: had considered the expense worthwhile violence is the coin that
Speaker 1: buys the future, Jim said, there was a time when
Speaker 1: you explain that to me. I don't remember that conversation,
Speaker 1: Roland said, but it's been years since I've taken a life,
Speaker 1: A couple of four skins one guy's hand. Sure, sometimes
Speaker 1: a point needs making. I haven't killed anyone in a
Speaker 1: long time, though. That's why all the folks you sent
Speaker 1: to my door are still alive, and I mean to
Speaker 1: stay on the wagon. Killing's not wanted on this mission,
Speaker 1: Jim assured him. Just property destruction I need too, with
Speaker 1: three days of your unrivaled ship up fucking expertise. Roland
Speaker 1: flicked a suspicious eyebrow at his old friend. Property, he asked.
Speaker 1: Jim nodded. A couple of guys might need crippling along
Speaker 1: the way, but no killing. So what's this gig? Rowland
Speaker 1: was interested now, in spite of himself sabotage, Jim's lips
Speaker 1: curled up in a feral grin. Over the last few months,
Speaker 1: we've noticed a substantial build up among the radical Christian
Speaker 1: militias in north and central Texas. We Rowland asked, my
Speaker 1: own organization, and the am FED the Central Intelligence Agency.
Speaker 1: Roland couldn't help but laugh. I remember enough of the
Speaker 1: old days to appreciate the irony of you working with
Speaker 1: the CIA. Jim's head cocked just a little to the left,
Speaker 1: he grimaced. Roland wasn't sure, but he thought his friend
Speaker 1: might be a little embarrassed and defensive. Anyone who lives
Speaker 1: long enough becomes a hypocrite, Jim said, with a shrug.
Speaker 1: I'd hope to hold out longer, but their satellite coverage
Speaker 1: is fucking phenomenal. I'll send you the intel. He made
Speaker 1: a flicking gesture towards Roland with his right index finger,
Speaker 1: and then frowned in annoyance. You might be the last
Speaker 1: dark brain on this continent, you know that. Roland wasn't
Speaker 1: sure why he'd disconnected himself from the Internet. It seemed
Speaker 1: to annoy other people, but he rather enjoyed it. His
Speaker 1: hindbrain had absorbed peda bites of data before he'd severed
Speaker 1: the link, so he never found himself needing to consult
Speaker 1: a Wicki to remember the equations behind the Coriolis effect
Speaker 1: or a bullet's trajectory. You could have walked from Canada
Speaker 1: to Venezuela without encountering a plant or animal his distributed
Speaker 1: mechanical brain couldn't name. The only downside to his situation
Speaker 1: was that he couldn't keep up with politics or bleeding
Speaker 1: edge military technology. He only gleaned that sort of information
Speaker 1: by experience or conversation, and being a creepy godlike being
Speaker 1: who sometimes circumcised trespassers, Roland didn't have many conversations. One
Speaker 1: of Jim's aids ran up and handed Roland a paper
Speaker 1: thin tablet. Jim directed him through a dozen satellite images
Speaker 1: of what looked like vehicle and ammunition depots. Roland's hindbrain
Speaker 1: recognized the Dallas road systems immediately a surge of since
Speaker 1: memory hit him. Fire so much fire, the smell of
Speaker 1: it only drowned out by the intense stink of thirty
Speaker 1: thousand people panicking. At the same time, Roland felt bullets
Speaker 1: dig into his flesh. He saw hate in the eyes
Speaker 1: of the advancing cops, and he felt a corresponding surge
Speaker 1: of glee. As his brains started to pump out battle drugs.
Speaker 1: He squeezed his trigger. Roland shook his head, pulled his
Speaker 1: mind back into the present moment. Jim frowned, but didn't
Speaker 1: say anything. He just pointed back at the tablet. Roland
Speaker 1: focused again. It appeared to be a satellite image of
Speaker 1: a defensive line in Dallas. He noted a large number
Speaker 1: of military vehicles piled into several parking garages. What's going
Speaker 1: on here, he asked, suit carriers. Jim said, a couple
Speaker 1: of dozen of them. Roland shook his head. Impossible, that'd
Speaker 1: be enough to support what six hundred power armored fighters.
Speaker 1: Those are nation state numbers and other Republic of Texas
Speaker 1: as a ship show. But there's no way they'd let
Speaker 1: someone surge in militia build an army like that in
Speaker 1: their borders. Maybe not, Jim said, maybe so. Truth told,
Speaker 1: I don't care what's parked in those garages. You blow
Speaker 1: em up, I get paid, and you get your fancy surgery.
Speaker 1: Roland felt uneasy. The job itself seemed too simple. The
Speaker 1: killed team Jim had sent to wake Roland up probably
Speaker 1: could have done this job with a few reinforcements. It
Speaker 1: seemed weird that some nutbar extremists could get their hands
Speaker 1: on that many suits. Roland just didn't trust the whole situation. Jim,
Speaker 1: he asked, can you promise me this memory thing will work?
Speaker 1: Fuck no, Jim scoffed, I can't even promise you'll survive.
Speaker 1: This is a bleeding edge mad science operation. The infant
Speaker 1: is willing to break in a national law to work
Speaker 1: on a wanted terrorist. I'm half sure they just want
Speaker 1: to see what happens when they stopped poking around your skull.
Speaker 1: You might be makin the worst mistake of your life here,
Speaker 1: but at least you'll die after blowing up a bunch
Speaker 1: of gear owned by crystal fascist assholes. Roland considered for
Speaker 1: a long moment, then nod at his assent. All right,
Speaker 1: then you've convinced me. I'm in as long as this
Speaker 1: stay is a sabotage mission. No killing, no killing. Jim agreed.
Speaker 1: They both stared out at the vacant desert for some time.
Speaker 1: Roland found himself humming along to a song he couldn't
Speaker 1: name or even remember hearing. Jim hummed along with him.
Speaker 1: He put a hand on Roland's shoulder. That felt good.
Speaker 1: There was something about human contact that none of the
Speaker 1: machines in his head could replicate. They sat for a
Speaker 1: while longer. Then Jim squeezed Roland's shoulder and stood come
Speaker 1: for another peaceful wall. Then, Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here.
Speaker 1: I hope you just enjoyed the chapter you listen to.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed the chapters to come. If you
Speaker 1: would like to read the text version of this book
Speaker 1: either on the web or on your e reader as
Speaker 1: an e pub you can find those on the website
Speaker 1: a t r book dot com. So again, the free
Speaker 1: ad free e pub and the text of every chapter
Speaker 1: will be on a t r book dot com. Thanks.
Speaker 1: Make sure to check out Champs, your number one music podcast.
Speaker 1: On the Black Effect Podcast Network, host n O r
Speaker 1: E and d J E f N sat down with
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Speaker 1: Because at the Wall she played gamester games. You are
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Speaker 1: the Chronicles podcast and I Aren't Radio, wherever you get
Speaker 1: your plodcares Hello, I'm Mini Driver And on my podcast
Speaker 1: Many Questions, I put together a little experiment. I asked
Speaker 1: trailblazers across different disciplines the same seven questions, questions about
Speaker 1: the inflection points in their life, what they like least
Speaker 1: about themselves, and what relationship has to find love for them.
Speaker 1: This season, I'm coming back with new trailblazers like Blondie
Speaker 1: vocalist Debbie Harry. I did have a revelation. It was
Speaker 1: at CBGBUS. As a matter of fact, I was waiting
Speaker 1: for the audience to give it to me, give it me.
Speaker 1: Then I realized that I had to make them. I
Speaker 1: had to command them artists and creative Juggernaut Goldie and
Speaker 1: I walk up to the mountain on high cop just
Speaker 1: being in that environment and seeing life in death in
Speaker 1: front of you, right in front of you. And I
Speaker 1: got there and scream and cry and laugh, and I
Speaker 1: find that being the happiest. And many more join me
Speaker 1: as we continue this exploration on season two of Many
Speaker 1: Questions on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your favorite podcasts,