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Speaker 1: Whole Zone Media.

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Speaker 2: It's a book club. It's a Cool Zone book club.

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Speaker 2: That's that's our jingle. Now it'll definitely take to the.

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Speaker 1: Cool Zone book Club. Our motto is the stories are

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Speaker 1: better than the jingle.

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Speaker 2: That is our motto. We both got a tattooed. It

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Speaker 2: was it's our friendship tattoo.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I got mine tattooed directly on my face. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: which is weird.

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Speaker 2: It's actually you got a tattooed before we agreed to

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Speaker 2: do the book club.

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Speaker 1: Uh huh, yeah, I I yeah, there were there were

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Speaker 1: a lot of reasons for that, but at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, I just wanted to be impossible to

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Speaker 1: hire again for like a straight job.

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Speaker 2: That was actually that was part of my decision when

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Speaker 2: I got hand tattooed.

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Speaker 1: That's actually that is why I got hand tattoos. It's

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Speaker 1: like I finally, I had always told myself at some point,

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Speaker 1: if I ever feel secure in my career, I want

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Speaker 1: to get a tattoo that makes me unable to like

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Speaker 1: work a straight job again. And the irony is that, like,

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Speaker 1: over the course of time that it took me to

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Speaker 1: reach that point in my career, we hit a period

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Speaker 1: a level of tattoo acceptance in society where it's like

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Speaker 1: I actually don't think any degree of tattoos makes you

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Speaker 1: ue hirable now as long as they're not like Nazis shit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, because like I see people I go, I

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Speaker 1: can go into a fucking bank to like starting to

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Speaker 1: count and see somebody with a hand tattooed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, totally, totally. Well, it's like I used to

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Speaker 2: tell people that I would get a face tattoo once

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Speaker 2: I was a New York Times bestselling author, because at

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Speaker 2: that point I had reached all of the level of

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Speaker 2: clout that society has to offer a writer, So what

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Speaker 2: do I have to lose? But since then, what face

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Speaker 2: tattoos mean have changed dramatically in terms of their level

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Speaker 2: of acceptance. Maybe it's for the best. I don't know

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Speaker 2: what I would get, that's the real thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's it's one of those like we

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Speaker 3: spend so much time, for good reasons, focusing on, like

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Speaker 3: you know, the shit that reactionaries are constantly trying to

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Speaker 3: push back against, but like low key, Like when I

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Speaker 3: was like nineteen or twenty, one of my good friends

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Speaker 3: was like a tattoo acceptance activist, Like she she was

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Speaker 3: like the first really heavily tattooed person and was like

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Speaker 3: fighting like legal cases against like wrongful dismissal for getting tattooed,

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Speaker 3: and like that's just not a social issue anymore. Like no,

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Speaker 3: like there, I can't imagine anyone being like I'm standing

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Speaker 3: up for the rights of the tattooed because it just

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Speaker 3: has become like I'll walk across like seventy year olds

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Speaker 3: who have like fucking sleeves and shit these days, like

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Speaker 3: it's wild how it happened in like five years, just

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Speaker 3: like went from I don't know, some sometimes shit like

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Speaker 3: that hits a tipping point. Pot was kind of the

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Speaker 3: same way where like one day all of the adults

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Speaker 3: in my life were like I remember when I got

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Speaker 3: my first tattoo, and my mom was like, you know,

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Speaker 3: that's closing down some options for you. And then you

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Speaker 3: know the same thing with pot where it used to

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Speaker 3: be such a serious thing, and then like all of

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Speaker 3: the old people I know are like buying weed and

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Speaker 3: smuggling it into Texas.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know what else is wild is fiction

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Speaker 2: is stories is so this is the cool Zone book

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Speaker 2: club and every week if you're just tuning in now,

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Speaker 2: I recommend going back and listening to last weeks, although

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Speaker 2: you're not going to always have to do this, but

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Speaker 2: we're going to do some series. Every Sunday, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to read a story or someone's going to read a

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Speaker 2: story to me, and it'll mostly be speculative fiction. It'll

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Speaker 2: mostly be stuff that relates to the themes of it

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Speaker 2: could happen here show. But it's just stories that we

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Speaker 2: think that you all would enjoy or that you all

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Speaker 2: ought to hear. And the first one that we're opening

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Speaker 2: with is my novella, a novella called The Lamos Slaughter

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Speaker 2: or The Lion, which is a it's technically horror, which

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Speaker 2: I didn't realize when I wrote it that I was

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Speaker 2: a horror book. And I say this sometimes on the

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Speaker 2: Internet and people are like, chapter two begins with a

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Speaker 2: deer killing a man and ripping his heart out in

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Speaker 2: front of a crowd of undead animals. I'm like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: but I didn't think about it as horror. Anyway. That's

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Speaker 2: the story we're starting with, and I've just spoiled part

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Speaker 2: of it because this is going to be chapters three

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Speaker 2: and four that you're hearing today. It's going to be

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Speaker 2: four episodes as an eight chapter book because it's a novella,

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Speaker 2: which is shorter than a novel. And where we last

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Speaker 2: left our heroes, Danielle Caine had just come to Freedom,

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Speaker 2: Iowa looking for information about why her friend Clay, who

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Speaker 2: had lived in Freedom, Iowa, had later killed himself, only

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Speaker 2: to discover that magic is real, and it is very,

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Speaker 2: very scary, and a man named Anchor has now died.

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Speaker 2: Chapter three. I zipped up my hoodie when I stepped outside.

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Speaker 2: It's amazing how fast a hot June day gets chilly

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Speaker 2: with the sun gone. One hundred people or more overflowed

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Speaker 2: the patio and onto the grass, bearing torches or stabs,

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Speaker 2: or holding empty hands at their sides. A few faces

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Speaker 2: were bare, others bore ski masks or bandana masks, or

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Speaker 2: homemade bird masks or bank robbing style bright plastic animal masks.

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Speaker 2: It was so quiet. I could hear the toads from

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Speaker 2: the river. It was so quiet. I could hear the

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Speaker 2: oil and the torches burning. It was so quiet I

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Speaker 2: couldn't help but mistake every shuffled foot for the lungless

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Speaker 2: rasp of one of those demon creatures I knew were

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Speaker 2: lurking somewhere. None of that could shock me. Nothing could

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Speaker 2: shock me. Six ski masked figures hoisted a pine coffin

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Speaker 2: to their shoulders, because apparently I was in the kind

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Speaker 2: of squatted town where people have pine coffins lying around

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Speaker 2: in case someone gets murdered by the local pet demon.

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Speaker 2: I recognized Doomsday by her tattooed hands. She was a pallbearer.

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Speaker 2: A hand touched the center of my back and startled.

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Speaker 2: I jumped for a moment. All those strange hidden faces

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Speaker 2: turned to look at me, and some gazes lingered for

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Speaker 2: far too long. Sorry, Vulture, whispered in my ear. He

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Speaker 2: was unmasked, as was Britn. When the pallbearers left for

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Speaker 2: the street and the crowd followed, those two walked with

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Speaker 2: me alongside me, flanking me like guards escorting a prisoner,

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Speaker 2: or you know, like friends trying to comfort someone. In

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Speaker 2: that strange procession, I got a chance to see more

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Speaker 2: of both the town and its denizens. Though the landscape

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Speaker 2: was masked by darkness and the people were just masked.

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Speaker 2: Torchlight and the realization that magic exists in the world

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Speaker 2: lent a beauty even to those mass manufactured Midwest houses.

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Speaker 2: Every single one might be holding mysteries beyond imagining, most

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Speaker 2: presumably just housed the punks and hippies and widows who

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Speaker 2: surrounded me. A handsome small man in overalls and a

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Speaker 2: ball cap joined us at the back of the march,

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Speaker 2: and Vulture whispered in introduction, Danielle, meet Kestrel, my partner.

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Speaker 2: But Kestrel, after shaking my hand and holding Vulture for

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Speaker 2: a moment, ducked back into the crowd. I didn't have

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Speaker 2: a chance to really get a first impression of him.

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Speaker 2: We wound our way up the hillside, passed a half

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Speaker 2: collapsed school and its attendance sport field and a rusted

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Speaker 2: hulk of a yellow school bus. Passed a burnt out

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Speaker 2: post office, passed a fire station that was clearly lived in.

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Speaker 2: The only electric light I saw shown inside a small grocery,

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Speaker 2: which was lit up by its bank of fluorescence. The

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Speaker 2: place was filled with furniture, tools, and food, well lettered

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Speaker 2: and red and yellow. Along the facade were the words

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Speaker 2: everything for everyone. A folding sidewalk sign out front read

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Speaker 2: a free market shouldn't mean everything is free. We continued

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Speaker 2: past the coffin leading the way, A few of us

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Speaker 2: straggling behind the crowd just after the market, a few

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Speaker 2: abandoned lots were filled with spires and mounds and bare saplings.

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Speaker 2: When the procession turned off the main road and we

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Speaker 2: wound our way along c plywood paths, I recognized a

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Speaker 2: permaculture garden. The spires were stacked tires, presumably packed with

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Speaker 2: dirt and growing potatoes. The mounds were like long barrow graves,

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Speaker 2: but they were likely hugeo monds, each built around dead

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Speaker 2: logs designed to break down into raised beds for gardens.

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Speaker 2: Several vegetable beds were marked off and showed a wide

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Speaker 2: variety to harvest in the coming months, spinach and beans,

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Speaker 2: cauliflower and spring onion, penelin peas. The spinly young trees

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Speaker 2: were newly transplanted and likely had yet to bear fruit.

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Speaker 2: We kept walking, and as the path turned back over

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Speaker 2: on to itself and spiraled through the field, it left

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Speaker 2: me dizzy with the fire in the air and the

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Speaker 2: magic I'd seen, and the strangeness of the place. The

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Speaker 2: garden went on forever. I was walking forever, trying as

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Speaker 2: hard as I could to keep myself grounded, keep myself

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Speaker 2: focused the ground beneath my feet. At last we reached

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Speaker 2: the tree line. The trees were my agor younger, still

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Speaker 2: threatened by their undergrowth, between us and the forest, and

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Speaker 2: the liminal space at the edge of the garden. Four

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Speaker 2: wooden posts marked four graves. A fifth grave sat empty.

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Speaker 2: Whispers began to break the ceremonial silence. I made my

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Speaker 2: way to the grave posts ornately carved and oiled stakes

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Speaker 2: about as high as my waist, with lettering running down

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Speaker 2: their lengths. Daniel Rojas, Benjamin, Philth Simmons, Danielle Keeler, Desmond Smith.

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Speaker 2: Daniel's name was followed by what I presumed was his

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Speaker 2: name in Mayan pictographic script, Benjamin's by Norse ruins, Danielle's

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Speaker 2: by Irish ogum Daniel and Danielle. Half the graves in

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Speaker 2: Freedom Iowa bore a version of my name. What a

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Speaker 2: fun coincidence, What a great evening I was having A hush,

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Speaker 2: went over the crowd once more, and the pallbearers set

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Speaker 2: the coffin upright in front of the empty grave. There

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Speaker 2: was no lid an the anchor's naked corpse faced the crowd.

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Speaker 2: Loving hands had cleaned and stitched his wounds, and while

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Speaker 2: his chest was mangled and his ribs were broken, He

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Speaker 2: was not so horrific to look at as I would

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Speaker 2: have expected. Four pallbearers climbed down into the grave. One

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Speaker 2: masked man was tall enough that his head was still visible,

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Speaker 2: but Doomsday and the others were lost to sight. The

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Speaker 2: remaining pallbearers eased Anchor from the coffin and into the

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Speaker 2: waiting hands of those below, and he was set gingerly

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Speaker 2: into the grave. He was to be buried naked, without

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Speaker 2: chemicals or fiberglass or steel, or even the pine box,

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Speaker 2: but not without ceremony, not without love. The crowd helped

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Speaker 2: the four grave attendants climb out, and townspeople lined up

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Speaker 2: to put handfuls of soil into the grave. Still no

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Speaker 2: word had been spoken. Wildflowers had taken over the oldest

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Speaker 2: grave nearby. Clay was buried somewhere outside Denver and a

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Speaker 2: mind anecured field adorned only with cut flowers slowly rotting

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Speaker 2: in a fiberglass box. Maybe he belonged here where the

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Speaker 2: weeds in the wild could grow over his body, where

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Speaker 2: he could feed the soil that fed the people who'd

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Speaker 2: known him. Or maybe he was better off where his

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Speaker 2: mother could visit. Anchor named himself better than anyone I've

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Speaker 2: ever met, Thursday said, standing at the foot of the grave,

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Speaker 2: alongside the now empty coffin. I know he picked the

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Speaker 2: name because he'd spent so long as a sailor, but

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Speaker 2: he kept us grounded into the bedrock of both the

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Speaker 2: land and our collectivist ideals. I don't know that there's

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Speaker 2: one person here who would live in freedom right now

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Speaker 2: if it weren't for Anchor's work as a mediator, A facilitator. Sure,

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Speaker 2: more than that, his work is a friend. No one

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Speaker 2: is perfect, but as far as I can tell, Anchor

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Speaker 2: got all that being imperfect out of his system when

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Speaker 2: he was younger, before half of us were born. The

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Speaker 2: world is darker for me now, and it will be

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Speaker 2: from now until someday when I join him buried here

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Speaker 2: in the black earth of freedom. The masks were off

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Speaker 2: and I saw faces hung down in silent prayer. Anchor's

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Speaker 2: death was needless, and there's no ignoring that what he

216
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Speaker 2: made we should unmake. What he summoned, we should unsummon.

217
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Speaker 2: We'll get by on our own. Thursday shuffled back into

218
00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,520
Speaker 2: the crowd and into Doomsday's embrace, and he started sobbing.

219
00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:33,480
Speaker 2: A stranger went up one of the tallest men I'd

220
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Speaker 2: ever seen, the pallbearer who had stood head and shoulders

221
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Speaker 2: above the edge of the grave. His arms were freckled

222
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Speaker 2: from the sun, and torchlight glittered on the studs of

223
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Speaker 2: his punk vest. He had an easy charm to him,

224
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Speaker 2: the kind of easy charm that raises red flags and

225
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,960
Speaker 2: anyone who's known a lot of handsome, entitled men, Anchor

226
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:53,839
Speaker 2: was more a father to me than my pops was.

227
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Speaker 2: He said, I guess that's not saying much as it.

228
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Speaker 2: A few people chuckled at that, but I don't I

229
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Speaker 2: think it's right to sugarcoat any of this. People ain't perfect.

230
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Speaker 2: I'm not perfect. None of you all is perfect. We

231
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Speaker 2: do bad things, people do bad things. We do good

232
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Speaker 2: things too, but you don't get props for not hurting people.

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Speaker 2: It's the bad things we do that define us. I

234
00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,440
Speaker 2: don't know what bad thing Anchor did, but I know

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Speaker 2: it was something beside me. Vulter's jaw had dropped as

236
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Speaker 2: far open as it could without falling right off, and

237
00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:25,640
Speaker 2: he kept breathing in short little breaths, like he was

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00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:28,960
Speaker 2: about to speak about to interrupt the man. Instead, he

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00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,880
Speaker 2: started walking toward him. People ain't perfect. But Anchor and

240
00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:37,679
Speaker 2: Clay and Rebecca and Doomsday they found something that is.

241
00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:40,760
Speaker 2: They pulled Ulyxe right out of the river, and Eulyxe

242
00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:44,520
Speaker 2: knows right from wrong. Eulyixe hurts. Predator's end of story

243
00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,319
Speaker 2: hurts people who prey on people. Anchor knew that when

244
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Speaker 2: he cut open his palm to bring an endless spirit

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Speaker 2: up from the river, and we know it now. If

246
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Speaker 2: we want to respect Anchor, then let's respect the best

247
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Speaker 2: thing he ever did for the world, even if it

248
00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 2: killed him. Chaos reigned for a moment as everyone jostled

249
00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,160
Speaker 2: to replace the tall man. As he left the head

250
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,400
Speaker 2: of the grave, an elderly Chicano woman raised her hands

251
00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,920
Speaker 2: and let out a short, wordless shout, and order was restored.

252
00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,679
Speaker 2: She looked at the line and pointed to Vulture as

253
00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:18,800
Speaker 2: next to speak. A year ago, there were only three

254
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:20,400
Speaker 2: people in this town. Who do you have even heard of?

255
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,320
Speaker 2: Endless spirits? Vulture said, Two of them are dead, and

256
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 2: the third one Rebecca. She's off living in the woods,

257
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,720
Speaker 2: and I bet she doesn't even know what's happened yet.

258
00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,400
Speaker 2: Eric Talis, Fuck, You're my partner's best friend, and I've

259
00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,240
Speaker 2: got nothing for respect for you, and the best way

260
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,440
Speaker 2: I can think right now to show you that respect

261
00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:39,240
Speaker 2: is to tell you that you're a terrible person and

262
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,840
Speaker 2: you deserve to die. The hell Eric Talis fuck knew

263
00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,440
Speaker 2: how to roar what It doesn't feel nice when someone

264
00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,480
Speaker 2: feigns respect for you while telling you that you should

265
00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:53,400
Speaker 2: be dead. Then shut the fuck up about Anchor. Vulture

266
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,560
Speaker 2: then looked at the grave. Anchor, I loved you, You're

267
00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,160
Speaker 2: great and will stop the evil demon. That probably wasn't

268
00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,760
Speaker 2: an evil demon when you summoned it, but maybe it was,

269
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:03,840
Speaker 2: and it definitely is now, and maybe you shouldn't have

270
00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:08,080
Speaker 2: summoned it. What the hell is going on, I asked, Bryn.

271
00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,080
Speaker 2: Everything's about to go to shit, she said. She strode

272
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,560
Speaker 2: into the crowd to join the argument, leaving me alone

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00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,520
Speaker 2: at the edge of the forest. She was right, Everything

274
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:24,720
Speaker 2: went to shit In the end. Both sides or and

275
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,200
Speaker 2: against the murder of a man by an immortal deer

276
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,160
Speaker 2: fell to accusing the other of disrupting the funeral, and

277
00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,080
Speaker 2: the small faction of would be mediators managed to interject.

278
00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,240
Speaker 2: They proposed the problem should be addressed in the morning

279
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:41,680
Speaker 2: at a general assembly, and the town agreed. It almost

280
00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,880
Speaker 2: came to blows. It wouldn't have been my fight, but

281
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,240
Speaker 2: I probably would have acted to protect at least Vulture

282
00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:50,600
Speaker 2: in Bryn, if not the days I fingered the armament

283
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:52,680
Speaker 2: on my belt, glad I didn't need to use it.

284
00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,680
Speaker 2: With nothing left to say, half the crowd dispersed, while

285
00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:00,160
Speaker 2: some people stayed to pay their respects to anchor of

286
00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,880
Speaker 2: women in paper mache masks took turns with sledgehammers, driving

287
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,680
Speaker 2: a memorial stake into the earth like railroad workers setting

288
00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,640
Speaker 2: a tie. I didn't notice Eric until he was right

289
00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:14,080
Speaker 2: next to me, looming over me. You must be Danny Kane,

290
00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,480
Speaker 2: he said. I didn't correct him. How'd you know Clay

291
00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,560
Speaker 2: used to talk about you, he said. I nodded. Listen, Danny,

292
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:24,960
Speaker 2: you showed up on a pretty weird day. This isn't

293
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,040
Speaker 2: exactly us at our best. He was doing that thing

294
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:30,200
Speaker 2: where he used my name in sentences to try to

295
00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,520
Speaker 2: charm me. Since I hated the name Danny. It wasn't working.

296
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,440
Speaker 2: Clay trusted you, so I'm going to trust you. If

297
00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,320
Speaker 2: you want to know what's really going on, Let's go

298
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:48,920
Speaker 2: for a walk or something. I looked around for Vulture

299
00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,400
Speaker 2: and Brin, but they were gone. Even the days were

300
00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:54,200
Speaker 2: nowhere to be seen. I could find my way back

301
00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:56,680
Speaker 2: to the house, sure, but it was hard to imagine

302
00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,080
Speaker 2: someone so callous as to leave a newcomer alone on

303
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 2: a night like that. On a whim, I went with him.

304
00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,080
Speaker 2: I could always stab him if he tried anything. After all,

305
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,879
Speaker 2: we stopped in the everything for everyone. A few townspeople

306
00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,840
Speaker 2: were there, filling baskets with potatoes and carrots and greens

307
00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,679
Speaker 2: breakfast foods. Mostly the place was a bizarre mix of

308
00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:22,680
Speaker 2: grocery and thrift store, without cash registers or clerks. Near

309
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:25,520
Speaker 2: the front, a refrigerated stand held fresh bottled juice and

310
00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:29,439
Speaker 2: homemade sandwiches. Someone had written take one if you're hungry,

311
00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:32,359
Speaker 2: with sharpie on the shelf. I took a bottle of

312
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,760
Speaker 2: green juice. The same person, with the same handwriting had

313
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:41,200
Speaker 2: carved returned me when empty, asshole into the glass. Eric,

314
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,520
Speaker 2: for his part, grabbed a juice box from a stand nearby,

315
00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:49,119
Speaker 2: labeled prepackaged snacks. Please don't hoard. Simple as that. We

316
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:53,119
Speaker 2: walked out the door. No money, no accounting, no ration cards, nothing,

317
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,639
Speaker 2: trust alone. I'd found a town that worked on trust alone.

318
00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,000
Speaker 2: We walked another two blocks to the school yard, and

319
00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:05,199
Speaker 2: Eric strode off towards the playground. I followed him. I

320
00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,960
Speaker 2: didn't open my juice because that took both hands, and

321
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:10,359
Speaker 2: I don't follow strange men as the darkness without at

322
00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:13,879
Speaker 2: least one hand free for fighting. We sat at a

323
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,720
Speaker 2: picnic table lit only by the moon, and Eric sensed

324
00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:19,680
Speaker 2: my discomfort and set several feet away on the opposite bench.

325
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:23,480
Speaker 2: I opened the juice and the smell of celery and

326
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,840
Speaker 2: apple and ginger rose up. I took a sip. It

327
00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,080
Speaker 2: was delicious. You know why we get to have things

328
00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:32,800
Speaker 2: like this, he asked, poking the plastic straw through the

329
00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:36,840
Speaker 2: top of his juice box. A combination of dumpster diving,

330
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:41,359
Speaker 2: farming and food bank handouts, I asked, Because no one

331
00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,359
Speaker 2: has any authority over anyone else, he said, ignoring my

332
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,280
Speaker 2: literal answer, Because no one is trying to accumulate material goods,

333
00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:52,119
Speaker 2: political sway, or even social capital a wheeled against anyone else.

334
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,840
Speaker 2: All right, I said, it was, I admit the world

335
00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,359
Speaker 2: I wanted to see. People always say anarchy can't work

336
00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,160
Speaker 2: because you can't trust people to rule themselves, to which

337
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,560
Speaker 2: I've always said, if people are as untrustworthy as that,

338
00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:09,000
Speaker 2: how do you trust them? To rule one another. You can't.

339
00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:11,800
Speaker 2: I had already figured I was older than the fellow,

340
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,560
Speaker 2: but I realized by now just by how much. It

341
00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:16,840
Speaker 2: Wasn't that I disagreed with what he just said, but

342
00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:18,439
Speaker 2: there was something in the way that he said it,

343
00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,080
Speaker 2: something in his tone or his uncynical platitudes. I believed

344
00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:29,480
Speaker 2: in anarchism, Eric, he believed you, Lyxe. We can trust

345
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,720
Speaker 2: you Lyxe. I know this sounds crazy, but he doesn't

346
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,640
Speaker 2: crave power. He doesn't have wants or needs. He just is.

347
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:38,640
Speaker 2: He is the power of the people to strike down

348
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 2: anyone who takes power over the defenseless. He is that power, manifest,

349
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:47,000
Speaker 2: that power incarnate in the flesh. A figure was crossing

350
00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:49,840
Speaker 2: the field toward us, and I've shifted in my seat

351
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,840
Speaker 2: so I could see it and Eric both. So your argument,

352
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,960
Speaker 2: I said, is that man Anchor, the one whose heart

353
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 2: I just saw ripped out of his chest, did something terrible.

354
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:05,840
Speaker 2: He had it coming. Is that so hard to believe it?

355
00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,840
Speaker 2: It wasn't. Not really. I'd lost track of the people

356
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,760
Speaker 2: in my life who'd committed horrible acts, of people who'd

357
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,680
Speaker 2: stolen from the hungry and desperate, of the men who

358
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,760
Speaker 2: fine in company were monsters to me when alone Anchor,

359
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,040
Speaker 2: I didn't know him at all. What do you think

360
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:26,520
Speaker 2: he did? I asked, I don't know. Eric said, I've

361
00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,919
Speaker 2: got my suspicions, the silhouette said as it approached the table.

362
00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:35,280
Speaker 2: Close up it was Kestrel, Falter's partner. He sat down

363
00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,080
Speaker 2: on my side of the bench, much closer to me

364
00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:41,840
Speaker 2: than Eric Clay's gone, been gone. He said before that

365
00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,320
Speaker 2: he was fighting with Anchor. They broke up on rough terms.

366
00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:48,320
Speaker 2: Neither one would talk about it. Anchor spent more time

367
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,080
Speaker 2: with the days after that, with Doomsday. I don't trust her.

368
00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,200
Speaker 2: Kestrel lit a cigarette, took dramatic pauses to suck in

369
00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,959
Speaker 2: smoke like he thought he was in a movie. They

370
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,879
Speaker 2: were both ridiculous, which didn't mean they were wrong, but

371
00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 2: they were both ridiculous. We know Eulixe only has power

372
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,240
Speaker 2: when the sun's up, Kestrel continued, He's comatose or whatever

373
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,560
Speaker 2: at night. We also know he was summoned on summer solstice,

374
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,320
Speaker 2: and I'd bet Freedom Iowa on it that he can

375
00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:20,360
Speaker 2: only be dismissed on the solstice too. You think Eulixe

376
00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,440
Speaker 2: is killing his summoners and self defense Eulixe doesn't act

377
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,600
Speaker 2: in self defense. Eric said, no, Kestrel said, taking a drag.

378
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,080
Speaker 2: I think Eulixe killed Anchor because I think Anchor and

379
00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:34,520
Speaker 2: Doomsday were going to dismiss him in order to summon

380
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:39,200
Speaker 2: something worse, something that would let them take power. All right,

381
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 2: I said, why are you talking to me? Then? What

382
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,560
Speaker 2: do you want from me? I'm not gonna say that.

383
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:47,680
Speaker 2: I can't think of ways you can help. Eric said,

384
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,160
Speaker 2: but I'm talking to you because I saw you talking

385
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,840
Speaker 2: with them, and I wanted to warn you. You're new

386
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,320
Speaker 2: in town. Everyone loves fresh meat. More than that. Everyone

387
00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,920
Speaker 2: knows you knew Clay. For someone who's trying to take

388
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:05,320
Speaker 2: some like Doomsday, that means your social capital. Aren't you

389
00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 2: Vulture's partner? I asked Kestrel. It's been rough since Clay left.

390
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 2: Kestrel said that house clicked up tight, got more secretive.

391
00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:17,200
Speaker 2: Vulture has been more distant and after tonight, after tonight,

392
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen

393
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,439
Speaker 2: with me and him. He lit a second cigarette at

394
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,879
Speaker 2: the end of the first one. He wasn't smoking as

395
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,040
Speaker 2: an affectation. He was smoking because he was scared. As

396
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:31,120
Speaker 2: hell and trying to keep his cool. What's your plan,

397
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 2: I asked, I don't know, Eric said, then he thought

398
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:39,080
Speaker 2: that over, no, I know what my plan is. I'm

399
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 2: just not going to tell you right now. I don't

400
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,399
Speaker 2: know that I can trust you, but I'll tell you

401
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,439
Speaker 2: what I hope happens. What do you hope happens. I

402
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 2: hope everyone wakes up tomorrow morning with a clear head

403
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,439
Speaker 2: and we get together and realize you Lxie is the

404
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:53,800
Speaker 2: reason we have nice things, and that any talk of

405
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,080
Speaker 2: trying to get rid of him is bullshit. I hope

406
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:58,520
Speaker 2: that Doomsday and Rebecca leave town and never come back.

407
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 2: And while I want those things for my own reasons,

408
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 2: I also think they're the only way that Doomsday or

409
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:08,400
Speaker 2: Rebecca will get out of this alive. Tiredness came over me. Suddenly.

410
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 2: All I wanted was to be in my sleeping bag,

411
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:17,119
Speaker 2: somewhere alone, with headphones on, ignoring the world. I hope Danny.

412
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 2: Eric said that you're able to convince Doomsday she should leave,

413
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:23,880
Speaker 2: And there it was the least it was all out

414
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,919
Speaker 2: on the table. I didn't like it, whether he was

415
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,399
Speaker 2: right or whether he was wrong. I didn't like him

416
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 2: trying to use me, or maybe Doomsday was too, and

417
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 2: Eric was the one who was actually being upfront about it.

418
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 2: I'd heard enough. I got up to leave. My name

419
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:44,439
Speaker 2: is Danielle. The walk back to the house, it was

420
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,439
Speaker 2: getting downright cold. A few people lingered on the street,

421
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 2: a few people sat on stoops. The farther down the

422
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,560
Speaker 2: hill I got, and thereby, the closer to the river,

423
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,920
Speaker 2: the fewer people I saw. A block from the house,

424
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 2: I saw those devil birds on power lines, silent, just

425
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:04,800
Speaker 2: watching by the front door. I saw Thursday, silent, just watching.

426
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,640
Speaker 2: The house so invitingly Gothic by the light of day.

427
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 2: When I just walked into town was a monolith of

428
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,199
Speaker 2: black and glass and evil magic by night, which, to

429
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,800
Speaker 2: be honest, I would have expected to be more attractive

430
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:22,120
Speaker 2: to me, considering my usual temperament. Was wondering where you'd

431
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,440
Speaker 2: gotten off to, Thursday said. As I mounted the steps,

432
00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 2: y'all left before me. I wasn't looking to argue, but

433
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,080
Speaker 2: I was pissed. Went off really quick to talk some

434
00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:34,240
Speaker 2: shit over. Thursday said. We decided someone needs to head

435
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 2: out to the woods to Rebecca's place warn her about everything.

436
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:39,879
Speaker 2: Vulture went off to do that. The rest of us

437
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 2: came back to the graveyard. You were gone by the

438
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:46,119
Speaker 2: time we got back. I didn't say anything. I'm sorry,

439
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 2: he said, it was a dick move to leave you there. Thanks,

440
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 2: Brent's still up, I think, worried about you. I opened

441
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 2: the door and walked in, following the tiny led lamps

442
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,359
Speaker 2: that vaguely lit the damask wallpaper the entry. In the

443
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,360
Speaker 2: living room, Brynn sat cross legged, worrying her way through

444
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 2: a cup of tea. The room was lit only by

445
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:13,600
Speaker 2: candles and jars squatters no candles. Safety you leaving in

446
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 2: the morning, she asked, I don't know, I said, My

447
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 2: safety insanity insisted I should go. My curiosity and stubbornness

448
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 2: insisted I stick around. Wouldn't blame you? Yeah, do you

449
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 2: want tea? She asked. I sat next to her on

450
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:30,639
Speaker 2: the couch, and she poured me a cup from a

451
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 2: silver teapot. I took it and drank some nettle. By

452
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 2: the taste had been made at least half an hour ago.

453
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 2: By the tipidity still, the act of drinking it was enough,

454
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 2: and I calmed down some. I showed up in December.

455
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:48,199
Speaker 2: Brynn said, I was traveling with this guy I used

456
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,679
Speaker 2: to date and he'd known. Ben said he wanted to

457
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 2: see where they'd buried him. We didn't know the whole story,

458
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,920
Speaker 2: of course, but we showed up right after a storm,

459
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 2: got his truck stuck in the snow by the high way,

460
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,399
Speaker 2: hiked in, We go see Ben's grave, and everyone is

461
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 2: so nice to us. I think there must have been

462
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,840
Speaker 2: sixty people who helped dig out our truck. The next day,

463
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,679
Speaker 2: my partner took off. I stuck around. Did you know

464
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:14,600
Speaker 2: about Eulyxey?

465
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 3: No?

466
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,639
Speaker 2: I stuck around because look at this place. No cops,

467
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,359
Speaker 2: no bosses, no landlords, no poverty, no laws, hard work

468
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 2: in community and freedom and all that shit we ought

469
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,960
Speaker 2: to have. I think it was the work part that

470
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,800
Speaker 2: scared my partner off. But it's not enforced, and there's

471
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 2: a couple of people who just skate by. Mostly we

472
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 2: just all figure out ways to contribute. How'd you find

473
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 2: out about Ulyxe? On our way back from digging out

474
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:41,439
Speaker 2: the truck, I saw some of the geese down by

475
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 2: the river. People told me the whole story. It's strange

476
00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:47,760
Speaker 2: how quickly it's normal. They're being magic in the world.

477
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,399
Speaker 2: It's strange how little changes about who we are as people.

478
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,880
Speaker 2: Maybe I said, I didn't really believe her though. If

479
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:58,879
Speaker 2: magic was real, everything had changed. My room's in the attic.

480
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,840
Speaker 2: She said, if you want, you could sleep next to me,

481
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 2: maybe cuddle. If you'd rather not, I'm good to sleep

482
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,119
Speaker 2: on the floor, or you could take one of the

483
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:12,720
Speaker 2: couches down here. Cuddling sounds nice, I said, it should

484
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:15,400
Speaker 2: have been nice. The moonlight came in through the circular

485
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,679
Speaker 2: window and she laid on her back as I nuzzled

486
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 2: up with my head on her. It had been months

487
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 2: at least since I'd been with anyone, even slept next

488
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,639
Speaker 2: to anyone, and my skin was alive at her touch.

489
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 2: I could hear her steady breath, smell her pheromones. For

490
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,360
Speaker 2: a moment, just a short, peaceful moment, I was able

491
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,640
Speaker 2: to revel in that simple pleasure. Then my mind went

492
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 2: back to racing through the day. Why didn't they shoot it?

493
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 2: I asked what she was halfway to sleep, Doomsday Thursday.

494
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 2: Why didn't they shoot the deer? It's immortal? She said,

495
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:50,120
Speaker 2: like that was just a natural logical thing. How does

496
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 2: it work, then, what's the deal? It's only active during

497
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,119
Speaker 2: the day, kills predator animals by ripping out their hearts,

498
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,920
Speaker 2: those stay dead. Any prey animal that dies around here,

499
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 2: it raises from the dead or whatever by well ripping

500
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,119
Speaker 2: out their hearts. Those aren't immortal. Though a friend of

501
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:10,439
Speaker 2: mine ran over an undead goosen Er truck. It stayed

502
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 2: dead that time. That's fucking crazy, I said, yeah, Brynn said,

503
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 2: I thought the whole thing was kind of cool until tonight,

504
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:22,159
Speaker 2: though I could see that the conversation drifted off because

505
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 2: Brynn was half asleep. I closed my eyes, but it

506
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,919
Speaker 2: was all too much, the town, Elixie, Brynn all too

507
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 2: much to take in. My heart rate increased, my breathing

508
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:36,679
Speaker 2: got a little shallow. What's wrong? Brinn asked? Panic attack?

509
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 2: Are you okay? Not really, I told her, because I wasn't.

510
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 2: It hit like a fever or drugs or something, and

511
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 2: a panic attack just drops you through the ice into

512
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 2: freezing water. Even when you drag yourself out of that water,

513
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 2: you're left with the memory that forever and always you're

514
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 2: walking on ice. It's worse than anything. It's worse than

515
00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,040
Speaker 2: watching a demony a stranger's heart. Is there anything I

516
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 2: can do? She asked, No, I said, talking about it

517
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,680
Speaker 2: makes it worse. If she were someone I knew if

518
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,120
Speaker 2: she were someone my body trusted, she might have been

519
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,880
Speaker 2: able to help a little bit, distract me with words

520
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 2: or touch. But she was just another alien thing in

521
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 2: this alien world I'd landed in. I'm sorry, she said.

522
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 2: She squeezed me for a moment, then her body jerked

523
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 2: as she fell into sleep. I wasn't going to be

524
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 2: joining her for a while. After the worst of it,

525
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 2: the paralyzing fear passed, I slipped from the bed and

526
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 2: down to the front porch. Thursday still stood there just

527
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 2: outside the door, sentinel, his pistol held in his hand.

528
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 2: I couldn't sleep, I said me either. He nodded at

529
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 2: the power lines. The gould birds were still there, their

530
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,800
Speaker 2: little chests still splayed open, their eyes boring down on us.

531
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 2: The fresh air wasn't fresh enough, and I wasn't looking

532
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 2: for conversation. I went back inside and made my way

533
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 2: to the attic. Brynn was sleeping in the bed, bliss full.

534
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:02,959
Speaker 2: I curled up in the corner of the room, hugging

535
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 2: my knees. I would leave in the morning. No answers

536
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,680
Speaker 2: were worth this. Slowly, over the course of another hour,

537
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,800
Speaker 2: I fell into a restless slumber. That's the end of

538
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 2: chapter three.

539
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 4: Woo woo, which means which means now it's time for

540
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:28,320
Speaker 4: chapter four ads. Oh right, yes, not as chapter four

541
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 4: maybe ads.

542
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:31,720
Speaker 2: Maybe the ADS came earlier in the middle of it,

543
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 2: because yeah, it's chaos, no.

544
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: Way of knowing.

545
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally beyond any uh any control?

546
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 1: Like uh yeah, like like a spectral deer that raises

547
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,760
Speaker 1: the dead. Uh when and what ads show up on

548
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: this series? As is beyond the kin of man.

549
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 2: I've had several nightmares about Ulixei after writing this book.

550
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 1: Oh only after huh, yeah, that's interesting.

551
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:09,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it uh just chased me into some houses

552
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 2: a couple times. It was chapter four, A few hours

553
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 2: after Dawn. I walked up the street with Brynn. The

554
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 2: sentinel birds were gone, replaced with real birds that still

555
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,240
Speaker 2: had all their bones, birds that sang normal bird songs.

556
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 2: I broke open a tangerine, and I scarcely noticed the

557
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 2: juice running thick down my hands. I scarcely noticed anything.

558
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 2: Morning hadn't brought me clarity or peace of mind. But

559
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:48,880
Speaker 2: with the fog of panic cleared from my thoughts, I

560
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 2: realized I wasn't going to leave, not yet. I'd never

561
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:55,560
Speaker 2: lived with myself. Brynn was relaxed, and I tried my

562
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,240
Speaker 2: best to mimic that I hadn't slept well enough for

563
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 2: long enough, but I had slept and that mattered. I

564
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,240
Speaker 2: tried asking about banalities. How does this work? You've got

565
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:09,480
Speaker 2: meetings every morning pretty much, yeah, Brent said. We get together,

566
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 2: hash out the kind of stuff that needs doing, update

567
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 2: everyone on news once every couple of months. We make decisions.

568
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,239
Speaker 2: Mostly we just kind of share information and bicker. But

569
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:22,120
Speaker 2: it turned out that I didn't care. I should have cared.

570
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 2: The functioning of a leaderless and formal commune on land

571
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:26,440
Speaker 2: stolen from the bank should have mattered to me a

572
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 2: great deal. Like I was watching the video on Falter's phone,

573
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 2: I saw Anchor die again and again. That took up

574
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 2: too much of my mind. The Assembly Hall was the

575
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:42,120
Speaker 2: school's auditorium. Half the building was collapsed, which didn't really

576
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 2: bode well for the rest, but Brent assured me that

577
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 2: the auditorium was, you know, more or less structurally sound.

578
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 2: We walked through the doors and took seats near the back.

579
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 2: One hundred people at least were in that room, and

580
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 2: half as many more filtered in after us Vulture was

581
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 2: already there, nocturnal by choice. He hadn't slept yet and

582
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 2: had gone out the door at dawn after stacking the

583
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 2: table high with pancakes and taking a picture of the

584
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 2: result for Instagram. A middle aged black man climbed up

585
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:10,480
Speaker 2: to the empty stage, and someone closed the doors to

586
00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 2: keep down the sounds of the kid's plane tag out front.

587
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,840
Speaker 2: We're not doing a normal meeting this morning. Y'all know that, right,

588
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 2: he paused. No one objected. I've been asked to facilitate

589
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 2: today because apparently I'm one of the only folks on

590
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:26,960
Speaker 2: the facilitator's council that isn't pissed as hell at one

591
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 2: half of you or the other. If anyone has objections

592
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 2: to my process, just let me know now or at

593
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 2: any point. You're great, Mike. Someone shouted, I'm pissed at

594
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:40,640
Speaker 2: both halves. Another person chimed in. Last night, things got

595
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 2: pretty heated in the graveyard. The facilitator continued. We buried

596
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 2: a man a lot of us loved. A lot of

597
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 2: us are worried about secrets the man might have been keeping,

598
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,920
Speaker 2: bad things he might have done. A lot of us

599
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 2: are worried about Ulixe, about him going rogue. Most of

600
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 2: us are worried about this fight tearing us apart. We've

601
00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 2: put a hell of a lot of work in a

602
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 2: free tom Iowa. However, sure you are that your side

603
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 2: is right, keep in mind that the other side is

604
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 2: just as sure, and both sides are so stubborn because

605
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,319
Speaker 2: they're convinced their way is the only thing that can

606
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 2: save this town. You're fighting because you all want the

607
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 2: same thing. You all want to save this town. That's

608
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 2: what I'm going to ask you to keep in mind

609
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 2: as you're thinking over what you're going to say. I'm

610
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,280
Speaker 2: going to ask one person from each side to frame

611
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 2: the debate. We're going to hear from the room, and

612
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 2: then we're going to settle this reasonably and come up

613
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:33,000
Speaker 2: with a plan of action. Eric Eric stood up strode

614
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,719
Speaker 2: on to the stage. He was an imposing figure with

615
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 2: his smile and his punk jacket. In a clear, loud

616
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 2: voice and at moderate length, he told the town that

617
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 2: Ulixie was benevolent to those deserving of benevolence and vengeful

618
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:48,960
Speaker 2: to those who weren't. I sympathized. I saw myself as

619
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:53,279
Speaker 2: someone who is the same. Vulture spoke next, hopping up

620
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:57,279
Speaker 2: on stage full of his manic, nervous energy. We're big kids,

621
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,799
Speaker 2: and we can handle our own problems. That was all

622
00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,520
Speaker 2: he said. He hopped back down and took his seat.

623
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 2: The crowd erupted after that, and the facilitator did a

624
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 2: magnificent job of keeping people focused on the issues at hand,

625
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 2: ruthlessly cutting down ad hominem attacks and preventing the conversation

626
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 2: from descending into a symbol back and forth between two people.

627
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 2: But it stayed a pitch debate between entrenched sides, and

628
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 2: the core of each faction had no interest in listening.

629
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 2: Can I get a quick show of hands, the facilitator asked,

630
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,239
Speaker 2: after half an hour, just a temperature check of the

631
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,959
Speaker 2: room to see what people are thinking. Raise your hand

632
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 2: one hand only if you think we should give Doomsday

633
00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 2: and Rebecca are blessing to dismiss Eulyxe. More than three

634
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 2: quarters of the room raised their hands. No, it counted.

635
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 2: It wasn't a vote. Now, raise your hand one hand

636
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 2: only if you think we shouldn't let Doomsday and Rebecca

637
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 2: dismiss Youulyxe. Ten hands went up. When they went down,

638
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 2: Brynn rose to her feet to speak. There's a part

639
00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 2: of me that just wants to agree with what some

640
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 2: people are saying about how great it is new Laxi around.

641
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:02,960
Speaker 2: There's a part of me that always wants is going

642
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 2: to be sympathetic, because holy shit, there's magic here, and

643
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,359
Speaker 2: isn't that what we've always wanted all our lives. There's

644
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:11,479
Speaker 2: a part of me, the greater part of me, yeah,

645
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:13,279
Speaker 2: that thinks we've got to get rid of it because

646
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 2: it fucking murdered someone last night. But that's not what

647
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,080
Speaker 2: I'm going to go on about right now. Instead, I

648
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,640
Speaker 2: want to say something about process. She took a deep breath.

649
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 2: Public speaking clearly wasn't her favorite thing. What are we

650
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 2: going to do right now? Are we trying to reach

651
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,120
Speaker 2: consensus about what we today can do as a community?

652
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,280
Speaker 2: Consensus decision making isn't supposed to be one side against

653
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 2: the other. It's not some masochistic form of voting in

654
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:38,480
Speaker 2: which you have to try to convince everyone to have

655
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,359
Speaker 2: the same desires and goals. It's a tool for finding

656
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,719
Speaker 2: out where people agree and where people disagree, a tool

657
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 2: for finding out what we can do together and what

658
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,319
Speaker 2: we can't do. You have any suggestions about what we

659
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 2: might be doing instead, the facilitator asked the man seemed

660
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,080
Speaker 2: to have no ego attached to his work. No, Brennan admitted,

661
00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,880
Speaker 2: I guess, and I'm sad to say it. We're at

662
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 2: an impasse. We the whole town assembly can't officially encourage

663
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,799
Speaker 2: Doomsday and Rebecca, but three quarters of us can and

664
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 2: will Eric stood up that we can't solve this. Here

665
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:13,759
Speaker 2: is the first thing you all have said that I

666
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,520
Speaker 2: agree with her and her Lot would have us just talk,

667
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 2: just talk, talk until it's solstice and it's too late

668
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 2: to stop them. When someone's doing something wrong and talking

669
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,920
Speaker 2: won't do any good, you don't just keep talking about it.

670
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:30,320
Speaker 2: You fight. He stormed out. Kestrel in his wake, Vulture

671
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:34,720
Speaker 2: watched them go, his eyes full of sorrow. Well, Brynn said,

672
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:37,200
Speaker 2: as much to her self as to me, I think

673
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 2: I just fucked that up. After the assembly, Brene and

674
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,000
Speaker 2: I joined a lunch que at the Everything for Everyone

675
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:46,360
Speaker 2: and sat at a table on the patio between the

676
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 2: store and the garden. My plate was piled high with

677
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 2: Tamali's in fresh picked salad. I could get used to

678
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:56,520
Speaker 2: this place. Everyone was in a sort of collective days,

679
00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,560
Speaker 2: unable to process everything that had just transpired. On the

680
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:03,919
Speaker 2: edge about Eulixe on the edge about Eric, but trying

681
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,080
Speaker 2: their hardest to make it through the day, like everything

682
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,239
Speaker 2: hadn't just gone to shit. So is it everything you

683
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,040
Speaker 2: dreamed it would be, Berne asked, sweeping her arms open.

684
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,279
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, this is the best demon infested town I've

685
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,439
Speaker 2: ever been to. As a matter of fact, Brynn put

686
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 2: down her fork and looked me in the eyes. A family,

687
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,920
Speaker 2: three punks, two kids, two dogs walked past our table,

688
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:27,800
Speaker 2: and the adults waved he low, and a little kid

689
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:29,920
Speaker 2: not more than four, darted out to wrap his arms

690
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 2: around Bryn's leg. She patted him on the head, and

691
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 2: he ran back to his family. Here's the thing, Miss Kane,

692
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 2: Brynn said, this place, this is the best place most

693
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 2: of us have ever had. Even when Desmond was at

694
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,280
Speaker 2: his worst, he wasn't half as bad as most cops.

695
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:47,759
Speaker 2: No one I've ever known has ever been as free

696
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,759
Speaker 2: as we are standing right here. That family had just

697
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 2: walked past us, homeless in Chicago, they'd been homeless. We

698
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 2: grow most of our food, We generate our own power,

699
00:38:57,760 --> 00:38:59,919
Speaker 2: We make our own rules. We ignore our own rules

700
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,160
Speaker 2: when we feel like we've got to. We are the

701
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:05,799
Speaker 2: kings of the fucking earth and freedom. Iowa no evictions here.

702
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,600
Speaker 2: You paint a pretty picture, I said. And I know

703
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 2: this just sounds like I'm being all salty, but that

704
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,920
Speaker 2: picture doesn't look like what I saw last night. No,

705
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,399
Speaker 2: Brenda agreed. We went back to eating. It doesn't look

706
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,479
Speaker 2: like what I saw either. If we can't stop that thing,

707
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 2: well I guess we're all going to have to run.

708
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 2: No more freedom. She took a few more bites than

709
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,359
Speaker 2: put her sandwich down again. And you know what really

710
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:34,680
Speaker 2: gets me about Eric, Besides that we were friends, what

711
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 2: gets me is that I don't know what he's going

712
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 2: to do. I don't know if he's going to hurt someone.

713
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,560
Speaker 2: And his whole goddamn point is that he's the one

714
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 2: who thinks we need an outside arbiter of justice. If

715
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,080
Speaker 2: he hurts someone, as likely as not, EULIXE will get

716
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 2: him too. How Daniel and Danielle die, You've got five graves,

717
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 2: EULIXI kill them all. Daniel fell through the roof of

718
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 2: the school doing some repair work. No, it had been

719
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,040
Speaker 2: here for longer than a week. His family came for

720
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,680
Speaker 2: the funeral, then stuck around. They still live here, and

721
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 2: Danielle overdose no one knew her family. People tried, vultures,

722
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:12,000
Speaker 2: spent a month trying to track down her, pass checked

723
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 2: every missing person's report. We had two suicides too, just

724
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:19,880
Speaker 2: the spring. Lover's packed, their families came for their bodies.

725
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:23,600
Speaker 2: That's a shockingly high death rate for a town of

726
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 2: two hundred, I said, it is, Brynn said, but it's

727
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:30,320
Speaker 2: not because of Eulyxe. He only killed Desmond and now Anchor.

728
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:33,360
Speaker 2: That's it. He's never needed to kill anyone else because

729
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:37,880
Speaker 2: no one else sacks up. They're too afraid. People should

730
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:41,280
Speaker 2: be afraid to prey on others. Brynn said, she wasn't wrong.

731
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:45,279
Speaker 2: So what's the plan, I asked, Doom is going through

732
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 2: her books trying to figure out how to dismiss Ulyxe.

733
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 2: The rest of us were just trying to keep her safe.

734
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:53,040
Speaker 2: A few more days until Solstice Thursay's guard in the house,

735
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 2: vultures up on the lookout rock. We should probably swap

736
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:58,680
Speaker 2: out with him, let him get to bed. We'll talk

737
00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:01,720
Speaker 2: about it all at dinner, probably figure out the next step.

738
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 2: Maybe Doomsday was doing more than researching how to dismiss you, Ulixy.

739
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,240
Speaker 2: Maybe she was researching summoning something worse. Maybe I should

740
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:13,040
Speaker 2: convince Doomsday to leave. The thought came unbidd into my mind.

741
00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:15,839
Speaker 2: I had no reason to believe a word Eric had said.

742
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,760
Speaker 2: All right, I took the last bite of my Tamali,

743
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,400
Speaker 2: show me this lookout rock. We left the patio and

744
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,520
Speaker 2: made our way up to the top of town. A

745
00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 2: few people, I realized, were packing up into pickup trucks

746
00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 2: and station wagons and vans. It didn't look like they

747
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,480
Speaker 2: were in a hurry. Just in case, you know. We

748
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,120
Speaker 2: took a stone path through a yard almost entirely carpeted

749
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,600
Speaker 2: in flowers. The gray stone was laid artfully, the yellow

750
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 2: and white blossoms sending up heavy scents past the yards

751
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,160
Speaker 2: comparatively lackluster house. The path turned to dirt, with stairs

752
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:52,080
Speaker 2: reinforced by logs staked into the earth. I was proud

753
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:54,560
Speaker 2: of myself. At the top, a couple hundred feet higher,

754
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:57,759
Speaker 2: I was barely out of breath. Brinn she was still

755
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:01,840
Speaker 2: breathing through her nose. Vulture was up there, sitting on

756
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:03,680
Speaker 2: a finger of a rock that jutted out from the

757
00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:06,440
Speaker 2: cliff side. That had to be the lookout rock. He

758
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 2: was shirtless in the heat, his back covered in black

759
00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:12,880
Speaker 2: work tattoos. Wearing only blue jean short shorts. He stood

760
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,600
Speaker 2: and turned when he heard us. Huge on his chest,

761
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:19,200
Speaker 2: black ink against black skin was a Satanic goat's head.

762
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,840
Speaker 2: At least it only had two horns. Amongst the line

763
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 2: work was thin surgical scarring under his pectoral muscles where

764
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:31,080
Speaker 2: his breasts had been seen anything, I asked a couple

765
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,880
Speaker 2: hundred people shouldn't be so happy going on about their lives,

766
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 2: vulture said, But everyone I've seen has had his or

767
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:39,600
Speaker 2: her or their ribs attached to his or her or

768
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:43,160
Speaker 2: their spines. But it's not all bad. What do we

769
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:47,239
Speaker 2: do if you see anything? I asked, Oh right, vulture said.

770
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:50,800
Speaker 2: He unslung a hunting horn from his belt, and, honest

771
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,200
Speaker 2: to God, hunting horn like the kind that comes off

772
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:55,480
Speaker 2: an animal with the tip cut off, so you can

773
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:59,439
Speaker 2: blow through it. Blow this, or you know, call someone

774
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:01,520
Speaker 2: there's decent. I'll signal everywhere in town and on the

775
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:06,400
Speaker 2: side of the hill. Maybe do both. I would do both, okay,

776
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:09,400
Speaker 2: I said, you're looking for cops on the highway, large

777
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,439
Speaker 2: gatherings of undead animals, or I guess in this case,

778
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 2: very tall figures running around with my no good ex boyfriend,

779
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 2: or especially making their way toward the house. Got it,

780
00:43:19,239 --> 00:43:22,719
Speaker 2: I said. Vulture put his arm around my shoulders. Did

781
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 2: you floss? He asked? What flossing is super important? Some

782
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:30,480
Speaker 2: people say it's more important than brushing your teeth. It's

783
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:32,719
Speaker 2: easy to forget to floss at times like this, but

784
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 2: you've got to live today, like you'll survive till tomorrow.

785
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:41,200
Speaker 2: He was being serious, kind of scarily. So yeah, I said,

786
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 2: I floss good, Vulter said, then turned and started skipping

787
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:50,600
Speaker 2: down the hill. You never really answered my question last night,

788
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,080
Speaker 2: Brynn said. An hour or so had gone by and

789
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:55,719
Speaker 2: the sun was on us. She was sweating from the heat,

790
00:43:56,239 --> 00:44:00,880
Speaker 2: and her odor was good, like animal instincts. Good. What

791
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:04,320
Speaker 2: brings you here? You heard what happened to Clay right,

792
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,839
Speaker 2: I asked, Not really? Brynn said, just that he's dead.

793
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,480
Speaker 2: It should have been easier between her and me. We

794
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,120
Speaker 2: both liked one another. That much was obvious, but for

795
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:16,840
Speaker 2: some reason everything felt off, like we were actors reading

796
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,759
Speaker 2: from different scripts. Still, I needed someone to talk to.

797
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,799
Speaker 2: Clay was my best friend, I said. About a month ago,

798
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:29,959
Speaker 2: he slid his own throat. Fuck. Brynn said, that's hardcore. Yeah,

799
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,759
Speaker 2: he didn't fuck around, I said, But he also taught

800
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:36,440
Speaker 2: me everything I know about traveling, squatting, politics, all of it.

801
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,640
Speaker 2: What happened. That's why I'm here, That's what I'm trying

802
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:44,520
Speaker 2: to find out. I said. We used to travel together,

803
00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:46,719
Speaker 2: starting back when I was a runaway, and he was

804
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:50,239
Speaker 2: risking some serious felonies by helping me out. He wasn't

805
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:52,200
Speaker 2: into girls, and he wouldn't have creeped on me anyway.

806
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:54,279
Speaker 2: But I'm I'm glad we never had to try and

807
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,719
Speaker 2: explain that to a judge. Our lives kept intersecting as

808
00:44:57,719 --> 00:44:59,640
Speaker 2: I got older. Eventually we were some of the only

809
00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:02,880
Speaker 2: dumb bastards still living out of backpacks. He hit his

810
00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:05,800
Speaker 2: thirties and I think he was kind of in crisis

811
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,320
Speaker 2: for a while. Then he ended up at this place.

812
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,960
Speaker 2: He'd write me, say, you gotta come here, Danny. It's

813
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:16,160
Speaker 2: our dream. He'd say, it's the revolution, the real revolution,

814
00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 2: the one where we take power away from our pressors,

815
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:22,680
Speaker 2: not become them ourselves. I was always planning on it,

816
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:25,880
Speaker 2: but I always had something else going on. No, that's

817
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,320
Speaker 2: not it. I was always putting it off because Clay,

818
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 2: he was traveling to try to find home, I was traveling,

819
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 2: because traveling was home. He wanted something like this. I

820
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 2: was afraid of something like this, someplace that would lure

821
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:42,080
Speaker 2: me away from the road. I'm more afraid of growing

822
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:45,680
Speaker 2: roots than I am afraid of anything. Brinn put her

823
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:50,440
Speaker 2: arm around me. I let her. A year ago. We

824
00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:53,120
Speaker 2: fell out of touch. He didn't get back to my

825
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:56,840
Speaker 2: text much, didn't call. Then he left Freedom and slashed

826
00:45:56,840 --> 00:45:59,480
Speaker 2: his throat in Denver. Did it in a hotel room

827
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 2: on some class stick shooting he pulled from the trash.

828
00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:05,400
Speaker 2: He left two notes. One was for whoever found him,

829
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:08,800
Speaker 2: saying he was sorry about the mess. He left a tip.

830
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:12,400
Speaker 2: The other note had my number on it and two sentences.

831
00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:16,000
Speaker 2: These are the winds that cast us together. These are

832
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,520
Speaker 2: the winds that cast us apart. They cast as they wish,

833
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:23,759
Speaker 2: and we have naught but to follow. I put my

834
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:26,160
Speaker 2: head between my knees for a moment, just a moment.

835
00:46:26,719 --> 00:46:30,759
Speaker 2: Took a few deep breaths. So yeah, I said, I

836
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:33,320
Speaker 2: only just left Denver, like a week ago. Some of

837
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:35,840
Speaker 2: the old gang made it out to the funeral, most didn't.

838
00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:40,080
Speaker 2: I called around, reached some people, not everyone. Most people

839
00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 2: I reached had some excuse or another of the ten

840
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:45,160
Speaker 2: of us who were there, everyone was too drunk to

841
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:48,279
Speaker 2: process with a few days after the funeral, it was

842
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,000
Speaker 2: just me and Clay's mom shooting the shit for a

843
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:53,680
Speaker 2: week until there was no shit left to shoot, looking

844
00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:57,600
Speaker 2: around for scraps of him, journals, notebooks, anything. There was nothing.

845
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:03,960
Speaker 2: You angry, I'm BURNE asked, Nah, I said, I'm angry,

846
00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 2: but I'm not angry at him, angry at the world.

847
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 2: Maybe I might have shown up here looking for someone

848
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:11,800
Speaker 2: to take it out on. Find out who's to blame.

849
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:16,360
Speaker 2: You know, the answer is no one, right, Yeah, I said,

850
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:20,120
Speaker 2: I know, but it's something I feel like I've got

851
00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:24,400
Speaker 2: to do for him and for his mom. I skipped

852
00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:26,719
Speaker 2: a rock down the hill. Listen to it hit other

853
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:29,640
Speaker 2: rocks on its way down. Why are you all being

854
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:32,120
Speaker 2: so nice to me? I asked, With everything going on,

855
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:36,000
Speaker 2: Clay used to talk about you, did you know that? Yeah,

856
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:39,239
Speaker 2: that's what people have been saying. He talked about you

857
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:42,799
Speaker 2: like you were one of the endless spirits yourself. You

858
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 2: weren't a traveler. You were the traveler in his eyes.

859
00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 2: And I can't speak for everyone else here. I was

860
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:53,000
Speaker 2: being nice to you because I thought you were kind

861
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:56,840
Speaker 2: of cute, I laughed a little. I have this wicked

862
00:47:56,880 --> 00:47:59,680
Speaker 2: crush on you, Brennan continued, But also I'm celibate at

863
00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:02,120
Speaker 2: least now, so I guess I just want to get

864
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:03,920
Speaker 2: both of those things out there before I get too

865
00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:06,680
Speaker 2: hung up on you or lead you on. Also, there's

866
00:48:06,719 --> 00:48:08,600
Speaker 2: a non zero chance we're both going to get eaten

867
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:12,319
Speaker 2: by a demon sometime soon. I haven't let anyone in

868
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,879
Speaker 2: for a while, I said. After thinking about it, you're

869
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,200
Speaker 2: a total badass and you're a babe. I mean, you're

870
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:21,160
Speaker 2: everything I should want. But yeah, walls, lots of walls.

871
00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:24,840
Speaker 2: I probably can't be with anyone on like this a

872
00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:28,839
Speaker 2: perfect match, she said. Indeed, I want to keep hanging out,

873
00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:33,799
Speaker 2: she asked, until we got eaten by a deer. D duh.

874
00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 2: That's chapter four, Chapter four, which means now you have

875
00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 2: to wait.

876
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:52,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so suffer through another week, or by the

877
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:57,040
Speaker 1: text version of Margaret's book and then use the AI

878
00:48:57,239 --> 00:49:01,560
Speaker 1: voice generator in your head to create her reading it

879
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 1: or yeah, I don't know that those are your options.

880
00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:10,680
Speaker 2: Yep, and yeah, we'll see you next Sunday for I

881
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:14,839
Speaker 2: already forgot the jingle cool Zone Club.

882
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:17,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why we should never have gone with a jingle. Yeah,

883
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:18,680
Speaker 1: assumed from the start.

884
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:21,239
Speaker 2: No, but I just you had the tattoo and I

885
00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:22,359
Speaker 2: just wanted to honor it.

886
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:27,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's okay too. That tattoo was to commemorate

887
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:28,280
Speaker 1: several things.

888
00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:30,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense. There's a lot of things that

889
00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:36,560
Speaker 2: are jingle related. All right, that's it, see you all soon.

890
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,840
Speaker 1: It Could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.

891
00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:43,560
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website

892
00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 2: cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the

893
00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:49,320
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

894
00:49:49,719 --> 00:49:51,800
Speaker 3: You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated

895
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:54,920
Speaker 3: monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources.

896
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:55,960
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.