Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen. Manny. The Barracks had been a high school,
Speaker 1: once built to serve several thousand of the plain O
Speaker 1: area's wealthy at students. The dozen huge gray buildings were
Speaker 1: centered around an enormous courtyard that included a practice football field,
Speaker 1: several tennis courts, and a running track. The compound was
Speaker 1: boxed in by a high concrete wall topped in razor wire.
Speaker 1: What had been built to defend the scions of wealth
Speaker 1: and Privilege from their jealous piers also made the former
Speaker 1: school an ideal training ground for the kingdoms soldiers. Manny
Speaker 1: could see hundreds of young men just within the courtyard.
Speaker 1: They ran laps or charged through a makeshift obstacle course
Speaker 1: that had been assembled over the old football field. Manny's
Speaker 1: head throbbed just watching them. Ipe. We don't have to
Speaker 1: do too much of that ship, he thought, as he
Speaker 1: scratched the bandage over his severed deck, At least not today.
Speaker 1: Dozens of men sat in small groups around the courtyard,
Speaker 1: reading together from books or cooling down from workouts and
Speaker 1: sweat drenched underclothes, Manny could hear the sharp crack of
Speaker 1: rifle fire from a shooting range near by. The whole
Speaker 1: place buzzed with a sort of busy, nervous energy that
Speaker 1: might have been contagious if not for the ugly stairs.
Speaker 1: Manny attracted. You took the wrong skin to wear, Roland
Speaker 1: muttered at him as a troop of pale, young infantrymen
Speaker 1: clumped past them. Manny couldn't help but notice that he
Speaker 1: seemed to be the only person on the training field
Speaker 1: who wasn't lily white. This might be a problem, he said.
Speaker 1: Roland nodded in response. He spat at the ground and muttered,
Speaker 1: should I ask skullfucker Mike to sew you into some
Speaker 1: new skin before we left? Manny frowned. I'm almost certain
Speaker 1: that's not how martyrs. A rough voice cried out from
Speaker 1: behind them. Turn round, boys, let me see a rise.
Speaker 1: Manny stopped on instinct. He stiff at his back and
Speaker 1: turned around. Roland did the same thing, but with a
Speaker 1: heavy sigh and a roll at his eyes. The shout
Speaker 1: had come from a tall, square jawed man with hair
Speaker 1: that had gone a majestic shade of silver gray. He
Speaker 1: wore a black uniform shirt with brass cross pins in
Speaker 1: the epple uts, black cargo pants, and a big black
Speaker 1: handgun slung low on his left hip. His name tag
Speaker 1: identified him as Ditmar. Manny didn't know enough about the
Speaker 1: martyrs brigades to tell the man's rank. Roland turned as
Speaker 1: Ditmar closed the distance between them. He stopped about a
Speaker 1: foot in from them, looked Roland up and down, and
Speaker 1: then turned to Manny. The fixer forced himself to meet
Speaker 1: the grizzled martyr's gaze. Manny wasn't sure how to look
Speaker 1: like a fanatical Christian soldier. There was no way to
Speaker 1: fake the manic glint of true commitment, so he chose
Speaker 1: a different tack. He thought about Major Clark, the defiant
Speaker 1: set of his jaw and the promise of violence frozen
Speaker 1: into the ice of his blue eyes. D Shaun Clark
Speaker 1: was not a fanatic, but he was a warrior. Many
Speaker 1: knew he might be able to fake that, so he
Speaker 1: screwed up his face into his best imitation and hoped
Speaker 1: it would pass muster well. The silver haired old soldier
Speaker 1: growled and narrowed his eyes, but then his face broke
Speaker 1: out into a grin. His tone lifted up an octave.
Speaker 1: By God, he said, it's good to have you boys here.
Speaker 1: He slapped a hand on both Manny and roland shoulders
Speaker 1: and pulled them into an embrace. Your souls are safe now,
Speaker 1: my boys. Thank God for your warrior hearts. Now. He
Speaker 1: pulled back and straightened up. I'm Martyr Ditmar. Where are
Speaker 1: you bound for intake? Manny said, with more confidence than
Speaker 1: he felt. We just arrived today. He glanced down at
Speaker 1: his papers for a moment and then said, this says
Speaker 1: we're Infantry Reserve Division. Martyr Ditmar seemed surprised, really, he asked,
Speaker 1: I'd have expected them to put you at least he
Speaker 1: nodded at Manny and the storming battalion. The storming battalion. Yes,
Speaker 1: The elder martyr nodded, you've got the right complexion for it.
Speaker 1: That's got to be a bad sign. Manny thought, don't
Speaker 1: press the question too much now, you may not want
Speaker 1: the answer. Instead, he put a hand on Roland's shoulder.
Speaker 1: Wherever we go, I gotta stay with Aaron. He's strong,
Speaker 1: but he took a few hits to the head too many.
Speaker 1: I help him get around. The martyr gave a smile
Speaker 1: that seemed genuine. Well, then he said, you want to
Speaker 1: get your butts down to cadet processing it's a hundred
Speaker 1: meters down that away. He clapped them both on the shoulders.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you here. Smile boys, your heroes
Speaker 1: now warriors in Christ. Go forth, God bless you, Martyr
Speaker 1: Manny said. Roland followed up with his best attempt at
Speaker 1: honest enthusiasm. Yea God, he said, in a two wide smile.
Speaker 1: We should go, Manny said quickly. I don't want to
Speaker 1: terry on the Lord's time. That's the spirit. Martyr Ditmar replied,
Speaker 1: I'll see you both on the training field. They stomped
Speaker 1: off towards the Cadet process in building, which until recently
Speaker 1: had been the high school's administrative building. There were posters
Speaker 1: for school dances and after school clubs on the walls.
Speaker 1: It looked like a student body election had been under
Speaker 1: way when the Heavenly Kingdom captured this place. Manny and
Speaker 1: Rowland qued up behind a half dozen other confused looking
Speaker 1: young men and waited for their turn at the processing desk.
Speaker 1: The intake process lasted around an hour. They took his
Speaker 1: name as date of birth and his measurements, and then
Speaker 1: Manny helped Aaron answer the same questions. It would have
Speaker 1: been triflingly easy for anyone with a deck and a
Speaker 1: good connection to find evidence of Manny's career as a
Speaker 1: war zone fixer, but the martyr handling their information wrote
Speaker 1: things down on actual paper. Manny got the distinct impression
Speaker 1: that many of the martyrs had disabled their decks. He
Speaker 1: also knew from experience that data speeds tended to be
Speaker 1: pretty ship this close to the fighting. Someone will check eventually,
Speaker 1: he warned himself. You'd better be fast about this whole business.
Speaker 1: Roland stayed on his best behavior through the whole process,
Speaker 1: although he grew twitch eer and twitch eer as the
Speaker 1: minutes wore on. Manny wasn't sure if the chromed man
Speaker 1: was allergic to bureaucracy or just frustrated at having sobered up.
Speaker 1: Once they were done with the first stage of the
Speaker 1: intake process, they were ushered over to another room filled
Speaker 1: with folded stacks of clothing and dins with the scent
Speaker 1: of mothballs. They were issued uniforms and then bundled off
Speaker 1: to a locker room to change. Manny was somewhat nervous
Speaker 1: about stripping down and changing in front of Roland, a dude.
Speaker 1: He barely knew if the post human felt the same nervousness,
Speaker 1: he didn't show it. Roland pulled off his clothes in
Speaker 1: a couple of seconds, revealing a body that was tight
Speaker 1: with wiry muscle and covered in thick surgical scars. Roland
Speaker 1: started to pull on his beaty you pants and noticed
Speaker 1: Manny hadn't yet started to strip. What's up, Roland asked,
Speaker 1: you smell nervous? Manny shrugged. I guess I'm a little prude.
Speaker 1: Still must be the Catholic in me. Don't let them
Speaker 1: hear that. Roland knifed those fucker's all hang you with
Speaker 1: your rosary beads. He pulled the pants up and button them.
Speaker 1: Then he paused again and looked back at Manny. You ah,
Speaker 1: you still Catholic? He asked. Manny shook his head. No,
Speaker 1: I don't believe, but my family does. Ah. Roland nodded,
Speaker 1: you fake belief. Well that's a talent. It's not a talent,
Speaker 1: Manny said, it's a survival skill. Grow up in Texas
Speaker 1: and you either learned to fake what you need to
Speaker 1: fake where you learn to fight. Someone knocked on the door.
Speaker 1: You ready yet, a voice called out to them. Almost
Speaker 1: Manny responded, and then he started to strip his clothing off.
Speaker 1: A few minutes and a change of clothes later, they
Speaker 1: arrived on the field where their training unit, twenty four
Speaker 1: sweat drenched young men, were doing push ups. Manny was
Speaker 1: surprise to see that these martyrs at least weren't all white.
Speaker 1: There was one black man right in the middle of
Speaker 1: the group. It took Manny a second to recognize that
Speaker 1: the instructor drilling them was Ditmar, the man they'd met
Speaker 1: on their way to the base. He broke into a
Speaker 1: broad smile when he saw them. God's will is truly magnificent,
Speaker 1: is it not? And then he nodded down to the ground.
Speaker 1: I'll let and join us, lads. Let's see what you've got.
Speaker 1: Manny and Roland dropped down and joined the unit in
Speaker 1: another set of push ups. If Roland had any trouble
Speaker 1: at all with the workout regimen, he didn't show it.
Speaker 1: The chrombed man barely sweated, and Manny had a feeling
Speaker 1: that his sweat was more for show than the result
Speaker 1: of an actual biological process. Even with the show, it
Speaker 1: was obvious to every one that Roland was not having
Speaker 1: any trouble with the exercises. God's blessed us with a
Speaker 1: new Sampson, Ditmar said a hundred or so push ups.
Speaker 1: In the rest of the men, Manny included, had collapsed
Speaker 1: from the exertion, but Roland just kept going for a while.
Speaker 1: They all sat there, huffing and exhausted and watching him go.
Speaker 1: Ditmar smiled and shook his head a little odd at
Speaker 1: the sight. Finally, he waved for Roland to stop. You've
Speaker 1: made point, son, and we're all blessed to have you
Speaker 1: here with us. Now get up, all of you and
Speaker 1: sit around me. Many stood, shook the soreness from his arms,
Speaker 1: and moved to take a seat in the semicircle of
Speaker 1: young martyrs. Once they were all properly positioned, Ditmar squatted
Speaker 1: down and cast his eyes around the group, settling on
Speaker 1: each of them in turn. I don't know how you
Speaker 1: all got here, he said, in a quiet, somber voice,
Speaker 1: but I know what brought each of you here, the
Speaker 1: spirit of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He cleared
Speaker 1: his throat. Now, he said, very soon, you'll all be
Speaker 1: going into battle, sooner than i'd prefer. We don't have
Speaker 1: time for the kind of training you boys deserve. You'll
Speaker 1: be fighting against men with more experience better weaponry. It's
Speaker 1: a scary thought, but I'll tell you all right now,
Speaker 1: if you go into that battle with the same blind
Speaker 1: faith that brought you here, you'll do just fine. God
Speaker 1: won't let any other end come to pass. It was
Speaker 1: dark by the time Tim ditmar led them all into
Speaker 1: the dining facility. The sight of the high school cafeteria
Speaker 1: set off a surprising pang of nostalgia in Manny's heart.
Speaker 1: He hadn't enjoyed school, but something about the gray, fabric
Speaker 1: colored walls, the colorful posters, and the dozens of identical
Speaker 1: faux wood tables made him long for a simpler time.
Speaker 1: For a second, he was almost able to forget where
Speaker 1: he was, what he was doing, and pretend this was
Speaker 1: just another day in school. That illusion was broken when
Speaker 1: he looked at his fellow martyrs. Hundreds of them had
Speaker 1: filed into the cafeteria, dressed in a motley assortment of
Speaker 1: battle dress uniforms from the old U. S Army, the
Speaker 1: Republic of Texas, and even the Mexican Army. Most of
Speaker 1: them were young, not even into their twenties. Around a
Speaker 1: quarter of them, though, were old for soldiers, and their
Speaker 1: forties or fifties. There was no military discipline in their appearance.
Speaker 1: Many of the men had beards or long, unruly hair.
Speaker 1: These fox aren't soldiers, Roland whispered to him as they
Speaker 1: took their seats at one of the fake wooden tables
Speaker 1: on the left side of the room. This is what
Speaker 1: can father looks like. Kid. The heavenly Kingdom just expects
Speaker 1: these people to die. Many felt a surge of anxiety.
Speaker 1: He was sure someone else must have heard Rowland, but
Speaker 1: when he glanced around, he saw their table mates were
Speaker 1: all deep in conversation with each other. Most of them,
Speaker 1: at least Jonathan, the only other non white person in
Speaker 1: their training unit, seemed to have been excluded. The other
Speaker 1: soldiers leaned away from him. The focus of the table
Speaker 1: seemed to be a tall, square jawed young man with
Speaker 1: a Georgian twang to his accent Martyrs. A loud voice
Speaker 1: cried from a podium at the center of the cafeteria.
Speaker 1: The sound of hundreds of bodies on hundreds of chairs
Speaker 1: turning to face the noise filled the room. The speaker
Speaker 1: was a tall, painfully thin man clad in a long
Speaker 1: black robe. An enormous wooden cross hung from his neck.
Speaker 1: His hair was greasy, unruly, and shock white. He had
Speaker 1: a patchy beard and the overall look of an unkimpt madman.
Speaker 1: But then he spoke, My brothers, it is a blessed
Speaker 1: thing to have you all here today. He began, in
Speaker 1: a voice that was little more than a whisper. There
Speaker 1: was a raw rasp to his voice. He sounded almost hoarse.
Speaker 1: Something about that quality drew Manny's attention. In the coming days,
Speaker 1: your instructors will prep pare you for the great battles
Speaker 1: that lie ahead. You will be given the best arms
Speaker 1: and armorack Kingdom can provide. But just by being here,
Speaker 1: each of you has shown you already have a weapon
Speaker 1: more powerful than any tool in our armory. Faith in
Speaker 1: God Almighty. His voice raised in pitch. Now it was
Speaker 1: still raspi and horse, but it picked up a sharp,
Speaker 1: booming quality. He spoke faster, his cheeks grew red. Put
Speaker 1: on the armor of God, he cried, And you will
Speaker 1: stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Be strong
Speaker 1: and courageous. Do not panic before the enemy, For in
Speaker 1: every battle the Lord your God will go ahead of you.
Speaker 1: He will never fail you nor abandon you. At this
Speaker 1: several of the men around the room pounded their fists
Speaker 1: on the tables. One man in the back led out
Speaker 1: a whoop. These outbursts inspired other men to cry out
Speaker 1: praise God. Manny glanced around, trying to gauge if more
Speaker 1: or less than half of the room was joining in.
Speaker 1: He didn't want to stay quiet if that was going
Speaker 1: to look weird. But then the pastor went quiet. A
Speaker 1: sense of antis had patient filled the room. There were
Speaker 1: about four hundred cadets all dining together in this shift,
Speaker 1: and of course the officer in charge, a tall, gangly
Speaker 1: redhead with no chin but a strangely beautiful baritone voice,
Speaker 1: led them in prayer before the meal. Manny repeated the
Speaker 1: words after him, but he didn't hear them. He did
Speaker 1: have to elbow Rowland once when he saw the big
Speaker 1: post human wasn't chanting along with the other soldiers. Just then,
Speaker 1: a pair of big doors to the left of the
Speaker 1: stage swung open. Ditmar walked out with a hefty brown
Speaker 1: canvas bag over his shoulder. He was followed by an
Speaker 1: armed guard and then two men in shackles. The captives
Speaker 1: wore striped white prison pajamas, and they both looked the
Speaker 1: worse for wear. One of them, a middle aged black man,
Speaker 1: looked familiar. Many thought he must be a captured sd
Speaker 1: F fighter. His lip looked as if it had recently
Speaker 1: been split, and there was a nasty gash on his forehead.
Speaker 1: He kept his head down and his shoulder slumped. His
Speaker 1: posture was one of complete resignation. The other man was
Speaker 1: Manny's heart skipped a beat Oscar. He'd been beaten too,
Speaker 1: although not as badly as the soldier. He looked not
Speaker 1: so much frightened as bewildered, starving, and probably reeling from
Speaker 1: one or more head injuries. Dude Roland nudged Manny's rib
Speaker 1: cage and whispered to him the fuck. Many realized his
Speaker 1: masket slipped. He let himself stare in horror rather than
Speaker 1: the excitement evident in everyone else's face. No one else
Speaker 1: seemed to have noticed yet, they were all focused on
Speaker 1: the prisoners, But Many forced a grim smile onto his
Speaker 1: face and tried to look at least like he was
Speaker 1: deeply satisfied. An armed martyr prodded Oscar and the STF
Speaker 1: man in their backs with his rifle and ushered them
Speaker 1: up onto the stage. Dead silence reigned over the cafeteria.
Speaker 1: No one spoke. It took Manny a few seconds to
Speaker 1: realize he was actually holding his breath. Once the captives
Speaker 1: were up on stage, the armed martyrs pulled them down
Speaker 1: to their knees. Ditmar set his bag down and zipped
Speaker 1: it and pulled out a wooden rod about two feet
Speaker 1: in length and as stick around as Manny's forearm. Warriors
Speaker 1: of God, The priest in toned in a low whisper.
Speaker 1: Manny felt himself lean into the man's words, even as
Speaker 1: dread pickled the pit of his stomach. These men appointed
Speaker 1: themselves enemies of our heavenly kingdom, foes of God. He
Speaker 1: raised a hand up to Ditmar. His hand shook, but
Speaker 1: not out of fear. He positively vibrated with excitement. Who
Speaker 1: among you will take up the rod and punish these men?
Speaker 1: The chair scraping floor sound of someone standing up very
Speaker 1: quickly rose behind him. Many glanced back and saw that
Speaker 1: one of the men from his cadet group had been
Speaker 1: the first to stand. He was tall, with broad, thick
Speaker 1: shoulders and chest muscles that spoke of a youth spent
Speaker 1: laboring in the field. He had thin, dirty blonde hair,
Speaker 1: a thick jaw and blue eyes that shone with excitement.
Speaker 1: What's your name, Martyr, the priest asked Eric Friedman, Sir.
Speaker 1: The young man cried back, Martyr Freedman, Ditmark cried out
Speaker 1: as he held the rod up. Come forward and do
Speaker 1: the Lord's work. The young man walked forward, stepped up
Speaker 1: onto the stage and took the rod from Ditmar's hand.
Speaker 1: He glanced down at the captives. His eyes passed over
Speaker 1: Oscar and lingered on the battered black soldier. Strike a
Speaker 1: blow for the Lord. The priest whispered, and Martyr Freedman obliged.
Speaker 1: His first swing was weak and sure and poorly aimed,
Speaker 1: struck the soldier on his shoulder. He didn't cry out.
Speaker 1: Martyr Friedman's second strike was harder, sure. He hit the
Speaker 1: soldier right in the gash on his forehead, and the
Speaker 1: man dropped with a muffled cry. Eric hit him again,
Speaker 1: and again and again. Ditmark grabbed another rod from the
Speaker 1: bag and held it out. Stand up, Men of God.
Speaker 1: The priest's voice rose again to a pitch so high
Speaker 1: it was almost a shriek. Step up and be the
Speaker 1: hands of justice. Just for a moment. Oscar saw him surprise,
Speaker 1: then confusion, and then anger passed over the stringer's face.
Speaker 1: In the space of about a second. Manny didn't want
Speaker 1: to think about what Oscar saw in his face. And
Speaker 1: then men rushed the stage, and Oscar disappeared in the
Speaker 1: swarm of martyrs to be rushing to share in the beatings.
Speaker 1: Roland took the opportunity provided by the chaos to lean
Speaker 1: back and whisper a question to Manny, what's going on? Guy?
Speaker 1: I know that guy, the one on the left. Manny
Speaker 1: whispered back, he's one of my stringers. He works for me.
Speaker 1: He's my friend. Roland nodded and then stood up and
Speaker 1: rushed up to the stage. By the time he reached it,
Speaker 1: a dozen other martyrs joined Eric and beating the two captives.
Speaker 1: There was blood on the floor, blood on the sticks,
Speaker 1: and blood splattering the martyr's new uniforms. Oscar cried out
Speaker 1: from each blow. It sounded like his mouth was full
Speaker 1: of blood. And then Roland took a rod from Ditmar's
Speaker 1: hand and in the space of a second, brought it
Speaker 1: down on both men's skulls with dull, meaty thuds. The
Speaker 1: soldiers went still, the screaming stopped, and every eye in
Speaker 1: the room turned to Roland. The chrombed man looked out
Speaker 1: at the crowd. There was an agonizing moment of silence,
Speaker 1: and then Manny knew what he had to do. Praise God,
Speaker 1: he screamed out. The room joined in, and soon a
Speaker 1: chorus of cheers filled the cafeteria. After that, Roland was
Speaker 1: everyone's favorite martyr. Once the men's bodies were dragged off
Speaker 1: the stage and dinner began, the martyrs could barely contain
Speaker 1: their admiration for his strength. That was incredible. Eric said,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to go into battle with you. What
Speaker 1: did you do before? A young man with a thick
Speaker 1: Oklahoma twang asked, from the way you cracked those skulls
Speaker 1: out of guest, You've been doing that for years. Roland
Speaker 1: gave short, non committal responses. His taciturn attitude didn't stop
Speaker 1: the other martyrs from talking about him with supreme glee.
Speaker 1: Their words sickened Manny, but their focus on Roland gave
Speaker 1: him a chance to breathe and mourn and avoid looking
Speaker 1: over at the stage while Ditmar's men dragged Oscar's body away.
Speaker 1: By the time the excitement had subsided and dinner had ended,
Speaker 1: Manny felt like he could just barely make it to
Speaker 1: his bunk without breaking down. He lacked behind Roland and
Speaker 1: the others as they all filed into the barracks. Mannie
Speaker 1: was grateful for Roland's ability to draw attention until during
Speaker 1: the walk that young black martyr sidled up to Manny
Speaker 1: and introduced himself. I'm Jonathan, he said, and I'm honored
Speaker 1: to meet you. Why, Manny asked. I think you and
Speaker 1: I were the only ones who weren't cheering to ring
Speaker 1: that ah, Manny said with a nod. He took a
Speaker 1: careful look at Jonathan's face. The other man's chubby cheeks
Speaker 1: and soft smile seemed almost calculated to make him look guileless.
Speaker 1: Whatever he says, he's one of them, be careful. I
Speaker 1: understand why it was necessary, Manny said, but I don't
Speaker 1: have to like it. Neither do I. Jonathan said. We
Speaker 1: have to fight them. We're fighting for God hereafter all,
Speaker 1: but we don't have to become monsters. Manny nodded, he
Speaker 1: didn't say anything. Jonathan took that as an invitation to
Speaker 1: say more. I think we're going to have a harder
Speaker 1: time here than the others, he said, and gestured to
Speaker 1: the very Caucasian crowd ahead of them. We've got a
Speaker 1: lot to overcome here, but I think that just means
Speaker 1: God will shower more glory on us for the effort.
Speaker 1: Manny was proud that, in his sorrowful and half panicked state,
Speaker 1: he managed to avoid shouting what the fuck at Jonathan. Instead,
Speaker 1: he matched the martyr's smile and just said praise God.
Speaker 1: Their next morning started with an hour of calisthenics. The
Speaker 1: workout was strenuous, but Manny actually enjoyed it. The speed
Speaker 1: with which they were dragged outside and forced into motion
Speaker 1: kept him from picturing Oscar's face for a while. After
Speaker 1: the workout, they dove into the real meat of the day,
Speaker 1: a trip to the gun range. It had been set
Speaker 1: up on what had once been a marching band's practice field.
Speaker 1: Dozens of vaguely human shaped targets had been cut out
Speaker 1: of sheet metal and set up at varying intervals behind
Speaker 1: a crude sandbag line. Their group of about two dozen
Speaker 1: new recruits were each issued weapons of varying quality. Manny
Speaker 1: received a jankie old kalashnikov that rattled like a Morocca
Speaker 1: Rowland was given and almost knew g thirty six assault rifle.
Speaker 1: The range instructor was a one legged old martyr with
Speaker 1: a prodigious belly and an equally overgrown white beard. He
Speaker 1: walked them through the basics if how to operate a
Speaker 1: variety of different assault rifles. You can't know what weapon
Speaker 1: you'll end up needn't to use, and then set them
Speaker 1: up on the sandbag line and told them to start firing.
Speaker 1: Manny took aim at a target around a hundred feet
Speaker 1: in front of him. It was hard to tell if
Speaker 1: he hid it or not. Several other men had aimed
Speaker 1: at the same target. Again, Manny got the feeling that
Speaker 1: the purpose of this training was not to make them marksmen.
Speaker 1: Basic familiarity was all the Heavenly Kingdom had time to provide. Rowland,
Speaker 1: of course, proved a fabulous shot. He stitched a smiley
Speaker 1: face and bullet holes across four of the old targets
Speaker 1: and earned genuine praise from the instructor. My godson, you've
Speaker 1: got a gift. This only increased Roland's social cachet with
Speaker 1: the martyrs. They crowded around him during the walk to
Speaker 1: the next activity of the day, lunch in a lecture
Speaker 1: on assault tactics, This was held in a little concrete amphitheater,
Speaker 1: something that had presumably once served the school's drama department.
Speaker 1: Manny tried to sit down next to Roland, but Eric
Speaker 1: and a gaggle of his friends settled around the post
Speaker 1: human First, they babbled excitedly to him. Manny wasn't sure
Speaker 1: what they were saying, but every time he glanced back,
Speaker 1: Roland looked absolutely miserable. Manny wound up in the back,
Speaker 1: seated next to Jonathan. The young martyr patted his leg.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, brother, he said. It's gonna be tough for
Speaker 1: us to earn their respect, but once we're all out
Speaker 1: in the field together, they'll stop caring about your skin.
Speaker 1: You are sure about that, Manny asked, happy he was
Speaker 1: never going to wind up in the field with any
Speaker 1: of these people. Of course, I am, Jonathan said, I
Speaker 1: grew up in Atlanta. You know, I knew it was
Speaker 1: going to be rough coming out here. But that's the
Speaker 1: sacrifice we make for God. I know he's going to
Speaker 1: bring this nation back together. Tell you the truth, I'm
Speaker 1: honored to be a part of that. Jonathan's eyes shone
Speaker 1: when he spoke. He's a true believer. Manny realized there's
Speaker 1: not a doubt in his mind that he's doing the
Speaker 1: right thing. That was scary, and things got scarier still
Speaker 1: when their next instructor stepped into the amphitheater. The man
Speaker 1: was old and grizzled too. He had both his legs,
Speaker 1: but his right arm was missing below the elbow, and
Speaker 1: a jagged scar ran up the left side of his face.
Speaker 1: The skin on most of his forehead was bald and modeled,
Speaker 1: as if he'd been badly burned. Afternoon, boys, and God
Speaker 1: bless you. I'm Mada Caruthers. Today you're going to learn
Speaker 1: how to assault a fortified position. Most of the strategies
Speaker 1: you walked them through began and ended with the application
Speaker 1: of shoulder fired rockets and incendiary grenades. Manny couldn't help
Speaker 1: but notice that no time was spent talking about how
Speaker 1: to avoid civilian casualties. He wasn't even sure specialist Caruthers
Speaker 1: knew how to pronounce the word civilian. Remember what it
Speaker 1: says in the Book of Samuel, Boys, the older man drawled.
Speaker 1: Now go and strike, can devote to destruction all that
Speaker 1: you have. Do not spare them, but kill both man
Speaker 1: and woman, child and infant. Ox and sheep, camel and donkey,
Speaker 1: he laughed, which made a few of the young martyrs
Speaker 1: comfortable enough to laugh too. I don't expect you'll run
Speaker 1: into any camels or donkeys out in Austin, but there
Speaker 1: will be men, women, children and infants. If they stand
Speaker 1: in your way, they all equally deserve to be purged.
Speaker 1: Manny didn't like the eagerness he saw in the faces
Speaker 1: of his fellow students. The pit in his stomach grew
Speaker 1: Throughout the day, While Martyr Caruthers explained how to use
Speaker 1: the various heavy munitions they might be called upon to deploy,
Speaker 1: there weren't enough rockets or mortars for them to actually
Speaker 1: train on any of those things. Manny wasn't sure how
Speaker 1: good a gist anyone really got. He wondered how much
Speaker 1: that would matter when these men took to the field.
Speaker 1: He ate ravenously at dinner. Thankfully, there were no executions
Speaker 1: that day, but Martyr Ditmar did take the stage again
Speaker 1: and announced that the busses were ready to take any
Speaker 1: interested recruits down to the main drag for a couple
Speaker 1: of hours of what passed for R and R. One
Speaker 1: of the older martyrs handed everyone ash and cards and
Speaker 1: explained they were good for either a cup of coffee
Speaker 1: or tea, or a small amount of food from one
Speaker 1: of the few stores that had opened back up. Fucking tea,
Speaker 1: Roland grumbled into Manny's ear as they headed out for
Speaker 1: the buses. That's what these jumped up Puritans considered recreational
Speaker 1: beverage this fucking country. Manny had noticed the post human
Speaker 1: growing increasingly jittery in irritable throughout the day. He'd seen
Speaker 1: Roland cautiously cough up another small bag of pills right
Speaker 1: before lunch that had sated him for a while. But
Speaker 1: considering his post human metabolism, man he thought he had
Speaker 1: to be pretty close to sober. I am so fucking lucid.
Speaker 1: I can't stand it, Roland muttered, What is it with
Speaker 1: you people and being high all the time? Manny whispered back,
Speaker 1: can you stand being sober for a few days? Not
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna help it, Roland said. He pointed to
Speaker 1: his head. There's just too much going on in there, man,
Speaker 1: too much input. It's like my whole body itches, but
Speaker 1: I can't scratch ah, Mann, he said, since he wasn't
Speaker 1: sure what else to say. The bus hit downtown Plano
Speaker 1: after twenty minutes or so. It wasn't an impressive site.
Speaker 1: There were maybe a dozen little shops in one cafe open,
Speaker 1: plus a pretty sad looking farmer's market. He could see
Speaker 1: no signs of any bars, any clubs, anything that even
Speaker 1: vaguely resembled nightlife. The main drag was crowded with people,
Speaker 1: throngs of soldiers and young women in long dresses and
Speaker 1: new immigrants into the heavenly Kingdom. Where should we go first,
Speaker 1: Manny asked. As soon as they'd filed off the bus well,
Speaker 1: Roland grunted, Unless you're in the mood for shaky coff
Speaker 1: here some rude vegetables, I'd say we check out that gallows.
Speaker 1: Manny had avoided looking too long at the gallows. It
Speaker 1: was empty now, but just staring at it made him
Speaker 1: feel sick. There was something sinister and unsettling about the
Speaker 1: ground beneath it. It was as if he could feel
Speaker 1: the death radiating outwards. What could we possibly learn there,
Speaker 1: the Big man shrugged, not much. But if they wind
Speaker 1: up hanging anyone tonight, I might be able to sniff
Speaker 1: out where they're keeping the prisoners. That'd be useful data. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be useless for that, Manny said, what should
Speaker 1: I do? I don't know, man grab some coffee what
Speaker 1: Roland locked eyes with him. He didn't do that often.
Speaker 1: His gaze was normal lee, as shifty and juttery as
Speaker 1: the rest of him. Look, kid, you've done a great
Speaker 1: job above and beyond the collie and a duty or whatever,
Speaker 1: and you're good company too. But I got half a
Speaker 1: dozen satellites worth a sensory equipment in my brain and
Speaker 1: hundreds of wee bitty microscopic robots floating around the air
Speaker 1: feeding me news. There's really not much for you to
Speaker 1: do here. Chill out, find whatever passes for relaxation here
Speaker 1: and do it. I'll get you when it's time to go.
Speaker 1: Many started to protest, but then he thought, what the hell,
Speaker 1: He's right, I'm useless. I've earned a cup of flavorless
Speaker 1: gringo coffee. So we thanked Roland and headed off in
Speaker 1: the direction of the strip's functioning coffee house, the Cafe Clement.
Speaker 1: It looked like it was less crowded than the others.
Speaker 1: As he reached for the door, someone slammed into him.
Speaker 1: She was a young blonde, younger than Manny, at any rate.
Speaker 1: She wore baggy surgical scrubs. Her jaw was tight and clenched.
Speaker 1: Her brown eyes were wide with fear, and there were
Speaker 1: deep bags under them. Oh oh my, she said, I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry, sir. Please let me. It's okay. Manny said,
Speaker 1: no damage done. Are you all right? You look terrified.
Speaker 1: I'm just just trying to avoid someone. It's nothing serious.
Speaker 1: Manny wasn't sure why, but he pulled the ration cards
Speaker 1: he'd been given out of his pocket and offered one
Speaker 1: to the stranger. Here, if you want, we can grab
Speaker 1: a table together and I'll sit with my back to
Speaker 1: the door. You're not big, I can block you. She
Speaker 1: looked surprised and a little hesitant, but after a few
Speaker 1: blinks she nodded and said, I actually appreciate that a lot.
Speaker 1: Thank God for you, sir. Yeah, Manny agreed, praise him.
Speaker 1: They sat and ordered coffee. The young woman kept craning
Speaker 1: her neck around Manny to peek at the door behind them. Look,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask what's up with you? But
Speaker 1: can I get your name? At least that might make
Speaker 1: this less awkward. I'm man U Emmanuel Manny for short, Sasha.
Speaker 1: She said, I just got here a few days ago.
Speaker 1: You this is my second day, She looked, surprised. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have guessed, what with the uniform, he laughed. It
Speaker 1: turns out they just hand these to anyone who hold
Speaker 1: a gun. I didn't even really have a choice. Well,
Speaker 1: if that's where you wound up, I'm sure it's where
Speaker 1: the Lord wants you. Praise God for that. She didn't
Speaker 1: seem like she was joking, but there was something about
Speaker 1: her tone and the way her jaw and never unclinched
Speaker 1: that made Manny suspect she was a little less than
Speaker 1: convinced about her own words. For the next few minutes
Speaker 1: they talked in between SIPs of mediocre coffee. He learned
Speaker 1: she was from the American Federation and enough of a
Speaker 1: true believer that she'd smuggled herself into the heavenly kingdom.
Speaker 1: She didn't seem like a zella, though. More than anything,
Speaker 1: she seemed scared. How do you like it here, he
Speaker 1: finally asked, Is it what you'd expected? She didn't respond
Speaker 1: for quite a while. Instead, she stared into his eyes.
Speaker 1: Manny stared back. It was a strange feeling. She must
Speaker 1: have been trying to search out whether he was trustworthy
Speaker 1: or trying to trick her into revealing her disloyalty. He
Speaker 1: maintained eye contact and tried not to seem like a
Speaker 1: member of whatever the Heavenly Kingdom called their secret police.
Speaker 1: Apparently it worked. Of course, I'm happy here in God's Kingdom,
Speaker 1: she smiled, an empty smile. I've been blessed to meet
Speaker 1: so many dedicated people, but um, I've also met some
Speaker 1: people who am I am well, she coughed. Not everyone
Speaker 1: here seems to have the Lord in their heart. Manny
Speaker 1: almost laughed at the irony and her admitting that to him,
Speaker 1: but he kept his mouth shut and just nodded. Sasha
Speaker 1: took a long sip of her coffee. He felt a
Speaker 1: little bad for staring. She was very pretty, but she
Speaker 1: was also pretty young, and of course she'd volunteered to
Speaker 1: join a theocratic murder state. That was probably another reason
Speaker 1: he shouldn't get too attached. So anyway, Sasha explained, I've
Speaker 1: run into some men I don't like very much, and
Speaker 1: they keep finding me when I get off from my
Speaker 1: shift at the hospital. I'm sure they're waiting outside the
Speaker 1: house of where I'm staying right now. I just don't
Speaker 1: want to deal with that again. Well, Manny smiled his
Speaker 1: most charming smile. I'm happy to help you waite them out.
Speaker 1: I've got another hour at least before the buses take
Speaker 1: us back to the barracks. And so for a while
Speaker 1: they just talked. She told him about her work in
Speaker 1: the hospital, and he tried to say as little as
Speaker 1: possible about his two shitty days as a martyr. Sasha
Speaker 1: didn't seem to mind that he didn't have much to
Speaker 1: say about himself. Manny got the feelings she was just
Speaker 1: happy to have someone to talk with. Most of her
Speaker 1: words passed over him until she mentioned something about a prisoner.
Speaker 1: She's from one of the road people from some moving
Speaker 1: city with an obscene name, and she's pregnant. So I'll
Speaker 1: be seeing her again tomorrow, probably to do a more
Speaker 1: thorough examination. I feel weird about it. She was so strange,
Speaker 1: so different from anyone I've met, but I really don't
Speaker 1: like Wait, a prisoner is this at the hospital? Sasha
Speaker 1: seemed confused by that question, and Mannie worried he might
Speaker 1: have overplayed his hand. Why do you The rest of
Speaker 1: her question was cut off by the sound of a
Speaker 1: bull horn outside. Manny couldn't make out most of what
Speaker 1: was being said until he heard prisoners and sd F
Speaker 1: in an electronically distorted Southern drawl. Oh no, Sasha moaned,
Speaker 1: what what are they talking about? It's another execution. Manny
Speaker 1: stood up and stepped towards the door. He had to
Speaker 1: see who it was. Even before he got there, a
Speaker 1: terrible feeling had started to boil up in the pit
Speaker 1: of his gut. He pushed the door open, jogged towards
Speaker 1: the gallows, and pushed his way back through the crowd.
Speaker 1: He could see Rowland standing to the feed off to
Speaker 1: the left from the wooden platform, but Manny's eyes were
Speaker 1: focused on the four men and two women in shackles
Speaker 1: at the foot of the gallows. Five of them were strangers.
Speaker 1: Six was Mr Coron. Hey, I'm Robert Evans. I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this chapter. I hope you enjoyed the chapters
Speaker 1: to come. You can find the free e pub of
Speaker 1: every chapter and eventually the whole book at a t
Speaker 1: r book dot com, complete with illustrations. If you want
Speaker 1: to support me in writing the sequel, you can crowdfund
Speaker 1: me at After the Revolution the Sequel at go fund me.
Speaker 1: Just type and go fund me After the Revolution the Sequel.
Speaker 1: Um I'd like my books to always be free, so
Speaker 1: I'm just going to try to crowdfund the next one
Speaker 1: and see how that works. So After the Revolution the
Speaker 1: Sequel on go fund me. You can also find the
Speaker 1: community of fans of this book online at our slash
Speaker 1: after the Revolution on Reddit. So after the Revolution the
Speaker 1: Sequel on go fund me and our slash after the
Speaker 1: Revolution on Reddit. A t r book dot com for
Speaker 1: the whole book. Thanks