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Speaker 1: On April four, Dr Martin Luther King was shot and

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Speaker 1: killed in Memphis. A petty criminal named James Earl Ray

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Speaker 1: was arrested. Case closed right James Sylvy was upon for

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Speaker 1: the official story. Some of the evidence, as far as

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Speaker 1: I was concerned, did not match the circumstances. This is

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Speaker 1: the MLK tapes. The first episodes are available now. Listen

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Speaker 1: on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Hello, and welcome to our show.

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Speaker 1: I'm Zoe de Channel and I'm so excited to be

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Speaker 1: joined by my friends and cast Meats Hannah Simone and

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Speaker 1: Lamar and Morris to recap our hit television series New Girl.

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Speaker 1: Join us every Monday on the Welcome to Our Show podcast,

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Speaker 1: where we'll share behind the scenes stories of your favorite

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Speaker 1: New Girl episodes. Each week, we answer all your burning

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Speaker 1: questions like is there really a bear in every episode

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Speaker 1: of New Girl? Plus you'll hear hilarious stories like this

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Speaker 1: that was one of your thank you from Yeah Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I brought back a professional basketball players seven Yeah. Listen

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Speaker 1: to the Welcome to Our Show podcast on the I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your

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Speaker 1: podcasts from Cavalry Audio comes the new true crime podcast

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Speaker 1: The Shadow Girls. I grew up near the banks of

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Speaker 1: the Green River and in the shadow of the killer

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Speaker 1: that bears its name. Prosecutors described him as a serial killer. Survived,

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Speaker 1: but this podcast isn't only about tracking down the killer.

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Speaker 1: It's about the victims. We stayed in the woods. He

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Speaker 1: always liked to go into words. Listen to The Shadow

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Speaker 1: Girls on the I Heart Radio app, on Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Chapter six, Sasha, History

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Speaker 1: is a messy thing class. Even a question as simple

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Speaker 1: as when did the Second American Civil War begin doesn't

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Speaker 1: have a clear answer. Some scholars say the first shots

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Speaker 1: were fired during the failed Montana Seccession Movement of twenty forty.

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Speaker 1: Others will name the Dallas Water Riots of one or

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Speaker 1: the bombing of the Diamond Buildings six months later by

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Speaker 1: leftist militants. You can make a good evidence based case

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Speaker 1: for any of these. Mister Dane was a good lecturer,

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Speaker 1: with a rich baritone voice and a habit of animating

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Speaker 1: his lectures with vibrant hand gestures. He was Sasha's favorite

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Speaker 1: teacher and one of her favorite people. Mister Dane was

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Speaker 1: a heathen, of course, but he was still a sweet man.

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Speaker 1: She appreciated his even handed perspective and his commitment to

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Speaker 1: the unbiased study of history. It broke her heart that

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Speaker 1: no one else in her Advanced Placement Continental history class

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Speaker 1: seemed to appreciate him. The other twenty four students stared

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Speaker 1: ahead with slackened jaws and unfocused eyes. They were all

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Speaker 1: deep in their decks, messaging friends, browsing snap bits, or

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Speaker 1: playing whatever game was popular right now. Decks were far

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Speaker 1: too entrenched in modern life for schools to force them

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Speaker 1: off during class time. Instead, the school filtered the WiFi

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Speaker 1: and forced students to download apps that restricted access during

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Speaker 1: school hours. This had led to a thriving underground trade

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Speaker 1: and apps that countered the school spyware and covertly lifted

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Speaker 1: the blocks. The district I T Team was locked in

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Speaker 1: a perpetual losing battle to spot and crack these programs.

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Speaker 1: But on a practical level, the teachers, like mister Dane,

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Speaker 1: just had to accept the intrusion. The students didn't ignore

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Speaker 1: him entirely, but very few of them gave him their

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Speaker 1: full attention. They didn't give anything their full attention. Really,

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Speaker 1: Most of her peers went through their days half reading

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Speaker 1: two or three conversations, playing games, and scrolling through several

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Speaker 1: social media feeds, even when they were out in the

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Speaker 1: world surrounded by people. Pastor Mike called it the death

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Speaker 1: of Joy. That was the name of the essay and

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Speaker 1: revelator that had first turned Sasha onto the heavenly Kingdom.

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Speaker 1: He'd railed against distraction culture, which he said not only

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Speaker 1: robbed mankind of a relationship with God, but it also

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Speaker 1: robs us of the little moments. The quiet joys of

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Speaker 1: living are drowned by a flood of data. It's a

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Speaker 1: mosquito bite on the human soul. And the masses have

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Speaker 1: convinced themselves that the abatement of discomfort from scratching this

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Speaker 1: itch is the same ashappiness. All around her classmates scratched

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Speaker 1: their itches while mister Dane lectured, he looked so lonely

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Speaker 1: up there, They all looked lonely. So mister Dane cleared

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Speaker 1: his throat in an attempt to pull at least a

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Speaker 1: few of his students out of their stupor. As we

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Speaker 1: close this unit, I'd like to ask you all a

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Speaker 1: simple question. What should we call the war that split

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Speaker 1: the United States? Your textbook calls it the Second American

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Speaker 1: Civil War. In the Northwest, and the Christian States they

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Speaker 1: call it the Revolution. By next Monday, I'd like each

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Speaker 1: of you to upload an essay arguing which name is

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Speaker 1: more appropriate one thousand words please. The bell rang. The

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Speaker 1: other students got up slowly in twos and threes and

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Speaker 1: made for the door. Sasha was one of the first up,

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Speaker 1: but mister Dane called to her before she reached the exit.

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Speaker 1: Miss Marian, would you mind holding back a moment? Sasha stiffened.

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Speaker 1: She glanced involuntarily up to one of the government's propaganda

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Speaker 1: posters on the wall. It showed a young man with

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Speaker 1: a brightly colored backpack, surrounded by burnt out buildings in rubble.

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Speaker 1: A green rocket hung above him like the sword of Damocles,

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Speaker 1: an instant away from impact. Next to the young man

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Speaker 1: were the words think again, step back, Yes, sir, she asked.

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Speaker 1: As she approached his desk. Mr Dane fixed her with

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Speaker 1: a kind smile. He looked around forty, although that was

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Speaker 1: no guarantee of anything. His eyes and lips were creased

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Speaker 1: with smile lines. Though she liked that about him. You

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Speaker 1: seemed a bit distracted today, Sasha that's not uncommon for

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Speaker 1: most of my students, he gave a slightly forced laugh.

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Speaker 1: But you're normally so engaged. I just wanted to make

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Speaker 1: sure everything's okay. Over the last year, Sasha had started

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Speaker 1: building up a stockpile of what she called defensive smiles.

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Speaker 1: She had one for when her parents were worried, another

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Speaker 1: for her few friends, and another for the school administrators.

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Speaker 1: The smiles were calculated to reassure everyone that she was

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Speaker 1: still normal Sasha, and she certainly wasn't planning to escap

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Speaker 1: ape to the heavenly Kingdom. But she'd never worked up

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Speaker 1: a smile from Mr Dane. She genuinely enjoyed his class,

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Speaker 1: so it hadn't seemed necessary. She just decided to go

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Speaker 1: with her friend smile and hope that worked. I'm okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm just you know, inspiration had her. The news today

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Speaker 1: is so scary. What's happening down in Texas. I'm worried.

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Speaker 1: Mr Dane visibly relaxed. Ah, yes, I can see why

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Speaker 1: you'd be troubled by that. I think it's taken everyone

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Speaker 1: a bit by surprise. He paused and struggled with his words.

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Speaker 1: I expect it must be somewhat more difficult for you

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Speaker 1: than the rest of the class. Being a Christian. Her

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Speaker 1: smile faltered a bit. She knew she was supposed to

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Speaker 1: act like one of the tame preachers the government trotted out,

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Speaker 1: the men and women whould claim Christianity was all about

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Speaker 1: peace and love. They'd say that the Lord's truth could

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Speaker 1: coexist with the equal truths of other faiths and with

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Speaker 1: the secular world of the am fed. That all felt

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Speaker 1: wrong to her, but a little irritation was worth avoiding suspicion.

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Speaker 1: My faith is stronger than a handful of terrorists, she

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Speaker 1: said to mister Dane. There are a lot of Christians

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Speaker 1: in the secular forces. You know they'll win in the end,

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Speaker 1: won't they. Mister Dane's smile remained unchanged, but his eyes

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Speaker 1: bored into hers. Sasha was more comfortable with eye contact

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Speaker 1: than most teens, but she found this deeply uncomfortable, invasive.

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Speaker 1: Even after several long seconds, he spoke, I fear it's

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Speaker 1: going to be a long, bloody fight before that happens.

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Speaker 1: We're very lucky to be insulated from all that madness,

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Speaker 1: you know, he sighed. An eleventh grader, However, a Jefferson

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Speaker 1: I was killed fighting in Dallas yesterday. The news just broke.

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Speaker 1: Sasha hadn't been aware, but thank God for him and

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Speaker 1: his sacrifice. She thought. That's awful, She said, I can't

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Speaker 1: imagine what his parents must be going through. No, you can't,

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Speaker 1: he agreed, and then mister Dane broke eye contact. He

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Speaker 1: looked down at the ground, and his voice dropped an

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Speaker 1: octave as he asked, did you know I had a son?

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Speaker 1: Genuine surprise passed over Sasha's face. No, Sir, I didn't.

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Speaker 1: He shrugged and gave up on his smile. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: much more than a ghost now, anyway, I married young,

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Speaker 1: I was a dad at nineteen, and by the time

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Speaker 1: he was nineteen, the whole country was coming apart. He

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Speaker 1: reached down to his desk and picked up a small,

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Speaker 1: rather battered looking red button. It had the letters R

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Speaker 1: J printed in lower case letters across the front. Mister

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Speaker 1: Dane stared at it. Something twitched under his left eyelid.

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Speaker 1: He bit his upper lip. He was silent for a

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Speaker 1: long beat, and he swallowed and looked up at Sasha.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what this is? No, she said, reluctant

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Speaker 1: and pretty certain. She ought to have known in the

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Speaker 1: years leading up to the revolution, there were a lot

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Speaker 1: of different activist movements founded and spread by anonymous radicals.

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Speaker 1: They'd organized flashed demonstrations and coordinated direct action campaigns. The

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Speaker 1: pins were one sort of I D badge, so when

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Speaker 1: you showed up for a flashed demo, you could quickly

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Speaker 1: identify your comrades. He shook his head ruefully. It sounds

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Speaker 1: silly now. All I can say is, at the time

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Speaker 1: it made sense and it felt meaningful. The anonymous voice

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Speaker 1: I listened to was a guy named read John. He

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Speaker 1: had all these videos about history, politics. He explained the

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Speaker 1: whole world and what was wrong with it in a

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Speaker 1: way that just felt right. I started playing his stuff

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Speaker 1: for my boy Mikey when he was thirteen or fourteen.

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Speaker 1: I just wanted him to know what was going on.

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Speaker 1: I thought I was doing the right thing. Mister Dane's

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Speaker 1: eyes looked watery and heavy with the ghost of old tears.

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Speaker 1: He seemed to have trouble keeping his voice steady. Mikey

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Speaker 1: grew up believing hard, and when the fighting broke out,

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Speaker 1: he was young and strong and so very ready to

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Speaker 1: fight for the world he believed we all deserved. Mister

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Speaker 1: Dane set the pen back on the desk with its

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Speaker 1: cover facing down. His eyes were red. He died in Denver,

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Speaker 1: mister Dane said, and his voice broke a little shot

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Speaker 1: through the head. When the National Guard pushed into Westminster.

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Speaker 1: Sasha put a hand on mister Dane's shoulder. It was

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Speaker 1: an instinctive move, blessedly honest. She silently thanked God for

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Speaker 1: this moment of connection to the educator she so admired.

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Speaker 1: He smiled back at her, thank you. I I don't

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Speaker 1: mean for this to be a lecture. I don't think

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Speaker 1: those tend to work. Just he glanced back at the table.

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Speaker 1: Just be careful about putting your faith in charismatic men

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Speaker 1: and their ideas. I will, she said. A minute later,

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Speaker 1: as she left the classroom, a notification pip lit up

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Speaker 1: on the top right corner of her vision. She wink

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Speaker 1: clicked it and saw a message from brother Andrew bust

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Speaker 1: Stop twenty three a p m. The rest of the

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Speaker 1: day passed normally enough. In the afternoon, they had an

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Speaker 1: assembly about the suicide of a classmate. It was the

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Speaker 1: third this year. Principal Hardgrave delivered the same platitudes they'd

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Speaker 1: all heard a hundred times. There was a lot of

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Speaker 1: talk about suicide hotlines and chat rooms. Of all the

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Speaker 1: counseling services the school had available, Sasha knew none of

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Speaker 1: it would help. Almost twenty percent of teens in the

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Speaker 1: m FED would attempt suicide. Every year, that number ticked

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Speaker 1: up a few tenths of a percent, and the government

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Speaker 1: had no idea how to stop it. Pastor Mike blamed

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Speaker 1: the rash of suicides on the emptiness of secular life,

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Speaker 1: the spiritual whole at the center of capitalism and the

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Speaker 1: self worship had fed. Sasha thought he'd hit that right

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Speaker 1: on the money. Even the United Christian States still engaged

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Speaker 1: in global capitalism and doing so that a dark God

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Speaker 1: in permanent opposition to the Lord Almighty. Pastor Mike. Again,

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Speaker 1: she knew Principal hargraves lectures were pointless, but she sat

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Speaker 1: through the assembly and gave the right smiles to the

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Speaker 1: right people. The rest of the day, she focused on

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Speaker 1: her studies as best she could, despite the growing anxiety

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Speaker 1: in her gut. Two weeks ago, she'd read a Pastor

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Speaker 1: Mike article and revelator, don't talk yourself out of Heaven.

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Speaker 1: It had clearly been written for the conflicted faithful, just

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Speaker 1: like her. I've received messages from hundreds of you who

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Speaker 1: say I'd love to open myself up to martyrdom. But

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Speaker 1: I'm a doctor, or a police officer, or an engineer,

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Speaker 1: and I think I can do more to glorify God

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Speaker 1: where I am right now. Brothers and sisters, these are

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Speaker 1: the doubts of the serpent. Don't be fooled. No one

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Speaker 1: stays in comfort because they want to bring glory to

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Speaker 1: the Almighty. Our Lord does not speak to us from

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Speaker 1: comfortable places. He spoke to Moses in a desolate desert,

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Speaker 1: from a burning bush. He delivered his greatest sermon atop

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Speaker 1: a mountain. Jehovah wants our souls to be so on

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Speaker 1: fire with devotion that our own lives mean nothing before

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Speaker 1: his flame. The heavenly Kingdom is that cleansing flame. What

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Speaker 1: a gift it is here now in your lifetime. What

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Speaker 1: a tragedy it would be to miss this chance at salvation.

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Speaker 1: She recited that passage again and again throughout what she

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Speaker 1: now knew would be her last day at school. The

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Speaker 1: words steadied her as she waved goodbye to mister Dane

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day. These are the doubts

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Speaker 1: of the serpent. They calmed her when she looked into

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Speaker 1: her backpack, which held the small go back she'd put

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Speaker 1: together that morning. It was just a change of clothes

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Speaker 1: and a handful of hygiene items that seemed woefully inadequate,

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Speaker 1: but anything more would have looked suspicious. Leaving, I'm leaving.

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Speaker 1: It was only now, on the cusp of leaving, that

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Speaker 1: Sasha realized how much she was going to miss movie

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Speaker 1: night with her friends. Central heating in the winter, reliable

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Speaker 1: internet access. Our Lord does not speak to us from

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Speaker 1: comfortable places. It took her an embarrass same amount of

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Speaker 1: time to find the bus stop. She was scared to

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Speaker 1: use her deck. She'd shut it off as soon as

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Speaker 1: she'd left school, and she didn't know the city bus

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Speaker 1: system very well. She'd taken busses to school for years,

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Speaker 1: but her parents car had always driven her around the city.

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Speaker 1: She was ashamed of how anxious she felt about riding

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Speaker 1: a city bus. Here she was on her way to

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Speaker 1: a war zone and possible martyrdom, scared of public transit.

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Speaker 1: Be strong and courageous and do the work. She recited

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Speaker 1: David's advice to Solomon, do not be afraid or discouraged.

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Speaker 1: For the Lord God, My God is with you. That

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Speaker 1: helped a little. Thinking of Alexander's smile, his green eyes,

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Speaker 1: and the strong lines of his jaw helped more. Sasha

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Speaker 1: didn't like admitting that to herself it felt too carnal,

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Speaker 1: almost sacrilegious, but she knew that what mattered to God

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Speaker 1: were her actions. Even if her flight to Zion wasn't

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Speaker 1: done with a completely pure heart, God would forgive her

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Speaker 1: her sacrifice to build the new Jerusalem. What outweigh the

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Speaker 1: sinful part of her mind that couldn't stop imagining how

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Speaker 1: Alexander's strong arms would feel when they finally wrapped around her.

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Speaker 1: She waited at stop twenty three. A four thirty came

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Speaker 1: and went by four five pm, her chest burned with

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Speaker 1: barely restrained panic. She was sure the people passing by

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Speaker 1: all knew her secret plans. A pair of police officers

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00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:14,800
Speaker 1: passed her at one point. One of them, a woman

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Speaker 1: not much older than Sasha, flashed her a smile. For

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Speaker 1: a long time, she was convinced it had been a

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Speaker 1: sign that her communics had been intercepted and the police

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Speaker 1: or the FBI were onto her plan. But the police

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00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,320
Speaker 1: didn't come to stop her, and after a quarter hour

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Speaker 1: that felt like days. A brown sedan rolled up to

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Speaker 1: the bus stop, its window peeled down, and Sasha locked

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Speaker 1: eyes with a careworn young man in the back. Sasha Marian.

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Speaker 1: He asked, yes, She said, are you brother Andrew? As

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Speaker 1: I was with Moses, so will I be with thee.

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Speaker 1: That was the pass phrase Alexander had told her to expect.

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Speaker 1: It was all Sasha could do to stop from bawling

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Speaker 1: right then and there she got in the car. The

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Speaker 1: man inside was exactly what she'd have expected of a

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Speaker 1: man and brother Andrew's profession. He had long, aw colored

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Speaker 1: hair and a ragged beard. There were deep pockets of

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Speaker 1: exhaustion under his brown eyes and well creased smile lines

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00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,080
Speaker 1: around his lips. He wore a simple black suit with

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Speaker 1: no tie. Everything about the way he looked and the

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00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,360
Speaker 1: way he dressed spoke of quiet devotion and humble service. Here,

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00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,160
Speaker 1: finally was a man of God. Not oppressed, preening dandy

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Speaker 1: like the pastor at her father's church, not a hip

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Speaker 1: young pretender like the Baptist minister who had given a

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Speaker 1: speech on inclusion at her school last year. Here was

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Speaker 1: a real road weary man of the Lord. I know

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Speaker 1: how you must feel right now, Sasha, He said, you're relieved.

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Speaker 1: You never thought you'd make it this far. You didn't

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Speaker 1: know if you'd have the courage to take the final

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Speaker 1: leap of faith. But you have now, child, and your

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Speaker 1: soul is secure. Sasha melted. The knot of anxiety that

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Speaker 1: had been twisting in her guts suddenly untied itself. Her

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00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,280
Speaker 1: eyesight blurred, and she realized that she'd started to cry.

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Speaker 1: It was all she could do to look over to

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00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,320
Speaker 1: brother Andrew and whisper thank you. Together they drove to

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00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,240
Speaker 1: a little, white walled suburban house, maybe five miles away

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00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,120
Speaker 1: from the only home she had ever known. The car stopped,

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Speaker 1: but Brother Andrew gestured for her to stay in the

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00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,520
Speaker 1: vehicle while he stepped out and knocked on the door.

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00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:10,400
Speaker 1: Another man, shorter and balding, stepped out. They both hustled

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00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,640
Speaker 1: back to the car, their eyes darting left and right.

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00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,040
Speaker 1: As soon as they made it inside, the car sped

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00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:17,880
Speaker 1: off fast enough that the acceleration pushed Sasha back in

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Speaker 1: her seat. The new man sat across from her in

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00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,920
Speaker 1: the autonomous car second row of bench seats. He was older,

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00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:26,760
Speaker 1: in his fifties. If he hadn't taken any juven treatments.

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00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,000
Speaker 1: He had tired eyes with deep bags beneath them. While

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00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:34,160
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew radiated calm self satisfaction, this man seemed nervous

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00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,840
Speaker 1: and a little frantic. He clutched a small briefcase with

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Speaker 1: white knuckled hands. Sasha smiled in an unconscious attempt to

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Speaker 1: call him. He smiled back. Brother Andrew spoke, Miss Marian,

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Speaker 1: this is Brother Brian. He's going to disable your deck.

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Speaker 1: It's the only way we can get you across the

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00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,240
Speaker 1: border to our people in the Christian States. Brother Andrew

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00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,960
Speaker 1: smiled and put a hand on Brother Brian's shoulder. The

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00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,480
Speaker 1: other man took this cue to open up his suitcase.

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00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,520
Speaker 1: He started to assemble something small, silver and intricate. Brother

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00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,600
Speaker 1: Andrew kept speaking. All it would take is one phone

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00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:07,560
Speaker 1: call from your parents or your school when the police

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00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,359
Speaker 1: could spot your precise location from the GPS unit in

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Speaker 1: your deck. This car is a dead zone, so you're

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00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:15,320
Speaker 1: safe inside it, but as soon as you exit, you'll

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00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:17,359
Speaker 1: be back on the map, so we need to remove

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Speaker 1: your deck before that happens. Will it hurt? Sasha remembered

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Speaker 1: how it had felt when they'd first implanted her deck,

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00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,400
Speaker 1: like having a new tooth. Forcibly inserted into her jaw.

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00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:28,960
Speaker 1: She'd been four or five at the time. Her head

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00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,120
Speaker 1: had hurt for days. Brother Bryan didn't look up from

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00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,720
Speaker 1: his briefcase as he answered her. Yes, I've got a

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00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,199
Speaker 1: topical anesthetic, but nothing stronger. It'll hurt. Sasha nodded gravely.

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00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:42,440
Speaker 1: She had anticipated this. A little pain was a small

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00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:44,760
Speaker 1: price to pay to become one of God's elect few.

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00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,639
Speaker 1: She thought of Paul and Silas stripped and beaten with

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00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:51,000
Speaker 1: clubs on the orders of a heathen magistrate. God shows

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00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:55,199
Speaker 1: his love through salvation. We show ours through sacrifice. The

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00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,639
Speaker 1: memory of Pastor Mike's words helped ease her fears she'd

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00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,359
Speaker 1: miss her deck, but Alexander had said there'd be replacements

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Speaker 1: in the Heavenly Kingdom. In another minute, Brother Brian had

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00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,439
Speaker 1: finished assembling the tool. It looked like a cross between

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00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,840
Speaker 1: a syringe and a handheld shot back. At Brother Andrew's urging,

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00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:12,920
Speaker 1: she moved over to sit on the bench seat next

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Speaker 1: to him. Now lay across my lap an angle your

349
00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,119
Speaker 1: temple towards Brother Brian. A pang of fear flitted across

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Speaker 1: her heart. These were men of God, but they were

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00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:24,040
Speaker 1: also men she didn't know who were much older and

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00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,600
Speaker 1: larger than her. She had to fight down the urge

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00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,280
Speaker 1: to panic and flee. You were trusting these men to

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00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,919
Speaker 1: smuggle you across a border, dummy. She hesitated for a

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00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,320
Speaker 1: few sweaty seconds, but eventually Sasha nodded and laid down

356
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Speaker 1: on Brother Andrew's lap. Her heart beat so loudly that

357
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,840
Speaker 1: she could hear it crashing in her skull like ocean waves.

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00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,120
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew put his strong hands on her. He tightened

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Speaker 1: his grip. He's holding me down, she realized, and although

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00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:50,720
Speaker 1: he tried to restrain her in a comforting way, the

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00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,520
Speaker 1: liquid mass of panic in her chest almost boiled over.

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00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,000
Speaker 1: There was a sudden, sharp pain as Brother Brian plunged

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00:18:57,040 --> 00:18:59,200
Speaker 1: the needle in through her temple, and then a dull

364
00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,800
Speaker 1: throbbing feet like a migraine. Sasha felt dizzy, disoriented, and

365
00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,360
Speaker 1: then nauseous. In turns, she blacked out for a few seconds.

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00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:09,959
Speaker 1: When she came back to herself, she realized she had

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00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,320
Speaker 1: been vomiting. The floor of the car was coated in

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00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:14,680
Speaker 1: the remains of her lunch. Some of it had gotten

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00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:18,679
Speaker 1: on Brother Andrew's pants leg. Brother Bryan looked disgusted, but

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00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,040
Speaker 1: Brother Andrew was all smiles and comfort. Jesus, here's your

371
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:24,439
Speaker 1: suffering sister. He knows what you are giving up in

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Speaker 1: His name. You will reap the dividends of this investment

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00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,119
Speaker 1: in your soul. He helped her up and guided her

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Speaker 1: to the opposite bench, where she laid down and continued

375
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,240
Speaker 1: to clutch her throbbing head. She drifted off or passed out,

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00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:38,560
Speaker 1: and when she came to, the interior of the car

377
00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,879
Speaker 1: had been scrubbed clean, leaving behind only a brown stain

378
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,679
Speaker 1: and the lingering smell of sick and antiseptic. Sasha guessed

379
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,000
Speaker 1: an hour or more had passed, although without her deck

380
00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,440
Speaker 1: it could have been more. They were in the woods now,

381
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,439
Speaker 1: driving along a country road. Brother Andrew explained that they

382
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:56,960
Speaker 1: were just a few minutes away from the border, and

383
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,560
Speaker 1: almost as far as an automobile could take them. Soon

384
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:01,840
Speaker 1: they'd up in the town of Franklin, right on the

385
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,159
Speaker 1: border of the UCS, and she'd meet the men who

386
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:06,160
Speaker 1: would help her on the next stage of her journey.

387
00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,320
Speaker 1: The main border stations are blanketed with cameras, Brother Andrew said,

388
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,040
Speaker 1: but we're right in the thick of the Blue Ridge

389
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,639
Speaker 1: mountains here. They can't watch every inch of them. We

390
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,040
Speaker 1: have some coyotes here who know where the holes are.

391
00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:21,159
Speaker 1: One of them will spirit you across coyotes, Sasha asked,

392
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,120
Speaker 1: it's an old term, he said, A coyote is someone

393
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,840
Speaker 1: who helps smuggle people across national borders. Usually the phrase

394
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:31,520
Speaker 1: has somewhat mercenary connotations. But the men we work with,

395
00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,520
Speaker 1: our true believers, soldiers in the Army of God. You

396
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,880
Speaker 1: needn't fear, miss Marian. A few minutes later, they rolled

397
00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,480
Speaker 1: into Franklin. She'd never heard of the place before, but

398
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,640
Speaker 1: a quick look around told her most of what she'd

399
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,480
Speaker 1: needed to know. Most of the buildings were empty, The

400
00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,520
Speaker 1: storefronts were boarded up. The city hall was in disrepair,

401
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,680
Speaker 1: and the skeleton of a once mighty Walmart supercenter dominated

402
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,520
Speaker 1: the south side of town. There was clear fire damage

403
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,480
Speaker 1: around its roof and entrances. Twenty or so years ago,

404
00:20:57,680 --> 00:20:59,800
Speaker 1: when the Civil War had been at its height, Franklin

405
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,560
Speaker 1: had swollen with refugees. When the war had ended, the

406
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,160
Speaker 1: refugees had gone elsewhere, and the city had been left

407
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:09,160
Speaker 1: gutted and exhausted in their absence. The car stopped outside

408
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,480
Speaker 1: of a public park. Sasha noticed that the grass was overgrown,

409
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,320
Speaker 1: and the sidewalks around it were cracked and broken. She

410
00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,200
Speaker 1: shared a quick prayer with brothers Andrew and Brian, then

411
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,360
Speaker 1: they bid her farewell. The car pulled away and Sasha

412
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:23,879
Speaker 1: was alone. She'd been told to find a park bench

413
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 1: and wait just a few minutes, so that's what she did.

414
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,080
Speaker 1: A few minutes turned into ten, then fifteen, then twenty.

415
00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,520
Speaker 1: Sasha began to worry again. That was when she really

416
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,240
Speaker 1: started to miss her deck. Normally, she'd have been able

417
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,640
Speaker 1: to catch up on the latest news from Zion, read

418
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 1: one of her favorite issues of Revelator, and maybe even

419
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,040
Speaker 1: touch base with Alexander. Without it, she only had the

420
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,120
Speaker 1: throbbing pain in her head to keep her occupied. Sasha's

421
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,960
Speaker 1: mind wandered to the rolling mountains on the horizon. She'd

422
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,320
Speaker 1: never spent so much as a night out camping before.

423
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,520
Speaker 1: The wildest animal she'd ever seen was a squirrel, and

424
00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,639
Speaker 1: there aren't bears out there. That scared her more than

425
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 1: the price spect of being arrested, or even the fear

426
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,159
Speaker 1: of what might happen to her nearer to the fighting.

427
00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 1: Dying alone in a drone strike or from a sniper's

428
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: bullet would be quick and expected, given where she was going.

429
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,400
Speaker 1: She'd spent a lot of time thinking about dying from

430
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,679
Speaker 1: sudden violence. It had acquired a patina of romance in

431
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,359
Speaker 1: her mind's eye. But dying on some mountain to a

432
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,080
Speaker 1: slavering monster from another age. Sasha shuddered, seized by a

433
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,520
Speaker 1: chill entirely at odds with the extreme heat of this

434
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 1: August day, it was a hundred and nine at least.

435
00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:29,879
Speaker 1: Sasha rooted through her bag and pulled out a small

436
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 1: leather bound bible she'd received as a Christmas gift from

437
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,360
Speaker 1: her dad two years ago. She opened it at random

438
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 1: and found herself in the Book of Jonah. In my distress,

439
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:40,960
Speaker 1: I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From

440
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: deep in the realm of the dead, I called for help,

441
00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,560
Speaker 1: and you listened to my cry. She read on through

442
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:48,959
Speaker 1: the rest of Jonah's cries to the wail vomiting him

443
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,199
Speaker 1: up on to the shores near Nineveh. The word of

444
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,040
Speaker 1: God calmed her. She grew so engrossed in her scripture

445
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,640
Speaker 1: that she was taken completely by surprise when the coyote

446
00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,399
Speaker 1: found her on the park bench. Miss marian a man's voice,

447
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:03,359
Speaker 1: weathered and gravelly, said from behind her, you'd serve us

448
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,000
Speaker 1: both wail by putting that book away. This is not

449
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,760
Speaker 1: a safe place. She looked up the coyote. He was

450
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,399
Speaker 1: older than she'd expected, in his mid forties at least.

451
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,200
Speaker 1: He had a mop of greasy blonde hair, a round face,

452
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:17,800
Speaker 1: kind blue eyes, and a slight paunch that spoke more

453
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 1: to his age than an activity. He had thick biceps

454
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,960
Speaker 1: and forearms that bulged with corded muscle. His thighs were

455
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:25,879
Speaker 1: large too. He had the look of a man who

456
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,840
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time on his feet. Mister, she

457
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 1: asked Jonah. He said, you can call me Jonah. And

458
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,080
Speaker 1: again the knots and her stomach melted away. She rejoiced

459
00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:38,920
Speaker 1: inside over and over. Her faith had flagged, and over

460
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 1: and over the Lord had sent her signs of his

461
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:43,919
Speaker 1: love and approval. That's what trusting and reason gets you.

462
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,720
Speaker 1: She had modished herself fear and pain. God is watching

463
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:51,240
Speaker 1: out for me. Her childish fear of bears faded away. Suddenly,

464
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,879
Speaker 1: the world and her future felt bright and exciting again.

465
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 1: After years of delay, she was finally on the doorstep

466
00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 1: of Zion. Jonah, I'm ready to go, Julie, the way

467
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,840
Speaker 1: and I will follow it. Took about an hour for

468
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 1: Sasha to decide that she liked camping, and then two

469
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 1: more hours to decide that she never wanted to camp

470
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:11,400
Speaker 1: ever again. By the time they stopped for the night,

471
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 1: she'd gouged herself open on half a dozen different tree branches,

472
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,360
Speaker 1: smashed her left toe into a rock, and somehow managed

473
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: to draw every allergin on the East coast into her nose.

474
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,919
Speaker 1: The headaches from her improvised surgery and her throbbing sinuses

475
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,399
Speaker 1: warred for dominance. She couldn't sleep, food had no taste,

476
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 1: and her hands were too grubby and generally snotty to

477
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 1: allow her to read the Bible. Jonah was not as

478
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,560
Speaker 1: talkative as brother Andrew. He'd given her a brief rundown

479
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: of things to avoid out in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

480
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,159
Speaker 1: He'd told her how to recognize timber rattlers, diamondbacks, and

481
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,880
Speaker 1: copper heads, although for some reason she had much more

482
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,680
Speaker 1: trouble retaining that information than she'd had memorizing the Pythagorean

483
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,960
Speaker 1: theorem or the date and importance of the Battle of Hastings.

484
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 1: She was supposed to watch for pointy heads. She knew that,

485
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 1: but every time a snake slithered past her. It moved

486
00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:58,879
Speaker 1: way too fast for her to tell the shape of

487
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 1: its head. Other than that quick lecture and a few

488
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 1: admonishments for her to step lightly, Jonah hadn't said much.

489
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 1: He'd given her food each night, protein bars and nuts. Mostly.

490
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:10,359
Speaker 1: He'd been kind enough to let her snuggle with the

491
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 1: heated blanket he'd brought along. She knew she'd gotten snot

492
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 1: on it, but he never complained. When they settled into

493
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,720
Speaker 1: camp on the second night, Sasha was surprised to see

494
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,119
Speaker 1: her coyote start to gather wood and build a fire.

495
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,440
Speaker 1: He laughed when he saw the dumbfounded look on Sasha's face.

496
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,080
Speaker 1: He pulled out a small yellow bottle of lighter fluid,

497
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 1: squirted it onto the wood, and then lit the edge

498
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 1: of it with his lighter. The fire leapt to life,

499
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:33,960
Speaker 1: burning away at the pine needles until they caught the

500
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 1: smaller sticks and limbs stacked round in a small box. Next,

501
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 1: he pulled two silver pouches out of his backpack and

502
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 1: handed them to her. The labels informed her that one

503
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:46,440
Speaker 1: contained chicken and dumplings, and the other macaronian cheese. Her

504
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 1: mouth was watering before the first and tonight miss Marian,

505
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:52,640
Speaker 1: you get a fire and a hot meal. We're over

506
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: the line. And that was how Sasha learned she'd crossed

507
00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: the border into the United Christian States. She had successfully

508
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,360
Speaker 1: fled her cut tree and the secular rule of law entirely.

509
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 1: The u c S wasn't a true godly state, not

510
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,639
Speaker 1: by her standards. It's multidenominational acceptance was a denial of

511
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,880
Speaker 1: the harsh truth of God's love. Not everyone who called

512
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,400
Speaker 1: themselves a Christian truly lived in such a way as

513
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 1: to earn God's gift of salvation. But just being in

514
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: a country that acknowledged the primacy of God Almighty in

515
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 1: their law and public policy was enough. For now. There's

516
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 1: no abortion here, she thought with awe. No atheists on

517
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,639
Speaker 1: television mocking the Lord no callow acceptance of premarital sex.

518
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 1: She felt a thrill at being in a place that

519
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: was so much closer to her conception of right. It

520
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,360
Speaker 1: didn't even matter that she was still stuck in the woods. Jonah,

521
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 1: she asked, do you live here most of the time? Yes.

522
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: He had a quiet, soulful voice that made him seem

523
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,600
Speaker 1: even older than he looked. What made you decide to

524
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,480
Speaker 1: start smuggling people out of the am fed, she stared

525
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: into the tree line as his hands stuffed thin sticks

526
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,720
Speaker 1: into the base of the growing fire. Sasha watched his

527
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: jaw clinch and unclinched, as if he was mentally rehearsing

528
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:03,879
Speaker 1: his response before he set it out loud as a

529
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,400
Speaker 1: United States armor arranger. Once been a Christian. My whole life,

530
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,239
Speaker 1: though Southern Baptist, grew up in a country just as

531
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:12,840
Speaker 1: lost to sin and vice as yours is. And when

532
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 1: the fighting started, I saw an opportunity to bring my

533
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 1: nation back to its godly roots. Hands emptied, Jonah rooted

534
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: around his bag and pulled out a kettle. He filled

535
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:23,920
Speaker 1: it with water from a heavy fabric bag and placed

536
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 1: it on a flat rock near the edge of the fire.

537
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 1: Then he stood up, gestured for her to follow, and

538
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 1: walked over to a nearby copse of trees. I joined

539
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 1: a local militian Marietta near Atlanta. He said, most of

540
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: us are Vettes, like me, anither Baptist or Pentecostal. He

541
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: crouched down next to a tree that had been cracked

542
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: in half by lightning. It was dead and very dry.

543
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 1: The ground around it was littered with tree limbs and

544
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,639
Speaker 1: thick slabs of bark. He started gathering up some of

545
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 1: the larger pieces. Mom, get down are and elk. Some

546
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 1: of these are a little damp, but we'll stick em

547
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,320
Speaker 1: around the edges to dry out. Most important thing right

548
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,200
Speaker 1: now is to get some middle in size logs in

549
00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 1: there so we can build up a little bit of coals.

550
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,000
Speaker 1: Sasha wiped a runnel of snot from her face and

551
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 1: knelt down to help. Jonah continued his story while they

552
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: filled their arms. Anyway, things heated up. The army started

553
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 1: calling in their deep reserves guys. Lack maidman out for

554
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,440
Speaker 1: Daggham near a decade that was after the FIDS nuke

555
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: Dallas so Go an active duty again didn't sound good

556
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,360
Speaker 1: to anyone. He lifted away a fallen limb and revealed

557
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: a massive log, roughly the size of Sasha's torso. Jonah

558
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 1: shifted everything he'd gathered over to his right arm, and

559
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 1: then after the law with one hand, he nodded at

560
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,640
Speaker 1: Sasha's much smaller pile. We've probably got enough, he said.

561
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: They headed back to the camp site. She could see

562
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,360
Speaker 1: Jonah was doing that twitchy jaw thing again, thinking carefully

563
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 1: about every word I grew up real patriotic, you understand.

564
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 1: I love my country, fought for it down south. But

565
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,160
Speaker 1: I also grew up with a Confederate flag on the

566
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: back of my dad's truck. I wasn't on board with

567
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,120
Speaker 1: those Marxist who started the Civil War. So when Governor

568
00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 1: Galen had his referendum on secession, well, I fell right.

569
00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 1: I was on board with the U c s back

570
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: before it was even born. They sat around the fire again.

571
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,040
Speaker 1: Jonah started to add in larger branches. He slowly built

572
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,040
Speaker 1: the fire in a U shape around the flat stone. Now,

573
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: it is never a fanatic when a church most Sundays,

574
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,440
Speaker 1: but I had jew neighbors, a couple of Muslims in

575
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: the unit. Good guys, wasn't real political, you know. But

576
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,000
Speaker 1: Pastor Elgin's gave a speech only time I saw him

577
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:19,280
Speaker 1: in person. He said, diversity wasn't making us strong anymore.

578
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 1: A melting pots all well and good, but the quality

579
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: of the soup depends on the recipe. That made sense

580
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 1: to me. He sat back, popped the kettle onto the rock,

581
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 1: and looked over to Sasha. The idea was a Christian

582
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,960
Speaker 1: recipe would make for a stronger nation, But the U

583
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: c S wound up being a dag unprosperity gospel pile

584
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 1: of nonsense better in the Amphid. Sure, maybe we've got

585
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,600
Speaker 1: less queer politicians, less rich Jews running things, but it's

586
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,280
Speaker 1: still corrupt here. Sasha wasn't really sure how to handle

587
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 1: this disclosure. She'd run into similar attitudes among believers online,

588
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: uncomfortable references to Jewish gay or gay Jewish conspiracies. That

589
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 1: sort of nonsense had always gotten on her nerves, but

590
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: she'd written its purveyor's office edge lords and trolls. Part

591
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 1: of her thought they might be CIA plants hell bent

592
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 1: on making the Kingdom look bad, but she knew they

593
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 1: didn't speak for the actual heart of the movement. Sasha

594
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,680
Speaker 1: wanted to speak up, but she held her tongue. The

595
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: fact that Jonah had been nothing but kind and respectful

596
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: to her didn't change the fact that he was twice

597
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 1: her size who knew what he might do if he

598
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,720
Speaker 1: got agitated. Sasha fought for calm and recalled a specific

599
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: passage from Revelator and one of their guides for young

600
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 1: women immigrating to the Kingdom, No daughters, that our Lord

601
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: made your brothers and husbands both strong of body and

602
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: quick to anger. It is your job to soothe, not

603
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: in sight. And if his wrath falls upon you in

604
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 1: a sudden burst, remember the forgiveness and patience of our Lord.

605
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:45,360
Speaker 1: Let his example guide your reactions. So she smiled at

606
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 1: Jonah and said, tonight, I'm happy enough to be in

607
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: a godly land. He smiled back. Sasha hoped God was

608
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 1: proud of her for being meek as Mary. When she

609
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 1: thought about it that way, the rest of the night

610
00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: was surprisingly tolerable. The food wasn't good by her normal standards,

611
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: but it was hot and savory, and after days of

612
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 1: protein bars, it was exactly what her suffering stomach needed.

613
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,400
Speaker 1: Sasha wasn't aware of when she drifted off to sleep.

614
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,920
Speaker 1: Jonah woke her up the next morning, not long after

615
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:13,920
Speaker 1: the crack of dawn. He handed her a box of

616
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 1: wet napkins and walked off into the woods for a

617
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,800
Speaker 1: few minutes while she cleaned herself off as much as possible.

618
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 1: When she was done, he led her down the mountain

619
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 1: and into a small town on the border. It was

620
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 1: Sasha's first real look at life in the UCS, and

621
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: it did not disappoint. In the twenty or so minutes

622
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: they were outside, she saw nine churches. There were crosses

623
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,280
Speaker 1: on every house in a dizzying variety. She saw Bible

624
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 1: quotes printed on windows of shops and cafes, and the

625
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 1: strangers who passed them in the street all flashed warm

626
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 1: smiles if you offered their blessings. Sasha had never seen

627
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 1: such public display of religion. She floated through those first

628
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 1: few minutes on a cloud of giddiness, unlike anything she'd

629
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: ever known. The architecture and the environment were similar to

630
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,479
Speaker 1: what she'd grown up with, but everything else seemed alien

631
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: and the most exciting way possible. Sasha felt so light

632
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: she did almost feel the whole spirit lift her up.

633
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 1: Her gleeful reverie only ended when Jonah led her up

634
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 1: to the door of an unassuming brownstone house. They were

635
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 1: taken in by another man, whom Jonah had introduced, a Saul.

636
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 1: Saul looked a little younger and a lot less weathered

637
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 1: than Jonah. He had the thin arms and stooped posture

638
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,400
Speaker 1: of a lifelong scholar, and his conservative, button up white

639
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 1: shirt made him look more like a youth pastor than

640
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 1: a people smuggler. Welcome sister, he smiled, but his voice

641
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 1: was more haggard than warm. You want to get inside, please,

642
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: There's no sense tempting the law. Saul's house was packed

643
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 1: to the rafters with toilet paper, jugs of water, bends

644
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,640
Speaker 1: of freeze, dried food, and bags upon bags of clothing.

645
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: The house had almost no furniture and no decorations aside

646
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 1: from a large wooden cross above the hearth. There were

647
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: a couple of stools arranged around a crate on the ground,

648
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 1: which seemed to have served as an improvised coffee table.

649
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: Saul sat them down, left for a moment, and came

650
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: back with a hot French press filled with coffee. I'd

651
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 1: suggest drinking your fill. It's hard to come by in

652
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,520
Speaker 1: the Kingdom right now, most things are. I'm afraid. I'm

653
00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 1: not scared of hardship, She said a little too loud.

654
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 1: You sound like a little kid. Keep your stupid mouth shut,

655
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 1: or they'll think you can't handle it. Saul was conspicuously silent,

656
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 1: but Jonah spoke up. She handle yourself well out in

657
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 1: the woods, he said, not bad for a city girl.

658
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:15,600
Speaker 1: Didn't have a lott of woodcraft, but did have an

659
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: open heart. He took well to it. Ma'am Saul chuckled

660
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 1: as he began to pour in hand out cups of coffee,

661
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 1: first to her and then to Jonah. Sasha wasn't entirely

662
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: sure why, but she waited until both men had taken

663
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,480
Speaker 1: their first SIPs to take hers. She didn't know much

664
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 1: about coffee, but she was pretty sure this wasn't the

665
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,000
Speaker 1: beverage at its best. Would you like to pray with us,

666
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: miss Marian, Saul asked, Of course. He extended his hands

667
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 1: out on either side, so did Jonah. Sasha took Saul's

668
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,520
Speaker 1: left in Jonah's right. Heavenly Father, Saul began, bless this

669
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 1: young woman who comes to you with a full heart

670
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,720
Speaker 1: from a land of sin and shirk. She's given up

671
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,560
Speaker 1: all pretense of control and yielded herself fully to your grace. Lord,

672
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: Please guide her in this next journey. We pray that

673
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,080
Speaker 1: she makes it safely to your kingdom and in to

674
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 1: the arms of her husband to be. Sasha almost paid.

675
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 1: Where did he hear that she and Alexander hadn't even

676
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: met yet, There'd been no proposal. Was he just speaking

677
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 1: in the general hope that she'd get married, or had

678
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 1: Alexander told him something? May she obey him as she

679
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,360
Speaker 1: does you, Heavenly Father, And may you quicken her womb

680
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,680
Speaker 1: like Rachel, so that she delivers a new Joseph to

681
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:23,880
Speaker 1: our cause. That didn't sit well either. Sasha wanted children

682
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,200
Speaker 1: very badly. She knew they were in her future, but

683
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,280
Speaker 1: not now, certainly not soon enough that she'd be praying

684
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 1: for them already. She was grateful that they had their

685
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 1: heads a bowed in prayer. If any of this had

686
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 1: come up in conversation first, she was sure she'd have

687
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: reacted an obvious shock. But Sasha calmed herself, thought of

688
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 1: her duty to God, and centered her mind just as

689
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: the prayer ended. And may I say, my lady, it

690
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 1: is a brave thing you're doing, Sasha said, as he

691
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 1: reached for his cup and took another sip. Even here

692
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 1: in God's country, not many are willing to answer the call.

693
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,440
Speaker 1: Oh sure, they'll all tell you it's the drone strikes

694
00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,360
Speaker 1: that scare them. I can do more good by working

695
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,800
Speaker 1: my job and sending money, as if the Lord asked

696
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,439
Speaker 1: Abraham to sacrifice a bag of gold in his name.

697
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 1: Saul kept talking, but Sasha's attention drifted the spot on

698
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 1: her head where the deck had been itched. All of

699
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 1: a sudden, she scratched it, and for the second time

700
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,319
Speaker 1: she found herself truly missing the gadget. If she had

701
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 1: her deck, she could call Alexander and find out what

702
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:20,359
Speaker 1: was going on, But instead she just squirmed a little

703
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,400
Speaker 1: in her chair and hoped the men didn't notice how

704
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 1: uncomfortable she'd become. Miss Marian, You all right, Jonah had noticed,

705
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,600
Speaker 1: of course he had. Sasha cursed herself, and then cursed

706
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 1: herself again for cursing. Yes, sorry, I'm kind of tired,

707
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: even with the coffee, and I'm um worried about my

708
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: friend in the Kingdom. She definitely stretched the word friend

709
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,319
Speaker 1: too much. Do you think I'll be able to find

710
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:42,960
Speaker 1: a deck once I'm there? I've heard a lot of

711
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,759
Speaker 1: different ma'am. That was Saul, and his voice had no

712
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 1: more feigned mirth. You're about to be smuggled illegally across

713
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,800
Speaker 1: a heavily fortified border. There are all sorts of worldly

714
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,719
Speaker 1: goods in the Heavenly Kingdom were not poppers or savages.

715
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,120
Speaker 1: But as to whether you'll get a deck, well, that

716
00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,920
Speaker 1: rather depends on what our Lord wants for you. Sasha

717
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 1: lowered her head a little in submission. There wasn't the

718
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,200
Speaker 1: time to press further. Maybe that time would never come.

719
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 1: You knew there'd be sacrifices, she reminded herself. How are

720
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 1: you going to smuggle me across the border? She asked.

721
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:14,759
Speaker 1: Saul finished his coffee and set his mug down on

722
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:18,359
Speaker 1: the makeshift table. I'll show you, he said. He let

723
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,360
Speaker 1: her pass the living room and into a spacious and

724
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: very chilly garage. There, a trio of workers with face

725
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: masks were busy sealing up large crates of unfinished wood.

726
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,280
Speaker 1: She couldn't quite make out the words stamped on the sides,

727
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:33,239
Speaker 1: but the blocky font looked military. There was a time

728
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,320
Speaker 1: when it was easy enough to sneak the faithful across

729
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,799
Speaker 1: on foot, Saul explained, but international concerns have forced the

730
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 1: government to take a rather hard line. I'm afraid this

731
00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 1: is the best way to get across the border. Wait.

732
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:46,799
Speaker 1: Sasha's gut went sour. She felt the acid in her

733
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,640
Speaker 1: stomach churn a greasy boil. Are you trying to tell

734
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: me I'm going to be nailed inside a crate? Saul's

735
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,719
Speaker 1: face turned. There was no pretense anymore. He was disgusted

736
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,680
Speaker 1: with her. Sasha didn't really know why. All she'd done

737
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:01,440
Speaker 1: was asked questions. But then Jonah was there with a

738
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,120
Speaker 1: hand on Saul's shoulder and a calm voice in her ear.

739
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,760
Speaker 1: Think of this as a blessing, said Jonah. Most people

740
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 1: never test the blind part of blind faith. He was right,

741
00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,720
Speaker 1: darn it, and there was something freeing in the idea

742
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,280
Speaker 1: of just giving herself up to Providence. She'd done everything

743
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,560
Speaker 1: God had asked of her. Now he would either deliver

744
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,719
Speaker 1: her desire on or the arms of the law. Either way,

745
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 1: she'd done everything she could to obey the call of

746
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:27,759
Speaker 1: her faith. All the little sins of her life, the

747
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,560
Speaker 1: cursing and the anger, and those dark, gnawing desires she

748
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 1: still struggled to tamp down. Those would all be forgiven.

749
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:36,720
Speaker 1: She was truly giving herself to Christ now, so nothing

750
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 1: else mattered. You're right, she said, I'm sorry, I questioned it.

751
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,840
Speaker 1: I'll do whatever it takes to reach the heavenly kingdom.

752
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: She took another hard look at the cramped wooden box

753
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 1: and the piles of aid supplies surrounding it. How was

754
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:57,600
Speaker 1: she going to fit in there? Whatever it takes. Hi,

755
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 1: I'm Robert sex Reese, host to the doctor Sex re Show,

756
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:04,839
Speaker 1: and every episode I listened to people talk about their

757
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,760
Speaker 1: sex and intimacy issues, and yes, I despise every minute

758
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,680
Speaker 1: of it. And she she made mistakes too, She kill

759
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 1: everyone at her wedding. But hell is real. We're all

760
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 1: trapped here and there's nothing any of us can do

761
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 1: about it. So join me, won't you? Listen to The

762
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:23,839
Speaker 1: Doctor Sex re Show every Tuesday on the I Heart

763
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,279
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

764
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 1: I'm Colleen with Join me the host of Eating Wall

765
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,120
Speaker 1: Broke podcast while I eat a meal created by self

766
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:38,080
Speaker 1: made entrepreneurs, influencers, and celebrities over a meal they once

767
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,320
Speaker 1: ate when they were broke. Today I have the lovely

768
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:45,920
Speaker 1: AJ Crimson, the official Princess of comfin Asia, Kidding and Asia.

769
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,520
Speaker 1: This is the professor. We're here on Eating Wall Broke,

770
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,279
Speaker 1: and today I'm gonna break down my meal that got

771
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,759
Speaker 1: me through a time when I was broken. Listen to

772
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,360
Speaker 1: Eating Wall Broke on the I Heart Radio app, on

773
00:38:56,440 --> 00:39:00,440
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure

774
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 1: to check out Drink Champs, your number one music podcast

775
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:05,880
Speaker 1: on the Black Effect Podcast Network host n O r

776
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:07,719
Speaker 1: E and d J E f N Sat down with

777
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:11,680
Speaker 1: artists and icon Yea, which Vulture called one of most

778
00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:15,719
Speaker 1: significant interviews. I literally had to go like Danos, and

779
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:17,400
Speaker 1: I don't want to have to be the villain. But

780
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 1: when I went and did the Donda thing, he returned

781
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: and anybody had to sit back and watch the real leader.

782
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 1: Check out Drink Champs conversation with Yea and many more

783
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Speaker 1: legendary artists each and every Friday on the I Heart

784
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,880
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcast, or where ever you listen to

785
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Chapter seven. Manny Manny was used to war.

786
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:46,600
Speaker 1: He wasn't quite as used to being on the losing

787
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: side of one. As chaotic as things gotten, his guys

788
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 1: had always held the upper hand, Manny had come to

789
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 1: expect safe supply lines and reliable transport to and from

790
00:39:56,520 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: the battlefield. During past defensives, the martyrs hadn't control the skies.

791
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: His first hint that this had changed came when the

792
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 1: fifty caliber machine gun atop their transport fired into the sky.

793
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: It was soon joined by the echoing boom of the

794
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 1: lead vehicle's twenty millimeter cannon and a sparking whoosh as

795
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:16,600
Speaker 1: anti drone rockets arched up into the sky. Nuts Reggie

796
00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,560
Speaker 1: yelped as the gunfire jolted him awake. He drifted off

797
00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:22,280
Speaker 1: a half hour or so into the ride, Manny grabbed

798
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:24,479
Speaker 1: onto him and looped his own legs around the bench

799
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:27,719
Speaker 1: for stability. An instant later, the transport veered off of

800
00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:30,240
Speaker 1: the road and into the high grass surrounding the highway.

801
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:32,600
Speaker 1: There was a flash somewhere to the left, followed by

802
00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 1: the roar and heat of an explosion. When Mannie looked back,

803
00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:37,840
Speaker 1: he saw the smoldering wreckage of one of their escort

804
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 1: vehicles drones. He shouted into the journalist's gear over the

805
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: blistering gunfire. Mannie scanned the skies as their transport plowed

806
00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:48,520
Speaker 1: through the tall grass. Wounded soldiers screamed as the vehicle

807
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 1: banked and bounced and sent them slamming into each other.

808
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:53,439
Speaker 1: He caught sight of a small drone, maybe the size

809
00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 1: of his torso. It was matt black and an almost

810
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,719
Speaker 1: perfect oval. The only break in its seamless form was

811
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:00,960
Speaker 1: the bulge of a missile pod on its belly. A

812
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,560
Speaker 1: red light blinked above the weapon. The drone slowed to

813
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 1: a stop, maybe a hundred feet above them. There wasn't

814
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,120
Speaker 1: time to think. The fixer shoved his journalist hard off

815
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 1: the back of the transport, and then leaped off himself.

816
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 1: He hit the ground with a painful thump that knocked

817
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 1: the air out of his lungs and the scents from

818
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,560
Speaker 1: his mind. For a second, the whole world was stars

819
00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:21,280
Speaker 1: and shock. Man He rolled to a rough stop against

820
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,960
Speaker 1: what felt like a large rock. Something cracked inside his chest,

821
00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 1: and then there was another explosion, this one louder and

822
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:30,920
Speaker 1: closer than the last one. The heat hit him like

823
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: an ocean wave. Many was vaguely aware of the scent

824
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:36,880
Speaker 1: of burning hair, his hair. He cried out, but he

825
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,880
Speaker 1: couldn't hear his own screams. Many's ears rang like the

826
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,640
Speaker 1: inside of a church bell. It was several moments before

827
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 1: the pain and shock subsided enough for him to open

828
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 1: his eyes. He looked down at himself. First, his pajamas

829
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:50,200
Speaker 1: were scorched and his arms were scraped and bloody from

830
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,759
Speaker 1: the fall. His backpack was gone, but there were no

831
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 1: signs of serious injury. None of his bones seemed broken.

832
00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:59,720
Speaker 1: What remained of the transport smoldered half a football field away.

833
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:03,640
Speaker 1: He saw a few writhing, burning shapes inside Manny's stomach

834
00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 1: turned Reggie. The pain of the fall head momentarily wiped

835
00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:10,960
Speaker 1: the journalist from his mind. Mannie scanned the field and

836
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,319
Speaker 1: found the other man curled into a fetal ball a

837
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:15,919
Speaker 1: dozen or so feet to his left. He ran over,

838
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:18,800
Speaker 1: gave the journalist a quick scan, and determined Reggie wasn't

839
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:22,280
Speaker 1: seriously injured either. A small slipper of shrapnel had pierced

840
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,759
Speaker 1: the other man's bicep. He was just as scraped and

841
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:28,239
Speaker 1: bloody as Manny, but also basically intact, except his eyes

842
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 1: didn't quite focus when Mannie looked into them. Maybe a

843
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,319
Speaker 1: minor head injury. The journalist said something, a lot of

844
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,759
Speaker 1: somethings in fact, but Mannie's hearing was altenitas. There was

845
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,360
Speaker 1: no time to talk anyway. He hoisted Reggie up by

846
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:43,279
Speaker 1: the arm pits, ignored the other man's pained expression, and

847
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:45,360
Speaker 1: pulled him along. As he beat feet away from the

848
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,840
Speaker 1: flaming wreckage in the ongoing firefight, Another blast wave of

849
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 1: rolled over him, this one more distant, and then another

850
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,600
Speaker 1: coming from somewhere above them in the sky. The extent

851
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,799
Speaker 1: of their injuries meant that their run was more like

852
00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 1: a hobble. Reggie had dislocated his unshrapnelled arm. Manny had

853
00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 1: fucked his knee up in the fall and done something

854
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 1: awful to his ribs. The two stumble staggered as fast

855
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:08,520
Speaker 1: as they could manage towards an abandoned gas station by

856
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:11,280
Speaker 1: the side of the old highway. They reached their temporary

857
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:15,840
Speaker 1: salvation and took cover inside the dusty, cobwebbed building. Cut cut, cut, cut, cut.

858
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,319
Speaker 1: Reggie screamed as he slumped down against the wall. It

859
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:20,360
Speaker 1: took Manny a second to process the fact that he

860
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,400
Speaker 1: could hear again. You're all right, he shouted, You're fine,

861
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:26,600
Speaker 1: We're going to be okay. Manny had no idea if

862
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:28,799
Speaker 1: that was true, but he knew managing fear would be

863
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:32,160
Speaker 1: critical to their survival. The gas station had been abandoned

864
00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:34,440
Speaker 1: for a decade or more. Most of the glass was gone,

865
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,240
Speaker 1: but the basic structure of the inside counter was still intact.

866
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:39,960
Speaker 1: He and Reggie took cover behind it, careful to avoid

867
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 1: the piles of shattered glass and shrapnel. There were old

868
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:44,960
Speaker 1: bullet holes in the wall all around them. At one time,

869
00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:47,200
Speaker 1: there'd been a plexi glass window on the inside wall

870
00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:49,040
Speaker 1: behind the counter, with a little bucket in it, so

871
00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 1: the cashier could do business at night without letting customers inside.

872
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:55,320
Speaker 1: Most of the plexiglass had been removed, leaving a gaping

873
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:58,279
Speaker 1: wound in the building's concrete hide. Manny stuck his head

874
00:43:58,320 --> 00:43:59,879
Speaker 1: out of the hole and looked out at the side

875
00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:03,040
Speaker 1: of the massacre. Both transports had been hit. Much of

876
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:05,400
Speaker 1: the field was a flame. The six sweet smell of

877
00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:08,120
Speaker 1: burning human flesh wafted over them like a dense fog.

878
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:11,200
Speaker 1: Many saw two of the escort trucks still firing into

879
00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:13,600
Speaker 1: the sky. There was another flash above as one of

880
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:15,839
Speaker 1: them hit a drone. It corkscrewed out of the air,

881
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 1: burst on the ground and ignited the dry grass. What

882
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:21,800
Speaker 1: the funk do we do, Reggie shout asked. There was

883
00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:23,879
Speaker 1: panic in his voice and quite a lot of pain,

884
00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:26,480
Speaker 1: but the journalist didn't seem to have lost his wits.

885
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:28,920
Speaker 1: We need to get out of here, Manny said, Well,

886
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:32,080
Speaker 1: those drones are still occupied. The highway was a couple

887
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:35,000
Speaker 1: of hundred feet away. The civilian vehicles following them had

888
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,760
Speaker 1: scattered when the attack began. Some of them had clearly

889
00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:40,000
Speaker 1: been hit by machine gun fire from one of the drones.

890
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,960
Speaker 1: Others had crashed, rolled into ditches and been abandoned by

891
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:46,640
Speaker 1: their occupants. Many spotted one, an ancient white jeep that

892
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:48,960
Speaker 1: looked like it had taken around Through the window. He

893
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:51,480
Speaker 1: could see blood inside the vehicle, but the engine and

894
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:54,400
Speaker 1: wheels seemed intact. The tree line of a sparse forest

895
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,239
Speaker 1: was just on the other side of the highway, a

896
00:44:56,239 --> 00:44:59,440
Speaker 1: half mile away. If they could reach it, Reggie, he

897
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:01,719
Speaker 1: put a hand on the journalist's shoulder. The two men

898
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:03,759
Speaker 1: locked eyes, and many tried to force all the fear

899
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,200
Speaker 1: out of his voice. When I say so, run very fast,

900
00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:10,560
Speaker 1: straight towards that white jeep. Understood the brit brought a

901
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:13,399
Speaker 1: hand to his dislocated shoulder and winced in intense pain,

902
00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:15,440
Speaker 1: but then looked back to Manny and let out a

903
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 1: sharp sigh. Fucking all right, shit yeah. Manny took that

904
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:21,920
Speaker 1: as a yes. He glanced back at the firefight in

905
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:25,120
Speaker 1: the field. The fire part was literal. Now at least

906
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:27,360
Speaker 1: a full acre was a flame. The smoke seemed to

907
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:30,200
Speaker 1: have interfered with the drone sensors. That was probably the

908
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,960
Speaker 1: only reason their last two escorts had stayed unfucked for

909
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,120
Speaker 1: so long. Manny watched in horror as a large beetle

910
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:38,360
Speaker 1: black drone buzzed down low and opened up with a

911
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,080
Speaker 1: machine gun. He saw bursts of red as the rounds

912
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:43,360
Speaker 1: tore into the escorts gunner and flung him off the

913
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:47,360
Speaker 1: truck's bed. Time to go, Manny slapped Reggie's uninjured shoulder

914
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:50,400
Speaker 1: and sprinted as fast as his jankie ankle could carry him.

915
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:53,480
Speaker 1: It was increasingly obvious that his leg was supremely fucked.

916
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:55,920
Speaker 1: The middle of Manny's back itched the whole run in

917
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,440
Speaker 1: anticipation of a bullet. That peculiar sense was even louder

918
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,560
Speaker 1: than the pain. They reached the jeep, Manny went for

919
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:05,200
Speaker 1: the driver's side door, pulled it open, and jerked back

920
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,800
Speaker 1: as the soupy remains of a pulped human being oozed

921
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:10,680
Speaker 1: out onto the asphalt. He heard Reggie start to wretch

922
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,960
Speaker 1: behind him. It was fucked in there for sure. The

923
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:15,960
Speaker 1: man he was sort of sure it had been a man,

924
00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 1: had taken a couple of rounds from a very large weapon.

925
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,479
Speaker 1: Many guessed they'd been fifty caliber mass reactive bolts because

926
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,160
Speaker 1: the impact had torn the man apart. He wasn't sure

927
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,640
Speaker 1: if additional rounds or bone shrapnel had hit the two

928
00:46:27,719 --> 00:46:30,959
Speaker 1: kids in the back seat, but they were all exceptionally dead.

929
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:33,640
Speaker 1: Many pulled his shirt off and did his best to

930
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:35,920
Speaker 1: wipe the corpse from as much of the seat as possible.

931
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:38,960
Speaker 1: He hopped in and glanced over to the journalist. Reggie

932
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:42,040
Speaker 1: wretched outside, Hey, get the funk in, We don't got all.

933
00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 1: A concussive blast echoed from the field. That was one

934
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:48,160
Speaker 1: more escort down. The fight was as good as over.

935
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:50,440
Speaker 1: Many felt a tinge of panic rise up in the

936
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:54,279
Speaker 1: base of his spine. Reggie still hesitated. Dude, either deal

937
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:56,319
Speaker 1: with some gore in your clothes or stay here and die.

938
00:46:56,520 --> 00:46:58,960
Speaker 1: Your choice. The Brits snapped out of it, went for

939
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,560
Speaker 1: the passenger door and hopped inside. Manny wasn't a great driver,

940
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:04,800
Speaker 1: or even a very good one, but this was a

941
00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:07,200
Speaker 1: simple vehicle and he was blessed with the motivation of

942
00:47:07,239 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 1: not wanting to die. He turned the car back on

943
00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:12,360
Speaker 1: and the engine woke up with a rich electronic hum.

944
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,880
Speaker 1: The fixer flipped the vehicle into drive and gunned for

945
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:17,759
Speaker 1: the tree line. The jeep bounced and swayed over the

946
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 1: lumpy grassland terrain. Reggie puked out the window. Manny felt

947
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 1: nauseous too. He honestly wasn't sure if it was more

948
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:26,680
Speaker 1: for the pieces of people scattered inside the vehicle or

949
00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:31,520
Speaker 1: sheer motion sickness. Fifteen seconds went by, thirty a minute.

950
00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 1: Manny allowed himself to think they might make it out

951
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:38,760
Speaker 1: of this alive. And then he heard the buzz, that sickening,

952
00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:41,480
Speaker 1: familiar machine hum that every war zone kid knew, as

953
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:43,840
Speaker 1: well as the sound of their own mother's voice. A

954
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:47,560
Speaker 1: drone closing in. Manny jerked his head out the window

955
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:49,799
Speaker 1: and scanned the sky. The jeep had a pothole, and

956
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:51,920
Speaker 1: his head slammed to the top of the window frame.

957
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:55,200
Speaker 1: He saw stars and almost lost control of the vehicle entirely.

958
00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:57,600
Speaker 1: It veered to the right and lifted up onto only

959
00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:00,279
Speaker 1: two wheels. He righted the jeep, sput it back to

960
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:01,960
Speaker 1: the left, and gunned it again. As he turned the

961
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:04,320
Speaker 1: other way, he stuck his head out again and scanned

962
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:07,800
Speaker 1: behind them. There it was the black, beadily fucker, buzzing

963
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:09,879
Speaker 1: towards them. It was close enough that he could see

964
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:11,920
Speaker 1: the glint of its camera optics and the barrel of

965
00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:14,840
Speaker 1: the heavy machine guns slung underneath it. Manny knew it

966
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,160
Speaker 1: was picking up speed to compensate for the recoil of

967
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:19,719
Speaker 1: its weapon. It would be low on ammunition. Now would

968
00:48:19,719 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 1: probably wait to fire until it was too close to miss.

969
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:25,480
Speaker 1: The tree line was so near he could almost grab it.

970
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: Another fifteen seconds and they'd be there, But the drone

971
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:31,480
Speaker 1: was close. They didn't have that long. He looked over

972
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:34,279
Speaker 1: to the journalist, get ready to bail, get ready to

973
00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:37,000
Speaker 1: what Manny saw the muzzle flash, and in the same

974
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:39,520
Speaker 1: instant he spun the wheel hard to the right. The

975
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:41,799
Speaker 1: drones first round chunked through the back of the jeep,

976
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:44,440
Speaker 1: cracked the axle, and blew apart the left tire, but

977
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:46,360
Speaker 1: the jeep was in the air. An instant later, it

978
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:48,680
Speaker 1: flipped over like a drunken dolphin, and the rest of

979
00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:51,120
Speaker 1: the drone shots blasted chunks out of the ground where

980
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:53,520
Speaker 1: the jeep would have been. By the end of the burst,

981
00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:55,840
Speaker 1: the recoil had robbed the drone of its momentum and

982
00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:58,320
Speaker 1: brought it to a spinning halt in the sky. The

983
00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 1: jeep rolled twice and bounced Any and Reggie around like

984
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:04,759
Speaker 1: rocks in a tumbler. It hurt, it hurt shiploads, but

985
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,000
Speaker 1: Manny was high enough on adrenaline in fear that he

986
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:10,240
Speaker 1: could almost ignore the pain. Blood streamed from his forehead.

987
00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:13,600
Speaker 1: Something ached terribly between his shoulders. When the jeep came

988
00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:16,040
Speaker 1: to a stop, he was deeply surprised to be alive.

989
00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:19,279
Speaker 1: Let's go, he shouted to Reggie, not even a percent

990
00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:22,160
Speaker 1: sure if the journalist had survived the crash. Many pulled

991
00:49:22,239 --> 00:49:24,320
Speaker 1: himself up out of the open window and then reached

992
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:26,960
Speaker 1: his hands back blind into the jeep While he scanned

993
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:29,720
Speaker 1: the sky around them. He felt reggie small hands gripped

994
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 1: his own. They were wet with sweat, maybe blood probably

995
00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:35,520
Speaker 1: Both Manny squeezed pulled him up. The too hopped down

996
00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:38,480
Speaker 1: quick as they could with their sundry wounds. The drone

997
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 1: had probably veered around and started another loop so it

998
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:43,319
Speaker 1: could build up the speed for one more accurate burst

999
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:45,960
Speaker 1: of fire. Many couldn't quite hear the buzz yet, but

1000
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:48,000
Speaker 1: he couldn't hear much of anything over the sound of

1001
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:50,440
Speaker 1: his pounding heart. Reggie pulled ahead of him in a

1002
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:53,319
Speaker 1: lopsided run. Manny tried to pick up speed, but his

1003
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:58,719
Speaker 1: knee just wouldn't let him. Ah, there it was. He

1004
00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:01,600
Speaker 1: had three, maybe four seckends before that big gun opened

1005
00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:03,800
Speaker 1: up again. The tree line was only about a hundred

1006
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:06,960
Speaker 1: feet away, so close and yet too far for him

1007
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 1: to possibly make it. In time. I really didn't want

1008
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:12,000
Speaker 1: to die here. I was so close to getting out.

1009
00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:14,640
Speaker 1: He thought of a picture he'd seen of the Bavarian Alps,

1010
00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:18,319
Speaker 1: white snow filled valleys and rich pine forests. I'm never

1011
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:21,879
Speaker 1: going to see that or anything else. Reggie looked back

1012
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:24,760
Speaker 1: as he neared the tree line. Many appreciated the gesture.

1013
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:28,120
Speaker 1: It was dumb as fuck, though idiot to run. The

1014
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:31,040
Speaker 1: fixer bellowed at the top of his lungs. The journalist

1015
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:33,800
Speaker 1: didn't hesitate this time. He bolted past the tree line

1016
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:37,200
Speaker 1: and disappeared into the wooded thicket. Manny felt a weight

1017
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:39,719
Speaker 1: lift off his shoulders. He was about to be torn

1018
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 1: apart by some nut fuck martyr with an itchy trigger

1019
00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:45,080
Speaker 1: finger and a joystick. But he'd done his job. He'd

1020
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:49,120
Speaker 1: gotten his journalists to safety. Well not quite safety, he thought,

1021
00:50:49,239 --> 00:50:52,600
Speaker 1: but whatever best I could do under the circumstances. The

1022
00:50:52,680 --> 00:50:55,160
Speaker 1: hum grew louder. Manny tried to coax a little more

1023
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:57,319
Speaker 1: speed out of his wounded leg, even though he knew

1024
00:50:57,320 --> 00:50:59,359
Speaker 1: he was too far away now to make the tree line.

1025
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:01,919
Speaker 1: Even at a head sprint. It would have been nice

1026
00:51:01,920 --> 00:51:06,520
Speaker 1: to see Berlin or Paris. Oh well, he heard the

1027
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:09,239
Speaker 1: thumping sound of heavy gunfire and braced himself for the

1028
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:12,520
Speaker 1: instant of agony that would precede his end. But instead

1029
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,400
Speaker 1: he heard the sound of impact and crunching metal behind him,

1030
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:18,440
Speaker 1: followed by a high pitched mechanical wine. Something heavy and

1031
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:21,239
Speaker 1: black crashed into the ground ahead of him. He made

1032
00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:23,640
Speaker 1: it to the tree line, pushed through the underbrush, got

1033
00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:26,480
Speaker 1: perhaps twenty feet into the woods, and collapsed against a tree.

1034
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:29,040
Speaker 1: For a few seconds, he just let the pain wash

1035
00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:32,240
Speaker 1: over him, his knee, his shoulders. He could feel something

1036
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:34,799
Speaker 1: stuck deep in his back too, maybe a shard of

1037
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:37,280
Speaker 1: glass or some shrapnel. From the start of the firefight.

1038
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 1: He had quite a few deep cuts the trauma nanites

1039
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 1: and his circulatory system had clotted most of them, but

1040
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:45,319
Speaker 1: the deeper one still oozed blood. It was hard to

1041
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,760
Speaker 1: tell just how injured he really was, since his body

1042
00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:50,120
Speaker 1: was also covered in blood and viscira from the jeep's

1043
00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:54,920
Speaker 1: previous occupants. Espera, He thought, how am I alive? His

1044
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:58,200
Speaker 1: brain gradually spun up to meet his body. Someone had

1045
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:01,600
Speaker 1: shot that murder beetle out of the sky, But who Reggie?

1046
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:03,520
Speaker 1: Where would he have gotten a gun? And the man

1047
00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:08,239
Speaker 1: was British? He couldn't shoot Reggie. He shouted over here.

1048
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 1: The brit called back. He sounded weirdly cheerful. I'm er

1049
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:15,840
Speaker 1: think we've made some friends. For the first time in

1050
00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:18,719
Speaker 1: his life, Manny found himself face to face with two

1051
00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:22,200
Speaker 1: post humans. The first appeared to be a lady. She

1052
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:24,000
Speaker 1: was hunkered up in the branches of a tree, and

1053
00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:26,759
Speaker 1: she cradled a very large gun in her hands. Most

1054
00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:29,279
Speaker 1: of her body sort of faded into the forest. She

1055
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:31,480
Speaker 1: was only easy to see now because of her smile.

1056
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 1: The shine of her teeth was quite unlike anything else

1057
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:36,040
Speaker 1: he'd ever seen. They appeared to be made of some

1058
00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:39,359
Speaker 1: sort of strange, swirling colored metal. Where a normal person

1059
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:42,960
Speaker 1: would have had incisors, she had long, curved fangs. The

1060
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,560
Speaker 1: other chrombed was a black man. He was of average height,

1061
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:48,200
Speaker 1: with a muscular body and a wide build. His head

1062
00:52:48,239 --> 00:52:50,440
Speaker 1: was shaved, and he had a plump, friendly face and

1063
00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:53,920
Speaker 1: round cheeks that accentuated his broad smile. He wore a

1064
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:56,800
Speaker 1: red kilt and a silver breastplate over his muscular chest.

1065
00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:00,000
Speaker 1: It gleamed in the afternoon sun. His only weapon appeared

1066
00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:03,040
Speaker 1: to be an enormous sledgehammer, larger than Reggie's entire body.

1067
00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:06,200
Speaker 1: He smiled and nodded at Manny. His whole body twitched

1068
00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:08,239
Speaker 1: as he stood there, as if a constant stream of

1069
00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:11,959
Speaker 1: electricity buzzed through him. Reggie stood in front of the man.

1070
00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:14,239
Speaker 1: It looked like the journalist had run into the post

1071
00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:17,320
Speaker 1: humans during his flight from the drone. He looked terrified

1072
00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:21,560
Speaker 1: in the friendly sort of way only the British could manage. Hey, y'all,

1073
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:24,880
Speaker 1: Manny said, he wasn't sure how nomadic half god warrior

1074
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:28,200
Speaker 1: people preferred to be addressed. Y'all seemed a safe bet,

1075
00:53:28,640 --> 00:53:31,880
Speaker 1: hey guy, said the woman up in the tree soap

1076
00:53:32,120 --> 00:53:35,840
Speaker 1: said the kilted man um. Can we help you? Manny asked?

1077
00:53:36,160 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 1: The man chuckled. He had a deep, throaty laugh that

1078
00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:40,759
Speaker 1: bounced off the trees and seemed to get louder as

1079
00:53:40,760 --> 00:53:44,719
Speaker 1: it reverberated. No, buddy, you guys look pretty near death.

1080
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:47,759
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess you don't have anything. I want nice pajamas,

1081
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:50,319
Speaker 1: though he pointed down to Manny's blood soaked and burned

1082
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:54,000
Speaker 1: pajama bottoms. The fixer's face turned red with embarrassment. They

1083
00:53:54,080 --> 00:53:57,280
Speaker 1: might have whiskey, said the woman. Ask if they have whiskey.

1084
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:00,560
Speaker 1: The big man smiled lowered his mall and spoke the

1085
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:03,919
Speaker 1: name's scuffucker Mike. He said, the lady who shut down

1086
00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:07,240
Speaker 1: your drone is Topaz mac Millan. Do you guys have whiskey?

1087
00:54:07,640 --> 00:54:10,799
Speaker 1: Manny didn't, but Reggie did. Holy fuck, he shouted, I

1088
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:14,600
Speaker 1: actually do. Somehow, the journalist hadn't lost his backpack in

1089
00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:17,920
Speaker 1: the chaos. He unzipped the main compartment, dig around for

1090
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:20,960
Speaker 1: a few seconds, and produced a small metal flask. Reggie

1091
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:23,479
Speaker 1: passed it off to skullfucker Mike, who took a belt

1092
00:54:23,480 --> 00:54:25,960
Speaker 1: of it and let out a dog's bark. He didn't

1093
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:28,279
Speaker 1: bark like a dog. It was the exact sound of

1094
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:31,759
Speaker 1: a large hound barking. Scuffucker Mike passed the flask up

1095
00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:36,000
Speaker 1: to Topaz. She took a poll and cooed appreciatively. All right, Scully,

1096
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:39,040
Speaker 1: I like these guys. They get a ride. A ride,

1097
00:54:39,239 --> 00:54:43,480
Speaker 1: asked Reggie. A ride to Where? To rolling fuck? She said,

1098
00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:53,600
Speaker 1: to the city of Wheels. I call the Union, Haul,

1099
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,880
Speaker 1: asked his male Alive and dear, I think these people

1100
00:54:56,920 --> 00:55:01,560
Speaker 1: of planning to kill doctor King. On April fourth, Dr

1101
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:04,160
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis. A

1102
00:55:04,239 --> 00:55:07,759
Speaker 1: petty criminal named James Earl Ray was arrested. He pled

1103
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:09,840
Speaker 1: guilty to the crime and spent the rest of his

1104
00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:15,360
Speaker 1: life in prison. Case closed right James L. Ray was

1105
00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:20,200
Speaker 1: upon for the official story. The authorities would parade all

1106
00:55:20,320 --> 00:55:23,080
Speaker 1: we found a gun that James el Ray bought in

1107
00:55:23,239 --> 00:55:27,279
Speaker 1: Birmingham that killed Dr King, Except it wasn't the gun

1108
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:30,520
Speaker 1: that killed Dr King. One of the problems that came

1109
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:34,000
Speaker 1: out when I got the Ray case was that some

1110
00:55:34,200 --> 00:55:37,279
Speaker 1: of the evidence, as far as I was concerned, did

1111
00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:41,640
Speaker 1: not match the circumstances. This is the MLK tapes. The

1112
00:55:41,680 --> 00:55:44,839
Speaker 1: first episodes are available now. Listen on the I Heart

1113
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:48,440
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1114
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 1: From Cavalry Audio comes the new true crime podcast, The

1115
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:58,399
Speaker 1: Shadow Girls. I always wanted to know what it felt

1116
00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:03,760
Speaker 1: like he killed somebody. Prosecutors described him as a serial killer, survant,

1117
00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:06,520
Speaker 1: kicking up these girls, getting him in a position of

1118
00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:09,360
Speaker 1: vulnerability when he got hold of their neck. That was it.

1119
00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:13,000
Speaker 1: I'm Caroline Asia, a journalist and lifelong resident at the

1120
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,040
Speaker 1: Pacific Northwest. I grew up near the banks of the

1121
00:56:16,080 --> 00:56:19,080
Speaker 1: Green River and in the shadow of the killer that

1122
00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:21,560
Speaker 1: bears its name. How many times did you bring the

1123
00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:25,520
Speaker 1: camera one of time. Just one he started fantasizing about

1124
00:56:25,520 --> 00:56:29,120
Speaker 1: having sex with his mother, and he fantasized about killing her.

1125
00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:32,800
Speaker 1: But this podcast isn't only about tracking down the killer,

1126
00:56:33,239 --> 00:56:36,360
Speaker 1: It's about the victims. We stayed in the woods. He

1127
00:56:36,440 --> 00:56:39,759
Speaker 1: always liked to go in the woods. All of the

1128
00:56:39,840 --> 00:56:42,879
Speaker 1: kind of strange, you know how he feels about prostitutes.

1129
00:56:43,160 --> 00:56:46,080
Speaker 1: Listen to The Shadow Girls on the I Heart Radio app,

1130
00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:51,800
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello,

1131
00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:54,080
Speaker 1: and welcome to our show. I'm Zoe de Channel and

1132
00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:56,279
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to be joined by my friends and

1133
00:56:56,360 --> 00:56:59,520
Speaker 1: cast mates Hannah Simone and Lamar and Morris to recap

1134
00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:03,080
Speaker 1: our hit television series New Girl. Join us every Monday

1135
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:05,560
Speaker 1: on the Welcome to Our Show podcast, where we'll share

1136
00:57:05,600 --> 00:57:08,400
Speaker 1: behind the scenes stories of your favorite New Girl episodes,

1137
00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:11,520
Speaker 1: reveal the truth behind the legendary game True American, and

1138
00:57:11,960 --> 00:57:15,120
Speaker 1: discuss how this show got made with the writers, guest stars,

1139
00:57:15,120 --> 00:57:17,760
Speaker 1: and directors who made the show so special. Fans have

1140
00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:20,320
Speaker 1: been begging us to do a New Girl recap for years,

1141
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:23,320
Speaker 1: and we finally made a podcast where we answer all

1142
00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:26,920
Speaker 1: your burning questions like is there really a bear in

1143
00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:30,200
Speaker 1: every episode of New Girl? Plus each week, you'll hear

1144
00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:33,640
Speaker 1: hilarious stories like this at the end, when he says,

1145
00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:36,040
Speaker 1: you got some schmid on your face. I feel like

1146
00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:38,640
Speaker 1: I pitched that joke. I believe that. I feel like

1147
00:57:38,640 --> 00:57:40,320
Speaker 1: I did. I'm not on a thousand percent. I want

1148
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:42,880
Speaker 1: to say that was I tossed that one out. Listen

1149
00:57:42,880 --> 00:57:44,840
Speaker 1: to the Welcome to Our Show podcast on the I

1150
00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:48,960
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1151
00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:58,080
Speaker 1: Chapter eight. Roland, so you were there, right, Sardar asked,

1152
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:02,200
Speaker 1: you saw the white house burn Sardar was Jim's mechanic.

1153
00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:05,120
Speaker 1: He was a short, slightly pudgy kid with a wide,

1154
00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:08,560
Speaker 1: handsome face and scan a couple shades darker than Roland's own.

1155
00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:12,160
Speaker 1: This was maybe his twentieth question. Since Jim's aircraft had

1156
00:58:12,200 --> 00:58:15,600
Speaker 1: dropped their transport off two hours ago. The other members

1157
00:58:15,600 --> 00:58:17,680
Speaker 1: of Jim's team hadn't said so much as a word

1158
00:58:17,760 --> 00:58:20,320
Speaker 1: to Rowland. They all listened, though he could see the

1159
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:22,840
Speaker 1: tension in their shoulders and feel the vibrations in the

1160
00:58:22,880 --> 00:58:25,480
Speaker 1: air as their ears twitched and their eyes darted over

1161
00:58:25,560 --> 00:58:28,040
Speaker 1: to watch his replies. The fact that they were all

1162
00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:30,840
Speaker 1: cramped together inside the armored confines of a madis a

1163
00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:34,600
Speaker 1: PC made it easy to read the room. Roland wasn't

1164
00:58:34,600 --> 00:58:36,720
Speaker 1: a hundred percent sure if the young murk had been

1165
00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:38,840
Speaker 1: put up to the task of questioning him, or if

1166
00:58:38,880 --> 00:58:42,280
Speaker 1: Sardar was just an inquisitive soul. Roland smelled a light

1167
00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:45,400
Speaker 1: drizzle of nervousness waft off the boy. He'd caught several

1168
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:48,880
Speaker 1: glances between Sardar and Bigsby, but neither of those facts

1169
00:58:48,880 --> 00:58:52,680
Speaker 1: were proof of anything. Nervousness was a perfectly natural reaction

1170
00:58:52,760 --> 00:58:54,680
Speaker 1: to hanging out in a cramped metal box with a

1171
00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:58,360
Speaker 1: guy you'd just been trying to murder. I remember pieces

1172
00:58:58,440 --> 00:59:01,800
Speaker 1: of it, Roland replied, Fucking somebody in the Lincoln bedroom,

1173
00:59:01,880 --> 00:59:04,520
Speaker 1: stealing liquor from the kitchens, shooting in the ball, returned

1174
00:59:04,560 --> 00:59:07,720
Speaker 1: the White House bowling alley. Sardar shook his head. That's

1175
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:10,520
Speaker 1: fucking loco. You're like a history book. I bet I

1176
00:59:10,560 --> 00:59:13,800
Speaker 1: read about ship you did back in high school. Probably,

1177
00:59:14,120 --> 00:59:16,880
Speaker 1: Roland said with a shrug. He had about nine clear

1178
00:59:16,960 --> 00:59:19,680
Speaker 1: memories of his life before the shack on Camelback Mountain,

1179
00:59:19,960 --> 00:59:22,680
Speaker 1: and none of them felt very historic. Can I get

1180
00:59:22,720 --> 00:59:27,200
Speaker 1: your autograph? Man, Sardar asked Bigsby. The post human Roland

1181
00:59:27,240 --> 00:59:29,000
Speaker 1: had been about to arm club in a submission a

1182
00:59:29,080 --> 00:59:32,440
Speaker 1: day ago, shook his head and groaned in embarrassment. One

1183
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:34,840
Speaker 1: of the women he'd buried in his collapsed hovel grunted

1184
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:37,560
Speaker 1: out a laugh. Her name was Nadine or something with

1185
00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:40,640
Speaker 1: an inn. Anyway, she and her partner as Ame were

1186
00:59:40,640 --> 00:59:43,640
Speaker 1: both close assault specialists. Like the rest of the crew

1187
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:46,640
Speaker 1: except Tardar. They've been cold to Roland ever since he'd

1188
00:59:46,640 --> 00:59:50,120
Speaker 1: beat the living hell out of them. Something occurred to him. Hey,

1189
00:59:50,200 --> 00:59:53,800
Speaker 1: I got a question for you, he said to Sardar. Yeah,

1190
00:59:53,840 --> 00:59:56,080
Speaker 1: your crew has been real pissy to me this whole ride.

1191
00:59:56,360 --> 00:59:59,400
Speaker 1: Roland nodded at Bigsby. How exactly did you guys expect

1192
00:59:59,440 --> 01:00:02,800
Speaker 1: that fight to go down? Sardar pursed his lips. He

1193
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:05,120
Speaker 1: seemed at a loss for a second. Then he said,

1194
01:00:05,720 --> 01:00:08,240
Speaker 1: Jim framed it as just a standard quilt team action.

1195
01:00:08,600 --> 01:00:10,560
Speaker 1: We've done that sort of thing a couple of times.

1196
01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:13,000
Speaker 1: Last year there was this crumbed out Nazi in Idaho.

1197
01:00:13,160 --> 01:00:16,320
Speaker 1: So he tricked you. Then Roland interrupted, convinced you this

1198
01:00:16,360 --> 01:00:18,600
Speaker 1: was just another assassination when all he really wanted to

1199
01:00:18,600 --> 01:00:22,160
Speaker 1: do was get my attention. Roland looked around and realized

1200
01:00:22,160 --> 01:00:24,760
Speaker 1: the rest of the transport was glaring at him. Bigsby

1201
01:00:24,840 --> 01:00:27,320
Speaker 1: spat on the ground in front of Roland's foot. We'd

1202
01:00:27,320 --> 01:00:30,080
Speaker 1: device to you if he'd given us another minute. Roland

1203
01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:33,160
Speaker 1: just laughed and turned his eyes back to Sardar. It's

1204
01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:35,280
Speaker 1: clear you and the other guy, he gestured at the

1205
01:00:35,280 --> 01:00:37,880
Speaker 1: young man next to Sardar, are the only smart bastards

1206
01:00:37,880 --> 01:00:39,800
Speaker 1: in the unit, since you didn't get back up when

1207
01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:43,520
Speaker 1: I beat you down. Sardar squirmed a little, clearly uncomfortable

1208
01:00:44,240 --> 01:00:46,720
Speaker 1: me and Pedro. He gestured to the other man. We're

1209
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:49,080
Speaker 1: just engineers. We don't go toe to toe with the

1210
01:00:49,560 --> 01:00:53,080
Speaker 1: with whatever you are. All this conversation, the most he'd

1211
01:00:53,080 --> 01:00:56,800
Speaker 1: had in years, made Roland feel uncomfortably lucid. He rooted

1212
01:00:56,840 --> 01:00:59,520
Speaker 1: around in the tattered old backpack he'd brought with him.

1213
01:00:59,560 --> 01:01:02,360
Speaker 1: It can hained one rusty Mateba auto revolver that he'd

1214
01:01:02,360 --> 01:01:05,200
Speaker 1: found under the floorboards of his collapsed shack, and five

1215
01:01:05,280 --> 01:01:09,640
Speaker 1: point oh eight seven kilograms of assorted narcotics, mostly opiates.

1216
01:01:10,040 --> 01:01:12,920
Speaker 1: Roland remembered how fun it was to watch things explode

1217
01:01:12,920 --> 01:01:15,840
Speaker 1: while high on oxy. He pulled a pillbottle out of

1218
01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:18,680
Speaker 1: the sack, delouted and poured half of it into his mouth.

1219
01:01:19,160 --> 01:01:23,160
Speaker 1: Roland swallowed, then guzzled the second half. Jesus said, will

1220
01:01:23,400 --> 01:01:25,200
Speaker 1: the man he'd stabbed in the throat with a piece

1221
01:01:25,240 --> 01:01:27,720
Speaker 1: of wood yesterday, This is the guy who kicked the

1222
01:01:27,720 --> 01:01:31,360
Speaker 1: ship out of us. I am sorry about that, Roland said.

1223
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:33,040
Speaker 1: If I'd known we were going to wind up sharing

1224
01:01:33,040 --> 01:01:35,360
Speaker 1: an a PC, I probably would have just choked you out.

1225
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:42,280
Speaker 1: Mortar fire incoming. Roland's hind brain ran the calculations estimated

1226
01:01:42,280 --> 01:01:44,920
Speaker 1: it at a round eight miles out. He sat up straight,

1227
01:01:45,040 --> 01:01:48,000
Speaker 1: since his focus towards the sound of the fire. Bigsby

1228
01:01:48,080 --> 01:01:51,120
Speaker 1: and Asime reacted the same way they'd clearly splurged on

1229
01:01:51,160 --> 01:01:53,520
Speaker 1: the good ears. The rest of the team didn't seem

1230
01:01:53,600 --> 01:01:57,000
Speaker 1: to have heard. They're shooting ahead. As Amy said, sixty

1231
01:01:57,040 --> 01:02:00,240
Speaker 1: millimeter mortars, Get up, folks. Biggs bid it as he

1232
01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:02,760
Speaker 1: pulled his own S thirty barret assault rifle from its

1233
01:02:02,800 --> 01:02:07,040
Speaker 1: resting place on the wall behind him. The funk was

1234
01:02:07,080 --> 01:02:09,920
Speaker 1: that as Amy cocked an eyebrow, her left ear twitched,

1235
01:02:10,000 --> 01:02:12,800
Speaker 1: her tan lean face flushed red with excitement. I don't

1236
01:02:12,800 --> 01:02:16,560
Speaker 1: recognize that one me either, Biggsby grunted. The other post

1237
01:02:16,640 --> 01:02:19,880
Speaker 1: human looked to Roland with clear frustration. You recognize that,

1238
01:02:20,840 --> 01:02:23,760
Speaker 1: Roland did. It's an M one forty two, he said,

1239
01:02:24,040 --> 01:02:28,320
Speaker 1: Mobile Rocket Artillery antique U S Military issue. Will looked

1240
01:02:28,360 --> 01:02:31,240
Speaker 1: over to Biggsby, Confused, I've never heard of anything like

1241
01:02:31,280 --> 01:02:35,240
Speaker 1: that in the sdf's armory. It's not the SDF, Roland explained,

1242
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:37,960
Speaker 1: slurring his words more than a little. The opiates had

1243
01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:41,200
Speaker 1: just started to hit. Holy shit, I loved allotted. He thought,

1244
01:02:41,760 --> 01:02:45,120
Speaker 1: that's in coming. Can't you tell? He said me A

1245
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:48,600
Speaker 1: not from this distance, As Amy answered, she glanced awkwardly

1246
01:02:48,640 --> 01:02:50,960
Speaker 1: over to her partner, Nadine, put a hand on her

1247
01:02:50,960 --> 01:02:54,760
Speaker 1: thigh and squeezed. Could you not be monstrously fucked up

1248
01:02:54,760 --> 01:02:57,360
Speaker 1: when we're about to go into battle, Biggsby asked. He

1249
01:02:57,440 --> 01:03:00,880
Speaker 1: seemed angry. Roland debated, offering one of his handfuls of pills.

1250
01:03:01,160 --> 01:03:04,760
Speaker 1: He decided he'd much rather save them for later. First off,

1251
01:03:04,840 --> 01:03:07,160
Speaker 1: I didn't sign up for battle, he explained, as he

1252
01:03:07,200 --> 01:03:10,160
Speaker 1: popped and showed a pair of morphine tablets. Second, we

1253
01:03:10,200 --> 01:03:13,080
Speaker 1: still got about almost eight miles before we hit the front.

1254
01:03:13,240 --> 01:03:17,120
Speaker 1: Plenty of time to sober up. Eight miles, asked Sardar.

1255
01:03:17,240 --> 01:03:20,800
Speaker 1: The Richardson line is fifteen miles out. More mortars crumped

1256
01:03:20,800 --> 01:03:23,480
Speaker 1: in the distance. Roland heard blossoms of heavy machine gun

1257
01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:26,000
Speaker 1: fire too, and the hums of dozens of assault drones.

1258
01:03:26,560 --> 01:03:29,600
Speaker 1: Hey Biggs, the voice of the APC's driver crackled over

1259
01:03:29,600 --> 01:03:32,240
Speaker 1: the vehicle intercom. There's a lot of craziness coming in

1260
01:03:32,280 --> 01:03:34,200
Speaker 1: from the main s d F channels. It sounds like

1261
01:03:34,200 --> 01:03:36,320
Speaker 1: a major assault. The martyrs have pushed all the way

1262
01:03:36,360 --> 01:03:38,520
Speaker 1: to deep Ellum. Some of the field commanders are talking

1263
01:03:38,560 --> 01:03:43,000
Speaker 1: about a full retreat. Jesus shitting christ Will, Bigsby, and

1264
01:03:43,080 --> 01:03:45,920
Speaker 1: Nadine all cursed at the same time. Roland thought it

1265
01:03:45,960 --> 01:03:48,160
Speaker 1: was cute. It tugged at his heart strings a little.

1266
01:03:48,520 --> 01:03:50,960
Speaker 1: He missed being part of a close knit team. Some

1267
01:03:51,080 --> 01:03:54,240
Speaker 1: of his stronger memory fragments involved really good times he'd

1268
01:03:54,280 --> 01:03:57,160
Speaker 1: had during and after the war. He remembered blowing up

1269
01:03:57,160 --> 01:03:59,680
Speaker 1: an armored school bus with a guy named Mike, throwing

1270
01:03:59,760 --> 01:04:02,280
Speaker 1: Rott and orange is at a government sniper with Jim.

1271
01:04:02,440 --> 01:04:04,880
Speaker 1: His brain also brought up snatches of late night drinking

1272
01:04:04,920 --> 01:04:07,800
Speaker 1: sessions and watching cartoons on an old projector in the desert.

1273
01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 1: When he closed his eyes, he could smell the burning

1274
01:04:10,320 --> 01:04:13,240
Speaker 1: man's anita smoke of their camp fire, pain tugged at

1275
01:04:13,240 --> 01:04:15,160
Speaker 1: his heart, but he was jerked out of his revereree

1276
01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:17,880
Speaker 1: by the sound of an explosion. It was big and

1277
01:04:17,920 --> 01:04:20,439
Speaker 1: close enough that everyone in the APC heard it, even

1278
01:04:20,440 --> 01:04:26,040
Speaker 1: though Roland's hindbrain put the distance at over seven miles away. V. B. I. E. D. Bigsby,

1279
01:04:26,080 --> 01:04:28,840
Speaker 1: and as Amy said at the same time, real big one.

1280
01:04:28,960 --> 01:04:32,160
Speaker 1: As Amy nodded. Roland could tell that the explosives rigged

1281
01:04:32,200 --> 01:04:34,800
Speaker 1: vehicle had been an E series Mercedes truck, but he

1282
01:04:34,840 --> 01:04:37,200
Speaker 1: didn't bring that up. No one liked to know it all.

1283
01:04:37,920 --> 01:04:41,080
Speaker 1: Bigsby's mouth opened and closed, the telltale sign of someone

1284
01:04:41,160 --> 01:04:44,680
Speaker 1: having a subvocal conversation through their deck. Roland could have

1285
01:04:44,720 --> 01:04:47,160
Speaker 1: read his lips, but that would have been rude. Instead,

1286
01:04:47,320 --> 01:04:50,360
Speaker 1: he looked over to Sardar. If the gig gets called

1287
01:04:50,400 --> 01:04:52,800
Speaker 1: an account of war, you want to get ship faced

1288
01:04:52,800 --> 01:04:56,360
Speaker 1: in Austin with me? The kid blinked, then replied, I mean,

1289
01:04:56,640 --> 01:04:59,080
Speaker 1: of course, but I'm pretty sure boss Man's gonna want

1290
01:04:59,120 --> 01:05:01,080
Speaker 1: us to do the job, even if it's hot out there.

1291
01:05:01,800 --> 01:05:04,960
Speaker 1: Roland growled a little without thinking, and Sardar cringed. I

1292
01:05:05,040 --> 01:05:07,920
Speaker 1: did not sign up to defend against an act of invasion.

1293
01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:12,520
Speaker 1: I'm here to funk up property, not people. Jim says,

1294
01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:15,720
Speaker 1: that's still the plan. You funk up the property. Biggsby grunted,

1295
01:05:15,880 --> 01:05:17,720
Speaker 1: My fam and I are here to funk up the people.

1296
01:05:18,720 --> 01:05:21,200
Speaker 1: A red hot cherry of anger bloomed in Roland's heart.

1297
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:24,600
Speaker 1: That wasn't the deal, he said, and Jim knows it.

1298
01:05:24,840 --> 01:05:26,320
Speaker 1: One of you call him and loot me in on

1299
01:05:26,360 --> 01:05:30,760
Speaker 1: your screen. I'll set this right. Call him yourself, spat Bigsby.

1300
01:05:30,920 --> 01:05:33,600
Speaker 1: He can't, Sardar pointed out, he's got a dead deck,

1301
01:05:33,920 --> 01:05:37,520
Speaker 1: no signal at all. True, Noll, why the hell would

1302
01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:41,000
Speaker 1: you go null? Asime started to ask, Biggsby interrupted her,

1303
01:05:41,320 --> 01:05:44,640
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter why this ascopters null. I'm on with Jim,

1304
01:05:44,640 --> 01:05:47,400
Speaker 1: and he says, you're under contracts. Still, we'll make sure

1305
01:05:47,440 --> 01:05:50,440
Speaker 1: you don't have to cack anybody. For a moment, Roland

1306
01:05:50,480 --> 01:05:53,880
Speaker 1: focused his attention outside the little a PC. His hind

1307
01:05:53,880 --> 01:05:56,840
Speaker 1: brain cohalated the bursts and vibrations that echoed out around

1308
01:05:56,880 --> 01:05:59,560
Speaker 1: the battlefield. It compared them with his peda bites of

1309
01:05:59,600 --> 01:06:02,080
Speaker 1: stored combat data and the last map of Dallas he

1310
01:06:02,160 --> 01:06:05,240
Speaker 1: downloaded before severing his deck. In a couple of seconds,

1311
01:06:05,240 --> 01:06:08,200
Speaker 1: he had what his heydenbrain assured him was an accurate

1312
01:06:08,240 --> 01:06:11,120
Speaker 1: projection of the current fighting. It didn't look good for

1313
01:06:11,160 --> 01:06:13,640
Speaker 1: the defenders, and what if it's too much for you

1314
01:06:13,680 --> 01:06:16,520
Speaker 1: guys out there? Rowland asked, you can expect my ask

1315
01:06:16,560 --> 01:06:18,360
Speaker 1: to murder a bunch of strangers to get you and

1316
01:06:18,400 --> 01:06:22,080
Speaker 1: your fam home safe. Bigsby rolled his eyes. It's a

1317
01:06:22,080 --> 01:06:24,160
Speaker 1: bunch of fucking martyrs. Maybe they caught the s d

1318
01:06:24,240 --> 01:06:26,600
Speaker 1: off with their pants down, but they'll loose steam soon enough.

1319
01:06:26,960 --> 01:06:30,320
Speaker 1: Those savages are all baseline sapien. We got chrome on

1320
01:06:30,360 --> 01:06:34,280
Speaker 1: our side. Roland shrugged. If you're wrong, I'm gonna take

1321
01:06:34,320 --> 01:06:36,600
Speaker 1: one of your nipples home with me, just a heads up.

1322
01:06:37,200 --> 01:06:39,560
Speaker 1: The other post human's face turned to purple. It grew

1323
01:06:39,600 --> 01:06:43,240
Speaker 1: purpler still when Sardar laughed at the remark. Sorry, Biggs,

1324
01:06:43,240 --> 01:06:46,640
Speaker 1: it's fucking funny, man, it wasn't a joke. Roland shared

1325
01:06:46,680 --> 01:06:50,160
Speaker 1: them both. They hit Dallas proper ten minutes later. Their

1326
01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:53,480
Speaker 1: arrival was heralded by the sounds of car horns, squealing brakes,

1327
01:06:53,520 --> 01:06:56,360
Speaker 1: and frustrated shouts, the songs of a city at war.

1328
01:06:56,880 --> 01:06:59,280
Speaker 1: Flashes of memory from this same city in a different

1329
01:06:59,320 --> 01:07:02,640
Speaker 1: war shot through Roland's mind. They kept him occupied while

1330
01:07:02,640 --> 01:07:05,640
Speaker 1: Bigsby and his squad prepped their combat gear. There was

1331
01:07:05,680 --> 01:07:08,560
Speaker 1: something almost comforting about the sound of men and women

1332
01:07:08,680 --> 01:07:11,560
Speaker 1: arming for battle. He remembered the way Mike ran through

1333
01:07:11,600 --> 01:07:14,080
Speaker 1: the lyrics of Iye of the Tiger before every op,

1334
01:07:14,320 --> 01:07:16,600
Speaker 1: and the careful way Jim had loaded his pre battle

1335
01:07:16,640 --> 01:07:19,480
Speaker 1: meth pipe. The crump of mortar fire and the boom

1336
01:07:19,520 --> 01:07:22,880
Speaker 1: of heavier artillery grew louder and louder. The sour sinse

1337
01:07:22,960 --> 01:07:27,000
Speaker 1: of gamma, amino butic acid, cortisol, and epinephrin filled the cabin.

1338
01:07:27,600 --> 01:07:30,800
Speaker 1: Biggsby's team had good game faces, but they were nervous.

1339
01:07:31,440 --> 01:07:34,640
Speaker 1: Biggs the Driver's voice crackled over the intercom. I'm seeing

1340
01:07:34,640 --> 01:07:37,800
Speaker 1: a shipload of hostile drone activity. Sky is fucking angry

1341
01:07:37,880 --> 01:07:41,400
Speaker 1: right now. Might be best at dismountain hit. Roland smelled

1342
01:07:41,400 --> 01:07:43,160
Speaker 1: the fuel burning off in the wake of the hell

1343
01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:46,040
Speaker 1: Fire missile roughly a second before it hit. He knew

1344
01:07:46,040 --> 01:07:48,760
Speaker 1: the archaic munition didn't have the ability to penetrate a

1345
01:07:48,840 --> 01:07:51,440
Speaker 1: man as a PC, but he still warned his fellows,

1346
01:07:52,040 --> 01:07:55,280
Speaker 1: missiles are comming. What Sardar asked, and then it hit.

1347
01:07:55,680 --> 01:07:58,320
Speaker 1: The impact rocked the vehicle on its axles and bounced

1348
01:07:58,320 --> 01:08:01,120
Speaker 1: its hapless passengers into the hard metal edges of the cabin.

1349
01:08:01,760 --> 01:08:04,040
Speaker 1: Roland bounced with them, although for him the pain of

1350
01:08:04,080 --> 01:08:08,280
Speaker 1: impact was more curiosity than actual discomfort. The driver braked hard.

1351
01:08:08,440 --> 01:08:10,960
Speaker 1: Roland heard and felt as the APEC collided with what

1352
01:08:11,080 --> 01:08:13,640
Speaker 1: sounded like the outer wall of a large concrete building.

1353
01:08:14,360 --> 01:08:17,160
Speaker 1: He smelled blood on Sardar and Nadine. From the sound

1354
01:08:17,160 --> 01:08:19,479
Speaker 1: of the blast and the resulting crash, he guessed the

1355
01:08:19,520 --> 01:08:23,840
Speaker 1: APC's front axle had splintered. Ryan, the driver, was unconscious.

1356
01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:26,040
Speaker 1: He'd hit his head hard enough that the trauma nanites

1357
01:08:26,080 --> 01:08:27,880
Speaker 1: in his blood stream had knocked him out while they

1358
01:08:27,880 --> 01:08:30,840
Speaker 1: worked to stop the swelling in his brain. Out out,

1359
01:08:31,000 --> 01:08:34,160
Speaker 1: move it, motherfucker's, Biggsby shouted. There was a hiss as

1360
01:08:34,160 --> 01:08:37,200
Speaker 1: the rear inside exit hatches of the APC fired open

1361
01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:40,640
Speaker 1: light streamed into the vehicle. Biggsby was out first, his

1362
01:08:40,840 --> 01:08:43,880
Speaker 1: very large rifle at the ready. Nadine and Asime followed

1363
01:08:43,880 --> 01:08:46,920
Speaker 1: behind him. The former had a Juggernaut auto shotgun, the

1364
01:08:47,000 --> 01:08:50,080
Speaker 1: latter had an IM fourteen sniper rifle. There were no

1365
01:08:50,160 --> 01:08:54,400
Speaker 1: infantry nearby, not yet, but Roland closed his eyes, concentrated,

1366
01:08:54,439 --> 01:08:57,000
Speaker 1: and after a second his hindbrain guessed that the nearest

1367
01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:59,240
Speaker 1: ground troops were about a quarter of a mile away,

1368
01:08:59,600 --> 01:09:02,400
Speaker 1: six in in Airy's pattern powered armor, followed by fifty

1369
01:09:02,479 --> 01:09:06,719
Speaker 1: unmodified human soldiers, a half dozen technicals, and two drone carriers.

1370
01:09:07,479 --> 01:09:09,320
Speaker 1: The men in the Airy suits were the only thing

1371
01:09:09,360 --> 01:09:12,880
Speaker 1: that concerned him. Powered armor couldn't make an unmodified human

1372
01:09:12,920 --> 01:09:15,639
Speaker 1: into a true match for a god fucking monster engine

1373
01:09:15,680 --> 01:09:18,320
Speaker 1: like himself, but it could give a squad the firepower

1374
01:09:18,360 --> 01:09:20,800
Speaker 1: they needed to do some real damage. If they could

1375
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:23,680
Speaker 1: hurt Roland, they could kill Biggsby and his team. His

1376
01:09:23,720 --> 01:09:26,120
Speaker 1: hindbrain told him that the power armored soldiers would be

1377
01:09:26,120 --> 01:09:29,160
Speaker 1: in weapons range within two minutes, just enough time to

1378
01:09:29,280 --> 01:09:31,760
Speaker 1: roll a blunt. He grabbed a blunt wrap and a

1379
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:34,040
Speaker 1: bag of ground weed out of his backpack and started

1380
01:09:34,040 --> 01:09:36,240
Speaker 1: to roll. As he walked out of the abandoned a PC,

1381
01:09:36,960 --> 01:09:39,559
Speaker 1: Sardar and Pedro had taken cover behind the vehicle and

1382
01:09:39,600 --> 01:09:42,439
Speaker 1: started to administer basic first aid to their wounded driver.

1383
01:09:43,000 --> 01:09:45,760
Speaker 1: Will was a few meters ahead on overwatch, covering them

1384
01:09:45,760 --> 01:09:48,599
Speaker 1: all with his heavy M ninety four belt fed grenade launcher.

1385
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:51,400
Speaker 1: The others were nowhere to be seen. Roland heard them

1386
01:09:51,439 --> 01:09:54,400
Speaker 1: though about fifteen meters west of the stricken transport. He

1387
01:09:54,520 --> 01:09:57,679
Speaker 1: felt them take up firing positions. Should I warn Biggsby

1388
01:09:57,760 --> 01:10:00,519
Speaker 1: about the armored guys, Roland wondered. He his head and

1389
01:10:00,560 --> 01:10:04,800
Speaker 1: said nah out loud. Sardar stared at him. The weed

1390
01:10:04,840 --> 01:10:07,639
Speaker 1: was dry and slightly yellowed with age. Roland had certainly

1391
01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:10,679
Speaker 1: smoked better, but he'd smoked worse often enough not to complain.

1392
01:10:11,120 --> 01:10:13,280
Speaker 1: He drizzled the crumbled herb into the blunt wrap and

1393
01:10:13,360 --> 01:10:15,960
Speaker 1: rolled it between his fingers. He licked the seam and

1394
01:10:16,000 --> 01:10:18,639
Speaker 1: sealed it. As he watched Sardar shoot a stem capsule

1395
01:10:18,680 --> 01:10:22,759
Speaker 1: into Ryan's neck, the driver started to regain consciousness. Roland

1396
01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:24,760
Speaker 1: lit his blunt, took a hit, and offered it to

1397
01:10:24,760 --> 01:10:27,200
Speaker 1: the man. Welcome back to the land of the living,

1398
01:10:27,280 --> 01:10:30,280
Speaker 1: he said, with a cheerful grin pop. Sardar gave him

1399
01:10:30,280 --> 01:10:34,040
Speaker 1: a stern look. Is this really the time? The screech

1400
01:10:34,080 --> 01:10:37,160
Speaker 1: of a rocket propelled grenade filled the air outgoing fire?

1401
01:10:37,320 --> 01:10:40,040
Speaker 1: It must have been from a nearby SDF position engaged

1402
01:10:40,040 --> 01:10:43,040
Speaker 1: with the advancing martyrs. Of course, there's time, said Roland.

1403
01:10:43,280 --> 01:10:45,680
Speaker 1: We got a solid ninety seconds until they're here. Might

1404
01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:49,040
Speaker 1: as well get high. The kid rebuffed his offer. Roland

1405
01:10:49,040 --> 01:10:51,040
Speaker 1: would have been a little hurt if he hadn't secretly

1406
01:10:51,040 --> 01:10:53,160
Speaker 1: hoped they'd turn him down. It took a lot of

1407
01:10:53,200 --> 01:10:55,519
Speaker 1: pot to get him high. One whole blunt was about

1408
01:10:55,560 --> 01:10:58,759
Speaker 1: the right amount for where he wanted to be. Bigsby

1409
01:10:58,840 --> 01:11:01,200
Speaker 1: opened up with his heavy machine Jean gun. A vague

1410
01:11:01,240 --> 01:11:04,360
Speaker 1: worry started to grow inside Roland. The armored Martyrs had

1411
01:11:04,360 --> 01:11:06,960
Speaker 1: moved faster than anticipated. Am I going to have time

1412
01:11:06,960 --> 01:11:09,439
Speaker 1: to finish smoking? He was thankful that he'd at least

1413
01:11:09,520 --> 01:11:12,400
Speaker 1: loaded up on pain killers before reaching the front. The

1414
01:11:12,439 --> 01:11:14,960
Speaker 1: machine gun was joined by the sharp crack of Nadine's

1415
01:11:14,960 --> 01:11:18,040
Speaker 1: sniper rifle and the rich bellow of Asime's auto shotgun.

1416
01:11:18,400 --> 01:11:21,439
Speaker 1: It sounded like she was firing tungsten core penetrators rather

1417
01:11:21,479 --> 01:11:24,000
Speaker 1: than the explosive Dragon's Breath round she'd loaded during the

1418
01:11:24,000 --> 01:11:27,680
Speaker 1: assault on roland Shack. That was probably smart. Are you

1419
01:11:27,760 --> 01:11:30,640
Speaker 1: going to do something? Sardar asked. Roland could smell his

1420
01:11:30,760 --> 01:11:33,320
Speaker 1: fear wafted off him like a fine mist. He heard

1421
01:11:33,320 --> 01:11:35,679
Speaker 1: the heavy hum of a suit mounted rotary chain gun,

1422
01:11:35,760 --> 01:11:38,920
Speaker 1: and then another incoming fire. A few rounds arcd and

1423
01:11:39,000 --> 01:11:41,720
Speaker 1: ricocheted off the body of the a PC startar and

1424
01:11:41,800 --> 01:11:44,799
Speaker 1: Pedro dove for cover and pulled Ryan with them. Roland

1425
01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:47,519
Speaker 1: didn't move. His hindbrain had plotted the trajectories of the

1426
01:11:47,640 --> 01:11:49,960
Speaker 1: errand rounds as soon as they left their barrels. There

1427
01:11:50,000 --> 01:11:53,080
Speaker 1: had been no danger, well, no danger to them. By

1428
01:11:53,080 --> 01:11:55,320
Speaker 1: the sound of it, the Power Armored Martyrs had pinned

1429
01:11:55,320 --> 01:11:58,439
Speaker 1: a Bigsby down. Roland could smell Nadine's blood in the air.

1430
01:11:58,840 --> 01:12:02,320
Speaker 1: She was alive but injured. Will started to fire and

1431
01:12:02,360 --> 01:12:04,679
Speaker 1: pumped a steady stream of explosives out in a high

1432
01:12:04,720 --> 01:12:07,040
Speaker 1: arch in front of the martyrs. Roland felt as the

1433
01:12:07,040 --> 01:12:09,720
Speaker 1: men scattered. He also felt the footfalls of dozens of

1434
01:12:09,760 --> 01:12:13,200
Speaker 1: normal infantry two hundred meters behind the Power Armored vanguard.

1435
01:12:13,439 --> 01:12:16,240
Speaker 1: He heard the rich thunk of Recoilis rifles being bolted

1436
01:12:16,240 --> 01:12:19,000
Speaker 1: into the ground. Roland puffed on his blunt as he

1437
01:12:19,040 --> 01:12:22,400
Speaker 1: considered the tactical situation. Bigsby and his team seemed to

1438
01:12:22,439 --> 01:12:24,519
Speaker 1: have knocked out one of the armored Martyrs, but they

1439
01:12:24,520 --> 01:12:27,839
Speaker 1: were alone and unsupported. The STF was in full retreat,

1440
01:12:27,920 --> 01:12:30,400
Speaker 1: and the small squad didn't have the firepower or the

1441
01:12:30,479 --> 01:12:34,320
Speaker 1: chrome to hold off what was coming. Roland did, but

1442
01:12:34,400 --> 01:12:37,400
Speaker 1: he very much disliked the idea of murdering several dozen

1443
01:12:37,439 --> 01:12:41,040
Speaker 1: brainwashed idiots. These kids weren't responsible for anything beyond buying

1444
01:12:41,040 --> 01:12:44,599
Speaker 1: into artful propaganda and lofty promises. He didn't see them

1445
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:47,120
Speaker 1: as worse than any other gaggle of armed eighteen to

1446
01:12:47,160 --> 01:12:50,360
Speaker 1: twenty two year olds in the history of war. Hey, Sardar,

1447
01:12:50,520 --> 01:12:54,519
Speaker 1: you got a wrench, Roland asked, what. Yes, Sarda replied,

1448
01:12:54,720 --> 01:12:57,840
Speaker 1: can I borrow it? Um? The young mercenary raised an

1449
01:12:57,840 --> 01:13:00,800
Speaker 1: eyebrow in confusion. It's not a sex thing, Roland has

1450
01:13:00,800 --> 01:13:04,880
Speaker 1: shared him. I never assumed it was, Sardar said, then,

1451
01:13:04,920 --> 01:13:07,120
Speaker 1: can I have it? Sardar stared at him for a

1452
01:13:07,160 --> 01:13:11,120
Speaker 1: long beat and then said okay. He handed over his wrench.

1453
01:13:11,479 --> 01:13:13,720
Speaker 1: It was nice, more than two ft long, and made

1454
01:13:13,720 --> 01:13:17,559
Speaker 1: from fifteen point four pounds of stamped steel. This is perfect,

1455
01:13:17,680 --> 01:13:22,919
Speaker 1: Roland told Sardar. Perfect for what Sardar asked, wounding, Roland replied,

1456
01:13:23,360 --> 01:13:26,599
Speaker 1: and with that he was off. Roland could break thirty

1457
01:13:26,600 --> 01:13:28,640
Speaker 1: miles an hour at a dead sprint, but with all

1458
01:13:28,720 --> 01:13:30,760
Speaker 1: the pain killers and weed he'd just taken, and that

1459
01:13:30,800 --> 01:13:33,559
Speaker 1: didn't sound super fun. So he strolled along at a

1460
01:13:33,560 --> 01:13:36,519
Speaker 1: brisk eighteen miles per hour, darted by will and zig

1461
01:13:36,600 --> 01:13:38,800
Speaker 1: zagged his way past a few hundred errant rounds. The

1462
01:13:38,840 --> 01:13:42,160
Speaker 1: armored Martyrs fired to suppress Bigsby Squad. Two of the

1463
01:13:42,200 --> 01:13:46,920
Speaker 1: big recoilst rifles fired their giant explosive tip munitions. Roland

1464
01:13:46,920 --> 01:13:49,960
Speaker 1: reached Nadine and as AME's position. The former was down,

1465
01:13:50,240 --> 01:13:53,679
Speaker 1: bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. Her lover fired from cover.

1466
01:13:54,040 --> 01:13:56,559
Speaker 1: Roland felt is one of the explosive rounds arched towards

1467
01:13:56,640 --> 01:13:59,880
Speaker 1: their position, the other was headed towards Bigsby. Roland's heind

1468
01:14:00,040 --> 01:14:03,000
Speaker 1: and guessed that Bigsby would survive the hit. Nadine and

1469
01:14:03,040 --> 01:14:06,080
Speaker 1: Asime wouldn't. He jumped forward and grabbed them, both while

1470
01:14:06,080 --> 01:14:08,960
Speaker 1: still airborne, and the second before missile met masonry. He

1471
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:11,479
Speaker 1: threw them back out of the blast radius. He knew

1472
01:14:11,479 --> 01:14:13,720
Speaker 1: the landing would hurt, but both women were chromed enough

1473
01:14:13,760 --> 01:14:16,880
Speaker 1: to survive. After he tossed them, Roland slid to a

1474
01:14:16,920 --> 01:14:18,920
Speaker 1: stop on top of the pile of ruined bricks they'd

1475
01:14:19,000 --> 01:14:22,160
Speaker 1: hidden behind. The rocket propelled munition hit about three feet

1476
01:14:22,200 --> 01:14:25,080
Speaker 1: below him. The seventy five millimeter round contained a half

1477
01:14:25,160 --> 01:14:28,200
Speaker 1: kilogram of hexagen, enough explosive power to tear a hole

1478
01:14:28,280 --> 01:14:30,880
Speaker 1: in the side of a small tank. It detonated and

1479
01:14:30,920 --> 01:14:34,599
Speaker 1: turned the pile of bricks into a shrapnel volcano. Roland

1480
01:14:34,600 --> 01:14:36,680
Speaker 1: hopped again. His hind brain made it clear that he

1481
01:14:36,720 --> 01:14:39,840
Speaker 1: wouldn't avoid all or even most of the shrapnel. Medal

1482
01:14:39,880 --> 01:14:42,320
Speaker 1: and brick tore through his biceps, his gut, his legs,

1483
01:14:42,320 --> 01:14:45,200
Speaker 1: and his pectorals. Most of the shrapnel stopped at the

1484
01:14:45,240 --> 01:14:48,679
Speaker 1: subdermal carapace that protected his vital organs. A few pieces

1485
01:14:48,760 --> 01:14:51,439
Speaker 1: went further. They tore one kidney in half and pierced

1486
01:14:51,479 --> 01:14:54,759
Speaker 1: one of his hearts. But Roland had multiple redundant backups

1487
01:14:54,760 --> 01:14:58,160
Speaker 1: for every important organ. His medical nanites had already started

1488
01:14:58,160 --> 01:15:00,599
Speaker 1: to purge the foreign matter and repair the damage. When

1489
01:15:00,600 --> 01:15:03,400
Speaker 1: he hit the ground, the battle high rolled in, and

1490
01:15:03,520 --> 01:15:07,559
Speaker 1: Roland's synapses flooded with endorphins, serotonin, and enough morphine to

1491
01:15:07,640 --> 01:15:11,320
Speaker 1: kill a middleweight elephant. The chemical elation of imminent combat

1492
01:15:11,400 --> 01:15:15,080
Speaker 1: filled his senses. Roland wasn't just high on war. He

1493
01:15:15,160 --> 01:15:19,519
Speaker 1: was tripping balls. Sweet shitting fox, I've missed this. Roland

1494
01:15:19,520 --> 01:15:22,240
Speaker 1: flipped a jaunty salute to Bigsby as he sprinted forward

1495
01:15:22,400 --> 01:15:24,920
Speaker 1: past the man. This time, he let his legs pump

1496
01:15:25,000 --> 01:15:27,320
Speaker 1: as fast as they could, and rushed towards the five

1497
01:15:27,360 --> 01:15:31,400
Speaker 1: advancing armored martyrs in the quarter second before contact, Roland

1498
01:15:31,400 --> 01:15:34,839
Speaker 1: had his first solid look at the enemy. Their suits

1499
01:15:34,840 --> 01:15:38,439
Speaker 1: were definitely some iteration of the basic Aries design. They

1500
01:15:38,439 --> 01:15:41,400
Speaker 1: had the familiar insectoid helmet with its bulbous eyes and

1501
01:15:41,439 --> 01:15:45,519
Speaker 1: heavy nasal sensor blister. The shoulders, chests, growing thighs, and

1502
01:15:45,560 --> 01:15:49,439
Speaker 1: shin were all heavily reinforced. These were breaching suits meant

1503
01:15:49,479 --> 01:15:51,920
Speaker 1: to lead in advance and absorb an enormous amount of

1504
01:15:51,960 --> 01:15:55,320
Speaker 1: incoming fire. The armor was painted the dull yellow of

1505
01:15:55,320 --> 01:15:58,320
Speaker 1: a Texas grassland. Roland could see red and blue on

1506
01:15:58,360 --> 01:16:01,320
Speaker 1: the edges of the pauldron's Republic of Texas colors, but

1507
01:16:01,400 --> 01:16:04,320
Speaker 1: the suits had clearly been painted over repurposed by their

1508
01:16:04,360 --> 01:16:07,759
Speaker 1: new owners. Two of the men had large white crosses

1509
01:16:07,840 --> 01:16:11,080
Speaker 1: daubed across their chests. One man had a cross painted

1510
01:16:11,080 --> 01:16:14,280
Speaker 1: over his face plate. The paint jobs seemed new. These

1511
01:16:14,320 --> 01:16:18,439
Speaker 1: suits had been captured or handed over recently. Their wearers

1512
01:16:18,439 --> 01:16:21,480
Speaker 1: moved like competent fighters who weren't used to the capabilities

1513
01:16:21,479 --> 01:16:24,479
Speaker 1: of full powered armor. Two of the martyrs had shoulder

1514
01:16:24,479 --> 01:16:28,120
Speaker 1: mounted missile pods with angry looking rockets. Inside them. Three

1515
01:16:28,160 --> 01:16:31,679
Speaker 1: of them mounted rotary chain cannons. Between their targeting systems

1516
01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:34,639
Speaker 1: and reflex augmentation hardware, they could have hurt him if

1517
01:16:34,640 --> 01:16:37,800
Speaker 1: they'd had their ship together, but they didn't, and he

1518
01:16:37,880 --> 01:16:40,080
Speaker 1: hit the point man like a bag of concrete thrown

1519
01:16:40,120 --> 01:16:42,960
Speaker 1: by a gorilla. Roland didn't even bother to swing the

1520
01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:45,599
Speaker 1: wrench yet, he just let his substantial body weight turn

1521
01:16:45,680 --> 01:16:48,759
Speaker 1: him into a post human battering ram. The first soldier

1522
01:16:48,840 --> 01:16:51,080
Speaker 1: hit the ground, Roland atop him with a whine of

1523
01:16:51,080 --> 01:16:54,160
Speaker 1: pistons and internal motors. He tried to bring his AsSalt

1524
01:16:54,240 --> 01:16:56,599
Speaker 1: cannon to bear on Roland, but the barrel was too long.

1525
01:16:57,160 --> 01:17:00,400
Speaker 1: Roland slammed Sardar's wrench into the man's crotch eleven times

1526
01:17:00,400 --> 01:17:03,080
Speaker 1: in the space of a second. The suit's growing armor

1527
01:17:03,160 --> 01:17:05,880
Speaker 1: was rated to stop a fifty caliber rifle round. It

1528
01:17:06,000 --> 01:17:09,320
Speaker 1: caved in on the third hit. Stop, he shouted inside

1529
01:17:09,320 --> 01:17:12,400
Speaker 1: his own mind, Stop, you're going to kill him. Roland

1530
01:17:12,400 --> 01:17:15,720
Speaker 1: pulled back with considerable effort. His brain wanted more in

1531
01:17:15,760 --> 01:17:18,400
Speaker 1: every impact fed a few more endorphins into the hopper,

1532
01:17:18,720 --> 01:17:20,920
Speaker 1: but he managed to stop himself before he did a

1533
01:17:20,960 --> 01:17:24,400
Speaker 1: reparable harm. This hesitation made him a target, though one

1534
01:17:24,439 --> 01:17:26,960
Speaker 1: of the armored martyrs shot him four times and ripped

1535
01:17:27,000 --> 01:17:30,160
Speaker 1: deep gouges in his torso. Roland rushed the man and

1536
01:17:30,200 --> 01:17:33,120
Speaker 1: slapped his weapon aside. The drugs fledded into him again

1537
01:17:33,160 --> 01:17:35,599
Speaker 1: as he swung his wrench up underhanded into the poor

1538
01:17:35,640 --> 01:17:39,519
Speaker 1: fellow's chin. Bone shattered on the first swing. Bigsby fired.

1539
01:17:39,720 --> 01:17:41,960
Speaker 1: Roland felt one of the other armored martyrs go down.

1540
01:17:42,080 --> 01:17:45,200
Speaker 1: Knee caps and throats shot out. The two remaining martyrs

1541
01:17:45,240 --> 01:17:48,080
Speaker 1: opted to retreat, but it was a fighting retreat. They

1542
01:17:48,080 --> 01:17:51,360
Speaker 1: bounded backwards and launched a flurry of rockets towards Roland.

1543
01:17:51,360 --> 01:17:55,120
Speaker 1: Discover fire. These he had to avoid. Roland could eat

1544
01:17:55,160 --> 01:17:59,360
Speaker 1: small arms fire all day. Rockets were not small. He

1545
01:17:59,400 --> 01:18:02,080
Speaker 1: shoved the inch into his waistband and threw himself into

1546
01:18:02,120 --> 01:18:05,000
Speaker 1: an elegant backflip. He may be wanted to impress Bigsby

1547
01:18:05,120 --> 01:18:08,639
Speaker 1: a little. He landed fourteen feet back from his prior position,

1548
01:18:08,720 --> 01:18:11,200
Speaker 1: and the same continuous motion he picked up two fist

1549
01:18:11,240 --> 01:18:14,200
Speaker 1: sized chunks of concrete off the ground, flipped back again,

1550
01:18:14,439 --> 01:18:18,120
Speaker 1: and launched both improvised missiles at the retreating martyrs. The

1551
01:18:18,200 --> 01:18:21,400
Speaker 1: rockets impacted one after the other and spaces Roland had

1552
01:18:21,400 --> 01:18:24,840
Speaker 1: been a millisecond before shrapnel from the detonations tore at

1553
01:18:24,840 --> 01:18:28,799
Speaker 1: his skin and penetrated his less critical organs. Roland's hindbrain

1554
01:18:28,880 --> 01:18:31,800
Speaker 1: registered at least thirty new injuries, none of them were

1555
01:18:31,840 --> 01:18:35,320
Speaker 1: serious enough that he felt actual pain. He backflipped again,

1556
01:18:35,600 --> 01:18:38,240
Speaker 1: definitely show boating, and landed eight feet ahead of the

1557
01:18:38,320 --> 01:18:41,280
Speaker 1: last rocket and right in front of Biggsby's fighting position.

1558
01:18:41,640 --> 01:18:43,840
Speaker 1: Right as he landed, the chunks of concrete he'd thrown

1559
01:18:43,880 --> 01:18:46,479
Speaker 1: impacted the face plates of both martyrs at around eleven

1560
01:18:46,560 --> 01:18:49,680
Speaker 1: hundred feet per second. That impact wouldn't be enough to

1561
01:18:49,760 --> 01:18:52,519
Speaker 1: kill men in Airy's armor, probably, but it was enough

1562
01:18:52,560 --> 01:18:54,840
Speaker 1: to break most of their suit sensors and shatter a

1563
01:18:54,840 --> 01:18:58,080
Speaker 1: lot of the bones in their faces. Roland fixed Bigsby

1564
01:18:58,160 --> 01:19:00,080
Speaker 1: with an evil grin as the last two power or

1565
01:19:00,120 --> 01:19:03,200
Speaker 1: armored men staggered back, wavered on their feet and collapsed.

1566
01:19:03,920 --> 01:19:06,360
Speaker 1: Son of a. Bigsby started to curse in a low,

1567
01:19:06,439 --> 01:19:13,520
Speaker 1: odd voice, because I'll be taking that nipple now. Hey, everybody,

1568
01:19:13,680 --> 01:19:15,800
Speaker 1: Robert Evans here. I hope you just enjoyed the chapter

1569
01:19:15,920 --> 01:19:18,280
Speaker 1: you listen to. I hope you enjoyed the chapters to come.

1570
01:19:18,640 --> 01:19:20,920
Speaker 1: If you would like to read the text, version of

1571
01:19:20,960 --> 01:19:23,360
Speaker 1: this book either on the web or on your e

1572
01:19:23,479 --> 01:19:25,760
Speaker 1: reader as an e pub You can find those on

1573
01:19:25,800 --> 01:19:29,599
Speaker 1: the website a t r book dot com. So again,

1574
01:19:29,840 --> 01:19:32,880
Speaker 1: the free ad free e pub and the text of

1575
01:19:32,920 --> 01:19:36,040
Speaker 1: every chapter will be on a t r book dot com.

1576
01:19:36,040 --> 01:19:49,960
Speaker 1: Thanks Mama, What does the chicken say? Uh? Draft draft? Really?

1577
01:19:50,240 --> 01:19:53,280
Speaker 1: Giraffe d draft? You're not gonna get it all right.

1578
01:19:53,479 --> 01:19:55,439
Speaker 1: Just make sure you nail the big stuff, like making

1579
01:19:55,439 --> 01:19:57,519
Speaker 1: sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat

1580
01:19:57,560 --> 01:20:00,720
Speaker 1: for their agent's eyes. Get it right. Visit n h

1581
01:20:01,320 --> 01:20:04,800
Speaker 1: s A dot gov. Slash the Right Seat brought to

1582
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Speaker 1: you by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the

1583
01:20:07,479 --> 01:20:12,080
Speaker 1: AD Council. What Girls in the Forest, our imagination and

1584
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Speaker 1: our family bonds. The forest is closer than you think.

1585
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1586
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1587
01:20:22,000 --> 01:20:25,280
Speaker 1: the AD Council. I'm Tanya Sam, host of the Money

1588
01:20:25,320 --> 01:20:28,800
Speaker 1: Moves Podcast powered by Greenwood. This daily podcast will help

1589
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1590
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1591
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1592
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1596
01:20:52,400 --> 01:20:53,200
Speaker 1: you leave a review