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