WEBVTT - Chapter Seven

0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:09.200
<v Speaker 1>Chapter seven. Manny Mannie was used to war, he wasn't

0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:11.440
<v Speaker 1>quite as used to being on the losing side of one.

0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.760
<v Speaker 1>As chaotic as things gotten Sierda de Muerta, his guys

0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.439
<v Speaker 1>had always held the upper hand. Manny had come to

0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.680
<v Speaker 1>expect safe supply lines and reliable transport to and from

0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.800
<v Speaker 1>the battlefield. During past offensives, the martyrs hadn't controlled the skies.

0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:27.760
<v Speaker 1>His first hint that this had changed came when the

0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.240
<v Speaker 1>fifty caliber machine gun atop their transport fired into the sky.

0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:33.880
<v Speaker 1>It was soon joined by the echoing boom of the

0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.120
<v Speaker 1>lead vehicle's twenty millimeter cannon and a sparking whoosh as

0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.800
<v Speaker 1>anti drone rockets arched up into the sky. Nuts Reggie

0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.760
<v Speaker 1>yelped as the gunfire jolted him awake. He drifted off

0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.479
<v Speaker 1>a half hour or so into the ride. Mannie grabbed

0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:48.680
<v Speaker 1>onto him and looped his own legs around the bench

0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.920
<v Speaker 1>for stability. An instant later, the transport veered off of

0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.440
<v Speaker 1>the road and into the high grass surrounding the highway.

0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:56.800
<v Speaker 1>There was a flash somewhere to the left, followed by

0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.720
<v Speaker 1>the roar and heat of an explosion. When Mannie looked back,

0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.040
<v Speaker 1>he all the smoldering wreckage of one of their escort

0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.920
<v Speaker 1>vehicles drones. He shouted into the journalist's ear over the

0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:09.759
<v Speaker 1>blistering gunfire Manny scanned the skies as their transport plowed

0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.759
<v Speaker 1>through the tall grass. Wounded soldier screamed as the vehicle

0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.240
<v Speaker 1>banked and bounced and sent them slamming into each other.

0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.680
<v Speaker 1>He caught sight of a small drone, maybe the size

0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:20.160
<v Speaker 1>of his torso. It was matt black and an almost

0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.920
<v Speaker 1>perfect oval. The only break in its seamless form was

0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.200
<v Speaker 1>the bulge of a missile pod on its belly. A

0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.760
<v Speaker 1>red light blinked above the weapon. The drone slowed to

0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.520
<v Speaker 1>a stop, maybe a hundred feet above them. There wasn't

0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.280
<v Speaker 1>time to think. The fixer shoved his journalist hard off

0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.839
<v Speaker 1>the back of the transport and then leaped off himself.

0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.319
<v Speaker 1>He hit the ground with a painful thump that knocked

0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.000
<v Speaker 1>the air out of his lungs and the scents from

0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.800
<v Speaker 1>his mind. For a second, the whole world was stars

0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.600
<v Speaker 1>and shock. Many rolled to a rough stop against what

0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:49.200
<v Speaker 1>felt like a large rock. Something cracked inside his chest,

0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.640
<v Speaker 1>and then there was another explosion, this one louder and

0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.160
<v Speaker 1>closer than the last one. The heat hit him like

0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.920
<v Speaker 1>an ocean wave. Many was vaguely aware of the scent

0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.080
<v Speaker 1>of burning hair, his hair. He cried out, but he

0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.080
<v Speaker 1>couldn't hear his own screams. Many's ears rang like the

0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.840
<v Speaker 1>inside of a church bell. It was several moments before

0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.160
<v Speaker 1>the pain and shock subsided enough for him to open

0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.280
<v Speaker 1>his eyes. He looked down at himself. First, his pajamas

0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.400
<v Speaker 1>were scorched and his arms were scraped and bloody from

0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:16.960
<v Speaker 1>the fall. His backpack was gone, but there were no

0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.280
<v Speaker 1>signs of serious injury. None of his bones seemed broken.

0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.959
<v Speaker 1>What remained of the transport smoldered half a football field away.

0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.840
<v Speaker 1>He saw a few writhing, burning shapes inside Manny's stomach

0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.280
<v Speaker 1>turned Reggie. The pain of the fall head momentarily wiped

0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.200
<v Speaker 1>the journalist from his mind. Mannie scanned the field and

0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.520
<v Speaker 1>found the other man curled into a fetal ball a

0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.119
<v Speaker 1>dozen or so feet to his left. He ran over,

0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.000
<v Speaker 1>gave the journalist a quick scan, and determined Reggie wasn't

0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.480
<v Speaker 1>seriously injured either. A small slipper of shrapnel had pierced

0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.959
<v Speaker 1>the other man's bicep. He was just as scraped and

0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.440
<v Speaker 1>bloody as Manny, but also basically intact, except his eyes

0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.120
<v Speaker 1>didn't quite focus when Mannie looked into them. Maybe a

0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.520
<v Speaker 1>minor head injury, the journalist said something, a lot of

0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.880
<v Speaker 1>somethings in fact, but Andy's hearing was all tenitis. There

0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.520
<v Speaker 1>was no time to talk anyway. He hoisted Reggie up

0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.520
<v Speaker 1>by the armpits, ignored the other man's pained expression, and

0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.560
<v Speaker 1>pulled him along as he beat feet away from the

0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:13.080
<v Speaker 1>flaming wreckage in the ongoing firefight. Another blast wave of

0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.680
<v Speaker 1>rolled over him, this one more distant, and then another

0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.799
<v Speaker 1>coming from somewhere above them in the sky. The extent

0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.000
<v Speaker 1>of their injuries meant that their run was more like

0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.800
<v Speaker 1>a hobble. Reggie had dislocated his unshrapneled arm, Manny had

0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:26.840
<v Speaker 1>fucked his knee up in the fall and done something

0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.040
<v Speaker 1>awful to his ribs. The two stumble staggered as fast

0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.760
<v Speaker 1>as they could manage towards an abandoned gas station by

0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.480
<v Speaker 1>the side of the old highway. They reached their temporary

0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:40.040
<v Speaker 1>salvation and took cover inside the dusty, cobwebbed building. Cut cut, cut, cut, Cut,

0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.520
<v Speaker 1>Reggie screamed as he slumped down against the wall. It

0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.560
<v Speaker 1>took Manny a second to process the fact that he

0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.600
<v Speaker 1>could hear again. You're all right, he shouted, You're fine,

0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.760
<v Speaker 1>We're going to be okay. Manny had no idea if

0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.000
<v Speaker 1>that was true, but he knew managing fear would be

0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.400
<v Speaker 1>critical to their survival. The gas station had been abandoned

0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.640
<v Speaker 1>for a decade or more. Most of the glass was gone,

0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.480
<v Speaker 1>but the basic structure of the side counter was still intact.

0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.160
<v Speaker 1>He and Reggie took cover behind it, careful to avoid

0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.880
<v Speaker 1>the piles of shattered glass and shrapnel. There were old

0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.200
<v Speaker 1>bullet holes in the wall all around them. At one time,

0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.720
<v Speaker 1>there'd been a plexiglass window on the inside wall behind

0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.360
<v Speaker 1>the counter, with a little bucket in it, so the

0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.280
<v Speaker 1>cashier could do business at night without letting customers inside.

0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.520
<v Speaker 1>Most of the plexiglass had been removed, leaving a gaping

0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.480
<v Speaker 1>wound in the building's concrete hide. Manny stuck his head

0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.080
<v Speaker 1>out of the hole and looked out at the sight

0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.240
<v Speaker 1>of the massacre. Both transports had been hit. Much of

0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.600
<v Speaker 1>the field was a flame. The six sweet smell of

0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.320
<v Speaker 1>burning human flesh wafted over them like a dense fog.

0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.440
<v Speaker 1>Manny saw two of the escort trucks still firing into

0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.800
<v Speaker 1>the sky. There was another flash above as one of

0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.080
<v Speaker 1>them hit a drone. It corkscrewed out of the air,

0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.240
<v Speaker 1>burst on the ground and ignited the dry grass. What

0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.000
<v Speaker 1>the funk do we do, Reggie shout asked. There was

0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.119
<v Speaker 1>panic in his voice and quite a lot of pain,

0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.680
<v Speaker 1>but the journalist didn't seem to have lost his wits.

0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.120
<v Speaker 1>We need to get out of here, Manny said, Well,

0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.279
<v Speaker 1>those drones are still occupied. The highway was a couple

0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.200
<v Speaker 1>of hundred feet away. The civilian vehicles following them had

0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.960
<v Speaker 1>scattered when the tack began. Some of them had clearly

0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.200
<v Speaker 1>been hit by machine gun fire from one of the drones.

0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.160
<v Speaker 1>Others had crashed, rolled into ditches and been abandoned by

0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.839
<v Speaker 1>their occupants. Manny spotted one, an ancient white jeep that

0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.160
<v Speaker 1>looked like it had taken around. Through the window. He

0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.680
<v Speaker 1>could see blood inside the vehicle, but the engine and

0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.599
<v Speaker 1>wheels seemed intact. The tree line of a sparse forest

0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.440
<v Speaker 1>was just on the other side of the highway, a

0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.680
<v Speaker 1>half mile away. If they could reach it, Reggie, he

0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.920
<v Speaker 1>put a hand on the journalist's shoulder. The two men

0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:27.960
<v Speaker 1>locked eyes, and many tried to force all the fear

0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.440
<v Speaker 1>out of his voice. When I say so, run very fast,

0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.760
<v Speaker 1>straight towards that white jeep. Understood the brit brought a

0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.599
<v Speaker 1>hand to his dislocated shoulder and winced in intense pain,

0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:39.640
<v Speaker 1>but then looked back to Manny and let out a

0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.760
<v Speaker 1>sharp sigh. Fucking all right, shit yeah. Manny took that

0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.159
<v Speaker 1>as a yes. He glanced back at the firefight in

0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.279
<v Speaker 1>the field. The fire part was literal, now at least

0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.640
<v Speaker 1>a full acre was aflame. The smoke seemed to have

0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.640
<v Speaker 1>interfered with the drone sensors. That was probably the only

0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.680
<v Speaker 1>reason their last two escorts had stayed unfucked for so long.

0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.000
<v Speaker 1>Manny watched in horror as a large beetle black drone

0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.240
<v Speaker 1>buzzed down low and opened up with a machine gun.

0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:05.760
<v Speaker 1>He saw bursts of red as the rounds tore into

0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.159
<v Speaker 1>the escorts gunner and flung him off the truck's bed.

0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:12.080
<v Speaker 1>Time to go. Manny slapped Reggie's uninjured shoulder and sprinted

0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.839
<v Speaker 1>as fast as his jankie ankle could carry him. It

0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:18.000
<v Speaker 1>was increasingly obvious that his leg was supremely fucked. The

0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.920
<v Speaker 1>middle of Manny's back itched the whole run in anticipation

0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.800
<v Speaker 1>of a bullet that peculiar sense was even louder than

0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.880
<v Speaker 1>the pain. They reached the jeep, Manny went for the

0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.600
<v Speaker 1>driver's side door, pulled it open, and jerked back as

0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.200
<v Speaker 1>the soupy remains of a pulped human being oozed out

0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.160
<v Speaker 1>onto the asphalt. He heard Reggie start to wretch behind him.

0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.719
<v Speaker 1>It was fucked in there for sure. The man he

0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:40.520
<v Speaker 1>was sort of sure it had been a man, had

0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:42.839
<v Speaker 1>taken a couple of rounds from a very large weapon.

0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.680
<v Speaker 1>Many guessed they'd been fifty caliber mass reactive bolts because

0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.360
<v Speaker 1>the impact had torn the man apart. He wasn't sure

0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.880
<v Speaker 1>if additional rounds or bone shrapnel had hit the two

0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.160
<v Speaker 1>kids in the back seat, but they were all exceptionally dead.

0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:57.840
<v Speaker 1>Many pulled his shirt off and did his best to

0:06:57.880 --> 0:06:59.880
<v Speaker 1>wipe the corpse from as much of the seat as possa.

0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.160
<v Speaker 1>He hopped in and glanced over to the journalist. Reggie

0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.240
<v Speaker 1>wretched outside, Hey, get the funk in, We don't got all.

0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.880
<v Speaker 1>A concussive blast echoed from the field. That was one

0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.400
<v Speaker 1>more escort down. The fight was as good as over.

0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:14.680
<v Speaker 1>Manny felt a tinge of panic rise up in the

0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.520
<v Speaker 1>base of his spine. Reggie still hesitated. Dude either deal

0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.560
<v Speaker 1>with some gore in your clothes or stay here and die.

0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.160
<v Speaker 1>Your choice. The Brits snapped out of it, went for

0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.760
<v Speaker 1>the passenger door and hopped inside. Manny wasn't a great driver,

0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.000
<v Speaker 1>or even a very good one, but this was a

0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.400
<v Speaker 1>simple vehicle, and he was blessed with the motivation of

0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.800
<v Speaker 1>not wanting to die. He turned the car back on

0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.560
<v Speaker 1>and the engine woke up with a rich electronic hum.

0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.080
<v Speaker 1>The fixer flipped the vehicle into drive and gunned for

0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.960
<v Speaker 1>the tree line. The jeep bounced and swayed over the

0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.559
<v Speaker 1>lumpy grassland ter rain. Reggie puked out the window. Manny

0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.200
<v Speaker 1>felt nauseous too. He honestly wasn't sure if it was

0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.600
<v Speaker 1>more for the pieces of people scattered inside the vehicle

0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:55.720
<v Speaker 1>or sheer motion sickness. Fifteen seconds went by, thirty a minute.

0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.200
<v Speaker 1>Manny allowed himself to think they might make it out

0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:02.960
<v Speaker 1>of this alive. And then he heard the buzz, that sickening,

0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.680
<v Speaker 1>familiar machine hum that every war zone kid knew, as

0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.080
<v Speaker 1>well as the sound of their own mother's voice. A

0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:11.760
<v Speaker 1>drone closing in. Manny jerked his head out the window

0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.000
<v Speaker 1>and scanned the sky. The jeep had a pothole, and

0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.160
<v Speaker 1>his head slammed to the top of the window frame.

0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.400
<v Speaker 1>He saw stars and almost lost control of the vehicle entirely.

0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:21.480
<v Speaker 1>It veered to the right and lifted up on to

0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.360
<v Speaker 1>only two wheels. He righted the jeep, spun it back

0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.040
<v Speaker 1>to the left, and gunned it again. As he turned

0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.120
<v Speaker 1>the other way, he stuck his head out again and

0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.560
<v Speaker 1>scanned behind them. There it was the black beadily fucker,

0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.920
<v Speaker 1>buzzing towards them. It was close enough that he could

0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.040
<v Speaker 1>see the glint of its camera optics and the barrel

0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.960
<v Speaker 1>of the heavy machine guns slung underneath it. Manny knew

0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.280
<v Speaker 1>it was picking up speed to compensate for the recoil

0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.560
<v Speaker 1>of its weapon. It would be low on ammunition now.

0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.160
<v Speaker 1>It'd probably wait to fire until it was too close

0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.920
<v Speaker 1>to miss. The tree line was so near he could

0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.800
<v Speaker 1>almost grab it. Another fifteen seconds and they'd be there,

0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:54.640
<v Speaker 1>But the drone was close. They didn't have that long.

0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.559
<v Speaker 1>He looked over to the journalist, get ready to bail,

0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.760
<v Speaker 1>get ready to what Manny saw the muzzle flash, and

0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:02.840
<v Speaker 1>in the same instant he spun the wheel hard to

0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.520
<v Speaker 1>the right. The drones first round chunked through the back

0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.640
<v Speaker 1>of the jeep cracked the axle and blew apart the

0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:09.680
<v Speaker 1>left tire, but the jeep was in the air. An

0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.439
<v Speaker 1>instant later. It flipped over like a drunken dolphin, and

0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.760
<v Speaker 1>the rest of the drone shots blasted chunks out of

0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.040
<v Speaker 1>the ground where the jeep would have been. By the

0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:19.200
<v Speaker 1>end of the burst, the recoil had robbed the drone

0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.280
<v Speaker 1>of its momentum and brought it to a spinning halt

0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.320
<v Speaker 1>in the sky. The jeep rolled twice and bounced Manny

0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.080
<v Speaker 1>and Reggie around like rocks in a tumbler. It hurt,

0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.719
<v Speaker 1>it hurt shiploads, but Manny was high enough on adrenaline

0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.240
<v Speaker 1>in fear that he could almost ignore the pain. Blood

0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.800
<v Speaker 1>streamed from his forehead, something ached terribly between his shoulders.

0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.160
<v Speaker 1>When the jeep came to a stop, he was deeply

0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.520
<v Speaker 1>surprised to be alive. Let's go, he shouted to Reggie,

0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:44.560
<v Speaker 1>not even a hundred percent sure if the journalist had

0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.360
<v Speaker 1>survived the crash. Manny pulled himself up out of the

0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.000
<v Speaker 1>open window and then reached his hands back blind into

0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.440
<v Speaker 1>the jeep. While he scanned the sky around them. He

0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:54.880
<v Speaker 1>felt reggie small hands grip his own. They were wet

0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.800
<v Speaker 1>with sweat, maybe blood probably both. Manny squeezed pulled him up.

0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.679
<v Speaker 1>The too hopped down because they could with their sundry wounds.

0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.040
<v Speaker 1>The drone had probably veered around and started another loop

0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:06.760
<v Speaker 1>so it could build up the speed for one more

0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.080
<v Speaker 1>accurate burst of fire. Many couldn't quite hear the buzz yet,

0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.080
<v Speaker 1>but he couldn't hear much of anything over the sound

0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.559
<v Speaker 1>of his pounding heart. Reggie pulled ahead of him in

0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.320
<v Speaker 1>a lopsided run. Manny tried to pick up speed, but

0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:22.120
<v Speaker 1>his knee just wouldn't let him. Ah, there it was.

0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.439
<v Speaker 1>He had three, maybe four seconds before that big gun

0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.680
<v Speaker 1>opened up again. The tree line was only about a

0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.960
<v Speaker 1>hundred feet away, so close and yet too far for

0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.720
<v Speaker 1>him to possibly make it in time. I really didn't

0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.199
<v Speaker 1>want to die here. I was so close to getting out.

0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.880
<v Speaker 1>He thought of a picture he'd seen of the Bavarian Alps,

0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.600
<v Speaker 1>white snow filled valleys and rich pine forests. I'm never

0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.120
<v Speaker 1>going to see that or anything else. Reggie looked back

0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.000
<v Speaker 1>as he neared the tree line. Many appreciated the gesture.

0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.320
<v Speaker 1>It was dumb as funk, though idiot to run. The

0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.200
<v Speaker 1>fixer bellowed at the top of his lungs. The journalist

0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.000
<v Speaker 1>didn't hesitate this time. He bolted past the tree line

0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.400
<v Speaker 1>and disappeared into the wooded thicket. Manny felt a weight

0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:03.920
<v Speaker 1>lift off his shoulders. He was about to be torn

0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.320
<v Speaker 1>apart by some nut fuck martyr with an itchy trigger

0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.280
<v Speaker 1>finger and a joystick. But he'd done his job. He'd

0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.319
<v Speaker 1>gotten his journalists to safety. Well not quite safety, he thought,

0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.800
<v Speaker 1>but whatever best I could do under the circumstances. The

0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.360
<v Speaker 1>hum grew louder. Manny tried to coax a little more

0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.520
<v Speaker 1>speed out of his wounded leg, even though he knew

0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.600
<v Speaker 1>he was too far away now to make the tree line.

0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.120
<v Speaker 1>Even at a dead sprint. It would have been nice

0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.720
<v Speaker 1>to see Berlin or Paris. Oh well. He heard the

0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.320
<v Speaker 1>thumping sound of heavy gun fire and braced himself for

0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.160
<v Speaker 1>the instant of agony that would precede his end. But

0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.840
<v Speaker 1>instead he heard the sound of impact and crunching metal

0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.280
<v Speaker 1>behind him, followed by a high pitched mechanical wine. Something

0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.040
<v Speaker 1>heavy and black crashed into the ground ahead of him.

0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.559
<v Speaker 1>He made it to the tree line, pushed through the underbrush,

0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.079
<v Speaker 1>got perhaps twenty feet into the woods, and collapsed against

0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.640
<v Speaker 1>a tree for a few seconds He just let the

0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.800
<v Speaker 1>paine wash over him, his knee, his shoulders. He could

0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.599
<v Speaker 1>feel something stuck deep in his back too, maybe a

0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.800
<v Speaker 1>shard of glass or some shrie apneal. From the start

0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.200
<v Speaker 1>of the firefight, he had quite a few deep cuts.

0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.360
<v Speaker 1>The trauma nanites in his circulatory system had clotted most

0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.080
<v Speaker 1>of them, but the deeper ones still oozed blood. It

0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:11.160
<v Speaker 1>was hard to tell just how injured he really was,

0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.720
<v Speaker 1>since his body was also covered in blood and viscerraph

0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.560
<v Speaker 1>from the jeep's previous occupants espera. He thought, how am

0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.360
<v Speaker 1>I alive? His brain gradually spun up to meet his body.

0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.160
<v Speaker 1>Someone had shot that murder beetle out of the sky,

0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.200
<v Speaker 1>But who Reggie? Where would he have gotten a gun?

0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.560
<v Speaker 1>And the man was British. He couldn't shoot Reggie. He

0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.640
<v Speaker 1>shouted over here. The brit called back. He sounded weirdly cheerful.

0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:46.800
<v Speaker 1>I'm er think we've made some friends. For the first

0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.440
<v Speaker 1>time in his life, Manny found himself face to face

0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:53.240
<v Speaker 1>with two post humans. The first appeared to be a lady.

0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.120
<v Speaker 1>She was hunkered up in the branches of a tree,

0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:57.280
<v Speaker 1>and she cradled a very large gun in her hands.

0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.280
<v Speaker 1>Most of her body sort of faded into the four wrist.

0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.720
<v Speaker 1>She was only easy to see now because of her smile.

0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.200
<v Speaker 1>The shine of her teeth was quite unlike anything else

0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.280
<v Speaker 1>he'd ever seen. They appeared to be made of some

0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.640
<v Speaker 1>sort of strange, swirling colored metal. Where a normal person

0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.200
<v Speaker 1>would have had incisors, she had long, curved fangs. The

0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.800
<v Speaker 1>other chrombed was a black man. He was of average height,

0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.440
<v Speaker 1>with a muscular body and a wide build. His head

0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.680
<v Speaker 1>was shaved, and he had a plump, friendly face and

0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.160
<v Speaker 1>round cheeks that accentuated his broad smile. He wore a

0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.040
<v Speaker 1>red kilt and a silver breastplate over his muscular chest.

0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.320
<v Speaker 1>It gleamed in the afternoon sun. His only weapon appeared

0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.320
<v Speaker 1>to be an enormous sledgehammer, larger than Reggie's entire body.

0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.480
<v Speaker 1>He smiled and nodded in Manny. His whole body twitched

0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.480
<v Speaker 1>as he stood there, as if a constant stream of

0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:43.120
<v Speaker 1>electricity buzzed through him. Reggie stood in front of the man.

0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:45.480
<v Speaker 1>It looked like the journalist had run into the post

0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.559
<v Speaker 1>humans during his flight from the drone. He looked terrified

0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:53.440
<v Speaker 1>in the friendly sort of way. Only the British could manage. Hey, y'all, Manny,

0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.439
<v Speaker 1>said he wasn't sure how nomadic half god warrior people

0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:00.800
<v Speaker 1>preferred to be addressed. Y'all seemed a safe bet, a guy, said.

0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.080
<v Speaker 1>The woman up in the tree soap said the kilted

0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:08.240
<v Speaker 1>man um. Can we help you? Manny asked? The man chuckled.

0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.560
<v Speaker 1>He had a deep, throaty laugh that bounced off the

0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.880
<v Speaker 1>trees and seemed to get louder as it reverberated. No, buddy,

0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.720
<v Speaker 1>you guys look pretty near death. I'm gonna GISs. You

0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.040
<v Speaker 1>don't have anything. I want nice pajamas, though he pointed

0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.720
<v Speaker 1>down to Manny's blood soaked and burned pajama bottoms. The

0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:26.000
<v Speaker 1>fixer's face turned red with embarrassment. They might have whiskey,

0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.000
<v Speaker 1>said the woman. Ask if they have whiskey. The big

0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:33.240
<v Speaker 1>man smiled, lowered his mall and spoke the name's schoofucker Mike,

0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:35.800
<v Speaker 1>he said. The lady who shut down your drone is

0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.680
<v Speaker 1>Topaz McMillan. Do you guys have whiskey? Manny didn't, but

0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:44.040
<v Speaker 1>Reggie did. Holy fuck, he shouted, I actually do. Somehow,

0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.840
<v Speaker 1>the journalist hadn't lost his backpack in the chaos. He

0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.920
<v Speaker 1>unzipped the main compartment, dig around for a few seconds

0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.800
<v Speaker 1>and produced a small metal flask. Reggie passed it off

0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:55.200
<v Speaker 1>to skullfucker Mike, who took a belt of it and

0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.160
<v Speaker 1>let out a dog's bark. He didn't bark like a dog,

0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.760
<v Speaker 1>It was the exact sound of a large pound barking schofucker.

0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.360
<v Speaker 1>Mike passed the flask up to Topaz. She took a

0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:08.200
<v Speaker 1>poll in coued appreciatively. All right, Scully, I like these guys.

0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.840
<v Speaker 1>They get a ride. A ride, asked Reggie. A ride

0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.720
<v Speaker 1>to where? Two rolling fuck, she said, to the city

0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:21.920
<v Speaker 1>of Wheels. Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here. I hope you

0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.040
<v Speaker 1>just enjoyed the chapter you listen to. I hope you

0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.520
<v Speaker 1>enjoyed the chapters to come. If you would like to

0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.160
<v Speaker 1>read the text version of this book either on the

0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.560
<v Speaker 1>web or on your e reader as an e pub

0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.120
<v Speaker 1>you can find those on the website a t r

0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:38.400
<v Speaker 1>book dot com. So again, the free ad free e

0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.080
<v Speaker 1>pub and the text of every chapter will be on

0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:43.480
<v Speaker 1>a t r book dot com. Thanks