After the Revolution: Chapters Twelve, Thirteen & Fourteen

Episode Transcript
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you get your podcasts. Chapter twelve, Sasha the Lord did

(02:10):
not mean for Sasha to be a cleaner. That was
her first big lesson as a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom.
She was good enough at it, and she had too
much self respect to complain, but the work felt so
unrewarding that she knew it must not be what God
wanted for her. She'd spent her first night in the
Kingdom being pampered and provided for by her fellow sisters,
in the faith. They'd fed her, cleaned her, found her

(02:32):
fresh clothes, and given her all the emotional rewards she
could have ever wanted. And then the next day, Helen
had woken her up at seven in the morning to
help clean out an old Republic barracks that was being
transitioned over to housing for soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom.
She knew it was honorable work, she knew it was
necessary work, and she knew from the issues of Revelator
she'd read that establishing the Kingdom of Heaven was a

(02:54):
job that would not be accomplished easily or without pain.
She'd accepted this when she'd made the choice to venture
down here, but by the time she'd scrubbed her twelfth
the toilet of the day, Sasha had decided that her
mind and her loyalty were better used elsewhere. Oddly enough,
something her father had told her about the corporate world
stopped her from whining. Never complain, never speak ill of

(03:15):
your colleagues, and always ask if there's more work you
can do. It had been his advice to survive and
thrive in business, but she took it to heart here,
and by the end of her first full day in
the kingdom. She'd scrubbed more toilets than any other girl.
She hated the work, but she also took up reverse
sort of pride in it. That brought a little guilt
because she wasn't here to serve her pride, but also

(03:35):
wouldn't the Lord God be happy to see her commitment.
I'll ask Helen about that, Sasha told herself. She'll tell
me how much of my pride is justified and how
much isn't. She didn't see Helen again until the end
of that day, when a truck came to gather all
the girls up and take them back to the House
of Miriam. They all washed up and then sat together
around a large oaken table while Helen led them in prayer.

(03:58):
She read a chunk of the Book of Isaiah and
then gave a quick lecture on the value of physical labor.
Each callous on your hands is a kiss from God,
before inviting them to tuck in. The dinner wasn't luxurious
by Sasha standards, just biscuits, a thin brown gravy, and
a palm sized slice of beef for each of them,
but they had oranges for dessert, which was a treat,

(04:18):
and Sasha felt more comfortable than she'd ever have believed.
Among her new sisters, Caroline had fled from Florida, North
America's Bananaist Republic. She'd been shot in the arm making
her way to the Heavenly Kingdom. She said almost nothing.
Sasha wasn't sure she even spoke English. But Caroline worked hard.
There was an intensity in her eyes that was a
little scary and humbling at the same time. Then there

(04:40):
was Susannah from the black Stone Nation. Sasha couldn't help
but notice she was the only black girl there. Susannah
had spent most of their work day singing to herself.
She had a beautiful singing voice. And then there were
the three other am fed girls, Emmeline, Rosie, and Anne.
They had all left a few weeks before Sasha had
made her own journey. Anne had actually gone to the

(05:01):
same middle school as Sasha. She wasn't great with names,
so most of the other girls in her group were
still more of a collection of smiling faces than real
people at this point. But they'd all been so warm
to her. There was a real effort from all of
them to make regular physical contact. They put hands on
each other's shoulders, and cheeks they hugged constantly. Sasha experienced

(05:22):
more touching in her first twenty four hours here than
she'd experienced in her last five years in the American Federation.
There was something intoxicating about being touched and feeling so
cared for. The only girl she didn't like was May.
Like Sasha, May was within spitting distance of age eighteen,
She'd fled from the UCS, and she had a gift
for letting people around her know when they fell short

(05:44):
of God's standards. During their work day, she'd spent more
time policing the other girl's posture than she'd spent scrubbing toilets.
When Anne had hitched up her shirt sleeves. It was
May who had scolded her for a modesty. When Susannah
took off her shoes and socks during their lunch break,
May had yelled that she was an unfair temptation to
the young soldiers walking by on the street. Sasha knew

(06:05):
it was unfair and definitely Unchristian to feel this way,
but May looked like someone who lived to tell other
people what to do. She had the pinched features, squinting eyes,
and high pitched voice of a born snitch. May kept
her hair tied up in a bun so tight and
short it looked military. She never smiled and never seemed
to relax, And there was something about the frenzied way

(06:26):
she'd pray alone quietly in the corner throughout the day
that made Sasha leery. She hated that she'd noticed those things.
She knew God didn't want her focusing on what other
people were doing wrong. And besides, she told herself, what
are you really angry about that? She's too serious about
her faith. Isn't that way you left home? Gluttony is
a sin too, you know, May said. Sasha realized with

(06:49):
a start that May had addressed her. She had been
eating her orange and absent minded and tired after a
long day of labor. She hadn't realized how messy she'd
been about peeling it. Her hands and sleeves were covered
with a sticky juice. She looked around at the table
and noticed that the other girls had been much more
careful with their dessert. Sorry, Sasha started, I wasn't thinking.
May rolled her eyes and started to say something else,

(07:11):
but Helen cut her off. It's quite all right, dear.
None of us is perfect. She cast a reproach for
lie at May, and we all lose ourselves and thoughts, sometimes,
especially in the wake of great change. The Lord understands.
She looked out to the rest of the table with
a gaze that seemed to take in each of the
girls collectively and individually. Then she spoke, we are all

(07:34):
here because we recognize the primacy of God's word on earth.
But we are no more perfect and no more beloved
by our Lord than the enemies we face. Never forget that, girls,
our foes, are as dear to Him as we are.
They must be purged when they seek to interfere with
God's will, But we should feel sorrow for such losses,
and we should never ever Her eyes went to May again,

(07:56):
let our fortune, in hearing God's word, bleat us of compassion,
or lead us to arrogance. Sasha's heart swelled at this.
She'd never admired a woman more. Helen had a way
of imparting wisdom without judgment, of shining a light on
the truth without seeming like it was her truth alone.
Helen wasn't a preacher, but Sasha had never heard anyone
speak the word of God with more conviction. After dinner,

(08:20):
they had an hour of free time to read their bibles,
share a few stories of their old lives, and drink
a single cup of sweet lemon tea. By nine o'clock
it was bedtime. Sasha was rankled a bit by the
fact that she and her fellow young women were being
ordered into bed at a set hour, but she was
so exhausted by her day of labor that she couldn't
work up much frustration over the mild injustice. Perhaps, when

(08:41):
she'd had more time to adjust, she'd bring this up
to Helen. She collapsed in her bunk bed, certain she'd
fall asleep in an instant. Instead, she lay awake for
the better part of an hour, thinking of Alexander. She'd
still heard nothing more from him or about him. She'd
asked Helen a couple of times today, and the older
woman had almost seemed gree Somehow, Sasha knew the anger

(09:02):
wasn't towards her, and that was doubly confusing Sasha. Anne's
voice broke her reverie. The other girl was situated just
below her on the bunk bed. Sasha was surprised to
hear her still awake. Yes, is something the matter? No,
Anne said, I just couldn't sleep. I thought maybe you
were awake too. I guess we're both in the same boat.

(09:22):
Then Sasha kept her voice low, more to avoid waking
any of the others than out of fear of breaking
the rules. In more ways than one, Anne said, I'm
waiting for a man I love too. Sasha's heart beat
a little faster. It was like that, with everything that
made her think of Alexander, her mind didn't need a
great deal of prodding to turn towards him. Your love

(09:43):
is at the front, to Sasha asked, I think so,
Anne said, I was lucky enough to get to see
him once I arrived in Kappel first, back before the
kingdom took Plaano. We met once then, and once more
after the city fell and they moved us into the
House of Miriam. Jealousy seized Sasha's heart. She tried to
replace it with gratitude in the Lord he'd send her

(10:03):
someone who can understand her pain and frustration. Wasn't that
a blessing? That must be hard for you, she said,
getting to see him and then being separated. The words
came out a bit stilted and cold. She hoped Anne
hadn't noticed it is, Anne said, but it isn't half
so rough her place as you're in. I can't imagine
how anxious you must be arriving here and not seeing him.

(10:26):
He's not the only reason I came, Sasha said, a
bit defensively. But yes, it's hard. I'm scared. I don't
know why I feel so silly, Admitting that it's certainly
not silly, Anne assured her, But I get it. Everyone
here is so focused on gratitude and God's wisdom. It
almost makes you feel like a traitor for feeling afraid

(10:46):
or unhappy. Anne's voice dropped a few decibels, as if
she was ashamed of her next words, I almost feel
like a liar when I smile. I don't think the
Lord wants us to be liars, Sasha said, But I
think happy or trying to seem happy is a sacrifice
we make for the kingdom. It helps keep everyone else
around us strong. Hmm, Anne said, and then yawned. Her

(11:10):
voice sounded heavy with sleep. There must have been something
contagious in the sound, because Sasha felt her own eyelids
start to droop. That's a nice way to look at it,
Anne said, I like the way you think, Sasha. Helen
woke all of them up the next morning. She was
gentle with it, a hand on each girl's shoulder and
a word in each of their ears, but there was
no mistaking that she meant now. So Sasha got up

(11:33):
her feet hit the floor just as Anne took her
first steps forward towards the dining room. They all filed in,
silent and groggy. The girls took their breakfasts in the
form of a thick, tasteless protein shake, and then they
were loaded onto a heavy military looking bus and driven
off to a large, red brick office building. According to
the bullet poxed signs, it had once been an administrative

(11:54):
building for the corporation that had run most of the
Republic schools. Sasha swept up bullet casings and added glass.
She scrubbed toilets and wiped the blood off the walls,
and tried not to think too hard about how it
had gotten there. Conversation wasn't forbidden, but there was a
lot of ground to cover, and May was quick to
scold anyone who dawdled. Sasha and Anne both kept moving,

(12:14):
but they passed each other in the halls often each
time the other girl would favor Sasha with a supportive smile,
and Sasha would return it. They broke for lunch a
little afternoon, stale cheese sandwiches and orange juice, but instead
of getting back to work after their meal, they were
met again by the bus that had taken them there.
They were told to file inside. Sasha wound up in
between Anne and Susannah in the middle row of the bus.

(12:36):
It was hot, the air circulation was bad, and the
smell of sweat was thick on the bus, but the
windows were down, and once the bus got going, the
air that blew in felt like Heaven, Lord God. I've
been waiting for this all day, said Susannah. I'd stay
on this thing all night if they led me. Yeah.
Anne said, this is actually a lot more comfortable than
the bunk room. Even when the powers working and the

(12:58):
fans are on the the power go out a lot,
Sasha asked. She felt dumb for even giving voice to
the question, but her seatmates didn't treat it like a
stupid question. Not a lot, Anne said, But we'll lose
an hour or two most days, and it can be
out for quite a while. When Austin gets a drone
through that doesn't happen often, Susannah assured her. I've been

(13:18):
in the Kingdom ten days and we've only had to
take shelter once twice for me. Anne said, but I've
been here almost three weeks. I'm not scared, Sasha assured them.
I'm just curious. You should be scared. Susannah said, it sucks.
It wasn't a long ride, and Sasha was embarrassed at
how long it took her to realize the destination. This

(13:41):
was the same route they'd taken from the House of Miriam,
just in reverse. She and the other girls were being
taken downtown. Won't she got a good look at the gallows,
she understood why. There were six people lined up in
front of the little stairway that led to the platform.
They looked like prisoners. Susannah looked just as confused as Sasha,
but Anne seemed to understand what was going on. She

(14:03):
scrunched her face in disgust. Oh no, she said, I
hate it when they make us watch this. The two
martyrs who had guarded them all day opened the doors
and told them to form up outside of the bus.
Sasha did as she was told, while grabbing as many
long looks at the gallows as she could manage. None
of the people who stood out in front of the
platform looked like soldiers, or robber barons, or much of

(14:24):
anything at all. They just seemed young and scared fags.
The martyr, standing next to the driver at the bus
door grunted as Sasha stepped past him. He waited until
the other girls had all filed off the bus before
he stepped around to stand in front of them. Sasha
hadn't paid the man too much attention during the day, because,
in truth, he scared her. He looked old, over forty

(14:44):
at least, and his face was heavy with scars and tattoos.
There were faded blue crosses inked on each of his forearms.
There wasn't much skin visible under his armor in helmet,
but the skin she could see was tanned red like leather.
His eyes were cold and seemed fixed into a permanent
and squint. When he addressed the group, it was with
a voice that sounded like it came to them through
a filter of gravel and glass. These people, he said,

(15:08):
and spat after the word people, gender traitors. There were
a few gasps from among the crowd. He continued it
took us a while to crack into the Republic's old files,
but we finally got a list of all the fags
who refused to accept their God given gender. They thought
surgery could hide him. But there's no hide in the
truth from the eyes of God or his true servants,

(15:28):
and there's only one fair punishment for someone who turns
their back on natural law. Sasha's heart started to pound.
She'd known, of course, that Pastor Mike didn't approve of transgenderism,
of gender change, surgery, of homosexuality, or of anything else
that didn't fit into the neat biblical lines of what
a man and a woman ought to be, but it

(15:48):
always phrased his objections with such compassion. Queer and trans
people weren't monsters deserving of death. They were victims of
the fallen secular world, same as anyone else. Sasha agreed
they needed re education, but this the crowd, perhaps three
hundred strong, cheered as the prisoners were led up to
the gallows. Sasha's heart beat like a bass drum. She

(16:09):
couldn't hear anything else. The voices of the crowd, of
her sister's faded behind the beating sound of the blood
that coursed through her head, but her eyes continued to work,
and she watched in horror as they fit nooses around
each victim's neck. The young people cried and screamed and begged,
but the martyrs paid them no mind. Some of them
chanted in tongues while they prepared the killing machine. Sasha

(16:30):
saw joy in their eyes. She found it revolting. Before long,
they'd finished their preparations and six people were strung up
on the gallows before the brays and cries of the crowd.
Sasha didn't think it was possible for her heart to
beat any faster, but it kept speeding up. She felt
light headed and nauseous, and a little like she needed
to go to the bathroom. Her knees grew weak, and

(16:51):
she found herself leaning on Anne. The other woman looked
almost as scared as Sasha did, but she weathered it better.
She put an arm around Sasha, supporting her, and two
of them looked on as the executioner called out and
pulled the lever that sent six human beings dropping down
to dangle until they were dead. The snap of their
necks was the only thing Sasha heard above the sound
of her own pounding heart. She watched them twitch and

(17:13):
jerk for a second too, and then her body grew
too light and her legs collapsed beneath her. The world
went black. She awoke back in the House of Miriam.
Her sisters knelt or stood around her. Sasha was gratified
to see she wasn't the only one who had passed out.
Anne lay next to her, clearly disoriented, along with two

(17:33):
other women whose name Sasha hadn't quite memorized. Helen set
in between them, wet washcloth in her hand, and stroked
their faces. There there, DearS, you've had a terrible shock,
and there's no shame in your reactions. No shame. May
spat the words. There was a glow to her face
and a manic glint in her eyes. Ma'am, with all
due respect, I don't know how these girls can call

(17:54):
themselves committed to the heavenly kingdom if the sight of
defying justice hurts them so much. Sasha saw anger in
Helen's eyes, but the older woman didn't let it carry
over into her voice. Instead, she fixed May with a
cool gaze and said, in an even tone, Miss May,
one can believe in our Lord's justice and still regret
the pain that comes with it. That does not signal

(18:16):
a lack of devotion. It signals compassion, a trait Jesus
Christ had an abundance. May frowned and pursed her lips,
but she kept them shut for now. Helen turned back
to Sasha and the other girls who had fallen. Death
is never easy to witness, girls. It should be a
horrible thing to witness. She glanced back to May. And
we should all be worried if a day ever comes

(18:36):
when we can see such violence without pain in our hearts.
But these are dire times. The world has fallen too
much for pacifism to bring back the rule of God,
and so we must use violence. Do you understand? Sasha nodded.
She heard the other girls give stuttering, hollow replies. Even
the girls who'd managed to stay standing looked shaken. May

(18:57):
was the only one who wore a smile. They gave
her a wide berth the rest of the day. Whoever
was in charge of their schedule paid some deference to
the fact that they had been forced to watch in execution.
There was no more cleaning that day. They spent the
rest of the daylight hours seated around the common area
in the House of Miriam sewing uniforms. Sasha had never
sewn before, but Anne sat next to her and taught

(19:19):
her the basics. Her hands were still shaking when they
got to work, but Anne helped her, and eventually, focusing
on the meticulous task allowed her to blot out the horror.
Once she got a good grip on the basics of
what was required of her, she was able to lose
herself and quiet productive flow. She was almost disappointed when
Helen called them to dinner. They ate the same food
as the day before, They prayed, and then they had

(19:42):
an hour of relatively free time. They couldn't leave the
House of Miriam since it was after eight, but they
could talk. Sasha gravitated naturally to Susannah and Anne. The
topic of conversation turned at once to the execution. Is
that always what it's like? Susannah asked. Anne nodded, her
voice shook a little when she said, I passed out

(20:02):
last time too. I thought it'd be easier the second
time around, but it really wasn't. It feels wrong, Sasha whispered.
She glanced over to May, who was holding court with
a few of the other girls at the other end
of the common area. I'm not saying it's okay what
those people were doing, but surely they deserved a chance
to repent. Susannah nodded, I don't think Jesus would want

(20:22):
us to murder people just for being wrong. It's one
thing to kill an atheist or an apostate who's attacking you.
It's another thing to just Her voice caught a bit
hank people. Anne shook her head in an absent sort
of way. Kyle told me it was necessary. Kyle, Susannah asked,
my intended Anne said, I watched the first execution with

(20:44):
him when I passed out. He was so sweet. I
came to when he was holding me, petting my head.
Anne's eyes shone with love, and Sasha had to fight
hard to keep the jealousy from her own face. He
explained that the Heavenly Kingdom couldn't afford to re educate
the fallen. There are too many, and we are too surrounded.
If someone is capable of changing, God will know, and
he will ensure they get their just reward in heaven.

(21:07):
Sasha was not entirely convinced, but she also wasn't willing
to argue with Anne. It felt a little dicey, just
admitting her continued discomfort with the executions, so she stayed quiet,
and the talk turned to more comfortable matters, what they
expected from the next day's work and what sort of
lives they lead. When the fighting was over and they
were settled down with the gallant warriors, they knew they'd
marry soon. The girls all filed off to their small

(21:31):
snug beds after a long day of work and stress.
The bed felt so good that it made Sasha feel guilty.
Alexander was fighting right now, he'd surely seem more death
than she had, and he didn't have the option of
fainting or crying about it. As she drifted off to
sleep again, Sasha promised herself that she would never faint
or cry out in the face of death again. If

(21:52):
this was the way God had ordained, his kingdom must come,
she owed it to herself and to her Lord to
stand and see it. Next day, they all went back
to the same battered administrative building as the day before.
Sasha scrubbed and swept ate her lunch and got right
back to work. She forced herself into enthusiasm for the
menial labor with the same discipline she'd used when it

(22:13):
had been time to study for an exam and a
class she hated. The same tactic worked in both high
school and the Heavenly Kingdom. About two hours before the
end of their workday, Sasha's rhythm was interrupted by the
sound of a crash and a scream from one of
the girls in the bathroom next door to the room
she was in. Sasha dropped her scrub brush and darted over.
She was the first one into the room. It took

(22:33):
her a moment to piece together what must have happened.
Susannah had been scrubbing a sink that had been badly
damaged by shell fire. The sink had collapsed while she
had scrubbed it, and a jagged edge of porcelain had
torn open the girl's hand. There was already an enormous
amount of blood by the time Sasha arrived. Susannah looked pale.
She backed up against the wall and was just screaming wordlessly.

(22:53):
Sasha had taken three semesters of premed classes in the
last two years. She had a good basic instruction in
first aid. She pulled her shirt off over her head
and wrapped it around the gash on the other girl's hand.
It was the spare shirt she had brought from home,
and it had an antimicrobial weave that should make it
relatively safe as a wound dressing. She pulled it tight,
watted the extra fabric up over the wound, and applied

(23:15):
as much pressure as she could. Susannah kept screaming, but
the flow of blood from her wounds slowed. Breathe with me,
Sasha told Susannah as she stared into the other girl's eyes.
In she inhaled, and out she exhaled. She repeated this
several times until Susannah stopped screaming and started breathing in
time with her. Several of the girls had crowded around

(23:36):
the entrance to the bathroom at this point. When Sasha
glanced up, she could see May's face in the back
of the crowd. She looked disgusted, probably at the fact
that Sasha had torn off her shirt. Please call for
the martyrs, Sasha asked, no one in particular. Tell them
Susanna needs medical attention. I don't think she has any
clotting agents in her blood. No one moved, so Sasha
locked eyes with Anne and told her, please go now.

(23:58):
We shouldn't take any chance as with a wound like this.
Anne nodded, broke away from the glawking group and stumbled
off to find help. Sasha looked back to Susannah. She
coaxed the other girl to sit down against the wall
and sat down next to her, applying pressure to her
hand the entire time. Sasha's shirt was now soaked through
with hot, sticky blood. Her hands were wet to but

(24:19):
she didn't feel squeamish about this. She'd expected to after
her reaction to the hangings, but somehow the sight of
all this blood actually combed her. She knew what to
do here. It felt good to take effective action. The
martyrs arrived a minute or so later, with a medic
close behind. By that point, Susannah's bleeding had stopped entirely.
The medic was impressed, and he said, so you have

(24:41):
some kind of training, ma'am, you handled this very well.
Three semesters of premed. She had answered, it was only
high school premed, but they made us do a lot
of first aid drills. The medic gave her a significant
look and then asked, what's your name, miss Sasha? She
had started before correcting herself. Sasha Susannah was taken off
to whatever served as a hospital for the Heavenly Kingdom

(25:04):
while Sasha and the rest of the girls finished their
work day. It was uneventful after that, but the other
girl's attitudes towards her seemed to have shifted. Anne had
given her a big hug, of course, but every one
was more respectful. Several of them came to her to
ask minor things, advice on how best to clean a
room or clear a pile of rubble. At one point,
Sasha had divided four girls up into two teams to

(25:24):
remove a huge amount of shattered glass. While she directed
the effort, May had walked by the room and butted
her head in. Just because she knows a little first
day doesn't make her a foreman, she sneered. The other
girls didn't pay May any mind. They left for the
day at the usual time and arrived back at the
house of Miriam in the early evening. Helen was waiting
for them at the door. Behind her stood an older

(25:45):
man in a white lab coat. He had a cross
pinned to his lapel and a larger red cross on
his arm band. As the girls all filed into the building,
Sasha saw Helen point to her and whisper something to
the man. He nodded. Miss Sasha, he called out, as
she headed to her seat at the dinner table. Sasha
peeled off and approached him. Helen stood near by, distant

(26:06):
enough to make it clear that this conversation was between
her and the man, but close enough that her presence
provided a warm kernel of certainty and support. Yes, Sasha asked.
The man had a sharp, narrow jaw and a long nose.
There were deep bags under his eyes, and his hair
was at the grayest end of pepper gray. He wasn't
very large, but he used his physicality well. He moved

(26:26):
like he was used to controlling the room. Sasha. I'm
doctor Brandt. One of our medics was very impressed with
your work earlier today on the injured girl. Sir, all
I did was trying to stanish the bleeding. Anyone could
have handled that. It didn't require any special knowledge. No,
he interrupted her, it did not. The knowledge of how
to stim bleeding is not rare or special, but the

(26:47):
willingness to jump in during an emergency and to get
blood on one's own hands is rather rare. I understand
you have some form of medical training, very little Sir,
I took three semesters of pre medical courses in high school.
I was thinking about a medical career before. I yes, well,
three semesters of any kind of training almost makes you
a doctor. Here, we're not exactly flooded with qualified medical experts.

(27:11):
Doctor Brandt lacked Helen's gift for interrupting without seeming rude,
but he was clearly a busy man, and the fact
that he'd offered praise made it hard for Sasha to
take offense. Miss Helen. He snapped back at the older woman,
I'm putting this one on special duty. Would that be
all right? Of course, doctor Brandt. Helen said she smiled
at Sasha, and there was honest pride in that smile,

(27:32):
more pride than she had ever seen in her mother's eyes.
Sasha resisted the urge to tear up and response. Doctor
Brandt turned to Sasha next and asked, what do you
know about the people of the road. She frowned. Post
humans were a popular topic of discussion in her high school.
Sasha had seen waste Land Warriors a couple of years back,
and benisenthralled as everyone else, but her school curriculum didn't

(27:55):
talk much about them and definitely downplayed their influence in
the rest of the continent. Her father had called them
a bunch of idiots dancing around the desert doing drugs
and robbing people. She decided to use a variant of
that for her answer. Their drug addled pagans fornicating and
spurning the will of God. Doctor Brandt smiled. He had
such a serious face and such stern features that Sasha

(28:17):
was shocked by the honest kindness of that smile. I'd
say that's basically accurate, he chuckled, perhaps even a bit charitable.
It turns out one of these groups sent some emissaries
into Plano just before the city fell. They were on
some trade mission. They wound up getting stuck in a
pin with a few other prisoners. We didn't even realize
who we had until their people contacted us and demanded

(28:38):
their release. Sasha's eyes widened. All she could think of
were the grainy video fragments from one section of Waste
Land Warriors. It was supposedly a recording of an attack
on an Agiss Biosystems convoy headed from Milwaukee to Denver.
The convoy had been well armed, but it had been
taken apart in a matter of seconds. The assailants moved
so fast that the documentarians had needed to slow the

(28:59):
video to make them visible as anything but flashes on
the screen. How could something that fast and deadly be captured?
Doctor Brandt answered her question before she could ask it.
I'm going to guess her wondering how he managed to
capture three of those Frankenstein abominations. Yes, Sir Sasha said, well,
Doctor Brandt popped the glasses off his face and buffed

(29:19):
the lenses on his shirt while he spoke. Most members
of any given group aren't quite like that. Oh, they're
all pagans, are atheists, just some kind of heathen. They
have a lot of aesthetic modifications led tattoos and body lighting,
and some sensory upgrades, but few of them have military
style implants. I see, As you know, cities and civilized

(29:42):
nations tend to ban those implants within their borders. Doctor
Brandt slid his glasses back into place on his nose,
So the people of the road have to send their
less modified citizens out to negotiate, et cetera. Which means
we've got a bit of a tiger by the tail
situation here. What do you mean, sir, Sasha asked, Well,
the stories about these types are absolutely true. Some of

(30:04):
them have hundreds of warriors packed to the gills with
nightmare technology. There are individuals who are capable of taking
on entire companies of human war fighters. The tribe these
particular captives hail from, well, their name is quite obscene.
The City of Wheels would be the most polite variant.
They're is lost as it gets when it comes to
the Word of God. But they've got about six hundred

(30:25):
post human citizens. Sasha thought back to what a dozen
of those things had done to that convoy. She tried
to imagine the carnage six hundred of them could unleash
upon the heavenly kingdom. A shiver ran down her spine exactly.
Doctor Brandt nodded at her like I said, we've got
a tiger by the tail. They might not intervene while
we have their people, So we've got to make sure

(30:47):
our captives are well taken care of. That's where you
come in me. Two of the captives are women, Sasha,
They'll need to be inspected by some one besides me.
We do have some qualified female ill nurses, but an
SDF drone hit one of our troop transports about two
hours ago, and I'm afraid they're both in the thick
of that mess. So you're coming with me to handle

(31:09):
this job. I'm proud to do it, sir. She wasn't
sure what else to say, and besides, it was true.
The first captive sat on a small concrete bench in
the back of an eight by ten cell. Her hair
had been shaved into a mohawk, but the purple hair
was deflated and greasy. Now there was stubble on the
sides of her head. Her face was round but lean.
There were slight laugh lines at the corners of her

(31:30):
cheeks in the edges of her eyes. She wore a
sleeveless purple and black dress that was by now filthy.
Her arms were covered in a strange series of tattoos,
dozens of branching lines that each terminated in a box.
They looked almost like circuit diagrams. Sasha quickly realized that
each box held a little led screen. Most of the

(31:51):
screens were set to a dull red color, but once
she stepped into the women's cell, they flashed bright orange.
The woman looked up and snarled at doctor Brandt. Do
you want shipbird? She looked over to Sasha and then added, sorry,
ship birds Sasha. Doctor Brandt sighed, kneading the bridge of
his nose. Meet Marigold Fulton. Jesus fucking Christ, what are

(32:12):
you six fucking ten? Marigold said to Sasha. Then she
looked to doctor Brandt. That's fucked up, man. Doctor Brandt
winced at both curses. Sasha glanced down and saw that
his right hand was bawled up into a fist and
clinched tight. Marigold, this is Sasha, he said through gritted lips.
She'll be performing your intake exam. We need to make

(32:33):
sure you're uninjured, uninfectious, and not hiding any weaponry. I
would recommend compliance your kind always do. The woman spat back, Sasha,
you've got this. Doctor Brandt gave her a curt nod,
turned on his heels, and headed back out of the cell.
There was an armed guard just outside the cell. As
doctor Brandt had instructed, Sasha pulled along privacy screen out

(32:56):
from the far end of the wall and clasped it
to a set of hooks on the other end. The
captives were being held in the old plain Oh jail,
which made this one of the rare buildings in the
Heavenly Kingdom being used for its intended purpose. Sasha was
grateful for the privacy screen. She was also unbearably nervous
about what came next. I'm going to have to ask you.
In one smooth motion, Marigold pulled the dress up over

(33:17):
her shoulders and off of her body. She wore nothing
underneath it. Her pert breasts, her little belly, her pubic mound,
and its shock of purple hair were suddenly just there.
You're gonna do your job? Are you just gonna stand there?
And Jill off? Marigold asked what Jill Marigold gave a
harsh laugh. It's senton him from masturbation. Lady, masturbation. You

(33:38):
don't do that, do you, Sugar. I'm gonna guess the
Heavenly Kingdom frowns on girls having fun without the help
of boys, Sasha grimaced. The Heavenly Kingdom doesn't frown on
women having fun, but it does encourage self control. Mr.
What you're talking about, it's a distraction, it's worldly. Marigold
whistled and mocked surprise, and said, spoken like a lady

(33:59):
who truly needs an orgasm. What I need to do
is draw some of your blood and some of your
saliva and then perform a cavity search. Marigold's lips curled
up into a catlike smile. She opened her legs. Sasha
had seen other women's vaginas before, but only in textbooks
and movies. This was the first time she'd found herself

(34:19):
staring directly down the barrel of one, so to speak.
She gulped, Darlen, am I your first? Don't be scared.
I got some crumb in me, but I never wound
up putting defensive teeth in there. Now, my frien Topaz, stop,
I know what you're trying to do. Just stop. Sasha
hadn't thought the woman's smile could get any wider, but
it did. And what am I trying to do? Child?

(34:42):
You're trying to to fluster me, to distract me or
Marigold rolled her eyes as she replied, I'm bored you
Fox have kept me in one holding area or sell
or another for almost a week. I spent three days
shifting in the corner of a gym, but at least
Rick and Tully were there too. The woman smiles softened
for a moment, she looked troubled, vulnerable. You don't have

(35:03):
any idea where my people are, do you? Sasha shook
her head. She felt guilty for some reason. That was stupid.
She hadn't done anything wrong, but she felt the need
to assuage the other woman's fears. I don't I'm sure
they're all right, though. We wouldn't execute them just for
being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Marigold snorted,
maybe you wouldn't love your friends, though I've seen your

(35:26):
gallows doesn't seem like the kind of things someone builds
just for show. We have a right to enforce our laws,
God's laws. What am I doing defending the kingdom to
someone who's clearly blind to the word. Sasha shook her head.
She opened the blood testing kit doctor Brandt had given
her and stepped back towards Marigold. Look, I've got to
do this. Just hold still and it'll be quick. It was.

(35:49):
The other woman offered no resistance when Sasha told her
to stand. She stood. When Sasha reached a gloved hand
up inside her to search for foreign objects, Marigold said nothing.
She didn't even and flinch. Instead, she kept her eyes
locked on Sasha's The other woman barely blinked. In about
two minutes. Sasha had finished her examination and collected her samples.

(36:09):
She started to step back, but Marigold's hand shot out
whip fast and grasped her around the wrist. Listen. Sasha
stopped and listened. She wasn't sure why. It was something
about the other woman's tone. She'd heard the term command
voice before. Sasha hadn't understood what that term meant until now.
When Marigold spoke again, it was in a hushed tone,
barely more than a whisper. I don't know what brought

(36:31):
you here, but you're obviously smart. You don't have those
dead zelod eyes. She jerked her head in the direction
of the guard outside. When I mentioned the gallows, you
looked fucking ill. I'm gonna guess you haven't been here long.
You're probably having second thoughts. Help me get my people
out of here. If we can get back to my city,
you'll be safe. We'll take you wherever you need to go.
I Sasha wasn't sure what to say. She should have

(36:54):
slapped the other woman or spitting her eye, but she didn't.
Don't say anything. You'll be back here. I promise, think
about what I've said, think about where you are, just
fucking think. She let go. Sasha stepped back. The two
women locked eyes for a long moment, and then Marigold
grabbed her slip dress off the floor and slid it

(37:14):
back down her thin frame. Sasha unclipped the privacy curtain
and headed back out into the hallway. The other woman, captive, Tullie,
was tall and muscular. She had a wide face with
cheek bones so sharp they were almost jagged. Her skin
was a dusky brown. Her eyes were alert and moved
rapidly between Sasha, doctor Brandt, and the guard who led
them into the room. Her name is Tullie, doctor brand said,

(37:37):
and she's probably going to threaten you. Pay her no mind.
He turned away and left, while the guards stayed behind
and kept a close eye on the tall woman. Sasha
was scared to approach Tuli at first. The woman's forearms
were corded with muscles, and she had biceps that looked
as broad as Sasha's thighs. But the woman didn't move
an inch or say a word the entire time Sasha
worked on her. Tullie didn't even blink. She com I

(38:00):
to every one of Sasha's requests without eye contact or
any other form of acknowledgement. The woman seemed dead to
the world. Somehow, Toollie's quietness and seeming stupefaction were more
uncomfortable than Marigold's aggressive words. Sasha finished her work in
short order. Once the last vial was sealed and her
gloves removed, she took a final look at the captive.
I hope you get back to your home soon. Sasha

(38:23):
immediately regretted the words. This woman is the enemy. Why
would you try to comfort her? She won't even look
at you. Tullie let out a dull laugh. She had
been so silent earlier that it shocked Sasha. The other
woman turned her head and stared at Sasha. I will
return home soon, and fire and blood will come to
this place because you've held me here. You're a dead

(38:44):
woman walking enjoy the last beats of your heart. Sasha
didn't know what to say. What could you say to that?
So she took her samples and left. Doctor Brandt dropped
her off outside the house of Miriam and told her
he'd send a jeep out tomorrow morning to take her
to the hospital. Sasha thanked him and headed inside. The
other girls were already almost finished with dinner when Sasha

(39:05):
sat down and joined the group. She gave a quiet
smile to Susannah and nodded at the other girl's bandaged hand.
When dessert a banana this time, was over, Miss Helen
took Sasha aside while the other girls broke off to
read their bibles and drink their nightly tea. I have
some news for you, yes, ma'am, Sasha asked. Alexander has
been rotated back from the front, and that strange look

(39:28):
of mingled frustration and anger crossed Helen's face again. You'll
be able to see him tomorrow after lunch. Sasha's heart pounded,
an excitement that made her feel guilty and elated at
the same time. I'm afraid it won't be a long visit,
Helen continued, But you'll have a bit of time with him,
and then Helen's sighed again just a little. Sasha was
sure she wasn't supposed to have noticed it, but Miss

(39:51):
Helen's eyes looked a bit watery. Sasha was so happy,
so excited, that her brain glossed over this fact. Instead,
she gave Miss Helen a hug It wasn't nearly the
first one they'd shared, but this was the first time.
The older woman seemed hesitant in returning it, but she
did after a moment, and Sasha's joy drunk brain wrote
over any sense of doubt she ought to have felt.

(40:11):
Sasha buzzed with uncontained energy. The rest of the night.
Sleep was near impossible. She tossed until the small hours
of the morning, turning over her memories of chat conversation
she'd had with Alexander. His face felt so clear and
real in her memory that she could almost touch it,
and tomorrow she'd be able to do just that. Sasha
finally passed out about two hours before Helen came round

(40:32):
to wake them up. She should have been exhausted. Instead,
she found herself out of bed, feet planted firmly on
the ground before her mind was even fully awake. Her
subconscious was that eager to start the day. She rinsed
herself with extra care that morning. May seemed to notice
the added efforts she put into primping and called her
out for it. You're not working at the hospital to
snag a doctor, she sneered, You know that, right. Sasha

(40:56):
tried to ignore the comment. Susannah, whose hand was still
banned from her injury the other day, spoke up in
her defense. There's nothing wrong with being extra clean, May.
It's probably important for the work she's doing over there.
Sasha's dealing with wounds and stuff. She's not scrubbing toilets
like you. Sasha was gratified by how that made May's
face blush. She flashed Susannah a grateful smile and shuffled

(41:18):
out of the washroom as quick as she could manage.
She headed outside and took in her first deep gulp
of the cool morning air. Cool might have been too
strong a word to use, but the fresh air felt
good on her skin. It only took her a few
seconds to spot the battered and dirt specked jeep doctor
Brandt had sent to pick her up. A young man,
maybe as young as her, with a weak chin and

(41:39):
an acne pocked face, sat behind the wheel. Sasha waved
to him, ran up and hopped in. It wasn't a
quick ride to the hospital. Large sections of the road
were destroyed, blocked by rubble, or jammed with traffic from
refugees entering the Heavenly Kingdom. Seeing that had gratified Sasha,
more souls coming to God, she thought. For the most part,

(41:59):
she lost herself and thoughts of Alexander until forty minutes later.
The jeep rolled to a creaky stop in front of
the medical city of Plano. The enormous hospital complex looked
badly damaged and largely abandoned. Many of the windows had
been shot out or shattered by large blasts. Several buildings
had chunks of wall and roof that had fallen in,
but there were lights on in many of the windows,

(42:20):
and the hum of generators filled the air of the
front courtyard. Dozens of people milled about, filled with purpose,
running wires and wheeling patients. Sasha was excited at the
thought that she might get to do some actual work
in a functioning emergency room. When she found doctor Brandt,
he quickly disabused her of those notions. We're doing all
right today. What I need you to do is come

(42:40):
in here and help me catalog which medicines have spoiled.
The power had gone out during the fighting for the city.
Doctor Brandt explained in the medical storage room had been
without refrigeration for almost two days. He showed her how
to check medical vials for signs of spoilage, handed her
a clipboard to mark her findings, and told her to
get to work. It was a menial, painstaking task, and

(43:01):
Sasha found herself missing the hell out of cleaning. She
hated it, but she devoted herself to the work, and
minute by minute the time passed. Eventually it was time
for her meeting with Alexander. Sasha pulled herself away from
the rows of vials and jars and blister packs and
headed outside to where she knew the jeep would be waiting.
Her driver that afternoon was a different martyr, slightly older

(43:22):
but still young. She was so preoccupied with thoughts of
Alexander that she almost forgot to greet the man. He
didn't seem to be in a talkative mood either, though,
and they rode in silence back to the center of town.
Sasha was so focused on the butterflies in her stomach
and trying to catch glimpses of her hair and face
in the rear view mirror that she didn't notice the
crowds thronging downtown until the jeep rolled to a stop

(43:43):
and it was time for her to disembark. A familiar
sense of queasy dread gripped Sasha's guts as she exited
the vehicle and looked out over the crowd. They were
converged around the gallows. Once again, Sasha craned her neck,
and she was able to see four men in filthy,
tattered rags standing before the killing instrum it. It took
her a second to recognize two of the men as
the porters who had first unloaded her from the crate.

(44:05):
An older, bearded martyr and jet black body armor stood
before them. He held a bible in one hand and
a formidable looking handgun in the other. Sasha started to
push her way through the crowd for a better look.
She hadn't made it far when the bearded martyr addressed
the crowd. These four men were all once employees of
the secular abomination that calls itself the Republic of Texas.

(44:25):
He said, in his booming, stentorian voice. The heavenly Kingdom
offered them mercy in the form of indentured servitude. All
we asked, he scanned his eyes across the crowd. The
left corner of his lip curled up into a slight growl.
All we asked for was their honest, obedient, labor, and
they repaid this mercy by stealing food and supplies meant
for the heavenly Kingdom's brave soldiers. He lifted his big

(44:49):
pistol up into the sky and fired off four shots
in quick secession. These men stole from God. There is
only one proper punishment for such a sin. He turned
back towards the gallo and knotted it a hooded martyr
who stood behind him with a hand on the thick
wooden lever that operated the whole grim apparatus. The other
man pulled downwards, and the four bodies on the scaffold

(45:09):
dropped with a sickening chorus of snaps. Sasha felt her
stomach turned sour this time. Though she watched, she didn't
take her eyes off the gallows until the last man
had ceased his twitching. It's not a pleasant side, is it?
That voice? Sasha recognized it immediately. It was the voice
she'd heard a hundred different times over her deck, hidden

(45:30):
up in her room back in the am fed. It
was the voice of the first man she'd ever really loved.
It was Alexander. Sasha turned around, and her heart nearly
burst at the sight of him. It was tall, broad
and muscular in a way that somehow seemed comforting and
not scary. His mop of curly brown hair, lopsided smile,
and round, permanent jawline were all exactly as she remembered

(45:51):
from their dozens of chat sessions. He wore alive green
fatigues that looked stained and burned in a few places.
His hair was greasy, and there were great big bags
on her his eyes. But he was here, He was real.
She collapsed into him. Before she realized it, she'd started
to sob. I love you, I love you. I love you.
I thought you were dead. I love you. He hesitated
for several long beats before he returned her embrace, but

(46:13):
he returned it with gusto. His hands crept down from
her sides to her buttocks. He squeezed her. It was
a gesture she'd fantasized about several times in her weaker,
more carnal moments. It was not something she'd expected a
godly man like Alexander to do out in public, surrounded
by people. In the immediate aftermath of an execution. Sasha
pulled back and coughed in surprise. She didn't say anything,

(46:36):
though she didn't want to. Mar their first meeting with that,
and she also remembered something Pastor Mike had written in
Revelator that the beastly nature of man must be salved
by the goodness of women. Alexander had just been several
days up at the front. He must have seen terrible things.
It was understandable that his self control would not be
at its peak right now. Still, she didn't like the

(46:57):
way he looked her up and down. There was something
of the wolf in his eyes. It was not the
look she dreamed of seeing. But then he spoke, Sasha,
I'm so proud of you. I didn't know if i'd
ever get to see you here. I wasn't sure if
you'd be willing to truly commit yourself to our Lord,
but I prayed that you would. And now, by the
grace of God, you're here, and you're even more beautiful

(47:18):
than you looked online. Sasha blushed. How could she not look.
He waved a hand towards the gallows and the bodies.
Things are still sort of a mess around here, but
I know one cafe near by us up and running again.
I've got enough rash and tokens to get us both
a cup of coffee. What would you say to that,
I'd say yes. She smiled at him. Her earlier reservations dissolved,

(47:41):
and she took his hand and followed him down the street,
past the gallows in the dispersing crowd, and towards the cafe.
In a minute, they were there. It was a small place,
one rectangular room with a coffee maker, a half dozen
tables in an outer patio area with another half dozen tables.
There was a generator, power and air conditioning inside. So
they sat there. Alexander ordered them two large cups of

(48:03):
black coffee. He sat down while he waited for their
order and stared into her eyes. She stared back for
a while. That was all they did. It's so good
to see you, Sasha said. I've been working at the
hospital and I've seen so many wounded men. I couldn't
stop thinking I was going to see you in one
of those beds, broken and bleeding. He smiled at her.
Then he reached his left hand out and sat it

(48:24):
on top of hers. Sasha shivered. She couldn't help it.
Things stirred inside her. She felt a sudden, powerful urge
to possess his body, to hold him and squeeze him
and be explored in turn. She clamped her mouth tight
and focused on trying not to give all her thoughts
away through the blush in her cheeks. Sasha, he said,
it brings me such joy to see you here, and

(48:46):
don't worry. I know the situation at the Ladiest barracks
is rather primitive, but I'm talking to my commanding offices.
As soon as we get married, you'll be a part
of my household. We'll be able to live together. We'll
build a life, and that life will help build the heaven,
the kingdom. She was stunned for a moment. Sasha began
to tear up, and all she could do was not
at him. This was like a dream. It was, of course,

(49:09):
rather different from her actual dreams, which had involved Alexander
in a house, but not so many bleeding and dying men,
nor a gallows. Their coffee arrived, Alexander took a sip
and she followed suit. He continued, I know you're working
at the hospital now. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry
you had to spend so much time scrubbing toilets. As

(49:30):
soon as I can get you off those duties, I will.
Oh no, she interjected, I love working with doctor brand.
It's important and I want to do my part to
help the kingdom thrive. Something passed across Alexander's face. It
looked like irritation, perhaps at her interruption, but it was
gone quickly and his smile returned. That's admirable, Sasha. You're
a remarkable young woman. If that's what you want, I'm

(49:51):
sure you can continue to help out there until you're
with child. With child, Sasha felt guilty for the horror
in her voice. Of course she wanted children, she just
didn't want them now or particularly soon. Alexander nodded, we
must be fruitful in multiply so the heaven the kingdom
can remain and expand his smile was so warm, so kind.

(50:13):
I know you've read more of past and my ex
writing than I have. Sasha, you're a very smart girl,
but God made you to bring forth more children. You
wouldn't want to delay your purpose, would you? Maybe? A little?
She thought? No? She lied good. He smiled again, And
don't worry. You won't have to do it alone. Mallia

(50:34):
already has a child, and Adelaide's two months pregnant. They'll
help you too. The world stopped at least it did
for Sasha. She could tell people were still moving around her,
but Sasha's reality had shrunk to the pounding sound of
her heart in a twisting in her gut. Adelaide and Mallia.
Alexander gritted his teeth. There was something almost practiced in

(50:55):
the way he said. What came next? Adelaide and Mallia
are my wives as you will be. Alexander, you didn't
say anything about other wives. You never mentioned them at all.
Why are how can you be telling me all this now?
His smile turned sad, or at least it gave the
illusion of sadness. Sasha was still too shocked for anger.

(51:15):
She felt like a whole had just been knocked in
her heart. She knew she should be angry, but she
also felt like there must be something missing, something she
didn't understand yet. Alexander was a sweet boy. He wouldn't
do this to her. Look, he said, I'm sorry. This
is never easy. You understand how important the Heavenly Kingdom is, Sasha.
Nothing in the world could Madam are and the kingdom

(51:38):
will not survive without people like you. One of my
jobs here is to push young women like you to
take the terrible risk of coming here, and so you lied.
She croaked, barely able to believe what was happening. You,
poor false witness, Alexander. I I did not lie. His
voice hardened, and so did his eyes. I did not

(51:58):
tell you about every fact of my life here, but
I did not lie. He sighed, took a sip from
his coffee, and continued, I'm part of a special unit
within the Kingdom, formed on the order of the past.
To himself, he calls us jacobeans. It is our job
to see the next generation of modus. We take personal
responsibility for the Kingdom's expansion. Finding you and bringing you

(52:21):
here was one part of my work in this great cause.
If I'd told you every detail about life here, every
single thing, you wouldn't have come, and your soul would
have stayed in jeopardy. He took another deep, arrogant sip
of his coffee. I'm sorry if this hurts you, but
it was for the greater good. We must sometimes do
distasteful things to serve God's design. Sasha's vision went red.

(52:45):
She stood and without thinking, grabbed her now lukewarm mug
of coffee and splashed the whole thing in Alexander's face.
He yelled at her and sputtered like a goldfish, but
she was already up and heading for the door. She
flung it open, walked out into the crowded street, and
lost herself from the press of the crowd and the
boiling waves of her own anger. The Black Effect Presents

(53:11):
features honest conversations and exclusive interviews, a space for artists,
everyday people and listeners to amplify, elevate, and empower Black
voices with great conversations. Make sure to listen to The
Black Effect Presents Podcast on I Heart Radio, Apple podcast,
or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Tanya sam Post

(53:33):
of The Money Moves Podcast powered by Greenwood. This daily
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liabilities into assets and make your money moves. Subscribe to

(53:54):
The Money Moves Podcast powered by Greenland on the I
Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast, and
make sure you leave a review. Adoption of teens from
foster care is a topic not enough people know about,
and we're here to change that. I'm April Din't what,
the host of the new podcast Navigating Adoption presented by
adopt Us Kids. Each episode brings you compelling, real life

(54:15):
adoption stories told by the families that lived them, with
commentary from experts. Visit adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast,
or subscribed to Navigating Adoption presented by adopt Us Kids,
brought to you by the U. S Department of Health,
that Human Services Administration for Children and Families, and the
Act Council. Chapter thirteen Manny Manny woke up feeling like

(54:39):
his mouth was filled with cotton and his head was
filled with spiders. It took him a few long seconds
to remember where he was and what had happened to
bring him here. He activated his deck and was shocked
to see that more than a day had passed since
he dropped into bed. His first guess was that he
was suffering some side effect from Skullfucker Mike's blood. He
couldn't think of any other times he'd slept that long,

(55:00):
although he also couldn't think of any other times he'd
survived a drone attack and an intentional car crash in
the same minute. Meret. He cursed and then called out Reggie.
He looked over to the cot the journalist had been
sleeping on. It was dark in the little room Nana
Yazi had provided. He could see the outline of Reggie's
empty cot and not much else. The room was just

(55:21):
one ten by tin section of an old shipping crate.
Manny knew the only things in the room besides their
cots were a table with a built in coffee maker
and a pair of folding chairs. Manny sat up, groaned
as every palpable thing in his body popped, and then
rose to his feet. As he stumbled to the door,
his deck started to populate with messages from friends and
family back in Austin. By the time his hand touched

(55:43):
the knob, there were more than fifty translucent messages hovering
at the edges of his field of vision. He blinked,
selected a mass response template, filled it with the names
of everyone who had sent him something, and typed out
an update not dead details. Later. He almost sent it,
but then he noticed one of the names, Aisha Martinez,
Oscar's wife. He could only see the first few lines

(56:06):
of the message without opening it, but what he saw
made it clear she was terrified for her husband. Manny
De selected her from the list and sent the mass
message off to everyone else, and then scrolled through his
messages until he found Oscar's message stack. The other fixer
still hadn't said anything, not since the assault had begun.
Many opened up Aisha's message. He tried to read it,

(56:27):
he really did, but his brain wouldn't let his eyes
focus on the words. His heart started to pound, his
gut curdled, and instead of reading it, he typed her
a quick response, I'm alive. I'm so sorry, but I
don't know where Oscar is or if he's made it out,
And then he typed a sentence he knew instantly he'd regret.
I will do everything I can to find your husband.

(56:50):
Then he sent the message and stepped out of the
room into the dying light of the late North Texas afternoon.
Rolling fuck unspooled around him. It was crowded, or at
least more crowded than it had been yesterday. Dozens of
people and non human people were packed onto the gantry
ways and into the sundry buildings added around the rollers
and up on the spires. One building that jutted off

(57:11):
the rear roller looked like a carousel ride, with little
rocket ships instead of horses. It appeared to function as
a spinning bar. Drunk people rode little ships while bartenders
in the middle kept them liquored up. Someone shoved by him,
a heavily chromed person with three tails, each topped by
the fully articulated and seemingly sentient head of a cat.
One of the cat heads belched a small puff of

(57:31):
fire at Manny as their wearer passed. He shook his
head and squeezed his way over to the main roller.
It helped little to pretend he was just pushing his
way onto the Austin Metro. While he walked, he noticed
a message from Reggie. He blink, clicked it open and
heard Reggie's voice in his ear at the rooftop bar,
drinking my way through some research fund me. When you
wake up, I'm onto something. Of course, Manny had already

(57:54):
been on his way there before he'd seen Reggie's message.
That was the simple reality of British journalists. If it
was posible for one to be drinking, that's what they'd
be doing. The walk took about ten minutes. He crossed
a combination of gantry ways, staircases, and even one webbed net.
The bar was packed when he arrived, but it was
easy enough to pick out Reggie. Both his holographic screens

(58:15):
were up and active on the bar top in front
of them. He was seated next to Skullfucker Mike, and
they were deep in conversation when Manny walked up. Hey, brother,
Reggie said, you've been out for a long time. Yeah,
Manny said, nothing like that's ever happened to me before.
How long were you out? The journalist thought for a
moment and then answered, odd, guess like a day, he said.

(58:36):
Mike told me that's not weird. Yeah, the chrome man chuckled.
All medicines got side effects, My weird ass blood is
no different, y'all. Cute little humans ain't made for it.
Skullfucker Mike and Reggie were both clearly drunk, and just
as clearly not as drunk as they planned to be
by the end of the night. Mike flashed a grin
at Manny and offered a hug that the fixer accepted awkwardly. Guy,

(58:56):
it's good to see you, Mike said, I gotta tell you,
I'm kind of jelly us of your nap. I missed
sleep like that with all this chrome in me. He
waved a hand vaguely over his head. I can't get
exhausted like that anymore. You miss it when it's gone.
I got a drink like thirty of these fucking things.
Mike gestured to the half full drink in front of him.
It looked like a pina colada, a strange incense the odor.

(59:17):
Waffed it up from it just to pass out like
a normal person. Reggie was drinking the same thing. He
offered his half full glass to Manny. These things are
the best man vodka and opium coladas. They got a
little bit of th HC in him too, Mike added,
in a high sing song voice. Manny waved them off.
I'm good, thanks, I just woke up a minute ago.

(59:39):
I probably shouldn't immediately take three different drugs. Reggie and
skullfucker Mike both looked at him like he was an alien. Weird,
they said at the exact same time. Mike laughed and
Reggie looked back at his screen as a push notification
popped up with a cheery shitting tits he cursed, Manny
and skullfucker. Mike leaned into the screen. The notification was

(01:00:01):
a news wire update with a journalist who must have
been embedded with either the s d F or Austin's forces.
The title said, at all as the Heavenly Kingdom prepares
for another assault, s d F and Austin abandoned Waco.
I'm not surprised they're pulling out, Mike said. Your people
are good enough fighters on a normal day, but the
s d f's built to dominate a bunch of squabbling militias.

(01:00:21):
They were never going to hold off a sustained assault
from a real army. The sleep was fully banished now
Manny was awake, and the gravity of what had happened
over the last few days sank in again. Amide and
de Shaun, We're probably dead, so was mister Perrone an
oscar A holy shit, Holy shit? What am I going
to tell Ayesha? And then the darker, more selfish thoughts.
Am I going to have time to fly out of Austin?

(01:00:44):
How the hell did the martyrs turn into a real
fucking army overnight? He asked, with more fear in his
voice than he meant to display. Well, Reggie said, as
he gestured to a series of curated social media posts
from people in and around Sea Dad de mrta best
as we configure, they sort of stole most of the
Republic's army. There are reports of entire units of Republic soldiers,

(01:01:05):
thousands of fidus turning at once. He gestured to a
live updating political map of Texas. It was a map
many consulted regularly. The Heavenly Kingdom's territory was outlined and read.
There was a lot more red on the map today.
It seemed impossible that Sancharados Manny breathed Galveston. Yeah, Reggie

(01:01:25):
gave a grim nod. Fell about ten hours ago. Heavenly
Kingdoms pushing into the Lake Houston suburbs right now the
holding position in Dallas, though digesting the gains, still ain't
gonna be long before they hit Austin, Mike said, maybe
a week, maybe two. Many stood there for a moment.
He thought about his father, his friends. He thought about
the house where he'd grown up in the view of

(01:01:47):
Austin Sprawl from his roof. He imagined golden Cross banners
flapping in the breeze above, burnt out buildings. He pictured
gallows filled with people strung out along Sixth Street. A
knot of nausea started to build in his belly. What
will you do, Emmanuel? He heard Mr Perrone's voice echo
in his conscience. Manny shook the dead man's words away.

(01:02:08):
I need to get back home, he insisted. Is there
some way you can get me a ride? Skullfucker? Mike
took a long pull from his drink. He squinted it Manny,
and the chromed man's eyes focused. One iris looked a
lot larger than the others. Mike swayed a bit in
his seat, but he seemed lucid mostly. And what are
you gonna do in Austin? He said, pick up a
gun and die fighting, unless you're hiding some serious mods

(01:02:31):
under that skin. I don't think your help will make
a rat ship worth a difference. I know I'm not
going there to fight. I need to what fly away?
Go to fucking California. Try your luck in Europe. Mike
shook his head. You've got a chance to actually do something.
Help us get our people out of Dallas, and we
can fuck the Kingdom's advance, maybe even throw him back.

(01:02:52):
Manny thought about it, sighed and said, I think I
do need a drink, skullfucker. Mike nodded. He pointed over
to a table lie with a dozen different beer taps,
the normal stuff, self service. I recommend the Wheat Hayes.
Pretty mild, but it's good for stock humans like yourself.
Manny got up, grabbed a glass from a dispenser at
the edge of the bar, and walked over to the

(01:03:12):
beer table. Each keg had a thick strip of white
tape across the front. The only details given about each
beer were vague, almost allegibly scrawled names. Many found two
labels that both looked like they might say Wheat Hayes.
He picked one at random, then headed back to the
bar and sat next to Reggie. Mike looked impressed for
some reason. Good choice, he said, with a nod. Manny

(01:03:35):
took a sip. It was really good, a mild, pale
ale with just a hint of sour. He leaned in
and looked at the maps and scrolling updates on reggie screen.
The journalist finished writing down a couple of notes and
shook his head. I'm really sorry, man, truly, he gestured
towards the live map. This is so fucked. You're gonna
stay here to cover the fall, Mike asked. Reggie shook

(01:03:56):
his head. He looked frustrated. Got a message from my
editor a bit ago. They're trying to work out an
extract for me. I'm gonna send a team at here
to drive me west to El Paso. I guess it's
not safe to fly out of Austin right now, so
he trailed off. The three of them drank in silence
for a minute. Schoolfucker Might, gulped down the last of
his glass and ordered another, along with three shots of bourbon.

(01:04:16):
Manny started to turn down the shot, but it was
soon apparent that Mike wanted all three shots for himself.
He downed them all in the space of around a second,
belched loudly, and then returned to staring at Reggie. Screen fuck,
he sighed out again. Funcke he fuck fuck. Manny was
halfway through his beer when Donald Ferris approached. The old
documentarian wore a burgundy velvet waistcoat underneath a slightly battered

(01:04:39):
but well tailored tweed jacket. He had a glass of
probable whiskey in his hand, and the soberst eyes. Manny
had seen that day. Hello, gentlemen, schoolfucker Mike getting caught
up on the latest catastrophes. All away, yep, said Mike,
how you been. The older man shrugged and took his
seat at the table. He gulped his whiskey and looked
down the table at Manny. It was strange to see

(01:05:00):
an actual old person this close up. The creases on
his forehead and around his lips were so deep they
could have been carved with a knife. There were spots
on him, a clear sign he'd taken no juven treatments
at all. His face had a deep, craggy richness that
lent every word he said, a certain vague majesty. Donald
Ferris spoke, and many felt compelled to listen. You can

(01:05:20):
hope this. You know who is stuck negotiating with the
kingdom now, and they are most recalcitrant. But the Fuccians
quite a second, Reggie interrupted, Fuccians really. Donald and Mike
exchanged a look, then a laugh. Donald replied, the city's
not exactly famed for consistency. Almost any collective now and
you can think of would be appropriate. He took another

(01:05:42):
sip from his glass and set it down on the
bar top with a clack. Donald Ferris leaned in at
that and eyed the glass as he rotated it around
on the table. He tapped it again, smiled, and looked
back up to the group. Now, young man, let me
explain why you should go risk your life on a
daring and dangerous rescue mission. Many grunted and shook his
ed reflexively defensive. I'd rather not talk about it right now,

(01:06:03):
if that's cool, he said. I just woke up. This
place is ridiculous, and I'm not going to decide to
go into terrible danger because some old man gilt trips
me at a bar. Suit yourself. Donald smiled. I can't
imagine how stressful this is all bidden for you. I'm
a little surprised you'd choose to trip bowls at a
time like this. What do you mean, Manny asked, with
growing anxiety. That's a white haze, right, I think Mike

(01:06:27):
said it was a wheat haze, but I couldn't really
read the labels. Shit, Mike cursed, while Donald Ferris fought
back a laugh. What, Manny asked, Mike should have warned you.
The wheat haze is normal alcohol. The white haze packs
about two hits of the surgic diethyl acid put pint
be anxious, not in. Manny's gut began to pound in pulse.
He looked to skullfucker Mike, furious. What the funk man?

(01:06:51):
Mike winced, He looked genuinely rueful. I'm really sorry, he said.
I'm not used to it making a difference. Most people
here take two or three hits, as said, with their
breakfast cigarettes. Oh shit. Manny slumped forward and put his
head in his hands. He started to hyperventilate. The edges
of his vision blurred, and Manny couldn't tell if that
was from the drugs kicking in or just a consequence

(01:07:11):
of his own panic. He could feel Oscar's face hanging
out just at the back of his mind, afloat on
a river of guilt. He didn't want to know what
a headful of acid would do with those feelings. I
gotta get back to the room, he said, I can't
handle that. Donald put a hand on his shoulder. He
was stronger than Manny would have guessed. You've got a
headful of surprise acid. Boy. The last thing you need

(01:07:32):
is to sit in a dock room and stew with
your demons. He exchanged another look with skullfucker Mike and
said brain Breakers ought to be kicking off right now.
That's the place for a man in your condition. But started, Manny,
what the hell is that? Reggie asked, Wait, Manny continued.
Donald ignored him and replied to Reggie, it's the best

(01:07:53):
damn party on the continent, or at least the best
one humans can attend and survive. I don't really want to,
Manny s uarded. Scofucker Mike added his hand to Manny's shoulder.
You really do trust us on this. In the end, scofucker,
Mike and Donald convinced him to go. Reggie surprisingly opted
to stay at the bar and continue his work. He

(01:08:14):
said he was close to something, man, He really wished
he'd chosen to come along. He didn't know the journalist well,
but Mike and Donald were complete strangers. Man. He was
not looking forward to the drugs kicking in. He also
wasn't sure a giant rave room was the best place
for him to be when they did. As they approached it,
many realized he'd seen the structure when they first arrived
at the City of Wheels. Brain Breakers was a three

(01:08:36):
story cube at the top of Rolling Fox highest gantry.
The cube appeared to have been knitted together from long
strands of black metal. Multi colored light pulsed inside it
and bled out through the gaps in the knitted metal
of the sides. Schoolfucker Mike led them down the gantry
towards the cube. There didn't appear to be any kind
of entrance. The wall on this side was the same
knitted steel as every other side, but once they reached it,

(01:08:59):
Mike simply stepped into the wall. The woven metal writhed
like something alive and curled back to admit the big
post human. The metal tendrils caressed Mike's body as he
walked through. Manny flashed a questioning look at Donald, It
it feels nice, he explained. Manny Side, exasperated and furious.
Is this whole damned city built around drugs and fondling? Yes?

(01:09:22):
Donald grinned a spidery old man grinned now insoid with
you many Side swallowed and walked up to the wall.
The metal, which felt surprisingly soft and warm, slithered around
him in Mother of God, it felt good. That might
have had something to do with the acid percolating in
the back of his brain. The sensation was a cross
between being tickled and being caressed. He was reminded uncomfortably

(01:09:44):
of his mother's stroking his forehead when he had a
fever as a child, And then he was through. It
took him a moment to realize he was breathing heavily
and covered in cold sweat. It was then that Manny
got his first view of the interior of Brain Breakers.
It looked a little like a space station, designed by
see Esher, with a drunken hr Geiger as the contractor.
There were a half dozen different stages protruding at various

(01:10:06):
levels from the walls. Three of the stages were currently occupied.
One performer was an enormous, seemingly sentient xylophone that pranced
about on stage, playing itself with eight knob and arms.
Another stage held four human looking individuals. They were all naked,
and they were all fighting. Many watched and slacked, jawed
awe as they punched and bit and kicked and choked

(01:10:27):
each other. Every impact sent a chorus of warbling sounds
pouring out from speakers at the base of the stage.
The longer he listened, the more hypnotic the music seemed.
The third inhabited stage held what looked like a normal
DJ booth with a presumptive person behind it. Many guessed
that was the source of the bass, heavy rhythmic pounding
that filled the square. The remaining stages were empty for now,

(01:10:49):
but the place was so full of sound that Manny
couldn't imagine two more acts making things any louder. It
was chaotic and confusing and a little uncomfortable, but after
a few seconds many started to pick up on an
overarching rhythm. All three acts were making very different music
at very different paces, but somehow it all tied together.
The inner walls of the place were covered in projection art.

(01:11:11):
Giant human sized silhouettes stalked the walls, floor, and roof.
At times, they moved so fast they looked almost like
wisps of smoke. But here and there one would stop
long enough for Manny to get a solid look. He
saw several different figures, a tall, muscular but androgynous person,
a small, lithe young woman, a broad, squat man with
a bald head. They danced around each other, flittering up

(01:11:32):
and down the walls. Their pace and the nature of
their motions varied depending on the tempo and pitch of
the music nearest to them. It was mesmerizing. Manny stared
for what felt like minutes. The sensation of his body
faded away from him, and his vision tunneled in on
the dancing figures. Their dance had looked joyous and sensual
at first, but the longer he watched, the more frenetic
it seemed. The more danger he spotted in their jerking limbs,

(01:11:53):
the arc of their necks, the uncontrolled way they spun
round and into one another. Anxieties started to build in
the pit of his stomach. And then there was a
person beside him, Mike, Hey, buddy, He grinned. The other
man's pupils were the size of dinner plates. He clenched
and ground his teeth back and forth. Is it o'kay
if I put a hand on your shoulder? Uh? Sure,

(01:12:14):
Manny said, surprising himself cool. Mike smiled and did so.
His hand felt supportive, comforting. How you like him the party?
Mannie really wasn't sure it was beautiful here. Now that
skullfucker Mike had pulled his attention from the dancing silhouettes,
He'd started to focus more in the crowds of people,
dancing and drinking and fucking across the assorted dance floors,

(01:12:35):
cuttle spaces, and bar tops of brain breakers. Most of
the celebrants were visibly chromed. He saw a woman with
six arms, a couple of things he could only describe
as dick centaurs, a man with the head of a dolphin,
and countless people in bizarre costumes built of light and
fur and liquid metal. It was hard to tell how
much of this was real and how much of it
was the drugs. The acid was hitting his head pretty

(01:12:56):
damn hard, skullfucker, Mike squeezed his shoulders and brought Manny
back again. The fixer blinked and then finally responded, it's
a good, good, fucking great. Let's get you some whippets
and head over to the fireworks table. They're about to
open it up fireworks inside. Mike laughed. It's hardly a
party without explosives. Brother, Just go with it, and so

(01:13:18):
many did. He and Mike did some whippets, which meshed
gloriously with the acid. Then they stood up on stumbling
feet and headed over to the fireworks table. Things seemed
to be just getting started over there. Many inspected. A
few different brightly colored explosive toys. Before something burst next
to his ear, and he looked up to see Skullfucker
Mike firing a massive Roman candle towards the musical punching

(01:13:39):
people on the stage. The sound of it holly held
a sound. It might have been the most compelling thing
his ears had ever heard. The acid is definitely hitting
hard now, Manny thought, Holy funk, Holy funk, what is this?
The rest of his night faded into a blur of
lights and music and strange, indefinable sense memories. It was
disorienting and exhilarating an equal measure. Hours went by, the

(01:14:01):
ass had faded, and eventually Manny found himself on a
bunch of cushions, sitting around a table with Skullfucker Mike
and other Fuccians. He couldn't remember any of their names,
but after a few minutes of relative lucidity, Manny was
able to piece together that they were all friends of
the people who'd been captured. One of the men, a
bearded guy with multi jointed fingers the length and width
the rulers, reached over Manny to grab a beer. He

(01:14:24):
pulled it back, took a sip, and settled into his seat.
My favorite memory of Marigold, he said, is from back
when we were still building this city. Right after we
stole the bagger. She got a hair up her ass
that there ought to be a big purple clubhouse at
the top for folks to do cocaine in and watch sunsets.
I remember she strapped an arm little wood to her back,
grabbed a can of spray paint, took a big rail

(01:14:44):
of meth, and just started climbing up the center Spendle
like she was gonna do the whole damn job herself.
She got fucking stuck two thirds of the way up,
just hanging out there with her panties in the breeze,
screaming like a scared cat. Mike laughed. I remember that
me and Topez had to climb up in freer, and
then she climbed the rest of the way up and
started laying down boards. Fingerman nodded, yeah, I remember when

(01:15:05):
I climbed up there an hour or so later, She's
all frantic and fiddling with nails and bolts and turned
to funck but like making progress too, And I asked her, Marigold,
why are you doing this? This ain't a one person job,
and she said, I know, but unless I start building it,
it'll never be real. There was quiet for a while.
Many could feel the pain in the pause and see
it on everyone's face. He didn't want to say anything.

(01:15:28):
He was pretty sure there was nothing worth while he
could say. But then he spoke, anyway, can you tell
me about the others, the other two who were captured.
Another of Mike's friends, a tall black woman in a
bright blue shark Onesie, nodded and replied. Rick's a little dude,
a great painter and a pretty good pyrotechnician. He's no
kind of fighter, but he's got a real sweet way

(01:15:48):
about him. He puts people at ease, so he goes
out on a lot of these delegations to be a
good face for the city. Marigold is always the main negotiator,
but we sent Tulli out too. She's newish to the city.
Used to be an activist in Albuquerque before the King
took over and started boiling people. She's a good talker.
We had her studying under Mary so she could pick

(01:16:09):
up some of the load in the future. They're all
good people, Fingerman added, Marigold saved my life a few times.
Back during the revolution she helped found this place. It
started out as just a big caravan RVs and mobile
hydroponics units. She'd find isolated communities, bring them food and such.
No government was much use back then, so for a

(01:16:29):
lot of folks, Mary's caravan was the line between life
and death. Yea, said skullfucker Mike. She's the one who
found topaz in me. After the boss went missing. We
were pretty lost, doing a lot of freelance violence, but
not making anything, not building a damn thing. Marigold told us.
Her vision for this big, stupid city got us hooked
on the idea. Many noticed tears at the corner of

(01:16:52):
skullfucker Mike's eyes that felt somehow wronged him. Someone so
powerful and inhuman shouldn't be able to cry and make
it look so normal. But there he was crying. And then,
for the first time in the trip, the thing Manny
had most feared happened. He thought about Oscar. He remembered
a picnic he'd taken with a stringer, his wife, Aisha,
and their two kids. It had been a lovely spring day,

(01:17:14):
one of the dozen ish days a year in Austin
where the air felt good on your skin. They drank
cheap beer and eaten hot dogs and watched the kayakers
roll along the Colorado River. I sent him out there,
and now he's probably dead. You know there's something else
we share, Mike said, his voice low and somber. We've
both spent way too much of our lives feeling helpless.

(01:17:36):
Manny cocked a disbelieving eyebrow up at skullfucker Mike. Yeah,
the chromed man chuckled. I know what you're thinking, but
you'd be surprised how often the fancy hardware doesn't matter.
Mike's face twitched and more tears poured down his face.
He took a deep breath, fixed Manny with bloodshot puffy eyes,
and spoke again. We all spend a lot of life helpless,

(01:17:59):
So when you have a chance to do something to
make a difference for someone personally, I recommend you fucking
take it. Manny woke up the next day feeling out
of place and vaguely unstuck from time. He could hear
Reggie snoring on the next bed. The room was very dark,
and it was impossible to tell what time it might be.
Manny thought about activating his deck, but decided against it.

(01:18:22):
There was something almost nauseating about the thought of being
flooded with the outside world right now. He stood up
and went outside to wander the spindles and gantries of
Rolling Fuck for a while. At one point a man
walked by with a plate full of breakfast burritos, and
so Manny had breakfast. A little while later he found
a self served coffee house stationed next to one of
the fondle boats, and so he had coffee. He was

(01:18:44):
just starting to think about turning on his deck and
welcoming in the world when Donald Ferris found him. Manny,
my boy, I hope your asset hangovers not too bad.
Manny shrugged. I actually feel all right. It was a
It was good and helped me sort some things out.
The older man smiled, I'm genuinely happy to hear that.
There's nothing like a headful of acid to help you

(01:19:05):
see what's important. Now. Listen, I hate to interrupt your morning,
but there've been some developments Nana Yazzi, and I need
to talk to you. Manny went with him back down
into the main roller in that weird conference room where
they'd met on his first day in the city. There
were more people there now. Nana Yazzi sat in the
same spot. At the end of the table. Reggie was
there fiddling with one of his screens. Schoffucker Mike sat

(01:19:28):
next to him, and then at the other end of
the table was a large black dude Manny had never
seen before. He was muscular, but in the lean, wiry
way of a construction worker or a particularly swollen hobo.
He had a long, gaunt face with prominent sheet bones
and an oft broken nose. His hands were big, there
was something menacing about them, but his face was the

(01:19:49):
least threatening thing in the world. His eyes were lidded,
half focused, and dreamy. His jaw was just a little slack.
He had short hair, stubble really, and a patchy six
day beard. He looked stone owned. Welcome, Manny, said Nana Yazzi.
She gestured towards the big man. This is Rowland. If
you choose to help us rescue your people, he'll be
your escort into the heavenly Kingdom and your escape plan.

(01:20:12):
Donald shut the door behind them, walked around to the
other side of the table and sat down next to
Nana Yazzi. We've tried to give you time and space
on this, he said, but I'm afraid both of those
things are running out. All our intelligence suggests the Heavenly
Kingdom is very close to another all out as salt.
They'll move on Waco in four or five days. It
could be outside of Austin in a week's time. You

(01:20:33):
are free to make whatever call you want, or offer
to fly you to Austin. Still stands, Miho, said Nana Yazzi.
But I am afraid we need you to make a decision. Now,
I'll do it, Manny said. Almost everyone looked surprised. Donald coughed.
Nana Yazzi's eyes went wide, Reggie did a double take. Schoolfucker.
Mike just smiled and nodded at Manny. Roland didn't look

(01:20:56):
as if he'd been affected in any way. In fact,
Manny was pretty sure he was drumming along to some
music only he could hear. It might have been Ronnie
James Dio's Holy Diver Give us over attention. We need
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(01:21:17):
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(01:22:50):
Chapter fourteen Rowland. Once he'd been dismissed, Roland had made
it his immediate business to get as high as post
humanly possible before he was needed it. This was not
a difficult task. Rolling Funck had been built to keep
buzzes going. The main rollers bar stocked an assortment of
beers mixed with LSD laudanum dimethyl trip to mein and

(01:23:10):
a half dozen shogun chemicals. Roland started off by sampling
them all. He drank until the fireworks showing his head
was indistinguishable from the actual fireworks outside and those real
Am I just fucking lit? Roland decided that answering that
question wouldn't make him happier. He lost himself for a
while and drifted from one of the fondel boats to
a dance party in a field underneath the main gantry.

(01:23:33):
After hours of that, Roland had his fill of rhythm,
so he found his way to a coke benge in
a weird purple house atop one of the spindles. The
rest of the night he spent testing the limits of
his talks and filters, and his tolerance for human contact.
The latter came first. He abandoned the coke party and
stumbled through rolling funk until he reached a small booth
with baggies of umnuloch, a d M T based hallucinogen

(01:23:55):
made from synthetically grown giraffe liver. Thinks got fuzzy after that.
At there was a fireworks fight on a spindle that
caught a shack on the fire. He downed a shipload
of mescal and as the sun breached, and then quite
suddenly it was afternoon and he was lying on his
back across the baking hot metal of one of the spindles.
Schoolfucker Mike stood above him, naked as the day he
was born, and holding some sort of frosty purple beverage

(01:24:18):
in a large teeky cup. Hey Man, Mike said, as
he took a sip. Nanny as he told me to
find you. You straight enough to talk to people. Roland nodded.
He wasn't, really, but he could sober up fast. Maybe
sober wasn't the right word. His brain could flood itself
with focusing drugs to offset the hallucinogens, and he had

(01:24:38):
a vial of liquid meth amphetamine somewhere in his pack
that might do the trick. Roland sat up, grunted, and
waved a hand at Mike. Then he dug around in
his pack for the vial. He found it and drained half.
All right, let's go, he said. Let's go to the
place and do the things. Mike helped him down the spindle.
Roland's unsteady legs were proof that he'd managed to find

(01:24:59):
him self a worthy drug bench. The satisfaction he felt
from that mixed well with the initial meth euphoria. By
the time they reached the conference room, he was wired
as fuck and kind of wishing he'd picked a different
drug to spend his mood. Roland sat down and eased
into his chair. A short, young Anglo fellow entered next
and sat down on the opposite side of the conference table.

(01:25:20):
He looked and smelled nervous. Roland paid him little mind.
He was too jittery from the meth to want to talk.
He decided a nice dose of some downers would help
his situation and rooted around for his heroine kit. At
that moment, another young man entered the room. He was short, Hispanic,
and about twenty one years old. Nana Yazzi embraced the

(01:25:40):
kid schoofucker might clapped him on the shoulder. They started talking.
The kid said something that seemed to surprise most of
the people in the room. Roland half paid attention to
all that while he loaded up his syringe and tied
off his arm. He stopped when he realized everyone else
in the room was staring. Hey, something wrong, he asked Rowland.
Nana Yazi said in a warm voice as she gestured

(01:26:01):
to the Hispanic kid. This is Mannie. He's going to
be your partner for the mission. He grew up in
the Republic and he's a skilled negotiator. He'll help you
blend in while you do your work. Er hh cool,
Roland grunted and returned to his heroine, Rowland. If you
wouldn't mind, Reggie was about to speak. Naniyazi's smile was
as indulgent as ever. He's uncovered something important about the

(01:26:23):
heavenly Kingdom. It might be useful to you, Roland shrugged.
Mossy's gallis to which bartenders and plain O make a
pass a whisky Sark can't imagine caring. But if you
let me finish this. He jiggled the syringe in the air,
I might be able to at least pay attention right now.
I'm quite too methed out to focus. The old man
leaned forward and sighed. The kid looked horrified. He started

(01:26:46):
working his mouth and what Roland was pretty sure must
be the prelude to some sort of expression of shock
or offense. Schoofucker Mike preempted him. Let Roland shoot up.
Trust me, drugs aren't going to make him any more
or less effective here. Rowland grinned. Skullfucker Mike clearly knew him,
even if he could only sort of remember skullfucker Mike.

(01:27:06):
He went back to tying off his arm and shooting up,
while the younger Brits stumbled into the start of his speech. Yes, well, uh,
I've been going over the last few days of successful
vehicle based bombings on checkpoints from Galveston and Lake Houston
and all across the Dallas Fort Worth area. In total,
I've identified three hundred twenty one bombings that appear to
have been carried out as part of this overall offensive.

(01:27:28):
Two hundred and forty of those bombings involve autonomous vehicles
hitting dedicated autonomous vehicle checkpoints. Right on cue, a projection
map flickered to life on the wall behind him. Hundreds
of red dots populated a map of the conflict riddled
regions of north central Texas. It looked like the pattern
of attacks you'd want in order to funnel the st
f's limited resources towards the least defensible chunks of their line.

(01:27:51):
What was weird was that so many bomb rigged autonomous
vehicles had gotten through the scanners. So Roland asked, how
the fuckers do it? Unch zero days? Reggie shook his head.
That's what I thought at first, he said. But these
attacks actually started more than a month before this offensive.
If they were relying on exploits, the s d F
I T folks would have caught something by now. The

(01:28:12):
most likely explanation is that the martyrs found some way
to make vehicles that aren't autonomous. Seemed that way, yeah,
Manny said. The martyrs have tried to hide drivers and
autonomous vehicles before the s d F watches for it,
which means the martyrs have figured out something new, said
the journalist, some new way to hide a human driver

(01:28:32):
that doesn't register on conventional senses, and that way is
nanny Yazi asked. Reggie's face reddened. He grunted and swallowed,
and then spoke, I've got no idea, but I think
I know where they're putting these new vehicles together. He
snapped his fingers and the projected image changed to a
map of a city called McKinney and the Dallas suburbs.

(01:28:53):
It zoomed into an aerial shot of one enormous factory
building near the outskirts of the city. The BBC pays
for access to a few independent satellites that overlooked this
part of North America. We also pay the s D
for limited access to some of their drone surveillance footage.
From all that, I was able to trace out paths
for seventy eight of the vehicles used in these attacks.

(01:29:15):
Every one of them started their journey here. The projection
changed again to it looked like a stock photograph of
the front of a large white factory building. The Tesla
logo was displayed prominently by the front door. It's an
old Tesla plant. They finished it about a year before
the Civil War. It's been in and out of operation
since then. As best as I can tell, the last
normal vehicle rolled off the line three years ago before

(01:29:38):
the Heavenly Kingdom started cacking things up. McKinney was one
of the first parts of the old Metroplex to fall,
so they've had plenty of time to fiddle with shit.
Roland raised his arm and realized belatedly that the needle
was still dangling out of it. The old man sighed again,
but Roland bravely ignored him. So what does this have
to do with your captives, he asked, And then sign

(01:29:58):
on to help you guys spy or blow up of
factories in this data to the SDF for Austin if
you think it matters, schoolfucker. Mike put a hand forward
in a placating gesture. We're not asking you to do
anything about this, he said, but you and Manny will
be our only eyes and ears inside the Kingdom. If
you get a hint of how they've accomplished all this,
it will be valuable to us in the SDF. We'll

(01:30:19):
find a way to make it worth your while. I mean,
the drinks are free, right, Roland asked. I don't know
what else you got that I might want Mike smiled
and gestured to Roland's backpack of narcotics, which sat next
to him on the big redwood table. By my account,
you've gone through about half your stash that's coming out here.
If you're able to get us any worthwhile info, I'll

(01:30:40):
make sure the bags full before you leave. Roland narrowed
his eyes. It would be a giant pain in the
ask to find good percoset between here and Campltown. He sighed, alright,
fucking fine. If we hear something, we'll look into it,
but don't hold your breath. After the meeting, schoolfucker, Mike
took Roland down to the city's makeshift more because so
he could steal a dead man's face. Rolling Fox Militia

(01:31:03):
had found the fresh corpse of some guy Roland's rough
height and build. He'd fled Dallas and made it almost
as far as Waco before getting hit by a drone attack.
The foe Fuk had been gutted by shrapnel, but his
face was intact enough for Roland's chameleon implant. Roland hadn't
used the thing in so long he worried it might
not work. He stared down at the man's face and
took in his features. The fellow was white, but his

(01:31:26):
skin was burnt a deep reddish brown. He'd clearly spent
a lot of time under the Texas sun. He appeared
to be in his early forties and clearly hadn't taken
many juven treatments. His hairline was fine, but the man's
eyes and the edges of his lips were creased with wrinkles.
His dead, staring eyes were blue. There were deep dark
bags beneath them. Plenty of time to sleep, now, Buddy

(01:31:47):
Roland thought. He closed his eyes, focused on the dead
man's face and felt his facial bones start to tear
themselves apart and then reform. He felt the pigments and
his skin shift two, which was always strange. The sensation
to his pigments opening up and taking in more light
felt a little like stripping off a thin layer of clothing.
While Roland did this, skullfucker Mike ran a scanner over

(01:32:08):
the corpse and located the I D card in its
right forearm. Mike used a tool that looked like a
long metal straw to suck the I D free and
then shoot the tag into Roland's own arm. He took
a second for Roland's body to pull the data. His
name was Erin Weathers. He was single. He worked as
a mechanic in Arlington for most of his life. He
had a clean criminal record, save for a drunk driving
arrest in his early thirties. Roland, now Aaron, left the

(01:32:31):
morgue with skullfucker Mike and headed for the ride that
would take him into the Heavenly Kingdom. He used the
walk as an opportunity to smoke a couple of grams
of fine Afghan opium. He was still smoking when they
reached the battered old pickup truck on the outskirts of
Rolling Fox campground. The kid Manny was in the driver's seat. Hey,
Manny said, and stared wide eyed at him. You look different,

(01:32:53):
he added with a forced smile. Yeah, Roland replied and
pulled himself into the passenger seat. Mike tapped him on
the shoulder. What Roland asked, I'm gonna need your bag, man.
He pointed to the still smoking opium pipe in Roland's
hand and that the Heavenly Kingdoms got a pretty strict
policy on intoxicans. You're not going to get a backpack
full of narcotics through their checkpoints. Roland growled at Mike.

(01:33:17):
He couldn't fault the other post humans logic, but he'd
be damned if he was going to spend several days
surrounded by a bunch of religious nuts and do its sober.
Roland locked eyes with skullfucker. Mike opened his bag and
grabbed a heavy handful of drugs. He swallowed them all
one by one, pillbottles and Baggi's vellucinogens and vials of amphetamines.
He ordered his gut to reduce its acidity so he

(01:33:39):
could store the drugs for later regurgitation and consumption. Then
he took one last deep hit from his opium pipe
and handed it and the bag to Mike Man. He
popped the car and to drive, and they rolled off
into the night. They drove in silence for a while.
Roland's hind brain would have marked the time if he
hadn't done such a successful job of pickling it with
opium before they left. The quiet got awkward and boring

(01:34:02):
pretty quick though. He considered putting on music, but of
course his head wear was severed from all outside networks.
He couldn't connect to the car any more than he
could blink send an email, he decided to ask Manny
to put something on Niggay Music. Can you music? Rowland
realized he was slurring and his words were not coming
out the way he'd intended. The kid Manny looked irritated.

(01:34:23):
How fucked up are you right now? Roland gave a
shrug that meant very You know my ass is on
the line here too. I'm not made of whatever fucked
up science you've got in your veins. I'd appreciate it
if you took this seriously on an objective level. The
kid's request was fair. This must be a big moment
for him, going off on a dangerous mission to enemy territory,

(01:34:43):
et cetera. But to Rowland, this was Tuesday or whatever
day it actually was. He'd disabled his clock and calendar
years ago because funk that noise. Funk that noise, he said,
without meaning to good God, I'm so high what Manny
sounded confused and perturb Sorry, man Roland rubbed his eyes,
a little dazed from the opium. I wasn't talking to you.

(01:35:06):
I am the only other person in this car, Manny said, Yeah,
you know him. Highest shit words come out sometimes they
aren't meant for anyone they just happened. The car slowed
and Manny pulled over to the shoulder of the cracked
old highway. When the car came to a stop, he
put his head in his hands and breathed in in
and out very slowly. It took Roland a moment to

(01:35:26):
realize the kid was going through a panic attack. He's
never done anything like this before. Of course, he's terrified.
Roland wondered if he should do something to comfort the kid.
You know, he said, I've killed about twelve thousand armed people.
Many turned to stare at him. He looked shocked, but
Roland noted with satisfaction the statement had disrupted his panic.

(01:35:48):
What what the I mean, give or take a handful?
Roland continued, I burnt my brains, killed canter out with
crocodile and sheep vodka while back. Why would you tell
me this? Why would you think this would help? Because,
Roland said, We're about to go into a very dangerous
place together. You're scared you're gonna die, and I want
you to know, however many arm nut jobs are in

(01:36:10):
that city, I can murder them, all of them. Manny
stared at him. He still looked terrified and vaguely pissed,
but his heart rate was steadier, his breathing had slowed.
Roland declared his gambit a success. Okay, the kid finally said,
that's actually comforting. Thank you. There was silence for a beat,

(01:36:30):
and then Roland spoke again that all sudden, I'd prefer
not to kill anyone. I'd really prefer that. I was
on a pretty good no murder streak until a couple
of days back. I'm trying to stay on the wagon.
So a talk, well, be a good face, man. This
will all be easier if I don't have to commit murder.
Manny looked a bit nervous again, but he popped the
car into drive and rolled back onto the highway. I'll

(01:36:54):
do my best, he said. They were an hour outside
of Dallas when they hit the first checkpoint and the
king Him's guards ordered them out of the truck. Roland
stepped out with his hands up. Manny had done the same.
The guards scanned them, verified their status as Republic citizens,
and then the questioning started. What brings you to the
heavenly Kingdom? Their leader, a fat man with a kalashnikov,

(01:37:15):
asked Manny, we heard about the amnesty. Manny replied, and
we thought it sounded good. We we want to live
under the rule of God. The fat man grunted. So
you're both good, god fearing men, then, yes, sir, Manny nodded,
of course, and praise be to God for all the
victories you've won here. The fat man sniffed at the
air and looked over to his partner. I'm not wild
about another skin here, Hanson. You think we need any

(01:37:38):
more Mexicans? Hanson shrugged, orders say, the faithful are all welcome. Yeah,
the fat guy continued, if they're faithful. He looked back
to Manny. Why did it take a couple of devout
men like yourselves so long to make a break for
the heavenly kingdom. We've been at this fight for a while,
you know I. I I mean we we were scared, and
we didn't we weren't sure what to believe. What you're

(01:38:00):
supposed to believe is the word of God, the man snarled.
And that's as clear as day to everyone who lives
inside the kingdom. He looked back at his men and
smiled an evil wolfie grin Hanson, malloy, I think we
might need to question these two more intensively. Radio command,
and that was the last thing the fat man said.
Probably ever, Roland shoved a hand into the martyr's mouth,

(01:38:23):
pulled downwards, and shattered his jaw in four places. Then
he leapt into the others. It went quickly. He gouged eyes,
broke jaws, severed tongues, and then started in on their limbs.
By the end of it, all four men were still alive,
but none of them were in any shape to report
on what they'd seen. Manny vomited several times. What I
want to do in your best, Manny, Roland asked, more

(01:38:45):
irritated than angry. Once he'd finished, the kid recoiled, Roland
realized Manny had started to shake a little. He also
realized there was still a part of a man's ear
in his mouth. A hell, you scared him, Sorry, kid,
he said, and squatted down next to Manny. Look, the
odds were always good that this first try was going
to be a scratch. The good news is they've got
other checkpoints. Will hop on the access road and find

(01:39:08):
the next one. It'll be fine. What did you too
to Manny started? I stopped them from talking, he said,
very quickly. No one's dead. There'll be a He glanced
down at the burbling, bleeding mess of shattered humans. They'll
be I, but we need to move now before someone
else comes along. And I got to break them too.
Roland popped open the cab so he could change into

(01:39:30):
a clean set of spare clothes. It was grateful that
skullfucker Mike had packed them bags to lend their story
extra versimilitude. Manny changed too, and once his hands stopped shaking,
they rolled off to the next checkpoint. Roland tried not
to think too much about the men he'd just broken.
That helped that one of them had been an asshole.
It helped that none of them had died. But still

(01:39:51):
they hit the next checkpoint eight minutes later, and things
went much better this time. For one thing, it was busier.
There were already a dozen other cars in line when
they pulled in. The guy who was questioning them was
less of an asshole, and he seemed to buy Manny's claim.
We weren't brave enough to make the journey until now,
but we prayed all night about this. I know it's
the right thing to do. Roland had to fight to

(01:40:13):
avoid rolling his eyes. The line worked, though the man
at the checkpoint waved the men and issued them a
temporary transit pass. This is good for six hours. The
checkpoint officer said, that's plenty of time to find the
immigration center and poured in if you're caught driving around
the Kingdom after that, it won't end well for you.
They drove on, but it was slow going. After the checkpoint,

(01:40:35):
the roads into Dallas were choked with ruined vehicles and
actual traffic. It looked as if hundreds of people had
taken the Heavenly Kingdom up on its amnesty offer. Roland
couldn't fault them for that. The Kingdom seemed to be winning.
As they rolled towards Plano, they were stopped regularly by
patrolling martyrs and asked to present their papers, But bit
by bit they made their way onto and through the

(01:40:56):
packed and crumbling highways of Old Dallas. At one point
they found themselves installed traffic on Highway seventy five, overlooking
the cratered ruins of the Lakewood Blast. He felt cold
October air. He smelled barrel fires and heard the sharp
crack of rifle ry. He saw flashes of a face.
It might have been Gem's, and he remembered the feeling
of a cold metal handle attached to something heavy dense.

(01:41:19):
He remembered yelling too, a small, sweaty hand held tight
in his own. He remembered guilt. What's up, Manny asked.
He looked over at Roland and his eyes widened. Dude,
you're shaking. Don't tell me you're flipping out now. We're
way too deep in this thing. Roland shook his head.
It's it's it's nothing, he said. Just a piece of
an old memory hit me in the face. I think

(01:41:41):
I was in town when that fucker went off. The
young man's pupils grew as big as saucers virga, he spent.
You're fullish shit, Roland shrugged. I don't know. Maybe it's
just a piece of a memory. I might be confusing
it with something else. Sure got triggered by seeing the
blast side, though Manny was not sadatisfied by that answer.

(01:42:01):
I refuse to believe that someone could watch an atom
bomb evisceerate a city and not have a clear memory
of it. I had to take anti radtills my whole
childhood because of that bomb. I don't have any clear memories, kid,
none from further back than about I guess fibery years ago.
I don't have a whole lot of clear memories since
then either, but that's from the drugs. What the hell

(01:42:21):
happened to you, Manny asked, I thought you post humans
all had hard drives running through your blood. Were you
too cheap to pay for a photographic memory? Roland scratched
his neck. He wasn't ditchy, it was a nervous gesture.
He was a little fascinated at the fact that this
line of questioning made him feel nervous. He really couldn't
remember the last time a conversation had made him feel

(01:42:41):
that way. Weird. I got hurt, was all he could
honestly say. I don't remember much of anything from before
the revolution. Now I don't really remember the revolution. The
line of cars started moving again. Manny popped the car
back into drive, and they rolled further into the Heavenly Kingdom.
Both men were quiet for a minute until Roland spoke again,

(01:43:04):
That's why I'm doing this, you know. He wasn't sure
why he was saying all this, but Roland found he
couldn't stop himself. Jim, the guy who brought me on,
he knows some fucking East Coast surgeon who specializes in
post human brains. They think they can give me back
my memory. This rescue mission is that's how I pay
for that. Are you sure you want those memories back? Mann?

(01:43:25):
He asked, what fun do you mean? I don't even
know who I am or was right now. Wouldn't you
want that ship back if you lost it? Many glanced
over to him they locked eyes. I don't know, the
kid said, you say you killed at least twelve thousand people.
I've been working as a fixer for the last two years,
and I've seen a lot of fucked up eyes, dead
eyes on men who've done too much killing. But none

(01:43:47):
of them hold a candle to what's going on there.
He pointed to Roland's face. I don't know. I got
a feeling your past is one big fucked up nightmare.
Maybe you're better off without it. Roland was quiet for
a while, and Manny didn't say anything else. They crept
along and stops and starts, and inched closer to Plano
as the sun cracked open the horizon. Kid At a point,

(01:44:09):
Roland decided he'd worried about the same thing himself since
Jim made the offer every hour or so, he still
found himself thinking about the driver of that technical The
man had reeked of love, and yeah, the guy had
been fighting to establish a crystal fascist nightmare state. Somehow,
that didn't mitigate his death. In Roland's head, most causes
were ship. Most men who fought for anything fought for nightmares.

(01:44:32):
That guy and all his friends had just been doing
what felt right based on the ship lives they'd lived.
The same thing had to be true for most of
the soldiers and insurgents Rowland had killed. How many civilians
did you kill, Roland? How many lives did you in
just to keep the battle drugs flowing? When he thought
about it that way, he really didn't want his memories back.

(01:44:52):
But then, of course there was Topaz. He loved her
so much, or rather, the pieces of him that remembered
her loved her so much. Roland knew he wanted those
memories back. He kneeded them back. Every time he thought
about her face, something twisted inside him, as if his
guts were being tugged in whatever direction he thought she
might be. It was a weird way to feel about

(01:45:12):
a woman he only remembered in fragments. Roland shook his
head in a nervous attempt to shake the thoughts from
his mind. Then he stared ahead at the line of cars.
The immigration center was chaotic, crowded, and heavy with the
smell of scared humans. It was also a happier place
than Roland would have expected. Martyrs and fresh, olive drab
uniforms with bright golden crosses and blazoned on the arms,

(01:45:34):
handed out food, water, and even cups of instant coffee
to the adults. They posed for pictures with children. The
whole place almost had the air of a party about it.
There was some one filming too. Roland guessed he must
be a propagandist for the Kingdom, putting together some sort
of documentary. They stood in line for two full hours
before it was their turn in front of the intake officer.

(01:45:55):
He was an older man with a big, bushy mustache,
red jowls, and a droopy rooster all of a throat.
He had a whiny voice that baraged them with questions
as soon as they sat down at his desk. How
many apostles did Christ have? What was the name of
the hill where our Lord was crucified? What is the
fifth commandment? Manny answered every question while Roland sat there
and smiled vacantly like an invalid. They decided in the

(01:46:18):
car that playing dumb was his best option. He'd probably
wind up starting a fight if he talked to the man,
And besides, Boland didn't know shit about the Bible. He
didn't even have any memory fragments of church services. And
why is it that you're answering all the questions, young man?
The officer finally asked, what about your friend here erin?
Is it? Ah? Yeah? Roland replied, I just I don't know.

(01:46:40):
I don't test so good. Mom said, I ain't a thinker,
but you are a Christian? Yes, oh yes, sir, he
nodded enthusiastically. I love God. I am all about God.
The intake officer narrowed his eyes at Roland. Manny flashed
him a look of fury, and then quickly turned it
into a smile directed at the officer. He's a he's slow, sir.

(01:47:00):
His mama took care of him, but she died in
a drone strike two months back from the SDF. I'm
just trying to make sure he's okay. The man grunted
and then looked to Roland. I imagine that must make
you angry losing your mother. Roland nodded and put on
his best fasimile of an angry face. They're bad men.
I want to hurt them back. The intake officer chuckled. Well,

(01:47:22):
I've got good news for you. Then. The Heavenly Kingdom
needs soldiers. I'm sending you both to a training platoon.
In a few days, you'll be martyrs and you'll have
a chance to get your revenge. Wait, Mann, he asked,
we're being drafted. The officer narrowed his piggy eyes. The
Heavenly Kingdom is fighting for its life. Boys. Every person
we let in has a job. There are no shirkers here,

(01:47:44):
no layabouts. If you aren't willing to help build the
Kingdom of God on earth, we have no use for you.
And I've decided you boys will best serve God in
our infantry. And just like that, Roland found himself inducted
into a military for what was at least the set
time in his life. The intake officer gave them more papers,
signed a mustering order, and sent them off with directions

(01:48:06):
to find the barracks that was apparently their new home.
Manny handled the rest of the interaction, well. He even
managed to act enthusiastic after his first startled outburst, But
once they were out of ear shot back in the truck,
he started to hyperventilate again. It looked like another panic attack. Gerda,
He cursed. This was such a fucking bad idea. Hey,

(01:48:26):
Roland patted the kid on the shoulder. It's gonna be
all right, buddy. Some aspect of his comforting tactic must
have gone wrong, because the kid just looked pissed. Do
you not realize how fun this is? Manny shoved Roland back.
We're supposed to be affecting a rescue here, he yelled.
They're going to have us drilling and training day and night.
Will be surrounded by soldiers. I thought we'd just be
squatting in an apartment saying some piece be with you is.

(01:48:47):
When we went outside, I thought we were going to
track down those hostages and like a day. Now, what
the funk are we supposed to do? Roland thought about
that for a moment. He thought about the martyrs he'd
faced on the battlefield three days ago and their motley
armor and batter rusted weaponry. Look, he said, this for
a real army, we'd be fucked. But you've seen how
these guys fight. They had numbers and some professionals, but

(01:49:09):
the bulk of their forces are just poor dumb fox
with a week's worth of training and whatever gun was
lying around. We're not going to be drilling from dawn
till dusk, he gestured at the truck's dashboard. They're letting
us drive our own fucking truck up there. This ain't
gonna be like a real army. I guarantee you will
have time to do our ship. Stay calm, stick close
to me, do what I do. I'm real fucking good

(01:49:30):
at soldiering. If you follow my lead, they love us
and our job will be that much easier. And what
if something goes wrong? Man, he asked, what if they
catch us? Rolland shrugged. If they catch us, them will
already be in the middle of their army. That will
save me so much time. Hey, I've written a novel.
It's called After the Revolution. You can find it as

(01:49:51):
a podcast under After the Revolution, and you can find
it at a t r book dot com as a
free e pub if you like it. I am crowdfunding
the sequel so that I and keep making my books free.
That will be it after the revolution, the sequel on
go fund me. That's after the revolution, the sequel on
go fund me. Look for your children's eyes and you

(01:50:17):
will discover the two magic of a forest. Find a
forest near you and start exploring it. Discover the Forest
dot Org. Brought to you by the United States Forest
Service and the AD Council. Raffie is the voice of
some of the happiest songs of our generation. Baby So
who is the man behind Baby Beluga? Every human being

(01:50:40):
wants to feel respected. When we start with young all
good things can grow from there. I'm Chris Garcia, comedian,
New Dad and host of Finding Raffie, a new podcast
from My Heart Radio and Fatherly. Listen every Tuesday on
the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Mama,

(01:51:02):
what does the chicken say? Uh? Diraft draft really giraffe? Giraffe?
You're not gonna get it all right. Just make sure
you know the big stuff, like making sure your kids
are buckled correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes.
Get it right visits n h S A dot gov

(01:51:23):
slash the Right Seat brought to you by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the ad Council,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}After the Revolution: Chapters Twelve, Thirteen & Fourteen