Kurt Langley: Liberty Falls - Episode Two - God's Hollow

"Echo..."

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Langley's voice ricocheted off the ancient stone arches, returning not as sound, but as something deeper—denser. It was no longer merely his voice. It was something bruised. A residue. A wound that bled memory rather than blood. Guilt, perhaps, disguised as resonance.

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He closed his eyes and spoke quietly, as if confiding in the void itself.

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"What if what we hear... is rejecting us?"

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The question left his lips not as a thought, but as a confession—delayed, defeated, and already anticipating silence in response.

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Bagwell didn't stop walking, but the pace of his steps slowed.

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His eyes weren't fixed on anything around them.

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They seemed to peer inward, burrowing into something unspeakable.

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When he finally replied, his voice was low and final—like the closing of a vault door:

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"Then we're in the right place."

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Langley said nothing.

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He looked down at the fractured stones beneath their feet—at the web of hairline cracks that seemed to stretch like veins across the bones of the city.

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"Do the paths to that place... remain open?" he murmured, more to the broken earth than to Bagwell.

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The older man didn't answer immediately.

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Instead, he retrieved a cigarette, spun it between his fingers like a ritual, but made no move to light it.

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"Dockmen don't build roads," he said finally.

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"They lock them."

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Then, turning to Langley with the faintest flicker of recognition in his eyes, he added:

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"We can go forward. But there's no going back."

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Langley raised his head. This time, his voice held no uncertainty.

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"There's nothing left to go back to."

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Bagwell's shoulders relaxed, not in relief, but with the quiet resignation of a man who had just acknowledged something unchangeable.

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He didn't avert his gaze, but his breath caught—just for a moment.

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"Some voices will be silenced tonight," he said, barely above a whisper.

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"But the bargaining isn't over. Not yet. Not while knowledge is currency... and flesh is leverage. And the Dockmen..."

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He took a step closer.

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"...they still have you on a leash."

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They began to walk, though neither of them truly led.

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Langley's steps were deliberate, yet without direction—like a man already halfway through a decision he hadn't made.

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Bagwell trailed just behind, his presence like a shadow too large to belong to one man, a second outline threatening to engulf the first.

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The street held its breath.

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There was no wind.

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Just the sense of something unseen waiting in silence.

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Their footsteps stirred not dust, but shadow—something below the surface, something older than brick and bone.

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Not earth.

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Not air.

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Something... inside.

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The ash here no longer drifted.

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It had settled.

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Not out of peace, but resignation.

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The city had already accepted its fate—given itself up to rot.

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Moss crept down from the walls like veins that no longer pulsed.

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They didn't grow.

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They remembered.

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Then the road curved—an unnatural bend, like a corridor shifting in a dream.

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And suddenly, the space widened.

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There, amidst the ruins and skeletal facades of forgotten buildings, a single wall still stood as if in defiance.

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It bore no graffiti, no blood, no prayer.

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Only a sentence, clean and eternal:

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"FORGET YOUR VOICE, AND YOU'LL ESCAPE YOUR SHADOW."

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Langley halted.

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He didn't look at the message—

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He looked down.

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The dirt beneath him had not been stirred in a long time.

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But imprinted there, preserved in the stillness, were two overlapping marks:

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A handprint.

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A footprint.

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One had walked away.

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The other... had waited.

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From the edge of the street, one of the old lamps flickered to life.

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It didn't hum.

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It cracked.

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A single blue spark snapped in protest—

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then silence reclaimed it.

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Bagwell said nothing.

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He didn't need to.

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But his eyes slid toward Langley, the way you look at a man whose name you once knew.

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Langley returned the glance—brief, over the shoulder.

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That was all it took.

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In that shared glance, the silence became a contract.

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On the ground nearby, half-buried in dust and time, was a screen.

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One line still pulsed on its faded display:

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"THE FUTURE STARTS CLEAN."

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And just beneath it—

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A child's hand.

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Not moving.

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Not warm.

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Faded.

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Dried.

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Left behind.

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Langley didn't kneel.

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He didn't touch.

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Some remnants, he knew, were not meant for hands.

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They passed a shattered storefront, where a war-era recruitment poster still clung to broken glass.

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Its colors had bled away long ago, but the slogan remained:

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"PROTECT YOUR FUTURE. THE FUTURE IS YOU."

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Langley stepped closer.

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The soldier on the poster resembled him—eerily so.

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But the man in the image was smiling.

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He paused.

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The thought came uninvited:

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"When was the last time I smiled?"

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But no voice inside him answered.

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There was no voice left.

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The scent reached him before the image did—

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Dust, iron, dried blood.

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It wasn't just familiar; it was intimate.

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A memory that refused to fade, clinging to the lining of the lungs like regret.

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Langley didn't need to look to know.

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Some things, once etched into the senses, became permanent residents.

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A half-dead neon sign buzzed somewhere ahead, sputtering the remnants of a once-familiar name.

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Only three letters still clung to life:

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G – E – T.

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Below it, beneath the weak light, was a slumped body.

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Its head was hidden under a black sack, like shame trying to cloak itself—

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or perhaps hiding from a God it no longer believed in.

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From beneath the fabric came a noise—

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Not breath.

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Not a voice.

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A soft, sickening crackle, like the memory of someone choking.

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Fingers dangled, limp and drained.

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Nails chipped, skin pale and translucent.

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Still trembling.

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Still animate—

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—but not alive.

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Langley paused, but didn't turn.

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Bagwell's shoulder flinched behind him, barely visible.

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Langley noticed.

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He said nothing.

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Some moments don't ask for commentary.

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They bury themselves in the silence.

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They moved on.

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In another window, three mannequins stood like witnesses in a mock ritual.

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Two were kneeling.

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One stood over them with a raised hand—frozen mid-baptism.

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Their faces bore no features.

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But one of the kneelers had hollowed sockets, gouged clean.

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It wasn't mannequins that had been tortured.

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It was testimony.

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The streetlights blinked erratically, like dying neurons misfiring in a brain too old to dream.

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Some flickered—

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Others burned constant, as if refusing to acknowledge change.

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At the center of the road, something blocked their path.

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Not a tree.

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Not a monument.

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An old power pole—collapsed and broken.

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Atop it sat a child's shoe.

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There was no message attached.

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No name.

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No blood.

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And yet, everything about it screamed.

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They didn't stop to ask why.

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There were no answers here.

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Only echoes.

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In the distance, something monumental clawed its way out of the horizon.

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The fractured silhouette of the Brooklyn Bridge—

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a corpse of steel and stone.

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Its cables hung like the uncombed hair of a madman.

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The towers, once proud, were now cloaked in moss and years.

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But the bridge itself still stood.

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It had once been a path even God had walked.

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Now...

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Not even God returned.

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Langley lifted his gaze.

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The sky offered nothing.

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No stars.

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No moon.

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Not even cloud.

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Just... weightless dark.

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Directionless.

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Perfectly still.

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And he kept walking.

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They turned left—

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and something loomed beneath the streetlamp ahead.

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It hunched like a forgotten beast, blanketed in moldy canvas and silence.

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An old EWA tank, long abandoned, its form sagging under the weight of disuse and rust.

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The barrel drooped downward, not in defeat—

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but in disinterest, as if it had refused every order ever given.

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Oxidation had bled down its sides like old blood.

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The ground beneath it stained as though the machine had tried to rot the city from its belly outward.

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Painted in faded white across its hull:

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"IN GOD WE TRUST."

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Langley crouched beside it, his eye catching something wedged beneath the treads.

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A single military boot.

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Worn.

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Empty.

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Stuffed inside it—

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a torn slip of paper, barely clinging to ink:

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"THEY SOLD THOSE WHO WALKED.

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AND THOSE WHO STOOD... THEY ERASED."

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Bagwell stood over him, unmoving.

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Not reading.

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Just knowing.

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They kept walking.

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As they neared the end of the street, the very ground beneath them seemed to change dialect—

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The asphalt cracked open, revealing beneath it veins of stone, old brick, ancient tile.

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It was as if the city had tried to forget what it once was by layering over itself,

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—only to remember too late.

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Langley's eyes drifted downward again.

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There, carved crudely into the earth:

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A perfect circle.

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And inside it—seven broken lines, like fractures in a mirror.

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He knew what it was.

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This place hadn't been for those who prayed.

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It had been built for those who were prayed to.

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The air turned suddenly cold—

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—but it wasn't wind.

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It was something older than breath.

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The chill of memory laying its hands on the back of your neck.

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Bagwell halted.

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He opened his mouth to speak—

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"From here on—"

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—but the sentence collapsed before it could walk.

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It didn't need to finish.

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Some knowledge is inherited in silence.

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Then, from the hood of a rusted car, a word gleamed faintly under grime:

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CONFESS

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Etched into the metal beneath, like a wound:

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"First they heard. Then they went silent."

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Langley raised his eyes.

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And there—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9TcJU5opM

It revealed itself.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNhXdJzgH8

Not a structure.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlhOJDV1PN

Not a monument.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxL9ADjftPX

But a wound in the skyline.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwjtoYL9qt

A church.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZE4p0ZSup

Hunched.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM744PxjhpK

Scarred.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMrGm48KW4

Breathing.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27BWLtvKMB

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80TyMumRr0

Its walls were black stone, stained not by time but by silence.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3C7VsmyfN9

No cross adorned its peak.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RGnRhauvQ

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgaWbqZvnD

The closer they came, the more it grew—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqXHqCXxjg

Not in size, but in presence.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJebao1oXb

Like it had always been waiting for them.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTg6vpOAxk

On either side of its entrance, rusted stakes jutted from the ground.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCBOgONcal

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaystdilGV

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOETp5UJ5AT

Their eyes were vacant.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwCjNCFzGw

Their mouths ajar.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDi9KKge4e

And carved into the forehead of one:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpysqR8Eprx

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU21YFepHhV

Langley stopped.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkE907o0pv

His gaze faltered.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglqnBAbSBO

For the first time since they'd entered this decaying corridor of memory,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptFWBucNoc

—he looked away.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3swzVDkbw6

Bagwell did not.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHa0msdY3xr

He continued forward, as if walking toward a version of himself he had already betrayed once.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrNmVgbzqs

He knew this path.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjcN1BEmwJ

And he knew—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHARoflWnLp

The past never stays buried.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgq2z2VkuS

Not here.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH6VmbKqhA

The entrance loomed before them—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwH8B5MGf09

not like a threshold, but a question.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAZyjEK5Oc

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJk0Kag0SB

Langley stood at the heavy door.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8G1IFUvPVs

He reached out.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5fxw2urOi

His finger met cold stone.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6l8C8Pcz7b

Not just cold—bone-cold.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIZbiMQbYB

The kind that remembered every hand that had tried to enter before.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tSHP1SdZJ

And the door... did not resist.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yWUPJFSgH

It opened not with creak or groan,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJr9Jyd6KIc

—but with acceptance.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVzdqJOA5i

As if it had been waiting.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72BOxOdVtM

The woman was already inside.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifLWGtWva4

She didn't speak.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgCNGCu2EN

But her silence wasn't passive—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFkUp0Ws9w

It was ritualistic.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pNf0KCPC0

Not absence, but permission.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILF0ChFzms

Not invitation, but debt.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwoQR3ZFsH

Langley's eyes met hers.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNAOdoGfHRJ

But there were no eyes.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQ4BIkz4am

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6zG5hkEPk

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmW4j3PuQWx

He didn't recoil.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTxiXgBqNh

It felt... familiar.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq67ADJe0KK

"The void of God..." he thought.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmte6rW9Wl

"Maybe it started with me."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtlQDmcFXW

Bagwell stepped forward.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLItvXbiFT

He approached the unmoving figure with the steadiness of someone enacting an old rite.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPYEtaKM05

He reached into his coat and retrieved a small metallic badge—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl60E19Di0k

a star, glinting faintly with the Dockmen's seal.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3BpNe0qVU

The woman bowed.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaD3wfLbAQ

But not reverently.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjbXQqeKUd

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAybWpeCVE0

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMPL50aNq0

She whispered, trance-like:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxyUofLoUG

"Passage... or change?"

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7gVYCJTlQ

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzskAE6v6Gz

His voice was iron:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVtq79v56S

"Passage."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1hXjQLXLM

The woman nodded, turned to Langley, and extended her hand—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFCibqeSuW

not to touch him, but to hover.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJgE5zWyyN

Close enough to feel.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8320XtfJKp

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tfMz54Hi1

"One arm missing. No soul left."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6B0OxAwlRZ

"And yet... you still walk like it's a stage.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDMMHJKg7A

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XkRzHcwzR

Langley said nothing.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqlcMWRgZb

But she already knew the answer.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4CZ7Pns4m

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcB19iwuT8

His tone was no longer polite—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6FlQijPzC

It was business.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHxOSLJeXu

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGmnERfYL6

The woman shook her head slowly.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJ2oQD0lde

"No... but it is being watched."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1mYX4LM6X

Bagwell paused.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzckECtDraF

His jaw clenched slightly.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5UEolPSzR

He bit the corner of his lip.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwodyDWRxx

"By who?"

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSTsAPgcLX

No reply.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxc2nm6Mda

Only silence.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcIolFPNKp

And then—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXo9VzEDHE0

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZ6QZO8aW0

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJVAFVNrdw

Sharp.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoQOT23Dko

Cold.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCzYMNsPsg

Langley turned his head instinctively.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCoqAtisva

Behind him... there was nothing.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdPTREUvxk

No door.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XmgjduLPo

No light.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0zranUz1E

Only stone.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlByqHACEOn

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOzXGErzsq

swallowed by design.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohzd8FgqOJ

The woman, still without a sound, stepped back into the darkness.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrb8DhHCFxh

Her presence dissolved.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZH8UPHetX

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIF8hsUvRQ

"God is not here.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP96OxVMIDv

But the void of God... is always open."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tjDm23ccG

Langley's hands trembled.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsHRwDSyCu

He turned to Bagwell.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLW70LyV3tE

"The way?"

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKr3CO3KQNL

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgI5fBwrmzZ

once used for baptisms,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLMsC37GdS

now just a scar in the brick.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfTGbVRrRw

A path that only went one way.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQR6zE7Vk9m

The decision had been made long ago.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysvIPqggAe

They were merely fulfilling it.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXuEJ3al64

There was no structure here.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQNd72VEKU

Only presence.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rI7cdaToU

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbCtAFLVGn

It hung in thought.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7N5QhjfmvG

It was warm.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMRtMGAvqR

Not comforting—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmstqof65rM

but feverish.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lcuVa4dam

A heat that didn't heal,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWigO9VFKL

just reminded.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadHMeeCPWM

Even the sweat on Langley's skin refused to pray.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1fj6ARNiz

He stepped forward.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOz84ycOQ4

And the floor—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhOBsvA38X

it sighed.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGQzqrnqNz

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBRGP4gRps

The walls bled with damp.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zCCaKm3rO

Not natural moisture—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhM5FhaXkr

—but spoiled divinity.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgLeLimDBJ

The altar still stood.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxKIXZa4eo

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBWPq11Y0r

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7rV3N9hsw

Engraved in its cracked surface:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwtpCHyMVE

The Cross,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LrPcDHlWu

The Star of David,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafFGkSF4to

The word Allah.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5362pK8l9

Each layered over the other,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOq2rNhvwC8

each split and splintered,

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRVTUZ08Vo

until they formed not a symbol—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MlgH9UpOb

but a wound.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUx7bb7ntas

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7qUxgcxpK

A migraine carved in rock.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbB93OTuAIb

Silent.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquBzeg8HvL

Persistent.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0oxfk5OND5

There were no prayers left in this place.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnqyhPD9XO

Only eyes.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3i8E1Muxh

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQY9dMLz8L

but they were not naked.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVeXjUQvd3

They were not human, either.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQ3yByITmz

Not anymore.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSO30s1Yk7u

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdcLnQIefe

She wore a nun's robe.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbABZ9CYp14

Her feet made no sound.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ixDJDLlxp

Her eyes held no light.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHDVmuhyDv

They were black holes—voids that didn't reflect, only absorbed.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iGbLx4UI6

Another figure stood nearby—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnt9NdWUHZG

Torso bare, her chest etched with verses from forgotten scriptures.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zSYENA8xj

Her arms were raised—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpK5qwxmzZ0

—but not in prayer.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4J1Kminij5

In offering.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzvh4GwE8R

Not to a god.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHVMxoF58p

But to debt.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmL6FEihTt

They did not speak.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NufhNwqJJ

They did not blink.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DPxrUoUAm

Their humanity had not been taken—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3WyavroJu

—it had melted.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNGJS95oRB

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFtluZea6P

These were not people.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsQiGgsZVI

They were what faith had tried to forget.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaBtNooOkIo

Then, another figure emerged.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡre9dO1XI5P

Closer.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczdzXNRoxJ

Slower.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYn3dqwga4

A woman.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyJS8OkpRU

She wore no makeup—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2QCmPtyuk

She wore a mask.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQroSvoSR7

But the mask didn't hide her.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeytcpqYuLv

It replaced her.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDyAONQCsy

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhvsllz497

It was shaped like belief.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvtyG3KeVU

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrj6DfS2Tg

They sold God.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehMVly4h92

Her breath was strange—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3PwHH6eB7o

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCRlpAWXED

Alive, yet split.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWQ55YNxDB

She stepped closer—

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ73tav4q7D

not seductively, but ceremonially.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKNvtxmJSJ

Then she spoke.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfX2BYtM4t

Her voice wasn't loud.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tn8kq04F7

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hP22XzwZY

"Today... which God would you like to fuck?"

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOpgjJIDzx

Bagwell didn't flinch.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9EFE8PXJ6b

He barely even blinked.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkcWgsohx3

He had expected the question.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsly4e7BT8

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpb5Em8hv1j

His lips curled with dry mockery.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwEdJFEz1M

"Friday for me," he said.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGBBSQFFVo

"The crucified one.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6kgeZe7TN

The other cried too much last time."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEwgh04X2Z

He didn't say it to her.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweyjRUUWkf

He said it at Langley.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWh5eK14QcF

Almost as if to explain something he hadn't been asked.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2DK7ZeAeV

Langley didn't answer.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpR2sofTe6x

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEu63ODUq5

"They keep calling."

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvguaxTtbV

He exhaled.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRke2unjiDH

Not smoke.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQVKOGEzfv

Fatigue.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqRbR6jLpD

"But when no one answers...

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOITMdlTvfT

They don't pay the price.

17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9hJmUeFvv

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.197da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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