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—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiq05OZxrOc

It revealed itself.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbQTPBx9NI

Not a structure.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ADx8jf9q7

Not a monument.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpT7xxpXRw

But a wound in the skyline.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXuTPaEuba

A church.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERWMEAMRhx

Hunched.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YR1F1bW3J

Scarred.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgnuxnRmMj

Breathing.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMwmmkN3x5

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlLrRLg7Yn

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJuyZXifnr

No cross adorned its peak.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40tRnx2fCs

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakE1y3gi3c

The closer they came, the more it grew—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYrLKMxKV4

Not in size, but in presence.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqwwM0NJOB

Like it had always been waiting for them.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKNeJeq7mP

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhjB75YFKg

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2moqUW0hx

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJiIfcPdfU

Their eyes were vacant.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsloxjZBqPf

Their mouths ajar.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRYlPw6MnB

And carved into the forehead of one:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TcLSKbdC0

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRLDzR2aVl

Langley stopped.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnATsxyr0UN

His gaze faltered.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuhp41yjNN

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTvFYMFH64

—he looked away.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueUJsG6hzG

Bagwell did not.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYT4JklR4p5

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxquNNxLhV

He knew this path.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8dRJi3Okq

And he knew—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfwXAyG7Bx

The past never stays buried.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe86cNqaIoy

Not here.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRPhnNV1ei

The entrance loomed before them—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKVRamWisw

not like a threshold, but a question.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpbioNNpDR

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2YYe1ld5e

Langley stood at the heavy door.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDj97nvGNX

He reached out.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSz8w5uRzZg

His finger met cold stone.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRz9P8RfHl0

Not just cold—bone-cold.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUQ7SG5KAY

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1f4KBuKEiO

And the door... did not resist.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0hGIxT6rg

It opened not with creak or groan,

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyc1RVF9rB

—but with acceptance.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnJEd21xWP

As if it had been waiting.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVfgmALru0

The woman was already inside.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjM4k1R7BUG

She didn't speak.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8qYvPw3EY

But her silence wasn't passive—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbQQCrH8gu

It was ritualistic.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4XvG7fhBa

Not absence, but permission.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecXKAiFkmJ

Not invitation, but debt.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn68GdVmn28

Langley's eyes met hers.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBavaSLMf79

But there were no eyes.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaauzspYgts

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYmLODUQXA

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBWVjKdH0e

He didn't recoil.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCyBVd2byR

It felt... familiar.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEwuaGUnGb

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWJPFyY9G9

"Maybe it started with me."

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIICGAYbWl

Bagwell stepped forward.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEQg5l3qDf

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo0UbTqQe8f

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoBmqWA8VL

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjEWPIjyF2

The woman bowed.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyPHIk7Cme

But not reverently.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVHQYVuRV9

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bIClTR4k4

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jKW0gYStp

She whispered, trance-like:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRuo04xZ48

"Passage... or change?"

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfAMFRFN1T

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNoRrSorSb

His voice was iron:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyiuMT7KEj

"Passage."

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBY127fh4N9

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoa9y7pETD

not to touch him, but to hover.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HT3PXdvUA

Close enough to feel.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiolEeKlC6

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsRrrxyrFM

"One arm missing. No soul left."

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMyCsYrgVT

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbr8MDt46T

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGJjoGuf9A

Langley said nothing.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbAnVBDDeP

But she already knew the answer.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExUXMQsZhP

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsO9oa4OmrW

His tone was no longer polite—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqFfR3rMwC

It was business.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6FUwRGZMm

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡob7nKtGMGG

The woman shook her head slowly.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlZN77ZKB8

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4ECbhClS6

Bagwell paused.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRlXPrm6A9

His jaw clenched slightly.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4pPE3Kn52

He bit the corner of his lip.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDDMbZEcS8

"By who?"

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXvnP6272H

No reply.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvS8E3g8w9w

Only silence.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTcpMcLvBR

And then—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZpfFlesTk

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylEzVKb7R7

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvniNlNb8WC

Sharp.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXFcC7qVOA

Cold.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNaaOlj83U

Langley turned his head instinctively.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgZ4Q93cLU

Behind him... there was nothing.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9drDMQdUd

No door.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdIR7HNQX4

No light.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7gkVCGqvQ

Only stone.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbAV21MTFt

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7iBhRLrzD

swallowed by design.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTr0hB96Gj

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rwPpqMMPY

Her presence dissolved.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ795CqhJWDJ

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2ZRDzn4ED

"God is not here.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYcyVoyzBi

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7Oia0TDQm

Langley's hands trembled.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbmbAvNjrf

He turned to Bagwell.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZjDPAwrmZ

"The way?"

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHOBlT3wOR

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIe64EuEWM

once used for baptisms,

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LUgEGvmJS

now just a scar in the brick.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUh2TOEayp

A path that only went one way.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMx7M5d7n0

The decision had been made long ago.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLRRjnENyg

They were merely fulfilling it.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOX71tbpywg

There was no structure here.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUiS8Dzeoo

Only presence.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0EAF4Qns7

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuf8LnHgtvx

It hung in thought.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfevun1SDu

It was warm.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXOsaJ5AMS

Not comforting—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaeqxmi7mn

but feverish.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNwGcJqWLQ

A heat that didn't heal,

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyHc1Grdpc

just reminded.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtZEyLrWSx

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSknIcrwjo

He stepped forward.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulp7519i5I

And the floor—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhjOcbE60E

it sighed.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovNkTYdV3B

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgrJg1ZZma

The walls bled with damp.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GgssapBjj

Not natural moisture—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pXhO5Z4FL

—but spoiled divinity.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2xBP1fVUQ

The altar still stood.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSek2ok7dJo

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgAcArc2Me

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4P8LUrech

Engraved in its cracked surface:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyG1eXbcTUl

The Cross,

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ma4Xyfcxr

The Star of David,

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpsJt2nllV

The word Allah.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWb68itwaZg

Each layered over the other,

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLaiAM0Pqt

each split and splintered,

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5AreR1vgn

until they formed not a symbol—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxZXDplPym

but a wound.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELDOef3LZ8

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAm7Wd4Fm6i

A migraine carved in rock.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkWyPgL3CO

Silent.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRJnrs5eWd

Persistent.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNY6KKFBukY

There were no prayers left in this place.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeeeFBBwwL8

Only eyes.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVlmeZ7aeo

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XBOLFYwS6

but they were not naked.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2QQbdwOWO

They were not human, either.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnusjYSoCQU

Not anymore.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxbGRWyW7p

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuidQg6csYZ

She wore a nun's robe.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzhALynyjx

Her feet made no sound.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FSHB7kRWi

Her eyes held no light.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrR8ItbZH2W

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzLYDOdSc7

Another figure stood nearby—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHT6divsVaj

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorRYmeBdMt

Her arms were raised—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lvucorFdF

—but not in prayer.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0U15edEqe

In offering.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wzzAGKnhz

Not to a god.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvg0YKCkGNl

But to debt.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqwEp5zbaY

They did not speak.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMDDzopNbY

They did not blink.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwV6gYsbDq

Their humanity had not been taken—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69yEZoUsv2

—it had melted.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMn1wb4AnS

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmomaxuB3k

These were not people.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvyHRDsvPQ

They were what faith had tried to forget.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmV8xbEgJXL

Then, another figure emerged.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzheNfUrI7

Closer.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRb6Oj7gMT

Slower.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGcCapamCX

A woman.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CbIXKiCim

She wore no makeup—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLy7Po7uEB3

She wore a mask.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXM1Uo2c5bq

But the mask didn't hide her.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11mX6hrYUL

It replaced her.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFXxkg1JQ1

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaQVq5iNJJ

It was shaped like belief.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡki52LGowRO

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfsVTveizs

They sold God.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsQk2xd3Yg

Her breath was strange—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeB4iN0hl3L

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelsUoJFuTw

Alive, yet split.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPSiI0QGIz

She stepped closer—

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjwQXNBtfg

not seductively, but ceremonially.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0v7BvRNtZ

Then she spoke.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2WLohYsbQ

Her voice wasn't loud.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurY7LH69L8

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWO25Ck7Dr

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHz5qJMHQu

Bagwell didn't flinch.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYLacwxCm8

He barely even blinked.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡListdC2s6D

He had expected the question.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kdE8ZenbO

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBS8yGu6wiT

His lips curled with dry mockery.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKs6jS2u51

"Friday for me," he said.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5oLlTaXwd

"The crucified one.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPywWk4G1Am

The other cried too much last time."

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cujnBQg5U

He didn't say it to her.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrT5ywdpxE7

He said it at Langley.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tnxQLWxXv

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

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5mddDZaZg

Langley didn't answer.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmExhpaVHKr

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZwmUrobkp

"They keep calling."

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQUSuwSS9i

He exhaled.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQk0ml1kB4

Not smoke.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Qi5Art0Ug

Fatigue.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksnDvmB0Yu

"But when no one answers...

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCSSKDlLeZ

They don't pay the price.

71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYTndLtzx0

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.143da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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