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—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ880rFDut6L

It revealed itself.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpd9ne9MyP

Not a structure.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0tZT34lQR

Not a monument.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2znREgzURV

But a wound in the skyline.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4P5TBcZ8Oa

A church.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwx3KMPHi3a

Hunched.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEz9oBYP3VV

Scarred.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Tmm4b89Au

Breathing.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxWtmWGQb3

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5mfSnSrFx

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGtGfXrI7e

No cross adorned its peak.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDPGbaqPhu

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7od5O6Hf1N

The closer they came, the more it grew—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhTImQ6yvS

Not in size, but in presence.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29bnyEp26B

Like it had always been waiting for them.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Mb2IGPXg3

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIW1sUw27VW

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDhcZRH03hl

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXFnMaaAtH

Their eyes were vacant.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCUQtx1fIC

Their mouths ajar.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22LLDgy0XP

And carved into the forehead of one:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WsxiE6CBz

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcI13hoWyXd

Langley stopped.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDprHRXOn80

His gaze faltered.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu68vDG68Nj

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSmTKtXHNw

—he looked away.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YglI4M84E

Bagwell did not.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30OTpU4B6z

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbU9o9jdXg

He knew this path.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQdYdGl2vX

And he knew—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SexDQIr5w

The past never stays buried.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWSrP0ss7m

Not here.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjybpDBWze

The entrance loomed before them—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBC1kDfSC89

not like a threshold, but a question.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXG9WlyFPB

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ODbtPSagj

Langley stood at the heavy door.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSCWzQN6N0

He reached out.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0wmFJgtAX

His finger met cold stone.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AKmHbAifs

Not just cold—bone-cold.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfH4KFBh1TU

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TfFZ4k3Ei

And the door... did not resist.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡao1Ewaey6c

It opened not with creak or groan,

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFsIAqtL19

—but with acceptance.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0uXskQ1G6

As if it had been waiting.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMofmHWpxSf

The woman was already inside.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5g9txeGAau

She didn't speak.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5QQhWQVJ7

But her silence wasn't passive—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuvdBFh6Uh

It was ritualistic.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBskE4ymCp

Not absence, but permission.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5QJdDJXcA

Not invitation, but debt.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zD3MLCMQu

Langley's eyes met hers.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiyEqTFHPG

But there were no eyes.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcYHqCADti

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgz1qDohkB

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkNbm7eg9C

He didn't recoil.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VdOBnJfrT

It felt... familiar.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPOxw2G9LZ

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN92s12xhBs

"Maybe it started with me."

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwp9zPXnQV4

Bagwell stepped forward.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfH61WoTeb

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyC9Sl3prC

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn65Konsu0f

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD0kqQ5G6G

The woman bowed.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhleuKYUqWd

But not reverently.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3esMcp8OT5

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAYBCOaN96

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9m2KDJ7IE

She whispered, trance-like:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnuGh39zTK

"Passage... or change?"

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPcGBubWxE

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1SyCxJs9Q

His voice was iron:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTYtOlNxer

"Passage."

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6YX7nyoUl

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRSnUY5wj3

not to touch him, but to hover.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9dTMN4Vgm

Close enough to feel.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwB3WCvQ7r

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZBSd4Nvz8

"One arm missing. No soul left."

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VMqSgp7Tr

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtacJ9013Ba

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ybiV6FP9J

Langley said nothing.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2imSPNk7Hs

But she already knew the answer.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwOqveVMbd

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtHvpWVUvN

His tone was no longer polite—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzR8Qlhzkzj

It was business.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOWI62f9s2

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZFeDjnCYq

The woman shook her head slowly.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzwu9ictgP

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLKJ4MU7PH

Bagwell paused.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNr54B9VTOU

His jaw clenched slightly.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHYz5AXKVx

He bit the corner of his lip.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPIWNgt34y

"By who?"

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1RmB64OBF

No reply.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8jcsp7ks2

Only silence.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTSKXh6y4Z

And then—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuCV73Pcld

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9b90Ox5eA

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsq0lETuvN0

Sharp.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCde5O74uP3

Cold.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6T4ApgUkZH

Langley turned his head instinctively.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBd5Tbcofy

Behind him... there was nothing.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztlbVZoCpk

No door.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoN263wo6H7

No light.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4jGsYVfj4

Only stone.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EUU9TxOCp

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkbRfldkuH

swallowed by design.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk23h6udPHS

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIfXyLFF0N

Her presence dissolved.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKP7iAfLFz7

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvM8WyGNX2k

"God is not here.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpeo12ueobg

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEdHHiEeHi

Langley's hands trembled.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzriN9B8Dn

He turned to Bagwell.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWUSmWN48D

"The way?"

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiaMotPCaT

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWCfNIVSHt

once used for baptisms,

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLv8pLBggV

now just a scar in the brick.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhfUJ5JtuD

A path that only went one way.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fhgC0IsEe

The decision had been made long ago.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXWM9nzH4z

They were merely fulfilling it.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4d8DnEUtOc

There was no structure here.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYlUchI9A2

Only presence.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiXwhMwJUi

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95Eea1XxBQ

It hung in thought.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAHDUVUnIh

It was warm.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vkuRLIm3n

Not comforting—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW201yxVZg1

but feverish.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJs7uterXwj

A heat that didn't heal,

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuMm9ILXlP

just reminded.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMq5XSEkjS4

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZM8uQNAESZ

He stepped forward.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREjRTuzZqg

And the floor—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKlT9D87gm

it sighed.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOdMSYAIlG

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZnYdGpcTE

The walls bled with damp.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqJZaMKpss

Not natural moisture—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8enpmK5Fy

—but spoiled divinity.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6BOhKgdOh

The altar still stood.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskYA55yxep

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJv5CP2EnAA

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwyFhh1SqkB

Engraved in its cracked surface:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmCbQq1xoO

The Cross,

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmuIIpwd8m

The Star of David,

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnM1lCqjTj

The word Allah.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4Bfnl4D5I

Each layered over the other,

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnq1Pshtyiv

each split and splintered,

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeSo5XXyAB

until they formed not a symbol—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmjPnCoP6a

but a wound.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FsqKcaCZP

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGNyveqRFR

A migraine carved in rock.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrrqeOOYfi

Silent.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXJ6AGZrtS

Persistent.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCP82uqDtmR

There were no prayers left in this place.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5uWKHfujr

Only eyes.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPZPZcavkI

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJbyJFq3Ev

but they were not naked.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7my4BkTKN

They were not human, either.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQoeIxbOdV

Not anymore.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZr8lfGnj4E

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5qJyORTiq

She wore a nun's robe.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyJeU93ssC

Her feet made no sound.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgOEhUPKlS

Her eyes held no light.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFkuBMboAV

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtr6uifZ5q

Another figure stood nearby—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvRIUHRamR

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGINuW6kGaV

Her arms were raised—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzA1bdIvtd9

—but not in prayer.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2GXCVq04i

In offering.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cVZrnnPID

Not to a god.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91a2OrJ0zl

But to debt.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4x2rf4dfnW

They did not speak.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjdKb7mQtI

They did not blink.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaF3qFBr4N

Their humanity had not been taken—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eTGwRB2hw

—it had melted.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hc2IM5EA0

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsIAOMnL7e

These were not people.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwENnzjydI

They were what faith had tried to forget.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLyf6PRYaXz

Then, another figure emerged.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51OsjI6yJ7

Closer.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSTNGQSV7D

Slower.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yBAzizvhd

A woman.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXXKtvDmob

She wore no makeup—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeiTXjCMFm

She wore a mask.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TuPEnVtA7

But the mask didn't hide her.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEkqkUlE8B

It replaced her.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgtINyeaWi

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfHdRkjPQn

It was shaped like belief.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMCOpKOnRL

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFzbeZACTZ

They sold God.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqWPFUhqCT

Her breath was strange—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kwiTw8Ybt

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mZtib2RUg

Alive, yet split.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvMqOMZ2ij

She stepped closer—

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrMfxabOkF

not seductively, but ceremonially.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobBpSKyWba

Then she spoke.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOnTNUCxkI

Her voice wasn't loud.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkgabiCIsM

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNq3reTRnM

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSgacsoy73

Bagwell didn't flinch.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3u4zgZqI8

He barely even blinked.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRtrlq9ceg

He had expected the question.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLt41V6OvGG

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGE2z6O25q

His lips curled with dry mockery.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMUVTXOgNb

"Friday for me," he said.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIouJP5jo5j

"The crucified one.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0xqBQZlA2P

The other cried too much last time."

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXo8gGT43an

He didn't say it to her.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafyObaFF1F

He said it at Langley.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3N0vCKbSC

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

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjGknqSdzl

Langley didn't answer.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TBNij8Ej3

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVsbLLWPth

"They keep calling."

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjObVx88546

He exhaled.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnDqwtWx2o

Not smoke.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0uARTh54P

Fatigue.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStC6wKgjxW

"But when no one answers...

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjXF8YkyEq

They don't pay the price.

70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ932pHYUkN8

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.143da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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