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—

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It revealed itself.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIGgmabK5b

Not a structure.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBytEcAABkT

Not a monument.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uA3PWuY9s

But a wound in the skyline.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofITgx6r48

A church.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOqL32H926

Hunched.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6ETXQdl9Y

Scarred.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnxErpDCtq

Breathing.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKOiywRUeQ

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmxpiGiIAd

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3jU751QWW

No cross adorned its peak.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUC66kNPzjl

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNewUQQhSE

The closer they came, the more it grew—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdERC4HCUwo

Not in size, but in presence.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIaqz6f3ki9

Like it had always been waiting for them.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgxADLWqSW

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaffFeEkC3

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTdMnkFMyx

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BE57CTOgn

Their eyes were vacant.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlxO3Ilpf5

Their mouths ajar.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvcVxXbA3c

And carved into the forehead of one:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAr4P6TQyQm

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApqWBwcs8z

Langley stopped.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFKP9YvyEl

His gaze faltered.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsni1m1NU6S

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq54x45xdaD

—he looked away.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡReCe2rPLny

Bagwell did not.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpumZTsbf5

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaoUlnKJL0

He knew this path.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaS6WbFRX8I

And he knew—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29Ch8Pistk

The past never stays buried.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOwKwTOrGa

Not here.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAMLJeuBZ4

The entrance loomed before them—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tqoXbzGQs

not like a threshold, but a question.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4HsKJZJOZ

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2l2k74ACRW

Langley stood at the heavy door.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1gpPXoT4C

He reached out.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwc0Xg1Idno

His finger met cold stone.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOAJ18xPI63

Not just cold—bone-cold.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN85RztvRlh

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVwgPKwMPZ

And the door... did not resist.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEETpyU1B4T

It opened not with creak or groan,

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ukWbP9pjC

—but with acceptance.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHHGOiZqdW

As if it had been waiting.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsa6n0CqxGr

The woman was already inside.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLUCbKFNVR

She didn't speak.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnW31z3Pgj5

But her silence wasn't passive—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCN5iUSphx8

It was ritualistic.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSFe94DA0m

Not absence, but permission.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIn5mPJ9Eu

Not invitation, but debt.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGH8VXdoeJ

Langley's eyes met hers.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3NjviOK56

But there were no eyes.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CXjruJr9D

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7hNA88wfy

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaC8axLqDr

He didn't recoil.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmv3glMhvLH

It felt... familiar.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ661CE2A3mr

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZczVUFpQ3

"Maybe it started with me."

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOi15QxgU1v

Bagwell stepped forward.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYD9syFPt8Z

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNXgo2gXZy

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCBx2hVpdb

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzmhqHzkRf

The woman bowed.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3xdcBL6Al

But not reverently.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDszCxHxF5

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Bot4mjS01

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbfBXKqkyi

She whispered, trance-like:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdr5ruzLos

"Passage... or change?"

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEknljfg3z

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSKCyqqHIZ

His voice was iron:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjecJvs3gCl

"Passage."

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HgiS7IiBX

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuXbPSQsse

not to touch him, but to hover.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ553MkIc2y9

Close enough to feel.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YlcCvgdnY

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWXtrIWO9O

"One arm missing. No soul left."

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVbAZPYDgg

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhy0RvuKcAM

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBzZVRwGSF

Langley said nothing.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn5XUBCyQF

But she already knew the answer.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTXhC4w4lT

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhe1T5UBl1

His tone was no longer polite—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnOm0MGKGC

It was business.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYJHrJdxra

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QmApDZqZG

The woman shook her head slowly.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf5oqmP3Sn

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9c35bnXc6

Bagwell paused.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpz8Ix1m5QZ

His jaw clenched slightly.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAdSUEgvFr

He bit the corner of his lip.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7x0ptQC6k

"By who?"

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZEIzFes92

No reply.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFCj40g55t

Only silence.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXjDJzzOWD

And then—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bFI3SLhmI

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAklRHONDdT

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGLraqL6nI

Sharp.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QRHUfwjBi

Cold.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6XUwyIPCO

Langley turned his head instinctively.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYRJRIy9Ns

Behind him... there was nothing.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMHbLrNQgc

No door.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cpE5eIP1Q

No light.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHryM1iY8yp

Only stone.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtPJsNQfha

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NBuRGGN6f

swallowed by design.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwocUyKiAt6

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKN5gBqahHS

Her presence dissolved.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftakyYqFBR

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2r770iBMN

"God is not here.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMln1JsHHO2

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzqKpOyA6x

Langley's hands trembled.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3mAzKHWxHD

He turned to Bagwell.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpT422POM6X

"The way?"

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUaYKSLunsk

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdbn5z92g8

once used for baptisms,

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WYtPuLScD

now just a scar in the brick.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9CEhjATH4

A path that only went one way.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmIo6cX4b5

The decision had been made long ago.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGR7hio30Xf

They were merely fulfilling it.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQ67LLGniD

There was no structure here.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbNnvacMXVx

Only presence.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7wTab1KNt

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBUl5gv8OI

It hung in thought.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhW7p9g4JNU

It was warm.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwff3SSQuO

Not comforting—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohymeRbhb2

but feverish.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Jnv1SUQKw

A heat that didn't heal,

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LIOzEIJiF

just reminded.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPPl6dNvND

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRwcnCeuCy

He stepped forward.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjUEZBr3BA

And the floor—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcb5bHhMjxB

it sighed.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHzN1BccY4

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWn9Lr8g2wQ

The walls bled with damp.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEa0xlub8BT

Not natural moisture—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMpBIdoYmw

—but spoiled divinity.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEld6bXduGO

The altar still stood.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tM54D6YMM

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDszMjCydy

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYfvPWOUD1

Engraved in its cracked surface:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MTVtIdvc2

The Cross,

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsf9aVpbjBB

The Star of David,

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhhyYFKNAK

The word Allah.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxM2kMZC1k

Each layered over the other,

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RgJBCPq3o

each split and splintered,

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKy48cASjFT

until they formed not a symbol—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3wVPjZNuc

but a wound.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8QJpzBHkz

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfsPsPQ2al

A migraine carved in rock.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nnBUjfBRt

Silent.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpV49RF5VMH

Persistent.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbDlXJcXEc

There were no prayers left in this place.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSAYbtMpzx

Only eyes.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxloC1TN4vw

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEU6Ut3n4p

but they were not naked.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDZShR5HCW

They were not human, either.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMP9sNykJy

Not anymore.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZUSIDamf2

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsH2O65ATza

She wore a nun's robe.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKfDfZevVw

Her feet made no sound.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3YAuRXFzx

Her eyes held no light.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59aaebCHDj

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xv8FbMjwl

Another figure stood nearby—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMJabHWG8Y

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnMgAOmppG

Her arms were raised—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuETFOI5Du

—but not in prayer.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaph4OBAAvR

In offering.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaP6JUunAs

Not to a god.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kFfuEX6Ia

But to debt.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvlahm1TNs

They did not speak.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUD0XVnoSt

They did not blink.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUXcD2PNDP

Their humanity had not been taken—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgxEdkYk0o

—it had melted.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9iBWRXLLnv

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXeMwclkSJL

These were not people.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsHLrjgqIA

They were what faith had tried to forget.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpoMLOFjfp

Then, another figure emerged.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQtYALlL2X

Closer.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kYrZhEZde

Slower.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRFVAkptqc

A woman.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIK0VZ7iUt

She wore no makeup—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUcmcpZQH6

She wore a mask.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaCd1yo11f

But the mask didn't hide her.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UErvyyj4t

It replaced her.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ057ZWcr4Cf

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU11Fme04JZ

It was shaped like belief.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIm9A99q7c

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenR9yJIFyd

They sold God.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ApvST9LsM

Her breath was strange—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoiw57Njlh

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrpfi1kZyH

Alive, yet split.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDntmjnnjNL

She stepped closer—

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwl7NoB0fdx

not seductively, but ceremonially.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuM1Qjn9NE

Then she spoke.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHphpNqMG7Z

Her voice wasn't loud.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLxWYJPuTz

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wIcOPOpjw

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCG5y9WkvA

Bagwell didn't flinch.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtL0uep1Fc

He barely even blinked.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9VXRMJg2X

He had expected the question.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEQFUsIsaq

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnds2z6pXd8

His lips curled with dry mockery.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdqBQITycw

"Friday for me," he said.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqRXJQErQu

"The crucified one.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdRH0owzyG

The other cried too much last time."

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1HeObdsT3

He didn't say it to her.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHfrzZqp57

He said it at Langley.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYP1O6Icn3z

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

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7IIVzC5QX

Langley didn't answer.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbLzWbqQq4

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKiA6gdhqB

"They keep calling."

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SQerWRTJ4

He exhaled.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcx9LTp0cqf

Not smoke.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGOLtduZlQ

Fatigue.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNprMQe42Ro

"But when no one answers...

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMmDuIluE6

They don't pay the price.

20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjswgpDoME

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.197da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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