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—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFy48MCKQJ

It revealed itself.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡty9HjCHd4g

Not a structure.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmNMSRfmDK

Not a monument.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgIiSBTZFM

But a wound in the skyline.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8uOjsn4hh

A church.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3U8zudRLN

Hunched.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66I0g8rVsk

Scarred.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnULpzM8lc

Breathing.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGR6EsFp9AT

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTR6c2Vq7ek

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCSHaIyAPG

No cross adorned its peak.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdd2OisphmF

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGW8xCuIGV

The closer they came, the more it grew—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUTdLEPKCY

Not in size, but in presence.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9XkY8f4zY

Like it had always been waiting for them.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTXOFcmmlf

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiSOzf3Ycj

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kB6goESDs

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhovXGPOKt8

Their eyes were vacant.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Rqe8kbU5u

Their mouths ajar.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BNE16CEA8

And carved into the forehead of one:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiucZ8D33f

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEGPlJbrv9

Langley stopped.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzpTPnZMeM

His gaze faltered.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYSIouNiJn

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5BI7fHP8b

—he looked away.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKea9DccsgD

Bagwell did not.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuGLoG7Svm

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPAVcqkQvG

He knew this path.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaagTzPMyyS

And he knew—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFaKAU2k06n

The past never stays buried.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyBFC1CA6o

Not here.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4fyCZkwEy

The entrance loomed before them—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZqbsbdizT

not like a threshold, but a question.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbL2if9OsuD

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3eWwC9bJxZ

Langley stood at the heavy door.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0FTfpE7Cn

He reached out.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5NRcQCgeW

His finger met cold stone.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdF8qjeeQx

Not just cold—bone-cold.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBWtIi6oNJ

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡux7B2c7cmO

And the door... did not resist.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANONmwNczW

It opened not with creak or groan,

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFP2s1gfSa

—but with acceptance.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dTO4jyAcZ

As if it had been waiting.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3whuGkbJB

The woman was already inside.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeP4M3ipXIJ

She didn't speak.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqgOFmGHzw

But her silence wasn't passive—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pHnwQlYuj

It was ritualistic.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdq4GLaKs8B

Not absence, but permission.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdRMSHhlAb

Not invitation, but debt.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwO4CFfO8A

Langley's eyes met hers.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57sB2qyjfv

But there were no eyes.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsWw0UIVAo

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdvqLX5mHu

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHPZoDS92A

He didn't recoil.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcE0M1FDBY

It felt... familiar.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BivF5dPg8

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXwP90UEvw

"Maybe it started with me."

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEXmejMpxe

Bagwell stepped forward.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXGL6mjB8e

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE57qBrKner

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13UVt7txOo

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBC2RZLbeZc

The woman bowed.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAq6r1KLhM

But not reverently.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyXmKwfdjL

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGQs19KoXI

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNltcEJYmQ

She whispered, trance-like:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVpSUIkrQI

"Passage... or change?"

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJ8d2GQoqR

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mzUyLskQL

His voice was iron:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQRtiZ0eut

"Passage."

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYdjLnNccN

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OIIZI0llt

not to touch him, but to hover.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBHTiexpAE

Close enough to feel.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlZvPp228s

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvxmpeCrG1

"One arm missing. No soul left."

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5QANXsdKh

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4C0XYnKTID

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡte3tJyMiO5

Langley said nothing.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN51Cgwn0Tv

But she already knew the answer.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2jUSgmEPB

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QyySOy9OQ

His tone was no longer polite—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmh36ltLJN

It was business.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MxK23hzaf

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyyRZxmWON

The woman shook her head slowly.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLuclmesEe

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RZqV2guo6

Bagwell paused.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1SXqiULkW

His jaw clenched slightly.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzDw1yOE0O

He bit the corner of his lip.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YCeI9M15z

"By who?"

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHDDwdumEa

No reply.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEwqRWbvLZ

Only silence.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiws2txU1V9

And then—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFFDmWH6gI

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmKEDqphkJ

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhoTQAdN6c

Sharp.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZv3zFoZDTH

Cold.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4bm5raO74

Langley turned his head instinctively.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLqa7OMpNh

Behind him... there was nothing.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQkNLQCyzM

No door.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSuzOQ2MYe

No light.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4cdpcEI2q

Only stone.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5J8BLrEOt5

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFlAngwHXp

swallowed by design.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfiSPuvvYa

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM186uQonJb

Her presence dissolved.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqZ8Vzhm9Q

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk156Wg3ckL

"God is not here.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFXX5bWwmL

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIodkJPrtN9

Langley's hands trembled.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3ZBI6IaP0

He turned to Bagwell.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20OOgvI3YM

"The way?"

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ544fY4yEwY

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeD1LVLkZ1P

once used for baptisms,

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXDZPO8lo8

now just a scar in the brick.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazbEbYDHwy

A path that only went one way.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JNPPi4Pz6

The decision had been made long ago.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7KCKZcFLr

They were merely fulfilling it.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5VlaFudBB

There was no structure here.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzWk1btW9w

Only presence.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBigou7dCF

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RcUBtGHF1

It hung in thought.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhtelethXD

It was warm.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNLBwCVYfp

Not comforting—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiw1op0jm3

but feverish.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVA2gyMZtlr

A heat that didn't heal,

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDycxNA5KWo

just reminded.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKxDFH49lO

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomHepjPU1n

He stepped forward.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kghq7z2Jw

And the floor—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNlUf5dlTn

it sighed.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCSVRjVyb4

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjQXLFfrEs

The walls bled with damp.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnkVqIRJsO

Not natural moisture—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdVQgnHRfY

—but spoiled divinity.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6r5ds7dsO

The altar still stood.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSO2eSXUTcn

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbe9JNteaNn

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bR5gGzUQ6

Engraved in its cracked surface:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSB3e1Muzpf

The Cross,

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqbPHZ16y5

The Star of David,

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6CmQtVaLF

The word Allah.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5Fj0GJnjl

Each layered over the other,

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYe92HjxaMR

each split and splintered,

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1VmbHssHM

until they formed not a symbol—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxENdIJ9t3

but a wound.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08Mv599hnO

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvVzXsMRzu

A migraine carved in rock.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklW8Zj2VXz

Silent.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofcUmpYZmv

Persistent.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxzVDwTm0e

There were no prayers left in this place.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MU3iwBmM3

Only eyes.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlF5OLn6R5R

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtu4iw7KMxQ

but they were not naked.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWhZCdLO4a

They were not human, either.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJttbDpNW6

Not anymore.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FlfgcpOse

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteRHhQBTMY

She wore a nun's robe.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1UJ7asVcw

Her feet made no sound.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB90jWKT7gH

Her eyes held no light.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pCHBs7g0k

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPrS4yPgDm

Another figure stood nearby—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EAsG6rPPv

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlvogbSRMt

Her arms were raised—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEmHUpO5FS

—but not in prayer.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVSduuUA64

In offering.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qVYAvuO8z

Not to a god.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffNIpeLAHY

But to debt.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9YGbk5dXC

They did not speak.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡel68UEs6f7

They did not blink.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdTeavVEn0

Their humanity had not been taken—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUgwL2oa3f

—it had melted.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKiXWt37gv9

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7KhVstnbr

These were not people.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJBouIhebL

They were what faith had tried to forget.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtoegfNrm7

Then, another figure emerged.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88JGkFFyuX

Closer.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B1nqkVnBk

Slower.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbRv987uf4

A woman.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zTipm3xzc

She wore no makeup—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUF8Uv3MRB

She wore a mask.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0x2ZomVKUx

But the mask didn't hide her.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fRBEPs7ur

It replaced her.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLFqjU46Az

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6NOmwuINo

It was shaped like belief.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJNiToi5xy

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡly2JMqe8HF

They sold God.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdknHDMQYjt

Her breath was strange—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLT4cD13bRM

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ApwHZg44L

Alive, yet split.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIYg9B4dr4

She stepped closer—

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBF1n76JwaX

not seductively, but ceremonially.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14XlLj8k4K

Then she spoke.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wtge4T8Kt

Her voice wasn't loud.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡui7aIvMwMK

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfX0ebGw2cO

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YynY5Cgep

Bagwell didn't flinch.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuo3ATQpuQX

He barely even blinked.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkQV3mxbOF

He had expected the question.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDLugVVPRA

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVcXXFyk3Z

His lips curled with dry mockery.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnl8BUDtnW

"Friday for me," he said.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy93xZN7qyX

"The crucified one.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhFIJ7s2Qw

The other cried too much last time."

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtiNDbg26G

He didn't say it to her.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxZ6W9eRCk

He said it at Langley.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV26WgQCmDz

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

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABmnv7CB68

Langley didn't answer.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9x1c9gVzso

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrOaw11qOAe

"They keep calling."

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3es8ePzqs

He exhaled.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OTCK7dqHQ

Not smoke.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHokC3Ejla

Fatigue.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXw0ofg4fI

"But when no one answers...

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibX98rVEdk

They don't pay the price.

16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwwgpQhXnR

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.154da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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