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.

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Not a structure.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2konTMLzq

Not a monument.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2u1Z8CZXzI

But a wound in the skyline.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37LGvmqL15

A church.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnw9BxkxGLB

Hunched.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiZb2i324D

Scarred.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxqaTNLG29

Breathing.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrO2BvDEnib

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0TBieL0sfS

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXayORR2nM

No cross adorned its peak.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLM45du4mB

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPNRaIDJ7P

The closer they came, the more it grew—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rWdw9Wz1c

Not in size, but in presence.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRPdzZhVmY

Like it had always been waiting for them.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryNzoovzWo

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33mbOuGZ8V

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwBe7opwwt

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOhnQmLbvi

Their eyes were vacant.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcSRyDtuKU

Their mouths ajar.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzW3bPPAwzi

And carved into the forehead of one:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgYMMVKxMq

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OM95vSWOS

Langley stopped.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajGGnO2f1K

His gaze faltered.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqjqZ583JA

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwm8J4H1Ibc

—he looked away.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1M0WNpJ5ku

Bagwell did not.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvC9spMgvQz

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUJsrZq07X

He knew this path.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5n98ThtwdD

And he knew—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJPY1PKRqF

The past never stays buried.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKuUfbKUkX

Not here.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzZftCnp3K

The entrance loomed before them—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tg4PCquEW

not like a threshold, but a question.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rjSdVLDsb

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFwRabSJOP

Langley stood at the heavy door.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2byLi45eY

He reached out.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0xUePEFit

His finger met cold stone.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVQSmTFMu4

Not just cold—bone-cold.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dCS2xUJhA

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBodvjToFW

And the door... did not resist.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh569XGVBYG

It opened not with creak or groan,

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuRUe9uDWx

—but with acceptance.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpG3T7WPJch

As if it had been waiting.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPA8rI3mMGV

The woman was already inside.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsk5glJhZv

She didn't speak.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrFsZDmG4H

But her silence wasn't passive—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitOtu0arFw

It was ritualistic.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mz7pmmaPB

Not absence, but permission.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrop2reHKo

Not invitation, but debt.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfG0ZllkbIN

Langley's eyes met hers.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNM7qJto5x

But there were no eyes.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2k5z8KrQV

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNaDfVCktN

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLcswd9mAL

He didn't recoil.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU59UWxFcu6

It felt... familiar.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDVwcMJFng

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fO9w0Qgu5

"Maybe it started with me."

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmLRtKu61j

Bagwell stepped forward.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyPLcPcU2d

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7N17oiPxav

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTbhV6atSQ

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlScO6bGah

The woman bowed.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9RBFFe3yG

But not reverently.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6rXi2JrWD

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWyIhUuMXy

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LOS7w3nzi

She whispered, trance-like:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbGgtqe349

"Passage... or change?"

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEe8NyqPSI

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Zj7cKqz77

His voice was iron:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuTSEvysGe

"Passage."

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3roelJFyBH

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLBvm9tKCG

not to touch him, but to hover.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKs8FqMAEQe

Close enough to feel.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbiVrjsozL

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnjXKsI130W

"One arm missing. No soul left."

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E5F2BN6WJ

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEffoqhB1p

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap3OWtW0mC

Langley said nothing.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YSU3jGGyb

But she already knew the answer.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXB2jiYjLh

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VbPtzc0NY

His tone was no longer polite—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlpx8k6xtO

It was business.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZ1jVytDLJ

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jGliFPPvH

The woman shook her head slowly.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYmagn7slZ

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrYywp7Wtl

Bagwell paused.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69iuItqyVj

His jaw clenched slightly.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIQ4HK81cI

He bit the corner of his lip.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IQHOBAW6m

"By who?"

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmjgAXGu8G

No reply.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVlIwHqXEZ

Only silence.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPUfD7U42L

And then—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWVDXEMRCS

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs59F0aQesW

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXLFjMc6qX

Sharp.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdtFaVNSlv

Cold.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFilSEs51TC

Langley turned his head instinctively.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcsOkPXOPQ

Behind him... there was nothing.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4VNO91BVn

No door.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2DppFRWp9

No light.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Y1g3ySjh7

Only stone.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNSOYOuCqA

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC69M264HJo

swallowed by design.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3BBZde0YL

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ju5GQ0CBI

Her presence dissolved.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7xTbkcufg

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1J5IrGSG5p

"God is not here.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTENKTiyOS

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebXqrcYy9Z

Langley's hands trembled.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFukUKWiDr

He turned to Bagwell.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0e2WFX3NXw

"The way?"

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9EdpimlXd

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTtyGeoT0A

once used for baptisms,

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ698z5czzP1

now just a scar in the brick.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDhKyJ7iq5

A path that only went one way.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywWijK2r8k

The decision had been made long ago.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW91nXmv22N

They were merely fulfilling it.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRE49Ou6ccE

There was no structure here.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CpOb8l0mA

Only presence.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFDzaE4pIc

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GXL0pgviN

It hung in thought.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkKz8Tp7br

It was warm.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89qK1tIwQw

Not comforting—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiQsKAGqGW

but feverish.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Pb0A4neRC

A heat that didn't heal,

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsE5dRAhAe9

just reminded.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LgGj1ryzk

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡborXvg75AD

He stepped forward.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PxZfm23BM

And the floor—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEDsihQkeu

it sighed.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaM9RWVDD1

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygNeI2pAW1

The walls bled with damp.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gZN0TZul0

Not natural moisture—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYm62TQA5B

—but spoiled divinity.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ34QqKVC0

The altar still stood.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUORBmVutGF

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT03wDjv07h

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmNfmti4Lr

Engraved in its cracked surface:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnDMd6Md76

The Cross,

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZeo6srot5

The Star of David,

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ewUICUZhQ

The word Allah.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLMCaZD6Bk

Each layered over the other,

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7eegKfSfW

each split and splintered,

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jp34UiP0p

until they formed not a symbol—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKE6R54jn8k

but a wound.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAABv3mr7c

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjHqrYsSgB

A migraine carved in rock.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡei8eT1ItdV

Silent.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTi6InKgzPw

Persistent.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbzGOJjvka

There were no prayers left in this place.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3ec5WpZwr

Only eyes.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqdTCMqnGi

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdd6SDvjyP

but they were not naked.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLGaKuIb0L

They were not human, either.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUFoyUmhnK

Not anymore.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zizConQtn

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93vrcNmNwn

She wore a nun's robe.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uDWGZECeg

Her feet made no sound.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuC1ubzad1W

Her eyes held no light.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmrvUyvWTZ

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXzSWMnFkW

Another figure stood nearby—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsBojBhtHc

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLeA4oiH02

Her arms were raised—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPrKAS9Chy

—but not in prayer.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvDluDLBA9

In offering.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOClHxw9zX

Not to a god.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nQW0YRrO4

But to debt.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQCkRBsjfj

They did not speak.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ01ZbIpo3O7

They did not blink.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKZlUD23We

Their humanity had not been taken—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlraaP3XSa

—it had melted.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfSFyHjNnZ

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCJJrOfZ0x

These were not people.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsTD5UyH7B

They were what faith had tried to forget.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxhh3VkOs6

Then, another figure emerged.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1OjAikiyx

Closer.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSqSUTOQqA

Slower.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRI3Ydhq6eR

A woman.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZKWwAdG4F

She wore no makeup—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiUq2P13n1

She wore a mask.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZ7WNWQFGV

But the mask didn't hide her.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sNn1qhDaF

It replaced her.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LD1YOv0Db

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDlpIRIcvHb

It was shaped like belief.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAeJQOsRHg

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ447nraNIEg

They sold God.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYYMaO7hfi

Her breath was strange—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRz56cA3fJ

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtlBIkPPqw3

Alive, yet split.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7itUdOF4aP

She stepped closer—

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSipi0vNcJG

not seductively, but ceremonially.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDMc9zWm8I

Then she spoke.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ucXl11PIt

Her voice wasn't loud.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGwizLqhbE

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmk4zkBtOGV

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88vhziqOGE

Bagwell didn't flinch.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2Y2Qn84rt

He barely even blinked.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnrhH3UVgM

He had expected the question.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJ0Uh6Xe45

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpj2Lk30mb

His lips curled with dry mockery.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBFpQYMSmp

"Friday for me," he said.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo55CCcdg61

"The crucified one.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3Rxlg01nN

The other cried too much last time."

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXDLgZyLbY

He didn't say it to her.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6KXdm4ung

He said it at Langley.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6xhfns8Jl

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

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhm5FWQnbt7

Langley didn't answer.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dgijUj2Vk

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJHKN4gpYo

"They keep calling."

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTrDOzADFh

He exhaled.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEuGw0GVSh

Not smoke.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqi0JCQJItK

Fatigue.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbulP4jEUmq

"But when no one answers...

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6JY9cJ86N

They don't pay the price.

15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrPVnMd6te

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.154da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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