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—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4iuiDe4iy

It revealed itself.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MFBLnmtzf

Not a structure.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZoOyKS1Gc

Not a monument.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6t3ZMaB6NR

But a wound in the skyline.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2kLXvI3Md

A church.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHXPG8TcDG

Hunched.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZGl1nmzuN

Scarred.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEQuSyOXI5

Breathing.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVp1XBLlIJv

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiMQuYi1DF

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tZCnzMIvF

No cross adorned its peak.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzx0XSSmywy

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbuGdaczBh

The closer they came, the more it grew—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZpA93TzvA

Not in size, but in presence.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhF93lYnh69

Like it had always been waiting for them.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtr3BDXtFCX

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkoVW9pWJl

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaePCJbRy87

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqE4Upc6Cm

Their eyes were vacant.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPralZlN06

Their mouths ajar.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMruB02S7qE

And carved into the forehead of one:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSE9en05OeQ

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4En8aDNb3x

Langley stopped.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WY0Oy25rO

His gaze faltered.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6gG24rzxd

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rDoCWDnG3

—he looked away.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVH3sln4AJh

Bagwell did not.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ywS4I1mvC

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUBwBnGdsz

He knew this path.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeTBnCDBkn

And he knew—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPLM9YeN27

The past never stays buried.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10861bnYB8

Not here.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJvbcqKI1e

The entrance loomed before them—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6M0z8BTRCa

not like a threshold, but a question.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidMjHkibFc

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA29YxSLpQj

Langley stood at the heavy door.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCkuByX2Kg

He reached out.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjltviTyY8a

His finger met cold stone.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpDcLv8ahf

Not just cold—bone-cold.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvdY6oD9AE

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKjU4UkqOr

And the door... did not resist.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgokd0vLH5

It opened not with creak or groan,

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0E6XsTBVAN

—but with acceptance.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9b1H29LRj

As if it had been waiting.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHSlY6WxTq

The woman was already inside.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwXIwLTSwc

She didn't speak.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9Tcgzjsxd

But her silence wasn't passive—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1a4XoNegpH

It was ritualistic.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjKbnwHNKL

Not absence, but permission.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5gLTuIy1l

Not invitation, but debt.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsY8w40XHEo

Langley's eyes met hers.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjw5kEd0COg

But there were no eyes.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh47rbFzB6c

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKeyyye1wv2

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFxOL1L116

He didn't recoil.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLn7Q2cRynR

It felt... familiar.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdY73QS2wWL

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqFhGhrLxR

"Maybe it started with me."

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZebQUgZ5Zd

Bagwell stepped forward.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQj3JRrmTjB

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LWGnJzDcf

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pITyez5Xp

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHc1ndMR68k

The woman bowed.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSbRja6QkD

But not reverently.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LuhBDA6Ax

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiacIaMZgD3

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1ygcCoyGC

She whispered, trance-like:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qwgxEMCPA

"Passage... or change?"

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNncg3CwDUt

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcT3lWwOyH

His voice was iron:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwzZlwkTSl

"Passage."

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpH7Ozh8OB

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerLDy0PdQI

not to touch him, but to hover.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVoyUovd4hw

Close enough to feel.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CALNWTXK9

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8lkctDiKb

"One arm missing. No soul left."

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSAEhqm6m6

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Holb9xHlt

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPhvCMlLNc

Langley said nothing.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡriSmzUhQq1

But she already knew the answer.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLoOuqjhnS

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYzi2FVHV3

His tone was no longer polite—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxlacSTnwrS

It was business.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKNl4GDnZZ

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyWP7HXXtY

The woman shook her head slowly.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebpKeK6bgr

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WsTH3PQD3

Bagwell paused.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8UxafQSgi

His jaw clenched slightly.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIR2cHsKfEb

He bit the corner of his lip.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmiTlrH4M8

"By who?"

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISHs1eNRvC

No reply.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7NHdENnKC

Only silence.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2gebnoiaX

And then—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDdZPiXhWQ

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZknGz3tYPX

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQptrNOrlz

Sharp.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPYOjpxpsI

Cold.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yYK0kLa1e

Langley turned his head instinctively.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyn8odsTYQ5

Behind him... there was nothing.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUG0C9RfjZ

No door.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWdFDWhFDw

No light.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObWRdwwMMt

Only stone.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvUloElbvh

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ee1hZshqq

swallowed by design.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDC0wQUejBf

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfTZg2DtpS

Her presence dissolved.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEF6lSHfc2

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqd0khjVsm

"God is not here.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvACfl4CHh

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkuJUYZmOM

Langley's hands trembled.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7nG8uuir2Q

He turned to Bagwell.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rglvTn2ZF

"The way?"

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssKlmfaTme

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEZYz4S0Ff

once used for baptisms,

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvNqM6MqrN

now just a scar in the brick.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEArzlqyvjb

A path that only went one way.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpg7AjIYdzH

The decision had been made long ago.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJoFNtsUhAE

They were merely fulfilling it.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dZYhYZsaR

There was no structure here.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WKCaKajjm

Only presence.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ARYv6Mfn7

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizKgkWDqb1

It hung in thought.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiJx4bvMmX

It was warm.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiU9rEDtaa

Not comforting—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLRnqJM5ft

but feverish.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1ovJLKI0H

A heat that didn't heal,

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FZBDWFbru

just reminded.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gyDCdlbFg

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfM3FHkmg86

He stepped forward.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUDwppfIUm

And the floor—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzDvcqeXka

it sighed.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IRzmumxF1

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCF6G8B7iIW

The walls bled with damp.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixs72QJaeb

Not natural moisture—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ291wod2LSV

—but spoiled divinity.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xKlNEGZn1

The altar still stood.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgUweoDDla

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIyGvj45Vd

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmOi5i35Ac

Engraved in its cracked surface:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggrc07PAvP

The Cross,

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JQ9lqXUxy

The Star of David,

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGusUyNInz

The word Allah.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5TOGfHxll

Each layered over the other,

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7TD7T9gGR

each split and splintered,

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoopOtohGgq

until they formed not a symbol—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtX8hNaUnjF

but a wound.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvsQUSy0TF

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBL2e1lbvz

A migraine carved in rock.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVf33kTDmhx

Silent.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVh6khLlbvV

Persistent.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOynZ5Pa7QO

There were no prayers left in this place.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9x5Ahv7NNz

Only eyes.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjKE3cSRB7

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8XSNKorGK

but they were not naked.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZ9xOHAkLK

They were not human, either.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeHWerlbbE

Not anymore.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXqLj1d6gT

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LnKFzHlb5

She wore a nun's robe.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JnNQLW036

Her feet made no sound.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEldBfc4W1q

Her eyes held no light.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4TbgG51sA

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6WPZrzj4i

Another figure stood nearby—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzO5dIAk98X

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNHvlK5s9k

Her arms were raised—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4tFUr3Cpx

—but not in prayer.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiPUUNPudH

In offering.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡesYURdcIWc

Not to a god.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxhbjMsikx

But to debt.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgufqmoUsZ

They did not speak.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaHgNLobt4

They did not blink.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQr0pElKAa

Their humanity had not been taken—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutHniPLwkB

—it had melted.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdsP4gNaCVF

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8UUvDnNlt

These were not people.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPz1cTj7mR

They were what faith had tried to forget.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cKpAdklqM

Then, another figure emerged.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3hMS5V6Gq

Closer.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKdmp6yWIQ

Slower.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrNlNkFhGq

A woman.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ADzjKXu1S

She wore no makeup—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0ntSAEHK5

She wore a mask.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkD07xxVtGq

But the mask didn't hide her.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJQusVkm4Q

It replaced her.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFuKpWGMRq

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVHDzCPtFs

It was shaped like belief.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwkzqLUS3E

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJSaXtNUha

They sold God.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmEaGJEvMKm

Her breath was strange—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8IZTnidwL

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhKfPg20tL

Alive, yet split.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhnNNAfefH

She stepped closer—

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKAVmASWjd

not seductively, but ceremonially.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9LcQzzklE

Then she spoke.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLf1r8VpDc5

Her voice wasn't loud.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFIyiY9eq4

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyuYWEd5Fg

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqAgPG8WHZ

Bagwell didn't flinch.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsNo0RF7hk

He barely even blinked.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8ZNDdY7CP

He had expected the question.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoc735UdwOL

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WfDbEnzk1

His lips curled with dry mockery.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ijdgzY1Dg

"Friday for me," he said.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzmPe4k5IL

"The crucified one.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjs40AgU0f

The other cried too much last time."

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QvUAw7OpR

He didn't say it to her.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVc5e9vjYUg

He said it at Langley.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBPE7EPqPz

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

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlD9Jn4sLp

Langley didn't answer.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMEc9x6nTi

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AZZC5L99X

"They keep calling."

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG34onMlAxR

He exhaled.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGuEOw5OLA

Not smoke.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJRXsC6Vfq

Fatigue.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6aelano7j

"But when no one answers...

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UUuV1B43F

They don't pay the price.

13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZGdCSNdHA

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.154da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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