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—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyv6k4k5C5

It revealed itself.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWRais42Oi

Not a structure.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIwoidL497

Not a monument.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOLqv9h6X9

But a wound in the skyline.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaITPIizVBE

A church.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzoVxNthbQ

Hunched.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuMwG2YDMk

Scarred.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CUv3lG9rn

Breathing.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUA6di7CZt

Its dome sagged like a collapsed lung.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejk13Q7Oe5

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiM9kZYcwG

No cross adorned its peak.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAd2hJ1kmaq

Only the shadow of where belief had once stood.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghsOul483q

The closer they came, the more it grew—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhicFlGOcF

Not in size, but in presence.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpM3OM5yqJ

Like it had always been waiting for them.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaOSCuPCbo

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMPY5HGh1v

Crucified on each—men in clerical robes.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFpIh17lHv

Their arms outstretched, hands twisted to hold nothing.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtMBQFAvv9

Their eyes were vacant.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ewx0L8l6h

Their mouths ajar.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqRViNnNIb

And carved into the forehead of one:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDymL7E4AR

"SILENCE IS LOUDER THAN GOD."

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYUAnS73SM

Langley stopped.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYtFvPVhee

His gaze faltered.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TONZxSBt4

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksXBAqtMR0

—he looked away.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqxX7rJaLh

Bagwell did not.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWj5NEBV89

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCNSpynkUU

He knew this path.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKyVGWBT8Y

And he knew—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlhxlxVasU

The past never stays buried.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFoG5aU19j

Not here.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJQnSbcScg

The entrance loomed before them—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiErqTgQg8

not like a threshold, but a question.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PtCktRM0z

One that did not demand an answer, only submission.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAZXFXIItO

Langley stood at the heavy door.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8MTsH3J8uU

He reached out.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWnP3UZ4CV

His finger met cold stone.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12qP9idyEU

Not just cold—bone-cold.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGo536oEWl7

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlukCKZmcv

And the door... did not resist.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOh3lNWFEW4

It opened not with creak or groan,

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvxtfWQAJn

—but with acceptance.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZ8xfE5n9x

As if it had been waiting.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS71bGI9v5U

The woman was already inside.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivj0SkJN9K

She didn't speak.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVOxOMXIU6

But her silence wasn't passive—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5oAOgQ77J

It was ritualistic.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumBW06mql9

Not absence, but permission.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkffHKoBi5g

Not invitation, but debt.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3Oon1Bgp8

Langley's eyes met hers.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yepxeq7zg

But there were no eyes.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36qjYVYltU

Just hollows where faith had dried out.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wFZduCY70

And strangely—he didn't flinch.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9wa5GYBKe

He didn't recoil.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJ5mJF5lQC

It felt... familiar.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKvDMZu4dU

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmOJgSmswo

"Maybe it started with me."

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkb3gtlwhqL

Bagwell stepped forward.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXkYwJ8Avv

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIzoM786WC

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVX2w4c2pUT

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BiMgHdBdr

The woman bowed.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXyC1WP6lt

But not reverently.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡctDAZYijHu

It was a motion too precise, too rehearsed—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTlztH5pT9

a memorized gesture from a forgotten script.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqT76H2eJ0

She whispered, trance-like:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8f3hKzqf8

"Passage... or change?"

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfizPBtK4M

Bagwell didn't hesitate.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tbg4ZRZzI

His voice was iron:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XOuqD92r1

"Passage."

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyWh6rGui1

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6H5sxMFgin

not to touch him, but to hover.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fWFYaxKcJ

Close enough to feel.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFn3wo9ZbKD

Her voice coiled like incense smoke:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWTR5fuA3j

"One arm missing. No soul left."

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Ggxo0egKK

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hU6Vi874A

Trying to win an Oscar, Plisskin?"

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxCVhyNRp0

Langley said nothing.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDlRVeoNGc

But she already knew the answer.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTKJ2I9CPG

Bagwell moved ahead of him.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZATnCQ2b4w

His tone was no longer polite—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0ANMe3zF1

It was business.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0Zvgh88Me

"Has it been recalled?" he asked.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZjhpdzQsB

The woman shook her head slowly.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPGdQcjVNP

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaZqU0JRNC

Bagwell paused.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNNSc39DTM

His jaw clenched slightly.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbltefJknEh

He bit the corner of his lip.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9soAZG9eip

"By who?"

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVTLTjIFKz

No reply.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSB4F9rYAA

Only silence.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQQHQcun2O

And then—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvaCbNVdIiM

A single drop of water fell from the ceiling.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtytotczsnW

The sound echoed across the cavernous room like a warning.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5UT6YzULA

Sharp.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1yKkXUvXn

Cold.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxveMmQdNf

Langley turned his head instinctively.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaiKBreCapc

Behind him... there was nothing.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMviDQUcoe

No door.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadkIrA6AZ3

No light.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMyAxsgr0w

Only stone.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTVyMfYq90

The way back had collapsed into the architecture—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgsHugYTIW

swallowed by design.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXHK2oLuOH

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwtcMLKV48

Her presence dissolved.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ODu9zJorP

But before she vanished completely, she whispered:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZADYNIVDuy

"God is not here.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6xo5ngODj

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwoMnMJYYP

Langley's hands trembled.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPtOvvxfG9

He turned to Bagwell.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRKpbIqYTR2

"The way?"

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOl5JoAZzS

Bagwell pointed toward a narrow corridor—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMI6N9I3DTS

once used for baptisms,

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxu95ySviUl

now just a scar in the brick.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HneE4YjCu

A path that only went one way.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4Q6G4USpU

The decision had been made long ago.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QVcTTTBkx

They were merely fulfilling it.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsV2X0Bw1Ez

There was no structure here.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0UHWtDHT1

Only presence.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYlRfYuBfa

Dust no longer drifted in the air—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUY9IM9ogT4

It hung in thought.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SRlKNQklz

It was warm.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmY93TURHb

Not comforting—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6szz84g81J

but feverish.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPP6zw8NOh

A heat that didn't heal,

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gjpoqtWeq

just reminded.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsa0FmheOZq

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEloa9B9H9

He stepped forward.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFnx7xz2Bz

And the floor—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyMuPkZNuo

it sighed.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXl1B8xbpi

A slow exhale from stone that remembered belief.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IcPEhtZlO

The walls bled with damp.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04BBUGg4sr

Not natural moisture—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwKqqQjjKd

—but spoiled divinity.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJOd8ZM7AE

The altar still stood.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizuQOX6KD6

But it no longer belonged to any one god.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADbsHjTnfV

It had become a tombstone for all of them.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqRRaXj2F5

Engraved in its cracked surface:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wb6tvCYSA

The Cross,

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3k6VRPx5F

The Star of David,

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2IM4ZUeO5E

The word Allah.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2qaA4tHVI

Each layered over the other,

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyS9C4llbc3

each split and splintered,

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4B65xWaDTB

until they formed not a symbol—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Sgbk76lXX

but a wound.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4MLDiqQnS

The stone pulsed beneath Langley's gaze.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8SwtAA2Iq

A migraine carved in rock.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkwcDi2Vfy

Silent.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkBSm8gpsc

Persistent.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yBWtRx7fI

There were no prayers left in this place.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXa3jlNLfMs

Only eyes.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRz2TSCju9

Figures moved beneath the fractured light—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRQwCITOxr

but they were not naked.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGaGWp1QjI

They were not human, either.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5VM5W4FLQ

Not anymore.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQZtsGhaUr

A woman walked across the stone in silence.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeV3PBftmsq

She wore a nun's robe.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlFFm4vG07

Her feet made no sound.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0R473xdP0

Her eyes held no light.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxO8UcUG1v2

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50i19OhY9U

Another figure stood nearby—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMtGBphiv4N

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1IMMmpUfb

Her arms were raised—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6Vr6rgCKG

—but not in prayer.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7ZN0so9Z0

In offering.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuIB1nNb0B

Not to a god.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvWQBRHsYP

But to debt.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyIM2rvWzy

They did not speak.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAdCibDbtq

They did not blink.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OmTFntVca

Their humanity had not been taken—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw66MUDMR9e

—it had melted.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdknb4iaWC

Abandoned like robes at a shoreline no one returned to.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5Xzg9XBmp

These were not people.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSqGlLNsMO

They were what faith had tried to forget.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYs5CxriH8U

Then, another figure emerged.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvgUhYGfdS

Closer.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyj1sGCc6Q

Slower.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsJrHQ5gjT

A woman.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wtktKv8fz

She wore no makeup—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMleuvsZXHH

She wore a mask.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqosnuAdo3

But the mask didn't hide her.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBoI1MIM0A

It replaced her.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErrSBKxoLV

It wasn't fashioned like skin.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdt7ubsHtG

It was shaped like belief.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWDIMKJC5t

And in this place, they did not sell flesh.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnliKUPIbb

They sold God.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNQFBuuYgr

Her breath was strange—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09YhNYn2En

warm in one nostril, cold in the other.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92EnHXkcR9

Alive, yet split.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHGyppcQF3

She stepped closer—

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzq2q9o8yXe

not seductively, but ceremonially.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpyySVCK3u

Then she spoke.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi69rSlxpeB

Her voice wasn't loud.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqjIpYeWtV

But it struck like a hymn buried in ash:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYttZy798ob

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZUix7aSiR

Bagwell didn't flinch.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRESKzTr3is

He barely even blinked.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasnfG3RrGi

He had expected the question.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJmmSlSacD

Worse—he had expected the indifference behind it.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SXRqoZ1Dv

His lips curled with dry mockery.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROBvmYftHL

"Friday for me," he said.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfBNYZtBfo

"The crucified one.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡct5YBjQRYz

The other cried too much last time."

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDVfpyDZlu

He didn't say it to her.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJpEopPOGt

He said it at Langley.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡroxxh919Cx

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

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoEqmtmYrj

Langley didn't answer.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyP5ITIwvd

Bagwell looked ahead again, voice low:

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgKWPs2fwT

"They keep calling."

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3XXbuEsYv

He exhaled.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWq1ySTbpYI

Not smoke.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCT2GfhJgtg

Fatigue.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXxG30Fvdz

"But when no one answers...

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJDr5wzvXb

They don't pay the price.

21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEK16mw05p6

Just cheap prayers."

ns216.73.216.176da2

Episode Two - God's Hollow

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