Chapter 23

Roland looked down, over the deck onto the yellow grass that led up to the shores of the lake. The warriors of Rolling Fuck had started to assemble themselves there. A large group of men and women had started to unpack dozens of Quadrophracts. The four-legged robots had been built by Boston Dynamics, back before the fall of the old U.S. They’d been meant to ferry men and equipment up steep Afghan mountainsides. Roland stared at them, and-…

Chapter 22: Manny

When Manny explained what the Kingdom had been doing at the old Tesla factory, almost everyone looked horrified. Donald Farris spat at the ground. Most of the others cursed, or at least shook their heads. Nana Yazziee teared up. Jim, though, seemed almost enthusiastic about the revelation…

Chapter 21: Sasha

Sasha drew her gun, looked at it, and then hurridly stashed it inside her blouse again when she realized how dumb that had been. Godly women do not carry guns. A series of four loud booms sounded in the distance. Sasha didn’t know enough about weaponry to guess what those had been, but she knew they had something to do with Roland. People are dying so I can find us a car and get everyone to safety…

Chapter 20: Roland

The only thing that had seemed off to Roland was an odd scent of anxiety in the air. It wafted off the guards and hung in a thick cloud above the entrance room. The odor reminded Roland of countless hours spent sitting with nervous men in the cramped belly of an APC or drop aircraft. He assumed this had something to do with the giant explosion he’d caused earlier, or his escape from the training facility…

Chapter 19: Manny

Manny thought back to that last day before the invasion, to Reggie’s questions about that mysterious checkpoint bombing. This must be how they did it, he realized. The SDF’s checkpoints were perfectly capable of reading the itinerary of any autonomous vehicle that drove towards them. They’d shoot anything that didn’t broadcast its destination. But the Kingdom had found a way to hide a human driver, capable of taking over once the car was past the checkpoint…

Chapter 18: Sasha

Sasha had read about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder back in school. She understood the mechanics of it, that people tended to cope with terrifying situations by suppressing their fear. But this didn’t feel like that. It felt like she was just doing her job. And she enjoyed her job…

Chapter 17: Roland

A man in the crowd turned and stared at Roland. Volume man, volume. Roland guessed he’d heard just the tail-end of his last sentence. The word ‘pussy’ had probably piqued his ears. Before the man could say anything, Roland pointed towards the gallows and let out a loud ‘WHOOP!’ followed by a, “PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD!” The inadvertent eavesdropper started cheering along with him and turned back to the impending execution…

Chapter 16: Manny

There were about four-hundred cadets all dining together in this shift. And, of course, the officer in charge, a tall, gangly red-head with no chin but a strangely beautiful baritone voice, led them in prayer before the meal. Manny repeated the words after him, but he didn’t hear them.
He did have to elbow Roland once, when he saw the big post-human wasn’t chanting along with the other soldiers.
Just then, a pair of big doors to the left of the stage slung open. Ditmar walked out, with a hefty brown canvas bag over his shoulder. He was followed by an armed guard, and then two men in shackles…

Chapter 15: Sasha

The number of things that felt wrong about this place grew every day. The executions had been the first big shock to her system. But she’d accepted Helen’s justification. The Bible was filled with decent men doing awful things in times of war. The gallows weren’t pretty, but they were hardly without Biblical precedent…