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Would that be enough? He doubted it In fact, he knew for sure that it wouldn’t stop ed so the the situation, just as Benny was trying to do He knew that he was losing the battle of wits here as well

"Benny?" whispered Chong

"I’un, but she was also holding Eve In order to draw her gun she would have to set Eve down or hand her to someone else That would certainly wake Eve up, and probably scare her into another fit of loud hysterics Benny could sympathize Loud hysterics seemed like the best way to react to thisNo voice in his head, no answer

Benny tried to re One of the Warrior Smart rules was to always be aware of your resources And always know your routes into and out of any situation

Behind them was the ravine filled with zoion of pale flesh-eaters There were dense forests to hide in, but they were on the other side of the pack of lions

Crap, Benny thought C’ood tiet out of this? Hoe not die?

But all he heard inside his head were the echoes of his own pounding heart

20

LILAH INCHED FORWARD SO SHE COULD HEAR BETTER

"Sanctuary is a myth," declared one of the reapers

"No, it’s not," said another reaper "I heard that the monks there are really scientists"

"I heard that too," said another "They used to work for the govern"

"No," a female reaper chi to cure the disease so people can repopulate the world"

"Sinners!" growled a few

"Before I joined the Night Church," said a man with a Navajo face, "I heard that there are two Sanctuaries It’s supposed to be split down the middle, with the monks on one side and the scientists on the other side Thecare of people--like hospice workers used to--and the scientists are trying to cure the plague The uided The scientists are the ones we shouldn’t trust"

"That’s right," said another of the reapers "I heard that they had cures for stuff like cancer and all those other diseases, but they kept it all secret because they had deals with phar scareement with that Even Lilah had heard soht stuff she’d read in old books and newspapers she had salvaged, but in Mountainside everyone had one kind of conspiracy theory or another Wriggly Sputters, the town’s eccentricencyclopedia of such stories, and he frequently said that there was a bunker or lab soovernovernment maintained their power over the other survivors because they had control over cures to every known disease No one really believed it, but few of the townsfolk stepped up to say that this was total nonsense Lilah had no opinion on the subject--she cared very little for ru

One reaper, a big hed at the others "Oh, pleaseyou really think that the governue to themselves after all that’s happened? Why would they let so many people die?"

"Because it’s easier to rule a small population than try and control seven billion people," insisted Brother Simon "C’htest and hid the caves and tunnels, and then they released the Gray Plague You watch, one of these days they’re going to come out and announce a ‘cure,’ and then everyone who’s left will flock to them and hail them as the saviors of mankind You watch"

"God won’t allow that to happen," said Brother Eric

That quieted the reapers for a ument for any of them to knock down

Brother Si e’re doing Rather die in glory and join the darkness than live as slaves"

The rebuttal stalled Brother Eric for a ave him a bland smile

To Simon, Brother Eric said, "Don’t believe the ees and heretics to give them false hope and to confuse us"

Before Brother Simon could reply, Mother Rose said, "Sanctuary is not a myth"

They all looked at her in surprise

"It is a very real place," she continued, "and it is the , and dangerous to our own holy purpose"

Eric and Simon and the others shuffled in uncoreat sword, if you will A sword by itself is not evil A sword can be used to slay an ene friend into the darkness A sword can cut ropes that bind the helpless A raised sword can be a threat or it can be a symbol of leadership" She paused "Consider our oith the heretics Many of theht us with axes and knives and swords, and we know that in their hands these are tools of evil And yet, behold the holy weapons you carry They are sanctified and made pure by the purpose to which they are put A weapon,on the intention of whoever holds it"

Lilah surprised herself by agreeing--at least in part--hat this wo this with one another

Then Mother Rose raised her hand, and every tongue fell silent "In the actions of heretics the schemes of evil are revealed We knoe have been told--by the prophet Saint John that in these End Tiht We know this You, my warrior reapers, have endured fire and blood to send heretics into the darkness You know, as I know, as Saint John knows, that at the end of our struggles the darkness waits for us Once we have accomplished our holy purpose on earth, the darkness will e peace There will be no er, no more sickness, no more fear The darkness is eternal"

"Praise be to the darkness," they intoned

"But we are all sinners Everyone who re upon it is a sinner God commanded that all human life should end He made the dead rise and he opened the pathway to darkness for all who accept this truth"

They stared at her, totally rapt

"Only two kinds of people are left here in this hell of flesh and pain The heretics who refuse to accept the truth and the will of our god," said Mother Rose, her voice strident and powerful, "and us--the sanctified soldiers of God We are the reapers sent a the ard fields to cut down the infection that is life"

"Praise be to the darkness!" they cried<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>