Chapter Twenty Six
“Do you know what the greatest enemy is?
“Not the badass marauder, or the brilliant tactician, or the ruthless survivalist. “No, no. The greatest enemy is the neighbor that sits by our side.”
–Hades, “Some Philosophical Shit”. 4 Years After.
* * *
It was good to be back.
Leah paced around the loading dock of the Lodge as she waited for the rest of the Council to arrive, with her choice Hunters with her as added muscle: Dwayne, Flamingo, and Kinkaid. As much as it injured her pride to have arranged this meeting in secret, too much had been happening in her absence to risk tipping Abraham off, and now that Evelyn was here, she could finally get the ball rolling.
It had taken weeks to make the trip back home. Even after winning the battle at El Dorado, she’d still lost more than half her convoy, along with all the heavy firepower that came with it. As soon as the odds tilted against them and the parish fell, the surviving Beholders took what they could and drove off, presumably back North to report what had happened. That left her with three steel-plated humvees. Not nearly enough to support the force that had swelled into a hundred Spanish conscripts. The majority were forced to move on foot, just shy of two thousand miles across the Mexican wilderness, as they came back to Los Angeles. While the bulk was still over a day away, Leah had slipped back into the city with an advance party to lay the groundwork, and it was then that she learned how entrenched the Beholders had become.
At least the Council is still safe. They wasted no time in filing in. First Fran, then Sinclair, then Stein, and finally Charon. Not even he decided to show up late for a change. They all blinked in shock when they saw Evelyn unmasked, but it didn’t matter. Now that Abraham knew about her, there was no point in holding back.
“Looks like everyone’s here,” Leah said. “Let’s get this shit going.”
The conversation rolled as everyone brought each other up to speed. Leah explained what had happened at El Dorado to Santiago and the others, and how quickly the baptisms proliferated the moment the Beholders were given the chance. This was consistent with what the other Councilors reported. Everyone had been experiencing defections across the board as dozens of new prospects flooded into the Beholder camp by the day. Since Abraham kept his people so insulated, no one could figure out why the deserters became permanent fixtures there. Only Evelyn could come and go as she pleased, and Abraham seemed to have kept much from her. By Leah’s count, the Beholders had already swelled their numbers by half, with no limit to how many more would willingly join their ranks.
Just as Leah had feared, what happened in El Dorado was being repeated here.
“I still don’t understand the fuss,” Fran said after a while. “I read their version of the Bible myself, and it is no more persuasive than the Torah or Quran. All they did was pretend that undead forces transcended the Hollowing.”
“It’s not the Word itself, but the baptisms,” Leah explained. “They get your reservoir drained, then exploit that vulnerability to convince you that nothing else matters.”
“We should still be able to reason with them.”
“It isn’t that simple.” She stroked her scarf and thought of how best to articulate the sense that had been plaguing her. “Let me ask you this: what is the foundation of your own Rez, Fran?”
“My love of literature, obviously.”
“Which books are your favorite, in particular?”
She raised an eyebrow. “They say that Shakespeare is the greatest writer of all time, but I have always found Tolstoy’s prose superior. I keep untranslated copies under my desk, just as he intended.” She chuckled. “I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“Imagine, if you will, that instead of hearing Tolstoy’s words in your head, there was someone else. The Lord, calling to you to follow His Holy Word. That is how this works. They don’t just convince you that their book is the truth. They swap out the bedrock of your Rez and replace it with something of their own design. Once you’re built back up, the lens you see the world has been changed completely.” She stared her down. “Your very love of literature would be used against you. Instead of wanting to read Tolstoy, you’d flip through the Word, over and over again.”
Fran averted her gaze with a grumble.
“How is that even possible?” Charon asked.
Stein stepped in. “Rehabilitation for the rehollowed is a delicate process. When the mind gets reduced to that primitive state, it is at its most susceptible to suggestion. That is why Mother always had us follow stringent protocols when handling patients. It’s important that they create their own conclusions. Anything less leads to an unstable reservoir.”
“These people don’t hollow though,” Sinclair pointed out, his blonde hair freshly oiled. “They’ve been getting by off milk and prayer alone. It’s been quite interesting to see.”
“I don’t have all the answers, Sinclair, I’ll give you that. Hollowing itself is one of those processes that we’ve never fully understood. Could be that unpasteurized milk stimulates brain activity better than we’ve realized, or it could be that a collective belief creates a social benefit that helps to mitigate neural decay.”
“Or maybe they’ve just figured out something we haven’t,” he mused, twiddling his finger against his smooth lips. “Could be that their ‘Lord’ is our key to future prosperity, after all.”
Leah slammed her fists on the table. “Don’t get cute, Sinclair. None of this is a joke.”
He tensed up. “Apologies, my Lady. Please do continue, doctor.”
Stein cleared his throat. “While I can’t explain why the Beholders are so resilient to neurological decay, what’s been described as their process of indoctrination makes sense. An aggressive strategy of depriving the brain of oxygen accelerates hollowing. This shuts down neural pathways, but the cells themselves don’t die off for some time after. Just as we’ve seen patients lose access to their long-term memories only to regain them when treatment is provided, it is more than possible to force someone into this state and then bring them back without compromising their overall knowledge or experience.” He mulled the thought further. “Yes, the more I consider it, the more I see this strategy paying off. You’re essentially driving the process of reservoir creation against already healthy-minded subjects. There’s no telling just how damaging that could be to one’s psyche.”
“I’ve seen it myself,” Evelyn said, her eyes downcast. “Once the Inquisitors get a hold of someone, there’s no coming back. I truly thought that they were believers of their own free will.”
“It took me weeks to overcome the shit they forced into me,” Leah followed, “and I’m still not back a hundred percent. I was one of the lucky ones too. I only got a single session before Flamingo saved me. By the time I reached Santiago, he was so far gone that he purged himself rather than turn on them. It doesn’t matter how strong your reservoir is. Every single one of us is vulnerable to this form of indoctrination.”
She studied each Councilor in the eye, probing for the slightest hint of Beholder devotion. If there ever was a time for one of them to expose themselves, it would be now.
Leah breathed deep. “Let me be clear: nothing is more dangerous to our world than what Abraham has created. If we don’t put a stop to him now, everything we’ve built will be lost.”
The Council fell silent as the realization set in. This was no longer a game of finding Liam and his kid. Their enemy had to be wiped from the earth before they could destroy their society.
“You’ve got my attention,” Fran said. “What’s the plan?”
Leah rolled out a map of their camp on the table, courtesy of Evelyn’s intel. “We’re doing what I should’ve done from the start. We get them surrounded so there’s nowhere to go, then send a team of our best Hunters inside to eliminate their leaders. Once Abraham, the Friars, and their best Inquisitors are taken out, the rest won’t be able to mount a defense. That’s when our military rolls through, purging anyone who refuses to surrender. The rest of you will maintain order back home. I won’t have a riot spring up once the Beholders inside hear about what happened.”
Charon stroked his chin. “Why not just hit them from a distance? Even if they’ve got a couple humvees floating around, we’ve got more than enough artillery at our disposal to destroy their entire camp with mortars alone.”
She shook her head. “Most of these people are victims who can still be helped. This strategy minimizes losses. By assassinating their core leadership, they’ll be too disoriented to strike back.”
“Got another problem too, though. The outposts have been reporting an increase in hollow herds lately, with many migrating our way. We’re talking hundreds of thousands bearing down on this valley in the coming weeks. Maybe faster if so much fighting breaks out.”
“All the more reason to get this wrapped up quickly.”
“Seems pretty risky for whoever goes inside,” Dwayne pointed out.
“Yes,” Leah nodded. “That is why I will be leading the assault myself.”
The Councilors looked at each other, but none voiced their concerns out loud. Sure, having someone as high profile as Leah rush into the grinder put their own side at risk, but no one was more experienced than her. More than that, she had to be the person to kill Abraham herself. After what his people had done to her, there could be no other way for this to end.
She let the silence sit before continuing. “Abraham believes that if I were to attack him, the Lord would bury me under the earth. That’s his greatest weakness. His arrogance in assuming that he’ll be protected by divinity. When push comes to shove, he’s just a blind zealot, and we can use that against him. He can’t even fathom a strike this bold coming for him.
“As seen from the map though, their camp is most exposed in the south where they’ve concentrated their security. Charon will keep our heaviest armament hidden in the alleys nearby. Dwayne will take my personal guard and cover the western front, while Flamingo will take the east once the rest of the El Dorado force arrives. We won’t have to worry about the north. Their camp abuts a cliff that is too steep for them to climb. That’ll also be our insertion point.”
“Señora, could I not join you with assault?” Flamingo asked. “You know how much they take from my people.”
“I’d love to have you with me, but I need our flanks under lock and key. You’re one of the only bilingual Hunters left, and I trust no one else to command the people from El Dorado once they enter the fray.”
He bowed his head in silence.
Kinkaid chuckled. “Was wondering why you brought me here, but I see that this is where I’ll be stepping in.”
“That’s right, Kinkaid,” Leah said. “You’re coming with me. Being quick and deadly is the Last Scotsmen’s specialty, last I checked.”
“Aye, lassie. You want this done, you’ll have no one better than my boys.”
He wasn’t lying. Standing over six feet tall with a beard to match, Kinkaid was hardly the stealthiest type, especially with the bright red kilts and sashes that him and his crew wore. But they were also experts of the craft. The Last Scotsmen were a crew of six grizzled Hunters that could each lead sorties of their own, but they’d all been fighting under Kinkaid instead. Having that level of loyalty and experience overrode every other detriment, especially in missions this delicate.
“Got any questions?” Leah asked.
“Where do you think they’ll be holed up?”
“As Evelyn tells it, if our timing is right, they’ll be preparing for Mass in this building here.” She tapped the map. “The ‘tabernacle’.”
Kinkaid squinted at Evelyn. “Why you trusting her anyway, Leah? Last I checked, the living were just as much our enemies.”
“It’s my child they’re looking for,” she snapped.
Leah sighed. “Relax, Kinkaid. She’s the one who drew this map to scale. We wouldn’t have any intel if Abraham hadn’t taken enough of an interest to let her come and go.” Leah had also burned a UAV to confirm the layout, but Evelyn didn’t need to know that.
“Anyone else still feeling lost?” Leah asked.
This time, no one responded.
“Good. The operation begins before dawn tomorrow.”
With their business concluded, the rest of her party filed out to make their own preparations. Only Evelyn remained, with nowhere else to go.
She drew close once alone. “I’m coming with you.”
Leah could’ve laughed. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m the only one who’s been inside that camp. You need me.”
“No, I don’t.”
In truth, Leah wasn’t sure where she stood with Evelyn. The two only knew each other through Liam, and he was nowhere to be seen. Without him, did she really give a shit about her?
“Seems like Abraham’s been giving you a pretty sweet deal,” Leah deflected. “Might be that you won’t know who to pull the trigger on.”
Her cheeks reddened. That struck a nerve. “Screw you! We’re only here because of Abraham.”
“Exactly. Liam is in fuck-off-nowhere right now while you’re being sweet with the enemy in his camp. Yeah, you’ve done a good job of drawing a map and identifying the patrols, but I sure as shit won’t bring you with me. You’re human, weak, and too emotional to keep up.” She wrinkled her nose. “You’re also sick too, aren’t you? I can smell it.”
It was faint beneath her disguise. Somewhere between fresh and fatigued, with more sweat than usual. Leah couldn’t quite place this smell, but she’d definitely tasted this sickness before. Back when there were more living humans floating around.
“I’m fine.” But the pale flush on her otherwise dark face and dribbling beads of flesh told otherwise.
“Stop being ridiculous, Evelyn. Even if I thought you could hold your own in a gunfight against rezzers, I’m not about to tell Liam I let his wife get killed because she went in over her head. You don’t have the stones for this game.”
She clenched her fists. “I’ve stayed alive in this hell for fifteen years…”
“Only thanks to Mother,” Leah pointed out. “Without her, you’re nothing but dead weight.” She turned around and began to march away. “Tell you what though, Evelyn. You’re welcome to watch from the top of the Styx while I clean up your mess. You can thank me when I return.”
She stood and stewed without another word, too crippled by Leah’s words to do anything else.
Whatever. Leah didn’t need her. She didn’t need anyone.
* * *
The operation began without a hitch. All the major players coordinated under an encrypted radio channel and only mobilized their troops at the last moment. Leah wasn’t about to give the Beholders a chance to have one of their loyalists provide them with advanced warning. By the time the three separate forces had fallen into position, Leah and the Last Scotsmen had already rappelled into the valley. It was still nice and dark, and torches burned throughout the camp, throwing off the night vision of any who might otherwise be keeping watch.
Leah was decked out to the max too. With all the amenities back at her disposal, she’d brought everything for the occasion, from her token M1911 with the oversized suppressor she’d recovered from El Dorado to her favorite black steel combat knife to the M16 she preferred for these heavier engagements. Even with the information they’d gained, there was no telling how severe the resistance could be, especially when the Beholder ranks were still swelling by the day.
Hmm… Quieter than I was expecting. Only a single Inquisitor patrolled around their insertion point, with nobody else nearby.
“What do you think?” Leah whispered.
Kinkaid stroked his beard. “Think we’ve got a perfect chance to have one less of ‘em to deal with.” He turned around. “Sterling, you’re up.”
He nodded and drew a pair of knives. A child-sized rezzer with a painted face, Sterling was one of those Hunters who could move with the speed of a cheetah but the silence of a mouse. He was out of cover and onto the shoulders of his enemy before anyone could blink, his blades planted into the ears of his target. Kinkaid dragged the dead Inquisitor out of view, and the rest of the Scotsmen marched through the opening.
A white-cloaked congregant wandered their way, but Maisie popped a round from her suppressed Nagant in an instant, and Skye had the body hidden seconds later. The two gave the thumbs up, and the rest pressed their advance.
They continued through the camp, purging a Beholder every so often, though that was a rarity. Most of the tents were abandoned, their owners nowhere to be seen. Where the hell is everyone?
“Someone’s off,” Whiskey said, giving his giant nose a rub. “Ain’t there ‘upposed to be thousands ‘ere?”
“Aye,” Kinkaid agreed. “Don’t know where they’ve gone.”
Leah peered around the camp, along with the skeleton crew that lingered in the open. “Might be that Mass came early today.”
“What’s that mean?” Sterling asked.
Kinkaid scoffed. “Means we’re gonna have a bunch of angry Beholders the moment we purge their bosses, yeah?”
“Yep,” Leah said. “We’ll have to be quick and dirty if everyone is watching, then bug the fuck out like nobody’s business.”
“Got another one,” Maisie whispered.
But Lock stepped out of his hiding spot and wrapped his arms around the Beholder’s throat before anyone else made a move. A soft pop was all that heralded the Beholder’s death as Lock snapped his neck. Another second, both were nowhere to be seen.
“We can’t drag this out anymore,” Leah said. “Especially if they’re having a service. If a single one of his sentries raises the alarm, we’ll have to fight our way through Abraham’s entire congregation to bring him down.”
Kinkaid grinned. “You heard our fearless leader, boys. Time to go double time!”
With renewed urgency, they rushed for the tabernacle, quietly eliminating everything else in their path. It wasn’t long before they reached the edge, with the curtains drawn down, though with the torches burning inside, they could make out a shifting crowd of silhouettes on the backdrop.
Still quiet. Were they doing a silent prayer or some shit?
Leah raced for the back, with Kinkaid and the Scotsmen behind. They reached their final spot, right next to where Abraham and the others would be standing. Skye drew his kukri and pressed it against the fabric of the tabernacle, then raised three fingers for a count. The rest of them braced for impact.
Three… Two… One… Skye thrust his kukri, ripping the fabric apart. Leah lunged through the newly formed hole, M16 drawn.
…Only to see the space empty. Leah pivoted her gun this way and that, but no one else was there. The “crowd” they’d seen outside had just been sacks of animal feed piled in the middle of the tent. Kinkaid slashed through the back areas, only to discover the “Holiest Place” abandoned too.
“Bloody hell!” Whiskey hissed. “There’s no one in ‘ere!”
“No one out there either,” Kinkaid echoed, his normally jovial tone now somber. “Which begs the question… If they aren’t in here and they aren’t out there, then where the hell did thousands of rezzers run off to?”
Where, indeed. Leah scanned the empty tent, searching desperately for answers, yet seeing nothing in the end. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Leah was going to stop Abraham here. This was it. It had to be!
The sky suddenly erupted with thunder, and the ground shook under their feet.
Maisie gasped. “What the fuck is that!?”
Leah sprinted through the exit. Her chest tightened as she stared powerlessly into the insurmountable force bearing down on them.
The cliff north of camp had fallen apart, now transformed into a colossal landslide. Everywhere she looked, there was nothing but shifting earth, as if an entire mountain had come to life to take her out!
This couldn’t be happening… There was no Lord, and nothing protected this place. It was all just Abraham’s mind games… Right!?
As Leah watched the wall close in, the memory of the warning she’d been given came back. If you tried to strike me down, the Lord would open the very earth whereyou stand and bury you beneath, he’d said. That is His power.
Then she was swallowed whole.
