“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.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
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.”