"My dearest Sophie..." "Even as I write these words, feeling my pen press against paper..." "I struggle to make sense of the world where I am now prisoner... a world that looks and feels like our own... but was created not by God, but by man." "A world whose reality was written in bytes and bits..." "Defense Department software running on a computer... to which my consciousness has been chained." "My friend Pinocchio reminds me this is just a game... a digital reality where all that matters is survival." "But there is more here, Sophie." "A woman named Florence saved my life with the power to heal." "Who gave her this power?" "Some programmer?" "For what purpose?" "Or could it be, even in the unreality of this strange world... there exists a higher power... one whose call only Florence can hear?" "Florence!" "Hobbes!" "Take a hand." " Do you see her?" " No." "What the hell got into her?" "I don't know." " Has she ever just run off like this before?" " Something's up." "Florence had run to answer a threat." "Whatever gave her the power to heal gave her other powers as well... the ability to sense dangers Pinocchio and I could not even suspect." "I've become used to running here, Sophie, used to living in fear... never stopping to think there might be a higher purpose behind all this... a purpose no programmer could have imagined." "My friend Florence was on a mission of mercy... relying on her faith in a higher power." "We did not know it yet... but so were we." "Hobbes!" "Stop!" "Don't move!" " What?" " Stand still!" " Minefield." " Are you sure?" "Oh, yeah." "I'm sure." "Retrace your steps, Hobbes." "Pinocchio, if we follow Florence's tracks..." " Son of a..." " What?" "Just get the hell away." "Hey!" "Stand clear!" "Ripped By mstoll" " Don't move." " Oh, you think?" "Give me your knife." "What did you hear?" "A click." " Just one click?" " One click." "It's your lucky day." "It's an antipersonnel mine." "Pressure release trigger." "I'm gonna try to defuse it." "Put the knife between your boot... and the pressure plate." "Go!" "A world exists exactly like ours." "You live in this world... your family and friends... and though you may not know it..." "I was sent to save you." "It's just a game." "God does not reserve his gifts for any one soul." "Florence's miraculous ability to heal was shared by others... women who, unlike her, lived in isolation... women whom Florence, sensing danger, had gone to find." "For here, just as in the real world... the darkness preys on the light... on the innocent, the holy." "So Florence ran... praying she was not too late." "Are you one of them?" "Don't shoot!" "Don't-don't-don't..." "Don't shoot." "I'm just a man, just a little man... trying to provide for his kith and kin." "You like to give me a heart attack." "L" " I thought you were... you know, one of them." "Kind of short on conversation... like them too." "You wouldn't happen to know where... they went." "Sisters." "Sisters?" "Healers." "Bunch of women got the healing touch." "See, my little boy... my little son... he's gut sick." "In a world of pain." "Terrible, terrible pain." "You're the answer to our prayers." "Can you heal our little boy?" "Poor thing..." "he's green with pain." "We want to thank you very kindly." "Survival is the most basic of instincts." "By all rights, Pinocchio and I should have died in that minefield." "But the women Florence had run to save were closer than she knew." "As I lay in that field, feeling life slip away from me..." "I became aware of a presence... a presence to whom I owe my survival... and to whom Pinocchio would come to owe something far greater." "Pinocchio." "Florence?" "Florence." "Who are you?" "Where am I?" "How'd I get here?" "Hobbes." "Where's Hobbes?" "Is he dead?" "What are you doing?" "Oh, God." "Sorry, Sister." "It's my leg, isn't it?" "How bad is it?" "Let me see." "Where's my leg?" "Where's my friggin' leg?" " Hello, Sister." " I told you." "What'd I tell you?" "She's yours, for my cut of the profits, of course." "I said the lot of them." "She could lead you to 'em... to where them other healers went." "What makes you think she knows?" "I..." "I know who can make her talk." "You being funny?" "I know someone." "You'll see." "Better happen fast... before Santiago finds them." "Leave me alone!" "You people shouldn't have saved me." "You should have let me die." "You think you're doing me some big favor." "How long you think... a one-legged guy is gonna survive in this godforsaken hellhole?" "This is all just too friggin' rich." "I said leave me alone!" "Harsh Realm is a faithless world... one where God is not believed to exist." "And yet how else to explain my survival?" "The faith that sustained Florence and the other healers was a threat... a silent challenge to those who preached faithlessness." "So they were to be hunted down, destroyed... by those who built their empire on fear." "Kilo 6, this is Kilo Base." "Report status." "Report status." "Kilo 6 to Kilo Base." "I'm solo on the edge of a field in grid 4-4-8-9." "No sign of target." "Kilo Base to Kilo 6." "Kilo Base to Kilo 6." "Stay put." "Your unit's on the way." "Roger that." "Hold position, wait for my unit." "Kilo 6 out." "Don't move!" "The next shot's a kill shot." "Kilo Base to Kilo 6." "Hold up!" "Lie still." "Move, and we die." "You're lying on a mine." "That was the trigger we just heard." "It's a pressure release." "One wrong move, it's gonna go." " You die too." " I'm not offering it as a choice." "Kilo Base to Kilo 6." "Kilo Base to Kilo 6." "Confirm location." "Come in, Kilo 6." " Over." " What are you doing out here?" " I heard you reference a target." " Kiss my ass." " Kiss it good-bye." " My unit's on its way." " Hell, they're never gonna find you out here." " They'll find me." "They'll find the jeep running or hear the radio." "This whole area's gonna be crawling with Republican Guard... in just a short matter of time." " I got friends who are gonna find me first." " Oh, yeah?" "Where are they?" "Are you comin' or goin', honey?" "Right." "Whatever." "I know I'm fascinating'." "Stare at the freak all you want." "I don't wanna be no cripple." "I don't wanna be no gimp." "You want to help me, grow me a new leg." "You can't do that, can you, healer?" "Can you?" "You're scared, aren't you?" "The radio's dead." "Car is dead." " Screw you." " You're gonna die out here, soldier." "For what?" "Santiago?" "Sure as hell not for you." "Brave man, aren't you?" "Out there killing innocent people in the Realm." "Vermin like you, and this phony Sisterhood." " Who?" " Group of women." "Healers." "Claim there's some higher power." "It's a fact." "I've seen it." "There is no higher power than Santiago." "You're so wrong." "Yeah?" "Prove me wrong." "Let go of my wrist." "Let go, and I'll prove you wrong." "Not a chance." "Got someone wants to see you." "Bring him here to me." "You can get her to talk?" "We need the location of a group of Sisters, healers." "On the lam." "She knows." "She's one of them, but an outcast... come to warn them." "But she knows... where... where they are, where we can find them." "Yes." " That ain't no answer." " Well, let me just talk to him." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "There's been some kind of misunderstanding', see?" "What we..." "Um..." "Um..." "Yeah, he needs payment." " What are you doing?" " Let me go!" "No." "No." "No!" "Let him go!" "Let him go!" " Put me down!" " No." "You can't take him!" "He's not a slave!" "He's just a kid." "You'll have another." "They'll feed him." "Yeah." "At least they'll feed him." "You're shaking." "You're gonna get us both killed." "I'm cold." "I can save your life... prove there's a higher power." "A-All I want... i-is to get off this thing in one piece." "Okay." "All right." "You gotta let go of my wrist." "Lesson number one." "Grace." "Hey." "Hey!" "This is mercy." "Now we're gonna learn about... prayer." "You people don't understand." "I can't live like this." "It's what a soldier fears most... what he can't see." "Apiece of metal buried in the ground." "Boom." "You're not a soldier anymore." "You're half a man." "People look you in the eye..." "Your good eye... and say it don't matter." "Spirit matters." "That's a lie." "You may do okay if you can believe it... but no, not me." "God!" "My third day in Yugoslavia..." "It was military action, not even the war." "They said the mine had been planted by rebels, guys we were fighting for." "Took my leg at the knee... half of my face." "You believe that?" "Not even a good story." "I volunteered for Harsh Realm." "Be a real hero." "Both legs back." "Maybe this is God's way of... punishing me... for thinking I rated a second chance." "You have no idea what I'm talkin' about, do you?" "Don't matter." "It'll all be over soon." "All right." "Nice and slow." "Easy!" "Easy." "All right." "I need a rock." "A good size one." "This is called faith... that you don't run off on me." " Trust is another thing." " You're full of B.S." "The only way we make it out of this field is together." "Now give me the rock." "Now, right here, on top of the knife." "What is this a lesson in?" "Humility." "We're gonna go that way, one step at a time." "Lead the way." "Where's the clip?" "Just one bullet." "That's all I ask." "Damn it!" "Where's my ammo?" ""Manus Domini. '"" "The hand of God?" "Manus Domini." "You believe this crap?" "You think God gave you these powers?" "There's no God here." "It's a freaking computer game." "Some guy made you, writing computer code." "Yours is the hand of man." "Who'd give you the power to heal, but not to speak?" "God?" "This is some man's perverse fantasy... that you went and made a religion out of." "It's all makin' sense to me now." "Why you banished Florence." "You think you're special... but she knew you weren't." "She knew you'd have to take up arms... to fight... to survive... to outlast Santiago." "He'll tolerate no greater power... no religion, no threat to his rule." "My advice to you...run." "Keep running... 'cause Santiago will find you." "And when he does... you're all gonna die." "What are you doing?" "Stay there with your hands on your knees." "I'm taking away any chance you wouldn't return me the favor of saving your life." "I just spent the last four hours on my hands and knees... making sure that you didn't get killed." " There's a big difference where I come from." " Oh, yeah?" "Where I come from, we shoot first and talk about it after." "Glad to see I've had an impact." "My unit comes out here and finds me like this... you're gonna wish you had shot me." "Tell 'em you had orders from a higher power." "You think you proved something?" "All you proved to me is why we're winning out here." "Hey!" "They're lost, goin' the wrong way." "Smile, Sister." "You're goin' home." "I could've killed you three times already, and I'd kill you now... but there's no profit in it." "Santiago pays when you and your Sisters are delivered alive." "You lookin' for 'em too?" "Don't shoot." "Don't shoot." "I'm just a man." "Just a little man tryin' to provide for my kith and kin." " Lookin' for who?" " You about made me have a heart attack." " Who you lookin' for?" " Uh, Sisters." "Healers, they say." "Uh, I got my wife around back." "Gut sick." "Terrible, terrible pain." "Just over here." "M-Maybe you can just have a look-see." "I'm afraid I can't help her." "You know, maybe she just needs to see a kind face." "Gotta find these Sisters." "He knows where they are." "They took my boy." "Ah, see, she's delirious." "They took my son!" "He knows!" "Sold my son into slavery." "Any time." "Finish the job." "Come on!" "Damn it!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "What are you putting me through?" "Why are you doing this to me?" "Yes, sir!" "I'm gonna help you." "Faith cannot be meek." "Faith must be strong." "What Pinocchio now knew was the truth... that had made Florence an outcast from her Sisterhood..." "That the innocent must not only be cherished." "They must be defended." "Take it easy, huh?" "One false move, you'll end up like me." "What?" "Guess you are special." "He made me do it." "See, he pulled a gun on me, and I like to have a heart attack when..." "Quiet." "Florence, stand up." "This is a lesson in humility." "My orders are to search and destroy." "No mercy." "I still expect to be paid by the head." "What about my cut?" "He took my boy, my pride and joy." "You'll get what you got comin' to you." "Just make sure there are no survivors." " Untie us!" " I was just thinkin' that." "Careful." "The ability to heal is a gift... but bestowing that gift takes from the healer, weakens her." "It is self-sacrifice motivated by love... even for one's enemy." "Perhaps Florence and her Sisters are merely virtual characters... but if that's true, then what of their love?" "Is it any less real than our own?" "I'm dying." "You're not gonna die, soldier." "What is it?" "The events of these past days have changed little in Harsh Realm." "The Sisters are still on the run from Santiago, as are we." "And yet, everything here seems different to me now, Sophie." "I now look at this strange world through the eyes of a believer... knowing that where there is darkness, there is light... where there's fear, there's hope." "That our cause is worth fighting for... and worth winning." "I'm taking the boy home." "There are other boys." "You're Tom Hobbes." "How do you know my name?" "The healer believes you're the one." "She's wrong." "I made this!" "Ripped By mstoll"