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Page 359
irrational reaction. In that sense, I was one up on him. I was still alive, and if I wanted to stay that way, I had to have a plan. If I didn't, it could very well be that I wouldn't be around to make that final entry in the Wages Journal.
"Ready for what?" I managed, a little too surly.
"To witness what no other nonbeliever has been privileged to witnessthe sabbat of the all-powerful, the rebirth of Sate." As Bert Johnson finished his invitation, his eyes drifted shut as though he had been transported into some kind of ethereal dimension.
It was only then that I realized that the man had shed his normal attire for a black, featureless, coarse robe with a simple single strand of gold rope at the collar. In the flickering light of the bank of torches, he looked pale and hollow, uncertain of his own destiny as well.
Angie stepped away from us as though she was in a trance. She moved around to the front and led the way.
"You will follow," Bert instructed. The ungainly pistol that had brought an abrupt and violent end to the life of Jake Madden was still clutched tightly in his hand.
Isolated fragments of a rapidly formulating plan for self-preservation were starting to materialize. I nonchalantly stooped over and picked up the backpack,

 
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