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.and God help any of his own people who got between them and their targets.It had been years since Haiti had been depopulated by the undead, she recalled.Gwen had told her about the incident, sparing nothing.The local witch doctors had believed they could use a Necromancer and control his powers.Instead, the undead had refused to behave as predicted, broken loose and started to consume the population.French and British troops had been unable to destroy them before the entire island was rendered utterly barren.These days, no one landed on Haiti, no matter how desperate they were.There were quicker ways to commit suicide.She tried to imagine the horror the Russians would unleash.The undead were deterred by large amounts of water, but Russia had no natural barriers between itself and the rest of Europe or the Middle East.They’d advance out in all directions, smart enough to overcome enemy defences or crush their way forward by sheer weight of numbers.There would be no stopping them until they reached the English Channel, if then.Half the world’s land surface would belong to the undead.“You have to listen to me,” she pleaded.“You can’t control such a large army of undead.You can’t.”“We can,” Gregory corrected.He raised his hand to slap her again, then stopped when Ivan shook his head.“The Father Tsar will get his army, young lady, and you will help us to create it.”“No,” Olivia said.It was pointless defiance and she knew it was pointless defiance, but she couldn’t just submit any longer.“I won’t help.”“You will,” Ivan said.He sounded absolutely confident of success – and he was right, Gwen knew.“You are ours now.”“Even I can’t control so many,” Olivia protested.The whispering at the back of her head seemed to be growing stronger.What were they doing to the undead to make them moan and whisper so loudly? The British Empire had never experimented with the undead.They believed the undead far too dangerous to play with, no matter the promise of science.“You can’t control them.”Gregory leaned forward until his face was almost touching hers.“I have a plan,” he said.Up close, the stench of urine was almost overpowering.“And you will play your part, as you are called upon to do.”He stepped backwards, then turned and marched out of the room.Ivan turned and watched him as he passed through the door, then turned to look at Olivia.His face was deathly pale.“You mustn’t talk to him like that,” he warned, frantically.“Don’t you know what he is?”Olivia shook her head.Gregory was just another monster in human form, as far as she was concerned, like all the others she’d encountered in the Rookery.There were men who thought nothing of rape or murder, women who killed their partners or sold their children for opium or tobacco.there were horrors that none of the children at Cavendish Hall could imagine, only a few short miles from their home.How was Gregory any different to the men who planned to slaughter their rivals in bloody street fighting?“He’s Skoptzi,” Ivan said.“Do you know what that is?”Olivia shook her head.The word meant nothing to her.“They’re a.sect,” Ivan explained.“In the past, they were misunderstood and persecuted by the State, but now they worship Father Tsar.To them, he is a god.He can do no wrong and they will do anything for him.They have nothing in their lives but him.”“Oh,” Olivia said.She’d met a few nuns who had no room for anyone in their lives but Jesus Christ.Some of them had been decent enough, willing to work with the poor; others had been just as sweetly condescending as Gwen’s mother.But most of the priests she’d encountered had been more interested in chasing whores than actually spreading the word of God.“And so?”Ivan stared at her.“Have you not noticed the smell?”Olivia’s lips twitched.“Does he have problems keeping his bladder under control?”Ivan didn’t smile.“He’s a eunuch,” he said.“His genitals were removed when he was initiated into the Skoptzi.He will do anything for the Father Tsar because he has nothing else to live for.You have to understand that, Olivia.”He leaned forward.“You are in great danger,” he added.“If you don’t learn how to accommodate yourself to the Skoptzi, they will eventually kill you.”Olivia watched as he stood up and walked out the door, leaving her alone with her thoughts.Her jaw still hurt – she was uncomfortably aware he might have knocked out a tooth – but a cold resolve had overcome her.She was not going to stay in the complex any longer than she had to
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