"Pastor Rick!" someone cried out.
Rick had gone still when Ishmael fell.
For a moment he simply stared at the body on the pavement, at the blood spreading under him, at the bullet wounds that had finally brought him down. Shock flickered across his face before it hardened into something else.
Rage.
"They killed him!" Rick roared, his voice breaking through the square. "You saw that! They shot him down like an animal!"
Guards tightened their grip on his shoulders, but he twisted against them.
"This is what they do!" he shouted at the crowd. "This is how they silence truth! You think this is protection? You think this is safety?"
The civilians shifted uneasily.
"They fear what they don't control!" Rick continued, his voice growing louder, sharper. "They fear what they can't explain, so they bury it!"
Several members of the kneeling line lifted their heads, eyes burning again.
