The desire for heaven, she said,"is nothing but a Church-approved kind of concupiscence. Religion 'cures'self-centeredness by approving of another ver...ion of self-centeredness,condemning the Earth-centered versions that, at one time, needed to becriticized, but that now, as neo-Paganism, is a robust critique therampant afterlife-obsessed (and this Earth-ignoring) religiosity that hassevered humanity's collective imagination from our planet."I wasn't in the mood. Far from. In my illness it was. "Nickie stood up and waited before pulling her mini-skirt down, wanting Mike to get a good look at her legs. She took Jim's hand and led him to the other room, turning her head slightly to catch Mike's eyes before they disappeared up the stairs.The floor creaked as they walked down the dark hallway, past numerous people paired off in intimate conversations. Nickie noticed a door that was slightly open and peered into the dimly lit room. Finding no one, she led Jim inside and firmly closed the. She could only hear her, slipping into panic… hysteria… insanity…It was all just a dream. If she'd just keep telling herself that, she'd calm down. She was Sam Puckett, not some scared little k*d. The day she'd let a dream get to her would be the day she'd become a vegetarian. It was just a dream.It took a while for her to realise what had woken her up: the vibrations of her phone, resting on a nightstand. She reached out and grabbed it, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the sender. A. ”I sighed. “Well, yeah, I didn’t say we weren’t going in there, just ... let’s be careful, alright? Voss, you and Katriana are doing the heavy lifting, are you going to be okay?”The other fighter chuckled. “Yeah, they ought to look out. I didn’t have my spear then.”I guess he must have grabbed it while Calliope and him were waiting.We cautiously advanced down the street. Partway down, the screaming started up again, panicky and pained. Katriana drew her sword, but, to their credit, nobody ran.