[From "The Prayer Rope"]

What a time to have a child, he thought. All manner of pure evil was being normalized. Just the other day, he was told of the newest scientific trend, the “flay dinner party,” where friends would slice tiny pieces of skin from each other using a medical tool offering painless excision, mix it with a spicy tomato relish[…]Simon’s priest told him that society was beyond the wickedness of the Bible, and didn’t understand why Jesus had not yet returned
[…]
The doctors wouldn’t let Simon be with his wife in the delivery room. It took a whole day for them to even let him hold the baby. Who knows what they injected him with
[…]
The old man shook his head and squeezed his lips white. “How many violations can I count? You don’t have on your face lock. You left your domestic passport at home. And is that Christian contraband I see?”
[…]
“But you died last year. It was in the news. President Shaniqua spoke at your funeral”
[…]
Simon turned back around. Ten or twelve soldiers lined up behind the old man, decked out in all black, faces covered in tinted masks. Simon had thought that “hologram enforcement” was just a conspiracy theory
[…]
Simon was conversing with the avatar of Nathan Wolfe, a tech billionaire who died the previous year after his sixth or so heart attack
[…]
“You’re playing a very dangerous game by breaking the law to come here, but I will give you a final chance. The punishment for what you have done is re-education by nano-vaccination”
[…]
The force of the twelve bullets that entered Simon’s body pushed him backwards. He felt an intense heat throughout his torso but perceived no pain and was still able to stand