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A listener note, this episode contains references to adult content and language, and contains material that some might find offensive.

It's just before dawn on March 25th 1993. Outside Waco, Texas, the early morning sky is still full of stars. A gentle wind drives through the prairie grasses, and at Mount Carmel Center, everything and everyone is still quiet.

It's suddenly a screeching noise fills the morning air. It's the high-pitched wine of a dentist drill, and it's coming from loudspeakers which play the terrible sounds at ear-piercing levels.

Inside the men's dormant Mount Carmel, Steve Schneider grimaces from his bottom bunk. He hears groans and muttering all around him. People are stirring in the darkness, miserable.

It's become impossible for anyone to sleep now that the FBI is blasting torch-resounds through giant speakers all night.

And that's not the only problem inside Mount Carmel. The fresh food is now gone, and so members of the community are living off their stockpiles of rations. It's bland, barely edible, and even their drinking water is running low.

Their water well runs on electricity, and the FBI shut the power off long ago. Schneider forces himself out of bed, slips on his jeans. He lights a kerosene lantern and steps into the hallway.

The orange glow flickers against the wall, which is now lined with bales of straw. This is how they'll protect themselves against bullets if the FBI launches an all-out attack.

As Schneider heads down the hallway, he hears a rumble at the back of the building. He pauses, his heart racing. That's the sound of government tanks advancing.

Schneider races up the stairs to get a look from the second story window. In the hallway, he sees David Kuresh, who's still seated on the floor. Kuresh grits his teeth and strains to sit up. Two men lock eyes briefly.

Schneider can see that just like him, Kuresh is livid. The two have an anger at the government that feels electric.

Schneider reaches the window and peers out. He can see the army tank silhouetted by the FBI's spotlights. They're heading straight toward the rear wall of Mount Carmel.

This is it, think Schneider. His pulse is quickening. The final battle.

Schneider is about to sound the alarm when the tank suddenly grind to a stop. He hears a metallic crunch. The tanks begin moving a pile debris with their bulldozer blades.

And now he can see what's buried under the rubble. It's metal and glass. What used to be a red Chevy Ranchero, which the tanks crushed last week.

Schneider exhales audibly, his shoulders slumping in relief. No, not an attack he yells to Kuresh. No Schneider thinks it's just the FBI continuing to terrify the people inside Mount Carmel.

Schneider leaves the window and sits down across from Kuresh. He feels all the adrenaline drain out of him. He's left with nothing but deep exhaustion.

David, I can't take any more of this. How do we make this end? Kuresh clenches his jaw and scowls. This ends when God says it ends. We'll wait until he speaks to me.

David, wasting away here is no victory. We're going to run out of food and water. We need to do something and we need to do it now.

Kuresh looks into Schneider's eyes and right then Schneider recognizes the flash of insight that sometimes comes to the prophet. But we'll have our victory, Steve. God will show me the path to deliverance during Passover. I know he will.

Schneider shakes his head. The government agents are already impatient. They've been pressing him harder and harder to send more people out.

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