Act I

Chapter One - Family

"Those who open their eyes will see, those who listen will hear, those whose hearts are pure will join us."

The grey tent had the drips and drabs of humanity scattered within it. A drunk farmer who'd just lost his wife to cancer; a young woman who'd had her last hit of crack a couple hours before - to calm her nerves; a man who'd just stole - what he said - would be his last car, a man who's childhood had lead him through a walk of life that only ever could have led him here, an old woman, who only came to see what all the fuss was about, and lastly, amongst more rejects and failures, a British ER Doctor who had moved half way across the world to find the salvation a patient had told him about.

Doctor Frank Willis had never been a man to walk blindly in to something, but that day, when he walked through the flaps of a tent in the middle of a field, he had no idea what he was doing. All the research, all the study, it dawned on him that it didn't matter anymore. He'd had hope when he'd come to Hope county, and still, he had hope then, as he watched a man he didn't know, introduce the congregation to the man he'd came here to see.

The Father.

But doubt, even after the inspirational sermon, one that assured the Doctor even more that he was making the right decision, lingered in the back of his mind.

Frank Willis honestly thought himself a good man who, had done debatable, but the necessary thing. He was the one who had to keep his family on the straight and narrow. He worked every hour he could to support them, and in return, all he had got was a wife that lusted over other men, a son whose greed had almost killed him, and a daughter... Well, his daughter was so full of hatred, and anger, he worried that nothing would ever quell the beast inside of her.

He'd sacrificed a lot to come here, to help his family, to save them, and, in return, he expected them to help themselves, to not bring more shame on him or his name. This place would wash away all of their sins and, all the sins he'd had to indulge in to control theirs…

He'd had to... There'd been no other way.

Back at the small house that the Doctor had purchased for a pittance just weeks before, his family were moving their meagre lot of possessions in.

His wife, Jackie, was stood in the small kitchen, glaring at the awful décor between the units and the cupboards, hoping they could find some sort of DIY store near to the nowhere they now lived. She'd never lived small, and she didn't want to, not really, but Frank had been certain of this, of this new way of life that they could have. And, who was she to say no to him. She had so much to make up for.

Perhaps here, in this little house, surrounded by people who were hoping for the same thing as her, she could. Or perhaps, Frank would realise he was in over his head and just change his mind.

Her eldest son, Tom, walked in carrying one of only three boxes from the back of their truck, he'd been muttering to himself all day.

"How the fuck is this gonna work". Tom hadn't seen his father since they'd landed; he'd gone to find the illusive leader of Eden's Gate as soon as they'd touched down on to American soil, and now, he knew why; because this shit hole of a house would need a lot of explaining. If outside hadn't been a hint at what was to come on the inside, with broken furniture strewn around the yard, soaked boxes of belongings of someone that obviously hadn't been able to leave quick enough, well, they may as well just turn around and go home now.

Inside, although, not as ravaged, there were boxes thrown about the place, a chair in the kitchen, a sofa dumped in the middle of the room, shirts still hung in the cupboards. In its entirety, the house, which was more like a bungalow with some roof space had five rooms. One of which seemed to be boarded up for reasons unknown, because you could still access it through a window outside.

The other four consisted of a small room to the back, where the door had been taken off its hinges; the next, a room that served as some sort of open plan living room and kitchen; a small bathroom, which they were relieved to find at least had hot running water, and then, a hatch in the ceiling which may or may not have led to an attic.

Jackie flipped over one of the tinned foods left on the counter; they were all in date, the people here before had left in a hurry.

Laurie, her daughter was staring up at the square hole in the ceiling,

"How are we supposed to get up there" she asked, although, she wasn't too sure she really wanted too. It looked a prime spot for squatters and the likes. Jackie sighed, hints of sarcasm in her voice as she said,

"I'm sure you'll figure it out". Laurie shook her head and sighed heavily as she looked over. The woman had been in one of those 'I'm a child, I don't care' moods all fucking day, and Laurie felt the need to slap her across the face and tell her to pull her shit together, but, that would take effort, and Laurie couldn't be bothered,

"She's right, you know" Tom said as he put the box on the floor, if his sister was good at anything, it was figuring out a way to get in to stuff - and, in her years, she'd been awfully good and not used that technique to steal him shit like he often asked her too. After a moment, Laurie turned to the sofa in the middle of the room. Tom took her lead and helped her push it over so it was sat beneath the hatch, and then, with a bit of a jump, she grabbed on to the edge and pulled herself up. "I hope you don't expect us to do that all the time" Tom said.

It wasn't as if he was missing anything though, there wasn't much to see. A couple mattresses where she was sure the squatters slept, boxes left behind by whoever used to live there before, and more broken furniture.

"It ain't half bad" Tom said from behind her, his chin resting on the floor as his body dangled from the hole. His hands holding on to the edge so he didn't fall, "How long do you think she'll last" Tom asked, his voice quiet so their mother couldn't hear,

"Week at most" Laurie shrugged a shoulder as she looked through a window,

"Might be pushing it" Tom sucked the air through his teeth and pulled himself up, scrambling his legs over before rolling over and away from the hole, "If dad has his way" Laurie turned to her brother,

"We could always go home" Laurie suggested, that had been a choice at one point,

"I don't know, you know. Don't you like the thought of something new? Something completely different?", as much as he hated the house, this whole country style living was just what he felt like he needed.

"Not when I'm teetering on the edge of thirty, no" Laurie said,

"We're twenty-seven Laurie, don't you be adding anymore years on me, right" Tom said, "We have time",

"For what? Become farm hands in the middle of nowhere",

"Hey, come on. We are leaving the sins of our past behind us" he fluttered his fingers as he walked around, imitating his fathers preachy voice,

"Some sins follow you wherever you go" Laurie said, Tom turned to her and fluttered his hands again and she snorted, looking away with a smile as she reached down to look at a magazine near one of the mattresses,

"Give it a chance" Tom said. Laurie sighed as she flicked through the pages of fishers monthly before glancing over to him. "You might even like it" Tom suggested. Despite the mess it was in, it was already starting to grow on him. It would be cramped for the time being, but he could see it ending up a nice home for them. Tom was like that, quick to judge, and then quick to reason with. As long as he wasn't high.

"I will. It's not like I have anything to go home to with you lot here now, do I",

"Could always go back to Mark" Tom suggested as he watched her sit on the edge of the hatch, about to jump back down, "He was a nice bloke", probably one of the nicer ones his sister had found amongst the sea of men,

"Yeah. But, he didn't want to come, did he" Laurie said,

"Why was that" Tom said as she disappeared down, quickly following,

"Thinks dad's crazy, probably thinks I'm crazy too" Laurie said as Tom jumped on to the sofa, both of them hearing one of the springs inside snap as he landed,

"Does sound a bit farfetched" Tom said, as did her answer. Tom proceeded to walk in to the back room, looking at the open doorframe with his head tilted, trying to figure out if what he could see sticking out the shrubbery in the garden was the back door, "Running half way across the world to join some 'doomsday' cult in order to save our souls from the 'collapse'",

"And march through the gates of a new Eden" Laurie finished for him,

"Exactly. Which is why, you and Ads. You're gonna go check out that house we saw on the way here",

"With that big-ass obnoxious YES sign outside of it" Laurie asked, wondering why something like that was so important,

"Yeah, that one" Tom said, "I wanna know what jack-ass lives there",

"Envies a sin, yah-kno", she leaned back on the wall, her head falling backward as she yawned, it was too late for shit like this.

"Can you blame me. A house like that compared to a house like this" he opened his arms and Laurie glanced up, also spotting what she was sure was the door to the back room sat in the bushes, "Besides, gotta make a good first impression on the neighbours, and, from the looks of it, some jack-ass guy who has far too much money than sense lives there",

"Why would you say that" Laurie said,

"Cause I'm a guy. If I was a guy. I'd have a house like that, and I'd have a big obnoxious sign like that just cause I could". Laurie shook her head and then looked over to the thirteen-year-old Ads as he came in, holding his rucksack in front of him and peering around the house, a 'what-the-fuck' look plastered on his face as he sighed, in the 'I-give-up-life' sort of way and trudged over to them, dragging his feet,

"Why here" he whined,

"I wish I knew" Laurie said,

"Do I get my own room at least" he pouted as he looked around, he didn't want to share with Tom. The guy smoked too much weed and he'd never liked the smell.

"We'll worry about that later. You guys are gonna go adventuring" Tom said. For just a second, Ad's face lit up at the thought, but then he composed himself. He was thirteen now, adventures were for kids; but then again, they were in a brand new place and, if Tom weren't going, he'd have to be the man and protect Laurie. "Take yo asses to that house and make sure she sweet talks who ever comes to that door and get's us in there, right kid" Tom winked at him and the boy snorted and turned around,

"He has no faith in me" Laurie held her hand up by her heart, acting hurt and Tom chuckled as he looked outside.

The back door was definitely sat in the bushes.


Thanks for reading! This is an updated version of the first chapter (as of 2nd August 19)! Whether you write fanfiction, or your own, you need to keep going and improve every time!