And he sat, dirty and calm, staring down at me as our sick little haven groaned under the weight of automatic fire. I didn't have enough energy to hate him or our proximity. I couldn't think, couldn't feel.

It was insane; pure, unbridled insanity, from start to finish. Or… had it been - in this situation, was Joseph Seed the sane, pragmatic individual, with a sight for the truth? And if so, what did that make me?

Now that was a crazy thought. And I laughed one cold, chilling laugh, that left as soon as it had come. I couldn't help but admire our conviction - our unrelenting belief that we were right. Even now, I was fighting against it, the admission that I had been, that I was… wrong.

It was a difficult notion to even skim over, but the charred corpses of my friends outside lay testament to our mistake.

In another life, would we have chosen any other path? Could it have ever gone any other way? I doubted it. I had understood Eden's Gates base ideals, but I could never condone their methods. I hadn't believed, and I had not said yes – but circumstance had done so for me. The world was not the same, and my only constant was my enemy.

"You're very quiet." Said Joseph, angling himself so that he faced me directly. His intense stare never left my own. "Let it wash over you. Let it sink it. It was meant to be this way, after all."

I could feel wet pricks of betrayal gather behind my eyes, and they shamed me, sliding silently down my stony face. My fingers tightened around my pocket knife, my last weapon. I didn't even try to hide it from Joseph, it wasn't for him.

Joseph looked solemnly at me - and at my hand. "I think I understand, Deputy." He said, looking at me, with tired eyes. "What is wrath when there is nothing left to avenge, when there is no one left to avenge?"

I reflectively let go of the knife. I would not kill myself before "the father".

Joseph smiled, "Your sin is loosening its grip already."

We sat in silence. Thoughts of my friends tugged at all corners of my brain, but I ignored them, scared that they would crumble my thin layer of sanity.

Time had no meaning, and it could have been minutes or hours before Joseph moved. He strode to the back of the bunker, out of eyeshot, and returned with two mugs. Coffee. He handed me one, and I took it graciously, all the while imagining crushing the white ceramic into his skull.

He moved around often, reading, eating, praying. Sometimes he would write into a journal. Sometimes he would cry into his hands and lament his family. Eventually he fell asleep on one of the bunks, and I was grateful for the privacy – it gave me time to plan.

I knew what I had to do – survive. It was unlikely that my friends were alive, in fact, I was sure they were dead. But that didn't mean that the world was over. Eden's Gate had been mostly destroyed, but not entirely - I needed to get out of here and reach civilisation. But I was weapon-less, comrade-less and in a foreign landscape. This would not be a game of braun, but of wit. And the only person prepared for what lay outside those bunker doors, the only man I knew - for certain - in the whole wide world – was my greatest foe.

Joseph hated me, and he had right to. I had killed his siblings; actions which I was not proud of, but that had been necessary at the time - and for them, I bore no regrets. But his hatred was intertwined with a sick desire to own me. I was the biggest prize. If I was to turn, I would not only be an asset but proof of the cults power – even the greatest sinner could fall and become a part of Eden's Gate. That god-awful snake Willis Huntley had once told me that anyone could fight, but it took skill to pull of espionage. I supposed that encounter had been useful after all, as this mission was sure to be my hardest.

With a plan of action half-developed, I went to bed. I took the bunk furthest from Joseph, aware that he would not hurt me. He believed that us being here, together, had happened for a reason – and a twisted little part of me worried that he was right.

My body ached all over and closing my eyes only brought me images of flames and the smell of burnt flesh. The world above… what did it look like? What was left?

With my self-given purpose, I felt calmer. But the numbness of reality hung heavy about me and I was scared for the damn to break, and it to all come crashing down.

I must have dozed off at some point, and awoke to Joseph, with a hand on my shoulder and his face close to mine.

"Hush now, Deputy." He said, taking a seat beside my bed. "You're alright, it was only a dream."

I bolted up and edged away from him. My heart was racing, and I was covered in sweat. I glared at him, confused.

"You were screaming and tossing… I was only trying to calm you." He said, eyes sullen. He took in my posture, my face and the distance that I had put between us.

"You... hate me." He deduced. "And I can understand why you might perceive some of my actions as… cruel. Just as I hate you, for what you have done."

"But I see what must be done, Deputy." He said, and his tone was purposeful. "You and I must come together. You must let go of your wrath, as I have. Look where Wrath has got the world." And he pointed upwards.

He was so self-righteous, I wanted to smack that calm look from his face a hundred times over. But he was right. I was angry, and anger would get me nowhere – not yet.

I had so much to say to him, and truth spilled from my lips. "I understand your intentions Joseph, they seem noble, moral... But means do not justify ends. Your people murder, mutilate, drug and steal from those who choose 'no', who choose free will. You can't force a 'yes' with fear or drugs, or even the end of the world – then its just a decision made in fear, not faith."

Joseph stared at me, eyes wide.

"The sinner speaks." He stated quietly. "Do you know, that in all this time, you have never spoken to me?"

I hadn't realised, but I supposed that he was right. Combat was never the place for a long chat.

"Imagine," he began, "if you had addressed me as eloquently as you did just now, instead of slapping those cuffs on me, all those months ago? I wonder, would it be a different world?"

He got up and turned away from me.

"The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates".

"Then he must hate us both, Father" I said.

Joseph looked at me, solemnly. "What is your name, Deputy?"

I paused. There was a reason no one at the station ever used my name, especially once we'd come to Hope county.

But I needed Joseph. I needed his knowledge, his trust.

"…Mercy." I said, quietly.

I half expected him to smack his knee and laugh at the irony. But he didn't. He nodded slowly, as if it made sense, before returning to his bunk.