GUYS! I'm so happy to tell you the story got corrected by the most wonderful chodofaggins! The story itself didn't change it simply much MUCH more pleasant to read :)

I could not be more grateful!

Enjoy :)

CHAPTER 1

Prologue

Emily

You still couldn't believe it. People had told you various stories and you've read a few reports, but when the Sheriff showed the Marshal and you an insider video you were truly shocked.

Unlike Marshal Burke. He sat, unimpressed, in front of you in the helicopter. He had an arrest warrant for Joseph Seed and dutifully wanted to proceed no matter what, even though Sheriff Whitehorse tried his best to persuade him not to. You also had a bad feeling about this, but, as a rookie, you hadn't had much to say. In fact, you sat quietly throughout the whole flight, thinking about your childhood memories.

You grew up here, in Hope County. The Seed family lived close by, and you remembered the youngest brother, John, and the second born brother, Joseph, vaguely. John had always seemed kind, and you remembered...adoring him? Right know, this felt strange and wrong, considering he was five years older than you and his current, well…engagement, so you focused on Joseph, the cult's leader. He must have stepped up or changed a lot since you last saw him about 15 years ago. He wasn't much of a leader then, more a follower. No, that also wasn't right. Now that you were thinking about it, he was always present, not just in church or the town meetings. Not simply following, more like lurking, listening, and what? Collecting? Preparing for this, apparently. Being a cult leader. And a brutal one, from what they saw in the video.

''Last chance, Marshal.'' Sheriff Whitehorse pulled you out of your walk down memory lane.

''We're going in.'' Marshal Burke was still confident.

You looked out, and there it was. They had to land at the compound's entry, since it was the only place wide enough for the helicopter. You really had a bad feeling about this whole situation, mainly because Sheriff Whitehorse was remarkably tense and, well, let's not forget about all those armed cultists staring right at you. They were called Peggies, short for 'Project of Eden's Gate,' P.E.G., and they all looked savage of some sorts. And it was disconcerting.

Sheriff Whitehorse told everyone to stay calm, to keep their guns holstered, and to let him do the talking right after he quite unnervingly told Nancy to call the National Guard if she didn't hear from us in fifteen minutes. Your heart was pounding hard in your chest, and you tried to ignore the stares and calm down the whole way to the church. You knew Joseph would be there. Sheriff Whitehorse had his insider information.

Before entering the church, Sheriff Whitehorse again reminded everyone to stay calm, not overreact, and to go about this his way. The Marshal agreed and tried to teasingly calm him down by telling him, ''You're about to get your name in the paper,'' after the Sheriff explicitly told him not to do anything stupid.

The church inside was almost as dark as the night outside, the only sources of light being the moon and some fires. The previously heard chorus became silent, once Joseph started preaching.

''Something is coming. You can feel it, can't you? That we are creeping toward the edge…and there will be a reckoning. That's why we started The Project. Because we know what happens next. They will come.'' And of course they heard you entering. ''They will try to take from us. Take our guns. Take our freedom…'' Everyone sitting in the back and middle row suddenly began standing up and staring at you. ''Take our faith! But we will not let them.'' Okay, everyone was staring at you.

''Sheriff c'mon - -'' The Marshal started, clearly irritated by the whole scenario, but the Sheriff interrupted him.

''Just hold on, Marshal,'' with soothing gestures to all sides.

''We will not let their greed, or their immorality, or their depravity hurt us anymore!'' Joseph raised his voice a bit, and a man walked to his side. It was John.

''Sheriff,'' the Marshal tried again.

''Do not pull that trigger. Remain calm…'' The Sheriff tried his best to soothe him.

''No, fuck this.'' The Marshal wouldn't listen, and showed Joseph the arrest warrant. ''Joseph Seed! I have a warrant issued for your arrest on the suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to harm! Now, I want you to step forward and keep your hands where I can see 'em!"

''Here they are…the Locusts in our garden…You see, they've come for me.'' Joseph started, and the crowd began complaining, while few placed themselves between Joseph and us. ''They've come to take me away from you. They've come to destroy all that we've built."

The crowd was angry now and Sheriff Whitehorse tried to calm everyone down loudly, ''Now hold on, do not touch that service weapon! Hold on and stand down! Stand down! Everyone, calm down!''

''Everyone, calm down!''Jospeh quieted his followers and stood besides them, calmingly touching their shoulders. John quietly moved behind him, watching. You had difficulties focusing on Joseph, for your eyes were on John. He was watching you as well, not knowing yet who you were.

''We knew this moment would come. We have prepared for it. Go. Go…'' Joseph finally calmed his followers, and you just now realized that John was accompanied by his oldest brother, Jacob, and Faith, his adopted sister. You only knew them from pictures in the files you've read.

''God will not let them take me.''

The cultists passed you, watching you, leaving the church. Your heart was racing in your chest, and you saw only the Seed Family united in front of you. This all seemed too insane to be real. Your eyes wandered back to John, and he was searching yours as if trying to figure you out. You could tell he knew you but couldn't yet tell where from.

''Step forward.'' The Marshal interrupted Joseph, but you weren't listening to either of them talk.

''Hell followed with him.''

You could feel Joseph's gaze upon you. Breaking eye-contact with John, you saw Joseph holding his hands out in front of you like a gesture of peaceful surrender.

''Rookie-cuff this son of a bitch.'' The Marshal addressed you now.

''God will not let you take me,'' Joseph said once more.

Everyone's eyes were on you now, while all you could do was study Joseph's bare chest. It was covered in scars and tattoos, as where his arms.

''Come on, Rookie…'' The Marshal was impatient, probably uncomfortable as well by now. Fuck! You knew this was a mistake. All of it. No matter what you chose to do. You couldn't just ignore orders and you knew it was the right thing to do, but you were very certain by now that if you'd cuff him all hell would break lose out there. Damnit! Just get through with it… you can do it. So you cuffed Joseph.

''Sometimes the best thing to do…is to walk away…'' he dauntingly whispered.

You tried to blur everything out as best as you could. Get him to the helicopter and get out of here. How hard can that be. Just keep walking, calmly.

Everyone was on edge, hands on guns and tense. You focused on your breathing and directed the cuffed Joseph through the crowds, toward the helicopter. You almost reached the helicopter until the Marshal was hit with a rock, and everyone drew their weapons. The Marshal released warning shots. Somehow, you managed to get Joseph into the helicopter, and once everyone else was in you tried to lift off but not without some Peggies holding on to you. The Marshal shot one down after take-off, and you pushed another one off of you just so see others still hanging and climbing on the helicopter. And then…you couldn't believe it. One of them jumped into the rotor blades, causing you to crash.

…

Everything was a blur, everything was aching. You reached consciousness quickly and realized you were hanging up side down, barely hearing Nancy through the radio. Everyone else was either missing or still unconscious, so you tried to grab the headphones to call for help. Just as you could get a hold of it Joseph grabbed your wrist and leaned back into the helicopter staring at you, silently singing 'Amazing Grace'. Your heart just stopped there, shock took over you and all you could do was stare back at him.

''I told you that God wouldn't let you take me,'' Joseph said to you. Then he reached for the headphones and told Nancy, ''Everything is just fine here. No need to call anyone.''

''Yes, Father. Praise be to you.'' Nancy replied. You couldn't believe it. You couldn't think.

''No one is coming to safe you.'' And with that, Joseph climbed out again, approaching some Peggies who had just arrived at the scene.

Deputy Hudson next to you started to gain consciousness again and with her, the Marshal. Disoriented, you all stared around, but when Joseph yelled out 'BEGIN THE REAPING' everything became hectic again with one simple instinct reaching your brains. Escape. The Marshal made it out first, while Deputy Hudson was taken by the Peggies. They tried to reach you as well but luckily for you flames broke out, and they had to fall back. You barely made it out in time before they could take you too, and all you did was run.

You couldn't hear them anymore, because either you outran them or both your heart and breathing were to loud for you to hear anything else. But either way, you couldn't run anymore. You had to stop. Kneeling at a tree, you tried to catch your breath and calm down, your thoughts stumbling. Focus, Emily! Focus. What could you do? You were somewhere in the middle of nowhere, chased by savage cultists, Peggies, with no one else knowing where you were, or coming to help you. You were alone in this mess.

The Marshal! You had to find him. He couldn't be too far away. So after you collected your thoughts and realized that, of course, your gun was somehow missing, you set off in what you hoped was the right direction.