People I am so sorry for not uploading - I just have a lot of projects happening at work so when I get home I'm like *collapses in bed*

We get to meet 2 heralds and of course Joseph.

I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2 - The Church


After a while, Mary made it to the Teller Ranch, she took note of what type of people that was arriving to attend the sermon, as she walked past a few parked cars. They looked like normal people, there was a few with a more strung out appearance, in comparison to her.

She didn't want to draw too much attention to herself. Especially if they're dangerous as Nick said. Would they try to make her stay and become in the cult? She needed to know what's happened to her mother and she was going to find out now.

Mary pulled her cargo jacket on and ruffled her bantu knot curls; they might see her as vulnerable or someone that needed to be saved. She just needed to blend in, no way they were recruiting her to their cult. She wasted a minute looking in front of a car window before making a move towards the tent.

Walking past two men that stood at the entrance, she almost got the impression that this person was extremely important. Mary scoffed mentally. She looked down, not giving any eye contact and walk straight in, making a beeline to the seats that was at the back of the tent. She quickly looked around, making sure no one before pulling out her phone and checked to see if there were any messages.

Jack: 10 missed calls

Jack: 20 text messages

Mary scolded herself before quickly sending her friend a text, letting him know what's happened so far. As predicted he was not happy as she saw a read receipt on her message, her phone started vibrating.

"Jack before you star-" Mary said with a low voice but Jack overpowered it as she had pull the slightly away from her ear.

"What are in the hell are you doing Mary? I thought you was going to see where your mother was! Not hunt down the cult?!" Jack exclaimed, making Mary shake her head.

"I'm not doing that, I'm simply attending one of their gatherings because there's probably a chance that my mom will be there," She said as she took another glance at the crowd. "Look the sermon is about to start and I haven't seen even her yet," She saw more and more people coming in and taking their seats. Mary had to budge further down her seat, almost going to the edge of the bench, due to the amount of people filling up the tent.

"You need to get out of there Mary, now," Mary furrowed her brows as she listened to him. "I...I just don't want anything bad happening to you, you're too speci-" Mary couldn't hear the rest of Jack's words as her phone was pulled from her ear. She turned to quickly grab back her phone but froze in disbelief when she saw the person standing in front of her.

It was her mom.

"It's about to begin, no cell phones during the sermon, Mary." Her mom simply said and just walked away with her phone in her hand and took her seat at the front. Her eyes widened in amazement of how different she looked. Her afro curls that Mary was used to seeing, was no more as it was transformed into long braids that fell down her face. But it was her eyes that she noticed first, those dark mocha eyes was different.

Mary was about to get up after her, when the tent opened beside the stage, and two bearded men drifted inside, one of them positioning themselves to the side and the other made their way to centre of the stage. Although she was sat at the back, the proximity did not affect her sight of taking note of the men that entered the tent. The man who stood to the side, wore a camouflage jacket and stood with a stern look on his face. The other man who made himself the direct in the middle of the stage, making himself known with his star blue open shirt and coffee brown vest jacket. He curiously scanned the audience, before his blue eyes ended up on Mary, which she quickly averted her eyes elsewhere. But Mary missed the look the two men shared and the smirks that grew upon their faces.

Now the tent was completely soundless; they'd all fallen silent to stare, including Mary. The man on the stage began to speak. "Hello, welcome everyone, my name is John and this is my brother Jacob." He motioned to the man called Jacob stood at the side, who nodded to the audience. "Now you are here because you are scared...scared because of what you see on the news, and what you hear on the radio."

Mary couldn't help but keep her attention on her mother who sat calmly, listening to John as he began his spiel. She looked around the tent and notice a large American flag hanging down, with a different design. Where the stars are usually placed was the cross and unique rays and stars that was combined. John was speaking to the audience but Mary wasn't paying any attention, she just wanted to speak to her mother. She needed to know what she has been doing these past months.

Who are these people?

"Deception. Divisiveness. Godlessness. Who's in charge? Who is accountable?" John started slowing walking down the aisle, and all eyes trailed on him. "But there is an answer to that fear. That answer has a name, and that name… is Joseph Seed!" Suddenly a man entered the tent from the same side as the other two men entered.

Mary felt herself standing with everyone as they cheered and applauded for this man who she assumed was Joseph Seed. He walked onto stage and hug John, they looked much alike. However, Joseph was a little taller and more wider build, wore a grey suit jacket, paired with jeans and a shirt buttoned all the way to the collar.

People was in awe as Joseph stood before them, in contrast to their excitement, he looked calm and relaxed with his sandy brown hair neatly pushed back into a bun.

But Mary couldn't help to admit that he was handsome. Handsome?

"That's Joseph?" Mary could barely get the words out.

A blond haired woman sat beside Mary was smiling smugly. "That's him. That's The Father. Joseph."

No wonder why people join this cult.

"Thank you, my brother John." Joseph ushered John off the stage to stand beside Jacob. He turned to his audience before he began. "I want you to all close your eyes for a moment."

Mary watched everyone immediately followed his instructions but she chose to keep hers open. "I want you to think about the world outside this tent. And as you sit there alone in your personal darkness, can you see how sick our society has become? Can you picture disease creepin' across the land? Greed. War. Starvation. Because people have turned away from God."

Mary watched the man before her, it was almost as if he was channelling someone from another life. "And there is a hatred brewin'. It's like a slow-acting poison churning in our guts. So I ask you...when you think of that world, do you feel safe?" He asked his audience.

"No." They answered.

"No." Joseph repeated. "If somethin' is comin', you can feel it, can't you? You wake up in the morning, you turn on that television, you look at those news headlines and it's all fear and confusion and anger." Mary glanced to her left to see the woman clasping her hands together as she listened to Joseph. "See, we're like frightened animals, just creepin' toward the edge. But I'm here to tell you the suffering... well, that's a choice." Mary looked at him at this point but froze when she saw that he was looking straight at her. A half-smile curling his lip as he waited to regain her full attention, but there was something else to stare.

Mary looked away, glancing over her shoulder as though she was looking for someone, just so she'd have a moment to regain some self-composure. She didn't notice the people that was stood at the back, due to nowhere available to take a seat. Maybe her mother said something to him?

She turned back to see Joseph still had his eyes locked on her, but he really was looking at her, directly at her. More often than at anyone else within the tent. Mary knew she wasn't crazy because when she glanced sideways at the woman. For some reason, she was openly glaring at Mary. Okay, sure, Mary didn't really know why she was giving her the death glare, but her gut instinct was that she'd noticed her leader noticing her, and she didn't like it.

Mary looked down at her lap and tried not to let the smile appear on her lips. She felt a little flutter of excitement in her stomach. Immediately she tried to reason it away. Probably he was looking at Mary more often because she was a guest, a potential recruit, and someone knew to the town. So, she was of interest to him.

Mary brought her attention back to his speech just in time to hear him saying. "And you can choose a better path. We love you. We want you. We accept you exactly the way you are. Every single one of you. And I stand here asking you to join us, and you will find your peace with us." Mary sat up straighter and giving the impression she was paying better attention.

"I am your Father, and you are my children. And together, we will march to Eden's Gate." Joseph raised his hands in the air, as the audience applauded his speech. Joseph looked towards his loyal follower, Anne in the front row and nodded to her.

Anne gave him a knowing smile.


Mary stood by a random car as she watched people leave the tent after her. She scanned the people before she saw her mother come out with the John. Mary watched as her mother and John have a conversation, then Jacob and Joseph join in. Joseph grasped her face with his hands and place his forehead against hers.

That is not who her mom was.

But she couldn't help to admit that there was something about Joseph. She just couldn't decide what it is.

Mary shook her head and began to think of how she would approach this situation; she came here to see her mother. Check. Spoke no words to her. Check. Her mom now had her phone. Chec-wait. She frowned as she patted her front and back pockets and felt nothing. She let an annoyed sigh and mentally thought of a new plan, but someone interrupted her thoughts.

"Mary."

She quickly turned around to see her mom standing there before her. A warm smile was on Anne's wrinkled face, making Mary pulled her mom into her and wrapped her arms around her. It had been years since she had seen her.

"Mom, I..I can't believe it." Mary said as she pulled way from their hug. "It's been so long since I've seen you. W-Why didn't you talk to me back there?" Mary almost struggled to get her words out.

"The sermon was about to start, you know how I taught you not be rude." Mary rolled at her eyes. "I saw that." Anne playfully scolded, making Mary let out a small laugh.

"Ok, what has happened to you? I went to the bar and found out you've joined a cult? Is this it?" Mary asked her mother. Anne turned away and looked towards where The Father was stood, who watched their interaction intently.

"Did you like the sermon?" Anne ignored her question, making Mary become frustrated at her. "They're good people here, Mary."

"What? I mean I wasn't paying attention because I came here to see you." Mary answered, making a frown appear on her mom's face but she didn't notice as Mary's attention fell on a few people lingering nearby. "Can we talk somewhere private? Away from these people?" She asked as she looked to see a few people watching their interaction. She didn't need this unwanted attention.

Anne just stared at her, before turning away and began to walk down a path that lead into the mahogany-brown forest. "Come on, the house isn't far from here," Anne started walking towards a path that lead into woodland forest. Mary didn't question it as she followed, unware of the eyes that followed their move and slowly start to follow behind.

Mary and her mom fell into a synchronise step as they calmly walked through the forest. She looked over her mom and waited on her to say something to her but she never did.

"I'm so glad you came here Mary," Anne said, looking ahead. "I've been waiting a long time just to see you."

"What have you been up to mom?" Mary asked, looking at her. "What are you doing with those people?"

"The collapse is upon us, Mary." Anne said, making Mary's eyebrows raise. "But they have shown me that there is nothing to fear."

"Who? You mean that cult back there?" She pointed with her thumb in disbelief and her mom didn't answer. "Look we need to talk about this properly."

Mary looked ahead and could see they was approaching a gate that had cement blocks on either side. She noticed the familiar flag that she saw in the tent earlier and noticed familiar faces from the tent, stood behind the gate.

"What's this?" Mary said. "I didn't know you moved home?" Anne didn't respond and just kept walking. "You said you was taking us home." The gates opened for them and now becoming worried, Mary stopped walking. "Mom?"

Anne looked over at her daughter, taking her hand before she pulled her along with her towards the entrance. "I said we'll go home, but not that home hon." She nodded to the church members who took a glance a Mary before bowing their heads to her as they closed the gates after them. "This is our new home." Mary was more worried why they were holding guns, not the noticed this strange reaction to her arrival.

"They've put room aside for you." Mary looked at the house before her that her mom nodded to. "You'll be able to shower, rest which I'm sure you're tired. Plus, I think you could use a little time." Anne stroked her cheek softly.

"Time, time for what?" Mary pushed her hand away from her face. "I said I want to go home, not here. I never asked to come here. I don't want to be here. Take me back to the ranch, take me home mom." Mary didn't care that her voice was getting louder.

"You are home. There are people who want to meet you Mary. You are so special, we've been waiting for you to come. He knew you'd be coming." Anne said

"Who's he?"

"The Father. He wants to talk to you." Mary gave her mom a hard stare as she heard approaching footsteps behind her. "Just talk to him, that won't hurt no one."

"Mary." A familiar deep voice spoke behind her, making her turn around and her eyes widened.


It's all going to kick off in the next chapter! Will be uploaded next week.

Review - Let me know your thoughts :)

-R