Chapter 6:
-Carla-
Her eyes opened to a cold, dark room, a single red light hanged down bathing the room in a bloody glow. After blinking a few more times she had noticed someone was sitting in a chair opposite her. She went to rub her eyes but her wrists were strapped against a desk chair. She sighed, this wasn't a new experience after her last few days with the cult. She had spent most of it tied up or strapped to something whilst John went about his day.
After adjusting her eyes, she recognised the bruised and battered person sitting opposite her. "…Hudson?" Carla asked, shocked at seeing her friend so frail.
Hudson's head raised to see Carla, she barely seemed to recognise her. Her mouth was duck taped and under her eyes were bruised with lethargy. She was broken, her eyes barely had enough energy to look at Carla. She didn't fight, she just sat there, staring blankly into space. Her body was malnourished and her hair was frizzy. Hudson looked like a corpse barely hanging onto life.
Carla was caught off guard by the cheery whistling, it seemed so odd in a place so depressing that someone was pleased about something. Although, when she saw said whistler she understood the cheery tune.
John carried in a tool box while he seemed to dance to his own tune. His happy tune continued as almost methodically placed the tool box on the workbench and began laying his tools out.
He turned to Carla, a smile stretched across his face. "You know, Gracie didn't struggle. You should be proud to have such a loyal dog." He chuckled. "After that stunt you pulled, I'm surprised you weren't killed on the spot… After all, you were incredibly rude to the Father."
Carla gritted her teeth but remained silent. The image of John holding a gun to Grace's head had been burned into her brain. Grace wasn't one for words. If Grace spoke it was gruff and short. Even though she hated to admit it, John was right. She was as loyal as a hound. After Carla helped her defend her father's grave, she was at her back from then on.
"You know… My parents were the first people to make me understand the true power of yes." John turned to the wooden backing of the bench, and stapled a leathery piece of human skin to the wood. "One night, they took me into the kitchen… and they threw me on the ground and I experienced pain after pain after pain. And when I couldn't take anymore… I did." He shook his head despite himself.
"Then break the cycle… You should learn from their mistakes…" Carla tried to his better half. "If you repeat their mistakes… Your no better than them."
Hudson whimpered through the tape. Apparently appealing to John's better nature only made him more certain about his actions.
He threw down the stapler, causing both Carla and Hudson to jump in their seats. "Something broke free inside… I wasn't scared, I was… Clear. I looked up at them and started to laugh. All I could say was yes. I looked for more to say yes to." He walked in circles. "I opened every hole in my body and when those were filled… I created more."
He walked over to Carla and caressed her face, just as Joseph had. "I'm going to do the same to you. I'm going to show you your sin." He laughed. "It was Joseph who showed me how selfish I was… Always receiving always taking. The best gift you get isn't the one you get... It's the one you give and giving takes courage." He picked up a sponge soaked in what smelled like an antiseptic solution.
"John… Please…" Carla pleaded, pulling on the restraints and trying to cower in the chair. "I know you can be better than this…"
He unbuttoned the shirt she wore as she squirmed away from his touch. He began to wash her chest. "The courage to own your sin, to etch it onto your flesh and carry its burden… And when you have endured when you have truly begun to atone… To cut it out and display it for all to see." His hands lingered on her chest. "My god that's courage. I'm going to teach you courage… Im going to teach you how to say yes, so you can confront your weaknesses. Confront your sins." He stood back up and leant against the workbench. "You will swim across an ocean of pain and be free. For only then can you truly begin to atone." He smirked, and then he looked at both Hudson and Carla. "So who wants to go first, hm?" He asked. "Which one, hm? This is lesson number one."
It sounded so simple. Say yes and he would end this madness… He would absolve you of sin. Carla knew that if she didn't agree, she would only get more people hurt. Saying no to the cult had hurt her friends, killed her best friend and left her more bruised and battered than a training day in police academy.
"Someone's got to choose." He yelled, bringing Carla's attention back to him.
"Yes." She whispered.
"You won't regret this, I promise." John was like a kid in a candy store. "Now, before we begin, I think that its only proper that Deputy Hudson goes back to her room. Confessions are supposed to be private after all…" He started to wheel Hudson away before stopping just in front of Carla. He touched her face and she let him. "Shhhh I am not here to take your life, I'm here to give it to you. I'm going to open you, and pour your worst fears inside, and as you choke, your sins will reveal themselves. Only then will you truly understand the power of yes." He pulled his hand away and a sadistic smile crept across his face. "I'll be right back." He winked at her.
As soon as John left Carla pulled at her restraints and the chair she was sitting in fell on the ground. She broke free from the tight ropes and untied her legs. She ran through the Bunker.
"Confession is the admission of one's sins. Our souls… Need to confess. By looking deep within our ourselves by exposing the darkness inside us. We free our souls from the burden of their sin." She heard John say through some sort of intercom. "That's what I'm offering. So, I will save you deputy, I will help you lift that burden. I will help you confess, and I will pass no judgement on you." She heard him smirk through the rough speakers. "No matter how messy it gets. All you have to say is yes. Things could be worse, here, you just have to confess. In the east… Well let's just say too much bliss can go to one's head. Faith created her angels, but she didn't treat them all that well." Carla grabbed a piece of lead pipe and cracked it over a peggies head. She grabbed his gun and was going to sneak through when a cultist spotted her he yelled out and soon there was an alarm sounding throughout the bunker.
After killing so many faces and trying to not think of them as people. She made it to a Bunker door and on the other side was John with Hudson.
"I know your sin… It drives you. Every thought, every action. Your sin is wrath… so ill indulge you, become wrath. Let it fill your body, consume your soul… Because in the end you'll still be empty, and I'll be waiting right here… We both will." His breath fogged up the glass that separated them.
"No John Please! I'll give you anything, please just let her go." Carla screamed, but as she watched John he held up a controller. He pressed a button and with a sinful smile.
"This is what happens when your sin takes control. It takes and takes and takes, until your empty and without home, family or love!" He smirked. "You'll die, and I cannot help you, unless you help yourself."
"Give em' all the wrath brothers! In the name of the father! Your sin consumes you. Blinds you to all harm your efforts are. Blinds you to all the harm you inflict. It allows you to dispense human life so easily. Have you given so much of second thought to killing at all?"
Carla tried not to cry as she shot the remaining peggies. More arrived and she ran down the hill, tripping and falling down half way. She was scared, so scared that she was becoming like John as he whispered her fears through the steel intercom.
"Drive the sinner from this place! For no matter where they are, God will find them. SEE, that is the power of yes. Leave this place gorge yourself on wrath. Because if stay here, I will bleed your little princess like a stuffed pig!" The voice of John echoed throughout the valley as Carla ran out of the bunker. She tipped and began to roll down the length of the hill.
She rolled down the hill. Her body ached with bruising and endless pain as finally came to a halt, her head colliding with a rock. She got up and wrapped a piece of torn shirt fabric around her head. "To what do I owe this debt?" She screamed out. "I put my faith in you and you deserted me." She looked to the sky, expecting to hear a response.
She wasn't surprised when no one answered.
-John-
He had to catch himself before he hunted after her like a hound to prey. She was so full of fire and rage. He watched as she ran down the hill. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at one of the peggies. He held his hands up, his eyes full of fear.
"You let her get away!" John yelled through gritted teeth. He lowered his gun to the man's pride. "You have three seconds before I shoot off your-" he smirked at the man's pants, "small cock."
"No, John! Please!" The man screamed. His pants began to soak with urine as he wet himself in fear. "Sh-she managed to slip through our fingers! But we can catch-" The shotgun in John's hands fired and the man fell to the ground dead.
"That's three." John tsked.
"You know, killing those who follow you will not bring the girl back." He heard a familiar tone. "I hope you don't intend to kill the whole of your flock before she returns." His hands came to rest on John's shoulders.
"Father… I had hoped that you would be safe in your compound… Far away from my sins." John said, he didn't want the father to see him so beaten.
"She is not yours to deal with anymore, John. Your selfishness and desire has made you lose sight! You've already lost half of Fall's end." He grabbed John's chin, forcing him to look at him.
"No! You promised me that she would be mine alone!" John demanded from his brother.
Joseph wiped the blood from John's head, neither was sure if it was John's blood or not. "Your brother has the facilities for a fighter like her. I am placing Jacob in charge for her capture. She will be brought to me, and then she will be baptised… By me."
"You told me that you would not interfere!" John's eyes were filled with betrayal as he sank to his knees before his brother. "Please… Just give me one last chance."
"And you told me that you could look after her, but you are too weak." Joseph shrugged off his brother as he walked over to the edge of the bunker. He sighed, he knew that John would not stop until Carla or he was dead. "She will regroup and likely come back for the Deputy Hudson." Joseph turned back to his brother. John's head was bowed in forgiveness or worship, he didn't know, but seeing his brother so defeated had awakened a carnal need to hurt and kill that which brought him to his knees. "I give you one. Last. Chance." The Father emphasised each word like a threat. "If you do not bring her to heel, I will kill you both."
John's eyes snapped open. His brother had never threatened his life before. It was the first time his brother had addressed him as such. It didn't scare him though, it only made him more determined to find and bring Carla to kneel before him.
-Carla-
She had made it to the road and she saw the remains of a revolution with every Peggie in sight was lying dead next to their trucks. She weaved through the carnage to find transport, a gun, anything really. Her eyes settled on the assault rifle lying in the hands of a deceased Peggie. She pulled on the weapon but the dead hands clutched the weapon tight. She struggled, finally the dead seized muscles gave way and the rifle was pulled out. She checked his pockets and she tried not to consider his dead eyes. She pulled out a couple of clips from his pockets, smiling to herself.
She heard a groan of a young Peggie as he got up slowly. Her eyes immediately jumped to the van's ignition, a set of keys were inside the car. She smiled.
"Miss Deputy…" A young Peggie called out. "I won't hurt you if you come quietly."
She took cover behind the front of the truck. She peaked out and saw the young boy whose eyes were trained on her. He was holding a gun shakily his hands, sweat ran down his brow. He was scared, he was innocent and looking into his eyes, this was his first taste of conflict and he had never killed before.
"And I don't want to go back to that hellhole." Carla yelled from behind the truck. "So turn around and go back where you came from, tell them that you didn't see me and they won't hurt you. You tell them that you saw me they'll kill you." She pleaded with the boy. She didn't want to kill him but she didn't want to be the boy's first taste of blood.
"PUT YOUR WEAPON DOWN DEPUTY!" The boy screamed through tears, he shook with fear as he shot the trucks tire, trying to aim for her. She jumped out from behind the car and trained the rifle on the boy in front of her. "You will stay until they come for you."
"Kid, I will not kill you. I am not them! I will not kill a boy!" She let tears fall from her face as she dropped her weapon.
A scratchy voice through the radio inside the truck. "Move in! Move in! Deputy spotted!" A Peggie said through the radio. Carla saw trucks approaching from the distance. Closing in quickly, the boy looked up and saw the cult close in.
Carla felt that she had made many tough decisions. She was the negotiator of a school shooting once in Montana. Chris Reeves, a young and naïve kid had brought two semi-automatics into his high school. He had killed over thirty by the time she and the rest of the force had arrived. She remembered the day she shot him in the chest. He was about to open fire on her squad before she had made the snap decision. His eyes were crystal clear as tears ran down his face in pain. He died before the ambulance could arrive, although her fellow officers did not blame her for it, the media relished in every opportunity to drive the knife in.
She saw a lot of Chris in this boy. She knew that killing was hard, but it's something that becomes so easy the more each kill turns into a innumerable number. She didn't want to kill another boy because of her duty. "Please… Kid, I just want to go, once I'm gone, you can say that I just slipped away like always!" tears ran down her cheeks. "Please."
"Deputy, I can't let you go. They know I've seen you now, they'll kill me if I let you go!" He gripped the gun in his hands tighter.
"Then I'm sorry." She lifted the rifle and shot the boy in the chest.
Her heart was cracked when she saw the glassy eyes of the boy whose life she had taken. She immediately jumped into the truck and turned the ignition. She almost laughed in relief when the car rumbled to life.
She drove away towards the resistance. She drove quite far before she saw the Peggie's walk over to the boy. They had seen the resistance in him and after a moment of yelling between the members did she see one of them raise a gun to point at the boy's head. A single shot rang out throughout the valley as Carla gripped the wheel tighter.
She let the tears streak down her dirty face, like many of the lives she had seen end she added the boy's to the list of her defeats in the face of the cult.
