Chapter Twelve: Rose's Sacrifice
Mary May Fairgrave walked along the main street of Fall's End as the remaining residents did their best to keep the town going. They were in a rough way, to say the least. Thanks to Mary Seed, more than half of the population of the town and the surrounding area had willingly joined Eden's Gate. A few had defected or been liberated, but a great number of their would-be fighters had been taken either willingly or forcefully. John had many of the resistors shipped off to his bunker before the town was reclaimed, and that was only because Eden's Gate had practically abandoned it after they had looted every valuable resource. The harsh truth was the only reason they were free at the moment was because Eden's Gate allowed them to be. If John mounted a serious offensive against the town, they would be flattened.
"Fuckin' Mary Seed . . ." Mary May cursed to herself, still not over what the Father's daughter had done to them.
Mary had come into her town and swayed her people into leaving their homes and lives to join her godforsaken cult. Then, she left who remained at the mercy of her twisted uncle John Seed. Mary May couldn't believe she didn't see this coming. How could she let this happen? Compared to the rest of Eden's Gate Mary seemed harmless, but she proved without a doubt she was anything but. No one ever thought Mary could have been capable of what she had done over the past few days. Their biggest threat had been posing as a friend the whole time, and they had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. John Seed was a threat she had faced before, but Mary? She was a totally different ballgame. She wasn't a foe that fought with guns and bullets. Her weapons were her words. Dealing with her might require a different approach.
Soon she reached Pastor Jerome's church, which had been repurposed into somewhat of an infirmary, or at least a resting place for the injured. She found Jerome looking over a resting resistance member, who didn't look like he was in very good shape. Jerome looked solemn, like a man defeated. Ever since Mary had shown her true colors he hadn't been the same. He blamed himself for Mary's actions, for in his eyes he had let it happen. He felt Mary's presence as she joined him at his side.
"In all my years here, I've never seen anything like this. A knew a storm was coming, but I didn't think it would be this bad. I thought I'd be able to handle it, and maybe if it were just John I could've," he knelt down next to the unconscious man, who had lost a lot of blood. "I knew Mary was wrong, I knew she was following the wrong path, but I thought I could help her. I thought once she saw what Eden's Gate was truly capable of her faith in her Father would falter, but I was wrong. She remained unshaken, and she became one of our greatest enemies. I was a fool to trust her. I should have known the spawn of Joseph Seed could be anything but trouble. I invited her into this town in hopes I could change her, but all I did was let her sink her hooks into everyone here."
"We were all wrong about Mary Jerome, it's not your fault. We all thought she was better than this, and it doesn't matter if she tried to be peaceful, what she did was wrong. That bitch has gotta go."
"Yes, she does," Jerome said with a sigh, rising once more. His pride had taken a great blow, but it was clear he wasn't about to give up. "We must not hesitate. We must show her no mercy, but I know there is goodness inside of her, and that's what makes it so hard. She doesn't enjoy violence like John, but she's willing to use it. She is willing to kill and die for Joseph, just the like the rest of them, so we must be prepared to take her life. It's regrettable, but she has chosen her side."
"I don't think it was ever a choice for her," said Mary May, shaking her head. "She was all the way with them from the start. We thought she was different, even I thought maybe we could change her, but she was the one who changed us! She put on a pretty face and we fucking bought it. She poisoned our people's minds with her bullshit just like Faith did. That bitch fucking played us."
"No," Jerome said, turning to her. "Her intentions were never malicious, no matter how much you rightfully hate her for what she's done. We are to blame for this Mary, and I know that's hard for you to hear, but it's true. We were fools to trust her, and we were fools to believe she would choose us over her family. What happened that day is on us. We saw her making connections with the people of this town and we welcomed it, because at the time, it meant peace with Eden's Gate," he paused, looking over the inhabitants of the town who were taking shelter in his church. "If only I saw then what her influence was doing to this town, I would have stopped her then, but I was too blind to see it."
Mary May was done comforting Jerome, because now she felt attacked. How could he say that she was to blame? She refused to believe that she could have been responsible for this.
"Bullshit Jerome! We didn't do those things, Mary did. It's not our fault!"
"Of course it's our fault!" Jerome yelled.
Everyone in the church turn to him in a scared shock, but he didn't care. They had to hear this too. Mary May didn't know how to react, she had never seen Jerome this upset.
"We knew who she was, we knew who she was with! She's the face of Eden's Gate, she's right up on that mountain standing with her goddamned father!" Jerome said, pointing in the direction of the statue. "And we let her in anyway. We let her preach here. We let her corrupt the minds of our people with her father's lies! Lies that she believes to be God's honest truth. How could we blame her? She did exactly what we expected her to do, we're the ones who let it happen. She did not betray us Mary May, she was never on our side. We were just stupid enough to think she was. Mary Seed's not a Judas, and she's not a snake in the garden. She's an agent of the Devil who thinks she's working for God. She knows not what she does."
"You're not giving her nearly enough credit." came a female voice from the Church's entrance. "Mary Seed knows exactly what she's doing."
They turned to see a face they had seen on wanted posters issued by the cult all over the county. Dutch let them know over the radio she would be coming soon, but neither of them had met her yet. The famous deputy who had already caused so much trouble for Eden's Gate, Rose Cassidy. Although she was a member of law enforcement, she had abandoned her uniform, and wore mostly camouflage. At her side stood another woman wanted by the cult, Jess Black, who Mary May and Jerome already knew. They had both heard by now Jess had finally succeeded in killing the Cook, one of Jacob's most psychopathic soldiers, with the help of Rose.
"Deputy, it's about damn time," Mary May said with a slightly relieved smile.
"Mary May Fairgrave and Pastor Jerome, right? Dutch told me about you two." said Rose as she walked up to them with Jess right behind. "Sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about our mutual friend Mary Seed."
"No offense Deputy, but what would you know about Mary?" Jerome asked, for Rose was not a native of Hope County.
"She came to visit me when I was a guest of her gracious Uncle Jacob," Rose answered with sarcasm, for her time spent with Jacob was anything but pleasant. "We had a face to face, and she was surprisingly honest with me. She knows all the ugly things the cult has ever done. She's more powerful than any of us want to believe, probably more than she even realizes herself, and she's only getting only stronger," Rose walked over to the wall, pinning up a cult propaganda poster depicting Mary Seed.
"Forgive, and you will be forgiven," Jerome said, reading the words on the paper, disgusted that one of God's greatest teachings was being used for such a heinous cause.
"We found that shit just outside town. It's official, Mary's joined her Uncle John's fucking propaganda campaign. They're like the fucking Nazis," Jess swore, her language just as vulgar as ever.
"And we just heard she performed some kinda miracle in Henbane River by sensing a resistance attack before it happened," Rose added.
"That's a bunch of bullshit," Mary May said, which was the obvious response.
"Bullshit or not, it's spreading like the clap," Jess countered. "More people are following this bitch than ever before, and even regular folks are starting to believe her. She's over there in Henbane right now offering her 'guidance' to the pilgrims. She's a fucking inspiration."
"I want to apologize to both of you for not getting here sooner," Rose suddenly said to Jerome and Mary May. "At first, I thought it would be smart to build up a stronger resistance, to take out Jacob and Faith before dealing with Mary and John, but things have changed. Mary's going all over the county, inspiring peggies to fight harder and swaying more people to join Eden's Gate. She's a different kind of threat than the other Heralds, an even more dangerous one, and it's only getting worse."
"So what do you suggest we do about it?" Jerome asked.
"Well, she's gotta go, like now. We can't afford to let her get anymore powerful than she already is. The odds are stacked against us enough without her. Plus, right now they all think she's chosen by God, just like Joseph. If she goes down, a lot of Eden's Gate's morale goes with her."
"Well that sounds pretty smart, in theory," Mary May said, "but taking out Mary is a lot easier said than done. John doesn't let her leave the ranch without a huge escort in an armored car, and the ranch itself is a goddamn fortress. We'd have no chance attacking it, and even if we did kill her, John would go on a rampage. He's really protective of her, even more than Joseph is. He'd burn Holland Valley to the fucking ground."
"That's the idea," said Jess. "We want him to be angry. People make more mistakes when they're angry."
"Yeah, they also fuck shit up more. Have you ever seen John mad?" she turns to Rose now. "You don't know who you're dealing with here. If you kill Mary with John still alive, he'll slaughter your partner Hudson just to fucking spite you, but not before he makes her suffer. He'll rip her apart piece by piece. He'll carve out her eyes and cut out her tongue. He's a maniac, and he cares more about Mary than he does Joseph."
Rose shuddered at the gruesome image Mary May had painted. She hadn't thought of that. Joey Hudson was completely at John's mercy.
"Fuck," Rose cursed, "You might be right."
"It might be worth it," Jess said, deciding to play devil's advocate.
"Don't say that," Rose glared at Jess.
"What? I know it's fucked, but this is a fucked situation. Hudson's just one person. Her sacrifice would save a lot of people."
"You sound just like Jacob right now," Mary accused, also repulsed by her idea.
Jess shot a vicious glare in Mary May's direction. She had touched a very sensitive nerve. Jacob was ultimately responsible for the death of her parents, and her greatest nemesis now that the Cook was dead.
"Fuck you, you fucking bitch!" Jess lashed, advancing. "You take that shit back right now!"
Rose got in the way of her companion. "Cool it Jess, we can't fight each other. If we do we're fucked."
"You heard what she said!"
"I don't care how much you're hurting, you need to control your rage. Go cool off outside."
Jess was fuming, refusing to budge. Finally Rose pushed her away towards the door.
"Go!"
Jess stumbled back, giving her friend Rose a cold glare. "Fuck you too then. I'm outta here." She spat, turning and storming out of the church.
Rose didn't want her to go off on her own, but she knew she couldn't stop her either. When Jess got like this the only thing to do was wait until the anger wore off.
"Shit, I shouldn't have said that," Mary May said, regretting her words. "I know how easy it is to set her off."
"She'll be fine, she just needs some time to herself. Now, back to our Mary problem,"
"I have an idea, but it's risky." Jerome said.
"Every move we make right now is risky, let's hear it," replied Rose.
"What if we captured Mary, and used her as a hostage? We could exchange her for Hudson, maybe even more."
"That is risky," Mary May said. "Capturing her would be even harder than killing her, but I think you're right. John would do anything to get her back safe."
"The problem is I have no idea how we would do it, "Jerome said.
"Only way I see that happening is ambushing her convoy. If she's in an armored car it'd be a lot harder to kill her by mistake."
Then Rose heard a signal coming from her radio, like someone was trying to contact her.
"Shit, hold on," Rose said to Jerome and Mary May, before responding to her radio. "Hello, is anyone there? Dutch is that you? Eli?"
"Is this the sinner Rose Cassidy?" came a familiar, masculine voice.
Rose shot an alarmed look to Mary May and Jerome, who just stared back in silence with stunned expressions. They all knew who it was, but why was he contacting them? Rose hesitantly spoke again into the radio.
"Who is this?" Rose asked anyway, wanting to be sure.
"You know who it is. You've talked to my brothers, and you've talked to my niece. The only one you haven't talked to is me. I think it's time we finally got an introduction."
"Son of a bitch," Mary May said.
"John Seed. What do you want?" Rose asked.
"I just want to talk Rose."
"Me and you got nothing to talk about."
"I think we do. Tell me Rose, how stupid do you think I am? Did you honestly think you could just waltz into Fall's End with Jess Black of all people, and think I wouldn't know about it? I've had my people watching the town, waiting for you to show up, and here you are."
"Well then, why don't you come and get me? We got a welcoming party just for you."
"I could, believe me, I could. You know, you've caused my niece a lot of stress. She thinks you're some sort of antichrist. A scourge of God destined to wreak havoc and destroy everything it comes across, but she doesn't think the answer is to destroy you. No. She thinks the solution is to forgive you. To offer you salvation. A place in our garden. I honestly don't think you're worth it, but I take Mary's wishes very, very seriously. She's our Father's daughter after all. That reminds me, he's taken an interest in you too. He thinks you're part of God's plan. He too, thinks you're worthy of atonement. You have committed sin after sin after sin, yet for some reason God is looking out for you. Now, I can't say I understand that, but it is not for me to question the will of God, or that of the Father. So, today's your lucky day Cassidy, because I've got an offer for you."
"You'll shoot yourself in the head and save me the trouble?"
"You really shouldn't make such inane jokes Deputy, I don't think your friend Hudson here appreciates it."
Rose froze in horror as Hudson's screams of agony filled the room. John was with her, torturing her as he spoke.
"No, she definitely doesn't appreciate it,"
"You motherfucking monster!" Rose lost it, forfeiting her cool composure. "I swear to God, I will fucking kill you."
"No, you won't, and you still don't seem to understand your situation. You are not in control here Rose, I am, but you do have a very important choice to make. The fate of Hudson, and every living soul in Fall's End is dependent on what you do next, so please, start taking this seriously, for their sake. Now, are you ready to hear my offer?"
Rose didn't respond. She wasn't sure what to say. She looked to Mary May and Jerome, who offered no suggestions. For a moment there was silence, until Hudson's screams of pain returned.
"No! Fucking stop it!" Rose cried to John, powerless to help her friend.
"Are you ready to hear my offer?" John asked again, more impatient sounding this time.
"Yes! Just leave Hudson alone!"
"See? You can be reasonable. This is my offer. By now my people have surrounded the town. If you make us come for you, we will kill all those who stand in our way, and everyone left alive will be taken. But. If you come quietly, I will leave the town in peace. You have my word. That's the best deal you're gonna get. You have ten minutes to make up your mind, then we'll come for you. You wanted to save people, here's your chance. Make your choice now."
John's voice cut out, leaving Rose and the others in silence. They all knew Fall's End couldn't stand up to a peggie attack, the town was barely standing as is. John could have been lying about leaving peacefully, but that's not what Mary would want, and John was doing all of this for Mary. Besides, what was the alternative? Certain destruction. Rose knew what she had to do. She had to swallow her pride, and surrender to Eden's Gate.
