Act II
Chapter Twenty One – The Broadcast
"Fuck me, how can you be so fucking adorable, but creepy as sin at the same time" Laurie leaned back and tilted her head at the tv,
"You, me, even the father know's deeply of sin", on screen, John circled his hand on his chest,
"Still though, look at them baby blues" Laurie said as she folded her arms, continuing to watch it anyway. The man had a way with words, and coupled with the fact that he looked devilishly handsome in his coat with the little aeroplanes on it, you had yourself one hell of an ad. Laurie could just imagine the people who would be sucked in by it all, despite everything. If she wasn't already behind them, it would have sucked her in too
He was offering a miracle of sorts, and in this world, why not take a chance and see where it got you.
It's not as if the world hadn't been built on blood and sweat and pain.
Randy sat next to her as a woman, in a green sheriffs uniform, her mouth covered with tape and absolutely terrified, came on screen, Laurie looked over at him, remembering the womans face,
"Is that",
"That Deputy. Joey Hudson",
"She looks awful" Laurie said,
"John tells me she's having a little trouble saying yes" Randy picked up the remote control,
"Her fingernails look intact at least" Laurie shrugged, only to realise after Randy raised his brow at her how insensitive she was being,
"Make-ups run a bit" Em said as she came in to the kitchen, "Fuck… that guy… he can strangle me all day if he wants" Laurie chuckled and Randy snorted a laugh, "What" Em said, "Come on, you can't tell me you wouldn't want those hands anywhere over you" Randy glanced over at Laurie who was still watching the TV, John now telling them that they you don't have to do anything, we'll come for you.
"I think you have a bit more experience with that, don't you" he said,
"Shut up" Laurie mumbled, taking the remote from his hand as the ad started again; she turned it off. "That's gonna draw that deputy straight here, he knows that, right" Laurie said as she stretched her arms over her head, hearing her joints pop; she'd spent two nights there and none of it had been peaceful,
"I think that's the plan" Randy said, "They took Falls End last night too, so, makes it all that bit more enticing for him to come here", Laurie knew. She'd heard it all over the radio. She saw Johns point, she could see how taking the 'pillar' of the community might rally up the people, but, what if rallied them to the wrong side…
"Where's he been hiding out anyway" Laurie asked, remembering the baby-faced deputy John was trying to entice out,
"With one of the locals" Randy shrugged, "Dutch Rosevelt",
"Why didn't you just go get him there then",
"No idea, stupid, but..." Randy shrugged. All he knew, was that they were under strict instruction to wait until the deputy came in to the valley to shoot him up. Laurie nodded her head, looking over at Ems who didn't seem so infused with the conversation anymore. As much as she believed in the collapse, it was almost like she was just a tag-along.
"You know what" Laurie said suddenly as she pushed the kitchen door open to the outside.
"What",
"I really don't like what you've done with the place" Laurie said, she twirled around, looking at the banner across the hangar, 'TOGETHER, WE WILL MARCH TO EDENS GATE', "And, fuck me, the way he says yes on that fucking tanoy gives me the creeps even more than that ad does", she walked over to the radio sat on one of the crates outside and turned it up a little, drowning out Johns little preaching session with 'Oh John' instead,
"Oh John, bold and brave, he's finding us a family, he's teaching us the way" Randy sang along as he almost skipped towards her, he had this opera singing sort of voice when he sang, all dramatic and slightly hilarious,
"Who even commissioned it" Ems asked as she followed them out, "I thought he'd want some sort of full-on rock anthem, you know". She danced herself around, flailing her arms as if she was at some sort of imaginary concert,
"I don't think that's the sort of… image… Joseph wants portrayed… Do you?" Laurie said, wondering why she'd suddenly been surrounded by sing-songy idiots…
"All the kids would be in to it" Ems said, she twirled away from them, almost as if she knew what Randy was about to say next,
"Come on, we got shit to do" Randy said as the song started to simmer down and in to the next one.
"Like what" Laurie asked,
"Got you a prepper stash little sheep" Randy said, "From the big man himself",
"Which big man" Ems interjected,
"Joseph… Got some intel from Jacob about a stash… Johns offered up your services" he nodded at Laurie,
"Did he now" Laurie said as she pushed herself up on to the crate near the radio. She hadn't seen John since that morning he'd brought her here. He'd been at Falls End, but, only Randy and Dom had gone out of the ones here. She'd been left with Ems, Ed – a low-key drunk, Uri – a Canadian guy, Ray – Ems squeeze, Tommy – one of the younger guys who probably snorted a bit too much bliss when he thought no one was looking, and then, there was Mike. He was a decent guy, but you could see the wrath in him. Despite how many burpees or push-ups or sprints he did, the guy always looked like he was going to burst.
And he hated being called a 'Peggie'…
"So, we're off to the mountains" Laurie asked, trying to hide the hopefulness in her voice. Randy sighed as he nodded,
"Won't be very close to Ads though" he shrugged a shoulder, and then nodded his head to the truck, "Sorry little sheep". Laurie breathed through her nose and then smiled, she knew it'd be too good to be true, but, it was much closer than she had been… And, she wasn't going to dwell on the fact that Jacob probably had his own people to do prepper stashes in his own region, and only wanted her because he was a dickhead…
"What is the great obstacle this time" Laurie wondered out loud,
"Gotta find ourselves a key card" Randy said,
"Can't just blow it up" Laurie asked as she made her way to the truck, "Is there a nice car inside". Maybe there were more dead bodies… She could imagine there'd be a lot more up there than there was down here… Or, easier to see bodies...
"Now, now, now, what would the fine residents of Hope County think of us if we were to blow everything up" Randy asked,
"Not much worse than what they do now" Laurie said.
The Elliot Residence was much further than Laurie anticipated it would be. But, the Whitetail mountains were beautiful, and, in some people heads, perhaps that would cover up the sacrifices dotted around the region, strung up like Jesus with brambled crowns on their heads, couple that by ignoring the fake calls of moose coming from each way and another, the mountains were breath-taking.
The Elliot Residence would have probably been a beautiful house too, nestled in the mountains, but now, it was blackened and charred, and looked like it had been the sight of a war zone. Bodies of the cult and county folk lay on the ground, bullet ridden or burnt.
"My dad said that he watched one of Jacobs men burn a man alive once" Laurie said quietly as she looked up at the top of the house, the words 'RESIST JACOB" painted across it.
John. He wasn't exactly great with the way he went about things, but, he was more lenient than Jacob was. All John wanted was a yes, you didn't have to be strong to say yes. Not really.
Or, that's what Laurie kept trying to tell herself, anyway.
Randy leaned on the bonnet of the truck and crossed his arms as Laurie turned back to him. How was he so calm in the midst of so much terror? How did he not go from each brother and sister splayed on the ground to make sure they were actually dead?
Because he knew it was futile. They'd been dead a couple hours now. Jacob had sent a convoy up during the night, and, in the midst of that night, a fire had reigned down upon them and in the smoke, bullets had flown and killed everyone.
"Apparently, there's a bunker here somewhere" Randy said, he picked at his finger nails,
"Isn't there always" Laurie said as she made her way around the house, crouching down to push some of the bodies on to their back to check if she recognised them. She wasn't looking for Ads, but, if only to put her mind to rest, she checked just to make sure.
The bunker, secured with a lock, which Randy was able to get open, lead them down to a small room and a key card door,
"It can't be far" Randy told her, "Probably inside the house",
"And why couldn't Jacobs men do all this" Laurie asked,
"Because they chose you to do it little sheep" Randy patted her on the back and ascended the ladder again, leaving Laurie to look through the doors small window and in to the blackness of the room beyond it. She hoped it was worth it. "You know, when we get back to the ranch, I think it might be about time you learn how to shoot a gun" Randy suggested as Laurie eventually followed him out, back at the front of the house.
"Maybe" Laurie said. Laurie took a deep breath before she went inside, but, to her dismay, all she found was barricades of furniture, a charred letter saying that the Elliots weren't gonna give-up without a fight, and another one of their cultist brothers-in-arms,
It wasn't Ads.
Laurie came back out, to where Randy was, she shrugged, "I can't get through anywhere", Randy leaned back on the truck and looked up, towards the metal twine on the roof of the house that jutted out. Laurie looked with him, seeing the smashed in window above.
Reaching up wasn't going to do anything for her, and, even when she jumped, she could just about get her fingers on the edge. Laurie looked back at Randy, but he was being unusually unhelpful. From what she could remember of the day, she hadn't said anything that should have riled him up, or put him in a mood, but, perhaps he was just tired of babysitting her…
Stretching out the responsibility… That's what Randy's reason was for them being thrown in separate directions… It was almost starting to seem like the responsibility had landed on him with John all too busy dealing with the stream of new souls entering the bunker these last few days, but then, he'd babysat a family of five before and he'd never seemed to mind…
Perhaps Laurie was just looking too far in to it…
Laurie pulled over some near by crates and stacked them on top of each other. She stepped up on to them and jumped, feeling the crates crumble beneath her as she got a hold of the roof and pulled herself up.
Avoiding the barbed wire, Laurie climbed through the window, finding another cult member who she rolled over, still not recognising them before passing more furniture that had been pushed over to make hidey holes and cover doorways, and to a window on the other side. She leaned out, looking at the forest and then at the roof below, the blood splatters. Laurie looked over to the other window, wondering if it was boarded like the other, but it was open, the glass smashed.
Clambering out of that one and on to the roof again, she put her hands on the window and looked in. There was a dead guy leant up against the wall, blood splattered all around him and his hand clutched around a key card. Taking the key card from his cold dead fingers, Laurie nodded her head at him. Whether he was a cultist, or a local resident who hated Edens Gate, he was a still a person, and, he'd essentially died for what he believed in.
Both sides would be rife with martyrs by the end of it, she only hoped that their deaths would be worth it in the end.
Because, collapse or not, it was a horrible waste of life.
And, that thought would lead Laurie outside, slipping herself off the roof and passing the key card to Randy before going and sitting back in the truck. She didn't much care for what was inside the bunker, but she did wonder why it was Jacob could not have sent his own men to finish such a meaningless task. There would be other more amble than her, able to jump a couple feet off the ground without the help of some boxes.
So why had Jacob wanted her to do it. John was supposed to have offered her up, but why ask for someone else, but your own in the first place?
Laurie looked up at the words written across the top of the house.
'RESIST JACOB'
A broadcast to the world that the residence of Hope County weren't going to say YES as easily as they hoped.
Thanks for reading!
It dawned on me that, although the first twenty or so chapters were almost like the build-up, they formed their own little story on their own, which, I think is why that should be allowed to be a part in itself, and this here, is the second part. Now, how many parts this story could have is unknown. I have a finished outline, and I know whats going to happen and when, it's just whether it all comes together as it's written!