Rook regretted everything.
Even as he retrieved the Widowmaker and barreled down the road with Jerome beside him, he frantically raked his mind for some magic way to swoop in and save the poor, brutalized people chained to the sides of the Revelator and take out the rolling menace that they were tied too. But Rook found it increasingly hard to think as he was driving and it didn't help that Jess argued and bullied her way into the Widowmaker's cabin before they left, of course there were only two seats, so she awkwardly sat in between him and Jerome, making it uncomfortable for all, and just as hard to think.
But he felt a strange sense of solace as he watched Addie's helicopter flying in the distance, it was so easy to do, just sit and watch while he drove, a stark contrast the headache inducing thinking he was doing.
But he also couldn't help but worry about his friends in the helicopter, somehow Hurk, Sharky and Addie had crammed themselves into the copter and took off, they were leading the way to the Revelator as they had seen it's general location on the way to town. Right before they took off, ten minutes ago, they decided the short-term plan was to regroup with Nick before beginning the attack. Rook hoped he could figure something out before Nick was able to find them, after Mary let Nick know what was going on, she didn't give Rook or anyone an ETA on the pilot's arrival. But he didn't have as much time as he thought he had as the familiar sight of Nick's plane came into his view as they got five minutes from the town, causing him to swear mentally, biting his tongue to keep it from being vocal.
"For something that's headed directly towards us, it sure is taking its fuckin' time" Jess whine angrily, directing it at Rook.
But Rook didn't respond, he was to far into his own mind, scheming and weighing odds in his mind as he drove.
"Perhaps it is taking a different route then we thought?" Jerome interjected, he could tell what was going on with the Junior Deputy and did not want to distract him further.
Neither Rook nor Jess responded after that, just stony silence for one reason or another, the driver's cabin stayed like this for a few minutes until Rook's walkie crackled to life.
"So uh, we gonna blow the Revelator up or what?" Nick's voice came from Rook's walkie.
Rook quickly retrieved his walkie to reply.
"After we save the victims, yes" Rook send bluntly before putting it away.
"Uh ok, I hear that dude, but they got like heavy machine guns or something, they could take out me and Addie if their aim is good enough, all I'm saying is we need to move quick, even if you say no, I'm still gonna bomb the fuck outta that thing if it comes down to it, I know that sucks to say but it's them or us" Nick stated.
But this time, Rook did not fish out his walkie to respond, he just stayed hunched over the wheel, focused on the road and his plans.
"He has a point, Deputy, please think on it" Jerome said, not expecting an answer.
"A vehicle will be destroyed today; I can only pray its not ours" he said.
Still Rook remained silent, too focused on how he'd save the day, his eyes occasionally looking up at Addie's helicopter and sometimes Nick's plane as he had to do laps around them to keep pace. As he watched Addie, he could hear Jess making some rude comment on what Jerome had said, Rook wanted to reprimand Jess for her rudeness but couldn't muster the willpower as he was still too mentally divided.
As Jess and Jerome bickered back and forth for a little bit, Addie's helicopter began arching in the sky to the right, and in turn Rook did the same, turning right at the intersection a few hundred feet in front of him, opening the street up to a very long stretch of road.
And that's when Rook saw the Revelator.
It was four hundred feet away and headed right towards them, it looked just as it did in Sharky's photo; covered in thick metal plates and large, pointed cowcatcher covering the front of the truck.
"Alright ladies, there she is, how we handling this?" Addie's voice came through everyone's walkie nervously.
This time, Rook did respond into his walkie.
"No one open fire, I'm going in" Rook commanded, dropping the walkie in his lap.
"So what are we doing?" Jess asked, eyeing up the death machine in the distance, unsure of what Rook could have concocted.
Rook didn't respond again, instead he white knuckled the steering wheel, stepping down on the gas, sending the Widowmaker straight for the Revelator.
The two trucks were now barreling towards each other the four hundred feet distance fast, his walkie crackled again, someone on the team commenting on the plan or trying to dissuade him from doing what he was doing, put Rook didn't care he was to absorbed by the Revelator, it infuriated him to know such a machine roamed the roads, terrorizing and intimidating anyone that wasn't peggie, how could John commission such a thing? Why would Joseph sign off on it, and the people hanging on the sides was a unspeakable act of cruelty, this monstrosity needed to go, not because it would be a blow to Eden's Gate but it would be morally incorrect to leave it undestroyed, and it didn't help that the Revelator was an embodiment of everything John stood for and it relit the fire in him.
"Dude!" Jess angry voice came, accompanied with a punch to the shoulder.
"What!?" Rook barked, glancing over her for a second.
"Deputy! What are your intentions?!" Jerome yelled over her person.
"I'm going to save the people!" Rook yelled back.
But in truth, Rook had no idea how to save them aside from making the Revelator stop with a life or death game of chicken. And that was better than nothing.
Sticking to his guns, he didn't alter his course, instead he just pressed down on the gas, headed straight for the Revelator with anger in his eyes and a fire in his heart.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Jess yelled again.
"Making them stop!" Rook said boldly as he pressed down further on the gas.
With the newly added acceleration, the space between the two vehicles rapidly closed, the previously four hundred feet shrank down to two in a matter of seconds, the Revelator honked its horn a few times, the deep bellowing echoing throughout the area. For some reason the front facing heavy machine gun affixed right above the driver's cabin did not open fire, Rook could see the peggie manning it, but he remained motionless somehow, it could have been he was stunned by Rook's boldness, but the peggie was not the only one, the closer the two trucks got, the more nervous Jess and Jerome also got.
"I highly doubt that close proximity will make these guns more effective!" Jerome yelled as he began adjusting toggles and buttons on the dashboard.
"Dude, for real, what the fuck?!" Jess yelled as she grabbed a handful of Rook's shirt, the area that covered his shoulder.
Rook didn't respond, his flippancy from silence to interpretive comments was really getting on Jess's nerves, Rook was acting the same way when they stormed the geothermal park sometime last week or something, he got all worked up and kept charging forward with no plan or regard for himself, his duty as he put it was going to get him, and them killed.
"Benjamin, please reconsider your options!" Jerome yelled as he slammed his hands on the little open space on the dashboard, not out of anger, but out of fear as he stared out the windshield.
Jess looked away from the ever-infuriating Boy Scout and also looked out the windshield to see the two-hundred-foot space between them and the Revelator had quickly become one hundred, then fifty then thirty, and closing fast.
Then the Revelator honked again, a long, deep, resounding noise, the driver blasted the horn all the way until they were a handful of meters away from one another, but before the two big rigs collided, Rook wrenched the wheel to the left, slamming on the brakes. Causing the Widowmaker to slide to a screeching halt around the Revelator and almost off the road entirely, causing Jerome to yell in fear, if not for the size of the big rig, the Widowmaker would have easily done a one eighty off the road, thankfully the impressive brakes of the machine left them at an angle on the road as the Revelator blew passed them, unchallenged and nothing stopping it from entering town, ten or so minutes away.
"What the fuck! I'm not even wearing a seat belt!" Jess yelled as she punched Rook's arm a few times.
"Benjamin! What in God's name was that, are you trying to get us killed, if your thought you could scare them into stopping, then please calm down and think again, they have the defense to stop us!" Jerome screamed, almost leaning over Jess to yell at him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Rook barked; he knew his anger got the better of him and clouded his judgment, but how did they expect him to react when he saw the Revelator in person? besides, it wasn't like they were contributing to save the victims, they just wanted to kill them because it was easier.
"Is everything ok?!" Nick's very concerned voice came through Rook's walkie.
Rook quickly pulled out the walkie and spoke into it.
"Everything's fine" Rook angrily said quickly into his walkie before putting it back.
"Deputy! There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity! Please remember you are not the only one in this vehicle!" Jerome yelled.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it! I get it!" rook yelled as he stomped on the gas again, forcing the truck forward
As Rook did that, he yanking the wheel as hard as he could to turn the truck and keep it on the road, once the truck was parallel with the road again, he really pushed down on the gas, giving chase to the rolling death machine.
Thanks to the Revelator being so big, it meant it moved substantially slower then Rook's ride, making it quite easy for him to catch up with the vehicular menace, but as they got five meters away from the Revelator, Rook and his cohorts could see what was on the back on the Revelator, there was a seventh person tied to the death machine; a woman, just like the rest, shirtless and chained up against the thick metal armor, cut up and abused, various sins tattooed to her, she looked like the epitome of terrified.
Rook wanted to yell out to her, to tell her she was going to be OK, that everything would be OK, but before Rook could do anything, the Widowmaker's hood became alight with sparks as a heavy machine gun was affixed to the rear of the armored tanker, allowing the Peggie manning it to fire down upon the big rig behind them.
"Goddammit!" Rook yelled as he slammed on the breaks again before shaking the wheel left and right, making the Widowmaker slide all over the road, hoping none of the bullets would shatter the windshield. And as Rook tried his best to protect the big rig, Jerome leaned quickly forward in his seat.
"Let's see if I can resolve this!" Jerome cried as he began furiously manipulating the many buttons and switches along the large dashboard, not acknowledging the woman in front of him.
The second he finished speaking, he flipped a single toggle and the Widowmaker's machine guns opening up, firing straight forward, but the gunfire barely hit as Rook's repeated swerving of truck made it difficult for anything to hit, but when the two big rigs lined up, the large caliber bullets slamming into one of the Revelator's heavy metal plating's, just below the woman, causing a shower of sparks to jump up and bathe the her feet, causing her to scream once more.
Seeing the woman freak out, Rook needed to make it stop.
"NO!" Rook yelled as he jerked the wheel extra hard to keep bullets from hitting anywhere near the helpless woman.
"Stop firing!" Rook ordered, extending a hand to Jerome.
"What?" Jerome replied, confused to why he would give such an order.
"Dude! Seriously just deal with the problem!" Jess yelled at Rook.
"Hey, what the hell is going on down there!?" Addie's voice came from Rook's walkie.
Rook wanted to answer and coordinate an attack on the peggies manning the gun but found he was to busy making sure Jerome didn't kill the poor girl, so instead he dumped the duty on Jess.
"Here, you deal with it!" Rook cried as he quickly scooped up the walkie off his lap and tossed it to Jess.
"What!? fuck, fine!" Jess spat as she fumbled with it before bringing it to her mouth.
"Fuckin' shoot the truck!" Jess yelled into the walkie.
"What, no think of the people on the truck!" Rook yelled at her, but it was to late.
"You got it, Hun!" Addie responded.
"Jesus Jess, what the hell did you do!?" Rook yelled, trying his best to stare at the Revelator and keeping Addie's helicopter in view.
"I'm dealing with the problem!" Jess yelled back.
Rook wanted to yell something back at Jess, but before he did, he looked up to see Addie's helicopter slightly tilt to the side as a RPG launched from its side, angles downwards and towards the Revelator, with a mix of fear and anger, Rook watched the rocket descended to the ground at an tremendous speed, then as quick as it came, the rocket hit the ground a few meters ahead of the Revelator, causing a thick black smoke plume rose from the newly formed crater, despite that, the Revelator did not change its course, instead it sped up and drove over the hole in the asphalt, causing the vehicle to bounce as it's wheels went over it, and in turn causing all the chains and the victims ensnared in them to bounce and shake.
"Tell them to stop!" Rook ordered as he swerved around the newly made pothole and pulled up to the Revelator's seven O'clock.
Due to the position they were in correlation to the death machine, the rear facing gunner could not shoot anything of importance, an effective waste of bullets.
"Hit it with whatever ya got!" Jess cried into the walkie.
"Jess! Christ what are you doing?!" Rook yelled as his hand shot out, trying to grab the walkie from her.
But before he could get the walkie, Jess quickly passed it over to Jerome.
"Begin your attack on the Revelator" Jerome ordered.
"Guys, what the hell?! We gotta try to save them first" Rook cried in anger.
"And we have failed, Deputy, now it's time to save everyone in the county!" Jerome returned as the sound of Nick's helicopter grew louder and louder.
Rook wanted to yell at his traitorous friends more but couldn't as a shadow eclipsed the Revelator, and then the booming of gunfire.
Nick's plane opened fire, raining down a haze of high caliber bullets, just the same as the guns attached to the Revelator, Nick had ample time to line up his shot, the rear facing gunner had no where to hide, nothing to protect himself with, meaning he was dead within seconds of Nick beginning his first strafing run, causing the body to go limp and fall off the side of the machine. As Nick got closer and closer to the machine, he pulled up to maximize the spread of bullets, sending to trails of bullets up the spine of the tanker, most of the bullets plinking of the metal armour, but before Nick could reach the other end of the tanker, he pulled back up and away so he could swoop around for another strafing run as he was in danger of slamming into the tanker, but as Nick pulled away, the front facing heavy machine gun swiveled and turned to get an angle on the retreating aircraft and began firing at Nick, making him juke and dip as he put distance from the machine.
But the Revelator's counterattack was short lived as Addie's helicopter swooped down from it's three O'clock, almost lining up with the driver's cabin, the gunner wrenched his right so he could repel the enclosing helicopter, but before he could, a thick jet of continuous fire erupted from the open side of the helicopter like a dragon breathing potent fire, the helicopter began to pull back slightly so Sharky could hit the man with his flamethrower, slowly drifting backwards and closer to the man, and quickly leaving the gunner's effective range.
"Welcome to the disco, Kemosabe!" Sharky yelled as his fire got closer and closer to the man.
But as the gunner was quickly developing a thick layer of sweat from the intense fire, the Revelator suddenly and harshly drifted to the far left across the road, so far to the left that it's left most tires went off the asphalt and in the shoulder of the road. Despite the Revelator and helicopter having almost an entire road between them, Addie slowly brought her helicopter closer to the big rig again so her nephew could activate his flamethrower again, but as the helicopter drifted over the center line, angling the craft so it was in line with the gunner, the Revelator harshly veered to the right, pulling back onto the road and slid to the other side as far as it could, it didn't take a genius to figure out the driver was trying to slam the Revelator into the helicopter, like swatting a fly, the armour plating made the task trivial. Thankfully Addie was a better pilot then she appeared as she was able to also veer to the right to narrowly avoid any collision, but the helicopter almost flipped sideways from pulling so hard to the right. Rook, who watched the spectacle from behind, couldn't imagine what he'd do if he saw any of his friends fall out of the tilted helicopter.
In order to recover from almost flipping her helicopter, Addie had to pull her craft away from the road and re-stabilize her equilibrium, essentially breaking off from the fight, leaving only the Widowmaker, in hot pursuit of the rolling menace, chasing right behind it.
"Alright, this is our time to strike, do not let off the pressure!" Jerome commanded boldly, his gunnery sergeant persona from years past resurfacing slowly.
"Nonlethally!" Rook countered equally as he was sick of no one listening to him.
But yet again, his voice feel on deaf ears as both Jess and Jerome began manipulating all the switches, causing the machine guns on the Widowmaker to fire once more, sending a hail of large bullets at the rear of the Revelator.
Once more, a shower of sparks flew from where they hit on the armor plating, bathing the helpless woman's feet in sparks.
"Jesus guys!" Rook barked as he pulled to the side of the tanker and sped up the trucks were somewhat parallel.
"The fuck, Dude?!" Jess cried, looking over to the Junior Deputy that was ruining their attack.
"Climb over me and jump to the Revelator, free the people!" Rook ordered.
"Fuck that, I ain't no action hero!" Jess replied angrily.
"Benjamin, if you keep us intercepting us, we will lose Falls End, and I can not let that happen, if you continue this, I will take matters into my own hands!" Jerome threatened loudly.
Hearing that, made Rook hesitate for a second, he couldn't fathom how the pastor would deal with him if he kept up his rescue act, he understood what he was saying, Falls End would lost if they failed, but he couldn't just kill innocent people.
Then the Revelator shifted across the road once more, swooping from one side of the road to the other, seeing this, Rook gasped as the Widowmaker was going to be hit as the truck moved across the road, it was a clear attempt the Revelator was trying to ram them off the road again, trying to save himself, Rook stomped on the brakes and turned into the incoming tanker to prepare for the impact as he could not brake fast enough.
The two big rigs collided, a wave of sparks and metal chips flew from both vehicles as they grinded against each other for the few seconds they struck, the rolling menaced pushed the Widowmaker across the road and almost into a ditch, but due to the size, weight, speed and counter force from the Widowmaker, it also suffered, causing the big rig to almost slide to an obscene angle as the big rig itself went one way and the tanker was pushed a different way. With all this happening, the Revelator also braked to recover itself, allowing Rook to fall back to a safe distance while the truck took back the road, swerving and veering all along the road, going back and forth across the road repeatedly like a slithering snake. The Revelator and the tanker attached to it was quite heavy making it very hard to even out and regain control of the vehicle, the many thick, metal plates adding to the weight.
"Holy shit, y'all ok down there?!" Addie's voice cried from Rook's walkie.
"Yeah, we're fine, keep doing your thing!" Jerome ordered.
"Tell her to be careful!" Rook ordered.
But Jerome did no such thing, he just went back to adjusting the dashboard switches with Jess as the sounds of Addie's helicopter grew louder and louder, then, a spray of heavy bullets rained down from the sky as Addie's helicopter quickly swooped over the truck horizontally, her bullets barely missing the people affixed to the tanker before passing over to swoop back around.
"Fucking Christ, how thick are those metal pieces?" Jess grumbled angrily as Addie's second fly by did no visible damage to the tanker.
"We need a new approach" Jerome replied sighing desperately.
Rook didn't add anything to what was being said, he knew they were running out of time and road; it wasn't long before they neared Falls End, it wasn't helping him come up with a way to save the victims, if anything it was making it worse.
"Well what do you wanna do, wave a fuckin' olive branch and hope they buy it?" Jess snapped.
"There is no need for snide comments, if you actually have an idea, I would very much like to hear it" Jerome responded as analyzed the Revelator.
"If our Boy Scout here doesn't have idea, there's no way in fuck do I got one, just keep shooting it while the pilots do there thing" Jess offered.
"Well it clearly isn't working!" Jerome snapped.
"Then do something different, I don't fuckin' know, ram the damn thing off the road or something, it's a truck not a tank" Jess groused.
"Just please… be quiet for a few moments and let me think" Jerome grunted as he leaned forward a little bit more over the control panels to get a better look at the big rig in front of them.
"What if we just, force them to turn, like away from town or something?" Rook asked frantically.
"They would just push us off the road" Jerome countered quickly.
"Dammit!" Rook shouted unexpectedly.
"If we remain calm, we will figure something out, just humor me, Deputy" Jerome almost begged.
"Then do something, I need to drive" Rook snapped.
Jerome grumbled something under his breath as he continued to lean over the dashboard and peer at the Revelator, staring at it for a weakness, leaving the cabin in a heavy silence as with each passing second, more tension built as they were getting closer to town, and after a few moments of silence, Jerome spoke up.
"Look there!" Jerome exclaimed, pointing over Jess, at the Revelator.
The two others in the cabin, turned their heads to see what Jerome saw, and quickly discovered that one of the metal plates that protected the back right tire was peeled back, presumably from when the two vehicles smashed against each other, a dark liquid dripped sporadically from the tanker, right above the exposed tire.
"That's how we will stop the vehicle" Jerome declared.
"What do you what me to do?" Rook asked.
"Line us up so we can shoot the tire" Jerome answered.
"Now that I can do" Rook responded as he began to line up his truck with the one in front of him.
The second the two big rigs lined up again, Jess and Jerome began activated the on board weapons, causing more bullets to shoot from the front of their vehicle, but due to the remaining armor and angle of both big rigs, no damage could be done to the wheel.
"Son of a bitch!" Rook uncharacteristically barked in anger.
"Calm down Deputy, we need to remain calm if we are to win" Jerome said quickly, trying to calm Rook.
"What we need is to stop this damn truck and free the victims!" Rook declared.
"Yes, we know" Jess groaned in annoyance, sick and tired of listening to the broke record that was Rook.
"What we need a better angle" Jess commented as she brought Rook's walkie to her mouth.
"Yo Rye, where you at?" Jess asked into the walkie.
"I'm coming back around now, what's up?" Nick replied almost instantly.
"The back-right tire is vulnerable, shoot the shit out of it!" Jess ordered.
"You got it, Lady" Nick replied before the walkie clicked off.
Then a few moments later, Nick's plane engine grew louder and louder before swooping down low over the Revelator just like Addie had, and in the few seconds he was lined in with the tire, he opened fire, the rattling of his heavy machine guns booming like thunder, unloading its payload into the specified target. Bullets bombarded the area around the uncovered tire, a fountain of sparks flew from the targeted area, but a few bullets did actually hit its mark, popping the rubber wheel and igniting the building stains of oil that dripped from the tanker. Causing the newly ignited flames to slowly spread, it began to stretch up along the side of the tanker, the people chained to the rear of the tanker began to squirm as the fire was so close to them. The Revelator as a whole began to wobble on the road as some control was lost with the missing wheel.
"Thank goodness, it looks like it's working!" Jerome cried.
"We ain't out of the woods just yet" Jess replied.
Rook wanted to also join him on pre-emptively celebrating but out of the corner of his eye, he could see something that kept his wound nerves frayed, in the distance was Falls end.
"We need to stop the Revelator now!" Rook loudly declared.
Then the walkie crackled to life.
"Hey, town is literally right there, we gotta end this now!" Nick said.
"We know" Jess groaned into the walkie.
"So, what's the plan?" Nick asked.
"We don't have one" Jess sighed in annoyance.
"Y'know my plane has a few bombs on board, I could drop one on the truck, that could end it" Nick offered.
"Tell him that's not happening" Rook ordered.
"Then how do you plan to stop the truck?" Jess asked.
"I don't friggin' know, OK!" Rook snapped in anger, getting sick of going in circles with his friends.
"I don't know how to save the people chained to the truck! I don't know how to make everything ok; I don't know how to save everyone!" Rook yelled in frustration.
"Then we must sacrifice the few to save the many!" Jerome argued.
"We can't just kill of our own people; we need to be better than the peggies" Rook countered.
"Benjamin, I know your not ok with killing the innocent, neither am I, this will haunt me as well, but we have no choice, to win this war we need to be willing to make sacrifices, it is just as Hurk said before we left the bar, there are no hero's or villain's in war, only winners or losers, and Benjamin we need to win" Jerome said, trying to bring Rook around.
Rook wanted to agree with Jerome, a part of him knew he was right, but the rest of him that was developed over his time on the force screamed there was a way to save the victims, he just needed to be better to see the way how, and it infuriated him.
"What if we get some of the townsfolk to prepare some attack for the Revelator or something, they'll be facing the driver's cabin so they could just unload on it?" Rook tried to argue.
"The armor is to thick, they will all be killed either by the large cowcatcher or by the gunner above, remember?" Jerome retorted.
"What if we send Addie and Nick to help them?" Rook beseeched.
"Benjamin I'm sorry but we have no other choice" Jerome said somberly as the situation allowed.
"But what if we, we, we, we, we-" Rook began to stammer his he felt himself losing the fight with his friends.
"Your out of ideas, Dude, don't worry about it, we're a few steps ahead of you" Jess groaned, as restlessly rolled the walkie in her hands.
"We can't just give up and kill our own" Rook repeated.
"Fuck this!" Jess groaned, sick of listening to Rook's bullshit.
"Bomb the shit out of it!" Jess yelled into the walkie.
"I hear ya loud and clear!" Nick responded before the walkie clipped off.
Rook was silent after Jess gave the order, stunned that she would just give the order to kill seven people the way she did, he wanted to argue more but found he didn't have the strength, all he could do was slow the Widowmaker, so he was clear from the blast zone, and then, Nick's plane swooped down low, much lower than previously, and the second it lined up with the Revelator, he dropped the bomb.
Time seemed to move in slow motion to Rook as it all happened, he could see the bomb doors on the Carmina open and the long cylindrical tube that made up the bomb casing fell from the craft and descended on a crash course straight for the Revelator, he could see as the bomb exploded the second it touched the Revelator, the ensuing explosion tearing up the metal hull and igniting the gasoline in the big rig, creating a duel explosion that almost engulfed the entire truck, he could see the screaming, terrified faces of the horrified people tied to the Revelator as they were incinerated by the heat, fire and shrapnel.
Seeing it all made Rook stomp on the brakes harder and brought the Widowmaker to a halt, not taking his eyes off the ruins of the death machine. Once the big rig came to a stop, Rook slowly climbed out of the driver's cabin, not bothering to turn off the engine. With shaking legs, he took a few uneasy steps towards the burning wreak that once quite possibly the biggest threat in the valley excluding John. And with it gone, the valley was a hell of a lot safer now.
But Rook didn't feel any freer, standing there, thirty feet away from the burning wreck, watching the metal melt and twist and the bodies burn and char, Rook felt disgusted, disgusted in himself for what he let happen. He had essentially killed some of the very people he promised to protect, now he felt like just another monster that lurked in the valley, murdering and ruining anything that wasn't him, he didn't even try to stop his friends from killing them, he just gave up, what made him even more sick was he wasn't sure if he didn't do anything because he knew deep down it was right to do what was done, or because he knew he couldn't stop them.
Was he even still worthy of the title; Junior Deputy?
"You smell that?" Jess asked, suddenly appearing next to Rook, also staring into the crackling fire.
"You never forget that sickly sweet smell of burning bodies" she said emotionlessly.
Rook then felt a sensation in his left hand like something was wrapping around it, confused, he looked down to see for some reason Jess had intertwined her hand with his and held on tightly, unsure of why she would possibly do this, he looked up at her to see something not even he expected; she was afraid, she was looking into the fire with a clenched jaw and hardened, fearful eyes, she was shaking ever so slightly, she was trying her best not to let the fear out.
Rook didn't need to ask if she was alright, he knew the Cook was haunting her. He couldn't blame her for what she felt, underneath all the self loathing and anger, he was terrified too. He was scared of what the future would hold.
Neither of them didn't say anything after that, the two just watched the fire in silence as they held hands for a few moments as their friend's aircrafts circle hundreds of feet above them.
Then Jerome cautiously approached the pair.
"Benjamin, are you alright?" He asked tentatively, and arm outstretched as he was unsure if was wise to touch the man.
But Rook only offered a dull grunt as a response.
"Ok Deputy take a minute to gather yourself and we'll head back to town, I'll be waiting in Mary's truck" Jerome offered carefully before turning back to the aforementioned vehicle.
"This was the right thing to do, you know that, right?" Jess finally said, sounding a little more confident again.
But Rook gave another dull grunt as a response.
"Come on, let's go, no point in us hanging around here" Jess said, letting go of his hand, and replacing her hand with his walkie she still clung too, before turning and walking back to the Widowmaker.
But Rook didn't move, he still watched the fire burn, for a few more moments, replaying what happened in his mind over and over again, especially the faces of the now indistinguishable people as Jess climbed into the big rig, then his walkie crackled to life once more.
"Jesus, I heard that boom from all the way over here… I can't believe you did it" Mary beamed in a newfound sense of safety and amazement.
"Ben, I… Shit, everyone owes you a debt we can't ever repay, our roads, our valley is so much safer now because of you" Mary praised with affection.
"I didn't do it alone, I had a crack team by my side, without them I couldn't have done it" Rook replied grimly, finally steeling himself into speaking.
"But you motivated them into doing it, without you hard work, no one would be brave enough to step up and did what they did!" Mary beamed.
"Yeah…" Rook replied gruffly.
"I know we have you running all over but… it you ever want to blow off some steam for a few hours… maybe swing by my place after I'm done at the bar… Don't be a stranger, ok?" Mary implored.
Rook didn't respond this time, instead he just stared down at the walkie in disbelief, how could Mary just congratulate him for murdering her figurative neighbors, he understood it was for the greater good but she, nor, Jerome or really anyone for that matter showed any guilt or remorse for what they had done, had his friends become just as accustom to murder as the peggies were, did they truly have no problem killing anyone that proposed a problem to their cause?
Rook didn't like the train of thought he was going down, he wanted to just shove it in a box deep down within him like so many other things but he felt this was one thing he just couldn't stomach..
"Hey, you coming or what?" Jess called out.
Rook turned see Jess hanging out of the driver seat, waiting for him to get in the truck so they could return home.
"Uh… yeah" Rook muttered be reattaching the walkie to his waist and shuffled over to the truck to head home.
Gordon watched the Junior Deputy from the treeline hundreds of feet away, watching him from the scope of his sniper rifle, training it on Rook, center mass, he watched Rook look at his walkie talkie as if it was going to do depressing magic tricks.
The peggie leader heavily weighed his options on if he should pull the trigger or not, he told the Junior Deputy he'd kill him the next chance he got but john said bring him back if possible, which he intended to do but if he did shoot, what would happen, would go right threw the Deputy, center mass, would God truly allow it? Would the gun jam, would the bullet miraculously hit nothing vital, would he move out of the way unknowingly?
Gordon never truly believed what Joseph foretold about the Deputy, deep, deep down was a kernel of doubt, one he shoved down when he found a place to belong, after being dishonorably discharged from the army a few years ago, it left him destitute, the military was the only place he felt belonging and without it, he drifted, looking for something to fill that void.
And that's when he stumbled onto Eden's Gate, after awaking from another drunken stupor in his apartment he discovered a pamphlet for something called Eden's Gate had been shoved in one of his pockets at some point the night before.
And with nothing better to do he checked it out, and what he saw was unreal, what he heard Joseph Seed say made so much sense everything seemed to fall into place after that, it was like he was on the path he needed to be, to hear Joseph Seed, Gordon sighed on as soon as he could and was a good little follower as Eden's Gate grew and grew, it grew so large that when he heard Jacob declare the Project needed people to protect the weaker members, he sprung at the chance to sign up, walked right up to Jacob and almost begged him, and sure enough, Jacob took him under his wing.
He climbed the ranks fast, from guard to soldier to officer to a leader, it made him feel complete again.
He felt like he belong on Earth again.
He even worked with Jacob himself on a few projects, but that prolonged exposure to the man showed even Jacob showed signs of minor disbelief in what his brother said, it only rebuffed his thoughts of doubt, but as the Joseph began talking more and more about a white horse, Jacob ordered him follow John to a tee and John ordered absolute devotion to whatever Joseph said.
So if he fired would he even kill the man?
Then the man situated a few feet behind him spoke up.
"So, uh… y'gonna take th' shot?" Frank asked, gingerly, shuffling towards him a little bit.
But Gordon remained silent, he continued to look down the scope of his weapon for a few seconds longer before slowly pulling himself away from the scope.
"No… no point, his buddies are all around him, even if I shoot, we're dead" Gordon lied.
In truth he just didn't want to shoot, he was too conflicted, Jacob would have wanted him to shoot but John and above all; Joseph told him not too.
"Then let's leave before we are noticed then, report to John, mission failure, the Revelator is gone" Emily said, talking a few steps forward like Frank, but more confidently.
"I have a feeling he already know what happened" Gordon said with a sigh as he pointed the sniper rifle towards the ground.
"Come on, let's return to the Ranch, we'll try again tomorrow" he sighed angrily as he began walking towards the car, a few dozen yards away by the treeline.
Emily and Frank watched the man skulk along the trees towards the car the arrived in, as Gordon put distance between them, Frank turned to Emily in confusion.
"So uh, what was his plan again, weren't we supposed ta' kill him?" Frank asked.
The Spread-Eagle bar was alight as a small party was going on inside, people inside were celebrating the destruction of the Revelator, with it gone, the valley was entering a new era of freedom as the bulk of John's authority was being stripped away. Everyone who had helped in the big rig's destruction and a few more people were there having drinks and making jokes as the juke box played in the corner, trying to relax after a day's hard work, despite it being hardly passed one in the afternoon. And everyone was having a genuinely good all things considering, all except for Rook.
While everyone moved around the bar and sat in groups, drinking, Rook sat in one of the corners of the room, head dipped down and arms folded and rested on the table with one and a half empty pints before him. He couldn't fathom why they were celebrating as they did, just like everyday before this day, people were dead by various ways and it was just another day on the farm for him. He couldn't push himself to join the various groups and crack jokes like they were, he couldn't bring himself to lambast them for celebrating the deaths of their comrades, he was emotionally and mentally tired, all he could do was drowned his woes in a few pints, and since he rarely drank, he could feel the one and a half pints kick in, making him a little drowsy. It was clear he didn't want to be bothered, but Jess, who indifferently watched the party from the other side of the room, didn't care, she didn't care that the Boy Scout looked like he had to put down his dog.
Seeing the Boy Scout wallow in his regret made her cross the room and talk to him, his state was a far cry from his usual self and left unchecked, he could be like this for a while.
"Sup" Jess greeted casually as she sat down in one of the chairs at Rook's table.
Rook was unresponsive aside from a grunt of acknowledgment.
"So, what a party, huh?" Jess said uncomfortably as she was not comfortable in such environments.
Again, Rook made a grunt of acknowledgment.
"So, Mister I-love-music-so-much, what song is playing on the juke box" Jess asked, tilting her head to the jukebox.
"Here I go again by Whitesnake" Rook sighed.
"Yeah… right" Jess said awkwardly as she was no good at small talk or if he was even right or not.
With Jess's inability to casually conversate and Rook's unresponsiveness, left the two uncomfortable silent, and Jess hated it, she really disliked the whole talking thing, she much preferred just doing her own thing, but since the Boy Scout was upset, she had to do something, she couldn't just leave her only actual friend hanging, and if she did, Mary might come along and sink her hooks further into him, which Jess couldn't stand.
So, Jess bit the bullet and said what she wanted to say.
"You know a fuck ton of people woulda died if we didn't do what we did" Jess asked.
"Yeah" Rook sighed.
"Listen for the sake of time and to keep us from going in circles yet again, you can't keep blaming yourself for every little death that happens on your watch, you can't save every one so why bother trying?" Jess supposed.
"Because that's why I'm here, I need to try to help everyone I can, no matter how little of chance they have at survival, I am a Junior Deputy, I must serve and protect, I have to try no matter what" Rook explained with defeated groan.
Hearing that, he reminded Jess of her brother; Scott, how desperate he was to change what was going on around him no matter how little control he actually had, despite his hard demeaner he was soft and always tried to see the best in a situation.
"You remind me of my brother, you know?" Jess said somberly.
"What do you mean?" Rook asked, perking up a little in curiosity.
"I don't know, you just… your so dead set on your goals, no matter what your just going to keep going until you reach your goal, just like… Scott, you both were pretty fuckin' stubborn, I can't get either of you to do fuck all, like this one time, he-" Jess rambled on as her eyes wandered around the bar, looking at whatever she could to relieve her anxiety.
She wasn't a fan of crowds, especially in enclosed spaces like the bar, so she needed to do something to distract herself, but the second she looked back over at the Boy Scout, she stopped talking, looking into his big blue, curious eyes made her realize she was about to start talking about her brother again, something she refused to talk about, but it put Jess on guard, over the passed few days the Boy Scout was developing a habit of pulling things out of her without her being aware of it. If she hadn't looked at him, she would have begun talking about how Scott would concoct overly complicated plans to rescue his phone from his teacher's desk drawer after getting it justly confiscated or come up with a way to cheer his sister up when she was feeling down no matter his odds.
And she missed it.
She missed the normalcy of watching Scott drop the ball when it came to talking to girls or picking fights with people smaller then him, she even missed how she would chase him around the house whenever something of hers mysteriously went missing until their parents dealt with them.
Then Rook spoke up, pulling her out of her head.
"So how has your search for him anyways?" he asked.
"The same as always" Jess replied depressingly, refocusing on him.
"I'm sure you'll find him… he's out there somewhere, I'll help you find him when I can" Rook offered.
"Yeah… thanks" Jess muttered, leaning back in her chair, adjusting the hood on her head.
"Fuck, man" she moaned.
"He uh… he must be hiding real good if I can't find him after this long, maybe I should have been a better person... then maybe he wouldn't've run away like he did" Jess said before making letting out a single defeated chuckle.
"Could you imagine me being a good sister though?" Jess asked with a single sarcastic laugh.
"If I ruined my brother that bad, could you imagine how bad I'd ruin a kid if I had one for whatever fucking reason?" Jess proposed.
"I'm sure you'll do fine once you get the hang of it" Rook offered.
"Nawh, that kid would be hated by everyone" Jess believed.
"But hey, you know me, why the fuck would I have a kid let alone let a guy get up in me" Jess tried to joke.
"Why are you here, Jess?" Rook groaned impatiently, cutting her off from another tangent.
"Big groups like this aren't your scene, so why are you hanging around here?" he asked.
Jess sat on her chair in silence as she thought of what she wanted to say, half stunned by his brazen question and half left in thought as he brain formed sentences, she wasn't lying when she told him he reminded her of her brother, she just didn't expand on her idea, nor did she want to, doing so would mean showing vulnerability, especially around other people, and she hated it. But everyone around her besides Rook was steadily getting sloshed, so maybe it was ok to just tell the Boy Scout, he never said anything negative to her, well intentionally anyways, so why would he start now?
"Scott… he is a fucking weirdo, but he always tried his best to be normal… to fit in, and yeah sure we didn't have the best life with our parents always fighting and being unemployed and whatever but… he always found a way to be happy about something, even if he was up to no good, always smiling, and no matter what happened he always looked on the bright side of things, even if that thing only benefited him for better or for worse… he was trying not to be not be a piece of shit like me" Jess tried her best to explain, before sighing in in futility.
"What I'm trying to say is since you remind me of him… you make me feel normal… whatever that is" she sighed.
Rook sat in his chair, looking at the hooded woman next to him at the table, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, he actually understood where Jess was coming from in this instance, she just wanted to feel normal again, to go back to her normal before peggies, before Joseph, before well, anything, she just wanted to be a normal girl again. And Rook understood, he wanted to feel normal too, a day where he didn't have to kill someone or fight for his life, it almost sounded like a dream, he just wanted to go home and listen to the music that meant a lot to him, to crush his friends in fighting games again at the barcade, to go back to writing up parking tickets and taking drunks to the drunk tank.
And in some strange way, Jess made him feel normal too, she freely spoke her mind, calling things out if they were bullshit or unfair, she always let people know what she thought, and Rook relied on it. The things she voiced relating to fighting peggies and how people were treating him feel in line with how he felt deep down, now more then ever but never admitted it as he would feel uncomfortable to do so. And hearing Jess voice similar things to what he thought meant he wasn't crazy; he wasn't blowing it out of proportion and making things a bigger deal then they needed to be. She was someone he could truly count on.
"I understand what you mean" Rook said softly as he leaned forward in his seat.
By now, Jess had had fidgeted and shifted in her seat since she sat down at Rook's table. A subtle tell she was telling the truth as her uncomfortableness shown through. And how she sat now was exactly like Rook; hunched forward in her seat with her hands pressed against the table, palms down.
Rook looked down at her tanned hands, marred with faded nicks and marks here and there, muscular yet lean, hands that had seen a lot of labor.
As he examined his friend next to him, thinking on what she had just said and what he knew of her, she started to look less like an angry woman with a killing obsession and more like a scared and hurt woman, lashing out to protect herself, a woman who was starved of affection.
Nervously, his hand inched forward towards hers, he didn't know what to expect, she held his had a little while ago when the Revelator burned so maybe he'd be cool with him holding her hand, he only wanted to let her know he was there for her, and to let her know she was unknowingly there for him, but didn't know what combination of words to use, or if she'd even listen.
Once their hands were mere inches from each other, Rook gently and uneasily pushed his hand forward and wrapped his fingers around hers, as he did, her fingers twitched slightly, all five moving millimeters left for right until they were all lined up next to each other before clenching her hand, firmly holding on to her Boy Scout's hand, all the while, staring forward with the same steely, scowling gaze she always had, visibly unaffected to what was happening, making her true feelings unknowable.
With Jess's hand now resting comfortably in Rook's grasp, they sat there in silence, they didn't need to say anything, neither of them was eloquent in their words so why try, instead, they just accepted their silent connection. Neither of them knew how much time passed after that, but they didn't care, they just sat there and held onto each other as if was the only thing of importance in the world.
John sat on the floor, knees tucked under him and head dipped downward, he was shirtless and shaking.
He was not shaking due to low temperatures in his private room within his bunker, but because Joseph himself stood before him, in the process of disciplining John for his failures. Joseph spent nearly all his time in his church at the county's center, deep in prayer, hoping, listening for a word from God, and for him to stop and travel all the way to John's bunker unannounced, meant something serious was going on, and John knew exactly why his brother was here, it was because of the Revelator and the state of the valley, and what Joseph was saying about it was not good.
As John knelt in front of his brother, nearly all his fingertips bled, before Joseph entered the room, John was left to his own devices while he waited for his brother, he knew of course what Joseph wanted to talk about was going to be anything but good, leaving him to sit in the room by himself, making his anxiety rise and boil over, leaving him to chew excessively on his fingertips until they bled, it was a nervous tick he had not indulged in since he was a child at the mercy of his overly religious parents, he had not bit his fingertips since he had discovered the power of yes. But now a simple yes would not save him from Joseph. His brother had told him time and time again to get the valley straightened out and convince the Junior Deputy into seeing what they were doing was just.
And now with the Revelator gone, control over the road was truly impossible, more and more outposts were being taken and the resistance was becoming more organized by the day, and want was left of his flock's morale was dropping even further.
At this point, to say he had failed was understatement.
Despite Joseph's passiveness, he could be very willing to dole out punishments when needed, but never needlessly cruel, so unlike his brothers.
"Are you listening to me, John?" Joseph asked sternly.
"Yes, Father" John answered quickly, head still bowed as he was to afraid to meet his brother's gaze.
Joseph clenched his jaw, he wanted to be properly angry at his brother, but he knew he needed to be the example his Project needed, to not let his wrath bubble to the surface and lash out, if he did, he would be no better then the resistance and fought against him, and that was something God would not want.
"I'm sure you can understand why I am setting such a high bar for you?" Joseph asked, grimly.
"Yes, Father" John replied, just the same as before.
Joseph sighed disapprovingly, out of all the things his very charismatic brother could say, yes was not what he wanted to hear.
"You have one, final chance, one last attempt to get your region under control again, you are running low on every possible resource… and nothing to show for it, the Junior Deputy still eludes you, if you cannot do either goal with the week's end… Eden's Gate will be closed to you" Joseph said grimly.
"Yes, Father" John muttered, trying to hide the shame and anger of failing his brother so many times.
But the subtle fluctuations in his voice betrayed his true emotions. But still, Joseph did not like his brother's response to what he said.
He approached his brother and slowly walked around him so he could see his back, and looked down at his tattoo cover back, much like his arms, John's back was covered in various symbols and images, but what Joseph was looking for, was the word wrath stylistically tattooed just below the base of his neck, in line with the shoulder blades.
He took another step towards his brother, so he was in arms length and sharply jabbed a finger onto the W of wrath and begun roughly tracing each individual letter, causing John to wince every time Joseph started on a new letter.
"I really need you to listen to me, John" Joseph said grimly.
"You need to put away your wrath, your pride, your envy, whatever ails you and just do your job" he harshly scolded his brother.
"As the Book of Revelations say; Matthews four twenty-two; But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" Joseph preached.
"Yes, Father, I understand what you need me to do, it will be done, I will make preparations, then I will see to it, the Deputy will be dealt with" John said, head still bowed.
"You know what to do?" Joseph asked.
"I will make him atone for what he has done" John said through grit teeth.
"I trust you are capable of planning the details of such event" Joseph asked, looking down at his brother.
"I will invite him to my ranch and then I will take care of it personally" John implored to his brother.
"Good" Joseph said, taking a step away from his brother.
"I expect to see the Junior Deputy within the next few days then" he said turning to walk towards the door, feeling there was nothing left to be said.
John said nothing as his brother left, he just sat on the floor, motionless, to afraid and angry to do anything, he didn't want to risk raising Joseph's ire anymore, despite his rather passive and relax nature, john had seen fist hand many times just what Joseph could do in his anger and disappointment when people failed time and time again, the dozens of woman named Faith was a testament to his displeasure of failure, but a Faith was one thing, he couldn't replace his brother, his flesh and blood, he couldn't even if he wanted to, it just raised the expectations even hire, and it put a certain anxiety into him, it made him feel like he was that ten year old boy again, being accused and prosecuted by his parents everyday for things he did not do, but this time, there was no power of yes, no teacher to notice his bruises no Jacob to protect him, this time he needed to deal with the problem himself, face to face with the Junior Deputy.
And John knew just how to get the Junior Deputy where he wanted.