Rook was starting to feel a little better.
He wasn't sure how long he and Jess had been holding hands as they sat at the corner table of the bar and he didn't care but if he had to guess, he'd say forty-five minutes, but to him those forty five minutes are the best forty five minutes he had in a while. He savored the connection he was having with her, he couldn't remember the last time he received positive human contact aside from a handshake or pat on the back, and if it was with a woman he deeply trusted, he felt all the more at ease with what he was doing, meters from a group of friends, and if he knew Jess as well as he did, she was probably in the same boat as him.
As the forty five minutes passed and as the party still went on near them, Jess shot up from her seat unexpectantly, claiming the environment of the bar was making her anxiety get the best of her and nearly bolted out of the bar, as she left she seemed almost jumpy, as if afraid to touch anything in her immediate surroundings, leaving Rook to wonder if it had anything to do with them holding hands, for better or for worse. But with Jess gone, it left Rook alone with himself, and his feelings.
But with Jess's departure, also meant the departure of his emotional support, someone who understood him, a hand to hold. Leaving him with a sense of loneliness and sadness as there was nothing to take his mind off of what happened with the Revelator. He didn't know how to shake off how that whole ordeal, he wasn't trained to deal with such cruelty, unsure of what to do now that the warmth that was Jess was gone, he turned his attention to all the friends that helped him stop the rolling menace and a few bar regulars eat and crack wise over a few pints of beer, trying to forget what they had done, seeing them brought back memories of the last time they were all gathered under the bar's roof, which was him yelling at them or not wanting to save the people on the Revelator, he felt bad for yelling at them when they disagreed, he should have been better then that despite how he felt.
For once he felt glad Sheriff Whitehorse was not in the valley as he couldn't imagine how he'd feel if the Sheriff caught wind of his actions.
What was more was that even if he didn't agree with what happened, Rook still like he felt he had to thank everyone for their hard work, they were his friends not his soldiers.
Steeling himself and building the resolve to mingle with the people he yelled at, he got up at forced himself towards the front door as Addie, Hurk and Sharky were leaving much sooner then he anticipated, but then again the party wasn't that big anyways, it was just a dozen or so people around a few tables, drinking and eating nachos as the jukebox played in the corner, a far cry from the minimum from what the Drubman's need to properly cut loose, so instead they retired to their homes, before they left, Rook still able to give them all a firm handshake and a sincere thank you for what they did, all three, heartily told him not to worry about with smiles and laughs, they went on to say they hoped he would call them if he ever needed their help once more, but listening to all of what they had to say, Rook couldn't help but feel that all the smiles and boaster was all for show, underneath, they must have been hurting over what happened out on the roads.
He couldn't blame them for how they felt, now that he had time to think about it, the Drubman's did more then he did, so it was only natural they felt worse than him.
With the family gone, Rook turned his attention to Nick, who also sat alone by himself, but much closer to the small party. When Rook approached Nick and thanked him for what he did, he quickly discovered that Nick was more down in the dumps then he let on when they arrived back at the bar, and now that he was a few pints in, he expressed to Rook that even though what he did was to protect his family and his home, he still felt truly awful for what he did to the people chained to the Revelator, he wished he could have done things Rook's way or even save just the one person, Rook wanted to give him some sort of verbal pat on the back to help him, but he didn't know what to say, how could he help himself if he couldn't help himself, but still, Rook sympathized with him, he knew all too well about the regret and stress of not being able to save a life, Nick then made it clear he just wanted to be left alone for a little bit, it was a notion Rook respected and gave the man his wish and left him be.
With the majority of his friends taken care of, Rook looked over the bar and its occupants, a majority of the town still stayed locked up in their barricaded homes, they expected John to take revenge for his prized big rig by bombing the town with one of his planes, But even Rook disbelieved in that theory, there was no way the bombing of an entire town would reflect well for the cult, and he wasn't the only one that thought that, the few that didn't believe that would happen joined in the small, impromptu party and tried to relax, and among them was Jerome.
Jerome loitered around the bar as his religion forbade him from getting in the same state as the other patrons, Rook felt a little awkward approaching the man and saying what he needed to as he and Jess got the worst of Rook's behaviour, but still he swallowed his pride and whatever else he felt and approached the pastor and promptly shook his hand, not only did he thank him for joining him in the Widowmaker, but he apologized for having to put up with his lack of commitment in fighting the threat that almost killed them and the town, Jerome told him not to worry over his actions and to be sure it wouldn't happen again, but to Rook's surprise, he thanked Rook for his work out there, he went on to say that despite that apparent celebration of the Revelator's destruction, there was countless people who expressed they were disgusted and riled up by John's actions and decision to use humans as shields, it had only been a couple hours since they returned to the bar, but since then news of what happened had spread like fire and the people lost were slowly becoming martyrs, the already healthy resistance was building even further.
Rook was somewhat glad to hear their numbers were growing, but he felt somewhat disgusted that the Revelator was what it took to drive their numbers up, Jerome didn't say to much after that has he wished to keep an eye on everyone present in the bar, copious amounts of alcohol and what transpired today did not seem like a good mixture.
Rook then left the Pastor to his work as he felt he had nothing left to say to him, now that he had properly thanked everyone he waned too, he just wanted to get out of the bar, he wasn't sure when it started but the atmosphere of the bar was getting more and more stifling by the minute, he needed to get outside and get some fresh air, as he turned to leave the establishment, Mary, seemingly desperate to offer him something as he left, was promptly turned down as he pulled open the door and stepped outside.
As Rook was bathed in the midday sun, he knew he didn't want to go home as he had no idea what he'd do until Mary summoned him for another suicidal mission that he would initially decline until something happens, forcing him to take action.
Instead, he retired to Jess's little hideaway she made on top the auto shop next door, as he climbed up the ladder attached to the back of the auto shop and found his footing on the sheet of loose gravel the blanketed the roof, he saw that Jess did not retreat up here as well to try to calm down after leaving the bar, meaning she could now be anywhere in the county, and for some reason that disappointed him.
Putting those feelings aside, Rook walked up to one of the foldable lawn chairs Jess left laying around and sat down in it, tilting his head back and resting his head on the back of the chair, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, despite breathing in the crispy Montana air, he couldn't get the smell of burning gasoline, metal and bodies out of his system.
Jess was right, you never forget that sickly sweet smell of burning corpses.
Feeling exhausted, he opened his eyes and stared up at the beautiful blue, summer sky, clouds dotting the horizon and softly drifting off into the distance.
Watching the clouds go by, Rook couldn't help but feel powerless, he had no idea what he was doing, he wasn't a leader, he was a Junior Deputy, all he could do these days was to shoot to kill, his ability to settle a problem passively was rapidly leaving his realm of possibility, he never really liked to kill in the first place, sure he knew what he was getting into when he signed up, but he wanted to help people, to stop the bad from abusing the good.
Unsure of what to do moving forward, his walkie talkie crackled to life.
"Are you happy now, Deputy, are you satisfied with what you did, was murdering those people really worth it?" John's voice growled from his walkie.
Rook could feel his blood boil at the sound of John's condescending voice.
This motherfucker had the gall to call him and berate him for the deaths of the seven people who had no say in the matter as he had them fastened to the Revelator.
"Excuse me?!" Rook almost yelled into the walkie as soon as he removed it from his belt.
"I didn't murder anyone, you did this, I gave you a choice, I gave you a choice! You could have surrendered yourself into custody safely, like I offered you and those people would still be alive!" Rook almost screamed as his anger came rushing back.
"And there we go again with that wrath, you know, that's going to get you killed, you should really do something about that, you'll be so much better once you do" John said casually as if Rook didn't just yell at him.
Rook ground his teeth in anger over how John treated the lives of others, he showed a sickening indifference to whatever wasn't him or the Project.
"If your calling just to taunt me or gloat about whatever self righteous bullshit that gets you off, then just piss off!" Rook snarled, trying his best not to let the whole town hear him.
"Now hold on a minute Deputy, before you go on another spiel about what you believe in or how things should be just listen to me, listen to me" John said, blowing Rook off.
"So, I'm sure you know I've said time and time again, you will come willingly to me, so, I'm giving you one final chance to do so, Deputy I am at my ranch, you know the one, it's quite close to the Rye and sons-whatever-it's-called, please come on down and let's get down to brass tacks and get to work" John said, charismatically as always, his sudden mood swings just as bizarre.
"Come on down and let's have a face to face, just you and me, one on one, but if you try to sneak in anyone else, I will know, and the town will pay for it and I will leave, you will lose your chance at arresting or killing or whatever you plan to do" John said almost bored or uninterested suddenly.
Despite just being explicitly told to come alone, Rook considered bringing someone along to have his back, there was no way John didn't have something waiting for him, Rook wanted to have someone sneak in through the back, but he felt the only person he would want on such a stealth mission was Jess, be she made it very clear she was feeling weird and needed some alone time to calm down, as much as she would jump on this opportunity, her head would most likely be in the right space for such a task.
maybe if he had sometime beforehand in order to prepare for John's offer then maybe he could have backup, but it was clear, right now, he had to do this alone, a dark part of him was glad he was going alone, so no one would get in his way and kill the Seed, Rook wanted the man all to himself and give him what he deserved.
"Oh, don't you worry, I will be there alone" Rook seethed quietly into his walkie.
"Good, I'm sure you'll find our congregation will be… enlightening" John said, somehow sounding happy and sinister at the same time.
Then the walkie clicked off.
With the walkie now off. Rook stared down at it, panting very lightly, with John's voice now gone, he wished to have handled the conversation, but he just couldn't help it, John knew how to push his buttons and make him so mad, so mad that he just told his enemy he was going to willingly walk into a obvious trap, but he couldn't just pass up such an opportunity.
With his heartbeat in his ears, Rook hurriedly clambered down the ladder and almost ran around to the front of the auto shop, thanks to half the town still being on lock down, it was quite easy for Rook to commandeered a truck from the auto shop. He tossed his shotgun into the passenger seat before starting up the truck, once he was ready to go, he stomped down on the gas pedal and took off out of the garage much faster than he should have, due to the fear of being caught by the auto shop team, but once he cleared the auto shop and then soon after, the town, he still didn't slow down, he just wanted to get out of town and get to the ranch as soon as possible, as getting John would mean everyone who died today would not have been in vain.
Rook speedily came around the wooded bend, a few minutes ago he had passed Nick and Kim's place, meaning John's ranch was just around the corner, a few minutes give or take, he tried to stay out of this neck of the woods, everyone did, as it was most likely heavily guarded. But once he completely came around the bend, he immediately slammed on the brakes, harshly coming to a stop, he stopped as a few hundred feet away, loomed John's ranch, he rested in his truck for a few moments as he analyzed the building
The last time he was here a lifetime ago when he stole back Nick's plane and the peggie headcount at the time made the place look like Fort Knox and this was one of the two landing strips in the whole valley, meaning there should be peggies planes coming in and out of here like a airport, but the landing strip was just as empty as the ranch appeared to be, he couldn't even anything that sounded like a plane in the distance.
He very slowly rolled his truck forward towards the ranch's front yard, not there was much of one. Before stopping the truck a dozen or so meters from the front door, seeing as his proximity to the ranch didn't cause peggies to surge out of the building, he killed the engine and pocketed the key as he watched the eerily empty property, with the engine off, Rook couldn't hear a sound in his surroundings, not even a bird.
He grabbed a hold of the shotgun that rested in the passenger seat before he climbed out of his truck and slowly marched up the road, as he carefully approached the large estate, his eyes darted all around the exterior of the building, looking for any threats but found no peggies stood at the many balconies that lined the buildings sides and no sniper barrels poking from a cracked window.
Every fibre of Rook's being screamed this was a trap, there was no way that a man who had no problem using unwilling human shield for a death machine would actually be true on his word on their one on one, but as much as Rook hated to admit, there might have been some truth to John's words, John was hailing him in for the sake of his brother's crazy religion, that had to mean John wanted him alive for something, whatever it was, this could be it.
He cautiously worked his way up the front yard, up a few small steps of stairs and slowly approaches the front doors, a large set of wooden doors with an opulent finish and trim, he had his reserves about just walking through the front door, but what else was he supposed to do, kick it in and start shooting?
But whatever John had in store for him probably took that into account.
As Rook stared at the doors, his fears of whatever John could be planning for his was growing stronger by the minute, a part of him thought about turning around and marching back to the truck so he could radio for backup as who knows what horrors John prepared in his beautiful house, to cope with his fears, he couldn't help but think of the doors as a grim analogy for John; the pretty exterior hid the whatever hideousness that lurked within.
But as the fear set in so did the anger, as much as he wanted back up he could rest knowing the monster he vied to arrest was just casually resting in his lush home, how dangerous could he even be? He was just the man who brought the new recruits into the fold, a voice that ordered people to do the things he didn't, he was a literally yes man.
John only inspired fear when he was in control, but now, Rook was the one in control, there was nowhere left for John to run.
Ready to shoot anyone who looked like John in the leg, Rook bravely stomped forward, a single arm outstretched and pushed the doors open, fully expecting John, or at the very least a couple dozen peggies waiting for him inside, but instead was faced with darkness as all the lights were turned off. But some sunlight was able to shine in behind him and partially light up a fraction of John's impromptu home. Rook could see directly in front of him by a few meters was a very expensive looking large, satin, black couch, with two just as expensive arm chairs flanking either side of the couch, all three pieces of furniture was facing away from Rook, facing a rectangular column of stone, it descended from the roof and touched the floor, it took a second for Rook to realized it was supposed to be some modern looking fireplace. Along the walls was a collection of bookcase and items of importance sealed behind glass cases, but anything passed that was hard to see as darkness still polluted the room.
"Son of a bitch" Rook muttered to himself in frustration as everything looked like the beginnings of a trap.
He clutched his shotgun in both hands again and tentatively tip toed inside, his footsteps echoing off the spotless hardwood flooring, waiting for the hat to drop as he clutched his shotgun painfully tight, but still nothing happened, not liking the darkness and whatever could be lurking inside, he chose to stay close the a wall and worked his way around to the right of the large room.
As he took a large berth around the furniture and fireplace, further into the building, almost sticking to the walls, his eyes quickly adjusted to the level of light and was beginning to be able to see further into the ranch, the main room was much bigger than he expected, not only was the room he was in was almost as big as the Spread Eagle bar and so much more passed the fireplace, there was another set of opulent double doors on the right side of the room, leading to who knows where, the ranch itself was quite large so it made it hard to guess just how many rooms there were on the inside, and all the places John could hide, laying in wait to spring whatever he had prepared for Rook.
On the other side of the fireplace was a large table and several chairs tucked around it, all of it looked to be made from rich mahogany, a large plasma screen was affixed above the fireplace, facing the table. Surrounding the far end of the room was all different kinds of animal hunting trophies, a stuffed wolf stood, staring out a bay window with the curtains drawn, several different caribou and deer heads were mounted between banner of Eden's Gate, a black bear pelt sat, splayed out in between the fireplace and the sandalwood coffee table, not only could Rook see John's penchant for hunting and taking trophies, but he could also see how much money John had, delicately painted images of various landscapes hung from gold frames mounted to the walls, a few more pieces of expensive furniture was pressed up against the walls, a lavish record player sat upon a stand with dozens of vinyl records underneath, a detailed model plane, propped up on a little stand sat on a corner table, a chandelier made for antlers hung from a gold chain above the table.
John's ranch was so massive, well furnished and all round exquisite, the estate was bordering on being a mansion.
"What a mansion" Rook muttered to himself as he was in disbelief John would let a place like this go apparently unguarded with no apparent trap waiting for him.
As Rook muttered to himself, his near silent words broke the silence, it was all John needed.
"Deputy!" John's charismatic voice yelled and echoed off the large silent room
The sudden boom of John's voice made Rook flinch in fear, he wasn't expecting John to seemingly approach him so openly. But despite John's sudden scare, announcing himself as did, gave away his position, and it sounded like he was by the large table and chairs at the far end of the room.
"I was wondering when you would show up, I was beginning to think you had better things to do" John said.
"Where are you!" Rook yelled, pivoting towards the source of John's voice, the barrel of his shotgun leading the way.
A few silent seconds ticked by as Rook waited for a response as he scanned the darkened room for John, he did not see or hear him.
"So what do you think of my ranch, this was my little getaway from Eden's Gate and Joseph when they became a little to overbearing when the Project was taking off here in the county" John continued, ignoring Rook's question.
"Shut up and let's get this over with!" Rook challenged as his shotgun swayed from left to right as he still scanned the room.
Again, John was eerily silent for a few moments speaking up again.
"Try not to take your wrath out on my belongings, you have a score to settle with me, not the lifeless accoutrements that adorn my ranch" John groaned, his voice so full of distain, Rook could hear him rolling his eyes.
But his voice was definitely coming from the table and chairs.
Rook took a few nervous steps towards the table and chairs, his eyes franticly looking for the slightest bit of movement or anything humanoid, but there was nothing there, just a table and a half dozen chairs.
"I'm sure your wondering where I am by now, but if I am to be perfectly honest with you, you'll be quite shocked to find out where I am… or rather, where I will be go" John said smugly.
Still unable to find the Seed, Rook quickly took a knee looked under the table to make sure John wasn't there, and sure enough the underside of the table was bare, properly confused, he then quickly walked around the table and stopped at the far end, behind the single chair the was place at the width of the table so no one could sneak up behind him.
"So, how have you been, we haven't seen each other such a long time… I believe the last time was when you came to my Gate and you murdered a few of my flock" John huffed in aggravation.
This time John's voice sounded so close by as if he was feet away, it freaked Rook out to hear John's voice so close to him, it was unnatural how close John was to him without being seen by or even attacking the Junior Deputy. But his voice came from the table and from the ground as if John was on the floor, but it was obvious he wasn't just laying on the floor, or under the table which confused and scared Rook even more,
All the chairs around the table were tucked in, if one wanted to lay down on the three seats lined next to each other, it was definitely doable, but John wasn't the type to just sprawl out over a line of chairs to hide and taunt.
But Rook couldn't push the idea out of his mind, that little voice of survival yelled at him to check every little possibility to secure his safety, and at that point with everything going on, he had to check, John's proximity to him was unreal.
Rook grabbed the single chair that sat at the table's width and pulled it back, the legs scrapping across the floor, he pulled it out far enough to look down into the seat and saw a boombox laying in the seat, a thick wire attached to the side and trailed down onto the floor then further into the darkness.
"Have you figured it out yet?" John's voice came from the boombox.
"Shit" Rook muttered in horror as he realized he had entered the trap before he could see it.
Then all the lights in the room turned on all at once, almost burning Rook's eyes as his eyes adjusted to the new levels of light.
Rook mentally berated himself, John was never here, it was just pre-recorded voice clips hooked up to a boombox, it was all bait to get him where John wanted, no wonder John wanted him to come here by himself. Rook turned to run for the doors he had originally entered through, scared out of his mind now that the trap had been sprung, but before he could make any significant distance, the double doors on the side of the room flew open, causing Rook to freeze on the spot as his head snapped to the now open doors so he could see a single peggie stepped forward, entering the large room and faced the Junior Deputy, a magnum in hand and pointed at Rook, Rook recognized him instantly, it was the peggie leader he encountered at the packing plant days ago; Gordon.
"I told you you'd regret not killing me" Gordon said menacingly.
Rook's breath caught in his throat as Gordon came into his view, he sure he expected to deal with peggies when he showed up, but this was different, Gordon was in charge of a pack of Chosen Peggies, men and woman trained personally by Jacob, an army veteran, meaning Gordon was very dependable in the Seed's eyes, and now that same leader of a dozen highly trained men and woman was staring him down, with a magnum trained on him.
His mind buzzing with fear, Rook reflexively turned at the waist in an attempt to line up a shot on the peggie, but before he could bring his shotgun around to protect himself, Gordon snapped at him.
"DON'T- try anything" Gordon demanded as he jerked his gun arm forward, reasserted he had his gun trained on the Junior Deputy.
"Alright, alright" Rook said nervously as he knew the peggie had him where he wanted.
Very slowly, Rook removed the hand that held his gun's barrel, allowing the barrel to drift to the floor, the muzzle kissing the polished floor.
Rook stared down the magnum and the man that held it, it put an all too familiar fear in him, but this time it was much worse, this time he couldn't save himself, he was completely at the man's mercy, and he hated it. He hated himself for not thinking this confrontation through, he knew he should have called someone for help, if he did, Jess could have stealthily taken him out, Nick could have shot him from the entry way, but he just had to let his anger get the better of him and pushed him into action.
"It's been a while, huh?" Gordon said casually, a he took a few steps into the room.
"Yeah… it's been a few days" Rook replied, unsure of what else to say as he wrestled with himself to get his emotions under control.
"Why don't you take a seat over there?" Gordon said, waving his gun over to the couch and two chairs on the other side of the room.
"Sure" Rook muttered as he slowly turned towards the furniture that was near the front of the door he first entered from.
As he went cautiously walked over to the chairs, his eyes darted all around the room, looking for anything to save him from his mistakes, but even if there was anything worth using, it was to far away as the spacious ranch's contents was far from arms reach, at the moment, he felt his greatest and only asset was the shotgun in his hand, making Rook hate himself that much more as he still couldn't come to terms with how stupid he was and what he had gotten himself into. But negative thoughts aside, once he neared the chairs and couch and chairs; Gordon spoke up again.
"Put your firearm on the table" Gordon commanded, his voice becoming grittier with the order.
Rook silently agreed with his capture and gingerly placed down the shotgun upon the sandalwood table once he got close enough, all the while being very careful to keep Gordon and the magnum in the corner of his eye, then he slowly moved for the chair, a few feet away and sat down in the left most chair, and uneasily watched Gordon who watched him with a stony, malicious gaze.
Once Rook was firmly situated in his seat, Gordon marched up to the right most chair and grabbed one if it's arms with his free hand and pulled it, so it turned on the spot, directly facing the Junior Deputy then sat down in the chair, not once did he take his eyes and gun off the man.
Then the two sat there in silence for a few moments, Rook finally spoke up, fearing if nothing happened, he'd be shot right then and there.
"So, let's decide what happens next, hm?" he sighed nervously.
"Well in reality, you have two options" Gordon said.
"Either willingly come with me to John, or I can just kneecap you and drag you there" he explained.
"So, John's not here then?" Rook sighed in frustration; still angry he fell for such a simple trap.
"Choice A or B, anything else and I'll decide for you, and I'm sure you'll know what I'll do" Gordon grumbled.
"Then why haven't you just shot me already? It's clear you hate me so why not just get it over with?" Rook asked, feeling the bile prime to rise up the back of his throat as the reality of his situation was really setting in.
"John asked me to give you the choice, now choose" Gordon insisted, by the sound of his voice it sounded like he was running out of patience.
Knowing this, Rook still weighed his dwindling options, if he dove for the shotgun feet away, he would be shot, even if he was some sort of highly trained soldier, a flesh wound was going to take him down, it was a magnum after all. If anything, his best chance was to attack the man as he escorted him to John, and he really didn't want to be shot at all, leaving going with the man, but the eventually escape was a whole other story. He would probably be handcuffed and thrown in the back of a truck, meaning Rook had to escape before they make exited the building.
Feeling the pressure was on now, he evaluated the opponent in front of him; Gordon looked like a fit middle-aged man, he wore a ratty, tan, long sleeved shirt just like a lot of peggies did, he also wore a thick brown vest that looked like some sort of Kevlar with pouches on the side, he also wore heavy looking black paints, stained with dirt and mud around the knees, for some reason his pants almost looked bloated, as if his pant legs were stuffed with something, he also wore brown work boots, just as dirty. And the magnum in his hand was a standard magnum, six shots, more then enough to kill anything that moves. But other then that looked like just another peggie, if caught off guard, Rook could actually take him down.
he had a basic idea how to take him down, he had seen many, many times on TV and movies how the when the villain had a gun on the hero, the hero would fake their surrender, then when the villain moved in to detain or otherwise capture them, the second they touch the hero, they quickly grab them and beat them up, disarming them in the process.
And be it adrenaline or faith in his abilities, he felt confident himself.
"Ok… Let's go" Rook sighed, feinting despair.
"Good, let's go, the door" Gordon said, flicking his gun towards the open doors Rook first entered from.
Rook slowly got up, and began walking to the door, carefully watching the gun pointed at him and walked halfway to the door before he began to slow his pace, enough for the man behind him to catch up and give him a incentive to hurry up. And sure enough, Rook could hear heavy footsteps advancing behind him.
"Hurry up, we don't have all day" Gordon order before burying the barrel of his gun into the back of Rook shoulder.
Rook felt the barrel be pressed painfully into his shoulder and waited for it to be retracted, and after a few seconds he felt the cylindrical pressure fade away, the second the gun was completely off him, Rook spun around as fast as he could, bringing his hands up to grab the retreating firearm and to throw a few punches if need be.
Before he could even touch the gun or make a fist, Gordon jerked his forearm forward, railing Rook in the face with the butt of his magnum, causing Rook to recoil backwards in a blend of pain and shock, then in a flash, Gordon followed up with a solid punch to the gut with his free hand, causing Rook to groan in pain before falling to his knees, but before his knees could hit the ground, Gordon was fast enough to grab a handful of Rook's shirt, holding him up.
"I did two tours in Iraq; you're going to have to try harder than that" Gordon said with a crooked grin, sticking the gun in his face.
Rook looked upward at the man, in utter disbelief that he had been stopped so thoroughly, he had gained a basic defense technique in police school, but he had no idea he was going up against a former military man, he was untrained for this.
"Now let's try this again, you try anything, and I will kneecap, ok?" Gordon
As Gordon spoke, Rook looked straight forward, trying to find a good coping position for his throbbing, numb, probably bleeding face, leaving him to stare at the man's crotch, it was an unintentional gaze, but it gave him a stupid idea.
When all else fails, use the woman's defense training.
Rook's fist then shot out, punching forward, putting all his strength into that one punch, and hitting the man square in the groin.
Gordon groaned in pain as he released Rook from his grip, the magnum drooping downwards as his whole body crumpled in on itself slightly, his free hand covering his groin.
The second Rook was released and hit the floor, he shot off towards the coffee table that his shotgun, he scampered towards it on all fours before staggering to his feet, trying to run to the table but found it challenging as the various new found pains in his body and it sounded like Gordon had recovered.
"Go for cage!" Gordon yelled angrily as he staggered towards Rook, clasping the crotch of his pants.
Then seconds later, the open front doors suddenly slammed shut, then the sound of a heavy lock clicking shut echoed from the door, then both men inside the ranch could hear several vehicles start up, it sounded like the vehicles were on the side of the building, by the bay window with the curtains drawn, the engines revving up before the squealing of tires and crunching of dirt as they presumably drove off somewhere away from the ranch.
But Rook's cared not for any of the things going on around him, the only things he cared about was the gun on the table in front of him and the gun soon to be centered on him, behind him. But thankfully he was not to far away from his confiscated shotgun, his amateur escape attempt was a scant few meters from the table, but he knew his time was up as he could hear Gordon behind him, muttering half curses at him. He didn't need to look behind him to know a gun was being trained on his back, thankfully he had just about reached the couch that separated him from his gun, the second the couch was with arms reach, his arm shot out and grabbed the couch's backboard with one hand, and with all his strength, he used all his momentum and power to vault himself over the couch and crashed onto the floor on the other side. As he descended to floor, he heard the boom of the magnum, it firing of the round reverberated off the expansive room like a echo chamber, then the bullet tore through the fabric of the couch, going clean through the furniture and embedding itself in the stonework of the fireplace, missing the Junior Deputy by inches.
"I can see why your give our cause so much trouble, you're a slippery fish" Gordon commented.
Rook ignored the man's comment, he was huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath, scared out of his mind over how close he was to getting shot yet again. Once the first wave of fear mostly subsided, his mind went back to defence mode, and that mind said he needed to get his gun back before Gordon moved in for the kill, so very carefully Rook poked a cautious hand up over the edge of the table and felt around for a few seconds before his fingertips brushed up against the smooth wood of the stock, finding his gun, Rook grabbed a hold of it the best he could and dragged the shotgun off the table, the metal of the gun clattering against the hardwood which he of course scooped up in his arms in a matter of seconds.
As Rook lay on the floor, he held his shotgun as close to himself as possible, like a mother cradling her child. He craned his head to the right, pressing himself against the floor as much as he could so he could peer under the couch to see the two shadows on the other side; Gordon's feet, Rook could see Gordon's feet move closer and closer to the couch, trying to get the jump on him, be it luck or skill, he moved over across the hardwood so expertly the hardwood did not creak or groan once.
The whole scenario made Rook regret bringing the shotgun to the ranch as it only held two shells and he didn't bring extras. But it didn't matter, he knew this was a fight he couldn't win, the Peggie had years of experience and the angle over him. But still Rook's body scream to carry on, to fight, but his mind said otherwise as he was in a less than favourable position, there was no way he could just stand up and shoot as he would be cut down before he could fire.
But perhaps he didn't have to stand up.
He already had a line of sight on the peggie from under the couch, so maybe he could get the gun barrel under the couch and fire, the shotgun was pretty powerful after all.
So, Rook shoved the shotgun barrel under the couch as best he could but struggled to do so as the barrel barely fit between the couch and the hardwood, leaving it at an odd angle as the gun's stock also made it difficult, the best he could do was position the shotgun so it rested on the ground, the muzzle a few inches under the couch, upside down and tilted upwards a few degrees, looking at what he believed to be his only option, he couldn't help but feel stupid, if he was a third party watching, he'd wouldn't take this seriously, there was no finesse to this scheme, just blind hope and sweaty palms, and what was worse, from what Rook could tell from the shadows on the floor, Gordon was just about on the other side of the couch.
"I think we both know how this is going to end" Gordon taunted darkly.
"Yeah, me too" Rook countered, then reluctantly pulled the trigger.
The boom of the shotgun reverberated off the walls just like the magnum, but much louder, the couch absorbed most of the buckshot as bits of the wooden frame and stuffing flew harmlessly out of the back, the sound of the shotgun blast clearly scared him as he was knocked back, yelping in fear as some of the buckshot that did make it through the couch and hit his shins, knocking him backwards onto the floor.
Gordon swore and thrashed in pain as he lay on the ground, in utter disbelief someone like him was reduced to such a state by some nobody like the Junior Deputy, he was nothing like what the reports said he would be.
Hearing Gordon wail, Rook took that as a sign that his strategy somehow paid off, he cautiously stood back up, shotgun level and ready to be fired again, but seeing as he wasn't gun downed the second he rose up over the couch, meant he it was safe, very carefully, he peered over the couch to see if the man was truly down for the count.
Gordon was splayed out on the floor, writhing in pain as pieces of buckshot now resided in his lower legs, Rook could see dots of blood, no bigger than the quarters seep into his dark pants, his boots were torn up, which inspired hope in Rook as if his feet were shot up meant he would not be able to give chase, but upon closer inspection and to his dismay, the tore fabric revealed a layer of metal; he was wearing steel toe boots, meaning his feet were fine.
"Deputy!" Gordon painfully howled, as he almost curled up to protect his legs.
Rook continued to silently watch the man writhe on the floor in some sort of morbid curiosity, carefully watching to see what the former soldier would do, after all the magnum was still limply clutched in his hand, he held it away from his person as he still tried to point the gun at Rook while still his ball form but was failing miserably.
Seeing the man was still trying to kill him, Rook hurried around the couch and ran right up to the man, before Gordon could line up another shoot, Rook reared back and harshly kicked the magnum as hard as he could, freeing it from Gordon's grip with another pained grunt, launching the firearm across the room as it slid across the hardwood and to the right of the room, until it limply bounced off the nearby wall right next to double doors Gordon came from.
"Deputy!" Gordon roared again before slowly unfurling himself and begun rolling onto his stomach and began pulling his body to his gun, painfully grunting and leaving a few faint streaks of blood as he went.
As much as Rook wanted to put the barrel of his shotgun up to the man's head and pulled the trigger, he didn't, the man was evidently defeated, there was no need to waste the shell, and who knows how many other peggies were lurking around John's prized ranch. Instead he was more concerned with leaving, at this point, he didn't give a damn about John, he just wanted to get the hell out of this horrible building.
Instead of further addressing the peggie crawling at a snail's pace, he turned to the double doors to the outside and ran at it as fast as he could, as he ran, he held his shoulder out and centered on the center of the doors, fully intending on using his momentum to break the lock that kept the doors closed.
He sprinted at the door and threw himself at it as hard as he could, but the second he collided with the door, he was left in consternation as he fluidly bounced off the doors and tumbled to the floor, landing on his back with a groan.
As he looked up at the doors in hopes that he did some sort of damage to the lock but found he didn't even put a scratch on it. But as he stared up at the doors, his heightened senses from the adrenaline picked up the sound of voices, it sounded like, there was two people were outside, on the other side of the doors, he wasn't sure but they sounded like they were apprehensive of what was going on inside.
As quick as he went down, Rook scrambled back up to his feet, shotgun still clasped painfully in his hand, and darted back to the doors, this time he grabbed a hold of the door handles and shook them vigorously, hoping they would magically unlock, but alas they did not.
Deputy!" Gordon bellowed in anger once more.
Hearing Gordon's shout made Rook recoil in fear, as he hoped the man would give up upon being unable to walk, but yet it still sounded like he was still more then willing to keep fighting.
Expecting Gordon to have crawled inches away from his magnum, Rook turned back to assess his foe, but what he saw made his blood run cold; Gordon was somehow back on his feet and mere few steps away from him, arms outstretched, and fingers curled, staggering towards him like a zombie.
"Holy shit!" Rook cried as he took a large step back, pressing himself up against the doors, trying to raise his shotgun.
But it was to late, Gordon had gotten to close, close enough for him to wrap his outstretched hands around Rook's neck and squeezed as hard as he could, making Rook impulsively dropped his shotgun and brought his hands up and clamped down of Gordon's forearms, trying to free himself. But Gordon was the superior man, he was much stronger than Rook, his attempts to free himself was fruitless. As Rook's vison began to darken, he knew he couldn't pry the man off him, nor did Gordon intend to stop any time soon, but living through one fight to the next for weeks on end made Rook learned how to dispense quick fixes to situations such as this.
Instead of fighting with his hands, Rook kicked the peggie as hard as he could in one of his damaged shins, causing Gordon to roar in pain again, causing him to fall backwards, but to Rook's dismay, Gordon did not release, instead he kept his grip and pulled Rook down as well, the Junior Deputy falling atop the peggie, causing the attacker to almost let go of Rook as they hit the ground.
Before either man could hit the ground, Rook frantically tried to push himself away from the Gordon as the peggie fought to keep him close. Then as they hit the ground with a bang, Rook broke free, he tried to squirmed and wiggled away from the man, but Gordon was faster, before Rook could properly get away, Gordon quickly reached out and grabbed a hold of Rook again and pulled him close to his person, wrapping his arms around Rook's upper torso and Gordon's chest pressing into Rook's back.
As the two men thrashed and bucked at each other, trying to injure each other until the other submitted, but as they fought, Gordon's arms deliberately moved higher and higher up Rook's torso and onto his face, obstructing his vision and breathing.
Rook wasn't sure why he would do such a thing as now he had full movement of his arms, and for all Gordon knew, he had a knife on his person, but as Gordon's grip tightened around his head, it took Rook a few terrifying seconds to realize Gordon was trying to snap his neck.
He just wanted good leverage before he committed to the breaking of the bone.
Just thinking that put a new energy into Rook as just the thought of what Gordon was doing put a fear in him as there was almost nothing he could do, Rook knew there was no in point in trying to pry at the arms around his head as he wasn't strong enough, he needed a new plan, but all he knew was Gordon's only weakness was his wounded shins, but that was better then nothing.
Since Gordon was practically spooning him, but a few inches above Rook, he tried to bend inwards, almost curling into a ball to work his way to the peggie's shin, he was prepared to do anything to his buckshot wounds, scratch, kick, punch, hell even bite if need be. As he wriggled and twisted, Gordon moved with him, trying to get a decent grip on his head, he locked his legs around Gordon's as he bent and leaned forward, his bones ached as he bent and contorted, as the two men curled up on themselves, as his hands, frantically scratched at Gordon's legs until the second he came within reach of Gordon's shin, his hand shot out and grabbed his shin and squeezed as hard as he could, his thumb painfully digging into what clearly felt like a buckshot wound, causing Gordon to yell in pain as the buckshot was pushed deeper into the softer inner leg meat, inching closer to the bone, as soon as Rook started squeezing, he could tell Gordon's pants were indeed padded, but clearly not enough as Rook's thumb went deeper into the man's leg, a thick syrupy blood quickly absorbed his thumb and splashed into his palm.
Gordon roared and groaned as Rook did this, his strength fluctuating as pain shot through his entire leg and into his core, Rook could feel Gordon's body tense and flex as his body struggled to keep his grip on Rook's head, it let him know he needed to do more, he needed to introduce another injury,
Ready to hurt the man more, Rook straighten his body, Gordon moving with him easily as pain motivated him, once the two men were parallel, Rook raised an arm and elbowed the man in the face as hard as he could, making the man cry out again, this time it was different, it was much deeper, the pain was just to much for Gordon, unable to cope, he let go of Rook and pushed him away to protect himself.
With a gasp, Rook clawed himself away from the man and dizzily stumbled to his feet at top speed as it was getting increasingly hard to breath in the man's grasp, he quickly looked down at the ailing man beneath him, he watched him for a few seconds before he noticed the long-forgotten shotgun feet from the downed man, not wanting the peggie to take it, Rook hurriedly scooped it off the floor and wiped his saliva from his chin but instantly regretted it as he also smeared Gordon's blood across his chin, but as quick as he did it, he stopped caring as he desperately looked around the room for another exit, there was the double door Gordon came from, but Rook adamantly refused to go down there has who know who else was down there, instead his eyes rested on the bay window, left of the room, meters away, a taxidermized wolf in front of it, it would be looking out the window if not for the drawn curtains.
"Screw this!" Rook barked to himself as he sprinted to the bay window.
The second he made it to the window, he grabbed a hold of the taxidermized wolf as best he could and pushed it over with all his might, causing it to fall away from the window with a clatter. With the obstruction away from the window, he leveled his shotgun to the window and fired his remaining shell, punching dozens of holes through the curtains and shattering the window behind it, the second Rook heard the countless shards of glass fall to the floor, he charged forward once more, swiping the curtain to the side and jumping out of the window.
Rook stumbled as he hit the ground, the window, the ground was further away then he expected, but it didn't stop him for long as he quickly recovered as broke out into a sprint and ran along the length of the building, he noticed several tire tracks in the grass and dirt, a conformation that he did hear multiply vehicles starting up when everything really kicked off. But he didn't care, he just wanted to get as far away from the ranch as possible and to get back to Falls End, but as he ran along the side of the building and turned the corner to the front of the building, he came face to face with two clear as day peggies meters ahead of him, standing by the front doors; a middle aged, Caucasian, barrel chested man, and a young stout, African American woman, it was clear they heard the shotgun blast, much less what was happening inside as they were looking in his general direction when he came around the corner, both undoubtedly terrified of his appearance as they were both unarmed.
Seeing the two peggies made Rook point his shotgun at them out of pure instinct, after weeks of being shot on sight, even pointing a gun, empty or not, at them felt like the right thing to do.
"AW fuck Em! I knew we shouldn't've left our guns back in th' truck!" the man yelled fearfully as he raised his hands above his head.
"Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!" the woman yelled angrily at her friend, just as scared as she mechanically took up a fighting stance as she had no other options.
The duo's comments made Rook freeze, they indirectly made it clear they were unarmed, but yet they did not advance on him, they were both to paralyzed by the sight of the shotgun in Rook's grip, it took Rook a second to figure out that neither peggie had yet to realize he was out of ammo, which was a blessing in disguise as if they did figure it out, they would almost certainly strongarm him and take him off to wherever John was as they out numbered him.
All Rook could do was hope they wouldn't call his bluff.
"Don't move! I swear to god I will shoot you! I will kill you both, Goddammit!" Rook yelled as loud as he could as he superimposed the shotgun he had pointed at them.
He tried his best to not let his fear to break his bluff but the anger that was stored in him all day carried the threat.
"Yeah, yeah, man, I hear ya!" Frank yelled back fearfully, taking a few steps back, not putting his hands down
But the woman said and did nothing, she continued to stand where she was, holding her fighting stance like a diligently trained boxer, Rook could see the fear in her eyes, but he could also see the fire, Rook could tell she wanted to beat him senseless, she wanted to do what John asked of her, be remained stagnant as she thought she would die if she took a single step forward.
"I mean it! I will blow your cultist head off!" Rook screamed at the woman as he trained the empty gun at her head, all the while began sidestepping the pair of peggie.
Since he couldn't kill the duo, all he could do was bluff and inch his way over to his truck that was parked fifteen meters away from him.
"I killed a bunch of you guys, two more means nothing to me… I'll, I'll… I'll make sure you guys don't go to your Eden or whatever!" Rook shouted as he continued to carefully move to his truck.
"Yeah, yeah, man I hear ya, let's just chill, ok" Frank almost begged the Junior Deputy.
Hearing his words, the woman finally took a single step back, not lowering her arms, dangerously glaring at Rook.
Rook didn't like that look, the man was clearly not going to do anything, but the woman was a wildcard, she was a danger.
Not liking what could very well happen, Rook looked at his truck then the peggies then the truck again, then the peggies one finally time, he stared at them for a few seconds before letting out a curse before sprinting to his truck as fast as he could.
Thankfully the truck was not far away at all, but still the second he made it to the truck he faced the peggies again and raised his empty gun to them, and to his relief they had not moved, they just stared at Rook with different emotions, since neither peggie made a move, Rook felt safe enough to wrench open the door and climbed in as fast as he could, tossing his shotgun into the passenger seat, as he desperately fumbled the keys into the ignition, he could hear the peggie discussing something, whatever it was, it was not good.
But Rook didn't care, with the closing of his door, and the starting of the engine, it didn't matter as there was nothing they could do now, the second the engine fully started up, he stomped on the gas pedal as hard as he could, causing the truck to jerk forward, launching the truck down the road at breakneck speed, kicking up a large dust cloud as he rapidly departed the ranch, the two peggies watching all the while.
As Rook tore down the road, getting farther and farther away from the ranch at top speed, his anger and fear was slowly disappearing, as relief flood his system, he couldn't believe that he actually got away yet again, but as he calmed down, a part of his brain told him that he should have grabbed the magnum and shot the peggie leader inside the ranch and he should have and shot the other two peggies so they couldn't tell anyone anything. But it didn't matter, this whole afternoon was a disaster, he just wanted to forget it and move on, he just wanted to go home, and he couldn't he but think every time he thought of his home, crawling up in his bed and waiting for everything to blow over was become more and more appealing.
Rook finally slowed down once he drew near the down, but he didn't come down to a normal speed once he properly entered Falls End, and once he came down to a normal speed, he pulled in front of Mary's bar, he wanted to apologize to the auto shop team for stealing one of their trucks, now that he had properly calmed down, he felt really bad for commandeering the truck like he did, what he did was unprofessional, but what he needed to do before that was to tell Mary, or anyone that John's ranch was vulnerable, if they were to take it, then the peggie planes would be a thing of the past, but as Rook exited the vehicle and looked around the town, it became readily apparent that Falls End still looked like a ghost town, not a single soul could be seen on the streets, not even the general store was open. And or some reason, even Mary's bar looked closed.
Confused, Rook walked up to test the validity of the open sign and tested the door, and sure enough the door opened up. Hoping to find Mary, but when Rook poked his head, to his surprise no one was in the bar, what was more, all the lights were still on, a few chairs were upturned and laying a few feet from their respective tables, and a few pints of beer sat half full and abandoned on various tables, it was like everyone just up and disappeared.
"What the hell" Rook muttered to himself uneasily as whatever was going on, creeped him out.
As he left the bar, closing the door behind him, Rook decided to stop by the church, if anyone was still around it would be Jerome, he always kept his doors open to welcome wayward souls, perhaps Jerome could fill him on why the town wasn't opening back up, and where everyone was.
However, Rook sauntered over to the church, but before he even crossed the road, he could clearly see something was happening at the house of God, several pickup trucks were all haphazardly parked around the only intersection in the town, a very long bright red rug that stretched from the door of the church all the way to the road. A white pergola was for some reason sitting on the sidewalk, lining up with the small staircase up to the church's entrance and the rug, the pergola had silk tapestries and bouquets of flowers lovingly tied to either side, it almost looked like a wedding was going on, which greatly confused Rook, not only did it make no sense to get married during the fight against the cult, but the town was in a state of panic hours ago.
But as he suspiciously drew closer to the church, his blood ran cold for the second time, he could see, clear as day, there was something, much, much sinister was going on; two dozen birds were dead, pinned around the sides of the front entrance of the church by a steel rod right through their tiny torsos, the little blood coming out of them painted the area around them red.
"Oh God" Rook muttered to himself in horror, mouth agape.
Something awful happened while he was gone.
As much as Rook wanted to go back the way he came and
He needed to investigate, steeling himself, Rook apprehensively shuffled up to the church and slowly worked his way up the path to the front door, once he reached the front door, Rook stood there motionless for a few seconds, he didn't really know what to do, he didn't have a gun, but then again the town wasn't on fire or bodies in the street so whatever happened must have passed.
But still Rook wished to handle his investigation with an air of caution.
He grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed the door open, as he slowly pushed open the door, the door suddenly pulled back, revealing two figures on the other side, Rook looked up hoping to God it to be Jerome, telling him about something awful that happened while he was gone, but to his horror, he came face to face, with two mean looking peggies stared back at him.
Seeing the two peggies made Rook freeze in fear, it was almost like a dream how surreal it was to see the enemy in town, he didn't think them or John had the balls to make another move on the town, before Rook could react to the foes before him, one of the peggies, reared back before slamming the butt of his rifle into his face, causing Rook to recoil backward a few large steps as the hit greatly irritated the previous hit to the face, he took from Gordon, the hit and the pain it caused made his vision swim as he fought to keep consciousness, but as he stumbled back from the hit, he stumbled back farther then he should as there was a small staircase right behind him, causing him to fall backwards and tumbled down the steps with a gasp, he was completely unable to protect himself from protecting his head from the concrete steps.
The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a Eden's Gate flag, flying high atop the church's steeple