As the sun set over the county, the day changed from day to night, so too did the state of the valley.

The news of John Seed's death spread fast, spreading across all corners of the Holland Valley, stirring all of the valley's residents from their hiding holes and converged to Falls End only to hear a triumphant tale from Nick Rye about how the once courageous but now sunken looking, Junior Deputy; Benjamin Rook, repealed John and his pack of thugs from town and chased them from the church and hunted them all the way to the Rye residence where the Junior Deputy ended the Seed as he threatened the life of Kim Rye and her infant child. After the initial wave of awe and praise from the town, Nick promptly gave the key to John's bunker to Jerome, before submitting himself to the small group of self proclaimed medics that followed around, hoping to take a look at his missing flesh on his wife's behest. Jerome was especially eager to get the key as he fully intended to liberate the innocent trapped within. Rook was also eager to join as he wished to save his co-worker; Hudson but was quickly denied by everyone who heard is claim as the incision in his leg made it to dangerous to partake in any more fighting. Rook desperately wished to change their minds but Mary spearheaded the movement to keep him in Falls End for the time being so he and Nick could have their respective injuries treated, even before arguing with the woman, Rook secretly knew he wasn't going anywhere, his body and more so his leg was starting to protest as it moved, he had been through so much on the last few hours, the human body can only take so much. Willingly or unwillingly, he was benched for the time being, Rook watched Jerome, bunker key in hand, gather up all the able-bodied men and woman who was willing to give one final fuck you to John and to truly free the land from Joseph's grasp.

From there, Jerome led the charge across the valley with everyone he had recruited and marched right up to the bunker and opened the bulkhead. What little amount of the peggies inside surrendered as soon as the door opened, be it they heard John had been murdered and there was no protocol if anything was to happen to him, much less issue a counter attack, or they realized now with the bunker door open, they were nothing more then fish in a barrel at that point. But not all peggies surrendered so easily, some tried to fight back only to be quickly cut down, putting a fear in the rest. The resistance scoured every room of the bunker, taking back every piece of food, clothing and firearm they came across, but they're real goal was the people John had locked up in the deepest parts of the bunker.

They found a few dozen terrified and injured people locked in large cell rooms, all left in various stages of his cult initiation process, some as lively as ever while others were on the brink of death as non-consensual tattoos and other open wounds were festering and infections were building. Disgusted with their treatment, Jerome quickly had the civilians evacuated and taken to a safe place to be treated, but before they began tearing down what John had built, Jerome found a particularly sinister section of John's private areas where he found tucked away in a corner, a very damaged Josephine Hudson that Rook spoke so highly.

With the bunker now devoid of all life and everyone outside, Jerome decided not to execute their prisoners of war due to a mixture of Rook's belief in passivity over aggression and he did not wish to sink as low as the peggies when it came down to morals, instead he ordered the cultists to flee the valley, to leave and never return under the threat of being shot on sight. Before the resistance left the cultist hotspot, they set all the bunkers mechanical functions to the highest setting in hopes of overloading the central consoles that commanded the entire complex, until they could not bear the stress any further instigating a meltdown in the bunker's systems to the point they would explode and ignite each other, almost turning the bunker into a underground crater.

Once the deed was done and everyone returned to town safely, it was quickly decided a celebration for the liberation of the Holland Valley and for the hero that saved it was required, and there was only one place that could hold so many partygoers in one place: The Seed Ranch.

Of course, the ranch was deserted as the remaining peggies that polluted the region had mysteriously vanished and the ranch's interior was swiftly into party mode with full intention to properly arm it the next day. And as the moon rose, the celebration commenced.


As the night went on and the party raged on, music boomed as tables were used for beer pong, portraits of the Seed family were used as a dart board, minor trinkets and valuables were being looted for one reason or another, those who weren't involved with such activities formed together in big groups all around the room, socializing, laughing and drinking. Hurk and Sharky were trying to impress the woman around them by drinking large amounts and telling stories how they courageously followed Rook into certain death time and time again, Nick watching the spectacle from a distance, water bottle in hand as the medicine in his body disallowed him to consume alcohol, a thick pad of gauze was outlined under his shirt from how thick the gauze was, Adelaide was nowhere to be seen.

But Rook didn't partake in any of this, instead he sat by a window that overlooked the front yard of the ranch, waiting for the last pickup truck to pull into the impromptu parking lot that littered the front lawn, he just couldn't bring himself to join his friends in the celebration, he just wanted to wait for Hudson to appear after being looked at by the doctors, he wasn't entirely sure why, but he was drinking more, but he couldn't help it, perhaps it was the rising dread at the impending arrival of Hudson, he was scared of what condition she was in if she was still alive and what she might say to him if she was. It felt like his head wasn't on right, or maybe it was because he was supposed to arrest John not kill him, now that he had calmed down, in a way, it tore him up instead, John got the easy way out, he should have received being confined to small concrete room for the rest of his life, he said he'd do it for weeks on end, and now he never could.

The constant pats on the backs and other congratulatory hellos from dozens of strangers didn't make him feel any better, he was so unused to such attention; it was really weird to be congratulated so thoroughly for killing a man, it was so discombobulating he was seventy-two percent sure all compliments Mary was giving him were all thinly veiled flirtations, if anything, all the attention made him feel suffocated, pushing him to wait by the window for his co-worker.

As he was going to pester Mary again about how long it would take Hudson to get to the ranch, two beams of light cut through the night: truck headlights, Rook's breath caught in his throat as the pickup truck drew closer towards the ranch, his nervous feelings increasing. He watched the truck pull into the newly formed parking lot, it sat there for a few seconds before the headlights clicked off and a few shadowy figured exited the truck and walked across the darkened yard to the front doors.

Seeing this, Rook quickly broke away from the window and hurried to the front door, squeezed his way through the groups of people to get to the foyer, hoping to get to Hudson before she disappeared into the crowds of partygoers, as he got closer to the door, he could see the double doors swing open up through the sparse room between people, making him move faster as he feared losing Hudson to the crowds.

He pushed his way through the crowds, working his way up to the fireplace right by the front entrance, the furniture that was once surrounding the hearth were either moved to the sides of the room for the drunk to crash on or being used for beer pong and shots. By then, the large oak doors creaked open, the cool summer evening air blowing in, making a shiver run down Rook's back as he got closer to the doors to see a group a people entered the ranch, whooping and cheering that they had arrived, holding beer and other thing high over their heads, and within the group of new arrivals was a deflated and uncomfortable Josephine Hudson.

"Hey Hudson!" Rook called out, getting the woman's attention, stepping closer to her.

As Hudson took in Rook's appearance as he awkwardly approached, so to did Rook, getting closer to her allowed him to see she still wore her Deputy uniform, it was frayed and ruined with rips and tears, stained with blood and who knows what, her arms, face and other exposed skin had several bandages and gauze affixed to the flesh, bruises and cuts peaked out from the edges of the many bandages, but what disturbed Rook most of all was the look in her eye, it was like there was no emotion in her eyes, the last time they saw each other was when they were both bound to chairs in John's torture dungeon, then she was full of life albeit fear for said life but now, reuniting after apart, she did not react in anyway when she saw Rook, she seemed... Dead.

"Holy shit, Rookie, is what they saying about you true?" She asked lifelessly, as she stepped towards Rook.

"Uh yeah, I'm a real menace out there" Rook shrugged, unsure of what was being said about him anymore

"Fuck… it's always the quiet one's that surprise you, you're like a whole other person now" Hudson stated.

"Right back at you" Rook thought to himself.

Joey Hudson was a brave, confident woman who freely spoke her mind and assuredly expressed herself, but the woman that stood before Rook, was someone he didn't recognize.

"I don't know, probably drink myself unconscious for a few days" Hudson admitted.

"Yeah that's pretty cool an' all, but if you want, I'm sure everyone would appreciate another cop out there, fighting the good fight" Rook offered.

He hoped she'd take the bait as he really wanted the help and didn't want her floating around Mary's bar all day everyday.

"Yeah, I don't think so" Hudson sighed.

Rook swore mentally.

"I really don't think I'll be doing anything useful anymore" she said tiredly.

"I uh, just uh… wanted to say I'm sorry" Rook said, uncomfortably.

"For what?" Hudson asked.

"I don't know, I feel like everything that happened to you… was my fault" Rook admitted.

"I was so close to saving you when I was in his bunker, you were right there, I broke free from the chair, and I got out of there… without you" he said quietly.

Hudson watched Rook blankly for a few seconds before responding.

"It's not your fault" she said bluntly.

"Wait what?" Rook said, almost not believing her.

"Why would I expect you to save me, your just a rookie, you were working with us for a few months before we came out here, I'm mean Christ you pepper sprayed yourself in training, how could you get us out of a nuclear bunker… but then again, your clearly not just the rookie anymore… he had such a hard on for you, always asking about you, he was just that desperate to learn anything about you, he wanted to get you that bad" Hudson said.

"Do you wanna talk about what happened down there?" Rook asked nervously.

"He… did things to me, things I didn't he could do, he… knows how to pull things out of you, things you didn't know you had in you" she finished, looking down at her feet.

Rook shuttered to imagine what she could have possibly been through.

"For weeks… or months or whatever the fuck, when I was in his chair, he left one his past victims in front of me, hanging from the ceiling upside down, he uh, had a big whole was cut into his stomach and was uh… stomach cavity was cleaned out and stuffed with bliss flowers, so much that he was able to secure deer antlers to the… the… the smell of bliss, blood and rot… sloth" Hudson mumbled.

As she went on her speech became more slurred and incoherent, like her tongue was going numb, Rook knew he needed to change the subject and get her thinking of something else.

"But uh, I'm not sure if anyone told you but you and I aren't the only ones who got from Joseph church place, Sheriff Whitehorse managed to get away clean" Rook stated.

"Oh, shit really?" Hudson asked, finding her voice showing the briefest hint of actual emotion.

"Yeah, he's taking care of everyone in a prison they fortified, but other that I know Faith as Burke somewhere and I don't know if Pratt is even alive" Rook said grimly.

"Shit" Hudson muttered.

"Pratt was kind of a douche bag, but he deserved better than what went down that night, but honestly… Fuck Burke" she sighed, looking away from Rook and into the crowds of people for a few seconds before facing him again.

"Uh yeah, damn him and all that" Rook said awkwardly.

Hudson must have picked up on that awkwardness as she looked at him for a few seconds with an odd look.

"Hey, I'm… going to talk to the Pastor, Jerome, I wanna talk to him about stuff" Hudson said, looking over to the crowd again, but this time at the pastor across the room.

As per usual he was not imbibing in the drink like everyone else, instead he was examining the room, analyzing everything John had lined the walls with and how to properly protect the building.

"Yeah sure but uh, hey… if you need to get away from it all, I have a house right behind the auto shop, you can crash there if you need to, so you don't like live at the bar" Rook offered carefully.

Hudson stared at him carefully for a few seconds before responding.

"Yeah sure… thanks, but… thanks for killing that sick fuck" Hudson responded before breaking off from Rook and headed to the pastor.

Rook stood there as Hudson walked away, it hurt to see what kind of person she had become, it made that usual ball in his stomach roll and turn over, it made his legs feel weak and shaky, it made him quickly look around the room for a place to rest as seemingly endless amounts of people mingled around the room, he stumbled towards the closest wall of the room to discover that pushed up against the side of the wall, was a couch was, completely unoccupied, a perfect place to reflect upon his feelings.

He almost collapsed onto the couch before adjusting himself into a upright position, tilting his head back against the backboard, closing his eyes and exhaled deeply, his talk with Hudson went a lot better than he expected, but he still felt terrible, Hudson was clearly heavily traumatised, she looked like a war vet he'd see on war documentaries, what was more was her soon to be scars were going to mar her body for the rest of her life.

And Rook felt it was his fault.

As Rook sat on the couch, reveling in his self doubt for what felt like a long time while music and people boomed all around him, it was like he was in his own little world, then, a voice yelled at him.

"There you fucking are, almost lost you!" the voice yelled out.

Rook didn't need to open his eyes to know who was yelling at him, he could recognize her voice anywhere, it was Jess.

Then a hand roughly grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked him forward, pulling him to his feet, making him open his eyes to see Jess, pulling him upwards.

"Hey Jess, good to see you safe and sound as well" Rook replied, being used to her lack of communication skills.

Jess didn't respond with her usual snarky attitude, instead she just stared at him for a few seconds, but not at his face, but his body.

"You good?" Rook asked, watching the woman before him,

"Come on arms up" Jess demanded as she grabbed his arms and forced them upwards, so his arm stuck out from his body.

Then she began patting Rook down thoroughly, looking for something.

"Jess, what are you doing?" Rook asked, not putting his arms down until he was happy.

"It was fucking painfully watching you talking to that woman, I knew I shoulda busted that up for you" Jess said bluntly as she continued feeling him, moving to his lower torso, looking for whatever she was intent on finding.

And after a few confusing moments, satisfied or not, with her search, she finally stopped and looked up at the confused Junior Deputy for a few seconds before taking a step closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

"Uhhh, Jess, seriously, are you ok?" Rook asked again, anxious at her odd behavior.

But Jess still gave no reply, she continued to hug him for a little while longer before speaking.

"Holy shit dude, how are you not all fucked up?" She muttered.

"I don't know, maybe I'm better then you give me credit for?" Rook half guessed.

Jess made some soft hum of agreement before disengaging from the hug, as she pulled away, Rook was able to see for a split second she looked genuinely concerned for his well being before her face reset to its usual scowling, don't mess with me look.

Then she slugged Rook in the arm.

"OW, come on, what the hell?!" Rook groaned angrily as he rubbed the afflicted spot.

"Why the fuck didn't you call me, you fucking went after the John Seed and you didn't call your teammate?!" Jess scolded, her voice full of angry concern.

"How do you expect me to get your attention, you ran off to who knows where and I was knock out and stripped of all my things" Rook argued back.

Jess stared at Rook with her usual challenging glare as she looked for a counter argument but could not find one.

"Ok fine, whatever, fuck you, but fuck man, you really chase him down through a forest and shoot him? after all that talk of arresting him, you sure slapped the cuffs on him, huh?" Jess asked.

He didn't know how to feel about it let alone answer her question, she was right, he broke a month-long promise.

"Yeah I really wanted too but… I needed to save Kim and Carmina, I had to do what I had to" Rook mumbled.

"But I guess it just goes to show, you can't like just talk out all your problems out here, you needed to learn to just trust your gut and just shoot motherfuckers, you feel me?" Jess asked.

Again, Rook wasn't sure how to answer, she was right, but he didn't want to admit it as it wasn't in line with his morals, his code.

"I don't know maybe but uh, why are you here, parties aren't your thing, are you here for just me" Rook asked, unsure if he should feel flattered.

"I don't know, to loot I guess, John had some premium shit, but everyone took all the good stuff, so I guess I'll steal a few beers and make sure you're in one piece?" Jess shrugged.

"Well I'm good so, you going to keep looking for stuff to take?" Rook asked.

"Naah, I'm probably going to bail soon, I've already been hit on three times, it's getting gross in here" Jess sighed.

Hearing this, Rook felt disappointed for some reason, he didn't want Jess to leave, but then again, he wanted too.

"Hey, I think I'm going to step outside for a bit and get some air, do you uh, wanna stick around have a few drinks afterwards or whatever" Rook offered timidly.

"Yeah uh, sure, it's fucking whatever" Jess said, with an odd look about her, it was almost like she was trying to keep eye contact.

"Alright cool, I'll be right back" as he began to step away from the woman, bumping into the surrounding people.

"Don't fuckin' take to long!" Jess called out.

"I'll try" he replied, as he vanished into the crowd, feeling some anxiety slid off as he got away.

He pushed and bumped his way through the crowds of people and towards the backdoor, which was a struggle to find, but once he did find it, he slipped out into the darkness, unbeknownst to everyone else.


The once blaring music was now dulled to a muffled noise as the thick walls had decent sound proofing, leaving Rook to be serenaded by the sounds of nature: the chirping of crickets, the calling of birds and rustling tree branches. The backyard before him was an expansive one with a pristine lawn except for several clusters of large stalks of yellow plants with brick rings around the base, containing soil, on the far side of the backyard, a simple wooden fence lined the opposite end.

Wanting to get away from it all, he crossed the small field and marched to the far fence, the tall grass rubbing against his ankles. Once he made it to the fence he could clearly what lay beyond; a deep valley, the valley ran far both directions, curving around the land the ranch was built on, it was most likely the reason why the Holland Valley was named as such.

He placed his arms atop the fence and leaned on it, exhaling deeply, he wasn't sure if it was the head trauma or killing John, or even the swelling party, but his head still felt funny, like the far corners of his mind were slowly being consumed by and encroaching fog moving at a glacial pace. Rook tilted his head back and looked up at the stars that were becoming visible in evening sky, the stars were so bright, so easy to see, it reminded him home, despite his home being one state over, it felt like home was on a whole other planet, one he wasn't sure he'd get back to again.

Looking at the stars gave him some perspective, it let him think about what he needed to do going forward; he knew he was going to leave the valley soon, and had two choices, the mountains or the river, he knew nothing of Jacob but knew a lot of Faith but they ran two entirely different ships from what he had seen and heard, and it scared him, Jacob's military history and Faith's bliss, he wasn't sure where to go, but think of the adopted Seed made Rook remember something, he needed to smooth things over with Faith, he killed her "brother" after all, he needed to maintain his "friendship" with her if he wanted to coerce info pertaining to Joseph, well that was the plan anyways, he was beginning to suspect their friendship might have mutated into something else, but he was starting to think he was wasting his time.

He removed the recently replaced walkie talkie from his waist and tuned the channels to what he believed was the one Faith used, before speaking.

"Hey uh… are you there?" Rook asked, unsure if he was even on the right channel.

After a few seconds the walkie crackled back to life.

"Hello Benjamin" Faith's voice came, sounding a touch serious.

"What's up?" Rook asked awkwardly.

"I feel I must apologize for our lack of communication, behind closed doors, John was rather insistent that I stay out of his way until he succeeded in capturing you" Faith explained.

"To be honest I've had my hands full since we last spoke whenever that was so it's no big deal I guess" Rook offered.

"From what I've been hearing, I'm inclined to believe it" Faith said softly.

"Right, I'm sure you've been hearing some crazy things" Rook offered, wincing as he feared she already knew everything.

"Benjamin, may I ask something?" Faith asked tentatively.

"Uh, yeah sure I guess" Rook said, preparing for the worst.

"I know your here to stop the Father's project, but please, stay in the valley, don't go to either region" Faith almost begged.

"Excuse me?" Rook said, almost not believing she would ask such a thing.

"Lives will be lost tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, but more will be lost if you come to the Henbane or the mountains" Faith explained.

"We both know I can't stay here, I have to try to save those lives" Rook replied quickly.

"I'd had a feeling you'd say that, but the Father is right when he said you bring death where you walk, and I need to do whatever I can to minimize those numbers, be it our respective flocks or you and your allies, we don't need all this needless death" Faith beseeched Rook.

"But I also want to minimize those numbers, if I just sit around, everything I've done up until now was useless, I need to keep fighting, no matter how pointless you think it might be, even if it kills me, these are sacrifices I need to make" Rook said adamantly.

Faith was silent for a moment.

"Your right, sacrifices need to be made, the one for the good of the many, like how John sent his men to eliminate everyone within Falls End for example, or even how he deployed his Revelator to try again, or the poor people strapped to its sides, or even how he and his men invaded your church and took you and your friends hostage, I knew about all of these hours in advance, I wanted to inform you about it so you could put a stop to it, but as much as it pains me to know what will become of those people, it needs to happen, you need to break a few eggs to bake a omelette" Faith explained.

Rook mentally froze when he heard what she said, he was in shock, she actually knew about John's atrocities hours before it happened and did nothing yet she preached about preventing needless death, and now, she seriously comparing the lose of dozens if not hundreds of people who died in the past few days and the countless more in the future to cracking a few eggs.

Hearing that snapped inside of Rook, he wasn't sure what it was, but it made him angry, he wasn't sure if he should be angry considering who he was talking too, but he just couldn't help it, a life was a life was life, and he had seen far to many be extinguished so easily for nothing.

"This is a joke, your messing with me" Rook spat, still not wanting to believe her.

"I assure you Ben, I am serious" Faith promised.

"You're a terrible person!" Rook suddenly shouted angrily.

"Like how can I trust you, I mean I know we're enemies, but I mean come on, do you have any idea how many are dead?!" he yelled.

"I wish the number wasn't that high" Faith said timidly, almost scared.

"Trying to justify everything John did was for the greater good is a shit excuse! What he did was wholesale slaughter and torture!" Rook screamed.

He was glad the music blasting from the newly liberated ranch was so loud no one could hear is meltdown let alone who he was talking too.

"Ben, I-" Faith tried to interject but Rook continued his tangent.

"You should know better than anyone what he was capable of, God knows what horrors Jacob commits, and your just as guilty with all that bliss you pollute the waters and people with" he went on.

"I have n-" Faith tried to cut in again, sounding more hesitant then before.

"Maybe if you didn't spend all your time locked up in your bunker and actually stepped outside and saw the horrors that Joseph let loose then maybe, maybe you'd see things from our perspective, if you aren't shot first for all the war crimes and felonies" Rook screamed.

"That's not-" Faith tried for a third time, to no avail.

"I thought, I thought you were supposed to be my friend or something, friends don't like, allow each other to be subject to raids that kill a bunch of innocent people!?" He continued.

"Or hell, friends don't let their brother tattoo and flay their friends, how can I even believe anything you say, for all I know your just trying to sweet talk me into a trap, no wonder people say your as bad as your brothers your another mons-"

"Rachel!" Faith yelled suddenly in desperately.

The second she said that, Rook feel silent. Confused to why she would just throw out a random name.

"What?" Rook huffed in confusion.

"Rachel... My real name is Rachel... Rachel Jessop" Faith admitted, very apprehensively.

Rook didn't say anything after that, he was to busy trying to digest what he was just told, Faith, or now Rachel was also silent, a pregnant pause hung over them.

"I don't know how else to let you know I'm sincere in what I say, nothing good for anyone will come from you leaving the valley, even you must see this" she begged him.

"Why are you telling me this?" asked gruffly, panting from his yelling.

"Because I'm scared, John is dead, I don't know how the Father is going to handle this going forward, but I do know he will be putting a lot more pressure on Jacob and myself, and I don't think we can fill John's hole, and I need you to believe me, I am not your enemy, we need to work together if we wish to save as many as possible, please, things aren't as black and white as you believe" Faith almost begged the Junior Deputy.

Rook held the walkie in his hand with clenched teeth, anger pumping through his veins, he stared at the walkie contemplating what to say next, his head was already fuzzy, and Faith wasn't helping, he genuinely couldn't tell if she was telling the truth.

"Ben, the end is coming, will you help us prepare?" Faith asked, sounding just like John.

Rook stared angrily at his walkie for a few more seconds before opening his mouth to argue some more, but what came out was not his own.

"Yo, boy Scout!" Jess's voice rang out from behind him.

Rook quickly swiveled around to see Jess standing in the back doorway staring at him, Rook waited to her what she had to say but by the look on her face, his stare was threatening to bore a hole through her.

"What?" Rook quickly barked.

"Hurk and Shark found some spray paint, everyone's gearing up to tag the place, you want in?" She called back.

Rook remained silent for a few more seconds, letting everything sink in.

"Are you alright?" Faith voice came quietly from the walkie still in hand.

It brought his attention back to the walkie in his hand.

"You coming or what?!" Jess yelled.

Rook looked back up at Jess for a second before going back to his walkie.

"I'll call you back" Rook responded just as quietly before holstering his walkie and walked towards the ranch.


As he watched Jess disappear back into the house, he knew he needed to calm down, he needed to don the mask of the friendly neighborhood Junior Deputy, it was a party after all, no need to look like he did when he dealt with John. Once he reached the door, instead of entering, he just stood at the door, breathing deeply a few times, calming down, once he was at a state he felt was good, he finally stepped in, hoping no one would noticed what had just happened.

As soon as Rook entered the ranch house again, he quickly found that the walls were already lined with various phrases, logos and drawings in a variety of colours, a dozen or so people, including Sharky and Hurk were giving the interior a make over, Hurk must have felt the gently push of the cool summer air, as soon as Rook re-entered, Hurk turned to him with a mile wide smile and hurried over to his friend.

"Here you go, Bro" Hurk said excitedly as he pushed a can of spray paint into his hands

"Thanks man" Rook said as he looked down at the can of red spray paint now in his hand.

He wasn't sure what to write, he had never done anything like this before, he didn't know what was good to create.

"Go nuts Bro, she's a full can" Hurk cheered before disappearing into the crowds to continue is work.

Before Rook could say or do anything else, a hand wrapped around his arm and pulled him, he looked over to see Jess was rather excitedly dragging him across the room, pushing a few people out of the way.

"There's a blank space by the cabinets" Jess said as she pointed to the aforementioned area with her free hand.

Sure enough, ahead of the cabinets, left of the back-door Rook came from, by the large dining room table.

"You seem really interested in me doing graffiti" Rook offered.

"Fuck yeah I am, I wanna see you break the law, and it's making graffiti, not doing" Jess giggled.

Rook didn't bother to fight Jess, she wasn't the type to just let things go, especially now that she seemed intent on getting him to tag the wall, so Jess dragged him across the room and pushed him in front of the wall she spoke of, a bare spot yet to be untouched by paint.

"Alright dude, dot it" Jess giggled mischievously.

Rook made a noise of acknowledgment as he stared at the wall, trying to come up with something worth creating, but nothing came to mind.

"So, what you going to do?" Jess asked.

"I don't know yet" Rook responded.

"Go from the heart, this is your first time doing something bad after all" Jess said with a mocking grin.

"Yeah, yeah" Rook replied, looking back to the wall for a few more seconds before taking a few steps towards it.

He stared at the wall visualizing what he had in mind for a few more seconds before he took off the cap and held up the spray can to the wall, pressing the button, causing paint to erupt from the tip, with the paint flowing Rook plainly wrote; The Junior Deputy Was Here, clear enough for all to see.

"Seriously, that was the best you had?" Jess gripped.

"I told you I had nothing" Rook replied, giving the woman a look.

"Come on, do better" Jess whined.

Rook didn't like her response for some reason, making him argue and banter, fighting over his artistic creativity and what should be drawn next, but before long, they were interrupted by the halting of blaring music and a voice that cut through the crowd of people.

"Yo, Joseph fucking Seed is on TV!" an unknown voice yelled from within the crowd of watchers.

The second the update rang out, the party practically paused, going quiet before a wave of questions washed over the room as everyone, as everyone rushed towards the large screen plasma TV mounted to the back of the fireplace, facing towards the back of the main room, all interested in hearing just what Joseph had to say in response to John's death.

Rook was also curious and moved with the crowd with Jess right behind him as they tried to get a decent view of the TV as the dozens and dozen of people crammed around the TV, pushing up against each other so as many people as possible could see what was going on as possible, thankfully they let Rook and Jess worm their way to the front of the forming crowd to see what Joseph was going to do, the TV was covered in a static, a faint outline of what was going underneath was barely visible, but with each passing second, the TV's picture became more and more clear until the image was crystal clear, and just as the person who yelled it said; Joseph seed was most certainly on the tv.

He was shirtless and sitting in a chair, looking down at his feet, shirtless and hunched over, his body marked with faded scars and tattoos, he still wore his orange glasses, grief racked his face, he looked truly upset his brother was dead. Rook wasn't sure where he was as Joseph's background was completely black as if he was broadcasting from a nebulous void

"A seal has been opened" Joseph said softly, looking up the camera, a sorrow in his eyes.

"My brother John, loved by few feared by many, misunderstood by all… except me, he was not born a monster, he was just a child when our family was torn apart, he was loving, kind, full of joy… he was easily preyed upon, John was not perfect, sometimes not even good, but he was still my brother" he said.

"And those responsible for his death will be punished… I promise you that" Joseph said, a quiet intensity building in his voice.

Joseph silently stared at the camera as if he was watching Rook through the camera lens for a few moments before the screen cut to a large logo of Eden's Gate, while pre-recorded sermons for the cult played.

As soon as the music started playing, the crowd broke down into their own opinions, some murmured amongst themselves, curious and scared to what he eluded too, others merely laughed it off and went back to whatever they were doing beforehand, others simply moved on.

Despite everyone breaking away from the tv, Rook and Jess still hung around, watching the tv, Jess was still practically pressed up against him when every huddled around to see the tv, she was so close to him, it made him want to say something, but he wasn't sure what that was. Instead he grabbed her hand, which was lightly brushing against his and lightly squeezed her hand.

"You good?" she asked quietly.

"With John dead, it means we got work to do in the other areas of the county" Rook explained quietly.

"What do you wanna do?" she asked, just as quiet.

Rook didn't want to go to the Henbane, he didn't want to go head to head with Faith it felt to raw for some reason, and people had made it sound like the mountain was in a more dire state the Henbane.

"Wanna go to the mountains?" Rook asked.

"You know, Jacob is much, much worse than John, right?" Jess asked, looking up at Rook.

"Yeah… but I got you to watch my back, so what could go wrong?" Rook shrugged.

"Your fucking lucky you know that? I may know some assholes that night help us out" Jess replied, rolling her eyes.

"Really, then what are we are waiting for, you wanna get out of here and head for the mountains?" Rook asked.

"Fuck it, let's roll Boy Scout" Jess smirked.


"And those responsible for his death will be punished… I promise you that" Joseph said, a quiet intensity building in his voice.

Then Joseph silently stared at the camera for a few seconds before the little red light next to the lenses clicked off and the peggie behind the large camera gave him a thumbs up, signifying the camera was off, before hurrying out of the room to carry out other orders, but with the Peggie gone, Joseph could speak freely.

"This is my fault; John's blood is on my hands" Joseph sighed in despair.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, curious, taking a step towards the blacked film set.

Jacob didn't want to be at the recording station, but Joseph insisted he and Faith meet to mourn their fallen brother, instead he want to prepare for the Junior Deputy's eventual arrival.

"After the first few weeks of the Deputy's entry into our county, Mister Rook finally found his footing and begun dismantling what John and built, and when he started doing serious damage, it... It struck a nerve with John, I haven't John that anxious in a very long time, not since we were children, I should have paid more attention and planned around it" Joseph explained sincerely.

Jacob did not reply immediately as he thought on what his brother said before speaking.

"You said it yourself, he needed to do it himself or he won't pass through Eden's Gate, he had to try the hardest, he was our brother"

Joseph let out a long, remorseful sigh.

"Perhaps being our brother got him killed, I think I was to hard on him, maybe I set the bar to high, how could I expect him to do what countless followers could not... I was unfair to him" Joseph admitted sorrowfully.

"John was... Different from us, but this was a risk even he was aware of" Jacob said, trying to placate his brother.

Joseph did not respond for a few moments as he sat in his seat, looking back down at his feet, the only place he could feel he can look.

"Do you think there is anything to bury?" he finally asked.

"If there is, there would be no way of getting to it, John had almost no chain of command, with him gone, the snake's head has been cut off, it left me no choice but to order all of your followers to leave the valley and head for friendly territory, as of right now what's left of John's flock is being absorbed into Faith's and my flock" Jacob explained.

"Understandable" Joseph stated bluntly, trying to refocus on the many still alive.

"I won't lie to you, Joseph" Jacob began.

"I don't know what this Benjamin Rook is going to do next, but if he so chooses to come to the mountains, I won't take half measures like John did, I will give the Deputy my all, I mean if he can neutralize John and his flock like he did, then he has the potential to be worth his weight in salt in your army" he said.

"Very well... You have my blessing" Joseph spoke.

"And if he comes to me?" Faith asked, speaking up from the corner of the room.

She had remained silent thus far as she didn't want to interrupt the men as they spoke to one another.

"Then you will do as you must, he must come to us willingly just as God foretold" Joseph sighed.

"And if he chooses to stay in the valley?" she asked.

"He won't" Jacob put bluntly.

"How are you so sure?" Faith asked.

"Because he can't help it, his sense of morals won't allow him to sit by while we do as we please, he will come for his Deputy Pratt just as he will come for you and the warrant officer" Jacob explained.

"Then both of you prepare, he will come for one of you, we already lost one of our family, we can't lose anymore, now go" Joseph said, finally rising from the chair.

Jacob and Faith bowed and bid goodbye to the Father, taking in what he had just ordered before departing the filming room, both solider and siren with different ideas in mind, Jacob hoped the Junior Deputy would come down his neck of the woods while Faith hope the Junior Deputy would take her up on her word and stay where he was.


Rook and Jess passed over the border between the valley and the mountains, it wasn't hard to get their hands on a truck considering there were so many parked in the front yard of the ranch. Rook didn't bother to let anyone know he was leaving for the Whitetail Mountains, he didn't want to spoil the party and worry anyone, if they really wanted to know what was going on with him, they could just reach him on his walkie talkie. But perhaps that was a bad idea as the moment they crossed over into the mountains, Jess seemed to get more and more antsy, something was making her nervous, and Jess never got nervous, after a few minutes of growing uneasiness, she repeatedly looked around her, through all the truck's window's taking in their surroundings as best she could as night had truly set in and there were no light posts to illuminate the roads. The bizarre change of personality was becoming to much for Rook and he needed to know what was going on with her.

"Hey are you ok?" Rook asked, giving her a look.

"Yeah, fine" Jess responded quickly, the worry in her voice was palpable.

Rook did not believe her at all.

"Are you looking for something specific? If you can't remember where your buddies are, that's fine, it's hard to see out here" Rook offered.

"No, it's not that, just… fuck dude, just be careful, it's to dark to see anything, just drive really fucking carefully" Jess spat, her panic turning it irritation.

"What do you want me to do?" Rook asked, denoting he was already driving careful enough.

"I don't know, kill the fucking headlights" Jess offered anxiously.

"Then I wouldn't be able too see where we're going" Rook replied, gesturing to the darkness around them.

"Do fucking something until we get to my guys" Jess complained nervously.

"Who are your friends anyways?" Rook asked.

"I have, well had some friends who I kind of rolled with some people right after I lost my family, they were these weirdo doomsday preppers that Dutch knew, they were also like, a weird militia or something dedicated to keeping land development from happening and all that, and when the peggie attacked they grouped together and went into full attack mode against Jacob and the cult, but anyways long before that, well one thing led to another and I was kicked out because I was an extremist and a danger to everyone around me" Jess explained, sounding bored as she said the words that defined her.

"But seeing as shit has changed since Joseph's attack, they might take me back and more importantly let you in so you can fuck up Jacob like you did to Johnny" she said.

"Do you think it will be just as easy getting to Jacob, with him being a vet an' all?" Rook asked.

"No, not at all, expect the worst" Jess replied, a confidence in her words.

"He's that bad, huh?" Rook asked, not liking her words.

"You didn't figure that out when I said I know people who can help us? I hate working with people other then just you" Jess grouched.

"Well I'm sure th-" Rook began to say but stopped himself as the truck's headlights illuminated a fallen tree meters ahead of them, it lay across the road, it was thick enough that it blocked off any vehicular passage, so thick that in was to big to be moved aside by two people, and by the state of the tree, it fell recently.

"Well shit, now what?" Rook asked, stopping the truck and looked over to Jess again.

But this time when he looked at Jess, she looked truly afraid, frozen in fear.

"Get us out of here" Jess whimpered, her voice barely audible.

"What?" Rook asked, almost not hearing her.

"Get us out of here!" Jess screamed at the top of her lungs, squeezing the edges of her seat as hard as she could.

Before he could say anything to figure out what was going on, the windshield shattered.

"Holy fuck!" Jess yelled as she leaned away from the shattering glass, opening her passenger door and rolled out into the cover of night.

Rook also swore in fear as he too opened his door and dropped out, hitting the cold asphalt floor, hearing people issuing commands close by as he scrambled to his feet.

"Come on Dude, get into the trees" he could barely hear Jess over the heartbeat in his ears.

He wanted to follow through with her plan but the scuffing of multiple feet against the asphalt gave him other ideas.

Rook wanted to grab the shotgun he kept with him in the driver's cabin, but as he quickly moved to the open cabin door, about to reach in and grab it, he was slammed against the frame of the truck, abruptly stopping him from getting the firearm as he was then grabbed and thrown to the ground.

As he lay helplessly on the ground, trying to rise, the high beams of his truck was a stark contrast to the oppressive darkness, making it increasingly difficult to see the silhouettes around him. Then oppressive hands restrained him, a hand on his right heel and bent it back until his heel touched butt and his left-hand twist against the small of his back.

Rook uselessly squirmed and writhed on the floor trying to break free with no effect, he could hear ore figures moving in towards him, but he could also hear Jess's arrows faintly whistle through the air, a noise he had come to familiarize himself with, the first arrow whistled over head and disappeared into the ambient noises of the woods and their attackers, a second arrow quickly followed, this time the arrow must have hit its mark as the whistling tersely stopped and was replaced with a pained bark from one of his attackers.

"I'm hit! Another P.O.I. nine O'clock in trees, possible Whitetail, move with caution!" a strong male voice ordered.

"Moving to neutralize!" A strong female voice came, harsh footsteps followed afterwards.

Then the newly identified woman fired her gun, a heavy sounding firearm rang out, the bullet cases clanging against the asphalt, the muzzle flashes illuminated the area around her for a second, allowing Rook to see just who was accosting them, six figures, cloaked head to toe in black camouflage with just as black Kevlar vests over top, fully automatic weapons in their hands.

"Suck my ass!" Jess yelled from the treeline.

By the sound of her voice, it sounded like her voice was fading, like she was moving away from the confrontation.

Rook understood why she would move away from what was happening, it was six against one, guns versus bow, she needed to regroup, but a part of him couldn't help but feel hurt as he felt like he was being abandoned.

"Team A pursue target, team B, move to extract" the person that held him in place said.

Then his untouched arm was roughly manipulated, forcing his arm behind his back with his other arm while his leg was released, falling back to a normal position, then cold metal clamped around his wrists, handcuffs.

Footsteps ran across the asphalt as more automatic fire rang out from multiple guns while Rook was hoisted to his feet, kicking and bucking all the while, trying to break free, but it was pointless.

The level of pointlessness dropped to new lows as he was shoved against the truck once more only to have a burlap bag over his head and tightened firmly around his neck, just enough to make it slightly hard to breath, then he was lifted up into the air and something hard buried itself into his stomach; he had been hoisted onto someone's shoulder like a bag of potatoes, it would have been much easier to fight back if not for the leg wound John had given him hours ago.

His kidnapper began to move quickly, making Rook lightly bounce on the man's shoulder, he was sure he was being taken in the opposite direction Jess went off in as gunshots echoed into the night, fading with each step.

After a half minute of running, Rook was thrown to the ground, but this time he landed on something soft, sprawling out over it the best he could, then a truck engine started up, right next to him, it was then Rook realized he was in a truck, not wanting to be taken away, Rook desperately tried to sit up, but before he could, he could feel, several lines go across his body and legs, it take a lot to figure out he was being tied down, and sure enough, he quickly lost his ability to move, leaving him laying across a row of seats, then he could hear the door close, slamming shut, then after a few seconds, he could hear another door open the close, someone must be getting in or out of the vehicle, then the vehicle began to roll forward, a little at first as dirt and twigs crunched under the wheels before building speed on a smooth surface, the road, the vehicle he was in must have been hidden in the other side of the fallen tree as the vehicle was moving at high speeds. He had no idea where they would take him, he found it meaningless to try to talk his way out or even talk at all, these people were ordered to take him and they waited for him for who knows how long, there were probably teams like them all along the mountains border, making negotiations futile. All he could do was wait for an opening, but until then, he was downright terrified, his heart was threatening to burst from his chest as he was willing himself not to hyperventilate as the bag on his head altered his air supply, and he couldn't help but worry about Jess, left in the blinding dark with several pursuers, with automatic weapons. But it was Jess he was thinking about, he could on hope she was capable of taking care of herself, and could even arrange a rescue attempt, but how would she know where he was.

He hated himself for not doing a better job sticking with her, he wished he was better, a better warrior, a better tactician, a better light foot, a better everything, he needed to be something more if he wanted to keep on living.

But yet again ,he was at the mercy of his enemy, powerless and restrained, praying to whoever was listening to watch over him as he tried to save himself, terrified and self damning, Rook's mind spun and throbbed as his death or worse was very real possibility.