A/N: I want to say that the next 3 or so chapters have been some of the hardest to write thus far as they deal with trying to expanding what we saw in the game and importantly explain certain plot holes that were glossed over. I might have to come back and rewrite these chapters but for now I feel I have conveyed my points. Any reviews are still welcomed and I am grateful for the ones I have gotten thus far.
Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 7: Carmina strikes back
The bunker that was known as John's Gate had like all of the heralds been painstakingly expanded in secret in the same manner as the original construction, this allowed the addition of far more barracks for the faithful and the facilities that they would need from plumbing to the all important worship.
It was in the meeting hall with its countless rows of pews that John now stood before his 'Chosen'. They numbered 193, brave and skilled warriors all of them coming from military or law enforcement backgrounds that had become disillusioned with the direction the world was heading and thus sought out for a new light to guide them and to this end they all found 'The Father'.
'I had 200 but each of those souls were reaped by "The Collapse". God please why do you test me so? Why must I tame the wolf that hunts my flock? I know there must be a way to bring him to the fold but how many more of my own must die so that I can find it?' John wondered again. After his outburst on the surface he had retired to his quarters for a moment to contend with this own 'Wrath' lest it take control of him.
'Yes. I must keep my control over my sin lest it cloud my mind to the path I must take. The only wrath that I should feel in my soul is that of the lord and The Father.' John thought happily as the last of his men sat in the meeting hall.
"These are trying times for us all and they are not yet over brothers. The so called "Resistance" has gained a great amount of traction within our region and it is only a matter of time before they spread their pestilence across to Jacob's and Faith's." John said letting the facts soak within their hearts before continuing.
"But just as I have been tasked by God to tame the beast that has lead this revolt against the will of God, so too have you been tasked in being the first line of defense against this Resistance. It is through your strength in arms that will allow the other Heralds to focus on their own tasks and yes those that attempt to resist God's efforts in those areas. Already seven of your brothers have given their lives in forwarding the work of The Father and each of them will be waiting at the Gates of Eden for the time when we have completed our tasks and weathered 'The Collapse'."
The gathered men as one seemingly shuddered at the mention of 'The Collapse' for the term no longer meant just the fall of the old world order but now carried with it the terrible visage of a armored giant with weapons of untold power and a laugh that pierced the souls of all that heard it.
John continued. "Our fallen await us at the gate for us to come with the key. 'The Father's' work will see to the obtaining of that very key but that work relies on us doing our part for 'The Father'. Now we come to our grim and essential tasks. First we must retake the roads, for if we hold them we break the support network of those who will stand in our way, their numbers will waste away in famine, their guns run dry, their blades dulled, and when we have taken all of that away those that survive will be left with no choice but to say 'YES!' to the word of God. 'YES!'... to the will of 'The Father'. To this end brothers we will send our own 'David' to fight against the Resistance's 'Goliath'... The Revelator."
The gathered men murmured amongst themselves for a moment at the news. The Revelator was a special project originally meant to counter "The Widowmaker" should it remain a threat after the start of the collapse and subsequent Reaping. But with its capture even before the events that kicked off the Reaping it was going to be completed and immediately repurposed for hauling supplies to John's Gate, but now even those plans had been dashed and the great war rig would sally forth as 'The Father' had originally intended.
"With the Revelator we will take back the roads in the name of 'The Father' and with those secure we will retake one by one each lost property and eventually retake the town of Fall's End. From there we will redouble our efforts as proclaimed by God himself to show the path to Eden to the heathens and through pain and sacrifice on their part they will either die or have their sins atoned for. But this is only out first task and I believe it to be the simplest one... the next task as set forth by both God and 'The Father' is the recapture of this Deputy Roger Rook." John ended with a overwhelming sour taste being left in his mouth from even mentioning the mans name.
"Even now I have sent my Inquisitors to find more information on this monster so that we can learn his weakness and recapture him. He will be made to atone for every sin he has committed. That is the burden that God has given me thus in order to carry this burden I must first ask of you help me get started." John finished as he looked over the crowd.
These men... these men were still scared. John's heart threatened to sink at the sight, it was proof that just as the Deputy had said his men... his best men had been compromised. Their hearts bored into with the news of constant losses of territory and the sight of ever more impaled bodies lining the roads even in areas that they still controlled. The other Resistance members were taking their ques from the Deputy and every patrol that failed to return was inevitably found along side the road somewhere impaled and often with other disfigurement done to their corpses. If the Chosen were this affected by such sights then the lesser members of The Project were surely even more terrified.
John thundered. "Brothers. I can see that you are scared not just of our enemies but of the tasks that we now face. Even I can say 'YES!' I am scared of my task: To bring the living embodiment of Satan to heel and make him atone for his sins lest my own immortal soul be damned at the Gates of Eden and forever cast away. Cast away from my flock. Cast away from... my family."
The crowds tone changed with the revelation and so John pressed on. "But as I have taught by the power of 'YES!' I can pass on through the Gates of Eden! 'YES!' I can be with my family in Eden! 'YES!' I can be with my flock in Eden!" John cried out. The sweat now clear on his brow as he started to pace across the stage.
John gathered himself and put his very soul into his next words. Their thunder igniting in turn the flagging fires within the souls of his men.
"'YES!'... 'YES!'... 'YES!'... 'YES!''YES!''YES!''YES!''YES!''YES!'... 'YES!' I can do the tasks laid out by God! I can and I will do what the lord thy God has asked 'The Father' to relay unto me! By the power of 'YES!' I will make Satan atone for his sins and walk beside me through the gates of Eden for that is the greatest victory that any mortal could hope to have over their foes!
Any man can be slain but to turn a foe into a fellow brother in arms... that great victory is the only victory worthy of bringing before God. If the power of 'YES!' can do that... then what can it do for you? 'YES!' I will hit that sinner!, 'YES!' I will capture that man in the name of 'The Father'!, 'YES!' I will run faster, fighter harder, and think smarter!
For I am not just a man but one of The Father's Chosen. Your faith is strong my brothers... and to unleash the power of that faith! To allow you to do God's wonders in the name of The Father you need only say... 'YES!'." John's bare whisper of the last word still carried throughout the crypt like silence of the room and completed the spell to push away the fear that 'The Collapse' and his allies had cast upon the cult elite.
John collected himself enough to pull out a cloth from his back pocket to dab away the sweat on his brow.
"Brothers in addition to 'The Revelator' we will have three heavy convoy patrols, three trucks with bolted on armor, and five armed men per a truck. It will be these trucks that will secure any roadblocks and once the Revelator is on the road it will be these convoys that will retake our outposts. To our brave airmen all thirteen of you will be on constant rotating air patrol fully loaded with fuel and munitions, however for now you will be delayed as our stocks at the Ranch are dry and we can only move our heavy munitions once we have the roads secured. But once that is done you will watch from on high and report the movements of the Resistance and where ever possible deliver great punishing strikes against them."
John scanned the crowd basking in their attentiveness before he continued.
"Eight of you will man the Revelator's guns or even drive it. I will leave that choice up to you and the lord who will get the honor of driving our tool of retribution. That will leave fifty of you left to capture the Deputy. But I will not assign this task to any man... first we will pray to God for strength and if so feel moved to do volunteer for this most dangerous of tasks then come to the stage. If you do not feel moved to do so worry not, God will have a place for you in his plan but today is not that day."
John and the rest of the gathered Chosen bowed their heads as John lead them in prayer.
"Oh God we gather on this day in seeking strength and enlightenment in this trying time. We ask that if it is your will that you will touch the souls of the faithful that should march forth unto the land and bring back the great Satan in bondage so that his sins however great can be atoned for and in your endless mercy even the most wayward of your children can be brought back and so he can be held up as a beacon on earth to show others that if he can be cleansed of his sin then so too can they. May you oh God pick whom shall I send, and who will go for us. We ask this in the name of 'The Father'. Amen." John concluded as thus the room returned to its tomb like silence.
No one moved as the mass of men gathered kept their head bowed in concentration as they wrestled with what they desired verses what God and 'The Father' desired. Then one man stood and walked to the stage where John looked up at the man.
Really he was a boy probably only 18 or 19 most likely a boot camp washout but they were in some respects the most useful of the Chosen as they had some skills and a lot of faith and zeal.
"Herald, here am I; send me." The man said.
Then another man stood and made the walk to the stage. This one was far older likely one of the first Gulf war veterans that Jacob had met in his time passing through the homeless shelters.
"Herald, here am I; send me." The man said.
Then two more stood and walked up and then five more men stood, soon there were twenty five men on the stage with John and after a few minutes no one else stood.
"Rejoice brothers!" John cried out. "For these men have answer their calls to action when God sent them. Let them be an example so that when the lord thy God calls you to act that you too should answer as they have!"
The crowd started to chant 'YES!' and soon John and those on the stage joined in their voices and faith shaking the entirety of the bunker. Their voices carried throughout the ventilation ducts as well as they would have through a PA system. Even in the holding cells the victims of John couldn't avoid hearing the chants, some of them even breaking down into tears at the mere sound of the word.
In one cell on a meager bed made of flattened cardboard boxes laid a beaten and bruised woman of the law. She could only lay there and listen to the insufferable chant until it finally ended and she barely whispered hoarsely.
"No."
Given the speed of which Rooks original agenda had been completed he spent most of the day helping to fortify the fertilizer plant and organize the scout teams in how to best approach the rail yard in preparation for taking it over. He was back inside the Spread Eagle with his parents finishing a late lunch/early dinner and processing the latest round of cult sightings from the various outposts when their radios crackled to life.
"Hel... Hello?! Th... is... K... ye!... Anyon... copy?" The woman's voice on the other end struggled to come through.
Jessica was the first to pickup on the line. "Kim is that you? You are breaking up badly. Say again."
There was a moment of static before the signal cleared up. "Jessica! Oh thank god, the cult is attacking our house. I've had to spend the last few days trying to fix the radio after they damaged it. Nick is barely holding them back and we lost Carmina to thieves. Please is there anyone who can help?"
"Yes, we're coming honey just hold on for a little longer." Jessica turned to her own family. "Well what are we waiting for? The Rye's need our help!"
Roger reached for his pack as he saw his mother grab her RPK and duffel bag of drums.
"Mom you're not seriously..." he started to ask but his mother cut him off.
"Don't even finish that sentence young man. I only got minor leg burns and a bit of limp so I am still going to go help Kim. If the peggies are laying siege I'll setup with Kim while you and your father go hunting." The matriarch of the Rook's decreed.
Roger looked at his father has he was strapping on his own AR and his particularly ancient Vietnam M60.
"Pick your battles, son. You'll understand that when you get married." The wise man said.
The Rook's raced out to Marcus's truck as Grace jogged up.
"Roger what..." Grace tried to ask.
"Short version. The Rye's are under siege and just made contact. Get in the truck and hang on. Dad is driving." Roger half ordered as he climbed into the bed and manned the newly upgraded twin .50 cal mount.
Grace did as she told and jumped in finding some chains that had been looped through the tie down points for grab handles for those sitting on the bed floor.
"Hang on!" Marcus called out as he hammered the accelerator and raced out of town into the darkening evening.
Grace had ridden in the back of plenty of trucks and even in her time in the army riding in the back of a deuce and a half was nothing like what she was experiencing now. Marcus was pushing the old F350 hard driving it has if it was more a rally car then a pickup, Jessica was the very model of unfazed almost bored looking content, Roger on the other hand was openly laughing at the little jumps and tight turns they made as they thundered down the roads south toward where Rye & Sons Aviation was.
"Roger have you finally lost what's left of your mind?!" Grace asked just as they caught another small jump.
"Oh Grace! I was just remembering some trips to Africa I have taken over the years! There is just something about being in the back of a Hilux with a Soviet KPV welded on the back, being driven by a mercenary who is loudly complaining about British tax laws cutting into his earnings every time he goes home. This is actually fun for a change!" Roger exclaimed.
'Pops if you could only see this family now first hand.' Grace thought as she hung on tighter.
Soon after the sounds of gunfire could be heard even over the roar of the trucks diesel engine and Jessica and Roger readied their weapons.
They came around the bend and drove up the drive way leading to the hanger and the house and the four cult pickups that were being used as cover against the lone Rye holding them off from behind same crates with just an AR.
Marcus came to a stop on the other side of the runway near a large storage shed and as he climbed out he belted out orders with the authority that would be expected of a old officer.
"Grace get on top of this shed and get on overwatch!" He yelled as he planted the bipod of his M60 on the hood of his truck.
Jessica didn't even bother with getting out as she brought her own gun to bear. No one would get much to do though as Roger brought the twin .50 cal into play.
A constant stream of tracers flowed from both heavy machine guns shredding man and cover. Roger could only smile at the light show as he wiped his fire across all of the peggie gun trucks.
'Figures Dad wouldn't just load his machine guns with Mark 211's but load pure tracer belts to boot.' Roger thought as he stopped firing long enough to asses the battlefield or what remained of it at least.
From behind his crate Nick Rye stood up and could only sigh in relief.
"Roger, that you buddy?! Oh sweet Jesus am I glad to see you!"
Grace elected to stay on watch duty as the Rook's closed the distance with Nick.
"Nick are you ok? How's Kim and the baby?" Jessica asked first.
It took Nick a moment to respond which was understandable given that he had spent the last few days awake running off of instant coffee, candy bars, and adrenaline.
"Oh... uh I'm fine... Kim is fine too, at least I am 90% percent sure. KIM YOU OK?!" He yelled out.
"I'm fine." came the reply as the overwhelmingly pregnant woman stepped out of the house. Jessica left the men and hugged the other woman and began speaking in hushed tones.
Roger looked on and kinda wondered what he was missing until Nick cued him in.
"Your mom has been a big help in getting us ready for baby though she still thinks its be a girl for some reason like my wife keeps saying. Still with Kim's mother being in Billings and my mom being dead we were kinda expecting to have to go at this whole new baby thing solo, then one day after church your mom came over to see if we needed help and since then she's been like a mother-in-law with way less judgment and drama and more helpful and supporting."
Roger smiled though he still kinda wondered in the back of his mind if this wasn't some quiet substitution considering his age and lack of children of his own, of course he would first need to find a wife first, which meant he would have to actually find a girlfriend again, and then date said girlfriend.
'You already had a girl once...' Roger thought for the briefest of moments.
'No, we ended it. We had to. We where going in different directions back then. Hell in a year I'll be gone again crawling the earth with gun in hand... Joey... deserves.' He thought unable to bring himself to finish the internal statement.
'Ok one thing at a time. First deal with genocidal doomsday cult, then deal with legal repercussions of committing genocide against said cult, deal with job issues, and then deal with relationship issues.' He finally settled as Nick spoke again.
"Our plan was to fly out of here after the first night that the peggies attacked but that morning they attacked again and took Carmina. They had to have taken it to the Seed Ranch its the only place that has a long enough runway for her to land in the area otherwise they had to have flown her clear over to Landsdowne and I just don't see them doing that."
Marcus and Roger looked at each other when Nick mentioned their plan. It was Marcus that broke the news.
"Nick... I'm sorry son but you wouldn't be able to fly out of here."
"WHAT!?" Nick exclaimed.
Marcus continued. "You remember the Hope County flying club? They sent four of their guys in each direction trying to get word out to the outside world. They were intercepted at the mountains by peggies with MANPADS. Hard to say what type but whatever it was they launched en mass from several teams at each plane. These AA teams are as far as we know under Joseph Seed's personal and sole control. If you did get a plane and try to fly out of here with Kim by all accounts it would be a surefire way to get killed. I'm sorry."
Nick paced like a cornered animal. His family was in danger and he knew he had to protect them at all costs but he was now out of options beside fighting the cult directly which was risky as hell.
"Nick. Calm down." Roger said placing his hand on his old friends shoulder easily pinning the man in place before he continued.
"You are not alone in fighting against the cult. Your airfield is an important asset to the resistance which means we will be placing guards here to hold it. From here we will have our own air patrols to track the peggies and ground any air forces they have so you will have other pilots and fighters from that as well. Kim will be safe either here or in Fall's End. I won't lie, we are in a tight spot and all alone but we have our neighbors, friends, and families to watch out for each other. We have already retaken much of Holland Valley and we have been getting sporadic reports from other regions that people are resisting elsewhere as well. You are welcome to find some way to help us and regardless we will work to protect you, Kim, and the baby."
Nick visibly calmed. "Right. Well I can't just sit idly by and let others defend my home and land. If you can find someway to get my plane back I'll even be your personal air support!"
Roger smiled. "What could you have strapped to that old plane for weapons?"
Marcus gave a deadpan reply. "Eight Zuni rocket rails, a bomb rack with a max weight limit of 1,000 lbs, and... a M61A2 Vulcan with a ultra low fire rate reducer."
Roger looked incredulously at his old friend.
"Nick... its been a long time since your Dad taught me to fly in that plane and I am assuming that this is the same old floatplane but there is no way in Hell's half-acre that old bird could fly with even half of that stuff."
Nick lifted his cap and scratched his head before trying to come up with an explanation.
"Well you see right after the laws on full auto guns changed the laws concerning guns mounted on aircraft changed as well. Its still a instant felony to shoot any aircraft mounted guns over a populated area let alone at another aircraft but there is an exception for 'promotional' events. So there was talk at the time of setting up a Clutch Nixon Celebration series of events and I thought I would try my hand it because you know how big of a fan I am of his stunts. So I did a lot of experimenting, engine modification, material replacement, learning how to weld Titanium, and work with carbon fiber and I wound up with a 800 horsepower 'performance' floatplane. Dad and Granddad would have probably loved it. Now the cult coming to town kinda wrecked that event plan early on, but I was in too deep not to finish it and then with the cult getting all aggressive I decided to add a few other touches to the plane just in case I had to shoot my way out of here. Still the best plane in the county."
Roger turned to his father. "You sold him all that?"
Marcus simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "He filled out the paperwork and paid in full. Even bought reloading dies for 20mm. Welcome back to America son."
Roger thought on this for a brief moment. "God, I love my country."
The sun had set by the time that the convoy of resistance fighters came to the airfield and setup shop. Even Dr. Ferguson made a surprise visit to Kim to make sure that she and her unborn child were ok. Nick ate a proper meal sent by Casey and Mary May and marched off to bed leaving the Rooks and Grace in the Rye's kitchen.
"Major, you look like you are plotting something again." Grace asked as she finished her own dinner.
Roger had in fact been deep in thought as he looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. It read just shy of midnight.
"I want to hit Seed Ranch tonight." Roger said simply as he polished off another can of Coke.
Grace and Jessica went wide eyed at the idea but Marcus didn't budge.
Grace was the first to react. "Roger you're insane! You have seriously lost your goddamned mind! Its one thing to suggest scouting the place out now that we hold this place but taking it from the cult... its John's fucking house for fucks sake!"
Roger didn't move his gaze from the clock. "We have been thinking about taking the Ranch the wrong way. We have been treating it as some up coming big set piece battle where both sides are going to decide when to fight over it. No we need to take the offensive and do so from a direction the cult won't expect. They expect us to treat the Ranch as some intimidating objective so I'll bet they will have their own scouts watching for any big deployments of our fighters, in fact I would bet that John probably knows already that he has lost this place and might make a move tonight to retake it."
Just then one of the night guards on top of the hangar called out. "PEGGIES! THEY'RE COMING DOWN THE WEST ROAD!"
Everyone ran their positions. Jessica took position in the newly remodeled nursery setting up her gun to watch the back of the house, Grace meanwhile sprinted as fast a she could back to the roof of the storage shed along with the newly placed pair of .50 cal emplacements.
Marcus took his place at the front of the house. His main purpose was to be the last ditch defense for the house should the peggies try to rush it.
Roger hadn't really gotten an assigned position but took the keys to his dad's truck and moved it so it was on the runway between the house and the storage shed. The peggie trucks could be heard coming but they had learned to shut off their headlights on their approach only the fact that they had kept them on within visual range of the airfield had given them away this time, but even then driving white trucks even at night tended to be visible.
The first truck pulled in and the gunner in the bed tried to take aim at some of the fighters that had taken cover behind the same crates that Nick had hidden behind earlier that day, but in the time that he held his fire was enough for Grace to put a pair of .308 rounds into his chest. The driver and the rest of the passengers tried to step out of their truck only to be cut down by the literal hail of machine gun fire from all angles it seemed. The next two trucks didn't even make it that far as Roger brought his twin .50 cals to bear and sent a pair of pulsing laser like streams of tracers racing through the peggie trucks blowing one up outright.
Among the resistance fighters a strange feeling was being collectively shared. That this was becoming too easy when just a few days ago four truck loads of armed cultists were all that it took to take Fall's End and otherwise would have massacred anyone who resisted, yet here they were in less than two minutes from the first shot fired they had killed three truck loads before they could even dismount. That left everyone present wondering though 'Where was the fourth truck?'.
The sound of Jessica's RPK answer that question and Marcus followed by the men on the roof of the hanger shifted to support her but only found five dead peggies that had dismounted from their truck early to flank the Rye home on foot.
Roger dismounted and took his Barrett as he stepped out on to the main road and looked westward down the road. He stood there for ten minutes and nothing else came from the direction of the Seed Ranch.
He walked back to the house where Marcus and Jessica were helping some of the other resistance fighters check what remained of the peggies bodies for anything resembling Intel. Kim and Nick stepped out and viewed first hand the carnage wrought by their defenders.
"Hey you guys if you are going to mount those peggie bodies along side the road do you think you could pose them in some funny poses?" Kim said smiling as some of the fighters gathered nodded in agreement and started dragging the searched bodies towards the road.
Nick whistled softly at the wreckage. "You know the peggies should really learn to not to drive straight into machine gun fire. They would live longer that way."
Grace called out as she joined the Rooks and Ryes. "Well lets hope that is a lesson that they don't learn anytime soon and at this rate they will run out of stupid people soon enough."
Marcus grumbled back "I would rather deal with stupid peggies then a smart one. The smart ones can do a lot of damage very quickly and are hard to track."
Roger finally reached the group and spoke flatly. "So whose up for a counter assault?"
Everyone's faces told him enough. Grace was clearly tired and appalled, his mother was just appalled, Nick and Kim were confused, and his father had the same evil grin that he himself got sometimes.
"Now is the time to strike, they just sent twenty men out which is likely a fair number of those stationed at the Seed Ranch. Just like the fertilizer plant there will probably be a token guard force at the ranch obviously a bit larger than two guys but still far better odds than ever." Marcus explained his sons train of logic.
"Exactly and when we were first setting up shop here one of the resistance guys said there were some jet skis down at the launch across the street from here. I checked it out and half of them are those new electric jet skis; fast and quiet. They won't know what hit them and I doubt their pilots are confident night fighters even with the full moon we have right now so its unlikely that they will scramble on just a few foot soldiers." Roger said his own evil grin showing.
Grace sighed heavily. "Roger... I'm sorry I... I can't bring my self to come. You make sense but I'm not eighteen any more and we have been fighting for a good chunk of the day. I just can't keep up with you not unless you can give me a nights rest first."
Roger nodded in understanding, this was honestly a very common situation he found himself in the field hence why he tended to work alone often times or had a larger group to draw volunteers from.
"Don't worry Grace far younger men have utterly failed to keep up with me when I am on a roll. You get some rest. Tomorrow we will probably have to deal with that rail yard but first we must solidify any of our holdings, we can grow too fast for our own good and leave us open for a second wave of cultists from John's bunker to steal back everything we gained."
Kim touched Grace's shoulder. "I can only offer you a couch unless you can some how fit in a crib but I can say its a comfortable couch to sleep on when the baby demands that I take a nap." The two women followed by Nick walked inside leaving the Rooks alone.
Jessica sighed heavily and looked at the two most important men in her life.
"I won't bother trying to stop you two from doing this, after all I know I married a man of action and gave birth to another one. But please for the love of God don't get killed or captured, after all with my leg still healing its going to be three days at best before I can walk normally again to come in and rescue you."
She hugged them both and headed inside the house to find somewhere to sleep herself.
"Well Roger... lets get going." Marcus said as he started walking towards the boat launch.
The journey up the river was uneventful as expected. The Seed Ranches boat launch was unmanned which made passing it a non issue. The plan was to go up the river and approach the Ranch from the west side rather than hiking up the road or climbing the cliff that the house sat on.
The two men parked their jet skis on the shore and quietly trudged up the hill until they came across a foot path that conveniently lead to the runway.
"Ok dad we do this in two parts. I'll climb the radio tower and once I clear a section of the area you'll start peeking around for a entrance to the interior and tell me how much company we might have inside."
Marcus nodded and shouldered his M60 and drew his 1911 that he had the foresight like Roger to swap the normal muzzle brake for a large suppressor. Then the men dashed across the runway and into the bushes that sat at the base of the radio tower.
Roger then made the climb up the tower on the structure itself, if he wasn't going for stealth he might have dared to try using the grappling hook on the platform above him but he worried that the noise would carry in the quiet of the night. His muscle and joints reminded him once again that only a little over 24 hours ago he had been Blissed by John's men and he really hadn't had much recovery time.
Finally reaching the platform he could see that indeed there was at least what probably counted as a token force left guarding the ranch. All in all ten men two of them were marked with the cult cross on their faces. He took his Barrett once more into his hands.
"I count ten hostiles, two are VIP's if you need to engage them go for double taps on the head anything else and they will still be combat effective for sometime. I'm starting right to left." Roger whispered into his radio.
"Copy." Marcus confirmed as he prepared to exploit any openings his son made.
The first man was a rifleman that had turned the corner at the base of the air control tower heading towards the big hanger door and thus was hidden from view. With him dead the next was the sniper at the top of the tower itself, Roger held his breath for a moment as the bullet he sent into the mans head had raced clear through the small multi-pane windows, the sound of broken glass surely would have been heard by someone.
But after two minutes of silence nothing came of it, but in that time he had watched the patrol pattens of his next targets. Two men were conversing on the wrap around balcony on the house but they weren't in a position for him to get a two for one shot so he gauged the needed movements and shot the man on the left in the chest, the explosion of gore showering his friend shocking him for the fractions of a second Roger needed to shift his aim and do the same to him.
"Overwatch cleared for the moment, shifting to ground level targets." Roger said but was interrupted by his father.
"Got two of them coming towards the bushes. Stand by." Marcus said as the pair of patrol cult guards chatted idly closing on his position side by side.
The handful of seconds seemed drawn out but finally the two men crossed Marcus's position in the bushes and a single bullet punched through one mans head and then the other. Quick and quiet.
"Tangos down. No reaction from ground level." Marcus whispered.
Roger confirmed that the remaining four men were still focused on whatever it was they were doing. Two of the guards were watching the road that lead to the steps of the house while one of the two marked men seemed to be operating a radio set and growing visibly frustrated.
"Think you can take out the two on the stairs? I want to listen to these marked guys on the radio." Roger asked his father.
"Good idea. Smart money says they are wondering where their attack force is." Marcus replied as he stepped out into the yard and stalked toward the two men. The landscaping on the property combined with numerous road cases of what appeared to be audio and video equipment made for plenty of cover until he was a mere ten feet away from the two men.
Marcus tossed a nearby rock to his left getting the attention of both of the men. Then he put a shot in the right most man's head, the body hitting the ground hard enough to catch the other mans attention but even as he turned his head to look for his partner his own head suddenly had a case of acute lead poisoning.
Marcus turned back towards the main house and saw that Roger must still be listening in on the cult so he would make his way to the hanger and make sure that Nick's plane was indeed inside.
Meanwhile Roger was indeed still listening to the cultists but they weren't surprisingly enough talking about the attack force that they had sent to the Rye's.
"What do you mean 'We are giving up the rail yard!' 'The Father' would never approve of such a thing!" The man at the ranch nearly shouted into the radio.
"Calm yourself brother. This is unusual indeed but the orders came from Herald John himself. I'm sure that John wouldn't go against the wishes of 'The Father'. Perhaps it is your faith that is wavering in this case." The voice on the other end snapped back.
"How dare you insinuate such a thing! So if we are giving up the rail yard then what of the 'Revelator'?" The Ranch peggie snarled.
"The Chosen will take it over. Now you see why I am not resisting this decision. The men and I will be returning to John's Gate for the moment but will likely be sent either to the Ranch or any of the outposts that the Chosen convoys re-capture. Have you heard of the great task given to Herald John and the Chosen?" The other peggie explained.
"I thought that was a falsehood being spread among the younger brothers. John is to cleanse and atone
'The Collapse' himself! Truly 'The Father' has faith in John if he has given him such a task and it would explain why all The Chosen are on edge. All of the pilots are here in the hanger barracks training and praying mightily with only breaks for food and rest, truly they are The Chosen among us." The Ranch peggie finally said.
Shortly after exchanging something that passed for pleasantries along the lines of 'May 'The Father' bless you this day brother.' Roger switched back to the resistance frequency and updated his father on the new info.
"Well that explains why we have so many planes parked along side the runway. Nick's plane is in the main hanger. Sounds like they are being rather anti-social as well so I say we clear the house before we move on to them." Marcus said as he sneaked closer to where the two marked men where now talking about the radio call.
"Agreed, let me get one of these guys and you'll get the other. On my shot." Roger said as he lined up his sights on the peggie that had been on the radio.
The muffled shot erased the mans head and before his body even started to fall the other marked man suddenly had a pair of .45 cal slugs racing through the back of his head. The last man once he hit the ground actually tried to push off the ground and stand again only to have Marcus's boot land on his back and get another pair of shots through the back of the neck.
"I thought Mary May was joking about that peggie that lost half his brain and still functioned. Now I am glad I got you that explosive ammo." Marcus said a bit unnerved at the sight of a zombie like reaction from someone he had shot in the head no less.
Roger started climbing down to meet his father and explained his thoughts on the matter.
"It's this Bliss shit they are pumping their best guys with. Seems depending on the variant used to be a powerful pain nullifier at the least and maybe even a full blown combat drug. I pumped a man with 25 rounds of .30-06 and he kept coming, I then bashed him with my rifle repeatedly and he was only dazed by it. Finally had to cut his head off with an fire ax. These guys need massive crippling trauma or at least core nervous system damage to put them down permanently."
Roger swapped for his HCAR and lead the way into the main house with his father bringing up the rear with his M60 in hand.
"Really wished I thought to grab the suppressor for this thing. Must be getting old." Marcus whispered as they stepped into the living room.
"It's not like we had a lot of lead..." Roger started to whisper when the silence was broken by the sound of at least two women laughing.
"Topside now!" Roger whispered as he moved to creep up the stairs with his father in tow.
"So are the Chosen set for the night?" One woman asked.
"Yes, though I wonder if they won't be up for a while longer at this rate. I understand that they are training for a mission from Herald John but couldn't they at least eat at the normal times?" Another woman asked.
"Oh sister. You are still new to serving the Chosen. They follow the will of The Father and the schedule of God, and thus we the few unworthy souls must be ready to see their needs first and foremost as they demand it. It is why we are not expected to work with other members of the Project because we must be absolutely flexible. It is honestly a light but important burden we bare." A more mature sounding woman's voice said.
Roger by now had reached the top of the stairs and could see some wet foot prints leading away from a bathroom on his right. He gestured for his father to move right and check out the bathroom as he followed the wet footprints and the voices.
As he neared the room he noticed that there was a large ornate grandfather clock with a mirror like face that let him see that he had at least four or six figures in the room either standing or sitting on probably bunk beds.
"Two tangos in the shower. Tap them or no?" Marcus chimed in on his radio.
Roger replied instantly. "Tap them all. No quarter. No mercy. I got up to six tangos, engaging now."
"Copy that tapping now." came the reply as he could hear the familiar sound of a suppressed .45 being fired. He looked back at the clock and saw that none of the figures seemed to have noticed.
He raised his rifle and stormed the room. It wasn't that big of a room maybe 15ft x 20ft with two pairs of double bunks on either side of the room with a overly large shrine dedicated to The Father that dominated the rear of the room.
Three women were kneeling in front of the shrine in prayer as another two were laying in bed reading Joseph's bible, and a third was laying out a change of clothes clearly the one who had just stepped out of the shower still wrapped in her towel.
The woman in the towel saw him first and froze at the sight not knowing how to react. The first burst of fire blew her chest open as he shifted his fire right to where the three women were now trying to get up off the floor. The two women in their bunks only managed a very brief scream until they both had their dose of lead.
Roger froze and listened to the world and heard nothing but quiet foot steps nearing the room. He tensed himself just in case and spun around to come face to face with his father.
"Bathroom is clear. Lets check the other bedrooms." Marcus said casually.
They found four more bedrooms on that floor. On one door was a ornate heretical cult cross wrapped in painstakingly painted life like Angels Trumpet flowers with a painted white ribbon below that said 'Faith'.
A second door had a life like wolfs head carved into the door with a blood red cult cross painted on its forehead and a matching red painted ribbon that said 'Jacob'.
The third door had a simple cult cross over a body of water and a painted black ribbon that said 'John'.
The last room at the end of the hall was a massive double door affair whose amazing carvings depicted Joseph seemingly ascending towards a heavenly light depicted in gold leaf with his brothers and sister looking up at him and a untold multitude of other people in the background also looking up to him.
"Joseph's ego is definitely the expensive type." Marcus commented as they got ready to enter Joseph's room.
"On the slim chance Joseph is here we kill him. I'll deal with the legal repercussions." Roger said to his father.
Marcus only nodded and the two men pushed open the doors and rushed in rifles raised. The massive bedroom was empty but their efforts were not in vain, on a richly decorated desk sat a computer and numerous paper records all neatly organized. Looking further around the room it was clear that when ever Joseph was here it was done so in comfort.
The walls were a dark oak paneling with more painstaking carving and gold leaf work depicting various scenes from the bible, Moses demanding that Pharaoh let the Hebrews go, The Sermon on the Mount, The Crucifixion of Christ, The resurrection of Christ, and most prominently across the entire rear of the room was Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden complete with Eve reaching for the Forbidden Fruit.
The carpets were a thick deep royal blue and the massive bed that could have fit Roger three times over with plenty of room to spare was covered in white silk sheets. It was a complete affront to how the rest of cult operated but then again he was 'The Father' and it was only right that he and his Heralds got the best.
"Mother of god..." Marcus said as he did a rare for him making the sign of the cross.
Roger checked the bathroom and again it was the very model of luxury with no cost spared.
"You know when this is over I think I'll claim this property as my own. I'll have to replace all the images of Joseph and company of course but this I think this place has some potential." Roger said half joking.
The two of them checked John's room and found it to be not unlike Joseph's own room though with less ornate wood paneling and a white carpet that wasn't quite as thick as Joseph's room the bed however was every bit as large and dominated the room. The walls did show a disturbing number of restraints and implements of punishment obviously John's preferred bedroom past time.
Jacob's room was a stark change from what they had seen. Where the other brothers were luxurious and opulent the eldest of the Seed brothers lived in something more akin to a barracks. Everything was simple, strong, and well made with purpose.
Checking the last of the Seed's room was somewhere in the middle. More opulent than Jacob, less so than Joseph, and most telling less 'lived' in than John's room. It was as if everything in the room was more fitting for a very nice hotel rather than a persons bedroom it was so bare of personal touches.
"Yeah this place is going to need some work." Roger finally said as they made their way back down to the first floor and moved towards the hanger.
The interior of the hanger was divided into four sections, a vehicle garage, a workshop section, the aircraft hanger proper, and above that over looking the plane parked in the hanger was a combined living/working area.
It was there that a pair of large picnic tables had been broken down, hauled up, and rebuilt to serve as the main table for the thirteen pilots. Crammed where ever possible simple cots dotted the rest of the work space, it wasn't the most comfortable of arrangements especially compared to the bunker but given the mission they were preparing for as soon as John set in motion his other plans and received word from his inquisitors it was more than tolerable.
It was nearly one in the morning but the Chosen had grown used to the long days and nights of physical and spiritual training which tonight included Bible study.
The study was led by the oldest of the gathered Chosen at the end of the combined picnic tables. He was a former Marine Chaplin and among the first gathered by Joseph and while his military skills made him more valued as a fighter than a outright Preacher it did mean he could continue to use his preaching skills to tend to the spiritual health of his fellow Chosen warriors.
"That concludes tonight's lesson brothers. Let us pray before we retire for the night." The old Chaplin said as he and those gathered bowed their heads in prayer.
Roger and Marcus stealthily made their way up the stairs as the men were lead in a long winded prayer asking god to harden their faith so that no harm shall befall them when they next fly. To bad for them they were on the ground at the moment.
Roger and Marcus stood two paces back from the end of the table looking down each side just as the prayer ended.
"Good morning gentlemen." Marcus said just before he squeezed the trigger on his gun. The M60's roar drowned out the suppressed report of Rogers own gun as he added his fire to the butchering.
Once more silence fell on the hanger as the last cultists bleed out.
"Dad I'm going to call this in do you think you can go back to Joseph's room and see if that computer has anything useful?" Roger asked his father.
"No problem, I suggest that we use the time before reinforcements get here to pre-flight Nick's plane just in case if the peggies or worse John show up before we can solidify our hold here. That plane will be the bare minimum we need to get away with to make all this worth it." Marcus replied as he turned to leave.
Roger made his way down to the hanger floor and saw Carmina for the first time in over a decade. The ancient float plane had been in the Rye family since the end of WWII but through careful care it had survived now three generations of pilots. But now it was clear that whoever was the fourth Rye to learn how to fly in this plane would be treated to a far different experience.
The nose of the plane had been extended to fit a far larger engine and it was clear that it had a pair of massive turbochargers hanging externally off of the exhaust headers. The control surfaces were now made out of carbon fiber as were the floats. The wheeled portion of the landing gear was beefed up considerably. Most obviously though were the weapons.
As his father had said right below where the pilot sat was the 20mm Vulcan cannon and mounted behind that was a bomb rack with two 500 lb bombs already mounted, and then the four Zuni rockets on each wing.
It was in Rogers opinion an outrageous looking thing and part of him wanted to question if it could even fly but it had been stolen and flown here and Nick in the first place would never make his family's signature plane unairworthy.
'I bet this thing still handles like a damn whale though.' He though thinking back to when Nick's father had taught him how to fly in this thing.
At the time it had felt great but as he learned a few years later flying a 'acquired' restored Messerschmidt Bf 109 K-4 from a private collector in the Czech Republic that he had stolen and then leaked out some very sensitive information on, that the old float plane was truly a utter barge compared to other prop planes out there.
He got on to his radio and started calling for who ever was on the night watch in Fall's End.
"We copy you Deputy, what is going on this late... or early or whatever the hell time it is?" The weary sounding man on the other end picked up. Roger couldn't remember the mans name but right now that wasn't a big problem.
"I know its early but I just cleared out Seed Ranch and I need a big crew to come and hold this place. I expect sometime tomorrow we will see a counter attack so they need to come ready to fight soon. I suggest if need be to draw from the other outposts if you need more hands." Roger said fully aware of what he was suddenly asking.
To his genuine surprise any sign of tiredness in the other man vaporized instantly at word of the fall of Seed Ranch.
"Oh sweet Jesus, Deputy! That's great news! I... I'll get you about 20 or 25 good men up there ASAP. We really can beat them can we?" The man asked.
"Yes. Yes we can as long as we have our hate in the cult and each others support there is nothing the cult can do to stop us in retaking our county." Roger said.
With the call put out for support he finished checking over Carmina and found it to be in working order. That done he went back to the house where his father was still pouring over Joseph's computer.
"Son, I hate to say it but this is a mixed bag. On one hand we now have a recent list of all known members up to the day that the cult turned violent, but on the other hand there is nothing here about his plans unless you want to go through his personal journal that he has on here. Just skimming through it I can safely say its going to take hours of reading the sort out anything that might be useful, that said it does hint that they have recruited from specialist members from various colleges around the nation and that with the right resources given to them they will build the tools The Project might need to use if The Collapse needs to be and I quote 'hastened along if God so wills it.'."
Roger grimaced at the idea. "We need to sort through that member list and find out what sort of skills did the cult manage to recruit. This also means that after this is over we will need to move quickly and eliminate these recruiters."
"If even one of those guys remains at large we could see reprisal attacks on key members of the resistance in the months or even years down the road. Right when we don't expect it." Marcus now joined his son with his own grimace.
Roger searched the servant quarters that he attacked first. These women were clearly set aside for working here, as they were all young and attractive probably 17 to 24 years old by his guess save for what he would have called a 'Matron' who was clearly in her late 30's to early 40's and still quite attractive for her age. It lined up with how the cult tended to put older members in supervisor positions if their skills and likely faith were deemed adequate. They all wore dresses that were very short, with plenty of exposed bust, and made with a rather sheer ultra pure white silk like material, which only served to confuse him as the cult seemed to look down upon anything resembling 'Lust'.
'Either its hypocrisy at work for the elite of the cult or a flagrant way of showing just how much better the elites are that they can resist the temptation as its being waved in front of them.' Rook thought as he moved on to the rest of the house.
Now that he wasn't scanning for targets he took in the living room. It resembled what you would typically think of when it came to a 'blank check' luxury log cabin. Various hunting trophies hung on the walls along with polished silver cult crosses, above the fireplace however a single massive painting that stretched to the vaulted ceiling depicting the Seed family loomed over him.
Joseph sat in a large leather chair looking upward. To his right stood John with heretical bible in hand dressed in his usual finery, standing behind and left of Joseph was Jacob with a fancy bolt action bullpup sniper rifle probably a .50 cal Desert Tech HTI if Roger wasn't mistaken. Finally laying on the floor draped over Joseph's right leg was Faith with a 'spaced out and high' look on her face.
Shortly thereafter the Resistance members pulled up in nearly a dozen trucks. There were easily double the number of men originally promised. One of the men approached Roger.
"Thanks a lot Deputy. You might not realize it but taking this place has gotten a lot of people to actively take up arms against the cult instead of sitting on the sidelines doing odd jobs. You're our savior." The man said.
Roger looked at the stranger tiredly. "No, I am just a Deputy doing my job as best as I can under the circumstances. You people are the saviors. Now there are a bunch of dead peggies inside that need to be displayed so I suggest that you get on it once we have the perimeter secured. Also no one is to enter the Seed bedrooms without either my permission or my fathers, in the coming days we will be going through each room with a fine tooth comb for any information that can be gathered. If you have to post no less than two guards. Understood?"
The stranger nodded and rushed out to spread the word. Within the hour they had refortified the house in the name of the Resistance. In the distance the sky was beginning to take a ever so slight glow over the mountains. Roger looked north and saw the massive white Hollywood style sign proclaiming 'YES' that John had put up, seeing this gave him a evil idea for a predawn wake up call for John.
"Dad I'm taking Carmina back to the Rye's once I blow something up." Roger told his father who was over seeing the removal of the peggie bodies.
Marcus turned to his son inquisitively. "Oh and what are you going to blow up now?"
Roger shrugged and replied. "John's big 'YES' sign is a bit of a eye sore and I have two 500 lb bombs with which to remove it from our land."
Marcus looked up into the distance and grinned evilly once more before laughing in his own maniacal manner. "Oh hot damn! That would get under John's skin, his people spent at least six months hand carrying everything they needed to build that son of bitch. You go ahead and do that just obviously don't get killed pleased."
Roger turned and walked toward the open hanger. "Of course I'll be careful what else am I supposed to do?!" He shouted back.
Soon he taxied the plane on to the dirt runway and cautiously increased the throttle while watching the instruments for signs of problems with the over sized engine. Thankfully Nick had done a good job with the modifications and the plane took off quickly and easily even with its full weapons load out.
As he flew northward over the various farms he was reminded just how beautiful his home was from the air. Up here save for the danger of AA fire or any remaining cult air patrols though he thought he had pretty thoroughly eliminated that particular threat this morning, nothing could touch him up here and gave him a honest moment to relax.
Carmina while fast in getting into the air and fast in the straight line was still a float plane thus a aerodynamic compromise and handled only a little better than it used to. Still its apparent climb rate meant it had one very good use for sure.
As he approached the sign he pulled back on the stick and throttled up the engine and gained some additional altitude then cut power just as he leveled off and rolled right. Now inverted he pulled back on the stick again and started his near vertical dive now aiming for the back of John's sign and as soon as he was stabilized in his dive he dropped both bombs and pulled hard out of the dive. Roger was tensing his muscles as much has he could to try and fight the slight tunnel vision he was now experiencing.
Just as he leveled out a bright flash of light and the delayed sound of an explosion behind him told him that the bombs had hit, and as he doubled back he knew that Nick and his forefathers would have been proud of his work. It had been a more or less textbook Stuka dive bombing run though done much slower given the adhoc nature of the plane he was in. He didn't want to push it too hard.
"Need to convince Nick to strap some Jericho trumpets to this thing." He thought out loud as he turned again to make for Rye & Son's airfield.
"Tell me Deputy why must you destroy everything?" John growled on the radio clearly having just woken up.
Roger smiled and answered the man. "John you are looking at this from the wrong point of view. I am not destroying anything. I am simply restoring this land to its pre-cult form and its because of the cults aggressive nature that I must use... forceful methods of restoration."
John was struggling to both keep his calm and remember his mission. "Deputy I am man enough to say that we got off on the wrong foot. I am trying to help the very people you claim to care so much about, I am trying to free them from their sins and bring them peace. With that peace they will be able to see The Father's plans and the good in them. Tell me you haven't noticed the world is falling apart because of men like yourself whose pride and lust for power and material wealth leads them to taking up the sword and bringing death and destruction? All in the name of being able to acquire a few more babbles."
Roger was now very annoyed at being lectured about world events by a religious fanatic that probably never set foot outside of his bubble like existence.
"Oh John..." Roger said slowly. "You watch the news and think you are something special thinking that surely this time is the time that everything falls apart. Just as the last time you watched the news and said that time was to be the moment when everything falls apart. The truth is that children like you can't handle the truths of the modern world. You need to have it simplified, distilled, and filtered otherwise you wouldn't be able to even stomach even the smallest amounts of reality. I have left my homeland and walked the earth. I have waded through literal lakes of blood and set fire to heaven and earth alike. In doing so I have learned things that you are too dull witted and prideful to even start to comprehend. You claim that the world is falling apart... simply put its not falling apart, its simply changing and you are realizing that you can't bring yourself to change with it." Roger finished.
The line went dead and back on the ground outside of John's bunker stood John now watching the last standing letter on his sign burn and collapse joining the rest in a burning rubble pile.
"What are you Deputy? A man or a monster?" John asked himself.
The sun had just started to barely crest over the mountains when Roger landed the plane at the Rye airfield.
Nick raced out of the house polishing off a bit of toast and waved for Roger to taxi over to the hanger.
"Oh sweet Jesus! Roger I owe you big time, seriously man anytime you need some 'death from above' you call me. I might not be able to fly Kim and me out of here but now I can at least actually fight back against the peggies!" Nick said excitedly as he examined the plane for damage.
"Well I'll probably take you up on that offer Nick, if you look at the mountain you can see that I already took the liberty of using your plane to blow John's big sign up."
Nick ran to the side of the hanger and saw the column of smoke rising on the mountainside in the morning sun.
"Hot damn Roger you don't disappoint." Nick said as he walked back.
Roger not knowing what else to do waited for his mother to wake up by napping in the bed of his father's truck. It was hardly the first time he had to sleep on ammo cans but it made him wish for his bed back at the Spread Eagle.
Maybe about three hours later he was woken up by his mother saying that they needed to pick up his father at the Ranch and head back to town. Roger got up and tiredly manned the .50 cal as his mother drove to the Ranch, when they got there it was clear that his father hadn't slept at all likely staying up all morning after he took off in Carmina.
Rook trudged into the Spread Eagle and barely muttered a greeting to Mary May and Boomer. The stairs seemed steeper than he remembered but finally he entered his room and stripped out of his clothes making a beeline for the shower.
'I really don't care how tired I am. Taking Seed Ranch is going to be a massive blow to the cult's morale not to mention their ability to project air power in the region. Then there is John giving up the rail yard on some sort of gamble with whatever this 'Revelator' turns out to be. If its from the rail yard it probably has armor and it sounds like its being driven and manned by the cults best. Those guys also mentioned convoys manned by the Chosen 'recapturing' our outposts. Better let the Pastor know.' He thought as he washed away the build up of grime and sweat on himself.
He fished out his radio from his pile of discarded clothes and called for the Pastor.
"Deputy one of the night guards getting off shift said you took Seed Ranch last night. That's going to really stick in John's craw." Jerome said.
"No problem Jerome but be advised we have reason to believe that the cult will have the Chosen in armed convoys roaming the area potentially trying to retake our outposts. Also better pass along word to the scout teams watching the rail yard. John's planning to abandon the outpost in a gamble to use something they called the 'Revelator' against us. They are likely going to try and take the roads to isolate our outposts from reinforcements. I'm heading to bed now." Roger stated fighting the urge to fall asleep then and there.
"You do that Deputy, you've more than earned it." Jerome replied ending the conversation.