Author's Note: Its taken a full 2 months and 3 rewrites to get these out on top of personal/job/technical issues but they are out. I'm going to come out and say that I am likely not going to get much done in December but I want to assure those who do follow me that I am thinking/working on this story nearly night and day. My main issue is getting enough free time to actually write more than a paragraph at a time and have it be vaguely read able.
Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 10: The Hand of Mercy
Pastor Jerome didn't think of himself as a fool. Being a fool was a young mans game and he wasn't a young man anymore. So when Grace asked to escort him on his rounds this morning he knew that she was there to see to the pickup of the cult defector.
'Roger...what happened to you? I remember when you would jump at the opportunity to help anyone in need and now you practically tried to threaten me!' Jerome thought as he drove his old 4 door Dodge 2500 down to the Kellet homestead. Grace was sitting in the passenger seat watching the surrounding area dutifully as there was one last Chosen convoy out on the roads somewhere, but it wouldn't be long before Nick was back up in the air once his plane was fixed and they would be hunted down.
Jerome pulled up to the dock where the Resistance fighters were waiting with their 'package' still tied up.
"Pastor." The boat captain greeted sadly.
Jerome smiled and tried to be positive though he knew why the captain was so grim.
"I want to thank you again for doing this. I know its hard to turn away from how we have been doing things as of late..." Jerome started to say until the captain cut him off.
"Pastor... please just... get this guy out of my hair so I can start working on my boat and get back to my normal rounds." The captain said as he held his hand up to stop the Pastor clearly struggling to remain civil.
The holy man took the hint and bent over the defector. "I'm Pastor Jerome Jefferies. You're safe now. What's your name son?"
"J-Ju... Jude... s-s-sir." The defector nervously stuttered. His smokey green eyes darting around every where except towards Jeromes own eyes.
"Well Jude lets get you out of those ropes and I'll set you up at the church." The pastor said as he pulled out a small knife and cut the binds on Jude's hands on and feet. Grace flicked off the safety on her rifle and several of the fighters from the pick up mission did the same. Jerome glanced around clearly not pleased at the reaction but knew better than to say something, he knew that getting people to let go of their hate especially given the crimes of the cult was going to be a uphill battle.
'Damn it Roger. You just had to stoke that hate and frame it as if it was the right thing to do. Meanwhile I was so busy trying to provide for our people that I let too much slide, doesn't help when Marcus was fully supporting his son in his brutality.' Jerome thought darkly as he pulled the defector to his feet and started leading him to his truck.
Grace raced ahead of them and took a spot on the back seat letting Jude sit up front as the Pastor drove.
'So we traded our best fighter and best overall hope of defeating the cult for a drugged up, pale skinned, over tattooed, wild haired, and shirtless peggie. Now Jerome is just cutting the man loose?!' Grace mentally panicked.
The normally cool former sniper was notably on edge as Jerome and Jude talked on the way back. Favorite bible verses, food, and finally where Jude was from and what lead him to join the cult in the first place.
"I was an actor living in Los Angeles. I had a chance to play a somewhat major supporting role in a movie being shot in Georgia so I went down there. After the first few weeks of shooting my scene was coming up and I had become good friends with one of the writers. He was a good guy and he seemed to like me and said he would see if he couldn't get me a bit more screen time, which is the best way of trying to make a name for yourself." Jude said.
"Sounds like things were looking up for you." Jerome replied.
Jude sighed. "Yeah it was, however there was one hitch to all this. The scene that the writer was working on expanding so I could have my chance also had this woman there as well and depending on the whim of the writer she could just as easily get the extra lines and screen time. A few days before my part of the shoot I was walking past the writers trailer and there he was banging the extra, rocking the trailer and everything. Then I get word from the writer that "supposedly" the studio executives wanted to check some social justice check boxes and have the woman in the scene take the lead with even more lines and screen time then was originally planned on. So just who do you think was the woman that got picked?"
"The one sleeping with the writer..." Jerome answered.
"Exactly. I tried to raise a stink about it and suddenly found myself getting booted off the set having done nothing more than background extra work which doesn't pay much I'll tell you. So I was broke, out of work, and away from home. I had thrown my entire life towards this chance and saw it ripped away by some slut. That's when I met 'The Father'."
Jude smiled at the memory as he continued.
"I was staying at a hotel as I tried to find work and place to stay long term when I heard about this preacher in a old slaughterhouse that apparently used to work there at the hotel. I hadn't been much of a religious person before because such things tend to make you limit yourself in my chosen profession but now I had so little that I thought 'Why not?'.
Let me tell you Pastor even in that run down slaughterhouse full of rusted meat hooks and broken windows, 'The Father' had this way with words... I was actually filled with hope that I could recover from the pitfalls of my life and all I had to do was climb the ladder that was being placed before me. Eventually the local cops tried to ruin everything for us much like what they tried to do here..."
Grace's grip on her rifle tightened at the last sentence. 'Ruin'? How can this guy right here and right now claim that the Sheriff and his Deputies had ruined anything?
'Pops was murdered because of Joseph and his band of fucking pathetic psychopaths! God fucking damn it Roger was right when he said this thing stinks!' Grace thought as Jude continued.
"After that Joseph announced that we would be going to a 'holy land' where we would be allowed to prepare for... the... the..." Jude struggled and shook visibly before finally getting the word out.
"'The Collapse'... in... in peace. That's when I was chosen by 'The Father' to become one of his trusted preachers and was blessed with the Bliss treatment. Then when the lawmen came that night and tried to take away 'The Father' and the Reaping began I was more than prepared to do my part. And I did." The last sentence was probably the first time Grace had heard anything resembling remorse from the defector over his actions.
Jerome pulled in to Fall's End and parked behind his church.
"Thank you Grace for the escort. I'll take it from here." Jerome said with a smile as he lead Jude towards the church interior.
Grace had half a mind to follow but noticed one of Marcus Rook's employees enter the church ahead of the two men.
'Figures that Marcus would take some precautions of his own.' She thought as she turned to enter the Spread Eagle to get some lunch.
Inside Marcus and Dmitri were once more pouring over more intelligence gathered from the computers at the Seed Ranch and examining it alongside anything that Willis had.
'Spooks doing spook work.' She thought as she sat at the bar where Mary May was polishing some glasses and Casey was busy cleaning inside the kitchen.
"Since you're back I assume Jerome successfully picked up our 'guest'?" Mary May said not even looking up from her work.
"Yeah I haven't heard what sob story he told to convince Jerome to push for bringing him here but I did hear how he joined the cult." Grace replied her voice tinted with frustration.
"Oh? Do tell." Mary May said her interest piqued.
So Grace retold the story the defectors tale of woe that lead to his joining the cult and noted the overall lack of remorse from his choices.
"He struggled to even say the word 'Collapse'. Rook certainly has gotten into the peggies heads." Grace finished smiling briefly.
Mentioning Rook dampened their spirits further. From where the two women were sitting Roger getting captured just ruined their chances of retaking the county. Mary May was especially grim looking to the point that even Grace felt compelled to ask.
"Ok Mary May I know things look bad but you look like... well like you did after your Dad died. What's wrong?" Grace asked hopefully sounding supportive. Personal interaction was not something she was good at but she liked Mary May enough to try her hand at it.
Mary May chewed on her lip as she wondered if she should say anything but the female snipers unyielding gaze pushed her to speak but not before making sure that Marcus and Dmitri were too busy to pay attention to them.
"I... shit this is hard for me to say but I have been having some moral quandaries and now..." Mary Mary struggled with the words but eventually found them.
"I'm stuck being attracted to someone that I already know probably is still in love with someone else that is close to me who I'm am almost 100% certain is still in love with that other person. I have been... falling for the first person even though I know it would likely hurt the second not that they would admit it... probably. Worse is that nether are here so I feel like I'm leaving things unsaid. Just like with my Dad and brother." Mary May said finally.
Instantly Grace knew she had gotten in over her head. This sort of thing was something she struggled with, but now that she was in she couldn't back down now.
"Ok so you have fallen for someone who probably isn't interested in you. How can you be sure of that? Have you tried talking with this... guy I assume?" Grace asked carefully.
Mary May shook her head no. Grace then continued.
"I know coming from me this is stupid but I don't think you can even be sure of this guys lack of interest in you without talking to him directly." Grace said.
Mary May sighed again and reached behind the counter for two beer bottles and offered one to Grace.
"I haven't talked to him but when ever I get close to him there is... like this reaction that he doesn't like the attention but its hard for him to say anything about it. Then there is the feeling I get when I do get close that I'm betraying my friend right behind her back while she isn't here." Mary May said as she took a deep swig of beer.
Grace did the same as she thought on the situation... then she thought some more and little used switches in her mind started to get flicked.
"Oh my god..." Grace said as she palmed her face and smiled at her friend. "You are in a love triangle with Roger and Joey."
Mary May screwed her eyes shut at the words because of the truth they carried.
"What do I do Grace? Roger roars in after ten years and offers a helping hand at the lowest point in my life, then rescues me and Casey, then liberates the rest of the valley. What girl wouldn't be attracted to a man willing and able to do all that? Then there is fact that he's... well Roger Rook, handsome is a weak term to try and describe him." Mary May said now burying her face into her hands before continuing.
"And Joey. Ever since she came back from college we have been thick as thieves. When her last boyfriend joined the cult I'm the one that offered a shoulder to cry on. I don't want to ruin that but despite knowing from our conversations on the matter that she would probably get back with Roger in heartbeat if he ever came back and showed interest."
"And of course he is back and other motivations aside he probably considered getting captured just to get inside John's bunker and rescue Joey. Which is one way of showing interest in someone. I guess." Grace said taking a drink afterwords.
"Marcus all but confirmed that is probably Rogers idea though if that was his first choice plan is up for debate, Roger has never quite thought like most people." Mary May said before harrumphing.
"John... bastard would probably say my sins are 'Lust' and 'Envy' and the worst thing is that he would be right."
Grace stared down into her bottle of beer for a moment before speaking. "Mary May you aren't going to like this but I think you know you need to step aside. If they get back together like you think they probably will then you as a mutual friend should be happy for them. Even if you did hook up with Roger and Joey supported you as I expect she would, knowing how you went about it all will eat at you and maybe even ruin anything between you and Rook. Maybe even between you and Joey as well."
Mary May stared down at her bar the edges of her vision getting a bit watery.
"Damn it Grace, why do you have to be right?" The bar tender said.
Grace could only smile a little which was stretch for her as she comforted her friend. "Because I know you are a kind and caring person. You would never want to take something from someone else by deceit, and I feel safe knowing that you will find someone worthy one day as bleak as things look now. So don't lower your standards."
Mary May smiled and reached for a clean bar towel to dab at her eyes. "Thanks Grace. I needed that and I couldn't hope to talk to really anyone else. Now enough about my problems you probably want lunch."
Grace smiled feeling like for once she had successfully navigated a social situation without royally fucking it up. Probably.
As the two women spoke Marcus and Dmitri continued searching through the roster of the cult and reading the bios contained there in.
"Marcus I'm noticing a pattern here. A lot of the members were recruited from certain colleges. Caltech, Michigan University, MIT... the list goes on." Dmitri said as he looked over Joseph's laptop.
Marcus shrugged his shoulders. "Makes sense young kids with no life experience suddenly faced with the stresses and horrors of the real world. There will always be those that crumble instead of meeting the challenge to one degree or another."
Dmitri held up a finger. "Ah but the real pattern is not just the fact that the cult has been seeking recruits from a certain demographic but in certain professions. Take these five people here."
The Russian brought up five member records for consideration on the screen.
"All five of these members were recruited from different schools, backgrounds, and are of different cultural backgrounds. But they all have degrees in Nuclear Engineering. They aren't the only ones that I noticed, the cult has a lot of aeronautic graduates as well." Dmitri stated.
Marcus frowned as he started combining what Dmitri had found. "They have a fair number of machinists too. I hired a few before I realized my mistake... So they have engineers to design things, machinists to make what the engineers design, lots of dumb muscle to build or at least assemble what is designed."
"They also have the resources to do all this with. When I first noticed how many nuclear engineers there were I looked at some of the work histories for other members. Over two dozen members used to work at the McArthur River uranium mine in Canada before they got 'work' visas in come to the US shortly before I infiltrated the cult. We also have fewer members that all worked at various uranium mines in the US as well but what really scares me is the three members I found from three dangerous places." Dmitri said as he collapsed the previous member records and opened three others.
"Los Alamos, Idaho National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge. Three of your countries top nuclear research facilities and these men all held senior positions." Dmitri finished.
"God in heaven... Joseph Seed has the brains and manpower to build a nuclear weapon." Marcus whispered looking up at Mary May and Grace at the bar. Mary May was fighting back tears so they must be talking about something deep which worked for him at the moment.
"The silos. Joseph isn't just making nukes, he is making the means to deliver them." Marcus concluded.
It was Dmitri's turn to frown in deep thought. "With the base level of religious fervor that the cult maintains, these people would be willing to work to the bone to make it happen and because of Willis all of this got covered up. Had my superiors known..."
The elder Rook held up his hand to stop the other man. "I'm not blaming you or your country for this. We both know that keeping the number of players in the nuclear game at a constant level is key to the worlds relative stability and neither of our nations stand to benefit from someone like Joseph being allowed to build his own private nuclear arsenal."
"It would explain why the parts of the bunker that lead into the silo proper and its launch related facilities where sealed and guarded by dedicated detachments of 'The Chosen'. The fewer people that know about such things the less likely it was to be revealed at the wrong time. But who has launch authorization?" Asked the Russian.
Marcus growled. "Joseph. He said it himself in his personal journal that it was meant to 'hasten The Collapse if God wills it.' and I'll bet my gun shop that its been setup so none of the other Seed's can actually launch their respective missiles."
Dmitri leaned back against the padded booth seat he was in and looked at the computer screen. Their situation was grim and looked to be getting worse so long as they could prove it. Everything that he had pieced together made sense from what they had to draw from but without a physical weapon or at least the materials present to build such weapons they couldn't realistically expect the government to react on that theory.
'No matter the era, culture, or nation. All politicians worth their salt will demand proof and will refuse to act otherwise.' He thought when an idea occurred to him.
"Marcus? How likely is it that your son could take John's bunker?" He asked softly watching the girls at the bar finish up their 'heart to heart' conversation.
Marcus looked at the younger man for a moment before answering. "From the inside? Based off of what we have seen of their prisoner handling and what Roger described from his time in. Very likely. They will get sloppy and trust their god over their steel and he will use that against them. They give him a inch and he will take a few miles and then some. You're hoping that he will take the bunker in one piece aren't you?"
Dmitri smiled. "Of course. I am after all an intelligence officer and what better place to practice my trade than a liberated enemy stronghold?"
Marcus returned the smile. "Indeed. Still I'll hedge our bets and start writing all of this up for Langley tonight with emphasis on confirming it upon Rogers return assuming everything goes to plan. Still this whole idea of Joseph being able to build a nuclear missile is going to be a hard sell."
"You would know your people better than I. But with Grace back I suspect its time I kept my word and watched over our new 'guest'." Dmitri said humorlessly as he grabbed his AKSU and walked towards the bar door.
Meanwhile within the confines of Pastor Jeromes Church the Pastor and Jude walked in. The interior of the church still bore the scars of its brief but 'intense' occupation by the cult. Broken windows covered now by scraps of plywood, walls covered in bullet holes, the few pictures depicting scenes from the bible that the church had also bore the charring from attempted burnings, slashes of knifes, and more bullet holes.
Even the large crucifix on the back wall had been used as a target for throwing knifes. In all is was wrecked, but through the efforts of the survivors and the Pastor the damage was patched where it could be and recovered mattresses drug in to serve as bedding for both the wounded and off duty Resistance fighters. In the small churches basement more beds were gathered to serve the precious few children and elderly citizens of Fall's End that had survived the cults purge.
Jude walked ahead of the Pastor down the stairwell that lead to the basement when a shotgun blast rang out from room as they came into view.
"YOU DAMN PEGGIES AREN'T GETTING THE DROP ON US AGAIN!" A older mans voice rang out.
Jerome pushed past Jude and carefully peeked into the room his eyes about level with the rooms ceiling. Even the children were helping the elderly build a mock barricade as the most fit of the elderly and older children pointed whatever weapons they had at the stairs.
"Don't shoot! It's Pastor Jerome and Jude! He's a defector from the cult and comes in peace." Jerome yelled back.
"Sounds like Judas to me!" Said a unseen young sounding child.
"Kids right, how do we know he isn't here to kill us? Another older mans voice rang.
Jerome breathed hard as he struggled to get a hold of this situation as now he heard one of Marcus's men race to the top of the stairs now in response to the gunfire. He turned to the man. "Hold your fire this is all a misunderstanding!"
The sound the scraping feet at the bottom of the stairs drew back Jeromes attention. Wendell Reddler one of the youngest of the elders and a decorated Vietnam veteran stood with a old M16 complete with mounted bayonet pointed up at both men. His tired brown eyes behind gray wire framed glasses held a flaming gem of anger which stood to push the old man past the aches and pains he felt even now.
"Pastor. I heard you had given Deputy Rook some rescue mission but I hadn't heard that it was a Peggie that he was saving. You better have a good reason for bringing this bastard here knowing full well what the cult has done to us."
Jerome moved to put himself between Reddler and Jude. "Wendell please... I know its very hard to set aside your anger right now but this man has realized his mistakes and is trying to make amends, he has already braved a lot of danger to get this far. Be the better man and extend the hand of mercy not the sword of hate."
Wendell looked at the smokey eyed peggie who was now shaking slightly and darting his eyes between the now multiple armed men at the top of the stairs and Wendell himself. Jerome was smiling trying to reassure him.
'God damn that smiling bastard... and god forgive me for doing this.' Wendell thought as he lowered the rifle and flicked the safety on.
"Pastor, if this man is anything else besides what you claim here and now in the house of the lord, and if I survive this I will never forgive you." Wendell said before he slowly walked away to the other basement defenders.
Jerome looked up at Jude and then past him to Marcus's man and the others gathered at the top of the stairs. They too dejectedly lowered their weapons and walked off.
"I'm sorry for the hostile reception Jude. They are good people but Joseph Seed as hurt them and I'm having second thoughts on the Deputy's actions taking advantage of that hurt to combat the cult." Jerome said as he showed the man a empty mattress in the furthest corner away from the other basement residents.
"I... I understand Pastor. I also appreciate just how much you are risking by giving me this chance, you won't regret this." Jude said as he laid down to catch some much needed rest.
Jerome spent the next hour talking with the other non-combatants calming them and reminding them that showing mercy to their adversaries was a strength on its own especially if it could bring back more disillusioned members like Jude over from the cult.
Everywhere he walked around town checking on the other Resistance members and letting them know about their new 'guest' only served to darken Jeromes own mood no matter how he tried to stay positive.
'How is it that in a few days so many people that used to jump at helping others. Being good honest folk, could be twisted into the hateful bastards they are now? It can't be all the cults fault... no Roger Rook has been stoking this hate if not by word then certainly by action. Impaling bodies... posing them for maximum terror like some modern Vlad the Impaler. Its the sort of cold calculated terror I never would have associated with him growing up.' Jerome thought as he reached the roof top of the general store. He greeted the four watchmen which they all returned curtly before going back to watching the skies and roads for signs of attack.
The Pastor sighed and sat on the roof looking south over the fields that now were clearly full of crashed planes and visible truck parts. Looking further he could make out the outline of the Rook family's gun shop. The sight made him think back to the first Sunday he had met the Rooks.
He had taken over from the retiring Pastor Warshaw and could remember just how full the church was that day. Oh it had been a glorious sight alright, the building had been recently repainted and remodeled after nearly fifty years of wear and tear since its last major overhaul so everything looked almost unnaturally clean and bright. Jerome closed his eyes and could remember where everyone sat. The oldest families usually had spots that they de facto were assigned to sit at every Sunday by tradition. The first row on the right side of the aisle had the Rooks. Marcus sat closest to the center aisle then moving right sat Jessica then finally was Roger.
Even at thirteen the young man was easily two inches taller than the new pastor and far broader built. He was quiet but when he spoke it was carefully articulated and to the point, as if every word had been hand crafted by him before he spoke. Thankfully for Roger he had someone else to fill in the quiet spaces in a conversation.
In the same row from the far right aisle sat Deputy Edward Hudson then his wife Rebecca Hudson and finally Josephine Hudson though as he very quickly learned no one outside of her immediate family called her anything but Joey. She was tall and fit from a life of competitive shooting and hunting. Where Roger was careful with how he used words Joey could and would hammer you with so many that she would bury any counter argument you could make before you probably formed a thought.
If there was a chance for any of the youth to give service in the community it was easy to find either of them in the thick of it. Roger using his sheer strength to move massive bags of seed or to carry tractor parts on his back no matter how far into the muddiest of fields. Joey would be right behind him carrying the tools, nuts, and bolts. On the flip side Joey would be organizing bake sales or the yearly Easter egg hunt with Roger being sent to make sure her will was being carried out even if she had to focus on other things.
Jeromes thoughts were interrupted by a bald eagle landing on the wreckage of one of the cult planes and screeching loudly.
Even thinking back to a older and more independent Roger he wasn't what you would pin as a potential monster. Gone was the quiet young man and in its place was a more talkative negotiator that seemingly knew everyone and how to wheel and deal with them all. If he had a cold calculating side then he must have kept it well hidden maybe even from Joey.
'No. Joey probably knew better than anyone of any possible character flaws Roger had, maybe she was part of the reason why he was able to keep his worst flaws hidden.' Jerome thought.
No matter he would prove the Deputy, his father, and all the other doubters wrong about this defector and maybe then be able to drag the rest of the townsfolk away from the acts of savagery that Roger had started and encouraged.
With a plan in place Jerome got off the roof and walked back to his church checking in on the night shift Resistance members that were beginning to awaken given how late in the afternoon it was now. As he reached the pulpit he noted his bible resting there.
'I'll bet a good place to start with Jude is basic bible study. Try to undo the heresy that Joseph had filled his head with for so long.' Jerome thought as he randomly opened the well used book.
He had just so happened to open on Deuteronomy chapter 7. Jerome sighed at the reminder.
'Roger asked me to read this. But why?' He thought as he habitually scanned the pages.
"And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:" He said quietly to himself.
'Figures. I remember quoting that very passage when we first rescued him from the cult.' He thought as he continued reading
"For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly."
'The cult certainly serves a different god then we do. But would the Lord truly be angry against us where we try to bring back the lost sheep? Would we be destroyed suddenly? Probably if the cult were to drop everything and throw every man and woman at us at once. But Joseph wouldn't do that.'
"But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire."
'Again predictable for Roger. He certainly has been destroying the cults altars, images, groves, and graven images.'
"But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."
'When the cult came to town and started gathering us up for processing I had guessed we were doomed... but the Lord did bring us out of bondage, and Roger was his tool.'
"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them."
'See Peggie, Kill Peggie, Save the World. Roger... as much as I hate to admit it is technically right. If we did simply continue to kill every cult member we would be safe. But if we have the chance to save even one do we not have a duty unto the Lord to do so?'
"Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed."
'Roger is that hornet. He does the heavy lifting and the Resistance merely needs to come in and do some light mop up work at the very most.'
"Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible."
'Even Jude can't even say the word...or is it a title at this point? Of 'The Collapse' without nearly pissing himself in fear. I have to wonder how is it for other members? If they joined us would they ever not cower in fear at the mere sound of his name let alone his physical presence?'
"And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee."
'One of the Lords true miracles is how isolated John seems to be. Not a single move from either Jacob or Faith or even Joseph for that matter, but why? Is this a test of some kind that John must accomplish under his own strength?'
"But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therin: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God."
'Again Roger is our main tool at bringing the cult to heel. To burn the cult and claim its holds in the name of the Resistance. But are we not also searching the dead for ammo, weapons, food, and medical supplies?'
"Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."
The last verse made Jerome stop and stare at it hard. He didn't know how long he stood there just reading the verse again and again and again. Finally he slammed the book shut and seized it in both of his hands in a iron like white knuckle grip all the while trying to drive the words out of his head while making sure that the book that placed them there would never open again.
But try as he might the words still repeatedly endlessly, hauntingly even echoing in his mind. With every repeat the intent and more dreadfully their meaning behind them rang even in the deepest parts of his soul.
'No! Jude is NOT abomination! He is a scared and lost child of god. I know I am right in this! Not Marcus! Not Dmitri! NOT ROGER!' Jerome thundered within the confines of his own mind.
Breathing and sweating hard he fought the desire to violently cast the book away from him and instead gently set it back on the pulpit. A part of him knew he shouldn't have read that chapter, that he shouldn't have taken Biblical advice from a man that clearly didn't follow what he preached... he stopped that line of thought before he started to far down in analyzing it lest he realize something inconvenient.
His stomach grumbled and he decided to distract himself by getting a very late lunch or early dinner. As he walked towards the front door of the church he noted Marcus's man from earlier sitting in a pew quietly reading looking comfortable in his spot and in another pew sat Dmitri.
Jerome wanted to say something anything to get the two men to leave and not impede the process of rehabilitating Jude back into the community, but he knew that would start more trouble then it was currently worth.
'No the only way to get men like that to back down is simply time and good acts. Maybe I'll will bring Jude with me on my rounds so that people will have a chance to talk to him and see that he truly wants to reform and distance himself from the cult.' He thought as he walked down the street to the Spread Eagle.
Grace sat the bar idly chatting with Mary May but otherwise the bar was empty save for Casey ever at his grill. A low growl from behind him as he walked in reminded him that Boomer too was at his post watching over Mary May.
"Mary May. Grace." He greeted warmly the two women. "Mary May if I could get a ham steak meal and a beer that would be great after that I have a favor to ask of you." The pastor asked.
The young bartender glared back at the preacher for the briefest of moments before passing on the order to Casey and fishing out the requested beer.
"Ok Jerome what are you plotting now?" Mary May asked sourly.
Jerome held his hands up in mock surrender. "Calm down I just want to figure out what would be a good time to have Jude come in for his meals that would cause the least disturbance."
Mary May cocked her eyebrow in reply "Who's 'Jude'?
Before Jerome could answer Grace cut in spitefully. "Our new resident peggie 'defector' and former wanna be actor."
The pastor sighed but nodded in overall agreement. Mary May's grip on her bar top got harder as she tried to hold back most of her anger. Most of it at least.
"Goddamn it Pastor the last time a peggie walked through that door Casey and I got drug out at gun point and held hostage and if you haven't noticed Roger isn't around to save us again." Mary May growled. Boomer let out a quiet "Boof!" in agreement.
Jerome pushed up his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose to buy him time to think of a response and to control his own anger.
"Mary May I know you have all the reason in the world to hate the cult just as much as I do if you haven't noticed the state of my church or the size of the graveyard. But even despite all that I am asking to trust me and set aside that hate just as I have done and give Jude a chance to reintegrate. Its the right thing to do."
Mary May took in a breath to continue but instead looked down at her bar. She wasn't a vindictive or hateful person by nature and she recognized that Jerome was sticking his neck out massively for this guy so she was more inclined to give as Roger had 'enough rope to do this'.
Breathing hard she answered. "God have mercy on me...fine he can eat first thing in the morning and before the night shift. I am not going to have him creeping around here at lunchtime without a escort. At least at those times there are enough fighters nearby to respond should something happen. I'm not negotiating on this Jerome so don't even try."
Jerome recognized that he was pushing Mary May's generally good nature to the absolute breaking point and would just have to accept her terms lest he loose what he had managed to get from her thus far.
"Thank you Mary May, you won't regret this I promise." Jerome said as Casey called out his order and the blonde bartender passed it to him.
"I better not regret this Jerome. I stick out my neck for close friends and family not brainwashed zealots that have already cost me most of my family and nearly my own life once before." Mary May grumbled back as she left him to eat in peace.
Grace simply looked at the Pastor. Eventually Jerome turned to the sniper. "What?" He asked.
Grace said nothing until she got up from her stool. "You're a complete dumb ass Pastor Jerome and you are going to prove to the whole town before this is over, just how stupidly naive you really are at the rate you are going."
The sniper didn't wait for a reply as she stormed out of the bar in absolute disgust.
Jerome looked at his ham steak platter. Grace was right about one thing even if it wasn't directly voiced, he was 'risking' a lot in helping Jude but is that not a worthwhile cause?
Elsewhere a pilot in a bright yellow improvised warbird took off from his family's airfield and into the afternoon sky trying to locate the last remaining Chosen convoy.
"This is Nick Rye to all Resistance forces. I'm looking for that last Chosen convoy has anyone seen it?" Nick called out on the radio as he leveled off from his take off.
"US Auto here no sign of them since early this morning." replied a outpost.
"This is Copperhead Railyard. We last saw some cult trucks heading into the mountains shortly after the Deputy got grabbed. We sent foot patrols but haven't found anything."
"This is River Patrol Two we just shot at some Chosen that were fishing just south of the northern Copperhead rail bridge. Also be advised we have been taking sporadic heavy MG fire from the Henbane River Chalets just south of that area so be careful. They haven't pursued us but they seem pretty dead set on making sure we stay on John's side of the river." One of the boat patrols called in.
"I copy. I'll take a look and see what I find." Nick replied as he banked right headed towards the northeast corner of Holland Valley.
His radio came to life again this time with Grace on the other end. "Nick I grabbed an ATV and I heading to the area if you see something from the air I'll confirm it for you. We have enough hunting groups in the woods that we actually have to worry about friendly fire.
The trip to the search area was too quiet for Nicks liking. It left him time to think too much about what had happened that morning.
Roger and he had been friends of one kind or another for most of their lives even on a few occasions joining Joey and him on their hunting trips. The memory of only being able to watch as the giant lawman was drug into the back of a truck would be keeping him awake for sometime.
'Roger wouldn't blame me of course. He would probably rattle off on how I had some 1:100,000,000,000 chance of strafing his position without also killing him in the process. Still a good friend shouldn't just leave his friend hanging like that, it just isn't right. After all what sort of example would I be setting for my future son?'
The thought of his first child being born in the middle of a goddamn war was a point of endless stress for him. But that is why he had offered to become Rogers personal air support and even failing that he would extend the offer to Grace as well. It was the best option he had to protect his family now.
He reached the area the boat captain had described and saw little beyond pine trees and a few smaller lakes. Still he shifted north towards the rail bridgeand was greeted by a group of peggies adding more bodies to the bridge.
'Heard some of the Resistance guys call this the 'Bridge of Tears' and I think at this point the name is going to stick. They got at least two dozen bodies displayed and entire pickup truck load to go still. Well lets give them a taste of what the 'King of the Skies' thinks about that!' Nick thought angrily as he throttled up and pulled back on the stick to gain some more altitude before diving on the cultists like an avenging angel.
The half dozen or so peggies on the bridge only heard the plane moments before they saw the strings of 20mm tracers impact all around them, the explosive rounds sending high speed fragments racing all around and through their number. At John's end of the rail bridge a pair of armed pickup trucks that had been hiding in the bridges shadow raced up from their position their gunners spraying wildly into the darkening sky.
Nick calmly rolled the float plane away noting that as he got close to Faith Seed's end of the bridge that a pair mounted .50 cals at some sort of check point started firing on him as well.
"They really don't want us crossing into their territory!" He continued the roll and brought the original pickups back into his sights and fired off a pair of Zunis, getting a satisfactory explosion for his trouble.
Nick was about to turn to engage Faith's emplaced guns when Grace came on to the radio.
"Nick I got eyes on the Chosen. They got their trucks covered with camo netting and parked under some heavy tree cover I'll see if I can mark their position or get them to come out of cover."
Nick sighed and proceeded to pull back and orbit the area trying to see if he couldn't happen to pick out where the Chosen were from the air despite the camo they had up.
On the ground Grace was watching the Chosen make camp. It was getting dark quick now that the sun had sunk below the mountains and these guys knew enough about their trade to not make the obvious mistakes. No campfire or flashlights. Just dim green chemlights that from the air would be next to impossible to see under the best circumstances and hard to pick out from the ground, though their white trucks even with the black hillbilly armor plates still stood out like a sore thumb at ground level.
She thought on what she could do. She could get in close and either make a fire or explosion assuming she could find a grenade or block of C4 to mark their position then run like hell as Nick dropped some bombs down around their ears but she wasn't particularly enthusiastic about sneaking in close especially without someone else on the ground to back her up.
'Where's Roger when you really need him?' She thought sarcastically.
'Roger would have told me to play to my strengths but with the woods being as thick as they are my sight lines are going to be narrow and far shorter then I would prefer. If taking a few of their heads off were enough to get them to abandon their camp and drive out of here then they would be easy pickings for Nick. But these guys are Chosen, they don't run and they certainly won't go down without a fight. Damn it I'm not one for these sorts of decisions.' She mentally grumbled some more.
She slowly pulled back and made her way over the rails and into the woods across from where the Chosen had made camp mindful not to move too quick lest she get the attention of any watchmen she might have missed. She went up the slope until she found a fallen log that would serve as a good rest for her rifle along a painfully narrow line of sight to the Chosen encampment.
She looked in her scope and did a quick range check. It was barely 100 yards. Painfully and dangerously close range as far as she was concerned but it was what it was so she took aim at one of the peggies that had sat down to start preparing his MRE. In the quiet of evening even the sound of the suppressed .308 round sounded painfully loud to Grace as the red balaclava wearing mans head exploded in a shower of gore across one of the parked trucks.
True to form the Chosen didn't panic like their lesser kind and instead rushed to cover trying to locate the direction of fire. If the range had been a bit longer Grace would have started 'shooting and scooting' at this point but she was close enough that movement would be more likely to give away her position, so she froze.
Long minutes passed and neither side moved or made any noise save for the muted buzzing overhead of Nick's plane.
Grace scanned what she could see and didn't see any more the cultists from her current position. She had to move if she was to make any progress. At that moment she glanced up and saw Nick still orbiting over head and this gave her an idea that was right out of Roger's playbook.
"Nick... I need you to start buzzing the railroad tracks nice and low. I need your engine noise to cover me and maybe they will try to shoot at you giving away their position." Grace whispered into her radio still waiting for any sign of the Chosen making a move first.
"Copy that Grace I'm coming in now!" Nick replied as he cut is last orbit short and dove down towards the tracks at tree top height.
It was a quicker reaction than Grace had expected and she hadn't had a chance to pick a new spot to head to but then again that was precisely why she didn't like this sort of 'fly by seat of your pants' plays that Roger seemed to naturally gravitate towards.
The roar of Carmina bearing down on them gave Grace her chance to run to her right towards a cluster of boulders the size of a Smart car. She had barely reached the rocks before the sound a of a rifle round impacting on the rock she was now behind made it self known.
"Nick they know where I am now!" Grace gasped into her radio as she caught her breath.
Nick pulled back up high and saw a figure among some boulders that had rolled down the slope.
"I see someone in between some rocks, is that you Grace?" Nick asked as he prepared to dive on the figure.
"Yeah that's me so don't shoot! The peggies are on my 10 or 11 o'clock on the other side of the tracks do you see them?" Grace yelled as she ducked down as low as she could as a terrifying number of ricochet flew all around her position.
By now the sun had set and the full moon was providing a fair amount of light not that it was needed as now even from Nick's point of view the numerous muzzle flashes could be made out and served to highlight the odd change in 'texture' for lack of a better term among the tree canopy that indicated the presence of the Chosen's camo netting.
"I see them! One bombing run coming up!" Nick called out happily as he came in high over the odd looking spot in the forest and dropped both 500 lb bombs. The bombs fell but the inherent spread as expected of any unguided bomb combined with the thick tree cover around the Chosen camp detonated the bombs in the manner of a air burst.
With the explosion still echoing in Grace's ears she came out from behind her rock and took aim towards the camp and saw a Chosen fighter clutching his eyes stumbling around blind from all the bomb and tree fragments.
"You won't see this coming." quipped Grace as she smoked the blind man. Then the remaining six or seven Chosen came charging out of the smoking wreckage and falling tree limbs, all of them were wounded to one degree or another but that wasn't stopping them.
In a rare moment of panic Grace snapped up her rifle and dropped two with shots to the chest but they only stumbled for a moment before getting back up either because of some unseen armor or more likely some combat drug. The charging men had only just crossed the tracks when Grace abandoned her position and sprinted as hard as she could through the woods south in hopes of reaching her ATV.
All around her poorly aimed rifle and pistol fire whizzed impacting the trees, then brushed through her backpack, then her hair, and then her luck ran out and a 9mm slug that had ricochet off of a tree embedded itself in her left side.
It was like a murderously powerful punch to the gut as Grace almost collapsed but the sheer amount of adrenaline in her system kept her going, if only just as she clamped down on the wound trying to control the bleeding.
"Nick... I'm hit and they are still coming after me... I... I don't know what to do." Grace called out on the radio as she tried to keep on running.
'I really shouldn't have tried to do this alone.' She sculled herself.
Nick heard Grace's call and the pain in her voice and all he could think about was being in the same position as he was when Roger got grabbed.
"NO! I'm not loosing anyone else! Not today!" Nick yelled as he got on the radio. "Grace I have a plan or at least I'm making one up. Get to the tracks and lay down between the rails, if you have a flashlight or something turn it on so I can pinpoint your location. I'm coming in danger close."
He twisted the plane around hard the G forces pinning him to his seat and the strain on the airframe could be heard even over the roar of the upgraded engine, but the tight maneuver had put him exactly on the line he was wanting.
The trees had been cut back from the track just wide enough that Nick's plane could fit in between them with some room to spare... probably. It was the type of tight flying that naturally came with being a bush pilot and in Hope County Nick Rye was the best among them.
Grace had done exactly as instructed and was on her back shining a flashlight into the air and not 100 ft from her were seven peggies slowly approaching her position. Nick pushed the throttle to its limit and dove towards the rails only pulling up about a foot over the ground. He noted that his landing gear was just as wide as the rails which would come in handy later.
The doped up Chosen were too focused on their target to fully comprehend why the yellow floatplane was flying so low following the rails beside maybe planning to land to recover their wounded target. But then the tracers erupted from the under slung Vulcan gun.
Nick wiggled the plane with the rudder while hosing as wide of an arc in front of him as possible and saw all but one peggie get torn apart by the explosive ammo, the last man started sprint towards Grace whether to get away from the planes fire or to get in one last righteous kill in for 'The Father' before his own demise Nick didn't know nor cared.
He was too close to be able to hit the man with the 20mm so he eyeballed a flight path flying over where Grace laid and slammed the left float into the Chosen impaling him on it. Both men were shocked by the turn of events and later on Nick would be more shocked by his next actions.
He pulled up soaring up into the night sky, the altimeter spinning wildly indicating his rapid rise until he bleed off all of his speed and the world around him became weightless. In the cockpit anything that wasn't secured floated up into Nick's field of view. He then turned his head to look at the impaled Chosen on his float as the shocked mans eyes grow ever wider as his remaining momentum popped him off of the float in a shower of gore and he began to fall back to Earth screaming his last breath away all the while.
The heavier nose swung down giving Nick control of the plane once more as he came about and saw the Chosen hit the ground unceremoniously as he proceed to once more line himself on the tracks and lowered his landing gear. It was a testament to his flying skills that he kept the plane on the rails as he taxied toward where Grace was still holding her flashlight.
Nick jumped out with the first aid kit he had and raced to Grace. She was shaking from blood loss despite her best efforts to keep pressure on the wound, so Nick cleaned the area as best as he could and taped on a wad of gaze as tightly as possible to buy her enough time for him to fly her to the doctor.
"N-Nick... that... was some stunt you pulled." Grace struggled to say as her body threatened to give out under all the sudden stress.
"Yeah I'm not sure how to explain that right but right now you just focus on not dying. I already lost one friend today and I don't want to lose you too. Don't think I'll ever forgive myself at that rate." Nick said quickly as he carried the sniper as best as he could into the planes rear seat.
"Why am I so dizzy Nick?" Grace said as she tried to keep her head up so Nick could strap her in.
"Well Grace when you get shot you tend to bleed and let me tell you, you are bleeding a lot so you're going to shock. Its one of the things I came across trying to research and get ready to help Kim if I had to deliver the baby myself." Nick replied. "Now you just focus on staying awake ok Grace? I'll get you to the doc and once you're patched up you can go back to doing your sniper thing."
Grace could only shake her head slightly as Nick jumped back into the pilots seat and once more took to the sky. Once he was over tree top height he turned for Fall's End keeping the plane low to not waste time climbing for altitude. He reached for the radio and hoped that the doc was available at that moment.
"Doctor Ferguson! This is Nick Rye, Grace Armstrong is hurt bad and is bleeding heavily. I did what I could but she needs help now. I'm making best speed for Fall's End. If anyone else is listening you better have the main street cleared because that's where I'm landing like it or not."
In Fall's End Dr. Ferguson one of the few human doctors left in Holland Valley and probably the single most valued man save for Deputy Rook himself in the whole valley was finishing dinner when he heard the call come in. He reached for his own radio in reply.
"Nick can you tell me what happened and how soon you will be here?" He asked as he raced out of the bar and to the converted Ford Excursion that served as his ambulance.
Nick didn't answer at once as he dodged a tree and got them back on course. "ETA is less than ten minutes. As for Grace she took a bullet wound to her left side right below the rib cage I think. I packed the wound as best as I could be she's already lost a lot of blood. Hang on... Grace say hi to the doc!" Nick said as he held up the mic towards Grace.
"Doc... this hurts and I'm really cold." Was all she could manage as she struggled to maintain some form of consciousness.
Doctor Ferguson started prepping his supplies as he listened. "Ok Grace just stay awake. We will be ready for you guys when you get here." Marcus raced up to him.
"Marcus get me a table, a mattress, and some plastic tarps. I'll setup my surgery in the Spread Eagle. Let Mary May and your wife know that I will need their help since my nurses are still at the clinic." The doctor ordered and the old solider only nodded and raced off to gather the needed supplies.
In the distance even in the dark of the night he could hear a plane rapidly close on the town from the East. One of the watchmen on top of the water tower called out.
"INCOMING FRIENDLY PLANE! CLEAR THE STREET AND HOLD YOUR FUCKING FIRE!"
All around vehicles that had been parked along the sides of the street were driven into yards or over curbs and the those that manned the guns covering the town stood down to make absolutely sure that there wouldn't be any friendly fire.
Nick watched the streets get cleared as he swung around to the north to line himself up with the road and brought the plane in for a landing. Compared to landing on railroad tracks this was child's play as he brought the plane gently down.
"Ooof! Damn it Nick..." Grace grumbled as she felt the impact of the landing gear on the ground.
"Sorry Grace I'm doing what I can here. Just hold on a little bit longer." Nick replied as he taxied to the front of the Spread Eagle where several people were waving at him.
Before he could undo his seat belt Marcus and Casey were already gently hauling Grace out of the plane and on to a mock stretcher made from a salvaged door and carrying her inside to the waiting doctor. This left Nick to just sit on the float of his plane and wish for the millionth time that this war they were in would end sometime soon.
Still he thought they had taken out the last of Chosen patrols. Now John was down to virtually nothing outside of whoever was in the bunker at that moment and with all the people they had lost when the Resistance had first rescued Roger and Merle they might not even out number the Resistance anymore.
They were making progress but even if they beat John Seed they still had Jacob and Faith to contend with along with whatever Joseph had in reserve. Only the fact that none of the other Seed's had come to their brothers aid yet had allowed them to get as far as they had gotten.
Such deep thoughts were not normally things Nick wanted to dwell on but he couldn't hope to dodge them much longer, not with the loss of Roger and now Grace being on death's door. A sudden wetness on Nicks hand brought him back to reality.
Boomer had taken the sudden action at the bar as a good sign that he should go elsewhere outside and had licked the grim looking pilot on his hand in hopes of getting his head scratched.
Nick did just that as he thought about maybe getting a dog after the baby was born to keep him company. "Every kid should grow up with a dog? Right Boomer?" Nick asked the gun dog.
"Woof!" replied Boomer as he jumped up on to Nicks lap to lick at his face.
Nick laughed and gently pushed the dog away.
"I should have figured you would have a biased answer." A hour had pasted when Jessica and Mary May step out of the bar and held open the doors for Casey and Marcus to carry a unconscious Grace off towards the Church. Dr. Ferguson stepped out looking far more tired then his apparent age would normally suggest but he was smiling.
"Doc! Is Grace..." Nick started to say before being cut off by the doctor.
"Grace will be fine in time. That bullet thankfully had spent most of its energy elsewhere when it hit by what I can tell and it only nicked one of her major arteries leading into her kidneys. If it had hit any lower she would have surely lost the kidney which given how short my supplies are would be... bad to say the least. If it had hit the artery more squarely she would have bleed out in minutes. You did good Nick." The doctor said as he calmed the other man down.
Nick sighed in relief as the doctor continued. "She won't be fighting for awhile though that is for sure. But that is something that Marcus will have to tackle... I just try to save who I can. By the way how's Kim and the baby?"
Nick happily gave the doctor a update now feeling vindicated that he had managed to save at least one of his friends today.