Far Cry 5: The Collapse

by Master Hybris

AU retelling of Far Cry 5. Sent back home Rook now has to deal with the cult that has moved into his home town and disrupted life. But for the cult and the rest of the county the new deputy will become something that not even "The Father" could hope to contend with. The Collapse has come.

11. Chapter 11: On the Third day

Authors Note: This is it folks the scene that in my first play through made me angry enough to stop playing the game for months and pisses me off every time I replay the game and ultimately lead to me writing this story. I decided to give up on condensing this chapter and give you pretty much the uncut version of what when through my head when I planned all this.

Far Cry 5: The Collapse

Chapter 11: On the Third day...

It was dawn on the third day that that he had been here. Frankly he couldn't stand it anymore. Jude mused as he laid on his mattress in the basement of the heretic Pastor's church. He slept on his side his back facing the huddled mass of old and young sinners, this had the added benefit of allowing him to take out the small revolver he was given to hide in his underwear so he could have at least a brief moment of comfort.

The Pastor was a nice guy for a sinner and blasphemer. Of course Jude was taking full advantage of every bit of the mans hospitality and the hospitality that the false holy man had managed to squeeze from the other Resistance members, but all of that came at a price.

Jude had spent most of yesterday riding along side the Pastor on his rounds to the local captured outposts being introduced to various prominent members and otherwise being shown around like a tamed bear that poor little Jude was a friend and not a threat anymore. Then there was the bible study sessions which Jude found hard to stand. He wished he could safely read and partake of the fountain of hope that was the word of 'The Father' but alas as Sister Inquisitor Fergus had said that if even a pocket version of the holy book was found on him it could jeopardize everything.

His mission was simple: Infiltrate the Resistance and cause damage and chaos. He was told that there was a chance that the Resistance could very well start to march on John's Gate but even if they succeeded it would still be up to Jude to damage them as much as possible before they could march on the other heralds. To this Jude was given his gun and free reign on what he felt would accomplish this goal up to and including giving up his own life in the process.

'Soon perhaps even this very morning I shall join the other faithful outside the Gates of Eden. I need only seize my chance to act. Probably killing a prominent member of the Resistance is my best hope as the food storage and armories of the Resistance seemed to be guarded by men who aren't swayed by the Pastor.' He thought.

'But who should I take with me? The doctor would be a good target but he only comes to town in the evenings and his clinic is one of the most heavily defended places the resistance has so even if the Pastor took me there its unlikely I would be able to get within range of him.' Jude grumbled quietly but then a memory flashed before him.

The blonde woman who ran the bar where he was given his rations. Her loss would be felt hard and it would be something that people would be forced to remember every time they went to get their food, that he had struck her down. A part of him... the old Jude before he found the teachings of Joseph chimed in.

'She is almost exactly like that slut that took everything from us. A fair bit bustier but still it would be good to exercise that old demon from our past.' Jude smiled. Yes he had a target that not only would be sufficiently important but also personally satisfying.

Not long after he felt the Pastor gently shake him to awaken him.

"Jude I have to finish preparing for Sunday morning service so go ahead and head to the Spread Eagle for breakfast. I'll be there shortly but no sense in making you wait on me." Jerome said with his seemingly ever present smile.

'Father be praised! Truly my target has been inspired by God's will!' Jude thought as he replied to the Pastor.

"Thank you Jerome, I will go ahead and do that and thanks for trusting me enough to do so on my own."

Jerome only chuckled. "You have given me no reason not to trust you so far and besides I can see the good in you, we just need to work on bringing it out so more people can see what I see."

The Pastor walked off leaving Jude there to get up on his own which he did after stuffing the small .357 back deep into his underwear and took one last look at the few children and elderly that were up at that time in the morning. One of them, Wendell Reddler looked at the 'former' cultist with a wariness that could only have come from personal experience.

'Alas as much as I would love to make you suffer as I force you to atone for your sins it is not to be this day.' Jude though as he made his way up the steps leading out of the basement one last time. Up stairs sat one of the guards that always seemed to be nearby when ever he was around as if he had a second shadow that wanted to kill him.

Among the wounded was one of the prominent fighters, the daughter of the local shooting range owner. Jude had been among those sent to try and convert the man to the Project but he was met with outright failure, still it had cost him his life which was a most appropriate punishment for defying the will of 'The Father' and thus the will of God.

'Now his daughter has felt the righteous wrath of God. Pity it didn't kill her outright as she no doubt will return to resist God once more in due time but such is God's will.' He thought as he walked out of the church and into the early dawn as the sun was only moments away from finally cresting over the mountains that surrounded Hope County. The cool autumn air served to revitalize Jude in ways that he could only scantly describe. This day simply felt momentous to him.

This early there were few people out and about aside from the night guards which suited Jude just fine. From their perches atop the various buildings lining the main street of Fall's End Jude could tell that they barely tolerated his presence and the fact that he still openly bore the tattoos showing his dedication to 'The Father' only serve to bore under their skins more.

'The Pastor was right. These people are lost in their desire for Wrath and their Pride keeps them from admitting that they have a problem and accepting the outstretched hand of John and 'The Father'. No matter in the end God will judge them all. One by one if need be.' Jude thought as he reached the Spread Eagle. Before he pushed open the door he happen to glance at the parked Widowmaker beside the building sitting in all of its patriotic splendor.

'Yes! Once more God guides me to my target and now beyond! I will kill woman and take back her family's truck, maybe return it to John or perhaps to cause more destruction before I am finally destroyed...perhaps the airfield to the south so that I might take away the Resistance's air power! Oh blessed Father truly you watch over me and guide my blade this most glorious day!' Jude thought excitedly as he entered the bar.

Inside Marcus Rook and Dmitri sat in separate booths. In Marcus's booth he sat at the laptop and the smaller box with an attached receiver dish sending a copy of the roster of the cult back to Langley then once sent to be followed by a write up of what he and Dmitri had theorized two days previously.

'This theory even as far fetched as it might seem might be enough to get things moving faster in DC. Anything nuclear tends to do that. Still I hope to God that all this is one big coincidence and that Joseph doesn't have a nuke in John's silo.' The old solider thought grimly as he sipped his coffee and watched the progress bar slowly chew away.

These satellite uplinks were optimized for video calls and it showed whenever you had to send anything else. Even a simple text file would take ten minutes to send let alone entire database like what the cult had but that was why Marcus had sat down here in the bar for the last eight hours monitoring everything and now it was almost done with the first item. The second word document would only take another ten or fifteen minutes on top of all that then he could finally catch some sleep.

In the other booth Dmitri waited like a predator for the prey to walk into his den. In this case Jude the so called defector. All of yesterday he had shadowed Jerome and Jude as they went around the Resistance outposts and then the church as the two men enjoy apparently a "happy and spirited" discussion on what immediately happened after the resurrection of Christ. So far the man had seemed sincere enough if understandably weary of everyone else who would without the Pastors interception kill him on the spot, but that did little to calm his nerves. After all Jude had been given the tour and shown everything and from there would likely start to hatch any plans after getting more settled in.

He would likely be with Jerome today after morning services ended and the Pastor went back out to preach to those at the outposts who couldn't come to town. For that he was "issued" a appropriate weapon in addition to his normal AKSU when he first started shadowing the two men.

He remembered being handed Jessica Rooks own personal new production Dragonov SVDM. How such a newly adopted rifle that had only been on the drawing board when he left for his mission to Bolivia and then here made it into her hands or more likely her husbands hands was a mystery.

Still he understood the message behind the loaned rifle, Roger had asked him to keep watch over the defector and his parents shared their sons trust in him enough to open up their personal armory no matter how potentially awkward the questions might be should he ask. Also he had to admit that the woman did like her Russian weapons and was kind enough to offer something that he would be familiar with.

Just then Jude entered the bar and made eye contact with the Russian for just a moment before taking a seat at the bar notably the one that Roger preferred to sit at. The spy looked into the cultists smokey green eyes and instantly he felt ill at ease, something about those eyes and the red cult cross tattooed on his face brought back memories that he would rather not revisit.

How many times had he seen such men punish other members for their transgressions? How many times had he been relentlessly questioned on the cults dogma by such men probing for weakness among the membership?

This man still carried the faith of Joseph and he was planning something that much he would bet his life on. But what? But when? These prerequisite details had to be found before he could hope to act until then there was little he could do but watch and be ready.

With Jude now not looking in his direction he reached out to where his AK laid beside him and silently flicked the safety off and pulled back the bolt just enough until he could see the dulled reflection off of the lacquered cartridge in the chamber. Then quietly closing the bolt and reengaged the safety, he hesitated for a moment but he then unlatched the folding stock and locked it in its ready to use form.

Every nerve in his body and his racing heart was telling him that something was going to happen but he couldn't see when and that stressed him to no end.

Mary May looked up from her work behind the bar and saw the 'defector' calmly sit down at the end of the bar. She glanced at Boomer who sat upright now completely focused on Jude in full hunting mode.

'Well Jerome you wanted me to be all polite and "extend the hand of mercy" so here I go...' She thought sourly as she approached the tattooed man. It was hard for her to even look into those smokey green eyes and tattooed face and not be reminded of the man she had seen Roger shoot half his brain out staring back at her as if all was well in the world.

"For breakfast today you got two choices: bacon and eggs or the breakfast steak and potatoes. Which will it be?" She asked trying to put on a smile.

Jude considered this for a moment and went with the steak and potatoes. She passed the order to Casey who dutifully began his work occasionally eying the defector and the short shotgun he now kept near the door to the kitchen.

Jude didn't move much as he waited for his meal as he could feel everyone's eyes on him. On his left he had who Inquisitor Fergus had labeled 'The second most dangerous man in the county' Marcus Rook former solider and father to Deputy Rook otherwise known as 'The Collapse'. Just the thought of the man even with him in John's hands caused Jude's heart to race with a nigh uncontrollable fear but control it he did if only just. In a neighboring booth sat another man with several patches of gauze on his chest among many other tattoos. Jude tried reading them but they all seemed to be in some other language save for one: Pride.

This made him wonder for a moment before he continued with more pressing matters. In the kitchen there was only one man probably armed with at least a knife if not a pistol, the blonde whore working the bar had a pistol at her hip and then there was the dog at the door but that wasn't much of a threat.

He dared to glance to the far right wall of the bar where a set of keys with a Kenworth branded key tag hung. A plan now begun to form in his mind.

'Find a way to kill the woman maybe use a fork to the head or throat. Draw my gun and kill the old solider and the man with tattoos. Grab keys and run to the truck and drive south as fast as I can. After that I will need to rely on both 'The Father' and God's guidance but I will cross that bridge as I come to it.' Jude thought as he now eyed the bartender preparing his drink to go with the meal.

Yes it was rather easy to place her in that trailer on that faithful day. The day that everything had changed for him, the day that everything first began to fall apart until he found 'The Father'.

He shifted around and discreetly pushed his revolver up closer to his waistline for faster drawing. The moment he felt was drawing near.

"Order up!" Casey called from his kitchen as he set the plate on the kitchen window. Mary May went to bring the plate to the waiting defector. She grabbed a rolled up napkin with a its cutlery safely contained within as she reached the window.

She caught Casey's eye for a just a moment and shared a brief moment of shared nervousness. Casey she knew was a veteran and had apparently led an extremely interesting and unknown career that she wasn't to ask anything about. Their shared experience of being taken hostage by the cult on the first day hadn't seemed to phase him as much as it had her but she noticed he spent more time than normal watching out the kitchen window keeping an eye on her and he now kept a shotgun in the kitchen.

The brief moment passed as she turned and faced Jude before she placed his plate and cutlery before him with the best smile she could muster.

"Enjoy. I'll be back with your drink." She said and watched Jude open up the napkin briefly before continuing.

Jude opened the napkin and to his happy joy found a proper pointed and sharp stake knife instead of the more usual blunt tipped and half sharpened blades that so many restaurants used.

'Father be praised.' He thought as Mary May returned with his orange juice.

"Excuse me miss, may I have some steak sauce please?" Jude asked politely.

Mary May nodded and dove down behind the bar to grab the two different types they had on hand. Meanwhile Jude took the knife into his right hand.

"Ok we got A1 original or Lea & Perrians..." Mary May said as she came up from behind the counter and looked strait into those smokey green eyes and saw that creepy blissful look from Jude. Then Jude like lighting grabbed her hair and slammed her face first into the steak and potatoes and raised his blade high.

"FOR THE FATHER!" He thundered as he moved the bring the blade down on the shocked and struggling woman before feeling his right hand getting clamped into a vice like grip of sharp teeth.

Boomer had reacted faster than anyone else in the room when the defector initially grabbed Mary May and closed the distance from the door to the end of the bar in mere heartbeats and clamped down on the hand with the weapon pulling the zealot off of his charge.

Jude struggled to get the damned hell hound off of his hand eventually kicking the mutt off sending it skidding across the floor. He reached into his waist band and drew his revolver... then he got shot.

Dmitri after Boomer was the next to react as he snapped up his rifle and brought it to bear as he slid as best as he could out of the booth and poured the entire 30 round magazine into the traitorous defector. He saw the hits, he saw the few rounds that overpenetrated embed themselves into the wood paneling that made up the interior of the bar, and he saw the blood but Jude didn't fall.

He had heard stories of how those in the cult that received the 'Blessing of the Bliss' had their bodies and souls hardened against harm as they carried out the tasks given to them by 'The Father' and his Heralds, but this was the first time he had seen it first hand and for the briefest moment wondered if such men could even be killed. But while his gun maybe empty he could still fight with his hands as he was trained to do and to this end he tossed aside the rifle and barreled towards Jude.

Marcus snapped up and watched things unfold in front of him. It was just as Roger, Dmitri, and himself had warned but there would be time for finger pointing later as he struggled to slide out of the booth amongst all the wires needed to charge his equipment so he could bring his .45 into play.

Jude felt the impacts of the wounded mans bullets but they didn't carry the pain he was expecting in fact all he could feel was an exhilarating euphoria filling his body and very soul. He could fly, he could move, he could fight, and he could not die. It was an ecstasy unlike anything the he had ever felt.

He watched the wounded man throw down his gun and charge him and Jude reacted with unnatural speed as he grabbed the stool that he had been sitting on only moments before and easily tossed it at the charging man with great force. He watched it impact not only the charging man but bounce off him and hit the old solider just as he was about to stand and draw his own weapon knocking him down.

Jude swung his gun around in the direction of the old man and squeezed the trigger as fast as he could. He was far from the best shot having never even fired a gun until he arrived in Hope County but he had used enough prop guns to understand the concept of pointing and shooting besides at this range even if God wasn't on his side how could he miss?

Mary May wasn't sure what she was feeling at the moment. Rage, pain, terror, and only God knows what else but she drew her own pistol and wiped a bit of smashed potato out of her eye and took aim even as Jude shot at Marcus. She watched all eight .45 cal rounds hit the man with no effect as her own gun locked open. Jude now with his gun empty turned to her with those damn eyes.

She reached into the nearby trash can pulled out a large empty whiskey bottle to arm herself. This was her bar and she wasn't going to roll over for the cult again. But before she could do anything Casey came thundering out of the kitchen and dumped four loads of buckshot into the man again with no real effect before drawing his butchers cleaver from his apron holster fully intending to bring the kind of wrath that only a cook could but he too was stopped before he could act.

Boomer now recovered from the kick charged up on to the bar and straight at Jude slamming his full weight into the mans chest and closing his jaws around the defectors throat.

'Father? Why have I failed? I didn't mean to fail. I did my part. I played my role yet I have failed.' Jude thought as his face was showered in his own blood as the dog continued to tear into his neck until hitting bone.

With Jude dead everyone simply stayed quiet and unmoving until mens voices could be heard outside of the bar and none other than Pastor Jerome stormed the bar shotgun in hand followed by several of the day time guards.

Jerome only looked around at the scene before him. Jude was dead from having his throat ripped out by a Boomer that was licking his chops as he eyed the Pastor as if daring him to say anything. Mary May was leaning against the bar covered in potatoes and steak juices wide eyed as she tried to come to grips with everything.

"Mary May what happened?" Pastor Jerome asked as he gestured to Jude.

With that the fuse was lit, the star had finally run out of fuel and the most beloved bartender in all of Hope County finally collapsed in a terrifying and glorious supernova of rage and hate.

"What happened? You have... the sheer fucking giant brass balls! To dare ask me what happened?! I extended 'The Hand of Mercy'." She mocked as she walked out from behind the bar making a point to step on Judes corpse sending another gush of blood on to the floor as she did and continue her response.

"And you know what happened after I did that? After I tried to 'be the better person'. After I tried to 'be better than the cult'. Do you know what happened then?" She mocked.

"I... I don't..." Jerome started to speak before Mary May exploded and ended whatever response.

"I had my head slammed into a plate of steak and potatoes and nearly was stabbed in the process by a fucking cult assassin!" She screamed.

Jerome held up a free hand as if to try and calm her down but she continued unabated.

"I watched this so called 'scared and remorseful' cultist who wants to make amends take a full AK mag, my gun, and four shotgun blasts and still not fucking die! You asked me to trust you and this is what I get. Nearly getting killed myself, my bar damaged, putting Casey, Dmitri, and Marcus at risk! Do you know who saved the day? Who saved me? It was Boomer!" Mary May was now shaking in anger as Boomer let out a short "Boof!" in response to his name.

Bartender paused her rant long enough to take the Judes plate and place it before the gun dog and give him a quick scratch behind the ears to signal that it was ok to eat which Boomer happily obliged.

"It's not just my trust that you carelessly used Jerome... I heard about what happened between you and Wendell in the church basement. Besides that how many other people set aside their common sense and trusted you and your word? What about Roger Rook? The man that so far has given back to us damn near everything the cult took from us and hasn't asked for anything in return. The man who was captured because you had to pull on that string and abuse the trust that you knew he had in you despite common sense saying otherwise."

"This... this isn't..." Jerome tried to start again but Mary May was on him like lighting.

"NO! You don't get to make excuses! And I quote: But I will give you just enough rope Jerome to do this, but know this if this peggie defector is a spy, a thief, or worse an assassin, it will be on your head and your hands." She rattled off her eyes boring into Jeromes own with hellfire behind them.

"That's what Roger said when he left. When he stood up for you against the recommendations of Marcus and Dmitri and did your bidding." She snapped as she then started to laugh.

"Mercy... The Hand of Mercy. Can anyone here tell me what fucking Mercy has given us? What blind tolerance has given us? I lost my brother to the cult, and I damn well think the stress from that played a part in my fathers death, and then of course there is the Widowmaker, and myself getting held hostage by the cult. It's time to wake up Jerome. See Peggie. Kill Peggie. Save the World. That's what we need right now." She finished as she turned back to her bar and wiped her face on Jude's untouched napkin.

Marcus had turned to look at his computer the and the uplink and now it was his turn to resist just shooting the preacher out of hand. Jude had sprayed him with that snub nose hitting nothing but air save for one round that cleanly sailed through the case of the satellite uplink.

He gently picked up the device and was met with the sound of shattered circuit boards rattling around inside the case. The sound was loud enough in the other wise deathly quiet of the bar to draw everyone's attention until Dmitri broke the silence.

"Nyet..." He said softly as he too realized what this meant.

Marcus looked up at Jerome with anger and weariness. He had spent far too many years dealing with men like Jerome to get really proper angry so he made do with exasperation. He held up the device to all in the bar to see.

"This boys and girls was our sole lifeline to the outside world. Our only way of keeping tabs on the decision makers progress in finding away to penetrate the cults anti-air assets, their progress in sending in aid be it food, medical supplies, ammunition, communication gear, or even God willing armed forces. All of that is now gone and we are back to square one. We are alone and we don't know when help will arrive. Thanks a lot Pastor you thought you were playing a game and instead you were playing with the lives of everyone in the valley." Marcus finished as he sat down now trying to wrestle with the new problems he was going to be facing.

No one spoke as Jerome quietly left the bar and made for his church. All around him as he walked down the street just as he had done so for years he could now see that news of what happened had quickly spread as every single person right down to the children playing looked at him with disdain or outright hate.

Back at the Spread Eagle, Marcus looked over Judes corpse. "Well better get this guy out of here..." He said before Mary May cut in pausing her petting and scratching of Boomer for a moment.

"Marcus if I could ask for a favor? Could you mount this son of a bitch outside of the bar nice and high so everyone can see he's dead and gone?" She asked pleadingly.

Marcus smiled. "Of course Mary May my men and I will see to it." With that he grabbed the dead cultist and hoisted him up and drug him outside with the guardsmen following closely.

Dmitri made to follow but before he reached the door he turned back to Mary May. "Miss Fairgrave... please accept my apologies. I should have been faster on the trigger. I had heard stories from when I was in the Cult about how those blessed by the Bliss couldn't be harmed by mortal weapons I thought it was just empty dogma..." He rattled off before Mary May's uplifted hand stopped him.

"Dmitri you did your best. I know first hand just how hard these 'blessed' types are to put down. I'm just glad that you were here." She said gently before continuing.

"That's what Roger asked you do to when he left didn't he? I heard you two talking in Russian so I didn't know it at the time but now that seems to be the only thing to explain just why you were here."

The spy shook his head saying nothing.

Mary May rubbed her hands together as she thought about this.

"Good old Roger. Hedging his bets and making back up plans." she said as she finally hugged Dmitri utterly catching him off guard.

"Thank You Dmitri and please call me Mary May. Miss Fairgrave was my mother and I am not that old yet." She said as she finally released the man.

To this Dmitri only shook his head again still in shock at the show of affection and feeling his face burn red he smiled and bowed slightly before making for the bar door again.

Casey looked on briefly before he came up and without preamble wrapped his arms around Mary May. He didn't show it but nearly watching the blonde woman get murdered in front of him shook him badly, it was one of the things that he had specifically been asked to prevent when Gary had asked him to work at the bar as a cook instead of working for Marcus like the rest of the Grays.

Over years that he had been the cook he had watched the little blonde girl who would help in the kitchen sometimes become a beautiful young woman that he was proud to think of as a daughter. Loosing Drew was bad as he wasn't a bad kid but he never could seem to make the right choices in life and it finally caught up with him.

Loosing Gary was by far the worst as it left Mary May with the whole world on her shoulders and few people to turn to. Then to see even his best efforts not quite be enough to help her when she needed it most legitimately scared him.

"I'll ask Marcus if there is a hotter shotgun load I can have. I should have been able to put down Jude the first time." Casey said as he continued to hold the bartender.

Mary May slipped out of his hug and turned to face him square on. "Casey... Casey... You did your best. I know you take my fathers request seriously but you aren't God. Still thanks for being here." She said softly.

Casey smiled not fully feeling better but still improved from how he felt originally.

Word of the attempted assassination of Mary May spread quickly. If there was any sense of mercy left in the resistance members of Holland Valley the actions of that morning had quickly and firmly put them down.

In the bunker known as 'John's Gate' however the concept of mercy as it was known to the common man had long since been twisted into something else entirely.

Joey laid on her meager bed of cardboard trying to get some sleep before she expected to taken in for a session with John. The odd thing was it had been awhile since she had been 'summoned' by John ever since Roger got captured. Had John gotten bored with her and was working Roger over instead? Was the Joseph watching John try to convince Roger to 'atone' for his sins.

The image made her chuckle softly but forcefully enough for her body to remind her of all the beatings she had taken over the last few days or however long she had been in this hole. She still saw John twice a day at the minimum when he brought her meager meals of bread and water but other wise he had been absent.

'Just what is going on?' She thought as she prayed silently that somehow Roger would get her out of here at the very least. Then the cell door opened.

The tiniest parts of her mind hoped it was Roger opening the door but this time as it was every other time she was 'summoned' her door guards.

"John has summoned you for a very special meeting indeed so we need to do some extra work before we get you out of here." One of the men said.

They hauled her into her usual office chair and bound her arms and legs. That was all normal until the sound of a strip of duct tape being torn off and was placed over her mouth.

"John doesn't want you waking up 'The Collapse' too soon before he is done with Sunday services." One of the men said as they wheeled her down the empty halls to the all too familiar private room.

Her escorts slowly pushed her inside muttering prayers that they would be protected from harm by the will of 'The Father' and she saw Roger for the first time since everything happened that night.

In the dim mostly red hued lighting of the room it was hard to tell how badly if at all he was injured. He was stuffed into a matching office chair and had his own legs and arms bound to the center post and arm rests respectively as she did but as he was slumped over she couldn't tell if he was gagged as well.

She was rolled directly across from him with only ten feet between them but even that distance seemed endless given how she was tied up. The guards backed away slowly hands on their guns watching for Roger to make even the smallest of moves until they had passed through the door and quickly shut it behind them.

"Roger! Roger wake up!" She tried to say but only muffled noises came from behind her tape gag. She could feel the tears of frustration in her eyes. She couldn't move or speak to the one person that she knew could get them out of here. The she noticed something odd, something that had to be a sign of delirium.

Roger still had his shoulder holster and the resident .50 cal pistol was present. Her eyes darted to his right thigh and sure enough there was the long black shape of his 1911. She looked around the room and along one of the walls next to a toolbox/workbench sat the same rucksack Roger had that night at the Seed compound complete with his rifles and shotgun still strapped securely to its exterior.

So many things that could help their escape and yet both of them were powerless to use them.

'Any moment John could walk in here and any hopes of us getting out go down drastically . Please Roger... just wake up please...' She mentally pleaded when a loud gurgling of a overhead water pipe resulted in a sharp intake of air from Roger.

He ached so much it wasn't funny any more. Everything in his vision was fuzzy still as the drugs finally ran their course and he could feel where all of the darts had stuck into his arms and legs. This was quickly replaced with the mild burning from the rough hemp ropes on his arms, he tested his legs and could feel through his boots and pants legs more rope likely wrapped around what he believed to be a simple old school government purchased office chair.

He had broken a few of these over his army career usually at the chair base due to his considerable mass and combined with often decades of use as far as the chair goes. He started thinking on how free his legs when a spot of movement across the room caught his attention and stalled out his mind for a moment.

There was Joey bound and gagged but alive and still in uniform. Her bloodshot and tired green eyes still raw from crying were as bright as ever in the mixed red and white lighting of the room.

"Joey! Don't worry I am making a plan to get us out of here." He finally said finding his throat uncomfortably dry. He then set to work on his leg ropes.

He spun himself until his feet were resting on one of the four legs of the office chair and pressed as hard as he could down on the leg while pulling up as much as he dared on the arm rests until he was met with a metallic pop as the center post popped out of its socket in the base.

Now hunched awkwardly forward he wiggled his legs until the rope was free of the chairs center post and carefully guided the post back to its socket and further wiggling saw that the rope remaining around his ankles was slipped off and kicked into a dark corner then he tucked his legs back into their original position as if they were still bound. He tested the chair arms and found that even the limited amount of force he had applied had severely loosened them. This was good in his book.

"Now sadly we must wait for the last piece to arrive. I'm sorry Joey I'm doing the best I can here." He said as Joey shook her head understandingly. As far as she was concerned everything was going to be fine in due time.

They didn't wait too long before the sound of the heavy door locks being worked and in stepped John whistling one of the cults songs while carrying a tool box to a nearby workbench and started setting out his tools. Roger noted that the tool box had various tattooing equipment which wasn't surprising given what he knew of John's preferred conversion methods from Dmitry.

Not long after the tools got laid out did he pull out a large staple gun and large strips of clearly human flesh that had been tattooed with various 'sins'.

"My... parents were the first ones to teach me about the power of 'Yes'. One night, they took me into the kitchen, and they threw me to the ground, and I experienced pain after pain after pain after pain." He said as he stapled the strips of flesh to the workbenches backboard. With a loud slam he punctuated his last sentence making Joey jump and sob at the sudden loud noise.

John now turned to face Roger with hate burning in his eyes. "And when I didn't think I could take anymore. I did. Something broke free inside. I wasn't scared. I was... clear."

He brought over a tattoo gun over to where Roger sitting and readied it from a small work tray that sat beside the Deputy before returning to his toolbox.

"I looked up at them and I started to laugh. All I could say was... 'Yes'. I have spent my entire life looking for more things to say 'Yes' to. I opened up every hole in my body and when those were filled. I created more."

Roger snorted and chuckled softly halting the monologue. "I'm sorry. Up to this point in time given the, 'equipment' I saw in your room back at the former Seed Ranch. I figured that you were the Dom not the Sub but it doesn't surprise me that you like taking it up the ass.

I figure Joseph is the one that helps you 'fill' your holes, but considering how busy he is do you get help from anyone else? Faith perhaps? I didn't search your room thoroughly but I get the feeling there is a strap-on with a Bad Dragon horse dick hidden in your room with your name on it." Roger taunted.

John clinched his fists and a took a deep breath. 'The Collapse'... this Deputy was clearing trying to get in his head, but he would not rise at the obvious bait. Just the fact it was so obvious and blatant showed just how desperate the man must be for any advantage helped calm John down.

He had the power here. He had the control. The taunt was just a sinner in his death throws as the burning light of God was cast towards him and reveled his sins. He would atone soon.

John now calmed continued with his sermon now putting more energy into it. "But it was Joseph who showed me just how selfish I was being. Always receiving. Always taking. The best gift isn't the one you get, its the one you give... and giving takes courage. The courage... to own your sin. To etch it on to your flesh and carry its burden and when you endured.

When you have truly begin to atone, to cut it out like a cancer and display it for all to see. My god that's courage. But you Deputy Rook... from what I have been able to find and what dear Hudson here told me is that you are used to carrying the burden of your sins."

He reached into the tool box and brought out a smallish sized box marked 'Lo-Pan's Best Quality Acupuncture Needles 2500 count' and a tack hammer before returning to his pacing about between the two Deputies.

"In fact you make it a point to carry your own sins, but the thing to remember about sin is that you are rarely the only person effected by the act. So where normally I would etch your... many sins into your skin I feel that you would be better served by seeing someone else take the burden for a change. See the pain and suffering you cause to others when you refuse to accept atonement, make you confront your weaknesses and see the results, the damage you do to those that you care about through the sins that you refuse to otherwise confront.

You will watch Hudson swim across an ocean of pain not just because of her own sins but also your own. One needle for every faithful life you have ended. Perhaps she will emerge free and truly begin to atone and perhaps you will emerge as well broken and meek... and ready to not just carry your sins but to actually atone for them as well. So shall we begin?" John finished panting and sweating from the energy of his sermon.

"Are you done?" Roger asked tiredly.

John only looked on incredulously.

"Well allow me to retort. What is happening right here, right now is exactly what I have wanted since you 'Cleansed' me. I wanted to be in this bunker, in this room, with just you, me and Joey. Now your idea of torturing Joey to make me want to say 'Yes' and atone for my sins is well intentioned but ultimately false.

It wouldn't the first time I have watched friends get tortured while I was being interrogated and in the scheme of things here in Hope County its not enough to get me to break."

"You can drop the persona Rook, after all like you said we are all alone in here and no one will hear you beg for me to stop working over Hudson. You are still a man underneath all that supposed steel." John shot back his anger returning.

"Oh no its not a persona. When I am being polite and sociable, that is the outward persona which I have dropped for the sake our conversation. What you are seeing right here right now is the uncensored version of Roger Rook. So allow me to layout just why your plan won't work. If your research and questioning of Joey has turned up anything then it shows that I am 'numbers guy' always doing the math in the background to get what I want. What I need. What I need is to free Hope County from the violent oppression of the cult. So what in light of that goal what value does a single Deputy have? Especially in light of the fact that I have made great advances towards my goal without her presence thus her return isn't essential however she is useful for an alternative purpose... manipulating you." Roger said letting the last sentence linger for a moment and savoring the completely lost look on Johns face.

"Joey I imagine that you tried to tell him about this right?" He asked Joey.

"Murph." Was all Joey could manage through the gag as she shook her head yes.

"He missed the point didn't he?" He asked again.

Once more Joey shook her head yes.

Roger harrumphed "Figures. Anyway as expected of someone whose main way of dealing with people is based on emotion and the utilization of those emotions it makes sense for you especially if you found out about Joey and I's previous relationship that you would try to use her against me to get what you want. For this to happen at some point you have capture me or allow me to enter the bunker, the former being much safer for you and much quicker for the both of us.

Since you have elected to not venture out of this bunker save for only brief outings I can't kill you by my normal means thus I too have my own reason to want to be captured or otherwise breech the bunker."

Roger leaned back in the chair hearing it groan under his weight as he continued. "So Joey has performed her part by making you focus on capturing me even as you loose massive numbers of manpower, territory, and equipment. Joseph too has his part as well pushing for not just Joey's 'atonement' but my own as well otherwise why keep either of us alive. So now I have nearly everything I want while your only point of leverage has been reveled to be worth far less than you had expected."

"Shut up." John said softly as he reached back into the box and took a handful of needles in one hand and the tack hammer in the other.

"Aw, does little brother John have a headache from all the big numbers and words being thrown around?" Roger said as he began to laugh evilly.

"SHUT UP!" John screamed as he walked over to Joey. "If you won't shut up and take this seriously then I will drown out your words with her screams."

Roger stopped laughing instantly now turning serious once more. "Ok then enough mind games. I have one last question to ask you before we start though, but first let me get up."

With that he unfolded his legs and with a hard jerk of his massive arms he broke the arms of the chair. He let the arms and then the ropes slip off of his own as they clattered to the ground ominously and he stood up to his full height.

From Joey's perspective Roger was haloed by one of the few white lights in the room. To her it was if God himself has sent a Saint in a black Stetson to kill John and every single peggie in this bunker and then free all who were taken by John.

For John it was a far different experience. The drugs should have only just worn off. The Deputy shouldn't have been able to break out of his binds, after all how many other people had been tied the same way and held in place no matter how much they struggled?

Now John could only feel a indescribable terror gripping his very soul. From his vantage point Roger's head was haloed by one of the red lights then as Roger took his first step half of his face was cast again red by another light. The very sight ignited a primal level of terror in John that froze him in place, for this man, this creature before him could only be Satan himself. He wanted then and there to fall to his knees and beg God for help but he couldn't bring himself to move.

Everything about this task that God had given him, that his brother 'The Father' had given him had felt impossible but he had pressed on believing that he could find away to complete this task of making the worst of the sinners atone for his sins.

But all he now realized at this late moment was that all he did was insure his failure by thinking that he could out smart the Devil. The Devil that wore a black Stetson.

Roger walked forward slowly partially for effect partially for the sheer amount of pain that he was in as it felt like his muscles and joints had hot knives being stabbed repeatedly in them, but no amount of pain would stop him from killing John.

When he got with in arms reach of John he seized Johns head in his massive hands and lifted the terrified man up off of his feet and slowly started squeezing. The display of raw strength caused John to cry out now in terror as he could do little else but flail his arms uselessly against the steel vices that he now hung by.

Roger kept applying the crushing pressure against Johns skull until he could actually feel the bone begin to crack under his hands. As this happened he roared "You said you were looking for more things to say 'Yes' to John! Now I ask you: Do you submit to 'The Collapse'?!"

John only flopped around in quickly increasing pain now full on screaming in pain as he heard the question repeated again. He was back in that kitchen again, everything hurt so very much then and now it hurt even worse if that were even possible.

"SAY IT YOU CULT WHORE! DO YOU SUBMIT TO 'THE COLLAPSE'?!" Roger asked a third time. A part of him just wanted to end it but that part was nothing compared to the part of him that wanted to make sure that John suffered every pain possible both physical and mental he had brought on the people of Hope County and on Joey. For that he had to hear John's tag line from the mans own mouth that he surrendered himself to failure.

Joey could only look on now torn between being elated and terrified. She knew probably better than anyone outside of maybe Roger's parents that Roger had a aggressive streak that he had always kept a tight lid on. All of his life that she had seen growing up he had always pushed himself to be good to others and not use his sheer strength and size to get things by force. But this was different for she had originally only seen the briefest of glimpses of that aggression when he shot Dr. Parker all those years ago, but now... now she was seeing it in all of it unbridled glory.

John kept screaming in pain and terror as he could feel his skull begin to crack under this devils sheer strength but finally something in his very soul broke just as once something in him broke as a child in that kitchen so long ago, but this was different he felt clear but he was afraid so very very afraid.

John screamed out his last words. "YES! YES! I SUBMIT TO 'THE COLLAPSE'!"

With that Roger gave a quick hard pulse of power and crushed John's head, blood and thick brain matter inter mixed with bone, skin, and hair utterly covering his hands in gore. He dropped the cultist on the floor and looked over the dead body for a moment as if daring the man to somehow get up and grovel before him for mercy. Frankly what John had gotten was comparatively swift to what he actually deserved but there was work to be done elsewhere.

The moment passed and Roger glanced at his gore covered hands and then to Joey and felt a moment of awkwardness as he looked around for at least something to wipe his hands on eventually spotting a small sink likely used for cleaning John's tools. With his hands now at least physically cleaned he raced over to Joey and first cut away at her leg bindings then her arms.

With her first arm free Joey ripped off the duct tape quickly and took her first few greedy breaths as Roger then freed her other arm. Now loose she grabbed on to his armor to haul herself up out of the chair her body screaming at her in pain as she now forced herself to move and launched herself at Roger kissing him deeply.

The kiss surprised him for half a heartbeat but soon he had his arms around Joey and was fully returning the kiss. When they broke for air Joey laid her head against his chest repeating over and over again. "You came. You came. You came."

"Yeah I came Joey. I'm sorry it took so long, I tried I swear I tried..." He replied. Eventually they had both said their peace and stood there in that room in each others arms for only God knows how long before Roger finally let go. John was dead but there was still a bunker full of cultists to kill.

"Joey you stay here, I got to go clear the bunker and make sure these bastards don't get a chance to organize a actual defense." Roger said as he looked towards where his ruck sack laid.

He pulled away and took his shotgun and two boxes of ammo in hand to give to Joey so she wouldn't be left unprotected but as he handed the gun and ammo he instantly recognized the hard look on her face and knew he had touched nerve if only slightly.

"I can still fight Roger and I'm not going to stay behind any more. We are going to clear this bunker together and if you don't like it remember I'm still the senior deputy here... for what that is worth at this point." She said defiantly.

Roger only smiled as he flicked the safety off of his HCAR. "Well if you think so just make sure you stay behind me. I am the one with all the armor on after all."

Joey then turned and grabbed the bunker key off of John's body before staring at the headless body for a moment then kicking it as hard as she could.

"Ok I got the bunker key and I feel a bit better now so lets go." She said and they both headed for the door.

Joey worked the lock while Roger slowly pushed the door open rifle at the ready. The two guards that had brought Joey in didn't fully register who was opening the door until a moment before they both got a suppressed double tap of .30-06 to the chest and head. The hallway was empty but the law givers could clearly hear someone nearby shouting.

"Did someone else just kill themselves?" The person who spoke could be heard along with another person racing down the hallway towards them. Just as they came in view of the two deputies they both turned around and panicked.

"'The Collapse' is loose! 'The Collapse' is loose!" one screamed before being taken down by Joey. If the bunker wasn't aware of their presence now then the sound of Joey's 12 gauge would correct that.

Roger walked down the hall towards where the two cultists had come from as from what he could judge from the signs on the wall they were on the 3rd level of the bunker which served as a work space which assuming that the peggies hadn't changed the layout of the bunker meant the living spaces were below them.

"There should be seven floors to this bunker to clear. If I remember right these old Minutemen silos kept their main control rooms on the 5th floor." Roger said.

"I heard the guards mention a floor 17 while I was in my cell. I think the peggies probably expanded the bunker by a fair amount." Joey said as she topped off her magazine.

Roger didn't like hearing that but it wasn't completely unexpected after all when he and the resistance where holding off the cults human wave attacks a few days ago all of those bodies had to come from somewhere in here.

"Well then looks like we might need to grab the cults guns if and when we run dry. Let's get to work." He said as he picked up the pace.

Somewhere someone had the wherewithal to hit an alarm and so began the slow butchering process. Roger slowed to a steady walk firing short controlled bursts to save on ammo as cultist after cultist came rushing out with all manner of guns and melee weapons. Joey had without being told took to clearing the various rooms they passed leaving her own trail of dead bodies. The number of cultists rushing towards their position doubled as they descended the stairs to the 5th floor.

These cultists being lead by one of the few remaining Chosen had formed barricades out of over turned desks, maybe the desks would have helped them if Roger had been armed with a AR and certainly stopped Joey's buckshot but with the armor piercing full power rifle rounds he had they sailed through the desks without pause causing the few peggies that didn't die immediately panic and run away only to be cut down anyways.

Soon after they had cleared the barricades the deputies reached the control room filled with a odd combination of reel to reel computers and several rows of modern rack servers. There were only a handful of people inside the room that foolishly tried to rush their attackers only to be cut down just as fast as they popped out of their own overturned desks.

With the last shots the room grew quiet save for the soft drone of the computers until a voice came out from behind one of the desks.

"Joey! Joey it's me Barry! Don't shoot please!" the man who spoke slowly stood up with hands up. He was a spindly built man in the typical white sweater and jeans of the cult. His long and wild hair and beard further made him more or less unremarkable from the unwashed and faceless masses that made up the bulk of the cult. Joey replied. "Fuck you Barry!" Afterwards she didn't even hesitate to raise her gun and blow off Barrys head.

Now alone and not hearing more cultists coming Roger ventured a question. "Who's Barry?"

Joey didn't reply until after she had topped off her gun again. "Ex-boyfriend."

"Ah. Well now that we have taken care of personal loose ends lets see what their computer systems look like. This is already a lot more advanced then what I expected out of the cult." Roger said as he looked at one of the terminals.

"I'll do the computer work you watch the door." Joey said as she found a working laptop that was clearly connected to the various systems of the bunker.

Roger took a post to watch over the door and waited for Joey to work her technomancy on the cults systems.

"Roger we got prisoners being held on the 2nd, 6th, and 7th floors. After that everything gets... weird. The cult has expanded the bunker a lot. Floors eight through twelve are a chapel, food storage, and work shops, big ones too. Then after that floors thirteen through seventeen are all living quarters but I don't have access to anything on those floors probably are on a separate local system of some sort." Joey said as she glanced through the layouts of the bunker.

She finally found the camera systems for the bunker and could see dozens of people rushing down further into the bottom levels of the bunker.

"Everyone is running to the living quarters probably getting ready to make a last stand there. There's at least a hundred down there." She continued.

Roger chuckled. "Oh Joey it gets worse as far as the info I found at the Seed Ranch there's supposedly 3000 or so people in this bunker at least before you account for casualties."

"Well I don't know how many are going to be left for you to kill because the guards kept talking about entire groups of people committing suicide every time some piece of bad news from outside the bunker would come in." Joey replied.

She finally finished exploring the system and getting a grip of what she could do and not do. "Ok Roger I will have to stay here and make sure the peggies can't shut any doors on you as you go down. If you can give me a radio off of one of the peggies here I will set it to the repeater they have in the bunker so we can still communicate."

He poked around briefly before finding a clean and intact radio and offered it up to his partner to set. He then checked his ammo one last time before taking the now set radio and walking towards the doorway.

"Joey stay in contact and stay safe." He said with a smile.

Joey returned the gesture and brought up the security cameras to watch over Roger as he walked towards the stairs leading further down into the bunkers depths.

Passing the 6th and 7th floors was like walking through a circle of hell. Crudely welded cells filled over any sort of reasonable capacity of victims of the cult. Some were clearly dead and others nursed various wounds some even crudely treated with cloth torn from their own clothes or those of the dead.

Those that could move still came to their cell door and silently reached out pleading by action if not by word to be released in anyway possible. All along Rogers path he could see more and more arms reach through the bars forming a surreal and hellish sight.

He got to the door way that would lead him down into the newly dug out parts of the bunker he turned around and shouted so that all could hear him. "When the last peggie in this bunker is dead you will be freed. You have my word that you will see the sun once more."

With that he turned and walked down ever further into the bunker. Joey hadn't been joking when she had described the size of the workshops. These were modern and very well equipped with name brand automated CNC machines. One workshop turned out to be a chemical laboratory of some sort with a separate section walled off with a disturbing number of radioactivity warnings.

'Ok this is getting really scary. You don't have labs like this for just making combat drugs and explosives.' He thought as he kept checking each room noting just how empty of people they were.

"Joey you copy?" He called on the radio.

"Go ahead." Came the calm reply from Joey.

"So far no contacts in any of the workshops so far but the cult has a hell of an production operation here at least on par with anything my father has in his shop. Also got a chemical lab of some sort with a section for dealing with something radioactive." He said worryingly.

There was a pause as Joey thought on this revelation. "The chem lab makes sense but most of the Bliss use that we could track came from Faith's region in the Henbane River region. Maybe its so John can have his own local production. Now that I think of it maybe they developed their Bliss infused fertilizer there as well."

Roger passed into probably the single largest room that served as some sort of chapel and meeting hall again it was void of life. Looking around he saw that John had a fair amount of A/V equipment and the means to broadcast it to the whole valley at least. Logical given his role as the cults pitchman.

'That could be useful later.' He thought as the first parts of what would be part of his opening salvo against the rest of the cult started to form.

"Joey what do you think of the radioactive lab? Could the cult be making a dirty bomb?" He asked as he started down the last set of stairs leading to the 13th floor.

"Maybe but there is a lot of questions to that like 'Why?' and what sort of radioactive material could they be using? The old Grimalkin Radon Mine has been inert radiologically for decades so they would have to bring in outside material." Joey said factually.

"Nice to hear that you are still that aspiring geologist I once knew. I'm reaching the 13th floor now." Roger said now growing serious.

"I don't have any camera or door coverage from there on out so be careful Roger." Joey replied.

Roger now slowed his progress and kept quiet as he strained his ears to pick up any sounds of movement from the various dorms that branched off from the hallway. But he heard nothing and that terrified him to no end. Unless there was some sort of hidden exit at the bottom level of the bunker there should be a lot more people around.

The cult dorms were spartan and open affairs. Dotted with various shrines lining the walls in among the triple bunk beds and gym style lockers that made up all the personal space allotted to each member. Each bunk bed was neatly made no doubt to maintain a level of discipline among the congregation, again it put Roger at unease.

As he near the stairs he made note that the steel doors that could be shut to seal off every floor at least in this newly constructed section were hydraulically operated with no means of cross bolt or other latching mechanism visible.

"Well that's nice. At least if I am on the right side of the door I can cut the lines and open the door manually." He said to himself if only to break the heavy silence of the room.

He kept going again finding repeats of the 13th floor on the following floors. All clean, all quiet, and all devoid of human life.

"Joey I am about reach the bottom floor so far no signs of life." He updated his partner on his progress.

"Copy all quiet here still. If you get in trouble down there pull back to the 12th floor and I can seal them in." Joey said worryingly.

"Copy that. The cult made a mistake with these new doors in the expanded sections though they are held shut only by the hydraulic rams so if they are smart and can access the lines they can still manually pull open the doors." Roger said softly as he crept down the last set of stairs.

"That applies to you as well Roger." Joey added.

Finally after all the climbing down stair wells Roger came to a door that was shut. He peered through the window and saw hundreds of cult members kneeling in a tight circle around a large shrine not unlike the ones built on Dutch's island and else where throughout the county. But this one had a far larger number of tanks with pipelines leading to a number of cast iron angels blowing on trumpets another thing was that none of the tanks were spewing out the normal light green Bliss like their above ground brethren.

Just barely in view along the back wall were piles of dead bodies all heaped in among the bunks that had been moved to make room for whatever it was the cult was doing.

Suddenly from out of sight of the small door window a pale and obese man slipped into view causing Roger to jump at the sudden face in the window. The man was bare chested and bore a massive red tattoo of the heretical cult cross marking him as someone of import.

"So at the end we finally meet face to face Deputy." The man said smugly.

"You have me at a disadvantage. Am I suppose to know you from all the other cult fodder that I have been butchering these last few days?" Roger shot back. The door ram was on the opposite side so unless this fat man choose to open the door there was no easy way for him get inside.

"I am or I was once Police Chief Edward P. Jacobs. You stood outside my door when the Sheriff tried to investigate the punishment of Greg Armstrong. Though nowadays I go by my new title of Brother Inquisitor Jacobs." He turned and looked back at the shrine for a moment.

"I must say in these closing moments that you have been a massive thorn in the side of the faithful for too long. I know not why 'The Father' or God directed Herald John to not slay you at the first chance and the same can be said of that slutty whore Hudson. Both of you were clearly beyond hope of atonement. But soon perhaps when you are standing before God himself he might then show you mercy."

Suddenly from the angels trumpets around the shrine started billowing dark gray-green smoke which flowed across the floor of the room like a blanket. Those closest to the shrine could be seen coughing violently but refused to move from their spot.

"Like my 'Samson protocol'? Out of the 825 surviving faithful 600 of us agreed to give our lives so that you 'The Collapse' may die." Jacob said coughing slightly as the gas reached him as well.

"What about other 225? I assume then they are bodies on the back wall?" Roger asked.

"Yes they were so lost in their own fear of you that they took their own lives against the word of 'The Father' and his Herald John. But no matter they served their own purpose and perhaps they too will find mercy at Eden's Gate. You should hope for the same, there is enough chlorine gas to fill this whole bunker. You, the slut, those who continued to resist converting... all of you will be drug to Eden's Gate to face the judgment of God." Jacob's said now coughing harder.

"Even if you run the vents will carry this gas all over the bunker before you can reach the surface. You will only die tired... Your sins of 'Wrath' and 'Pride' have doomed you. You just had to come down here a make sure we were all dead. Congratulations Deputy." Jacob's gasped as he was over come with the gas.

It was at that moment the Rook could smell the first hints of pepper and pineapple the smell associated with chlorine gas. Without a another word he sprinted back up the stairs as fast as he could.

"Joey! The cult just released a chlorine gas weapon in the bunker and its spreading through the vents! You got to try and isolate the lower sections before it spreads the holding cells! I'm trying to get topside as fast as I can manage." He called out into the radio.

He didn't hear if Joey had replied as all he could focus on was sprinting through the empty rows of bunk beds. For every floor he climbed at first gave him a moments respite from the gas but by the time he reached the next set of stairs he could smell the gas upon him again. The slight coughing only added to the strain on his body as before just walking was painful but now full bore sprinting now legitimately felt like he was tearing his muscles apart.

But he had to press on. He wouldn't die now, hell he was too busy to die if you asked him.

In the control room Joey searched frantically for the ventilation controls until finally shuting them down. She watched the camera facing the door leading to the lower sections of the bunker hoping that she would see Roger race out any second now so she could seal the door.

'Come on Roger... I can't leave you to die in a hole after you did so much to do the same for me.' She thought worryingly.

In the bottom floor of the bunker at a laptop Jacobs had crawled to reach he watched Rook run through the dorms and reach the 14th floor.

"You... you can't escape... the will of God...Rook." He coughed as he hit the button to shut the doors on the 14th and 13th floors.

Roger could hear the door alarms sound as he watched the door at the far end of the room swing shut with a doom sounding slam. Instantly he reached for his Ka-Bar and the very moment he reached the door with the smell of the gas growing thicker by the moment he slashed at the thick feed and return lines leading to the ram.

With the lines cut and spewing fluid all across his arms he grabbed on to the massive built in handles and with screaming muscles forced the door open leading to the second to last door way on his path to safety.

Joey motivated by something that she couldn't quite place left her post at the control room and raced as fast as her battered and weaken body could allow down through the depths of the bunker, past the empty rooms and holding cells ignoring the silent outstretched arms of those hoping once more for release.

Finally she came to the door to the 13th floor and hesitated briefly before throwing caution to the wind and descending into the section of the bunker that she didn't have control over.

At the bottom of the stairs she saw that the door had indeed closed and worse for Roger the door ram was her side of the door. She glanced through the window and saw Roger fly up from the stairs leading to the 14th floor. Behind him was a ominous gray-green cloud slowly billowing up. She didn't have her knife on her but she did have the shotgun and proceeded to blast apart the hydraulic lines just as Roger had mentioned before. With the lines destroyed she pulled on the door to open it for Roger but for all of her effort the door only opened painfully slowly.

Roger could see and hear the shotgun blasts as Joey saved his ass and made it so he could open the door. Between the two of them the door opened easily and with Rogers urging they both raced up the last stairs on to the 12th floor. Joey spun around and slammed down the control lever for the door sealing it against the gas cloud.

In the bottom floor of the bunker a dying Jacob watched the Deputies race up out of his reach, alive on his camera watching the 13th floor door despite everything he had planned. Despite everything that all the faithful here had given their lives for, they couldn't kill a single man.

'Why God? Why?' He thought as the darkness came.

Joey leaned against the wall catching her breath as she watched Roger keep marching towards one of the chemical labs. She wanted to ask why but decided that following was easier than trying to find the spare breath to speak.

She entered the lab and found Roger under one of the emergency chemical showers. Roger sensed he wasn't alone and turned and looked at her.

"Chlorine is water soluble and under better conditions I should be using some kind of soap as part of the decon but I figure that I will have to make do with just sheer amounts of water. This is one reason why chemical weapons are not fun, the clean up is just about always a cast iron bitch." Roger said as he shut the water off and shook the water off of his hat.

They looked at each other for a moment neither of them really sure what to say or where to start but finally Roger sighed and motioned for Joey to follow him upstairs. Once they reached the first of the holding cells the two Deputies searched around for the local controls to open all the cells eventually finding it the cell doors quietly swung open and a few of either the bravest or healthiest people stumbled out into the hall.

"Are we safe?" One voice said daring to finally break the silence.

"Yes you are all safe. Once Deputy Hudson and I reach the surface and make sure there are no peggies waiting for us up there we will call for help. Once that is done we can get you all out of here and get you any sort of medical treatment you may need. I won't lie the county is still mostly under the cults control but John is dead. We have retaken Holland Valley and we will retake the Henbane and Whitetail regions. We will kill the cultists, we will retake our homes, and we will see justice be done unto Joseph Seed." Roger answered.

A few people actually cheered many clapped and the rest just smiled for the first time since being thrown into this hell. Those few who had only been recently taken by the cult took on the task of freeing the other prisoners and arming themselves from the fallen peggies on the upper floors.

Roger and Joey slowly crept up the stairs on to the 2nd floor. This area held the newest victims that John had gathered so when the Deputies came into view the prisoners where quick to speak out and inform them that all the peggies had failed to return after their morning services.

With the way clear they walked up the last set of stairs to the main entrance and tried to open the main door with John's key. With a grind and a loud pop the control box for the main door powered down with the door still very much shut and locked.

"Well shit sounds like the fuses popped." Joey said tiredly. They were so close to being free it hurt. She looked through the view port outside and could see the sun either setting or rising she couldn't tell but at least there were no peggies in sight.

"Well good news is that by design these exterior doors had separate circuits just so that if the exterior controls got damaged in a nuclear strike then the inner controls would still work which also means that they work vice versa." Roger said hopefully as he turned back into the bunker.

Joey hesitated for a moment wanting to drink in the sight of the outside world just a bit more in case if this was somehow her last chance, but eventually she caught up with Roger.

"So since you seem to know how these silos work how do we get outside to the exterior controls?" She asked.

Roger smiled and pointed to a particularly heavy looking though smaller door that looked like it belonged on a ship rather than a bunker.

"This is a missile silo after all so all we need to do is open the big door and climb the service ladder out of here. Inside there should be a service override to open the main hatch just inside..." Roger said as he opened the hatch to the missile silo proper and came face to face with a large white and black missile.

Joey could hear Rogers breath catch as he rushed in a sudden panic and looked up and down at the missile. Touching it as if to see if it was actually real.

"Oh god. Oh shit. Oh MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!" Roger yelled.

Joey stood in the doorway wide eyed trying to process still what she was seeing but knowing full well that it wasn't good. Any missile that had bore the eight point cross of the cult was sure to be evil.

"Joey... you remember like when we were 4 or 5 years old and everyone got out of school to see the big army trucks come and haul away the missile when the air force decommissioned the silo?" Roger said softly his voice actually shaking.

"Y-yeah... I do. Mom and Dad bought me ice cream that day. Mint chip. Roger the lab..." She replied remembering that day once more in as vivid detail as could be expected for a pre-schooler.

"Fuck the lab we need to get back to the control room and make sure that Joseph can't launch this bitch. The silos around here are all wired to a master control hub not far from the old veterans hospital, its suppose to be the main way that these things got launched in time of war but they kept local controls in case of a system failure." Roger rattled off mechanically.

Without another word the two deputies sprinted back to the control room as Joey took to the controlling laptop once more with Roger over her shoulder.

She navigated deeper into other menus and screens until she found the one labeled 'Local Launch Controls'. Inside she found dozens of settings that she couldn't begin to make heads or tails of.

"Roger I'm not going to launch this thing am I?" She asked nervously.

"No no no. Let's see here... ah yes! Click on 'Retract Engine Connection' and 'Target Package Connection' that should physically isolate the missile both in terms of where it should go and the ability to start the launch sequence. After that the missile is just sitting there, even if we wanted to launch it ourselves we would need to reconnect everything so we can talk to the on board flight and target systems." Roger said finally relaxing slightly.

Joey sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. Today was just a endless roller coaster that refused to stop. Roger poked around in the various desks both to see if he could find anything and to try and calm his mind.

In one of the desks he found the tool that would tell him just how deep the shit was as far as the missile was concerned.

A Geiger counter, a very new and modern looking one as well. If he had expected to find a counter somewhere in the silo he would have thought it would be a relic from the late sixties from when the silo was first built.

"Joey I got to go answer a question." He said as he held up his find.

"Is that... a Geiger counter? I haven't even seen one since college. Oh god you don't think..." Joey trailed off, her thoughts now racing about the implied possibilities.

Roger said nothing as he walked back to the missile compartment and started up the ladder that would lead to the maintenance platform near where the warhead of the missile would be. Joey followed not knowing what else to do but also to see for herself if her fears were actually founded.

Roger reach the top of the ladder and switched on the counter. It beeped loudly and kept getting louder as he brought the counter closer to the surface of the missile body.

Joey peeked around Roger at the counter. "I might be a bit rusty but that's higher than the background radiation at the old Radon mine."

Roger only shook his head. "We have a what appears to be a accurate replica of a actual Minuteman III missile with a clearly radiological warhead of some kind. Might be a dirty bomb of some sort or it could be a true nuke, at this point I'm past the point of denying any possibility. Joseph has now officially pulled off shit that would make the Iranians and North Koreans envious."

"Can I ask how you know about all this sort of stuff?" Joey ventured as the weight of everything hit her again.

"No. I legally can't say Joey. Let's just say I had to learn a small part of this sort of stuff and I got bored." Roger said as he turned to go down the ladder.

"So you read up on everything else. Well at least you haven't changed Roger." Joey smiled latching on to the one thing that felt familiar and unchanging in this entire ordeal.

Roger slid down the ladder and pulled a lever that started retracting the massive concrete cover over the silo and by the time he climbed back up to the maintenance platform the main silo hatch now slowly flipped open. The cool night air felt like it was refreshing his very soul with every breath and finally with the hatch opened a short ladder automatically descended from the lip of the hatch providing a way up for the Deputies.

The night was cool and clear with a endless sea of stars and a ever rising full moon greeted the weary law givers as Roger proceeded to work the exterior door mechanism and greet the first and best conditioned of the prisoners to the surface.

With the door now open Roger returned to where Joey stood tiredly looking over the valley as if trying to see if anything had changed.

"If you look behind you, you can see my handy work after I took over the Seed Ranch and reprocessed Carmina after the cult stole it from Nick. Few things work quite like just dropping a half ton of high explosive on top of something you want gone." Roger said as he pointed to the remains of John's 'Yes' sign.

"God I remember when they built that damn thing. Should have taken it as a sign that things were going wrong back then." Joey reminisced.

"I'll tell you a lot more tomorrow after we get back to Fall's End and get some sleep and medical care. A lot of shit has gone down and we have lost a lot of good people." Roger said as he reached for his radio.

"To any Resistance forces in range, this is Deputy Roger Rook does anyone copy?" He spoke.

It was the middle of dinner for the bulk of the Resistance forces gathered in Fall's End when every radio in the room sounded off with Roger voice.

Marcus was the first to scramble for his radio to reply. "Roger! My god son it's good to hear you! What is your status?"

The entire room closed in even drawing in Casey and Mary May from their posts with Boomer at the latters side.

"I'm not critically injured and still more or less combat effective. The prisoners of John Seed have been freed however a lot of them are in very bad shape and will likely need medical attention before they can even be moved out of the bunker. I also got Joey here as well also more or less combat effective. Also I am happy to say that John 'The Baptist' Seed is dead. I say again John Seed is dead. Holland Valley is ours once again."

The bar erupted in cheers at the news. Even so Marcus shouted into his radio. "Hot damn son you did it. I will get people and vehicles mobilized ASAP."

The background cheers could be heard by Roger and Joey improving their own spirits but there was more to be said.

"Dad switch to the black channel." Roger said and waited.

Marcus switched radio frequencies to one that he and Roger had agreed to use for sharing sensitive info that absolutely had to stay black even among the resistance or its leadership. He walked out of the bar and into the middle of the street well away from anyone in a earshot.

"Go ahead Black Reaper." Marcus said.

"Grey Reaper be advised that we have confirmation of a cult produced ICBM with some form of radiological warhead. Type and yield unknown but we have isolated the missile from being remote or locally launched without preparation. We also have some specialized radiological lab in addition to advanced chemical and machining production equipment. Joseph is up to something big and we need to pass it on to Black Cardinal and the rest of the Theoracy ASAP." Roger rattled off.

Marcus's heart sank not just at the news but the fact that he couldn't now pass it on even after everything his son had probably gone through at this point.

"Black Reaper when I get to your position I'll fill you in on the events of the last three days. Grey Reaper out." Marcus said finally.