So here's a story. I lost all my data on the Playstation 4. All but like 2 games. Which included all my data for Far Cry 5 and New Dawn. So I had to work on that for a month, and then I had some other games I wanted to play.
Jack was silent as he walked. His realization about the loss of his rage had hit him harder than he thought. He had to go find that mystery woman. She had predicted this; she should be able to help him. She had to. Lives were hanging on him, and he couldn't let them down.
Carmina wanted to come along, but Jack told her to return to Prosperity. He needed to talk to the woman alone. There was also the mystery of her voice. He didn't know from where, but he knew he had heard it before.
He walked for some time, consumed in his thoughts before he eventually arrived at her bunker. It seems she had just returned from hunting. She was breaking down her prey when she turns her head slightly.
"You were right. I lost my edge. So, what do I do about it?' he asked simply.
The woman finished her task before wiping her hands and walking to an old map of the region. It seemed he would be making a short trip.
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"Your going where?" Kim asked Jack as he loaded up on equipment.
"A few miles into the irradiated zone. My guardian angel seems to think that's where I'll find the thing. And that'll help me to get my head on straight." He replied.
"you realize that's insane?" she questioned.
"No more then usual. Look, I'll be fine. I've been to a lot more places then you have. I know how to handle myself." Jack said.
"Where are you even going?" Kim asked.
"She said it was a place called the Jessop Conservatory." He revealed.
"What? Back during the conflict with Eden's Gate, the Conservatory was quite important to their Bliss operation. Although that was one of the first places the deputy captured when he started working in the Henbane River region, and by the time the collapse happened we had held it for several weeks. So, I guess its possible that the resistance stored something important there. Just be careful. There's a reason we avoid going that far into the zone." She tells him.
Once he was confident in his supplies, Jack headed out. He was bringing a small rucksack for him of supplies with him. To counterbalance the weight, he would only be bringing Sin-Eater for protection
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Driving to the edge of the territory, he thought about what she has said. According to her, roughly 10 to 15 or so miles into the irradiated zone there was an old greenhouse or something.
As he drove, his mind wondered as it often tended to. He realized with a touch of surprise how long it had been since he had arrived in Hope County.
He was jarred from his thoughts as he pulled to a stop. This was a far as he could get with wheels, the rest would be needed to be traversed on foot.
He pulled his tunic on and his backpack and began walking. 10 steps past his car and he was into the irradiated zone.
The change hit him like a brick. He even turned around to double check he hadn't zoned out that much. Yes, it had only been 10 steps.
Hope County was one of the most colorful, vibrant places he had ever been to. Yet mere feet into the irradiated zone he felt like he was somewhere else entirely. There was a thick wall of dust or something separating the thriving Hope County and the bleak badlands.
It was cold, desolate, bitter, devoid of life itself, like an alien world. Everything about it put him on edge. He had to keep going.
Fighting the shiver deep in his bones, he pushed forward, wrapping his arms around himself.
This was going to be a long five miles. Assuming he doesn't get lost.
God, he prayed don't let me get lost.
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In order to keep his mind off the unease and cold of the region, he let his mind wonder.
And he recalled the first time he heard they were coming to Hope County. They had been the Texas area, what had once been San Antonio. The Alamo fort had proved to be a surprising stronghold in the area. They had handled the local gang and were well on the way to helping the community to improve when Carmina had arrived. She had traveled for almost 3 weeks trying to find them. She was lucky. Another 2 days and they would probably have left.
Rush was quickly enticed by her reports of how fertile the ground was and saw large potential in the area.
The Captain on the other hand, saw problems. He hadn't ever in his wildest thoughts expected this, naturally if he had he would have voiced those concerns and taken proper precautions. His worries were more in the logistics.
Hope County was much further Northwest then their network went, and as a result they would be walking into the situation blind.
Between talking to Gina, and traveling with Roger to various Highwaymen outposts, he had realized just how incompetent their intelligence network had been. How could it be possible that the Highwaymen could have this much influence all over the country, yet neither he nor Rush had heard of them before meeting Carmina?
Should he ever be able to return his old home, he would be eager to forcefully…. lodge a complaint.
The Captain froze. He wasn't sure when, but at some point, he had stopped thinking of the communities he was helping to build up as home, and instead adopted Hope County and Prosperity as his new home.
The Captain wiped his forehead and was surprised to find a thick layer of sweat forming on his brow. Despite the coldness, he was sweating quite a bit.
He pushed on, his mind going to when his life went off the rails. Literally.
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The captain shook the cobwebs free from his head as he regained consciousness. Something heavy had fallen on him. He grunted and tried to free himself as Garret begins panicking. Unfortunately, he did not have proper leverage to push the shelf off himself, and Garrett's increasing anxiety was not aiding matters at all.
He freaks out more and more before Rush finds them and chastises Barnes for his loudness. The pair help free The Captain, and Rush gave him a knife.
"You have lead. We'll follow." Rush said. The pair had long since established their styles, and in a situation like this the Captain was the one in charge.
Pausing to grab his rucksack, the trio left the train. As they passed the corpses of people they knew, they began gathering what supplies they could, and slowly began encountering Highwaymen.
The Captain was in his element. Taking down Highwaymen and freeing what few survivors they could come across; they slowly began fighting back. Until the rest of the gang showed up. Soon it was just Garrett, Rush, and The Captain.
Hostile to the end, the first thing the younger man did was point his weapons at the twins. When they shot Garrett, Rush took the opportunity to push him off the cliff and into the river.
He had been knocked out on impact, and if Carmina hadn't pulled him out, he probably would have drowned.
From there the pair continued down the river, the Captain amazed at how calm things could be. Everything was great minus the giant pissed off elk charging at him.
Wait what?!
Jack was jarred violently from his thoughts when he realized the Elk wasn't part of his recollections but an actual beast rushing towards him. Ducking into a roll, he avoided the horns of the Elk and drew sin-eater.
Firing both barrels at the massive beast, he again barely rolled away from its antlers before getting to his feet and looking around. It was gone. He looked around as he reloaded his family treasure. It didn't make sense that something so large could vanish so easily…or did it?
The area was a desolate wasteland, truly little lived here. So, it was reasonable to suggest that something capable of surviving here must have evolved to be significantly more dangerous then normal beasts. He would have to stay on his guard. Who knew what else would be found on his trip?
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Jack sat down on a rock, breathing heavier than he would have liked. The trip hadn't seemed do daunting when explained to him, nor when he set out. But now having been on the trek for…. how long had it been?
The Captain looked up to the sky to try and judge the time, but the thick coating of dust covered the sky and obscured the view. Without being able to see the sun well, he couldn't accurately judge the time. The stain of his muscles would typically tell him that it had been 7 or so hours, but he knew that couldn't be correct.
It occurred to him with no small degree of irritation that the Badlands were sapping his strength. He had encountered similar phenomena before, and they never failed to vex him.
Taking out a small map, he did his best to try and gauge his location. His best estimates put him roughly two thirds of the way to the conservatory, assuming he hadn't gone off course.
He let out a groan, realizing the likelihood that he could have altered his path after his encounter with that monster elk.
Speaking of, he had a feeling the elk was nearby. Every now and again he had the feeling the unnaturally large creature was nearby, but every time he looked he was unable to find anything to suggest it.
He was unsure of himself for the first time in a long while. Yes, usually he would put full faith in his instincts, but the badlands and their peculiar effects could be putting him on extra edge.
Forcing himself to put his thoughts aside, he began moving again. He had to find the conservatory. Whatever he was looking for, he had to find it, before the twins started making a move on the Scavengers or New Eden.
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After another few hours, the Captain was forced to stop to rest. The Badlands were taxing him more than he had expected. He would have to be careful about undo expense of strength. After all, he still had to leave the badlands once he was done.
Even the water sources here couldn't be trusted. He dipped his hand into a stream and began experiencing an immediate tingling feeling in his fingers. For some reason, the radiation had affected this area in a unique way.
He wiped his face clean of more sweat and began to walk again. He had long ago stopped relying on his map, and now just hoped he would get lucky.
It seems that was not a good method of operation. For once.
Jack looked up to the sky and sighed heavily.
"You know, I don't ask for much. The occasional impossible shot, and to not get lost in an inhospitable wasteland. I mean you'd think you'd throw me a-ah!" His tirade was cut off when he tripped over something made of wood. Getting up, and a small thanks no one was around to see it, Jack noticed what he had tripped over was a sign.
'Jessop Conservatory: straight ahead'
"…. Ok, well tell me to shut up then." Jack said as he began heading towards the Conservatory. As he began approaching the long-abandoned building, he observed fields of flowers giving off a greenish mist. There were clearly areas that had been meant for the flowers to grow, but over the long years they had overgrown their original plots.
Rubbing his forehead, he recalled hearing something about this. The conservatory's main purpose had been to grow the Bliss Flowers. The Deputy had burned the fields when he took it from the Cult, however, it seemed they had managed to grow back, possibly from seeds left in the ground.
He remembered his trip up North when the Bliss had been so dangerous. Not taking chances, he pulled took out a cloth from his rucksack and wrapped it around his face to try and limit what he breathed in.
As he reached the edge of the flowers, he noticed something that drew his attention. Walking over, he kneeled and examined some flowers. They had clearly been chewed on, and he also noticed piles of droppings in the area.
It occurred to him this could explain the elk. The flowers were likely changed by radiation over the years, and if the elk had been eating it, then things would make a certain kind of sense. Although the thing that bugged him was the fact that he encountered the elk so far away from the flowers. He filed this away for later as he looked around.
The unkempt fields of mutated bliss flowers left no clear paths to the main building, which was his target. Taking a deep breath, he began crossing the fields.
He recalled his mother telling him of story she had enjoyed as a child. In it, the main characters crossed a field of flowers that had been cursed to make them fall asleep. He wasn't sure he was going to fall asleep, but he was sure if he didn't get across soon, he was gonna end up staying in this field forever. While this would suggest he hustle, he had to be aware of his dwindling strength and pace himself.
Making each breath count, he moved through the endless flower fields, heading to the main building. The lower levels were boarded up, but he noticed some scaffolding in the back. Pulling the Bliss Flowers off, he climbed up and got inside.
Pulling his mask down and took a deep breath. While the air quality wasn't as good as he would prefer, the choking, suffocating bliss didn't hang in the air as much. He began searching the upper levels, going through papers and documents, but many of them had faded over the long years.
Moving to the lower floor, he continued his search without success. Checking the other rooms, he found one that was locked. Stepping Back, he got ready to throw himself into the door when he rethought his strategy. The door had been standing in this area for some time, and shouldn't prove to much of a struggle, so he could avoid wasting his limited energy if he just gave some thought.
Drawing Sin-Eater, he fired into the door handle and blew it off, leaving the door swinging on the hinges. Kissing his family treasure, he holstered it and flicked his lighter open for light as he moved downstairs. He got the feeling no one had been in this room for some time even before the Collapse happened.
Searching, he found a locked safe. Taking out his blowtorch, he lit it and began cutting the safe. Once he had managed to slice through the locking mechanism, he wrapped his hand in a cloth to protect it and managed to open the safe.
Inside was a small box of some kind. Given this had been the only thing he had found that seemed even slightly significant, this was likely what he had traveled so far for. Grabbing the box, he discovered that it was locked with a combination lock, which he didn't see often. In fact, he didn't recall ever seeing a locking box this small. He could have used the blowtorch to open the box, but given the small size, the contents would almost certainly be destroyed.
Hearing a loud noise outside, he slipped the box into his rucksack and headed back to the second floor. Looking out, he saw the elk had arrived. Jack wondered if the beast had heard the shot from Sin-eater. He would have to be careful to avoid a fight until he was clear of the Bliss fields.
Taking out a bottle of alcohol, he made a Molotov cocktail and threw it. The resulting fireball was higher then anticipated, but it sufficiently spooked the elk and caused it to back off.
Jack climbed down and began moving through the fields. He tried to balance being low enough to keep the elk from seeing him while keeping high enough that he avoids a face full of the smothering smell of the flowers.
As he moved, he tripped over some kind of greenhouse equipment and tripped. Jumping up out of the smell, he stumbled back. Unfortunately, his actions drew the attention of the elk and it charged at him. Stepping back, jack moved to the elevated platform in the middle of the conservatory.
Eyes going yellow as he drew on Eden Power to supplement his fading strength, jack leapt up to the platform, avoiding the elk. Drawing Sin-Eater, he got ready for another round.
He pointed his shotgun at the elk as it turned around to come back at him. The beast was unusually aggressive. Yes, animals could easily be provoked, but the elk had attacked him seemingly on sight, even after he had tried to care it off with the fireball from the cocktail. A diet of mutated Bliss flowers had likely made it hyper aggressive.
As the elk approached in a charge, Jack fired, the shot barely seeming to make the beast blink as it slammed through the pillars holding the platform up, causing it to collapse. Jack tried to leap off the platform, but he wasn't able to get the height he needed and crashed through the glass of the greenhouse.
The Yellow of his eyes fading, he could feel his Eden Power leaving. Even this God-Given power seemed to be tested in these Badlands.
Struggling to keep a calm breathing pattern, Jack slipped out of the greenhouse and moved as quickly as he could without increasing his breathing. Which was not easy when you factor in psychopathic elk that wanted to hang your entrails from his antlers.
Managing to get out of the field of flowers, the clean air seemed to give him a little bit more hustle and he managed to dodge another charge from the elk. Drawing Sin-Eater again, he pointed his gun and got ready to fire. But pulling the trigger didn't result in the usual shot. Realizing he hadn't reloaded the shot he fired into the door before, he had gone into this fight with one of his chambers loaded.
Holding Sin-Eater in front of him, he used it to hold the elk's antlers back, trying to keep from being impaled. But the elk had superior muscles, even without the Badlands affecting Jack.
The Captain's eyes went wide as Sin-Eater, his treasure and the only link he had to the father he never knew and the mother he had left, was broken against the force of the Elk. Without the gun bracing against the antlers, they charged forward at him. The Captain tried to move, but he was unable to avoid having his side pierced.
As the elk tried to shale him off, Jack managed to grab an explosive from his bag and tossed it to the ground. Detonating it, Jack was thrown off the elk and slammed into the ground. Placing his hand against his bleeding wound, he pulled himself to a sitting position to gauge his enemy.
The Elk was alive, but its legs were clearly broken from the explosion. It wouldn't live long. Jack shifted and crawled forward, colleting the ruined Sin-Eater, cradling it to his body like a child. The gun was in pieces, the barrels were separated, and the stock and receiver were damaged. His mind raced with emotion at the sight before him, and he barely registered that he was beginning to walk.
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The Captain wasn't sure where he was when he began opening his eyes. Everything was blurred, and he was unable to discern anything visually. But his fogged mind did notice a smell in the air. Not suffocating like the bliss, but a pleasant herbal smell. Slight pressure on his midsection told him he had been bandaged up.
"he's up." A child's voice said.
"She's right, you are awake." A soft, woman's voice said. Shifting himself and blinking to try and clear his eyes, the captain saw who was speaking. The child was the little girl he and the judge had raced to Prosperity not long ago, while the woman was Molly.
"Am I in-"the Captain's question was ended by a cough from his dry throat. Molly quickly poured some water into a cup and helped him drink it.
"You are safe, in New Eden." She told him, guessing his question.
"Thank you." He said after cooling his throat with the water.
"you are welcome. I shall get The Father. He asked to know when you awoke." Molly said, refilling his cup with water before she left.
"I'm glad your ok." The little girl said.
"Me to. You know I just realized I don't know your name." Jack said, shifting to look at her.
"I'm Mary." The little girl said with a bright smile, happy that she gets to talk with her hero.
After a moment, Joseph came into the cabin. He gave Mary a smile before asking the little girl to go play with the other kids. She gave Jack a hug before running outside.
"How are you feeling?" The Father asked.
"better…how did I get here?' jack questioned following his answer.
"I was part of a hunting party in the west when we came across you. You were barely conscious and wounded." Joseph told him.
"I don't…I don't even remember making my way back here." Jack said, bothered by the sizable gap in his memory.
"God's hand steered you out of danger and to us, so we may treat you." The father said.
"I try not to ask favors. My mom always said praying to often lessons your chances. Today was the first time I asked for anything beyond 'let me kill this guy' in a while. I complained he wasn't helping, and he sent me a sign…that I tripped over." Jack said with a chuckle, even joseph gain a smile on his face.
"What were you doing out in the wastes?" The father asked.
"trying to get my edge back, so I can stop the twins. Do you know what happened to my gun?" Jack asked.
Joseph nodded and left, returning with a bundle
"Your Sin-Eater was destroyed, but we repaired it as best we could." Joseph said, unwrapping the bundle and showing the gun off. The gun had been repaired and modified.
The barrels had been rewelded and reattached to the receiver with straps and metal fixtures, while the handle had been tapped up to improve grip. And paint on the barrels, which would have been ruined by the welding anyway, had been changed t a silver floral pattern, with the end of the barrels having a burnt orange color.
"Your Sin-Eater may be no more, but the gun lives on." Joseph said.
Jack took the gun and examined it, before pointing it. It would take a bit to get used to, but he would adjust.
"Thank you. This gun means a lot to me." Jack said.
"I recall you said it was a gift from your father." Joseph said, remembering their brief conversation they had outside the walls of New Eden.
"Not exactly. I never knew my father, he and my mom separated before I was born. But he gave her the gun, and she gave it to me. I haven't seen her in years now." Jack said, thinking about the last time he saw his mother.
"What was her name?" the father asked.
"Margret. She once said I was the reason god burned the world. So that when it cooled, I would be ready to live amongst the monsters the fire would unleash. She didn't know I heard that of course." Jack laughed.
"And what do you think?" he wondered.
"I think…. i think all my life I've killed and killed and killed and killed, and for the first time ever I'm getting sick of it all. I'm just tired, but I can't rest. Not until Prosperity and New Eden are safe." Jack said, the exhaustion in his voice being more noticeable then he wanted.
"once your ready, you can go home. But try to be more careful. You may have been chosen by God to slay the locust, but you are not invincible." Joseph warned.
After jack rested a bit more, and collected his rucksack, he headed to the gate to leave. Joseph met him there.
"I wish you luck in your conflicts, my child." The Father said.
Jack nodded, shaking Josephs hand as the gate opened.
"I'll be fine. I've got a little bit of faith and a whole lot of bullets." The Captain said as he walked out.
Joseph watched for some time, lost in his own thoughts for some time before he eventually walked off.
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Jack found a car not long after leaving and drove to the bunker. He had plenty of walking for today. As he drove, his mind went to his new gun.
"Sin-Eater no more. Now, you are Blissful Agony." He decided. He wasn't sure why he went with that name, but it felt right.
He pulled up to the bunker and went inside.
The woman took the box from him and opened it. She asked him how things went, and he just stared at her, before replying with a flat 'peachy'.
" You should return home and rest. Come back in a few days, and it'll be ready." She told him.
He didn't want to leave, not without answers, but he could feel the fatigue building, and so he acquiesced, climbing out of the bunker and driving off.
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No one knew what time the Captain returned to Prosperity. All they knew was suddenly he was in his usual spot, and that Sin-Eater had a much different look.
Carmina covered him with a blanket and sat next to him. She may not have spoken to her friend, but she could tell he had been through a lot. And she wanted to help. Even if all she could do was sit with him as he slept.
XXXchapterendXXX
The end is coming. Not long to go now.
Next time: As he plans his next moves against the twins, The Captain goes undercover into a prison, where he begins working for his next encounter with the twins.