Faith stared down at the body at her feet.

The corpse was a half rotted thing that lay in the ditch of some road, by what was left of their clothes, they were some random citizen of Hope County, by the rampant discoloring of it's tattered clothes, it was clear they were gunned down by a flurry of gunshots to the chest, a soiled, ripped bag lay nearby with several ruined items encircling it. Seeing it made her sick, she hated seeing the bodies, she knew Eden's Gate had killed many, but not this many, something wasn't right about all this, what Jacob relayed to her, John and the Father did not line up with what she was seeing, how far did Jacob take the rule breaking to? it was making her question Jacob even more among other things, but she didn't have the time to set up the mental conspiracy board, she just felt to scattered brained, she was nauseous all afternoon now, she had seen more dead bodies then she dared to count anymore, she and Rook had walked all over the Mountain region despite her feet threatened to give out, bumping into every member of Eden's Gate as they could, Faith would walk right up to them and ask about Jess, then when they wouldn't giver her and Rook, who hid in the distance, what they wanted Rook silently kill follower after follower with a well placed arrow, some who had no information to give Faith when she approached her and others as they tried to kill her or worse under Jacob's orders.

But this corpse that lay at her feet, it was the closest she had ever been to a corpse, and it made her skin crawl.

"Hey, you coming or what?!" Rook voice came.

Faith slowly turned around to see Rook standing in the center of the road, among two fresh bodies, bloodied arrows in his hand and the same steely, gaze staring her down, he had just finished looting their bodies for resources and information. Faith couldn't bring herself to watch him pick through the dead as if he were a vulture pick clean roadkill, hence her staring at the newly discovered corpse on the side of the road.

"Have you found anything of note" she said uncomfortably, trying not to look at the dead at his feet.

"Naah, these losers got nothin" he spat scornfully as he dragged his feet, walking down the road and to their next destination.

Faith didn't reply as she hurried up to catch up to Rook and kept pace with him, she crossed her arms close to her chest when she did.

"Do… do you think we should take a break, we've been going for a while now?" Faith asked.

"No, we're to close to the jokers I killed, someone could follow our trial of destruction and find us" Rook replied curtly.

She wanted to complain about how her legs and feet hurt, but that last time she did, Rook just got angry again.

"Don't worry Rachael, we won't be out here for too much longer, I feel like we're going to hit pay dirt soon enough" Rook said calmly.

Faith didn't know how to react, let alone feel about being called by her birth name, no one ever called her that, it was weird to hear out loud, for now she chose to just grin and bear it.

"Are you sure? We've been out here for hours, why would we have luck now?" Faith asked.

"I'm open to any ideas" Rook shrugged.

Faith was silent as she pondered anything that would either help him or her, but nothing came to mind, it was surprisingly tantalizingly frustrating to her, she didn't think it would be this hard to prove her innocence, Rook was such a capable man, if he was handing the reins to her this quickly, then there was truly not a lot of visible options, it was cold, scary and harsh out in the wilds, no wonder why Rook's attitude was the way it was, and she knew something will happen to her if that doesn't change.

And Faith wasn't the only one who scoured her brain for an idea, Rook who still walked beside her thought long and hard to, the mention of incoming luck was merely a bluff to keep her hopes up, he needed something to come up soon. Frustrated and feeling paranoid, he relaxed his neck and turned his view skyward, ever since he had found out what Jacob's intentions of the county was, he couldn't help but keep looking up frequently, he feared he'd see the fleet of planes flying in a V formation like birds migrating north, dropping bomb after bomb now that they were somehow ahead of schedule. But to his relief nothing was there, just countless fluffy clouds, the end was not coming, not yet.

"Why do you keep staring at the sky?" Faith asked, noticing what he was doing.

Rook couldn't help but close his eyes and sigh, leveling his head.

"Are you aware of Jacob's endgame plans?" Rook rebutted.

"I can't say I do, we would work independently from each other while the Father oversaw everything, I don't know anything about what Jacob does" Faith responded.

Rook sighed again, he knew she would rebuke his claims, but he had to try.

"Jacob is planning to firebomb the entire county" Rook declared.

"What? please that's ridiculous" Faith nearly giggled at the comical statement.

"Faith, I'm not fucking around, I saw it with my own eyes, I was in Jacob's Veteran Center, I saw his plans that he had laying out, he's going to fire-bomb the county the send in his guys to kill the survivors!" Rook cried.

"Jacob wouldn't go to such an extreme, he has his orders, his duties, why would he stray and make more work for himself?" Faith asked.

"Do you think he really cares? He up seated you and hid it from Joseph, if he thinks the best way to beat the resistance as a whole is this then why wouldn't he do it?!" Rook returned.

"I can see your point, but if what you say is true, how would he hide it? I mean your talking about an entire county being set on fire, that would be seen by neighboring towns, or even states, a nearby plane should spot the smoke easily, what about satellites?" Faith pondered.

"Then why would he have this big planning board just on display, detailing his intention in his attic?" Rook rebutted.

"I don't know, he does all his planning in his bunker, that's his headquarters, anywhere else is too risky for him" Faith answered.

"Son of a bitch" Rook muttered to himself, rubbing his head furiously as he turned away from Faith.

No matter how hard he thought, he could not figure out what Jacob's plan was, he was up to something long term, and only he was capable of figuring it out.

"Benjamin, I… I can understand your strong desire to save people, especially Jess, you wouldn't have taken the path in life you did if that wasn't true, and to a degree, I can join you in your feelings, ever since I joined the Father, I tried my damnedest to help every wayward souls that drifted into our arms, I quickly found out my arms could not hold all that came, not all could be helped, and that hurt, but I still carried on with my head held high, I hope you can find the strength to do the same" Faith implored him.

Rook was all but talkative at that point, not that he was outside of saving Jess, Rachael just reminded him of friends he hadn't seen in such a long time, Jerome, Mary, his boss; Whitehorse, all four of them peddled the same bullshit, they didn't know what it was really like out here, how hard it was to keep to those words, far from their thick walls and numerous allies, the only people that ever really did get it was Jess, Grace, Eli and… Nick, he felt bad for how they left things, sure he felt like he was still in the right, but perhaps he should mend the bridge with him, he needed all the firepower he could get.

Then before Rachael could continue herself righteous spiel, the air was polluted with the booming of automatic gunfire followed by the harsh squealing of tires, with angry yelling of people close behind, demanding orders echoed close by.

"What was that?!" Faith cried, seemingly shrinking in on herself on the spot.

"Sounds like the peggies found some poor shucks to prey upon" Rook shrugged, his voice carried some sort of loss to it.

"Then we must help them!" Faith cried, popping back up, a sudden sense of confidence surrounding her.

"Wait, what?" Rook asked, not understanding her logic on the matter.

"Those people will be shamelessly executed if we don't do anything!" Faith cried.

"I want too, but it will give us away, we need to keep a low profile, they could have a walkie on them" Rook sighed, defeated, hating that he had to let them die.

But Faith merely looked up at Rook, as if she were pouting like a child who didn't get her way, there was a quiet rebellion in her eyes, she wasn't the scared little girl anymore. Seeing that Rook wasn't going to help her, she silently decided to turn away from him and took off running, towards the gunfire and yelling.

"Faith, wait!" Rook called out, arm stretched in the woman's direction as she ran.

But Faith failed to heed his words, she continued to run towards the sounds of the gunfire and car noises.

Rook swore as it was clear she wasn't going to stop, he knew he was going to have to chase her down before she did something stupid, the "rousing" speech she gave just minutes ago had obviously boasted her own resolve to help those in need more then it did his, and now it was going to bite her in the ass. With a frustrated grunt, he gave chase to the Seed, sprinting after her, to his surprise, she was sprier then he anticipated, she cleared a good distance to the near by hill that looked down on a road the almost ran parallel with them.

By the time Rook caught up to her, Faith was standing at the hill's top looking down at the road below, Rook couldn't care less about what was happening on the road, for now Faith was priority one, if she died, he had no info, no moles on the inside, no bargaining chips.

"What the hell was that!?" Rook cried, trying his best to keep his voice down as his hand clamped down on Faith's arm, pulling her towards him.

Faith could help but let out a gasp of pain as Rook jerked her towards him, he forced her to look at him, it was a struggle to make eye contact with him, his angry gaze reminded her to much of a worse life, but she had to make him understand

"Look" she finally said anxiously, pointing down the hill with a tentative finger.

Rook growled as he forcefully peeled his eyes off the now scared woman and down at the scene below.

At the bottom of the road the stood on was a road, on it was a simple, rusted, red car, the tires deflated, and rims bent as they were shot out, the windows cracked and broken, shrill screams and shouts escaped the vehicle as a man and woman panicked, despairing that death was certainly coming for them, the man, in the drivers seat, had his window down and arm stuck out, bending backwards and meagerly firing off a handgun, hoping to dissuade their attackers from getting closer, but his efforts were for not as his shots were meters from their mark. And just as the sharks they were, the two soldiers slowly circled in, it wasn't clear if they intended to kill or capture, but which one was worse was entirely subjective.

"Ben, we must do something! They will surely die without our help!" Faith begged him, her voice fragile and nervous.

Rook watched the two peggies moving in slowly, disgusting smirks on their faces, clearly enjoying their situation, as if they were hunting people for sport, it disgusted and infuriated Rook, he wanted to kick that look off their faces.

"Shit, alright, stay here, don't give me away" Rook ordered quietly as he quickly, lowered himself and hurried down the hill towards the one-sided skirmish, loading an arrow into Jess's bow.

He quickly moved closer to the conflict without being noticed until he felt he was close enough to take a killing shot. As the peggie closest to the car got dangerously close, Rook let his arrow fly, before quickly preparing a second arrow and firing it as well, both arrows sinking in each of their backs, the art of the bow and arrow was coming to him as easy as firing a gun, and the skill increased by the day, a part of him thought he could rival Jess eventually.

As the two men fell dead, Faith couldn't contain herself, she knew Jacob's men were as corrupt as he, sure they were merely following orders, but they still broke the Father's stringent strictures, they were the villains in this instance.

"We did it! Congratulations, Benjamin!" Faith cheered, as she jogged down from her spot and on to the road to regroup with him and their newfound friends.

"Since when was that a we thing, I did everything" Rook questioned, raising an eyebrow at the adopted Seed.

Faith didn't give him a response, instead she tried to hurry past him and greet the couple in the car, but Rook held out an arm, acting as a guard rail to keep her from getting to close, but it did not deter her from trying to assist the couple,

"It is alright now friends, you are safe, we will not hurt you, please come out" Faith said warmly as Rook still tried to keep a good distance between her and the car's occupants.

Then the car's doors open with a loud creak, from some reason it made Rook uneasy, he didn't know what to expect from them. Then the man and woman came stumbling out, their faces red and chests heaving, they almost fell over themselves as they approached Rook on uneasy feet. They began to frantically thank Rook, wiping the tears from their eyes, but before they could complete their adulation's, Rook cut them off.

"Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!" Rook shouted in repetition as he pulled out a handgun and swayed from person from person.

"Benjamin!?" Faith gasped as she took a step back, watching the scared, now silent couple, shivering in fear that the fabled Junior Deputy was acting like the cultists that were attacking moments before.

"OK, OK, this is what's going to happen!" Rook barked, still swinging the gun around.

"Y'all are going to go into your car and take whatever you need, all your shit and your just going to have to walk to wherever you were head, don't walk along the roads, stick to the forest, and if you make it, don't you fuckin' dare tell anyone what happened out hear, I don't want to hear no stories or rumours that the Junior Deputy is running around with some woman, whoever she may be, this never happened, you hear me?! If not, I'll find you and make sure you don't tell anyone else, got it!?" Rook ordered.

Both nodded and whimpered in fear, hoping this confrontation will end soon.

"What will happen if you talk?!" Rook yelled, demanding to know if his words stuck.

They both opened their mouths, blubbering fears of being killed by him spill from their lips, it was almost embarrassing to listen to, but Rook toughed through it and waited or them to stop, it was clear they got the message, and once they did, Rook just stared at them longer, taking in their forms; they were trembling weaklings, it was a miracle they were still alive, they must have come from the Valley, but regardless of where they came from, they needed to get the fuck out of here, they were baby ducks in a nest of wolves.

"Go" Rook then ordered, waving his gun over to their car.

Without another word from the couple, like a pair of hyenas, they jumped for the car, rapidly pulling the car's interior, frantically looking for anything to take with them. Meanwhile Faith watched in pure astonishment that Rook had taken such a barbaric route, it bothered her so much she couldn't speak, not even to apologize to the couple almost dismantling their vehicle for every scrap of resource.

And when they emerged from car, they came out their hands full of bags stuffed with who knows what, only they knew and was just as important, then without even looking at Rook or the woman by his side, they took off the beaten road and fled into the wooded mountain range, fearing that if they stuck around, they die, be it cultist or the Deputy.

"Benjamin!? What on God's green earth was that!?" Faith demanded, half shocked, half scolding tones in her voice.

Rook didn't respond immediately, he merely focused on the figures now in the distance with a hardened gaze, they were soon to disappear completely, and when they did, with a large sigh and sunken shoulders, he began to open up.

"Alright… what I did wasn't good" Rook admitted.

"You don't say" Faith said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Its just… its just, I know for a fact, that if they made it to wherever they were going on regroup with whoever, they would have blabbed about seeing us together, and we already have the biggest cult in human history trying to kill us, the last thing we and my sanity needs is for the Holland Valley and or the Henbane River resistance thinking I'm the enemy, running around with Faith Seed, we need to keep us as quiet as possible" Rook explained, as he exhaustively ran his hands through his hair, the implications of their union taking their tolls on him.

"Benjamin" she said hesitantly, she wasn't sure if she should scold him, or let it go.

"I understand and appreciate the lengths you take to protect the both of us… but this isn't right, you can't strong arm your way through unfavorable situations, you need to have compassion for those you wish to help, you can't have a such proclivity for this level of tough love" Faith offered, hoping her words would really reach him.

But his reaction said otherwise, he was as distant as ever.

"You've been hiding underground all summer, taking it easy, you wouldn't understand what it's really like up here" Rook sighed again, pulling away from her grip.

His push back made Faith want to get closer and try again, she wanted to crack the armour he chose to wrap himself in, he had been acting as the wounded hero for a time now, but to her that was a smokescreen, there was something under it, maybe it was to hide the worry and stress of his friends fate, the fate of all he cared about, after all he believes Jacob planned to essentially blow up the entire county, or maybe he feared or wanted to hide something much greater then even that.

Then Rook walked away from her, he dragged his feet over to the closest dead cultist, reaching down to take something from him.

"I kinda wish I left one alive, bet one of them actually knew something" Rook sighed in discontent as he ripped the arrow from the corpse's back.

"This hit and run shit is getting us nowhere, we need to go right to the source or something and see what we can pull out, random field agents got nothing, we got to head higher up" He commented, holding the freshly plucked arrow close to his eye, examining it to make sure it was good enough to be used again.

"What should we do then?" Faith asked, trying to look at the bodies on the floor and the blood the pooled out of them, staining the edges of Rook's boots.

"I would want to hit an outpost or something, but there's to many fucking guys in there, I have just a bow and a handgun, I'm not that good" Rook sighed in frustration.

Faith silently watched Rook seethe and fume, just as silent, he was getting more and more angry as time went on, it reminded her have her father, her real father, the one how slowly went mad with anger as everything he built crumpled around him, and just like her father, it was only a matter of until Rook lashed out at her, but this time she wasn't going to stand around and let it happen, she wanted to help him, not just to save her own hide, but to get him to see the truth, if she was lucky, she could him to join him, to actually join him, hand and hand as they walked to the Father who welcomed them both into the fold with open arms, like a pair of hero's all they had to do was stop Jacob, but how?

Then inspiration hit her.

"Maybe we can" Faith chirped.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, curious to what she could possibly be scheming.

"In the early days of our Project, the Father set up a few buildings that stand on the edges of our assigned regions in case we need to meet up of flee too, and the building that's near the Henbane, Mountain regions is this old pizza place, it was retro fitted to protect us for a time, and be able to contact the rest of the family in case of an emergency, almost like an above ground bunker, so to speak" Faith explained.

"Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight, Joseph just grabbed up a few places, hoping to make them, what, fortresses, far, far away from your bunker, the thing designed to protect you, and your supposed to run there if the underground one was screwed,?" Rook said, trying to break down what Rachael just said, he didn't really see a point to it, it seemed insane, but then again everything these days did.

"Well I mean when you put it like that, it does sound ludicrous, but it would have everything we would need to find your friend, weapons, food, warm clothes, communication equipment that I could use to ask around those who have yet to her of what happened to me" Faith offered.

Rook sighed in contemplation as he rubbed his chin, thinking, he didn't feel like this was going to be easy.

"If it's as hot as you say it is, it's going to be guarded, right?" he asked.

"I would believe so" Faith replied, her mood dipping at the prospect of more murder.

"You still got that gun?" The Junior Deputy questioned.

Faith hummed to signify a yes.

"Good, you might need it" Rook sighed.

"Can't we just do what we've been doing, do we really need to kill them all?" Faith quietly whimpered.

"The only good Peggie is a dead" Rook replied solemnly as he placed his arrow back in his quiver.

"You don't have to kill everyone, you didn't used to, so why start now" Faith huffed, ignoring the crass comment.

"I started killing everyone when I found out the whole county was going to be set on fire like, any day now, so come on, lead the way" Rook nodded, stepping towards her.

"Wait, right now?" Faith gasped, still not used to his firing on all cylinder's attitude.

"Yes, right now, day light's a burnin" Rook said, rolling his wrists impatiently.

"I-I don't know where it is" she Faith nearly whispered, looking down in defeat.

"Oh fuckin" Rook sighed in frustration as he tilted his head back, his hand now covering his face.

Once he was done stewing in his anger, he removed his hand and looked at the anxious girl ahead of him.

"Come on, just follow me" Rook growled before stomping forward, past Faith, if she didn't know where it was then he'd just carry her all over the region to find the place, it wasn't like a needle in a haystack or anything, just one building somewhere within kilometers of mountains and forests, what could possibly go wrong?


As the low sun bleed orange, they had finally discovered the place Faith spoke of, it took a while but after a couple vague descriptions of it's surrounding area, Rook was able to locate the general area and dragged Faith all the way to its location before finding said establishment and before his impatience and wrath finally got the best of him, and now that Rook could see it, it was just as Faith said, it was just a middle of nowhere, creepy, rundown pizza place, that alone made Rook's skin crawl, he always had fond memories of such places as a child, now it felt like the peggies were violating his childhood memories.

"I swear to God if there's those creepy ass singing robots on stage in there…" Rook growled to himself.

"You know I had quite many fun times here as a child" Faith offered, hoping to try to rouse Rook's mood.

But Rook merely hummed in annoyed acknowledgement, her efforts were for not.

"So, uh… h-how do you want to deal with this?" Faith asked, nervously looking at the establishment.

"Well, I'll lure one or two out then take them out, then I'll find an open window, or open one and see if I can count the peggies inside, and if I'm lucky I can take a few shots with my arrow" Rook explained in great detail, most of which Faith did not want to hear as it involved the killing of her allies, she didn't want to see it, not even imagine it, it made her squirm, and as Rook monologue on and on about how he would meticulously slaughter all the dastardly cultists, the front door of the pizza place swung open, warm light poured out into the early evening summer, laughter of multiple people streamed out as a silhouette of a man was cast upon the ground as he sauntered out and along the side of the building, the peggie waddled along the side until he reached the building's edge, then he turned to face the edge. It was clear the man was not sober.

"How unbecoming" Faith scoffed, her nose wrinkled at the deviation of Joseph's rules.

Then the intoxicated peggie began fiddling with the front of his pants for a few seconds before a stream of liquid fell from between his legs.

"Disgusting" Faith commented again, pouting.

"Won't be for much longer" Rook replied casually as he prepared his bow with such fluidity before firing the arrow, and seconds later, the urinating man fell dead.

"Benjamin!" Faith gasped but only to be harshly shushed for her loudness.

"Was it really necessary to kill that man with his… out" Faith asked, her voice growing more unsure as her sentence dragged on.

"Of course, he wouldn't give us a chance, now come on, we have work to do" Rook shrugged as he walked through the brush and stepped towards he pizza place, Faith was unsure with what to do as she watched Rook leave, not being near him made her vulnerable, so too rose from the brush and quickly caught up to him, almost grabbing his arm for comfort. The two crept right up to the place's window and peered inside, what they saw was something they didn't expect.

About seven peggies loitered around the premise, they were all as drunk as the urinating man, if not more, beer bottles in their hands, they all laughed and smiled as if they were having a great time party, but what was happening was anything put a party, despite the jolly laughter and joyous drinking, they took just as much pleasure in torturing a someone.

A single, random looking, dead person was tied up to a load baring post in the center of the large room, a few knives protruded from various body parts and on the floor as the peggies had been taking turns throwing knives that the person, it was like a party game to them, they were using the building as a club house to commit their sick acts.

Faith was absolutely shocked at the sight, her mind reeled for answers, why would Jacob let his men do such things, surely he had to have known they were not at their posts, he kept a far to tight of grip on their collective leash, not only that, but it was obvious no one bothered to report this to the Father, why didn't one report the others foul actions and instead take part, why did they not stick to his strictures? She couldn't recognize them as one of the Father's followers, they were like monsters at this point, it was people like this that the Father apposed, how did they infiltrate his ranks, she had to talk to the Father about the many severe transgressions that she had bore witness too.

Then she was pulled back to reality by the sound of her friend's voice, hearing Rook call them sick fucks was enough to make her remember where she was, peering into the pizza place with large eyes, like a beggar desperate for food.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do" Rook said with narrowed eyes.

"They're all drunk so their aim is going to be off, and that's if they have guns, I don't see any but let's be careful just in case, I'm going to wait for their guards to be lowered then I'll strike, I'll kill as many as I can before they counterattack, when they do, I'll backpedal out here and when they come out, you'll be flush with the door and gun out, you'll shoot anyone that comes out, they'll be so focused on me, they won't notice you" Rook explained quickly.

"I don't know about this" Faith whimpered, the thought of killing making her shake.

But Rook didn't hear her, he had already departed for the door, carefully twisting the handle.

The door slowly opened with nary a creak or whine, no one was the wiser that Rook slowly crept into the room like a wolf moving in a flock of grazing sheep, just like the door, the bowstring of Jess's bow was pulled back with such incredible tautness as an arrow went in. As another round of laughter polluted the room, the arrow flew, the filthy cultists were laughing so hard at their disgusting jokes that they're eyes were closed and missed the arrow that sailed through the room like a specter, impaling the Peggie the farthest away from the front door, as the man flopped to the ground, the group merely laughed again, thinking their friend just had to much to drink, but the laughter went dead as they saw the arrow and blood, realizing what was happening, they turned to the door and saw the Junior Deputy, bow in hand and glaring death at them, then in a single beat, Rook quickly pulled his handgun from his waistband and begun firing, a few were hit and killed immediately as a few dove to recently moved tables, either for cover or some unseen weapon, but it didn't matter as Rook stomped deeper into the room and continued firing killing a few more, leaving a single cultist left who scurried away on disoriented legs, the diving and alcohol throwing off balance, he was practically squirming on the floor trying to get away, put the Deputy silhouette that suddenly cast over him, made him understand what was about to happen to him, the peggie quickly flipped onto their back and rose their arms up in some attempt to beg for their life, but their pleas fell on deaf hears as Rook leveled his gun to the peggie's head and fired, feeling no remorse or guilt for his newest victims, they were all the same to him; sick fucks who get their kicks with the newfound power a cult leader had given them.

With the peggie now dead, Rook did a quick look around to make sure he had done a efficient job, he didn't remember killing everyone, but by his surroundings, he most definitely killed everyone, which was odd, sure he had killed many before, but he never just blacked out and ended everyone.

"Clear!" Rook yelled to Faith who still waited out of sight.

"W-What happened to the plan?" Faith whimpered as her head poked into the room.

"Sorry, I guess I got a little cared away" Rook mumbled uncertainly as he carefully analyzing the dead to make sure they were indeed dead.

Wordlessly, Faith then entered the room with shaking legs, being so close to the torture victim and the newly dead made her skin crawl and mind sway.

"Ben, I want to leave… right now" Faith said, her voice timid as fragile as her arm came up and hugged herself tightly, feeling very vulnerable.

"Not yet" Rook said sternly as he walked past her, past the bodies and approached the ignored radio equipment.

"Here, use this and start making calls" he ordered, patting the CB radio.

Faith merely made some quiet whimper of discomfort before she slowly shuffled towards Rook, fearing his wrath if she did not do as she was told, she tried desperately not to look at the bodies, her teeth chattering slightly. As she drew near, Rook pulled back the chair tucked into the table so she could sit and work comfortably, and just as she was asked, Faith apprehensively sat down and fiddled with the radio a bit until she was satisfied, then she adjusted the microphone before clearing her throat then speaking.

"H-Hello, can anyone hear me?" she asked tentatively.

"This is Faith Seed requesting any and all assistance from any nearby allies, I-" Faith spoke as clearly as possible before the sentence was cut off mid sentence, a harsh static attacking their eardrums for a few seconds before cutting out.

"H-Hello? Hello?" Faith nervously asked into the speaker, hoping the connection was still there.

"Hello Racheal" Jacob's voice then croaked from the speakers, making Faith's skin crawl.

"J-Jacob!?" Faith gasped, unsure of what else to do.

But Rook did know what to do, he grabbed the microphone from Faith and brought it to his lips as best he could, fighting the length of its cable.

"Where is Jess?" Rook growled, the thick brimstone of hate coating his words.

"Evening Deputy, it's been awhile" Jacob said casually,

"Where is Jess!" Rook demanded once more, more strongly then before.

"She's here, with me obviously" Jacob said, almost proudly.

But that news only made Rook curse loudly, finding the information infuriating.

"Ok, listen her you motherfucker, if you so much as bruise her, I swear to God I'll break your legs and put your feet in you pockets!" Rook shouted into the microphone.

Jacob must have found the threat amusing as he merely chuckled in response.

"Did you know when she was thirteen, she secretly wanted to work in animal rescue services more then anything else in the world, she told me that, it's amazing how the world can shape us, change us into what we are now, I'm sure you can agree with that" Jacob said, tauntingly.

Hearing Jacob's words, Rook could see his sinister, evil smirk, taunting him, challenging him.

"I'm going to find you, and then I'm going to fucking kill you!" Rook yelled, his heart rate spiking as he couldn't imagine what happened to Jess if she would reveal something like that, she never told him anything like that.

It doesn't matter, by now I'm sure your aware I plan to wipe the County clean in holy fire, and in three days those plans will fall into fruition, there will be nothing left but Eden's Gate"

"You can't do that, the Father wouldn't allow it, he will stop you!" Faith cried defiantly before Rook could swear or shout again.

"It doesn't matter what Joseph thinks or does, he asked me to create the army that will lead us to victory and fight what will come after this world, what he thinks is irrelevant to what he wants, I have a job and I will fulfill it, Benjamin Rook, this is your final chance to come back to me willingly so we can work in the name of Joseph together, or I will simply collect you before I execute my master stroke and I will make you work" Jacob offered, his words were genuine, both Faith and Rook knew he wasn't lying, making it all the more easier to answer.

"Fuck you" Rook seethed, his heart pounding in his ears.

"So be it, see you soon, Judge" Jacob scoffed before the radio went dead.

"Yeah whatever, I'll see you before you see me" Rook threatened to the now dead mic.

Faith could see Rook's jaw clench and flex, she could tell he wanted to yell, to swear and break things, but for some reason he didn't, Faith wanted to believe that he was truly a better man then he gave himself credit for, but the mad glint in his eyes said otherwise, he looked wound up to tight and was ready to snap, she wasn't sure if she should say anything in hopes of calming him down, but her fears made her think otherwise, after everything she has seen and heard this evening, she was at a loss for words in a very long time, eventually Rook focused enough to interact with Faith again.

"Come on, let's get the fuck out of here" Rook seethed in subtle fury, as he threw the mic on the floor, finding no use in it anymore before turning to head for the front door.

Still very much anxious and equally shook up, Faith slowly rose from her chair, tucking it into the table,, ready to leave with Rook, as she did, she watched him stomp his way over to the door the came from, on his way there, he walked passed the bathroom door, oddly placed near the front entrance, as he did, it's door burst open and another man, clearly drunk like the rest, came charging out, pulling his pants up as he came out, half stumbling, half full intent, he used the momentum generated from slamming open the door, to charge at Rook, tackling him to the ground, as the two hit the ground, Jess's bow flew from Rook's grip, leaving his realm of reach. Then the attacker, the peggie wasted no time, years of training paying off, he came down on Rook, getting on top of him, straddling him as he hands wrapped tightly around Rook's throat and squeezing as hard as he could, more then enough to cut off any and all oxygen to his lungs.

Instinctively, Rook's hands shot up in hopes of prying the ones that threatened to crush his larynx, but found the man was much to strong for him, he couldn't save himself, meanwhile, as the two men fought for dominance, Faith, in silent terror watched, paralyzed by fear, she didn't know what to do, that's what she told herself, secretly she knew what to do. As much as her mind protested, her hands moved with such deftness she had never possess in such situations, her unsteady hands shot to her jacket pocket, pulling out the gun Rook had given her, and pulled it out, pointing the gun at the cultist, holding it with both trembling hands, she didn't want to do this, but yet she had too.

"P-Please, get off him, n-now, that's an or-rder" Faith tried to say as loud as she could, but fear kept her down.

And despite her fragile pleas, the cultist did not relent, he continued to straggle the life out of her friend. Rook was trying to say something, but it all came out as wheezes and gurgles, but Faith knew what he was trying to say, he was calling to her to help him, but even then she still could not act, fear gripped her as tightly as the Peggie gripped Rook, she found no purchase, no safety in pulling the trigger, if there was any other way to help Rook, she'd do it in a heartbeat.

"I am F-Faith Seed, ordering y-you to stand down" Faith said, this time a little more confidently.

But still the man did not relent, he kept strangling Rook, fierce determination on his face as the only noise that could be heard was Rook's pained chokes for air, and then loud bangs, Rook had slammed his open hand against the ground loudly a few times, a nonverbal plea for Faith to shoot.

Still not prepared, she readjusted her aim on the man, as sweat began to coat her small form, she fought off the urge to vomit, she wished Rook gave her some shooting lessons prior to this, but now was not the time to dawdle, instead she readjusted her aim a third time before slowly squeezing the trigger until an ear shatteringly loud bang resonated off the walls, the force of the kickback nearly caused the gun to fly from her hands, she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming, her heart felt like it was prime to burst from her chest, and despite all this, she swallowed the painful lump in her throat and forced herself to examine her horrible deed, the man fell off Rook, he fell away from Faith as a horrible gasp could be heard, Rook had air back in his lungs and would live, he curled up into a ball on his side, his mind and body dizzied from the lack of air,

As much as she despised herself for killing, a sense of relief came to her as she knew Rook was safe, he would live, and by proxy, so would she, but before she could tend to her fallen friend, her small joys were dashed as the cultist rose up on two shaking legs, towering over the still prone Rook, his hand was pressed against his right shoulder as it bled profusely, Faith had merely glanced him, and now the peggie's attention was turned on her, he stared down at her with angry, hate filled eyes, he was ready to kill.

"Traitorous Bitch!" He spat before charging at her, stepping over Rook and sprinting towards her.

The sight of someone both she and her family members had welcomed into their family, clothed feed and sheltered, look at her with such terrible scorn, death in his eyes, shook her to her core, it terrified her to see this is what people saw when Eden's Gate came down on them, it made sense to why they were treated the way they were, they looked like monsters, monsters Faith wanted to run away from, she would have if not for Rook who still lay on the ground coughing and reeling for air, if she ran Rook would be dead, and the monster that charged would most likely chase her, and then she would be the one straggled. Instead she begged once more for him to cease and desist, tears dotting her eyes, she didn't want to be a murderer, but had no choice, with the man seconds away, she looked away as she squeezed the trigger, firing a second time, this time the bullet found it's way into the man's chest, dead center, as soon as it did, the light in his eyes disappeared, causing him to fall forward, but the momentum he generated from running at the woman did not leave, instead he crashed forward with terrible weight, landing right on top of Faith, pulling her down under the now dead man, his weight pinning her to the floor. Gravity kicked in, causing blood to pool downwards and to drip onto her in large volumes, she could feel the hot liquid that was his blood spread onto her, seeping through her clothes and making contact with her personally.

The sensation of her front caused her to gag as nausea overtook her, her stomach almost emptying itself, the weight of the man to much for her to push off even if she had the fortitude to move him, instead she just lay under him, unmoving and in shock, living in silent chaos, until Rook ran up and pulled the body off her and looked down at Faith, taking in how much blood had covered her in a half minute, her shirt beneath the leather jacket stain a solid red, the crimson unable to stick to the leather, Faith herself, was petrified, like a cornered rabbit, surrounded by foxes.

"Hey you ok?" Rook asked, holding out a hand, offering to help her up.

But Faith did not take his hand, she didn't even know he was holding it out to her, her eyes were vacant and mind crumbling, with shuttering breath, she brought her bloodied hands up and pressed against her temples, leaving red smears on her skin, then, she screamed in horror as tears streamed down her face. She was finally breaking down the stress of being ejected from the family and being marked for death came crashing down on her, the flagrant disregard for the Father's rules by all she had seen did not help, and now that she lay on the ground soaked in another blood, it was enough to send her tumbling off the cliff and wail like a infant, crying and sobbing as her mind and emotions rattled upon themselves, the circumstances she wallowed in was near identical to another event that happened in her life a long, long time ago, it brought back those terrible, terrible memories, memories that she had spent weeks repressing, it was long before Faith Seed, or Eden's Gate or even the Father, she was just a scared girl, wandering America with her only friend of the world, and with the life they currently led, they were on the ever present hunt the next fix, and that hunt had led them to some seedy, out of the way gas station, where a trade would happen with a trucker in the bathroom, his cocaine for their meager remains of their funds, but of course the trucker had more intentions then just collecting a dirty bag of coins and ripped bills, the blonde; Rachael caught his eye in more ways then one, he wanted more of a payment from her specifically, something she had no desire in giving him, and when he didn't like her answer, he tried to take it from her, forcing himself on her, making poor Rachael scream and shout, horrified to what was about to happen to her, thankfully her friend; Tracey who was on look out right outside the bathroom door heard the commotion came rushing in and saw what he was trying to do to her friend, she took action, she was someone who took more precautions then Rachael brought a simple revolver, she fired it only once as that was enough to fell the devilish man, the trucker fell upon Rachael, soaking her in his disgusting blood, the adrenaline from his attack caused ample amounts to gush out, wetting her clothes red.

"Faith! Faith...! Rachael! What's wrong!?" Rook cried, shaking hereby the shoulders hoping to snap her out of her fit of abhorrent screaming and crying.

But nothing seemed to return her to normal, and nothing was going to make her calm down, it was also clear she wasn't going to move on her own anytime soon, the crying and shrieking was most certainly going to attract anyone near by, they had to get out, for her own sake, with a grunt he holstered Jess's bow and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her out of the building bridal style, by kicking the door open, the locking mechanisms shattering under his strength, and then he ran out into the darkness, the still wailing woman in his arm, after a while the screams subsided and her sobs grew hollow as hyperventilation was slowly kicking in, her breathing became for labored and strained, she was burning herself out. Meanwhile Rook didn't know what to do then keep going as he did, jogging at decent pace, looking for anywhere to bunker down until Faith regained herself, but all that surrounded them was tree after tree after tree, and as more and more distance was made from the building, at some point on their arduous journey, Faith had fallen asleep in his arms, he dared not wake her, fearing she'd relapse again, so he focused on keeping one foot in front of the other, it was early evening when they arrived at the pizza place, and now it was getting darker and darker by the minute, it was a matter of time until he could barely see ten feet in front of him.

And after maybe ten minutes of running, or so Rook guessed, it was like his kindness to Faith was being rewarded, he stumbled across a little camp site, it had one of the shitty tiny trailer home things that you could attach to the back of your pickup. Seeing it was the best he was ever going to get in the near future, he hurried up to it and kicked the door open, the door slamming open much easier the previous door, as he clambered inside, taking care not to clip Faith's head on the door frame, the place smelled like structural decay, but it didn't look like the place would collapse at the slightest touch, again it was as good a place as any. Rook carefully shuffled forward carefully, placing her down on a couch bench that pushed up to a small table.

Panting heavily from the long hike, he stared down at the sleeping from that was Faith, her eyes were encircled by red wet rings, she looked so vulnerable, so weak, even in unconsciousness she still looked so miserable, so shook, for some reason it pained him to see her like that, he wished he could wipe away the blood the stained her and the pain that plagued her, he didn't know why but Rook comes to terms he cares about her in a way, she meant something to him, emotionally, there was so many times he could have lost his temper and lashed out, but she kept him grounded, even though she didn't usually say or do anything while he raged, but the pained look of concern was noticed, she had never stopped worrying for him, she was there for him far more then anyone else while he fought both John and Jacob, she genially gave a shit, she went out of her way to befriend him even though she was asked too, Faith was s beautiful soul, she always wanted the best for him even if she was the enemy and as much as he was expected to, he didn't think he had it in him to kill her or even lock her up when the time came, she had been through a lot, a bad home life, drug abuse, destitution, being fought and converted by Joseph, she was his puppet, now cast out by a false puppeteer, he didn't want her to return to Henbane River to continue her reign of the region, he wanted her to join him fully, in an attempt to stop the cult, and if they made it out alive, she'd make the ideal character witness.

Wanting the best for her, he wanted to keep her warm as true night slowly descended with the temperature, but there was no way he was going to drape the nearby rotting blanket on either him or her, so he decided to carefully maneuver himself between the couch and the table and carefully laid next to her, cuddling up to her and embracing her in his arm, their body heat would keep the other warm of the night. As much as he fantasied about Faith throwing off the chains of Eden's Gate, a nervous thought crossed his mind, if he were to save Jess, say tomorrow, how would she mesh with Faith, would she kill her on sight, would she relent if he explained everything to her on the way home, would they see each other as kindred spirits living in similar circumstances. It was just another piece of timber that fueled the large fire that his worries, there was nothing he could do, it was just another bridge he'd have to burn once he got there. As Faith unconsciously nestled herself deeper into Rook's side, he let out yet another sigh, all he could do now was sleep, deal with everything in the more, like always.

And so, as his eyes slowly fluttered shut, he dreamt of finally facing Jacob, and killing him for his crimes.