The journey to the dam was an oddly intense one.

Jess graciously led the way as she knew where it was, but she was more high-strung, more short-tempered, a far cry from her usual grumpiness, it was enough for Rook to keep a close eye on her, as they made their way towards the dam, Jess would snap if deer or other herbivores got to close to them while they grazed, she would yell and take a threatening step towards them, sending them fleeing back onto the wilderness, whenever Rook would ask her what was up she would just blow him off in another angry tangent, even in engaging in normal conversation bothered her, something about the noise of talking bothered her greatly, he didn't blame her for being overly defensive, but this was just to much. Depending on how she interact with the coming resistance army, he would have to give her a very long talking too, until then, he just hoped no allies would suddenly pop out from behind a tree or something lest Jess instinctively take them out.

Speaking of the resistance, before Rook and Jess left for their journey, Rook stopped and radioed Pratt and informed in extensive detail about what he saw in the bunker and where to meet up with everyone, and of course, Pratt, the bundle of nerves he was, hastily agreed to everything Rook said, promising to get everyone in the Mountains and Valley to meet them at the dam as soon as humanly possible. And as so as he finished, he and Jess departed.

Rook wasn't sure how long the walk to the dam took on account to Jess's insistence on not talking, and he was feeling pretty miffed himself, he still was unhappy deep down over how he handled things back in Jacob's bunker, he felt like Scooby Doo, always running from the monster rather then confronting it, it made him feel childish, and in tern angry with himself. But when they finally made it those feelings were whisked away, as Rook looked at the top of the concrete monolith embedded in a rocky canyon, something about it made him uneasy, it wasn't just the fact that at the top was Jacob and enough firepower to raze the County, but the dam itself was so intimidating, it had to a half kilometer of rebar encased in concrete, designed to stop endless water from sweeping everything away in a great flood, it made him realize he had to be very careful, the bombers could very well crack the dam and ruin it's integrity, and looking upwards he could see lengths of metal poking over the lip of the dam, it was either the tails of three helicopters or wings of planes, they were much to high up to tell, regardless, it was far from good.

"So, I guess we'll just wait here then" Rook shrugged.

Jess didn't reply, she just sat down and got comfy, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and pulling her legs even closer. Rook who watched silently didn't know how to respond to her actions, he felt this was way above his paygrade, she had severe trauma, it was there even if she didn't care to admit it.

"So uh, you comfy down there?" Rook asked, looking down at her while keeping a decent distance from her, he didn't expect her to do anything, he just wanted to go out of his way to give her space.

But Jess just gave an agreeable grunt, not budging at all.

It gave Rook pause, it made ideas rolled around in his mind, he was used to this kind of attitude from her, even though he understood this was beyond is depth, he still had to try, he wasn't going to back down until his allies showed up.

"Hey so I was thinking… when this is whole day is over… I really think we should sit down and talk about stuff" Rook said firmly, crossing his arms.

"Bout what?" Jess croaked, pressing her cheek against one of her kneecaps.

"I was thinking about we sit down and we just, unpack all or collective traumas, by Jacob, the peggies and everything else, we can't just keep all this to ourselves, we should talk and get it off our chests" Rook replied.

"Hard pass" Jess said quickly.

"We shouldn't be keeping all this shit in, not from each other at least, if we keep it in the bottle then it will negatively explode at the worst time possible, we've been through a lot, far more then we should have" Rook argued.

"Dude, I mean it, fuck off, I'm not having a heart to heart, if you wanna fuck just say so, no need for the after school special shit before hand" Jess spat, standing up and staring daggers at him.

"Hey, wait come on, you know I didn't mean it like, that, I'm bringing this up because I care about you, I would like to be there and be someone you can open up too" Rook countered, furrowing his brow as he didn't like how quickly turned on him like that.

"Boy Scout tell you what, we can do psychiatrist once all this is over, and I mean everything, Jacob, Faith, Joseph, everything, I don't got anything for the rest of my life planned after that, so if your going to stick around for me for that long, there will be your chance" Jess sighed in frustration, she clearly didn't want to talk about it, but she forced herself to.

"Well, Ok I think I can work with that" Rook began before Jess reacted.

Jess's whole person changed, her body went rigid and she looked like she'd seen a ghost, with lightning speed, she grabbed her bow and arrow, pulling the bowstring taunt and aiming at something over his shoulder, it freaked Rook out for a second believing she aimed for him but quickly understood what was going on, he spun around, balling his fists, ready for another fist fight as he had no weapons on hand. He expected to see enemies to covertly take them out, maybe a handful of peggies, but what he saw was not what he expected, first a couple appeared, then a couple more, then that couple turned to dozens, the twice as more then that, so many people came out of the woodwork in uncountable numbers, all dressed in casual attire and brandishing various firearms, it was the Holland Valley Resistance, Pratt had been true to his word and had indeed rallied everyone from the Holland and Mountains to come fight Jacob. He even noticed Sharky, Hurk, Pastor Jerome and Mary May Fairgrave hidden amongst the masses.

"Holy shit!" Rook cried in joy, cracking the first smile in a long time.

"Of course we did, we ain't going to sit around and let our homes be destroyed" Mary cried from with the mob.

"Hey Deputy Destruction! What's up! We here to mess some stuff up!" Sharky cried with excitement as he tried to raise his flamethrower over his head in preparation, much to the discomfort of everyone around him.

"Wow hey man it's been a while" Rook said, waving awkwardly, it wasn't until now how out of touch he was with his people skills, even though everyone was all here for him, he just felt overwhelmed, like being grabbed by severe social anxiety, all these people, hundreds maybe, all staring at him, it left him instinctively on his toes.

As Rook sized up the crowds, trying to figure out how to address everyone, to explain how they'd be going up against a trained army, Mary May pushed right through the crowds with a warm smile on her face.

"It good to see you again, Ben" Mary said warmly as she walked up to Rook and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a deep hug.

But Rook couldn't quite reciprocate the hug, if anything his shoulders went rigid and arms pulled back, making a point not to touch her as he could feel Jess staring daggers at him, and when he looked over at her as Mary hugged longer then he would have liked, sure enough, Jess did not like another woman touching her property.

"So how is everyone, we haven't really talked in a long time since I've been out here for so long" Rook said politely as he placed his hands on her shoulders and peeled her off.

"Everything's been super since you killed John, we pushed all the peggies out and things feel just about normal again, so we got our A game here back you up, we even got Nick and Addie on air support, ready to swoop in at a moments notice" Mary grinned.

"That's actually really good to hear, they will be crucial today" Rook nodded, happy with the prospect of air support.

"But hey, speaking of Nick, he said the las time you two spoke something happened, he was pretty pissed with you" Mary asked, looking up at him quizzically.

"Yeah, about that" Rook muttered, looking away from her as he rubbed the back of his head.

He wasn't sure what to say, sure he was a dick, but it was well deserved, if Nick couldn't handle what needed to be done, then that was his problem.

"Hey, I kinda need some weapons, they were all taken from me at some point" Rook said quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Hm, you got a point, if we're going to do this, you're going to need some tools of your own" Mary noted.

"Sure, y'all got something I can use" Rook shrugged, glad she took the bait.

"Glad you asked, we got everything you need" Mary said as she held out a hand towards a few people at the front of the crowd.

Two people stepped forward and handed Rook his armaments; a large assault rifle, a sawed of shotgun and a machete tucked into a vinyl sheathe, and of course plenty of ammunition

Thankfully all three weapons had vinyl strapped which allowed him to carry everything, the rifle's strap went around his neck and shoulder, the shotgun to the outside of his left thigh and the machete to the outside of his right.

"Shit thanks, I can't remember the last time I was packing this much" Rook grinned, feeling like a killing machine again.

"No worries, so long as your ready to kick some ass" Mary smirked.

"Speaking of that, how do you want to do this? It's pretty high up there" Rook said, looking up at the dam.

"I believe I can help with that" Jerome said, walking up to the two, shotgun in hand.

"Ever since we were informed of Jacob's plans, I've been pouring over maps trying to come up with some sort of counter attacks, and I do believe I have something, you see we have the element of surprise, so we'll use that to just go up the emergency side ramps, and get them from both sides" Jerome offered, pointing up to the rocky cliff sides, despite they being so high up, it eventually declined back down to normal level, the dam was installed into a canyon, and that canyon leveled out, it would take a bit of a walk to get over there, but it was very doable.

"Don't worry Ben, we've spent a lot of time planning this out, so we don't fuck it all up, just let us get into position" Mary added.

"Then let's stop wasting time and get to work, we can catch up when this is all over" Rook nodded,

"My thoughts exactly" Jerome smirked before placing a hand on Rook's shoulder.

"Also, it's good to see you again, Ben" He smiled warmly before retracting his hand and walked back to the masses that idled about, leaving Mary and Rook alone again.

"So, I've been thinking, when this thing is over we can head back to my bar and crack open a bottle of wine I've been holding onto for a while now" Mary offered a little to nonchalantly.

Rook never believed himself to be a lady's man, but he had enough sense to pick up on what Mary was throwing down, before he could even politely decline, Jess pushed her way between them and towered over Mary.

"Yeah sorry, he can't, we're really busy, you know, saving the county, so if you will excuse us, we need to get ready for what's about to pop off" Jess explained quickly before grabbing Rook by the arm and dragged him away, far from Fairgrave.

As he allowed himself to be taken away by his lover, Rook took a quick over the shoulder glance to make sure Mary didn't have any I'll feeling to what just happened, but he only saw Mary return his gaze, staring at him uncomfortably, thrown a little off kilter by the sudden interruption.

"You know you didn't have to do that" Rook said, returning to the woman who still had a tight grip on him.

"But I still did it anyways, I ain't letting the harpy sink her talons into you, I'm going to restock on arrows and whatever the fuck, you do whatever you gotta so you can survive and kill Jacob" Jess countered.

"Come on, Mary isn't like that and besides, she doesn't know about us" Rook shrugged warily.

"I don't care" Jess gripped, coming to a dead stop, and in turn so did he, she stopped so she could look him in the eye.

"I ain't letting anyone getting near you now that your mine, you hear me?" she said almost awkwardly as she lightly poked him in the chest before abruptly breaking away from him and stomping off to the edge of the congregation.

With her gone Rook was alone again, or as alone as one could be with a crowd of people

He just stood there, he didn't feel that he needed to make anymore preparations, he had his guns and ample ammo, he even had the drive to kill, he was itching for things to kick off and fighting to happen. He wondered what Mary was going to do in the thick of it, even as he thought about her, he could her voice ordering everyone to start the attack.

"Alright, let's get a move on then" Mary ordered loudly, pulling all attention to herself.

"You know what to do everyone, let's get half west side, half east!" she ordered.

And with that, the countless began to move in slow succession, even though they had come together to fight for their homes, they were still collectively terrified, they knew what was waiting for them up there, but they marched onwards anyways, they fought for their homes, their friends and family, their very right to live. And they moved like a fine-tuned machine, to some degree, Jerome took charge of the group going left, and someone he trusted took control of the group going right. Mary stood at the base of the dam, separating everyone evenly as they moved. Jess was now off to the side, reupping on her arrow count, to many had been lost in Jacob's bunker. Hurk and Sharky dragged their feet indecisively around Mary as they didn't know where to go as dread gripped them both, they had been blinded of possible tales of righteousness they could craft up until now. Everyone else slowing moving to either end of the canyon's sides, within the next twenty minutes, everyone will be in position to attack.

As the groups slowly began to split up towards their destinations, from within the anxious, moving crowds, Deputy Pratt timidly pushed his way through and dragged his feet right up to Rook who had still yet to move, watching from the center of the movement, he wanted to make sure everything went off without a hitch just as Mary believed it would.

"H-here man, you should take this" Pratt muttered anxiously as he held out a simple handgun too Rook.

"I know you got enough weapons, but out here there's no such thing as to much" he said.

"Uh, thanks" Rook replied, taking the gun, and tucking it into his waistband.

"Yeah, no prob" Pratt said anxiously as he looked at his feet, limply kicking the dirt.

"Hey so, I see Holland Valley guys and a lot of strangers, and where is the rest of our guys?" Rook asked looking around, he couldn't see Clark, Tammy, or anyone else from their bunker, as far as he knew, it was just him, Pratt, and Jess.

"Uhhhh, they'll be here in a bit" Pratt said nervously, looking off the side, looking uncomfortable.

"You ok? You seem more freaked then usual" Rook noted.

"Yeah just… everything, y'know?" Pratt shrugged.

"I guess, but I really need you to take your tampon out if you're going to contribute out here, we need everything to go right if we want even a chance at victory" Rook practically scolded, he didn't mean to, tensions were riding high, even for him.

Then Rook turned away from Pratt and looked back up at the dam and the blurry vehicles poking off the side.

"I don't understand, there's only like three helicopters, that's not enough to take out an entire County, can't be planes as there's not enough room to take off" Rook questioned out loud.

Pratt who stood motionlessly behind Rook, bit his tongue, he was scared out of his mind, there was something he had to do, something he was instructed to do, and by God he was going to do it for the sake of humanity's survival, but now that he was standing at the event's precipice, a pang of guilt hit him, there was going to be a massacre here, perhaps a slight warning could lessen the pain in his chest. His fists tightened as he swallowed the building lump in his throat, his quavering jaw opened and spoke frightened words.

"Jacob isn't bombing the entire county, he's bombing just this one place, that's all he needs to stop the resistance" Pratt murmured, he looked and sounded like he was about to cry.

"What the fuck are you whining about?" Rook scoffed, looking back at him.

"Listen dude, I get it, Jacob did some shit to you, but I mean come on, some real shit is about to go down, I need clear, concise words from you, no muttering" he scolded his fellow deputy.

"Jacob has allowed you to contact the entire Hope County Resistance and bring them all here so he can bomb them all in one fell swoop" Pratt sniffled.

"While you were away saving your girlfriend, Jacob had a few barrels of bliss dropped off at the bunker and I used it to gas all of your guys so theirs no sneak attacks, fuck man, I'm sorry, I'm really fucking sorry!" he whimpered before breaking into tears and wailing.

Rook stared at Pratt for a few seconds, thinking on the insane things he was saying, it made things started to click in his mind, Tammy was right, why would Jacob just leave Pratt chained up alive in the Veteran's center like that with all the knowledge he had picked up by proxy, and why would he also leave his master plan all alone and unprotected in the attic, unless… Jacob wanted him to find it, to take Pratt home with him and tell everyone about who Jacob planned to bomb the County.

Pratt has been drinking the Kool-Aid this entire time.

"T-the weak have a purpose, just as Commander Jacob says" Pratt sobbed.

"You're a fucking traitor!" Rook roared in fury as he ripped the machete from it's sheathe.

"I'll fucking kill you! You fucking cowardly piece of shit!" he roared as he lunged at Pratt, swinging the machete at the cowering former ally.

"I'm sorry, you don't understand, the end is coming, we can't have you slowing down Commander Jacob, we need you to come back and be our Judge" Pratt bawled as he pushed and shoved through the sea of resistance members, running as fast as he could, trying desperately trying not to catch Rook's machete.

Rook tried to chase after him, put every person he pushed through slowed him down, they scoffed at his rude shoving and or telling him to quiet down, nobody was quite aware of what Rook was doing or why he was yelling and wielding a weapon like he did, they were all to busy trying to get in order under Jerome's guidance and make peace with whatever they believed in they all just decided to leave him be, no one dared to get in his way, they never seen him like this before.

The two pushed and shoved their way completely through and broke free of the crowd, it made Rook stagger as he passed through the last few people and faced the treeline, he could see Pratt, plain as day, he tried to escape into the trees, perhaps there was just to much tears in his eyes, but as he reached the trees, he tripped over a gnarled root and fell, faceplanting into the cold, course dirt, but he didn't let this dissuade him, he knew Rook was right behind him, he rolled onto his back and still tried to scuttle away, back up right into the base of the tree, becoming paralyzed in fear as Rook stomped near, his red, soaked eyes, glued to his reflection in Rook's machete.

"There you are you motherfucker!" Rook scorned.

But Pratt just snivelled and wailed in fear.

"I can't believe you! Fuck! How could you still help him after everything he has done to this County! to you! To me!?" Rook roared as his gripped tightened around his weapon, if he wasn't careful, he'd accidently kill him before he got his answers.

"Answer me or I will just fuckin end you!" Rook threatened, taking a single threatening stomp forward, electing a terrified yelp from the cowering man.

"So what!? you just set off a giant fire right next to a dam and expect no one noticing it!? Rook shouted angrily.

"Th-th-th-the weak have their purpose!" Pratt stammered shamelessly.

"I don't give a shit whose purpose is what! how dare you actually help him let alone this whole thing will go off without anyone on the outside noticing this whole area go up in smoke!?" Rook yelled.

"If an-yone notices anyth-ing, one of our guys will g-et on the horn and say it's a contr-olled forest fire" Pratt wept as he pushed harder against the tree as if he would vanish inside of it if he pushed hard enough.

But that response just angered Rook more, it reminded him about how Nancy sold them up the river at the very beginning of this shitshow.

"That doesn't justify anything, do you have any idea how many people are going to die or have died because of you, you blissed my guys! Clark! Tammy! They kept you safe! Gave you our very little food! You're a fucking shit eating asshole!" Rook roared as he raised his machete high over his head, ready to take the traitor's life.

Again, Pratt screamed in fear as Rook brought down the blade, wanting Pratt's blood, it made him shield himself with his hands as if they could harmlessly deflect the blade.

"Rook! What the fuck are you doing?!" Mary's voice came from behind, as she pushed through the crowd, following the enraged man.

Pratt heard the woman call out for the loyal Junior Deputy, Pratt expected him to ignore it and split him in twain, it was what all the reports about him read, he had become very brutish, very volatile these past few weeks, just as Commander Seed intended, but against all odd's, he stopped mid swing, perhaps he was more empathetic than he believed.

Rook heard Mary call out for him, it made him pause for just a moment, it was a calculated move, he wanted Mary to come closer and see what he was doing, he wanted to explain what was going on so she wouldn't chastise him for ending the hapless traitor.

But that two seconds is what all that Pratt needed to complete his final mission, a single arm dropped from its defensive position and reached behind his back, he produced a red flare gun, he pointed it straight up and pulled the trigger, sending a sharp red flare soared into the sky for all to see, even Jacob who stood atop the dam, strictly ordering everyone into position, saw the red flare that popped up the side of the concrete monolith for all the peggies on top to see, there were so many laying and wait for the flare, possible more then there were down below.

The flare made a dry grin crack upon Jacobs face, his pathetic little pawn was finally earning his keep, and with a single word, he commanded the execution that they have been working so diligently on for weeks now. He walked across the length of the dam and approached the fourth helicopter on the dam, it was parked further away from the others in case something was to happen to the three, he got close enough to tap upon the helicopter's window, grabbing the pilot's attention, he gave the pilot a signal to take off before climbing into the back cabin, he didn't bother closing the side door behind him as he'd just open it in less then a minute. Nor did he strap himself in, he just grabbed the high-powered sniper rifle took a knee at the copter's edge and leveled his firearm, preparing to take a shot as the helicopter gained altitude, and so did the other three helicopters taking off in tandem, that tandem was preserved until Jacob's copter pulled back to the other three moved forward, leaving the dam and moving over the hordes below.

"Whatever the hell your doing, stow it, we got another problem up here, and I'm sure it's a hell of a lot worse than yours!" Mary cried to Rook as her eyes went skyward.

But Rook merely scoffed at the idea, he was going to kill Pratt first, it shouldn't take more then two seconds, then he'll deal with the copters, but when he looked back down at Pratt only to discover he was gone, it didn't take a detective to deduct he disappeared within the sea of trees when Rook wasn't looking, it made in growl with rage.

Trembling slightly, Rook turned back around to address Mary, curious to what had riled her so, but only saw that not only Mary, but everyone else's eyes were skyward to see a single helicopter took the lead, the other two behind it, Jacob even farther back, the lead helicopter began to level itself out, ready to begin it's bombing.

it was only now that Rook wasn't completely seeing red, it gave him enough clarity to realize what was happening and what was going to happen.

"Hurk!" Rook screamed as he sprinted past Mary and back to where he was before he gave chase, shoving everyone out of his way, it was much easier as this time as they were all frozen in fear, they were to late to act.

"Don't worry Fella, I got this!" Hurk cheered as he pointed his tried-and-true rocket launcher towards the helicopter and fired a rocket, leaving a hearty trail of black smoke in its wake.

But due to the sheer height the helicopter had over Hurk, the rocket could be seen a mile away, giving the pilot ample time to juke out of the way, barely avoiding the rocket, causing the projectile to soar higher into the sky before arcing into the horizon, creating a collective groan to emanate from the resistance like a stadium of baseball fans booing a bad ruling.

"Hang on, hang on, give me a sec" Hurk cried nervously as he dropped to one knee and prepared another rocket.

But it was clear he would not finish reloading in time, waiting on him was a fool's errand, everyone would be dead before Hurk aimed upwards again, and everyone knew it, they all started to panic, some tried to run, some tried to rally the others, some tried to shoot it down with their own guns, but nothing worked, and right before everything boiled into a fevered pitch, and the bombings starting, the helicopter partially exploded before falling out of the sky, falling at an obtuse angle, and disappearing behind the treeline, far away from the resistance horde, exploding on impact, even at that distance Rook could feel the intense heat through the trees. It most definitely had enough firepower to bomb a resistance army.

The entire spectacle caused a wave of audible awe erupt from the collective resistance, all, even the peggies were confused and shocked to what just happened, nobody knew what happened. Then a plane swopped overhead, flying across the masses and dam below, Rook, and everyone else was so absorbed by the helicopter's take off none of them failed to notice the loud hum of the airplane. The unmistakably yellow plane soared through the air with unparalleled grace and ease, arcing up and swooping back around for a second run, anyone with a working set of eyes could easily identify the saving grace that roamed the heavens, it was the Carmina, with the one and only Nicholas Rye at the helm.

"Shit you see that?! Could'a done that with my eyes closed!" Nick's voice crackled excitedly from Rook's walkie.

Rook heard Nick clear as day, but it didn't quite stick with him, his legs were quickly turning to jelly, that was close, infinitely to close for his comfort, even though he saw it all, he still couldn't properly fathom how close he and everyone else was to dying right then and there.

The other two helicopter's, including Jacob harshly pulled back, at the appearance of the plane, taking evasive maneuvers to avoid any further loss, like terrified mice, caught by a prowling cat. The two helicopters wasted no time, they quickly gave up on any ideas of carpet bombing the base of the dam, not with the plane gunning for them, and just like that, the skies became a light like an air show, helicopters and a plane duking it out high above, everyone below was enraptured over what they were watching, so much so that they failed to see the newest threat; Jacob's army, they struck with incredible silence repelling down the side of the dam. They came down so fast it was like they were free falling, and even at that speed, they fired their heavy assault weapons with great accuracy, impressive to even other soldiers, killing the resistance members as they almost free fall.

The painfully sudden attack let everyone in a state of panic, not expecting such a bold tactic, they fell back, trying to give themselves the space they needed to return fire and get to decent cover, but with the elevation they had and numbers that came down, cover was just about useless.

Such a panic had been created among the resistance that they all barely noticed large APC's raced down the sides of the canyon, stopping at the bottom with a threatening screech before it's back doors falling open, exposing dozens of peggies to pour out, joining their descending comrades in exterminating the rats that have plagued them for so long.

They struck from three different angle, like a horrifying trident, they pierced the resistance's side, staggering them as they all fell back even more, it almost looked like they were running away, they wanted to, but they were much to proud to do so, so instead they returned fire, they roared and shot to kill, proclaiming they would not let their lives be extinguished easily, they would not go into the murk black abyss without taking the peggies with them, for to long have they sat idly by as their friends, families and neighbors were killed, allowing Joseph Seed to come in a do what he did was a badge of shame to all of Hope County, but today that was going from change, this was war.

And with that, the base of the dam looked like a warzone, it was a warzone, bodies on both sides dropped in great numbers, swears and curses flew just as much as bullets, they were at the base of the dam, it had to be a clearing there so maintenance could get in and out with no hassle so there was no cover, everyone was fair game.

Everything happened so fast by the time Rook got himself where he wanted; kind of too the side, firing inward, ample bodies of either faction lined the floor, the surprise mission quickly turned into a slaughter, hundreds would be dead by the end of the day. And Rook did his best to lead the charge, shooting everyone he could from a safe and respectable distance, nothing to dangerous, but enough to make a contributing effort, but as he did his best to kill as many peggies as he could, he started to have a little trouble keeping his rifle straight, he found he was trembling slightly, he knew was he was scared shitless, he had no idea what was happening as a whole, nor had he experienced really war like this, he had seen a few movies to get some frame of reference, but reality was a cold punch in the face compared with what he saw in cinema, even the ever-present rage from Pratt and the Seeds could not bury the fear, the fear was overwhelmingly worse. At any second he could just catch a bullet it the side and just die right then and there, and no one would no, not even him, and then he would fall over and be just another corpse lost among the violence and hate, and that would be it.

Not only that but he feared for how this was going to turn out, he didn't know who was alive, a couple corpses here and there had arrows sticking out of them, and every now and again, he could see Sharky's flamethrower discharge from within the crowds, Mary and Jerome were M.I.A. for all he knew, he walked right over their corpses, and that terrified him just as much as his death, for some reason that left him so raw, so shook, so… hollow.

And what really wasn't helping was that he visibly flinched at every boom created by Nick and the helicopters above, a whole other war took place above them and could come crashing down at a moment's notice, he tries to tune it out, to focus on what was happening around him, moving from desirable position to desirable position, shooting and killing as much as he could, trembling, fearing for his very life and the lives of his friends, as cold sweat dripped down his steaming body and stained his clothes, his ears started to ring, despite all the gunfire, there was so much yelling, in anger, in fear, in pain, it was a cacophony of anguish, every time his eyes drifted to the sources of yelling from his allies, he regretted it, what he saw stuck with him; everywhere he turned was suffering, people who barely ever used a gun before were quickly taken out first, be lack of experience or overwhelming fear. Some people spent their final minutes clutching fatal bullets wounds, moaning and crying in anguish others practically sat on the ground, one hand clutching their dead friend, trying to shoot with the other had, their aim off kilter due to the tears in their eyes, farmers, ranchers, and storeowners were being torn apart all around him, Rook wasn't sure if the peggies were undergoing something similar, it looked like it, just with less emotion.

It was hell.

And there was nothing he could do about it, asides from suffer through it and kill as well. Fire until the gun clicked empty, reload repeat. Rook didn't know how many times he did that, there was plenty of ammo to do so, ammo was everywhere, bodies were treasure troves, all he had to go off the booms above and the screams all around him. He tried his best to shove it down but it all just made him shutter in horror, he wanted Jess to suddenly show up and make him feel better by just being there for him, he wanted his boss Sheriff Whitehorse, he wanted Faith, anyone to let him know everything was going to be ok. And as he did everything he could to survive, he could hear something underneath all the horrors of war, he wasn't sure if he had finally snapped into delirium as he could have sworn he was hearing something akin to music, it was the unmistakably crescendo of The Flight of The Valkyries coming from above.

"What the fuck is that?" Rook guffawed, daring himself to look upwards again.

He looked up in time to see the two helicopters trying to pincer Nick, he wasn't sure how effective their strategy worked as the one behind Nick, lined up their shot, suddenly exploded and fell harmlessly into the distance just as the one before it. there was no way Nick could have done it, then another helicopter plunged into view, firing from both machine guns fired at full volume, trying to pick off the offending pilot as Rook's walkie came to life.

"Quit your grinnin' and drop your linen, mama's here!" Adelaide's voice came from Rook's walkie just the same as Nick did.

"Ho-ly shit! Adelaide Drubman! It's been a while since we shared the skies!" Nick replied, coming across all comms.

"You know it Sugar, let's show the pantywaists how we do things the Drubman way!" Addie called back as she looped around to assist Nick.

The final helicopter stood no chance against the veteran pilots, the tow dispatched the helicopter in short order, sending the helicopter to plummet to the ground, and with that they turned their sights upon the army of cultists below, unleashing machine guns and small bombs upon them, decimating all those in their crosshairs, turning the tides in the Resistance's favor as the peggies had nothing strong enough to take out the air support.

While Drubman and Rye helped dispatch the army, neither of them noticed Jacob's helicopter that hung far back and low to the dam, waiting for the army below to draw in all attention, and when they did, the helicopter moved in. The helicopter Jacob was in was slightly different from the other three, not in make or model, but in equipment, attached to the bottom of the copter was a series of lights of various colors and sizes, it was what Jacob planned to use to activate the classical conditioning that he reinstalled into Rook. As much as the loss of the helicopters pissed him off and the mulching of his men made him grind his teeth, he still had a smoking gun in store, The Judge.

The pilot waited for the ideal moment to swoop in and get almost over the Junior Deputy before the many lights clicked on, strobing and flashing different kinds of patterns, becoming an epileptic's nightmare, the harsh lights quickly and without ceremony grabbed Rook attention and the attention of a handful of resistance members and cultists.

At first Rook felt curiosity, unsure of what was happening, but that feeling of wonderment disappeared as fast as the lives of his allies, the lights suddenly made Rook feel different, like he was emptied out, filled up then emptied out again, like sand turning to glass, his head felt light, and very irritable, like an incalculably large bubble was building within him and threatened to burst, but before it could, most of the lights above unexpectedly cut out, a heavy shower of sparks rained down as the copter veered away, the annoying plane pilot took notice of what was happening and opened fire upon the copter, the high caliber bullets shredding the lights and hull, killing the lights. The sudden attack caused the helicopter to pull up as hard as the pilot could as the plane and helicopter closed in on them.

Meanwhile back on the ground, Rook and cultist alike who bothered to look up at the lights now seemed almost dejected now that the lights were gone, it somehow negatively affected them, the feelings they previously had seemed to mutate and shift like tides at sea, Rook wasn't sure what exactly was happened to him, it pissed him the fuck off. And by the looks of things, a handful of peggies also had a very negative reaction, twitching and spasming violently before getting animalistically hostile, howling and frothing, dropping their guns and charging at resistance members like hyperactive zombies.

Some of them were quickly gunned down, other somehow made it to their targets, pouncing on them, clawing and biting like some untamed predator, killing the prey beneath them. But Rook didn't care, whatever the peggies did was just as beneath him, he had suddenly and without reason built up an obsession to rip and tear every peggie in front of him, and without uttering a single word, he raged forward, looking to kill all he laid eyes upon, shot at every cultist he saw and with a never-before-seen fluidity he reloaded and continued, both shotgun and assault rifle firing nonstop, and it all just felt so perfect, the gunfire and screaming was like a chaotic symphony, there was no fucking way in hell he would, this felt to right, like this is what he was designed to do, and when the peggies got much to close, he finally dropped his weapons and revealed his machete, slashing like a Hollywood serial killer, blade sinking right down to the bone, blood spurting out as the machete was twisted and pulled outward, killing countless.

And everything was going accordingly to Jacob's plan, for the most part, albeit the helicopters were embarrassingly removed, the ground forces were holding their own, not to the level he would have liked, but they still did what they were ordered to do, but The Judge on the other hand, so far, he was exceeding all expectations, he was a perfect killing machine, decimating all those who tried to dispatch him, and nothing was stopping him. The only real problem was that Jacob's helicopter still veered and juked from Nick and Addie that tried to take him down, but yet Jacob still watched the Junior Deputy, precariously leaning out and watched through his rifle's scope, he was perfectly lined up on him, all it took was one finger twitch and he'd be gone, but Jacob decided against it, that would be to easy, he wanted to see what he had up his sleeve, what could he possibly do, but perhaps that obsession with his pet project had taken on to much life, as while Jacob grinned and planned out every little thing he had lined up for The Judge, Rye had finally out maneuvered Jacob's pilot and blew of the tail off the helicopter, it exploded into a firework display of fire and metal, causing the helicopter to careen out of the sky, Jacob could hear the pilot yell brace for impact, but Jacob had other ideas on who to survive the crash landing, this wasn't the first time he had been in such a situation before. He dropped his rifle, the velocity of the freefall sucked it out the open passenger cabin, and with quickly vanishing balance, the Seed grabbed the emergency fire axe that was fastened to the wall right before the helicopter almost nosedived and crashed somewhere into the woods.

With the final helicopter gone, Nick and Addie turned their attentions back the battle below, bombing and strafing at every chance they could, reigning down retribution and turning the battlefield into actual hell, the bombs leaving large fiery craters in the ground, the tall grass catching alight, any peggies caught in the blast were blown apart leaving charred, severed bodies parts around the area like a disturbing Easter egg hunt, gunned down peggie and resistance body were slowly engulfed in the blaze as the grass fire spread, a man could be seen running into the forest, covered head to toe and thick flames, and would die in seconds, his screams disappearing with him into the woods. Pained crying could always be heard from somewhere, clearly traumatized people were trying to pull their clearly dead friends from danger before trying the futile attempt to revive them.

Even though Rook was aware of all this, he shoved it all down for later review as right before the helicopter disappeared behind the treetops, Rook looked up just in time as the copter went down, for a single second he saw who was in the back of the helicopter, staring right back at him.

Seeing the Seed did something much different to Rook, what he felt now was nothing compared to what he felt now, it felt like his blood was turning to lava as his teeth gritted together dangerously as all sort of things ran through his altered head, putting all sort of half though out plans together, he really wanted to chase him down like a hunting dog after a downed pheasant, ignoring the pleas for help and gunfire, he formed a painfully tight grip on his bloody machete, he forgot all about what was happening around him and his allies and charged deep into the woods, hunting after the man he hated so much.


Rook panted heavily as he sprinted, he was already exhausted from the previous battle, but right now he was powered purely by adrenaline, his mouth was practically salivating at the idea of killing Jacob, even though he saw him just about fall out of the sky, he hoped, he prayed to Gods he did not know that the man was still alive somehow, he refused to believe Nick or Addie stole his well deserved kill, he yearned to be the one to end Jacob, so much so that just the thought of it made the hairs on his arms stand up, and that feeling increased as the declining trail of snapped tree branches he was following was getting closer and closer to the ground.

And when it finally touched the ground, he finally reached the crash site, the wind had pulled the copter flaming tail remains downwind and set even more trees on fire creating a raging forest fire. The chassis did not explode on impact, it had smashed down into the soft dirt, creating a sizable crater in the ground, but not deep enough to Jacob from climbing out, Rook watched with ragged breath Jacob stagger outwards warily, he looked fine for the most part, a small head wound but if anything, he was just a little dazed from the crash, and as he got clear of the crash, Rook could see that Jacob carried a fire axe tightly in both hands, using it as a cane at first, but once he regained his land legs, regarded it like a weapon again.

Rook must have stepped on a twig as when he got closer, Jacob turned his head and looked at Rook dead in the eye, it made him forgo any signs of weakness, his back straightened, his jaw tightened, but he could not high the ragged breathing.

The second they made eye contact, as fast as he could, Rook pulled out the gun Pratt gave him, he pointed it a Jacobs head and pulled the trigger, but the gun clicked empty. The click made Rook swear loudly, he threw the gun to the side, Pratt had set him up yet again, all the more reason to kill him for what he had done. Throwing the useless gun aside, he readied the bloodied machete in his hand. The two stood in silence for a few moments, sizing each other up and analyzing wounds for exploitable weakness, and as the slowly building forest fire crackled and burned all around them, the Seed spoke first.

"Ah… about time you came, thought I'd have to come get ya… was worried you'd turn soft on me, but you're a soldier, you do as you're told, that's what you do" Jacob said as plainly as he could, both men were out of breath for very different reasons.

"I told you… I was coming for you… I'm going to destroy everything you have you, evil fuck" Rook heaved angrily.

"You can try… but you'd just be digging your own grave… and humanities… do you even… you can't possibly understand why I did what I did" Jacob hurled.

"I don't give a shit... I'm not going to try to justify you" Rook spat.

"I don't need justification... just victory" Jacob breathed before lunging towards Rook, axe raised high above his head, preparing to split him in two.

Rook countered, swinging horizontally across the Seed's chest, but it was like that's what Jacob wanted as he brought the axe down as hard as he could before Rook could connect, instead catching the flat of the machete with the axe's blade, he hit it so hard that the machete blade snapped in two, leaving Rook with little less then a dagger.

The shortening of Rook's blade made Rook swear a sharp desperate curse, it made Jacob chuckle once as he swung a backhanded closed fist, catching Rook's cheek, he expected for the Junior Deputy to fall over, but to his surprise, Rook was steadfast, he staggered, but didn't fall over, he merely spit a glob of blood onto the ground before jumping forward, his bladed pointed outward and a look of defiance across his face, Jacob didn't expect it, jumping back, he held the axe out vertically, the thick wooden handle catching Rook's blade, it made a small indent as the blade was barely stayed.

Using his immense strength, Jacob shoved him back, using the axe as a shield before gearing up for a swing, he used both arms to swing in a wide horizontal swing, but somehow Rook was quicker, dropping to his knees, allowing the axe head to sail harmlessly over his head, and the second it passed, Rook jumped up, swinging his broken machete like a madman, yet again it was something Jacob did not expect, he could barely protect himself from the strike as Rook's blade found it mark, leaving a bloody red line across Jacob's abs, it wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but enough to hurt even someone like him.

It made him hiss in pain as he gritted his teeth, Rook was indeed different from the last time they fought, perhaps it was the weapon that gave him the gumption to fight with such intensity, regardless he needed to be subdued if not killed. Steeling himself, he forced away any pain he had and retaliated in kind, slamming the pommel of the axe into Rook's stomach causing the air to be knocked out of him, it gave Jacob the opening to then hit Rook in the shin with the pommel again, throwing him off his balance, it was just what Jacob counted on as he raised the axe over his head once more, bringing it down on Rook, but to avoid it, he rolled into his lack of balance, falling onto his side, narrowly dodging death, and only receiving a light arm tap from the axe, it scraped his arm, somehow, it wasn't a horrendous wound that an axe could inflict, it was just as minor as Jacob's stomach wound, not that deep and lightly oozed.

And throughout that whole exchange Rook has somehow held on the blasted, stunted machete, even as he floundered on the ground, he slashed upward, catching right above Jacob left leg, this time it was much deeper then before, it caused him to loose his balance as well, making him stagger, it hurt enough that Rook, on a shaking leg jumped up and with his free hand grabbed the axe and pulled with all his might, Jacob tried with the strength of a balance compromised man to free the axe from his opponent, he even took a single hand off the axe and grabbed the scruff of Rook's sweat soaked shirt, pulling him close, but Rook returned in kind with a headbutt, breaking his nose and staggering back, letting go of the axe completely.

With a gasp of pain, Jacob quickly recovered in time to see Rook had dropped the machete, and held of the axe with both hands, trying to get into a proper swinging position, but didn't know how, coming at Jacob with wild uneven swings, even with the leg injury the Seed was able enough to dodge and weave around the swings, the Junior Deputy was like a teenager with a bat, it was nothing he couldn't handle, but Rook was relentless, yet another thing that surprised Jacob, he didn't know where all this energy came from, he had fought so much and then came at him with such bravado, he really was worth of being The Judge.

But perhaps Jacob was to right on the money, maybe Rook was to much of what Jacob wanted, as Rook, still on the swinging rampage, loomed ever closer to Jacob, his window of avoidance shrinking with each swing, but the vet hand his plan, he planned to stop the axe completely by letting the handle slam into his forearm, and with the precision and time of a seasoned veteran, Jacob executed his plan, stopping the axe mid swing, but before he could grab the axe and take it back, almost as if Rook knew what Jacob was going to do, he almost instantly countered by punching him in the face, exacerbating the broken nose, it hurt like hell, it made him stumble back, leaving him completely defenseless.

And that was what Rook counted on.

Rook leapt at the opportunity, swinging as hard as he could, and in turn, the axe finally it it's mark in full, sinking deep horizontally into Jacob's ribs, causing a wet, pained gasp to escape the Seed.

Jacob stared down at the axe in disbelief as Rook let go of the axe before suddenly erupting into a fit of coughing and hacking violently as he staggered backwards, his lungs filling with blood and other such liquids, the axe still buried within his torso, it's awkward placement and weight finally made fall him backwards after a few back steps, his back slamming against a fallen log.

As Jacob lay defeated, reeling from his grievous injury, a unique sense of accomplishment and pride washed over Rook as he watched the quickly expiring man draw his last handful of breaths, he had won, he a Junior Deputy from the middle of nowhere took down a seasoned vet with his own two hands. And Jacob, eyes now glassy and bloodshot eyes rested upwards, staring at the cloudless sky, as if looking for something to appear, but nothing did, making him look downwards, at the man who had just killed him.

"My brother saw all this comin… I don't know if he really talks to God… but doesn't matter… he was right" Jacob said with pained, wet pants.

"Humanity is once again… in crisis" he said, before coughing up a large blood of blood and bile, it plopped unceremoniously onto this chest.

"Your brother is a fucking crazy man who killed his infant daughter in a fit of insanity and said it was the work of God! Rook screeched, his hands tightening into fists.

"It doesn't matter, or what we build or achieve… we will find a way to ruin it all" Jacob wheezed, his numb hands blindly clasping that the protrusion sticking out of his ribs.

"You did everything he said you would do… right down to the letter… and you didn't even know it… you had no fucking clue" he shuttered and shivered as his head twitched downward ever so slightly so he could look at the axe lodged in his ribs, blood covering his forearms now.

"Oh so he saw me killing you then!? He saw it all and was cool with it?! the murder of his own brother?! With me gaining a giant step closer to stop all of this!?" Rook belted out in disbelief, he always believed Jacob was the smartest out of the bunch, but if he really believed in Joseph like this then perhaps, he was wrong.

"Killing me does nothing for you, it won't bring your friends back… it won't undo what I did to you, to your girlyfriend, I'll just be another log on the pyre that will stoke the flames that will burn the world, killing me solves nothing" Jacob nearly whispered, his time was growing dangerously short.

Somehow, his words did touch Rook in a way, he was right, he couldn't take back the atrocities he had done, today and the countless days before, the pools that could be filled with the blood he shed.

"Maybe your right… but you'll still be dead" Rook said before grinning sinisterly, before walking up to the downed man and wrenching the axe out of his bleeding, leaking torso, causing him to gasp and roar violently in pain, he was completely unaware to Rook raising the reclaimed weapon high over his head for a few moments before brining it down as hard as he could upon Jacob's head, in one fell swoop his head was split in two, right down to the neck, as soon as all the momentum left the axe, Rook let go of it's bloodied handle, due to how deep it had been inserted into the man, when Rook let it go, it did not fall from it's spot, the axe stood steadfast, it's handle in the air, ready to be reclaimed like King Arthur taking Excalibur from the stone, but Rook saw himself as no King, he did not desire the weapon, it was fine where it was, in fact, it was perfect.

An unsteady chuckled escaped his lips as he backed away on equally unsteady legs, he was in awe of his handiwork, what lay before him was a dream come true, it was so unbelievable sweet he couldn't help but tilt his head back and let out a hearty laugh, he laughed so hard he brought a hand up and rested it on his face, his palm covering his eyes. He felt exhilarated, nauseous, elated, and scared, he didn't know how to tie up all his feelings into one neat little bow, so to make up for that lack of expression, he just kept laughing a hideous, cracked, noise until he worked it completely out of his system, he didn't know how long it took but he sure did feel better once it was done.

With a satisfied sighed, Rook rolled his shoulders and departed from Jacob's corpse, he had no further use for it, and simply left it alone, he needed no trophy, his disappearance from Joseph's ranks was good enough, and with that he left, he took his time walking back to everyone, why bother? He didn't hear any gunfire, nor did he hear Nick and Addie firing at anything, if anything it sounded like they were flying off into the distance, the war was over, they were victorious. That's what he wanted to believe, and when he finally returned to the silent battlefield his beliefs were validated, the resistance had indeed won this bloody rancor, they celebrated this victory by combing through the field of bloodstained grass, trying to find wounded survivors among the dead, they even looked for their own dead so they could be brought back home and respectfully buried, also looking for any spoils in the form ammo and weapons, hoping to find anything to use to expunge any remaining peggies from the county, birds were picking at bodies in more isolated areas of the battlefield.

As he pridefully strode across the large field back to his guys, stepping over many bodies, and as he neared where Mary had set up a little base of operations, Jess came running right up to him, and pulled him into a tight hug, almost tackling him to the ground, she even gave him a single kiss before pulling away and turning around.

"Glad to see your ok" She muttered as she adjusted her hood, trying to hide her blush.

"Yeah, you too" Rook smirked, putting an arm around here waist and pulling her back to his side.

Then together, they walked over to where Mary and now Jerome worked together to organize some sort of clean up and body retrieval, when Mary noticed Rook and his happy demeanor, she lit up.

"Holy shit Ben, I'm sure am glad your ok and in high spirits" She beamed, causing everyone around her and Jerome to look up in awe over the survival of the Junior Deputy.

"Yeah, you too, we did fucking great, huh?" Rook smirked, pulling Jess closer.

"Well… I don't know about that, but I don't know how you do it, how do you stay so damn cheerful all the time?" Mary asked as she absentmindedly wiped the large quantity of blood off her arm.

"That's because Jacob is dead! I killed him!" Rook exclaimed, trying not to enter another fit of laughter.

The group of idling people awed and laughed amongst themselves, some even fell to their knees in happy disbelief, to them, the day was won, and all the losses were worth it.

"And speaking of killing, we sure did wreak everyone here huh, is all the peggies dead?" Rook grinned.

"Not exactly, not all the peggies are dead, after Mister Rye and Miss Drubman finished with all the air support and begun assisting us, a lot of them retreated back from whence they came, but seeing as Jacob is now gone, I feel taking back the region won't be too hard" Jerome smiled warmly.

"Ughh that's good enough, I mean come on, we won!" Rook cheered.

"Well once we're done here why don't we go back to my place to celebrate" Mary said before looking quite worried.

"But hey… do you think you could take a look over at your guys, they showed up a little while ago and they're kinda freaking everyone out" Mary said nervously.

Curious, Rook followed where she pointed and indeed saw that she was right, off to side, way off from everyone else, the handful of Rookists that still remained had showed up just as Pratt said they would before all this, but Rook could tell from a glance something was wrong with all of them, they were all floating around three fresh corpses close together, Rook recognized them as Holland Valley Resistance members, they had been shot or stabbed repeatedly, perhaps both, they were dead a shorter time then all the other allies' bodies from the looks of things, but what really perturbed Rook about the three bodies was that they were surrounded by a few Rookists and Whitetails, what they were doing was very out of the ordinary.

A few huddled over the three dead bodies, exchanging the things they had taken off the bodies like a gaggle of goblins, trying to swindle each others' wares, others rolled around on the grass, babbling nonsense like infants trying to figure out how their tongues worked, and at the head of it all, Clark was the most wacked out of them all, franticly talking to something that wasn't there, Rook didn't need to talk to them to know that they were all blissed out of their minds, a few of them were showing signs of becoming an angel, no one sober was able to figure it out as they weren't as familiar with Bliss then Rook was.

Pratt did mention something about bliss and their bunker. It made Rook sigh in hate, but as he came off the adrenaline, it just came out as exhausted.

After he let go of Jess and told her to hang back so he could deal with this alone, he scooped up a handgun from the pile of reclaimed weapons before heading over to the Rookists, leaving Mary and Jess alone with Jerome whole loudly proclaimed the depths of their victory for all to hear. He took the gun with him just in case and carefully walked up to the maddened Clark, still talking to no one, his words made no sense, it was like listening to a stroke victim.

"Hey there, Bud" Rook said cautiously, waving a hand in front of Clark, grabbing his attention.

"Boss!" Clark baulked like a chicken, any sense of voice modulation gone.

"What happened here?" Rook said somberly, looking from him to the ruined resistance members then to the three dead bodies.

"We killed them!" Clark squeaked with glee as his eyes bulged and blinked unevenly.

"We killed them! We killed them! We killed them!" he laughed uncontrollable, his voice was shrill and warped, tears running down his face, he had no control over his laughter and wanted to stop long ago.

"You're not answering my question" Rook said, trying to ask again in a serious yet gentle tone, Clark was clearly unstable, and so were they few picking threw the bodies like vultures, if things went wrong, they could very well attack.

"Because, because, because it's like you've done, sacrifice the few for the many, we kill a few of these Holland guys, we take their stuff and the Rookists live longer!"

"Hey, I never did any of that" Rook said, holing up a hand, taking a step back.

"And, and, and, and, and we killed Tammy too, she was always against you, so removed her and everyone who stood against us so they can't stop you from saving the world!" Clark struggled to say before falling backwards, landing on his ass, laughing as hard as he could, the man was gone.

For some reason that cut Rook, hearing that Tammy was killed, as much as he despised her, he needed her to run the Mountain region in his absence,

Rook had a feeling Clark was the ringleader in this whole thing, and by that reason, Clark needed to be taken care of.

While Clark laughed and spoke inane gibberish, with a heavy sigh Rook pulled out his handgun and slid back the railing and looking at the single bullet that still resided in the chamber. Then he looked back down at Clark, he couldn't be any older than himself, it hurt to do what needed to be done, thanks to Pratt, so much needless work had been created.

As Clark sunk back into his madness, Rook walked around Clark and pointed the gun at the back of head, Rook paused for a few seconds so he could again listen to Clark's indecipherable words, it felt like it was just yesterday he brought weapons Clark and the dozens of people who would later join with him to fight the cult, it also hurt to remember all those he lost, dozens and dozens had been picked off slowly, even Eli and his Whitetail's, and now after today, there were no more Rookists, no more Whitetails, they were all dead, or blissed to high hell, yet again, he and Jess were all alone, back to square one.

And then as Clark continued to show more signs of angelfication, Rook pulled the trigger, the gunshot ringing out for all to hear, the blissed ignored it as if they didn't hear it, but everyone else horribly recoiled, fearing it was the peggies regrouping, but Rook quickly waved it off, dismissing all fears, getting all of them to go back to what they were doing.

With now heavy feet, Rook shuffled back over to Jess who watched with great curiosity, he didn't bother to help the other addicts, they would be dead soon enough, there was no way they could be looked after, not during the large ecological shift that was going to happen with Jacob now gone, it was arguably easier to just let them go and let nature take its course, or at least that's what Rook believed, and he always believed he was right.

He had a lot on his mind now, he had lost so much; Faith, Clark, Pratt, Tammy, Eli, Michael, his Rookists, he didn't know how to keep the mountains safe while he was out in the Henbane, perhaps he could get Jerome to do something, but outside of that, who knows, and he didn't want to think about the Henbane, all that with Faith made his head throb, it was all so complicated, it made him very stressed.

And as he approached Jess, she quietly asked him if he was alright, if he responded, he didn't remember it, his head was too full of could be and what if's, he had a lot of ideas, but not enough time or resources, eventually he spoke to Jess again, giving her a single order.

"We still got a lot of work to do, get ready"


Thank you for reading this far, I would just like to say this will be the final chapter update of this year, I hope to see all of you in the new year.

And I would like to thank Hyperlightflux for helping me out these past few chapters, he's been a real friend.