Rook stood posted up behind a tree.
He felt like a creep leaning up against a tree, peeking out and watching, gun in hand, he felt like a serial killer. Well, by definition he might as well been with the ungodly amount of blood he had on his hands, but that was besides the point, he wasn't hiding behind the tree to think upon some self-imposed philosophical quandary, he was here to find and capture Staci Pratt, and after that, who knows, but Jess clearly had other ideas.
She was fifty feet away, behind a similar tree, watching out for any cowardly Deputy's to wander through, and of course she was unhappy about it, they had been here a while now and Jess had gotten bored quickly, and with each passing minute it felt like Pratt wasn't going to wander through, but Rook believed otherwise, Burke had strongly believed he would wander through this general area at some point, he seemed very sure of this, and he kept communicating this to his lover.
Regardless of the distance, Rook and Jess were the two were able to somewhat communicate basic ideas to one another via general facial expressions and soft hand gestures, just enough to relay their thoughts.
"Dude, for real, fuck this" Jess communicated with great irritation.
"Five, minutes, just hold on" Rook communicated back.
"You said that half an hour ago" Jess communicated back with great displeasure.
"Just chill, you got nothing better going on" Rook signaled, it was clear he was getting annoyed too, not from wait, but Jess's incessant whining.
And with that Jess relented, albeit not because Rook told her to but because she knew he wasn't getting anywhere with him. Rook was much to content hiding behind his tree scanning his surroundings for anything Pratt related, Jess had half a mind to get up and walk away right then and there. But she didn't.
Before she did, she saw Rook go rigid, his features taunt and sharp, like a predator spotting it's prey, and that could only mean on thing, Pratt.
Following his gaze, Jess spotted bushes and shrubs shifting oddly a ways away, not in the usual manner brought by the wind, but intention movement made by a lifeform, possibly animal, possibly human.
Both Rook and Jess watched with bated breath, hoping it was their quarry, one more then the other, and then as their sense of suspense ran high, out emerged Staci Pratt, disheveled and haggard, he lurched forward, and hobbled along, he looked terrible albeit Rook had lost the ability to remember how many days ago anything happened anymore, Pratt looked like time had taken its toll on him, or more precisely; the County did, he looked like a homeless vagrant, deputy's uniform ripped and filthy, hair matted and profusely long, fear and tiredness etched deeply into his face in long wrinkles and creases, his form had ben shrunk much like Burke's lack of food and constant movement had left him malnourished.
"Well I'll be fucked, you were right" Jess communicated, actually surprised at the turn of events.
She was about to signal to Rook how they should handle the situation, before she could come up with the correlating signs, she saw Rook emerge from his tree and sprinted towards Pratt, charging as fast as he could, she considered intervening in some manner but decided to hang back and let things play out, Rook seemed pretty hard up on this.
Then Rook bellowed out a roar, calling out Pratt's name, causing the man to look over his shoulder and saw Rook come barreling at him, his confusion turning to horror before trying to run away as fast as he could, but his run was more like lopsided jog, he had been exhausted for days now, and Rook caught up to him in an instant. Like a lion taking down an antelope, Rook flawlessly tackled Pratt, leaping into his back and slamming him into the ground, but despite his shoddy appearance, Pratt hit the ground firing off on all cylinders, trying to wriggle free as he cried and screamed for help that would not come. Seeing as he wasn't going to get help or free, he tried to roll onto his back so he could fight back, but due to his weakened state, Rook allowed him to roll over while maintain complete control over the man, even as he flailed his arms in ineffectual defense Rook kept his grip on the man, Pratt's arms were nothing more then limp, sweaty noodles, with great ease Rook pushed his arms aside before his hands shot for Pratt's throat as he climbed onto of him, his knees baring down on Pratt's ribs painfully so, making it hard to breathing, every inhale a trial as the air was perpetually squeezed out of him.
"You mother fucker!" Rook roared as his grip on Pratt's throat got painfully tight.
"After everything I did for you, you blissed my guys, the people who fed you, the people who looked after you after I saved you from Jacob!" he continued before pausing for a response, but got none as he was effectively straggling Pratt, dully noting the fact, he released him just enough for him to speak.
And after Pratt got all the coughing and heaving out of the way, he began sobbing and wailing.
"Please, please don't kill me, I'm sorry, wait!" he franticly sobbed.
"Get fucked if you think I'm actually going to let you live after everything you've done, you have any idea how useful the Rookists would have been here if not for you!?" Rook berated the man, his fingers twitching and flexing as he fought back the urge to strangle him to completion.
"I had no choice! Honest! I didn't want to!" Pratt bellowed through choked tears.
But that just made Rook grab handfuls of his shirt and lifted Pratt off the ground a few inches before slamming him into the ground again.
"Shut the fuck up already, act like a man for once in your pathetic fucking life!" Rook howled at his co-worker.
"What if I told you stuff, I've seen and heard so many things! Please!" Pratt continued to sob.
"It's obviously a trap, why should I believe you?!" Rook barked, preparing to strangle him again.
"If it is, I'm dead either way, I know what your capable of, a simple trap won't stop you" Pratt pleaded and cried, begging to be spared.
His words made Rook hesitate, yes Pratt was a coward and turncoat, but he wasn't an idiot, he truly was dead either way.
"What do you got?" Rook asked, his wrath and strength relenting enough for the man to speak.
"Faith got something in the Statue, the Father Statue has something in it! something very important!" Pratt cried as loud as he could, his jaw quivering, fearing every word would be his last.
Again, Rook hesitated, mulling over what he heard, he was indeed interested in it, it could very well be useful, all things considered, it made him want to pick his brain further on the subject, with a sigh, Rook relented, climbing off the coward.
"You got a point" Rook said, disappointed, standing up again and staring down at Pratt, contempt in his eyes.
Seeing as Rook wasn't going to rip his head off, Pratt stared, terrified at him for a few seconds before slowly stand up as well on unsteady legs.
"Um, thanks" Pratt heaved uncomfortably, feeling incredibly awkward by now gentle atmosphere of him not getting killed.
But Rook replied in kind with a savage blow to Pratt's right eye socket, sending him tumbling back down to the floor with a cry of pain.
Hands shot to his now damaged, throbbing eye, trying to shuffle back within the dirt, sniveling as he looked up at Rook, fear for his life reignited in his eyes.
"That's for my Rookists" Rook hissed before winding back his leg and kicking him the ribs, leaving him howling in pain.
By now Jess had casually caught up to the too, taking her time with her stroll, watching Rook work, the needless violence was unneeded and unlike him, but she didn't care, she just wanted to get out of here.
"You done yet?" Jess asked, bored.
"Yeah, now I am, let's get the fuck out of here" Rook said with a satisfied smirk, before approaching Pratt again.
Instead of accosting him again, Rook grabbed him by the back of his collar and hoisted him, dragging him along the ground like heavy luggage, Pratt didn't try to fight it, he merely resigned himself to his fate, it was a better state then being dead.
"Are you seriously going to carry him back to the prison?" Jess inquired, raising an eyebrow to the pathetic man, limp as a noodle and just as thin.
"Yeah, now I am, let's get the fuck out of here" Rook said with a satisfied smirk, before approaching Pratt again.
Instead of accosting him again, Rook grabbed him by the back of his collar and hoisted him, dragging him along the ground like heavy luggage, Pratt didn't try to fight it, he merely resigned himself to his fate, it was a better state then being dead.
"Are you seriously going to carry him back to the prison?" Jess inquired, raising an eyebrow to the pathetic man, limp as a noodle and just as thin.
"Yeah, I ain't letting him out of my sight again, if he somehow does, put an arrow in his leg" Rook said gruffly, he really didn't care what happened to him, he just wanted to know what he knew, you didn't need a leg or arm to talk.
Rook kicked open the prison's front door with a loud bang, before trudging through, earning an arid comment from Jess stating she could have simply opened the door for him, but he found his foot just as good, he wanted in as soon as possible, his shoulder had began to ache long ago from dragging Pratt along and got worse with the minute, sure he could have let him go and marched him there, or just switched arms, but again, Rook didn't care, he was look a dog chasing it's own tail, now he got it, he wasn't going to let go.
With every step he took, more and more people began to stare at the spectacle, despite the very worried glances, no one dared say anything, fearing they'd be punished or something along those lines, regardless, Rook work his way into the main compound of the prison, and yet again, as soon as he entered, the Sheriff yelled at him in an instant.
"Where the hell did you go this time!?" Whitehorse yelled from across the room,
"I brought back a decent catch" Rook said proudly as he threw Pratt onto the floor in front of him, he hit the ground letting out an audible oof.
"Jesus Kid, what the hell happened to him!?" Whitehorse cried as he jogged over and took a knee next to Pratt to examine him in utter disbelief of his state.
"Throw him in Burke's cell, I'll get to him when I want to" Rook ordered, stretching out the arm that carried Pratt.
"Kid! What the hell happened to him?!" Whitehorse yelled again, looking up at Rook, his brow furrowing and burly mustache curling at Rook's ongoing renegade attitude.
"He's been wandering the Mountain and Henbane regions since I killed Jacob, eating God knows what and sleeping in bushes" Rook replied with disgust, now that they were all inside, Pratt's odor was trapped in with the rest of the unwashed flesh, the stench was palpable.
"We need to put some food in him, he doesn't look like he can last to much longer" Whitehorse guessed, looking back down at Pratt's unmoving, dirty form resting on the cold cement floor in anguish.
"Naah, let him sweat it out a bit longer" Rook scoffed casually as he rolled onto his side and looked up at his Sheriff.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Whitehorse barked.
"You know what he did, don't you?" Rook said scornfully and just as tired, he was sick of the third degree from the Sheriff.
Whitehorse didn't reply immediately, it was fairly evident he was hesitating, with another sigh, he pushed himself off his knee and stood to full height again, not before uttering a grunt as his old, tired body was still slowly deteriorating despite the lack of action. And even with his many back and forth's he's had with Rook, he still couldn't bring himself to look the Junior Deputy in the eye, he couldn't bring a valid argument to protect Pratt.
"Yeah… I know he really screwed you over in the Mountains" Whitehorse said quietly, it was like he was afraid to speak loudly as if it would make it all the truer.
"So what are you waiting for? Lock him up already!" Rook almost shouted, his patience waning thin again, he wasn't going to calm down until Pratt was squared away.
With another long sigh, Whitehorse looked down at Pratt again.
"Things aren't looking good for you, Son" Whitehorse exhaled
"You don't look so good either, Boss" Pratt croaked pitifully, as he rolled onto his side and curled up into a ball, staring at his drooping face.
"Get him in a cell" the Sheriff muttered as he waved over to two prison citizens.
And as quickly as they were summoned, they scurried in and grabbed Pratt by the arms before lifting him up and taking him away, not just because Whitehorse told them to, but because Rook was glaring dangerously at them, it scared them more then what awaited them outside. And as they dragged him, Whitehorse and Rook walked along side them, both wanting to seem him squared away for different reasons, all the while Rook explaining the depths of his treachery. His words flowed like water, a never-ending stream of stories in great detail, even as the two struggled to get Pratt apathy ridden body up a set a stairs, Rook continued, not helping, the only time he stopped was when he was finally thrown into a cell and Whitehorse locked him in.
"You've fallen a ways down, Boy" Whitehorse commented, a sadness running though him.
But Pratt didn't respond, he just kept his back to the Sheriff, shoulders slumped and head hanging low, the man was properly trapped in despair.
Seeing as the downtrodden deputy wasn't going to say anything more at this time, Whitehorse turned away and left, wanting to move on to the next course of business, but Rook thought otherwise, he followed after him and quickly caught up with him before the Sheriff descended the stairs while Jess stayed behind to tease and mock Pratt who had now curled up in the cover, his arms covering his face, none of which Rook minded.
"Y'know, once a traitor always a traitor, he bread crumbed some info about a statue, pretty sure there's something worthwhile in there, I also want to put the screws to him, see what else he knows" Rook said snidely as he matched his pace.
"You're going to have to deal with him later, things happened while you were gone" Whitehorse informed while descending the stairs, thanking those who handled Pratt as he went.
His hand tightly clasping the railing as he went, it almost appeared that he was having difficultly going down but that could be easily written off as an effect of the prior heart attack some time ago, so Rook wrote it off as nothing particularly wrong, he was much to distracted by what Whitehorse had just said.
"What!? what's going on, we under attack, who do I need to kill?" Rook gasped, the boredom of jailing Pratt was gone and instantly replaced with excitement as he could soon be removing undesirables from the County.
"Ok calm down Kid, hold your horses Whitehorse said bluntly, rolling his wrist at Rook before continuing.
"We believe the peggies are planning to break our walls, be it a bunch of explosives, or a big God damn drill" he muttered.
"Ok, let's them show up and we'll just kill them as they come over the hill" Rook shrugged at the simple plan.
"It's not as simple as we'd like to believe, this isn't a they come to us solution, this is a we go to them" Whitehorse said promptly, as if trying to choose his words.
"Armstrong will stay here with your buddies that came here with you and keep an eye on the place while we deal with the problem at hand" Whitehorse proposed.
"Jess is coming with us" Rook said very quickly, so fast that it was like he had seconds to respond or she wouldn't be able to come.
"No, we are going to need all the help we can get protecting the prison, I need make sure she doesn't do anything to are guys while we're, yeah?" Whitehorse replied.
"Come on, she's not- wait, wait, you said we will deal with the problem?" Rook stuttered, catching on to what he said.
"That's right, I'm coming with you, myself and a bunch of guys, we ain't letting you walk into the lion's den all by yourself, even if you have Black with you.
"But we work best alone, me and Jess, you and these guys are just going to slow us down, and besides you can't come, I mean… look at you" Rook cringed, gesturing to Whitehorse's frame, sure he sounded like an asshole, but he needed to be straightforward. But all he got in response was an eye roll and grunt.
"Ben… you're on mighty thin ice Kiddo, even with all the good you've done around here, no one feels safe around you, they don't trust you after what you've done" Whitehorse said uncomfortably.
"Come the fuck on!" Rook loudly groaned in irritation, getting real sick of this shit. But Whitehorse carried on hesitantly, not acknowledging the complaint.
"While you weren't around, the idea of kicking you out has been thrown around… Virgil and Tracey are on board with kicking you out, me and Grace ain't, so I'm going to keep an eye on you until you can be trusted Kid… you've changed" Whitehorse finished, sighing glumly.
"Yeah! Changed for the better! You really think anyone can take care of all this while being a fucking pacifist? Fuck that!" Rook spat.
"Well to bad, only Tracey, Virgil, Grace and myself know where to possible area of operations is, so its either my way or the highway" Whitehorse stated.
"Oh come f-" Rook muttered before sighing angrily, his head tilted back like an angry teenager
"Fine, fuck, alright!" Rook groused loudly, rolling his eyes greatly.
"Alright good, come on, we're rolling out now" Whitehorse stated before breaking off and staggering towards the door to the parking lot.
With a begrudging sigh, Rook reluctantly followed, a part of him hoped he could somehow ditch him before they hit the road, but alas to no avail, Rook could not as he was forced to take a care ride with his boss. And even still the ride was just as difficult, Whitehorse and Rook drove down a lonely road by themselves, occasionally tried to initiate conversation, talking about whatever came to mind, but Rook intentionally kept blowing him off, still like a moody teenager, leaving an awkward atmosphere within the truck, he wasn't even paying attention to where they were going, it could have been ten minute, it could have been ten minutes, Rook just stared down at his hands the whole time, he never noticed how calloused his hands were, a three months ago it was as smooth as a baby, now he looked like he worked a decade overseas, he wondered if the Sheriff's hands looked like this, before he could try to steal a glance, the truck came to a stop, the Sheriff said they were here and climbed out, with a grunt Rook did the same, when he did, he could see a few Resistance guys littered the area along with a few trucks, most likely holding down the fort in case anyone inside tried to run, for some reason they were her before him and the Sheriff, they're eye's flicked over to Rook and hug on him, they looked afraid, as if they didn't trust him, but after what he did, who could blame them, Rook didn't care, he didn't want them here, he didn't even want to see them.
"Come on, they're in here" Whitehorse said nervously as he led Rook to the side of the warehouse.
There a resistance fighter stood anxiously by a side door inside, whatever was going on it made him scared. And seeing Whitehorse and Rook approach, the fighter jumped to life, as if afraid of them, he quickly grabbed the door's handle and wretched it open, revealing the cold, dark interior, electricity had been gone a long time and the faint sickly-sweet smell of rot drifted out, whatever it was, it was unknown to all men.
Regardless, Rook and Whitehorse stepped in, guns at the ready, Rook expected shit to hit the fan almost immediately, but still nothing happened, it was unusually quiet, the only thing Rook heard was Whitehorse ordering the fighter to close the door behind them, which was quickly followed suit, with the doo clanging shut, the absence of light was almost crushing, the visibility was halved, only a dim light got in through the window, and still despite it all, as the two walked deeper into the warehouse, still the place was as quiet as a grave, there was no one there but the two of them, no evil plots or the like, as far as he was concerned, it was just a run of the mill warehouse.
"Oook, so, what's the plan or whatever, I don't see anyone or anything suspicious" Rook said aloud as he watched Whitehorse, his saunter made him wary, the Sheriff walked around as if he was back in the prison.
"There are no peggies looking to break down our walls, I made that up to get you out here alone" Whitehorse muttered uneasily, his brow twitching nervously.
"What the fuck does that mean, Boss!?" Rook exclaimed, taking a step back, subconsciously his hand moved a few inches towards the gun tucked in his waistband as he eyed Whitehorse's revolver still snug in its holster, he had a feeling something was wrong, but this, this was something else.
"I needed to talk to you alone, away from everyone else" Whitehorse muttered again, still uncomfortable with the whole scenario as he carefully watched Rook, he hoped he wouldn't snap and get violent or storm out.
"So what the hell are we doing here then!?" Rook spat, disgusted at the lying and wasting of his time, if it wasn't the Sheriff pulling the strings on this, who knows what he'd do, regardless, he wasn't going to let this go.
"Our radios are shit, but they work on occasion, every now and again we talk to the Holland Valley and the Mountains to a degree, and all three of us can agree, you just disappear for long stretches of time, nobody knows what you do, you won't tell us anything, so I need to ask you Benjamin, man to man, are you a peggie?" Whitehorse asked, his voice gravely deep and chalk full of grit, it pained him to ask such a question, but he had to know, he needed to know.
"Excuse me!" Rook exclaimed in a mix and shock, he could feel anger and bitterness flooding his veins, how fucking dare he accuse him of being a peggie after every thing he done while Whitehorse and the rest of his circus sat on their asses, he should be regarded as a God damn hero,
"I know, I don't want to believe it, I don't want to be here doing this, but I can't help put stare at the piling evidence" Whitehorse said quietly, struggling to keep eye contact with his Junior Deputy.
"What evidence Earle!? What fucking evidence!?" Rook shouted as he took a couple threatening steps towards Whitehorse, hands on his hips, none of which made the Sheriff feel any more incorrect about his assumption.
"I know you got all kinds of fucked up by Jacob and got some kind of brainwashing thing, I don't know what, but who's to say your not an undercover agent working against us, I wasn't lying to you when I said you were on thin ice, Tracey and Virgil are really voting on kicking you out of here, me and Armstrong can only hold it back for so long, Armstrong is slowly changing her mind with every time you go off and do your own thing, your digging yourself a mighty fine hole" Whitehorse explained.
"And I fucking took care of it, I need like, a certain trigger to go all brainwashed, and I took it all down, everyone who knows what it is is dead, y'all are just jumping at shadows at this point, just fucking trust me ok, trust your Deputy over some fucking civvies!" Rook angrily demanded, he felt like an idiot, he couldn't believe he had to do with Whitehorse, he thought at least he was the brains of the operation.
"Ok it sounds like a he said, she said situation so let's coming back to this in a bit, I have something more concrete for you instead… I was able to pull some more info from Burke, I know he needs you to go back to Faith's bunker with him so you can solve some problem there, why? He won't tell me, I doubt it's for a good reason" Whitehorse stated, eyeing Rook oddly.
"So let me get this straight" Rook barked through grit teeth.
"You're talking the word of a Kool-Aid drinking cultist over me, your fucking fellow officer of the law, a hardened Deputy of Montana!?" Rook exclaimed, he couldn't help but throw his hands in the air as he said that, only turn earn a flinch and a single backstep, in inspired nothing good within Rook. If anything, it upset and angered him more, after everything that happened, did he really trust him that little?
"Hey, come on now, let's calm down now" Whitehorse said quickly, his voice sounded a little shaky as he held a hand up to stop him, even his hand shook a little, was he afraid?
"No! fuck no! I ain't calming down this is fucking bullshit, after everything I did, everything I did, I killed John! I killed Jacob! I killed so many Goddamned fucking cultists and saved so many people who didn't have the balls and or brains to save themselves! I'm the one who is singlehandedly stopping Eden's Gate! And what do I ask for in return!? Fucking nothing! Y'all should be lucky I'm not demanding a huge reward or something, like what if demanded to be in charge of everything!? hell I should be in charge, but noooooo I'm some fucking monster or whatever, I'm a traitor! a peggie! Noooo! don't fucking trust me! I'm only doing what's best for the resistance!" Rook shrieked and yelled as his face grew redder and redder.
And as he screamed and ranted like a mad man, Whitehorse couldn't help but hear the challenge in Rook's voice, it was more then angry yelling, it was like he was subtly calling him out for something more physical, it was like Rook wanted to actually fight him.
"Ben, numerous eyewitness accounts of you doing something that isn't above the board, I mean hell Kid, you shot three of our guys in the back over a solved problem, what do you want me to believe?" Whitehorse tried to reason with his friend, he tried his best to tread carefully but clearly it wasn't going to work, Rook was too lost in his anger.
"Look at you Kid, swearing up a storm! Flying off the handle when things don't go your way, I don't recognize you, no one does anymore!" Whitehorse loudly retorted, his patience waning, maybe it was time to get more firm with him.
"So what!? I don't give a shit, I'll swear as much as I want! Its one of the few things I can do around here, hell! I'll probably have even less when we go home and you decide to lock me up in a cell with Pratt, the actual traitor mind you!" Rook belted out.
"Benjamin, I need you to settle down and listen to me" Whitehorse said firmly, hoping to grab him and get him to actually listen.
"I get that your upset, I know you've been through a lot and done a lot, I can see it, everyone can, but if you want to be treated like it you need to act like it, you need to calm down, all this rate, you're going to get yourself thrown in a cell, outside, or worse, and I'm going to be the one who will have to carry it out, and I really don't want, so if you really can't get your act together I'm going to have to do something you're not going to like!" Whitehorse warned as he wagged his finger at Rook, he wished he didn't have to be so assertive, but if Rook wasn't going to settle, he'd have to force him into it.
"And what, what are you going to do about it?" Rook threatened, not liking the accusations as he stepped dangerously closed to Whitehorse, sizing him up and staring him down.
Whitehorse was brought to a pause, despite Rook's erratic behavior, he wasn't expecting an outright threat like that, he didn't know that to do, what to say, all he could do was state facts as he saw them as he was forced to stare down Rook, his brow was brow furrowed in anger as he burned a hole through his aviators. Whitehorse didn't know what Rook was thinking or what he was about to say, but he knew it wasn't going to be good. The constant warfare had sized him up well, he was much more muscular then when they first came here, his clothes were dotted with rips and blood, his and others, his palms and knuckles were calloused and rugged, he was no stranger to physical confrontations, the growing four O'clock shadow overtaking his face made him look like a stranger, there was something dangerous lurked right behinds his eyes, something that said I am a danger, it was the exact same thing the Sheriff had seen in so many perps he arrested, but unlike those perps, there was nothing separating them from him, be it handcuffs, the law, or backup, it was just Whitehorse and Rook, meaning he had to chose his words very carefully.
"If you do anything to me, you'll just be confirming what everyone thinks of you and that will be then end of it" Whitehorse said gently, despite his attempt to defuse the situation, he steeled himself for a fight.
This time Rook was brought to a pause as he mulled over what the Sheriff stated, probably thinking over the consequences of his choice, or quite possibly how he'd fare if he exited the warehouse by himself. And to Whitehorse's despair, it looked like Rook had made up his mind, and it was not a amicable one.
Before either man could reach for their guns or each other, a gunshot sounded, the ring echoed throughout the empty warehouse. It was followed by yelling and automatic gunfire; the resistance guys Whitehorse brought with him were shooting something outside, peggies obviously. The gunshot broke both men from their reverie, both molded from prolonged conflict they snapped too, hands shot to rest on their guns as they faced the source of the gunfire.
"The hell is going on now?" Whitehorse asked aloud.
But asking this question caused Rook to sidestep him and casually walked towards the gunfire and up to the door they entered, he placed a hand on it before turning to face the Sheriff, a cold indifference plastered across his face.
"Come on" Rook muttered gravely, anger still running through his voice but at a colder delivery.
"I got to save y'all again" he seethed before pushing the door open and stepped into the warzone.
Whitehorse couldn't believe what he saw.
After Rook stepped outside and slammed the door behind him, he ran door after his Deputy and men outside, fearing for their lives, the possibilities of what was going on outside terrified him, it made his heart slamming like a jackhammer, if he wasn't careful, he'd have another heart attack, when he slammed open the door he expected to see his own me dying around him, so much so that the sweet on his palms threatened his grip on his revolver, but when the door finally flew open and Whitehorse burst out, he froze, not from the fear he believed he would see, but the opposite.
In the small lead time Rook had, he had used it to its upmost extent, laying waste to the horde of peggies that came out of the woodwork, using his handgun, bow and whatever he picked up from the dead, his efforts far surpassed any of the guys Whitehorse brought with him, while they favored firing from cover and play it more carefully then boldly, Rook was the exact opposite, as aggressive as one could be with a gun, his experience taking life, exceeded both ally and foe alike, and before anyone knew it, Rook was thinning the herd, so much so to the point that once it was clear the peggies were barreling towards failure, some less stalwart cultists turned their backs and fled into the wooded thicket nearby, to the Sheriff, the fleeing seemed out of character, but when it was against Rook, a part of him couldn't blame them.
And just like that, the peggies had been for the most part were disposed of, with minimal help from the Resistance, Rook led the charge and killed them all. And with the peggies retreating, everyone else was equally in shock, no one could believe the fluidity and efficiency that the Junior Deputy possessed, and yet relieved they had survived such a perilous surprise, and the Sheriff, in disbelief, he didn't do anything to repel the peggies, or more specifically, he never got the chance to help.
The sheriff cast his gaze to his men who sparsely spread around the field, three for four were dead, but the majority were completely fine, shook up, but fine, needless to say Rook was fine, he was plodding around the scattered peggie corpses, lightly nudging them to see if somehow life still brewed within them, and when he did find one who had narrowly escaped certain death, either pitifully crawling away, a hole in their side, or laying in a daze, slowly drifting into the abyss as lifeblood seeped out, he took care of them, either for the sake of finishing the job or for his own personal amusement, Whitehorse couldn't tell. Regardless, he decided to put an end to it, stomping over to him.
Rook snorted as he kicked another corpse, earning nary a grunt or sign of life, the corpse was a corpse.
With a disappointed sigh, he moved on to another body to conduct the test again only to earn the same results, he couldn't believe he was admitting it, but he was bored, the fight was a lot easier than he expected, Faith's guys were chumps. Even with the Sheriff approaching him from the corner of his eye, he moved on to another body before he intervened with his fun, but this time, when he kicked, it resigned a dull groan from the body, sparking a lift of excitement within Rook. As quick as a whip he pointed his gun at the dying man's and pulled the trigger before Whitehorse could say anything, but when he pulled the trigger, his gun gave a dull click from its chamber, the dull click was something Rook was familiar with, the gun was jammed.
Infuriated by this turn of events, he looked at his gun for a second before meticulously tinkering with it, hoping to free the lodged casing from the gun, and what seemed to push his buttons more, was that Whitehorse had caught up to him and stood uncomfortably next to him, silent, trying to figure out what would elect the most passive response from him.
"You got a minute, Kid?" Whitehorse asked quietly.
But Rook didn't reply as he purposely ignored him, favoring unjamming his gun over him, and Whitehorse noticed it.
"Why don't you give it a rest with unjamming the gun, it doesn't look like it's going to come lose, hell, maybe God doesn't want you to use that anymore" Whitehorse offered, looking down at the profusely bleeding cultist, to blood drained to do anything but lay on the ground.
"Don't you start with that God shit, I'm so sick of that shit" Rook spat as he fiddled with his gun with greater intensity.
"We all got to believe in something, God, a better tomorrow… a better outlook" Whitehorse said with an uncomfortable uncertainty.
"And what is your idea of a better outlook?!" Rook cried angrily as he quickly turned to face Whitehorse starting him down again.
"I don't know, but I don't think it' shooting dying men in the back" Whitehorse supposed softly, adjusting his aviators.
"Well, these fuckers would, so why not return the favor?!" Rook shouted, jerking his gun violently in the peggie's direction.
"Fuck! While we're at it, while we're at, why don't we give em' all a full fucking pardon!" Rook yelled as he jerked his gun around like an instructor's wand but doing so somehow caused the lodged casing to come flying out, unjamming the gun, and both men noticed.
"There… God can kiss my ass" Rook spat as he leveled his guy again at the bleeding peggie and pulled the trigger, this time the gun fire as it should, the bullet penetrating the man, leaving Whitehorse to sigh in disappointment.
"Would you just fucking knock it off already!?" Rook yelled a little louder than before, unconsciously pointing his gun at him.
"Woah, woah, woah Kid, let's take a breath!" Whitehorse stammered, holding his hands up defensively as he backed up a few steps.
"This passive aggressive bullshit! with your sighing and little comments! I get it, you don't fucking like me! But to bad! You don't know what it's like you don't know what needs to be done!" Rook proclaimed so loudly that the resistance members began to take notice what was going on, but yet none of them acted, they were too afraid to engage, or they'd end up like the peggies.
"Alright Bud, your clearly upset, lets put down the gun and just talk things over" Whitehorse asked nervously, one of his raised hands slowly reaching towards the gun as he inched closer, his heart yet again threatening to leap through his ribcage.
But as he did, Rook jerked the gun at him again, causing him to back off with a gasp.
"I'm done talking Earle, I'm done! I'm doing things my way since I'm the only one who can do it, it's what got me this far and I'm going to finish the job like this!" Rook shouted, he was telling the truth, he was sick of everything, and he wasn't going to back down anymore.
"Hey, Hey, Hey, I surrender, Fuck I give, I give!" a scared, loud voice came.
Rook froze at the sound of the voice, the phrase he heard sounded so foreign, so alien to him, so much so that he took it as a joke. He quickly turned to see who dared approach them and for some reason, one of the peggies who fled had come back, and dropped to his knees before them, hands over his head. Before Rook could point his gun at him and shoot, Whitehorse stepped in, overshadowing him.
"What the fuck?" Rook muttered, confusion hitting him like a bat, for a single moment he forgot all about his anger.
"I don't really see a whole lot of you surrenderin' what's going on?" Whitehorse asked the peggie, narrowing his eyes at the kneeling man.
And then the anger came back and Rook didn't see a point to the questioning, he didn't trust the Peggie, no fucking way, this was some ploy.
"A few of us hung around to prepare of a second attack but seeing all that, I can't take it anymore, there's to fucking much going on, John and Jacob were dead, fuck knows where the Father is, and Faith doesn't know what the fuck she's doing, traitor or not, she can't lead the fight against y'all, and this Gordon guy who's taken charge is fucking crazy, he's like Jacob but crazier, killing anyone he doesn't agree with, and we're so fucking afraid of the Deputy, he's not what Faith said at all, it's to much man, just take me prisoner or something!" the man begged frantically, shaking his steepled hands at the two officers.
"Come on man, what do I got to say, I don't know what to do without the Father's wisdom, so I'm bowing out until things cool off, once it does, the winner will break your walls and kill you damn sinners and that will be it" The peggie admitted, he didn't mean to come off as aggressive but hey, he was talking to putrid sinners after all.
"We're the same too" another voice came, causing the two officers to look up and saw five more peggies tentatively stepped forth, looking scared and hand raised high to show they were no threat, all of them stared at Rook, he didn't say anything as they inched forward and slowly lowered themselves onto their knees next to the first man to surrender, hands still up, these people must be the a few of us the first man referred to.
But the two officers didn't take the surprise easily, they didn't like being snuck up on, so upon seeing the possible threats, they both jumped back, guns hastily drawn and pointed at the peggies, and in turn, they freaked out to, gasping and trembling.
"Well shit, you don't see this every day" Whitehorse commented, scratching his chin.
"Yeah, who gives a shit, this is clearly a trap right?" Rook sighed, rolling his eyes, at times he forgot how unused to out in the field confrontations Whitehorse was, it was going to get him killed.
"Well, I don't know about that, they seem pretty genuine, tell you what, keep an eye on these guys Kid, I don't trust these guys while I talk it over with the rest of the guys" he half muttered to Rook before sauntered off.
Rook made a bored grunt of acknowledgement before turning back to the kneeling peggies while making a show of drumming his fingers along the grip of his handgun, still tucked gently in his waistband.
"Come on man, your supposed to be a hero or whatever, right? Faith thinks so, we're just a bunch of poor people used up by the Seeds, just lock us away until this is all over alright?" the man asked gently, he was scared, he didn't know what to say or do, he didn't believe what Faith said about him, but it was better then deal with the slow burning Gordon/Faith fight that had the Gate in perpetual chokehold, it was all chaos, at this rate, maybe the end really was coming.
"Yeah, I'm sure she said all kinds of things" Rook chuckled as he looked directly up for a moment then behind him, just as long.
"I don't know what happened between you two, but Faith really needs you more then ever" the Peggie said.
"Yeah well… regardless of what I chose, you're not important enough to see it happen" Rook chuckled as he took out his handgun and shot the man in the chest, sufficiently killing him.
Ending the man was a sure-fire way to scare the crap out of everyone, everyone visibly recoiled while a few yelped as the gunshot echoed, the other few peggies, gasped and twisted away from the corpse, they're features pulled back in stark fear and surprise. And before Rook could start shooting up the rest, just like the last time he fired his gun in the presence of Whitehorse, the Sheriff charged forward and seized Rook' arm and forced it upward all the while bellowing his name in contempt. But this time, Rook did not relent.
"What? What else were we going to do? Take them back with us, tell them to stand still until we're a certain distance away? These guys don't give a shit, they'll butcher us the first chance they get, either we put them down or they put us down" Rook scoffed as he pulled his arm free from his overbearing fellow officer.
Why was the Sheriff so thick headed about this? Was all that ran through Rook's head, he should understand better than anyone that they were sick dogs that needed to be put down, on that fateful night, he saw a Peggie throw themselves into their helicopter blades to keep Joseph from leaving the County, they couldn't be trusted.
"It doesn't matter what we do with 'em, you can't just start killin' 'em like a bunch of bugs!" Whitehorse shouted loudly, as he restrained himself, he wanted to tackle him again, to steal his gun away, he was getting more untrustworthy by the minute, the only thing that held him back was he knew he'd lose.
"But they are, they're a bunch of locusts, a plague, they need to go" Rook spat, looking disdainfully at the rest of the living peggies, who stared at him nervously, waiting for him to do something, anything.
"You're an officer of the law! You need to be better then this!" Whitehorse said before pausing uncharacteristically, Rook wasn't sure if it was due to his aviators or not, but Whitehorse eye's looked bloodshot.
"I… I… I…" Whitehorse tried to say as voice the decreased in volume with each attempt at speech, whatever he was doing wasn't planned.
Whitehorse then hunched over himself as he started breathing heavily, he looked nervous, almost pained.
"Easy there Earle, don't have another heart attack on us, yeah?" Rook said warily, eyeing the Sheriff carefully, was he about to drop? Was he really that bad?
Rook was no doctor, but it looked like Whitehorse's heart attack prone heart, was coming back with a vengeance. He chose to stay quiet and watch as Whitehorse cough a few wet hacks before clearing his throat as he stood upright again, wiping the sweat from his brow, the collapsed side of his face looking clammier than before.
"I'm fine Kid, don't worry" he said, but his voice sounded like a wheeze, like a dog toy slowly begin squeezed.
"I told you to stay behind on this one" Rook said scornfully.
"It doesn't matter anymore" Whitehorse coughed.
"Let's clean up here, figure out to do with our remaining prisoners and head home" he said.
"I'm not going back with you, you've made it clear I'm not welcome there, I'll come back on my own time and leave when I'm good and ready" Rook said indigently.
"Kid come on, don't be like that, you can still turn things around, just come back and turn the other cheek" Whitehorse said, breathing heavily as he tried to convince him.
"We don't need better morals, we need better men, an' seeing as y'all won't be that men, I'll do it myself" Rook spat before turning around walking away from everyone, he intended to disappear into the trees and go his own way.
As he did, Whitehorse called out to him again, hoping to change his mind and return to the prison together, but Rook wasn't going to fall for that shit, he knew Whitehorse wasn't going to follow, he was to winded or whatever what afflicting him, but as much as he hated it, Whitehorse was right, to a degree anyways, he needed to calm down a bit before coming back to the prison, even with everything that happened, he felt like he didn't take anything to far, and he was going to continue to do so, he had a lot of work to do, and step one was get Jess again. And as he continued to stomp away while Whitehorse wailed for him, Rook could hear the trucks they came here on start up, the Resistance members had no problem running away from the scene, that was all they were good for these days, and to Rook, they were good for less, regardless, the gears in his mind furiously turned as dark machinations were being born, plans were being forged, and soon enough, Joseph would die.
Thank you Hyperlightflux for the help.