A pair of birds fought over an eyeball, their beaks clamped down on the squishy orb and struggled to wrench it free from the others maw. Around these birds sat dozen more birds and scavenger, all picking at corpses that littered the area around them, just recently a skirmish and taken place, ending in complete failure on one side, the cultist side, but such intricacies were beyond the animal's comprehension, all the cared for was the meal in front of them, they even cared not for what was going on just beyond the decaying avian feast, four trucks were parked unevenly in front of an abandoned pizza place. One truck rocked lightly in a steady rhythmic pace, a hand quickly pressed against the driver side window before slowly sliding downwards, leaving a vertical streak as the glass had fogged over from the heat generated inside.
Inside Rook and Jess made passionate love to each other, the rampant murder they had just wrought had been the primer for such an act, tensions had been riding high for what felt like forever, stress was building in Rook as Faith was getting to close to home for his liking. But now that Jess had got close enough for his liking, everything seemed to melt away like the setting sun.
Once they finished showing just how much they cared for one another, they headed on home, Jess never was one for cuddling and Rook wasn't going to force her, so instead they just put themselves back together before Rook turned the keys that still rested in the ignition and brought the truck back to life, after what they had done, they had no intent of walking home, so they were going back in style, the nice, big peggie truck served as a good enough war trophy, you could care a lot of things in the back, and Rook intended to capitalize on it.
As they came over the hill and pulled up at the prison, they didn't bother to slow down as they approached, not caring if they spooked the shit out of the guards up above the front gate, before they got to close to be considered a threat, Rook wrenched the wheel and turned into the parking lot, lazily parking it in the parking lot, barely bothering to pay attention to the parking spots and parking a little diagonally, taking to spots, meters away from Nick's plane and Addie's helicopter. Turning the engine off and leaving the key in the ignition, the two climbed out, satisfied smirks on their faces, they sauntered back into the prison without a care in the world, but little did they know once they entered it was going to be one thing after another.
"There you are!" Whitehorse groused as soon as Rook walked through the front door, pointing a finger at him like a parent waiting by the front door, catching their child breaking curfew.
"I said I was going to out, and I'd be back" Rook shrugged uncaringly.
Rook could tell his answer bothered Whitehorse, stroke or not, his face twitched in annoyance all the same, and Rook didn't care.
"Your lucky we got bigger fish to fry, you won't believe what happened while you were gone" Whitehorse growled.
"What's going on?" Rook asked, curiosity taking over.
"Come on, I'll show you" Whitehorse said gruffly before turning around and walking deeper into the prison, signaling Rook to follow.
With an annoyed, frustrated sigh, he looked at Jess for assurance, but she just shrugged, leading Rook to roll his eyes at the whole situation before moving to follow Whitehorse, down deeper into the prison's depth's.
As they went walked, at one point, Rook broke away from Jess and caught up to the Sheriff, keeping pace with him, it wasn't too hard on account of his stroke.
"For real, what's going on?" Rook asked, his voice quiet and serious.
"Peggies think we're stupider than we look, they're trying to set us up" Whitehorse said.
"Y 'all've lasted this long so it's clear we got some braincells to rub together" Rook shrugged uncaringly. The peggies out here are nothing like what he had seen in the mountains, dealing them was like taking candy from a baby who was part of a cult.
"I don't know, Kiddo, you're doing some pretty dumb things these days" Whitehorse sighed, but to Rook it sounded like a scoff.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rook snarked, not liking Whitehorse's tone.
"I know who've you been running with" the Sheriff said before lowering his tone just enough so Jess, a meter behind couldn't hear.
"I know all about that Jess girl, she's all kinds of trouble, done a lot of horrible things, and she's dragging you down to her level, your different, Kid" he said.
"Your not my Dad, I'll hang out with whoever the fuck I want, hell, she's one of the most competent people out here, she's not hiding away like the rest of you, we're actually stopping the cult" Rook scoffed again at a normal room level, he didn't care if Jess heard or not, he felt that his girlfriend was just insulted, to the point where he wasn't going to grace his superior with that piece of knowledge.
"I rest my case" Whitehorse said with a sigh.
"What case? All you've done is sit behind these walls while me and her do your jobs, I do what needs to be done" Rook groaned in frustration.
"Well learn to put all this to bed, we're here" Whitehorse said as he stopped at some random cell, looking inward.
The sudden stop caused Rook to skid to a stop before turning his attention to the cell, at a glance, it looked no different to him, but when he peered inward, for a second his breath caught in his throat, he heard Jess swear from behind, what it was exactly, was beyond him, he was too focused on what was within the cell, sitting contently on the dirty bedding was Cameron Burke.
"Benjamin!" burke said with a smile as he looked up at Rook.
"Oh what the actual fuck" Rook gasped unsure if he was angry of happy once the shock of it all wore off.
"My thoughts exactly" Whitehorse mused before turning to Rook.
"He's been pretty talkative, you won't believe the kinds of things he's been saying to us up until now" he said, narrowing his eyes at Rook.
Rook didn't like the implications of the Sheriff's words, making him look over at him, but when he did, he saw a look he was very familiar with, it was the untrusting glare the whitetails gave him all the time before they finally fell in line.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rook asked, preparing for the worst, God knows what Burke said.
"He wants your help, Faith needs your help more specifically, with what, he won't say" the Sheriff explained.
"What's more, he's willing to work for it, he wants us to put him to work to get into our good graces, so you'd be more willing to go with him" he continued.
"Ok, pump the breaks Boss, let's start from the beginning, how did all this fucking happen?" Rook guffawed, this was really throwing him through a loop, was Burke or rather Faith this desperate for his help? What the fuck was going on on her end?
"He just showed up here an hour ago, completely unarmed and by himself, kept saying he wanted in, claiming he wanted nonviolent negotiations of teamwork and trust, of course we expected his buddies to come out the woodwork the second we stuck our heads out, but nothing came, and it was clear he wasn't going to leave until he got is way and well, I couldn't bring myself to shoot him, so he offered himself up as a prisoner, and well, here he is" Whitehorse explained, watching at Burke as if would reveal his intentions.
"That is the truth, I mean no harm to all of you" Burke nodded in agreement.
But his words fell on deaf hears as both men and Jess ignored him.
"So, what are you going to do with him, what's the point of holding him?" Rook asked.
"I'm not to sure yet, but what I do know is that him showing up is just making this go from worse to awful" Whitehorse noted, which lead Rook to question what that meant.
"A lot of people are very, verbally against keeping Burke here, we have almost no food or water left, and they don't want them going to the enemy, and I'm inclined to listen to them, and people are getting worse by the day, everyone's health is declining, so is mine, and with no doctors who knows how to use the medical stuff, we're going to start losing people left and right" Whitehorse said somberly.
"I can help! I was given medical training in response to your push back!" Burke proclaimed loudly and equally desperate, before standing up and hurrying to the bars that separated them, wrapping his hands tightly on the bars.
This time everyone heard Burke, they all turned to regard them man who had pressed himself against the bars as if would increase his odds of being heard out.
"Oh yeah, what you got, Hoss?" Whitehorse asked, not entirely believing Burke.
"I know how to use antiseptic, bullet extraction, I know my way around a needle and thread plus all the fixins' I understand medicine and pills, what to take and how much" Burke said prattling off as much as he could, as fast as he could.
"He really knows his shit, hm?" Rook mused, looking back to Whitehorse for his opinion.
"Your right, as much as I hate to say it, we need him out of necessity, one possibly evil doctor is better then zero doctors" Whitehorse replied.
"Zero? wasn't there like a guy back here who was like working on a cure for Bliss or whatever?" Rook asked.
"Yeah, Doc Lindsay… he's uh... Locked up" Whitehorse struggled to say.
"What? he got caught using morphine for recreational purposes or something?" Rook asked, suppressing a chuckle.
"He's been at the whole Bliss cure thing for about a month now, all by himself, working tirelessly day and night trying to make some sort of progress, but as you can see, shit really hit the fan here, and between the surmounting injuries, dwindling resources, constant attacks, and him being the only doctor, well... One day he just up and cracked, the stress was to much for him" Whitehorse said.
"So, he's out of the picture for the foreseeable future?" Rook asked, only to receive a dry nod from Whitehorse.
"Well, I can't have all of you just dropping dead…" Rook said in contemplation as he placed a hand on his chin.
"I'm sure you padded him down when you let him in right?" he asked.
"Found some book pages; a bunch of cultist mumbo jumbo, an Eden's Gate necklace, all that kind of hippie crap, but what we're most interested in is that he's got a walkie talkie, he was capable of talking to someone at some point, but we can't let 'em talk anymore, he's seen to much, knows to much" Whitehorse decided.
"Do you think he's a threat?" Rook asked, only to have Whitehorse stare at Burke silently for a few moments, uncertainty clouding his eyes.
"I don't know Kid, I really don't know" he sighed, shaking his head pitifully.
"What if we shackle him to the wall or whatever, keep him in the med bay?" Rook asked.
"That is fine with me, the Project is meant to save lives!" Burke proclaimed, but again he was ignored.
"You guys can't be fucking serious right?" Jess snarked in disbelief over what was happening.
"He's a fucking peggie, we can't let him out, fuck knows what he'll do so what if he's got first aid training or whatever, just kill him!" Jess asserted.
"He's one guy, what's the worst he can do under constant supervision, tell you what, if he needs to go, I'll let you do it however you want" Rook offered.
Rook's response to keep Jess silent for a few moments as she considered what was offered to her, she didn't expect it, but she sure as hell liked it.
"Sure, you got it" Jess nodded like a child hearing chances of going to the toy store.
"Alright, you heard the lady" Rook said as he gestured to the lock that kept Burke's cell firmly shut.
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Whitehorse fished around his pockets and produced a big ring of keys from his pocket, he sorted through the many keys before settling on a simple brass key and inserted it into the cell's keyhole, with a odd click, the door was then unlocked allowing the metal door swung open, allowing Burke to take a few anxious steps out.
"I won't be so lenient this time, you try anything fine, I will be forced to shoot you" Whitehorse said carefully, stopping him in the doorway so he could make a show of placing a hand onto the heavy revolver strapped to his hip.
"You can count on me" Burke nodded diligently before side stepping past the Sheriff, eyeing Rook.
"Just keep an eye on him and everything will be fine" Rook offered before turning to lead him to the medical bay, or what was left of it, while Whitehorse went off to inform Tracy and Virgil of these developments.
Along the way, as they traversed the halls, everyone gave Burke, uncomfortable, cold, or even menacing glare, Burke seemed unfazed while Rook couldn't blame them, their treatment was similar yet less hostile way everyone looked at Burke when he wasn't looking on the helicopter ride to the County, it was clear that Whitehorse, or anyone for that matter, didn't completely trust Burke, back then he was a shoot first talk later kind of guy, the wrong type of man to take on the quest to arrest a potential cult leader, but bureaucracy was bureaucracy, the Sheriff and his boys were just wheels in a machine, no saying power.
Hopefully the prison residents saw the Sheriff's word more then just that as Rook waited for them to snap and jump at Burke at every turn, be it verbally or physically, it didn't make Rook feel any better that the firearms residing on everyone's backs or hips were plain as day and so were they're itchy trigger fingers, lithe, given up or not, they'd shoot Burke in an instant of they could. But yet nobody did anything the entire way to the infirmary, Rook pondered perhaps everyone knew of his exploits and held their tongues out of respect or fear, regardless, it had influenced them, and perhaps it was time to capitalize upon that.
And when the door was pushed open to reveal the infirmary, everyone saw that the room was lined with cots, all holding people in various states of consciousness, and beyond that, they all sported different kinds and severity of injuries, some looked asleep or simply bored while others were missing limbs and or on the precipice of starvation among the sea of afflicted sat one Grace Armstrong, she was sitting upon one of the many occupied cots, she was hunched over while a more well put together lithe person slowly wrapped her burned hands and forearms in fresh bandages up to the elbows, her rusted rifle resting next to her, nestling against her knee like a loving pup. Her previous bandages rested between her feet, lightly stained with dark red stains, he remembered seeing her hands when he first showed up, it must have happened somewhat recently, as much as he wanted to know what had transpired, Rook couldn't find it within himself to ask, felt too inappropriate.
But communication between the two had to be established right now as Burke had waddled into the corner of her sight as he got familiar with the infirmaries stock, electing an intense reaction from her.
"Jesus!" Grace gasped as she choked on air the second she saw Burke, shoving her caretaker away while simultaneously and instinctively reaching for her rifle.
With a desperate lunge, Rook threw himself at the woman, his hands tightly clamping upon her shoulder, pushing her down. But the downward force must have triggered something instinctual within her.
"Burke's our prisoner, everything is fine!" Rook bellowed as loud as he could, not caring if he woke any of the resting patients.
Even though Grace had heard Rook's voice, she still remained stalwart, glaring dangerously at Burke who stared helplessly at her like a deer in the headlights, she could crush him, and he wouldn't put up a fight, rifle or not, and everyone knew it, but despite all that, the years of military service had engrained an innate duty to follow orders from superiors, no matter what, and Rook's voice indefinitely sounded superior, his words made her shoulders sink down and appeared to be relaxed, but under Rook's grip, he could feel that they were still rigid and heavy.
"Burke is under my watch for a bit, I wanna try something" Rook commanded, giving her shoulder a light squeeze before letting go.
But Grace merely breathed deeply a few times before looking up at Rook, the second their eyes met she seemed to deflate like a balloon.
"Hello" she said aridly, as if very little air existed within her lungs.
"Hey there, Armstrong" Rook said as took his hands off her and tightly crossed his arms close to his body.
"Glad to see you've come back to us" Grace replied, her voice coming back to its full volume with a few deep breaths, but this time her voice was etched deep with tiredness.
"How you doing, Soldier?" Rook asked.
"Bout as well as anyone around here, I've been posted up on the roof for days now, just watching… that's all I feel I can do, can't sleep, don't want to, to afraid too, you never know when the peggies might strike next" Grace droned on.
"Well take a nap, I'm here now, I'm going to save y'all, by the time your paranoia is gone, Joseph will be dead" Rook said as sure as the sun would come up in the morning.
Grace didn't respond to Rook's beliefs, she wasn't going to sleep well until she knew everything in a quarter mile radius of the prison was dead, and glancing over Rook's shoulder, she could see Jess, who always shadowed Rook, Grace knew what she stood for and what she liked, Jess's mindset made her feel that her paranoia felt valid.
"You've done a good job so far, keeping everyone safe" Rook added.
"While you were gone, I got to know the people who came here with you, you got yourself an... Interesting group of friends" Grace said.
"What can I say, I'm an interesting guy" Rook replied.
"So why do you got a Peggie down here? Did he hurt himself?" Grace asked, look over at Burke who walked up and down the rows of people, examining them like museum pieces.
"Naah, he claims to have medical training and is willing to help around her for some crazy reasons" Rook explained.
Upon hearing that, Grace looked over at Burke and watched him closely as he moved up and down the rows of cots.
"Doesn't look like no doctor to me?" She shrugged.
As much as he wanted to dispute the claim, the thought of Burke made Rook gasp lightly, in the entirety of dealing with Grace, he had forgotten all about Burke, who knows what he was up to while he spoke to Grace. But that worry was short lived as Rook quickly discovered that Burke was actually doing what he promised, he was leaning over a bedridden man, his eyes were open and half lidded, but his yet glazed over as if asleep, or even dead, his arms were marked with dark green splotches that rested just below the skin, the sight of it made Burke make some kind of noise, some disappointment or sympathetic click before departing the cot, only to return moments later a IV drip stand teetering behind him in his grip, the IV bag as associated tubing's sloshed around with every step, he placed it next to the bedridden man before gently inserting the needle into the arm and fluids began flowing through the tube and into the man's arm, seeing as everything went as they should, Burke let out a breath of satisfaction before moving to the next person and begun examining them.
"Well, I'll be" Grace muttered.
"He really knows something after all... Or rather can make a rather convincing illusion of knowledge" she mused.
"The Sheriff should be coming around soon shackle him to the wall or whatever, do you think you can keep an eye on him for me until then?" Rook asked.
"Oh yeah, I can do that" Grace replied with a dry smirk, picking up the rifle still at her side and placed it on her lap.
"Thanks love" Rook said curtly before walking away with a hurry, there was a lot he wanted to get done, waiting around in a infirmary wasn't going to do much, also as soon he and Jess stepped out of the room, Jess spoke up.
"Yo, Boy Scout, hold up a sec" Jess said aloud, bringing Rook to a halt.
"What's up, love?" Rook replied, looking back at her.
"You really think leaving that fucker by himself is a good idea?" Jess asked in confidence.
"Well yeah, you heard him a while ago, him for Faith, really need my help or whatever, he won't jeopardize that" Rook explained.
"But what if he realizes you have no intention in helping him, he's not going to be happy" Jess countered.
"Well yeah maybe that could happen, but if he were, I'd doubt he'd do to much harm" Rook shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Jess asked.
"I'm mean, come on, as bleak as everything is these day, we're getting close to the finish line here, once Faith is taken care of, Joseph 'ill have to come out of his hole and do something to keep morale up, and when he does, we'll strike, and then it will be all over and the day will be saved, after that we can do whatever we damn will want" Rook smirked, but his answer seemed to make Jess hesitate for a moment.
"Well, that's what I've been meaning to ask, once this is all over, then what will-" Jess began before a sharp screamed echoed down the hall, by the sound of it, it came from the main holding block, and the scream, was of fear.
"What the fuck was that?!" Rook gasped, his head turning to look down said hall at incredible speed.
"Nothing fuckin' good" Jess replied before bounding down the hall the scream came from with Rook right behind her.
Screams like that were never good, even as they rushed down the halls, they could see a few more people enter the hall from different points in the prison and hurry to the commotion, it didn't inspire a lot of good in Rook as these people didn't have any weapons on them so they must be planning to only watch, if anything it just pissed him off even more.
As soon as they entered the main holding cell, they were immediately met with a near impenetrable wall of people, their backs to him and formed a large ring as if there was some kind of schoolyard brawl taking place, it didn't help that he could hear a lot of angry yelling from within, and above it all, on the many levels of walkways were lined with wide eyed spectators, staring down at whatever was happening at the room's center, it felt as if the entire prison was in the room watching.
"Wait back here, if I chase anyone out, put an arrow in their leg" Rook ordered before breaching the ring of people.
If Jess replied, it was lost among the masses, he was too focused on what was going, as twig like as everyone was, they were quite hard to push through them all, it was like they were petrified by fear. Not liking any of this, Rook pushed through the crowd and broke through to the other side only to see Whitehorse on the edge of the ring of people, gun unholstered and pointing at the center of the ring, his face was a grim mask of determination and at the center of at all, where Whitehorse pointed his gun, stood three people, all side by side, they held another three people unwillingly in their grasp and guns pressed painfully into the side of their heads, Tracey, Virgil and Adelaide were being held hostage.
The man in the middle; barking orders, holding Virgil, was a scrawny, weak looking man, starvation and fear had weakened him and be it his shrunken frame or the intensity of it all, he shook considerably, Virgil looked like he was going to have a heart attack, his inhales were more accurately gasps and very sporadic, on volume and timing, and was arguably shaking more then the ringleader. Tracey, held by another, at a glance she looked as placid as everyone else around here, tired and emotionless, but upon closer inspection her jaw was clenched painful tight, and lastly Adelaide was the loudest, shrieking profanities at the woman who threatened to end her life, Adelaide shook within her grasp, trying to break out, but the gun persuaded her not too.
Finally understand what was going on and the gravity of the situation, he looked back at Whitehorse, hoping for some sort of silent communication, a game plan to deal with these rebels, but all Rook could gleam from him was a single sweat drop rolled down the side of his face, his gun arm shaking as nervousness racked him, his accuracy had degraded since his stroke and feared hitting the hostages if he had to start shooting, Rook couldn't blame him for feeling that way, with just about everyone watching, whatever was about to happen would set the bar going forward, and with the situation everyone was living in, you give these people an inch and they'll run a mile.
"Hey now, let's be cool, ok?" Rook offered, turning back to the hostage takers, raising his hands up and slowly walking towards them.
Then the man holding Virgil pointed his gun at Rook's general direction and a second later, a sharp echo of a gunshot rang out, sending a ripple of fear and movement from the many gathered, it caused Rook to freeze, in movement, and for a moment, so to did his heart, before relief and rage came flooding forth, how dare someone from the resistance shoot at him, it may have not been directly at him but a bullet hole was made, inches from his foot.
"Don't you move Deputy, stay right where you are!" The ringer leader yelled defiantly.
Gritting his teeth, Rook chose his words carefully, he wasn't going to be jerked around like this, in his own base of operations, in front of his allies.
"What the fuck's going on?" Rook hissed, eye the man who fired the gun carefully for any points of weakness outside the blatant frailty.
"We want that peggie dead!" The woman holding Addie yelled.
"We can barely tolerate that culty fuck slumming it up in one of our cells, eating our food, but now you got him working away in the infirmary, injecting God knows what into good, defenseless people's bodies, no fucking way, we won't stand for that, Mister Sheriff Big McLargehuge over their won't listen to just and have him killed, so either you get rid of him or we get rid of your guys, we need smarter people in charge! And I know we ain't the only ones feeling this way, we're the only ones brave enough to do something it!" The ringleader commanded, earning a few jeers from his two allies.
With a silent groan of frustration, Rook did a quick scan of everyone watching, it proved that at the very least, it was only these three were brave enough to commence such a hostile takeover, but who knows, the entire prison was starved for help, so if they felt these three chuckle fucks had some good ideas that three people could grow exponentially.
"Well, I'm going to tell you right now that won't be happening, you ain't killing anyone" Rook said sternly, putting his hands at his sides again.
"We ain't asking for permission!" The Ringleader yelled back.
"Ok how about this, sure you got more gas in the tank then the majority of everyone here, but let's say you kill me, Sheriff, Tracey and Virgil, then what? Who's going to secure food and stuff for you, do you really think you have what it takes to keep everyone in line, what if someone tries to remove you like you're doing now, what long term work are you going to make, as I see it, you're just tying to make your coffin comfy before you kick it" Rook inferred.
You don't know what it's like, while you fought Jacob and John, we were here, starving, terrified, our friends died by the day when we needed you the most, you abandoned us!" The Ringleader shouted.
"I didn't abandon shit! I left to kill John, I didn't come directly back here after that because the Mountains had it worse, Jacob knew how to take people apart, y'all had made a notable push against Faith, the Whitetails had nothing, I helped those who were worse off" Rook countered, if he was completely honest with himself, he couldn't remember why he went to the Mountains over the River.
"Well here we are helping ourselves yet again! I won't say it again, bring us that peggie's head or we'll kill them!" The Ringleader shouted.
"Ok listen Bud, I get it, your hurt I didn't come back and save y'all from Faith's bullshit, but you ain't my only problem, I've been carrying this whole God damn county on my shoulders.
"Don't try to give me that, I know the rumors, I hear your just another of Jacob's dogs, you've gone under his mind control bullshit, maybe that's why you got that peggie going in the infirmary, you're just building your numbers before you take over this place" The Ringleader argued, earning another wave of murmurs from all who watched, but it made Rook's heartbeat spike, just how much did his friends say about him.
"Yeah! that's right, he was hypnotized or whatever, he'll go off when he hears a tune or something, that's probably why he is the way he is!" he continued to proclaim for all to hear.
"Rook, what the hell's he talkin' about!?" Whitehorse barked out, his voice cutting through the fog that was the collective voices of everyone else.
But Rook didn't grace Whitehorse with a response, he was much to focused on shutting this man and his two goons down as soon as possible, he didn't like where this was going.
"It doesn't matter if it's true or not, all chances of any activation methods have been shut down permanently and Jacob took it to his grave" Rook called out, hoping to quell it all.
"Tell you what Deputy, it seems this is hitting close to home for you, so why don't we but that on the back burner for now and focus on the matter at hand, the peggie!" the Ringleader supposed.
"You're not killing him, or anyone for that matter!" Rook reasserted.
"For to long have we all lived in fear from these fucking cultist, and now your letting them just waltz on in here, this is our home, our county, and it's going to stay that way if so long as I live" the Ringleader shouted.
"I get it man, your scared, but this isn't going to solve anything, we can't just start executing people all willy nilly, you're just giving into fear at that point, this is what Joseph wants, for us to break down and go nuts, it just reinforce how we're all baseless sinners and all that, we need to be better then that, better then this" Rook pleaded with the three.
"So I should just nod my head and go along with the program? Let any Tom, Dick and Harry saunter around no matter who they clearly work for!" The Ringleader asked defiantly.
"No, I'm saying we use our heads, we talk to one another and decide what's best for all of us, like a community, for that's what we are, we are more then just a bunch of strangers, but countrymen brought together under a common banner, one that believes in freedom, justice and hope, we can't be broken!" Rook preached.
"But then" the Ringleader sighed, clearly deflating.
"Why keep the Peggie around? you know what everyone will say" The Ringleader asked.
"He's the closest thing to a doctor we got, the Sheriff will keep an eye on him for a week or two until I deal with Faith, Burke won't try anything because he needs my help or some nonsense" Rook explained.
"What the fuck have you gotten us into, Deputy?" The Ringleader deadpanned.
"Nothing I can't fix, so let's all calm down now, we're all jumping to conclusions here, let's relax, yeah?" Rook offered.
"Not to be aggressive or anything, but let's say you waste those hostages, then what? Grab more? They are your only stake in the game, you kill them, and I shoot you, simple as that, your at a stalemate, so how about you just let then go and everyone can walk away alive?" He continued.
"And what will happen to us... If we let 'em go?" he asked.
"Just walk away" Rook said somberly.
This time the Ringleader didn't reply, undoubtedly lost within his mind, thinking, considering everything he had taken in, it was like he was truly considering it all.
Then his shoulders sunk low, his whole body seemed to loosen up, it was like a current ran though him this whole time, and now, the electricity stopped, it was paired with his face being covered by disappointment and defeat.
"Guys… let 'em go" the ringleader sighed.
"What?! really!?" the other man asked, alarmed at the change of events.
"Yeah… fuck it all" the Ringleader sighed again, releasing Virgil.
"Fuck this" the woman sighed before she and the other man let go of Tracey and Addie, Addie letting loose of a slurry of swears and insults before she had the other two hostages hurried away from the scene.
"Come on guys, they're just going to throw us in a cell after this, let's just save the trouble and go there" The ringleader sighed another time before turning to walk away, his head hung low, his resolve all over the place.
"You can't be serious, let's just talk this out" the woman said as she and the man chased after their friend in hopes of talking some sense into him, earlier he was so filled with determination, but now, he was so defeated.
As the three of them walked away, Rook couldn't take his eyes off them, something in him burned to do something, despite what he had said, the three had crossed a line and could not walk it back. So as the large crowd of people slowly dissipated with the three hostage takers walking away, presumably to an empty cell, Rook's eyes narrowed on the Ringleader and his stooges as they walked away, sure everything was resolved but the problem wasn't truly fixed, it was only a matter of time until another rusty cog would start squeaking, who knows what the hostage takers inspired within everyone who watched, those three were wild cards, loose ends.
With everything settling down, no one paid Rook any mind as he reached down and wordlessly pulled out his handgun and pointed it at Ringleader's back, and with no reservation, he pulled the trigger, and a second later the bullet piercing the ringleader between the kidneys, effectively killing him, and as he body fell, he turned his sights upon all those who cooperated in the holdout, before anyone could say anything, Rook adjust his aim, targeting the woman, she had turned her head to see her friend die, it made her jaw dropped open to scream, but that scream was quickly stifled as she was shot as well, upon seeing both die, the third man who held Tracey tried to make a break for it, throwing down his gun and running as fast as he could, but unfortunately for him, bullets were faster, hitting him in the back like the first, dropping like a rock. With that all three were quickly dispatched, it was like shooting fish in a barrel, even with all three bullets fired in quick succession, the first one was what caused the panic, it sent just about everyone who watched running, screaming bloody murder as they fled for their lives, scattering like insects in the light, Whitehorse almost fell over several times as he was shoved just as many times by the fleeing, but Whitehorse wasn't going to take it laying down, he advanced upon Rook.
Meanwhile Rook holstered his gun and before Rook could turn to Whitehorse and say your welcome for saving the hostages, Whitehorse just about tackled him to knock the gun from his hand, but due to the Sheriff's weight and condition, he took care to not overdo it, so he doesn't send both of them sprawling to the floor. Rook understands what's happening and like the Sheriff, he does not wish harm upon either of them and instead uncaringly, letting his wrist go limp as Whitehorse strongly forces his gun arm upwards and rips the gun from his hand before throwing it over his shoulder, the sound of it hitting the floor lost among all the commotion, and just as quickly, Whitehorse grabs Rook tightly by the collar.
"BENJAMIN! what the bloody fuck is your malfunction?!" Whitehorse roared to the best of his ability.
"I'm saving our lives" Rook replied almost casually, if anything he was annoyed by the Sheriff's actions.
"Excuse me?! How does shooting people in the back rationalize us being safe?!" Whitehorse screamed, his face turning red as his aviators slid down the bridge of his nose.
"If these three assholes think it necessary to pull some shit like this, who's to say they or someone else might try again with bigger numbers, maybe there won't be a big stand off like this, maybe they'll shoot us in the back of the head and that'll be it, no, I won't let that happen, So I drew a line in the sand and showed everyone what happens if the cross us, we need to let them know what happens" Rook explained.
Whitehorse began spew the first syllable of a handful of words, so many different things came to mind but he couldn't formulate the words to express the sheer arrogance and carelessness Rook had in his decision-making skills, he would never do anything like this, he had flown off the handle.
"Careful, don't let that stroke get worse" Rook taunted.
"Now if you'll excuse me" he scoffed, shoving off Whitehorse's grip on him before walking to the middle of the room, to where the hostage takers originally stood, he stepped over the Ringleader and looked up at those who still watching in morbid curiosity by the dozens.
"Now to those of you still with us!" Rook commanded to those who still hung around.
"As y'all can see I have no patience for traitors, dissenters, and progress stoppers, and I'm sure so are all of you, for to long y 'all've been starved of resources, starved of basic human rights, well to that I say no more, if you follow me, I will bring everything you need to thrive and more, the peggies will run in fear from us as we take back the Henbane and finally secure Hope County as a whole, victory is so close, all I ask is you follow my word without question, don't stand against these three culprits here, if we work together nothing can stop us" Rook proclaimed.
"I have a truck outside waiting to go, I say we arm up and go to the nearest outpost or warehouse, and we take back what is ours, this is our County, and we won't let these fucking peggies walk all over us, let's show them what happens when they think they can take whatever they want, and if that's not enough to motivate all of you, all those who participate will get a share of food, water, and anything else they so desire once we take it, we'll set the bar for all those who still chose to sit on the sidelines, we can no longer be passive about this, everything is going to come to an end, and when it does, where do you want to be, a strong warrior with plenty of food and water, safely tucked away within these solid walls, or do you want to be blown away by the storm, who's with me!?" Rook shouted, pumping his fist into the air.
A second of silence ticked by before a chorus of unhappy and discount groans and sighs could be heard, everyone wasn't happy about the terms of survival, but he didn't care, their feelings on the matter didn't add to anything, you don't need to be happy to fire a gun, but they will be once they have meat on their bones and strength in their blood.
Then people slowly began to approach Rook, looking to go along with whatever insanity he was cooking up, they came by the dozens, no matter how much they didn't want to go with him, they wanted that food, they needed it, without something in the near future they'd all die, and it was the Junior Deputy after all, if anyone was going to carry them to relative victory, it would be him, even if he was going to hold onto all of it and hand scraps out at his discretion.
While all this happened, Sheriff Whitehorse watched in dismay, in utter disbelief over what he was watching, Rook sounded like a warlord ranting and raving some hairbrained scheme. While lost in the moment the Sheriff felt someone shuffle on up to his immediate left, they got close enough so when they spoke only the two of them could hear.
"See this is the shit I was telling you about, Deputy's off his rocker, he's killing anyone at this point" The voice said.
The voice was male and middle aged, and it was one Whitehorse recognized, this person spoke at nauseum of the supposed atrocities Rook had committed in the Holland Valley and Whitetail Mountains, executing his own men and defenseless Peggies, whispers of destroying things that could have helped the resistance to rally more to his cause, a possible stint with the Jacob himself, under the thrall of some kind of brainwashing, Whitehorse refused to believe any of it, but then again, it felt like he was being slapped in the face with raw evidence.
"You might be right" Whitehorse muttered in disbelief.
"Ben is… he fought fire with fire and was consumed by it" He said.
"What are we going to do?" The voice asked.
"I… I don't know" Whitehorse said before swallowing the lump in his throat.
Was there anything to do? There had been so many times Whitehorse almost snapped and lashed out at the lay about bum who refused to do anything, to kick their butts into shape, but that wouldn't teach anything, he couldn't lead a slave army, his morals stopped him, he couldn't bring himself to go down that path, but Rook had no problem do so, maybe it was best to let him keep going, he did stop two out of four Seeds after all, and Faith wasn't the most tactically strategic woman in the world so why not let Rook off the leash? But yet again, his morals stopped him, he couldn't bring himself to let Rook do what he wanted, to do so was to forsake everything he stood for, he might as well hang up his hat and throw his badge in the river, and Rook made it clear he wasn't going to stop under gentle persuasion, Whitehorse was going to have to get rough, but not to rough, he might take it as another sign of defiance, and another person could be shot in the back.
"Its clear a shit ton of people feel the same way, why not ask around and see what's what, maybe we can have like, an intervention or some shit, see if he can come to his senses, and if not… I don't know maybe throw him out for a bit, let him think on it, or kill Faith and move on?" the voice pondered.
"No, we can't start cutting out our own, we need to stay as one, the water is polluted with bliss and barely any food that isn't wildlife, and I don't need to tell you about what's happening in here, our backs are against the wall here and we need all the help we can get" Whitehorse said.
"Then what should we do then huh, he going to keep killing our guys when they don't do what he says, I don't trust this" The voice complained.
With a deep sigh Whitehorse turned to look at the person he had been speaking to, if this conversation were to continue, perhaps it would be better to do so in private, maybe with one or two other people present, but that would have to be discussed at a later date, but right now, he found himself standing face to face with a very concerned looking Nick Rye.