"And that's what happened" Rook stated,
He had spent the last little while explaining to Sharky and Hurk how Sheriff Whitehorse had a sudden and inexplicable heart attack out of nowhere and how he would take up the mantle of Sheriff, and that Nick, among possible others disbelieved what happened and could no longer be trusted. He was gifted with this golden opportunity by proxy of Whitehorse's funeral, he was disallowed to attend by order of Nick, and reinforced by Virgil as his attendance would cause a discourse during the service, to which Rook was absolutely fine with, he used that time to speak with the two cousins, he knew both men didn't have the maturity or attention span to give the proper due diligence to Whitehorse's funeral.
"Holy shit Bro, that's crazy!" Hurk exclaimed, wide eyed at what he perceived to be the truth.
"Yeah man, I can't believe Nick would think you'd pull something like that" Sharky added, equally bewildered.
"Right, exactly, that's why I'm counting on you guys, I need trustworthy and reliable men for a secret mission" Rook said, putting extra emphasis on certain words to appeal to the cousins, he knew how they thought and what they responded too, it made them easy to control.
And sure enough both bumpkins quickly agreed that they were said men, nodded quickly as they saluted, hoping he would recruit them.
"You read my mind, Gents" Rook grinned, placing a hand on one of their shoulders.
"If you guys are up for such a prestigious honor, as acting Sheriff, I will temporarily deputize both of you, I need you to act like nothing has happened and keep your eyes and ears open, keep tabs for me and make sure Nick, or Virgil, or Tracey or whoever isn't conspiring against me, I have enough to deal with, I can't worry about getting backstabbed in here, and when it's time to move I'll call on you and we can go fight the cult head on" he explained carefully.
"Of course, man, whatever you need" Both men practically said together, nodded faster then before.
"And of course, you can't tell anyone about this, this is a secret mission, remember?" Rook asked just to be sure.
"We're going to be heroes right, like mega hall of fame heroes?" Sharky asked, calming down a little bit.
"The three of us will be getting medals from the president once this is all over" Rook grinned with a thumbs up.
"Dude that so fuckin' cool, we're going to be in history books and whatnot, I'm going to get a statue made o' gold!" Hurk cheered.
"Now get out there and save our county!" Rook said in mock enthusiasm, pointing over their shoulders and into the distance, at nothing in general.
With a cheer from the two cousins, they turned around and practically ran to where he pointed, giggling all the way over what the future held for them under Rook's guidance, leaving Rook to watch them quickly depart with a grin.
He couldn't help but chuckle at how easy it was to get them to do what he wanted, be it promises of grandeur or their own intelligence, they couldn't see the strings that were sticking to them, sure maybe using them like he did wasn't exactly the most ok thing on some level, but you can't liberate a county without breaking a few resistance members. With his current mission complete, Rook resigned himself to Whitehorse's office, he wanted to give it a quick comb over for anything useful and he remembered Whitehorse's ten-gallon hat was still in his office, if no one already took it, maybe he could take and wear it to cement his status of Sheriff, but that could wait, he wanted to find Jess first, he needed as many people as possible on his side to know to narrative.
But as he passed by the open doorway that led to the hall that housed the doorway outside, just then as he passed by the doorway, the doors to the outside flung open as hard as they could before streams of prison denizens came streaming in, so desperate to get in they almost trampling each other.
"What the fuck?!" Rook gasped, flabbergast at the scene.
Even though he watched this event happen if front of him, he made no motion to stop it, he didn't want to get near them, any attempt to corral them would get him trampled, and whatever got them so riled up, simple verbal commands weren't going to defuse them, so the safest thing to do was stand to the side and let the herd pass, it didn't take long as there weren't that many people in the prison, but just enough for the stampede to be dangerous. As he watched, Virgil broke free from the horde, pushed around and almost trampled as he couldn't keep us with the crowd, with panting breaths, he stumbled forward towards Rook's general direction, he saw the self-proclaimed Sheriff staring at him in confusion and tried to speak but found he was out of breath. As sweat trickled down Virgil's brow, he quickly adjusted his glasses as he tried to catch his breath, but Rook wasn't going to wait.
"What the hell is going on!?" Rook cried.
"Peggies!" Virgil shouted back, still out of breath.
"We could barely finish the service in time, right as we wrapped up those scoundrels showed up!" he heaved, catching his breath.
"How many?!" Rook yelled, his hands shooting to his handgun.
"Too many" the older man admitted, scared.
Rook groaned in increasing frustration as he didn't like the useless info,
He was about to run out and gauge the situation but stopped as Nick then broke from the crowd as it finally finished, he was most likely making sure everyone got in safely, and once he entered the building he stopped, he stopped and merely stared at Rook, it was clear the pilot didn't like him, but he knew his help was invaluable so he chose to hold his tongue for the time being, and by the way the Junior Deputy looked at him, he too understood that.
Despite not knowing what could possibly be coming for them, Rook still made the hard decision to utilize Nick, he felt it was better to be safe then sorry.
"Get airborne" Rook ordered.
Thankfully, Nick nodded stoically before running of just that, then Rook addressed Virgil once more.
"Find Adelaide and get her in the air, then get the troops out there" He ordered before taking off.
He heard Virgil try to say something in the form of stutters and stammers, but he paid no mind to it, he had bigger fish to fry, mainly, get to the second floor of the prison, like hell he was just going to go out the front doors and deal with it, he'd die within seconds, he needed to get a view of the battlefield before making a decision.
As Rook ran up the stairs, he could hear the chaos as if it was in the very stairwell with him.
The half-choked prayers of scared people, the gunfire and chanting of peggies outside, Nick's plane starting up, it was all hellish to him, he couldn't quite place it, but it reminded him of the war against Jacob at the dam, he could only pray that he could achieve a similar outcome. By the time he made it to the second floor, he found there were more people up here then below, most likely trying to get away from the madness that awaited them, they littered the halls, cowering in fear on the floor, curled in the ball and hands over their faces like a child or just standing idly by, refusing to do anything, Rook on the other hand, harshly shoved them out of his way as he hurried down the hall, he couldn't care less about them, they were all useless cowards. After minimal shoving and complaining by said shoved he finally made it to a window that overlooked the prison courtyard and peered out. If he wasn't standing near one of the prison dwellers, he would have slugged them in the jaw, such self control was beyond him, he was much to angry at what he saw; the peggies had infiltrated the prisons outer walls and were in the main courtyard, trying to break into the main building, the fucking idiots at the funeral were so preoccupied with getting back inside for safety, that no one bothered to defend the front gate that, by now had been properly busted open by a pickup truck that was so crudely rammed through. There had to be dozens of peggies down there trying to break they're way in, fifty maybe, maybe a hundred all swarming and raging throwing Molotov's and other objects at the prison walls, shooting out the barred windows, keep anyone from lining up a shot, the only silver lining was by the looks of things, the prison dwellers had the good sense to heavily barricade the front doors, those doors were their only way in, the only choke point, this siege was going to made or broke on that innocuous hallway.
As he examined the courtyard and its invaders in extrusion detail for some sort of advantage, a shadow passed over the prison, it was accompanied by the sound of a plane, Nick was in the air and moving to get ready for a strafing run, as much as Rook would have liked him to drop a bomb, it would most definitely blow open the front doors. As quick as Nick appeared, he turned around and swooped down, firing his deadly machine gun at the animated crowd, his heavy gunfire tearing through the many, but there was so many cultists that as the dead fell, those whose who were untouched by the hailstorm quickly filled the gaps, now turning their collective attention to the plane, firing at it while others tried to find a way in.
The endless gunfire caused Nick to pull up as hard as he could, to avoid the sailing bullets that plinked and dented his hull, it sounded like a hailstorm, the expert pilot knew his ride well, he could tell when something was wrong, and something was indeed wrong, one lucky bastard hit something they should not have, whatever it was, he had to get some distance from the prison to diagnose the problem before reengaging.
As Nick's engine fades under the force of the Peggie noise as he flew away, Rook could then hear a unique gunfire shoot off every five seconds, it echoed loudly in and over the prison almost like lightning, it wasn't hard to figure out it was the one and only Grace Armstrong, by the sound of her gunfire, she was perched on the roof and firing down with such accuracy and consistency that made even Rook envious, her time in the military was shining through, from where Rook stood he could see a peggie fall every five seconds with a perfect headshot. As much as Rook wanted to look out the window to watch them drop, he couldn't, the peggies forbade anyone from looking out and lining up a shot causing Rook to retreat from his perch.
Rook swore under his breath as he ran his hands through his hair, his brain spun to create some feasible plan, but nothing came, there were to many variables, not enough opportunities, what was more, it really added pressure that this is the first time he cared to remember where he couldn't think his way out of a real shitshow, he needed one hell of a Hail Mary.
"Reporting for duty, Sir" Hurk's ready voice came from behind.
Rook turned to see both Sharky and Hurk standing side by side, Sharky was clearly nervous as he was holding his flamethrower needlessly tight while Hurk stood stalwart, chest out and saluting, rocket launcher tucked under an arm.
"What you want us to do?" Sharky asked as he nervously drummed his fingers against his intimidating flamethrower.
"We're going to figure out a way to kill them all" Rook stated quickly.
But it was easier said then done, just getting a decent fighting force outside was a challenge in it of itself, and as much as he hated to admit it, they were pinned in a corner, heavy causalities were going to happen.
"How about I just shoot them sum bitches from here?" Hurk offered pointing his rocket launcher at the window Rook was once at.
"No!" Rook roared as be pushed the rocket barrel away from the window.
"You'll damage the building, and they'll get in" he yelled as he rudely shoved Hurk back.
"Well what should we do then?" Hurk asked, all little off, his sudden physical and verbal aggression hurt him, but not physically.
"Just shut up and let me think" Rook growled as he screwed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples.
Still nothing came to mind, and to make matters worse, his radio cracked to life.
"They fucked me! I'm leaking gas!" Nick's voice cried from Rook's walkie.
"Fuck off!" Rook barked as he quickly grabbed his walkie.
"How bad is it!?" Rook demanded.
"Pretty bad, the leak is pretty decent, one good spark and I'm a goner!" Nick responded, sounding proper worried now.
"A spark?" Rook repeated to himself almost silently, something forming in his skull.
He needed to know where Nick was exactly, thankfully he didn't need to lean out the window to see Nick, he was close enough already, he had gotten closer and was circling the prison in case he needed to put the plane down immediately, but watching the pilot circling the prison, leak a thick trail of black liquid, pouring a ring around the prison. But as he watched it, an idea sparked in his mind, it was quite ingenious if he said so himself, he quickly brought his walkie up to relay his idea to Nick.
"Do a few more passes over the prison!" he ordered.
"What?!" Nick exclaimed, not understanding at all.
"Just do it!" Rook ordered again, louder this time.
"Fine! whatever, if this gets me killed, I'm fucking haunting you!" Nick spat before the radio clicked off.
"What's the plan here, Broski?" Sharky asked nervously as he looked at the window, listening to the war cries, gunshots, it inspired a fear in him, and wanted a way out, as much as he loved fire, this was much to hot for him, for the first time in a very long time, he, much like his cousin, felt that they were way in over their heads, they didn't realize being Honorary Deputies had such dangers to it.
But Rook didn't give him the time of day, he was to busy fiddling with the walkie still, switching channels, looking for Addie.
"Adelaide! Where the fuck are you!?" Rook yelled into his walkie.
"I'm getting in the air now, Fuck gimme a minute!" Addie yelled back, clearly annoyed.
"All these pantywaists keep getting in my way, beggin' me to fly them outta her, a few even tried to climb in as I took off!" She complained.
"When you get in the air, keep the heat off Nick! Let him do as many passes as possible" he ordered.
"I don't know what the fuck you're planning but sure Sug, beats the hell out of dying" Addie said half heartedly, she somehow knew of Nick's predicament, protecting him made sense, but only to escort him away, not to the danger.
But yet she still did as she was asked, she quickly gained altitude and tried to provide as much firepower as possible, trying to assist her fellow pilot, those who were caught in Addie's line of fire were decimated, like a knife through butter, drawing attention and cutting down their numbers at the same time, allowing the Carmina to do multiple passes over the prison, the majority of the leaking gasoline, falling upon the peggies that tried their damnest to break down the doors and storm the place, they didn't seem to notice the gas, or maybe they did and just didn't care.
While all this happen, Rook set the cousins to work, giving them very explicit and singular orders.
"Sharky, you got gas for your flamethrower or some bullshit laying around, we need as much gas as we can get" Rook beseeched the man, grabbing him by the collar, he needed his undivided attention and to make sure he didn't get distracted along the way.
"I promise I didn't get high trying to huff it or nothin'" Sharky said with a guilty tone in his voice.
"I don't care!" Rook yelled, now grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him lightly.
"Just get all of it" he demanded, pushing Sharky back a little, bumping him into Hurk, both of them now looking a little uneasy.
"Uhhh, yeah sure, guy" Sharky said nervously, clearing his throat as one hand left his flamethrower and when to the top of his baseball cap, pushing down on it as if it was suddenly going to fly off.
With that he turned and ran to who knows where, as fast as one could while carrying around a large flamethrower, with him gone, Rook then grabbed Hurk by the collar, trying to get him to preform with the same diligence as his cousin, it was clear being grabbed scared him, but Rook didn't care.
"Get on the roof, tell Armstrong to start putting holes in the gas tanks of every vehicle in the courtyard" he demanded before pushing him back a little as well.
"Uh yeah Dude, you got it" Hurk said anxiously as he stumbled back, trying to backstep to the nearest stairs as he babbled on about how he'd do the job good.
He didn't get a chance to go in depth about how well he'd preform as Rook angrily yelled at him to hurry up, causing Hurk to turn and almost run to his destination.
With both men gone, Rook was all alone, standing near the open window lined with broken glass, despite the horrors that lay outside that window, he could hear what was going on in his hallway relatively well, in the distance down the hall, he could hear people crying, arguing, doing whatever someone who had given up would do.
He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, he was so unbelievable stressed, he had no idea what the fuck he was doing, outside of Armstrong he was the only one willing to do something, everyone was wrong but him, they were responsible for everything, he himself never did anything wrong, he was the hero, or so he told himself.
As his hands left the sides of his head, it was then he noticed how shaky and uneven his breaths were, his hands shaking, he felt off, the only consistency he had was Armstrong's sterling shooting, her rifle booming every five seconds, but even then, the shots made him slightly flinch each time, if he was honest with himself, he was scared, scared of everything, any minute now he could die, he had no idea what was happening in the prison, maybe peggies found another way in, he had no idea where Jess was, or Tracey or Virgil for that matter, it made his chest was getting painfully tight.
Before whatever was happening to him could get even worse, something came around to get him to focus on something that wasn't his crumbling nerves. In short order, Sharky came back, this time with no flamethrower but instead was waddling down the wall as he struggling to carry multiple red gas jugs in his grip and tucked under his arms, liters of gas sloshing around, so much that Rook could smell it feet away.
"Here you go dude" Sharky groan with fatigue as he dropped all the jugs at Rook's feet, his arms, very tired.
Rook didn't reply, he instead hurriedly grabbed one jug and removed the cap and gingerly got close to the window, Sharky mimicking him, they got just enough to jerk the jug back and forth in an attempt to spread the gas as much as possible. All the while Sharky watched in confusion. But to Rook's chagrin, it was going as far as he wanted.
"Fuck it!" Rook barked in disgust as he then unscrewed the funnel and threw the entire jug out the window, sending gas everywhere.
"Dude! Those jugs cost like, forty a piece!" Sharky whined as he stopped right before sloshing gas out his jug.
With a angry groan of frustration, he ripped Sharky's jug out of his hands and did the same as the last jug, sending it out the window.
"I'll buy you as many as you want when Joseph's dead!" Rook snarled as his hands went to the floor to get another jug to hurl.
"Hope you got that real police money" Sharky replied unsurely as he made piece with what was happening and began unscrewing the nozzles and hucking them out the window as hard as he could.
When there was no more gas left to throw, the courtyard was more or less marked with gasoline, large patches went untouched, the gas Rook and Sharky threw created a large puddle under the peggie forces and the leaking gas created by Armstrong's sharpshooting created a few nearby puddles as well, especially at the front gates, it was just enough to get the job done, the courtyard was a power keg, all that was needed now was a spark.
Gordon sat uncomfortably in the bunker, a series of radios and wired phones surrounded him.
He was trying his best to control as much as his army as he could from the bunker, so far, he had a relative handle on it, if anything, if he let himself relax, the whole prison siege felt like a Real Time Strategy Game he played extensively in his youth, but that laxness would prove dangerous as every order needed the upmost precision and certainty. He needed to be perfect in and out of the bunker, everything inside the bunker was already taken care of, Faith had already been tracked down and detained, she was easier to capture then expected, she gave no resistance, if anything the two that protected her were worse then her, they were easy to pacify, nothing guns shoved in one's face couldn't solve, and now Faith sat a few feet away from him, sitting in a chair, as content as could be, he found her demeanor off putting, just a little while ago she was a weeping mess, now she was the picture of relaxed, perhaps she snapped, he had seen many snap before, but not like her, it was like she was in her own little world, if he wasn't so well versed with Bliss he would have assumed she was on the substance, but alas she wasn't, she seemed as sober as could be.
"It seems quite lonely in here, perhaps when my flock returns, we can gather for hymns" Faith sighed happily, staring off into the distance, her words ignored.
"Keep pushing forward, do not let any of them near the windows and circle the building, do not let anyone out" Gordon ordered before turning off the microphone he spoke it for a few seconds before turning it back on.
"And get rid of that sniper, damnit!" He ordered before clicking it off again.
"Such anger is not conducive to a happy future, bury that anger in the soil of humility so flowers of happiness may bloom" Faith offered with a smile, she felt as if she was tending to the newly recruited in her flock, so broken and fragile, so in need of guidance.
But again, she was met with intention silence, Gordon rolled his eyes as he tried to focus on the task at hand, analyzing the information the scrolls out his radios, creating the best plan of attack, he knew the Junior Deputy was in the prison, he had to be, this would be the turning point for Eden's Gate.
"I hope the Father is well today, I do hope he calls today, I haven't seen him in a long time, and I do miss his voice" Faith mused.
Hearing the woman speak of the Father sparked some kind of reaction from Gordon, after everything she'd done, after every rule she broke, she still dared to wish for a face to face with the one man who was willing to risk it all to save the world.
"What is wrong with you? Where did that pitiful defiance go?" Gordon couldn't help but scowl as he wrote something down on a paper and underlined it.
"Nothing is wrong, everything is just... Perfect, the Father has seen to that, everything will be alright" Faith smiled sweetly.
This time Gordon really didn't like what she said, the pencil fell from his fingers as he turned to look at her for a few seconds before he stood up from his seat, the wooden legs scraping across the cold concrete, as quietly as he was, he swooped over her and roughly grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up slightly.
"This is all a trick isn't it, to get my guard down?!" He barked, awaiting a response.
But Faith had nothing to offer aside from electing a gasp. Still Gordon stared at her for a few moments waiting for her to admit her trickery, but nothing came about it, frustrated and annoyed, he threw her back in her seat before returning to his. As he got back to work, trying to lead his forces to victory, he mumbled under his breath, he couldn't help but talk to himself that Faith's attitude was all an act, she was pretending to be docile so she could stab him in the back just as he did to Amanda, but he wasn't going to let that happen, he was better then her, while she wandered the country, chasing high after high, he did a tour in Iraq, there was no way she could get to him, she won't get to him, and once the Father saw he was better then her, he was going to make sure that Faith's body was going to be right next to Amanda's; rotting in the trash compactor.
And while Faith hummed Eden's Gate hymns to herself, Gordon stared at the pencil in his hand, clenching it as hard as he could, the transmission coming from his radios going unheard. He was totally transfixed on it, fantasies of slamming it into Faith's neck flooded his mind, and beneath the desires to end the pathetic, useless woman, he felt a cold, vomitus fear. Despite the pride he felt doing his tour of duty, a part of him had be touched, corroded, a paranoia was instilled in him, the things he saw would stick with him for the rest of his life, and that violated part of his mind almost destroyed him once upon a time, but then he found Eden's Gate, found Joseph, found Jacob, he found peace again, it felt like the glass box he was trapped in was shattered and he was a free man again, but now, with everything resting on his shoulders, and he would do anything to maintain that freedom, and yet somehow, Faith found some way to put those sharp pieces of glass back together and was building the box around him, whatever she was doing, he could feel that sickening fear creep out of the basement once again, it felt like she was using the stress of failure against him, Faith was always very good at getting in peoples heads and getting them to confide in her, even without Bliss, maybe she used that skill and read his body language or something and figured out that he blamed himself for Jacob and John's death, she knew the Father wanted him to take down the prison, if he failed that, added onto the rest of his failings, he was as good as done.
"I will cull the weak" Gordon muttered to himself as he laced his fingers together, tucking them under his chin, staring a hardened gaze at his devices, he wasn't going to stop until Rook's head was on a stick, he will pay for what he had done.
The prison was very hard to protect, at some point, Virgil found Rook and kept reassuring him that it was due to the Sheriff's absence, but Rook simply laughed it off, trying to make a show of his casualness, yes it was hard, but it was indeed just as hard as Virgil claimed.
As Rook and Sharky threw the jugs out the window, he came real close to stopping so he could force Virgil into a safer place, he insisted he should get to a safer place as with the Sheriff's death they were weakened and the last thing they needed was for Virgil to die to, eventually Virgil conceited, scampering off to a safer place, allowing Rook and Sharky to get rid of all the gas jugs.
"Alright, all done, you got a light?" Rook sighed, wiping his brow with his forearm.
"A what?" Sharky murmured, the question made him a little nervous.
"A light" Rook said louder and more annoyed, rolling his wrist, as his leg bounced, he was no idea how much time they had left until the doors finally gave way, but it felt like seconds.
"Uh, yeah" Sharky nodded as he fumbled through his pockets and produced a small flip lighter.
"Ok sweet, throw it out" Rook ordered, sticking his thumb out the window.
"Are you sure, Dude?" Sharky called back, the implications of what would happen was starting to make even him squeamish.
"Remember your secret mission?!" Rook screamed in anger, furious with Sharky's hesitation and lack of dedication to stopping the vile cultists.
"Remember what they did to your friends and family!? Remember what they almost did to us!? Remember what they're doing now?! Fucking do it, show your God damn dedication and kill all those fucking peggies!" Rook screamed furiously, he had no fucking time for this.
"This doesn't seem right, dude" Sharky winced, squeezing the lighter.
"Are you a fucking traitor Charlemagne!? Mister flamethrower!? You have no problem using a flamethrower to kill them, but this is to much!? Rook yelled, he couldn't believe Sharky was faltering.
"This is different" Sharky said uncomfortably as he rolled his head around trying to think.
"Save the day or I'll have you thrown behind bars!" Rook shrieked in wrath, he considered getting physically violent and just take the lighter.
But thankfully Sharky appeared to hesitate for a few seconds before shaking his head, hoping to free himself of his doubt, before throwing the lighter out the window and seconds later hit the ground, igniting the oil and just about everything within the prison courtyard erupt into a sea of flames within seconds, the screams of the many unheard over the cracking infernos.
Seeing the flames rise just washed away all Rook's anger and fears like the threat that was once below him, as the flames grew larger and larger, burning all the peggies, they're screams a cacophonous of pain and anguish, dozen and dozens and dozens or possible three digits worth of people wet up in fire all at once scorching them right down to the bone, their bodies adding to the fuel, the flames even reached the trucks Armstrong shot and the one the peggies left in the front gates, the fire boiling and igniting the gas in the gas tank and exploded, ruining the gates, the metal bars scorched black and bent backwards, rendering them useless. Meanwhile all this happened, Jess was a few floors below Rook, hastily packing bags with resources she had stolen when no one was looking, she was putting together emergency bags for her and Ben, so when the doors where inevitably broken down and peggies got in, she and Ben would slip out the back and vanish, but when the screaming arose, she dropped everything she was doing and ran to the nearest window, and looked out with absolute horror, the immense fire made her brain explode with painful memories of her Boogeyman; The Cook and everything he did to her and her family, the unrelenting aroma of burnt flesh washed over her, the sickly-sweet smell grabbed a hold of her and dragged her right back to her parent's execution, The Cook's laughter was replaced by Rook maniacal cackling. There was no sound other then the crackling fire, it was very easy for Rook's echoing laugh to be heard by all, everyone who heard it could easily put together what had happened.
This wasn't right.
The phone of Gordon's desk rang and rang, the caller ID read Joseph Seed.
Despite Gordon sitting at said desk, the phone went untouched, Gordon didn't even hear it, he was to busy raging.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Gordon bellowed as he slammed his fists into the table with every swear, the radios and phone vibrating slightly under his strength.
He couldn't get in touch with anyone at the prison, with all the communication equipment he had, with all the people he sent out there, not a soul would answer, and that meant one thing, everyone was dead.
"Please, Child Of God, you must find peace again, John has purged you of your wrath once already, please don't let it happen again, you are better then this" Faith innocently offered him from where she sat, feet away.
Gordon quickly turned his head to stare at her with such scorn, was she seriously taunting him now of all times, she made such a big deal about how this whole attack would dwindle their numbers, how it was all needless violence, so why keep acting like she didn't care.
Unless it was part of her plan.
"What the fuck did you just say to me?" he seethed, trembling with rage.
He couldn't help it, he couldn't hold himself back anymore, the burning shame of failure had taken its toll on him, he lost, there was no salvaging his worth now, he might as well burn all his bridges now before he himself is burned. His hand shot forward, smacking her across the face, much harder then the last time, he hit her so hard that she fell from her seat and hit the floor.
"You stupid bitch!" Gordon roared as he kicked her chair away, giving the two of them more room
"This is your fault, everything is your fault!" he yelled as he stomped forward and kicked her in the ribs, kicking the air out of her, leaving her gasping and flailing like beached fish trying to get back in water.
Watching her writhe on the floor, shower that there was a drastic change in her, maybe the physical aggression must have snapped her out of her fantasies, maybe she knew her act wasn't going to help her anymore, regardless, he was going to do what he wanted to do to her, then he was going to flee.
"You got what you wanted, I can't replace you anymore, there's nothing I have to offer to the Father anymore, all my men are dead, there aren't that many Eden's Gate members left, its over!" He yelled at Faith's shaking body.
Obviously, Faith didn't respond as she was curled up in a ball on the floor, hands on her head, coughing as gasping rapidly, and Gordon who watched her, suddenly got an idea, a vile idea, it was just him and her in the room, no one else, with a huff he moved on her, towering over her.
"If only you were a good little whore and did what you were told!" Gordon yelled as he lowered himself and pulled her from her curled state and straddling her hips.
"What are you doing?" Faith struggled to say as she tried to push him off to no avail.
"Go ahead and scream, no one will help you" he said quietly as his belt came loose and slid off.
And scream Faith did, she screamed, she yelled, she begged and cried for Frank or Emily for to save her, for the Father to save her, for Ben to save her as she struggled furiously to break free, but the man was much too strong for her to overcome. Her screams masked the sounds of a zipper dropping and pants lowering. Gordon knew what he was doing he had seen this enough times in darker movies, but watching and doing were two different things, he had trouble holding her down with one hand and take care of himself with one hand each, the lack dexterity, or lack there of was just enough for Faith's thrashing to break free only by a little, freeing one of her delicate arms, Gordon didn't seem to mind, she wasn't that strong anyways, there was nothing she could do.
She didn't know what to do in that few moments of free time before he restrained her again, perhaps it was instinct that told her to do so, but in her haste, she reached down and squeezed his hardened member as hard as she could, causing him to groan shakily as he stopped his assault, Gordon couldn't help but lean away from her as if that would dull the pain.
And as he leaned away, the pinning weight on her waist went with him, giving a few millimeters of free space, and of course Faith noticed it, how could she not, it was her saving grace and wasn't going to let it go to waste, she dug her elbows into the cold concrete floor and tried to wiggle out from under him, but Gordon noticed and pushed down on her a lot harder this time and tightening his grip on her wrist, putting all his weight on her.
"You're not going anywhere, your mine now" he growled as Faith ineffectually punched his ribs, achieving nothing.
Seeing as that wasn't going to work, she had to change her tactics, and grabbed the side of his face, her long nails digging into his skin, thumb nail, burying itself in his bottom eyelid, despite Faith's lack of muscle it understandably still hurt quite a lot, and again, he leaned away trying to get away from the pain, Faith hoped she could get out from underneath him now, but yet again, Gordon stopped her much faster then before as he shook free of her grip and retaliated, pain for pain, before she could tell what he was doing, he brought his arm up and gave her a right hook to the face, it was more then enough to form a black eye, not only that but the force of the blow slammed the back of her head against the concrete ground, leaving her dizzy and weak, leaving her completely defenseless, and that made Gordon happy.
Seeing as she no longer had any fight left in her, he fully climbed a top her again, applying as much weight as possible on her waist and wrist, if she would try again,
Just as he believed before hand, he was going to have his way and now one would stop him.
Meanwhile Faith twitched limply, the two blows to the head left her discombobulated, both sides of her cranium throbbed and felt as if the room was spinning, she could feel the man tugging at her clothes, as much as she wanted to stop it, she couldn't bring herself to, she felt too nauseous and disoriented, everything was uncomfortable, even the thing that that was pressing against her thigh, it wasn't his hardened member, it was to… obtuse, rectangular, it took a moment to realize what that annoying thing was a gun, she knew the feel of a gun, it was burned into her mind during her time with Rook, just thinking about that poor soul she was forced to put down made her recoil, and what made her recoil even more, on top of what was happening, she knew what had to be done, Rook had shown her plenty of times.
Gordon was too focused on getting himself erect again to notice her slender hand slowly pull his gun from his hip holster, the metal was cold, colder than the ground she was on, she swallowed the lump in her throat before following through. The man was still to preoccupied until, seconds before penetration, he felt something thump against his chest, pushing into his ribs, thinking it was another lame attempt at her trying to stop it, he looked down, planning to restrain her other arm, but what he saw was not what he expected, it left him frozen in fear, mouth agape, he had to admit, he hadn't felt a fear since Iraq, but this, this was different, a part of him wanted to bargain, to get himself out of this, but he had a feeling Faith wasn't going to play ball, not everything he did to her.
"I-" Gordon said before a mighty boom erupted from the gun's barrel.
The recoil of the gun almost caused the guns to fly from her grip, and Gordon, his body crumped like wet cardboard, almost falling directly on top of her, he only missed because he fell with a curve, he landed beside her with his mouth inches from her ear, it gave her such a raw, unfiltered exposure to the death rattle that escaped him as died, the noise was horrible, the sound of life ending was worse the nails on a chalkboard to her, but as she stared at the ceiling, she waited for that soul crushing feeling of taking a life to crush her like a boot on an ant, but to her surprise, it never came, which was very surprising, but as curious as she was, she truly didn't care one way or another. At her own leisure she sat up and gave Gordon's body one last look before rising to her feet, adjusting her clothes, pulling everything back together again, if anything, she was worried about her hair, she was worried his blood would stain her hair, after a quick pat down she was almost happy to discover that she was still clean, sure there was a little bit of blood on her hands but that could be washed off. Once that was taken care of, she walked over to her desk and up to her still ringing phone, instead of answering it, pressed a red button on its cradle, the button was used to stimulate the intercom that was interwoven throughout the bunker, it was used to signal for help in her personal quarters and just as the button suggested, minutes later, half a dozen peggies, Frank and Emily came running into the room and stopped, aghast at the scene before them.
"What have you done you monster!?" a male peggie cried before lunging at Faith with ill intent, not waiting for an answer.
Frank and Emily tried to stop him, but the abruptness of his intent gave him a good lead, but still, their attack was cut short by a second gunshot and a moment later, the cultist collapsed dead, smoke rising from the pistol Faith still had. Nobody moved a muscle as Faith lowered her gun, nobody noticed it in her possession, and no body dared to say anymore while Faith glared at them all before looking over at the other peggies who watched in shock and disbelief before stopping on a rather intimidating woman.
"You there" Faith called out, pointing a finger at her.
"I have taken back what is mine, will you concede?" she asked.
"I'll never bow to you, Witch!" the woman yelled defiantly, raising a fist to her.
Faith stared at the woman for a moment, it was almost like she was staring right through her with the level of indifference in her eyes, she blinked once before the Seed pointed her gun and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through her head, causing the now dwindling group to grow more distressed.
"Frank, Emily, make it known for me please, Gordon is dead by my hand and is happily taking back what is rightfully hers" Faith commanded, looking at them.
They both quickly agreed, tripping over their words and themselves as they quickly exited the way they came, fearing what would happen if they were to ever disobey her, leaving her alone with the few hostile allies. With them gone Faith turned her to the final three who stared dangerously at her, but despite that clear hatred there was a fear under it, and for some reason that intrigued her, the way the almost quivered if not for the burning hate, it was like she could now almost understand why John and Jacob ruled with such aggression, the flock understood fear and power and the Seeds had both.
Faith couldn't help but stare in back at the peggies, did she truly have them back under her thumb? She couldn't tell, all of them rubbed her the wrong way, even one peggie especially, the way he looked at her was dubious at best, she wasn't sure if he was going to stay in line or not, regardless, she had to put her foot down and let them know she was queen. To reaffirm the notion, she walked right up to the man and before he could say anything, she brought a hand up and gently caressed his face, smearing a little blood on his cheek.
"Fear not sweet child, I will protect you, nothing will happen to you so long say you do as Mother says" Faith cooed.
The man was stunned, obviously confused, maybe she was getting through to him, he sure looked like it, but his eyes betrayed his thoughts, his eyes said Is that a threat? Maybe it was, she hadn't decided yet, she had a feeling there would be more people she would have to shoot before everyone did what she said again. It was then she could start to understand why Jacob and John does what they did, it was so easy, point the gun at the problem, pull the trigger and, problem gone.
With this warm feeling and understanding and kinship for her dead brothers, she could feel a rousing speech building within her, something that would hopefully make the peggies bend to her knee, but something distracted her, a ringing bothered her, it was the phone the Father only called on, for some reason Joseph still tried to reach her. Joseph wanted to talk to her, but as much as she wanted to cry and wail about everything she had been subjected too because of Gordon, she was oddly calm about it, not even the usual giddiness of talking to the Father was present. As she returned to her desk, she walked backwards, refusing to show the peggies her back, she didn't entirely trust them, not only that but she kept her gun trained on them as she brought the phone to her ear.
"Hello Father" Faith answered flatly.
"Greetings Faith, it's been a while, I'm glad to hear you found the time to speak with me" Joseph stated.
"My apologies, certain members of my flock have grown... Unruly, and as our brothers are gone, it fell to me to punish them" Faith explained.
"And as the problem been rectified?" The Father questioned.
"Yes of course, nothing will stop me know" Faith replied, lining up the iron sight of her gun of the head of one of the peggies, she didn't intend to pull the trigger, but it was reassuring to do anyways.
"Then you should have no problem following the directions of my earlier message" Joseph pondered.
"What do you mean?" Faith asked, unsure of his statement.
"I know this is an arduous task, but with the death of my brothers, you are the only one I can trust anymore, regardless how much I have come to care for you, I need a certain level of excellence and dedication from you, that's why I am calling push you to your absolute limit in hopes of doing what so many could not" Joseph explained.
"Our brothers" Faith added quickly, not realizing what she had said until it was to late.
"Well, that remains to be seen… You have a week to see to the downfall of your portion of the resistance, or I will unfortunately have no choice but to remove you from my family" Joseph said" Joseph sighed.
"Regardless of what you do, it appears that the Collapse is days to weeks, even I am uncertain, and we cannot have Sinners trying to break down our doors as we cross the threshold into the new world, and we are so far along now that… As much as it pains me to say it, if killing the Junior Deputy is the only way for you to achieve your goal... Then so be it, I will bear the burden of failing to save him" he said, tired, he really didn't want the Deputy dead, but he had no choice, he claimed God was forcing his hand.
"I…" Faith tried to muster a response, the threat of her getting disappeared, shook her just as much as Gordon and his actions, sure she had heard the threat many times over the years to keep her in line, but this struck her to the bone, the Collapse was coming, and her only way to survive it was through Joseph, to be honest, she didn't care if she survived or not, she wanted Joseph to survive, for everyone in the project to survive, and if she couldn't prevent the resistance from any last second sabotage, then everything she endured, everything Joseph had given her, was a waste.
"I'll take that as your promise to see this through, I'm counting on you, Faith" Joseph finished.
"I-" Faith tried to say again, but to many thoughts swirled in her head, the transparent order to kill Ben, the literal end of the world is right around the corner, the indirect threat on her life, it was to much for anyone, especially after what she just went through.
"You have so much potential Girl, don't throw it all way so close to the end, I'd hate to have to kill you with my own hands" Joseph said, almost sounding bored before hanging up the phone.
As the phone beeped lightly to indicate disconnection, Faith didn't hang up, she continued to hold it to her ear as she blankly stared ahead, trying to come to terms with what she had just heard, meanwhile the peggies still in her presence had begun whispering to each other, most likely a plan of attack but stopped went they noticed Faith stared back at them.
"I have a lot of work to do and thus present all of you with two choices, continue this worthless crusade and be killed on the spot, for bow to me once again" Faith promptly stated, it was clear she wasn't playing around.
Hearing her proposition, the peggies looked at one another, unsure of to do for a few seconds before one bent the knee and knelt to her, causing the others to follow the first's lead, they were all mindless grunts so used to doing what they were told, they just wanted to go back to that status quo.
"Good" Faith muttered, seeing as the spineless cowards found their place again, she then picked up the chair that matched her desk and put it back where it belonged then sat down.
"Now get out, I have some calls to make" she said.