Rook descended the stairs, a guilty looking Sharky trailing behind him.
Although Boshaw was off kilter, Rook on the other hand was rather bolstered, he was rather proud of himself, he even expected a hero's welcome, he killed what, one hundred peggies in a single move, he had to be like, the best strategist or whatever in a long time now. But as the two worked they're way back to the man area of the prison, not a soul waited for them, if anything the prison felt deserted, curious, Rook looked down the hall to the front door revealed a few people gingerly disassembled the barricade that comprised of a cluster of lunch tables piled against the door. He chose not to bother with them as they would most likely have nothing to offer, instead he and Sharky, found everyone in the main holding room, gathered in small groups, talking amongst themselves, scared and unsure to what caused everything to go the way they did, as much as he wanted to proclaim heroically that he saved them for the hundredth time, a small group of people stuck out to him among the other groups, it comprised of Tracey, Virgil, Grace, Hurk and most surprisingly of all, Pratt was there as well, out of his cage, uncuffed and relatively unsupervised.
Celebrating his hard work could wait, dealing with Pratt was priority one now.
As Rook approached, Virgil and Tracey noticed, Virgil looked freaked as always and Tracey remained placid and indifferent.
"Who the fuck let this fuck out" Rook scoffed in disgust, sticking a thumb in Pratt's direction, joining the group.
"Well, you see, I thought it prudent to let him out, as in the event the cultists got in, they would find him and seeing as he is one of them, who knows what he could tell them, such as where we are hiding" Virgil explained nervously, twiddling his thumbs.
For some reason Virgil's nervousness was different, more direct, it was like he was afraid of Rook, which confused him.
"Alright fair enough, but let's get him locked up again ASAP" Rook grunted, the answer was sound enough, but he still didn't like the idea that Pratt was out at all.
Upon saying that, Virgil seemed to lighten up greatly, as if a weight had been taken off his chest, which again, confused Rook.
"Also BTW, I took care of the peggies outside, again, in case you didn't notice, so your welcome, keep your applause to a minimum" Rook said pretending to be enthusiastic as he did a little hand wave, he truly expected something from these people.
But Everyone stood in awkward silence for a few seconds before Grace spoke up.
"Ben, I don't- what happened was..." Grace tried to say, but every time she started, she cut herself off, nothing she aid felt right to her.
"I think what Rook did was right" Pratt muttered as he pulled his arms across his chest. Despite siding with Rook, he looked so unsecure about it.
"Shut up, Pratt" Tracey said casually, she truly didn't care what he had to say, he was a peggie.
"I don't think what you did was right, but I didn't see any other way out of there" she said, her eyes downcast in confliction.
"Oh come on!" Rook groaned loudly, slouching as his shoulders went slack, gritting his teeth.
"Everywhere I go, I do anything that helps us out in the long run, and I get slapped on the wrist, and you know what, I'm sick of it, one day I'm just not going to be here to save you stupid assholes, y'all motherfuckers would have all starved to death of it wasn't for me if the peggies and each other didn't get to you first!" Rook yelled in an angry tirade.
By now the other people in the room, slowly began to turn and watch with morbid fear that the Junior Deputy turned Sheriff was getting angry and blowing up over something again, in a way they learned to deal with it has just another daily occurrence with the rate Rook went at, but it still scared them, nonetheless.
"This is fucking bullshit, fuck all of you! I saved all of you and y'all shit on me, stab me in the back why don't you!?" Rook shouted.
"Ben, I get that your upset, but I need you to slow down, getting angry won't solve anything" Grace said, holding up a hand to him.
She had seen this before many times in her time in the military, new recruits getting way in over their heads and biting off way more then they can chew, gets thrown into hell and miraculously survived, when they finally returned, they expected a king's ransom of their service, and in the small chance they actually did get something, it was a cheap medal and a pat on the back while being told to get out there and do it all over again, and none of them liked it one bit, hell, she didn't agree with it, but what the military needs and wants are two very different things.
"I'll get fucking angry if I want, thank you very much! Sure, you were pickin' dudes off but what was everyone else doing? Fuck nothing that's what, if things don't change around here maybe I'll leave y'all to yourselves, that's what you want right? I know you've been planning to kick me out and look how well that would have played out then if you fucking idiots got what you wanted?!" Rook yelled, louder then before.
"Ben, I won't ask you again, please settle down" Grace said, this time shirking her uncomfortable demeanor and applying one befitting a seasoned vet such as herself.
As she spoke, she stepped towards Rook, squaring up her shoulders, sticking out her chest, she was ready to deal with Rook if he got out of control, just as she had seen new recruits just like him, she was ready to stop them from doing something they shouldn't.
"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do about it, beat me up? Go ahead, you got one shot, Gracie" Rook threatened as he walked right up to Grace, getting inches from her and stared unblinkingly into her eyes, volume gone from his voice, his voice as smooth as glass, and just as sharp.
For better or for worse, Grace didn't respond, she just met rook's gaze, staring him down as well, they both waited for the other to make a move, neither of them was familiar with the other's physical combative prowess, but both believe they could win if they were to fight. But their stand off was interrupted by an errant voice.
"What the fuck is going here!?" Nick belted out, thumbs hooked through his belt, a tough look on his face, indirectly focused on Rook.
And next to him stood Addie, she was nowhere near as ready to go as Nick, if anything she seemed, uncomfortable, unnerved.
"Holy shit Sug, you lit the front lawn up like the fourth of July" she said, trying to play it off as a joke of sorts, she didn't know what else to say, she to believe what Rook did was to much.
But neither Rook nor Grace moved, ignoring the new duo, they stared unblinking, waiting for a sign of weakness, but with each annoying call from Nick, Rook knew Grace wouldn't back down, with an annoyed sign, he was the one to relent, turning to look down his nose at Nick.
"What do you want?" Rook scowled.
"The fuck is all this" he asked, by the way he looked at Rook, it was clear he expected him to be at the root of it.
"These chucklefucks think how I handled things out there was not right" Rook snorted, anger he had to discuss this.
"Well, I mean… fuck man, I don't remember too many historical good guys or whatever you wanna call 'em, doing what you did" Nick shrugged with a scoff.
"Like, I don't mean to name call or anything, but how many Jewish people did Ol' Hitler burn alive?" he asked aloud, no kindness to his words.
In truth, Nick had no problem saying that, he had no love for the Junior Deputy anymore, for the longest time now their friendship had been on the decline and just about hit rock bottom. Whitehorse's death was the last nail in the coffin for him, everything about it was so suspicious, the cause, the timing, Rook's reaction, and explanation, he had seen enough episodes of NCIS to know something wasn't on the level, and off the level it was, Ben killed Earle, no doubt about it.
"Are you for real Nicholas!? Are you fucking comparing me to motherfucking Hitler because I killed a bunch of scumfuck cultists, how tried to kill us!?" Rook shrieked, his finger's intertwined in his hair
"We can't be as bad as the cult, we have to show virtue and ethics, if we can't then we are truly doomed" Virgil added, trying to same sagely wisdom to the argument.
"Shut up old man!" Rooked yelled, quickly spinning around and sticking a finger in Virgil's face.
The act promptly made the elder man, clam up, fearful for what would happen if he didn't.
"Don't talk to him like that!" Tracey snapped, pushing Rook's arm away from Virgil showing a sliver of her old self.
"Bite me, turncoat" Rook hissed, earning an irate glare from the woman, her sordid history still stung her.
Despite the all-round aggression, Rook was absolutely floored, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, hell, who knows, maybe the world really was ending, something had to be really wrong for his friends to act this way.
"Why don't we change the subject and come back to this later, we should worry about the damages we've accrued" Virgil offered with a weak smile, trying desperately to lighten the mood.
"We should look after the injured and dead and see to it we shore up our defenses" Grace suggested, bouncing back from her slump and help change the subject, she'd never seen Rook so angry before, it was kind of scary.
"I'm cool with whatever" Tracey sighed, shrugging, calming down.
"Yeah, yeah, Ol' Nicky's plane ain't looking good and Tulip took a few dings, I ain't no brainiac but some air support sounds pretty deluxe" Addie chirped, just wanting to feel safe again, only the sky brought the safety to her these days.
"Me an' Sharky can take care of the front I guess, me an' him got a lot of experience scrapping overburnt crap off stuff all the time" Hurk shrugged, even he understood the severity of everything, he just wanted to be useful, especially with his secret deputation.
"I think we should hit up that statue of Joseph" Rook said aloud, but by the way he said it, it wasn't a suggestion, but an order.
Everyone must be fucked if they think he was just going to magically cool down just because they were talking about something else now,
"They hit us and so let's hit them back, we need to make a show of force that we won't be fucked with" Rook asserted.
No one said anything as they thought on what they heard, but their expressions betrayed them, the idea seemed to concern them all.
"That's dumb, we're not doing that" she said to Rook as she scratched at the stump that was once her hand.
"As rare as it is, I must agree with her, they came here for blood, it makes no sense to go for a statue, yes there is a morale aspect, but nonetheless its still not worth it" Grace nodded.
"I still think Rook's right on the money" Pratt muttered quietly, he hadn't spoken or moved for a while now, everyone had forgotten he was there, until now.
"Simmer down now Son, you ain't exactly trustworthy" Hurk murmured, trying to emulate what he'd seen Rook do in the past.
"Your right, good idea, Hurk" Rook noted aloud, Pratt didn't need to be here for this, he shouldn't be here, he was the enemy.
"Shark, take 'em way" Rook then said waving a hand for him to step forward and do as he was told.
"Uh yeah, I'll find an empty cell, Sheriff" Sharky said as he walked forward to Pratt.
No one said anything, but they weren't exactly comfortable with the abruptness of Rook's order, or maybe it was him being called Sheriff, maybe they didn't believe he earned the title.
"Come on dude, you don't wanna be like those poor fools outside" Sharky said awkwardly as he shook his flamethrower lightly.
Pratt didn't say anything, his self-defeating attitude took over once again, he hung his head low and let himself be escorted.
With Pratt gone, rook continued to keep the pressure on Tracey, she was once a peggie years ago, she had to have some kind answer.
"Tracey, I know this suck, but I'm pretty sure you hung with Faith before she became, well Faith, so you got to know her well enough to stop her" Rook badgered.
"Wait, what?" Nick scoffed, flabbergast at what was insinuated.
"A time ago, Tracey was a peggie before jumping ship and may have know Faith at that time, she has to know something that could help us, we need anything at this point" Rook concluded.
"Now hold on, I wanna hear what the lady has to say" Nick countered, an air of skepticism with him.
But when all eyes turned to the woman in question, Tracey remained silent, her eyes lowered, it was clear she wasn't going to speak.
"See! She can't even defend herself, that means she has something, right?" Rook cried.
"I think she is still to razzed from what we just experienced, why don't we leave this be and focus on more important" Virgil offered gingerly.
"All the more to get to work fixing our defenses, we all need something to take our minds off of what happened" Grace offered.
"I-I can't believe this" Rook said, clutching his head, eyes wide, looking away from everyone.
"I'm speechless, speechless, I can't believe you guys are stopping me at every turn" He muttered in disbelief.
"You know what, I'm getting plenty tired of this horseshit Ben, you've been like this since we were fighting John, and I don't like it" Nick snarked rudely.
"What was that?" Rook hissed, looking up at the pilot, narrowing his eyes at him.
"It's always been you, you, you, you always carry on like you're rolling with some playbook or something, like you know exactly what to do, have you ever stopped to think that what your doing is wrong? and it don't mean like, fighting the cult is wrong, I mean your making the wrong choices, I get you're a cop and whatnot, but that doesn't protect you from mistakes?" Nick demanded.
"Of course, it's always been me, I'm the only one doing anything, I stopped John, I stopped Jacob, I'm the Junior Deputy, I'm the hero here! what the fuck have you done besides playing house with your family?" Rook spat.
"Leave my family out of this you son of a bitch!" Nick threatened loudly, pointing at Rook, he was done playing now, no one talks about his family like that.
"Then do something about" Rook dared, sticking his chest out.
Nick didn't think twice after that, he didn't hesitate, he just went into action, swinging his fist as hard as he could, implanting it into Rook's left eye, causing him to stumble back has his hands shot to his afflicted eye, he wanted to hit him for a while now, it looked like it hurt too.
And hurt it did.
"That's what" He said with a defiant smirk.
But he underestimated the Junior Deputy, he recovered faster then expected, lunging forward, hurling insults equal to the fury of his fists, but thankfully everyone stepped in at that point, restraining both and pulled them apart. As Rook tried to claw his way to Nick, Grace held him back, she was stronger than she looked and successfully kept him away from the pilot, once Hurk also got Nick far enough away, Grace shoved Rook hard on the back, causing him to stumble forward, away from everyone.
"Go cool off or next time you're dealing with me!" Grace imperiled, before turning to Nick.
"And you aren't helping anything, go make yourself busy" she ordered.
"Whatever man, I got a plane to fix" Nick scoffed, before stomping away.
See how quickly Nick relented, everyone turned back on Rook, expecting him to snap back, but Rook knew wasn't going to get anywhere with these people, he might as well do as they said and try again later, besides, he didn't need their help, just wanted it. Grumbling under his breath, Rook stomped away, who cares about Nick anyways, he had better things to do.
As he stalked his way out of the grand room, the groups of people moved out of his path like Moses parting the river, he had forgotten how many people shared the room with him and most obviously seen and heard everything, the room was silent as all stared and moved out of the way, be it fear or respect for the apparently cruel man that had saved their lives yet again.
And when left the room, their voices rose high.
Jess was a rather predictable woman once she graced you with the privilege of getting to know her, she was most likely hold up in the cell turned bedroom she and Rook commandeered in their previous stay at the prison and was most likely ogling that blood dinosaur poster or whatever she got a while ago if it still hung on the wall. He kind of hoped it was still there for nostalgia's sake, it reminded him of simpler times if it could be called that, regardless, the poster would be a sight for sore eyes.
Speaking of sore eyes, Rook irritably tuned his as he ventured to where he believed Jess to be, his eye pissed him off in more ways than one, yes getting punched by a supposed friend in front of everyone was a blow to his ego and well, his face, but the skewed vison was going to throw off his aiming and general vision, hopefully, he could still use a bow and arrow well enough, and count on Jess to cover his left.
And just like that he made his way to the cell he once dwelled in, upon entering he almost immediately could Jess curled up in a tight ball on the lower bunk bed, facing away from him, what was more, his nose was assaulted by the pungent odor of bile, the contents of the stomach, someone had thrown up in here, and sure enough in the opposite corner as Jess was a puddle of vomit, to Rook, the two occurrences connected themselves in his head, it suggested that maybe she was ill, but from what and how?
"Jess, you good?" He asked, the dubious situation distracting his anger long enough to take everything seriously.
But Jess offered no response, no sign of acknowledgment, perhaps she was sleeping.
"Jess?" Rook said again, softly this time as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
But the second he made contact, she jumped to life, rolling over to smack his hand off her, all the while squirming away from him, pushing her back against the cold wall, she looked like a cornered animal, angry, scared, and feral.
"Don't touch me, dickshit!" She spat at him along with a few more swears.
"Hey! Chill the fuck out! What's your problem?!" Rook groused.
"Your my problem!" Jess barked, somehow pressing herself further against the cell wall.
"Oh fuck off! Not you too!" Rook scowled in frustration.
"You know how I feel about burning people alive, do you have any idea what it was like to listen to all those people die like that?! To smell them!? Peggies or not!" Jess screamed at him.
"So me doing that is uncool, but Sharky, the guy walking around with an honest to God flamethrower is of your buddies!?" Rook yelled back, he wasn't going to take this.
"When was the last time you ever seen me talk to him?! He's your guy not mine!" Jess retorted as she slightly rose from her spot, her aggressive nature, coming out.
"Oh fucking no!" Rook yelled, throwing his hands in the air, feinting surprise.
"I made one mistake, God forbid it, damn the fallible human!" he yelled.
"You didn't make one mistake, you made many, you're a different person, I don't recognize you!" Jess shot back.
"When Jacob kidnapped me and dragged me back to his place, he didn't just torture me, he told me a lot of things about you, a lot of bad shit you've done, all this time I never said anything because I was unsure, but now things are coming to light, he played me audio recordings of you and Faith talking about stuff, being all chummy with each other!" she admitted.
"You keep your God damn voice down!" Rook threatened, pointing his finger at her aggressively.
He wasn't going to beat around the bush this time, he had to stop Jess now.
"No, I will not!" Jess shot back before carrying on.
"I thought it was fake, all cut together, but after watching you, finding out all the things you did, and it's starting to make sense" she yelled.
"Why the fuck are you believing Jacob Seed over me, you actually trust that liar?!" Rook gasped.
"He was many things, but a liar wasn't one of them, I don't know who the fuck you are or what to believe anymore, get the fuck out of here before I make you!" Jess yelled, voice cracking.
"Jess, this is bullshit-" Rook argued before Jess yelled over him again.
"I said get out!" Jess screamed before throwing the pillow at him, under all her anger and malice, Rook could tell she was genuinely hurt.
"Fine, fuck you too" Rook scoffed, rolling his eyes as he left, slamming the cell shut behind him.
And so was he.
As he stomped away, much like he did after Grace banished him, the ever-present cloak of anger enveloping him again like a boa constrictor around it's prey, all things aside, he couldn't believe her, Jess Black of all people didn't trust him, it was bullshit, just as he called it, but then again, Jess's lack of cooperation not withstanding, there was one last avenue of possibility he could still manipulate: Pratt.
Rook crept up on Pratt's cell, as silent as a shadow, Pratt didn't notice anything as he stood at the small metal sink affixed to the wall of his cell, it was filled to the brim with water as Pratt used it to wash his face, scooping water out with his hands and splashing it against his face, he must have heard the cell door open as he turned to looked at who had entered.
"What happened to your eye?" Pratt asked, the eye was well on its way to a proper black eye now.
"What do you know about Faith?" Rook replied, ignoring the question and quickly closed the distance between the two.
"As much as anyone else" Pratt shrugged demurely.
"You've had to have heard a lot of things under Jacob" Rook reminded him.
"Your right, I did, to much to keep track, especially how much you talked to Faith" Pratt admitted, his eyes falling to the floor.
"So you know to, huh?" Rook scoffed, narrowing his gaze.
"You got Burke down here too, yeah?" Pratt asked, changing the subject intentionally.
"Yeah, I got him working on things" Rook responded.
"I wouldn't trust him if I were you" Pratt implored him.
"And why is that?" Rook scowled, crossing his arms in contempt.
"I don't know, I heard people seem to be making a big deal about the few that got killed by the peggies during the Sheriff's funeral that couldn't make it back inside in time, they want another funeral, but I couldn't care less" Pratt explained.
"You said something about a statue a while ago, what about it?" Rook asked.
"Yeah… word is something super important to her is in there, maybe you can use it to get to her" Pratt shrugged.
"My thought's exactly, but I need you to make sure it's worth my while" Rook replied.
"If your such good friends with Faith, why don't you just call her and ask to meet then kill her… unless you did something already" Pratt asked.
"It doesn't matter what I did, I need to get her out and the open so I can get to her, and you're going to help me" Rook said, he still wasn't sure how he'd deal with her when the time came.
"I don't know how too, I'm just… pushed around from place to place, unwanted by you guys and the peggies" Pratt sighed pitifully, looking at the floor in defeat.
Rook stared at him with an annoyed look, they both knew he was right on the matter, he wasn't going to give up anything else, he had nothing to give, spending anymore time on this would be a waste, he needed to get out in the field and work his magic on this statue, hopefully there would be something he could use.
"Whatever dude, just stay out of trouble, I'll be back for you once Joseph is dead" Rook said, sounding bored as he turned to leave, he barely made it halfway before Pratt spoke up again.
"Are you going to kill all your friends?" he asked.
"What was that?" Rook scoffed, turning around to face him once more.
"Are you going to kill all your friends?" Pratt repeated, for some reason he sounded more confident than before.
"Why the fuck would I do that?" Rook posed, shaking his head in confusion.
"Because they're all against you, just like everyone back at the Mountains, they're not going to back down with all the shit your doing, not Armstrong or the pilot guy, so it makes sense that you'd kill them all, just like Eli, just like Tammy, just like Clark and everyone else that disagreed with you" Pratt admitted.
"None of that blood is on my hands! Its on yours and Jacobs!" Rook angrily accused, pointing at him.
"It doesn't matter, I told the Sheriff everything you did, and he told the pilot and Armstrong, it's only a matter of time until they deal with you or you deal with them, can you just at least get me out of here before it happens?" Pratt asked, his eyes flicking to the cell door for the briefest of moments.
"You did what?" Rook almost whispered, the anger taking over once more.
How dare he open his mouth, didn't he know how good he's had it since Jacob, he should be on his knees begging for forgiveness for everything he's done, but instead he chooses to hang himself.
So be it, Pratt was the final straw anyways, all his hate finally boiled over.
"You want out? Oh, I'll let you out" Rook hissed before stomping towards his former co-worker.
Pratt could tell something sinister was about to happen, before he could raise his hands in defense, he was roughly grabbed, making him let out a shocked gasp and pleas to be released as he tried to free himself from Rook's grasp, but due to his prolonged time on his own or in a cell had left him spindly and scrawny, unable to break free and was trapped under Rook's strength, but unfortunately Rook forced him back to the sink still topped off with water, and with one horrified gasp Pratt understood what was about to happen, before he could plea for clemency, Rook grabbed a handful of his hair and forced his head into the water, completely submerging his head under, and of course, Pratt kicked and flailed as hard as he could, trying to break the waterline, air bubbles rising to the top like boiling water, Pratt was screaming for his life, but again Rook's grip was much to powerful to break from, leaving him to suffer beneath the water.
It took just over a minute for Pratt to go flaccid aside from a few stagnant twitches, seeing the deed was done, Rook let him go, letting his lifeless body to the floor, Rook stared at it for a few moments, confirming if he really was dead, and sure enough, his chest did not rise and fall, Staci Pratt was dead.
"You know what they say, cull the weak" Rook said disgusted, before turning to leave once again.
Now was time to go more then ever, with everything that happened within the last fifteen minutes, he needed some real gold to counterweigh what he did, or else Pratt would be right, everyone really will turn on him. And thankfully he did have a plan, he would go and hit the statue for anything good, and if not, he wouldn't return until Faith was taken care of one way or another.
The warm afternoon air dropped down to the cooler temperatures of evening as three men approached the base of the large Joseph Seed statue, Autumn was soon approaching and from where the three men stood, they would have had an excellent view of where the harvest festivals would have been, but none cared, they were too focused on the task at hand.
Rook, Sharky and Hurk stood meters away from the immense marble statue, looking up at Joseph's stony visage with either contempt or apprehension. The self proclaimed sheriff wanted to get this done as soon as possible, before they left the prison, he stopped by his honorary deputies and voluntold them that they would assist him with the statue job, they were hesitant at first but with a quick reminder of what was at stake and the rewards of victory, Sharky and Hurk reluctantly agreed to accompany their Sheriff, but their willingness to follow him was short lived as it was quickly revealed that they would be walking to the statue base, all the way there then up the hill, both men complained the entire way, it made Rook want to strangle them both, but their usefulness exceeded their compacity to whine so retiring them was out of the question as of right now. What was more, as they were on the way out, Rook could hear the beginnings of a panic from down the halls, it didn't take a genius to figure out someone must have found Pratt, two more empty headed pawns couldn't help his chance with whatever Rye was probably brewing right about now.
But he couldn't let that get to him, he had to focus, he had to make some big brain plays in the near future, and luckily, there was no one up here but them, but yet the cousins still seemed nervous.
"Do ya think any peggies are bumming about?" Sharky asked nervously, looking around the base of the statue.
"After the losses they took at the prison, doubt they'd spare guys to stand around here" Rook suggested, bored.
He wasn't really listening to what either said, he was more interested in surveying the land in which the statue was on, it was the standard mountain top, rocks, shrubs, a path to the top, the works, but still he didn't feel totally safe, even though he just said it was safe, he needed to check just to be sure, and to do that, he unholstered his gun unbeknownst to the cousins and fired a single shot into the air, scaring them both, and just like clockwork, from out behind the base of the large statue, two angels came shambling out like a reanimated bodies, before they could prove to be a real threat, they were quickly dispatched by Sharky's flamethrower.
"Oh lookie, lookie, a burned body, everyone freak out" Rook complained, rolling his eyes at what he believed to be hypocrisy.
"I don't know man, this is kinda different" Hurk winced, trying not to sound as tactless as always.
"Don't you fucking start, Drubman" Rook threatened, looking his way.
"No for reals man, let's just talk about it like some cool adults" Hurk offered, looking nervously.
Rook stared menacingly for a few moments, wondering if he should entertain the whimsical idea, right before he blew it off, and idea struck him, it wouldn't hurt to look at the other side of the fence, regardless how wrong that side is. It could provide him with the ammunition to shoot down any more arguments in the future. With a grunt of frustration, he resigned himself to agree to Hurk's terms, it bothered him greatly that someone as lowly and simple as Hurk was trying to talk to him like a parent to a child.
"Now I ain't no smart city folk, but I think everyone is reacting the way they are is cuz, like, that's something what the peggies would do, an' you just did it, you didn't talk to anyone about it, you're just acting out on your own like you're not even part of our group, and well if your not with us then I guess your against us I think, the point is you need to you're becoming a stranger, an angry, scary stranger, you gotta come back around and rejoin the club and be a team player again" Hurk said with an uncertainty in his voice, he lacked the tact or maturity to say what he thought, but he had to try anyways.
"I believe what Hurkaggedon is trying to say is that we're living in very scary times, we don't know what's gonna happen next, but you're the Juni- Sheriff, we all look to you for hope and safety, it keeps us together, but we can't look to you if your runnin' all over the place, doing all this crazy shit by yourself, we don't know what to do, were just country folk, not some super cop like yourself, we need to wok together with teamwork and maturity where everyone is equal and friends or junk like that" Sharky jumped in, trying to clean up his cousins muddle.
"What would either of you know about maturity and teamwork?" Rook spat indigently, placing his hands on his hips.
"You have an extensive wrap sheet of arson, public indecency and a bunch of other dumb shit, damaging almost everything you come into contact with!" Rook argued, pointing a finger at Sharky before moving to Hurk.
"And you are a man child who carries around a literal rocket launcher who doesn't seem to understand the depths of what's going on around him, how can either of you possibly lecture me about doing what's right and being mature!?" he barked.
"That's the thing dude, we don't know about all that nonsense, but we do get the people that live here, we know what makes 'em tick and what scares 'em, we know how the land moves and what's in it, this is our home, we care about it a whole lot, I know we don't really look like it, but we really are trying, just as much as you are trying to stop th' cult, but neither of us can do it alone, we need to keep each other safe and be a team, so why don't we meet in the middle and shake hands, like my parole office would say, you can't spell compromise without promise" Sharky said, he couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself, that might have been the most mature thing he ever said.
Rook was silent for a moment, his almost bored expression then turned to an angry yet disgusted one, the cousins shrinking under his furious visage.
"I don't have to take this from someone like you!" He yelled, pointing a finger at Sharky again.
"Hey now! what is that supposed to mean?" Snarky argued, he felt a little hurt by the comment, and he wasn't one to take it laying down.
"You know exactly what I mean you country bumkin!" Rook accused.
"I know exactly what I'm doing! I'm stopping the cult! I don't need you telling me what to do, while I'm killing Jacob and his armies, you two dumb fucks were jerking each other off! I'm trained for this, I'm the hero of this so just stay out of my way and let me do as I please, I'll help all of you as little or as much as I want, so if I tell you to jump, you jump, if I tell you to fight, you fight! It's as simple as that, now Hurk, do as your told and shoot that God damn rocket launcher and wreck that statue already!" Rook yelled as he pointed up at the statue.
Hurk didn't move at first as he looked rather hesitant, he didn't want to shoot the statue anymore, Rook's crazy behaviour, it harshed his groove severely, and he was now upset, Rook reminded him of how his old schoolyard bullies treated him, it wasn't fun, it never was, and his treatment of his cousin was just the same except the aggression was verbal instead of physical, but Rook looked really scary when he was angry, and with the way he stared at him, he really didn't want to make him angrier, as uncomfortable as he was, he still pointed his very deadly weapon upwards, aiming it at Stony Joseph's face and pulled the trigger, a black plume of smoke ejecting out the back as the rocket was fired.
The statue was made of cheap cement, so when the ensuing explosion occurred, it crumpled and fell like paper macchia, large chunks of rock and rebar mesh fell from the sky with thunderous sounds that reverberated off the mountain top and across the whole region to hear, in hindsight, maybe Rook thought he should have thought this out first. And as the cheap cement hit the ground with tremendous force, the chunks burst into dust clouds on impact, the clouds of grey dust filled the air like a rising swarm of locusts, threatening to suffocate anyone nearby.
"Don't breathe that crap in!" Rook hollered as he pulled his shirt collar up to cover his mouth as he tried to get clear of the cloud.
But Rook's words of warning were met with heavy coughing from the cousins.
It could have done them great harm if not for the clouds dissipating as fast as they formed, revealing the cousins were unharmed and safely away from the calamity and were covered in cement dust and looked very unhappy about it, but Rook didn't pay them any mind, he was too focused on the cement head of Joseph Seed lay before them, it was much too big to powederize, lopsided and broken, the rebar skeleton exposed, and sculpted details destroyed, the face was barely recognizable. It was almost symbolic, Joseph's ruined head laying at their feet.
"Now what?" Sharky shrugged, uncomfortable and sullen.
"Hold on, Pratt said something could be inside" Rook answered analyzing the statue ruins, trying to figure out a way to climb it and get inside.
"Really!?" Hurk hiccupped, taking an interest as his mind told him a treasure chest rested inside.
"Yeah, come on and help me look" Rook said, motioning the two to help him somehow, of course Hurk practically ran to the ruins, dropping his rocket launcher while Sharky remained still, too indifferent to do anything.
Wanting that treasure chest, literally jumped at the chance for riches, throwing himself at Joseph's head so he may scale it then jump to the ruins and ascend like a season climber up Mount Everest, but what Hurk expected to happen and what really happened were two different things, upon impact with the head he almost bounced right of it if not for his iron grip developed from the recoil of the rocket launcher he used so very frequently.
Even with such grip strength, he struggled to climb Joseph's large head and quickly found he was incapable of pulling himself up, leaving him to embarrassingly flail his legs trying to find a foot hold, but even then he couldn't climb up, as he flailed his legs, inadvertently kicking the stone, the repeated kicks caused the already damaged stone to cave in, creating a small hole, the rubble fell inward with an echoing this, indicating Joseph's head was empty. To empty for a statue of its size.
Curious, Hurk stopped his attempts and let go, returning himself to the ground and peered inward did indeed reveal that something was inside, but it was much to obstructed by rubble to tell what exactly.
"Yo, there's something in here, and it ain't the word of God or whatever" Hurk proclaimed, his boisterous voice echoing within the cavernous head.
Equally curious, Rook joined the man and gazed in, seeing what Hurk saw, wanting what it, Rook dug his hands deep inside and pushed the rocks around with minor struggle before extracting the item in question, intriguingly enough, it was a simple leather book, a plain and damaged leather book, ravaged by time and the fall, before Hurk asked, Rook began quickly flipping through a bunch of pages, trying to discern the contents of the book. Even though he saw a handful of words for the briefest of seconds, each word inspired unease within, so much so the cousins could tell but the look on his face.
"Wh-what is it dude, did you find Joseph's album of nudes or somethin" Hurk asked.
Rook didn't respond as he examined it in greater detail to discover a name was written on the inside of the cover, Racheal Jessop.
Seeing the name caused a lump to form in his throat, not only was this hers but very clearly her diary, it chronicled her life when she returned to Hope County with Tracey after they had no where to go after they burned out and crashed from their cross country drug trip, how Joseph appeared and told her everything she wanted to hear, seducing her with his honeyed words and by the time she had entered his spiders den, it was to late. The later entries were full of terrible things that had been done to her, directly by Joseph himself, it detailed how he molded Racheal Jessop into Faith Seed
At first it was against her will, she did not want that, then eventually, over time, the found a way to break her, and slowly mold her into what he wanted, using drugs and threats to get his way, he said over and over again that he didn't want to be as forceful as he was, he was remorseful even, Faith even wrote how he seemed like he was pushing himself to do it, but he kept claiming how much he needed the perfect, innocent, pretty girl to serve welcome and soothe all the wayward souls that also fell prey to Joseph's tales. She had to do whatever Joseph said, or rather just as God told him to do, lest she be cast aside, lifeless, just like so many before her, she was even shown their final resting spot to help get the message across, Jacob and John were borderline abusive, almost enjoying making her life miserable, it was like they wanted her to be discarded, but yet against the odds, she persevered, eventually by the way she wrote, it showed that she developed Stockholm Syndrome, his threats and drugs and coercing finally worked her over and made her into the woman she was today, any pages past the point were blank, leaving Rook with a sick feeling, why was this in the statue?
"What is it Dude, come on" Hurk jeered as he bounced on his heels, he really wanted to know about the book.
"It's nothing, just… blueprints to the statue" Rook struggled to say, coming up with the lie on the spot.
Hearing that, made Hurk groan loudly in disappointment while Sharky was still uncharacteristically quiet, Rook didn't quite no what to do with all this, yes, the statue was going to upset the cult, but the book… what was supposed to do with this? If anything, maybe he could play the she's a victim card, but would anyone really buy that, he couldn't stop all of them if they collectively refused his claims. It made him curse internally, this was turning into a bigger and bigger headache by the minute, he wasn't sure how to deal with Faith still, kill her, arrest her, let her walk, fuck this is confusing, he was so used to the fighting and killing such things like this were even worse.
"Faith isn't going to be happy with what happened here, I think she's going to contact me soon, maybe you guys should head on home until then" Rook stated, pocketing the book.
"Yeah, yeah, just be careful out there, ya hear?" Hurk sighed before sauntering off, Sharky still silent, followed.
With them departing, Rook stole another look at the book, feeling something slither down his spine, he didn't know how he'd broach the subject, but one thing was for sure.
Once they finally had that chat, they were going to have a lot to talk about.
Faith sat plaintively at her desk, as she did, she eyed her satellite phone carefully, contemplating what to do.
She employed Frank and Emily to let it be known she killed Gordon and took back her Gate, and sure enough everyone fell back in line and bent to her whim with no hesitation, it was quite peculiar that it was that easy for their loyalties to switch again like that, maybe it was solely due to the shock of seeing their sweet, innocent Faith, order what she had ordered; come back and serve her or die on the spot, sure many died in the beginning, but they served as martyrs for everyone to see the error of their ways and pledged their allegiance to her.
And with everything was back the way they should be, Faith found herself staring at her satellite phone, she wanted to call Rook and put an end to things once and for all, but she didn't know what to say. As much as she didn't want to admit it, but she still had feelings for him despite everything, but the Father ordained her to kill him if need be, she knew he wasn't going relent, and when that would happen, who knows, between the slaughter at the prison and those she had to remove, she had very little flock members left, a congregation was more sufficient, she had no idea how many Eden Gate members where left anymore, they disappeared along side her brothers, she feared some even fled the county, hell she offered her and Rook do the same, and another part of her wished they followed through with it, but yet her she was, with the weight of the Fathers ambitions pushing down on her shoulders, threatening to crush her like a bug, but they were so close the, like a drowning swimmer about to break the water's surface, salvation was right around the corner, the Collapse was soon and she had to make every move count. Steeling herself she picked up the satellite phone and dialed Rook, she was going to say whatever she had to in order to set up a meeting, and after that, who knows?
But one thing was for sure, once they finally had that chat, they were going to have a lot to talk about.