Chapter 3:

Tyler woke up to find himself with the worst stomach cramp he's ever had. To his right, a gruff voice taunted at him.

"Seven days, you must be hungry." Tyler looked over and saw Jacob Seed sitting on a foldable chair looking at Tyler, who was on the floor in a cage. Deputy Pratt, moved a bowl of what appeared to be minced meat through the bars and instantly, Tyler raced forward like an animal and scarfed half the bowl, not even worrying about swallowing. "Did you know that it takes just 10 days for civilization to collapse?" Jacob asked as he tilted his head upward and Pratt, using a combat knife started to shave at his beard. Tyler stayed silent. "Yup, you take away a mans basic needs and he will revert to his primordial instincts in just ten days." Jacob glanced his eyes down at Tyler and smirked in satisfaction. "Ah it's a difficult thing to understand unless you've lived it." He then leaned his head forward, but looked off to the right. " I was in Iraq, during the First Gulf War. Eighty-Second. All Americans. Hoo-rah!" He said, almost fondly. Jacob then turned to look at Tyler. "One night, there was a… an ambush," he recalled. "And me and this guy Miller got separated from the unit. No food. No radio. Nearest base… two hundred clicks to the south so we just started walking." He motioned to Pratt to pour water onto his hands as he tended to his freshly trimmed beard. "Well, by the third day I knew we were lost. Day six… ran outta water. You know what that's like dontcha? Difficult to swallow." He rubbed his hands together and leaned back on his chair. "On the seventh day, Miller's legs started going all wonky. Did you know your brain starts to eat your muscles in order to survive? That's why you're so goddamn skinny…" he lingered as he smirked again. "And by the eighth day, the wolves were closing in. And I looked at Miller and I could tell we were as good as dead. And I accepted that. And in that acceptance came clarity." Tyler felt sick again as he realised where this story was going. Jacob stood up and grabbed his jacket and pulled him up. "You see, I wasn't just looking at Miller. I was looking at an opportunity. It wasn't something that I wanted, it was something I had to do. It was… it was my test." Jacob then let go of Tyler and moved his hand to pick up that familiar wooden box. He felt himself sweating nervously and his heart race in fear. "Now you see, Miller's sacrifice wasn't about me walking out of that desert. It was about bringing me here." He started to crank the box. "The weak have their purpose. You'll understand that soon enough." With that, the lid opened and his eyes flashed red. Instead of waking up to the sound of Jacobs voice, he could hear his name being whispered, and then spoken, then shouted, and then his whole body started shaking as he opened his eyes and sat up quickly in a cold sweat. He looked around and saw where he was. He wasn't at the Veteran's Centre any more. There was no need to be scared of Jacob anymore. He was in on of the abandoned cabins near the youth camp.

"Tyler?" Came a concerned voice to his left. Seb had shaken out of his nightmare. "You ok man?" He asked. Tyler looked around and nodded his head.

"Yup, just a bad dream. Real one too."

Seb had decided that he would catch fish for food, seeing as he was an expert fisherman. Whilst he did that, Tyler decided to take a walk along the road south of their cabin. As he walked along, he saw a cultist shove a pedestrian on the ground and started yelling at her. Tyler couldn't hear a word but pulled out his silenced 1911 and snuck through the bushes to get as close as he could to the holdup. Tyler aimed his gun at the cultist and quickly shot a round into his head and watched him keel over and hit the ground. Tyler ran over to the civilian and spoke to them.

"Don't worry you're safe now." He tried to cut off her restraints but she disappeared out of thin air. Tyler then felt his head fog up with an echo and quickly his vision completely clouded over. A giggle echoed all around. He's only heard this laugh once before. He felt a pair of smaller hand grab onto his as a face became visible through the fog of Bliss. "Welcome to the Bliss."

"Welcome to the Bliss." Faith said as she smiled before blowing a powder into Tyler's face. He felt his world spin around and an overwhelming feeling of calm and relaxation came over. He regained a his vision and he saw he was in a field and a blue butterfly flew towards him. "I know you've heard stories about me." He felt Faith grab his right hand and spin him around. She held onto his other hand and she walked backwards with him. "That I'm a liar, a manipulator. That I poison people's minds." She started playing with the Deputy's fingers and smiled sweetly up at him. Tyler felt his breath get caught caught in his throat. He had heard from random people that Faith was beautiful, but he had no idea just how stunning she actually looks. Faith either read the Deputy's stunned face or payed no attention to it because she kept talking. "Well, let me tell you a different story, a true story." She sat them down and looked at Tyler. Her eyes has a sense of honesty in them. "There once was a young woman who had been ostracized by her community, bullied by her friends, abused by her family." She stopped a bit and looked at Tyler her face showing nothing but what Tyler thought was open honesty. Faith shut her eyes and cringed slightly as she said. "She took to the needle for help. She was all alone, she wanted to die." Her saddened expression quickly turned into a grin. "And then she met the Father!" She stood up and ran quickly with the Deputy further into the field. She spun around and behind her, the fog cleared to reveal the statue of Joseph Seed. Faith grabbed Tyler's hands again and she grinned widely. "He gave her hope and confidence, the Father showed her how special she was, that she was full of love and life." She grinned and pulled them closer towards the green lake stretching from where they were to the statue. "He gave her a new family, one that accepted her just as she was." She reached up and pushed a stray strand of light brown hair behind Tyler's ear. "The young women no longer wished to die. She had been given purpose.." and then Tyler was certain he was going crazy as Faith spread her arms and wings formed out of the Bliss. She grabbed his hands and pulled him up.

"Where are we going?" Tyler said with a hint of nerves, as he looked at the ground far below him. Faith smiled and replied.

"One day the Father brought her here. He asked if she had Faith in him. If she'd be willing to die for him.The young woman who very much wished to live… was scared." Tyler took a mental note of what he just heard. He had a feeling it would be helpful later down the track. Faith swooped them low to the ground and Tyler felt the wind blow quickly through his longer, untamed light hair. " The Father told her that this was her test. He told her that he would have Faith in her if she had Faith in him. So she closed her eyes leapt. " She let go of Tyler's hands and he felt his stomach drip. He quickly felt the feeling of hard concrete. He had no idea how quickly he got moved to the book on Joseph's statue. Faith started drifting away with her arms outstretched. "The Father kept his word. The Path to Eden is clear to those who have Faith." She then disappeared I. A puff of Bliss. What grabbed Tyler's attention however was the other person with him on the statue. He looked as the Marshall turned around to face him. He outstretched a hand and said dreamily.

"Walk the path" before opening both his arms wide and letting gravity take him on his fall. Faith reappeared by his side.

"You just have Faith, let go and jump." She spoke in an encouraging tone. Tyler looked over the edge and felt his legs go weak as he couldn't see the bottom of the mountain.

"I don't know Faith." He said simply.

"This is the only way to accept the Father's Word into your heart." She said at Tyler with this passionate expression.

"I don't want anything to do with this though!" Tyler said as he started to raise his voice in anger.

"We'll then, I did think you were gonna make this interesting." Faith said as she grabbed the Deputy's hand and walked him towards the edge of the book. She then glided out over the edge and let go of his hands. Tyler felt like he was going to pass out as he fell freely gaining pace as he hurtled towards the ground. The ground came into vision and he shut his eyes as he braced for his quick death but he never felt that final impact as he felt the Bliss almost evaporate from him.

He opened his eyes and saw he was lying down on what looked like a giant rock target with the cults emblem painted on the ground. Where the hell am I? Tyler asked to himself.

A voice inside his head echoed from all over.

"See, nothing to be worried about. Do you feel different, do you feel alive?" Faiths voice rang out.

"No not really." The Deputy said bluntly as he rubbed his temples in an attempt to ease the quickly growing headache.

"The first step is always the scariest, but we all have Faith in you Tyler… I'll see you soon." And with that, the Bliss wore off. The first thing in Tyler's mind was wandering how she knew his name. They only talked the one time and that was without him revealing his name. This was getting stranger each hour he spent in this region. His radio crackled from his waist. "Tye, where are you man? I've been looking for you for 30 minutes. Please pickup, do you copy?" Seb was on the other end of the line. Tyler unclipped the radio and pushed the talk button.

"Seb, I'm alright but something just happened that you've gotta know about."

Note: Hi all, this chapter was tweaked quite a bit and I feel like I have gotten a bit more insight into the events leading up to the story. The whole thing should start to move quicker now. Some of the support and feedback I've gotten has been really helpful, especially chaos879 and Ragnarok666. I'm still kinda surprised any of you have been keen to read this. I dot. Have high expectations for this story what so ever. But I hope you did enjoy this chapter.