Chapter 10:

The fatigue from the day finally kicked in as Tyler dumped his equipment by his mattress. He sagged into his mattress and stared up at the ceiling. His head was still dull from the experience in the Bliss and all he was able to think about were two things. Firstly, why did the Father show him a giant mushroom cloud? What did it have to do with his Project? And secondly, Faith. She seemed so hesitant to even blow the Bliss into his face, it actually made him all the more confused. It was her job to use the Bliss to get what she wanted out of people. And out of all the people, Tyler felt as if he was one of the more valuable people for the cult to get their hands on. He also was surprised at the reaction she gave when he told her about the cultists at the Marina and at the Brewery, and then to tell him to eliminate the members who weren't faithful. Then again, why did she agree to it? Was there the possibility that Tyler managed to plant that seed of doubt in her head or did she want to remove the problem without dealing with it?those thoughts eventually put him to sleep. It was one of the better sleeps he'd had and it really showed just how tired and broken all this fighting had left him.

Tyler opened his eyes and the morning light was leaking through the cracks in the boarded up windows. He rolled off the mattress and looked around. He was the only one left in the cabin. His friends had all headed out for the day. This didn't bother him as an idea popped into his mind. He went to his gear and picked up his radio and called the Sheriff.

"Sheriff?" Tyler asked. "You there Sheriff?"

"Rook?" The Sheriff. "Everything ok partner?" His voice was calm and drowsy like Tyler's.

"Yeah, it's all good. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to head out onto Rock Bass Lake and just go fishing for a bit?" Tyler asked.

"As much as I appreciate the offer," the Sheriff said. "Don't you think we should be spending the day fighting off this cult?"

"That's exactly my point," Tyler explained. "We've been fighting this cult for god knows how long and I think we deserve a short break from all the action." There was a brief pause before the Sheriff responded.

"Yeah, you're right Rook. All this fighting… it'd be nice to take the nerves off for a bit. I'll meet you there now." He closed his channel and Tyler smiled. Today was going to be a good day.

The boat rocked slightly as Tyler leant back a bit to throw his line out far into the lake. There he waited a bit before slowly reeling it in until it was just close enough. He let his bare feet enter the water and he sighed as the cool feel of the Montana lake travelled across his lower legs. The Sheriff sat next to him and cast his line out into the lake.

"So, Tyler. How've things been going on?" The Sheriff asks him. Tyler reels his line in a bit more.

"It's been, rough, to say the least." Tyler says.

"Yeah, I feel you there kid." Whitehorse says. He chuckled slightly to himself. Tyler looks over at him and smiles.

"What's so funny?" Tyler asks. The Sheriff fingers the brim of his hat with his free hand and shook his head.

"It's sorta ironic if you think about it," the Sheriff said. "The Marshall was the one hellbent on arresting Joseph Seed and now he's stuck with Faith and he doesn't want to leave. To add to that, you came into this job as the Rookie Deputy. First day on the job, a hell of a first job, and now look at you."

"Yeah, I guess." Tyler said as he felt a small tug on the line. "My first time shooting a gun, and now I've shot a gun so many times I've lost count." Tyler felt the tug again and he yanked at the line to hook the fish and began reeling it in.

"You know something Tyler," the Sheriff says. Tyler shakes his head as he continued to wrestle with the fish. "This was gonna be my last job. I was gonna retire last year, never got around to it, so I handed in my paper last month. I thought I would be stuck with dealing with petty crime all my life. Never did I expect a doomsday cult in our backyard." Tyler got the fish all the way to the boat and after about 15 seconds of wrestling, he pulled the fish up and out of the water. It was a relatively decent size fish, so he decided to keep it and cut it loose before putting it in the bucket behind them.

"I was never much a religious man Sheriff," Tyler said. "But why would God let our world live on for over 2000 if he wasn't happy with us, why bring an end to mankind?" The Sheriff looked over at Tyler and snickered.

"Rook, the only thing you should believe in is yourself, not some figure you can't even prove to be real. And certainly not that ass wipe Joseph Seed." The Sheriff said. Tyler nodded.

"Yeah, you're right." Tyler then wondered if he should he tell the Sheriff about Faith. He recasted his line and then came up with his decision.

"Hey, I need to tell you something." Tyler said.

"Shoot." The Sheriff said as he began wrestling with the fish on his line.

"Well, Faith found me last week…" Tyler started. "And she pulled me into the Bliss and forced me to jump from that fucking statue." He gestured to the hill on which Joseph's statue stood overlooking the north of the Henbane River.

"Shit," the Sheriff whispered. "You got away without any trouble though right?" He asked. Tyler shook his head.

"Ever since, she's been in contact with me." Tyler said.

"Rook, you can't trust what you see or hear out here. She's in your head." The Sheriff said.

"No, no." Tyler said as he shook his head. "I've been in contact with her in person." The Sheriff forgot about the fish on his line and stared at Tyler with his mouth open slightly.

"The fuck?" The Sheriff said.

"I know it sounds crazy," Tyler said. "But she actually wanted to reach out to me and just spend time together." The Sheriff laughed and shook his head.

"You have no idea Rook," he said. "This is her one way ticket into your mind. You've let her in and now she's gonna break everything down." Tyler just stared at the water and he too forgot about his fishing rod. He reeled it in and reached behind him and put a hand in the cooler and pulled out two beers. He handed one to the Sheriff and scrawled the lid of his. He took a large gulp and sighed.

"Maybe your right," he said. "But the thing is, I actually enjoy talking to her. She talks about who she is and she actually wanted to be my friend. You got any idea how rare a true friend is in this world and especially in this uniform?" He gestured to himself.

"Of course I do," the Sheriff said. "My job is seen as cowardly by the scum I deal with. Protected behind a badge. I have colleagues, sure, but none of 'em have been true friends. In fact, you may be the best thing to come out of the Academy in a long time." He took of his hat and played with the brim of his hat again. He sighed and then turned over to Tyler.

"Do you see any value in hanging around Faith Seed, Dep?" He asked. He returned his hat to his head.

"Yeah, she still has some of that old Rachel Jessop from before she met Joseph. I've seen it in the flesh and in her radio calls. She knows she doesn't belong, she knows deep down as do I. She doesn't want to admit that or accept anything that isn't under the cults twisted but yet justified philosophies." The Sheriff nodded his head and took a sip from his drink.

"Look, Tyler…" the Sheriff said. "I think that if there's anyone out here that knows what it is they're doing… it's you." He put his bottle down and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Tyler looked at the box and he recognised them instantly, Kyrati Royals. Hurk and his Fathers designated choice of tobacco. The countless time Hurk reminded Tyler of his international adventures across the world, from some islands in the South Pacific and the Himalayan nation of Kyrat. Both of those trips left Hurk with some goodies he had, such as the Kyrati cigarettes and dog tags from some of the mercs he dealt with on the islands. The Sheriff offered Tyler a cigarette and he took it. Whitehorse lot both cigarettes and took a long inhale of his. The smoke came out of his mouth in his next breath. Tyler did the same and felt the relaxing feeling of the nicotine working away in his body.

"Is it, wrong… what it is I'm doing Sheriff?" Tyler asks. The Sheriff exhales his smoke and replies,

"If you're fighting for something you truly believe in, then there's nothing wrong with that at all." After a while, they both snuffed out their cigarettes and the Sheriff motions behind him to the acoustic guitar Tyler had brought with him. "Let's see what you can do." Whitehorse says as they both take their feet out of the water. Tyler grabs the guitar and quickly checks the strings.

"Any requests?" Tyler asks.

"You know what I like." The Sheriff says and a grin spread on both of their faces.

Tyler and the Sheriff the boat back to the dock and they both said their goodbyes. Whitehorse returned to the Jail and Tyler decided to go for a drive, just to make do with the time left in the day. He got back into his truck and started driving north past the Hotel and along the main road alongside the Lake. He tried his best to keep a low profile and avoided any of the cult roadblocks he could see. After he passed the water treatment plant, he began to hear constant gunfire, and it was nearby. Tyler kept driving along the road and then he saw it. About 10 cultist were surrounding a hill on which a lone figure was poised. Grace. Tyler quickly hopped out of his car and pulled out his rifle. The enhanced optics allowed him to aim precisely for the heads of the cultists who weren't expecting him at all. He lined up his aim and started to shoot. He took out 3 quickly before one of the cultists managed to see him hiding behind a tree. Their focus changed within an instant. Tyler started to panic. 6 fully armed cultists were coming. Each looking to kill the Deputy without hesitation. His thought were interrupted by Theo loud gunshots. Obviously the cultists had forgotten about Grace. Tyler felt more confident and returned fire, killing 3 more of the stunned Peggies. The last 3 were taken care of by Grace. Tyler's radio buzzed and Grace's voice rang out.

"Thanks Deputy, I sure as shit needed help outta that one."

"That's fine Grace, just keep safe now." Tyler responded as he got back into his truck and continued to drive. His radio buzzed again, this time a different voice.

"Hey Tyler, you there?" Tyler smiled and hit the talk button.

"Hey Faith, I'm here." He responded.

"You doing anything right now?" Faith asked.

"No not really, why?" Tyler asked.

"Well," she said. "You wanna go for a walk with me?" Tyler smiled and responded instantly.

"Sure, I'd love that." He said. He heard that same squeal of pure delight he'd heard when he first agreed to meet with her.

"Great!" She exclaimed. "Wanna meet at the lookout tower at the bottom of Raptor Peak?"

"Sounds like a plan then." Tyler said. Tyler drove I. The direction of the largest mountain in the county.

As Tyler pulled up to the watchtower, he couldn't see anyone there so he scaled the stairs and looked out from the railing. The views were so impressive that he couldn't help but take out his phone and take a quick picture. This was another benefit of having a phone even without signal. He could capture any shot of the county he wanted.

"Beautiful isn't it?" A soft voice came from behind him. Tyler turned around and saw Faith Seed smiling at him. She somehow managed to sneak up behind him. Tyler turned around and smiled at her.

"One of the more stunning spots in the county." Tyler said. Faith walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly in an embrace. Tyler was taken aback by the sudden decision but eventually wrapped his arms around her as well.

"What was that all about?" Tyler asked as he broke apart the embrace. Faith looked at him and smiled again.

"I just wanted to thank you for yesterday. You really showed me that I have been following the rules blindly. I was one of the few who actually believe in what we do. I'm grateful on many levels Tyler." She says, a slight blush hinting at her cheeks.

"It's alright," Tyler said. "It comes naturally to me, protecting my friends and loved ones." Faith smiled and walked over to the railing and stood next to him.

"Can I ask you some questions?" Faith asks him. Tyler nodded.

"Only of I get to ask you some as well." Tyler said. Faith giggled and turned to him.

"What music do you like listening to?" Tyler didn't even need to think before he answered.

"I like a lot of the 60's to 80's rock and roll and a lot of country rock stuff. My favourite artists gotta be Florida Georgia Line." Tyler said. Faith giggled to herself.

"I knew you were from Nashville," she says. "But you can't get much more country then that." She starts laughing.

"Ok then," Tyler started. "What about you?"

"I used to love a lot of the 90's stuff from my childhood but I can't pass up a decent country or soul ballad." She says. Faith takes Tyler by the hand and walks them towards the staircase.

"Where did you want to go?" Tyler asked. Faith shrugged and walked down the stairs.

"Let's just walk for a bit and we'll come back here." Tyler nodded and caught up with her. They walked along the dirt path for about an hour, talking and looking out at the scenery. Night had began to fall. The higher up the mountain side they got, the bigger and more impressive the view became. Once they reached the start of the hiking trail, Tyler could see everything. The small light of Fall's End far away in the heart of the Holland Valley, the smoke coming from the Conservatory, the flickers of headlights driving on the roads in the Valley as cars and trucks passed by. Faith wrapped an arm around Tyler's and snuggled up to his side. She yawned and Tyler noticed.

"You ready to head back?" He asked. Faith yawned again and Tyler felt compelled to make the trip back easy for her. He scooped her up in his arms and he began the trek back to the watchtower. By the time he reached the watchtower, Faith had fallen asleep in his arms. She looked so content and peaceful as she slept silently. Tyler nudged her to wake her up. He eyes fluttered open and Tyler thought that she looked adorable as she looked around disoriented. She looked up at Tyler and smiled tiredly.

"We're here Faith." Tyler said quietly.

"Can you stay with me," she asks timidly. "Just for tonight?" Tyler laughs quietly and lays down on the floor with Faith still in his arms. She wiggled out and Tyler thought that she was trying to leave, but instead she laid her head on his chest. Tyler felt his eyes start to sag.

"Goodnight Tyler." Faith mumbled.

"Goodnight Faith." Tyler bent his neck enough so he could kiss Faith on the top of her head. Faith felt her cheeks blush slightly and she fell asleep with a large smile plastered on her face.

Note:

Hi, I found that this chapter wasn't easy to get out because it required the right insight into certain characters. I hope you enjoyed reading and if you did, please let me know what you thought either by PM or by commenting. Have a good day y'all.