Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 4: Hope comes to Fall's End
A few hours later the sound of the many locks turning on his makeshift cell door snapped Rook awake. He fought the urge to grab his sidearm as he was still pretty sure that who ever brought him here was at least not with the cult, so hopefully that would give him something to work with.
The old man walked in and turned on a radio that sat on a dresser.
"My children... we must give thanks to God. The day that I prophesied to you has arrived. Everything I've told you has come true... The authorities who tried to take me from you are now in the loving embrace of my Family... save for one. But this 'Wayward Soul' will be found, he will be punished and in the end... they will see our glorious purpose. I am your Father. You are my Children. And together we will..."
"I get the point you can shut that fucking nut job up now." Rook said mildly annoyed at the mere sound of Josephs voice.
The old man turned off the radio and turned to face the deputy. "Do you really know what that shit means? It means that the roads have been closed, the phone lines, and radio towers have been cut or taken over. This valley is now completely under the cults control and no one outside knows about it!"
The man pulled up a chair and continued.
"It means we are all fucked! Goddamned 'Collapse'... they think the world is coming to an end now. They have been waiting for it for years."
He sighed.
"All they were missing was someone to come along and fulfill their prophesy and kick off their goddamn 'Holy War'." The old man finished.
"And we sure as shit kicked. Fucking egoistical Marshal." Rook finished looking the other man in the eye.
"Smartest thing to do would be to hand you over to the cult..." the old man started but Rook cut him off.
"Yeah, how about 'No' on that. After all you offer me up and what's to stop them from coming for you? Either to take what you have or to force you to join or of course just kill you and be done with it. I think I remember you now, you used to come by my dad's shop once in awhile usually for ammo components... Mr. Roosevelt." Rook said.
"I wondered if you were Marcus's kid. Given how damn big you are. But you aren't a boy anymore so you can call me Dutch like everyone else." Dutch smiled for a brief moment.
"Well Dutch we both know the situation is fucked as is. So how about you let me out of here so I can see if I can't find someway unfuck this fiasco?" Rook said getting to the point.
Dutch harrumphed "Couldn't have said it better myself, but first I suggest you burn that uniform. No sense in being a walking target for the cult. I got some spare clothes though they will probably a bit tight on you."
Rook stood up from the bed to his full height. "Dutch, thanks for the offer but I am already a big walking target for the cult. Might as well keep the uniform and actually attempt to discharge my duties to the maximum degree that our situation allows."
Dutch nodded and ushered Rook to his makeshift command center. On one wall was a map of the valley with photos and notes on the various members of the Seed family.
'John Seed. 'The Baptist'. So now I have a name to go with the face. Jacob Seed. 'The Solider'. Faith Seed. 'The Siren'. Of course the biggest motherfucker of all... Joseph Seed... 'The Father'.' Rook glared at the pictures at the wall.
"Rook, I've been trying to piece together for the last few hours what is going on but I can't get a consistent signal off the island. Cult probably turned off the signal booster at the top of the radio tower on the island. On top of that the cult has taken over the rest of the island, so we need to secure that first before anything else lest we get some unwelcome visitors banging on the door." Dutch said.
"I copy, if I can get a quick bite to eat and drink then I'll be on my way then." Rook acknowledged.
Dutch reached into a nearby box and pulled out a standard US military MRE pouch and two bottles of water.
"Pizza meal! You must really like me Dutch." Rook happily said as he returned to his cell to eat and check his pack. A hour later he emerged into the morning daylight, the thick fog from last night still somewhat hanging around.
"Rook, I remember once your old man told me you went into special forces like he did. Never told me much more but in any case I'll leave you to decide how to do this. Just know that from what my cameras tell me we got two shrines and two outposts the cult has setup, we need to destroy the shrines and retake those outposts to secure the island for what will hopefully become 'The Resistance'. Get to it kid." Dutch said over the radio.
Rook drew his 1911 and preceded west through the undergrowth. He didn't go far to find what the cult called a 'Shrine'. It was a mini version of Joseph's Church but besides being comically thin and tall the front portion of the building had a large tank of 'Bliss' spewing out gentle green clouds of the drug. Three cultists were around the small building. Two patrolling and generally keeping watch while the third was he guessed anointing the shrine.
'Joey said that Bliss stuff is violently explosive so shooting the tank is a option. Of course I can quietly take out everyone then blow up the Shrine. Either way the explosion is going to wake up the whole island so might at well make a lot of noise the first time, disappear and see who comes running.' Rook pondered.
He decided that perhaps going loud had enough merits as he looked at a path that lead away from the shrine and deeper into the island's interior.
'I have that grenade and there is plenty of brush that I can rig up some kind of trap along the path. Better see if Dutch can help with that.'
Rook reached for his radio. "Dutch you copy?"
"Go ahead Rook." Came the reply.
"I got a plan to try and draw out as many of the cultists to the shrine on the north end of the island and hit a booby trap on the way here. You said you have cameras watching the area so I want you to let me know roughly how many peggies come running and if they are running along the southern path." Rook finished.
"Ok kid. What do you have?" Dutch asked.
"A single old M26A1 frag grenade. I'm really betting on May of 1967 being a good vintage year otherwise I'll have to burn up some rifle ammo." Rook joked.
"That will do the trick. I'll keep you informed. Dutch out."
Rook swapped for his Desert Eagle and waited for one of the watchmen to step closer to the shrine if the pattern he had seen this guy stick to held up. A moment later Rook's patience paid off as the watchmen not only walked closer to the shrine but started talking to the anointer.
'Small miracles.' He thought.
He fired a single shot and the entire shrine erupted in a much larger blast than even he envisioned leveling the building and sending wicked chunks of debris slicing throughout the area including one piece the size of a bowling ball that thankfully managed to only knock his hat off as the blast wave knocked the rest of him down. The third peggie was laying on the ground in the process of bleeding out from the large iron cult cross from the steeple that had now relocated into his chest.
'Ok Bliss is 'extremely' explosive. To think they even put it in their fertilizer. Still if I need to make a bomb it might make for something useable in a pinch.' Rook thought.
"Rook, that blast shook even my bunker! You got most of the peggies rushing towards you now including two on a ATV. Better scrap that trap idea." Dutch called on the radio.
"Copy, I hear them coming now." Rook replied as he sunk further back into the bushes he saw ATV mounted peggies roar in. They stopped in the middle of the blast zone and dismounted.
"Oh god what happened? Did the shrine explode?" One asked.
"Father save us. Issac is... all over the place." His counterpart said absently just before falling on all fours and puking on the ground.
Rook heard the quick stomping of dozens of feet along the path not long afterwords. Now he had about ten cultists looking around at the shrine and starting to talk among themselves about where to search in case if this wasn't a accident.
He took out the grenade and pulled the pin still keeping the spoon in a tight grip. One cultist seemed to be gathering everyone around the ATV to start a more organized search of the area, Rook took this as his moment to lob the grenade at the group. The explosive landed on a sandy patch of ground and rolled under the ATV spooking some of the members from the impact noise alone.
The following explosion though not as big as the shrine still added yet more debris and body parts over the area. Satisfied that there were no survivors Rook moved along the shoreline until he reached a small dock where the cult seemed to have shipped in their supply of Bliss for the shrines judging by the large IBC tanks of Bliss sitting on the dock.
"Rook. You are near the Forest Research Station. I can only see one guy hanging out front of the main building. Everyone else went for your trap." Dutch chimed in
Rook crept around the back of building, and peeked through a window and saw through a open door the cultist in question nervously rocking on his feet waiting for his friends to return. Then something moved on the floor. A man who was clearly just a Forestry worker was tied up on the ground had managed to see Rook through the window.
"Help me!" The man mouthed.
Rook nodded and crept further until he reached the corner. He braced himself before charging around and slamming the head of the lone cultist repeatedly against the door frame. He then moved to free the other man.
"Thank god you came deputy. I came in today to work like normal and found all these peggies setting up shop. Next thing I know I got a rifle in my face, I overheard though they caught more folks up at the Ranger station and there's always a few fishermen out this early in the morning so keep an eye out for them too." The man quickly spoke.
"Great... ok here is what I do know. I'm the last free or surviving Sheriff's deputy in the county. Everything in and out of Hope County is locked down and we have lost contact with everyone outside of the valley. You know how to use an AR?" Rook asked.
"Yes, sir." confidently said the Forester.
Rook grabbed the dead cultists rifle and handgun and handed it to the other man.
"Strip this bastard of all of his ammo. I don't know where its safe right now but if I had to give you some advice is to make your way home. Stick to the bushes and avoid contact with the peggies if at all possible. Get home, check your supplies, then check on your neighbors. We need to start looking out for each other. Got it?" Rook stated.
The Forester shook his head and started stripping ammo and anything else useful from the dead cultist. Rook meanwhile headed south from the station again hugging the shoreline.
"Rook! I just saw a pair of peggies grab someone near the boathouse just south of your position, I'll bet they think he's the cause of the explosions they heard. Get to him quick!" Dutch chimed in over the radio.
Rook doubled his pace until he could hear a peggie shouting about who else is on the island.
He crept into a bush and tried to peek out only to come face to face with a cultist woman.
"Who..." She started to say as she lifted her rifle. Rook in a panic grabbed her head and pulled her into the bush and tried to twist her neck but even as little time as that took it was enough to get the other mans attention.
"Who's there?! Show yourself sinner!" The man yelled.
Rook noted that the dead woman had a pair of throwing knifes so he grabbed one and sent it flying clear past the cultist and landing right beside the tied up local. The flying object and the following sound had the cultist instinctively turn to watch it giving Rook time to do a better throw and land the knife cleanly into the back of the man's neck.
As he came out of the bushes he saw the would be hostage already trying to pull the knife out of the wood forming the dock to cut at the ropes.
"Sorry buddy, I botched that throw something fierce." Rook said as he pulled the knife out of the wood and cut the ropes holding the local himself.
"No problem after getting pummeled by that guy I hadn't even noticed it. Just what is going on?" The man asked.
Rook sighed and gave a short version of what was going on. The man then grabbed the cultists rifle and offered his help.
Rook honestly had mixed feelings on having someone help him out but decided that he was still better off alone than trying to coordinate with someone else out of the blue.
"Thanks for the offer sir but I think it would be best if I stick at it alone. That said there's a Forestry worker up at the station if he is still there you can pair up with him. I advised him to go home but traveling together might be a worth while idea." Rook said.
The man nodded and went to strip the other cultists. Rook drew his 1911 again. He was feeling that his luck was running out and that uncertain resupply be damned he would stick more to shooting than melee for the moment.
Off in the distance he could see another shrine on a small island but decided that though he could hit it easily from where he was with his .50 cal that the resulting explosion would run the risk of pulling more of the cults away from the outpost and into the woods where they would be harder to track.
Instead he double backed north to the lookout tower. Judging from the tire marks on the trail this was where the two cultists on the ATV had originated from, with them gone the place was empty.
"Dutch, do you have any idea how many cultists we got left on the island." Rook radioed.
"Stand by... Ok the only ones I can see on camera are two at the Ranger Station and three at the shrine on the little island to the west. It's hard to tell from the camera but there might a another captured local at the station, so I would advise you go there first." Dutch finished.
His next course of action settled he calmly walked to the Ranger station. Of the two cultists that were still hanging around one was picking through the pockets of some dead local while the other was beating and attempting to question the last living local.
'I think its time I do some questioning of my own.' Rook thought. He swung to the left deciding to sneak through the main office building to get behind the man beating the local since of the two he was the better armed therefore might be higher ranked with in the cult. At least that was the idea.
Walking slowly through the office he approached the front door.
'Unless you really get in their face or make a loud noise these dumb asses have a really one track mind. Not all that surprising considering they are in a cult after all.' Rook thought as he rushed out the front door and put the 'interrogator' in a choke hold with his left arm while extending his right with his sidearm and putting two rounds through the remaining cultist.
He threw down his own hostage and stepped roughly on his right arm so he couldn't hope to draw his sidearm to which was quickly removed as well. With his subject disarmed he put his other boot just below the mans throat still keeping most of his weight on the mans arm.
"Ok buddy, I'm going to ask you some questions and you are going to give me answers. If you cooperate then you get live, if you don't I'll shoot you and find someone else to ask. Are we clear?" Rook threatened.
The tied up hostage moaned "Ask the fucker why he killed my friends. Also can you cut me loose please?"
Rook drew his knife and the hostage managed to crawl close enough for him to cut his hand ties.
"Now that's done lets go ahead and start with his question first. Why are you peggie bastards killing these people?" Rook questioned.
At first the cultist tried uselessly to use his left arm to push Rook's boot off of his chest but couldn't do anything more but flail around. Rook increased the weight on the man chest until he gave in.
"AHHH... please stop! I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll talk! We have to convert the sinners and those who resist must be made examples of! It is the will of The Father! AHHHHH!" The man cried out as Rook put a bit more weight on.
"Can't say I'm surprised. Now next question: Where are the law enforcement officers from last nights attack being held?" Rook threatened again.
The man coughed as he gasped for air. "I... don't know... AHHHHH!"
Rook replaced his previous weight back on the man. "I don't know is not an acceptable answer..."
He eased off a touch to let the cultist breath enough to speak. "I don't know where they are. They got taken to the different Heralds. The Father's own family so that they may learn the error of their sins. It is the will of The Father."
Rook eased up on the man chest more and let him take a few decent breaths.
"Anything else I should know about these 'Heralds'?" Rook asked.
"They are The Father's own family. They are the greatest of us and will stop at nothing to see The Father's will be done. Sinners like you have no hope in fighting against the word and will of God... AHHHHH!" The cultist screamed as Rook put a brief burst of his weight back on the man.
"It should be obvious to even you by now that I want information, not dogma. Now is there anything else I. Should. Know.?" Rook slowly spoke making sure that the cultist knew not to further waste his time.
"John... John Seed is set to make a broadcast soon. I don't know what but it was supposed to happen sometime this morning!" The cultist belted out.
Grumbling Rook felt he was at the end of usefulness for this guy and swiftly brought his foot up directly on to the mans throat and crushed it.
"Brutal. Warranted of course but brutal, Deputy." The local said looking on at the sight.
Rook shrugged. "They didn't cover insurrections in basic training so I am making this up as I go. Think you'll be ok sir?"
The local nodded "Yeah, there is a radio in the station I'll see if anyone else is still free and start setting this place up as some kind of outpost. What about you?"
"I got to fix the radio tower on this island after that... I'm going to guess that I need to reach Fall's End and see if maybe there are any other deputies or cops that are still alive and on our side." Rook said as the weight of his task began to hit him.
'I really can't hope to do this alone. I need to gather others willing to fight and start finding out where the weak points of the cult are.' Rook thought to himself as he left the local and started towards the last shrine.
The last shrine was built on tiny bit of rock about 100 feet from the main island's shore still like the other shrine this one had two watchmen and someone working on the shrine. Rook thought about swimming over but decided that it wasn't worth the extra effort especially now that it was daylight and swimming while being stealthy was a lot harder in the daylight hours. Instead he found the tallest point he could find along the shore and brought his HCAR to bear, a few minutes followed of him watching the patrol patterns of the cultists until one of the watchmen walked in front of the shrine relative to his position.
'Be sure of your target and what is beyond it. In this case explosive drug tanks!' Rook thought as he sent a single armor piercing .30 cal round sailing through the watchman's head and into the Bliss tank setting off another massive explosion. The lone survivor made a run for the jet ski tied up at the dock but only managed to get a extra hole in their head and fell into the water.
"Dutch the last shrine and cultists are dead. I'm heading for the radio tower now." Rook radioed in as he walked toward the radio tower that dominated over the island.
"Great work kid. Looks like all those folks you saved have decided to setup at the Ranger station and gather weapons and supplies. Probably going to try and make a fight of it." The old man replied.
Rook climbed the many ladders that lead to the top of the tower and found that as Dutch had suspected some cultist had turned off the maintenance switch at the top of the tower. Probably just to make sure that no one could just walk up and get the tower working again.
"Ok Rook that did it. I can hear radio calls from all over the county but nothing on the non-local stuff. Hell I'm not even getting that NPR shit out of Billings, that crap usually comes in loud and clear 24/7." Dutch complained.
Rook rolled his eyes. While he had his own views on the leftist biases of mass media, he did have ever so slightly more important matters to deal with.
"Uh... Rook you better double time it back to the bunker. John's broadcasting something right now I think you need to see it." Dutch radioed in worryingly
Rook searched a backpack that had been left at the top by a cultist given the cross crudely printed on the outside of the bag and found a grappling hook and a zipline clamp.
'These will come in handy.' He thought happily as he then tested the zipline clamp on one of the support wires attached to the tower and raced down.
He set a fast jog through the woods back to Dutch's bunker and shortly found himself back in the old mans command center. There one of the TV screens had a ad for John Seed and his so called 'Power of YES!'.
The man seemed at odds with the cult's core beliefs at least as far as his clothes and general hygiene were concerned. Again he wore a fine and expensive leather coat over a mostly open blue silk shirt that showed his own self scarification not unlike Joseph's own scars. His beard and hair carefully trimmed, treated, and sculpted. He was the well polished salesman of the cult.
The commercial kept playing and John kept speaking on how 'everyone is a sinner and through this one trick you can be free of it all and all your dreams could come true!' even the soundtrack made Rook cringe, but the cringe changed when the camera pulled back and showed a bound and gagged Joey being lead at gun point to stand beside John.
Rook gripped the wooden desk as he leaned against it, the rest of the world narrowing until nothing existed except for seeing every tiny detail the TV screen offered. Joey looked to be in about the same shape she was when the chopper crashed still but it was clear by the streaks in her eye shadow that she had been crying hard at one point. Judging by how she shook just standing next to John suggested that regardless of how she looked on the outside, she very likely was beaten at one point or another and again likely by John personally.
'Or worse...' a dark voice in the back of his head piped up.
Rooks grip tightened around the desk's edge at just the briefest of mental pictures. Just watching her shudder as John stoked her neck only served to fuel his hate to levels that he honestly hadn't experienced in years.
"Don't worry you don't have to do anything. We'll come for you. Welcome... to Eden's Gate." John said as the ad ended.
'You will die John. You will die first.' Rook thought angrily to himself.
"Uh... kid. I know you are rightfully angry right now but could you not rip a chunk out of my desk please?" Dutch said carefully tapping on Rooks shoulder.
Rook snapped back to reality and realize that he had indeed been crushing the edge of the wood desk to the point that he had left deep impressions of where his grip had been.
"Sorry Dutch. I'm going to Holland Valley... now!" Rook said as he started to turn away.
Dutch got up and stopped him, a far braver action then he could have possibly known given Rooks current mood.
"Rook, I know and agree your friend Hudson is in a world of deep shit but you need to get help first. If you free Fall's End that will give you a solid place to start gathering a resistance to fight back against the cult. Even if you didn't hold yourself back like you did taking this island even you can't fight the entire cult alone without some kind of supporting infrastructure at the bare minimum." Dutch finished as he let go of Rook's shoulder.
Rook grumbled "You are right. But no matter what John Seed dies first."
Dutch harrumphed "Sounds like a good plan to me. Now get going. I'll pass along whatever I hear that is worth your time."
With that Rook left Dutch's Bunker and made his way south to the shallows that allowed anything that could ford the foot or so of water to access the island from the main land. He then began to double time march his way down the road.
If I'm lucky I can either find a vehicle to take or carjacking a cult vehicle would be nice. No matter its only five miles from here to Fall's End as the crow flies. I have gone much further with more gear then I have now. Rook pondered as he let his body just naturally keep moving forward.
As he crossed the truss bridge that he had been blown off of the night before he was quite shocked to see that besides the side rails of the bridge missing where Burke and his truck had gone through there was little to no damage to the structure of the bridge itself.
"Small miracles. Losing this bridge would really limit ones options of getting across the river." He said to no one in particular.
His luck would run out on the other side as a large cult supply truck drove toward him and the man was quickly able to see that Rook was not a marked cult member, and commenced attempting to shoot him with a snub nosed revolver.
To this insult Rook unholstered his 1911 and double tapped the driver causing him to fall off of the gas and turn the wheel sharply to the right almost tipping the truck but it barely saved itself as the truck righted itself and continued to slowly spin in a circle until it finally lost the last of its momentum.
He took a quick inspection of the back and found it full of all manner of ammo and guns, certainly enough to almost fully stock his father's store in a slow season. Still if there is one thing that could gather people to a resistance it was either beer or ammo so the truck would be a useful offering to who ever might be willing to join up. Not to mention ammo for the people meant less for John.
Throwing the body out of the cab and turning the truck toward the main road he could see over the surrounding trees that a large black cult flag now flew proudly over the where the Gardenview packing plant was, likely symbolizing it as a strong point meant to control traffic along the road or at least provide intelligence on who is seen driving by. Rook looked left and saw the gravel road cutting through the apple orchard toward Rae-Rae's pumpkin farm.
'Best go there and at least stop and check on Rae-Rae. Maybe she would know anyone else still free from the cult.' He thought as he brought the truck around.
As a teenager Rae-Rae had been a steady source of income for him as she always needed something hauled somewhere in the county it seemed and Rook just so happened to have a large truck and not be picky about what she was asking him to haul this time or that time. Before he left for the Army he had heard that she was getting into breeding and training hunting dogs and had some success.
As he drove down the gravel road he could see a cult pickup with a large trailer mounted cage attached. There were only four cultists there seemed, two hitting the cage antagonizing the dog inside, one sitting on a fence looking over at the nearby apple orchard, and the last with his head shoved into the engine of the pickup fixing something.
Rook considered his options and decided that since they had a clear line of sight down the road if he stopped the truck now and try to sneak up on them by foot they would probably get suspicious anyway given it was a cult marked truck.
'Of course! We're one big happy fleet! So why not just roll in?' Rook thought.
He kept a steady 'casual' speed until he was upon the group. The only one of the four men to even look at the truck for more than a moment was the guy trying to fix the pickup.
"Oh sh..." The man managed before he wound up with a .45 cal round in his head. Between the dog barking and the rattling of its cage the sound of the shot was lost. Rook marched around and lined up both of the dog abusers with only a single shot through their both heads.
As he walked past the pick up he looked right and saw the last dumb ass still sitting on the fence watching the orchard as if all he had to worry about was how he was going to murder the next family of so called 'sinners'. Rook holstered his gun as this guy wasn't worth wasting the bullet but before he climbed over the trailer tongue a evil idea came to him. Instead he went to the cage on the trailer and opened the lock. The moment the cage door was open the salt and pepper colored dog shot out of it and immediately went for the last mans throat as quick and as viciously as Rook had ever seen from a proper military working dog.
The deed done the dog strutted back to Rook, head held high and proud.
"Good boy... Boomer is it?" Rook patted the dogs head and read the tag on the rope collar.
"Woof!" Boomer replied then got down and went over to a trio of bodies. Rae-Rae, her husband, and a teenager that had to be their son. Boomer nudged each body hoping to get something but given the sheer number of holes the cultists had just mag dumped them and must have then kept firing well after they had hit the ground.
'Not just needlessly brutal and pointless but a waste of ammo as well. Still just means that my load of ammo had better not fall back into John's hands. With shooting like this they will start to run dry sooner rather than later, a fine improvement for the local community.' Rook thought as Boomer came back to him and reared up onto his leg.
"Well since the cult wanted to take you away I'd say you better come with me." Rook said just as the sound of a another pickup roaring down the road with some god awful cult gospel music blaring on the radio.
"Speak of the Devil. Lets get to work Boomer." Rook said as he drew his .30 cal. The driver had decided to go for a ramming attack thus his passengers in the bed and cab could only hold on this led to being a simple large target as he poured automatic fire into the driver and swept across the cab also hitting the men in the bed.
The high speed truck now without a living driver swerved left and rolled on to its passenger side before skidding into a nearby apple tree. A few of the men in the bed that hadn't died from Rooks rifle and had managed to survive their sudden ejection found themselves laying on the ground dazed, confused, and suddenly having their throats being removed by Boomer.
Rook opened the drivers door to his hijacked box truck and an extremely excited though slightly blood covered Boomer happily took his place on the passenger seat.
The quiet drive to Fall's End was one of the most nerve racking he had ever had. Even though he was in a cult truck every passing cult truck or ATV felt like they were going to turn around the moment he passed and engage him. But any nerves he had about driving were lost once he got into sight of Fall's End.
Half the town was on fire mostly the residential section while even from where he was he could tell the main street businesses were having heavy machine guns and guards posted on their roofs, The cult had conquered Fall's End and wouldn't give it up until it was done taking everything that it could.
Rook looked up at the town water tower and saw that surprisingly it was untouched by the cult and more importantly not manned. A plan quickly formed as he turned his truck off on to a gravel road that would keep him on the outskirts and put him on the southeastern side of the town where he could approach the water tower.
Boomer whined as the smell of burning wood and flesh became undeniable on the wind. Rook was all too familiar with the smell to really be bothered by it save for the fact that he knew it wasn't his enemies burning.
'Something that needs to be fixed post haste' Rook thought.
Stashing the truck in a nearby grove of trees at the base of the hill Rook took his Barrett into his hands and slowly approached the water tower. As he had seen coming in the cult had simply not bothered with the structure not even bothering to send a person to paint a cult cross across the front, but once Rook had climbed the ladder to the top of the tower he knew exactly way no one had been sent... why no one could be spared.
From his elevated perch he could see a pile of nearly a hundred bodies already burning behind the local mechanic shop and a pair of cultists were tossing the last few bullet ridden bodies in the fire.
'They are specifically targeting the elderly and the children. I guess the cult must have a no children policy or something and the elderly won't be useful in the cults vision of a 'post-Collapse' world.' He wondered grimly.
Rook turned his head down and right and saw three men, one was slapping Pastor Jerome around and taunting him about probably killing off the last of his flock, another man was standing on top of a wrecked Hope County jail bus, and the last was trying to kick open the storage room for the church apparently oblivious to the fact that the doors opened outwards.
Looking up the street he could see a few more people kneeling on the ground as a preacher of some sort was giving his sermon. As the preacher spoke another man was grand slamming a random victim in the head with a baseball bat.
Then a commotion at the Spread Eagle caught his attention as Mary May and Casey were hauled out into the street and a man with a red cult cross tattooed on his face begin his own sermon to which even the four men guarding the two new victims knelt their heads in respect as he spoke.
Ending his scan of the town there were only two occupied roof top positions them being a sniper on the mechanics roof who was enjoying his vantage point looking out over the human bondfire and a cultist on top of the general store struggling with a mounted .50 cal machine gun.
'Ok clear the roof tops, kill preacher and baseball player, kill men around Jerome, kill bondfire workers, then kill men around Mary May and Casey. Here's hoping that this is all of the peggie forces left in town.' Rook thought as he unfolded his rifles bipod and went prone.
He eyeballed the range and adjusted his scope to match. He would be using a lot of hold since he didn't want to risk giving the cultists a chance to either find him or outright execute any of the hostages by adjusting for each target. Finally looking through the scope he could clearly see that the roof top cultist with the .50 cal had managed to somehow bind the action, for this act of stupidity Rook took his head.
Before the first man hit the ground dead Rook had shifted over to the sniper and watched as the man was walking across the roof having grown bored of watching the dead burn. He suddenly had his upper chest violently suffer a case of hydrostatic shock as the high speed projectile turned his lungs and heart
into a red paste that erupted from his mouth, nose, and the entry/exit wounds.
'Easy targets down.' Rook shifted his aim down and caught the preacher and batter conversing over a particular female hostage, this served to line them up relative to his position and another shot vaporized the preachers head and turned the batters lower chest into another serving of red paste that showered the poor victim in gore.
'Very sorry ma'am!' Rook thought as he watched the bodies fall.
By a bit of bad luck one of the bondfire men had seen the batters body fall and moved to check on his friends. Rook snapped a shot off that went almost too much to the right and instead of hitting center chest had blown apart the mans heart instead, the sound he made as he exhaled his dying breath caught the attention of the other man who started to draw his hand gun and aim it into the air to sound a signal. Rook in retrospect would kick himself for taking the shot especially in a rush as he was with a scope that wasn't properly ranged for his target, but he did and managed blow the gun and the mans right hand off completely in the first shot.
The shock kept the man from screaming in pain just long enough for his head to be quickly evicted from his shoulders by another shot.
Shifting hard to the right Rook looked down he was going to shoot the man who was beating Jerome but from any angle he currently had he would be surely hitting the pastor, so he shifted to the man on top of the bus and sent his head flying, then he swung past the first man to aim at the push/pull illiterate and sent another round home in a chest bursting display of gore that contrasted sharply with the white of the church exterior. This got the first man's attention as he jogged over to confirm what should have been obvious from a distance and got a head splinting lead induced headache for his trouble.
Jerome looked up as best as he could after having been beaten and slapped for the better part of two hours and couldn't quite make out a figure on top of the old water tower that stood across from his church.
Rook loaded a fresh magazine and shifted his position again to where the last group of peggies were being proselytized by a particularly energetic preacher. Another moment and he readjusted his range settings having gotten his eye in. By his best estimate it was about half a mile from the water tower to the front of the Spread Eagle, long enough that it would take a about full second for the round to hit the target but it was still faster than trying to relocate to a closer point.
'At least the wind is dead calm right now.' Rook thought.
The preacher was nearing the peak of his sermon and was looking up to the clear blue sky as if trying to call down the wrath of god upon the two so called 'sinners'. Mary May had two guards to her right and while Casey had two guards to his left, all four still bowing their heads down saying their own prayers and mantras as the holy man continued.
Back at the water tower Rook took one last deep breath, exhaled, and squeezed the trigger. He had aimed for the guards on Casey's left and watched as the round impacted the first in the neck and the one behind him in her upper chest. Even the sound of their bodies hitting the ground was lost in the preachers voice.
Rook shifted his aim again and repeated the process: breathe in, exhale, and squeeze and another round found its way through both of Mary Mays guards heads showering her in gore and brain matter.
Her terrified sob made the preacher cast his gaze down and point to her that she should weep for the sins that she had committed. But as he did so his Bliss addled brain realized that she wasn't covered in red before he drug her and the cook into the street.
Then the preacher felt a sudden impact on the back left of his head and a sudden lightness as if his head was suddenly several pounds lighter. Mary May, Casey, and Rook looked on in shock and horror as this man had lost half his brain and still stood.
"Just... what they fuck are you bastards!?" Rook said as he took aim again. The half brained preacher slowly turned around and seemingly looked right at Rook and raised from his pants pocket a bright orange plastic flare launcher.
He had pulled the trigger on the launcher just as his upper chest ceased to exist again showering both Mary May and Casey in yet another layer of gore.
Rook watched the flare fly up into the sky with a sense of dread and as it fell from the sky a all too familiar P-40 replica came flying out from behind of one the small mountains near the town.
The plane flew slow and low down the main street looking at the number of dead cultists. For a brief moment the pilot looked right and made eye contact with Rook as he slammed in a fresh magazine for the up coming fight. The pilot slammed open the throttle and the roar of its V-12 engine could be heard echoing throughout the town as he shot up and left in a wide turn to line up for a strafing run.
Rook knew that he didn't have enough time to make it down the ladder from the water tower so his only hope was to shoot down the plane or at least damage it enough.
'I really hope they skimped on the armor on that repo fighter.' Rook thought as he tracked the on coming plane through his scope.
The pilot came in almost dead level with Rook and closed rapidly holding off on firing until the last moment even as bullets came racing into the cockpit. His finger started to tighten on the trigger just as a single .50 cal round punched through the front windshield into his head, his body now having gone slack pulled the control stick right and sent the plane into a roll narrowly missing the water tower and finally nosing down into a empty field.
Rook looked at the flaming wreck and said a quiet prayer. Taking on a fighter plane with just a sniper rifle was certainly in his top ten stupid things he had done in life that should have gotten him killed. He packed up his rifle and slid down the ladder and raced down the hill to where Pastor Jerome still knelt in shock of what he had just witnessed.
"And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. It's good to see you still alive Rook, when I first saw John haul out Hudson for his commercial I had feared the worse." Jerome said as Rook approached.
Rook cut the ties off of Jerome's wrists and hauled the man up to his feet. "Quoting Pulp Fiction pastor?"
Jerome chuckled slightly the act causing him to remember that he had been beaten for a few hours.
"No just quoting the original version. Let's... let's go see who's left."
Jerome armed himself with a cultists rifle and marched beside Rook who had in hand his HCAR. They freed the remaining victims of the preacher and batter who went to check out the remaining buildings for lingering cultists. All around the two men as they cautiously walked toward the Spread Eagle was death and destruction. Lines of towns people simply pushed against walls and gunned down in the wasteful manner of the cult, what was worse in Rooks eyes was the number of children among the lines.
Finally the two men reached the town bar and freed Mary May and Casey. Mary May was shaking badly but still hugged Rook hard and buried her face into his chest sobbing openly.
"Roger they killed so many people! They rolled in their trucks and started dragging everyone out of their houses right before dawn, they picked some people to go to some "cleansing" and some of us got put inside the Spread Eagle for later cleansing. Then... they just started lining everyone else up and shot them all."
Rook kept a wary eye on the roads half expecting more cultists to show up. Finally he spoke. "Mary May I promise you... that I will find and kill every damn peggie in this damn valley. There will be no mercy, there will only be brutality. We will show them what true hate is. We will make them pay for every grievance, every broken life, and every drop of blood. So long as we have our hate for them we have hope for our futures. The moment we loose our hate we loose our hope."
Rook looked down at the blood covered blonde. "Mary May go wash up. Jerome and I will secure the town and start fortifying it."
Mary May nodded without a word said and slowly walked to her bar with Casey not far behind.
The next few hours were a blur of activity and morning. Barricades were made out of the wood and bricks of the most damaged buildings, heavy machine guns were mounted to cover both the ground and air. The box truck of arms and ammo that Rook had carjacked now laid empty as the survivors took up weapons. At the outside entrances to the town Rook personally impaled the bodies of the dead Peggies on steel poles so that anyone who drove on the main roads would see clearly what the people of Fall's End would do to its enemies. In short Fall's End by sundown was now a fortress of the new 'Resistance'.
But for Rook the day wasn't over yet and now with the town secure his thoughts turned to more personal concerns namely his parents. Rook walked into the Spread Eagle where Jerome was practicing his sermon that he planned to give.
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain. 'For I know the plans that I have made for you.' declared the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give hope and a future.'" Jerome stopped and turned to Rook, clasping his hand in a strong shake.
"Rook... I can't begin to describe what you have done here. Just what would have likely happened had you not come home at this time. I don't claim to know god's plans unlike Joseph but it's hard for me to not say that you being here at this time and place is nothing short of an act of god."
Rook chuckled and shuffled his feet a bit. He didn't quite know how to handle the complement, after all he was doing his job after a fashion restoring order to the town and protecting the people. At the very least he was doing what he was good at.
"Well Jerome I thank you for your help in organizing all this. I may be a local boy but ten years away means I have a lot of holes in my knowing of 'who's who'. But I need to at least check on my parents and I didn't want to just run away on you guys in to the night."
Just then Mary May could be heard slowly stomping down the stairs with three large crates of liquor and beer. Rook rushed over. "Jesus of Nazareth! Mary May you trying to break your neck?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Mary May said as she struggled under weight.
Rook handedly took the three crates from the bartender and brought them to the bar.
Jerome took a seat at the counter. "Your 'secret stash' I take it?"
Mary May smiled "I wouldn't be a Fairgrave if I didn't have a 'private reserve'. After all if you noticed a lot of my booze is gone but there are very few broken bottles around here. Given that the cult as they were very adamant to point out is 'unburdened by the poison drink handed out by me and that only through the mercy of John and The Father could I hope to atone for my sin.' but as I just said not a lot of broken bottles so I think some of peggies still like their drink despite its ban." she finished angrily as she reached for a trio of steel cups and a bottle of whiskey.
"Don't pour any for me, I just came in to let you know that I am going back out." Rook said placing his hand over his cup.
Mary May looked hurt. "What? Why? We only just retook the town... oh god... your parents."
Rook shook his head solemnly "Yeah I didn't see either of my parents among the dead or living so they are probably either at home or the shop."
Mary May sighed heavily "I'm sorry Rook, I guess I'm being selfish worrying about..."
Jerome cut her off. "No your not." he then turned to Rook. "We'll hold the town you go save your parents. We could use their skills and if anything having the hero's parents among us will be a big boost in morale." he finished with a smile.
Rook nodded and marched out the door but before he could get far he heard Boomer walk up to him.
"Boomer I tend to work alone or at least with someone that can use a radio, or drive, or speak English at least."
"Woof!" Boomer replied.
Rook scratched behind Boomers ears much to the gun dogs pleasure.
"Tell you what Boomer you stay here and protect Mary May ok boy?" Rook said.
"Woof! Woof!" Boomer spoke as he immediately turned around and pushed open the door to the bar.
'Thank god. Loosing Boomer would hurt this towns morale more than people would admit' He admitted to himself.
Rook marched to the dark Sheriffs office. It was still locked up and he being so new didn't have a key to the front door.
"Guess they wanted to make sure that the locals didn't get to the armory." Rook said aloud as he turned to the parking lot. It was empty save for his truck, Hudson's old F-350, The Sheriffs own prized '72 Chevy Corvette, and Pratt's beat up old S10. The vehicles only served to highlight that barely twenty four hours ago they were landing in Joseph's compound.
'Now they are in the cults hands... hold on Joey... just please god hold on. I'm coming. I won't fail.' Rook thought darkly as he pulled himself in to the cab of his truck.
The drive to his parents house was only interrupted by a pair of cultists probably hunters judging by the deer strapped to the front of their ATV who Rook causally ran over and crushed them under the massive tires of his truck.
As he turned on to The Manor's property he could see a pair of cult pickups and a dozen or so men using the trucks as cover trading fire with whoever was in the house.
'Must have waited until nightfall to attack. Well lets see how they like my night time attack!'
Rook turned off the headlights and angrily stomped on the gas pedal. The sound of the cultists guns drowned out the roar of the massive diesel engine until it was too late to run and the cultists where caught in the wreckage as Rook rammed the two white trucks eventually driving over them in true 'Monster Truck Madness' style.
Rook stopped and climbed out of his truck just as a pair of cultists crawled out from the among the twisted wreckage.
"Who are you sinner to stop our..." The mans head exploded as Rook's Desert Eagle roared. The other man threw his gun away.
"Please I surrender! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" The last man screamed, for this he got a boot to the face as Rook shoved his hand cannon in the mans face.
"Ok, got a real simple task for you peggie! I ask you a question and you give me a straight answer you get to live, you give me dogma you get your chest crushed by my boot. Do. You. Understand. The. Words. That. Are. Coming. Out. Of. My. Mouth? Rook yelled
The cultist nodded.
"Good peggie. Now where is John Seed keeping the female deputy?" He asked.
"Who? The only female deputy I know is helping us... she... she isn't a sinner." The cultist stammered.
"Not what I wanted but useful info so you get to live for now. Now where is the woman in the green shirt that was in John's broadcast this morning?" Rook continued.
"I... I don't..." The cultists mouth flapped like a fish out of water until Rook put his boot lightly on the mans chest.
"Sounds like you are considering about telling me 'I don't know'. This would be ill advised... for you at least." Rook threatened.
"OK! OK! OK! In John's bunker there is this prison cell absolutely no one is allowed near it but John himself. Even for meals. Heard that some great sinner was thrown in there at The Father's command. A... a... demoness that killed three men before she was restrained and contained. That's all I know I swear to The Father!" The cultist spoke hurriedly.
Rook took his foot off the mans chest.
"Ok I am appeased." He said grimly as he reached down and threw away the peggies snub nose revolver and checked him for anything else but found nothing.
"Get up peggie! UP! UP!" He roared as the man tried to comply as quick as his beaten body would allow.
"Now run back to John and tell him that 'The Collapse' is coming for him. GO!" Rook roared once again. At this the cultist nearly fell down before sprinting toward the main road.
"Roger Titus Rook! What in god's name has gotten into your head boy?! Letting a fucking peggie go like that!" A angry Marcus Rook came marching out with a old Martini-Henry in hand.
Rook knew what this was about. "Dad I did tell the man 'I ' wouldn't kill him."
Marcus cooled down quickly. "Oh, ok." he said casually as he shouldered the old rifle and aimed at the oblivious fleeing man. With a loud roar Rook could see even in the dim moonlight the cultists chest explode from the soft cast lead projectile.
"Thanks for keeping me honest Dad. How are you guys?" Rook asked as he holstered his own gun.
"Well I will say that we will need some new windows, a lot of drywall patches, and some brick work." Jessica said as she now stepped out with her much beloved RPK in hand.
"How is it that you have your gun but Dad has the Martini?" Rook asked mildly confused.
Marcus shuffled his feet a bit. "Well I was moving ammo around when the cult attacked and besides my .45 this was the first gun that I had the right ammo for sitting beside me, also it has a bayonet so I figured that would come in handy... and I like this gun."
Rook chuckled and accepted the logic. For the next hour they finished moving the last of the guns and ammo into the hardened gun vault in the basement. Short of using a massive amount of explosives or specialized cutting equipment there was little chance that the cult could hope to cut their way inside.
Marcus then informed Rook that he had started placing the shop under full lockdown every night since Rook informed him of the situation with the local police so even if the peggies get through the front door they will find nothing but empty shelves and display cases as everything was locked down within the hardened basement levels.
As they drove into Fall's End and parked outside the Spread Eagle it seemed the entire town had gathered at their arrival.
Pastor Jerome approached the family through the cheering crowd. "Marcus. Jessica its good to see you two safe. Roger we need to plan our next moves before the cult has time to recover..."
Jessica cut in "That will have to wait if you want Roger to be of any use. You might not be able tell but he's been fighting all day and is nearly at the end of his rope."
"Mom, I'm fine I've..." Roger tried to say.
"'Done more with less sleep.' as your father has told me since we were in high school so don't try that old line on me young man. You will march into the Spread Eagle and see if Mary May has a bed she can spare. Now git." Jessica said defiantly.
Roger was honestly too tired to fight his mother on this and thankfully his father added his two cents.
"Pastor I haven't been fighting all day so I'll sit down with you and see what sort of hell we need to plan out for the cult. I got this son you go rest. We'll need you fresh especially if we are to get Joey back sooner rather than later. Sounds like she's under John's personal watch and that doesn't sit right with me."
"Agreed." Said Rook tiredly as he marched off to Mary May to see about a bed. As he entered the bar Boomer and Mary May walked up to him.
"Rook did you leave Boomer here? He hasn't let me out of his sight all night." Mary May said.
"Woof!" Boomer added as he leaned his head against Mary May's leg.
"Yeah I did. I generally work alone or at least with a human so I'd rather Boomer be here protecting you then out there with me drawing fire." Rook said as he suppressed a yawn.
Mary May grabbed his hand. "Come on I heard your mother yelling about getting a room and I got a old spare room upstairs. Its reasonably dust free since Daddy took over the bar and closed down the whorehouse portion of the business. Only really got used when he'd come in too tired to go home and slept here instead. I'll wash your clothes while you shower."
Mary May was right the room was only slightly dusty from lack of use but the sheets on the small bed were clean and he could see a small for him at least but nonetheless inviting shower.
"I'll wait outside and once you close the bathroom door just holler when I can take your dirty clothes. Oh and the door doesn't latch that well so hold it shut otherwise it tends to swing wide open." Mary May said as she left the room.
Dumping his rucksack and hat on the bed, he stripped layer by layer off of his body. His uniform shirt was horribly sweat stained where ever his armor had covered it and his pants had clear sweat rings at the top of his boots where he had them tucked in. Pants and shirt pockets checked for loose items he toss the clothes into a pile and hung his armor on a old hat rack to dry, he grabbed his thigh holster with his .45 and proceeded into the bathroom and held the door shut as instructed.
"Ok Mary May I'm in the bathroom." He shouted.
He heard her come in and then leave shortly signaling for him to let go of the door and hit the shower. The warm water and minty smelling soap did a lot to bleed off any remaining adrenaline in his system and more than made up for the fact that the shower head was made for someone shorter than six feet.
'Joey. God please keep her safe. She is a taken child in the hands of evil men who mean her harm. Please God... I just need enough time to reach her after that I can pull my weight.' Rook prayed silently or at least he thought he did as his voice was lost in the sound of running water. Eventually he stepped out of the shower and as he dried off he looked in the mirror over the bathroom sink making note of a few small bruises likely left over from the helicopter crash.
'That feels like it was a life time ago.' He thought.
Meanwhile Mary May had just pulled Rook's clothes out of the dryer and came up the stairs. It was late and her mind was beginning to wonder and all too often replaying this morning's events. The worst part for her wasn't even what she thought would bother her most. Not hearing the screams of the elderly and children being gunned down, not hearing the screams of those being forced into the back of John's vans, not even being covered in the blood of the two peggie bastards that were standing over her.
No it was that Preacher. The haunting blissful look on his tattooed face as he seemed unfazed by having half his brain violently removed. What could the cult be doing to produce such a person able to do that?
She automatically opened the bedroom door and marched in to see that yes the bathroom door did as it always had, fail to latch properly and thus swung wide open and could see quite clearly that Rook was standing at the sink as naked as a jaybird.
"OH SHIT! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY!" Mary May cried out as she threw the clean clothes at the naked man in front of her and rushed out the door. She didn't stop until she was safely inside her own room with the door locked and her burning face buried into her bed.
'Big stick. Really really BIG stick.' She thought as the mental image continued to remained burned in her mind.
For Rook he was more thoroughly startled then anything else as the sudden mass of clothing being thrown at him pulled him from his thoughts.
Still a bit spooked from what happened he threw on at least his pants and socks being mindful that the cult may still attack in the dead of night. Finally though his head hit the pillow and sleep took him instantly.