Far Cry 5: The Collapse

by Master Hybris

AU retelling of Far Cry 5. Sent back home Rook now has to deal with the cult that has moved into his home town and disrupted life. But for the cult and the rest of the county the new deputy will become something that not even "The Father" could hope to contend with. The Collapse has come.

24. Chapter 24: Sanctus Est

A/N: This is in my opinion one of the most important chapters I have written thus far hence why its nearly half again as long as a normal chapter. Given its importance I might come back and reword or expand on some parts as I reread it in the coming days and weeks and of course see what the reviews say needs to be done to make the story flow better. Thank you all for your patience as writing this much on now 50-60 hour work weeks has made me appreciate more just how much work goes into these stories.

Far Cry 5: The Collapse

Chapter 24: Sanctus Est

Roger continued to walk toward the massive white tree at the end of the path. His every step leaving boiling bloody foot prints and behind him the grass and surrounding plant life burst into flame at his passing like how the surface of a dead calm lake is disrupted by the passing of a boat.

Above him angry dark clouds traded bolts of lighting between themselves and sometimes sent a errant bolt to the already scorched earth behind him. Something else he could swear he could sometimes hear on the wind were the sounds of organized marching, the roar of diesel engines, and shrill squeaking of metal on metal however even the few times he stopped walking and looked back into darkening wall clouds that surrounded this place he saw and heard nothing at all save for the crackle of the fires around him.

"Do you really think you can keep stomping around destroying everything and not expect people to fight back? How many people have your 'Resistance' pulled from the Bliss? How many hopes for a better world have you snuffed out?" Faith's voice rang from somewhere around him.

He didn't even bother to stop walking ever closer to the white tree at the end of the path. He couldn't accurately judge how close he was to the tree but one thing was becoming certain that tree wasn't just massive, it was something on a biblical scale it look so large and it is white foliage was so pure that as he closed the distance it seemingly glowed.

"I could easily turn those questions on you Faith. How many people did you have to force to take the Bliss? How many people did you offer up to Feeney so he had fodder to experiment on? Then of course there is the obvious how many citizens of Hope County, your own hometown did you kill? You talk about bringing peace and hope to everyone but you seemed to have a grudge against a lot of people." He said as he continued to walk.

"Those people were so afraid and lost that they couldn't accept the solution until it was given to them. Yes we... were forceful at times. But they learned the joys of the Bliss and through the peace it brought they could understand fully the word of 'The Father'." Came Faith's reply.

Roger rolled his eyes and glanced around to see if Faith would actually materialize or just continue to speak to him from the safety of the nether realm or whatever would be the proper term.

"I'll take 'What is a standard dictators answer to their human rights violations?' for 1000 Alex. Seriously Faith we can do this all day but there is like it or not a difference between convincing people to take the Bliss and holding a gun to their heads and demanding they take it if not holding their heads down in it." He shot back his annoyance building.

'Fuck it.' He thought as he stopped in his tracks.

"Faith I have grown tired of these games, even John at least had the good sense to invite me to his bunker and face me face to face. Even a mere child like you should understand its rude to both hide and hold a conversation."

A lone clump of green fog seemingly rose from the grass in front of him some 50 or so feet away and settled on the path he was walking on, from this fog out stepped Faith with her mist like wings spread wide like a bird trying to make itself look bigger in front of predator.

The act only brought a even bigger smile to his face as he finally got the cultist to come out and face him.

"You know I have been understanding, I have been more than reasonable, and I have tried to be fair to you. But even when I repeatedly go out of my way to show you a better path you still insist on ignoring it. Worse you even gloat about it thinking that you know more about the world than God." She said as the fog around her drifted away from them.

He chuckled and that turned into mad laughter. Even Faith was unsettled by the reaction then further thrown off when he stopped and his blue eyes bored into her own. "You actually mean your God. My God doesn't call for the deaths of non believers or rely on threats, drugs, and pain to convert people to the faith. That said my God does tell us that we must forgive others, seek peace, and be tolerant of others... stuff that I can openly admit that I am not very good at especially the 'seek peace' bit."

Faith face took on a hard angry look that only made him smile more. This girl, this mere child was trying desperately to play the role of the big bad cult 'Herald' and confidently use her presence and title to make others obey. As if that could somehow work on him especially here and now of all things.

"Do you know what hubris is? Arrogance before the Gods. The Greeks saw it as a dangerous form of pride that invoked the goddess Nemesis, who would seek retribution." She said as he cut her off.

"Well its a good thing I grew up playing plenty of God of War as a kid. Have to also admit that fighting a God of any sort even if it is a one sided beat down is one hell of an accomplishment. The type that gets immortalized in word and song forever passed down the generations and eons that a man dared to challenge a God to a fight and didn't back down." He said as she started shaking with barely contained fury.

"Careful now you are supposed to be the warm and peaceful Herald, if you wanted to do 'hate and rage' I am told that is more Jacob's area of knowledge." He added only sending her fury ever higher.

"FINE! If violence is the only language you speak, if hate, if war, if suffering, is all your little simple savage heathen mind can understand... then I will bring myself down to your level and speak to you in terms that even you can understand." She said and with a wave of her hand a solid wall of Bliss fog rose a few hundred feet behind her, soaring high into the air and stretching seemingly for miles toward the smoky horizon, the wall was in stark contrast to the scorched earth that followed behind Roger.

From the fog wall out stepped first one then quickly followed by hundreds then thousands of cultists, all armed with a wide variety of weapons from rifles and shotguns to axes and baseball bats. The only breach in the wall was along the path that Faith stood on and through that breach the great white tree sat there still shimmering with its pure white glow.

"We will not let you win Deputy. Together we are stronger than you and will bring about a new Eden filled with peace and love..." Faith started saying before the sound of a bagpipe cut through the air with seemingly impossible ease.

Roger turned around and looked back at the burned and ash covered earth and saw emerging from the smoke a lone bagpiper who marched seemingly unhindered by the destruction around him as his tune changed and the opening verses of 'Scotland the Brave' could be heard clearly across the field.

He glanced back at Faith who was visibly confused and soundlessly mouthing 'What?' to herself. Her followers were mostly unaffected... mostly. A fair many had confused looks themselves with others hardening themselves as to what they saw as just another threat, but a few had the first signs of legitimate fear.

Turning back to the Scotsman he was quickly followed a formation of infantry with what Roger had to guess was WWII era British equipment and uniforms. They were followed by more men and the sounds of tens of thousands of marching soldiers barely managing to be heard over the bagpiper reached him. It was as if one had opened a encyclopedia of the entire history of warfare as his vision was filled with masses of Roman Legionaries marching beside Wehrmacht infantry and French Old Guard with their bear skin caps.

Directly front of Roger however were a few units that he recognized instantly. A formation of civil war era Union soldiers marched with a massive red headed and red bearded man dressed in the manner of a colonel on a great black horse at its head, their markings from what he could see were that of the 1st Battalion 1st Infantry Regiment.

'Grandpa... Fabius?' He wondered as he looked to another formation nearing him these men being WWI doughboys, their sleeves proudly bearing the patch of the 1st Infantry Division the famous 'Big Red One'. At their head was a man armed with a M1903 Springfield that had been the first rifle he had ever shot and as far as the man holding it he recognized a much older version of him from the handful of photos the family had of him.

'Great Grandpa Anthony... this is turning into one weird family reunion.' He thought as a group of shadows from above made him look up and actually drop his jaw. The stormy sky was now filled with aircraft of all types and sizes but what drew his attention were the sheer number of transport planes streaming paratroopers from their doors and cargo bays.

One such trooper an American given his WWII GI uniform and gear seemed to stand out in Rogers vision. As he closed Roger could see that he was a Captain in judging by is double silver bars on his helmet as the man continued floating to land a few dozen feet front of where he stood in the ash covered part of the field.

'Balls of the feet, side of the calf, side of the thigh, side of the hip, and side of the back.' He mentally rattled off automatically as he watched the trooper perform a textbook landing fall.

The man got up and stowed his chute before taking his BAR in hand and approaching Roger.

"Well son you didn't really think you would be alone out here did you?" The Captain said clasping Roger on the shoulder.

Grandpa Titus for whom he took his middle name from was the oldest Rook that he had ever met though he died when he was eleven years old. The man had made a name for himself in the 101st Airborne with multiple condemnations for bravery on multiple jumps throughout the European theater and the subsequent fighting there after. He was also known for consistently ignoring the regulations on issued arms as he traded his Garand for a Browning Automatic Rifle, a rifle that held a special place in the family gun collection to this day.

"Well Grandpa I honestly kinda expected to deal with this on my own, not exactly a uncommon thing in my normal line of work." He replied with a shrug.

The older Rook raised an eyebrow and glanced at the enemy lines behind him. "You verses thousands if not tens of thousands of nutjobs?"

"Just means I would have to get creative." He said with a wide smile.

"Yeah you're definitely Marcus's boy..." Titus said as the man on the horse and the doughboy approached.

The colonel spoke first. "I would like to commend your bravery in being willing to take on... these folks." He waved toward the peggie lines and Faith who still stood on the path watching with increased horror at the sheer numbers of men on the ground and planes in the sky. He continued. "But today I am afraid that you won't get to deal with the chaff at least. You deal with that witch over yonder and let your family deal with this riffraff."

Roger leaned and looked past his gathered forerunners and now saw slowly erupting from the burned earth all manner of artillery from ancient torsion engines to modern big bore pieces. From the mist the roar of heavy engines and squealing metal made their presence known as a entire feast of mechanized armor took to the field from British Mark I tanks with their sponsion guns to American Shermans, German Tigers, Russian IS series tanks. Among them were the more... exotic examples that never took to the field yet there they came on to this field. The super heavy tanks of the Allied powers then further eclipsed by Hitler's wanderwaffen projects The Maus, The Ratte, even the 1500 ton 'Monster' crawled on to the field.

Roger wondered now just how anyone planned to use a 800mm siege artillery piece especially at this range but he figured that given how he now had two pairs of wings, three generations of grandfathers in front of him, and was debating morals with a cultist that was flying around on wings made out of mist of all things. Logic wasn't at all tightly adhered to in this place.

"Ok I can live with that but I have two questions. First if my family is here... you gentlemen... what is up with the rest of these men? It's like a history book coming to life." He asked and Grandpa Anthony laughed before offering up an answer.

"You're a solider aren't you? When you pick up a weapon for your nation you join a family that stretches back to the very birth of civilization. The tools, the tactics, the lands, the causes... all of that changes, but stepping up to serve your nation, your people transcends all that. Just as I had more in common with the Hun in the other trench then most folks back home would care to believe so too do you have a common ancestry to all of these fighting men."

"See Roger you are never alone." Titus commented before Faith's shrill voice cut him off.

"WOULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS GOING ON?!" She screamed over the sound of the army that now lay before her.

Grandpa Fabius turned his horse to face her and looked at her with a low seething anger. "Allow me to educate you witch. You have brought only death and suffering to Hope County and here upon this field you and your kind will brought down low and crushed into the earth. I didn't spend decades fighting Indians, Confederates, and the Spanish only to sit idle while my homestead is threatened by someone selling a perversion of our lord and savior of all things. Now you will reap the results of your labor."

He turned to Roger. "Son as I said before you deal with the witch and we will handle the savages."

Roger could only smile at the support until he remembered an important detail. "I can do that but I need weapon if at all possible."

Grandpa Anthony scoffed. "What do you think has been at your feet this entire time lad?"

He looked down and at his feet was a massive Zweihander. It's blade was blacker than the void and only made the gold and silver grip and cross guard shine all the more. Picking up the blade it was almost as long as he was tall and the balance was shockingly good for such a long blade.

As he picked up the blade he felt a gentle warmth spread from his back and when he looked he saw that he now had a third pair of black wings.

"Remember Roger, we are Rooks. Ever since our ancestor first decided to leave Germany and sell his sword arm to some Scottish Clan we have fought across God's good earth and if we aren't fighting then we are making the tools to fight with. It's who we are and no pacifist hippie type can ever change what we know to be true. Now get going lad." Titus said.

"It's just a feeling but I will go ahead and see if I can't get you some back up. Never know what sort of tricks that witch might have up her sleeve." Fabius said as he rode off back to his formation to give orders.

When he got there he noticed that one of his Lieutenants had something extra strapped to his back.

"Wesker what did you find?" He asked pointing to the item on the mans back.

The younger man unslung a strange looking firearm of a kind that he had never seen before. It was made out of black steel and had some kind of hard rubber like substance on the foregrip and rear grip, what was even stranger was the folding stock like appendage and the even odder looking hook coming out of that. He handed it to his superior for his consideration.

"Found this on the ground right were we stopped sir. Never seen anything like it, maybe its European in make? They're always doing odd things with their guns." Wesker inquired.

'Little Miss Buckshot' He read on the receiver. The feeling he had before when speaking with his grandson stirred within him to keep the strange firearm.

"I'm sorry to say Wesker but I think I might know who this belongs to, I will have to see that its returned." The colonel said apologetically

Wesker nodded. "Of course sir I fully understand. No harm meant."

Fabius gave his orders to the rest of his officers before urging his horse into a full sprint back through the scorched fields and into the smoke beyond.

Meanwhile Roger turned from his forefathers and started slowly marching toward Faith.

"Well Faith its time we settled this business between us, I would like to make one thing clear I'm not taking prisoners... you will die at the end of this and it will be painful." He growled.

She smirked. "Do you really think you can still defeat the faithful Rook? God conquers all.

He flourished his new found sword one time to get a feel for the weapon before answering her. "Faith you have a lot of faithful followers, slaves really if we are being honest... but as you can see I have a lot more soldiers."

Faith shook once more at being mocked and pointed as she screamed. "CHARGE! FOR GOD! FOR THE FATHER! FOR EDEN!"

The masses of cultists rushed forward through the grass kicking up a wave of iridescent blue butterflies that soared ahead of the group like a cloud. Those with firearms fired wildly even taking down some of their own as they rushed forward.

Across the field the combined forces of Roger's extended 'family' formed their lines in orderly fashion. Melee units formed in front of those that could fire over their heads and in between them those that required direct line of sight formed up. It was a colorful and odd sight to say the least as English Longbowmen and Mongol horse archers fired from behind the shield walls of Norse Vikings and Spartan Hoplites and ranks of British Red Coats and WWII Japanese Infantry readied themselves for ordered fire.

Roger stepped forward and with a loud roar that cut across the battlefield clearly ordered their response to the peggie charge. "OPEN FIRE!"

The cracks of thousands of rifles and machine guns were quickly drowned out by roar of the artillery behind them. From the sky the wailing of Stukas diving on the masses signaled that shells and rocks wouldn't be the only things falling from the sky upon the heretical forces. More fighters and fighter-bombers descended and the long burps of A-10's with their familiar 30mm cannons were soon followed by the whistles of bombs dropping from the heavier bombers above.

The combined firestorm of death tore ragged holes in the cultists lines but still from the mist more faithful came in unending waves as they charged over a growing number of bodies through the fire and death until they were almost upon the spears and swords of the waiting melee units.

Faith all the while had taken to the air and watched with a worried look even as her forces neared the opposing lines. She made eye contact with Roger who stood sword at the ready on the ground still waiting for the faithful to close with him.

That brief contact was enough to dampen her will as another wave of artillery roared and more of her forces were cut to bloody ribbons. She watched with increasing horror even as she tried to hide it as grapeshot and canister shot from the older muzzle loader cannons turned wide swaths of her people into so much red mist.

She had to turn away and instead looked toward the white tree in the distance. Her fear then finally overrode her will and she began to fly away from the battle.

"THAT HARLOT IS GETTING AWAY BOY! GET GOING AND GET HER! WE WILL HOLD THE LINE!" Anthony ordered as he reloaded his rifle.

Roger nodded still hesitant to really leave the front but he had to put his trust in his forefathers to handle things here. "REMEMBER NOT ONE STEP BACK! YOU BOYS TAKE IT STRAIGHT TO THEIR TEETH UNTIL YOU REACH THAT BIG TREE OVER THERE!" He roared as he took a running start and flapped his wings a bit awkwardly before taking to the sky. A lone peggie had gotten just a bit too close and Roger availed himself to test his new sword by taking the mans head as he flew past.

He had to admit that flying like this was an amazing experience. It gave him a feeling of sleekness and maneuverability that was far and above anything he had ever experienced, but he couldn't focus on that sensation for long as he spotted Faith racing for the White Tree at best speed. Her misty wings had grown wider and left long smoky contrail like lines in her wake making it easy to track her movements even at the considerable distance that she had already managed to put between them.

'Lets see what the top speed of a partially laden North American Rook is.' He thought with a wide grin breaking across his face as he flapped his sets of wings ever harder.

Joey had woken up unbearably early as consequence for going to bed so early in the evening the day before but after hitting the restroom and getting something to drink she felt her fatigue catch up with her again. Not as strongly as before but she had at least three or four hours to go before breakfast would be served so why not get a bit more sleep?

She didn't take long even with how increasingly uncomfortable the small cell bed was becoming, to find sleep. It also took her almost no time before she opened her eyes and found herself once more in the grips of a Bliss trip.

She was walking down the path towards the massive white tree at the paths end. Behind her the grass field burned with every step she took.

The last time she had been here undergoing Rachel's taunting and questions as the cultist tried to undermine her mental foundations she had from the moment she found herself in this place a profound sense of loneliness save for Rachel of course.

But now the tone of the place felt different as the loneliness of the fields failed to come. She wondered if it had something to do with the dark storm on the horizon to her right. One thing that had changed for sure was the orange and red glow that now hung over the area and the impossible amount thunder that she was hearing.

She kept walking her mind chewing over what it could all mean when she picked up on how the closer she got to the tree the more that a wall of fog formed between her and the tree until the tree was now only visible through a small gap around the path she was on.

Moments after she realized this the prevailing smell of burned grass took on a distinct burnt gunpowder scent.

"Herald Faith will deal with the other one... we will take this one down." A familiar man's voice called out.

From the wall of fog stepped out John Seed followed by a number of Preachers and Rachel's Chemists. He was armed with a AR while the rest of his men only had baseball bats and shovels. Still it was roughly 20 to 1 against her.

"Goddamn it John why won't you stay dead?" She snarled as her fists tightened in preparation to fight them.

"Oh Hudson do you really think in this place I could stay dead for long? From the tree of Eden I shall forever return refreshed and renewed and from there I will plant my seeds across the earth." John taunted as he stepped forward.

'Ok need to rush John, punch him in the throat, grab gun, back off maybe try flying since I got the wings now...' She started planning her moves when another man was heard behind her yelling.

"HEATHEN!" She heard as a Union officer came racing out of the smoke and ash covered land behind her on the back of a massive black horse. He had in his hand a massive Colt-Walker revolver and with remarkable skill shot John in the head the heavy lead conical bullet tearing the upper half of his head off in a shower of gore.

While the peggies either froze at the sudden death of their Herald or tried to charge the rider only to be cut down by another shot from his massive revolver Joey made for John's rifle. Once in hand she wasted no time in firing on the closest men snapping them out of their shock and drawing them toward her.

A battle cry from behind her drew her attention and she spun quickly to address the shovel welding Chemist only to see the rider slice cleanly up through the mans body from his left armpit and out of the right side of the mans neck with his Calvary sword.

"Mind your rear madam!" The rider commented as he maneuvered to engage another peggie. She turned and addressed the remaining cultists to her front, her rifle locking open as the last Preacher stumbled around holding his gushing throat. The rider came over at a gallop and handily beheaded the man putting him down for good.

The rider turned back and trotted to her taking his broad rimmed hat off respectfully. "Good day madam, I have to say I am most impressed by your marksmanship under duress."

Now that the fighting was over and she could get a good look at the man she realized just how large statured he was followed by familiar face and red hair to Roger.

"Thank you sir for the assistance, your own shooting while on horseback was impressive as well but who are you?" She asked as her eyes settled on a familiar looking shotgun lashed to his saddle.

"I am Colonel Fabius K. Rook United States Army at your service miss. I have a rough feeling that this odd looking firearm belongs to you and I so wish to see it returned." He said with a smile and a bow.

She smiled as her suspicion had been correct. She and Roger had of course over the years of digging in the county archives run across a few pictures of their ancestors and Fabius had been one of the earliest homesteaders in the area opening his gun and blacksmith shop alongside his own Father. A few years later he was recalled to the Army to aid in weapon design and manufacture in the years before the Civil War broke out.

The elder Rook unlashed her gun and held it out for her take. She could see the custom message that Roger had engraved on the receiver clear as day and it reminded her that in a way a small part of him had in fact always been with her as she had fought Rachel.

She took the gun in hand and felt a warmth come across her back and wrap around her that as it faded she realized that she had gotten a second pair of black wings coming out of her back.

"Now that you are suitably armed I suggest that you see to the witch at that big white tree, she is already likely engaged by the other avenging angel she has been facing. I must return to my men and see to her forces being crushed." Fabius said as he replaced his hat and tipped it politely before riding off back into through the ashes and smoke.

Joey turned and felt something kick against her boot as she found a ammo belt with a full load of shells. Now with her gun fully loaded she looked to the white tree in the distance even as the sounds of battle became clearer and knew that she had to get there and settle things with Rachel.

She took a running start and with a few failed jumps and flaps of her wings she found herself slowly gaining altitude over fields.

'Holy shit this is actually happening...' Joey thought as she got used to moving around and feeling the wind in her wings. Once she felt like she wasn't going to fall out of the sky at least immediately she turned toward the tree and hoped that the Rook ancestor she had met was right that 'The Witch' was there.

'Why is this happening? Why won't they see reason? Why won't they at least die?!' Rachel thought as she flew toward the tree. It was the tree of Eden, a place where no evil could hope to exist. There even a monster as strong as Rook would be burned and repelled weakening him if not destroying him outright.

'I wish I had that much hope but at least at the tree I will be stronger than him for sure. I can defeat him and show the true might of the Bliss and the light of Eden.' She thought as she hazarded a glance rearward and felt her heart stop dead for moment.

There racing toward her with a unholy speed was Rook his three sets of wings cracking like thunder with every powerful beat. In his hand was a massive sword that she knew was meant for her.

"Oh my God!" She cried and pushed herself faster and faster.

At the front lines the cultists withered before the constant onslaught of the soldiers as they steadily advanced until they reached the wall of fog that seemed to be producing their numbers. The moment they did the entire wall dissipated and everything between them and the great white tree was made clear.

Anthony could see his great grandson closing on the cult harlot but she had a commanding lead on him nonetheless. "Well time to set that right. Titus how about we give that woman something else to worry about?" He said turning to his son.

The younger Rook nodded before turning to a Russian in a nearby ISU-152 that had popped his head out of his tank and waved over toward where Faith was flying away. The commander nodded his head understanding before ducking back down and soon the tank turned and raised its gun before sending what would be the first of many shells.

All she heard at first was whistling before the first shells struck in front of her kicking up dirt and knocking her about from the blast waves. She then started weaving left and right randomly hoping to avoid the explosions that seemed to just keep happening all around her. Her maneuvers were costing her speed and time. Another quick look behind showed Rook still rapidly closing the distance between them.

The tree was still some distance away but if she could just keep dodging for a little bit longer... she thought until as if hell itself had erupted from the earth and sent her tumbling down hard into the field of Bliss flowers.

"It's not often you get see what 800 millimetres and 5 tons of high explosive will do to the local landscape any more, armies these days tend to worry about 'collateral damage' and other such concepts. Tends to make things like siege guns useless in that role." Roger said as he finally closed within earshot.

Rachel got up gritting her teeth so hard that her jaw ached from the effort. "You don't get it do you?! You won't win this!" She screamed as she once more rose into the air and continued desperately her drive toward the tree now with Rook nipping at her heels. The explosions had stopped but her relief was short lived as she heard the planes above her dive and make pass after pass against her, her only saving grace was how small and quick she was as she jinked and dove around.

But it was catching up with her as even here in the Bliss she started feeling the fatigue of running and dodging. Her dress was torn, ripped, and stained by both dirt and a little bit of her own blood. Still all she had to get to the tree and everything would change, she would be strong and Rook will be weak.

Roger was flapping as hard as he could but despite everything Faith was still a bit a faster than he was and she was clearly more used to moving around like this.

'Really wished that I would have found a gun at my feet instead of a sword.' He thought as he pushed himself harder.

The chase continued and as they neared the tree the aircraft backed off leaving only the two fighters: Faith the Angel of Bliss and Roger the Seraph of War.

Faith landed with a hard thud under the trees great canopy and for the first time since she last confronted Rook she felt at peace. She walked toward the trees trunk and rested her hand upon it relishing instantly as the warm calming embrace of the Bliss and The Father's word washed over her. This was her motivation behind her actions to create an entire new world where she could at last have this feeling everywhere she was.

The tree revitalized her body and spirit even as she heard the sound of Rook approaching.

Roger flared his wings out and landed gently at the outer perimeter of the tree. To call it a tree was almost comical in his opinion. The bottom of the canopy was at least a 150 feet above them if not more and based on what he saw when he was about to land the tree at its peak was well over a 1000 feet tall. The covered area was something to behold as with every breath of the wind the air filled with a constant fall of pure white leaves that glowed even in the dimming sunlight.

Rachel turned and her eyes widened at the sight of him being there. "How... how... in The Father's good name are you here? This is sacred ground! You shouldn't even be able to set foot here!"

He didn't bother replying, Faith was unsurprisingly beyond his words and besides words and drugs were her weapons. Action and steel were his and now was the time to speak to her.

He broke into a full sprint with his sword held high at shoulder height and made a downward slash at Faith that she only narrowly dodged by disappearing in a cloud of fog and reappearing a short distance away. She gathered a ball of white smoke and light in one of her hands and tossed it at him as she jumped and floated about a foot off the ground to let her hover around the battlefield.

Roger rammed his way into the sphere more to see what it would do to him more than anything else as he was confident that he could tank at least a few hits of whatever Faith was throwing at him. The orb hit him and he could feel it try to burn through his body armor but besides that it had sent him sliding about six feet back so it wasn't the worst thing he had felt.

'Ok you might be able to hurt me and eventually you might be able to kill me but you are going to have to throw a lot of those balls.' He thought as he dashed in for another attack.

Another thing was that her attacks took time to charge. On the second attack she had to teleport or be hit by his strike which forced her to cancel her own attack. She moved further away from him but she never moved out from under the trees canopy and further more her orbs moved too slowly to be effective at longer ranges.

They traded blows again and again neither giving ground to the other. In all they were evenly matched in his opinion, she could fly better than he could and when she had to she could teleport away from him quickly. This meant that of his repeated attempted strikes he had only managed thus far a single light cut. Where he couldn't move as freely on the ground or in the air so low to the ground but he could still easily dodge her attacks at long distances and if she wanted to get close enough to hit him she got only a pace or two away from his massive blade.

Faith was getting frustrated and she knew that somewhere Hudson was out there in the Bliss and could potentially join the fight. She was strong here but two on one was hardly fair even with that advantage.

"So Deputy I guess you aren't so powerful after all when things are fair for a change. Maybe now you can see just how pointless it is to resist the Bliss. Maybe now you would be willing to consider living for something more than war." Faith said tauntingly from the furthest point she had gotten from him since the start of the fight.

He humored her with an verbal answer. "Sooner or later the rest of my impromptu army are going to show up, all I have to do is burn the clock until they can burn your tree. As for living for something besides war I already had something lined up but you peggie fuckers had to come to Hope County and then kick off your 'Holy War'. Doesn't matter in the end Faith... I will kill your followers, I will kill you, then Jacob, his boys, and then finally arrest Joseph. Once he's gone and out of my hair I'm going to take my girl out on a nice probably mostly peaceful vacation."

Faith scoffed and glided around until her back was toward the tree and she planted her feet against it. Her form took a brighter white glow as if she was being recharged by the tree and it manifested itself when she started rapidly tossing orbs at him with each hand, filling the area in front of her with faster versions of her normal attack. Judging by the divots and trenches left by the orbs that missed him they were a fair amount stronger to boot.

"Oh I hate real world bullet hells!" He said as he changed up his tactics and leapt into the air himself and in a single massive beat of his wings dashed forward. Faith had focus too much of her attention on pounding the area where he was to react quickly enough to him flying and charging at her.

Finally he felt his blade find true purchase and he stabbed it through where Faith's left kidney would have been and tore the blade out of her side. Her tattered dress quickly was drenched in red blood but in her rage she sent at nearly point blank range one her high powered orbs straight into his chest.

Without the ground to brace against the concussion of the orb was able send him tumbling back onto the ground hard gasping for breath as the wind was knocked out of him a second time.

"So which bitch is it? Armstrong? The angry brick of a human being or maybe its that whore Mary May always looking to flirt with anything willing to look at her big tits? Or maybe its that certain Deputy turn murderer..."

His anger had risen already from taking the blow and again when he heard Faith speak poorly of Grace but it surged when he heard Mary May's name and he absolutely wouldn't even allow this cult pawn to utter Joey's name. In his rage he sent the sword spinning toward Faith before she could speak further and it wasn't completely useless, as she tried to move and stay in contact with the tree to fire another orb at him his blade lopped off her left foot at the ankle before embedding itself in the tree.

Her screams of pain and rage filled the area but instead of clutching her stub of a leg she reached down and grabbed his sword. Even from where he was laying he could see her hands burn at the contact with the grip before she managed to dislodge the blade let it fall to the ground.

"HOW DARE YOU HARM THIS TREE!" Faith screamed as she teleported once more trying to get a different angle on him. He shot up and dashed for his weapon at the foot of the tree, his thinking being that maybe she wouldn't attack if he was using it as a back drop.

He dodged a few incoming orbs before leaping and grabbing the blade as he landing in a roll only to then bring up the sword in a defensive position.

"COME ON AND FIGHT ME ROOK!" Faith taunted clearly trying to get him to move away from the tree.

"No I think I'll stay near this tree, after all I don't have to worry about 'collateral damage'." He shot back with a laugh. Things were looking up, he now had a stronger position and Faith was badly injured and if she landed couldn't walk now either.

He spun and sank the edge of his sword deep into the white bark of the tree. He had no hope of cutting down the tree of course, the trunk alone had to be over a 100 feet in diameter and judging by how hard he had to cut in order to get only the edge of the sword to sink into the wood that this tree was made of some impossibly strong wood. But it got Faith moving.

She dove down with a orb in hand and just before she got within his sword reach she sent the orb into him once more. The smell of hot Kevlar told him that she was burning through the outer ballistic layer of his vest and would eventually reach the massive steel plate he wore under it.

'She'll get through eventually if she lands more hits like that.' He thought as she flew up high once more to gauge the effectiveness of her attack.

"I'll bet I can hit you on the next go Faith!" He said taking his turn to taunt.

"I'll see you dead on the next go!" She roared as she took her time building a larger orb this go around.

'Ok I'll bet that's as powerful as her tree boosted blast, just takes her a lot longer to form. Just got to make sure I at least don't get hit...' He started thinking when the impossible happened.

Joey could see Faith fighting someone who was at the foot of the huge white tree but all that mattered at the moment was Faith had her back turned and she was going to take advantage of it before worrying about whoever was on the ground.

A quick glance to her right showed that some sort of massive army or something was nearing the tree and she could even see airplanes hovering around them.

'Ok lets deal with one thing at a time Joey.' She told herself as she readied her gun and beat her wings as fast and hard as she could.

Faith was almost done building up her final blast and watched as Rook shifted his weight from side to side getting ready to try and dodge her attack as fruitless as it would be. She was about to rush forward when the familiar crack of Rook's wings could be heard but he wasn't flapping his wings at all.

"No..." she uttered before turning her head to look behind her and saw Joey rushing toward her with a shotgun at the ready.

Joey snapped off two quick shots into Rachel's back before slamming into her feet first. The impact sent Rachel tumbling but it also sent her tumbling down before she could regain full control and landed in a rolling heap.

She pushed herself out of the dirt and looked up at the hand being offered.

"Joey I have no idea if you are real or not but welcome to the party." Roger said with a smile.

She took the offered hand and let it hoist her up. "And I have no idea if you are real but you're fighting Rachel so that works for me."

He looked at her oddly for a moment. "Wait... who's Rachel again?"

"Faith Seed is actually Rachel Jessop. You don't remember?" She asked her grip and her eyes tightening as she wondered if he was as real as she thought he was.

"Kinda sorta, being in and out of this place has done weird things to my perception. Still I at least now I know, here I was calling her Faith the whole time." Said with a shrug.

"RACHEL IS GONE! RACHEL IS DEAD!" Rachel screamed as she struggled to get up on her remaining foot, that act revealed that Joey had some how blasted one of her wings off at the joint on her back.

Faith or rather now Rachel in Roger's mind despite whatever nonsense she was currently spewing out on how she was reborn as 'Faith Seed' was grounded and grounded meant one thing.

He had the clear upper hand finally.

He took his first step toward her and Rachel launched a quick orb that went wide and headed for Joey.

"Get behind me!" He roared and instantly felt her rub up against his wings as she did as ordered.

The shot sailed past and he continued to walk toward her as she tried to cast more orbs fast as she could manage. Most of those went wide or into the ground before him but some hit true. Those he blocked with his sword or let his remaining armor take the blow, noticing that they had lost almost all of their bite.

After another salvo passed by Joey ducked under his right arm and dumped another pair of rounds into Rachel's chest as she flapped her remaining wing wildly trying to stay up and only managed to land against the base of the tree. Her body took on the white glow of power once more but her injuries were quickly mounting and she struggled to bring her arm up to cast another orb at them.

Joey and Roger now loomed over her as he thrust the massive sword into her heart where the wound now smoked and burned as Rachel screamed in pain.

"YOU MIGHT HAVE WON HERE BUT ITS NOT OVER YET! YOU CAN'T BEAT GOD!" She screamed.

"Then let your God know I want to have words with him or fight him either way you are done for... Joey if you would please." He replied as Joey plugged Rachel's mouth with her gun and blew the Herald's corrupt brains all over the tree trunk.

Roger pulled the sword out and wiped it on Rachel's dress before laying it over his shoulder.

"Well that's done... now we can figure out what to do next." He said looking Joey over.

She at least looked right and if anything looked a bit taller and had a fair amount of muscle but what made him begin to earnestly believe that the Joey he had grown up with and fallen in love with one or two times depending on ones reckoning, was those bright and clear green eyes.

He then realized that she was sizing him up as well and slowly moved closer to him now locking eyes with him. "You're... you're real...thank God you are actually Roger." She breathed and enveloped him in a tight hug.

He hugged her back and could smell that strawberry shampoo that he always associated with her. "Thank God you are real too... I had to put a knife through Rachel when she tried to play as you and it was one of the hardest things I had ever had to make myself do." He said softly as Joey pulled back enough to look up at him.

"I slashed the 'guy' that Rachel tried to convince me was you across the throat and then stabbed him in the head. He didn't smell like someone who has spent his life at a gun shop and was short... and way too thin... and had the muscles of a starved peggie."

They shared a laugh that died when they both moved to share in a deep kiss. When they broke for air they could only smile at each other.

"This is true Bliss... but I think we need to find a way out of here. Who knows if this is real or not but if not then I think we should get back to making it real." He said and Joey nodded in agreement.

They looked at the tree and wondered how such a thing could be done when the sound of tanks and marching men approached.

"I'll say lad you and the madam here did a fine job killing the witch." Fabius said as he approached on his horse with Anthony and Titus close behind.

"The witch is dead but we need to rid ourselves of this tree if we are to leave this false world." He said looking around at the forces gathered.

"Well boy I do think we got the firepower to see to the tree. I swear these Huns love their big guns." Anthony chuckled as he cast a thumb over to the massive Monster artillery piece as it continued to roll slowly but surely toward them.

"Jesus Christ, Roger where did you find these guys?" Joey asked as she had her first real look at the armies arrayed before them.

He only shrugged. "Long story short, extended family. But yeah lets see what 800mm of cannon does to a tree this big."

His forefathers turned to start getting to a safe distance as too did the other forces start to back away. Joey started to walk after them but he latched on to her arm holding her in place.

"We have wings so why watch from the ground?" Roger said and with a flap of his wings he pulled her up with him until she got the wind under her own wings and flew under her own power.

They soared above the scene and Joey could be heard gasping in awe as the massive steel beast belched a tongue of fire 50 feet long and glowed like a second sun for a brief moment followed by the sight of the nearly 8 ton bunker busting shell embedding itself deep into the wood of the tree only to explode sending splinters and branches even higher up in the sky then they were closely followed by the shockwave pushing them further away from the blast.

On the ground the combined forces cheered openly as the bare few remnants of the tree burned fiercely, their taint wafting away into the clearing sky. All around them the green clouds turned white and soon the sun once more shined upon the land and from the ashes of the land new growth emerged as the land healed.

"So the cycle is complete. War has turned into peace and those who fought in it value what they have earned." Fabius said as he looked up at the two flying figures.

Anthony nodded at his father's words before turning to his son. "Titus just wondering but who is that woman with Roger?"

The two figures turned to fly off towards the horizon as he answered. "You remember Marshal Theodore Hudson? That is his great granddaughter there all grown up. The kid has chosen well I think."

His forefathers nodded sagely as they all disappeared in the thick white fog that rose from the earth enveloping them all.

Joey snapped awake and bolted upright in her bed as she looked around her cell. It was shortly before breakfast would be served and as hungry as she felt it was nothing compared to the... lightness she was feeling. It was as if all the doubts and stress she had gained from her mission to the conservatory no longer weighed on her as badly. Even physically she just felt... better.

Dressed and armed once more she ventured toward the mess hall where she saw a sight for sore eyes.

"Mary May! What are you and Casey doing back here?" She asked as the blonde woman came out from behind the serving station and embraced her.

"We came up with a bunch of extra supplies that Marcus asked for since he said that you guys are expecting an attack soon. I figured that the least Casey and I can do is see to it that you guys get a good breakfast and lunch before we head back to the Spread Eagle." She said with a smile.

"Need an extra set of hands?" Joey asked.

Breakfast went well as the change in diet and the word of extra rations and ammo improved spirits considerably. Even Grace had managed to be social enough to help Joey and Mary May with the clean up as Casey and the Sheriff saw to the unloading of the rest of the supplies they had brought. Once done Mary May asked to see Roger.

Even with Joey doing her best to warn her friend Mary May still started tearing up at the sight of him sitting peacefully at least in his tank.

"My God he's huge, and the Bliss did this?" She asked.

"Yeah given the dose he's gotten, the type of Bliss which Dr. Ferguson and Lindsay say was some sort of prototype blend so virtually no info on what it could be doing, and the fact that we have been pumping him full of fluids and nutrients so his body doesn't consume himself all meant that he kept getting bigger and stronger. But on top of all that thought he had severe muscle spasms that even made breathing almost impossible... that was the scariest part Mary May. You know Roger even before all this there isn't much that could put him down and he wasn't the type to show fear, but watching him when he couldn't breathe..."

Mary May nodded in understanding. She knelt and rested a hand on Rogers own seeing the sheer difference in size. She then looked at her friend.

"What about you Joey? I know that you have always had a inch or two on me but hell you are almost tall enough to look over my head and I swear under that armor your tits are at least my size or bigger." She asked with blunt concern.

Joey chewed at her lip for a brief moment before answering. "I have gained a lot muscle and height. Fighting Rachel has exposed me a lot to the more common variants of Bliss but in lower doses over a far greater time then being dunked into a pool of it. That combined with eating regularly I'm bigger and stronger than ever, hell when we captured the scientist who helped develop Bliss I tossed him around like a rag doll. Down side is and Roger has said he as gone through this too but its the mental trips and visions I get, most have been at least borderline nightmares save for this one time just this morning. I think I can safely say I hate Rachel a little more than John even."

"Wow..." Was all Mary May could say as Joey continued.

"John was a monster that caused pain but Rachel... touches and taints everything every thought, dream, and memory gets twisted in ways that John could never really match. I want her dead Mary May and more so I want her to suffer for it."

Mary May turned back to Roger for a moment. "Well if anyone beside Roger has to do the work, I know that you're the one. If there is anything I can do to help let me know."

Joey knelt beside Mary May and hugged her best friend. "You're here listening to me and that's all I need right now, unless you can magically resize my underwear and the rest of my clothes for that matter."

The women giggled briefly. "Yeah I guess even the nice stuff I made you get on that road trip we took what two years ago? Won't fit you anymore, maybe we can take another trip after all this is over and do it again especially since you, young woman have a boyfriend to show off to now."

"I'll gladly foot the bill and pass judgment for both of you." Roger grumbled as he slowly opened his eyes.

The girls jumped a little bit at the sudden comment before recovering. "Roger you shouldn't make promises that you know you can't pay for." Joey chastised lightly. This only made him laugh as much as he could manage.

"Don't worry I got the savings to spoil you both for a week or two before I have to actually worry. Still good to see you Mary May. I miss your and Casey's food by the way." He said getting a broader smile out of both of them.

"Well I look forward to you being able to fulfill that promise and in return I'll make sure Joey here doesn't go all 'practical and tasteless'." Mary May jested.

They left him thereafter to let him rest further as they headed off to help unload the last of the supplies before starting on lunch.

In the entrance hall of the Cache Rachel stood watching the lines of Angels and Archangels be loaded into the box trucks with their 'Criers' at their head. The Criers were specially chosen to lead this operation not for their martial skills but their ability to direct and inspire the Angels and Archangels. After all it would be they who bare the brunt of the enemy's attack so the lack of combat skill or experience among the Criers wasn't a factor.

'So it begins. The final battle for the Henbane River region.' She thought as the last truck was loaded and as one force 200 Archangels and 300 hundred Angels commanded by 50 Criers began their roll toward the jail.

The Cougars stationed at Seele's Cabin heard the convoy roar by and watched as two dozen box trucks followed by it seemed every single gun truck Faith had left. They radioed ahead but the peggies were driving at almost wreckless speeds only giving the jail a scant few minutes to prepare.

The Sheriff called for everyone to head to the walls and the roof of the jail while those who couldn't fight piled into the nearest vehicle and drove away from the battlefield even as the peggies closed on the jail.

Marcus handed Mary May a M60 and few belts of ammo before reaching for his own radio. "Nick! We need as much air support at the jail as you can provide, Faith is throwing everything she has left at us!"

In the skies above the water treatment plant Nick and his three wingmen discussed amongst themselves their situation. They had been patrolling since dawn and were nearly out of fuel but the time it would take to go to Nick's airfield, refuel, rearm, and then get back to the jail could mean that the jail would fall before then.

"Ok boys we have to help besides if we burn up the ammo we have it will lighten our loads and should let us make it home if not then just put down in the river and we get one of the river patrols to tow you to safety. Everyone in agreement?" Nick asked his wingmen.

With a chorus of overlapping affirmatives he switched back to talking with Marcus. "We got almost no fuel but we will fly by and do as much as we can before we have to leave."

Marcus sighed, it wasn't the best he could hope for but it was something. "Ok then I'll take it."

The first box trucks turned on to the driveway leading to the jail only a minute and even as the engines and cabs of the trucks were shot to pieces those driving were hyped up on overdoses of blue pain killer Bliss and were able to ignore all but the most critical of injuries as they rammed their trucks into the concrete walls surrounding the jail.

The walls held but every truck that got close to the wall served as a form of siege tower giving the cultists a path to breach the walls, assuming they could get past those on top of the walls.

The cult gun trucks drove around the jail's perimeter their gunners firing wildly at anything that moved and when they were cut down another man would crawl out of the cab at take his place. They provided the suppression needed for more of the box trucks to surround the jail and press the defenders on all sides.

Marcus and his wife were bouncing from side to side on the Jail's roof providing additional firepower to the numerous near breaches as the cultists sent their Angels and Archangels pouring out of the backs of their trucks. "Nick we could really use some help!" He called on the radio as he plopped down beside the Sheriff who had been guiding the defense at the jail's front and main gate.

"This is feeling like deja vu!" The Sheriff said was Marcus set up the MG 08/15 he had grabbed. It wasn't maybe the best gun for running around with but it allowed him to give some of the less experienced fighters machine guns that were more user friendly. Besides with how many peggies there were coming at them maybe being water cooled wasn't that bad of an idea, he watched the mounted machine guns on the wall as their crews desperately sprayed the guns with water to keep them running even as the cultists got closer and closer to them.

"Well at least I'm here with you this time." He said as he reached for his radio once more. "Nick things are getting uncomfortably interesting! Where are you?"

Like magic a yellow float plane followed by more brightly colored float planes flew over Moonflower trailer park.

"We're right here buddy!" Nick called as he lined up a cult gun truck in his sights.

Marcus warned everyone to avoid getting hit by friendly fire but that was easier said than done. The cult and Resistance forces were getting tightly packed at the wall and not calling off Nick and his boys was a calculated risk on his part.

"BREACH ON THE WEST WALL! BREACH ON THE WEST WALL!" Someone called out.

Marcus and Jessica made to shift to the wall when the Sheriff commented. "Really wish Roger was here again!"

The elder Rook didn't reply but he couldn't deny his friends wish. Having Roger back would be one more trained shooter and was better suited to plugging holes then he was.

Joey and Mary May were on the ground moving around to give bursts of support when one wall started to get pressed but as minutes passed they started getting pressed harder in more places as the Archangels and Angels got on top of the walls.

Nick's 20mm roared as he and his wingmen would try to knock out the gun trucks suppressing the wall defenders. He had already dropped both of his bombs on a pack of gun trucks that must have been late getting to the battle and he had used all of his rockets to try and blow up the box trucks that were pouring out more peggies as they reach the walls but already he had a few close calls when a rocket would fly off and land in the jail's yard or nearly hit the top of the wall.

Worse still was his wingmen had already run out of ammo for their numerous machine guns and had to bug out. Even he was running out of cannon ammo and his fuel gauge was well with in the red zone.

But he had to stay at least until he was out, it wouldn't be right otherwise.

He could make out Joey's black hat as she ran around from wall to wall as Angels, Archangels and their handlers bit by bit started reaching the top of the walls. This drove him to swing back for another pass but when he squeezed the trigger and only got a tiny burst of fire then nothing but the sound of the barrels spinning in what of ammunition to fire.

"Marcus I'm sorry but I'm out of ammo and nearly out of fuel. Oh God I'm so sorry!" He said over the radio.

Surprisingly Marcus's reply was calm and collected. "No problem Nick you did your part, but we're not dead yet so we will just have to make do from here on. Feel free to rejoin us once you reload though."

The old commando ended his transmission and read the situation. They were going to lose the walls at this rate and his people were spending too much time and energy running around to defend too much thus there was only one logical thing to do at this point.

"Everyone break off and fall back to the Jail roof! Joey, Grace, Mary May you each cover a ladder until everyone gets to the roof. We are spread too thin to keep this up much longer." He ordered and watched as the fighters rushed off of the walls as fast as they could toward the three exterior ladders that lead to the roof. They had locked all the doors so that should deny interior access for a time and would allow the defenders to fire down on to the heads of the peggies.

"Things are not looking all that great Marcus." Jessica commented as she swapped in a fresh drum for her RPK.

"No they aren't but I'll be damned if we don't at least do everything we can to salvage this. But just in case, I love you hun." He said with a cocky smile.

"And I love you too. Now lets see what we can about covering the retreat." Jessica said as she rack the bolt on her gun.

Something that became quickly apparent was outside of those in the gun trucks there were few cultists with more than a pistol and even then it seems once they emptied their guns they switched to bats, axes, pipes, and just about any other melee weapon one could come up with. The Angels and Archangels were unarmed but the threat of being literally torn apart still loomed over those rushing toward the ladders.

One exception to this however was a small four man group of Chosen that now climbed over the walls under the cover of Archangels and made for a door that had been damaged by a rocket strike. These men were aside from those in the gun trucks the only trained fighters in this attack and their sole mission as given by Faith was to either kill or capture any of the Resistance leadership or VIP's. The best way they figured to do this was to wait until their blessed brothers and their Criers had gotten enough of their attention then breach the jail proper and strike from behind.

The broken exterior door that only required having an Archangel finish smashing it off of its hinges was a blessing straight from 'The Father' himself as the team of fighters entered the jail. They passed through the empty halls until they happened upon one of the cell blocks.

"Empty cells, these Resistance types don't take as many prisoners as I would have expected." One of the Chosen said.

"The Father warned us that these sinners desire to spill blood above all else, its why they hunted so many of our brothers and sisters after Herald John was killed. They didn't have to do it but they did." Another said.

Any other comments where halted when a weak voice cried out. "H-Help... oh Father help me please..." They rushed forward to one of the last cells in the block.

"Oh merciful Father..." One of the men said as they laid eyes on a beaten and bloodied , he was missing his fingernails and his left arm was clearly out of its socket amongst the rainbow of bruises across the visible parts of his body.

The one of the Chosen fired his AR repeatedly into the cell door lock until after nearly two magazines later it could be forced open with all four of them pulling on it.

"Dr. Feeney can you still walk?" The Chosen who had first shot the door lock asked.

Feeney nodded and was helped up.

They still had a mission to do but they couldn't just leave the doctor there, if anything he was almost more important then killing the Resistance leaders but they had their orders from the Herald and they would persevere nonetheless.

In the medical ward Roger could hear the gunfire outside and then more gunfire inside of the jail. He wanted to move hell he honestly felt pretty good except for when he tried to do any sort of large movement of his arms or legs it felt like he didn't have full control of his limbs.

'After the attack I have to ask for the doc to at least let me try to get up and out of here.' He thought as he looked to his right and saw the Whitehorse kids standing at the door about to cautiously walk inside when he heard the other door to the room open up less quietly.

Edward had heard the gun fire from inside their hiding place in the main common area and along with his little sister slowly approached the area that he thought he had heard the gunfire.

His Dad and grandpa had told them not to fight but he knew that if they saw peggies inside the jail that they couldn't just hide and hope for the best. He had his Mosin and Jessie had her Ruger and by God he wasn't just going to sit quietly when the peggies came back.

They peeked into the medical ward of the jail and only saw Roger who was trying to move a bit and the Marshal that he had nearly had to stab the other day who was still knocked out. He was about to step into the room when the door leading to the jail cells at the far end of the slowly opened and some red masked Chosen stepped into the room followed by that one peggie that Joey had captured.

"They're going to kill Roger!" His sister whispered as he quietly closed the door part way.

He nodded and looked through the crack at the scene unfolding in front of him. They all had AR-15's so he and his sister were already out gunned so he had to wait for a opening to launch a surprise attack. Until then all he could do is watch as they gathered around the Deputy.

Inside the ward the Chosen gawked at Roger in his tank as he glared at their passing. Dr. Feeney looked at the doctors clip board that had been hung next to his tank.

"You... are a beautiful monster... however you are a monster nonetheless thus you must be destroyed. Such is the will of 'The Father'. Form up a firing line!" He said turning to the Chosen who nodded and the four of them lined up at the end of the tank.

Roger maintained his glare at the men. This is how he would fall? Barely able to move while a pack of peggies mag dump him? He forced himself to start sitting up and the sudden movement spooked the Chosen.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! FI..." Feeney cried out but before he could even finish the order the crack of a long rifle echoed in the room.

Edward had watched the men line up and right then and there thanked God for the miracle as he pushed the end of his rifle out past the door and aimed for the Chosen's heads all lined up neatly just for him.

The four men lined up dropped like sacks of potatoes as the 148 grain bullet sailed unhindered through their heads and Feeney fell on to his back in shock.

Edward pushed open the door and made a impressive show of working the bolt on his rifle and ejecting the spent case as Jesse backed him up with own little pink rifle at the ready should Feeney move.

"Even your damn children are sinners!" The doctor roared as he made a scramble to his knees to reach for one of the Chosen's rifles. Jesse started tapping away as fast as she could pull the trigger sending a few dozen rounds into the mans chest but like any high level member of the cult his Bliss enhancements meant that besides the shock of actually being shot and hit by a child of all things he physically was a long ways away from dying from something as low powered as a .22LR.

To this end Edward shot forward, the black shine of the afternoon sun gleaming off of the end of his bayonet and didn't stop his charge until he sank the blade into Feeney's neck. He had hit at a upward angle until the blade exited out the back of his head. Feeney stared wide eyed into the boys angry green eyes until Edward pulled the trigger and ended the drug making career of Dr. Peter Feeney.

The boy gave a hard kick to Feeney's chest to get him off of his rifle and looked at his work quietly when his sister came up beside him. "We got him right?" She asked.

Edward was quiet for a moment as he looked the body and shrugged. "Probably... maybe we can get Cheeseburger to eat him just to be sure."

He turned to Roger who smiled broadly. "Thanks for the save you two. I think though you guys should get back to hiding. Never know if more peggies will get in here."

Edward nodded and Jessie started walking back to the common area but Edward hung back. "What are you going to do?" He asked simply.

Roger propped himself up on his elbows and looked at his new body and tested raising a leg and moving his foot. It honestly was more then what he could have managed earlier when he gave Joey her performance review so he was making some form of progress at least.

"I'm going to try and get up and then... I don't know..." He trailed off as he honestly hadn't thought of anything passed getting up.

"Find peggies, kill peggies, and save the world?" Edward offered with a smile.

Roger nodded. "Sounds like a plan, better get going then."

Edward dashed after his sister leaving Roger alone.

'Well I can still hear gun fire outside so that's where I need to go.' He thought as he rolled with some difficultly off of the cell door turn bed and fell to the floor with a heavy thud. His body just refused to move quite right but he began to noticed that the larger the movement and the less he focused on doing fine motor skill type things the easier he found to get his legs under him.

So he had to 'climb' his way up off of the floor by clawing at the bed beside his and then pushing up off of the small table beside that then reaching up and latching onto a bit of wall trim and pulling him self up.

Finally standing he felt his sense of balance waver a bit as he focused on figuring out how to take a step. 'Ok back to basics just think like a toddler, just a big 500 plus pound toddler... good God what have I been reduced to?' He thought but none the less he managed to make a few waddling steps until he could clear the beds and reach out to the wall to help support him.

Every step was a little easier than the last as he worked his way though the halls of the jail always hearing repeated gunfire. He honestly was a little lost as he hadn't really explored much beyond the main common area, restrooms, mess hall, and the armory. Still he knew he had to get to one of the side exits otherwise he could be walking into the middle of a likely no-mans-land either out front or in the yard out back.

'No. I have to find a quiet side exit and figure out what to do from there... just ease my way in and give them something else to worry about for the defenders up on the roof to take advantage of. After all what could be more distracting than a giant naked man crushing peggie skulls?' He thought as his rough sense of direction told him he had to be getting close to the west side of the jail and he could hear a shotgun going off rapidly just on the other side of the wall so he was up against an exterior wall.

Things were going to shit. That was all Joey could think of as she watched the peggies fill in the void left by the wall defenders falling back to the Jail roof. She understood the logic Marcus had though as by focusing their numbers on the roof they could potentially trap the peggies between the building and the wall, then there was the fact that most if not all of the gun trucks had been stopped by now by the heavy machine guns on the wall shortly before they fell back.

It also helped that it seemed that these peggies had forgone firearms and were relying on the Angels horde like tenancies and the sheer endurance of the Archangels to go after the Resistance. But everything hinged on keeping the masses in one general area and killing them before they breached the jail's interior and then they would be able to attack the roof from below.

'Where we have no escape.' She thought as she loaded the last belt for her Beowulf and looked down toward the rear yard where it seemed the cult was beginning to put most of their people over the wall. Her current role had been to cover the fallback as the wall defenders climb one of the three ladders leading to the roof but now she had elected to stay down here on the ground.

'We got to compress them more, get them into an even smaller area. But how do you bait a bunch of brainless...' She thought until she remembered how the Archangel in Lyida's Trap reacted to her. Some of those things still knew that she was the 'Demoness' and she could use that.

She moved to the southwest corner making herself clearly visible and picked off everything that fell within her sights until finally one of the peggies armed with nothing but a iron cult cross on the end of a matching staff and a baseball bat called out pointing at her.

"THERE'S THE DEMONESS! KILL HER! KILL HER FOR THE FATHER!"He yelled and like moths to a flame the mass of Angels and Archangel followed by their handlers surged toward her.

"Hudson! What in the fuck are you doing?!" The Sheriff called over the radio.

"Drawing them into a smaller kill zone. After all there's only one person these fuckers want more than me and since Roger isn't here I'll have to do. I get them into the west end between the building and wall and you have everyone dump as much ordinance as you can from the roof. Don't worry about me I'll be fine." She said as she started walking back wards drawing the on rush of cultist monsters to her kill zone.

Tap-Tap, Tap-Tap, Tap-Tap her rifle went as she slipped deeper into the narrow alley that was formed by the building and the wall. She saw out of the corner of her eye the roof defenders gather and begin picking off everything they could, the swarming mass of peggies didn't care nor slow as they happily trampled their own dead and dying underfoot.

There was only one thing they wanted right now and that was to kill 'The Demoness'. Her rifle clicked empty and she slung it on to her back then switching for her grenades.

She started chucking the explosives low and fast knowing that if she tossed them high in an attempt to reach further into the group she might manage to air burst one and catch the people on the roof in the blast.

The Angels and Archangels were packed so tight in the alleyway that each explosion that went off tore though their ranks leaving gaping holes and flying body parts if not entire bodies. Those not caught in the blast flowed like water to fill the gaps further crushing their dead and wounded under foot.

Above the carnage the Resistance continued to pour fire into the solid mass of cultists and Marcus Rook could only smile even as he finished loading another belt of ammo for his Maxim gun. The Sheriff hadn't been pleased with Joey's idea but he knew exactly what game she was playing at, it wasn't just getting the peggies to willingly to march into a smaller kill zone that negated their numbers. No it was getting the cultists to stop thinking about the people firing above them completely and focus on one single person.

'Joey knows what she is to the cult. To Faith. She's taken a page out of Rogers play book and taken responsibility for baring the brunt of their attacks giving the less experienced fighters a clearer opening to take advantage of. More importantly she trusts herself to be able to hold up under that kind of pressure both in her skills and the strength of her will. She's come really far since Roger asked her to take the lead in this war.' Marcus thought as he let his gun roar.

Joey was running out of space to back up as she took Roger's Barrett off of her back. Once she got to the northwest corner she couldn't back up any further lest she start loosing her advantage of compressing the increasingly withered mass of cultists, now was the point where she stopped and stood her ground.

She had taken off the 8-80x scope Roger normally used and fitted a lower powered 1-10x scope that suited her style better. She would never be the miracle marksman he was but she would dominate in her range bracket however.

With muffled cracks she picked out the heads of Archangels leaving the softer targets for the fighters above which judging by the laughing of Marcus and Casey must be going better than she was expecting.

She slammed in her last ready magazine for the Barrett and for the first time started to lose her nerve a bit as the numbers of Archangels especially started closing in on her faster than she expected.

'Ok things are getting a little dicey now.' She thought as the Barrett ran dry and she shifted over to her shotgun.

Roger could see the light coming through the window on the door that led outside as he stumbled his way toward it. When he finally got there he could see Joey doing what she did best as she fed an Archangel a few slugs to the face, but it was clear that things were getting out of hand.

'Yep just slip out and ease my way. So much for that idea.' He thought as he watched Joey run her gun dry and dodge a Archangel's blow and whip out his 1911 but as she pumped him with lead another monster was rushing toward her.

Without thinking he lunged through the door and intersected the Archangel with a hard punch to the head. He was shocked as he felt the creatures skull actually shatter and cave under his fist.

Joey finished off her latest kill and looked dumbfounded at the very naked Roger who was now one punching Archangels and the odd Angel before they could reach her.

'Ok now we have gone from dicey to just plain insane.' She thought as the masses of cultists and the Resistance stopped at the sight of Roger reentering the battlefield. Then she watched the Archangels start to retreat... actually start falling back with fear written in their eyes, the Angels simply turned and ran at full speed away only to be stopped by the cultists with the iron crosses that drove them back toward the front line.

'They're afraid... they are actually afraid. Even as brainless zombies they cower before... a Saint.' She thought with a smile as Roger started taking awkward but increasingly steady steps toward the peggies.

"Joey reload and cover my rear! Anything that I hit that doesn't die put some lead in them!" He roared.

"Copy!" She replied and followed merrily in his wake.

Roger watched as the pack of monsters started moving toward him now unhindered by Joey or the rooftop fighters.

'I count about 20 Archangels and 20 Angels with about 10 regular peggies bringing up the rear. 50 more dead bodies to line the roads with.' He thought as the first Archangels came at him.

He wasn't fighting normally as all of his punches were little more than accurate haymakers but he was caving in skulls and chests with such ease he couldn't help but grin madly. Once he got used to his limbs being too long and found his coordination he could use what the cult had given him in their attempt to kill him against them.

The body of a Saint combined with the crushing willpower and dominance of 'The Collapse'. Rachel had given him the last tool he needed to end the cult threat by turning him into the perfected image of just what 'The Collapse' was.

The further down the alleyway he went the thicker the peggies got and he finally considered using any weapon he could get his hands on.

First he grabbed a wood ax off of a dead peggie and brought it down on the nearest Archangel splintering the handle instantly, on the next swing into a Angel the handle broke and so with just the broken handle he shoved it into the neck of another Archangel leaving it for Joey to finish it off.

Marcus stood stunned as he watch is son mop up the remaining peggies. In truth he and the rest of the defenders should still be shooting but no one seemed to be able to tear their eyes from watching Roger work or the hesitance the monsters of the cult suddenly had. At first they would willingly rush into massed machine gun fire but now they were constantly resisting the urge to run away, only being kept in check by the handlers at the rear of the group.

'Still the most important part is that my son is back. That is all that matters in the end.' He thought as he watched the first of the handlers charge in.

It was a young man with long ragged brown hair and welding a silver baseball bat with gold and purple trim that tried to first spear Roger with his iron cult cross only to have it be batted away. The man manage to duck the follow up punch and land a blow with the bat against Roger's chest only to have Roger grab a section of pipe off the ground and rammed it into his chest.

This caused the other handlers to start breaking ranks and with them the dozen remaining Angels and Archangels. It was then that Marcus ordered everyone to open fire on the remaining members even as they tried fruitlessly to climb the walls out of the jail.

When the last peggie was dead a calm settled on the jail as everyone got a grip on what had just happened. The yard was littered with dozens of bodies and even more filled the alleyway Joey had lead them down, add to that the number of dead outside of the walls and the Resistance would be working over time just collecting the bodies let alone mounting them.

But mount them they would, until you couldn't drive on a single road in the county without seeing a dead peggie as at least a mile marker.

Roger continued to look south over the yard in thought until he heard his father come up behind him.

"Well Roger mission accomplished... we held out against Faith's hordes. That begs the question what do you want to do next?" He said.

Roger only chuckled. "That's easy the next mission is... TO FIND PANTS!"

He turned and smiled at Joey before walking back to the door he had exited from passing more of the fighters that were coming down the ladder. The victory cheers were intermixed with wolf whistles and complements from some of the women.

"Well Rook at least we know if you ever run out of ammo you can start killing peggies with that giant dick of yours" Tracey taunted. He actually thought to give her a response.

"And endanger my future porn career?! In your dreams Tracey!" He said as he continued back down the alleyway.

In the yard the leadership was gathered together in stunned silence both at Roger's sudden appearance and the carnage before them.

"Well he certainly doesn't lack confidence." Minkler said as Roger could be heard crying out in the background. "Pants! Pants! My kingdom for a pair of pants!"

"I could live without seeing that again... so Marcus we clean up and figure out how to take advantage of this?" The Sheriff asked.

Marcus nodded. "Yes... we are in the endgame for Faith now we just have to deal with her stronghold and her missile silo."

Joey didn't pay them much mind as she processed everything that had happened when Mary May touched her shoulder. "He's back..." She said simply to which Joey could only grin and nod before embracing her friend.

The looming clouds over the mountains began to close in over the county threatening to bring with them another great storm.