Chapter 18: The Fallen

Marcus was thankful that Jess was still asleep when he got back. His mind was still racing. Faith had come and sought him out even with all that had happened. Not only that, but it seemed like she was choosing him over Joseph. Faith had expressed emotion towards him that he was not used to. She genuinely seemed to show that she did in fact care for him like he wanted to for her. But there was still a lingering doubt. Was it all just another ruse? Was Faith just luring him in again to make an easy elimination? In his heart, Marcus believed that Faith did care but his head told him not to be caught off guard again. So while Marcus waited for Jess to wake up, he stewed in the living room.

Jess wandered in after a short time.

"What time is it?" She asked with a yawn.

"Its 9." Marcus replied.

Jess nodded and stretched. "Did you have any more trouble with the local wildlife?"

"Nope."

Jess scowled, annoyed that Marcus was engaging much in conversation. "I'm gonna go shower." Jess finally said.

Marcus simply nodded as he was still in thought. Jess glared at him but said nothing more as she headed to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later Jess came back out, her hair still a bit wet but she was now in a fresh set of clothes but with the same green hoodie.

"So what's the plan for today?" She asked.

Marcus shrugged. "I think I'm going to go see Dutch. See if he has any new info for us."

Jess' glare returned. "Well while you're off doing that, I'm going to head over to Falls End and see what's going on there."

Marcus took the car keys out of his pocket. "You want to take the car then since you've got a bigger distance to travel?"

Jess waved him off. "Nah, you take it. I'll make my own way. I'll probably hitchhike or hijack a peggie vehicle or something.

"Are you coming back tonight or?" Marcus wanted to know how long he would be able to dig up info.

Jess eyed him suspiciously. "Depends on how things are going. I might stay there a day or two." She held up her radio. "We can keep in contact with this right? I'll let you know if anything important is going on and you can fill me in on anything you find out on your end. Not that I care about Dutch or anything, I just give a shit about you."

Jess then realized what she had said. "A-Anyways, I'm going to get going now then in case I don't find a car right away. So guess I'll talk to you later."

They gave each other a short wave then Jess headed out with her bow and gear. Marcus figured he'd get a move on too since there was no point sticking around the house. He grabbed his gun, loaded up on some ammo then made his way to the car. The drive to Dutch's bunker was short and uneventful. Dutch must have cameras that saw Marcus approach as the bunker door was open. Marcus made his way in and found Dutch drinking coffee in the command room.

"Morning kid. You caused quite a stir in the Henbene last night. The peggies were all over the comms talking about it. I think you really shook them up."

Dutch noticed that Marcus was by himself. "I see my niece isn't with you. How is she doing?"

"She's doing fine. Jess was actually with me when we took down the statue in the Henbene. She was a big help."

Dutch nodded and took a sip of his coffee. "Where is she now?"

"Jess went to Falls End. She wanted to see how things were going there."

Dutch sighed. "I guess that makes sense. With what happened last night, I'm sure the cult is planning a way to strike back. So then, why did you come here?"

"Well like you mentioned, I was wondering to see if the cult was up to anything after what happened to the statue. I figured you'd probably be able to get a clue on what they'd be up to."

Dutch finished the last of his coffee. "Like I said, the cult were talking about what happened last night. But this morning they've been completely silent. Except for one thing."

"And that is?"

"There was some brief mentions about a disturbance going on at Moonflower trailer park. They said they were gonna send some forces to take care of it and that was that. If it is who I think it is causing the disturbance, you might want to head over there."

Marcus nodded. "Then I'll head over there right away. But before I go Dutch, can I ask you something?

"Sure, what is it kid?"

Marcus hesitated. He remembered the notes about Faith that Dutch had. He wanted to ask more about them. "When I was last here, you had some notes on each of the Seeds. Joseph, John, and Jacob's notes were all pretty straightforward. But the only things I could get out of the notes on Faith were theories about her role with the bliss and angels and the one confirmed fact that she is not blood related to the other Seeds. Could you tell me more?"

Dutch shook his head. "I'm afraid theres not more than that kid. Faith's a bit of a mystery. I know she wasn't with the Seeds when the first came to Hope County. In fact, shortly after Joseph and his brothers arrived in Hope County, they introduced another woman as Faith." He pausing thinking further. "In fact, Joseph came here about seven years ago and there's been a few 'Faiths' before this one. No idea where they went off to. All I know is that the current Faith has been the most successful out of all of them. With her, the bliss came into full use and with it, the 'angels'.

"I remember seeing something about them. It said they are like zombies?"

Dutch nodded. "Yeah kid. Its what happens when you get exposed to too much bliss. It destroys your mind. Somehow the cult managed to find a way to control them somewhat. They use them for labor mostly but sometimes they get used to swarm their enemies. I would probably steer clear of them kid."

Marcus was skeptical. "I'll keep that in mind Dutch. Anything else?"

He shrugged. "Nothing else kid. If you ask me, Faith's kind of sadistic. Turning people into lifeless zombies with the bliss? Some would say it's a fate worse than death. She's every bit as complicit in the shit that's going on along with the other Seeds."

Marcus would be sure to question Faith later about this. But for now, he had a task to do. "All right Dutch, I'm off. You take care."

Dutch grinned. "You too kid. Be careful out there."

Marcus headed to the Henbene region. He had to drive around a bit to look for sign for the trailer park. Eventually he found the path he was looking for. When he got close, he could hear really loud music. It sounded like disco inferno. Marcus only knew that because some of the people he had worked with listened to it though rarely. Pulling up to the actual park, the place looked deserted except Marcus could make out a lone figure on top of one of the trailers. He parked and readied his gun and ammo. He wasn't expecting trouble from the figure, but he was expecting their antics to bring trouble.

The music died down as the figure saw Marcus approach. He addressed him from his position on top of the trailer.

"Hey there! You're not really what I was expecting!" The man yelled.

Marcus studied him. He noticed that the man was equipped with what looked like a flamethrower. "What the hell are you doing?" Marcus yelled back up at him.

"Waiting for the peggies? What does it look like? I know they have no taste in music, so I blasted one of my favorites knowing that they'll probably come here to turn it off."

"And you think you'll be able to take them all on your own?" Marcus shot back sarcastically.

The man, now pissed, climbed down from the trailer and approached Marcus who confirmed that he was definitely wielding a flamethrower.

"Listen here man. I don't know who you think you are, but no one doubts 'Sharky Boneshaw."

"Sharky?" Marcus remembered those kinds of nicknames back from his gang days.

"Well my actual name is Charlemagne Victor Bonshaw IV, but everyone knows me as Sharky. Anyways who are you? Never seen you before and I pretty sure I know everyone there is to know in Hope County. The cult is looking for some guy that's been causing major trouble for the past week. I guess he was with the cops when they tried to arrest Joseph and somehow managed to avoid capture…."

Sharky went on rambling and Marcus was about to stop him and explain who he was when he heard a growl coming from behind Sharky who heard it too as he stopped talking and turned around.

"Oh shit! Here they come! Watch this man."

Sharky started creeping towards where the noise was coming from. Two figures in white then emerged. It was a man and a woman, but Marcus could tell there was already something off. Both of them looked identical to one another. They both had their heads shaved and they had some kind of mask covering their lower face. Finally, both of them didn't have a gun but a gardening hoe. They shambled toward Sharky. Those must be the angels that Dutch talked about. They did seem like zombies with their movement but…

Before Marcus could ponder any further, he heard a noise and saw that Sharky had ignited his gas tank. A spray of fire shot out at the two approaching angels. Memories immediately came back to when Marcus and Jess went after The Cook. But the victims were tied up like Cook's and like mad kamikazes, ran at Sharky who panicked. Luckily Marcus thought fast and raised his gun to shoot at the angels. The first few shots only slowed them down but a few more and they fell, burning along the ground. Sharky turned back to Marcus elated but his smile quickly faded when he saw something else coming. Marcus turned around to follow his gaze.

There were more angels, a horde of them. This time Marcus put a few down with well-aimed shots to the head but more kept appearing and even worse was that they blocked the path back to the car.

"There's a hotel not far to the east!" Sharky exclaimed. "We can take shelter there!"

"You need to lose that flamethrower then if you want to keep up." Marcus replied.

"Aw man but this is my baby. Do you know how long it took me to get my hands on one of these?" Sharky complained.

"Do you want to live or die?' Marcus growled.

"Dammit." Sharky complied and quickly slipped off the tank and started making his way east. Marcus moved to follow him but then he had an idea. He turned and waited until the angels got close to the discarded flame tank. He then shot at it causing the tank to rupture and explode taking out a good chunk of angels and disorienting the others.

"Aww did you have to do that man?" Sharky complained again as Marcus caught up to him.

"Shut up and keep moving." Marcus ordered. He was regretting coming here in the first place, but nothing could be done about that now. The tank explosion had shaken the angels' pursuit as the duo saw the hotel come into view. But Marcus also noticed that there were cult vehicles parked outside of it.

Sharky cursed. "They weren't there when I was at the hotel this past weekend." He claimed.

"Do you have another weapon?" Marcus asked as they were almost at the area behind the hotel.

"No man, that flamethrower was all I had."

"Then you shut up and stay right behind me. You give us away and I'll kill you myself."

Sharky nodded nervously as Marcus made sure his weapon was ready on ammo. He then led Sharky to a back door. He suddenly stopped as he heard two voices.

"You hear that explosion up by the trailers? What do you think it was?"

"It was probably that guy who lives up there. You know the pyromaniac? Angels probably got to him, and he took himself out with as many as he could."

"What a way to go. It reminds me how Flint was killed up in Jacob's territory. Those flamethrowers are as dangerous to the wielder as it is to their enemies."

"That's why we have so few flamethrower users now. Flint's death put a fear in all of them and now the few that still use them only want to do it when there's no risk of attack."

"Well I'm glad we took out the crazy pyro. We lost a lot of angels but at least that idiot is gone."

The two laughed and Sharky was about to say something but one glare from Marcus made him back off. He then motioned for Sharky to stay put and crept forward. He found a position where the two peggies were lined up with each other and fired two quick bursts killing them both. Marcus's smg was silent but the sound of the bodies hitting the floor attracted attention from upstairs.

"Hey whats…." Another cultist saw the two bodies but before he could do anything, Marcus unleased a quick burst of bullets that dropped him. Unfortunately they also hit one of the windows causing the glass to shatter and alert the guards outside. Marcus changed positions as four more peggies burst through the front door and noticed the bodies.

"We have an intruder! Find him!"

The cultists spread apart but they didn't get far before Marcus took the first one down. "He's in the room!" One yelled before he was dropped by gunfire. The other two remaining peggies panicked and tried to fire where they thought Marcus had fired from, but he had already changed locations. He then fired another burst that took down another cultist and then moved up as the remaining cultist fired wildly, trying to get a lucky shot at the intruder behind cover. When he ducked down to reload, he was horrified to find that the intruder had moved up right next to him. Marcus put a bullet in the last peggie's head. He waited to see if any other cultists would come in but when none did, he assumed the close was clear. He stood up, moved towards Sharky and motioned to him that the coast was clear.

Sharky stood up and saw the carnage. "Holy shit man. Are you like some secret agent or something?"

Marcus ignored his question. "Search around to see if the cultists have anything useful lying around. I'm going to search the bodies."

"Okay I can do that." Answered Sharky nervously as he was still taking in what just happened.

Marcus picked through the bodies for ammo. Some of the cultists were wielding assault rifles. Marcus considered picking one up but he decided against it as two weapons would slow him down too much and in the current predicament, speed was essential. He did find a few smg magazines which he happily pocketed. Soon Sharky came back looking empty handed.

"You didn't find anything?" Marcus asked him with annoyance.

"Just this." Sharky handed over what seemed to be a letter. "It was on top of one of the tables."

Marcus read it and his eyes widened. Now he had a good feeling about what happened to Faith's predecessors.