Chapter 20: Truth and Deception
Orders:
"Due to current circumstances, your orders are to head for the King's Hot Springs Hotel. Gather up any items left over from those that have joined our community. In particular, pay attention to the belongings of these specific people:
Lana Stanson
Madison Randal
Selena Tavara
The items from these three individuals must be destroyed at all costs. They have served their purpose to maintain the faith of our followers. They have gone to meet God. Once you have liquidated all items, proceed to Horned Serpent Cave and destroy all evidence of our activity there. Once the place has been cleansed, report back to Jacob in the Whitetail mountains. Above all else, do not allow Faith to learn what you are doing. She must remain pure and true to the bliss if we are to succeed."
Joseph Seed
"I know those girls!" Sharky exclaimed. "I think I tried to get with all of them, all three were pretty hot. But they all decided to join the cult before I got fully show off my moves."
"Do you know where Horned Serpent Cave is?" Marcus asked him, ignoring his reminiscing.
"Yeah, its actually not too far from here. Why?"
"We're going, Lets go." Marcus started heading for the front door.
"Aww man. I was hoping we could scavenge the place a bit more." Sharky lamented.
"If what in the letter is true, there's nothing to loot anyways. Grab the truck keys off one of the bodies. We'll use their vehicle."
Sharky searched the bodies to find the key then followed Marcus outside. Sharky told Marcus where to head to and they arrived in about five minutes. Marcus had a feeling this was the place due to the bonfires in the area. The two got out of the car to survey the area. There were two bonfires, still burning what seemed to be mostly clothes and other items. From it looked like, the peggies had already been here. Marcus confirmed it when he finally found the entrance. It had been caved in, most likely due to explosives. He reckoned that the cultists at the hotel could have returned from their job here, but they were most likely some grunts that were there to keep the area secured. All Marcus had was the note.
"Looks like theres nothing here but some sweet fire." Sharky commented. "So uh, now what?"
"We're gonna head back to Holland Valley."
They got in the truck and Marcus started driving north towards the northern entrance to Holland valley. He was considering going back for the car he left at the trailer park but there was nothing of value inside it. He had taken everything worth something with him. An explanation would be owed an explanation, but Marcus could just say that he got into a fight with some cultists and the tire was shot out or something. But then as he was thinking about her, a voice came over his radio.
"Marcus, are you there?"
"I'm here Jess. Whats up?"
"Me and Grace are coming to get you. Mary's truck got stolen by John and we need your help. Are you home?"
"No, I'm out on patrol."
There was an audible sigh. "Well head back and we'll meet you there."
"Yo, tell Jess Black I'm here too." Sharky suddenly joined in.
"I picked up uh, Charlemagne Bonshaw while I was out. Helped him at the trailer park when he was surrounded by angels." Sharky gave Marcus a disappointed look, not being pleased with the introduction.
This there was a groan before Jess answered back. "I guess he can come too but he better not fucking set anything on fire."
"Alright. I'll let you guys know when we're almost back." Marcus told her. But he had other plans first.
"See you soon." Jess ended the conversation.
"Yo Marcus. Sharky popped in again. "If you're rounding up a team to take on John Seed, we should go recruit my cousin Hurk. He's may not be as smart or as handsome as me, but I know for sure he has a rocket launcher. He'll listen to me and we'll be the most awesome squad the world's ever seen."
At this point, Marcus wasn't surprised that someone in the county had access to that kind of firepower. He wasn't even concerned with the fact that if Hurk was anything like his cousin, the rocket launched could be dangerous to his own side. Marcus wanted to stop by Faith's hideaway and speak to her what he had found. But with Sharky with him, there was always a chance he could ruin everything by blabbing to Jess and the others.
"I'll make you a deal Sharky. I need to stop by somewhere first. We'll go recruit your cousin Hurk. But I need you to promise me that you don't say a word to anyone where we're going first. Deal?"
"You got it my dude." Sharky put his fist out for a fist bump and Marcus reluctantly obliged. He hoped that the man would keep his word.
They soon arrived at the trailer park that Faith was at. Marcus guessed it was around 1pm. "Stay in the truck and keep a lookout. Come find me only if anyone snoops around here." Marcus commanded Sharky who gave a him a thumbs up as a response. Marcus then left him and headed to the Faith's trailer He had made sure to remember which one it was as many of the trailers looked the same. He knocked on the door of the correct one and waited somewhat nervously.
Marcus tried hard to hide his disappointment when the one who answered was not Faith. "Hello Marcus." Lisa greeted him with a smile.
Any lingering disappointment evaporated; Lisa was such a sweetheart. "Hello Lisa." He returned her greeting and smile. "How are you doing?"
"We're doing fine Marcus." Lisa beamed "Its been extremely refreshing being here away from all the other Eden's Gate people. Some of them were rather rude and a few were really creepy. But here I'm away from all that and I can keep my family safe. Plus, I get to see you too!' She laughed. "You doing well?"
"Haven't taken a gunshot yet." He said with a chuckle. "I'm still getting used to Hope County."
Lisa laughed again. "I'm sure it'll grow on you. Anyway, I know you're probably here for Faith but I have some bad news. She left for the bunker shortly after your meeting with her. Wanted to make sure that everything was running alright before she starts sending me over there."
"Do you know when she'll be back?"
Lisa shrugged. "Not until tomorrow morning at least. She said that she was for sure going to stay overnight. Faith said she wouldn't be gone for too long but I'm not sure."
"Do you think you could give her a message for me? I'm not sure when I'll be able to come back to try and see her again due to my "other" friends."
"Of course Marcus. What's the message?"
Marcus thought for a few seconds. "Tell her that I found evidence that she's not the 'first'. Its information that might change everything."
Lisa frowned. "Not the 'first'? Can you elaborate?"
"I'll wait until Faith comes back. Then I can explain everything to both of you."
Lisa nodded. "I understand. I'll try to get in contact with you as soon as she gets back. Until then, stay safe Marcus, ok?"
He nodded. "I will. You stay safe too Lisa."
Marcus was about to leave but suddenly Lisa stepped up and embraced him in a tight hug. He hugged her back, and he could feel a bit more peace in his mind after all the recent fighting.
Lisa broke the hug after about a minute. "Take care Marcus." She then went back inside.
Marcus headed back towards the truck. He hoped that Sharky didn't actually see anyone. To his relief, his compatriot was still sitting in the truck right where he left him.
"You see anything?" Marcus asked him.
"Just maybe one or two passing cars. They were going pretty fast so they weren't interested eying this peggie truck. Other than that, jack shit."
Marcus nodded. Perhaps he had underestimated Sharky. He might be an idiot sometimes, but he knew when to take things seriously.
"So in return for your silence, I'll keep my end of the bargain. Where's your cousin Hurk?"
Sharky grinned. "I spoke to him yesterday and he told me that he was at his ma's place at her marina. Its actually in the Henbene region, northeast part.
"Got it. Just point me in the right direction. I'll let Jess and Grace know."
Marcus started heading towards where Sharky indicated while he got on his radio.
"Jess, you there? Where are you right now?"
"We're almost there. Are you close too?"
"There's been a change of plans. We're headed towards a marina in the north part of the henbene. We're going to pick up Sharky's cousin Hurk who I'm told has a rocket launcher. Could be helpful."
"Are you fucking kidding me Marcus? You let that idiot convince you to go find his fucking dumbass cousin? What the fuck. We gotta get back to Fall's End." Jess was pissed.
"We'll go there." Marcus reassured her. "But we can use all the help we can get. If he proves not to be very helpful, we can just take a launcher from him. As soon as we get it, we can head to Falls End, ok?"
"Fine." Jess groaned but relented.
"We're driving in a white cultist pickup truck that we took from them so don't go batshit when you see it."
"I better fucking see you soon." Jess warned.
"See you soon Jess." Marcus then put the radio down.
"I think she has a crush on you, dude." Sharky commented with a smirk.
"What makes you say that?"
"Trust me dude. I've known Jess Black for a long time. She's one stubborn fucking lady. The fact that she's agreeing to follow what you do is an obvious sign of affection. I've been trying to win her over for years but all she's ever done is threaten to kick my ass. You're lucky man."
"Whatever you say Sharky." Marcus said dismissively.
It didn't take too long to get to the mariana but when Marcus was about to pull into the driveway leading to it, Sharky suddenly told him to stop.
"Whats up?"
"Somethings not right." He squinted at the marina. "Shit! Back up a bit!"
Marcus backed the truck a good distance along the main road then parked it along the side.
"Looks like the peggies got here before we did." Sharky said with a sigh.
"Then we'll just have to clear them out." Marcus concluding, getting out and getting on the radio.
"Jess, you there?"
"What is it Marcus?"
"We got hostiles at the marina. Pull up in the woods before reaching there, find us, and we'll plan our attack."
"We'll be there soon." Jess ended with and Marcus could tell that her mood was now improved. Sharky and Marcus waited about an hour until Jess and Grace pulled up.
"Aw man! We got Grace too? Those peggies are toast." Sharky exclaimed.
"Not if you don't fuck it up and give away our position." Jess scolded him.
While those two were arguing, Grace approached Marcus.
"Nice to see you again Marcus." She greeted him with a small smile.
"Nice to see you too Grace. How's Holland Valley been?" Marcus asked.
"We've been holding our own. John has mostly held off for the time being, but like Jess mentioned, Mary's truck got stolen. We think he's gonna use it as some sort of model to build some super vehicle to come at us with."
"Ah, that's why you guys sounded so urgent."
"Yeah." Grace nodded. "And obviously we could definitely use your help in finding this truck and putting a stop to what John Seed has planned."
"I'll be happy to help but I promised this guy that I'd recruit his cousin Hurk." Marcus jerked his thumb at Sharky who had received a welt from Jess.
Having won the confrontation, Jess strolled over to Marcus and Grace. "Alright, what's the plan. We gonna do the usual?"
"Probably Jess. But let's get closer to see what we're up against." Marcus suggested.
The four creeped up to the edge of the woods and got a good look at the marina. Marcus saw two trucks parked and counted for cultists patrolling the grounds.
"I see only four so far. You see anything else Jess?"
"There's four more by the water." She reported.
"They've also got two snipers on the roof." Grace added.
"Alright so ten total. Let's take out the two snipers first. Grace, you have a suppressor on that gun so we don't alert them to quickly?"
She shook her head. "Afraid not. I didn't really expect us to be doing stealth ops so I didn't take it."
"Let me take care of them." Jess said confidently and got into position.
"You sure you can hit them Black?" Sharky asked.
"Watch and weep."
Jess waited patiently to line up her first shot. The arrow soared and hit one of the snipers clean in the chest. The man staggered and fell off the edge of the roof dead. The other sniper heard the noise of the body dropping and came over to investigate. But that's exactly what Jess was waiting for as she readied another arrow and let it loose. Like the first, it soared through the air but this one hit the cultist right in the neck. They also stagged before collapsing dead.
"Easy." Jess bragged.
"Alright lets split into two teams and.."
"I'm going with you." Jess interrupted him
"Fair enough." Marcus relented. "Grace, can you and Sharky take the ones by the water?"
She nodded. "You got it. Let's go Charlamagne."
Grace and Sharky started heading towards the warehouse towards the water while Marcus and Jess got closer to the other four cultists patrolling in front of a shed.
"You didn't seem impressed at all with my shots." Jess commented as they moved forward.
"Because I knew that you could do it." I was just wanting Grace to get in on the action." Marcus explained. "You still got perfect placement as always."
Jess grinned and nudged Marcus playfully as she continued to follow him. They got to a spot withing 20 years of the peggies where they couldn't be seen.
"We'll wait for the others to causes a commotion then we'll go in." Marcus said.
"Using other's as bait Marcus, I didn't think you'd be so crafty."
"Well, they're probably gonna be loud and.." Marcus saw Jess' grin and saw she was just playing around. He smiled slightly too.
"Leave these four to me."
As Marcus predicated, Grace and Sharky caused a commotion when they engaged the cultists by the water. The four patrolling cultists turned to see what was going on.
"What the hell is going on over there?" He turned towards one the others. "Radio in the truck. Tell the others to come back, we might need backup."
The cultist only got two feet towards the truck when Marcus took him down with a headshot. The 3 remaining cultists now turned to see their companion had fallen but then another shot went out and they were down to two. The two survivors frantically tried to find their attacker who then revealed himself and shot a burst into one of their chests. Before the other could raise his gun to aim at Marcus, another burst felled him as well.
"How was that?" Marcus asked proudly looking back at Jess.
"I think you were showing off." She responded with a sly grin.
"I think you're right." He said returning her smile. "But let's make sure the other two aren't shot."
Marcus and Jess got about halfway towards the water before they saw Grace and Sharky heading towards them looking no worse for wear.
"Any problems?' Asked Marcus.
Grace shook her head. "We took out three on the docks. Last one tried to escape by motorboat but I managed to sniper him before he could get very far."
"Hey you hear that?" Sharky drew attention to the fact that there was a noise coming from the shed. Pounding along with some muffled cursing.
Jess found a key on one of the bodies and tossed it to Marcus who unlocked the shed. Inside was a middle aged woman.
"What the hell? You're not peggies." She then saw the bodies. "Well, looks like you took care of them."
"Hello, Auntie Adelaide." Sharky said excitedly.
Adelaide sighed. "Hello Charlamagne." She then saw the others. "Jess, Grace." She greeted. She then turned back towards Marcus. "And who might you be hon?"
"Marcus. Sharky told us that we could find Hurk here."
"Well, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you." Adelaide started.