'How long have I been here? Since I've felt like this?' America wondered.
It was almost like a lucid dream. Uninhibited, light, almost . . . freeing. But it wasn't. It was just an illusion, the feeling. A meaningless high that would only result in a painful crash. Then you would do it all over again, just to lessen the pain. An endless cycle of numbness.
That's what she felt like right now: numb. Unable to move, to speak, or anything. Just lie here in this field of flowers like a dead corpse. Surrounded by twinkling stars in the dark, cloudy sky.
She had sworn off drugs. Promised on her parent's life—promised to God even. And yet here she was—here she was—here she-?
What was she doing here again?
Her thoughts were interrupted by cultist entering her blurry vision. He looked and pointed at the ground. "This one?" He questioned, his voice muffled and echoed in her ear.
Then a second cultist arrived. He walked around America, looking down at her motionless body. "No, this one." Without even looking he pointed to her.
"Don't seem very worthy." The other guy said skeptically.
"It is not for us to judge. Deliver them unto the waters. The Cleansing begins tonight."
America felt herself being lifted up and hoisted over shoulders. A part of her wanted to fight back, but her eyes felt so tired, so she decided to just sleep first. She'd kick their asses later. This time she welcomed the darkness.
But she was suddenly ripped away from the darkness and struggled to breath. Her eyes stared back at a shadowy face, but it wasn't the drugs in her system. She was under water, staring up at the surface, a man holding her down.
She thrashed, tried to fight the man off, to breathe, but she was too weak and shocked.
"We must wash away our past. We must expose our sins."
America heard a loud, smooth voice come from the surface, but she couldn't quite hear. Nor was she interested as water coursed through her mouth and nose, burning her eyes. She needed air!
The Peggie holding her down finally let her up and she gasped. Spitting out the water and sucking in that sweet, blessed oxygen.
"We must . . . atone! For only then . . ."
Still spitting out water, America heard other people get pulled from the river, coughing as much as her. She regained some focus and saw them get carefully led to . . . John Seed.
The bastard was standing in the river with everyone else. Holding the father's crappy bible and marking crosses on the other folks who were forcefully drowned. America quickly realized this was the cult's "Baptism" that was shown on the vloggers video. A true twisted disgrace of the actual practice.
"May we stand in the light of God. And walk through his Gate . . ." It was now America's turn to be officially baptized. "unto Eden."
America wanted to scream . . . she wanted to curse . . . she wanted to punch that serene smile off the bastard's smug, disgusting face! But whatever drug they gave her made it impossible to even twitch consciously. Whatever she wanted to say came out in a garbled mess. When she tried clenching her fists, they wouldn't respond. All she could do was move where they wanted her too. Like a sheep being led by a dog
"Not this one." John halted her. "This one's not clean."
Like a predator, he ringed her neck and pushed her back down into the water. Once again she struggled to breath, thrashing about, but unable to hit the youngest Seed sibling.
Thankfully, John didn't keep her under for long and pulled her up. She coughed violently while John sighed in contentment. His viscous, pleasant smile never left. Then he tsked in faux disappointment and attempted to put her back under again.
America tried preparing herself this time, but a voice stopped John.
"Do you mock the cleansing, John?"
Fear. That was the emotion clear as day, on John's face. He slowly turned around but did not look. His eyes down casted as if he was afraid to face his brother.
Behind them, waiting on dry land, was Joseph Seed. Dressed in a cotton shirt and leather vest, instead of shirtless like she last saw him.
"No, Joseph—"
"Shh." The Father easily silenced his younger brother. His charisma was as beholding as she remembered. "You have to love them John. Do not let your sin prevent that."
There was a deafening silence between the two. John was as still as a statue. He didn't quiver or anything, but he was like a deer caught in headlights. And Joseph—
"Bring that one to me."
Joseph was as chilling as she remembered.
It felt like she was levitating over to Joseph. The stars in her eyes were blinding and making her vision even blurrier as she was being taken over to Joseph.
The Father held his arms open as if to welcome her and hilariously the van headlights made it look like there was a god-light behind him.
'Why is it I can't meet this guy without a fucking light behind him to make him look like a Godsend?'
Finally reaching the man's embrace. His very touch made her skin crawl and brought back the memory of their first meeting. When she was terrified of this man's imposing presence.
His eyes were locked onto her glassy ones. He was analyzing her. She wanted to look away or punch him, but her body refused to do anything she wanted.
When he spoke it was with no malice or joy. Like she hadn't been stopping his cult for the last 48 hours. Like the last time they met they left on pleasant terms. It was almost inhuman how calm he was.
"Despite all you have done, you are not beyond salvation my child. You are not here by accident or by chance. You are here by the Grace of God. You've been given a gift. Now it remains to be seen whether you embrace it or cast it aside." He finally showed one hint of emotion. Sadness. The thought of her casting aside one of God's gifts saddened him.
'I REALLY want to punch you right now!' America actually felt her hand clench a little.
He finally took away his cold hands from her and turned to John.
Joseph placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "This one shall reach atonement," he pressed his forehead to John's, "or the Gates of Eden will be shut to you, John."
John solemnly said, "Yes Joseph".
The Father turned and walked away leaving John and America with the other peggie followers. John watched Joseph leave with a melancholic look, which morphed into a determined, frustrated anger the second he turned his attention back on her.
"You will confess every sin you have ever committed, no matter how petty or small." There was some trepidation in his voice. Even some . . . envy? "I will pull them from you and then we'll see if you are worthy of atonement." The way he said atonement was almost scoffing.
'Go to hell, brotherfucker!'
He nodded to the Usher and she was easily taken to the van, along with her fellow baptizies.
The drive was long enough to regain most of her senses and faculties. Whatever drug they gave her had very little lasting power and constant exposure was needed to make her and others as docile as a lamb.
Didn't matter though as she was tied up along with her fellow hostages with an armed Peggie watching them like a hawk. They had the radio blasting their damned chorus music and the worst part? It was pretty catchy.
The captured man sitting next to her suddenly grabbed her arm.
"If we just confess." He whimpered hushly. "If we confess right away we'll be okay right?"
The captured woman sitting across from America answered instead. "No, it'll make it worse" She said bitterly.
"Why?" He nearly cried.
Their guard leaned between them and answered next "Because confession without pain, isn't confession. You'll scream out your sin, then you'll wear it on your flesh, before John peels it off of you. It's a beautiful thing." The man was actually revering such a disgusting exercise.
"Fucking Peggies" The woman growled and this time the guard struck her with the butt of his rifle. The woman cried out, blood leaking down her temple.
"Hey! Pick on someone your own size, coward!" America came to her defense.
The man pushed her against the wall with his forearm and pressed the barrel of his gun right in her face. He gave her an intense glare filled with more hatred then the Father had ever shown her.
"Be silent, murderer." He growled. "You're lucky Father Joseph wants you alive. A lot of us want to put a bullet in you for what you did at Fall's End. Lost a lot of good people . . . including my brother."
She could tell he really wanted to shoot her. It was almost tempting to let him if it meant SOMEONE in the cult would defy Joseph. Almost.
"Did I?" America grunted. "I can't remember. All you ratty-faced sheep look the same." She sneered.
For a second it looked like he would shoot her. His hand was trembling, and his trigger finger looked twitchy. But alas the man took a step back and relaxed by breathing in long intervals. Then like a snake he tried to strike her with the butt of his gun.
Emphasis on tried as she grabbed the rifle and yanked it from his clutched. Then she kicked him in the gut, knocking him to the farside of the van. Idiots still haven't realized that you don't leave peoples arms tied up in the front.
"Hey what's going on back the—!"
The driver never finished his sentence as something crashed into the van and caused them to tumble and careen out of control.
Everyone in the van went flying. Crashing into the walls and floor with painful impact.
Bullets and flowers went everywhere. America saw the two captured civilians smash into the bench and roof. The Peggie flattened on the floor then flattened onto the ceiling.
Then it all came to a stop. The van was upside down, they were all lying on the ceiling. America groaned and slowly opened her eyes and once again she heard a familiar voice. But this one was more welcoming then John's egotistical jabber or Joseph's cold embrace.
"When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations . . . then you must destroy them totally."
"Jerome!" America shouted.
Shaking off whatever disorientation she had, the Deputy crawled toward the door and banged on it with her shoulder. She felt someone grab her—the guard! He glared at her and tried leveling his rifle to her face.
"Make no treaty with them!" The door opened, and the guard was shot in the head.
America turned and saw Jerome holding a smoking revolver. "And show them no mercy."
"Jerome!" America chuckled in relief. "Am I glad to see you, Pastor."
"Glad to see you safe as well, America."
The Pastor kneeled down, placing the gun in a cut out compartment in his holy bible. A relieved smile was on Jerome's face. There were shouts then—peggies. He urgently cut her bonds and dragged her out of the van. Then he helped the other two prisoners out, who were confused and bleeding, but would be alright with some medical help.
"Come on! We didn't go through all this trouble just to lose you again." He said with a bemused smirk.
To his side was a familiar redhead. "Well, hey there tough and sexy." Cassidy greeted flirtatiously.
"Cassidy." America grinned. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes."
She giggled. "You can ogle me later, Deputy. Here. Right now we got to kill some peggies." In Cassidy's arms were all of America's weapons. Fall's Ghost, the Farmhand, Judgement, and her Dad's Knife.
America took her weapons back and stroked her silver and ivory revolver like she was welcoming back an old friend. Then she charged up the hill with Pastor Jerome and the other Resistance Fighters. Their destination was a checkpoint gate, where the Resistance and the cult were already in the middle of a fight.
"Where the hell are we?!" America yelled over the gunfire. She saw snipers up on the gate, their red-dot sights scanning the whole area looking for fighters to shoot. Down below peggies were hiding behind concrete blockades trying to stop anyone from getting past this point.
"The road that leads to John's Bunker. You were lucky we knew where you were headed. Been waiting in ambush for hours!"
America let out a battle cry as she charged toward the enemy. Firing Judgment, she surprised the snipers above until she managed to get to a safe spot behind a rock.
Others, like Jerome and Cassidy also made it to cover. They returned fire, their guns flashing, they shot at anything wearing white. Bullets flew overhead in every direction.
The peggies had the high ground and the snipers managed to take out a few Resistance fighters.
Jerome ducked back into cover, a rifle round grazed his head. He wiped the sweat and blood from his brow and reached into his pocket. It was a grenade he pulled out. Biting off the pin he tossed it over to the peggie's side and warned "Grenade out!"
Everyone ducked when the explosion went off. The screams of some peggies were heard, followed by pained moans of dying cultists.
America switched to her rifle and she and everyone else popped out of cover and opened fire. She managed to get a couple of the snipers on top, while everyone else aimed for the peggies on the ground. Blood erupted from bodies, along with dying breaths.
Headshoting the last sniper on top, America crouched down to reload her rifle.
"More are coming!" Cassidy shouted.
"Bring it on!" America challenged.
Looking down the sight of her rifle, America fired her gun like an old cowboy from a spaghetti western. First Peggie in her sight went down, one shot. Cocking the lever, she fired again, dead Peggie. The next came, downed. Another two came, dead, each one bullet. Sniper up top tried to get her, but a bullet through the brain ended him.
The remaining cultists took cover in the office of the gate, cowering in fear of the Deputy's talents of carnage.
"Deputy!" Jerome called her. He tossed her a grenade and she caught it one-handed.
She freed the pin and tossed it into the gate office, shattering the window. It erupted, spreading shrapnel everywhere and killing the remaining peggies.
Jerome scanned the area and shouted, "Clear!"
All the fighters gathered at the gate. They looted corpses of ammo and any other valuables they had. Jerome stood near the wall and everyone gathered around him as he began to declare their next move.
"Alright everyone, listen up! We got Deputy Jones back." There were a couple of hoots and yips for that, making America smile. Pastor Jerome quieted them down, but he was smiling too.
"But there are still others that have been taken and need our aid. Merle's one of them and we leave no man behind."
"Merle? How'd Merle get caught?" America asked.
"Some of the captured are our hunting parties. They got Merle when they were in the middle of fishing." Cassidy explained.
"They're just up this road." Jerome pointed past the gate. "Deputy, you take Cassidy and a couple others and go save 'em. Me and the others will stay here and guard this position. Keep the cult off you until everyone is rescued."
America pulled back the hammer of her gun. "You got it, Pastor."
"God be with you all." He said.
America brushed her tattoo. "God is always with me."
With full determination, America and her posse ran up the hill. They came across the rest of the convoy, stopped in its tracks from a small rockslide.
"Heh, bastards ain't going nowhere for a while. Wasn't easy setting up that ambush, I'll tell you what." Cassidy said.
"Come on! Let's go get our people."
They all let out a battle cry and attacked the convoy's defenders. It was easier then assaulting the checkpoint gate, the cult didn't have many fighters left. Most died on the first attack and backup was being delayed by Jerome. It wasn't even a fight so much as a slaughter.
They opened up the vans and started liberating the people. America took out her knife, cut their ties and helped them get out of the van. Cassidy went to the other vans and did the same. Some of them still had guards and tried putting up a fight, but they were put down quickly.
When they went through all the vans, they had saved fourteen people.
One of them, named Butch, approached America. She recognized him as one of Merle's people. A resident of Silver Lake Trailer Park.
"Deputy, they got Merle up on that ridge ahead. Ya gotta help him! Don't let the cult take him into their bunker."
"Don't worry. I'll get Merle back." She assured and then turned to Cassidy. "Cassidy, you get everyone here to safety. Tell Jerome to pull out, I'll get Merle."
"Fuck that! You can't take all of them on your own. We just got you back."
"These people take priority."
"We can take care of ourselves, Deputy." Butch insisted. "Cass is right. You don't know how many people will be guarding Merle. Jerome will watch out for us. You just get Merle back."
America looked between Cassidy and Butch, conflicted on what to do. Looking around at everyone else, they seemed to agree with the two. Seeing them all nod and push this made her resign.
"Fine! Cassidy you're with me. Butch get everyone to Jerome."
"You got it Deputy!"
"Let's hustle people!" Cassidy encouraged.
They all split up. America and Cassidy came to the end of the hill and were met by other peggies. Cassidy crouched and fired her AR-C rifle, shooting several in the gut and chest. America unleashed the Farmhand's fury and blasted any Peggie in her way.
That was when they heard a whistling sound. They looked around wondering where it was coming from until their heads turned upward.
There was a "POP" sound and a series of explosions went off in front of them, knocking them back a ways.
Both the girls groaned as they urgently tried to get back up. Their ears were ringing, and the wind was knocked out of them, making them cough sporadically. By the time they could hear properly, they heard the whistling noise again and America desperately tried to pick Cassidy up.
"Come on! Come on, Cassidy! Move—move it!" She shouted and pushed Cassidy into a small cave.
Just in time as another mortar shell fell and exploded in the spot they were just in.
"Deputy, was that a mortar?!" Jerome said over the radio.
"Well it sure as hell wasn't thunder!" She shouted back freakishly.
Another mortar shell fell and exploded. The two covered their heads as the earth shook beneath their feet and sent dirt flying.
"Who knows how far the mortars reach is. You got to take it out Deputy." Jerome said urgently.
"We're working on it." America put her radio away and faced Cassidy. "Okay, Cassidy, listen up. There's a pause in the launching of the mortar. They got to aim, load, and wait for it to reach its target. When the next shell comes, we need to book it as fast as we can."
"And if a shell is coming in our general direction?"
"Then find cover . . . or run faster."
"Great plan." She said sarcastically.
They heard the dreaded whistle.
"Here it comes. Get ready!" They covered their ears and heads.
There was the pop and a series of explosions rocking the ground.
"GO!"
They ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Sprinting to the point their hearts and lungs felt like they would burst. They jumped from ledges and ran under bridges. Then there was a boom in the distance.
"Here comes another one!" America warned.
The sound of a falling shell pierced their ears. It sounded like it was heading in their direction.
"To the bridge, move!"
The whistling was getting louder and louder. They managed to get under the bridge with little time left. America pushed Cassidy against the rocky wall and shielded her. Explosions rang out and America could feel the heat. Rocks were flung against her back, with a particularly large stone bruising her shoulder. The ringing was aggravating her left ear. She couldn't focus on her pain yet.
"Move! Move!" She pushed Cassidy.
They continued their sprint until they came to a cliff that was about a twenty-foot drop. Thankfully though they didn't need to traverse down it as there was a zipline that led to the other side.
Another shell was launched. They didn't hesitate. They kept running, pulling out their hooks and connecting them to the line.
Just in time as the shell exploded close to their position, so they escaped the blast in time.
America felt the wind rush against her face. Her shoulder ached from the bruising she got, but she endured. She made it to the other side and dropped before she hit the cliff face.
She landed perfectly on her feet but got knocked down by Cassidy who wasn't really sure how to stop. The redhead groaned, her head resting on top of America's chest. America grunted and looked down at the beautiful woman resting on top of her.
"Cassidy, get off me. We got to take care of that mortar."
She whined. "Can't I just lie here and die instead. Going out buried in a woman's chest would be my ideal demise."
America blushed, but gave Cassidy a pointed glare. She pushed the woman's face away from and off her body.
"If you can crack jokes like that you can help me kill some peggies." She got up and headed to the cultists up the hill. "We should be out of their range, so let's take care of them."
"Fine." Cassidy pouted tiredly.
They climbed up the hill and found five peggies watching over Merle, with one of them operating the mortar. America and Cassidy looked at each other and pulled out their one-handed weapons, America's revolver and Cassidy's uzi.
The mortar operator was in the middle of aiming the cannon, but Judgement declared a bullet in his brain. The other peggies turned around to see what that gunshot was, but before they could retaliate, Cassidy mowed them down with her submachine gun.
"Deputy!" Merle said ecstatically. "Am I ever glad to see you! You would not believe what I've been through tonight."
America cut his ties and helped the man up. "I can imagine, Merle."
Last time she saw him he was relatively okay, except for the busted arm wrapped in a sling. Now he was sporting some fresh bruises, some red welts and a blackeye on the left side of his face. The Redneck though still had his fiery temper, he was eager to burn the cult with it.
"So, what now?" Merle asked impatiently. "Please tell me we're getting payback?"
"In do time Merle. Now we get the fuck out of here." She activated her radio. "Jerome? Ya there? We got Merle!"
As America was getting things settled with Jerome, Cassidy walked up to Merle with a question.
"So, Merle, why did the cult take you and not every other prisoner with them?" Cassidy asked, curious on why he was the only hostage up here.
"I was high priority. Least that's what they said. I'm one of the Resistance leaders and I lead the Silver Lake community. Guess they wanted to make sure they had one leader taken off their list."
Cassidy pursed her lips and nodded. "That makes sense."
"Okay, Jerome is clear, and the hostages are far away from here. He's sending us a chopper to take us away from here. We just have to hold the line until then."
"Sounds easy enough." Cassidy said.
"So, we're gettin' payback and escaping? Hoo doggy this is the best plan ever!"
"Peggies will be swarming us soon. Merle your arm's still shot, so you operate the mortar."
"With pleasure, Deputy."
"Cassidy, we're exposed out here. You watch the sides, make sure no peggies get through."
"Roger dodger. What about you?"
"I'm going to make sure nothing gets over that bridge." She cocked her lever-action rifle.
Without Jerome and the Resistance stopping reinforcements, the cult would be coming in force. And sure enough they did. Peggies armed with baseball bats and guns started charging. Merle aimed the mortar at the other side of the rope bridge. He dropped a shell and let it fly.
Unfortunately, the peggies saw it coming and got out of the way before it hit. America crouched down to one knee and leveled Fall's Ghost. She fired and hit them square on. Each shot was an instant kill and all the peggies could do in their narrow quarters was either keep running or show her their backs. Either way, they'd be dead before they reached the end of the bridge.
More peggies came on the way. Most of them realized how much of a death trap the bridge was so they went around and over the cliffs and edges. Merle would track them through the scope of the Mortar—lead them and then fire the mortar. Like with America and Cassidy, the shell's whistle would be too much of a warning and many of the peggies would move faster, take cover or turn back. Some wouldn't be able to escape the explosions though and would be obliterated in an instant.
The peggies that didn't take the bridge and were lucky enough to escape mortar fire would climb the ledges that would lead to their position. But they would get an unfortunate surprise in Cassidy, waiting for them with a loaded submachine gun. One spray was enough to kill any climbing peggies.
An explosion rang out on the other side of the area, but it wasn't one of Merle's mortar shells. Cassidy smirked, it was one of her traps. Next to the mortars was a cache of ammo and explosives. One of the explosives was a C4 proximity mine. Before the peggies came running, she set up the mines on a path that was on the eastern side of their location. Seemed some peggies survived Merle's bombings and instead walked into her bombs. After shooting up another pair of cultists she went to replace any of the mines that were triggered. Looking down at the path there were quite a few bloody body parts and screaming peggies that warded off any more advancers.
Fall's Ghost clicked as it reloaded another round in the chamber. It boomed as it fired another bullet into the chest of a fanatical Peggie, knocking him over the rope bridge and plummeting him to his doom. On the other side of the bridge, another storm or mortar fire rained down on a group of peggies, sending them into oblivion.
Bodies were starting to pile up on the bridge now, making it difficult for the reinforcements to get across. The boards were slick with blood and caused two peggies to accidentally slip and fall off to their death. It made America's job easier and allowed her to reload her weapon's limited ammo capacity. All around her she heard explosions, gunshots, and Merle's childish laughter. Her team was really holding their spot, to the point that ten minutes practically breezed by.
"Deputy! Cassidy!" Merle called. "Our rides here!"
She turned around and saw a helicopter in the distance, flying towards them. And it wasn't bearing any cult marks.
"Get ready to get out of here everyone! Finish off any peggies ya see, but don't hesitate to run for the copter."
Soon the helicopter landed down and all three made a run for it. America took a grenade from the cache and tossed it onto the rope bridge. It discharged and blew up the bridge, sending it and the remaining peggies on it to the cold unforgiving ground. Merle launched one last mortar shell before jogging to the chopper. Cassidy finished off any remaining cultists and made a dash for the chopper, but not before leaving a little surprise near the mortar.
They all got in the chopper. Merle took the passenger seat up front and America and Cassidy took the back seats.
The pilot took flight just as some cultists swarmed the area. They fired on the helicopter, but their weapons weren't enough to seriously damage it. One of the them went for the mortar to try and shoot it down, but he activated Cassidy's trap. A proximity mine.
The explosion killed the cultist, wrecked the mortar and inadvertently ignited the ammo cache. The resulting explosion killed any remaining peggies and put on quite a light show.
America looked to Cassidy and the redhead just shrugged playfully.
Merle let out a victorious holler. "Man! My heart is beatin' a million times a minute! Nice save there, Deputy. You really pulled our asses of the fire this time. Who knows what these bastards were gonna do to us."
"I wouldn't have been able to do anything if it weren't for Pastor Jerome and the Resistance" She said humbly. "And you too, Cassidy."
"Shit, if you really want to thank me, how's about a big ol' wet one right here." She tapped her index finger against her right cheek.
America smirked in amusement and decided to give the redhead what she wanted. Much to Cassidy's surprise, America gave her a big ol' smooch. Which resulted in the Redler woman jumping back and blushing.
Before more could be said or done, they heard explosions from down below. Looking out the chopper they saw Peggie trucks on the road, overturned and protecting cultists who were fighting back against the people. Said people were shouting, firing guns, and throwing Molotov cocktails.
The people were realizing they could fight back. That the cult could be stopped.
"They really think they're saving us." Merle said, watching the show down below. "Saving us?! Locked up in that shit hole? Get out of here!" he hawked a loogie out the helicopter and hoped it landed on a peggie. "Those fucking cowards swarmed me. They said they were saving me. Told me to put my trust in the Father. Who the fucks the Father anyway?! They should have put a bullet in my head. Would'a been a kindness—the only kindness they ever done anyone. I was pissed off before. . . now I'm fuckin' furious!"
"Take a chill pill, Merle. You'll get your shot at them when the time comes." Cassidy reassured.
"I don't know how they think they're doing good either, Merle. Honestly if they had just gone into hiding in their bunkers like normal preppers, no one would've batted an eye. Doesn't matter, I guess. We're dealing with them now and we're going to put this entire cult down one way or another."
"Now that's what I like to hear, Deputy!"
"With you on our side, I can't see anyway for us to lose." Cassidy said confidently.
The helicopter arrived at Fall's End and landed on the roof of the garage.
The entire town welcomed them back, with America getting most of the adoration. Even Boomer managed to weave his way through the crowd and pounce on the Deputy to lick her face, making everyone laugh. His tail wagged happily to see her again.
America, Cassidy, and Merle walked over to Jerome and Mary May. She shook the pastor's hand and hugged the bar owner.
Jerome then stepped onto a box so he could look out to the whole crowd. He motioned for them all to quiet down and addressed everyone present.
"My friends . . . tonight we've shown the cult our teeth!" The crowd cheered. "Our claws!" They hoorayed. "We have shown them that we are not a community to be destroyed or subjugated, that we are strong together! That when you strike one of us, we will strike back harder and with more fury then you can possibly imagine! We got Deputy Jones back and liberated more people of Hope County in the process!"
A roar of cheers was the Pastor's reward for such a big speech.
"But it was not without loss." Jerome said somberly, quieting down the crowd. "Many died to liberate those in John's clutches. Miranda, Tony, Henry, Rick, Hans, they died so that others could live. They died to save us . . . to save this community—it's people. Their sacrifice WILL NOT be forgotten."
"Mourn for them everyone." Mary May said passionately. "Like my Dad . . . my Mom . . . m-my Brother . . . but don't let it scare you or discourage you! The dead would not want you to cry forever. They'd want you to keep fighting so that one day our home will be free of the Seed family and their fuckin' cult."
"We didn't start this war!" America spoke next. "John, Joseph, the whole fuckin' family think they're doing us a service. They think they're saving us!" She shook her head. "But they're not. They do this in the name of God? Salvation? Destroying livelihoods, killing families, poisoning our lands? If that's their idea of salvation, then I don't want to know what their version of destruction is."
"Eden's Gate has shown their true colors to the world." She paused to scan everyone around her. "And we just shown them ours. We showed them that we aren't helpless, that we CAN punch back—and by God can we hit them hard! For years they've been pushing you all around, well its time to push back!"
Everyone was agreeing, nodding and shouting "Yeah."
"Time to show them that we are a people that can fight!"
"Yeah!"
"Time to show them that God is not on their side!"
"YEAH!"
"So fight with me!"
"YEAH!"
"Fight to put an end to Joseph Seed and his fanatical cult!"
"YEAH!"
"Fight and make sure that the only Gates they'll be walking to are the black gates of Hell!
"YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!"
The crowd raised their weapons into the air and cheered to the high heavens. For years the cult had made them scared. Frightened of shadows that would come into the night and kill them or steal them away to be brainwashed to serve the psychopathic Seed Family.
Now they were empowered. There was nothing stopping them, just like there was nothing stopping the cult. Well now they would be the ones to stop the cult. With leaders like Jerome and Mary May to guide the way and someone like Deputy Jones to give them hope, they truly believed that the cult's days were numbered.
Off in the distance, at the Seed Ranch, John was sitting on his porch, nursing a crystal glass of tea. His thoughts were a mix of his brother and the deputy that caught his attention. He could hear the celebrations coming from Fall's End.
He took a sip of his tea and then impulsively threw it at the ground, shattering the glass. It was days like these that he wished Joseph didn't outlaw alcohol. He could really go for a bourbon.
John combed his fingers through his hair stressfully. He lost the deputy and failed to save the others. He failed Joseph. That was both disheartening and terrifying. And it was all that Deputy Jones' fault!
What did his brother see in her? What was so special about her that he was willing to keep him out of paradise if she didn't join them? She was nothing! Just an outsider, not even born in Hope County. She was just another sinner that didn't believe in Joseph's cause, that was blind to the world burning around them! If it weren't for Joseph he would have killed that fucking deputy and display her flayed skin for all to see. If it weren't for Joseph he would have killed most of those sinners and scared them into joining, instead of rounding them all up like a bunch of spooked cattle. If it weren't for Joseph—
"No! No. No. No." He couldn't think like that. Joseph was never wrong. "Forgive me Father for my doubt."
He pulled out a cat o' nine tails and walked out into the middle of his home. He removed his shirt, exposing his tattooed frame and fell to his knees. He clutched the multi-tailed whip and then began flogging his own back.
"Forgive me Father, for I have sinned." Whip! "Forgive me Father for my failure." Whip! "Forgive me for my doubt." Whip! "For my failure." Whip! "I swear to you I will not fail again!" Whip! Whip! Whip!
John dropped the whip and fell to his hands. Breathing through his nose, he remembered what he was taught and accepted the pain.
"Yes." He breathed. He got up and looked out into the distance, staring in the direction of the den of wolves.
"Yes. The Father is always right. I'll get the Deputy back . . . and I'll pull every last disgusting sin from her cold, tainted body. I will make sure she atones. They will ALL atone, whether in this life or the next."
He heard the so-called Resistance call their Reaping a war. That's not what it was. It was a rapture. It was Joseph saving them! And they dare to deny his kindness?! Slap away his offered hand?! Refuse his paradise?!
Well fine.
"If it's a war they want. It's a war they'll get."