John's Gate was eerily quiet. The sky was clear, the birds were chirping; in any other situation it would be a beautiful day. For the cultists hiding inside the garage of the bunker it was anything but.
They were all gripping their weapons tensely, a nervous sweat poured over them all as they lied in wait for the Snake. They would have taken shelter inside the bunker but without the Inquisitor's Key they had no hope of ever getting in. Especially since John was dead.
Over the radio, the Snake herself had declared that their beloved Herald was dead. John Seed, the little brother of their revered Father Joseph had been slain by the she-devil, Deputy America Jones. The very thought rattled them down to their bones and the knowledge that she was coming to them scared their souls.
But they were the vanguard of John's Gate. Loyal followers of the Father and his Project at Eden's Gate. They would defend this holy refuge and slay the she-demon for her key . . . or die trying.
"Someone's coming." One of the faithful whispered.
The head guard peered around his corner and did indeed see someone come over the hill.
Without a doubt, it was the embodiment of wrath herself, Deputy Jones. She was marching up to the entrance like she owned the place. Every step was like a hundred blasphemes, riling them all up.
"Listen up, Believers." The head guard rallied. "That Snake isn't taking another step. She killed John and she's going to kill everyone in the bunker too if we don't stop her! She's made it this far, but now is our time to finish what the Inquisitor started. She is one, we are many!"
Everyone's spirits lifted from the head guard's speech. They could do this. They had the advantage. They would chop the Snake's head off here and now!
"Once she's in range we'll fire upon her and—"
He would never finish his speech as a 40mm grenade was fired at 50MPH into the garage. The explosion killed many of the guards and wounded and deafened several others. The very few that survived would then experience five more of those grenades in an enclosed space.
America fired the last 40mm from her MGL grenade launcher. She had taken this bad boy from the Government Crate Willis "gave" her. She had a feeling some peggies were waiting for her at the missile silo and decided to clear it to be safe.
After reloading and putting the launcher away, she approached with Judgement in hand. The place was still smoking from the debris and fire. She checked each body, which many of them were missing limbs and creating pools of blood. Kicking a few of them over, she only found two alive so far. They had shrapnel embedded in them. She granted them a merciful death via a gunshot to the head.
The third and last living peggie she checked was the head guard. Both his arms were missing, he was bleeding from the mouth, ears and nose. Some shrapnel had gotten in his face and eye. Such a sight haunted America a bit.
*BAM* *BAM*
So, she ended his miserable life so she wouldn't have to look at it anymore.
With the area cleared she could finally enter the bunker. Taking John's large silo-key, she put it into the slot, twisted it, pressed the big red button and viola! The massive blast door opened for her.
"Open sesame." She said. Switching weapons, America swapped her pistol for the M60 machine gun. Then she placed earplugs in her ears, because she knew a firefight was coming. Grabbing John's key, she walked in.
She kept close to the walls, machine gun at the ready. Who knows just how many peggies were left inside this facility? She cleared out more than a dozen from her first visit, but the cultists felt never ending wherever she went.
Sure enough, when she reached the bottom of the spiraling staircase, a bunch peggies were waiting for her. They hid behind crates and junk, waiting for her to waltz into their line of fire. She swung her grenade launcher from her shoulder and fired into the room.
Junk, debris, body parts and peggies went flying everywhere. That was the sign for them to retaliate. She could even hear more coming from the next room. They wouldn't get the chance to fight back.
Once the last grenade was launched, she fired her big gun into the fray. The gun was perfect for clearing large rooms; one, two, three, four sweeps found several peggies dead by many, many bullets.
Taking cover to reload, America could still hear living peggies. She took out Judgment and fired some warning shots. When everything was reloaded, she got back up and killed all the remaining peggies. Any that were lying on the ground close to death were gifted with a merciful shot of rapid gunfire to the face.
Continuing on, the only downside so far was the fact John's voice was on the intercom. A recording of him spewing his regular bullshit of "Yes" and "Free of Sin."
'Even after turning his mouth to mush he's still annoying me with his bullshit.' She fired at the speaker with Judgment, earning a momentary silence. 'I know that won't stop the recordings, but it makes me feel better.'
She got to the door that stopped her before. The bullet holes were still on the glass. Taking John's key again, she placed it in the slot, turned it and was able to twist the handle and the door opened.
"Hang on Joey, I'm almost there." She said, taking John's key again. "Just hang on a bit longer."
Going down some stairs, she entered a utility room. Peggies were waiting for her, but she dropped them dead without even having to lift the gun.
"Don't let this Deputy get any farther!"
Any shaggy head she saw she killed once they were in her line of sight. There were even some Goliaths with their own M16s down here, but they only took a few more bullets from her machine of death.
'How nice of them to bring me extra ammo.' She thought, picking up more belts of machinegun rounds.
"Stand your ground! Let's show this Deputy that John's Gate ain't gonna be shaken!"
Whoever said that was quickly riddled with bullets. She was down a long hallway now; a straight shoot. Perfect place for her to just fire her weapon wantonly. The storm of bullets shredded the peggies trying to stop her. Anyone foolish enough to pop their head up at the inopportune time or try to fight back found their heads blasted to bits and their sternums filled with lead. Anyone that tried to run was gunned down. Anyone that didn't move in time when she advanced was quickly shot to death at point blank range. The only time the peggies had an advantage was when she had to stop, hide and reload her gun. But rolling a grenade to the peggies was a good way of buying her time.
"God, I wish I had a leather jacket and some sunglasses. I feel like the fuckin' Terminator!"
The next hallway she entered was a series of cells. Walking through, every cell had about ten people in them, sitting on the floors, with dismal looks on their faces. Not a single one of them wore peggie clothes. There were even children in them.
One of the prisoners walked up to the doors when thy saw her. "You! Y-you're the one causing all the peggies to scramble."
"I'm Deputy Jones." She explained. "I'm here to rescue you all."
Hearing that, caused everyone to run to their bar doors.
"You're THE Deputy Jones? The one leading the Resistance?"
While not quite that, there was no time to specify, so she just said, "Yes."
Everyone cheered and cried tears of joy. Their hero had come like an angel sent from God to rescue them from Hell. America was shocked by the amount of emotion going around the room.
The prisoner wiped tears from his eyes. "Thank you. Thank you so much for comin' for us."
"Can I get you out from here?" She asked, looking for a switch or lock or handle, but couldn't find anything like that.
"Not here. The Warden's Room is where you can release us. Go down that hall, to the left and you can't miss it."
"Thanks." She looked around and then asked, "Is there a Deputy Joey Hudson here?"
"Another Deputy?" The prisoner asked.
"Ma'am!" Another prisoner called from the next cell, a woman. "I know who you're talking about. John took her farther in. To his "waiting room." I don't know if . . ."
The woman couldn't finish and America didn't want her too.
"Where?"
"Behind the Warden's Room. The backdoor when you enter." She answered.
"Thank you. I'll free all of you from here. You'll see the sunlight again, I promise! John's Gate falls today!"
Everyone once again cheered and America headed toward the Wardens Room. She followed the easy directions and killed some peggies along the way. Once close she even came across the Warden himself. He was a Goliath and he had a good spot in the doorway where he could fire on anything.
"You're not gaining another inch, Snake! Ya here me! Not another INCH!"
"What's with that name?" America idly chatted behind a wall, while reloading her gun. "Noticed you guys calling me "Snake" a lot lately."
"Cause that's what you are! A snake in The Father's garden. A serpent to tempt us away from our Eden."
"I'M that Snake?" She laughed sardonically. "You poor idiots. I'm not the one burning down homes, poisoning lands, and killing families."
"We're saving people! All of that is doomed when the Collapse comes!"
Honestly, she wasn't really trying to argue, she just wanted some time to get all her equipment up to snuff.
"You keep thinkin' that. Easier to slaughter sheep when they can't think for themselves."
"And you're not thinkin' at all! You're just killin' without thought of the consequences!"
She tossed a flashbang in the air and it detonated in the peggie's face. He yelled out then screamed as he fired his machinegun into the smoke-filled hallway.
By the time he regained sight he had emptied his entire weapon. America appeared from the smoke like a demon and placed the barrel of Judgment under the peggie's unprotected chin. The look of mercilessness sent chills down the peggie's spine.
"Anythign left to say, sheep?" The Goliath trembled. "C'mon, you don't have anything to say? Not one backhanded comment? No insult? Come on, call me a Snake, one more time."
He opened his dry mouth—
*BLAM*
"Figures a sheep can't think for itself."
The Warden's Room was smaller than the others. It did however have a massive security system, complete with a dozen of monitors that flickered to different parts of the bunker. On one of them she could see the hall of prison cells that she just came from. Looking behind her, she saw the door that the prisoner said Hudson should be behind.
Entering it, she walked down a flight of stairs and went through a zigzagging hallway riddled with shrines and cult graffiti. Going further in, it was reminding her more and more of the Seed Ranch basement and even John's workshop, the room she was in last time she was brought here. Mutilated bodies, wrapped in garbage bags, hung from the ceiling, human bodies displayed, desecrated and dressed up in animal carcasses, skulls and their innards stuffed with Bliss flowers. Typical Eden's Gate aesthetic.
She came to the end of the hallway and found two cultists dead, sitting on some folding chairs. A picture of Joseph Seed was placed on one of the bleeding bodies. America looked around, but didn't see Hudson.
"Hudson?" She called.
From around the corner out from the shadows, Hudson lunged at her with a shiv! America just barely stopped the homemade knife from plunging into her eye. Hudson punched America in the face, forcing the junior deputy to spin and tumble down with the senior deputy. Hudson crashed into one of the dead peggies, but like a wild cat she was on her again.
"Hudson!" She tried stopping her friend.
Again, Jones barely stopped the knife from stabbing into her chest as she grabbed the woman's wrist. The woman had a wild look in her eyes; a desperation to kill what was in front of her. She snarled and drooled from her mouth of grit teeth like a feral animal.
Hudson placed her other hand on the back of the knife, applying more pressure to drive the blade in. Scared her mentor was going to kill her, America tried getting out again, "Joey!" She strained. "It's me!"
Finally, the manic look left her eyes as realization dawned on Joey.
"Rook? I-it's you?" She finally got off of her, relieving the pressure on her knife. "Oh god, oh god, America, I'm so sorry."
The deputy breathed a sigh of relief when Hudson got off of her.
"I didn't think you'd come back."
"I said I would." America sat up. "And I meant it."
"You . . . you have to be crazy coming back here. I wouldn't come back here!"
"It's okay. It's okay." Jones tried to soothe her friend.
"Something . . . something started happening. All the . . . all the fucking peggies started scrambling. All the doors started closing, locking us inside. I . . . I thought I would be trapped down here forever."
"John's dead." Hudson snapped her head at her. "That's why the peggies are freaking out. I killed him."
It looked like Hudson was trying to process those words. She stared at America, who showed her the bunker key. It had speckles of blood on it. "He's dead?" She barely whispered. "John's dead." She let out a gasp of a laugh. "Jon's fucking dead?" And then she burst out into laughter. "I've never been so fucking happy . . . to hear about someone's death!"
Joey started getting up. "All the pain he inflicted on me. On everyone here. The screams were almost nonstop." She turned to the frame of Joseph Seed sitting on the lap of the dead cultist.
She pointed her makeshift knife at it. "All . . . all because of him. HIM! That fucking . . . fucking piece of shit!" She grabbed the picture and slammed it on the ground, shattering the glass. Falling to her hands and knees, she stared at the picture with contempt. "He would come down here and he would just stand there and watch. We were begging for mercy and he would just fucking watch." She giggled hysterically.
She stabbed her shiv into the picture, into the face of Joseph Seed. Then again, and again, and again and again, slicing up the Father's forehead, cheeks, nose, eyes, mouth and neck, all the while screaming with pure hatred. She then shoved it away, tired of looking at the fucker's face.
America placed her hand on her friend's shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner, Joey. I'm sorry you've gone through all this. It's my fault—"
"Don't you fucking dare take credit for what those bastards did to me. It's not your fault and if any of it was, you made up for it by killing Joseph Seed's little brother."
. . .
"And if you still feel guilty . . ." Hudson stood up again with some difficulty, "then help me free the others in here. We're gonna rescue all of them, Rook. And then . . . we're gonna burn this whole fucking place to the ground. Are you with me?"
Reinvigorated by the woman's words, America held up her arm, hand open. Hudson slapped her hand against America's, grasping and the two embraced sisterly.
"I'm with ya. Come on, the control room is back the way I came. We can free everyone from there."
"Then let's go."
The two raced back up stairs into the Warden's Room. Hudson was the first to the surveillance system. "We got to get everyone out."
"You know how to use that thing?" America asked, much to her surprise, her senior nodded.
"Yeah. I took classes on shit like this. That's why I mostly get monitor duty at the Sherriff's Department." After typing on the keyboard for a while, she finally found what she was looking for. "Here it is, I can release the prisoners from here." Her eyes moved to a specific camera. "Shit! Peggies are coming. Deputy I need you to hold them off while I release everyone."
America hefted her BFG. "Not a problem." She tossed a walkie to her partner. "Use that to keep in touch."
Retracing her steps, America met the cultists in the halls. Hiding in the shadows, her gun mounted on a crate for better stability, she ambushed them. The flash of her muzzle was the last thing any of them saw before they were mowed down.
They soon wised up and hunkered down. They fired back at her; America got down when several rounds got too close for comfort.
"You won't get away with this!" One of the peggies shouted.
"I don't know, so far I pretty much have." She popped out of cover and fired, looking down the sight. Head shots, body shots, wounding shots to the arm or leg, followed by a finisher.
"Hudson, it's clear." America informed over the radio.
"I see that. Freeing the civilians now."
There was a loud buzzer noise that resounded across the holdings and the bar doors swung open. Many of the prisoners slowly walked out, almost like they couldn't believe they were free. Once a few people stumbled out everyone else rushed. They cheered and thanked the Deputy for what she did.
"Thank Deputy Hudson, she got all you out, I just fired a gun. Now head to the surface, just follow the trail of bodies."
They all did that, the ones with children covered their kids' eyes so they wouldn't see the gruesome images.
"Good work, Rook, now we just—shit! I'm being locked out of the system; I can't free the other prisoners in the bunker."
"What do we do?"
"Let's see . . . that's it! There's a room that all the systems connect to. They're a floor beneath you. You can get there faster by going through the missile silo."
"Ten-four. Heading there now." She left the prison hall and found the grate that led to the silo. Busting the latch, she kicked the grate open. Sure enough, she found the tube structured silo. Looking down, she found her entrance to the server room.
"Careful, Rook, I count five peggies guarding the area."
"Good to know." As she moved through the hall, she blasted any peggie she saw. They didn't react in time when they saw her and they were killed, bleeding from many holes in their bodies.
Entering the server room, America noted that it was really cold inside. The temperature was low probably to keep all the flashing consoles from overheating.
"Alright, Deputy, shoot the consoles and all the prison doors should automatically open." Hudson said.
She lifted up her big gun. "Sounds easy enough." She sprayed the entire room with bullets. The consoles clanged and sparked. Glass, plastic and metal exploded outward. The lights flashed on and off before dying. All the lights in the bunker started flickering and when the final console was destroyed an alarm went off.
"Warning! Warning! All systems have malfunctioned! Initiating safety protocols!"
"That did it, Jones! All the cells have opened. The people are free!"
"Great." She heard shouts coming down the hallway. "Now there's just dealing with the peggies and this hellhole."
She spun around and blasted some fresh peggies.
"Don't let her free our people!"
"We can't let our people leave; they'll die!"
"Still think your helping people, huh sheep?" Their idiocy fueled her wrath against them. She walked backwards, attempting to exit, she fired on the incoming peggies.
"I may actually have an idea for that. If you go back to the silo, at the top there will be a room where the cult stores all its fuel and bliss tanks."
America smirked evilly. "I think I can work with that." She shot another peggie's torso to bits. "I'm on my way."
America quickly ran back to the silo. Looking up, there was a long way to climb.
"Uh, Hudson? Don't suppose you could lend me a hand?"
"Uh, yeah! Here. I'll lower the platforms so you can climb up. Some of them are pretty old and rusted so you might have to shoot a few hinges to get them to drop."
Immediately, the platforms dropped. America looked at her huge weapon and then at the platforms. "Sorry girl, I can't take you farther than this." She gently laid the heavy weapon down and started climbing. She had to pull out Judgement a couple of time to shoot the hinges, but she made it to the top.
Two peggies saw her through the doorway of the top floor. They fired at her. America gripped her gun in both hands and fired, getting a headshot on one cultist and hitting the second in the chest three times.
Jumping across the silo, she made it to the top level. Scooping up the fallen peggie's rifle and extra mags, she kept moving. She entered the next room and the sight of a bunch of volatile green bliss crates and red barrels with the words "Flammable" on them brought a mischievous smile to her face.
A peggie walked through the nearby door and jolted from seeing her. He would have shot her too, had she not blown up the bliss crates with a single shot from Judgement. The Bliss must have been close to an exposed pipe because the explosion was bigger then anticipated. It knocked America back.
"Whoever was in charge of safety protocols in this place should be fired." She groaned and got up. She made a mental note to keep a few more feet away.
That one explosion was already spreading fires and was no doubt scattering random explosions all over the bunker. Alarms were even going off, red lights and everything.
"Warning! Warning! Fires located in section 1, 2, and 8 through 11. All personnel, follow emergency procedures."
"That did it, Jones! Keep going!" Hudson cheered on.
America started blasting every crate and barrel of fuel she spotted. The fires were getting bigger and the explosions were spreading everywhere. Some peggies in the room tried to stop her, but she made sure they were caught in the blast when she destroyed explosives.
The last bit of Bliss and fuel were destroyed. Only now America realized the fires were getting out of hand and all the Bliss and smoke was choking her.
"That was it, Jones! Go! Get the fuck outta there. Now! The whole place is gonna blow!"
A peggie opened up a nearby door to see what the commotion was all about. America shot him dead, but silently thanked him for getting the door for her. "I'm going!"
She rushed out, running upstairs and through several halls.
"I'm grabbing the rest of the prisoners and heading topside. Godspeed, Rook. See you on the outside."
"Make sure everyone gets out, Hudson. Godspeed to you as well."
As she was running, America was wondering if maybe she had gone a little overboard.
'Or maybe the idea was too effective.' Fires were spreading everywhere she tread. Steam and smoke were spewing out of pipes, walls were crumbling and the floor shook like an earthquake hit.
All around her alarms were blaring and a female recording said, "Fires detected! Carbon monoxide detected! All personnel, please evacuate the facilities."
She ran into the launch area where the silo doors were. That was her way out. Fires were all around though and she was worried it fried a lot of the circuitry.
"Deputy, come in. Are you there?"
America quickly answered her radio. "Jerome! Boy, am I glad to hear from you."
"Same, Deputy, glad to hear your voice too. We've been trying to reach you for an hour. We got your broadcast about John's death."
They must not have been able to get a signal to her underground. "Yeah, John's dead. I rescued Deputy Hudson and we both are getting everyone out of John's bunker. Though now it's . . . kinda burning. With me still in it."
"We can see the smoke from where we are. I can't believe this is finally happening."
"I'm at the top of the missile silo. I need help."
"Backups on the way, Deputy. We'll get a chopper and pull you outta there. If you can open the hatch, we'll pick you up."
"Roger that and please hurry." She put her radio away. "There's gotta be some launch panels somewhere in here. Gotta get it open.
"Chopper inbound. We'll meet you at the top, Deputy. Open the hatch, there should be launch panels around you." Jerome informed.
She spotted one of the panels and pulled the lever. That was when some peggies came from the stairs on the other side of the room.
"The Herald's Gate has been ruined! Kill that heretic!"
America dove for cover as the peggies fired upon her. She rolled out of the way and got out her new rifle. She popped up and got three of them as she moved to another defensive position. More peggies arrived and just like the ones before and after, they had guns shooting at her.
She returned fire and proved the better shot. Peggies went down faster than they could be replenished. But they were still in her way as the last lever to open the hatch was on their side. America tossed her last flashbang and disoriented the peggies.
With all of them blind and deaf she managed to sneak around them while they fired way from where she was at. She gave each one a shot or two to the head and reached the lever. She pulled it, finally getting the hatch open.
And none too soon. Then it was getting a little too hot with all the fires around her burning. Least now she could breathe in fresh air instead of smoke.
"You ain't getting' outta here alive, sinner!" More peggies arrived, angry and murderous as the last.
Not like she was in any different mood. She fired her rifle and dove behind cover. She contacted Jerome.
"Jerome, I've gotten the hatch open. Waiting for extraction."
"Roger that, America. I sent the chopper with Grace and James. They'll pull you out."
"Tell 'em to hurry, I don't know how much longer this place has left before it blows."
She killed the last peggie with a clean shot to the forehead.
No more peggies seem to be coming. No shouts of her death or the stomping of feet or the discharging of gunfire. She wanted to believe that she finally caught a break, but as long as she was in burning enemy territory, she kept her guard up. Turning around to get a better position, she bumped into something big. That something was a peggie.
"Shit!" She was about to fire her rifle, but the large peggie took out a black fireman axe. He swung the chopping weapon, knocking the rifle from her arms. He swung it again, almost bringing it down on her head. Then again, almost lopping off her breast, again, nearly burying the axehead in her shoulder. America narrowly dodged every single swing of the axe and the next swing would have been fatal had she not pulled out her baseball bat, blocking the weapon.
She got a good look at this peggie now. He was dressed like a Chosen, but instead of the camo-trenchcoat and red skimask, he was wearing all black. He was like a large shadow, with eyes shining like a cat's. Honestly, she couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman behind the clothes.
She pushed the axe off, only for the peggie to come down again forcing her to block again.
'What the hell is this guy?! He's so strong!'
She kicked the peggie away and ducked under an axe swing. She swung her bat against his back; he grunted and stumbled, but he recovered quick and retaliated.
The two started fighting like they wielded swords, blocking, parrying, countering. Moves that America was not familiar with, but the large peggie sure knew how to swing that axe.
She ducked under another swing; her neck nearly felt the cold steal. It really was only by luck and God's grace that she hadn't been killed yet.
"What? No calling me a sinner? Heretic? How 'bout Snake? Y'all seem to be taking a shine to that nickname for me." She tried taunting.
The sheep always got distracted whenever she talked to them. Insult followed by lethal injury.
To her surprise though the peggie kept fighting her without saying a word of even showing a sign of getting mad. The cultist was wearing a mask, but there still should have been a twitch of anger that made them fuck up. The peggie just kept swinging the axe like a pro though.
"Don't talk much, do you?" She jumped away from the axe. "Come on, that's part of the fun of bantering with you sheep. You call me a sinner, I call you sheep . . . and then I kill you. Kinda like what I did to John before I turned his face into ground beef."
She smiled saying that last part, but to her shock, the peggie showed no sign of anger or frustration. Even his shining eyes were unemotional.
'He's not like the others. Whatever the cult did to him, he's just a living weapon now.'
Suddenly, she heard the sound of rotating helicopter blades. Above in the night sky, a chopper was over head. America saw Grace opening the door. "Jones!" She called.
"Grace! AH!" She felt hairs get chopped off from that swing.
Grace looked through the scope of her golden rifle and saw America narrowly avoid death.
"What the hell kinda peggie is that. I ain't never seen no goth cultist before."
"Wait, what?!" James got up from his seat. "Did you say 'goth cultist?'"
"Yeah, fuckers decked out all in black and swinging an axe at the Deputy."
The look on James' face was like he saw a ghost. "An Exalted. We gotta get her out of there!"
"What's an Exalted?" Grace asked.
"Later! Can you shoot him?"
"They're moving around too much; I could hit the Deputy."
The axe-crazy peggie pulled back then threw the axe at America. The Deputy lunged out of the way, feeling the sheering wind the weapon made above her head. The axe embedded in the burning wall.
America took this chance to swing her bat and do some serious damage. With all her might she bashed him in the shoulders, elbows, chest, and even a couple times in the head. She beat him and beat him, letting out a curse or scream with each swing. But the peggie hardly twitched. He caught her next blow then grabbed her by the throat. He lifted her up and then dropkicked her in the crotch.
The Deputy fell into a heap as she clutched between her legs in pain. The peggie then left her to retrieve his axe.
Slowly, America recovered, but she couldn't feel her legs. Grabbing onto some railing, she steadied herself. A rope then fell in front of her.
"America, grab on!" Grace called.
She would have, but America was still woozy from that kick. The dark cultist retrieved his axe, which was now on fire. He then moved on her again with heavy footsteps.
She looked at the red-hot weapon. "Ahh—great."
She pushed herself off the railing, just as the axe came down. It missed, but America was on the ground now. The peggie swung down in a perfect, flaming arch. With what little strength she had, she jumped back, the axe buried in the floor between her legs.
She could feel the heat from the weapon and didn't want it any closer! The dark peggie swung down again, America jumped back just barely getting away once more. The peggie swung down a third time and America could have sworn he was getting closer to her crotch by centimeters.
The peggie grabbed her leg, then pulled her close. He raised his axe up ready to execute her.
America looked to her right and saw her bat. She reached over, and grabbed it, just as the axe buried where her head was. The peggie pulled his axe back and swung down again, but America blocked it with the body of her baseball bat. The axehead was just an inch from her face.
Thinking quickly, she looked down and kicked the peggie in the knee. There was an audible snap and then an actual pained grunt from the cultist. America then pushed the axe off and kicked the peggie away, onto his back.
Using that time to get to her feet, America used her bat as a support to stand up. Then using it as a crutch she steadied herself. Life was coming back into her legs, the same couldn't be said for the large peggie.
And yet he was still getting up, even with a broken leg! He swung the axe with more fervor. The Deputy swatted a few of the attacks, even got a couple body hits, despite not doing much. The peggie was still pushing her to a corner. That's when she felt her back bump into a wall.
Giving the wall a single glance, then at the axe, she rolled away under it just in time. She spun around ready to block or strike, but the peggie was preoccupied trying to pry the axe out of the wall.
Not even hesitating, the Deputy ran for the rope.
Grabbing the rope, the helicopter took off. Before it got out of reach however, the black-clad peggie grabbed the rope and was lifted off the ground too.
"Behind you!" Grace called.
Looking down, America was shocked to see that cultist climbing the rope, toward her. Holding on with one hand, America unholstered Judgment. She fired, missed. She fired again, missed. Third time, she hoped was a graze.
These were not good conditions: swinging onehanded by a rope, smoke in her eyes, and wind gusting around her. All the while, the crazed cultist was getting closer and closer, scaring the holy shit out of her.
She fired her fourth shot, it missed. Fifth shot was another miss. The peggie was on her, he grabbed her leg. Judgement's barrel was aimed right at the peggie's forehead. The hammer cocked, she pulled the trigger . . .
And got him in the head. The peggie fell from the rope and down into the burning silo. Before he hit bottom, the whole bunker finally blew.
America breathed a sigh of relief, then pulled herself up the rest of the way. Grace gave her a hand and pulled her into the chopper.
"America Jones . . ." Grace started, "you are a trail blazer."
"Seriously, Rook . . ." James awed, "just . . . wow."
America fell to the floor of the chopper and wheezed a laugh.
They looked out and saw the rest of the survivors run from the bunker. Just in time as the entire facility exploded all around, sending a concussive shockwave that even shook the helicopter. Fire belched from every orifice of the facility. Concrete, metal and wood blew outward, scattering flaming debris all around. It was night so the whole place looked like one massive bonfire.
"That is fucking beautiful." America said. She grabbed her smartphone and took a quick pic.
"Hell yeah." Grace and James agreed, doing the exact same.
Down below, the Resistance welcomed the survivors of John's Gate as they came down Black Horse Mountain. There were cheers and fireworks going off in celebration. America could even see in the distance, a man raising the American Flag, cheering with all the others.
The Liberation of Holland's Valley was complete.
Well, that was fun! Gotta say, writing the destruction of an Eden's Gate Bunker is almost as fun as actually blowing it up. Hope you guys liked the mini-boss fight I made with the Exalted. I'll go into detail about them next chapter. As any of you can guess, it's celebration time! John's dead, the bunker's blow, the people are freed and Holland Valley is in the hands of good people again. The Deputy and Resistance, deserve a little leisure.
Please leave a review! I'd like to hear what any of you have to say about this chapter!