Chapter 1: In Enemy Territory

Kyle Volker was slowly coming to his senses. The last few hours had, to put it mildly, been a shitstorm. He had been part of a task force that was to arrest a cult leader in this county, Joseph Seed. From the very start, the whole thing seemed wrong. Kyle wasn't even a resident of the area. He just happened to be drifting through. The police of the county or what was left of them, recruited Kyle specifically because he was an outsider. He wouldn't have any ties to the cult that had taken root. Eden's Gate or the Peggies as the locals called them, controlled all the facets of society, the businesses, the mail, communications and most of the police force. Their numbers had swelled, so much so that you couldn't go a few feet in the county without running into one of their members. Luckily for Kyle, they hadn't bothered him while he was in town. They seem more preoccupied with preparing for something and this somehow entailed bothering the locals over some random stranger.

Kyle felt his side for his pistol and felt a sense of relief upon finding that it still remained. The other reason that Kyle was brought on to this mission was that the people in charge found out he was good with weapons, especially with guns. They were so impressed that they slapped a deputy's badge on him and told him that the mission to arrest Joseph was tomorrow. The team went by helicopter. Sheriff Whitehorse warned they sometimes its best to leave well enough alone. He had dealt with the cult in the past and knew what to expect. Unfortunately, he was the only one who had experience, plus the man in charge, Marshal Burke, thought this mission would be simple. It was anything but. Above their destination, they could see the cult's armed masses. They were guarding the outside of the compound where Joseph was giving another one of his speeches. Surprisingly, they didn't shoot. They quietly but with dangerous intent, watched as the team made their way to the church. At the door, Hudson, the lone female on the team, tried to reassure Kyle that everything was going to be alright. Finally, the die was cast as Burke barged in shouting that he had a warrant for Joseph's arrest. The cult leader didn't seem fazed at all by this revelation. In fact, he seemed resigned to it as he put his hands out. The marshal ordered Kyle to cuff him, but he hesitated.

First, there was his siblings standing in the foreground. Two men and a woman. They glared with such scorn. Kyle couldn't blame them. The evil cops were here to take their brother away. The other thing that startled Kyle was Joseph's eyes. They were supremely confident. Even offering himself up for arrest, he had the look that he knew victory was at hand. When the cuffs were slapped on there was no change in his demeanor. Kyle should have listened to his gut. Outside, Joseph's people saw that the cops were taking their leader away. They increasingly grew more hostile. When Joseph was loaded on to the helicopter, all hell broke loose. The mob attacked which caused the helicopter to eventually crash. Kyle had figured something was up as when the dispatcher frantically tried to ask what was going on, Joseph calmly grabbed the radio and said there was no problem. It was there that Kyle realized they had been double crossed; it was a trap. Joseph's people soon arrived to reunite with their leader as well as claim their prisoners. What happened next was still a bit of a blur.

Kyle managed to free himself from the helicopter and make a dash into the woods all while being peppered with gunfire. He had no weapon, just his wits, which were probably the only thing keeping him alive. He managed to stumble into what looked like an abandoned house. Only it wasn't abandoned. Somehow through all the chaos, Burke had escaped as well, and he almost shot Kyle when he came in to investigate. Things might have been getting better. Burke gave Kyle a gun and they were preparing to move out to go get help. But the cult found them first and Kyle held them off with accurate pistol fire while Burke started up a nearby truck. They finally managed to get going but Eden's Gate were hot on their tails and seemed to have patrols all over. Kyle was throwing dynamite that was left in the truck. Bur for each vehicle he blew up, more would show up. The hail of gunfire made it hard for Burke to drive. Eventually, of all things, a fighter plane strafed them and caused Burke to lose control, plunging them off the bridge and into a river. Luckily, both managed to get out before the truck dragged them under. Unfortunately for Burke, he swam in the wrong direction and got picked up by the pursuing cult. Kyle made it safely by getting a bit more upstream and saw what happened. He then snuck away to remain hidden and finally get some shuteye.

Which led him to his current situation. Kyle had a pistol which made things a lot less dire. But he had no idea where he was which made things a lot riskier. Where should he go? Where could he go? The cult was everywhere, they had control of the county. Kyle was all alone in the middle of enemy territory. So he did the only thing he could do, continue forward until he found someone who wouldn't try to put a bunch of bullets in him. After wandering for a bit, Kyle came to another bridge. Crossing it would leave him dangerously exposed. But the rivers in the county weren't hard to swim across, and Kyle knew how to swim. He dove in and began to swim across, staying somewhat under the bridge so he'd be less likely to be spotted. He finally reached the other side soaking wet. But this was no time to worry about minor things like that. He had to keep moving. Moving forward, he found what looks to be…..a bunker? Was this another Eden's gate stronghold? Did he just stumble into more trouble? Before he could ponder any more, he heard a gun click and swung his pistol around to find a man aiming a rifle at him.

"Who are you?"

"You're trespassing on private property" the man said threateningly

"Private? I thought the cult owned everything." Kyle replied

"They do….mostly. But this here is my property. But you don't look like a Peggie. Who are you?"

Kyle indulged him, "Kyle, Kyle Volker."

The man lowered his gun and grinned. "Well now this is a surprise. I didn't think anyone survived that ruckus with Joseph."

Kyle kept his gun up. "How do you know about that?"

The man laughed. "I have eyes and ears all over son. Been keeping tabs on the cult for a while now. And no one could have missed that stunt you guys tried to pull off. Going into Joseph Seed's compound and trying to arrest him? What the hell were you guys thinking?"

Kyle shrugged, "It wasn't my idea. They just hired and put a badge on me for their task force."

"A merc huh? Well as you've probably guessed, you've been thrown into a shitstorm. Eden's Gate has total control over the entire county. But it seems you've got a bit of luck on your side. Not only did you survive your run-in with the cult, you stumbled onto the only place where they don't have control."

"And why is that? They don't seem to be the type of people to miss something like this."

"Because I've left them alone. I've stayed out of their business and they've stayed out of mine. But things have gotten worse. Peggies have gotten increasingly brutal lately and this attack is only sure to rile them up even further."

Kyle lowered his gun, beginning to trust the man. "So where does that leave us?"

"Well I think it finally time we did something about Joseph's group."

"We? You mean just the two of us?"

"Do you see anyone else around? And when I say we, I mean mostly you. I gotta remain here at my bunker to keep an eye on things. While I'm doing that, you can go around and try to free some like-minded people to help us take down this cult."

Kyle wanted to facepalm. "So let me get this straight, you want me to go out there alone, against thousands of armed fanatics who have air cover apparently, while you stay here all safe?"

The man sighed. "Look merc, the only way you're going to get out of here is going through Eden's Gate. They have control of all the communications. There isn't going to be any help coming from the outside." The man then motioned at Kyle's gun, "Besides if anyone could do it, I think you can. You have to be a pretty good shot to survive all those cultists chasing you down. I didn't say it was going to be easy, but I think its our best shot. What do ya say?

Kyle thought it over for a minute. The man was right. Kyle was stranded in hostile country with thousands of cult members patrolling the area and with no way to leave. At least by working with this guy for now, there was at least a slim hope he could make it through this. It was worth a shot. "Fine, I'm in."

The man gave a wide smile. "Great! Name's Dutch by the way. Come inside, we'll get you a change of clothes, some supplies, and go over the plan." The man then walked up to the bunker door and typed in a code. The door swung open and he motioned Kyle to follow him. Kyle did, wondering what would be waiting for him next.

Meanwhile, at Joseph's compound, the Seed family was having a meeting.

"Everything is going as I have envisioned. The old authority tried to take me away. But God did not let that happen. Now that the seal has been undone, we can finally proceed. Jacob, I believe one of yours has an update for us?"

Jacob, the oldest of the family, got up and let a man who'd been waiting outside the room to give his report. "Soldier, please give us the status update."

The cultist saluted to Jacob. "Yes sir. We managed to secure the marshal. Thus, we have him, and two of the deputies in custody. The sheriff managed to evade capture, but we tracked him down to the jail. We currently have the place surrounded and under siege. No one else is going to get in or out."

"What about the other man? The one who slapped the cuffs on Joseph?" Jacob asked

The man became nervous. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find a trace of him anywhere. We combed the river and found no trace of him. We found the truck but no sign of any body."

"Perhaps he drowned and his body was carried further upstream?" suggested the female Faith Seed.

"Its more likely that he was blown up from the plane gunfire." Growled Jacob. He turned to the other male Seed. "John you need to tell your pilots to be more careful. The idiot was strafing wildly and almost hit my men."

John sneered "If it weren't for my plane, you would have let them get away. If anything, I saved you from embarrassment, brother, because of your soldiers!"

Jacob's soldier grew more nervous as Jacob got more tense. "My men are trained by me. If you are accusing them of being incompetent, then you are accusing me…."

Joseph saw where this was going and raised his hand. "Enough! What's done is done. But this leads me to ask one final question. How many of our own did we lose?"

The man was now sweating. "We estimate that we lost about 20-25% of our pursuing force…."

The room was now in silence for a few seconds then Jacob broke it. "I sent a lot of men after those two. To take out a quarter of my men, that man is not an ordinary cop. He's way too good."

"Well he's dead now." Snapped John

"Don't be too sure brother. If a man like that can kill that many on his own, he probably survived. He most likely snuck off while we were fishing out the marshal."

"That man did seem to have a peculiar aura" Faith added. "It was like he didn't belong there. But not just because he was out of place, but that he was stronger than the rest of them. But he still continued to follow orders."

"You guys are giving him too much credit. The bastard is dead, end of story. My chosen killed him." John seemed to be in an arguing mood today.

Joseph stood up. "Enough!" Like I said, its all in the past now. We must focus on the future. Each of you will be getting one of our new guests. John, you will have the female. You must show the holdouts that they can be cleansed of their sins but also be shown the price of their defiance."

"Yes Joseph."

"Jacob, you will be receiving the male deputy. Do with him as you will but keep him alive. Your primary task is to continue the training program and prepare our flock for the collapse."

"Yes brother."

"Faith, you will be receiving the marshal. I would like you to use your methods to convince him to embrace Eden's Gate. Once he sees his errors, perhaps he will have more information on the sinners at the jail."

"Yes Father."

"Then we all have our roles to play. May God watch over you."

The Seed family then dispersed to carry out their tasks.

Author's Note: So this is my second far cry 5 story. Figured to do one more before far cry 6 comes out. The title is a work in process. Hope you guys enjoy.