Chapter 3: Mercy from Folly

Joseph Seed was just finishing another sermon. His children had to be told the good news, that those who tried to take him away had been defeated and that the collapse would soon be upon them. During his sermon, Jacob walked in. He didn't interrupt as he knew better but he seemed unusually impatient to talk with Joseph. The Seed leader motioned his elder brother to come forward.

"You wish to speak to me Jacob?"

Jacob crossed his arms. "He's alive."

"Who do you speak of?"

"That man, that deputy, I knew that he was alive."

There were some murmurings from a few of the stragglers that were still in the church so Joseph directed Jacob to follow him into his adjoining office. He closed the door and gave Jacob a confused but serious look.

"How do you know for sure?"

"One of my bases, Baron's Mill went dark. We weren't receiving communication from them. I sent people to investigate and they found everyone who was at that base dead. They were guarding a very dangerous individual and the cage housing her was also opened and empty. I radioed my lieutenant to tell him to be on the lookout but I received nothing from him either. It turned out that this deputy assaulted the mill, killed all the guards on his own, and freed the prisoner. They then made their way north, killing a few more before ambushing my lieutenant. His body was in pieces and all his men were dead."

"And the perpetrators of this?

"I sent two armed trucks in pursuit. They found them just after they had killed my officer. My men chased them south but unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. Both drivers were killed and the truck that went into the river drowned the gunner. The gunner of the truck managed to survive a crash into a tree but he was severely injured."

Joseph kept his stoic expression. "So where are they now?"

"The survivor told us that they headed into Faith's territory. He also said that their car was heavily damaged from the gunfire and they wouldn't be able to continue for long."

Joseph scratched his chin. "I see. I will contact Faith and let her know that they are in the area. How many are there?"

"Two. But they're highly dangerous. One is that deputy. The other is Jess Black, a highly skilled archer, even better than most of my chosen. Brother, are you sure it is wise to leave this to Faith?"

Joseph gave a sly smile. "We must have faith in our sister. She has done well these last couple of years."

Jacob had his doubts but he knew better than to challenge his brother. "Very well Joseph but tell her to be careful."

Joseph went and put his hands on Jacob's soldiers while continuing to give that infamous smile of his. It was his way of reassuring his brother that everything was going to be alright. After Jacob left, Joseph got on the phone with Faith.

"Hello Father, what can I do for you?"

"Faith, it seems that Jacob was correct after all. The deputy is alive and well. He was last seen headed into your territory from the north. Jacob has informed me that he is with one other, a woman."

There were a few moments of silence. "Jacob is certain that it is this man?"

"Yes, and based on the information, I'm inclined to believe him. They killed many of our own and fled south. Apparently, their vehicle was heavily damaged and they are most likely in the northern part of the Henbane region. I am leaving it up to you to take care of this."

"Your will shall be carried out Father."

Faith put down the phone and looked out the window at her current place of residence. So Jacob had been right and the remaining deputy was alive after all. He must have been quite skilled to have survived what he did and launch a counterattack, at Jacob no less. But this man was still unknown and Faith knew that more information must be learned before she could effectively deal with this problem. She picked up the phone and called her captain that was in the area up north.

"Bradley?"

"Yes ma'am. How may I serve?"

"We have some intruders that have fled over from Jacob's area. Their vehicle is badly damaged so they most likely stranded somewhere in your area. I need you to find them and keep watch on them. Observe them, find out who they are, what they're armed with and where they are trying to get to. Learn as much information as you can but I stress, DO NOT ENGAGE them. Do you understand?"

The man seemed confused by the order and was silent for a bit. "Ma'am, if they're stranded, wouldn't it be possible to surround them and capture them, kill them if they resist?"

"Bradley, these are very dangerous individuals we are dealing with. We need to learn as much as we can about them before we can find a solution. I say this for the safety of yourself and your men, DO NOT ENGAGE THE INTRUDERS."

There was another long period of silence. "Yes ma'am. For The Father and Eden's Gate!" He then got off the phone. Faith turned to look out the window again. She hoped her men would heed her warning. With how much Jacob talked up this man, she had the instinct that he was much more dangerous than that.

Kyle was trying to keep the vehicle going but it seemed to be at the end of its life. "Damn it! You see anywhere we can take shelter in?"

Jess scanned the road and found what looked to be a bar on the side of the road. "There." She pointed towards it. Kyle slowly directed the car into the parking lot where it promptly died out.

"Well looks like this will have to do." He reached for the radio that Dutch had given him and turned it on. "Dutch, we ran into some issues. We won't be able to make it there today. Going to try to get there tomorrow morning."

There was some static. "Alright kid. Yeah, I overhead some Peggie communications indicating something happened up there. Seems like you made a real mess of things. They'll be looking all over for you. Stay safe. Dutch out."

The duo got out of the car but Jess seemed to be in a bad mood and confronted Kyle.

"Hey, why the fuck don't we just start towards where Dutch is on foot?! I'm sure you and me can handle anything we run into and we could get there by the end of the day!"

Kyle was getting his rifle out of the car when he responded. "They sent two trucks after us. After what happened, they'll probably discover more of what we did and send out even more patrols. You're right, we could probably handle them if they come sporadically but I'm not willing to take that chance. I'm supposed to keep you safe. We'll rest here and wait till early morning than move out. Hopefully we'll come across another car or steal one from a cult patrol."

Jess followed him and he made his way towards the building. The sign next to the door read "Hollyhock Saloon". "Man, why do you gotta have such a stick up your ass? I'm a fucking grown woman. I don't need to be fucking protected like some damsel in distress!"

Kyle was simply setting his stuff down in the saloon. "Then if you're an adult, you'll be smart and go along with this plan. Better for you to stay safe now and kill more cultists later than risk being run down along the road."

"Ugh, whatever!" Jess threw up her hands. This guy was really stubborn. But she saw that he did have a point so she went along with it. She took off her bow and laid it against the bar. The sun was just about gone so it was almost dark. Jess figured that since they were at a bar, she would get herself a drink. Finding some leftover alcohol behind the bar, she poured some for herself while offering some to Kyle. He politely declined it.

"So what the fuck is your story anyway? It seems awfully random for you to appear and bust me out like you did. Are you like some fucking government agent or something?"

Kyle laughed at her assertion. "Nah, I'm just a guy. A guy that they drafted to their ill-fated mission to arrest Joseph Seed. I think I was the only one who managed to escape. Not sure what happened to the others besides seeing the marshal get captured."

"No shit! So you're a fucking cop?"

"I'm no one. Just a guy who seems to have drifted here at the war possible time." Kyle was fixing the area where he would sleep. "So what about you? Do I dare ask why you seem to be so against using guns?"

Jess took another drink. "Using guns is like doing fucking brain surgery with a sledgehammer. Real killers use bows."

Kyle couldn't help but smile at that explanation. Jess was quite the character. "Oh really? Shit, I guess I must have been doing it wrong all this time. My bad."

Jess eyed him. "Still, you are pretty damn good with a gun. Might be even better than Grace."

"Who's Grace?"

"She a sniper who served in the army in Afghanistan. I've tried in the past to get her to tell me stories but she always fucking blows me off."

Kyle rubbed his chin. "Hopefully she didn't join the cult."

"Nah she would never do that. Probably fighting them right now. Anyways I want to know your story Mr. Mysterious. I get the feeling that you're fucking hiding something from me."

"Well its pretty complicated…." He then heard what sounded like a truck outside and told Jess to duck. It sounded like the truck parked outside and its occupants were getting out. He heard four door slams. Then he started hearing voices.

"Alright people! That definitely looks like the car described that those sinners were using. They're probably taking shelter in that saloon. We're gonna go in there, capture them, and take them to Faith. Then they'll get a proper bliss treatment. If for some reason you can't secure them, put a few bullets in them to drop them. Follow me."

Kyle quickly whispered to Jess. "No weapons. We'll use the darkness. Just knock them out.

"What the fuck? Why?" She barely whispered back.

"Just fucking do it, I'll explain later."

They then waited for the cult patrol to come into the building. It was dark so visibility was poor. The patrols had assumed they were looking for sleeping people to they split up to find them Kyle managed to sneak up on one and choke him out while Jess was able to do the same to the second one. The other two returned to the middle of the room to find their comrades missing.

"Hey where did Brad and Mabel go?"

"I don't know maybe they went out back to search? Keep looking!"

One of them stumbled upon the unconscious body of Brad.

"Brad?!"

At that moment Kyle sprang into action and knocked the individual out from behind. His partner saw this and raised his rifle to shoot but was disarmed by Jess who knocked him out as well.

"Help me take their guns and ammo. We'll use their vehicle and leave tonight. Don't argue."

Jess complied and it only took them a few minutes to get the ammo and weapons and load them into the truck. Then they both got in, Kyle started it up using the keys that were left inside and off they went. There was only a few second of silence before Jess broke it.

"You know Dutch doesn't like people from the government…"

Kyle sighed. "For the last time I'm not with the government! Shit!"

"How else would that explain you? You seem like you've had training, you actually show mercy, and you're so fucking bossy. So why did we leave those fuckers alive anyways?"

Kyle at least felt this was necessary to defend. "Did you notice when we left a trail of bodies, they came after us with a vengeance? Now they'll discover these guys and have one of two thoughts. Either these guys got too drunk or that these killers that they were after for some reason left these people alive. It would be nice if it was the former but I'm thinking they'll be somewhat intelligent. They'll be confused and hesitant on these contradictory actions and won't be so bloodthirsty to search us out again."

"Whatever you say. I still have my doubts about who you are but I can't deny that you get shit done. If you ever need help, you let me know. I know you did your best to help me."

Kyle was satisfied with that as the ending of the conversation. They encountered no trouble along the way. It was dark so any Eden's gate patrols would not be able to see very clearly. All they would be able to make out is one of their own vehicles. The duo arrived at Dutch's bunker in a short amount of time.

"Dutch, there were some complications so we're here now."

Kyle heard a yawn over the radio. "Alright I'll open the door. Its late. Why don't you guys find a cot and get some shut-eye. I have some food on the table in case you need a snack. Jess headed for a bed while Kyle grabbed some food before he found one for himself. He would need the energy for tomorrow.

Brad groaned as he slowly awakened. He wasn't sure quite what happened. One minute they were searching for the sinners in the saloon, next minute he was waking up in the morning. His comrades were also waking up as well. As his mind became clearer, he reasoned that the sinners had ambushed them. Luckily, unlike their weapons and ammo, he still had his radio to report to Faith.

"Faith, this is Brad reporting in."

"Good morning Bradley. Did you find our delinquents?"

"Yes ma'am. But uh…..we were ambushed and they got away. We have no idea where they went."

There was a brief period of silence. "How did you get ambushed?"

"We discovered their car outside a saloon. We thought they were sleeping so we went in to capture them but we were ambushed in the dark."

"Bradley, I believe I told you not to engage them for your own safety. Yet you did anyway…." Faith was doing her best to keep calm but there was obvious annoyance.

"Well ma'am, I was hoping that we would be able to please both you and the Father by capturing the sinners. I'm sorry."

"Its alright Bradley, but one more question. How many did you lose?

He looked around and saw all of his comrades alive, if not a bit beat. "We're all alive ma'am. It looks like they didn't kill us for some reason."

Another period of silence. "I see. Well please go get some rest Bradley. Hopefully we will be able to find them again."

Faith ended the call then looked out the window towards the rising sun. This event raised more questions with few answers. It seems that these people were killers yet when they had a chance, they showed mercy. Who is this deputy exactly? What is his motive? Faith knew that the number one goal was to learn about this mysterious man. To know him would know how to solve him.

Author's Note: There's going to be of these jumps from what the Seeds are talking/doing and the others. Also as some stuff directly from the game. I believe Jess' quote about guns is exact and the HollyHock Saloon is on the northern border in Faith's territory next to a bridge to Jacobs. Hope you enjoyed.