Chapter 3: Truth and Deception
The drive to the jail was short. Chris' leg was throbbing a bit, but like he told Faith, he had worse. Luckily, he didn't have to deal with any more checkpoints whether they be cultists or the resistance. Pulling up to the jail, there were no issues. They were used to him sometimes showing up in project vehicles. Chris got out of the car and looked around. There was some activity going on out front. He finally found who he was looking for, Tracey, leader of the Cougars. She was helping loading supplies on the back of a pickup. She stopped what she was doing when Chris greeted her.
"Where've you been deputy? What happened? Did you take care of Faith?"
Chris looked at her seriously, showing no signs of lying. "Faith escaped."
"Escaped? How the fuck did you let her get away?"
"I was fighting under the effects of the bliss. She used some decoys to hold me back and ran off. I don't know where she went."
"Dammit deputy, you of all people I expected to get the job done." Tracy's anger simmered. "We're getting ready to attack Faith's bunker soon. I hope you're ready for that."
Chris looked at his leg. What a perfect excuse to not participate and get back to the cabin. "Unfortunately, I'm not going to be going with you guys Tracey. I got shot during the battle and I'm running low on ammo and supplies. Plus, we need to have someone near the base in case Faith shows up or the peggies attack again."
Tracey's anger returned "Man, what's with you? The deputy I know wouldn't turn down an opportunity to kill some peggies. Whatever. It's your choice."
Chris rubbed his chin. "Tell you what, I'll send Jess and Grace with you guys. They should be more than enough help to plow through anything there. Meanwhile I'll make sure everything's good around here.
"Fine, tell them to meet us here in two hours" Tracey then returned to the work she was doing.
Chris had a mental checklist of what he needed to get. First were medical supplies. Going to the doctor to get those, he was reminded that he had been shot. When that was patched up, he asked the doctor for two first aid kits. One was to be for Faith and the other was a spare just in case. Lastly, he needed to replenish the ammo he had lost on his little excursion and get his MG42 back. He had left it back where he had battled Faith. Hopefully no peggies had recovered it but he doubted that any one of them had the skill to control the gun. He piled all the supplies in a non-marked truck. He figured that he wouldn't want to draw any more attention by driving a cult marked truck. As Chris was about to leave, he remembered.
"Oh yeah. Need to inform Jess and Grace of the attack." He grabbed his radio and tuned it the frequency he used to contact his comrades.
"Jess or Grace do you read? Its Chris." There were a few seconds of silence then a reply came.
"Hey Chris. You need our help in fucking up some more peggies?" Chris immediately knew by the language that it was Jess.
"Kinda Jess, I need you and Grace to get over to the jail. They're going to be attacking the bunker and rescuing the sheriff."
"Shit Chris, do we really need a whole fucking army? You, me and Grace can sweep that place up in no time."
"I'm going to be sitting this one out Jess. I need you guys here to lead the attack. I know that you and Grace are two of the best at killing peggies." He let out a small chuckle.
"Damn right! But wait, why aren't you going?"
"I'm gonna stay back in case there's another attack while everyone is out. For all we know they could be luring us to the bunker while they attack us again."
"Alright Chris, but I gotta ask. Did you take care of that bitch Faith?" There was a long pause.
"Chris?"
"She got away Jess." Another long pause.
"Hmph, well then probably she's at the bunker so I can do the honors myself." Chris wondered how Jess would react with what he had done but this wasn't the time.
"Be at the base in an hour. I'll have my radio for you guys to report in. Chris out."
With that Chris got in the truck and started it. Driving back, he wondered how the cougars and his friends would react when they found out that he was sheltering Faith Seed this whole time.
When Chris got back to the cabin, the first did he did was check on Faith. She was still sleeping so he figured to start unloading all the supplies first. Once that was done, he stepped inside her room but accidently nudged a table. Faith shot up; pistol pointed right at Chris. She was shaking badly but did not pull the trigger when she realized who it was. It was the second time she had an opportunity to shoot Chris and didn't take it. Faith dropped the gun to the side of the bed and laid back, looking visibly distraught at what almost happened. Chris took everything in stride and came up to the side of her bed.
"Looks like you were having a bad dream."
"Yeah, I did."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not right now. How did your trip go?"
Chris flashed a grin. "Went well. Got supplies, my gun back, and I have news. But first things first, lets change those bandages. I also got you some new clothes to change into. He briefly walked out and came back with a pile of clothes and a first aid kit.
"Here, change into these" tossing the clothes in front of her. Faith gave him another one of those annoyed looks as he turned around to give her privacy and rummage through the first aid kit.
"I'm done."
Chris found the fresh bandages and turned around. Faith looked very different then her infamous incarnation. She wore a t-shirt with a hoodie over it along with jeans and street shoes. Chris was awed by the fact that she looked just as stunning even in "normal" clothes. Her voice quickly snapped him out of those thoughts.
"So what news were you talking about?" He sat down at the edge of her bed.
"Well the good news is that the resistance isn't actively looking for you."
She gave him a frown. "And it seems the bad news is that you let them know that I was still alive." she quipped sarcastically. Chris cursed. He didn't even think about that.
"I told them you escaped. They are probably expecting you to be at the bunker they're about to attack. I sent Jess and Grace with them so they'll have no problem rescuing the sheriff."
Faith nodded then looked out the window with a solemn expression on her face. "They won't find anyone there but the sheriff."
"What?"
"During the prison attack, I told the rest of my followers to evacuate the bunker. When they asked why, I told them that you would be coming and that there would be no survivors. I told them that I would distract you to buy them time. Some wanted to come help me, others wanted to defend the bunker to the death, others still wanted us to bring the sheriff along as a hostage. But I told them no. Told them to go protect The Father." Faith's expression became one of sadness.
"So you sacrificed yourself to stop me even though you knew you would probably die?" Faith nodded and Chris felt a twist of guilt in him. But then he also had a feeling of satisfaction in knowing that in the end, he had made the right choice. Just then, a cackle came over the radio.
"Chris, you there? Its Jess." Chris and Faith gave one more look at each other before he responded.
"This is Chris…..what's going on Jess?"
"We just arrived at the bunker but something's wrong. There's no one here! The place seems deserted. We're moving in, could be a trap. Jess out." Chris gave another glance at Faith.
"So I guess the title of liar and manipulator might be a bit overblown huh?" His joke made her smile slightly but she soon turned serious again.
"They need to get to the sheriff quick if they want to save him."
"Why?"
"We had one contingency plan. You saw before we fought that the sheriff was under a good deal of bliss, right?" Faith shifted her gaze downward "I had conditioned him with the bliss in that if I didn't return after a certain period of time, he would hang himself." Anger welled up inside Chris. This was the Faith he had fought to stop. He reached for the radio.
"Jess, this is Chris. Do you read?" There was a moment of silence.
"Chris this is Grace. Jess is leading the vanguard in stealth. What's up?"
"You guys need to get to the sheriff quick. The last time I saw him he was under a good deal of bliss so there's not telling how his condition might change."
"Understood. I'll let Jess know to push up quicker. Grace out."
Chris looked back over at Faith once again. She was back to staring out the window.
"I'm sorry" she whispered. Chris sighed. On one hand, he was pissed that Faith was manipulate Whitehorse to kill himself like she did with the marshal. He knew why she did it but still….
"Well at least the good thing is that you got your people out of there. It might bite us in the ass later but at least more bloodshed was avoided for now." It was an attempt to make her feel a little better. But as he thought about it, he realized that decision could really cause trouble in the future. The Father would now have more manpower in order to do whatever he wanted. It might entice him to attack sooner. Chris's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the radio.
"Chris? We found him. It looked like he was about to hang himself but we managed to snap him out of it. We're placing explosives to destroy the bunker then heading back." Chris let out another sigh but one of relief.
"Good to hear Grace. I'll be there tomorrow to check up on him. You and Jess head back to the hangout once you get back to the jail. We're going to be making plans the next couple of days. Good to know everyone is safe. Chris out."
The interactions over the radio had delayed Chris changing Faith's bandages. He asked if could do so now which she nodded in reply.
"It looks like your wound is getting a bit better" he said as he put the new bandages on. Faith winced a bit while he was working which didn't escape his notice. "Now its MY turn to apologize. I'm sorry for giving you this nasty wound." Faith looked down at him.
"I deserve it for all the things I've done to you and your friends. I deserve it for failing The Father. I probably deserve worse." She turned her head to look away from Chris.
"Look what's done is done." That got get her to turn back toward him, her face full of regret and her eyes getting slightly watery.
"I don't know why you think that I deserve your kindness with everything I've done. I would think you would have ended it all like you did with Jacob and John. And The Father….." Faith bit her bottom lip. "He saved me and treated me well but he does not take repeated failure well. I couldn't stop you at all. I….." Chris finally finished. He sat on the edge of the bed and look Faith directly in the eyes with a serious expression.
"Look, you've wanted to know why I saved you from death right?" She nodded.
"When we first met, I could tell it was going to be different then the others. The bliss is very potent. You could have used it in any number of ways; torture me like John, kill for you like Jacob, but all you wanted to do was talk. You trusted me with your story which despite what you and other might think, I suspect that story to be true." Faith turned away and looked out the window again which meant he was probably right. "You preached how great The Father was and how he 'saved' you. But that facade soon cracked. I could hear the fear in your voice when I destroyed the statue and book. There was the fear of Joseph and another fear. It was that I would destroy everything. So like you had said in the past, violence for violence. First it was the marshal, then the prison attack, kidnapping the sheriff. But you saw that nothing was working. So you resigned yourself to dying as a martyr for Joseph and saving his people to go out well in his eyes. But did you know? I came across some voice messages of yours when I was exploring." Faith turned back to him with a wide-eyed look. "After quickly piecing them all together, I knew what happened. Joseph had given you what you longed for, a family, a purpose, a home. Did you know that there were other Faiths? They probably followed him for the same reason as you did. Sadly, it seems that Joseph saw an end to their usefulness. Then you came along. It was probably good at first. But then once I started causing trouble, I'm sure you knew about your predecessors. You secretly wanted someone, anyone, to free you from your predicament. Joseph is a master at using carrot and stick. He shows kindness but rules with fear. Your preaching for The Father was a mask for the motivation that you just wanted someone on your side. Everything came out during our battle. The truth of what he had done came out. You were afraid of death even though you accepted it. In the end, you made one final attempt to reach out and I…" Now it was Chris's turn to look out the window with a look of regret. "…I backed away. But you didn't get angry. You were understanding and went to your watery grave with parting words. It was then that I realized my mistake. I had to save you. You reached out in your most desperate time and I rejected you. So I pulled you away from death because you wanted to live, have a chance at a better life, and also I…" There was a long moment of silence and then he finally turned back to her with a grin on his face.
"I think that's all for tonight. I've rambled enough. Its getting late. Let's get some sleep. I'll be on the couch if you need anything." He gave her a pat on the shoulder then walked off. Faith watched him as he left. All that time…. he had listened. She had known to be good at reading people but here he surpassed her. Faith has thought she would lose everything. She would be back to the feelings of the darkest moments of her past. Back then, she was saved from certain doom. But this time it was different. There were no expectations, no drugs, no coercion, and no fear. As she drifted off to sleep her mind rested on one thought. Perhaps she should have faith that this time things could be different…and better.