Welcome to chapter 11 of the New Dawn.
In this Chapter Marcus will meet the Father and there will be a scene about Hunter and The Judge.
After Ethan's threat the Judge really wanted Joseph to return so he could remove Ethan from power, he's going out of control Ethan wasn't the only thing on his mind there were many other things on his mind right now, the boy, Joseph and the locust, there were many things to think about but New Eden was his main concern it always has been. He is its Silent Protector and now Ethan is going to use him as a weapon to ensure his role as leader of New Eden, he decided to not think about that right now and focus his attention on the Chosen that returned from the Mine.
They returned to New Eden around 2:00 in the Morning, they failed to rescue the Sinner Thomas Rush from the Locusts, the battle left them badly hurt, they had several gunshot wounds and were bleeding badly. It wasn't a total lost though they killed a lot of the guards at the Mine and crippled their defense so the Mine is vulnerable.
The Judge walked over to the girl and kneeled down to inspect her wound, she looked up at the Judge and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm so sorry Judge we failed." The girl said as tears of pain fell from her eyes as she kept her hands on the gunshot in her belly.
The Judge ignored her apology and focused on her wound. She had a single pistol round in her stomach but fortunately it missed her stomach by an inch and if it's removed in time she should be fine in a couple of weeks or days depending. The Judge picked up the Girl bridal style and took her to the Healing Center where the other Chosen were being taken to.
An hour has passed and the Healers have patched up the Chosen's wounds, the bullets were removed and their wounds were closed up, the Healers said they all should be fine in a day or two. The Girl however lost a lot of blood from her gunshot wound and since she wasn't blessed with the apple her wound would take more time to heal. The Judge stood by the bed where the Girl slept quietly, a set of handmade bandages were wrapped around her wound and she was given herbs to help against infection. He placed his hand on her head and gently stroked her hair, he knew he should have gone with them to rescue the sinner but Ethan wanted him to stay instead, if he went this probably wouldn't have happened. Ethan was growing reckless as he led New Eden he's begun to grow a little crazy
A Healer walked over to the Judge carrying a bowl of water with a cloth in it, she placed a hand on the Judges shoulder to reassure him. "Don't worry Judge, she'll be fine, she just needs some rest and time for that wound to heal."
He looked up at the Healer and nodded at her then looked back at the girl, the Healer walked to the other side of the bed and placed the bowl on the shelf, picked up the rag, rang it out then placed it on the girl's head. "She's strong you know." The Healer commented as she rubbed the rag on the girls head, he looked up at her then she continued. "One of the Chosen told me she killed seven locusts on her own without any help before she got shot." She stated.
The Judge looked at the Girl impressed by her skill, he knew he trained the New Chosen well but he never expected her to hold her own against the Highwaymen that well. He really underestimated her, but as much as he was impressed by her skill she still shouldn't have gone out. The Girl was still young and still had much to learn, she was part of the next generation of New Edeners wasting their lives would be disastrous for this Community.
As the Judge sat by the girl as she slept a Chosen came in and walked over to him. "Ethan has requested your presence in his Tent." The Chosen informed him.
The Judge nodded and got up from his chair and followed the Chosen to Ethan's tent. He walked into the Tent where he found Ethan waiting for him, he looked at Ethan and saw that he had a frustrated look on his face, judging by that look he clearly wasn't in a good mood. Ethan angrily walked up to the Judge and said. "I can't believe the Chosen have failed to rescue the Sinner, he would have been of great help in our fight against the Locust." Ethan said frustratingly, then calmed down a moment later and continued. "But, at least they've crippled the defenses there, but they'll likely reinforce the Mine in time. However the Sinners will likely get wind of this and use the opportunity we've just created and try to rescue their friend Thomas Rush."
The Judge nodded at Ethan's statement, it's very likely that the sinners will hear of this and try to rescue Thomas Rush. Even though New Eden failed to get their hands on him the Sinners now have a chance to rescue their friend. It didn't matter to him who got their hands on Rush first but as long as he was out of the hands of the Highwaymen he was fine with who got to him first.
Ethan sighed and turned away to look at the picture of Joseph. "The Locust will likely respond to our attack on their mine so we must put a halt to our attacks and hold up in our community until we can figure out a plan to fight back." He advised, the Judge nodded in response giving a grunt.
"Get some rest Judge, we need to know what the Sinners have planned and in the Morning you're heading out to learn what they're planning."
The Judge gave a nod and a low grunt then left the tent and went down to his Hut to get some sleep.
Morning came and many interesting events occurred last night. The captain was driving to investigate the Mine again, but Hunter contacted him about recent news. "What do you mean it was attacked?" Marcus asked Hunter over his radio.
"I heard that the Mine was attacked by a small group of New Edener's last night from a Highwayman I killed." Hunter informed him.
"Wait, New Edener's? Who are they?" Marcus asked, surprised to hear that someone else out here is fighting the Highwaymen.
Hunter stayed silent over the radio for a moment then said. "They used to be a cult that operated here in Hope County long ago, but you should talk to Kim, Nick, Jerome, Grace, Hurk or Sharky they know them better than I do, they never told me or Carmina much about them only that they were bad people but they don't seem like bad people now, every night they emerge from their compound in the north and launch attacks against the Highwaymen, we've haven't had any run-ins with them for a long time but that's about all I can tell you, man." Hunter said.
Marcus sighed that Hunter didn't know much, he should investigate this ally later, but he could use some help investigating the mine and see if they can rescue Rush. "Hey, could you help me investigate the Mine?" Marcus asked. "I'll likely need the help."
"Sorry I can't, Kim assigned me to hunt for some meat and bring it back. So me and Timber are gonna hunt to see if we can bring back any fresh meat. And It's about time we had some fresh meat to eat other than the stuff we get from Highwaymen trucks. Plus everyone else is busy at the moment, Kim may be able to get someone to help you if you contact her." Hunter suggested.
"Alright, happy hunting." Marcus said then turned off his radio and put it away.
As Marcus was driving he wondered if these New Edeners that Hunter mentioned would be willing to aid Prosperity in their fight, if these people have been fighting the Highwaymen and holding out then they'll be promising allies to have against the Twins.
Suddenly two Highwaymen buggies appeared out of the forests and ambushed the Captain. "Oh shit!" The Captain spat, he pressed hard on the accelerator to avoid getting shot, he grabbed his pistol out of his holster and returned fire to the buggies. The cars chased him for a while as they were about to cross a bridge Marcus fired another round from his pistol and it hit one of the drivers causing the buggy to crash, but before he could fire again on the other one they shot one of his back tires and sent the truck out of control until it drove off off the bridge and into the lake below it thankfully Marcus managed to escape the truck before it flooded and quickly swam to the Island that the bridge led to.
The Highwaymen were pissed that the Captain escaped but something kept them from following him to the island that stood in front of him so they just left.
Marcus swam as fast as he could out of the lake and dragged himself onto the closest shore, when he finally made it to shore he rested on the ground for a moment breathing heavily for a few moments, he thought that was it for him, he thought he was actually gonna die but he didn't, he survived. After laying on the ground for a few more moments he sat up and grabbed his radio out to contact Kim. "Hey Kim, are you there?"
Marcus waited for a response but there was only static. "Kim, do you copy?" Marcus asked again.
Again there was only static, it wasn't like Kim to ignore a transmission, he tuned his frequency to try to get in contact with Hunter to see if he'll respond." Hunter, are you there?" Hunter didn't seem to be responding either. He then tried Carmina's radio to see if she'll respond, but like the other two there was only static. After a few more attempts to get in contact with someone he gave up and put his radio back.
"Err, son of a bitch!" Marcus growled, Marcus couldn't believe nobody was responding to his transmissions, it wasn't normal for Kim, Hunter, or Carmina to not respond to his transmissions something must be going on. He got up to identify his surroundings, he pulled his map out of his pocket but the map was soaked so he couldn't be read it, Marcus growled in frustration and threw the map aside, he couldn't get in contact with anybody and he couldn't tell where he was, things were really not going his way right now.
He looked around to see if he could get a fix on his surroundings but a weird purple fog suddenly started appearing around him, the world then spun and changed around him from a bright sunny day to a dark night. "What the fuck?" Marcus muttered incredulously as he looked around the island as the darkness completely covered it, he's never seen anything like this before in his life he wasn't sure if this was real or he was just hallucinating, suddenly saw a bearded man with various scars and tattoos appeared right in front of him.
Marcus gasped at the sudden appearance of the strange bearded man, wearing a set of glasses with yellow lids, a pair of Black jeans with and a pair of boots, but he wasn't wearing a shirt and he had lots of Tattoos and scars all over him. Marcus quickly took a few steps back then fell, knocking himself on his ass, he looked up and saw that the mysterious bearded man was gone. "What the fuck?" Marcus muttered again.
"Welcome child." A strange voice suddenly whispered into his ears. Marcus quickly looked around and didn't see anyone it was too dark to see anything at all, the bearded man reappeared again right in front of him, he just stood there with his arms wrapped behind his back then torches burning a pink fire suddenly lit up behind the mysterious bearded man revealing a pathway, the man then raised his arm, telling the Captain to follow it.
For some weird reason Marcus felt the urge to follow the Pathway though he didn't know why, he felt a shadow come over him, he walked down the pathway as he was walking then the voice spoke again.
"My name is 'Joseph Seed' I'm known to some as the Father." The voice introduced itself.
"Joseph Seed?" Marcus questioned, somehow he felt as if he'd heard that name before but he'd never heard it before in his life, he couldn't put his finger on it but he felt as if he'd also seen that man before.
As Marcus walked down the pathway the Bearded man reappeared again at a dock he raised his arm at the glowing debris hanging on the rocks. "To walk the path, burn away what is unnecessary." Joseph instructed.
Somehow Marcus understood what he meant, a weird piece then appeared on his hand he looked at it and it looked like a piece of a symbol. Somehow knowing what to do he jumped to the half sunken building and angled the piece where it needed to go, when he aligned the piece it formed a strange symbol then vanished, Marcus didn't know how he knew how to do that at all it seemed unusual.
The Man reappeared holding a bow."The Flame of Eden burns away any sin that may take root again." He said, then aimed and fired an arrow hitting something lighting a new path, then he vanished again.
"The Flame of Eden?" Marcus questioned. "How could a flame burn away sin?" He asked, but got no response from the voice.
Marcus followed the path and as he walked he heard Joseph's voice again and it seemed like this time he was telling him his story. "Years ago, I heard the voice of God. He told me about a difficult path ahead. I followed it all the way to an ending and a beginning." He explained.
Marcus arrived at an Old Ranger Station where he found more pieces of the Same symbol as before then another piece appeared right in his hand but it was different than the other one. Joseph then reappeared and said."Piece together the past." He instructed him,then,vanished. Marcus aligned the windmill into place then aligned the piece into the symbol then it vanished like the other one.
"The old ways led us to ruin, the only way forward is to live without sin." The voice said and another path lit up, Marcus followed the path and it led to what appeared to be an old shrine or something. Doing as before he aligned the piece and formed the symbol. Joseph reappeared again and said. "The world wasn't ready for the Collapse and people fought against us. They tried to break my Family, they smashed everything to pieces. But, we endured." Joseph said with a hint of Anger in his voice.
"Only we are strong enough to live in the New World God has given us." Joseph said holding the bow again and fired another arrow revealing another path. Marcus continued on the path.
As he walked the voice then said. "God has cleansed the world of Sin and yet it remains."
Marcus wondered what... Joseph was talking about, Marcus wasn't really a religious man he prayed sometimes but that was it. This person was saying things about Sin, a new world and a ravenous beast, he had a lot of questions right now."And what did he mean by WE ?" Marcus wondered, maybe where this Joseph is leading him he'll find some answers. He made it to the end of the path and it led to a giant burning cross. "A beast, lurking inside. Waiting to break us or be slain. We must draw it out so that we may cut it out. The man whispered in his head then another path opened behind the cross. The Captain traveled down it and it led to a Bunker Door.
"God told me of the Collapse. I gathered my Family to prepare for it." As soon as he finished that sentence a huge explosion appeared in the distance, but he wasn't affected by it at all. He didn't know why, he just continued to the Bunker Door. As he walked over to the door it magically opened on its own he wasn't sure if it was magic or something else but he just walked inside. As the Captain entered the Bunker the voice continued. "But, Hell had followed the Whitehorse, the one that could not walk away."
Marcus entered the Bunker and the voice spoke again. "I thought I had fulfilled my obligation to God, but he had one more thing to say to me." The Voice said.
The Captain walked through the old Bunker then entered a room where he found the Man looking at weird writings on the wall, and candles lit all over the floor. When he got closer the Man turned around and held his arm out to a book that sat on some sort of Altar. "He told me you would be worthy of this." He said to him then vanished again.
Marcus slowly walked over to the book and slowly reached to grab the book. As he held the book in his hands everything went back to normal, he no longer heard the voice in his head and the purple color faded and his head became suddenly clear. He looked around the room and everything was normal again he looked at the writings on the wall, they honestly made no sense to him from what he could understand. It seemed like the person who wrote this was devoted to this "Joseph Seed" . He looked around and saw a broken mirror with words on it written in blood, he took a closer look at it and it read.
"I MUST ATONE. I MUST FOLLOW THE PATH. I MUST FOLLOW THE FATHER. I MUST FOLLOW HIM TO THE END" The writing said.
Marcus looked at the mirror and saw that whoever wrote this also punched the mirror multiple times and there was blood all over the dash all over the wall by the mirror. "Man, what could make a man do this to himself?" Marcus asked himself as he held up the book and opened it up to read it. All the stuff in it seemed a little interesting, he looked around as he read the book and realized he needs to get back to Prosperity, so he went out of the Bunker and tried to find his way back to Prosperity.
As he made it out of the Bunker he saw that it was daytime again, it was like everything he saw was a crazy dream he looked at his hand and saw that the book was real so it probably was real but he wasn't sure what to think, he decided to see if he could get in contact with anyone now, he tuned his radio and brought it up to his mouth.
"Hey Kim are you there?" Marcus asked. He expected to get the same response before but the radio crackled to life.
"Oh my god Captain, where have you been? We've been trying to reach you for over 2 hours." Kim asked over the radio
As Marcus was about to answer he realized he shouldn't tell her about the weird things he just saw so he told her about the ambush. "I got ambushed by Highwaymen and got run off the road. I was knocked unconscious by the crash."
"God, Are you OK?" Kim asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine I'm lost right now and I need some directions." Marcus requested.
"OK, Do you see anything that might help?" Kim asked.
Marcus thought about the things he saw in the Visions and the places this Joseph Seed led him to may help figure out where he is.
"I saw an old Ranger Station,a large radio tower, and there's a large Bunker close to it."
"OK, that helps greatly, you're on a Small island, and you're 5 miles south from the nearest Captured outpost. Marcus you need to get back here fast we have a problem" Kim Explained.
"Alright, I'll get there as fast as I can." Marcus said then put away the radio, Marcus looked at the book in his hand one last time then put it in his coat and began running to the closest outpost, it would be a long run.
Marcus arrived at the outpost and grabbed a truck and drove as fast as he could back to Prosperity. When he arrived at the Front Gates he entered and ran to the house then met with Kim at the table with Carmina and Jerome with her. They all had worried looks on their faces, Carmina looked the most worried of the group. Judging by their looks it's a serious problem.
As soon as Kim saw the Captain enter she got up from her chair and quickly ran over to the Captain. "Oh my god finally, Captain we have a problem."
Marcus took a few breaths before replying he ran really fast through the front gates and to here, it took a lot out of him."Yeah...you told me... what... is it?" He asked between breaths.
"Hunter is missing. Timber came back with a afraid look on his face. We think something bad has happened to Hunter." Kim answered somberly.
The Captain's eyes widened in surprise. "How can that be? Hunter is a resourceful kid, I've seen him handle himself well in fights. Are you sure he's not just lost?"
Jerome sat up and walked over to the captain."Hunter knows Hope County well, him getting lost isn't likely. I've tried to contact him, but he's not answering his radio." He said, just as worried as everyone else was.
"It isn't like him to just ignore a radio call, he knows to check in and he hasn't checked in in a while. Whenever someone doesn't answer a radio call it usually means something terrible has happened." Carmina said as fear crossed her face.
Kim walked over to her daughter and placed her hands on her shoulders to comfort her daughter. "Don't worry Carmina, we'll find him." Kim looked back and Marcus "Captain,When was the last time you heard from him?"
"An hour ago he contacted me that he was going Hunting, he didn't tell me where he was though." Marcus answered, that clearly wasn't much to help though.
Kim sighed in frustration that the Captain didn't know where Hunter was but Hunter didn't talk much where he went to hunt so it made sense.
Marcus looked at Jerome, he may know where Hunter is; he is the one who raised him and taught him how to survive in this world after all. "Jerome, you're the one who taught Hunter how to hunt so do you know of any favorite spots he likes to go, anywhere with good vantage points or easy prey?" He asked him.
There were a few places that Jerome knew of but most of them were taken over by the Highwaymen, but he realized that Hunter began hunting in the mountains a year ago because they offered more animals to hunt,but the risk was heavy Hunter knew the risks and still hunted in those forests. Jerome marked a few places to hunt in the mountains of Hope County. With the locations marked on his new map Marcus departed to search for Hunter, as he was about to get in the truck Carmina and Jerome ran up to him.
"Captain wait!" Carmina yelled out, he looked at them seeing them with their equipment along with Timber running behind them. "We're going with you." Carmina said.
"Are you sure? There's a lot that needs to be done here." Marcus stated.
"We're not going to stay here knowing that Hunter could be in grave danger. I've taken care of Hunter ever since he was born and he's the closest thing I've had to a son." Jerome stated.
"And he's my boyfriend, he's always looked out for me and I need to look out for him." Carmina added.
Timber gave a bark of agreement.
Three sets of hands are better than one, and Timber was with Hunter so he can be useful. Marcus thought. "Alright but stay close to me and be careful"
The both nodded in response. "Alright now get in."
They complied and got in the truck Jerome got in the front seat, Carmina and Timber got in the back seat. They left for the mountains to search for their friend.
As Marcus was driving Carmina sat back and thought that her boyfriend could be alright because Marcus was right. Hunter is a skilled person and could handle himself well but the mountains were a very dangerous place and something bad was very likely to have happened. "Don't worry Hunter, we'll find you." Carmina whispered to herself.
An Hour Ago
The Judge spent over an hour walking, he was still about two miles away from Prosperity so a little more time will pass before he'll arrive at the community. He was walking through the Mountain Forests which made it easier to avoid the locust, he hated having to spy on the Sinners but Ethan had a point something was about to happen so he needed someone to keep an eye on them and the Judge was the best suited for the job.
As the Judge was walking through the silent forest a scream suddenly filled the silence along with a beastly roar. The Judge quickly pulled out his bow and ran to the source of the scream he arrived at the source and crouched down to see what was happening, he looked and saw a boy barely standing on his own two legs,one hand holding a knife up and the other hand on his chest applying pressure on his chest as blood came gushing out of it along with his arms, he looked the other way and a bear stood feet away from the kid about to deliver the final blow.
The Bear charged at Hunter and sent him flying and crashing down to the ground, The Judge watched as the kid screamed in pain he needed to do something he wouldn't watch as a kid died knowing that he could have done something about it so as the bear was about to deliver the killing blow the Judge fired an arrow hitting a tree by the bear, it jumped back and turned to the Judge who already had another arrow loaded into his bow, he released the arrow and it hit the bear clean through its eye. The Bear screamed in pain as the arrow destroyed its eye, the Judge stepped into the field as the beast turned to him, he readied himself for a fight he pulled out another arrow out of his quiver and loaded it in his bow.
Hunter's eyes slowly opened, he slowly raised his head up and saw a masked figure fighting a bear. He tried to get up but everything hurt right now it felt like he just got crushed. He slowly looked around and saw that he was laying in a pool of his own blood, he struggled to get up but it hurt so much and he felt too weak to move. He looked at the Masked figure as he fought the bear. The Figure moved like a Ghost avoiding its attacks and jumping high higher than nobody can jump, Hunter was amazed by the figure's skill he was fighting like an absolute Devil.
"W-wow" He muttered as he layed on the ground blood still pouring out from his chest.
The Judge fired another arrow at the bear embedding itself in the Bear's neck, it gave out another roar of pain then stood up on two legs and gave a loud roar the Judge used this opportunity and fired two more arrows into its chest killing it, the bear fell to the ground it whimpered a little before it succumbed to its wounds and died. When the Judge finished pulling out his arrows out from the Bear, he turned his attention back to the boy, he looked at him and saw that he was still laying on the ground bleeding badly from his wounds.
The Judge let out a grunt of panic then ran over to him and turned him over to inspect his wound, the claws deeply cut his chest and his arms blood was still leaking from them both. Hunter slowly looked at the Masked man who was inspecting his wounds. It was a huge relief to him that he was still breathing he honstly thought that the bear was gonna do him in, but he was saved, it was if God had sent a warrior to protect him, of course he wasn't really religious but he did believe in miracles.
Hunter slowly raised his bloody arm and reached for his banana that was covering his mouth and lowered it. "T-t-t-thank...y-you...man." Hunter thanked him weakly, then he passed out from the blood loss.
The Judge thought about what to do as he looked at the kid who was on the ground unconscious and bleeding out, part of him wanted to help the boy, but another part wanted to leave him to die Ethan told him not to interact with the Sinners unless absolutely necessary but this boy would die if he didn't help him. As much as he wanted to obey Ethan's wishes something inside him was breaking through telling him to help the boy, but he was only loyal to New Eden he would only help his people but part of who he once was was telling him to help the boy, he tried to fight it but he couldn't, so the Judge looked around and realized that this wasn't the best place to help the kid so he picked him up, grabbed his bag and took him out of the forest to somewhere safe.
Don't worry Hunter will survive, this is something I really wanted to do for my story. In the next chapter the Judge will help Hunter recover and the team will pick up his trail.
Leave your reviews to let me know what you think, and if anyone has any ideas for the next chapter tell me.
I may also make a few changes to this chapter later.
Also I won't reveal the truth about Hunter till near the end of the story.