Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 3: The Warrant
The last four hours had been tense to say the least. The Sheriff had called them to the helicopter pad behind the Sheriff's office that afternoon grumbling about being told to come pick up some pencil pusher federal bureaucrat.
It was an act to try and buy them some time though once they picked up the Marshal then there would be no more hiding what was happening from those in the department who were traitors in Rook's eyes.
Pratt seemed as clueless as ever but did ask why Hudson had her shotgun and more pointedly why Rook was loaded down even further with no less than three long guns and his normal two handguns with ammo to boot but seemed to accept the Sheriff's grumbling answer that he was 'ordered' to bring 'heavy security' to protect this guy.
Landing in Missoula they met Deputy Marshal Cameron Burke, a more arrogant and mildly hot headed 'I got a gun, a badge, and a big dick' example of a federal agent Rook couldn't think he had ever met.
The short and tanned skinned man scoffed at Rook's and to a lesser degree even Hudson's shotgun again stating that according to everything he had seen that Joseph Seed was just a mad cult leader who just needed someone with balls to flash him a badge and a warrant and that rolling so heavily armed as a sign of just how incompetent their department was.
Hudson would have jumped down the Marshal's throat had the Sheriff not jumped in to deescalate the matter. Rook looked on quietly at the scene already thinking of just how many ways this could go wrong tonight.
'This guy seriously thinks that his authority is all that he needs to get stuff done. Just how in gods name does someone like that get through training?'
They eventually got back on the helicopter. Hudson had taken the copilot position if only so she didn't have to look the Marshal in the face on the way to Joseph's island, Pratt was flying and would be staying with the helicopter when they got there, it being a task that even he could be expected to do competently.
The Sheriff sat beside Burke and Rook sat across from Burke. Rook noted that the Marshal had a high dollar looking chrome plated 1911 in 9mm judging by the magazines he also carried.
'Again, an arrogant bastard with a impressive gun that he probably has only fired in qualification but will draw it the moment a Frenchman farts in his general direction.'
Rook then suddenly remembered of a mission that he had in Iraq. His team had been tasked with taking in a enemy informant back to be interrogated by the intelligence guys, the man turned out to be a much beloved teacher in the village.
When they had their 'package' the helicopter got mobbed by people as they took off. Rook remembered that one kid probably fourteen or fifteen had managed to hop on to the nose of the Blackhawk and hold on to the windshield wiper as they took off. The kid had pulled out a ancient Nagant revolver and was set to shoot the pilot so he drew his own 1911 and shot from inside the cabin.
'Caught some shit for doing that but I caught more shit from everyone complaining about ringing ears afterwords. Better swap for the suppressor this time.'
Rook calmly drew his pistol, dropped the mag and cleared the chamber. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that Burke and the Sheriff had stopped arguing for the moment instead watching him unscrew the large muzzle break from his pistol and swap it for the suppressor.
"So Rook what's up with the hand cannon?" Burke said trying to be nice.
"Something about this job reminded me of something that happened in my Army days so I figure this time I would actually have the suppressor attached this time." Rook replied as he finished tightening the new part.
"Mind if I take a look at your piece?" Burke asked holding his hand out. Rook considered it for a moment and handed the empty weapon to the Marshal. He proceeded to look down red dot sight at the chopper floor getting a feel for the gun.
"I know you got that big suppressor on the end but this is long enough that it has to be nose heavy. Who did you buy this gun from?" Burke said as he handed the gun back to Rook.
"Once loaded its a lot better balanced. As for the source, my father is a gunsmith he custom built this thing to my request as a gift when I joined the Army. It's been with me all over hell's half acre." Rook said as he finished reloading and holstering his sidearm.
"Let me guess you were an artilleryman, lifting all those big shells." Burke said chuckling as spoke.
Rook noted that the Sheriff rolled his eyes at the comment and even not being able to see Hudson's face he could tell by her body language that she wasn't becoming any more a fan of the Marshal than before.
"No I was in Delta Force. Spec ops. If you want to know more I will have to ask you to unbuckle your seat belt while I open the door. I'll tell you a story then throw you out the door. At our altitude of... oh I'd say 3000 feet."
"3500 feet." Hudson cut in.
"Thank you, Hudson. Yeah at 3500 feet you'll have a bit less than 30 seconds until you hit the ground to comprehend what I just told you. I maybe the brute squad here but I'm not a idiot." Rook finished.
Burke was smirking. "Ok so if you are some kind of high speed, low drag operator type. Why would you be here as a probie deputy for a rural Montana county?"
"I was kinda wondering the same thing but was too afraid to ask." Pratt chipped in from the pilots seat.
"Was born and raised here as was my family going back six generations. My father owns the largest gun shop in the county and while I could have gotten a job at said shop I thought I would do something useful for the community at least until he retires. I bring a set of skills that while thankfully not needed often is still good to have at hand at least from a organizational standpoint. Besides I'm getting older and wouldn't mind being able to settle down a bit and start a family once I relearn how to date."
"Didn't get much lady action overseas did you Probie?" Pratt mocked back.
Hudson was giving Pratt a death stare to which he gave a shrug and a 'What? Am I wrong?' sort of gesture. The Sheriff was pinching the bridge of his nose probably regretting bringing Pratt so far.
"Considering that where I was the women were either diseased or tended to strap on C4. You wouldn't want to get close to either." Rook replied.
"So you are a good ol' boy come home from the Army. Well can't say that I was far off my original assessment of you." Burke finished.
Five minutes passed before Pratt spoke up sounding serious for once.
"We are passing over the Henbane now."
"If you look to the left side of the aircraft you can see Joseph Seed's massive ego enhancing statue." Hudson added in her best mock stewardess voice.
"Jesus... what kind of crazy motherfucker is this guy?" Burke said as the reality of the situation starting hitting him. After all if this guy was just some two bit crazy cult leader how could he have a 150 foot statue built of him?
"How long do we have?" Burke asked trying to keep it together.
"Long enough for you to realize that we are not prepared enough for this warrant and that we need to turn this bird around and get back up." The Sheriff said half pleading with the other lawman.
"You want me to ignore a Federal warrant, Sheriff?" Challenged Burke.
"No one is saying not serving the warrant Marshal. What we are saying and what we have been saying from the very start of this is that Joseph Seed and his cult are not to be fucked with. If we want this go our way we can't half ass it by going in as light as we are." Rook answered staring Burke down.
"Well I think the lot of you are so out of your depth that you are making mountains out of mole hills. We have laws for a reason and this Joseph Seed guy is going to learn that, no matter how many big statues he builds." Burke said definitely.
A heavy pause lingered as they kept flying. It was a fitting match to the heavy fog that had descended on the whole valley that night hiding much of the land.
Finally the Sheriff broke the silence. "Pratt, open a call to dispatch."
"Ten-four." said Pratt.
The Sheriff continued "Whitehorse to dispatch. Over."
"Go ahead, Earl. Over." Answered Nancy.
"We are approaching Joseph Seed's compound to serve a Federal warrant for Joseph. If you don't hear anything from us in a hour. Call in everyone even the National Guard. Over."
There was a pause that Rook found profoundly discomforting until Nancy got back on the line.
"Copy Sheriff, uh... you sure you want to go through with this idea? Over." Nancy replied her voice beginning to shake a bit.
"Yeah our friend the US Marshal wants to serve this warrant immediately. Over." The Sheriff said as Burke rolled his eyes and muttered silently more about mountains and mole hills.
"Well ok Sheriff. If you get into trouble you just let me know. You can tell that Marshal that he's lucky I'm not there to give him a piece of my mind. Over." Nancy replied adding a bit of venom at the end.
"Ten-four Nancy. Over and out." The Sheriff said as he motioned for Pratt to cut the call. Rook looked up and his eyes met Hudson's.
'The cat is out of the bag now and it doesn't look good.' They both thought.
"Maybe we should have brought Nancy along instead of the Probie. The peggies wouldn't fuck with her." Pratt joked.
"Pratt." Hudson snapped back.
'Of course they wouldn't fuck with her when she is probably happily helping them fuck us over!' Thought Rook.
"Why do you call them 'peggies'?" Burke asked
The Sheriff filled in Burke on the local history of the cult. The stuff that apparently didn't make it into any of briefing material.
'Assuming you even bothered to read any of it. After all this was suppose to be just a quick in and out job.' Rook thought as his mood turned downward. There were so many things that could go wrong this and here he was having to watch it first hand.
"We are at the compound." Announced Pratt.
They orbited the small compound that was dominated by a large white church house with various smaller white buildings dotted throughout. Large gardens of vegetables and white flowers could be seen peeking out from underneath hail tarps, and drying racks covered in more fresh white flowers dotted the compound as well.
More obviously though were various bond fires being fed books by cultists while others with old WWII style flamethrowers kept hosing down the new material.
"Oh Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. This is a bad idea." Hudson said as a touch of fear began to show itself.
"My god, this is their operation?" Burke asked.
"One of many. This is our last chance to break off Marshal." The Sheriff pleaded.
A moment passed as Burke thought on the idea.
'God damn it you stupid son of bitch! Have enough sense to pull out!' Rook mentally screamed.
"We're going in." Burke said simply.
'More balls and bravado than brains you stupid little pencil pushing bastard.'
The Sheriff sighed and gave the order. "Set her down Pratt. Nancy you on the line?"
"Yes Sheriff? Over." Nancy replied her voice shaking.
"I want to change the time table. If you don't hear from us in fifteen minutes you call in everyone. Over." The Sheriff said.
"Yes sir, I'll be praying for you. Dispatch over and out." Nancy said.
Pratt landed the helicopter and Rook felt his heart begin to race wildly. Part of him instinctively wanted to rush out of the helicopter and secure the area rifle in hand but he knew that would only kick things off sooner than they already were too likely to happen. The Sheriff turned as best as he could to face everyone.
"Ok listen up! Three rules: Stick close, keep your guns in your holsters..." he looked hard at Burke on this point.
"and let me do the talking. Got it?" The Sheriff said again focusing on Burke.
"Got it." Was the annoyed reply from Burke.
"Rook?" The Sheriff glanced questioningly.
"Yes sir!" Rook snapped "Big stick."
The Sheriff visibly eased a bit and shook his head in approval.
"Ok lets go!" The Sheriff said grabbing his hat as he hauled open the chopper door.
Rook did the same letting Burke out first and falling in behind him and beside Joey who out of the group was the only one with a drawn long arm. She was going to be the door stop once they hit the church.
Looking around the compound entrance it was only illuminated by the patchy moonlight and the many book based bond fires burning around them.
'It tells me, that goose-stepping morons like yourself should try *reading* books instead of *burning* them!' Rook happily if only briefly thought of the line from the third Indiana Jones movie. As he followed the group toward the church.
"Rook! On me and stay loose." Hudson said assuming her role as the senior deputy.
Rook nodded and followed as he kept his hands from his guns as best as he could. All round various cultists came out of the buildings with all manner of arms from baseball bats and shovels to pistols and shotguns. Angry attack dogs barked and pulled at their masters chains just waiting for a chance to jump on the intruders.
"Everyone be calm. Just go about your business, this doesn't concern you." The Sheriff said as he continued leading their march.
The bolder of the cultists could be heard making various comments ranging from 'We didn't do anything wrong' to 'Fucking heathen pigs'. Though the last one when Rook turned his gaze to the one that said it visibly shrunk from the larger man.
"I don't like the looks of this. Sheriff." Hudson said as more of the better armed cultists came out of the buildings and closed on the group.
"Everything's fine, Hudson. Everything is just fine as long as we stay calm and we can try to salvage this."
The Sheriff said even as he eyed one of the closer shotgun welding men that had stepped down off a bench and spat on the ground in front of the officers.
"Jesus Christ! You guys are wearing badges aren't you?" Burke complained.
"Yeah, but they don't respect badges much in here." Hudson replied.
"They'll respect a nine millimeter." Burke shot back.
"Marshal you don't have enough nine mills, and even I don't think I have enough ammo on me. This is a problem that very likely can't be solved with a bullet." Rook said.
'That's a bare faced lie. This whole thing can be solved with even the ammo I have on hand, hell I have done more with less! But that requires things like stealth, planning, long range sniping, and a complete and utter disregard for legalities or morality!' Thought Rook.
The group finally had made it way to the door to the Church. On the faded and paint chipped door was a crudely carved quote from the book of Revelations chapter 1 verse 8.
'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. As expected of a cult leader his ego demands that he frame himself as such.' Rook thought.
Inside he could hear the last lines of a questionable performance of 'Amazing Grace' as Burke marched up to the door past the Sheriff ready to open it with his other hand on his gun.
The Sheriff stopped him cold.
"Whoa Marshal. Now we do this, we do it my way: Quietly. Calmly. You got it?"
Burke's patience was clearly running thin and he clearly wasn't used to being questioned or ordered by anyone not directly above him.
"Fine." Burke annoyingly said.
The Sheriff turned to Hudson. "Hudson, on the door. Watch our backs and don't let any of these people get in. Rook you'll come in with us."
Before reaching for the door the Sheriff turned to Burke one last time. "And you... just try... no, don't do anything stupid."
Burke tried to put on convincing smile and put his hand on the Sheriff's shoulder. "Relax, Sheriff. You're about to get your name in the paper."
Rook and Hudson shared a equally incredulous look between themselves on hearing this.
'Oh mother of god... is this guy serious? Has he ever even read a newspaper? At this rate our names will be in the obituaries section!' Rook thought finally believing that they had a ninety percent chance that this was about to turn violent.
The Sheriff and Marshal both grabbed a door handle each and opened them wide. As Rook followed them in Hudson leaned over to him one last time. "You'll be fine Roger."
"Watch yourself Joey, everything is happening as I have foreseen." Roger replied.
Inside the dimly lit church a lone man stood at the front of the rows of pews, flanked on either side with big flat screen TVs. As the three lawmen approached the rear most pews the four armed cultists parted before them, their hands tightening around their weapons.
"Something is coming. You can feel it can't you? We are... creeping toward the edge." Spoke the lone man at the head of the church.
Rook looked around the room as more of the people in the pews stood before their presence.
"And there will be a reckoning. That is why we started 'The Project'. Because we know what happens next. They will come. They will try to take from us. Take our guns. Take our freedom... take our faith!"
The preacher continued.
As they drew closer to the front Rook could see the lone man at the head of church more clearly. A tall thinly built man who stood shirtless before the mass. Rook had to admit by what little he had heard of this mans speech thus far, he could tell that this guy knew how to work a crowd and had the charisma to maximize that work.
"But we won't let them..." Continued the preacher his voice rising in tone in perfect step with the rising tension in the room. To his right stood a man that Rook recognized from the first billboard that he saw upon coming home, He was carefully groomed and dressed in a fine leather long coat with expensive sunglasses perched atop his head.
Further to the right of the room well outside of the light pouring in from the eight pointed cross window stood another man, taller than the last but still thinly built. This one wore a old Army uniform jacket and stood with his arms folded as if daring them to strike first, he was also armed with a M9 Beretta in a thigh holster and large survival knife in a belt sheath.
On the left of the Preacher just at the edge of the shadows stood a small brown haired woman dressed in white. She was too clean to be like any of the other cultists and her position in the room supported that theory.
They finally reached the front of the room and Rook saw clearly for the first time Joseph Seed. The man was covered in the tattoos of his cult, of 'Eden' written across his chest. Among the tattoos were numerous scars of various sins and other signs of self scarification. His face bore a short beard and mustache, and his eyes were framed behind large gold rimmed aviator style glasses with yellow tinted lenses and his hair oddly enough in Rooks eyes was tied up into a man bun of some kind.
'Yes this man just screams 'stable and reasonable minded preacher'.' Rook thought as he took in the man who continued his sermon.
Burke was getting jumpy even as the Sheriff tried to restrain him.
"We will not let their greed, or their immorality, or their depravity hurt us anymore! There will be no more suffering!" Joseph continued.
"Stay calm..." The Sheriff tried to say but Burke rebuked him immediately
"No, fuck this..."
'And here... we... go.' Rook braced himself.
"Joseph Seed! I have a warrant issued for your arrest on the suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to harm!" Burke belted out cutting off Seeds sermon as he held up the federal arrest warrant. He continued.
"Now, I want you to step forward and keep your hands where I can see'em" As Burke finished the last sentence those who sat on the front row pews stood up weapons in hand and formed a wall of dirty and disheveled people between Seed and the lawmen.
Joseph held up his hands seeming pleased with the situation. "Here they are... the Locusts in our garden.. You see they've come for me."
The grumbling from the others in the room was gradually increasing as Seed primed them further.
"They've come to take me away you. They've come destroy all that we built."
'If that was the case then there would be a lot more dead bodies at this moment and given everything that the cult has done so far I don't think there would be much local backlash.' Rook thought as Seed made eye contact with him. The two men stared each other for a few heartbeats waiting for the other to fold and for some basic form of dominance to be established.
Burke reached for his gun at this moment.
"Alright, now. Put your guns down. Put your guns down!" The Sheriff ordered as he turned to Burke
"Now hold on, do not touch that service weapon! Hold on and stand down! Stand down! Everyone calm down!"
At that moment Joseph descended down from the raised pulpit and touched the backs of two of the men forming the wall between him the lawmen. Like magic the room quieted, and all attention was focused on him as those men and the woman that had flanked Joseph moved into the light and stood behind and above him in a show of solidarity.
"We knew this moment would come. We have prepared for it. Go. Go..." Seed said urging his followers to break their ranks and leave quietly.
"God will not let them take me." Seed finished. As his followers passed by the lawmen they looked at each man with hate but when they looked up into the eyes of Rook even they wilted a bit as if something, some part of their humanity that remained warned them that what they looked upon then was something far more dangerous than the others.
As they filed out Rook took a moment to look through the open door and saw that Hudson was still there in one piece but clearly on edge.
'Ok get mad man cuffed, get to da choppa, and fly out of here and hope that the rest of the county isn't burned down in the process once the mad man cult leader is gone. Seems simple enough.' Rook thought.
Joseph had raised his hands high above his head and looked up and began speaking again.
"I saw when the Lamb opened the First Seal, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts say, come and see..."
"Step. Forward." Burke said his impatience still growing.
Joseph did as we was told and pointed at Burke. "and I saw, and behold..."
Joseph looked at the Sheriff now. "It was a white horse..."
Then Joseph looked up into Rooks eyes once more.
"and Hell followed with him." Joseph finished as he held out his arms in a submissive offer.
"Probie. Cuff this son of a bitch." The Marshal ordered. Rook looked to the Sheriff as he slowly nodded once confirming the order.
Rook stepped forward, his massive boots sounding impossibly loud on the wood floor of the now nearly empty church.
"God will not let you take me." Joseph repeated managing to still stare down the larger man before him.
Rook took out his cuffs and applied them exactly as procedure demanded. "If god is on your side then you have nothing to fear, Mr. Seed. Calm your flock and let god guide you back. And no one has to die tonight."
Now cuffed Joseph spoke one last time "Sometimes the best thing to do is walk away."
"And sometimes the best thing to do is charge boldly into the fires of Hell." Rook countered.
The others who stood behind Joseph didn't move or speak as the cult leader was marched to the door under Rooks guidance.
The Sheriff and Marshal pushed open the church doors. Hudson turned to them.
"We gotta get the fuck outta here..." At that moment a pickup carrying several more armed cultists pulled up blocking their original route back to the chopper.
"Marshal, take point. We're going right... Rook stick close and stay on the path." The Sheriff said.
They walked by the numerous small white buildings with ever larger numbers of people pouring out of them again welding all manner of weapons both purpose built or make shift.
One woman tried to physically block Burke but he quickly threw her to the ground.
"Back up! Back! Up!" Burke yelled as they pressed on.
As they rounded the last corner and could see the the chopper the crowd grew even more agitated.
"I am a Federal Marshal, I'm ordering you to stand back!" Burke yelled just as he was pelted in the head with a soda can. Finally the Sheriff ordered weapons out not that Rook could do so as he was guiding Seed but Hudson could be heard switching the safety off of her shotgun and kept it shouldered in a low ready stance.
It was this moment Burke did the worst possible thing. He fired two shots into the air and the crowds volume increased tenfold as they closed on the group. Hudson rushed ahead to open the side door to accept Seed and Pratt was racing to try and get the chopper started as fast as humanly possible.
The Sheriff ran across the front of the chopper to the co-pilots seat and Burke took his original position. Hudson strapped in Seed facing rearward and she and Rook took the forward facing seats.
Just as Rook had feared the cultists were mobbing the chopper. Burke punched one that tried to climb into the cabin but even stunned he held on.
"Pratt! Climb! Shake'em off!" The Sheriff ordered.
Rook punched a second cultist that was trying to drag him out in the throat completely crushing the mans windpipe. Looking right Hudson was struggling to keep the other door closed from the two cultists trying to force it open.
"We're too heavy!" Rook heard Pratt call out as the Sheriff tried to reach Nancy. The chopper was laboring heavily to get into the air but was now 200 feet or so above the compound.
'The time for violence has now arrived!' Rook thought as the pragmatic side of him finally released itself. He drew his suppressed .45 and focused on Hudson's issue first.
"Hudson! Duck!" He yelled as she instantly followed the warning, ducking low as Rook fired a single round each into the heads of her two cultist borders, without further warning or delay he swung his gun around and fired another shot into the head of the cultist hanging off of Burke's gun arm. Why hadn't the Marshal shot the fucker already wasn't his concern at that moment as he kept shifting his aim to the new cultist that had replaced the earlier one hanging off of his body armor trying to drag him out despite the seat belt he was wearing. Another pull of the trigger and the cultists head disappeared in a shower of gore across the tail section of the chopper, with the most immediate boarders taken care of he quickly zeroed in on the head of the cultist trying to ride the nose of the chopper and finished him off with a another head shot and watched the body slip down and to the right of the nose away from the engines or rotors.
The chopper now free of unwanted passengers raced north.
"Nancy, do you copy?!" The Sheriff continued to try and reach the dispatcher.
Rook holstered his sidearm and looked down and around at the ground watching instinctively for more threats. Sadly he found some.
"We got armed technicals! Evade Pratt! Evade!" Rook screamed as streaks of .50 cal tracer fire danced around the chopper before settling on their target: The tail rotor.
With the tail rotor shot out the chopper started autorotate and such a condition was beyond Pratt's skill to control as the chopper fell from the sky and into the woods. All the while Joseph Seed was calmly butchering 'Amazing Grace'.
It was everything Rook could do to hold on and brace for the impact. When they hit the ground Rook being so much taller than average hit his head on the chopper roof somehow not knocking him out but definitely stunning him as the aircraft tumbled around eventually flipping on to its roof.
Rook fought to maintain conscience at least long enough to know that he could still move his fingers and toes mostly ruling out any serious back or head injuries. His vision came and went out of focus but he could see Seed reach across to an unconscious Hudson and take her cuff key to free his hands. The entire place smelled of leaking fuel and he could hear it drip out of the tanks on to the ground.
With a hard slam Joseph unbuckled himself and fell to the roof now floor. Rook could hear Nancy finally responding to the Sheriff calling for him or anyone to answer.
'Nancy you damnable cult whore I will make sure you pay for your actions tonight.' Rook though angrily has he tried to reach the dangling radio headset only to have it calmly snatched away by Joseph.
"That saved a wretch like me..." Joseph croaked out the last lines of his song.
Rook grumbled as he tried to focus and get full control over his arms.
Joseph pulled his face closer to Rook's own. "I told you that God wouldn't let you take me."
Joseph then casually reached out and grasped the headset one more time before speaking into it.
"Dispatch?"
"Ohhh... my god." Nancy could be heard seemingly relieved.
"Everything is just fine here. No need to call anyone." Joseph said soothing the worried woman on the other end of the line.
"Yes, Father. Praise be to you." Nancy said now clearly relieved if not outright joyful.
'YOU FUCKING TRAITOROUS BITCH! I WILL HANG YOUR CORPSE OVER THE FRONT OFFICE DOOR!' Rook mentally roared.
Joseph smiled slightly and came even closer to Rook and whispered softly. "No one is coming to save you."
Then with that sentence spoken a calmness descended on Rook. Like a puppet having its strings cut, only now this puppet could stand on its own. He smiled greatly and began laughing joyously. Joseph for the first time looked disturbed and tried to back away from the laughing deputy but in one last concentrated burst of will power Rook managed to grab Joseph's shoulder as tightly as he could manage and brought him back almost to nose to nose.
"No... No one is coming to stop me." Rook whispered as he began to laugh again and Joseph jerked out of the deputies grasp his face flying from confusion to being terrified no matter how well he tried to hide it. Joseph heard someone outside call out to him and he finally assumed his flat stony facade again, he turned quickly more trying to distance himself from the deputy than to actually reach his people who now approached him.
"Everything is unfolding according to God's plan. I am still here with you. The First Seal has been broken." Joseph said as he climbed on to the hood the cultist pickup that had brought the men there.
Meanwhile Hudson was waking up and the other could be heard beginning to stir as well.
"Joey we need to get moving." Rook said regaining his own measure of control.
Joseph continued his speech upon the Chevy "The Collapse has begun. And we will take what we need. And we will preserve what we have."
"Roger... what?" Hudson croaked out as she tried to get her bearings.
Rook started to work at his belt buckle trying to force it open but the latch for reasons that he couldn't begin to contemplate wouldn't release.
'If I survive this I am going to write one angry letter to the FAA about seat belt design regulations.'
"Joey wake up we got to move NOW!" Rook said as Hudson slowly started to work on her own buckle.
Looking forward Burke was now awake and starting to work at his own buckle.
Joseph concluded his impromptu sermon. "And we will kill all those who stand in our way. And these... The harbingers of doom will see the truth... BEGIN THE REAPING!"
At that the cultists moved to the chopper and its still trapped occupants. Pratt and the Sheriff were the first to be drug out trying to fight off their handlers. Hudson finally got her buckle undone only to be roughly grabbed as she tried to roll away from the cultists.
"Get the fuck off of me! ROGER!" She yelled.
"JOEY!" Rook roared as he tried to grab her leg but his fuel slicked hands couldn't get a grip. Instead he redoubled his efforts to get free.
"Jesus Christ, we gotta get the fuck out of here!" Burke said.
"No shit you dumb ass." Rook shot back. Another cultist came crawling into the cabin to grab the last two men. Rook automatically punched him in the face causing him to fall to the floor just as the fuel leaking from the chopper caught fire.
The cultist screamed as he was drug out, his brethren trying to put out the flames. Joseph looked on unconcerned about his burning son and proclaimed.
"Let them burn. This is God's will. This is their punishment."
Not a moment after Burke got free and ran out of the burning chopper.
'Yeah thanks a lot for the assistance comrade!' Rook thought as he gave up on the buckle and strained to reach his knife as the flames quickly licked ever higher. Finally pulling the blade out and slicing the belt webbing he fell mostly on to his rucksack thankfully and rolled out of the burning wreck stopping only to grab his hat.
One of the cultists saw this and called out the men escaping. Soon gunfire was heard as Rook weaved between the trees rounds occasionally striking the tree showering him with splinters. He came to a rocky ledge overlooking a small pond and jumped in.
Thankfully the body of water was deep enough and he swam along the bottom for as long as he physically could before slowly emerging from the water. Some small part at the back of his mind saw this as rather symbolic, he was no longer deputy Roger Rook. Now he was baptized so to speak and reborn again as Major Roger Rook or as the CIA had dubbed him in their books... 'Black Reaper'.
He saw a old logging operation where a lone cultist was reporting in a dead fellow cultist likely Burke's work. He quickly crouched among the undergrowth, decided against using any of his guns for the moment as he wanted to save his ammo until he had a better grasp of what the new situation was besides just being FUBAR.
The cultist was so focused on his dead friend and his radio that he didn't hear Rook come up and twist his head sharply around, the only and last sound he ever made being the crunching of his own neck bones. Rook searched the man and found some .45 acp ammo and a old Vietnam era M26A1 grenade.
'How much do I want to bet that the ATF would like to know where the cult got all these old grenades. Even after the law changes you still need to pay a tax stamp for each one.'
He climbed down from the sawmill into a small gully of sort and made his way toward a camp fire that unsurprisingly was occupied by a pair of cult members. Again he used the thick undergrowth to approach the pair as they kept psyching each other up by repeating the cults slogans: 'The Father protects us, who protects you?' and 'The Father guides us.' among others.
Then he heard his radio chirp to life. "Hello...? Anyone hearing me? Hello? It's Burke... Hello?"
'Oh sweet flaming Jesus you idiot! Nancy is still probably at her radio passing on anything she hears!' Rook thought angrily.
Burke continued though. "I think I lost them... I see a... a trailer nearby. It's next to a long bridge... I'm gonna try and get inside... if anyone's still out there..." The transmission ended then.
'Oh great just highlight exactly where the cult needs to go to find you and ask "Would you like to learn more about The Word of the Father?"'
Rook was now in a bush at the very edge of the ring of light given off by the large campfire as he waited for his moment to strike. One of the cultists turned away from his friend to search a nearby cooler for something to drink, so Rook moved into the light and again twisted the other cultists neck letting the body fall into the fire before rushing the cooler raider slamming his head on to a convenient rock jutting out of the ground with murderous force.
"Hey guys we got word on where one of the sinners might be!" A voice called out from the forest behind him. He dumped the cooler raider's body along side his partner in the fire and moved behind a massive tree as two more cultists armed with handguns came upon the camp and saw the smoking bodies.
"Oh god, do you think the sinner got to them?" One asked.
"Maybe it was the other one, there are two that run from The Father." the other cultist replied.
They spread out and searched the nearby brush from the direction they came giving Rook another chance to put his melee skills to work. With the two men now dead Rook drug their bodies and add them to the fire as well if for no other reason then leave a grizzly sight for the next cultists that were very likely to follow soon enough.
'As predicted Nancy must still be actively monitoring and directing the search parties.'
"Still might as well meet with Burke. At least maybe then I can make him useful in some manner." Rook said to himself. He looked up at the full moon and saw in its light a long foot bridge leading to a small homestead, very likely what Burke had described.
He picked through the brush again wary of any more sudden search parties that had to be closing on this location until he reached the foot bridge. He paused listening for signs of human life and found none, looking ahead the trailer was listed as 'For Sale: Desperate' but the numerous Cult flags and painted crosses pointed to the previous owners likely having been kicked out or more likely killed.
He charged across the bridge now wanting to be out in the open for any more than he had to and approached the seemingly dark trailer. He slowly and silently pushed open the door and heard the distinct sound of someone moving quickly as if to hide out of sight.
'Burke. Probably thinks I am a cultist and is going to try and jump me.' Rook thought as he pushed open the door fully.
"Burke..." Rook started to say before nearly being tackled by Burke leaping from the shadows only to be caught and thrown down on the ground by the larger man.
Burke looked up "Jesus Christ... Rook. I'm sorry... I thought they got you... come on... now you're here..." Burke hauled himself up and continued "Lets go and check this place out first." Burke led the way into the living room of the small home. For some reason he backed into the room instead of actually sweeping it.
"Check the room." Burke directed to his left but finally Rook's own patience had finally run its course. He lept at Burke and slammed him against the wall and hoisted him up by his throat.
"You are no longer in charge Burke. You have shown time and again since this started to be incapable of making even the most basic of choices or accepting of new information on the situation, and its clear that you likely didn't even read the briefing that was, I hope provided to you by the Sheriff when he called for support." Rook said his face almost touching Burke's.
Rook looked left through a window and saw a garage with a cultist marked pickup truck.
"Now there is a truck outside. We will commandeer it and race for Missoula at best speed. I would much rather have you drop me off before you leave the valley, but since I doubt your competence I will have to accompany you all the way to Missoula to insure that you not only actually summon assistance, but summon enough and powerful enough assistance to do more than just provide more bodies for the cult to shoot at. Are we clear pencil pusher?" Rook asked.
Burke made a gurgling noise and shook his head in agreement as best as he could before Rook dropped him to the ground and turned to search for the truck keys while also watching for approaching search parties.
"As you heard Nancy at dispatch is part of the cult so you did a marvelous job of radioing in our position so we will likely have company soon." Rook stated as Burke still gasping for breath had managed to get up and search the back bedroom for the truck keys.
"I... I.. didn't know what we where going into." Burke said having finally found his voice again. Rook rolled his eyes as he found the keys next to a 1911 pistol and a few mags.
"As I said when I had you pinned to the wall. We did try to warn you repeatedly to the last bloody second and you blew us off, then you had go all 'bad ass motherfucker' in the church instead of letting the Sheriff talk Seed down. Then you fired your weapon into the air which raised everything to a new level of intensity as we saw. So no matter how much you claim otherwise this shitstorm is on your ass." Rook finished as he thrust the gun and the truck keys into Burkes chest.
"Now you will drive and I will shoot so lets go..." Rook cut off when he heard voices from outside.
"Search the trailers! The radio said at least one sinner is around here!" A man ordered from outside.
Rook slung his HCAR off his pack and into his hands and march towards the door. "Burke I'll distract them you bring the truck around, then we ride."
He approached the front door just as a cultist was about to open it, he switched his rifle to full auto and put a three round burst through the door into the cultist and two of his friends behind him. The unusual noise of his suppressed rifle confused the other two men in the yard giving him the opening to kill another cultist standing behind a woodpile and a second one out in the open before he could bring his own rifle to bear.
Burke for a change actually rushed out and got the truck started promptly. Rook rushed to the truck and jumped in. "Drive damn you!" Rook said and Burke slammed the accelerator as more cultists reached the homestead trying to figure out what had happened to their fellows and why one of their trucks was racing away.
Rooks cellphone beeped and he took it out.
'No signal. Given where we are I should have at least 3 out of 5 bars. Just how big of an area is the cult going to lock down?'
"We've lost cell service in the area so we have no secure means of mobile communication given that Nancy is still active." Rook said.
"Fucking Nancy... Oh no... Oh shit they have the roads blocked!" Burke said as they turned and drove away from the roadblock. A cultist pickup gave chase and its occupants began firing wildly at their general direction.
Rook leaned out of the window really wishing he had something belt fed at the very least and started pumping short controlled bursts into the engine and towards the driver though the jostling of Burke avoiding major obstacles was making hitting anything man size difficult even for him.
Every turn seemed to reveal another roadblock driving them back south towards Fall's End. Then more trucks with gun men and even ATV's with shooters followed them. One thing Rook was grateful for was loading up on his armor piercing ammo as it made short work of whatever it hit at the very least. Of course it was at this time that their situation got worse if that was possible.
A replica P-40 Warhawk painted in cult white flew overhead and banked hard to come about to try and strafe them. Rook threw efficiency out the door and dumped the rest of his mag into the aircraft while this did relatively little damage it shook the likely inexperienced pilot's aim enough to save them for the moment.
"Don't tell me they have fucking air support! Burke cried out.
"Well yes they do so be ready to zig zag. Oh shit another truck!" Rook answered as he finished swapping his magazine.
This truck unlike the others had cut in front of them just before they got to the truss bridge that connected Holland Valley with the Henbane River region. This truck also had a proper mounted M60 complete with turret ring and ad hoc armored gun shield though this did leave the gunners lower half completely exposed, something that Rook took full advantage of.
He could hear the plane come back around but now in a steep dive. His heart stopped when he saw a damn 500 lb bomb being released from the center bomb rack.
'Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!'
"Burke watch out they are dropping..." Rook didn't finish as the aerial bomb landed just in front of the cult pickup with the dead gunner in front of them. The blast thrust their own truck over the side of the bridge like a child's toy and into the water.
The impact was hard on Rook especially given that he wasn't belted in. The truck sank rapidly front first and Rook saw Burke swim out of the shattered front windshield and go straight for the surface.
'Bad idea, they are going to be watching the immediate area for anyone surfacing.'
Rook was able to open the passenger door and swam along with the current staying underwater for as long as his burning lungs would let him. Eventually he surfaced and managed to paddle into the shallows on a small island. The nights events were catching up with him but as tired as he was he knew he couldn't stop, especially now as he looked up at the bridge they had been blown off of had several trucks and men with lights searching for him and on the nearby shore of the bridge he could see and hear Burke get captured by the cult.
"Well shit everything really just falling apart now." Rook said as he heard a shotgun safety be switched off.
A older bald white man now stood before him with a double barrel shotgun aimed at his head.
"You're coming with me." The man said gesturing for Rook to start walking. Not having much a choice Rook defiantly slung his rifle over his shoulder and began walking in the indicated direction, if he was honest the man was clearly not a cultist and hadn't asked for him to disarm himself.
'I could probably have resisted but I won't lie tonight has knocked me around a fair bit. Time to start coming up with a new plan to deal... with all this.' Rook thought as he was lead down into a bunker and eventually to a living quarters.
"Don't move until you hear the door lock. I will be back in the morning by then I hope to figure just what the fuck is going on." The man said. Rook did as he was told and waited for the sound of a heavy steel door and multiple locks being turned.
With nothing else left to do he shrugged off the pack, checked over his guns and ammo for damage, and fell asleep on the bed.
'No one is coming to stop me from coming for you Joseph Seed. I will hold nothing back, your so called 'flock' will fear me and they will claw at each other to avoid meeting me. Then they will turn against you and your 'family'. Your 'family' will suffer greatly and in the end when your empire is ashes I will come for you personally.' Rook thought as sleep finally claimed him.