Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 6: The Cleansing Begins...
Meanwhile on the shore of one of the rivers that ran south of Seed Ranch, Rook was coming to if only somewhat.
"This one?" A nearby peggie asked pointing at another mans body.
"No. This one." his partner replied sternly.
"Doesn't seem very worthy." the first peggie said.
"It is not for us to judge. Deliver them unto the waters. The Cleansing begins tonight." the stern peggie ordered.
The two men tried to pick up Rook but couldn't even sit him up straight not that he was going to help them in anyway.
"Brothers we need help! This sinner is made out of stone!" The stern peggie called out and summoned four other cultists to help lift Rook off the ground to take him to the waters edge with great effort.
Rook's mind was still processing everything and noted that his muscles and joints ached greatly. He honestly wasn't going to be fighting back much at this point.
He felt himself get dropped into the bracingly cold river water and be held down by some long bearded peggie as a voice in the background loudly proclaimed something. Rook didn't struggle in fact he didn't even move at all. The less you moved the less oxygen your muscles need and the slower your heart rate. All of this added up to being able to stay down longer when being held and for some of the dumber types that tend to try and drown people this way doing this makes them think you died conveniently sooner than expected. In his experience at least.
"We must wash away our past. We must expose our sins."
'Oh good that must be John. If this lasts enough for the drugs to wear off maybe I can kill him and get whatever sort of access key or card I'll probably need to reach Joey.' Rook thought happily.
The men assigned to stand him up struggled more than ever with the wet weight of Rook but they eventually got him to stand somewhat on his own and half drag him forward towards the blurry figure that Rook figured was John.
"We must atone... For only then may we stand in the light of God... and walk through his gate unto Eden." John spoke as he rubbed ash on the other victims heads, but as Rook approached John the Baptist shut his heretical book and looked the lawman in the eye.
"Not this one." John said as he handed off his book to one of the cultists who carried it as if it were a child.
John gave Rook a skeptical look before speaking again. "This one's not clean."
With a quick shove that also took down the other men who were supporting Rook, John shoved the deputy back under the water. Again Rook froze but the temptation to act was too strong and with everything he could manage he broke his right arm free of his captors and grabbed Johns shirt collar.
He jerked down bringing the Baptist nose to nose with him under the water in a unbreakable soul piercing stare. John released Rook immediately and tried to bring his head back above the water but while Rook wasn't at anything near full strength he could lock his arm well enough to resist the other mans thrashing.
'Thrash all you want. You only hasten your doom heretic.' Rook thought.
But eventually the knocked down cultists recovered and separated the two men.
Rook was hauled back up and resumed his unblinking stare with a now wet and notably angry John.
No words were spoken as clearly John was struggling to hold himself back from outright killing the giant lawman and just as he grabbed Rook again a all too familiar haunting voice rang out from behind the Herald.
"Do you mock 'The Cleansing', John?" Joseph Seed asked.
John's face paled and lost all signs of anger and replaced it with shame and a small amount of fear as he turned to answer his brother.
"No, Joseph..." John started but was shushed by The Father.
"You have to love them, John. Do not let your sin prevent that. Now bring him to me." Joseph said in a warning tone.
Rook managed to finally get his eyes to focus enough to see Joseph clearly as he was drug by the group with even John helping to try and hurry along Joseph's order. He was now dressed like John in fine clothes. A white silk shirt, a padded leather vest, tight cut jeans with a sizable belt buckle, fine snakeskin boots, and of course his ever present yellow tinted gold framed aviator glasses. He would have passed easily as a well off rancher in his Sunday best.
As the group approached the cult leader, Joseph held out his hands invitingly towards the drugged up lawman and cupped Rooks head once close enough.
"Despite all that you have done, you are not beyond salvation. You're not here by accident or chance. You are here by the grace of God. You've been given a gift. Now it remains to be seen if whether you choose to embrace it... or cast it aside." Joseph said aloofly his voice calm but otherwise void of emotion.
Rook smiled as Joseph continued his monologue and then chuckled softly but nonetheless menacingly as he looked The Father dead in the eye.
"Oh yes. I have a understanding with the Lord. I'm here on a mission from God. I am 'The Collapse' and I have been sent to harvest your souls as God wills it. I have been charged to line the path to Eden with the impaled corpses of your flock and I will not fail in this task. Deus lo Vult." Rook finished smiling more.
Joseph to his credit kept his face stoic and unchanging but the rest of his body betrayed his unease. The tightened chest restricting his breathing, the clinched fists, the dominant foot stepping back and holding most of the bodies weight to facilitate a move to run away. Rook saw all of this even through the drug induced haze. No matter how brief the signs were, it was a victory of wills between the two men this time.
But the cult leader did relax a few heartbeats later and turned to his brother pressing their foreheads together.
"This one shall reach the Atonement. Or the Gates of Eden shall be shut to you John. This is god's test and it is you that must take this blackest of souls and cleanse it." Joseph said almost sadly to his youngest brother.
"Yes, Joseph." was the best reply that John could muster as Joseph turned back to his waiting truck.
John looked at the ground deep in thought as the scale of the task before him now fully hit him and the price of failing in that task. He turned slowly and looked at Rook.
"You will confess. Every sin you've ever committed, no matter how petty, no matter how small... I will pull from you. Then we'll see if you're worthy of Atonement" John said menacingly.
Rook scoffed "You don't have a choice. Did you not hear great comrade Iosif's decree? I must reach 'Atonement' or your soul will be damned even in his eyes. Besides for my sins you are going to need a hell of a lot of paper and pens to write them down. But here is a short short version: Wrath, Lust, Pride, Greed, Wrath, and Lust."
John was visibly confused. "You said Wrath and Lust twice."
Rook grinned. "I like Wrath if you haven't noticed and I like Lust and I am good at it so I have been told."
John angrily grimaced instead of replying and simply nodded his head in the direction of a waiting prison van.
Rook could feel his legs start to function somewhat by now though his muscles and joints still burned as they pushed him into the van and used a zip tie cuff on his hands in front of him.
'Seriously? Not even old school irons. These aren't even the real deal zip cuffs! These are the cheap Chinese knock offs! I am actually insulted.' Rook thought has he looked around the van that had two other hostages and a cultist armed with a AR guarding them.
Looking ahead against the wall between the cab and the holding compartment were two backpacks. One was clearly his pack with his rifles and shotgun still securely attached and the other probably contained whatever loot was pulled off of the other two people in the van.
Seeing his guns, there in the van with him, within arms reach even considering his bindings if you discounted that he could break them easily, made him actually stop and check for his handguns. He looked down and yes indeed they had left his 1911 in its holster complete with spare mags, he pressed against the left side of his chest with his bicep and felt the Kydex holster that didn't give in at all when pressed meaning that he still had his Desert Eagle. The van hit a bump which caused him to fall back against the wall of the van and he noted the familiar pressure of his knife still in its own holster.
'Oh mother of god... these guys actually did this. Under John and motherfucking Joseph's own supervision no less! A fully armed, armored, man who clearly is stronger looking than the average civilian they have been grabbing and then they put his bag of guns and ammo in the same van. Then only restrain him with a cheap zip tie. These guys must have a lot of faith in their drugs and their god to pull off something this stupid.' Rook mentally screamed.
Sure this was actually a pretty good turn of events but before he did anything he had to figure out what the cult had planned for him next. The hostage beside him turned to him out of the blue and spoke.
"If we just confess... if we just confess right away, we'll be ok. Right?" The man clearly desperate for anything that looked like hope.
The other hostage a woman sitting across from Rook answered him. "No, you'll make it worse."
"Why?" whined the man.
'Let's try 'bearing false witness'. Survey says...' Rook thought as the guard perked up and answered the mans question.
"Because confession without pain isn't confession. You'll scream out your sin, then you'll wear it on your flesh before John peels it off you. It's a beautiful thing." The guard said sagely as he stared down the other man. A moment afterword his eyes seemed to glaze over a bit as if remembering others who had their sins ripped from them.
'Well not exact but close enough. Still this guy probably would be thinking differently if he was being interrogated in a cave with a couple of car batteries, jumper cables, and acupuncture needles.' Rook thought back to one of his more recent interrogations though honestly this guy probably knows nothing really that useful he thought further, still there might be something to be had.
"Fucking peggies." The woman spat out.
For this she got the butt of the guards rifle planted in her face.
"So where are we going? The old missile silo?" Rook finally asked.
The peggie guard looked at him a bit confused but finally put the pieces together.
"If you mean John's Gate then yes. Given that you have the eye of The Father himself no doubt you will be kept with 'The Demoness' so that John may personally see to your confessions." said the guard.
"Who is this 'Demoness'? She is not known to the resistance nor the locals." Rook pressed getting the feeling that this guard was a bit drunk on his power thus wasn't expecting a interrogation of this sort.
"She is said to be one of the harbingers of 'The Collapse' that tried to take Father Joseph from us. She got loose for a brief time after being taken and murdered three of our brothers before she was subdued. Since then only Herald John and The Father himself has been allowed to tangle with the witch." The guard said disgusted at the thought that someone would resist so adamantly the Word of Joseph.
Rook smiled though just the image of killing a mere three cultists was enough to earn Joey the title of 'Demoness'. By that measure he really was the embodiment of 'The Collapse'.
"Well that works in my favor." Rook said getting a shocked look from hostages and guard alike.
"What?" The guard asked just as a massive explosion sent the van tumbling around throwing everyone and everything flying. Rook used the tumbling to break out of the zip cuffs and managed to snag one of the shoulder straps to his bag. Finally the spinning stopped and the passengers of the van groaned in pain having been tossed about so much.
From outside a familiar voice roared carrying with it strength and damnation.
"When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations you must destroy them totally." the voice roared.
Rook pulled the inside latch to the rear doors and pushed just as the guard grabbed his leg and tried to shove his AR into his face. Then suddenly the doors swung open widely and the peggie received a bayonet from a familiar Martini-Henry through his face.
"Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy!" Pastor Jerome finished the verse.
Marcus pulled the bayonet out of the dead cultist and gave his hand to his son to pull him to his feet.
"Told you that the bayonet would come in handy. Good to see we were right about watching the road to the bunker. Was a bit afraid that they would hold you up at the Seed Ranch." Marcus said as he wiped off the blood from the bayonet.
Rook shouldered his pack and armed himself with his HCAR. "Dad, while I welcome the jailbreak I was kinda hoping to get inside the bunker and bust out Joey... among other things of course." He said halfheartedly.
His father scoffed. "Well that doesn't surprise me but that will have wait the resistance isn't strong enough to take the risk of loosing you. I know it hurts but we got to get a better foothold son. Don't worry Joey is stronger than I think even you give her credit for."
The sound of gun fire and orders being given could now be heard.
"There are more pressing matters of more kidnapped people further ahead. We got to break the resistance at the security gate!" Jerome yelled as rifle fire from the security gate defenders bounced off of the wrecked van.
The group of resistance fighters about ten along side the Rooks and Pastor fought from tree to tree constantly pushing against the guards who now that Rook's .30 cal was involved suddenly found most of their cover, inadequate as the snipers on the roof soon found as rounds sailed through the armor plates covering the walkway. The men on the ground had concrete to hide behind but peaking out to shoot was quickly becoming impossible due to the volume of fire from the treeline.
A cult pickup suicidally raced down a narrow foot path barely squeezing between the trees to come to a stop just behind the gate, Most of the men packed into the bed only had simple baseball bats and their faith but two of them were heavies with armor and M60's.
Marcus loaded his rifle with a special incendiary round and fired at one of the heavies, the bullet ricocheted on the cultists armored hide but for him the bullet bounced up between his armor plates and continued to burn fiercely. The other heavy heard his friends cries for help in getting the armor plate off that he turned around and gave the Pastor a clear shot with his magnum to the mans neck.
With the most dangerous ones down the batters were quickly cut down including one that fell again to Marcus Rook's bayonet.
Roger looked at the scene as the resistance fighters gather at the gate house to check ammo and strip the dead.
"Deputy, we got more people to free up ahead including Merle Briggs if you remember him. You got to push ahead and aid them while we stay here and tend to this group. In about five minutes will be a resistance chopper to extract you and anyone else still alive." Jerome said.
Rook simply nodded and jogged past the gate to the sounds of more gun fire being traded between the resistance and the peggies. The empty prisoner vans where now being used for cover as the resistance members found themselves trying to push back against the on rush of peggies from their left flowing out of John's bunker with another group of peggies holding the other side of a foot bridge with a 60mm mortar and a pair of riflemen.
As he approached one of the resistance members turned to him. "Deputy! The peggies are trying to move some of the captured leaders back down to the Seed Ranch by chopper we think. We have to take that mortar position, its were they will likely land given that was our plan as well."
Rook nodded and climbed up on the rocks on the right side of the road just before it came to the 'Y' of the footbridge and the road. From there he could clearly see the cult mortar team raining consistent fire on the approach to the footbridge, it would seem that they were leaving the heavy lifting to the foot soldiers pouring out of the bunker. He could also make out Merle Briggs from where he was standing.
He switched to his Barrett and waited for the man working the mortar to fire off one last round before sending a shot into the mans chest. With the mortar silenced he moved on to one of the two gunmen that were serving as the mortar guards but not before watching Merle approach the dead cultist and pull something off of the body that allowed him to free his hands.
Rook took a guards head while Merle shot the other from behind with a captured rifle, without missing a beat Merle hopped onto the mortar and shifted its fire further up the mountain suppressing the waves of cultist infantry coming from John's bunker.
"EVERYONE ACROSS THE BRIDGE NOW!" Rook roared as the mass of fighters and former hostages rushed across the bridge. Rook was at the end of the line occasionally snapping off shots to any peggie that managed to push through the Merle's fire.
As he crossed the bridge he met with Merle who was still feeding the mortar.
"Howdy Deputy! Thanks for the jailbreak. These fucking peggies really wanted to get us into John's bunker, and now I get to show them EXACTLY what I fucking think about that plan!"
To punctuate his point he fired off another mortar round that landed directly on a cult pickup coming down from the bunker that had a number of passengers.
Rook turned to the other resistance fighters. "You guys if you have rifles watch our flanks and don't let the peggies close in on us. Merle will keep hammering them as they come down and I will cover the bridge and anyone coming towards that river down there but once they are in the water or any closer they are yours to deal with. Anyone unarmed or unable to fight keep back and low Pastor Jerome is sending chopper for evac in a few minutes."
Just then the sound of an approaching chopper from the South could be heard. Some of the fighters cheered at the sound but what concerned Rook was the fact that some of the cultists were cheering and it was coming from the wrong direction.
His concerns were confirmed as a white cult marked chopper came into view and the four men within the chopper leaned out to start pouring fire on their position. Seeing their reinforcements arrive the infantry pushed again now that the mortar fire had been broken with the aerial attack.
"MERLE GET BACK ON THAT FUCKING MORTAR! THE REST OF YOU DOGS START SHOOTING THE CHOPPER!" Rook bellowed even as the ground around him boiled with bullet impacts.
The sound of their rifle fire was drowned out by the sound of another chopper coming from the east flying at just below tree top height to hide its presence until the last moment. This one was jet black with an hastily painted US flag on the bottom and sides of the fuselage, it only had a pair of passengers on one side but the moment the chopper had flown over the resistance force and made a dangerously close flyby of the cult chopper a stream of green tracer fire could be seen hitting the cult pilot.
The cult chopper almost instantly begun to spin out of control ejecting its cargo across the rocks below and eventually crashed into the mass of peggies trying approach one of the two river crossings.
"Watch the rocks! Not all of the fuckers got killed before they made it across!" Rook said as he took up his Barrett again and started turning the footbridge into a killing zone as his shots punched through four or five peggies at a time, this made anyone who was lucky enough to survive have to slow down and climb over the dead bodies of their friends and few even slipped on the blood soaked deck and fell over the handrail on to the river rocks fifty or so feet below.
The friendly chopper made a another orbit over the area before landing behind the mortar position. Out stepped Grace and surprisingly Jessica Rook.
"Wounded leave first, we got room for five!" Jessica called out as a number of those who couldn't fight raced as best as they could to the waiting chopper.
Jessica laid down beside her son over looking the bridge setting up her RPK on its bipod. Rook only spared a quick glance enough to be surprised that even his mother had been drug into this.
"Hi Mom. Nice to see you join the party. I assume that chopper will be back?" He asked sending another shot into the mass of peggies still trying to cross the bridge.
"Yeah we have a landing site near the Davenport's place if you remember them. It will be about two minutes between trips." She replied as she started putting bursts of fire into some of the smarter peggies that had decided to avoid the bridge crossing and instead just try to shoot them instead.
Grace had taken charge of the remaining resistance fighters watching the river and the muted cracks of her rifle told Rook that she had gotten a suppressor for her gun as he had advised her to.
Overall their position was pretty good though Merle was having to space his fire out as the mortar began to overheat. This lead to the peggies at least those that were only armed with bats and shovels to once again praise The Father and charge down the resistance forces lines of fire hoping the their sheer numbers would break them.
Rook could only line up his shots and call for everyone to save their ammo where they could but the fact remained that even though the literal piles of bodies were getting higher the cultists still poured from the bunker on top of the mountain.
Looking to his right he noticed that his mother at least had brought a large duffel bag of 100 round drums for her gun and was limiting her bursts to three or five rounds. His own ammo situation was still okay but he was still down to half of his .50 cal load out of 210 rounds leaving him with a remaining 700 rounds for his HCAR as backup.
The chopper returned and carried off the last of the freed hostages. This meant for the next two trips every chopper load would be picking up fighters until the third and final trip would pick them up.
From the south a second cult chopper approached but for reasons that Rook couldn't understand its pilot flew over the footbridge barely missing it and hovered level with where they were. He put a round through the pilot and Jessica let loose a long string of fire into the four riflemen trying to get a bead on them. The resulting crash was in Rook's opinion was yet again a 'small miracle' as it effectively blocked off the river crossing with flaming wreckage thus leaving the peggies with only a single direct route to their location: The foot bridge of death.
Their own chopper arrived and took another load of men away from the warzone but that didn't stop them from firing wildly from the chopper into the mass of peggies that continued to stream on to the bridge.
'At this rate the bridge will collapse under their weight be it dead or alive.' Rook thought.
At that moment a rifle round ricocheted between him and his mother as he looked higher up on the mountain and could see a group of men standing there trying to snipe them. He took to his scope once more leaving the suppression of the bridge to the others and saw that these guys were like the ones that grabbed him.
'I'll bet my entire gun collection that these guys are "The Chosen". They are real threat here.' He thought as he sent a round through the chest of one of the red masked snipers.
Most of them suddenly retreated knowing that they had lost the element of surprise but two tried to stick around. Grace apparently had also seen the other snipers and now managed a neck shot on the one that was aiming in her direction while Rook took the other shooters head off.
The last of the resistance fighters were picked up leaving only Merle who refused to leave until the end, Grace, Jessica, and himself to hold the line. Grace and he where now almost totally focused on the top of the mountain keeping the elite soldiers from being able to do more than peek their heads up only to have them erased by other snipers.
Jessica had the hardest job as it was split now between keeping the bridge clear of peggie fodder, shooting anyone who tried to instead shoot at them from the other side of the bridge instead of blindly racing across screaming about how 'The Father protects the faithful!' among other bullshit dogma, watching for any more air threats, and doing all this while trying not to over heat her gun and burn through her increasingly limited ammo.
Merle had resorted to pissing on the mortar tube to cool it rapidly enough so he could resume fire but even then he was running out of shells that the cult had stockpiled there.
From the crowd a single man marched to the ledge with a RPG. It was a weapon the man had only seen used in a video on TV once but it seemed simple enough to use and he knew that his trust in The Father would see him past any difficulty as he used this mighty weapon to strike back at the heretics.
He fumbled to cock the weapon and took aim as best as he could at the woman with the machine gun as she was reloading her weapon.
"Die heretic!" The man shouted as he pulled the trigger. The rocket booster fired off sending back out of the launcher a massive plume of smoke and fire into the cultists around him their screams lost to the roar of the main rocket motor firing.
The rocket barely had time to deploy its stabilizers before the rocket impacted just below where Jessica laid prone at the cliff edge. The impact caused the rocket to flip upward, its motor still burning as it flipped end over end until it finally fell to the ground skittering past Jessica's leg catching her pants on fire.
The would be RPG man stood shocked both at the deaths of those that were behind him and the lack of explosion. Jessica Rook ignored her burning pants and the pain that was already beginning to build long enough to put a overly long burst into the lone rocket man.
Roger had ducked his head down instinctively at the coming rocket but when he looked up he saw his mother's pants burning, he nearly ripped his canteen off of his bag and dumped its contents to extinguish the flames even as his mother screamed and swore like a sailor as the water touched the burned flesh.
Still to her credit she kept firing at the peggies even as the pain threatened to overwhelm her and Roger made a grab for the rocket that by now had its motor burn out. The fact that it hadn't exploded either from the impact or the motor burning out could only be attributed to the fact that the dumb ass who shot it didn't remove the protective fuse cap something that inspired a desperate idea.
He managed to unscrew the mangled fuze cap arming the HEAT rockets impact fuze and sprinted to the end of the footbridge. Even now covered in blood and bodies the cultists that slipped through Merle's reduced mortar barrage still charged down the bridge into Jessica's withering fire.
Rook tossed the rocket like a oversized and very deadly football actually hoping for once that he wouldn't hit someone. To this end he was somewhat disappointed as the rocket landed on one of the larger piles of bodies at such a angle that it tumbled when it landed and now stood upright on its guide veins.
But as if the universe had a sense of humor one of the blind rushing peggies slipped on the blood soaked deck of the bridge and sent themselves sliding into the rocket, knocking it over and smashing the fuze tip into the pile of bodies that it had originally landed on.
The explosion wasn't all that big considering that it was a HEAT rocket instead of a proper pure HE that would have been more useful both for the cult in their quest to kill the resistance fighters and Rook who wanted to blow up the footbridge. Regardless between the explosion and the strain on the bridge already the footbridge was sent falling to the rocks and water below taking with it half a dozen or more peggies, and more followed as those who saw the bridge fall where pushed from behind by the fervor blinded cultists who themselves often fell to their deaths.
The crowd of cultists gathered at their side of the divide and could only watch as the chopper came and picked up the last fighters and watch as Merle expertly tossed a lone grenade at the mortar and the last remaining shell he had left there to deny the cult the weapon.
Jessica was in a lot of pain but still held it together as the chopper took them to Fall's End.
She spoke just as Roger had gotten off of the radio with the Pastor to inform him of the incoming medical emergency.
"Roger I'm not dead so you can calm down. I will say though this running and gunning that you do and your father did is a lot harder than what you guys made it sound to be."
Roger actually chuckled at this. "Well Mom at least you can say you tried, but I think you shouldn't quit your day job."
Soon the chopper landed in the field behind the general store in Fall's End where Marcus, the Pastor, and Dr. Ferguson awaited them. With his mother being tended to and after a forced examination by the doctor on himself Rook tiredly trudged his way back to the Spread Eagle only stopping to greet Mary May and pet Boomer who remained at Mary May's side as ordered and climb the stairs to his temporary room.
'Goddamn... I'm actually hurting a bit. I really must be getting old.' He thought as he fell back into his bed and let merciful sleep take him.
Dawn came though the only way for John to know that was the alarm clock at his bedside. He started his morning routine: shower, trim his beard, pick out his outfit for the day, spend no less than one hour in bible study, and spend another hour preparing his next sermon for the faithful.
The routine was necessary both for him to stave off his own sin of sloth and to prepare himself for the day. The last 48 hours had seen the deaths of hundreds of his flock, countless lost resources, and properties that rightfully both by god and by law belonged to the Project. Then there was Joseph's... no God's challenge.
'How lord do I lead the devil himself to atonement? How do I return the lost sheep to the flock?' John asked himself as he took one last look in the full length mirror in his room. But his own reflection offered no answer so he would have to resort to other methods and have faith that they would work where he alone couldn't hope to succeed.
He walked through the bunker's halls toward his office listening to the beautiful screams and cries for mercy coming from those the Project had saved. He would be the first to admit that the atonement process for the bulk of people they had rescued was slow going, slower than what he would rather see but then again it was essential that these people came to the realization by their own will both the power of 'Yes!' and the righteousness of The Father's plan.
It was the reason why he restricted the use of Bliss so as to insure that people would come around naturally. A point that he and Faith disagreed on but in her defense it was her scientists and chemists who could administer the drug with the precision needed to get the desired results without excessive losses.
Still that was the glorious genius of God's plan at work. One goal but so many ways to reach Eden, so many in fact that there was a path that could fit anyone and that fact alone help John come to terms with his task.
'Father be praised. There is a path even for him and I only must find it and present it to him in such away that he will want to walk it.' John thought happily as he entered his office.
He reached for a radio and summoned the two most useful information gatherers he had among his flock.
Not long thereafter a older blonde woman in a Sheriff deputies uniform now with a cult cross in place of her old badge and a similarly aged man with dark brown hair and hard chiseled features dressed in a police uniform with his own badge long since cast aside for a mark of the cult.
John greeted them warmly. "Sister Fergus. Brother Jacobs. I have a great task of unbelievable importance that I need your knowledge and skills for. The Father has laid before me the will of God, that this Roger Rook the man who is becoming known to both locals and our own people as 'The Collapse' incarnate is to reach atonement. The price of failure in this task is beyond words and so I need information on this man, he is supposedly a local child born and raised who has only returned recently and I must know his story in as much detail as possible. Can you do this?"
"Yes Herald." The two traitors replied.
John smiled. "Excellent I shall pray for your swift success."
In Fall's End another man had finished his own routine and now sat within the local bar at his usual place reloading his magazines and checking his weapons. At one of the booths the local leadership planned the next strikes that needed to be taken.
"I still think we should focus on the railyard Jerome. The cult is building something there and there is enough material there that if they are up armoring their vehicles we could start to actually loose ground even with our new found explosives stockpile." Marcus said as he took a swig from a can of Coke-Cola.
"Marcus I can respect that but hitting the fertilizer plant will hurt the cults explosive production and the packing facility will go a long way to insuring our food supply. We need to destroy the cults means of waging war and harden our own logistics." Jerome countered.
Both men sighed as they recognized each others points. The main problem was that their people were good at holding ground under most circumstances but attacking and taking ground was a different story. If a outpost was able to call for help then the amount of reinforcements that could be summoned and the speed at which they would come meant that any attacking force had to be far larger than otherwise needed in order to stand a chance against such odds but that meant stretching their manpower and risking a lot of lives to take a single objective.
That was why Roger Rook and Grace Armstrong were as important as they were. They could attack outposts like ghosts with minimal resources and minimal risk to themselves and others... of course that was so long as the cult didn't try to capture them. Nearly loosing Roger yesterday led to everyone reassessing how they did things, mainly that as they took outposts farther away from the town they needed to at least pre-stage an occupation force closer to the front line so to speak so as to minimize delays.
One other thing that neither men had touched on was the news that they had passed on from Dutch Roosevelt. Apparently the local flying club had tried to fly out of the valley, one man flying in each compass direction in hopes that they could sneak past the mountains and bring word of their trouble to the outside world.
But that was not to be as according to Dutch each plane came under fire from dozens of surface to air missiles suggesting that the rumors from escaped prisoners that Joseph had under his sole and direct control teams of 'Air Wardens' whose sole purpose until ordered by Joseph himself was to keep all aircraft cult or otherwise inside the valley and shoot down anything that dared to fly into the valley were true after all.
"Roger, if you have a moment." Marcus called out. To this Roger hauled himself off of his stool and walked over to the map of Holland Valley area the two older men hunched over.
"Deputy we seem to be at a impasse here. Since you are the one whose going to be leading the charge its just as well that you at least have some say in what our next plans are." Jerome said gesturing to the map.
Roger looked over the map and noted that the positions were marked with a mix of unpainted and painted Warhammer 40K miniatures probably taken from the comic and tabletop store in town. Likely his father's idea knowing his sense of humor.
At the Gardenview Packing plant and the Green-Busch Fertilizer Company had an appropriate Chaos Cultist marking them, while the Copperhead Railway yard was marked by a Chaos Land Raider tank. Their own positions were marked with Imperial guardsmen though Fall's End had several figures one of them being a painted Ultramarine Centurion, no doubt representing himself and a painted Death Korps commissar representing his father most likely. To the far west at the Seed ranch stood a Word Bearer Dark Disciple and back at the bunker appropriately loomed the traitor Primarch Lorgar.
"Well Dad you certainly did a good job choosing map markers." Roger commented.
Marcus smiled. "Thought you would like them. I was going to use Monopoly pieces but I couldn't sleep much after tending to your mother so I decided to put some actual effort into picking out the pieces."
Jerome simply looked on in confusion but shrugged it all off as just one of those things that the two Rook men just did.
Roger continued. "Well miniatures aside I agree with Jerome on taking the packing plant and fertilizer plant but for different reasons. Given where those outposts are they are all near bridge crossings going to the Henbane and Whitetail regions, we will need those outposts if we are to post scouts to watch these crossings for inbound reinforcements from the other regions."
He grabbed a handful more of guardsmen and placed one at each bridge cross along the Henbane before continuing.
"With guards set we can encircle the rail yard and take care of that threat. Then we can focus on taking out Seed Ranch and even if John decides fly out of the area he will have to fly over territory that we hold giving us a chance to shoot him down, of course we could just get lucky and he decides to drive away at which point we should have enough lead time to plant some big IEDs along one of his possible routes."
Jerome stoked his beard in thought.
"And if John decides to make a fight of it at his bunker? It's a just a short hop from his ranch to the bunker after all."
Rook looked at the figure of Lorgar hard for a moment.
"Honestly that is what I am expecting. Joseph has directed John to convert me or have his soul be damned for all of eternity. John is a lot of things but he is dedicated to his brothers cause but even as sure as I am that he will want to fight it out I can't rule out that he will reach a breaking point and run back to Joseph begging for mercy. Probably would try frame it as a sign of humility or something."
Rook looked up at the two older men.
"So that's my idea. Any counter arguments?"
There was none and with that the meeting broke up and Rook walked out of the Spread Eagle. Grace was waiting outside polishing off a bit of beef jerky.
"Rook! I wanted..." She started to say but he cut her off.
"Grace I'm not blaming you for anything. Honestly it was bound to happen sooner later I am just glad that you weren't grabbed as well. Besides the obvious calling for help I already have one friend in captivity I really don't want to see another one be added."
Grace smiled at the thought as the two snipers made for Rooks truck.
"So Rook where to first?" Grace asked.
Rook looked down the road leading north as he pondered his options. He thought back to that first day he stepped out of Dutch's bunker and first saw the cult flag flying over the packing plant, he also could still feel the soreness in his joints and muscles from being 'Blissed' by John and the packing plant was a prime simple shooting range.
"We're going to hit Gardenview and in fact how about we have some fun and make it a shooting match." He finally said.
Grace looked at him strangely. "What?"
He didn't offer a response as he drove northward retracing his route back to Rae-Rae's pumpkin farm. They drove until they stopped at the base of the cult silo that sat directly across from the packing plant.
The plant was a single large barn like structure nestled against the mountain side. On the side facing toward them were several large rolling doors for the loading and unloading the packaged food, mostly canned apples given its proximity to the orchard but they would sometimes do runs of other foods from local farms.
Rook and Grace climbed to the top of the silo and setup their rifles watching the handful of peggies mill around the front as if waiting for something.
Grace looked through her scope and did a count of the cultists. "I count six guys including a guy on the roof. We also got what looks like one of those bears you killed with Hudson that everyone was going on about."
Rook looked through his own scope and cranked his magnification up. Indeed it was a 'Blissed' grizzly bear complete with smokey gray fur and angry as hell. He shifted his view to peer inside the building through the open loading dock doors and saw that the cult had a dozen palletized bins full of apples waiting for pick up, more food for John's reaping operations.
"Ok we got two ways to go about this either we quickly take out everyone before they notice the first body or I shoot the lock on the cage and let the bear loose and cause chaos while we sit back and tap the peggies as they present themselves." Rook said as he eyed the large lock on the bear cage.
"I like the idea of the peggies getting chewed up by their own experiments." Grace replied as she sighted in the man on the roof who looked to be half asleep.
Rook smiled and took aim. It wasn't exactly his original idea of a nice match between him and Grace but she did have a point about using the peggies experiments against them. The muffled putt of his Barrett was met with nothing for a full second until the small but bright flash of the APIE round impacting the lock. The flash and small bang that sounded more like a pistol shot than an explosion got every ones attention just as the bear now recovered from the shock being so close to said explosion surge through the unlocked door and immediately jumped on to a nearby peggie who could only helplessly try to beat back the predator with his shovel.
Grace watched the roof guy startle awake and fired her own shot. She had intended to hit him in his upper chest but the travel time was long enough that he had stood up and the round impacted in his groin, though his own screams were lost in the chaos going on below at the ground level.
Rook winced at the sight and watched the man stumble around doubled over trying to keep what was left of his genitals intact, before he managed to fall over the front edge of the roof down to where the bear was finishing off his forth kill so far.
"Grace must you be so brutal? What do we gain by treating them like this?" He jested.
Grace didn't move from her scope when she replied coldly. "Fuck the peggies. They shot first, and second, and third. I'm done playing to their tune and now I'm shooting back."
Rook smiled at her statement.
'Thank god she has come to terms with what we have to do here. I wasn't looking forward to having to deal with internal politics on top of all this.'
The last peggie living threw down his gun and sprinted toward them trying to get as much distance between him and the bear but it was clear that he wasn't the peak of physical condition nor was he aware of just how fast regular grizzly bears were let alone the Bliss enhanced variety.
The two snipers kept most of their attention on the building watching for any remaining signs of life but found none after fifteen minutes of watching.
"Well Rook I'll call this in you get to take care of the bear." Grace said as she reached for her radio.
Rook took aim and sent a round flying into the side of the bears head, its explosive payload insuring a quick if messy kill.
'Well this stuff isn't meant for hunting anyway.' He thought as he shouldered his rifle and proceeded to climb down the silo ladder and grab his truck for the drive to the packing plant.
In less than 30 minutes from the time Grace had put out the call resistance forces from US Auto and the Silver Lake trailer park among them Merle who had finally recovered his up armored and armed Jeep roared in with stereos blaring.
The slightly overweight brown mullet wearing man with a thin handle bar mustache that looked like it was probably the best the man could hope to grow climbed out of his truck to greet the two fighters.
"Howdy Deputy thanks for taking this place from the fucking peggies. I warned folks for years after they bought this place that something like this would happen. Called me 'insane' and 'intolerant of others'. HA! Where are those fuckers now?!" Merle ranted unprovoked when Rook and Grace approached.
"Yeah that's great Merle but please spare me the details. We just need to hand this place off to you guys and make a push on the fertilizer plant before it gets dark. Be sure you get those scouts posted that my father told you about, sooner or later the peggies in the other regions are bound to send help and we will need that early warning to prepare." Rook said as he shut the ranting redneck down and climbed into his own truck.
From the top of a nearby a mountain a older heavy set man with large dark aviator sunglasses looked through a set of binoculars at the large black 6x6 truck leaving the packing plant. The time was soon coming that he would need to make contact with these folks in order to get the final piece of his plan in motion.
Everything hadn't gone quite to plan. After all who could really expect a nut job cult to actually go this far off the deep end?
Still the man thought to himself he had spent the last 20 years in the service of his glorious country working up to this point to maneuver him into a place where a true patriot like himself could do the most good at protecting the free worlds interests I.E. Lady Liberty's interests and once this last piece was placed nothing could stop him.
"I'm already semi-erect at the thought." the man said out loud.
Rook took the back roads through the mountains that made up the western edge of Holland Valley. If he had been willing he could have saved a lot of time driving past the railyard but he didn't want to risk being seen by a cultist with a radio.
He was about turn back on to the main road that led towards the fertilizer plant when he saw that the cult had occupied the Hope County Co-Op grain elevator. But more importantly the unmistakeable flash of purple in the large garage being closed that laid next to the elevator was what really drew in his eye.
He quickly pulled off the road just out of sight of the grain elevator and Grace turned to ask what was going on but Rook answered first.
"Cult has the Widowmaker stashed at the grain elevator complete with a 53 foot trailer that is probably loaded with supplies. We have to get that truck back before we loose it again."
The two snipers walked back towards the grain elevator using the drainage ditch on the far side of the road to better hide their approach. Peering over the road they could make out about seven cultists including one of their Preachers with the red cult cross on their face. These guys were certainly more visibly on edge as only a few seemed to be doing any sort of task besides patrolling the area probably a sign that it would be unlikely that they would see any more 'Lunchtime Massacres'.
Throughout the yard were a mess of crates kind of creating a maze for the patrols to walk through and it also created a lot of chest high cover should the peggies choose to make use of it.
"Rook you worry about getting that Preacher guy I'll get the rest of these guys." Grace said.
Grace took aim and waited for the closest guard to walk between some crates before firing a single shot dropping the man. She did the same for the next guard and the next and so forth until the yard was littered with unseen bodies.
"Like a carnival game." Grace said a rare large smile across her face.
Rook had to admit she had done a text book job of taking advantage of the environment to hide her kills long enough to take out the next man.
He took to his own scope just as the Preacher looked up from the map he was looking at as if wondering why it had gotten so quiet suddenly. He turned around and saw that all of his people were simply gone, he didn't have a chance to think of anything else as the .50 cal round tore into his head and exploded.
With the yard cleared they walked up to the garage and found it locked tight.
"Well shit... I guess I'll have to blow the door off. I really wish I had door breaching..." Rook stopped as he heard the jingle of keys behind him.
Grace had pulled both the door keys and ignition keys off of the dead Preacher.
"Not everything can be solved with a bullet, Rook." She taunted.
Rook took the keys from her. "I can safely say that a great many things can in fact be fixed by the proper application of lead and/or explosives."
Inside the garage just as Rook had seen from the road was the legendary 'Widowmaker'. This rig had hauled just about everything that came in or out of the valley at one point or another. When Rook was sixteen old man Fairgrave would shuffle work that was too small to run with his rig off to Rook's seven-ton truck. It was a profitable gentleman's agreement for both of them which made getting this rig back to Mary May all the more important to Rook.
He was happy to see that the cult hadn't damaged or otherwise paint over the custom 'America!' theme custom paint job that Fairgrave spent a lot of money not only on initially but with touch ups when ever the smallest of nicks showed up. In short this rig was the steel and diesel embodiment of Gary Fairgrave complete with dual .50 cal guns mounted on the fenders.
The trailer already hooked up to the rig was as expected full of bags of grain floor to roof and front to back, a major boon to the resistance's food supplies.
"Grace I'll drive this thing home if you will grab my rig and follow." Rook said as he nervously climbed into the cab. No one save for maybe Mary May had ever been allowed to drive the Widowmaker and the thought of doing just that set something off in Rook. Still he would hope that old man Fairgrave would understand if he was still alive.
"Got it Major. Don't scratch the paint, Gary might be dead but I have no doubt Mary May will still gladly kill you if you damage it." Grace said as she hit the button to open the main door and start walking back to Rook's truck.
With a deep breath he started the truck, the deep growl of the big Cummings motor reverberating within the confines of the garage which only grew as he put the truck into gear and pulled out into the world. Already he could tell that the trailer was grossly overloaded which would make handling the truck interesting to say the least, but he had no choice the resistance needed this grain and he couldn't let it be given to the cult.
His route would take him right past the fertilizer plant which honestly wasn't the best situation to find himself in but he knew better than to try and take this rig off road especially with such a heavy load of grain in tow. So throwing caution and D.O.T regulations to the wind he gunned the engine and raced as fast as he could manage to work through the gears past the outpost.
Then the trucks radio chirped on the open frequency.
"Brothers and sisters the heathens have apparently stolen The Widowmaker. This must not be allowed to stand as that truck is essential to the success of the Reaping. Bring this vehicle back at all costs." John said.
Rook got on the trucks radio. "Oh John, I didn't know you had hired out this truck. I really am sorry about that, but you are in breach of your contract and I have been sent to repossess this vehicle for the original owner."
John growled. "Tell me why must you resist us? How can you not wish to be free from the burden of your sins?"
Rook checked his side mirrors and saw the trio of pickups behind him before he decided to answer John back.
"Because John some of us have made peace with our sins already. I will gladly answer for my sins before God when he calls for me to do so. My soul is prepared, how's yours?"
He hung up the CB and grabbed his personal radio. "Grace I assume all those guys behind me came from the fertilizer plant?"
"Yeah looks like they all jumped at John's order to grab the Widowmaker back." She replied.
"Ok then go back and secure the plant I'll will deal with these guys somehow." Rook said just as one the cult pickups pulled up along side to let one of the men riding in the bed try to board the rig on the drivers side.
Rook jerked the steering wheel left forcing the man that had jumped on to the tank steps to loose his footing only barely saving himself by hanging on by the exterior grab handle. The rig rocked as the sheer mass of the trailer threatened to roll the entire combination while the pickup that deposited the man had only barely managed to pull away in time to not make contact with the rig, but when the tractor jerked left a second time the cult driver was too slow.
The cultist barely hanging on to the rig had his waist crushed between the two trucks and fell off to only be crushed repeatedly by the drive axles and trailer axles. The remaining occupants were treated to a quick lesson in physics as the far lighter weight truck was sent skidding off the road and into a telephone pole.
The sudden shift left had given the second cult truck a chance to pull along the right side of the rig to try and deposit one of its men on the passenger side of the rig. Rook had to choose to either stay on the current road or slow down and turn left to get on the road that would lead him back to Fall's End. He slammed on the brakes feeling the third cult pick up slam into the crash bar on the trailer though he doubted that it would be enough to get that truck off of him. The trailer brakes were locked up and the trailer was threatening to jack knife along the driver side as Rook tried to control the combination and got back on the gas to recover.
As he turned left on to the road that led to Fall's End the whole rig started to roll right and only barely recovered as Rook through sheer brute force turned the steering wheel right and pushed the laboring engine even harder to power forward through the near roll. The turn had cost him a lot of speed and he could see in his left mirror the men in the last truck clearly yelling with each other over what their next plan of attack should be.
In his right mirror the truck that had been on his right side shot past him and kept going down the road they were on instead of making the next left turn he had slowed down for, when they saw that he was turning they slammed on their brakes and pulled a 180 to try and get back to the big rig. Then the passenger door opened and a already badly beaten and bloodied bat welding cultist that had managed to hang on despite the violent turn previously started trying climb in even as Rook started rocking the truck left and right again in a last ditch effort to throw him off. But the peggies grip held long enough for him to pull himself into the cab and make a grab for Rook.
Rook threw the best punch he could into the cultist but being belted in and given the layout of the cab it was lacking in most of its force still it delayed the injured cultist long enough for him to draw his .45 and pump a couple of rounds into the would be hijacker.
The third pickup now raced up along the left side keeping as much room between themselves and the big rig as they pulled in front of the rig in hopes of depositing a man on to the hood of the truck. They must have thought that the guns on the fenders weren't real because they got a rude awakening when twin streams of .50 cal tracers shredded their truck as it careened off the road. The last truck had recovered from taking a wrong turn and looked to try and again deposit another man on his hood time by having him climb on to the driver side fender.
Rook jerked rig left again punting the cult pickup into a irrigation ditch causing it to flip and fly apart until it came to rest as a flaming wreck. The last peggie they dropped off now barely held on to the barrel of the fender mounted .50 cal, his legs spread wide straddling either side of the fender struggling to keep his nether bits from interfacing with the sharp looking lug nuts on the front axle of the rig.
Rook thumbed the triggers for the guns just long enough for the barrels to grow too hot for even the most dedicated of men to hold on sending the last peggie screaming on to the road and becoming the second victim of the trucks drive axles.
By now Rook could see Fall's End up ahead when a massive explosion erupted a hundred feet or so in front of him just missing the road itself. As he drove past the smoke cloud left by the bomb he could now see he had a Chosen fighter plane another reproduction P-40 attacking him.
He got on to his personal radio again. "Anyone in Fall's End be advised I'm rolling into town with a Chosen fighter on my ass! If someone would be so kind as to shoot this bastard down I would be very appreciative!"
The fighter pilot was being probably overly cautious in attacking the big rig, after all it was being driven by the heathen that managed to shoot down the last plane that was sent against him and despite his faith in The Father the pilot had trouble bringing himself to be as aggressive as he should have been.
But with the truck nearing the town he knew he had to act now or never and John would not tolerate failure especially from a member of the Chosen. So with a prayer to The Father on his lips he rammed the throttle forward and came about on a strafing run, he was so focused on not straying from his course that he opened fired far too soon his shots falling well short of his target and by the time he tried to adjust his aim all but one of his .50 cal guns had overheated and hopelessly jammed and the remaining gun only managed a few more shots before it ran dry.
Out of ammo he turned to fly low over the town and head back to the Seed Ranch. He had failed in his mission but at the barest minimum he would return with the far more valuable plane intact and face his punishment for his failure. Suddenly the sky all around his plane erupted in a sea of tracer fire and the deafening sound of hail hitting his plane only added to his shock.
On the ground any one be they man, woman, or even child that could safely fire a gun had come out with whatever arms they could grab. AR-15's, AK-47's, hunting rifles galore, shotguns, pistols anything that could shoot lead. While the primary damage being dealt to the plane as it flew over the town was done by the numerous .50 cal emplacements, the sheer volume of fire meant even the small caliber guns could find something to cause damage to.
The engine smoked and caught fire and the cockpit was plastered in blood as the plane was shredded and came crashing again into the field that now was home to two of the Chosen's fighters.
Rook blew the horn as he roared into town, the streets lined with people pumping their guns into the air. As he stopped in front of the Spread Eagle and stepped out the cheering got even louder. This was a moment that would live on for years to come in the hearts and minds of the townspeople, it was a clear cut sign that together they could push back the cult's best and that they would resist and win.
As Rook stepped around the front of the truck to find Mary May he walked through the closing sea of people shaking his hand and patting his armored back, Mary May came marching up to and without warning grabbed his head and pulled him into a deep kiss much to the whooping and hollering crowds delight.
"Roger... I... I can't thank you enough! You got the Widowmaker back!" Mary May exclaimed.
Rook could only smile as he turned to climb on to the hood of the Widowmaker to address the people gathering.
"Today we have shown the cult that we are not broken, that we are not going to sit idle no more. Every grievance that the cult has done unto us will be repaid in blood, fire, and steel. We will take back what is ours... our lands, our food, our homes, our freedoms, and our liberty! Look around you brothers and sisters in arms! You are Hope County! You are Fall's End! To this end we will let John Seed know of this and soon enough even Joseph Seed will know that the days of his Project are numbered! For this is the will of the free people of Hope County Montana, for we are Americans and we will make our wills known no matter what it takes!"
The crowd started chanting 'Rook! Rook! Rook!' as he made a grab for his radio.
"Grace what's the status of the fertilizer plant?" He asked.
A moment passed before Grace happily replied back. "We are free and clear to send in fighters to take over and hold this place! John sent nearly everyone after you so I only had to drop two guys they had left to watch the place."
He turned the cheering crowd. "We have taken more land from John! And if you open up the back of this truck we have taken his grain as well! Pastor! Send out back up to Green-Busch Fertilizer!"
The crowd roared again as members of the resistance who were set to retake the plant broke off to race for their trucks.
Soon after the crowd broke up as people got to work emptying the trailer of the sacks of grain and placing them into storage.
Mary May again hugged Rook for bringing back a piece of her father. "When you bring Joey back I'll apologize to her for kissing you." She jested.
Rook for his part wasn't sure how to answer without getting himself in trouble as he simply laughed and nodded his head and began to turn to the general store when his radio came to life again on the open frequency.
"So not only did you steal our truck but you took our grain. That grain belongs to The Father and his flock." John said menacingly.
Rook laughed deeply into the radio. "What The Father can digest will not sour in the belly of a free man. Face it John I have done more than steal your truck and your grain. I have broken your hold over this land and its people. From now on it is I who your people will begin to fear. Every idle moment will be spent wondering if 'The Collapse' will reap their souls next and sooner or later they will fear me more than your whip, or you as a man, and eventually I will have more power over their hearts and souls then even The Father himself."
Rook laughed again maniacally drawing odd looks from Mary May and anyone else within earshot.
Outside the bunker where John stood looking at the distant smoke rising from the burning wreckage of the plane he sent out. He stood there listening to the laughter at the other end of the radio until he could stand it no more and smashed his own radio onto the ground in a fit of rage.
"Herald John. What is your will?" One of his Chosen bodyguards asked cautiously.
"Gather all of the Chosen in the main meeting hall in the bunker at once! I will be there within the hour." John snarled as turned back towards the bunker entrance.