Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 16: Clean Water Act
With contact now established with the main Resistance stronghold of Faith's region and a secure corridor desperately needed supplies and medical personnel flowed in. The Peggies only tried once to attack again but were met with a hail of heavy machine gun fire from their own captured vehicles and Nick's 20mm cannon effectively declaring an end to the attacks on the jail.
With the area secured Roger and Joey could actually stop and meet with the Resistance leadership and get a full and accurate brief on what they were facing.
Inside the jail's interior common area a large map of the local area had been spread out over a few tables pushed together for the purpose. The Sheriff started off the meeting.
"Ok some basic introductions real quick. Roger you know Virgil Minkler the county commissioner..." He pointed to a older white man probably pushing sixty who was carrying a few extra pounds. He wore the typical attire of a small town politician being a dress shirt, slacks, and a suit vest but his face while it had a smile at the moment the brown eyes that resided behind the wire framed glasses bore a lot of hidden pain and weariness.
"Then we got Tracey Lader she's been key to figuring out the inner workings of the cult in this area..." The Sheriff continued. Tracey was a lightly built black woman of fairly small stature. Her face alone told Roger everything he needed to now. A young 20 something with a lot of anger toward the world, but at least for the moment it was focused on the cult, and given her role as 'the cult expert' she was likely a member at one point.
'Best to be weary of that one.' He thought as the Sheriff continued to the last man in at the table.
"And Dr. Charles Lindsey is our veterinarian turn medic. He won't admit it but he's saved a lot of people these last few days." The Sheriff said proudly.
The vet was a reasonably tall and fit middle aged man of dark hair and bespectacled eyes though he seemed a bit off in the dandy sort of way but that wasn't Rogers problem.
"Ok introductions done here's the situation..." The Sheriff continued as he gestured to the map.
"For the last week and a half or so we have been pretty much locked down here at the Jail. There are a few pockets of Resistance scattered around throughout the mountains and possibly up at Drubman Marina but we haven't heard much of anything because of the radio blackout. Most of the Resistance are just remnants of families who have grouped up and are more focused on avoiding the cult rather than fighting." The Sheriff said grimly.
"Considering the kind of culling we saw in Holland Valley I can't say I blame them." Joey said her mind drifting back to the over flowing cemetery.
"What kind of 'culling'?" Whitehorse asked grimly.
A hard look blanketed Rogers face. "In the first hours of the take over of Fall's End the cult found and lined up everyone younger than 16 and older than 55 and executed them all. I'm talking 15 foot tall piles of bodies and walls of buildings riddled with thousands of rounds of ammo. It was sloppy, wasteful, and unnecessary."
"There's only a few dozen elderly that managed to get away and about 18 children or so that survived. Jerome's cemetery is... just a sea of little white crosses." Joey added.
"Sounds like the cult." Tracey said grimly.
"Mother of God..." Minkler replied.
"As selfish as it might sound, now I'm really glad my son and his family left to see my ex-wife in Idaho Falls the day before the cult hit. Well now you know why folks around here haven't been in a position to fight. To make matters worse is the Bliss production that we were worried about is far larger and far more advanced than anything we ever thought possible. Doc knows the details." The Sheriff said pointing to the veterinarian.
"The cult has been not only dumping Bliss straight into the municipal water supply at the Deep North Water Treatment Plant but also have been ramping up both their normal Bliss production while also introducing new variants of Bliss. I along with the other veterinarians that pretty much make up our medical staff here have been studying as best we can the effects of Bliss on the local wildlife in a effort to see how it might be effecting us." Dr. Lindsey explained.
"Let me guess, greatly increased pain tolerance, muscle mass, bone growth, coupled with a distinct increase in aggression and even radical changing of diet. Am I close?" He said casually.
Dr. Lindsey raised his eyebrows. "Well uh... pretty much though some of those we have been able to trace back to exposure to specific variants of Bliss which leads to something else I wanted to show you."
He reached into a messenger bag at his side and pulled out various cuttings of Bliss flowers. He laid out each one on to the table top and started pointing and explaining their differences.
"This you'll recognize as the base variant of the Angel's Trumpet aka the Bliss flower. This requires both drying and considerable refining and distilling to form Bliss oil which is then cut with water to form the base drug." He then moved from the the pure white flower to one that had distinct hazy green veins throughout the pedals.
"This is the new increasingly dominant strain that the cult has been cultivating aggressively throughout the region. This flower not only produces more oil but does it naturally and only needs partial drying and then pressing to maximize the amount oil you extract but you could get enough cuttings of these and make plenty of Bliss without all that." he then moved to a Bliss flower with violently red veins in its pedals.
"This variant is what we think is part of the increased aggression and rapid muscle growth. We call it the 'Furious Bliss'. Any animal that either eats or hangs around these flowers long enough will start to see changes in their physiology and behavior, though because of our lock down I can't give specifics but like the new dominant strain this can be made into the combat variant of the drug with little to no prep."
He moved on to three other flowers. One with bright yellow veins, another with neon purple veins, and the last with deep blue veins. "Now these we are still trying to figure out their purpose but they all work the same way. Natural production of various variants of cult drugs. We think the yellow is a sensory enhancer of some sort, the blue I'm almost positive is a incredibly powerful pain nullifier along with a few other things, the purple we think from what we found on a dead cult chemist greatly increases the oxygen carrying ability of the users blood among other things aimed at increasing a users ability to run at their absolute fastest speed for far and above what should be possible otherwise."
He scooped everything back into his bag before looking at the Deputies once more. "I don't know what this stuff is doing to us exactly but I have been told that people have been seeing minor physical changes they can't explain. Loss of body fat with increased muscle growth for example, nothing superhuman but more than what can be explained especially since its so acute."
Joey piped up. "I suggest you get with Dr. Ferguson then he's been noticing and tracking similar changes in the population of Holland Valley. Roger and I included."
"You guy's aren't planning on dying or becoming Angels are you?" The Sheriff asked.
"Angels?" He asked.
"Angels are what the cult call those who have 'lost themselves' in the Bliss. Pretty much they overdosed and their bodies didn't die and became trapped in a highly suggestive state. The cult then has their priestesses indoctrinate them and turn them into utterly dedicated zombie like husks for hard labor or rushing at anything they are told to attack." Tracey explained.
"Well that explains what the hell happened at Sacred Skies." Joey added.
Roger sighed. Drugged up people who could eat multiple gun shots and still keep coming weren't what they needed right now.
"Well Sheriff I can reasonably say that Joey nor I are likely to become 'Angels' and we probably won't die either... probably. That said according to Doc Ferguson Joey and I have some of the highest exposure levels to the Bliss out of anyone that he has seen. Despite years of combat, and jumping out of airplanes he saw that I have new cartilage growth on my joints, and I'm gaining muscle mass. My father also for example is seeing new cartilage growth which probably explains how he is moving better than he has in years."
"You gaining more muscles? Is that even possible Rook?" The Sheriff smiled trying to make light of the situation.
He laughed softly. "Yes your 'Big Stick' is getting bigger."
The Sheriff slapped the table laughing. "Well good because I hope to use it against the cult!"
Joey rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose trying to hide her own smile. "My god Roger phrasing!"
The brief moment of levity passed and the Sheriff spoke once more. "Well in any case as soon as you can you need to hit Deep North and take it back from the cult. After that we need to start hitting their conversion centers. A lot of regular folks who get captured are pumped full of Bliss and are taken to various places in the area to be converted into full members or if they don't die outright they become Angels. We even heard from a few people that managed to come in from outside of some other type of Angel but no one's gotten a clear look at them to fully identify them."
He frowned at the word of the cults conversion process before he spoke once more. "Any sign of Burke? I'm pretty sure I can find or even make a prison cell to hold him in for a while along side the other bastard who started all this."
"Joseph?" Minkler asked.
"Well him too but no we found the man who manipulated the justice system to pretty much hide the cults growth and most of its crimes from the federal authorities. He is the reason why the U.S. Marshals thought it would be ok to send one man and four local uniforms to arrest a man as dangerous as Joseph Seed. All in the name of blackmailing a top level bureaucrat to try and get his job when he retires soon." He explained
Minkler was dumbfounded. "Wait...wait... you mean all this started because of a blackmail attempt?"
Roger nodded. "Yep he honestly thought the cult wouldn't go this far off the deep end at least until after he had completed his mission and corrected his manipulations. Joseph proved him wrong and worse for him at least he tried to manipulate me into covering his tracks, thankfully I remember the people who screwed me over during my time in the Army and he is number one on that list. He's now sitting in a fallout shelter turned prison and will stay there until I can hand him over to the feds."
"Well son I don't know how sorry I honestly feel in saying this but Faith has him prisoner. Been looping a commercial of him 'apologizing' for trying to arrest Joseph. He's Blissed out of his goddamned mind clearly but unless we stumble across him we have no idea where he might be." The Sheriff replied.
"Well we'll see what we do stumble upon tomorrow after we hit the treatment plant. Right now honestly Joey and I need a bite to eat and place to grab a few hours of sleep." He said drawing a reaction from Minkler.
"Oh no problem I know just where you can bunk down and I'll tell you where to find the galley..." He said pleasantly until Tracey cut him off.
"We don't have room or supplies for freeloaders..." The young woman said in a half snarl.
Joey was about to tear into the woman when Roger held up a hand stopping her.
"Freeloaders are we? Freeloaders... quite a strange word to use especially when you have just so much evidence to the contrary." He said as he slowly rounded the table his boots clicking ominously on the concrete floor.
"Tell me my dear former cultist if I am correct in my estimation... how many peggies have you killed? How many Heralds have you killed with your bare hands? How many outposts have you freed? How many supplies have you liberated for the Resistance? Because what ever numbers you wish to throw out I have you beaten in spades." He said menacingly as he now loomed over her.
"Of course there is the fact that you have been cooped up in here for days unable to move out under your own power until I came along. So it would seem that I am not the freeloader but you are and all you have to do to remove that title from yourself is give me a meal, a bed, and a place to plot my next move against the cult." He finished staring down Tracey.
He could see she wanted to looked away but remained determined not to break down.
'Well that settles it. She's far too strong willed to fold under Joseph if she is lasting this long against me.' He thought bringing a smile to his face.
He clasped her on the shoulder against still smiling. "Don't worry we'll earn our keep soon enough. Good to see that you aren't another false defector, already had one nearly kill Mary May because Jerome fell for an act hook, line, and sinker."
Roger pointed at Minkler who got the message and led the Deputies to their quarters and next meal.
Tracey and the Sheriff remained at the table.
"What... what the fucking hell just happened?" Tracey finally said leaning against the table gasping for the breath she didn't even realize she was holding.
"Well for one thing you insulted the folks that pulled our asses out of the fire. Roger Rook doesn't take that kind of lip from just about anyone without him retaliating in someway sooner or later. There's also the fact that he must have figured out your past from my comment on you being our 'cult expert', don't know what to make of the attack on Mary May but it must have put him on guard against any kind of defector." Elder lawman said calmly.
"And the whole looming monologue... thing?" She asked finally starting to get a hold of herself once more.
Whitehorse shrugged his shoulders. "I think he was testing your resolve. I'm going to be honest with you Tracey... you have a anti-authoritarian streak a mile wide, that's why you left the cult and Rook... well he has this way of reading people and he must have wanted to test that. You were strong enough not to buckle under him nearly threatening you so you showed you aren't cult material anymore at least."
He turned to walk out of the room. "Tracey seriously though, we need their help and if you would actually give them a chance I think you'll find more in common with them then you would think."
Their first meal at the jail consisted of simple ham and cheese sandwiches that though a far cry to the meals that they would get at the Spread Eagle still tasted like a bit of heaven to the weary fighters. Following their meal they found that their 'quarters' was a converted jail cell with a heavy blanket draped in front of the bars to give them at least some form of privacy.
Roger looked at the somewhat narrow and far too short bunk bed that hung off the wall on some old steel chains. "Never until now do I miss that spare bedroom at Mary May's." He said sorrowfully.
Joey sat on her bunk and tested it out and found that even she was a touch too tall for it. "Consider it motivation to kill Faith quick. Besides things are going to move faster don't you think?"
He gently sat on the bunk praying that it would hold his weight as it creaked under the strain. "Honestly I would tend to agree. We have a infrastructure behind us so we can focus on fighting the cult. Dad will deal with moving the Resistance fighters to support the jail and any places we liberate."
Joey smiled watching the proverbial gears in Rogers head turn. He would come up with a plan and get through through this, all she had to do is watch his back and follow orders and he would get them through this.
"We'll hit the treatment plant tomorrow morning after that... we will see what we can do next, I'll want to hit their largest conversion center and eventually I want that damned statue to fall." He said as he curled up on to the too small bunk.
Joey thought on the last point briefly. The statue besides being a key land mark for the cult also was a major defensive point, Marcus and Nick both expected it to be defended with anti-air missiles so if they needed air support any where near the statue they would be risking Nick's life so long as the cult held that mountain top.
"We better hit the statue sooner rather later. If that place is a threat to Nick's plane getting rid of it will open up options for us later on. That and you did say few things beat dropping half a ton of explosives to remove them." She said as she too started to let the fatigue of the long night take her towards sleep.
Roger looked at her from his bunk and smiled. "Now you're thinking Joey, that is a excellent point and I'll act on it." and then added "I love you."
"Love you too Roger." She replied as sleep called and she answered.
A old grandfather clock ticked away in the richly decorated office only highlighting the silence between the two women in the room. Inquisitor Nancy Fergus had by the grace of 'The Father' managed to escape along side the other faithful from the Sheriff's department over to Faith's region.
Her heart sank as she heard that Earl Whitehorse was still alive, meaning that they now had a 30 year veteran member of law enforcement with a knack for not letting things go on their case. Worse still now he would be working closely with Rook and Hudson forming the point of his spear.
All of this was being mentally chewed on by Faith Seed as she sat at the desk that generations of her birth family had sat at and managed the massive Jessop conservatory, surrounded by the awards and relics of such a long family business. All of it ultimately meaningless now that it served as her main base in her service to 'The Father'.
"I don't have a complete plan but I have a idea. Do you still have access to the Sheriff's office?" Faith asked politely.
"Yes my Herald I do as do the other deputies." The older blond replied.
"Our current problem is that we don't know their exact plans. We don't have enough people or equipment to intercept the Resistance radio traffic but you have such training and equipment at the Sheriff's department. You will take your faithful back to Fall's End and set up shop in your old office. The Sheriff and his Deputies will be focusing on what is going on here instead of Holland Valley and if you manage to stay quiet and out of sight you can feed us information, movements of people, supplies, key figures... anything will help."
The younger woman sat back and looked up at the ornate pressed tin ceiling her eyes lazily staring off into space seemingly seeing things and futures that no one that hadn't explored the depths of The Bliss could hope to understand before she continued.
"They hold the truck stop and the youth camp but we can use the mountains... yes there are a few small caves near the old 8-bit pizza bar I think. We can strike from there... strike their convoys. Now that I think of it you and your faithful can stage yourselves at the nearby Ghost Cat Mine, from there it should be easy enough to find a way to flank the main routes into Holland Valley and then on to Fall's End. Their guards will likely be either bored or less experienced as they move their better fighters to the new front."
Nancy nodded. Working with Faith was much different than John. John was like a ticking time bomb with a dozen triggers that all either at best set off a timer on his wrath or set him off instantly should one fail his expectations. Faith on the other hand was gentle and unassuming which only seemed to hide her desire for information so she would know what to say and how to say it in order find the combination to ones soul. A lockpick to John's hammer.
'Still for all of her kind words she can still summon a legion of Angels and these new Archangels to either kill those who fail her if they are lucky or drag them off to be turned into yet more Angels.' She thought grimly.
"Nancy this is important and I know you only just managed to escape from Holland Valley. Take a few days rest if you must and when you do leave you have my blessing to call on any resource you feel you will need to clear your path to Fall's End, but you and your men must get there unseen at all costs." Faith said with finality.
"Thank you for your kindness my Herald, I will rest and make ready to leave soon." She said as she got up and left.
Alone Faith looked back up at the ceiling closing her eyes as she did. "Oh Sheriff why did you turn away from the Bliss? Burke is so happy now and you could be too, worse still you bring 'The Collapse' and 'The Demoness' to fight the Bliss. No matter in time they will experience a taste of the Bliss and what it means to be truly happy."
Only the constant ticking of the grandfather clock and now the excited screams and yelling of the faithful children playing outside answered her.
Dawn broke the next day to the sound of a convoy of trucks pulling up to the jail bearing supplies and Dr. Ferguson. Sheriff Whitehorse left the distribution of supplies to Minkler and Tracey as he went to meet the man at the head of the convoy.
Marcus and Jessica Rook were talking with some of the jail defenders trying to learn about the area when he approached. Jessica hugged the old friend followed by Marcus.
"Earl my god man, you managed to survive." Marcus said happily.
"Only barely, if the folks here didn't pull me out of the conversion camp when they hit it for supplies I would be trapped in the Bliss still. That damn drug plays with your head, makes everything feel happy but even then I still knew it was all a lie. But anyway thanks for the supplies we were starting to get worried for awhile about tightening our rations but I need to ask a favor Marcus." The old lawman said tiredly.
"Ask and I will see what miracles I can perform." The elder Rook replied.
"You heard about these 'Angels' that Faith is sending out? Well that .44 mag load you worked up for me isn't putting them down the first time. I need a hotter load." Whitehorse said.
Jessica now joined the conversation. "Earl I've shot your .44 loads and they're... extreme already."
The Sheriff shrugged. Growing up he was a regular Elmer Keith, forever looking for hotter and heavier loads for his wheel guns. Recoil be damned. Thankfully to this end he was childhood friends with a gunsmith's son/apprentice who was happy to try ever more experimental loads or repair the guns that didn't survive the experiments.
"Earl you are already within 10% of a outright proofing load, even with that 629 of yours I can't in good conscience go hotter even if I could X-ray a dozen cylinders for that gun for defects. If you want hotter you got to go to a bigger caliber." Marcus said definitively.
"Ok so do you have something bigger?" He asked casually.
A slow evil smile followed by a equally evil laugh.
"Oh God in heaven..." Jessica muttered.
"I was going to use it myself after meeting these so called 'Angels' at Sacred Skies but well... give me a moment." The old gunsmith went back to his truck and returned with a massive black leather holster and belt along with boxes of ammo.
Taking the holster in hand the Sheriff pulled out the massive bull barreled rubber gripped revolver and now had his own evil smile now plastered across his face.
"This is what you get when you cross a Smith & Wesson .500 , a Chiappa Rhino, a Webley Mark VI, and a Nagant revolver. I don't even have a production name for this one, I just called it the 'Doom Cannon' around the shop." Marcus said as he watched the Sheriff look down the sights.
He turned and walk away from them and took aim at a peggie that some of the folks from Holland Valley had impaled for some reason and pulled the trigger in double action mode. It was surprisingly light even absurdly light given what he was used to and it broke cleanly like snapping a glass rod.
The gun didn't jump much because of the large muzzle brake aggressively countering the recoil combined with the natural mitigation of the under slung barrel further decreasing the tendency for the gun to jump up off target . In all it felt like a he was shooting a light .44 magnum load out of his old gun with a lot less jump.
A massive chunk of flesh blew off of his target showing the sheer power of the .50 caliber bullets.
He took aim once more now pulling back on the hammer again noticing it too was surprisingly light and smooth, once more he aimed for the peggie and noticed now that as he pulled the trigger the cylinder moved forward up against the forcing cone of the barrel like that of a Nagant revolver. Once more the gun fired and another chunk of flesh was blown off and then once more as he fired off another four rounds.
Satisfied with the destruction of the peggie body he pressed forward with his right thumb and watched the gun break open and eject the six massive shells automatically.
He turned back to Marcus. "You got speed loaders right?" Marcus nodded and tossed him a syringe like speed loader that let him load all six chambers at once before he flipped the gun shut with a solid feeling click.
He walked over to Marcus and without preamble embraced the other man.
"Marcus you magnificent bastard! This will tear those angel fuckers right up." He said happily.
Marcus nodded. "Well it should its using the best materials and everything I have ever learned about revolvers and put it into one gun. It has a lot of springs though to make everything so light so be sure consult me before you tear into it to clean it. Those bullets you are firing are the latest in my hyper compressed lead projectile technology like what Roger uses in his .30-06 loads. You have a 700 grain bullet in the size and profile of a 265 grain round nose bullet which means."
"More room for powder." He finished.
"Exactly, that thing last time I shot this load through a chronometer it was clocking at an average of 2000 feet per a second. That's means a muzzle energy in the neighborhood of Roger's .50 BMG in your hand." The gunsmith said proudly."
"To think it took us what? 30 nearly 40 years to finally find a load that I might actually be happy with." He said as he started switching out his current gun belt to the new gun.
From the gate walked in Roger and Joey coming to see what had arrived and saw the Sheriffs new gun.
"May I see your new piece sir?" Roger asked and the Sheriff obliged let the younger Rook get a feel for the massive revolver.
Roger smiled evilly as his father had before him and Joey simply looked on wide eyed.
"Dad can I have one? Please?" He asked handing the gun back to the Sheriff.
"When you're older Roger." His father joked before continuing. "But no that's the only prototype and I need a lot of time and parts to build a another one. So where are you two going today?"
"Deep Water North. We got to stop the cult from pouring Bliss into our water supply ASAP, after that I want to at least recon Joseph's statue and see if we can't take it down today." He said with a hopeful smile.
"Good also if I could ask a favor of you guys. My son's house is close to the treatment plant could you do a quick check just to see if its still there? If it is I'll try to take a moment and grab personal stuff pictures, heirlooms, that sort of thing." The Sheriff asked.
Joey nodded. "Yeah I remember where it is, we will do what we can."
Their agenda set Roger and Joey jumped once more into the massive 6x6 and set off on their mission.
Roger on a gut reaction decided to avoid the most direct route through the mountains and drove towards the old 8-bit Pizza Bar. For the residents of the Henbane Region it had been what the Spread Eagle was for Fall's End though smaller in scale, a local hub for the locals to meet for business and leisure. Joey mentioned that after the old owner had died the cult bought the building cheap but never did anything with the property, a few times she had heard through third and forth hand reports that the local youth had managed to break or otherwise bypass the locks and used the place as a comfortable hang out away from everyone and everything.
Roger harrumphed slightly. "Back in our day if we wanted to get away we went into the woods."
Joey laughed as she spoke. "Yeah but the 8-bit is a lot easier to get in and out of and its a bit more comfortable for the usual fun and games with a lot less prep."
"True but nether of us complained about going up to Snowshoe Lake." Roger said with a smile.
Snowshoe Lake was the source of the Ozhigwan Falls but more importantly it was remote and extremely hard to get to short of air lifting or in Roger's case a month of careful trail making by axe, pick, and shovel to make a trail that could be scaled by his truck in low range. It was him and Joey's retreat whenever they had a few days off from school or work.
A soft smile spread across Joey's face as the memories of the place came back. "Yeah I will say I think I preferred having my first time up there instead of a musty old pizza bar that anyone could bust in at anytime."
Roger turned on to the dirt road that would lead them up past the pizza bar, but as they neared the bar the sounds of gunfire could be heard up ahead.
"Joey radio it in!" He said as he pulled off to the side about 50 or so yards away from the battle. Even with the massive black truck pulling up both sides were ignorant of their arrival it would seem though that would change quickly as he rushed forward with Joey hot on his heels her Beowulf in hand.
Half a dozen cult pickups were parked opposite of the pizza bar proving cover for the cultists to shoot from, despite this though whoever was defending the building was making a good show of themselves as there was half a dozen dead peggies already.
One of the peggies saw the deputies and tried to run away in terror only to be cut down from someone inside the building, this still was enough for the other cultists to realize that they had been flanked and turned to address the more immediate threat.
Still between penetration of Roger's HCAR and the sledgehammer like belt-fed rounds of Joey's own Beowulf the lined up cultists were soon decorating the sides of their trucks with their own blood and gore. The few that managed to run away only managed to decorate the other side as the pizza bar defenders now focused their fire on anything that bore a heretical cross that came running out from behind the parked trucks.
With the last peggie dead Roger called out to the defenders. "Don't shoot! Hope County Sheriff's Department! I'm coming out with my rifle up!"
Joey stayed behind the closest truck as Roger took on the risky 'first contact' role. If anything happened she would be ready to suppress anyone in the building hopefully long enough for Roger to get back to cover.
As he crossed the road between the trucks and the building the front door opened and a teenager probably only 17 or 18 at most opened the door his own AR in hand but pointing down. He wore the letterman jacket of the Hope County Cougars and was well built, likely a football player by Rogers judgment. His carefully styled blonde hair and handsome face wouldn't have indicated much but the young man's green eyes were tired but sharp having endured a lot in the last few days and most importantly learning much in the art of war.
"Thought all the cops went full peggie." The young man said stopping about ten feet or so from the deputy.
Roger shrugged. "Well you aren't wrong. There is to the best of my knowledge only three members of law enforcement being myself, Deputy Hudson, and Sheriff Whitehorse that are alive and actively fighting the cult.
"Deputy Hudson you say? Thought she got grabbed by John Seed?" The man said.
Joey stood up and made herself visible. "I was then Rook here saved me, killed John, and saved the rest of the prisoners."
The young man's eyes widened at Rook's name. "Wait your last name is Rook? Like... the son of old man Rook that owns the big gun shop in Holland Valley?"
Roger nodded and a smile broke across his face. "Your... Roger Rook! Holy shit! There's not a single athlete in St. Isdores that passes through the weight room that doesn't dream of matching or breaking one of your records! I'm Mack Rossenburger." Mack said holding his hand out.
He closed the distance between them and shook it warmly then waved Joey over. Mack then led them inside the pizza bar and saw something that could only be described as something out of Red Dawn.
The bar was packed with a full football team and cheerleading team along with a few other students. Everyone was armed to the teeth and armored to boot, the latter decorated however possible with the gold and purple of the football teams colors to cover any cult markings that hinted at the source of their armor.
"You got a over 100 people in here." Joey said looking at the curtained off bunking areas and a quick glance at the kitchen showed that those who had experience working in food service had taken up the task of cooking whatever game could be found and processed.
Mack's joy deflated visibly at the comment. "You're looking at the entire remnant of the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes of St. Isdore. Everyone else either got grabbed by the cult or killed. We haven't had much word from outside after the first day but eventually people started coming here to our collective hang out to try and find some safety. Since I'm the football team captain and one of the oldest here I'm kinda in charge for what's it worth."
Roger patted the young man on the shoulder. "Well you have done well. I called my father to let them know you guys are here. Most survivors are holding up in the county jail."
Mack was now relieved at the news of some experienced back up. "That's good because in the last day or so we have seen a lot of peggies along the road and trying to scope this place out as well. If I had to guess they want to use this place as a base of some sort."
"From here and even the nearby caves they can hide and strike any convoys heading to or from the jail. We can't give up this place." Joey chimed in.
"Well we ain't exactly too wild with that idea either." Someone from the gathered team members said to the agreement of the crowd.
Joey turned to face him. "Jack if we can get supplies and some knowledgeable people in here we could turn this place into a hardened outpost."
"We can also tell you guys what we know of the peggies movements." Mack added looking hopeful.
He smiled at both his girlfriend and the young football player turned resistance leader.
"I'm sold. Mack I'll see what my father and send up here but it maybe sometime, the jail is the main hold out and they are in some seriously sorry shape, were talking days of endless siege warfare. They like it or not get first billing on support."
Mack nodded. "I understand we have food and water here and most of our ammo is whatever we can steal from the cult or pull off their bodies. We expected to have to hold out by ourselves for a good while."
He nodded and walked over to a booth that had a map of the area laid out. On it were various post-it notes with arrows pointing to known cult patrols in the mountains and cult supply caches.
"Mack, Joey and I were on our way up to the water treatment plant so what can you tell us about it? Anything?" Roger asked.
The young football player pointed to a small square labeled 'Shrine' that lie close to the water treatment plant. "The key thing to remember about Faith's operations is just how many eyes and ears she has everywhere. These shrines are like watch posts when they aren't being used for the cults rituals, each one is controlled by a priestess with three or four people acting as full time guards and along with a lot of angels."
He moved from the shrine to the treatment plant proper. "With that in mind, the treatment plant has five guys at all times except when they are dumping a fresh load of Bliss into the water then you are looking at triple that number and if you guys start any trouble..."
"All the nearby shrines start moving to assist." Roger finished.
"Exactly. When we have to face the cult its usually in superior numbers and ultra fast, anything more than a minute or two and one of their guys with a radio will send word out and by the time we start picking away at the bodies we have a fresh wave of peggies and angels to deal with." Mack said standing back up with his arms folded.
Joey looked at the map and realized just how many shrines there really were in the area including very close their own position just across the nearby river from the bar.
"Have you guys tried hitting the Shrines?" She asked.
Mack nodded. "A few but its been risky, those angels are hard to put down and we have nearly lost people trying to fight them. We got the three closest ones to us. The one across the river if you noticed the wreckage, the one across from Throne of Mercy church, and the last and hardest one to take was the one between Lorna's truck stop and the old youth camp... I nearly bought it doing that one."
Joey nodded. "Ok how about Roger and I take out the water treatment plant. If you hear over the radio the peggies call for backup think you guys would be willing to blow up their shrines?"
Roger smiled at both the idea and the fact that Joey was the one suggesting it. She was rapidly getting used to thinking about and using all of the resources around her.
Mack looked at the map hard weighing his options. He and by extension everyone in the pizza bar wanted to fight the cult but still it was hard to be asked to go fight instead of reacting to a threat.
Finally he spoke. "I think we can get at least one or two. We're not soldiers... or even cops you know."
Joey nodded solemnly. "I know Mack, I'm... trying to learn the soldier bit right now. I don't really want to ask you guys to risk your lives but we got to start pushing back the cult and..." She sighed heavily before looking him in the eye. "We all need to fight in any way we can. The least I can do though is try to draw away the peggies and make them focus on Rook and I so you don't have to face waves of angels."
"If you're keeping the angels at bay we can deal with the rest of those peggie motherfuckers!" Someone said from the crowd.
"Well Deputy you got yourself a militia." Mack said with finality.
The Deputies left the bar and returned to Roger's truck as they started their way for the water treatment plant.
As they drove northward along the road Joey was still deep in thought over what she said back at the pizza bar. Roger noticed this and smiled. It was good that she didn't just start using people recklessly lest she become someone like Willis that would burn through people like he went through .50 BMG.
"Coming to terms with having to ask someone to risk their lives for your cause?" He asked trying to sound supportive.
Joey chewed at her lower lip in thought. "Yeah... Christ what have I done? They're a bunch of teenagers and here I am asking them to fight the cult!"
"Well Joey here is the breakdown if you don't mind me laying it all out for you. You haven't asked for anything they weren't already doing piecemeal on a 'as needed' basis, you are only now applying a... structure to their attacks. We draw out of the peggies and they go in and wreck the shrines leaving the cult one less gathering place. We didn't require them to fight for us, and if I am being honest Mack was smart enough to not promise anything. He knows what his people are and he is feeling the same responsibility you are feeling now." He said as they drove past the wrecked shrine across from the old Throne of Mercy church.
"So I shouldn't feel bad for asking them to fight then?" She said softly almost too softly to be hear over the roar of the diesel engine.
He shook his head. "No. You gave them a choice and you laid out a plan to minimize the risk to their own people. Just like I was the one doing the heavy lifting at Lorna's instead of marching in a couple of Resistance gun trucks because it kept them safer especially once that Killdozer showed up." He paused a moment letting the last statement sink in before he put a cap on the matter.
"We are the tip of the spear Joey. We are the ones taking the fight to the cult but since we can't be everywhere at once we need to draw on our resources to make sure that not only are our rears covered but so is the infrastructure we depend on to keep fighting at the tempo we are currently at. That means we are drawing on the trust, blood, and sweat of the free people of Hope County. Our acts earn the peoples trust and we must spend that trust carefully because we are not dealing with soldiers or machines but decent common folk, they won't follow readily at least someone who demands that they march into machine gunfire to finish the mission. So and here is something that you will find familiar, we must take on the responsibility of fighting the cult directly. We take the ground and all we ask from the people is food, ammo, shelter, medical support, recon, and tolerating if not helping to put up the new peggie decorations along the roads. All the important support functions, most of them being of low risk to their lives thus being of low cost."
"But I asked them to attack the cult too." Joey said as her mind chewed on what was being said.
"Yes you asked for a bit more but promised a bit more as well and gave them an out as well. I will say you are running on credit so if this attack doesn't go right they will be slow to trust us. But that is the risk that is part of the greater war we are fighting. How fast can we move, how hard can we hit, and how cheaply can we do all that in terms of resources and our human lives is the gamble that every man at war as been playing at since before the beginning of written history. Welcome to the club."
Their conversation ended as they got on to the main road that ran around the edge of the Henbane River region and Jack turned toward a small pull off that was tucked into the ridge that overlooked the treatment plant. From the small pull off was a tight crevice only large enough for a normal statured person to carefully squeeze through that split the entire ridge and led to the treatment plant.
Roger took his Barrett in hand once again noticing that it felt lighter than ever. "Ok Joey I'll take the high ground and you hit them low. Good?"
She nodded and drew her shotgun. "Works for me. No sense in making this anymore complicated than needed."
As Joey slipped between the rocks, he raced up the steep side ridge until he was just about to go over the top before flattening himself on the ground and crawling the rest of the way over. He was probably being a bit too paranoid but the idea of skylining himself was one of those things that Sniper School had trained him to always be aware of and to abhor.
Looking to his left he found a nice spot to set up at, a large bush about the size of a VW Beetle only about 20 or so feet to his left and far enough down the slope that it wouldn't be too obvious a spot given the rest of the local foliage. He crept back over the top and quickly moved across so he would cross over top once more and be completely concealed as he setup.
In place and rifle on its bipod he looked through his scope and set his range as he looked at what he was dealing with.
"Roger you setup yet?" Whispered Joey over the radio.
"Yeah just found a nice spot to hide from. We got a fair number of peggies in dire need of butchering."
A 'fair number' was 12 visible peggies being lead by no less than three of the cults chemists as they directed their work teams moving massive palletized IBC tanks of Bliss towards the open pools of water.
"Roger think you can kick the party off while I flank them from the right?" Joey asked as he watched her sneak through a tear in the perimeter fence and flatten herself against one of the pump houses.
"Ok I'll try to draw their attention just make sure you don't go too deep otherwise I can't support you from my position." He warned as he lined up one of the peggies, a heavy gunner that was about to open up a tank of Bliss to pour into the water supply.
"Engaging heavy by the pool." He whispered into the radio as he squeezed the trigger and sent a round through the gunners lower jaw, the shock wave sending his stalhelm flying until it landed with a loud clank a few yards away drawing shouts of confusion from the rest of the group as he shifted to a chemist that was slinging his rifle off of his shoulder.
Joey peered around the corner and watched the machine gunner's helmet go flying and quickly rounded the corner of the pump house shotgun readied and nearly slammed into one of the other chemists who was staring at a clipboard when she rounded the corner.
He looked up at the sudden movement and went wide eyed instead reaching for his weapon. "IT'S THE DEMONESS!" He cried out even as Joey removed his head further drawing attention to her. Not stopping she dashed right taking cover behind some Bliss tanks as someone started shooting at the tanks with a small sounding pistol.
She could feel the first signs of Bliss exposure and swung out from behind the tanks and snapped off some double taps to three peggies that were trying to rush her. She couldn't stop moving as a heavy and few more riflemen opened on her position and she dove behind a massive water pipe that would have been large enough for even Roger to crawl through.
The sound of the machine gunner stopping and screaming in pain indicated that Roger now had reminded the peggies that 'The Demoness' wasn't alone.
"Joey keep moving to your right and you'll draw them out for me." He called out.
Still hearing the clank of rifle fire ricochet off of the pipe she crouched walked to her right taking the chance to reload her gun. She reached a large top mounted valve and poked out putting some fire on the peggies that now had finally taken cover behind more Bliss tanks and whatever else they could hide behind.
"Roger can you get a shot on anyone?" She called out as she topped off her shotgun before switching to her rifle.
"No they are all clustered behind the pump house from where I am. Looks like these guys are smarter than average and didn't follow you. I'll start repositioning." He replied when both of their radios picked up a transmission on the open channel.
"This is Deep Water! We are under attack by 'The Demoness' herself! We need whatever help we can get!" Some cultist called out signaling that reinforcements would be on their way.
"Roger stay where you are. You can better cover the front gate from there." She advised looking at where Roger had setup his rifle.
"And how are you planning to deal with our current peggie problem?" Roger asked as he setup his HCAR for rapid access.
"Got some grenades from your Dad. I just hope I can get enough distance." She said as she readied a frag grenade.
Roger smiled to himself. He still hadn't stocked up on explosives considering that he normally took out his targets beyond throwing range, he might need to reconsider that stance after today.
"Just remember to stay behind cover until after the blast." He advised as he watched her lob the grenade honestly a bit too hard as even he could hear it clang off of a pipe most likely, that said it did have the effect of getting the peggies attention and sent a fair number of them running out into his field of fire.
'Hounds to the hunters.' He thought as he started picking the cultists off as they tried to find cover from what they thought was Joey's fire.
The other peggies that hadn't ran out into Roger's field of fire instead did something that neither of the deputies had ever seen out of the cult's fighters... they retreated. They ran hard even dropping their guns and the one or two that had any form of armor casting that off as well heading down the dirt road that lead to the main road.
Joey switched to her Beowulf confident that Roger had taken care of all the peggies and raced out to follow the retreating cultists down the road.
"Joey wait!" He called out as he snatched up his HCAR and raced through the trees along the top of the ridge heading towards the entrance road hoping to intercept Joey before she over extended herself. He pushed himself harder when he heard the sound of a .50 cal Browning roaring away.
'Goddamn it Joey you really stepped in it this time.' He thought worriedly as he burst out of the treeline and instantly recognized what had happened and was about to happen.
The reinforcements from the shrines had come just as Mack had predicted as a pair of cult trucks one of which with the .50 cal now pinned Joey down behind a thick pine tree with a constant hail of fire after it seemed they had cut down the retreating peggies just as a pair of women in dressed in rather suggestive outfits directed a group of regular fighters and a handful of angels to likely to try and flank the deputy.
That's what had happened and from the brief flash of Joey's arm once the gunner was reloading the next belt made Roger duck back behind the largest tree he could get to.
A few seconds later the truck with the gunner had exploded as the grenade Joey had thrown under the truck went off flipping the truck backwards on top of the remaining peggie truck. The dismounted peggies that weren't shredded by the shrapnel stood confused and shaken from the blast, even the angels seemed to not know which direction they should charge.
Joey whipped around what was left of her tree and poured her fire into the survivors as Roger from his own position above them joined in. With the last angel dead Joey stood in the middle of the road watching for anymore surprises as only the sound of the burning trucks could be heard.
"Well Joey what have we learned?" He asked as he made his way down the hill to where she stood.
Joey sighed and closed her eyes in embarrassment. She screwed up and was too aggressive and it nearly got her killed.
"I... screwed up and let myself get too far away from you. Then I got caught out by the reinforcements and had to wing it." She said meekly.
He surprised her by wrapping her in a hug before whispering in her ear. "Exactly, you survived this lesson this time but please at least for my sake don't repeat it. You might not make it next time."
"I'm sorry Roger. I just... had to take advantage with them retreating like that. Seeing them on the run for a change... I just..." Her words failed her and Roger was bluntly reminded that Joey had endured years of loosing ground to the cult as she watched her home slowly get poisoned with the cult's influence.
"I know Joey, its hard to not jump at that but you have to hold back. The war is going to be long and if we want to have any hope of seeing the end and dragging Joseph away in irons we have to pick our battles wisely." He said somberly.
In the distance they heard a pair of distinctly large explosions echo throughout the mountainside.
"I really hope that was Mack's people." Joey said pulling away from Roger and getting herself under control.
Roger nodded and radioed his father to send Resistance fighters to hold the treatment plant and to see if anyone who knew how to work the equipment remained. He thought maybe that somehow something could be adjusted to filter the Bliss out of the water supply but he didn't hold much hope to be honest.
The hike back to his truck was quiet as Joey replayed her actions in her head over and over pinpointing exactly the moment when she went too far off. She knew just how close to getting killed she got when she looked back at the tree she had been hiding behind.
The large pine was almost as thick around as Roger was yet maybe a bit less than half of its trunk remained after being chewed apart by the cultist with the .50 cal. It was a humbling sight to say the least.
Finally back at the truck they drove for the main road, Roger following Joey's directions to Trevor Whitehorse's home. As they past the Hollyhock Saloon a rebadged peggie gun truck carrying fighters from the pizza bar race past them in the other direction, the passengers in back holding up their fists and rifles in exaltation as the two vehicles passed.
The reason for their celebration became clear as just a little bit down the road was the remains of a exploded Shrine and dozens of dead cultists some of which still burning from the apparent fireball that must have consumed the area.
"Well Joey those kids at least got one Shrine." He said in a praising tone as they turned off the main road and started up a dirt road that snaked up the mountain side.
"Trevor Whitehorse married Emma McClean and her father gave them the house as a wedding gift. It would be a real shame if the cult burned it down, Emma herself did a lot of the remodeling before she got pregnant from what the Sheriff told me." Joey explained as they climbed up the mountain.
"How do you know them?" He asked as he could see off in the distance another one of Faith's shrines that lied on the same road they were on.
"I babysat their kids as a favor to Earl. Edward is 10 and Jessie is 8 almost 9 years old, they're good kids though they are very quiet like their mother. Made for easy babysitting though so that's nice... I really hope they got out of town like the Sheriff said." Joey trailed off as they came to the driveway and a trail of dead cultists.
"Oh god please..." Joey whispered as Roger parked the truck and hopped out with his HCAR at the ready.
"Joey cover me. I want to check these bodies." He said as she took her Beowulf in hand and scanned the surrounding area for likely snipers. This part of the mountain was only sparsely wooded but still a sniper could easily find a few places to hide.
Roger approached the closest body and instantly knew that this one had been here for a while. The pale ridged corpse had a single .30 caliber hole right at the top of the ribcage that teamed with fairly large maggots. He moved over to another body and found it in a similar state through this guys face also had a few dozen smaller holes.
There was a third body that was far fresher with similar wounds only at most a day or two old.
'Someone is running around with a .22LR trying to pop peggies.' He thought as a cold sinking feeling started to form in his stomach. He turned to Joey.
"Joey you run point to the house make sure you identify yourself. I think someone might be hold up in the house."
Joey nodded and with rifle ready slowly walked towards the front of the house. "Hope County Sheriff's Department! We are here to help!" She yelled when they got close enough to the front step.
A brief bit of movement from one of the curtains in the broken front window indicated that someone or at least something was indeed inside. The front door was unlocked and the two Deputies were met with the shine off of a black cruciform bayonet on the end of a Mosin-Nagant.
"J-Joey?" The young boy holding the rifle asked. He was tall and a bit lanky looking as he was reaching puberty but it was the green eyes and dirty blonde hair that clearly showed his Whitehorse heritage.
Joey dropped her rifle and let it swing on its sling as she gasped. "Ed! Where's Jessie? What about your Mom and Dad?!"
The boy in turn lowered rifle off his shoulder and rushed to hug the deputy. "Jessie! It really is Joey!" He called out and a little blonde haired girl with a bright pink youth sized stocked Ruger 10/22 with a massive drum mag came rushing out as she slung the rifle across her back.
"JOEY! JOEY!" She called out as she joined the group hug.
"Where's your Mom and Dad?" Joey asked again as she looked each of them over for injuries.
Ed spoke up. "The peggies grabbed them nearly two weeks ago. We were supposed to go to grandma Whitehorse's but the radiator on Dad's truck cracked on that Sunday afternoon. They came in the middle of the night later... Mom and Dad tried to fight them and we ran into one of the caves and hid. We sneaked back here and heard that they were taken to some place called 'Misery' before... before I shot the peggies with one of their own guns they left laying around."
Joey embraced the shaken child once more as he now spilled everything that had happened.
Not knowing what else to do the two kids bunkered down as best as they could. Ed had found the spare key that wasn't hidden well enough to one of his father's gun safes, such that the only weapons they had were his father's 1891 Mosin-Nagant and his little sister's own Ruger besides whatever the peggies had. The other safes were newer and he couldn't find the keys for thus depriving them of any more modern weapons.
Killing the first cultists had eventually attracted the attention of those from the Shrine up the road and they had sent several waves of cultists over the next few days. Ed showed them the backyard where there was a six foot tall pile of dead bodies including even a priestess that clearly had been bayoneted in the neck before being shot. Walking through the house Roger had concluded that were was likely not a single man sized window that hadn't been breached and that much of the more recent fighting had occurred inside the house itself.
'For quiet kids they have some serious grit to hold out like this.' He thought as he looked around further. The kitchen showed signs of use as evidenced by the empty egg and hot dog packages in a nearby trash can among the boxes and wrappers of Pop Tarts and Cheez-its.
They had been doing their best to care for themselves but from Ed's story they were under fire often at odd hours which meant things like cooking more than egg or two at most was too much to ask of the overburdened children.
With Joey's help they packed some hiking bags with changes of clothes, topped off their ammo, grabbed some books to read, and grabbed some gun cleaning supplies as Ed was nervous about ruining his dad's 'new collectable rifle' with the 'corrosive ammo' he had been forced to use.
Ed and Roger were in the living room as Joey and Jessie finished packing.
"Ed I haven't introduced myself but I'm Roger Rook, you probably know my mom and dad up at the big gun shop in Fall's End." He said as he knelt down to be eye to eye with the kid.
"Yeah I think I saw you and Joey once in town a few... weeks ago. Grandpa always said you were big." The kid said being surprisingly polite sounding despite the horrors that he had been living through.
He gestured at the boy's rifle and Ed handed the rifle over to him for examination.
"Dad said that he had never seen such a long Mosin, but for some reason the sights are off and it shoots really short. I'm kinda glad the peggies decided to come closer so I could hit them." Ed said as he watched Roger go over the rifle with a practiced eye.
"Izhevsk production, 1913 production date, Konovalov sight upgrade, good wood no cracks, hand guard appears to be original... yeah this a pre-Soviet Mosin alright. I can tell you why its not shooting to your point of aim though." He finally said handing the rifle back.
"Why?" came the inevitable reply.
"Well I'll bet your Dad aimed at a target at 400 meters right?" He inquired and Ed nodded.
"Well that's because the numbers on the sights here are not in meters but are in arshins. So 400 arshins is 248.48 meters if I remember correctly hence why you are hitting so short. " He finished.
"What's a 'arshin'?" Ed asked his curiosity now fully showing itself.
"Oh dear now you are going to get it Ed. Roger has spent his whole life collecting old guns so get ready to have your ear talked off." Joey said as she and Jessie reentered the living room.
"Says the woman with two ultra rare Austrian-Hungarian handguns that most people never even heard of. If everyone is ready lets lock up and go to the Jail, that's where your grandpa is." He shot back before waving them to the front door.
Once piled into the cab as Joey had expected Roger dove first into an explanation of what a 'arshin' was and then regaled from memory the development history of the Mosin-Nagant. Joey couldn't help but smile as Ed and even Jessie asked questions that only Roger would have ever thought to know the answer to. By the time they pulled up to the jail he had moved on to the history and accomplishments of Leon Nagant and his work on revolvers, something that both of the children had some knowledge of given who their grandfather was.
The Sheriff was directing with the help of Marcus where to emplace several captured machine guns to help further fortify the jail turned fortress when he heard the familiar rumble of Roger's truck.
"Well they're back a little later than I expected." The Sheriff said to Marcus as he watched the massive lawman walk through the personnel door in the main gate then he could feel his heart stop and wondered for the briefest of moments if he was about suffer another heart attack.
"GRANDPA!" The two children called out as they raced pass the deputies and nearly tackled the old Sheriff.
He embraced his grandchildren tightly and with panting breaths tried to ask endless questions that were overwhelming him on top of his own emotions.
"Why... Why are you guys still here? I thought you were going to grandma's house in Idaho Falls!" He finally managed to ask.
"Dad's truck broke when we were about to leave and then the cult came and took mom and dad. We have been stuck at the house since we didn't know what to do." Ed said.
The horror of Ed's words dug into Earl deeply, they had been on their own for nearly two whole weeks. Two weeks while he was either under the cults influence or hold up here at the jail thinking that his family was safe at least.
"Oh God forgive me... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I thought you guys were safe at grandma's... had I known I swear I would have come... oh God I'm so sorry." He said as he once more hugged his family with rarely seen tears marking his face.
He looked up at his deputies. "Thank you two... I... I... can't..."
"It's ok Sheriff we are just doing what we can, saving who we can find." Roger said wrapping a arm around Joey's shoulder as she nodded in agreement.
Marcus placed a hand on his best friends shoulder. "Earl. Go take care of your family, I'll finish up out here."
The Sheriff took his grandchildren hand in hand and led them inside to get settled in their new home and the onlookers returned to their original tasks.
"Didn't think the Sheriff could cry, still its good to see something positive come out of all this." Tracey said as she approached the deputies.
"Earl Whitehorse is hard but like all men he has his soft spots." Roger said as she regarded the smiling black woman before him.
"Yeah you proved that much that's for sure. I wanted to apologize for earlier. I was too harsh and between the pizza bar, the treatment plant, and now the Sheriffs grand kids even I can't say you haven't earned your keep even if I wasn't an ass beforehand." She said apologetically holding out her hand in a peace offering.
Roger took it and smiled. "Sorry for intimating you beforehand. I had to get a measure of you before I turned my back. Hard experience has shown that any peggie that claims that they are turned should be treated with extreme suspicion."
She nodded in agreement. "Yeah I got out a long time ago before things really went to shit. They wanted me to bend over for them and I don't bend so I jumped ship. Rachel on the other hand well bending is all she was good at and now she's Faith fucking Seed."
"What?" Roger started to ask when the roar of a truck coming to screeching halt in front of the main gate followed by someone calling out for one of the deputies interrupted them.
Roger and Joey raced out with Tracey on their tail when they came face to face with an excited Mack.
"Oh good... You two really shook things up we hit three Shrines and blew them to hell, even managed to get a bunch of peggies while they were all bunched up getting into their truck. But I got news for you, we found that US Marshal that was on TV with Faith!"
Roger's eyes widened. "Where?" He snapped.
"Eden's Convent, you passed it on the way to the water treatment plant. We were picking through the dead at the Shrine that we bagged that truck at closest to the convent and one of the guys with a decent scope spotted a dark skinned man with 'US Marshal' on his armor. Matches what we have seen, he's not alone either looks like a lot of other prisoners were being dropped off." Mack finished gasping for breath afterwards.
"If they are at the convent then the cult is planning on giving them the Bliss. If they don't die immediately or become full blown angels then they are sent off to other conversion centers and Shrines for indoctrination." Tracey added helpfully.
"There were a lot of the cults Chemists there as well adding... stuff we don't know to this big pool of Bliss they have in the courtyard." Mack added.
"They might be experimenting then. Faith's Chemists tend to stay at her Conservatory unless they need to oversee something directly." The former cultist added.
"If there are that many prisoners we are going to have to prepare first before we hit the Convent so that rules out going tonight." Joey said as she watched the gears in Roger's head spin.
"How many?" He said looking at Mack.
"Four prisoner vans so figure at most six per... twenty four people worst case scenario assuming that they are still alive tomorrow." The football player answered.
"Ok Mack can your people find a safe place to watch the convent? I'll speak with the leaders and see about what we can do for the prisoners, we will likely move sometime tomorrow at the soonest." He said seeing the pride swell in the teenager.
"Already done. If that is everything I'll head back to the bar and call you over the radio if anything else comes up." Mack said as he turned back for his truck.
As they watched him drive off Roger could only think about the pending attack on this convent and more pointedly why was a VIP like the Marshal doing there instead of locked up in Faith's Conservatory or her bunker. He found no answers forth coming as he joined the girls in heading towards the jail. Tomorrow would come and they would just have to find out the old fashioned way what the cult was up to.