Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 18: Collapsing Dreams
He wasn't sure when he got here, or how, or where he was exactly but he didn't feel anymore pain at least so that was a nice change.
He looked around the field of tall green grass and wildflowers, watching butterflies jump from flower to flower and otherwise flutter about. Something in the back of his mind wanted to... say something about all the tail grass around him but he couldn't... hear it? Say it?
He shook his head and cast his gaze farther to the horizon where the wildflowers gave way to a field of carefully planted Angel's Trumpets... Bliss flowers that was parted by a narrow dirt path with tall somewhat thin tree trunks devoid of branches or leafs save for one or two that twisted or crooked in strange directions. Their light grey bark was dull and weathered looking, a stark contrast of death among the fields of life.
At the end of path even from the great distance he was from it so he supposed was a large tree with the purest white foliage he had ever seen. It called him somehow to walk the path and approach.
Looking around further he couldn't see anything else worth walking to as the horizon on all sides of him were dominated by massive billowing dark green cloud walls that looked as if they were frozen in place neither closing on him nor moving away. They reminded him of something he had seen in the past in another land... sandstorms? Maybe? Above him similarly colored clouds crossed a blueish green sky diffusing the light of the sun overhead.
Satisfied with his choices he began to walk the path his pace sprightly as he seemingly floated down the path. As he journeyed down the path a particular butterfly of the most iridescent blue known to man happily dance around him even as he progressed down the path toward the tree.
Just before he reached the tree however a bright whiteness enclosed him so completely that he couldn't even see the path he was on. He then felt his right hand be taken by a smaller more feminine hand but he still couldn't see who or what he was touching at this very moment.
"I know you've heard stories about me. That I'm a lair... A manipulator." A young sounding woman's voice cut through the whiteness and with every word it abated until he could see the path once more and more so the young brunette haired woman holding on to his hand.
She wore a short and simple white dress, and oh how pure the white cloth was.
"That I poison people's minds... Well, let me tell you a different story. A true story." She said as she pulled him to follow her before stretching her arms out to run her hands through the very tips of the tall grass. He too mirrored her movements as he followed the blades of grass tickling the rough skin of his hands.
The blue butterfly had landed on the woman's shoulder relaxing even as she moved until she suddenly spun around and now grabbed both of his hands and brought both him and herself down to sit upon the ground.
She looked at him squarely with bright blue eyes for a moment before it would seem that her shyness took over and she cast her gaze at their joined hands before speaking again.
"There once was a young woman who had been ostracized by her community. Bullied by friends. Abused by her family. She took to a needle for help. She was all alone. She wanted to die." The woman said her voice tightening and her eyes threatening to start dropping tears.
A long silence passed between them, she gathering her strength and he not able to find the words to respond. By now though he could feel something akin to a lighter in his very soul struggling to ignite but never quite managing.
"And then she met 'The Father'." The woman said with joy on her lips once more as she giggled and shot upward somehow picking up his considerable mass with her and towing him through the grass rapidly until she stop and turned right looking off towards the horizon. They now sat at the side of a body of water of some kind and through the dark green fog he could see a another tree, it was smaller and less impressive than the one he had first seen but it too still bore amazingly white foliage that seems to pierce through the fog their white purity was so great.
Above them however was a gap in the clouds of a great statue. That statue was of a well dressed man holding a open book while he preached to a unseen congregation.
'The Father...' He thought and the lighter within his soul caught aflame if only by the barest of margins but it was there.
"He gave her hope, and confidence. The Father showed her how special she was, that she was full of love and life. He gave her a new family. One that accepted her just as she was." The woman spoke dancing around excitedly as she spoke her voice full of joy. When she stopped before him once more the blue butterfly from before landed once more on her shoulder.
'No. Lies. Heresy!' He thought within the confines of his burning soul however slight it was, and the words made the little flame grow if only ever so slightly.
"The young woman no longer wished to die. She had been given... purpose." The woman continued as she flourished her arms out and seemingly from the fog itself misty angel wings sprang forth from her back lifting her above him.
She took both of his hands into hers and lifted him somehow in the air with no effort at all as she continued to speak, grinning as she did. "One day, The Father brought her here. He asked if she had faith in him. He asked if she would be willing to die for him. The young woman, who very much wished to live, was scared."
The woman pulled him with her as she dove over the body of water which was a lake and under the tree that he had seen from shore finally lifting them both high into the sky as they closed on the massive statue of the preacher.
"The Father told her that this was her test. He would have Faith in her if she had faith in him. So she closed her eyes, and leapt." She said as she set him down in the middle of the open book of the preacher.
"The Father kept his word." She said as she floated away. It was at that moment he saw that he wasn't alone on the book for there was short darker skinned man wearing armor.
'Pencil pusher! Mr. I got a badge, a gun, and a big dick!' His soul screamed as the fire within began to grow and roar.
"The path to Eden is clear to those who have faith." She said still floating away. The pencil pusher turned his head toward him just as the blue butterfly from before landed on his shoulder and out stretched his hand.
'Burke. You are Burke... Marshal Burke. Who am I again?' He wondered feeling the heat from within building still.
"Follow the path." He said as he turned and placed himself on the ledge and leapt off the book.
The woman's wings exploded in a burst of mist as she disappeared from sight once more, but her voice still sang in his ears.
"You must have Faith. Let go... Let your Faith be your guide. Leap. Accept the Word." She said her voice making him walk toward the edge and behold the expansive view all around him. But just as he was starting to consider leaping as the woman had said he stopped himself.
'Why? What is the purpose? I can't survive a fall like this... the math says so. Too much mass at terminal velocity with a rapid stop at the end. Too many joules of energy to survive... so why am I jumping again?' He wondered as the voice sounded like his own only coming from within.
It was at that moment that he looked above him and saw a descending black shape... a black feather. It's darkness was a sliver of midnight in the greenish world he found himself in and he couldn't help but feel drawn to the feather as it fell towards him.
"What? What are you doing? What is that? NO DON'T TOUCH IT!" The woman's voice screamed in his head as he reached out and caught the black feather in his hand. Instantly the fire in his soul exploded as his awareness grew once more.
'I am Roger Titus Rook. I am steel and I am doom... I am The Collapse.' He thought as he realized that now he too had his own wings. While Faith's wings were of mist his own were massive jet black wings of a physical form.
He stretched his wings out before he leapt off the book and dove to the ground reveling in the free fall. It reminded him of a different time and different place that he could only grasp little threads of.
'Fort... it was a Fort... Benning. During Tower week.' His thoughts were interrupted as he extended his wings then felt the G-forces pull at him as he pulled up sharply and landed on the ground unharmed.
He looked at the horizon once more and saw the path that he was on before leading to the tree he had seen then and not knowing what else to do he started walking towards it. Unknown to him with every step he took a bloody boot print was left in his wake and the plants along the path behind him began to smolder and catch fire.
Roger gasped awake regretting it instantly as he was assaulted with overwhelming heat and more pain that he thought possible. Once more he found himself fighting to breathe as someone beside him pressed a switch and he felt his body descend into some icy cold water that bit at his skin yet brought relief from the heat that was building within him. Something was then placed over his nose and mouth and he could feel air being forced into his body even it now started to shake and rip itself apart.
"Come on Roger get over this, you can do it honey." The figure said identifying her has his mother as she kept forcing air into him as his body convulsed for another few minutes until finally the tremors stopped and he could breathe on his own again.
"Roger, how do you feel hun?" Jessica asked as she looked over her son. He didn't look too radically different but a mother knows her child, Roger was getting bigger. He had grown four inches taller since he got here and his already massive frame matched the sudden growth, to make matters worse the doctors were struggling to keep his body fed with enough nutrients to not turn on itself.
If this lasted too long they would run out of supplies and her son's chances of recovering drop significantly.
"Mom?" Roger muttered softly.
"Yes honey? What do you need?" She asked hoping for something that could ease her sons pain.
"I'm scared." Came the reply and that set the tears that she had been trying to hold back off.
"I know baby. Just stay with us and we will figure out something to get you back up and going again. Now just try to rest, Doctor Ferguson will be in soon to look you over and see what you might be able to eat for breakfast safely." She said bidding him to sleep. Then without even thinking she started to softly sing 'You are my sunshine' like she once did so many years ago whenever he couldn't settle down to sleep.
It was on this scene that Joey quietly walked in loaded down with guns, gear, and fresh armor. She had wanted to see Roger before she headed out to attack Joseph's statue but almost turned to leave before Jessica called to her.
"Joey it's good to see you here." Jessica greeted softly.
Joey came over and knelt beside the massive stock tank that now held Roger. Seeing him like this broke her heart. Roger was always this seemingly invincible engine able to wade in and out of hell like it was nothing to him, but now he was here fighting for his life and it just was... impossible to really come to grips with Joey thought.
"How is he?" She asked noting that he must have had a episode recently to have been lowered into the ice water.
"Just had another episode before then he seemed to be dreaming rather intensely. It seems to be roughly four to six hours between episodes so he can at least get some sleep but otherwise he is in... just so much pain."
They sat in silence watching as Roger breathed slowly and laboriously even as he rested before Jessica broke the silence once more.
"This is the hard part of being a Rook, Joey. When I married Marcus I knew that any day could be the day I get a letter or someone knocking on my door telling me that my husband is dead or worse severely wounded. I made peace with that because that's who Marcus was... a soldier doing what soldier's do. When Roger joined the Army I knew it was the same thing, but its one thing to be a world away from your loved one knowing they are doing dangerous things, but its whole different experience when you're here at their side and you can't help them." Jessica said before she turned to face her tears crossing down her face.
"I can't help my baby boy, Joey. I'm not a fighter and I'm too old to really go out there and fight and Marcus despite what he might say otherwise isn't 18 or even 30 anymore. He can fight a battle or two but not the daily grind of a war. Please Joey you're my best hope for finding something to help Roger. You can go out there and fight where I can't."
Joey chewed at her lower lip. To hear the fear and helplessness in Jessica's voice was gut wrenching in the extreme but her words were true. Roger had known that since the beginning and it was now that others were realizing it as well.
"I swear on my life Jessica, I will find something to help Roger. I... I don't what I'd do if I lost him because I didn't act when I should have." She said solemnly before getting up and speaking again.
"I'm going to blow Joseph's statue, piss off the peggies, and start tracing the source of the Bliss. There has to be I don't know documentation or something that can tell us what we are dealing with. I wish I could do more but... I don't know. I'm not a soldier."
Jessica smiled. "No but you are 'Little Miss Buckshot' and the girl who couldn't pass a cave or a mountain and not stop and explore it. You'll find away to get what you want Joey, that's why Roger asked you to take the lead."
"Joey?" Roger spoke spooking both women.
"Yeah Roger I'm here." She replied drawing herself close so he didn't have to strain himself to be heard.
"Remember to have plenty of cover between you and the blast. Ask Dad for RDX charges with magnets and double sided tape attachments. Sorry I can't teach you how to use it." He barely managed to say as he was left breathing hard afterwards.
She nodded in understanding. "Ok Roger I'll go do that now. I love you."
Roger only smiled a little as he slipped back to sleep.
Jessica smiled as she watched the exchange between her son and Joey. She knew then that Joey would hold herself to her word and help Roger no matter what and that was all she needed to know to feel better about this whole situation.
"Marcus is probably on the wall with the night watch. He didn't sleep well last night unsurprisingly so he made himself useful." Jessica added.
Now having a task Joey turned and left the ward to find the elder Rook.
Marcus scanned the surrounding hills with a wary eye through his binoculars. They had since relieving the Jail had Faith's scouts trying to setup to watch the jail from the hills but most of the time they were clumsy and stood out like a sore thumb. It made for good target practice and felt more productive then sitting around worrying over his son.
The sound of someone climbing up the ladder to the top of the wall made him turn and wait for whoever it was to crest the top. He held his rifle loosely ready to aim at the climber if need be, because after all he wouldn't put it past the cult not to send assassins after key Resistance members again.
Thankfully it was Joey's head that popped up over the ladder and he relaxed instantly. "Joey, you're up earlier than I expected." He said with a touch of surprise.
"Yeah... didn't really sleep all that well. I got to talk with Roger briefly though, he said to ask you about some RDX charges with magnets and double sided tape." The younger woman said as she moved beside him and looked out the surrounding hills.
"Smart. RDX is a little more powerful then your normal C4 so it will make up for any less than perfect placement. The magnets and tape give you attachment options obviously but I'm guessing you also need a crash course in demolitions?" He said with a smirk as the first rays of the morning sun crested over the mountains.
Joey nodded meekly not liking to further highlight just how out of her depth she was. "If you could Marcus. I got to blow that statue today."
'At least she knows enough to ask for help.' He thought briefly before answering. "Ok then lets get going we can use Zip's ranch as a testing range."
They climbed down off the wall and loaded themselves into Marcus's truck and raced off for the Kupka Ranch.
"So what happened to Zip anyway? I haven't seen him since I got out of John's bunker." She asked as they thundered down the road.
"Oh Zip? Well basically he got in the way for the last time. I needed explosives to bust Roger out when John first captured him and Zip had them. He started going on about his conspiracy theories and generally being unhelpful, so I shot him in the head." He said casually.
Joey's eyes widened at the revelation and the casualness that he made it in. "He went off the deep end didn't he?"
Marcus nodded. "He started really digging into his theories and I couldn't let him start undermining the Resistance at that early time. After we killed him I opened up his barn expecting to find some stolen explosives from the mines and instead find a small factory setup and pallets worth of various types of explosives. You'll see in a moment."
In minutes Joey and he had reached the ranch where he opened up the barn let her see for herself just what madness Zip had been plotting. She was especially surprised at the plans that he had for blowing up her house which as labeled as a outpost for coordinating government 'Cybernetic Spy Deer' units sent to watch his property.
Revelations made he started on the lessons blowing up piles of bricks and steel drums, going over how to wire up and set the detonators. It honestly was easier than she thought as she got pretty quick at prepping the charges and determining where to best set them, of course she knew in the back of her head there was no telling what the statue really was like in the inside. Marcus mentioned that if it was built by professionals then it would be easier to take down then to try and guess what a bunch of amateurs did.
"Professionals are predicable, amateurs are dangerous and zealous amateurs even more so in my experience." Marcus had said.
By lunchtime she felt that she was as ready as she could possibly be but treated herself to going to the Spread Eagle for lunch since she was over in this part of the county.
Pushing open the familiar doors she was greeted by a happy Boomer as he jumped around excitedly at her entrance. Mary May came around the bar enveloped her in a warm hug.
"Oh god Joey... I heard about Roger. Is... is he going to be ok?" The blonde asked.
"We don't know, he got exposed to some new type of Bliss that we haven't seen before and its tearing at him. He's running such a high fever we had to rig up a ice water bath to dunk him in when his temperature spikes and then there is his breathing problems. I-I just have to keep hoping that he can pull through somehow but until then he asked to be to keep fighting the cult." She said trying not to tear up at the thought of Roger stuck in limbo back at the jail.
Mary May sighed heavily and nodded. "Well if you are going to be fighting the cult the least I can do for you is give you a good lunch."
Joey ate her burger and fries quietly thinking about her next move. 'Joseph's Word is built right on the peak of a mountain. They had to have built a sizable foundation which means they might have dug into Foster's Cavern, which means I might have a chance to get to the statue unseen maybe even blow up the foundation itself.'
Foster's Cavern was one of hundreds of small virtually unmarked and unknown caves throughout Hope County. More than few could even be used to get around the local area unseen if you could put up with the darkness and having to squeeze through more than a few tight spots.
Joey smiled as she stared off into space at her empty plate. 'Roger always hated when he couldn't fit though some of the caves. The downside of being a giant among men, still if the Bliss is making him grow more and he manages to survive things will only get harder for him.'
The sound of the bar door opening didn't immediately arouse Joey from her thoughts until she heard a familiar voice.
"Hudson when did you come back?" A woman spoke behind her.
Turning in her seat she saw that Grace Armstrong was back in gear complete with her beloved rifle strapped to her back. She got up excitedly and embraced the sniper who first froze at the sudden closeness and then winced from the pressure on her wound.
"Ok ok Hudson it's nice to see you too." She said gently pushing the deputy away. "I'm like 90 or 95 percent back. Enough to fight just not hug. I heard about Roger so I was thinking about heading over to the jail to see if there was someway I could help."
Joey smiled. "I have a plan that probably won't get you shot most likely."
"Well that's a good start. What is it?" Grace asked as she took a seat on a neighboring stool.
"I need to take down Joseph's statue. Now I'm not going to climb the mountain that's too exposed and I would expect that the cult would have snipers or at least spotters considering how important the statue is to them and to Faith's conversion process. I'll be going through a cave that I explored when I was a teenager that should take me to the foundation of the statue or at least damned close to it. From there I'll have to play it by ear."
Grace looked at her wide eyed briefly before replying. "Jesus Christ Hudson. If I didn't know better I would have said that Rook came up with this plan."
"Kinda doubt that. This cave was too tight for him to follow be way back when let alone now, he wouldn't know otherwise where it terminated. I will admit that I could be wrong and the cult could have fully mapped the cavern and posted god knows what inside but the alternative that I see is a frontal assault which... I just don't think I could manage that on my own or even with your help." She added.
The sniper sighed and muttered something along the lines of 'Insane deputies.' before answering. "Well ok you sold me on the idea, now where do you need me?"
"You'll be on the neighboring peak to the north of the statue watching for any reaction from the peggies as I make my way through the cave. Once I see where I get to I'll let you know if you need to start picking off anyone." Joey said with a smile. It was a good role for Grace. Out of the line of fire and took advantage of Graces marksmanship.
"Sounds good to me. So when do we go?" Grace asked.
"Right now." Came the reply.
They commandeered a rebadged cult pickup and drove from Fall's End to the PurpleTop antenna that served the Henbane River region. Joey got out and checked her pack and guns one last time before turning back to Grace.
"Once I'm in the caves we probably will loose radio contact. I'll call in once I reach the surface or the statue and we will go from there. Until then make note of any patrols they have on the mountain that we might have to deal with."
Grace nodded. "Copy. Be careful Hudson, I know you have crawled through these caves before but you never know who might have moved in the mean time."
With the warning given Joey turned and set off. The entrance to Foster's cave was only a five minute walk from the base of the massive cell tower and just looked like a mass of granite jutting up from the mountainside, that is until you tried to climb it and found a simple manhole sized hole that served as the entrance.
The interior was as she remembered it relatively dry save for the odd stalagmites and stalactites. She couldn't help but smile as she clicked on her flashlight and moved deeper into the cave system.
She had come across this cave when she was 12, her mother had been called into take care of some specific task at the office and she got drug along. So to past the time since the county treasury office was right next to the county archive office she occupied herself by looking at old maps that dated from the 1850's when the first surveyors passed through the area on the way to Oregon looking for any easier alternative trails besides the well known Oregon Trail.
She climbed further down into the depths and the cavern started to narrow down until she was moving in a crouched walk and then finally on her hands and knees as she a approached a choke point.
'This is as far as I can go Joey. I'm just too big to fit through the hole.' She remembered Roger saying when they had reached this point years ago. The memory brought a brief smile until she saw on the other side of the hole a light green plastic barrel that had managed to plug the hole at other end.
"You fucking peggies! How many years will we still be finding this shit?! Worse than the goddamn iron harvest." She grumbled to herself thinking on what Roger had once told her about how French farmer's would still find unexploded ammunition from WWI.
She stripped off her pack and carefully squeezed herself through the hole head first and scrawled on her belly. 'Yeah I'm not 14 anymore. My hips are wider, my tits are bigger, I'm wearing heavy body armor, and a gun belt. This is worse then I remembered.' she thought sourly as she reached the barrel and carefully began to push hoping that it wasn't pinned in place by something else on the other side or worse would burst on her as she could hear the sloshing of the liquid drug inside.
With a too loud popping sound the barrel shot forward and a rush of green tinged air shot toward her as the caves air pressure equalized bringing with it the drug that made her vision began to sparkle. The other side of the cave had been radically changed. Where there once was natural cavern was further hollowed out by machines and obstacles like stalagmites or imperfections in the floor removed and flattened so that pallet jacks could move the numerous palletized tanks and barrels of Bliss alongside it looked like pallets of can foods and drinking water tanks. Above them large LED lights illuminated the area revealing a pair of cultists one of them being a Chemist and three Angels in the room seemingly unaffected by the knee high fog of Bliss.
She back tracked as fast and as quietly as she could manage to drag in her pack full of guns and explosives doing her best to push through the haziness of the Bliss and ignoring the fears that what was happening to Roger would happen to her.
'There has to be a elevator or something big to get all this down here. That has to lead to the statue's base probably.' She thought as she drew Rogers suppressed 1911 and crept in among the pallets.
"So that's our situation down here. If Feeney wants to store more Bliss down here we need to fly in or somehow drive in a forklift so we can actually stack these pallets instead of just pushing them together." One cultist said.
"I will let the doctor know. Father knows that this isn't the best situation, if 'The Collapse' hadn't begun we could have eventually started building proper storage tanks like what we have in the caves behind the conservatory. No matter, you have done well brother." The Chemist said as he turned and walked away heading out of her sight. But a minute later she could hear a loud clang of a metallic gate closing and motor whirring away. A elevator.
Joey sunk back her head aching from the Bliss as she saw one of the Angels stumble in her direction, calm even docile muttering what sounded like verses from the Word of Joseph. She scrambled quietly to hide back in between two Bliss tanks that hadn't been pushed together as the Angel neared and she waited.
The Angel lost as it was in its visions of the Bliss stopped and scratched at the ground trying to pick Bliss flowers that weren't really there. The creature didn't feel the cool muzzle of the suppressor against the back of its head nor did it feel anything but bliss as the slug tore through its nerve stem and exited out the front of its skull.
'One down, two to go.' Joey thought as she peered over the pallets. The handler was leaning up against the cave wall reading the Word of Joseph as he drank from a thermos occasionally. She crouch walked towards the next Angel as it stared at the brightly colored labels on the various boxes of canned foods.
This would be harder as where the Angel stood had direct line of sight to the handler but there was a another gap across from the Angel that would hide them if she could drag the monster over there.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as she holstered the pistol and drew her knife. When she got within a pace of the Angel she made a quick glance back at the peggie who was still deep into his book of heretical wisdom, then she lept at the Angel.
Her left hand clamped around the Angel's chin and shoved up as hard as she could manage to keep the creature from doing more than grunting in surprise as her knife hand wrapped around drove the blade up through the throat and didn't stop until it struck the inside of the Angel's skull.
She used the falling Angel's momentum to toss herself and the dead Angel into the gap and out of sight of the watchman. She was breathing hard which meant she was breathing in more of the Bliss fog but there wasn't anything she could do so she put up with the increasing headache and sparks in her field of vision.
Making sure that the Angel's body was shoved completely into the gap and out of site she peeked around the pallet of Bliss and saw the cultist slurping loudly the last of his drink before refocusing on his book.
'Just stay focused on Joseph's little white book like a good cultist.' She thought as she moved once more to where the last Angel was. This one was once a woman and a small statured one at that. The creature started beating on the wall with a rock the sound hammering at Joey's ears as it seemingly tried to dig through the rock wall.
"Abby! I've told you to stop digging." Said the handler not looking up from his book.
Abby seemed intent on continuing which ran the risk of the handler coming over and noticing the disappearance of the other Angels, so in a panic Joey raced up hoping the sound of the hammering would cover her movement and unceremoniously drove her knife into the back of 'Abby's' head.
The hammering stopped and the handler spoke again. "Good Abby. The Father demands obedience if we are to see the Gates of Eden."
Joey found a nook in the cave wall that was out of sight of the handler and let her at least stand out of the Bliss cloud so she could clear her head and catch her breath.
'You can do this Joey. Take care of the last guy and go up the elevator, get in contact with Grace and find out what it looks like top side then just find some good places for the demo charges.' She could hear Rogers voice say in her head.
Her vision was mostly clear now and the pounding in her head had lessened to a point that she dared to peek out and move toward where the handler was. She had sight of him as he was placing a silk bookmark in his book and snapped it shut before turning away to head down the unlit path toward where the elevator was.
She quietly crept toward the cultist closing the distance. She started to reach for her sidearm but a idea occurred to her. This guy had been talking about Feeney before and if he was down here he was a part of the Bliss operation in some form, thus there was a chance to question him about where Feeney might be.
She glanced back to where the peggie had left not just his book and now empty thermos but also his rifle. With her knife now in hand she now crossed into the darkness after the cultist as he suddenly turned off into a small nook in the cave wall. The sound of something metallic being set on a rock surface followed by the tinny clatter of a belt buckle told her everything she needed to know as she quickened her pace around the corner of the nook.
The peggie was taking a piss and had laid his pocket revolver on the ground behind him and was even humming one of the cults hymns as he did his business.
'I won't turn down a opportunity like this down.' She thought evilly as she got behind the man.
In one motion she wrapped her left arm around the mans neck and placed the edge of her knife under his dick which caused him to stop fighting her instantly.
"Ok peggie here is what is going to happen. I will ask you questions and you will give me answers, the alternative is I cut your dick off and ensure you are useless for life after 'The Collapse'. Now where does the elevator go to?"
The man squirmed a bit but stopped with a gasp as the knife edge dug into him.
"Ok ok ok... The elevator goes the base of Joseph's statue, its where we off load any supplies we get from the other outposts." He spoke quickly.
"How many guards do you have around here?" She asked venomously.
"Enough... ow!" The cultist squeaked before correcting himself. "Four Chosen machine gunners, five Stinger operators, seven faithful including me, three Angels, two Archangels, two of Feeney's Chemists, and three of Herald Faith's Priestesses."
"Ok last question... and you better get this one right. Where's Feeney?" Joey asked as she adjusted her grip on her knife.
The peggie was hyperventilating at this point. "I...I don't know he was here this morning to assess our storage capacity. Losing the Convent to the sinners is effecting his 'Saint Project' what ever that is and its being partially moved here. He wants to store more Bliss of some new type here and make use of our Blessing fount."
"Is that everything you know?" She asked again.
"He said something about King's Hot Springs Hotel... I think he might working from there as he said to call him should something involving the Saint project should happen. I don't know what that is though only his Chemists would know for sure." The peggie squeaked once more.
She had gotten what she needed and lowered the blade away from the peggies exposed manhood causing him to sigh and relax for brief moment before she snapped the blade back up and hammered it into his heart.
"The alternative was cutting your dick off and letting you bleed to death so be grateful you cultist motherfucker." She snarled as she dropped his body and leaned against wall exhausted.
Part of her mind wanted to wonder about the morality of her actions but she kept hearing Roger's voice in her head though at this point she wondered if the Bliss was getting to her.
'See Peggie, Kill Peggie, Save the World. Everything else we can deal with later.' He would have said and those simple words were all she needed right now.
The sound of the elevator coming down got her moving again as she drew her pistol and peeked out of the nook toward the source of the noise and could see a better lit area around a rather crude looking elevator that wouldn't have looked out of place in a early 1900's building.
The elevator stopped and out stepped three men who were chatting happily amongst themselves.
"Brother William! We got another prospective member topside to watch!" Called out one of the men as they walked right past the nook that she hid in.
They reached the main chamber and stood around in confusion briefly giving her the opening she needed to quietly glide out and bring her pistol up.
"Where..." One of the three men started to say when she opened fired on the group quietly double tapping each one. The last man only had enough time to spin around in shock to see the armored deputy calmly butchering his friends until finally it was his turn.
'It's... its getting easier to do this. I can do this.' She thought as she loaded a fresh magazine in the pistol before holstering it and exchanging it for her Beowulf.
Entering the elevator she closed the old style gate and rested her free hand on the lever that controlled the basic up/down movement of the elevator. 'This is it... one untrained rural deputy verses twenty two armed cultists. Roger how did you manage in the first days? How did you take on entire outposts alone? Well...waiting won't get me anywhere.' She thought as she lift the lever and the machinery began to grind and move carrying her upward towards the surface.
Once the elevator car moved fully into the shaft that was dug for it it plunged her into to pitch blackness unless she looked up towards the small but growing point of light above her. After a minute of travel she decided to try her radio to reach out to Grace.
"Grace, Hudson do you copy?" She asked.
The radio crackled and buzzed but finally... "Hudson do you copy me?" Grace's voice rang clear finally.
"Yeah I'm coming up the elevator the peggies got here. What does the topside look like? I got a rough count of twenty two hostiles from a guard that I questioned down here." Joey asked.
Across from the statue Grace laid in between some bushes wrapped in a bundle of camo netting that she had re-purposed as a poor man's gillie suit peered through her scope. 'Should have asked old man Rook about borrowing a night vision scope.' Grace mentally grumbled to her self. Still at least it was clear and a full moon tonight so she had a fair amount of light to work with and more importantly most of the base of the statue was lit.
"Hudson I've have seen maybe eleven or thirteen guys at most from my position. Seems like they got a few guys with AA missiles, a few machine gunners, and some big ass Angels running around. Also looks like the peggies are about to 'bless' some poor bastard in a ceremony of some sort." She said pausing briefly to do the mental math.
Joey smiled even as she internally grimaced at the lower known enemy count. That just meant the absent peggies could be waiting at the top of the elevator knowing her luck.
"Those big Angels are called Archangels. They are damned strong and tough to kill, even managed to blind side Roger. If you can aim for the head and hope for the best. I'm about to leave the elevator now so wish me luck and once you see the peggies react to me open fire." She said as she got her first sight of the receiving area.
All around there were more tanks of Bliss, boxes in various languages that were similar to the ones they found at the marsh weapons cache, and oil drums of diesel. 'Ok clear the floor, go outside kill peggies, save hostage if possible, then comeback and plant the charges. Nice and simple.' She thought as the elevator stopped. She pushed open the cage door and brought her rifle up as she stepped out and checked her flanks.
The sound of clanking steel caught her attention as she crept through the maze of boxes and tanks looking for the source.
"Goddamn this armor! Won't stop shifting around." A heavy peggie grumbled aloud.
"Told you to get that strap replaced. A bit of rope isn't going to cut it." His partner replied.
"Well I was going to get it fixed once we got rotated out back to King's Hotel but then Feeney ordered everything not essential to stay put until the Saint project materials get moved around. Is it really that hard to let me ride in the back of a truck?" The heavy complained.
"You are lucky the priestess are busy or they might think you are in need of disciplining." The other heavy said.
Joey peeked around some diesel drums and saw the two heavy peggies talking. One was facing away from where she was and had stripped the massive steel plate armor they normally wore off and was examining it along with his partner.
'Shooter ready...' She thought as her body tensed and within the depths of her mind she heard the familiar comfort of a shooting timer beeping as she whipped around the corner with her rifle up and fired three suppressed rounds of .50 Beowulf into the back of the unarmored peggie.
The other heavy didn't know what happened, one moment he was looking at the poor excuse of a knot his friend made the next he was covered in blood and felt three fairly solid impacts against his own armor. He only glanced up to see a tall armored woman with a black Stetson before her rifle puffed two more times and his face disintegrated in a shower of gore and bone.
Her heart was pounding as she fast walked with her rifle readied toward a large open door when one of the wondering Angels walked by mindlessly sweeping the stone pavers that encircled the statues base. Without thinking she double tapped the zombie like creature and rushed outside.
The two Chemists had watched the Angel get killed and swung their shotguns off of their backs as Joey rounded the corner. She fired first scoring another head and chest shot on the closer Chemist but his buddy had gotten a shot of buckshot off that glanced off of her own armor .
She stumbled and cried out as she felt the wind get knocked out of her and she struggled to keep her rifle up with one hand and simply squeezed the trigger and sprayed a dozen or more rounds in the direction of the Chemist actually managing to drop him.
All around her she could hear the confused shouting of the cultists as they came rushing around. The first one to come into view was one of the missile carriers as he tried to raise his pistol to fire on her only to have his head ventilated by Grace.
"Joey got one those big fuckers coming up your rear!" She her Grace yell over the radio. She recovered and saw that yes there was a angry raging Archangel charging at her arms across its head in a protective manner.
'Is he actually thinking about protecting his head?!' She thought fearfully as she heard Grace's rifle in the distance fire a few more times keeping her rear clear as she turned to deal with the monster. She leveled the sights on the monster's head and neck, steadied herself and held down the trigger. She poured on in the space of a few seconds over 80 rounds into the arms, upper chest, and at least one or two into the head of the Archangel but its still charged rapidly only stumbling from a few of the impacts. She started backing up until her foot kicked against he dead missile carrier primary weapon.
Not thinking it through she grabbed the strange weapon, flicked off what felt like a safety and squeezed the trigger as she looked through the scope mounted to the side of the missile tube. She could hear little outside of the sudden 'FOOSH FUMP' of the rocket motor firing but she heard the distinct screams of people behind her even as she watched the rocket zoom out and impact against the Archangel and embed itself in the monster as it knocked it flat on its back motor still running.
She dropped the empty tube and quickly spun around grabbing her shotgun and saw what had caused the screaming earlier. Two priestesses and three normal cultists had managed to get past Grace's sniper fire and flank her at the wrong moment only to be burned and blinded by the back blast of the missile launcher. Now the priestesses lay dead the upper halves of their body horribly charred and their lackeys laid on the ground behind them clutching at their faces in pain.
She pumped a round each into them to make sure that they didn't get a second wind and try to flank her again. "Grace what's the situation?" She called over the radio as she topped off her shotgun.
Grace didn't answer as she ducked for what little it would do to help minimize her profile as another sniper round whizzed over head. It was a lot closer than the first two shots had been.
"I'm under counter sniper fire and I need help!" She answered Joey.
Joey was focused now as she sprinted over to the far side of the statue that Grace was holding down only slowly briefly when an explosion from the missile she had fired signaled the fail safe had worked and the other Archangel was now plastered across the lower front of Joseph's statue.
Grace had managed to take down the last two heavy gunners before remaining the priestess had grabbed a sniper rifle along with one of the missile carriers and were slowly closing in on Grace's position. As it was Grace was now pinned down by the fire and couldn't effectively shoot back because of the considerable range from her particular mountain top, at least though that range meant that the less than impressive marksmanship of typical of the cult was keeping the sniper alive for the moment.
The other cultists weren't idle was the Archangel drug a massive steel plate that must have been leftover from the statues construction to serve as a gun shield for a missile carrier that was desperately digging through of several boxes that where brought to him by his fellow carriers and the two remaining Angels.
The missile carrier digging through the box finally pulled out a long black steel and wood tube with a large flared rear end and from another box one of his partners handed him a familiar double cone shaped rocket.
'Oh my god they got Russian RPG's!' She thought before pulling back behind the corner of the statue as she thought of a solution to her problem. She needed something that could kill the Archangel fast and take as many of the remaining peggies out as possible before they could start lobbing rockets at Grace.
'Comrade Commissar why aren't we using grenades?' She heard Roger say and let her shotgun fall on its sling before clawing at her front pouches to withdraw two grenades. She pulled the pin on the first one and instantly thought about trying to 'cook it' but thought better of it and instead threw it hard and very low to the ground letting it bounce off of one of the rocket boxes and coming to a rest between the Archangel's legs, its presence lost in the chaos of the peggies fighting and the darkness of the night.
She lobbed the grenade in a much higher arc that would take it to land beside the missile carrier turn sniper. She didn't stick around to watch the final destination as she rounded the corner again just in time to hear the first grenade go off.
A another second and another loud explosion signaled the last grenade going off. "Grace I think I got the peggies can you see anything from where you are?" She called on her radio as she once more readied her shotgun.
Grace shuffled back into position so she could look through her scope once more wishing for at least a nightvision scope or even a thermal scope of some sort for this kind of work. Through the quickly clearing smoke she could make out something moving across the ground in large almost exaggerated movements trying to close in on Joey's position .
"Hudson I got movement on the ground can't tell what it is yet... wait one... that Archangel bastard is still moving!" She replied utterly shocked at what was unfolding in front of her.
"Hold your fire Grace I'll get this one." Joey said as she rounded the corner once more and got her first look at the utter carnage that her handy work had wrought. The missile carriers had been the closest to the blast and as such had the most limbs blown off and tossed all over the area, everyone else was shredded almost to the point of being unidentifiable by the shrapnel of both blasts save for one.
It was a testament to the power of the Bliss that the last Archangel still could move under its own power though she could only begin to guess if it was feeling any pain through its drugged up state. The grenade blast had removed everything from the waist down and the monsters left arm as well leaving to fling its remaining shrapnel shredded right arm to drag itself toward her.
Joey looked on hatefully at the snarling and grunting monster as it kept crawling leaving its entrails to drag behind it. "You fucking monsters..." she muttered before raising her gun to the creatures head and administering a double dose of buckshot finally bring it down for good.
"Ok Grace... hard part is over. I'll plant the charges and we can finally blow this son of a bitch up." She said tiredly into her radio as the events of the day started catching up with her.
"Copy I'll drive on over then. Be there in a few minutes." The sniper replied.
The mountainside was quiet save for the gentle breeze and the soft sounds of the Henbane that were carried by it. She figured at that standing around wasn't going to do anything and proceeded to walk around the rest of the base of the statue to make absolutely sure there was no one left until she reached a small fount and the hostage that was still bound before it.
On seeing the tied up man she shouldered her gun and rushed over to him. "It's okay sir, I'm Deputy Hudson with the Hope County Sheriff's Department." She said as she cut his ties.
The bloodied and dirt covered man looked at her for a moment before he shot up knocking her flat on her back.
"NO YOU AREN'T REAL! This... this is another test isn't?! I don't want to go back to the Bliss! YOU HEAR ME FATHER?! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK THE BLISS!" He screamed as he ran past Joey. She could only watch as he sprinted with impressive speed considering his injuries and tossed himself over the cliff.
She couldn't even move as she just stared at the space that he once occupied at the cliff edge, the mental image of him right as he jumped forever burned into her mind. She numbly walked to the cliff edge and peer over it and gasped.
"Oh God... oh sweet mother of God...Faith you fucking bitch..." She said when she saw the literal piles bodies spread across a giant painted cult cross that served as a sick bullseye. She looked up and put everything together, above her was the book in Joesph's hand and if she was right any one who jumped from there would land on the cross below.
Shock was replaced with anger and with it inaction became action. She marched back into the statue interior and swung her back swiftly off her shoulders and extracted the first of her demo charges before peeling one of the protective films off of the double tape and slapping the charge to a large tank of Bliss.
'By Bliss you taint us by and so by Bliss your works will be blown and torn asunder.' She thought bring a brief smile to her face.
"I should tell Roger that line. He'd love it." She said as she inserted the radio controlled detonator. Looking around she repeated the process three more times on more tanks of Bliss before she found a drop down ladder that led to another floor this one was full of food stuffs but she could on this floor see the crude looking steel frame work that the exterior of the statue was built around and so she set to work now using the magnets on the charges to plant them on the joints that looked critical to her admittedly untrained eye.
She went up another two levels repeating the process as she did. The next floor had nothing but boxes copies of the 'Word of Joseph' and the next floor was solely full of cult artwork. The same portraits that seemed to adorn all of the cult holdings and bunkers. There was however one particular painting of John seemingly giving his own sermon to a joyous looking crowd, she proceeded to punch through his head smiling as she looked at the torn and ragged canvas.
"Art sometimes needs to resemble reality." She said as she finished planting the last charges and proceeded the last ladder to the top of the statue. As her eyes became level with the floor as she went up she saw a rather old fashioned looking lever lock key just sitting there on the floor likely dropped by whoever was last here.
Grabbing the key she noted that she was roughly at what would be called shoulder height for the statue. Above her the frame work culminated forming the head of Joseph, it would take some climbing on her part but she would make sure to get at least one charge up there if only to make sure the statues destruction was complete. Closer to her was the framing that held up the outstretched arm and the frame that made up the open book, both had been haphazardly built up and even the repairs looked looked stretched. The concrete surrounding the area was plastered over indicating further that the statue was likely weaker than everyone thought.
'No excuse not to make sure that this thing comes down.' She thought as she moved about floor planting the remaining charges. The room was rather empty save for a few boxes of wine and a old fashioned safe.
Finally with her bag much lighter than it started she finished planting the last explosive at the top of Joseph's head, her idea being that by blowing the joint there would weaken the entire top half the structure if her guess was right. Climbing down she was about to climb down the stairs to leave when the sight of the safe called to her.
"Oh what the hell... nothing ventured." She muttered to herself as she dug out the key and inserted it into the lock. To her surprise the old looking iron sided safe opened easily and quietly on well greased hinges revealing its contents.
It was chock full of big 1,000 once gold, silver, and even platinum bars and five thick vacuum packed blocks of $100 bills as indicated by the black currency straps. The sight of the straps made her remember of a time when she was at her mothers office and she explained what the colored straps meant. Black straps meant there were 1,000 $100 bills per a strap meaning a $100,000. That meant there was $500,000 in cash alone plus the value of the three dozen plus bars, this had to be a part of the Seed's war chest to fund everything they couldn't take by manipulation or recruiting.
"Nothing gained indeed." She said as she found some heavy canvas cloth sacks stashed inside and even more under the safe to aid in carrying out everything. Soon with over a dozen bags loaded with the bars and her own bag loaded down with the blocks of cash she was about to leave when she spotted one last thing at the back of the now empty safe.
It was another copy of the 'Word of Joseph' however this book was far older looking with bright gold leaf ornamentation depicting Joseph preaching before a massive tree with both of his brother's at his side to a massive gathering of people. At the top of the cover was a gold leaf cross further enhanced by delicate jewels worked into the cover.
The opulence of the book cover meant it could only be one thing. This was a important personal copy of Joseph's book and if it was here that likely meant this was Faith's own copy of his book. A part of her wanted to burn the book and let be buried in the rubble of the statue when she brought it down but the more she thought on it the idea had less appeal.
'I'll give this to Roger. He would appreciate stealing such a cult "relic", probably would make some comment about sacking Rome or Viking raids maybe.' She thought smiling at her choice. The book safely ducked in her bag she made the first of several trips to bring the heavy sacks of loot outside, by the end of the last trip she could hear a truck coming up the road that the peggies built and cautiously took up a position behind one of the decorative stone walls around the statues perimeter until the rebadged truck came and she could see Grace behind the wheel.
The sniper stepped out of the truck and looked around the area warily. "Well Hudson ready to blow this thing?"
"Yeah just let me load up my loot." She replied hoisting the large bag of silver bars into the bed of the truck. "Faith was storing in the statue a bunch gold, silver, platinum, and half a million dollars in cash. I'll take it up to the Sheriff and Minkler and see what they want done with it."
Grace's eyebrows raised in shock and struggled to lift another one of the sacks but could barely manage to get it off the ground. "You carried these Joey?" She huffed as she set the back down on the ground.
Joey looked at her friend and realized at that point that she would need to talk to Dr. Ferguson immediately. She hadn't realized fully just how heavy the sacks of metal were or just how easily she was moving them.
"It's the Bliss isn't it." Grace asked quietly to which Joey just nodded as she picked up one handed one of the bags of gold bars. It was very heavy and her arm was shaking a little from the effort but compared to the effort that Grace had expended in just trying to pick up the bag it was nothing. She tossed the bag into the bed and gave the statue one last look.
"Six years Grace. Six years since the peggies finished building that thing." She said solemnly trying to find something else to focus on beside what the Bliss might be doing to her.
Grace got the message and looked at the statue. "Pop's always figured that the whole thing would blow over one day. Wish he was here to see the fireworks."
Joey smiled. "Your Dad was more then right. That thing had so many patch jobs and plastered over cracks that it might have finally toppled in another few years."
Grace gave another one of her incredibly rare smiles. "This thing is like the cult. Pretty and impressive looking on the outside yet rotten and barely holding together on the inside."
Joey opened the passenger door to the truck. "Well then lets blow this thing so we can show the end of the cult to everyone in the county."
Joey finished loading the bags as Grace patiently waited. Once done the sniper drove them back down the mountain a little bit so they had some distance between them and the blast. Joey pulled out the radio detonator, took a deep breath flipping up the safety cover over the switch as she did, and thumbed it firmly just as Marcus had taught her.
It only took milliseconds for the charges to go off and the entirety of the statue exploded outward followed by a second far larger blast erupting upward from the base as the tanks of Bliss atomized fractions of a second before igniting, increasing the blast ten fold.
"Hudson down!" Grace yelled as she and the deputy both ducked low before the shockwave reached the truck instantly blowing out the windows and shoving the truck sideways a few inches even.
Mary May shot up out of bed with Boomer waking up as well and quickly grabbed a bath robe and her own rifle and raced outside where the rest of the population of Fall's End was doing much the same as they tried to figure out just what the cult was up to now.
"Joseph's statue! It's gone!" Called out one of the night guards stationed atop of the general store.
The gathered crowd didn't need anymore details then that before everyone broke out in celebration. The two most visible signs of the cult's presence John's 'YES' sign and Joseph's statue were now gone, torn down by the Resistance.
Mary May cheered with the rest of the gathered masses before heading back to her room. She still had work in a few hours and silk bath robes made for poor party clothes unless modesty was optional. She had only just reached her bed when her radio came to life.
"What have you done?! Why do you continue to try and hurt us? All we have ever wanted was to bring peace and happiness to the world, and yet you strike at us again and again and again. You kill our faithful, take our food, our lands, our medicine, and for what? What do you gain?" Came Faith's tired but still distinctly angry voice.
Joey looked at the radio as she brushed off the last of the broken glass off of her. Should she reply? Should she just let Faith eat static? Roger was probably better at this sort of thing but he did say to get under Faith's skin so... why not try it? After all she thought the end result will be the same, Faith Seed will die sooner or later.
"Oh Rachel... I guess it shouldn't be surprising that at the first real sign of problems you start trying to blame other people. After all it's not like you haven't been drugging the entire county bit by bit for years before all this, then going whole hog with the treatment plant, covering the whole region in new strains of Angel's Trumpets, and then there are deaths you have caused both by your drugs and by more direct means." Joey said sarcastically as she let the words sink in.
"You're not Rook... Deputy Hudson?" came the Herald's confused reply.
Joey laughed getting more into her role. "Yes Rachel it's Deputy Hudson. You didn't think that after I got freed from John's bunker that I would just hide away and let Rook do all the work by himself. No, I decided to take the lead on blowing Joseph's statue and also stealing this rather fancy looking copy of 'The Word of Joseph'."
"His word!" Cried Faith.
"His word, now in my possession. Tell me something Rachel how many Faith's have held this book before you? I ask because I would guess that with all the outposts and disrupted plans that we the citizens of Hope County have caused you... there must be a lot of pressure on you to get things back under control especially considering just how close you were to locking everything down. Just had to take out the Jail and a few holdouts... now you have lost so much land and safe passage to Joseph and Jacob. Do you think Joseph has a backup Faith or two? You know just in case if you fail or will you just be martyred and the remaining Seed's will just continue on without dear Faith?"
"You won't win Deputy. 'The Collapse' is here and we the faithful are ordained by God to reach Eden. The Father through me will craft a new world of peace and happiness, things that you clearly find abhorrent..." The Herald started to say but got cut off by Joey.
"Yes yes... I have been hearing your people's reasons for years and years. I also have seen the actions that your people take to reach 'Eden', how many lives were broken by the Bliss either through overdoses or when the user turned violent when reality knocked. You can keep claiming to want to build a peaceful and happy world but you can't hide the bloodshed and broken lives its built on."
Silence hung for a moment as Faith tried to control her rage. Who was this bitch cop question her mission? "We will fulfill our role. We will carry out the will of 'The Father'. Our faithful will crawl out of every cave and every crevice to bring his word and spread the Bliss so that all may one day enjoy true peace and happiness."
Grace saw a massive evil grin creep across her face at Faith's words. Back at the Jail in the medical ward the Sheriff and all the Rook's were listening to his radio and a much more tired grin spread across Roger's face as well.
"Now... Faith's... really done it." He wheezed as they all heard Joey's reply.
"Go ahead Rachel... by all means go into the caves and the mines. You merely occupied these mountains, but these mountains are my mountains. No one not even Rook has crawled more through these places then I have, so please go ahead and send your masses into the darkness. Let's see how many get lost and killed by their own ineptitude, and then of course there is always that very... very... real chance that in the dark the last thing your followers will hear is my shotgun. Maybe after I chip away at your empire a little more I'll pay a visit to the conservatory and show you exactly how much pain and suffering you have brought to Hope County. Until then just sit back and watch the roads fill up with your dead and listen to each outpost that goes dark one by one."
Rachel cut the line and in a fit of rage tossed the radio against the wall of her bedroom. She stormed into the bathroom and looked into the mirror before roughly turning on the faucet and draw water to rinse her face of the dirt that felt like it was caking her skin.
"Rachel is gone. Rachel is gone. She was weak, she was unhappy, she had no purpose, she wanted to die. Faith is strong. Faith is strong. Faith has a purpose. Faith is happy!" She told her reflection as she got her emotions under control once more.
'We will push harder. We can get the numbers, we can get more Angels and even more Archangels. They will be my heralds... they will go forth and scrub every damn heretic off of this land. I won't watch The Father's dream collapse. I will NOT fail. The Father won't have a reason to punish me.' She thought as she returned to bed.
Grace and Joey pulled up to the Jail and the night guards cheered at her coming as she ducked inside and grabbed a pair of large flatbed carts to carry in her haul of valuables. The ladies wheeled the carts into the common area noticing that most of those in the surrounding cells were up as more then a few of them cheered quietly when they caught sight of her.
"Seems like you'll be popular despite waking everyone up with that blast of yours." Grace said coming up behind her.
"I'm not seeing the Sheriff or Minkler around lets go to the ward I'll bet they're with Roger." She said as she left the cart behind and led the way to the medical ward. She walked in and found the ward rather full with all the leadership along with and Jessica Rook.
"Joey... good to... see... you survived." Roger huffed out and she gently pushed her way to the side of the stock tank. This gave Grace her first good look at Roger and actually made her gasp in shock.
When Joey had left that morning Roger had grown only four so inches and bulked up some, but now he was another four inches taller and even more massive. She seriously wondered if they would have to make a bigger bed and stock tank to hold him at the rate he was growing.
"Yeah I did it Roger! I-I don't know how you do it but I managed to not get killed." She said as she let him gently take her comparatively tiny hand in his.
"Just try... to not get... shot... again." He said gesturing slightly to the visible tears in her armor.
She smiled. "Yeah I'm working on that still that's why we don't cheap out on the armor."
Marcus could be heard chuckling behind them.
She swung off her pack and extracted Faith's book. "I got you a trophy. Faith's own personal copy of 'The Word of Joseph'."
"Why in God's name you would want that?" Minkler commented.
"History... and bragging... rights. If you are... invading Rome... why break... tradition? Vae victis." Came Rogers reply.
She went on to describe the trip through the caves, interrogating the guard and finally assaulting the statue itself including the hostage that leapt off the clif. At the end of her recounting the Sheriff made his first comment of the night.
"I'll be damned Joey I never realized that I already a 'Big Stick' in waiting. I'm proud of you. That said we have retaken the whole west end of the region but what next?"
"Feeney." Came the reply from Roger, Joey, and Dr. Ferguson.
"I already have some progress on that front. Dmitri and I found among the Chosen bodies from the River Chalets what he called a 'Father's Messenger'. Apparently these are Chosen whose sole job is to act as messengers between 'The Father', the Heralds and the senior most members of the cult. They wear these bright green cult crosses and can't be stopped for any reason when on business. He volunteered to go back in as a Messenger that escaped from John's Bunker and find Feeney." Marcus said.
"That's..." Roger tried to speak more but his overtaxed breath failed him.
Marcus gestured to his son to rest. "I know its dangerous in the extreme. I even tried to talk him out of it but he's dead set on making up for years of just sitting idly by while the cult ran amok and became what it is today. What's more is that he has already struck pay dirt."
"Well tell us then!" Tracey said excitement building in her voice.
"Tomorrow he is either going to be working at King's Hotel or looking at the latest group of prisoners at the beached dredger 'Misery'. He can't narrow it down more because Feeney has been changing his schedule rapidly as he is working on this 'Saint' Project that Joey mentioned." He said folding his arms as he spoke.
Joey took a look at Roger once more before speaking. "I'll go to the Misery. If I can bag Feeney great but if I can't then I can at least hopefully free some people."
"Just be careful Joey. The Misery is over seen by Faith's biggest baddest Priestess. It's the place where stubborn people get sent to... I nearly got sent there before I jumped ship." Added Tracey.
"Save the people... I'll be fine... probably." Roger finished before slipping into sleep once more.
"Well I think that ends that. Let's all follow Roger's example and get some sleep." Jessica said as she gestured for the group to break up and leave for the rest of the night.