A/N: With the world starting to open up again I am back to working far more then I previously have been. Due to manpower shortages I have already have been called in on my days off and once my employer returns to a full 40+ work week I expect to be working even more. This isn't unexpected and I have tried by absolute best to maintain my 3 chapters, ~20 pages, every month rate that I have more or less managed but I'm likely going to have to start aiming for every 45 or so days.
I have plans for the next 6 chapters already laid out, but getting the time to actually sit down and get words down and make sure that they're coherent has been getting more and more difficult. I am grateful for those who have read and reviewed as they have encouraged me that perhaps I'm not producing complete garbage as I tend to think of my own work.
Please do enjoy this next batch of chapters.
Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 19: The Right to Bear Arms shall not be infringed
Joey wasn't having a great morning. She woke up and got a simple breakfast of oatmeal which was fine, she then spoke with The Sheriff, Minker, and Dr. Ferguson about the loot she had recovered from Joseph's statue.
'Hudson trust me when I say that you should keep every penny you pull from the cult. Not only will the paperwork alone kill me but some bureaucrat will see your haul and find someway to pocket it. I know you want to do the right thing and turn it in and I can commend you for that, but its better if it stays with you. If nothing else consider it 'Hazard Pay'.' The Sheriff's voice repeated itself in her head once more.
Minker was in full and utter agreement and even Dr. Ferguson saw the logic behind the Sheriff's words, but his opinion was all but forgotten when he tried to heft the bags of bars and realized why he was called. She was displaying a level of strength that was now markedly above that of those that the cult would bestow the blessing of the Bliss upon and the blood work he did supported his conclusion that her extended exposure to Bliss was to blame.
'You're not as far gone as Roger not by a long shot. That said you are now the next highest on the exposure list that hasn't turned into an Angel or died outright. Joey I'm sorry I can't tell you what is going to happen to you, from what I can tell you is that compared to your last physical at the start of the year you've gained 25 pounds of muscle and grown 3 inches' The Doctor had told her after running his tests.
She had to end this war with Rachel. The sooner she did the less Bliss she would likely be exposed to until then she had to hope that a miracle happens and none of this exposure had any long term negative effects. As was becoming her habit she visited Roger before she left.
According to his mother he was now a full 10 inches taller and far broader than ever. The sheer level of muscle mass he now had was mind boggling and if she was honest was now actually past what the cult's Archangels seemed to have.
'Roger... if you somehow pull out of this no one will ever question who is the strongest man in the state, hell if you would allow yourself I'll bet my entire new found fortune you would take every world powerlifter title there is.' She thought with a soft smile on her face as she watched his eyes twitch rapidly under their eyelids.
She had to wonder just what sort of Bliss induced nightmares he must be going through. He hadn't spoken of them in the brief moments that he was awake and able to speak without putting too much strain on his lungs. That in of itself was blessing according to the docs as it meant that at least as far as they could tell he hadn't suffered much if any brain damage from this whole ordeal.
If he survived this he probably would tell her eventually, only that first part was iffy at this point.
She left the ward only stopping at the Jail armory to reload on grenades and ammo before walking out into the sunlight just as it crested over the mountains surrounding Hope County. Her plan on attacking the beached dredger now called 'Misery' was straight forward. Mack's people had been watching the prison for sometime in hoping of locating family members from their group but until the Jail had broken its siege and the cult was actively loosing ground it had been far too well guarded to be attacked successfully.
Now it had from the last report Mack had given her a token guard of five men plus the three or four people that seemed to be the interrogators/inquisitors for the poor souls trapped on that boat. She would meet up with Mack and his people up at a old campsite between Dire Wolf Basin and Saber Tooth Springs.
In Joey's and Roger's time the campsite had been called Camp Cougar if only because one day Wilhelmina Mable the then future owner/operator of Peaches Taxidermy had setup camp at the site only to find a poached and beheaded cougar and a lone newborn cougar cub. It was said that the fearsome woman nearly had her heart thaw at the sight of the cub hence why she kept and raised it, eventually naming her business after the furball.
Joey grabbed a rebadged cult truck and drove off for her meet up. She would have liked to have Grace along with her but apparently she had managed to tear some of her stitches even with the care she had been taking and was now sitting in a bed in the ward near Roger on Ferguson's 'Emergency Combat Only' list for another few days.
'Still at least I have Nick on hand.' She thought as with the fall of the Joseph's statue Nick and several other volunteer pilots now were cleared to start patrolling and attacking any cult assets available. They couldn't attack the outposts due to the sheer number of machine guns they tended to have but the convoys on land and water were much softer targets.
"The guard said Feeny was moving some special 'Saint' project because of losing the convent. Good God I can't believe I'm actually hoping that Nick doesn't kill a peggie!" She said to herself as she drove down the mountain road.
She wouldn't stop Nick or his guys from hitting every cult convoy and boat they saw. Roger wouldn't want that even it was to save himself not to mention it would go against the grain to ask that of others especially after the attack on Mary May.
'See Peggie, Kill Peggie, Save the World.' She thought as she turned onto the road that lead up to the camp in the mountains.
She saw the Y in the road and thought about checking in with Miss Mable. The old woman hadn't been seen at the Jail or in Fall's End so there was a chance that she was still hold up at her home/shop.
"I'll check on her after I meet with Mack... maybe even ask for his people to check in on her." She muttered as she pulled off the road near the trail head to the campsite. It hadn't changed since she and Roger had been here as teenagers but she could clearly see the charred white of a cult shrine peeking in among the trees.
She was about to start up the trail but held for a moment of paranoia before drawing her rifle and quietly picking her way up through the brush instead. The shrine had been hit by Mack's people but the hairs on the back of Joey's neck wouldn't stop bothering her. She hadn't been stalking for long before she heard loud screams of terror coming from the shrine follow by the roars of a grizzly bear.
"OH FATHER HELP ME! OH GOD OH GOD!" Someone screamed followed by the sound of a rather small pistol being fired wildly. Joey quickened her pace and hid behind a tree trunk near the shrine as she watched the scene unfold.
Judging by the sleeping mats and bags along side the half butchered deer this was once a cult hunting party that must have decided that the blown up shrine had been a ok place to camp and process their latest kills. Perhaps it was the smell of deer meat but whatever it was they now had hands down the largest grizzly bear she had ever seen tearing them apart.
More than half their number were dead in their sleeping bags when the bear attacked and the suddenness of the attack had meant that the other half hadn't been near their rifles, they still were propped against the wreckage of the shrine. Their small pocket pistols would be hard pressed to stop a regular bear let alone the juggernaut currently in their mist.
One peggie was trapped in the jaws of the bear screaming his last breath as his remaining friend was trying to use a baseball bat fruitlessly against the mountain of muscle and fur. His friend died and with casual annoyance the bear swiped with a massive paw that was easily over a foot in diameter and tipped with long curved claws each at least as long as her hand.
The peggie fell down dead from the impact leaving the bear alone in the clearing around the camp. Joey started to side skirt the area when the bears head snapped toward her direction and stared her dead in the eye for a long moment. She was about to raise her rifle when the bear sat down on its rump and waved its massive paw.
She was profoundly confused for a moment until she saw a hint of blue from under the massive amount of dirt and mud that covered what looked like a leather collar around the bears neck which explained why the bear was waving at all. It was Cheeseburger the local hero of the F.A.N.G animal sanctuary in Hope County.
She cautiously lowered her rifle and returned the wave. Like most kids growing up in the area she had at some point or another volunteered at the F.A.N.G center, she personally had worked with the centers wounded beavers mostly but she had helped Roger with Cheeseburger a fair number of times.
He and Cheeseburger had gotten along well right from the start, even Wade one of the owners of the sanctuary admitted that they had a better friendship then he did with Cheeseburger. The two overgrown examples of their species had gotten along so well that they had even developed a special greeting that only either of them could do.
Cheeseburger walked calmly toward her and she closed the distance trying to remain calm but still not letting go of her rifle for what little good it would do. Cheeseburger was far larger than what was normal for even a grizzly and she doubted that short of Roger's Barrett that anything could down the bear in a timely manner.
The bear got close enough sniff the air around her and rapidly closed the distance before nuzzling and rubbing against her waist.
"Good boy. Yeah you remember me don't you?" She said as she rubbed the bear between the ears while letting out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
"Grrrrah!" Came the she guessed happy growl.
"Ok well... I guess you're going to be following me now aren't you?" She asked. 'Good God Joey you are talking to a bear. Truly we have lost our mind.' Her inner voice echoed in her mind.
Cheeseburger with surprising gentleness sat up on his rump and wrapped a massive arm around her for a moment in a hug before going back on all fours. Roger had taught him that as a alternative to their own greeting since not everyone was as big or as durable as Roger was.
"Well then follow me boy, lets go kill some peggies." She said confidently leading the way from the shrine and toward the campsite with her own war bear in tow.
Mack along with four other Cougars had finished up their breakfast as they waited for Deputy Hudson to arrive. It had been a long night of getting here but they had managed it and now just needed the last piece.
He wouldn't lie he had a personal stake in hitting the Misery as yesterday he had seen his own father being drug out from the depths of the boat's interior, before he was tied to a vertical pole coming out of the deck and had his back worked over with a whip by some neon purple haired priestess. When they checked in with the pizza bar with the news one of the sophomore girls was able to give him a name.
Tabitha Zachariah, long time cult member and former resident of Hope County. Apparently her name could be found scratched into various places in the girl's locker rooms. In the years before everything happened apparently she had strong armed some of the local businesses in the area often times targeting those that hired members of the local school's sports teams.
'Crazy cult bitch who doesn't like jocks. Still she doesn't look that old... I wonder if Hudson would know her?' He thought doing his best to not think back to the image of watching his father get whipped by the woman. He hoped that his mother was still alive but he instantly regretted the thought as he remembered that she had once been a something of a track star in her youth.
Any further thoughts were halted by the sound of two things coming through the brush, one of which sounded very large. He waved at the guys with him to take cover where ever they could and aim towards the source of the noise until the sight of Hudson steeping out into the campsite clearing made them lower their weapons.
"Deputy good to see you got here in one... HOLY SHIT!" He cried out when Cheeseburger emerged from the bushes.
"Hold your fire! Hold your fire! The bear is with me! It's Cheeseburger!" Joey said putting herself between the bear and the group.
"You have got to be shitting me." Said one of the Mack's guys as Mack himself waved them down.
"I've seen enough weird shit by now that if you say the bear is with you then so be it. Deputy I won't bullshit you we need to hit that boat, the sooner the better." He said grimly.
"How bad is it?" Joey asked seeing the darkness on the young mans face.
Mack couldn't speak for a moment until he gathered himself. "I saw my Dad getting whipped on the boat yesterday. I-I don't know if my Mom is down there or if she's..." He stalled out mid sentence. "Sorry..."
"Mack its ok. You are probably taking it better then I would if it was my mother down there, how many guards are we dealing with? Also did you guys see anyone important looking?" She laying a comforting hand on the football player turned Resistance fighter shoulder.
"Not that we could tell besides some big bad purple haired priestess that shows up every morning. As for guards its the same as I last reported five riflemen, a pair of lower ranking priestesses, and one of those chemists." He rattled off getting a grip on himself once more.
"Tell her the rest about the purple bitch." One of his guys called out.
"I'm getting there Jóse, I'm getting there." He said turning to the guy who called out before turning back to her.
"One other thing with that purple bitch as Jóse has labeled her, we have a name on her: Tabitha Zachariah. She looks to be about your age and we heard from one of the girls that her name can be found in a few places around the girl's locker room back at St. Isidore's so she could be a local girl turned peggy at least since the cult showed up."
Joey froze as the name rang old long forgotten bells. "I remember the name but... was this chick like three or four hundred pounds by chance?" She asked. Her gaze moving from Mack to his men.
"Nope this bitch is actually rather thin and sexy if I'm being honest but you know don't stick it in crazy." Jóse offered up to the nods of the others.
Mack then added his two cents. "From what else the girls were able to tell us she would be part of the cults strong arming operations before everything happened. She always seemed to hit places that would hire a lot of people that were on the various sports teams."
Joey nodded slowly. "Ok yeah that definitely sounds like 'Fatty Tabby' is using her old MO. She was horribly obese back in my high school years we're talking every bit of four hundred pounds. I didn't interact with her directly thank God but her reputation proceeded her and she did try to sabotage some of Roger Rook's weight lifting equipment. Loosening bolts and she even took an angle grinder to a leg press machine that had Roger not inspected it before maxing out the weight on the machine like he did it might have crushed the next user under hundreds of pounds of iron."
"Holy shit." Mack commented knowing just how dangerous some of the weight lifting equipment could be if it were to suddenly fail.
"Yeah how she wasn't arrested then when the camera footage was made public is beyond me. She did get arrested in our junior year on drug dealing charges when a local meth lab got shut down. All that said she did get teased by some of the jocks but honestly just about every social click in school didn't like her if memory serves." Joey finished her recollection.
"Ok so not only do we know she has a history of violence but she is prime cult material. Sounds just like Faith's type person. So what's the plan?" Mack asked.
The most stressful question of the day so far. She looked around the mountains for a moment as if trying to remember something then she smiled.
"You guys used the trail that runs along side Raptor Peak to get close to the Misery right?" She asked to which Mack answered with a nod. "Well there is a short cut that if I remember right will get us with in a mile or less of where the Misery is. Saint Luke's Drain Pipe."
"Never heard of it." The football player commented.
"That's because it's only referenced three times in the history of Hope County. First discovered in February of 1860 a group of missionaries was looking to make contact with the local Flathead tribe said to be in the area at the time. They got caught in a rain storm and took shelter in the first cave they could fit in, but the rain kept coming and the cave entrance was funneling a lot of water that ran off of Raptor Peak. One of the missionaries slipped and got washed away through the cave and emerged at the base of the mountain soaked to the bone but alive. His bible was ruined and most of the pages had disintegrated save for the book of Luke hence the name." She said with a smile on her face.
"And here I thought you were joking when you were on the radio last night. You really do know these mountains." Mack said dumbfounded.
"Mom was the county treasurer for decades. When I had to come with her to the office I would go next door to the county archives and look for anything interesting. There is a lot of survey data and reports from various pioneers, prospectors, natives, you name it from as far back as 1815 starting with explorers building on the work of Lewis & Clark. You could easily spend years just cataloging stuff. I found a lot of caves and old failed mines that way. Roger and I would go out on our time off and see if the accounts were right." She said as she waved them to start following her.
She lead them down the hiking trail until there was a bend in the trail that went between a massive boulder that had fallen and broken in half on either side of the trail.
"Second mention of the the Drain Pipe was in 1931. Some bootleggers from Canada were looking for caves to store their whiskey. The idea being they would make a single massive and dangerous trip over the border then store everything in the mountains and then take what they need over the next year usually shipping the whiskey out on the outbound ore trains. The FBI tracked them down as part of their work on breaking the supply networks for the mob in Chicago and San Francisco. The bootleggers saw the feds coming up the trail from the near the cave entrance and managed to roll this bolder down the mountainside to try and kill the feds. They only managed to roll the boulder and then trigger a larger rock slide that swept them up and killed them. Since then this boulder that broke when it hit the trail is the marker that Roger and I use to know when to turn left and go up to the entrance." She spoke happily as she led the group of young men and bear up the mountain side.
They hiked straight up the mountain side for nearly 15 minutes until they came to small level spot. There they could see a cave entrance about as large as pair of ATV's side by side that only a few feet in angled downward at a fairly steep rate into the dark depths.
Joey couldn't help but smile as a wave of nostalgia came over her. She really wished that Roger would be here with here going through their old stomping grounds even if he probably wouldn't fit through a fair number of the caves they did back as teenagers.
"Well I'll damned, you were right." Mack muttered as he turned on the flashlight at the end of his rifle and shined it inside the cave.
"Because of the consistent water flow this cave doesn't have any stalagmites and only a few stalactites in places otherwise its like a smooth well worn tube that drops from here to a pond near where the Misery is. The exit was covered in a few bushes so at worst we might need to hack through it a little to get out but its hardly impassible." Joey said informatively as she pulled a flashlight out of her bag and took the lead once more.
"Watch your step and follow me. I don't remember any branches in this cave but nature sometimes changes stuff on you."
The inside of the cave was damp likely from the massive thunderstorm a few days ago but the floor at least wasn't covered in moss or allege so their footing on the steep decent was good. Cheeseburger who had followed faithfully managed to squeeze himself through the entrance and seemed perfectly at home in the cavern as he trailed the rest of the group.
"Deputy if I can ask how did you go from crawling through caves to being a cop?" Mack asked.
"Well I thought for the longest time I would become a Geologist and work for the oil and gas industry. The economy tanked while I was in college and just one day I saw a criminal justice program and signed up. My Dad was a deputy until he was killed in the line of duty but following in his footsteps felt right. Goes to show that what you do today can be useful in the future." She said as they pressed on.
After nearly two hours of picking their way down through the cave in relative silence they suddenly reached a point where everything leveled off and they found themselves wading through freezing hip deep water as they closed on the overgrown exit. It was a tangled mess of branches and leaves so thick that it blocked the bulk of the sunlight coming in from the other side.
"Deputy this is way more than a few bushes." Mack observed as he took out a large hunting knife and tried to hack at the woody overgrowth.
"Ok... uh... shit I don't have an ax or a machete on me." She looked at the other guys and they shook their heads at the unspoken question.
She resorted to pulling on the branches and breaking them off one by one in hopes of making some progress until suddenly something heavy impacted the overgrowth showering her in little broken bits of wood.
She backed up, nearly falling back into the water only to be caught by one of other guys as she watched Cheeseburger rip and tear through the barrier the only way a 2,500 pound grizzly bear knew how. Sheer brute force.
No one could resist cheering as the bear broke through to the other side showering the cave interior in light, even he stood at his full height and roared long and loud before slamming back down. They passed through the breach and found themselves just as Joey had said at the side of a pond with the outline of the Misery visible through a few thin rows of trees and undergrowth.
"You know when I heard that Rook was down I was kinda worried that we might be screwed in fighting the cult." Mack said before turning to the law woman. "Now I know why Rook trusted you to take his place."
"Thanks Mack but lets first save the people and kill the cult before patting me on my back, but still thanks for the support." She said with a smile.
'I can do this. These are my mountains and I know how to use them to my advantage.' She thought as they followed Cheeseburger towards the tree line.
They crossed the gravel road that separated the tree lines and found themselves in a rather nice sheltered grove that was maybe ten or so feet higher in elevation than the beach and subsequently the main deck of the beached dredger. So long as they were in this tiny grove they were hidden from both the road and the boat.
Mack and Joey crawled silently on their bellies as they found small gaps in the undergrowth. Two men were loitering on the beach quietly talking as they patrolled.
"There's another truck here that wasn't here last night." Mack whispered to her.
"That's not the worst thing if one of the people in that truck is Feeney." She answered back.
On the boat itself the decks had dozens of IBC tanks of Bliss which didn't bode well for any of the prisoners aboard it also meant that Joey would have to refrain from using explosives lest she blow up the boat and everything else for half a mile or more. Two more riflemen stood at the bow of the boat watching the river and seemingly being ignorant over anything else around them. The last guard leaned casually in the wheelhouse at the top of the boat a .50 cal machine gun just outside ready for him to rush out and engage anything either on land, the water, or in the air.
'Well shit... hit the boat and it goes up. So much for 'close' air support.' She thought as she pulled back into the grove. She grabbed her radio and hit the talk button.
"Nick it's Hudson. Be advised you can't hit the Misery directly. The whole boat has tanks of Bliss on the deck and probably more inside. A stray shot can send us all sky high. Can you be on stand by to cover the road and the river from reinforcements?"
Nick had been flying near the crater left by Joey's attack on Joseph's statue. He had to admit after looking at the eye sore for years and then worrying about what sort of anti-air weapons it had stationed there, now enjoyed looking at the site of the massive crater that now opened up into a cavern deeper in the mountain. It was the sort of thing that could bring a man to tears it was so beautiful.
His thoughts were interrupted by hearing Hudson call for him. After it had become public knowledge of Roger and Joey getting back together then hearing Roger getting poisoned by Faith's science experiments, he had sworn to make it his personal mission to make sure Hudson had whatever air support she wanted on demand, day or night, rain or shine.
His wife would kill him if he let his daughter's godmother die on his watch anyway.
"Ok Hudson I copy should I come on over right now?" He asked.
"Negative they still have guards and at least one .50 cal that they can use on you. Once we clear at least the exterior guards I will call you in. Just be careful King's Hotel is just across the river and we don't know just how heavily they are armed yet." The Deputy answered.
"No problem, you call I come. I got enough fuel to be on stand by for the next six hours." He said happily finally grateful to be useful in fighting the cult once more.
Back on the ground Mack listened to Joey go back and forth with Mr. Rye on the radio when he saw some movement through some of the windows on the aft end of the boat until finally two priestesses came out dragging along a horribly beaten man with fresh looking marks on across his back.
"Dad!" He whispered suddenly chastising himself for nearly giving their position away should one of the beach guards happen to hear him.
The women drug his father back to the pole that they had lashed him to yesterday before whipping him. It seemed that he must have offended them in some way as both women were actively bickering over who would have the first go at their victim.
He raised his rifle and took aim at the woman that currently held the whip still coiled in her hand.
"Mack you and your guys aim for the guards on the beach and the front of the boat. I'll kill both of these bitches." Joey said softly as she brought her Barrett to bare.
Mack waved for his guys to find positions in the bushes to shoot from and took aim at the closet guards on the beach as they walked away from him. He didn't care who saved his Dad but by God he wasn't going to stand to listen to his cries of pain again.
Joey lined up the two women in her scope and aimed low as there wasn't enough time to go through and adjust for the rather short range she was working at but she wanted to make sure that these priestesses stayed down the first time hence why she using Roger's .50 cal.
She squeezed the trigger and watched the round go high in her scope as she had originally aimed at the women's waists and instead managed to put the round through up near their armpits. The first woman had the explosive round detonate inside her chest blowing it apart. The second priestess only had to deal with the smaller remaining harden steel penetrator performing its primary purpose as it punched through her heart and in her death stagger she fell overboard with a loud splash.
The splash didn't get much more than a brief reaction from the guards on the beach or deck before the sound of Mack and the other Cougars rifles filled the air. The guards dropped before they could turn to engage the fighters and the last man up in the wheelhouse only managed to grab on to the vertical grips of the heavy machine gun before Joey's own rifle puffed once more blowing apart his body easily.
"Mack grab your Dad and see if you can't get one of those trucks up and running to haul people out of here!" Joey said as she got up roughly adjusting the knobs on the rifle scope to something far more appropriate for the range she was fighting at before swapping for her shotgun.
"You going inside?" Mack asked as he pushed through the bushes and slid down on to the beach proper.
"I'll clear the interior from the front you guys make sure no one else tries to run out the back once you have the trucks running and your Dad safe!" She said as her own movements mirrored Macks and she raced toward the bow and up the wooden boarding ramp as he and his guys broke off on their own tasks.
She had just boarded and was racing toward the door to the boats interior when it seemingly exploded, throwing her back as something murderously heavy tackled her. She hit the ground sliding on her back as she did allowing her to see just what the hell had hit her.
An Archangel was throwing its head back and emitting a inhuman scream as the cult Chemist armed with a shotgun stepped out behind him. 'Well that would explain the extra truck. They brought one of their monsters over here.' She thought.
"Go brother! Kill the Demoness!" He cried out and with a growl the Archangel made to charge at her.
She was still dazed and off balanced from the hit she took as she struggled to get to her feet. The cult monster moved forward with a terrifying speed... at least it would have if the Archangel hadn't been tackled by the only thing nearby that was bigger than itself.
Cheeseburger pounced on the monster, his long claws finding purchase even through the thick muscle and bone of the Archangel allowing it to quickly tear open its torso. Still the Bliss was incredibly powerful as the creature tried to punch at whatever it could on the bear even as its blows lost strength.
The Chemist looked on dumbfounded as his main weapon against the non believers attacking the prison ship was being literally torn apart by a force of nature. He only broke out of his trance when he saw the Demoness to get to her feet and raise her gun, he tried to follow suit but the weapon was clunky in his inexperienced hands and the last thing he saw and heard was the roar of the opposing gun.
Joey wanted to smile as she watched the Chemists head get torn apart by the buckshot and by Cheeseburger dutifully making sure that the Archangel wouldn't be getting up ever again. However they still had to clear the interior of the boat and more worryingly from the open doorway a thick cloud of Bliss billowed out.
Her concerns through were sidetracked as she heard Mack scream in pain from the aft end of the boat.
Mack raced up the closest boarding ramp toward his father who hung limply on the whipping pole his shirt torn and shredded from the whippings he had already received.
"Dad! We need to get you out of here! Just hold on a little longer." He said as he took out his knife once more and hacked at the thick ropes holding his father in place. From the doorway behind him though as if she were being exhaled by the boat along side the clouds of Bliss a tall well built woman in tight fitting and revealing leathers stepped out onto the aft deck.
Her fit body was adorned with the many tattoos signifying her many accomplishments in the service of 'The Father' and Herald Faith. Her long violently purple hair swayed gently in Bliss filled wind.
"Oh good, another mouse to add to my collection." She said her velvety voice cutting through whatever chaos was going on forward.
Mack spun around and faced the woman. He didn't have time to unsling his rifle so he was left facing this purple haired bitch with just his knife verses the aluminum baseball bat she swung casually at her side.
"Careful... even cornered mice can be deadly." He said as she slowly kept closing the distance.
"Yeah well I'm not your average cat." She growled before trying to rush him with her bat raised.
He dodged the swipe before he took advantage of her over swing and stepped in to try and stab the woman. It would and should have worked but somehow like water the cult woman moved around his knife arm and she turned her over swing into a powerful back swing.
The bat impacted against the soft padding that made up the sides of his reclaimed peggie armor. It was only because of that padding did he not feel his ribs break but the trauma was done and he fell to the ground with a yell of pain that was cut off as he tried to breath only to find that simple act caused more pain.
"Another day, another dead nonbeliever." The woman said as she got ready to use her bat as a golf club on his head.
"TABATHA!" Yelled Joey as she came roaring around the corner firing her shotgun as she did.
The woman recoiled as she took a load of buckshot to her chest but her hardened body gave her the stamina to push through the pain as she flipped and seemingly danced back into the Bliss filled interior of the ship laughing as she did.
"COME ON DEMONESS! I AM WAITING FOR YOU!" She called from inside.
Mack groaned as he rolled on to his good side. "Hudson... kill... that... bitch. I'll... be... fine."
The sound of foot steps up the aft loading ramp signaled that the rest of Cougars had gotten the trucks started and were able to join them.
"You boys help Mack and his dad. Make sure this bitch can't double back once that's done, I'm going in." She ordered slinging her shotgun on her back and drawing her knife before walking into the Bliss filled interior.
Inside the old dredger light tried to penetrate the dirty windows and the thick greenish clouds of Bliss that filled the air casting everything in a poorly lit dark green. She couldn't really see much past three or so feet in front of her as she stepped around broken pipes and warped floor boards that creaked as if they would break under her weight. All this was made worse by the white sparks that now danced across her vision.
Through the fog she thought she could see movement but it was hard to pin point it. However Joey knew she was far from being alone.
"So Hudson... you remember me? I feel so honored to have not been forgotten by the school's most promising Geologist. Still little 'Miss Perfect' must have stumbled somewhere along the line to wind up becoming some pig cop like your father was." Tabatha taunted from somewhere in the foggy interior.
A deep animalistic growl came from in front of her as an Angel came out of a room with a large double bit wood ax. The creature swung wildly not even coming close to hitting her but managed to sink its weapon deep into the wooden interior wall. It tried to pull the ax out giving her a chance to drive her blade into the creatures neck, feeling it cut in between the vertebra instantly dropping it.
"I'll be taking this..." She said as she pulled the ax head out of the wall. If there was one Angel there probably was at least another.
"You know you should really try some Bliss, Hudson. You were always so uptight about everything and after your little temper tantrum at blowing up The Father's statue its clear you're at a breaking point. Let go for once and embrace the Bliss." Teased Tabatha from deeper within the boat.
'Just how fucking big is this boat?' Joey wondered as she went down some stairs. Up ahead she could hear moaning and sobbing along side the rattle of chains. Slowly she moved through the fog doing everything she could not to think about what the Bliss was probably doing to her.
"You know I didn't hardly recognize you Tabatha. We had to ID you by people remembering all of your graffiti you left behind at school." Joey called out hoping to locate the woman in the fog.
"Oh yes my legacy! Of all the things I left behind here when I got arrested though, I had hoped that some of my other work would have made it, after all if there is one thing in life that I have learned the only good jock is a dead jock." came the reply.
"So is that why you joined the cult? You figured that Joseph's talk of 'The Collapse' would let you kill as you see fit?" She interrogated.
From the fog a fast moving figure appeared right in front of her and she barely had time to hold up the handle of her ax to catch Tabatha's overhead swing of her bat.
"You wanna know why I joined The Father? It's simple, I wanted a better life. A Eden where I can be at peace and away from ever hateful, ever envious, ever scheming people like you." The priestess said through gritted teeth before she kicked at Hudson's legs.
She then made for a swing only to be paried once more. "and Rook!" She said swinging again. "And Rye!"
Her last swing had left her open and Joey planted her boot hard into the priestess's chest tossing her back into the fog. She heard the woman quickly get up and move deeper into the interior again.
"All of you old rich families. My daddy is a gun nut, my daddy is a cop, my daddy is a stunt pilot. You people ride their coat tails and lord it over anyone lesser than you. But what about my accomplishments you ask? You keep using other people's coat tails to bolster your own achievements, you have luxuries that others can only dream of and build up off of them." Tabatha ranted.
"Figures that wouldn't change. 'Fatty Tabby' always hating having to work for anything. Always looking for the quickest way to get what you want and be praised for it. When most kids got regular jobs you stole radios out of cars and worked as a courier for the local meth lab." Joey yelled back.
"There you go again Hudson. You think you are better because you could snag a actual job. I had to make do. That's why I joined the Project, so I can reach a better place where I don't have to work, a better place where my accomplishments are good enough to earn praise. Day one with the cult got me a bed and food. Then a year later I ran my own mission in San Francisco. Then when 'The Father' moved here I got even more power. I got the Bliss." The priestess went on.
Joey finally reached a wider open room that was better lit than the rest of the interior. It had at one point been an engine room but now the engine had long since stripped out along with the other supporting mechanical parts along the walls of the room and in their places dozens of tiny cages packed with people... a lot of people.
'Oh shit... this is way more than what we where expecting!' Joey thought worriedly.
She grabbed her radio and spoke. "Marcus, Hudson we are going to need a major pick up at the Misery, things are worse..." She didn't finish as a another Angel screamed as it lept at her from higher up it seemed in the room. 'Of course there would be a second level in here! Damn it Joey pay attention!' She grumbled internally.
She side stepped the belly flopping Angel as it landed with a thud actually stunning it for a second as it worked out that it had missed its intended target. Joey didn't even set down her radio as she brought the ax down with one arm and beheaded the Angel.
"I copy Joey we will be there in 15 minutes. What is your status?" Marcus called out on the radio.
Joey had just pressed the talk button when Tabatha shot toward Hudson from behind. "SHE'S GOING TO BE FUCKING DEAD THAT'S HER FUCKING STATUS!" She yelled as her bat connected with Hudson's pack sending her crashing forward dropping her ax as she landed.
"When I got the Bliss I lost a lot of weight. 300 pounds in a month! And I gained... so much muscle. Goddamn I wish I had found the Bliss sooner. I could have put you people in your place long before now. However I will just make do as always with killing anyone that gets in the way of the Project and let 'The Collapse' consume you all. Because Eden is too good a place to include people like you." Tabatha said before Joey's radio sounded off.
"Stupid peggie. You don't kill the Demoness. She kills you." Marcus taunted from the jail.
Tabatha shrieked in frustration. "I'm going to find out who that is after I kill you Hudson and I'm going to have a lot of fun beating their brains out!"
Joey got up and couldn't find her ax anymore. The priestess started laughing. "Can't find your ax? I guess you could shoot me again but with all this Bliss around you would probably blow us all up. I will admit that I don't want to die but if its taking you and these sheep down I guess that would be a fair enough exchange."
Joey clinched her fists. Tabatha was right there was a very good chance of blowing up the boat if she used her gun in such a enclosed Bliss filled space but then she remembered the purple haired bitches own words. 'I got even more power. I got the Bliss.'
"Ok Fatty you got some drugs that got you your muscles... made you strong, but it looks like once again you underestimate who your dealing with." Joey growled as she stepped toward the other woman.
"What?" Came the confused reply even as Tabatha tightened her grip on her bat.
"I got the Bliss too. Fighting you cult fuckers has done something to me, I don't know what the long term effects will be but if you think you're the only strong one now... well bitch I'm going to have to disagree with that." Joey snapped as she rushed the priestess and grabbed on to the end of the bat with her left hand and threw a hard right hook into Tabatha's face.
She followed up with a knee to the gut before Tabatha finally jerked her bat out of Joey's grip hard enough to make it fly out of her own hand. Now unarmed she threw a poorly made jab aimed at Joey's kidney but all she managed to do is hit the steel trauma plate in her armored vest.
Tabatha was quickly loosing herself in a Bliss fueled rage, every person that had ever fought against her or even offered even the slightest resistance against her will had utterly crumbled before her new found strength. Yet this stuck up 'little miss perfect' bitch was actually standing up to her!
Tabatha dug in once more lashing out a hard and sloppily thrown low kick aimed at her knees to which Joey stepped in robbing the kick of most of its power and threw a hard punch of her own dazing the woman as she followed up with another upper cut throwing Tabatha on her back.
"Come on Fatty! You were talking big about being all powerful from what the Seed's gave you. What 'The Father' gave you... so far it looks like all it did was help you finally loose some weight so you can actually catch the people that made fun of you." She said as Tabatha crawled back on the floor until the enraged priestess bumped into a empty cage.
She couldn't see through the fog but Tabatha seemed to grasp at something and she surged back up swinging Joey's lost ax. She could feel the ax head pass a hair breath away from her face as she jerked back.
The big swing with the odd weapon hadn't worked as Tabatha had hoped so as she recovered Joey backed away looking for something to fight back with.
"HUDSON! OVER HERE! THE BAT IS OVER HERE!" A man's voice called from one of the fog enclosed cages behind her. Joey spun around and dashed toward the voice and even in the dark gloom of the room the shine of the aluminum was clear. She snatched up the bat and spared the briefest of glances to the man and a woman in the cage before she returned to taking care of Tabatha.
Beaten and bruised but otherwise alive was Trevor Whitehorse and his wife Emma.
'Thank god they are still alive.' She thought.
Tabatha's war cry made Joey roll away just in time to see the ax sink into the wooden floor boards where she had been just moments ago. She got up watching the priestess struggle to pull her weapon out of the wood and adjusted the grip on her own newly acquired weapon.
Joey rushed forward delivering a hard blow directed at the priestess's arms. For her trouble Tabatha let go of the stuck ax to avoid the blow only to watch the bat shatter the handle of the ax.
"That's so not fair." The purple haired menace muttered.
"Welcome to war, fighting fair is ill advised." Shot back Joey as she swung once more for Tabatha and the other woman couldn't dodge fast enough and took the blow right where the buckshot had hit her earlier. She screamed and clutched her chest as she fell back and rolled, quickly trying to get to her feet to runaway into the fog. Just as she did she ducked another swing by Joey and sprinted holding her chest in pain out of the room and could heard climbing some stairs.
Maybe it was the Bliss effecting her or maybe it was just the rush of adrenaline from fighting hand to hand but she felt both angry and amazing at the same time. She charged confidently into the fog following the sound of Tabatha's footsteps as she ran through the interior of the boat.
Another Angel came out of a room to her side but was quickly killed with a casual feeling swing of her bat to its head utterly caving it in as she rushed past. She then found a set of stairs and raced up them three at a time just into time to see Tabatha dashing toward the light filled doorway leading to the aft deck. She could see the bright orange of a flare gun in her hand and instantly recognized what she was planning to do.
In a act of desperation Joey threw her bat like a tomahawk, the weapon hitting the priestess on the back of her head just as she crossed the threshold of the door dropping her. She tried to get up only have Mack slam his boot down her neck pinning her in place.
"Where's Diana Rossenburger?" He yelled.
"Fuck you jock!" Tabatha managed from under his boot.
Joey emerged from the interior glad to have her vision clear up from the white sparks and approached the gathered group of fighters and the fallen priestess.
"Come on Fatty you've lost, so start talking." She said with disgust.
Tabatha groaned then spoke. "She's downstairs. Probably the second most annoying bitch after the Whitehorse whore. I just needed a few days to break her hubby and then her."
"Let's waste this fucker!" Mack growled raising his rifle.
Joey laid a hand on his shoulder making him pause. "One last question first... Where's Feeney?"
"I'm not telling you anything unless you arrest me first. Rights and everything." The priestess barked.
"Deputy you're not seriously..." Mack started before Joey cut him off. Joey wasn't fond of the idea but she had a pretty good idea what Tabby's game was. She still thought she could get protection by letting herself get arrested not only sparing her Mack's wrath but hedging her bets with the cult. She was wrong of course but for right now Joey would play along.
"Ok then I have no problems with that. Get up! Hands on your head!" She barked as she reached for her cuffs.
Mack took his foot off her neck and she pushed her self up slowly before leaping back with amazing speed slamming into Joey and whipping around her, wrapping her arm as she did around the Deputy's neck and raised her other arm with the flare gun.
"Allow me to call Feeney for you!" She yelled into Joey's ear as she sent the bright red flare into the sky.
Joey made a grab at the arm around her neck as Mack and his guys raised their rifles looking for a opening as Tabatha tried to keep the Deputy near as a shield. Before either party could act further a loud roar came from behind her. There thundering down the deck of the dredger was a very displeased Cheeseburger.
If there was one thing Tabatha was afraid of it was bears. It was a fear that had haunted her as child when she realized that she was too slow and fat to runaway from any animal that could attack her especially the local apex predators. She had thought that she had gotten over such a childish thing after she received her blessing and was made stronger but that scared little girl in her took hold and she instantly let go of Hudson and ran to the side of the boat to jump into the water even as bullets from the jocks rifles whizzed around her.
The water was so much colder than she had expected and it shocked her body until she could surface and start paddling away from the boat and more importantly the bear. The grizzly however was tolerating none of it and lept with more grace than what one would normally expect of a bear landing right on top of the woman as she tried to swim away.
The last thing Tabatha 'Fatty Tabby' Zachariah ever saw was the gaping maw of Cheeseburger as it closed on her face.
Mack's shoulders slumped causing him to grunt in pain from his bruised ribs. "Well shit Deputy. I just realized now what you were going for but..." Joey held up her hand as she turned away from the massive frothing red blood pool forming where Cheeseburger was finishing off the priestess.
"Yeah I could have handled that better. We need Feeney bad though. For the Cougars, for everyone at the jail, for Roger. We need to grill him about what this drug is doing to us." She said sadly.
"You weren't going to keep her alive were you?" Mack finally asked with a slightly concerned look in his face.
She scoffed. "No Tabatha was just trying to save her ass. I was going kill her once she gave up what I needed. After all the cult has destroyed the normal order of things for now so we are falling back to a state of 'frontier justice'."
They looked at Cheeseburger as he swam back to shore and the mangled body of Tabatha began to float down the river. "Well nothing more frontier than getting eaten by the local wildlife." Mack joked gasping a little as he tried to chuckle.
"Deputy we got problems!" one of the other Cougars said pointing out across the river.
A bright green flare hung in the sky and six cult boats lead by a trio of jetskis raced under the bridge near the King's Hot Springs Hotel toward them.
Joey got on her radio. "Nick we could really use some air support! We got half a dozen peggie gun boats coming from the Hotel!"
One of the Cougars quickly climbed up a exterior ladder to mount the .50 cal there and shouted to her. "I see trucks on the road to the west!"
She turned and looked and could see the dirt cloud being thrown up by a pair of cult gun trucks.
"We also got gun trucks in bound from the west!" She called into the radio as she started to setup Roger's Barrett.
A few miles away Marcus listened to Joey's calls for air support. He was in the lead Mini-Revelator with the bus they had originally converted for the Convent mission behind him and the other Mini-Revelator behind them. They were only two minutes away from the Misery at their current speed, but he knew from hard experience that those two minutes away were the longest and most terrifying minutes a soldier could experience.
"Joey, Marcus. Convoy is two minutes away. Just hold on, we are coming." He said waiting for a reply that never came.
At the Misery Joey now laid on the aft deck of the dredger behind Roger's rifle as she took aim at the closest jetski.
The men on the jetski's were all Chosen so she knew she had to take them out before they landed and their chances of putting them down without suffering casualties or worse blowing up the dredger dropped like a rock.
She squeezed the trigger and watched the round fly low and punch through the front of the fiberglass hull of the jetski exploding inside. She watched the man at the controls jerk the handlebars side to side to trying to figure out why he had just lost steering controls when a second shot sailed through his armored chest and continued on into the gunner in the seat behind him.
A short moment afterwards the .50 cal machine gun atop the dredger made its presence known as a line of tracer fire followed one of the jetskis as it tried to zig zag up to the moment the first few rounds punched through the engine and then the passengers.
She took aim on the last jetski when it disappeared in a solid wall of spray kicked up by cannon fire. Nick had arrived and with friends no less.
A trio of other brightly colored float planes dove on the peggie gun boats as they tried to decide to shoot at Nick or the other planes diving on them first. None of them had the heavy armament that Carmina mounted they did however mount a few rockets and a ridiculous number of .50 caliber machine guns instead.
All but two of the boats were shredded by the hail of gunfire on the first pass.
"Hey guys go after those gun trucks on the road! I got these boats!" Nick directed over the radio as he pulled up to gain back enough altitude to once more dive on the Zodiacs and trace a line of explosive 20mm through both sending them into the air from detonating their on board ordnance before they sank back into the river.
To the west the two peggie pickups loaded down with men and explosives had no hope of avoiding the combined fire of 30 heavy machine guns. Pinned between the mountain on their right and the river on their left they were doomed to the fiery death they found themselves in.
Nick watched the resulting fireworks from his wing men when a white puff from his right caught his eye.
"MISSILE! MISSILE!" He warned over the radio as he dove for the river as the missile closed on him.
At the hotel the peggie struggled to keep the diving yellow plane in the laser designator of his missile launcher. It wasn't one of the normal more portable MANPAD's that Joseph's Air Wardens used or what was issued for defending places like Joseph's Word.
This was a British Starstreak anti-air missile while said to be one of the fastest anti-air missiles in the world able reach as fast as Mach 4, the partially defective models the cult had bought off the black market had only a quarter the speed at best. It was probably just as well that the missile was slower than intended as the system relied on the operator sitting at a aiming station to keep the laser designator on the target until impact.
A faster missile would have given far less time for the poorly trained faithful to correct for their targets movements. This was just one of the reasons besides the stationary nature of the aiming station why the missiles had been dumped at the hotel instead of being issued more widely.
Nick pushed Carmina to her absolute limit as he pulled up only a foot or two above the surface of the river, racing for one of the few tree covered islands that dotted this section of the river. He didn't look back as the raised hairs on the back of neck told him how close the missile was as he rolled the plane on to its side and angling the nose up slightly as he did.
He flew into and just above one cluster of trees on the largest of the river islands, his wing deftly slicing a path in between the pine trees even as the tips of said trees scratched at the fuselage and floats as he flew over. As soon as the last tree was cleared he angled down and leveled out.
The Starstreak missile meanwhile dutifully followed the laser as the peggie operator was so focused on tracking the yellow float plane that he aimed the laser at the trees at the worst possible moment. The three delayed impact fused darts that made up the warhead of the missile impacted against the branches and tree tops setting them off and netting the peggie his only aerial kills... some unfortunate birds in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Nick pulled hard at his control stick and brought his plane about to strife the hotel. He wasn't planning on sticking around though and even his idea of suppressing the forces at the hotel with his 20mm wasn't probably the best one he had but it beat getting another missile up his ass.
Marcus and the reinforcements arrived much to everyone's relief. Joey didn't pay it any mind through she had seen where the trail of exhaust smoke from the missile launcher and was now doing her best to estimate the range so she could put a .50 through the bastard before he fired again.
She adjusted the knobs on her scope hoping that she had done the mental math correctly, steadied her breathing and squeezed the trigger. She watched the round fly and saw it drift high and left hitting the hotels stone exterior. Thankfully for her the missile operator was too busy trying to load his launcher to noticed the nearby impact above and behind him for the moment.
"Give it an extra... two clicks right and a click down Joey." Marcus said as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder as he looked through a pair of binoculars.
She did as was advised and waited for the man to sit at his aiming station again as he tried to get a beam on Nick as he approached the hotel to strafe it. The moment he was settled and focused on his task she fired again this time watching the round that was still a bit off her point of aim punch through the controller in the peggies hands and with a visible flash blow his chest apart.
Nick's 20mm cannon roared meanwhile as he waggled his plane side to side effectively forcing anyone in front of the hotel to run for cover. He even managed to blow up a pair of peggie gun trucks for his trouble as he pulled up and soared away to go home following his wing men who had bugged out when the missile had been launched.
Joey kept looking through the scope watching the peggies run in fear of Nick's cannon when she focused on a thin built man in a lab coat that had such a large red cult cross tattoo across his bared chest that it stood out even at over a mile through her scope.
The man was shouting orders it looked like while he dashed to a very new looking bright white cult branded Camero that had been waiting for him and drove off to the east, deeper into cult territory.
'I got you now Feeney.' She thought as she watched the car drive out of sight.
"You see something Joey?" Marcus asked from behind her. She turned and looked at him before speaking.
"Yeah saw some thin guy with a big red cult chest tattoo get into a new Camaro and drive off. A new car like that is something only a higher up would drive you would think."
Marcus worked his jaw side to side a few times before nodding slowly. "Yeah sounds like you have the right idea. Now that the Misery is ours I'll bet that Feeney will be pulling back or be pulled back by Faith since he is so essential to the cults Bliss development."
She turned her gaze back on to the hotel across the river as the peggies could be seen dumping water from the hot springs on to the burning trucks. "So we have to get him soon before he locks himself in Faith's conservatory."
"Correct. To that end I believe Dmitri will likely be able to now further narrow down Feeney's location. Don't worry Joey, we will bag him. You did good today and Roger would be proud of you." He said with a fatherly smile.
Members of the Resistance wearing gas masks pulled the prisoners out of the depths of the boat. Besides being starved, beaten, and in a few cases whipped most of them were able to walk with assistance out of the boat. One of the medics commented that the Bliss that was lingering inside was a uncommon calming Bliss normally used only on prisoners and for calming down particularly unruly Angels.
The last part made Joey frown as she thought about her own reaction to the Bliss while she was inside. Her vision had been effected but she had felt anything but calm in fact she would have to say that she felt... empowered almost.
It was just another concern among many about the effects of the Bliss on her body and mind... and just another question to ask Feeney when she got her hands on him.
She rode back to the Jail in Marcus's Mini-Revelator with a happy Cheeseburger curled up beside her as the converted dump truck rumbled along the road. Once they had reached the Jail those in need of more immediate treatment such as the Rossenburgers for their wounds and the Whitehorses for severe dehydration were dropped off for the Jail's medical staff to tend to while the rest of the survivors were shipped back to Fall's End.
In all they had saved 80 souls from the cult that day and besides Mack getting a bad bruise that he would be nursing for a few days the Resistance had taken no losses. It was in Marcus's opinion a sign that the war was starting to shift in their favor, they had more resources, more fighters, more knowledge of the land, and a rapidly learning people that were adapting to the daily grind of combat in Hope County.
"The people aren't true soldiers but they are not the scared civilians they once were. They are true citizens of Hope County, ready and willing to give their lives if needed to defend and retake their home. All they need are good leaders and a few key fighters like you to spearhead the effort. You did great Joey and never think otherwise." He had said as they pulled up to the jail.
It was amazing to see the smiles on the survivors faces as they recognized friends among the defenders and of course the sight of the Sheriff hugging his son and daughter-in-law as their children came racing out as well was something to behold. Cheeseburger's arrival alone had only boosted the morale of everyone further. He was led by Jesse Whitehorse to a shady corner and her brother had found a large washbasin that had been filled with a portion of the fish the children had caught earlier in the day along with the other fishermen at the jail.
This act quickly earned them both sloppy bear kisses and nuzzling by the grateful bear as he then curled up for a well earned nap.
Jessica Rook then came racing out of the jail toward her husband and Joey.
"Marcus! It's Dmitri!" She panted as she reached them.
His eyes widened with concern. "Was he compromised?"
"No... he radioed in on the secure line. He is with Feeney right now in his house." Came his wife's reply.