Far Cry 5: The Collapse
Chapter 38: Apex
Something had gone wrong, that much had been clear at the time. They had received a single radio call saying that there had been an explosion then nothing.
But even on his balcony at St. Francis he could feel and hear the muted thumps of massive explosions and the number of float planes diving again and again... and again. They told him enough about what was going on.
As expected Roger Rook had moved and countered his movements perfectly thus wrecked the mass of faithful drones with what he figured was well coordinated mortar fire and lots of air support. His desperate attempt to retake the radar site had failed but by doing so it had improved things here noticeably at least.
Winstead true to form stirred up the fervor of the weaker members not just here in the Veteran's Center and silo but in all the outposts and drew far more men from the front line than he had originally envisioned. Those left behind were just skeleton crews maybe even those who warranted a punishment were left behind as only the obedient were deserving to march to battle for 'The Father'.
'Maybe if God is being merciful Winstead is dead too.' He thought humorously.
He step back inside his quarters hoping to go back to bed for a few hours before having to clean up the remains of tonights fiasco when his radio came to life.
"Jacob, I do believe I have the right channel. I hope that you already know what has happened to your infantry." Heard his radio go off from its place at his bedside table.
He tiredly sat on the edge of the bed eying the device warily before grabbing it. "Rook. I didn't figure you would be gloating quite this soon."
"Normally you are correct I would be waiting until normal business hours to do this but I figured that unless you are a very heavy sleeper you wouldn't be able to sleep through the sound of heavy mortar fire. That said I also feel like that we both got a decent deal out of this and you stand to profit even more I dare say." Came the Deputy's reply.
'Profit? Rook what the hell are you trying to play at now?' He questioned internally before Roger continued.
"Your silence I will take as a question, one that I expect even my own people to start asking me: 'Why Roger?'. Allow me to theorize about your current situation and do feel free to offer a correction when needed." The Deputy said pausing to offer him another chance to speak.
He wouldn't reply yet. The mental game between him and Rook had changed since they spoke at the Mill. There and then he still thought he had the upper hand, that he still even with the massive losses they had taken that some kind of victory was possible.
He had even told Rook that he would either become stronger or die. That he would lead and kill Rook, yet here he was. The bulk of his manpower dead and its remnants increasingly on the brink of open rebellion against him, vehicles reduced to wreckage or pointless death traps in the case of his choppers, and finally his territory was realistically only the silo and the Veteran's Center.
"Right now you have burned up most of your man power and your heaviest vehicles at the Mill. You have tried to reinforce and dig in at your holdings just north of the Mill but by getting defensive the more religious men under your command have chaffed, as they favor as we have both seen tonight the offensive. In the mountains you had your best trained men and your last ditch weapon dug in and virtually unassailable at least until myself and Deputy Hudson assailed said base." Rook paused waiting for him to respond.
He did so begrudgingly, torn between how the other sniper had read the state of his forces so well and his anger at how little of what he had done in response had worked. "So far you are getting everything right, I should hope that you at least make sure the history books are as accurate."
"Indeed. So we come to what we have seen tonight... You try to strike at our least prepared position in hopes that despite the terrain actively working against you that through weight of numbers you could retake the radar site and your last ditch missile thus giving you a notable advantage in the campaign once more. Unfortunately for you my father had a pair of World War I era German 170mm heavy mortars that he was going to show off at this years Testy Festy and while that didn't come to pass your faithful men provided a second opportunity." The lawman boasted.
"Explains why I was feeling the impacts all the way over here. Now though I have to ask why we are going over this?" He questioned.
"Well Jacob I wanted to make sure you knew exactly what was arrayed against you. You now are backed into a literal corner of the county with extremely limited firepower and a finite amount of supplies. Not to mention especially now you lack the manpower to cover much of anything else." Rook stated plainly. "Now after laying out just how bad you have it now, I want to offer to you and your remaining men a chance to survive this war. You will see jail time of that I know, but you will be alive. Until the Air Wardens are told to stand down your POW camp will be very simple but I promise you we will make sure that you have running water for sanitation and cooking, reasonable rations, and basic shelters until outside resources can be brought in to make for more modern and comfortable accommodations until law enforcement can process you and your men." He finished.
Both men were silent. Jacob thought about the offer, it made sense after all for the Resistance. They wanted to end this war as quick as possible and now with the end looming large and their advantages over them they were right to feel like they could 'buy' victory more cheaply than they could from starting more battles.
He knew that he would likely wind up fighting his own men at least those more loyal to Joseph than him, though now the numbers were more equal looking if he took into account the quality of his loyalists verses the now throughly terrified cult drones.
'That's assuming I don't find out that half blew their brains out at breakfast in a few hours.' He thought with a sad chuckle. 'That's not exactly the worst thing at the moment.'
"Jacob, in case it needs to be said I am serious about offering you and your men this chance to live. You aren't so lost in the cult's dogma to lose all reason." Came the Deputy once more sounding ever more earnest.
"A strong man is willing to hold on to what he believes in even in the darkest of times." He replied.
"A strong man is also willing to admit that he could be wrong. That what he believed to be sure and true isn't so when presented with evidence to the contrary. Humility. Honest humility is a strong trait. Please Jacob, stand down, live, and bare witness to the future as to what happened here." Rook pleaded.
"Well... what's one more failure to add to the list?" He said to himself and the dark room surrounding him.
He was about to will himself to press the transmit button. When the radio came back to live again.
"Jacob. I know you have doubts. You always have had doubts about your choices, about your actions, and your failures. Your great mind pounders over these doubts until you are lost in them, but in the end brother... I have faith in you. I have faith that even in this late hour, in this dark time you will not fail your family, and that you will hold the line. I know that within your heart you have faith in me." Joseph called.
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Back at the Spread Eagle the bar had gone deathly silent. As it was everywhere else in Hope County. Every radio at every outpost both Resistance and Cult rang with only one man's soft almost haunting voice.
"Y-yes Brother. I will hold the line. Until death. I am sorry Roger we will have to settle this like the soldiers we are." Came Jacob's reply unusually soft even sorrowful.
Every one in the bar turned to look upon Roger to see what he would say. Calmly he spoke in a tone that befitted that of a funeral. "Very well my adversary. We will settle this as soldiers and men. I wish us luck that we will meet face to face one way or another."
"You will meet the faithful Deputy. You will meet them and through them God's will shall be done, your blind eyes opened, your deafened ears made to hear once more, and your stone heart warmed." Joseph continued.
He got up from his and Joey's booth to start pacing about the bar, everyone's eyes and ears following him all the while. "Joseph I must say that I am in fact glad to hear your voice. A part of me was afraid that you would go full Jonestown and kill yourself before I could serve you your warrant and drag you through the ashes of your flock."
"You are a strange devil Roger Rook. I have prayed and asked God many times over the course of this war what manner of evil spawned you." The cult leader said off hand.
He didn't reply but he looked at his father incredulously. "I think he just insulted Mom."
The older Rook nodded vigorously as he hit the transmit button. "Insults to my parents aside Joseph your continued Pride is costing you the lives of your followers in job lots. I was willing to offer Jacob and through him his people a chance to surrender to save their lives and end this war, you too also have this chance of course. Just recall your people back to your island and stand down. Call off your Air Wardens and we will be able to bring in supplies to both insure the comfort of your people and see that they are processed by law enforcement swiftly."
"God will not let you take me. You of all people should remember that particular lesson." Joseph snapped back with a tiny touch of venom.
The surge of hostility only made him laugh. "Oh Joseph. Very well then sooner rather than later I suspect... 'The Collapse' will come for you and then and there we will see if God really is on your side."
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The sun rose up on Fall's End signaling the start of another Monday. Both cultist and Resistance were seemingly taking the day to rest and recover. Patrols were made but no moves to change the lines were planned.
Ammo was restocked, weapons cleaned, food gathered up, broken and warn out bodies were remade.
While the men and women of the Resistance rested there was one member that now roamed northward as he had for the last full day.
Cheeseburger dunked his head into the river delta that flowed from the north into Whitetail lake. With a snap of his powerful jaws he emerged from the water holding a shimmering rainbow trout that would make for an acceptable breakfast.
Around him the wildlife steered clear of the area, even if he looked different than most of his kind instinct warned them nonetheless that the uparmored war bear was not be bothered.
As he ate he couldn't help but smell everything beyond his meal before him, he could smell home.
Home. Friends. Family.
Enemies. Prey.
Taking the last bite of fish he continued his walk north towards his home.
Hours pass and the sun grew high in the sky. Prey scattered at his passing not caring in the least that he sought something besides them that day. Finally he came to the edge of the forest near the Ranger Station giving him a wide view of the area below.
Near a white cult pickup truck that sat outside of a small garage a man was clearly having a break down of some sort as he slammed his fists on the front fender of the truck screaming about why wouldn't the truck start.
Some distance away another pair of men looked upon the scene as they finished dumping another body of a fellow brother onto a waist high pile of similar bodies. All had some sort of self inflicted wound either to the head or the neck or the heart by bullet or blade. The pair of corpse bearers trudged back inside the office, their demoralized state clear for all to see.
Cheeseburger snorted angrily. This wasn't quite home but it was close enough to be a start.
With the casualness that could only have been borne from an apex predator he simply walked down the hillside toward the now sobbing cultist as he buried his head down in his arms at the side of the truck apparently trying to pray for guidance on how to fix the vehicle before him.
"Oh Father please be with me so that God may inspire me. I have not the wisdom needed to figure out why this infernal carb keeps spitting fire. Forgive me Father for being weak..." The man prayed aloud completely lost in the act as the bear casually walked up and opened its maw before bringing it down upon the mans head and neck. His last gasp was unheard by anyone short of perhaps God himself.
With a easy flick of his head he heard the prey's neck snap and the body go limp as he tossed the foul tasting body away behind the truck. He rested behind the cover of the truck, wary eyes and sharp ears listening for other signs of life.
Beyond the empty buildings in the forest proper he could see rabbits and other small game dash and dart around seemingly not aware of his presence. A doe and her fawn were a tempting distraction but a sniff of the air brought him back.
There within the largest building was more prey. More enemies. So with a grunt he padded off towards the office building.
He grabbed on to the pull handle of the wooden door with his teeth and swung it open letting the scent of his latest prey wash over him. The office lobby was a bloody mess. Several sleeping bags laid out on the floor were still soaked in blood from the men who decided that death by their own hand was better than waiting for Resistance to kill them.
Even through the smell of blood his sense of smell could still pick up the two distinct living enemies in the kitchen/break room.
"You heard The Father last night. Jacob must hold the line and that means we must stay here and defend this outpost." One man's voice said.
"I know brother, but with what? With who? Brother Charles is barely holding it together as you saw and we did just dump ten of our brothers and sisters bodies outside just now! I want to hold the line as The Father has ordered us to but... I don't how. Our faith as strong as it is clearly can't work alone against rifles and machine guns." Another replied.
He followed the voices until he found them standing at a counter top putting the finishing touches on their coffees.
"We will think of..." The first man as said as he turned his head to look at his fellow brother only to see the massive bear half squeezed through the doorway.
Cheeseburger roared as he forced his body through into the tiny break room that was barely large enough for four or five people to stand in comfortably. With one swipe of his claws he tore out one mans throat dropping him instantly as he desperately tried to stem the bleeding from his new gaping hole.
The other man was head butted into the office fridge breaking the doors off their hinges. He tried in his dazed state to reach for his sidearm but only managed to have his arm caught in the bears jaws. Now caught he was whipped mercilessly side to side breaking apart the kitchen's counter and leaving massive dents in the surrounding drywall.
Letting go Cheeseburger looked at the moaning man with the closest thing to contempt a bear could muster before he slammed a massive paw down on his head crushing his skull and silencing him for good. A quick glance showed the bleeder to be well and truly dead from the massive blood loss and shock.
The bear roared in victory before setting back to his task. Not before however tearing open a plastic container full of recently caught fish that was kept in the fridge by the cult. Food is never to be wasted if it can be helped after all.
Getting back outside the sun now was starting its downward trend. But there was still more prey to be had and time was running short.
As he walked away from the Ranger station he looked at the red and black cult flag on the flag pole. He eyed the cloth as it flapped in the afternoon breeze and changed course to deal with it. It took some test bites and clawing but he found the right rope to tug on to bring the offending flag down to were he could stand up and catch it within his jaws.
With a simple tug the cloth tore and flapped no more.
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Ranger Kornel tried to stretch out as much as he could within the confines of the borrowed dump truck. At least that's what it once was, now the Resistance fighters manning its many .50 cal guns called it a 'Mini-Revelator' in reference apparently to some massive armored truck that John Seed had once tried to deploy.
For now though in among the ammo boxes for the guns he sat there flying his drone over the current outposts held by the cult. He had the driver park the truck at the burned out remains of the Grill Streak Bar and Grill.
As depressing as it was to see one of his favorite places to get lunch now little more than a pile of burned wood and stone, there was one upside so far. Chad Wolanski the owner and grill master of the Grill Streak was alive and now operating out of his food truck.
Apparently this corner of Jacob's territory had gone quiet shortly after the fall of the lumber mill thus he felt safe to park the up gunned dump truck and launch his drone. He could fly his drone till it was just over Landsdowne airfield. The Ranger station and the F.A.N.G Center were however his main targets today, though so far they had been very quiet as if the attack last night had well and truly sucked virtually all of the manpower out of the outposts.
He worked his controls once more making another pass from the animal center to the Ranger station in time to see a massive bear leave.
"Holy Shit! God damn you peggie bastards for juicing up the bears." He muttered as one of the gunners looked at him.
"Peggies up to something Ranger?" the man asked.
"If you mean making the bears bigger and it looks like putting armor on them then yes, they are up to something but now that I look, something must have gone wrong because I am seeing only bodies outside and no other movement." He replied as the man crouched down to look at the camera feed for himself.
"That bear just ripped off the cults flag right off the flagpole." The man noted.
"I'm calling this in." He said before grabbing his radio. "Buzzer to Black or Grey Reaper..."
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In one of the many cages of the F.A.N.G center Wade Fowler co-owner of the center sat wishing he had put on his watch when he had gotten up weeks ago. At least he was fairly sure it had been weeks, it sure as hell felt like it.
Looking around he could see his brother Dave and some of his other staff trying to sleep off the hunger pains in one of the shaded corners. The cultists that had come here and forced him and his staff into this empty cage had up until recently been feeding them a basic ration of mullberries foraged from the local area and a watery strew with the left over bits of whatever game they had that day.
But after the massive explosion to the south and what sounded like a battle far closer to them their meals had been cut from three to two meals a day then once a day at noon. But then the cultists started killing themselves usually in the night, usually a bullet to the head and a few from what he heard from stabbing themselves to death. That was making their meal times random and portions meager.
He glanced upward through the bars that made up the roof and could see last nights suicide. The remaining sniper that was posted on top of the giant Cheeseburger mascot sign as a watchman had looped a rope around the mascot's legs and then jumped off with the other end of the rope looped around his neck.
He remember waking up in the night and seeing the struggling man hanging there for a moment before he had grabbed his side arm and blew his brains out to end his suffering quicker.
"Hey Wade." A middle aged black woman approached and sat beside him.
"Dr. Perkins." He replied.
The short bobbed haired woman chuckled. "You know you can call me Sarah." Her words now bringing a soft tired chuckle of his own.
"Sorry I'll remember eventually. I was just thinking." He said as he took another look around the cage.
At first the staff were kept in this cage until it was time to feed the rest of the animals, however over time however much had passed each of the wolves in the center where taken away, then the cougars, skunks, coyotes, deer, even eventually taking M. Bison... the Bison away. From what little he had heard they were being experimented on by the cult.
His back itched and burned when the memory of why he was whipped by one of the cult's Chosen that at the time was in charge of the outpost. That evening he was feeding Cheeseburger who was after the first week the last animal remaining at the center and knew full well that soon the cult would come for the mascot of the center, dragging him off to be twisted by their drugs and whatever unholy shit they were doing to the animals.
He had formed a sudden and poorly thought out plan to trip over the threshold of Cheeseburger's cage and land on top of the guard watching him then shouting for Cheeseburger to run out of the cage and into the woods.
It had cost him 50 lashes from the Chosen the next morning.
"You think they will feed us today?" Sarah asked bringing him out of his memories.
"Probably... still I think the end is near for us. We have only seen one patrol of wolves and that souped up bear in the area, if there are that few animals that they want us to feed and clean up after when they show up then they are going to see us as more of a burden." He said as one of the cultists stepped out from the office spaces and looked up sadly at the hanging sniper's body.
They watched the man turn his back on them as he sat on a sandbag wall looking towards the road.
He got up and moved stiffly towards the side of the cage closest to the man even as Sarah gently tugged at his arm trying to get him to not stir up trouble.
The Conservationist from The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks was a nice woman who clearly was horribly out of her depth. He couldn't blame her for not wanting to see any more people die.
She had seen one of her staff dragged off by Jacob's Judge wolves and another critically injured to the point of bleeding out in her arms. That last woman's blood was still on the doctors blue jeans and matching shirt with dots all over her tan fishing vest, and to her they served as visible reminders of what happens when one tries to resist the cult. That was all before she was found and dragged here by the cult.
"Hey you! Peggie! When are we going to get at least one meal?!" He called leaning against the bars as did so.
The hollow eyed man turned his head, his black hair and beard somehow more ragged and wild now than it ever had been. But the eyes Wade noted were the same of a cornered animal, the man was scared, desperate to hold on to what control he had.
"You will be fed when we feed you SINNER!" The cultist yelled back angrily as he turned away and looked down the road again.
Sarah patted him on the shoulder as he rested his head on the cool steel bars of the cage. The end for them was near, he could feel that much.
Inside the office building in the back room that served as a small classroom for the field trips and scout groups that would pass through the center five cultists now sat in the student desks as a shockingly thin and bony Preacher happily flipped through his copy of the Word of Joseph as he sat on the teachers desk..
"Sir if I can ask a question." One of the remaining cultists asked raising his hand automatically.
The holy man looked up with smoky green eyes. "Of course Brother Terrance we are here to learn more of the Word of The Father so we must of course ask questions. Please..." He said gesturing for the man to speak.
"With how things are going how are we going to reach Eden? The sinners have gotten so powerful with their two Saints and we have lost so much... I don't see how we will see Eden." He asked nervously.
The Preacher just smiled softly closing his book before regarding each man and woman in the room. "You are right, these are indeed dark times. But do we really need to be alive in this world to see Eden? Our Father has answered this question already. We do not." He said as he got up to pace around the room.
"If we die in the service of God... The Father... your fellow faithful. You will wait at the Gates of Eden for the inevitable moment when they are opened for all of the faithful to find peace as promised by The Father. Now if you turn to chapter 14 verse 39 you will see that those who die performing greater services in the name of God and The Father that your place at the gates will be closer than someone that has taken their own life in his name for example. Brother Terrance if you would start us off by reading please..."
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"Cheeseburger is heading home alright." Joey said as she gathered around Ramirez's laptop in the school Gym. She had tagged along with Roger as he and Foley did a more in depth AAR or After Action Review of pretty much everything the Delta team had done since they landed.
It wasn't quite as boring as she had feared but a part of her figured that was more because she hadn't sat in on a thousand of these sorts of reviews. After lunch however Kornel called them over the radio and for the next hour they went over the recorded footage of Cheeseburger's impromptu attack on the the Ranger Station and now he marched onward in a manner befitting of a apex predator: relaxed and unchallenged.
"Joey lets go ahead and head out. There might be only one guy on guard duty at the center but I don't want to loose Cheeseburger to God knows who else might be inside." Roger said to hear as he led the way out of the gym.
She fell in line as all around her the Delta team started mounting up again to join them. "I guess Cheeseburger didn't feel like taking a day off."
Roger glanced over his shoulder at her with a smile. "If the cult held your home and potentially your family if they still live, you too would be disinclined to take any time off."
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The bored guard struggled to pay attention to the surrounding area. He was supposed to greet a patrol of beast handlers and their Judges when they came in about this time assuming they still live. He eyed the white pickup with its machine gun but couldn't bring himself to go to the trouble of walking over there and climbing on to the bed only to have to stand in the sun on tired feet.
He wished that someone else had pulled the greeting detail so he could at least sit and hear the preacher's lesson. Of course that's if he could stay awake. The night these days was full of all manner of sounds that would wake him up, the sob of a fellow brother or sister, a lone gunshot in the night, even the creaking of the trees would wake him up thinking that an attack was about to happen.
Only the Preacher seemed unbothered by recent events. If he showed any remorse it was that he wasn't allowed to go and march on the sinners even knowing full well what had happened last night.
'Also add the rumble of distant explosions to the list of things that wake me up at night.' He thought sourly.
He shut his eyes intending to let his ears tell him for a time if there was anything out there and like an assassin in the night sleep took him.
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Cheeseburger shook his body fiercely shaking off the water from his river crossing before taking a deep sniff of the air. Now more than ever he could smell home and it drove him onward with even greater vigor.
He turned south until he reached the unguarded and unmarked rear entrance road that many locals tended to miss. Of course the manpower stripped cult assuming they even recognized the road hadn't posted so much as a single guard to watch the centers rear leaving him to march up unchallenged.
Now walking along the outer perimeter of the center he was met with a rainbow of scents that both saddened and angered him. Animals that had lived at the center were gone and by the weakness of the scents for sometime but in its place strange and tainted beasts including another male bear.
With a soft snarl he marched towards the front of the center sniffing heavily as he sought out the intruder in his territory. A minor shift in the wind then caught his attention and he started forward at a moderate trot toward one of the larger cages near the front of the center.
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Wade sat against the cage wall with his head resting on his knees trying to ignore his own hunger and simply find away to pass the time. The sound of motion made him look up and see Dr. Parker... Sarah looking at him in complete terror as she tapped the shoulder of his brother Dave and got the attention of the other staff in the cage as they rested in the shelter.
"Wade! Don't move there's a bear right behind you! She said with muted nervousness.
He slowly turned expecting to see one of the cult's white drugged up abominations and instead saw as massive dark brownish gold grizzly bear covered in black steel and Kevlar but more importantly under all of it he could see a blue collar with little cheeseburgers all around it.
"Oh my God... Cheeseburger! You're still alive!" He said horsely as the bear stuck its snout between the bars and he spun around to pet the bear. Looking back he waved the others toward him. "Dave! It's Cheeseburger!" He said mindful of the guard out front and the others likely still in the office.
Soon a dozen people were at the cage wall reaching out however they could to pet and scratch their animal friend.
Sarah approached far more nervously. "Wade is... is this safe?"
He chuckled. "Cheeseburger is always safe, go ahead and pet him." The scientist finally reached the cage wall and with a single shaking finger stroked the bears snout. The bear made a pleased sound and licked her hand in response making her jump.
"You should be glad that he can't kiss you properly like this. He gets a little lovey dovey when he is happy."
From the front of the building the guard sneezed jarring him awake for a moment. That moment ended the petting session as they watched the bear pull away with a snarl that was normally unheard of from the gentle giant.
"Wade is... Cheeseburger going to do what I think he is going to do?" Dave asked.
He could only nod his head at first. "Yeah Cheeseburger is not happy." Even as the words left his mouth he moved quietly toward the front of the cage and watched the bear quietly stalk towards the slumped over guard.
This was a side of Cheeseburger he had never seen, even in all the years of raising and caring for the bear he always had to quietly remind himself that their favorite animal celebrity and mascot was still at his core a wild animal. But the bear had not once made him question his trust in the animal.
He couldn't help but gasp with the rest of everyone as with an audible crunch Cheeseburger seized the guard from behind around his neck and with another snap of bone that followed as the bear whipped the man around like a rope toy.
From one of the guards pockets a large familiar keyring few out and landed a few feet from the cage.
"Well shit just our luck..." He heard someone mutter at the sight of the cage keys.
He did a quick look around the cage and sighed. Anything in here was too short and not stiff enough to be even lashed together somehow to reach the keys and drag them towards the cage.
"Oh my God..." He heard Sarah muttered and he whipped his head back towards the scene.
Cheeseburger had drug the body into the grass out of view but his blood soaked snout told them that the guard would no longer be a problem.
He pointed to the keys. "Cheeseburger! Can you get me the keys boy?" He asked seeing the bear look up at him dead in the eye. "Please?" he added a little more meekly.
The bear padded over to the keys and with surprisingly nimble jaws he hooked one of the rings on one of his fangs, then walked away from them.
"Etu Cheeseburger?" He found himself muttering as he watched Cheeseburger walk towards the office, disappearing from sight as he did.
"What is he doing?" Dave asked clearly as dumbfounded as he was.
The scraping of clawed feet on concrete drew them to the cage door where Cheeseburger now tapped the bundle of keys against the lock finally reaching the limit of his dexterity.
He rushed over and with deeply trained habit grabbed the key for the wolf cage they now occupied even as the bear tried to get that key into the lock. Another moment Cheeseburger 'helped' by pushing the key in allowing him to twist it.
The lock flipped and he rushed out wrapping the bear's blood covered head in as big of a bear hug as he could mange.
"You are a good boy! Yes you are!" He chanted as everyone including even the Doctor hugged him if making sure to avoid getting even more blood on her.
Without warning Cheeseburger pulled away not aggressively but clearly with purpose as he sniffed the air, growling as he did and plodded off towards the office.
"He's going after the rest of the peggies!" He said as he turned to everyone else. "Everyone find a weapon... anything at all. Stick, gun, knife, a rock even... we're retaking this place."
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Cheeseburger opened the door to the office spaces easily due to the straight handles installed on the exterior doors but even as he followed the scent of his prey the door to the room that held them was a pesky rounded knob.
The bear had a few times managed open such doors but they were frustrating affairs to say the least. Instead he tapped his steel helmet against the door a few times. He had vivid memories as a cub of getting in trouble for scratching the doors in his home and now knew better.
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The Preacher sighed in minor annoyance as he looked up at the lone sister in the room who sat closest to the door.
"If you would please child open the door. I believe the patrol must be wanting to join us for the latter half of our less..." He said as his last words were cut off the moment the woman turned the door knob and instead of a faithful believer a massive monster of a Grizzly stormed forward, knocking the sister to the ground before placing a massive paw on her chest.
The bear roared at them even as the woman screamed her last breath as the weight of the bear caved in her rib cage. All of them backed into a corner at the front of the classroom with one of the brothers pulling a desk with him in an attempt to fend off the bear as it slowly pushed its way through the remaining desks.
All of them were unarmed, after all why would they need to lug in their rifles for bible study?
The bear lunged forward showing off massive claws and blood stained teeth.
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Wade rushed towards the office holding a procured blacksmith's hammer even as he heard the screams and yells of the cultists being torn apart. Behind him Dave followed with a small hatchet. The scene that they came to was nothing short of nightmarish.
The farthest corner of the classroom was plastered in blood and the drywall bore the dents of bodies being slammed into them or at least the blood soaked gashes from the bear's claws. But it was the out of control screaming of the cultists that burned their way into his mind as four or five remaining peggies were torn apart.
Something grasped his ankle making him look down in terror at the remains of the Preacher. Half of his face had had its skin peeled off and deep weeping gashes in his chest bore witness to the power of Cheeseburger's claws.
The cultist's legs however were both gone, ripped off at the upper thigh with crushed bone and torn muscle hanging off of his nubs.
"In the name of The Father! Stop the bear please!" The Preacher begged even as Wade tried to recoil away only dragging the man with him into the office proper.
He didn't realize until he brought his hammer down on the screaming and pleading man that he was even attacking nor when Dave cleaved off the arm that was holding his ankle. Another few hacks and bashes took place before the man's head was removed finally ending the screaming.
"Oh Jesus Christ in heaven... what the hell was that thing?" Dave asked as he looked at the scene finishing up in the classroom.
He first pried off the dead arm from his ankle before even considering an answer. "A bigger monster than any we have ever seen, that's what he was." They looked back at the classroom where Cheeseburger continued his work.
Eventually Cheeseburger satisfied that all threats were dealt with, walked out of the classroom leaving a clear trail of bloody paw prints as he found a sunny spot out front to lay down to rest for the moment.
.
The sun felt good on his back as he rested in the grass. He could hear his family dragging out the dead and he could smell food of some kind being made.
Food would be good about now. But the wind shifted once more and with it came the smell of danger closing. He got up and looked up the mountain that bordered the center to the east. The scent was there but the trees and bushes hid the prey from him.
He roared letting whatever prey was coming that they wouldn't go unchallenged.
.
Wade had finally found a radio on one of the cultists and after some guess work of changing channels and frequencies he managed to catch what sounded like a pair of Park Rangers talking about the status of their office.
"Uh... Hello? This Wade Fouler at the F.A.N.G Center. The peggies holding us are... well dead and we have no idea what to do. We could really use some help or at least some supplies." He called hoping that someone could hear them.
"This is Deputy Hudson we know about Cheeseburger liberating the center and are already on our way to fortify and hold it against any attempts by the cult to retake it. Just hold on for a little bit longer." The deputy said her voice practically angelic to his ears.
"Oh... oh my God... oh thank you Hudson." He managed when he heard Cheeseburger roar but it was the second more distant responding roar that made his blood freeze in place.
There was at least one peggie patrol of their Chosen animal handlers still out there. He had hoped that they had succumb to whatever took out the other patrols that used to pass through and even then he was assuming that those patrols were actually dead and gone, not just redeployed somewhere else.
"Hudson I think the peggies are back already." He said numbly as he missed whatever she said in reply. He started looking more earnestly for the rifles that their captors had normally carried.
.
Outside from the tree line to the northeast a pack of four Judge wolves slipped out of the brush. Their movements were sleek, smooth, and full of confidence as they padded toward the increasingly vocal bear below them.
They had fought and killed more than a few of their kind and so long as they where together they would do so again. If not then the last member of their pack would finish the job.
With far less subtlety the hulking white grizzly bear followed in their wake. His gleaming white coat was crossed in dozens upon dozens of scars from hard won battles and his eyes burned a hellish red. Paws and snout both tipped with sharp obsidian black claws and teeth only added to the bears arsenal, as if its unusually bulky muscles weren't deadly enough weapons as they had proven so to be against both man and lesser beasts.
Further back was their remaining master. The other ones like him had died in the night leaving him to stand above them. Small he was it hid his power that they all had seen time and again through countless bouts. He commanded and they followed as it should be.
.
Cheeseburger roared again and again as he pounded the ground angrily even as the wolves and the other bear closed. From behind he could hear his family scramble for their weapons or maybe for shelter, it didn't matter to him. This was... is... his home, his territory, his place and no other beast will ever take it away from him again.
The thin man with the red mask shouted and the wolves lept at their masters word. Instead of going for him they sought to run around him and reach his family. He leaped right blocking the path of two of the wolves before swatting one with a massive paw, his claws tearing long ribbons of red flesh from the wolf's side. The pack mate behind him skidded to halt and backed away at the new threat even as the man leading them shouted otherwise.
His yelling didn't last when the crack of rifles rang out. A glance behind him showed that his family had armed themselves and while most were shooting the pair of wolves he hadn't blocked Wade put a burst of fire into the other mans chest silencing him.
With the numbers evening quickly he turned to the wounded wolf even as it struggled to get up and face him. He lunged forward ignoring the wolf's attempt at biting his snout through the steel helmet and instead now grasping its neck and once more whipped it around like a flail, his remaining pack mate confused and angry as it snapped back at him.
Snapping was all it could do lest it be struck down by its brother's own body as the bear repeatedly slammed the animal down until it stopped twitching and its neck as started to rip away from the body. Dropping the corpse the bear spared a glance at the massive white bear that laid on the ground outside of the combat zone looking on the unfolding carnage with boredom.
The distraction was enough for the remaining wolf to be daring enough to try and leap on his back in hopes of biting the back of his neck for a change. But Marcus had recognized this threat and layered steel scales, mail, and Kevlar over this critical place confounding the desperate wolf's attacks.
Still the wolf was on his back where he couldn't reach him and that was a problem.
"CHEESEBURGER! DO A BARREL ROLL!" Wade shouted behind him.
He growled happily as he performed the well honed trick. A quick roll to his left side surprised the focused wolf as it suddenly found itself under a ton and a half of bear and steel. Cheeseburger completed his roll leaving a almost comically flat wolf bleeding on the ground beside him.
The smaller prey taken care of he walked forward toward the white bear that now lumbered up back on to his feet looking more annoyed that he now had to fight personally.
.
Behind them Wade and Dave pulled everyone back. The cultists AR's were far from the best guns to use on a drugged up super bear, as much as it pained him Cheeseburger had a better chance of fighting the bear off.
"Wade! We got soldiers coming with some deputies from the back entrance!" Dr. Parker called.
He nodded and sent her to go and update them on what was going on as he turned back to the titanic battle now unfolding in the front parking lot.
Both bears had reared up on their hind legs, roaring all the while. As massive as the Judge Bear was Cheeseburger was still at least a quarter or more taller and broader before factoring in the armor.
Wade could only stand in awe as the fight began in earnest with each reared up bear slamming into each other as claws and teeth struggled to find purchase.
"Joey hold your fire. We need to let them fight." A new man's voice came that made Wade finally tear his eyes away from the fight even if momentarily.
Before him was a towering man wearing a black Stetson and dressed in equally massive black body armor, the large left pauldron of the man's armor bore the Sheriff's department badge with another over a name tag.
"Roger? You are back from the Army?" He asked almost daring to smile.
Roger did give him a smile in return though. "Yeah Wade I got back a little before things happened with the cult... things were busy so I never came down here unfortunately."
He looked over at Hudson and was shocked once more that she now towered over him by several inches and was broader and more powerfully built than he remembered even under the similar armor to what Roger wore.
"Did Earl change your diets or something?" He started to ask as a quick chuckle was shared between the deputies.
"No Wade... it's the Bliss that the cult made. We've been exposed to so much of it that its... changed us. Don't know if its for the better long term but for right now Joey and I are the two most terrifying things in the cults mind." The man finished as he turned his focus back to Cheeseburger. "Cheeseburger I would hazard to guess would be a strong contender for third place."
.
The Judge Bear recoiled after the latest round of swipes and clawing, bleeding increasingly heavily from deep wounds on his sides. His right ear was a mangled mess of flesh after being ripped off in the first few exchanges.
He couldn't understand why this other bear couldn't be harmed like all the others. He reared up once more ignoring the pain of his body. His roar was long, loud, and powerful signaling to the world that he would not loose today.
The other bear only burdened by a thick layer of dirt on whatever kind of hide it had roared back as it stomped the ground once more in defense of its territory before it charged into him.
.
Steel met flesh and Cheeseburger's weight advantage and armor protection combined with a well timed charge bashed the Judge Bear, sending him flying a few feet back on to the concrete flat on his back clearly dazed by the act.
Cheeseburger this time however didn't hesitate as he pounced on the Judge's exposed neck, teeth ripping great bloody chucks out of the bears jugular. The Judge tried to flail in defense, tried to roll the larger bear over but after the second chunk of meat was torn out the attacks weakened then finally stopped.
Cheeseburger stared hard at the other bears now dead red eyes as if looking for one last challenge from the beast and finally found none.
He turned back towards his family and walked away from his foe before rearing up and roaring into the darkening sky. This was his home and here he was king.
.
Roger and Joey took on the burden of leading the fortification of the F.A.N.G Center as Wade and the rest of the freed staff were taken to the rear lines for food and for the medics to look them over. Cult bodies or at least what was left of them were mounted and loads of sandbags were brought in build up fortified walls.
Guards were posted and cages were turned into livable spaces for the new garrison. This late into the war with the cult the people of Hope County had now mastered the art of turning their homes into formidable outposts that far outstripped the efforts made by the cult even at the start of the war.
"Peggie coming down!" Roger shouted as he tossed the lynched sniper's body off of the centers sign. He and Joey had climbed up here to originally simply cut the man down, but the rope the sniper had used was grossly too long and it had given him a chance to try and get a better view of the area.
"Roger you sure that rope and this sign can hold up your fat uparmored ass if you climb up there?" His partner jested as he tied a bundle of loaded rifle magazines left by the sniper on the end of the rope.
He smiled at her concern. "Pretty sure it will, I have no idea how or why but this guy obviously wanted to make sure that the rope didn't break on him when he jumped. He picked out 1200 lb parachute cord probably stolen from Landsdowe. So yes in short it will hold my fat American ass." His statement was punctuated by him tossing the cord up and over the upright figure of Cheeseburger until the bundle of magazines clanked against the figure's back and he lowered it down to where Joey now waited for the rope.
Once she had it she securely tied it back to the figures ankle, now they could climb up the front until they reached the top of the head.
"Reminds me of gym class." He commented as he started hoisting himself up the rope.
Joey called up to him. "Yeah same here. You hear that they tried to take down the climbing rope?"
He got up to Cheeseburger figure's belly and switched to walking up it as he continued to pull himself up by the rope. "No! Jesus Christ there is a reason why there is an award for touching the ceiling beam. Let me guess some Karen parent had their kid fall?"
"No not this time..." Joey said as she got ready to follow Roger up the rope as soon as he reached the top. The rope could clearly hold him but she wasn't going to test if it could both of them. "Some pencil pusher from Billings on unrelated business in the school. Turns out this guy worked for the department of education. He sees a gym class of freshmen doing rope climbs and starts yelling at them and the coach to 'Stop this unsafe and abusive act!'"
He reached the top and rolled himself on to the figures snout. Walking on top of the head he jerked on the rope to let Joey know it was safe to start. "I take it that the coach and students weren't too pleased."
"Ugg... No, the coach started yelling at the pusher and he started... ugg..." Joey puffed as she made her way up.
"I think you are a bit out of practice on basic rope climbing Joey." He commented as she continued ascending.
She finally managed to reach the point where she could walk up the bear. "No shit Roger... Eventually the coach says something and the pusher punches the coach then the coach and the freshmen gang up on the pusher. Earl, me, and three other deputies get called in to haul off the pusher. A few hours later he is literally limping away after refusing more than basic first aid and drives back to Billings."
"I bet he was soon back and in greater numbers." He chuckled at his own quote.
"Oh he was back alright. Brought in more suits to see what was going on and to yell at first the principle then the school board, even drug in the PTA." She said as she reached the top and took the offered hand to bring her up the rest of the way before she ended her story.
"Kim Rye was heading the PTA and asked the most dangerous question possible. 'Show us in the law where the rope climb wasn't allowed.'. Well that got them making phone calls and flipping through binders for four hours before they had to admit that there wasn't a single law or regulation regarding the rope climb just that it was 'a poor and dangerous practice that could too easily harm the physical and mental health of a student."
"Well knowing that falling is normally a bad thing is a important lesson and learning to deal with social pressure from your peers is also a important lesson." He muttered back.
She nodded. "Yeah at that point they just dropped everything because the next step was trying to level a legal action against the school district and among the suits one of them recognized that a certain Jessica Rook was listed as one of several lawyers the school kept on retainer. That was enough to get them to pull out and never come back."
"Thus the rope and its legacy was saved." He said as he turned to look across the quickly darkening woods at the old St. Francis Veteran's hospital. The compound was well lit but too far to accurately tell much of anything beyond it was occupied by someone not part of the Resistance.
Their radios crackled to life as a gravely voice spoke. "Well Deputies I see that you have indeed taken back the F.A.N.G center and I would expect you to have also reclaimed the Ranger Station."
"How the fuck?..." Joey muttered as he unslung his Barrett and brought it up to his shoulder. Through the 80x scope he could just make out a figure on the 2nd floor balcony waving their arm as they stood behind what looked like a large telescope.
"See me now Rook?" Jacob taunted.
"Yeah I see you Jacob and yes we have taken more land from you. If the range was half again what is from here I would be setting up to put a round through you. Then we would see what would happen to what's left of your people without you to keep them in line." He challenged back.
"How far is he Roger? Four miles... ish." Joey whispered as if somehow Jacob would hear them.
"More like five... five and a quarter. Even my .50 won't reliably reach that far let a lone hit a man size target." He said as Jacob cut him off.
"Well don't worry. Because unlike John or... Rachel..." The use of Faith's real name surprising them both. "I am not going to shirk away from facing you. I have every approach to the silo and the hospital wired up with cameras for four miles. Even if you try to rush in I will see you and meet you by the time you get close enough, until then I will stay on my nice balcony and watch the cameras... sooner or later you will come." The other man finished and the line went dead.
He replaced the rifle on his back before speaking. "Well now... he wants to make this a sniper duel. Interesting."
"How so?" Joey asked.
"He is leaving himself out in the open as a easy and tempting target but obviously I have to get close enough to make the shot. If he is being truthful then he likely has not only the approaches monitored but also has all the more common positions where a rifleman might try to set up monitored as well. For all I know he has a mortar or something else pre-sighted and aimed for just that purpose." He looked back towards where Jacob now waited.
"I could technically use the GPS guided shells or just pound the living shit out of the hospital with normal rounds. An airstrike could also work but I will bet that he is going to have around the clock anti-air teams in volume along with damn near every heavy machine gun he can spare I would expect. He knows I am not inclined to throw away men thus he wants me personally to come after him."
As he finished talking Joey leaned in against him. "When you get him what happens next?"
His jaw worked itself side to side in thought. "Storm the hospital, grab the key off of Jacob's body, see peggie, kill peggie... the usual I guess. I haven't quite planned that far yet. Once we kill Jacob the rest of his forces will likely fall apart internally between the faithful and the loyalists so things might get fluid."
"We'll get through them Roger. As for Jacob... I guess he never bothered to see who held the longest shot in the county." Joey said as she turned and started down the rope.
.
"Damn it!" Brother Preacher Winstead swore as he nearly tripped over another tripwire. He had for the last hour been forced to pick through the minefield that the faithful had setup around the Grand View Hotel. Doing so in the dark was bad enough but with his injuries it became almost hellish. His right leg had been cut to ribbons by shrapnel and his right hand knuckles had been scraped by something so badly that now he could see exposed bone and tendon every time he had to move his right fingers. The rest of his body and face had dozens of smaller less notable wounds but they didn't slow him down like his lacerated leg did.
He had been knocked out by one of the explosions that started rocking the gathering of faithful soldiers the night before and didn't manage to awaken until sometime past noon. The sight that met him was one that would stay with him for the rest of his days.
The entire hillside covered broken and torn bodies, the earth a strange mosaic of red blood, black scorching, and green grass untouched by the events of last night. Already the vultures had come to feast on the dead, worse still the sinners had come in force and were gathering the faithful for their satanic displays.
He had only managed to painfully crawl away unseen as his body thank The Father had landed in amongst some particularly tall grass. From there he hobbled towards the Hotel, it had been sometime since he had last been there as he moved his focus to trying to help the men under Jacob realize the course of action that was needed, and to help address the lack of faith amongst many of them.
Now with darkness having fully settle in he found himself close to shelter only to be confounded by the land mines, Machete's or something named after some such sword he didn't know about off hand. Still even he knew that these mines were so easily seen that even in his current state and at night no less he could mostly pick through them.
The zeal of his brethren was sometimes manifested in less than perfect ways.
Finally reaching the driveway to the hotel he was quickly spotted and carried by a number of guards the rest of the way into the common room. The hotel like so many in this county strive to depict the feeling of being in a hunting lodge or in this case a extremely ornate one filled with silver and gold plated wildlife themed lighting sconces, the central chandelier was a massive polished bronze affair of hundreds of river fish being drawn upward toward the ceiling where a stylized fishing hook held the structure to the roof, on one wall a massive mural depicting various hunting scenes from natives hunting bison, a western dressed woman downing a buck with a bow, and a father and son fighting off a grizzly.
Along another wall were a pair of grossly oversized 'thrones' setup for tourist photo ops with the larger throne bearing the label over its high backrest 'King of the Forest' with the other smaller throne for the queen. Off to the side of this was a wall covered in thousands of photos of people that have sat in the thrones for decades.
Maybe if the war hadn't gone the way it did they would have stripped this place of the taint of greed and narcissism but the time for that was long gone and of little consequence now. The Chosen laid him on a comfortable couch in front of the massive ornate but thankfully still practical fireplace flanked by a pair of stone grizzly bears of shockingly life like depiction he finally felt the his weariness catch up with him.
A preacher, one of the younger ones from Faith's region approached him carefully.
"Preacher Winstead. As we haven't been able to hunt last night because of the attack we were about to pull some of the frozen meat out of the freezer for dinner. Do you have a preference?" The younger man asked as other Chosen came by with medical supplies to dress his wounds.
"Roast Bison would be most satisfying right about now." he replied stiffly as he resisted the temptation to groan in pain as his broken body was attended to.
"Then you shall have Bison sir." The man said as he walked off quickly.
The preacher reached the massive freezer and thought that once they had filled it they had smartly relied more heavily on daily hunting and fishing to sustain themselves. The meat stored here was perfect now that their ability to move about the area was being hampered by sinners.
He opened the heavy locks on the door and entered the cold room before finding the light switch. The light gave him a shocking revelation in return of his efforts.
There a massive nude man knelt before a deer carcass as he tore great chunks of frozen flesh out with his teeth. All around the room were the stripped carcasses of at least a dozen animals hanging off of their meat hooks.
The man noticed his presence and looked up from his meal. His hazel color eyes bore a familiar smoky quality and his shoulder length dark hair seemingly shimmered through the layers of blood and dirt.
He stood up to his full height towering over the Chosen by at least a foot and a half. In the poor light of the freezer the man's skin was again under the blood and dirt, pale and unblemished.
"I am strong. Are you meat or are you strong?" He asked as his eyes took in the faithful Chosen.
The Chosen could only gawk wide eyed behind his red mask. Finally he found his tongue again. "You... you are a Saint. Oh thank The Father... we are saved." He managed as he held up a hand. "Stay here Saint I will fetch our senior Preacher, he will know what to do."
Seeing the massive man not make any moves. He rushed through the hallways shoving aside anyone that got in his way as he returned to the common room and skidded to a stop before Preacher Winstead.
"Sir! The meat... I mean the man we put in the freezer a few days ago after blessing him with the Bliss. The formula from Herald Faith's chemists as part of the Saint project." He rushed out before gasping for breath.
"Yes what of it? Everyone who tried it either died or became at best a Angel of one type or another..." The preacher said before his eyes widened. "Wait... you don't mean?"
"Yes preacher... we have a Saint among us. He is... unsure of what is going on I think. He has also eaten more than half of our frozen meat supply." The Chosen said as he watched Windstead desperately reach out and latch on to his clothes to pull himself up off the coach.
"By the Father! Help me up! Take me to the Saint!" He roared as soon everyone within the room was helping the wounded Preacher to his feet and make his way through the hotel's hallways until he reached the freezer.
Once there with a few gentle nudges he pushed his help away from him as he made his way into the freezer doing his best not to limp too badly.
"You are strong." The giant man said upon his entry.
"My faith is strong. My body is weak. It is through my faith in The Father and God that I have survived my wounds to return here. What is your name Saint?" He asked.
The giant's face screwed itself up in thought as it tried to dig up something long forgotten in the past few days. Finally though he found what he was looking for. "Staci... Staci Pratt."
Windstead nodded. "Tell me brother, would you like for me to teach you how else you can become strong?"
Pratt's eyes widened at the concept and he spoke with a restrained but clearly excited voice. "You can make me stronger?"
The Preacher's smile lit up the dim room. "Yes brother I can make you stronger just as I am strong... through the Word of Joseph."
"When do we start?" Came the reply he sought.