Chapter 21:

There were three things that needed to be dealt with before this nightmare could be over. Seb was still out there lost in a sea of Bliss and Tyler will stop at nothing to get him back safely. Faith needs to be neutralised in whatever way would eventuate, that would be decided when the time comes. Finally, at the end of the road, was Joseph. The main reason Tyler and his crew were sent over to this damn county. Tyler sat in a cell in the Hope County Jail and just stared blankly into space as he let his mind wander deeply into places and thoughts he'd never had before. Although he was on the side fighting against the oppressive force that was Eden's Gate, was there ever any need for for a fight? Was the voice that Joseph heard not his own delusion and was it really the warning call he's made it out to be? But what Tyler struggled to determine the most was where did he fit into all this. He seemed to just come in out of nowhere and all of a sudden he was the judge, jury and executioner of near thousands. Just that though alone was shocking to think about. Over a thousand lives ended at the hands of Tyler, without a second thought. He can still remember the first as if it was tattooed into the front of his conscience. After he escaped the helicopter wreckage, he came across a lone cultist talking on the radio with a fellow member, and before he even thought about what he was doing Tyler collected a fallen branch and clubbed the man across the back of his head. The blood sprayed everywhere. That time was now a small event of the past, as he's now learnt to take down fully armed fighter planes, convoys in the air, road and river, men armed with light machine guns and Judges-wolves that were infused in the Bliss.

'Your sin is Wrath,' Tyler recalled John Seed telling him smugly through the intercom in his bunker. Maybe he was right after all.

"It drives you, every thought and every action." He always looked for new and more efficient ways to clear small compounds and outposts with as little fightback as possible. It was ironic, really, Eden's Gate always prided themselves on having faith in their cause and here was Tyler, doubting the very reasons he was fighting. There was a soft tapping on the bars of the cell Tyler was sat in. The Sheriff stood in the doorway.

"How you doin' Rook?" He asked as he entered and sat down on the chair across from the bed Tyler was sat on.

"You know," Tyler started. "If I'd never had taken up this job, I would've been on a cultural immersion to Kyrat and Nepal. After hearing about what's happening over there it would seem that no matter where I would've gone I woulda been around bloodshed." The Sheriff nodded his head.

"And why did you take my offer, Tyler?" He asked as he leant forward looking intently at Tyler.

"Because…" Tyler paused. "The world is so full of the wrong people in charge of all the important operations. I wanted to make a positive impact on the community I'd grown up in for my whole life." The Sheriff hummed and nodded his head. "Anyway, Kyrat didn't accept my travel visa request so I kinda had no choice anyway." Tyler stood up and picked his 1911 out of his holster, took out the clip and dropped it on the bed.

"Where are you going?" The Sheriff asked. He too stood up and walked out of the cell with Tyler.

"I need to go figure a few things out." He said. "Clear my head before we make our final moves here in this county." Tyler made his way back into the ground floor of the cell block and found Jerome and Nick talking amongst themselves by the exit.

"How ya doin' Deputy?" Nick asked as he saw Tyler appear.

"You two up for a drive?" Tyler asked, they both agreed so they followed Tyler out of the jail and to the parked pickup truck. Tyler got into the drivers seat and once the other two had entered the vehicle, Tyler drove off down the road leading away from the jail and turned left, following all of the road signs towards the Holland Valley.

"Why are we headed this way Tyler?" Jerome asked as he began to realise where they were headed.

"We need to get a solid plan put together and it feels best to go somewhere without Bliss, Faith or anything to do with that fucking cult." Tyler said. The truck continued on and once they reached the bridge crossing over the Henbane River, Tyler felt a small weight lift off his chest. The smell of the Henbane smelt so strongly of Bliss that it was almost overwhelming, so the rich smell of the pines and grassy meadows of the Holland Valley was a pleasant change. Tyler looked out the side of his window and the dense forests on both sides of the road brought back all of the memories he had of hiding behind trees as cult trucks came rolling down the road all too frequently while John was still alive.

"Why don't we head to Fall's End?" Nick suggests. The other two agreed so Tyler began following the road signs to Fall's End. By the time they arrived, the sun had set and the dark navy blue evening sky had begun to appear. The neon lights to the Spread Eagle had turned on and Tyler smiled fondly at the last memory he had in that bar: celebrating long into the night after rescuing Hudson from John's bunker.

"Anyone go for a beer?"asked Tyler. Both Jerome and Nick chuckled.

"So how do we pull people outta the Bliss?" Nick asked. "It's kinda hard to tell at times when they are high on it too." Tyler lifted his bottle to his lips and took a drink.

"It seems to be tricky enough to get a chance to do that," he said. "But it seems like it needs to be done whilst in the Bliss yourself." Nick shook his head and placed his bottle back in the table.

"Let's say you do manage to pull Seb back out of the Bliss," Jerome said. "What will you do if he tries to do harm to you?" Tyler thought for a moment.

"I'd try and speak to his reason."

"It's not that simple, Tyler," Jerome said. "Once you get comfortable in the Bliss, you never want to leave." Nick's eyes lit up suddenly.

"Maybe you don't need to pull him out at all," he said. "If there's no Bliss to live in, how can he be lost in it to begin with?" Tyler picked up his bottle, smiled and pointed it towards his friends.

"That might be the smartest thing I've ever heard you say," Tyler joked before taking a drink. Jerome and Nick both laughed before taking a drink themselves.

"I have my plane which is fitted out to be flown as a crop duster, I could back some kinda napalm in there and torch all of them Bliss fields. Cut them off at the source!" He exclaimed.

"It's not that simple," Tyler said. "We've actually already stopped their ability to produce in the future, but you gotta remember that these bastards have been around for years making that crap. They were using various outpost across the region to develop Bliss, all of which have been taken out. What we can do, however, is destroy there last supplies in Faith's bunker." Jerome smiled.

"Cutting off their everything," he said. "Sounds like a plan to me." The three of them clinked bottles again and took a long drink each.

"But what's everyone gonna do?" Nick asked. "I mean, it's a big ask to destroy the entirety of the Bliss." Tyler thought for a minute, and then hummed in recognition of Nick's concerns.

"I think we start off by burning all of the remaining Bliss fields in the Henbane. There can't be too many of them that we haven't seen before." He suggested. The other two men nodded their heads and Jerome leant back in his chair.

"We need to make sure that we save anyone who still can be saved," he looked over at Tyler. "And that includes your friend, Tyler." Once the Bliss was gone, those who were trapped in it would have a tough time living in their own imaginations and would need to be brought back to safety properly.

"Amen." Tyler said softly. He was truly worried that should their plan not work, Seb would be lost forever, especially considering the words Tyler heard him say in the boat with the Marshall. He had failed to truly pull them both out and it cost the Marshall his life.

"And Faith?" Nick queried. Tyler had already began to think about this. He didn't want to have to kill her. Somewhere beneath the façade that was Faith Seed, Rachel Jessop still roamed around waiting for a hand to pull her back to reality.

"We do what's right when the moment comes," Tyler declared. "If need be, kill her… otherwise if it's the real her crying out for help… offer our hand."

"What do you want him for?" Faith asked warily as she gently pushed Seb forward towards the Father. Joseph placed his hands on Seb's face and gazed into his hazy blue eyes that looked back at him. He smiled and looked back at Faith.

"To learn," he said simply. "This poor has been so misguided by his so called friends that he's lost sight of who he truly is meant to be," he then turned his eyes back to Seb. "Isn't that right, my child?" Seb's pupils dilated and his breathing became harsh and panicked.

"Why are you doing this?" He whimpered, terror evident in his words. Joseph signalled for Faith to come over to him.

"My sister," he gestured over to Faith. "Has told me all about you. You were the one who returned my Faith after she allowed herself to be misguided, and I know that you don't even know you did it. You have a heart of gold Sebastian, you know deep down the difference between good and what's not, you were shown the truth by the Bliss. Because of these strong foundations you've built yourself upon there is still hope for you yet." Joseph removed his hands off Seb's face and gestured to the cabin behind him. "Let's take this inside, shall we?" The three of them moved inside the cabin and sat down around the table in the middle of the room.

"Seb," Joseph said, reaching over and grabbing his hand. "I know that you didn't have any control over what you did, but we learn about who we truly align with in the Bliss. I already have such special plans for both you and Tyler, but I need your full commitment to us. We need powerful souls like you to help us emerge into the New World, so" Joseph looked intently at Seb from across the table. "Do you have faith?"

"Yes." Seb said emotionlessly. Both the Father and Faith smiled with looks of genuine delight.

"Will you confess and atone for your sins?" Joseph asked, voice starting to get more intense.

"Yes."

"Will you make your sacrifice ?"

"Yes."

Joseph stood up and beamed with relief and joy.

"Then let the cleansing commence." He declared. The three of them stood up from the table and made their way to the back of a van, waiting for them. Seb hopped in the back and before the door shut, Faith appeared.

"I believe in you, Seb. I'll see you when you're ready to come back." With that, the doors to the van closed and the vehicle drove off.

"So judging off all of our scouting reports," the Sheriff said to Tyler as the two stood hunched over a map of the Henbane. "All of the Bliss fields bar these ones have been dealt with." There were 5 large circles on the map highlighting the last remaining fields to be destroyed. Tyler smiled and grabbed his walking talkie out from his belt.

"Nick," he spoke into the comms. "You airborne?"

"I am," Nick replied. "Where we headed?" Tyler looked at the map and focussed on a large field by the Truck Stop.

"Field of flowers just a few hundred east of Lorna's," Tyler said. Jerome walked in and walked over to the two around the map. "Time to burn those crops." A few minutes later, the radio came back to life.

"Scratch one fuckin' Bliss field!" Nick exclaimed. Tyler looked over to Jerome and handed the radio over to him.

"Do you mind taking over for a bit?" He asked.

"Of course." Jerome said.

Faith walked into the cabin behind Joseph and sat back down at the table. By now all of her present thoughts were fixed on her goals set for her by the Father. Those feelings she once had for Tyler were squashed deep inside her: in the same place she locked Rachel away.

"I know how you feel about the Deputy." Joseph said softly. "That's ok, it's only human to love another." Faith's face blushed a deep red. Clearly she want as subtle as she thought.

"I'm sorry, Father." Was all that Faith could manage to mutter. Joseph simply smiled and sat down at the table as well.

"About what?" He asked. "You know what you need to do. That has been made very clear to you and I expect you to follow through with your work. Bring this vicious cycle of unrelenting violence to an end." Faith could only half agree to his words. Even though her intentions were now clear, her heart still told her otherwise.

"Oh, Tyler…"

Authors Note:

Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave thoughts and opinions in the comments or send me a DM. I always love to hear what you all have to say.