Chapter 1: Prologue
Chapter Text
The Reaping began only a few months ago. Only. Funny way to look at it. Only a few months of sleeping two hours a night, eating the food of people whose bodies lay metres away and fucking John Seed’s operations.
Holland Valley was a mess compared to what it was when the rookie arrived two months ago. She didn’t know the land too well then, but after many camping trips with her fellow deputies, she could confidently say she knew roads to avoid patrols and homes of people off the grid to hide in. This tight knit community was well on its way to accepting the new rookie, with her paying visits to locals and doing her best to drink in the Spread Eagle when she wasn’t on duty (or even if she was).
But that was then, and this was now. And Harper had only just managed to free Boomer, Rae Rae’s dog, from the Pumpkin farm just west of Dutch's island from that sadist. There was so much to be done and a lot of the time, the poor woman could be heard crying in the corners of homes she had occupied.
Harper's own home in the town had been burned down first after her escape, a show of power from the cult. But, the day for the Rookie just ended as the clock on her watch ticked past 11pm.
She had managed to do a quick check of the tunnels and roads out of the valley, staring blankly at the rubble caused by the cult, even choking slightly as children's toys were in view beside the rubble. The bit that confused Harper the most was the fact that Peggies claimed they were saving people. This certainly was not saving them. There was no way for her to get a message out for help. If she left now, her colleagues would be dead by the time she got back, especially as she would have to travel by foot over the mountains. She had to fight with whatever she had at her disposal, which thankfully was a bunch of crazy southern Americans with Prepper stashes everywhere.
Thinking about the local Seed brought Harper back to the present moment. Unfortunately, when Jang had first moved to the valley, one of the first people she had the joy of meeting was John Seed. He presented himself as the operations and storage manager of the Project, making sure to flash his fancy sunglasses and multitude of tattoos to the Deputy. Being honest, she had caught a small crush on the previous lawyer, and it was clear the members of his flock had as well. It was as she clawed through the notes and documents of the Seeds leading up to that fateful night that had revealed his true sadistic nature.
Staring forward at the closet door before her she huffed, dropping her bag on the perfectly soft looking bed to open the doors and marvel at her sleeping place for the night. She pulled a few of the clothes from the hangers and pushed them under the bed before shoving her bag into the corner on the floor. She could get around 4 hours maybe tonight…she hoped.
The deputy moved over to the mirror crudely placed on the Holland Valley residents dresser and stared at the mess in the reflection. Her normally clear skin and washed hair were covered in grease, sweat and dirt. Flecks of dried blood were still there if you knew where to look, especially in her black mess of a bun. The dirtied red flannel she wore was a little too big for her now frail frame. Even being 5’8ft, a month of expired rations would leave you losing a few pounds. She huffed and moved back to her temporary home, climbing into the closet and closing the door behind her.
She slumped against the wall upright, shuffling around the comfiest position in the tight space, pulling out her radio. She was interested in the many channels the county had to offer, flicking from frequency to frequency. She heard the Peggies songs (unfortunately catchy), the beloved songs of the resistance playing loud and proud, John Seed, Dutch calling to Eli-
She shot up, nearly banging her head on the wall, flicking back to the frequency. Sure enough, there was John Seed uttering some commands regarding patrol routes to what she assumed were some new recruits. This was the line he was on.
She felt her chest get tight making a mental note of the station and holding the radio close to her face as she listened intently. More routes were mentioned, one near the house she was in, the next baptism time and then her name was mentioned.
“If you see the Deputy, do not kill. Aim to shoot her leg or whatever. Joseph for some reason wants her alive” he scoffed. The recruit replied with a simple yes sir before signing off.
Hearing him talk about her was weird. She knew it would happen but, hearing him without him knowing made her smile almost. Maybe finally she had something to smile about.
Chapter 2: Date Night
Chapter Text
Harper had managed to free Merle and others at the Silver Lake Trailer Park, receiving more ammo and a few lovely cases of Whistling Beaver beer. She hadn’t had a drink in god knows how long and was incredibly excited to sink into them when the sun fell. She loaded the beers into the back of a truck along with a spare bag of ammo. It reached near sundown, and the folks at the park offered her a trailer to stay in.
“Come on, Missy. You can’t go sleepin’ in some shithole again,” Merle nearly begged as Harper began to laugh. She shook her head and wiped away the sweat from her forehead.
“That’s sweet, but I already have a target on my back…don’t need your lot getting my flak as well”, she sighed and began to walk to the cab door. Merle just huffed and shrugged, walking back over to the others near him. She hauled herself into the driver's seat and rested her head on the steering wheel. Boomer barked, jumping in through the window and making himself at home on the dusty seat.
Looking up, started the old truck and took off down the road. The officer had the full intention of making it to Fall’s End by tomorrow, but as the sun began to set, she found herself getting tired at the wheel. Turning left and heading up a hill, passing some weirdo America lover, she made her way up to the top of Lincoln’s Lookout Tower, stopping the truck a few metres back from view.
Harper wasted no time, placing a bullet in the head of the Peggies in charge of watching the front gate. As his body fell limp, she looked upwards at the few snipers rotating around the lookout. She hit one in the head and another square in the chest. As her body fell against the glass of the tower, the others were alerted. Sprinting up the hill, she levelled her rifle and gunned down two men exercising near the base of the stairs. She ripped the empty mag from the gun and threw it aside, reloading as fast as possible. Boomer ran ahead and charged down one man coming from behind the rocks to the right of Harper. As the screaming began, Harper made her way around the left-hand side of the building, slowly. She rushed around the corner and gunned down the final man.
She emptied his own rifle, stuffing the magazine into her flak vest. Jang returned to Boomer as he had just finished ripping the Peggies' throats out. Flashing a smile and kneeling to the dog, she began a chorus of coos and well-dones, scratching the good boy behind his ears. He continued to help, bringing the rest of the weapons to her feet as she sat on the stairs, unloading and placing the ammo into her bag. After a few minutes of monotonously emptying guns, she hauled herself up the stairs to the lookout.
The quaint little cabin was enough for tonight, and it gave Harper a great view of the valley. She dropped her bag on the bottom bunk near the door and headed over to the log burner.
“Hey, bud…sticks?” she asked Boomer. Seeming to know what that meant, he barked happily and rushed off down the stairs. She chuckled and carved her way through the desks full of maps and computers. Not much on them, or if there was anything, it was something she already knew. Routes near the tower, numbers at Gardenview Packing Facility and even the order to capture Boomer. She huffed and placed the papers in the fire.
The fire was lit as Boomer lay on the top bunk, and Harper began to settle into a tempting can of beans. She hated beans. It was the food of soldiers, apparently, or at least in the camp she trained at. They always gave them damn beans.
Bed? Nahhh. Jang was going to sleep against the wall, under the table on the right side of the room. She had learnt quickly that it's safest under the table. It was the last place the idiots would look. Kicking her bag under the table, she soon followed suit after letting the log burner start with enough fuel to last a few hours. It was here she pulled out her radio and began flicking through the channels again.
She had resisted the urge to change to John’s channel after hearing it last night. More fear than anything, she had kept to local radios, sometimes the Peggies, because they unfortunately made some good songs. But curiosity got the better of her tonight.
“Hello?” she hesitantly asked into the void, letting go of the push-to-talk button. Boomer perked up at the sound and tilted his head slightly in confusion. Harper simply shrugged and smiled as if she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
A minute of silence followed, and she assumed she had got the wrong one. It was near midnight at this point, and she assumed John would be getting his beauty sleep…until a reply sounded.
“Deputy?” his voice cooed down the radio, slightly groggy. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”.
Harper nearly dropped the radio from shock at the response and held her breath waiting to see if any more was said. She clasped her hands to her mouth and kept her knees to her chest, waiting.
“Ooooohhh Deputy?” he cooed down the radio.
Harper slowly picked up the handheld and let herself breathe out.
“Hello, John”, she said, deepening her voice slightly to appear more intimidating. Oh, come on, that was bad.
“Errr, at least I know how to contact you,” she said, letting go of the talk button and clasping her left hand over her mouth again.
Boomer’s ears perked up as the conversation…attempted to happen. Crawling from under the table, she sat in the middle of the room with her rifle next to her. Placing the radio in front of her, she began to stare at it for several minutes. No response.
As Harper began to contemplate whether she should chuck the radio to be safe or kill herself out of embarrassment, it sprang to life again.
“And why would you need to contact me? And why at this hour? Some of us have jobs early the next day,” he huffed down the radio in an annoyed tone. Rolling her eyes, the Deputy hesitantly reached forward and held down the button.
“Heard you on this frequency last night. Thought I’d give it a try. Nothing else to do while I wait for more of your men to run into my bullets”. Her tone was playful, knowing that the cocksure lawyer was still underneath all that play-pretend priest schick. The silence grew for a second. Either he was thinking of an answer or had smashed his radio completely. Either way, she felt on top.
“Ah you mean my brothers and sisters you mindlessly slaughter? Deputy, have you ever thought about what sin you are? I have a couple of guesses but I can’t quite seem to pinpoint which it is”.
An interesting question. Her religious parents always claimed her to be slothful, but she wasn’t really. Harper was a driven person, the one who didn’t like taking breaks or hated not being given a task. If she stopped completely, she’d never start up again. They considered her a sloth because she didn’t pursue a career they agreed with. Military? Police? No, not their little girl. She could have been an artist, doctor, lawyer, or even a bin man would have been preferred.
Could it have been pride? She did take pride in what she did. But she just did what she thought was best, not because she was better than anyone. The lord knew that much. Potential gluttony. She craved action, movement, anything that kept her going day after day. Greed? God no. She rarely enjoyed eating, seeing it as a chore, and any items she had were on a need-to-have basis. The only thing she was envious of was the skills people had, which then left her motivated to get them. That left lust and wrath. Part of her was certainly lustful. In the military, she craved to better her body, because of peak physical fitness, and it would be a lie to say she never craved anything else that a human woman would. But did she indulge in that? Yes, of course.
Wrath.
The final option. Seemingly the most fitting. She was an angry person. Little seemed to tame her temper when she got started. Her flame had to be put out by a literal bucket of water once. That was cold. Realising she had been thinking for a solid minute she spoke.
“What would you attribute to me? You seem to think of me a lot, Seed”. And there it was. Off to the races. Boomer’s head perked up as the static began then stopped. The anticipation of what he might have said just then was biting at her skin. Slowly lying down on her side, she stared at the radio in her hands.
“I know what you wish I would say. Lust. It’s clear you yearn for me Deputy, but that would be against God's virtues. We can’t all indulge in our sins like you, heathen”
Harper had to stifle a laughter as she imagined the smug smile on his face. He thought he had her all figured out. How ironic. With a roll of her eyes she listened to him continue.
“Wrath though…now that’s a contender. You have so much pent up emotion Deputy. I see now why you like to…epxress yourself…with your weapons”
Taking a second to actually think about what he said, she rolled onto her back.
“Harper”
A pause.
“What?”
“Harper Jang. My name. You never use it”
Another stretch of quiet. He never did. It was always, Deputy this, Sinner that. Although the pet names were cute she wondered why he never used them.
“I know…I just prefer to behumanise you with your simple title” he said, probably puffing his chest out. What a liar.
“God you suck at this. If anything, you calling me by my title makes me seem more threatening. The elusive Deputy! Feared by man kind!”. A snort followed her little speech.
“Oh yeah we should fear you, who snorts like that”.
She was for some reason…enjoying this. It had been a while since she had been able to go back and forth with someone in such a way. This type of humour, of playful interaction…she had missed it. Before she could speak, a third voice joined the conversation.
“Er John. The Father has requested your presence” a gruff voice said. She had been pulled from her illusion that this was a secure frequency. Sitting upright she listened closer.
“Of course. Well as nice as this was I’m clearly needed. I hope you find redemption and that I can rip the sin from your flesh soon…Harper”
And with that she was left in silence once more. The sounds of the Montana night crept back into focus, the chirps from crickets and distant gunshots. Everything was calm, for now. Letting herself close her eyes, she placed her head back against the wall and slowly drifted off.
-
The morning sun crept across the room before finding her underneath the table, curled up with her radio. Mumbling slightly and moving her hands to her face she awoke. Jang slowly sat up and stretched her arms out, to be met with soft fur underneath her hands. Boomer looked at her with hunger, big eyes staring at her. With a small smile she scooted forward toward her backpack, pulling out a small can of dog food. Emptying it onto the floor for him, she stood up properly and stretched her arms. As Boomer began to eat she thought back to the conversation from last night.
She could contact him now at least. That would surely come in use at some point. No one she had met had ever had a direct line of contact with the enemy. Surely she’d be able to get one with Faith and Jacob at the same time. The Father though, that would be tougher. At least for now, she had John.