Destroyer

Chapter 1

I told you God wouldn't let you take me."

Josephs words, though soft as a whisper, boomed through the young deputy's ears over the sound of crackling fire. Even his touch burned through her sleeved arm as she attempted to grasp for the headset dangling tantalizingly before her. The heat and smoke of the fire threatened to suffocate everything within its presence.

She could remember the eyes, those blue piercing eyes as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Unknown to her, they were debating their next action. He had reached for the belt that kept her in her compromising position. Was he going to take her?

The shouting had interrupted his plan. The following moments came in bits and pieces... Reaching out screaming, trying to grasp Hudson as multiple hands dragged her away. Nayeli felt like she was in hell itself. Her escape from the helicopter, her mad dash through the woods. The image of a plane barrelling towards Burke and herself as they attempted to escape in a pick up was the last image she remembered before gravity seemed to pull them into the dark abyss of the lake.

Nayeli woke up with a jolt, the sort of, falling in your dream jolt that would wake you up in the middle of the night. She was shivering, her clothes drenched and her vision still blurry. It did not come to realization that she was bound until she attempted to stand, falling back onto her behind. Nayeli blinked her eyes rapidly trying to clear her vision, panic setting in as soon as she realized she was bound by zip ties to a metal bed frame. No...this is not happening. One glance around the room told her this was not somewhere she wanted to be. The radio off a few feet from her screeched before only the sound of white noise could be heard, drawing her attention upwards.

When she saw the unknown man standing in front of where the radio sat, trepidation began to overwhelm her. "Who are you?" she demanded, though, given her current predicament, she was probably not in the best position to be asking questions. The man's back was turned towards her. He shut off the radio, making Nayeli's own breathing the loudest noise in the room. "Do you know what this means?"

The man turned to face her. He was an older gentleman, not one she was familiar with. "Means the roads have all been closed. Phone lines cut. Means there no radio signals going in or out of the valley." With each statement, he took a step forward before taking a seat in a chair placed before her. Nayeli tried to yank herself free as he approached but her efforts were futile. "But mostly, means we're all fucked."

As he sat in the chair, the lighting made his face clear, recognition becoming almost immediate. Nayeli knew the man before her only as Old Dutch. Her mother dealt with him mostly when he'd come in, a bit eccentric. Paranoid almost. Nayeli attempted to regain some of her composure as she addressed him.

"What do you mean?" Why am I here?"

"The Seeds, the Peggies, they all think the worlds coming to an end. The Great Collapse. Now they've been waiting for years...waiting for somebody to come along and fulfill their prophecy. To kick off their goddamn holy war, well you sure shit kicked." he asserted. Nayeli's face scowled, taking offense at what seemed to be an accusation that this was her fault. "I was just following orders."

Dutch, already seeming irked by her presence and whatever shitstorm was occurring in the outside world. "Smartest thing for me to do is hand you over-" he was standing up now, pulling a pocket knife from one of his pockets. Nayeli tensed up as he approached her, but when she realized he was cutting her restraints, she relaxed a bit. "There's dry clothes in the locker by the door. We need to find a way to unfuck this situation."

As he walked away, Nayeli pulled herself up, a puzzled look on her face. ""How do you suppose we do that?"

Dutch sort of scoffed as he turned to her, "How else, kid? We need to build a resistance. Eli and the Whitetails are the best chance we got right now, but without any radio signal, we're just sitting in the dark." Nayeli's expression spoke volumes of how confused she was. This entire night, day, whatever was fucked. Her new-family for all she knew was at the mercy of Joseph's groupies, and right now, Old Man Dutch was the closest thing she had to an ally. All this talk about resistances and the Whitetails just had her head spinning a circle, but she simply nodded her head in acknowledgment. "Sure, sure. Just...just tell me what you want me to."

-----

Running around an entire island had not been what Nayeli had in mind when she told Dutch she'd do whatever he needed hours prior. By the time she had climbed down from the radio tower, Dutch was already blowing up her radio. "Kid! You need to get back here ASAP. There's something you need to see."

Nayeli wasn't sure what this something was going to entail when she returned to Dutch's bunker, but when she saw John's mug on the television screen and Hudson, obviously bruised, gagged and bound, her blood boiled. Before Dutch could object, Nayeli grabbed a bag and just started shoveling supplies into it. "I have to go get her."

"That's suicide kid. Radio's been lighting up faster than a firecracker, John's already taken half the valley from the sound of it. Place will be crawling with Peggies. We need to get a hold of Eli and the militia."

"Dutch, I understand, but as far as I know...-" She stammered, the next words she spoke were ones that she did not want to speak. "-as far as I know, Deputy Pratt and Sheriff Whitehorse are already dead. At least I know Hudson is alive, and I know she's in the Valley. I can't leave her with that...man."

The image of Hudson being dragged away and now appearing on the television at John's mercy left Nayeli disturbed; and by the time she had fled from the helicopter, she had no idea whether Whitehorse and Pratt had been taken - or burned alive in the crash.

"I have to find her."

Dutch leaned back in the chair he sat in, removing his glasses to rub the area between his eyes, knowing there was no way he was going to talk the young Lamb out of it.

"Alright kid. But you're gonna need backup."

Dutch stood and marched over to a map sprawled on the wall, pointing to one spot in particular in Holland Valley.

"Lamb of God Church. Picked up some radio chatter from Grace Armstrong. You'll want her on your side."

Nayeli nodded in acknowledgement. She really only knew the Armstrongs by reputation. Long line of soldiers. She threw her supply bag over her shoulder, along with a compound bow and quiver she had napped from some cultists during her run through the island.

As she went to leave, Dutch called for her, "Kid, I know I've already asked a lot of you but- if you manage to stop by Rae Rae's pumpkin farm along the way, let me know. Closest thing I got to family at this point."

Nayeli could feel his worry pouring off of his persona, though Dutch did not seem like the sort of person to wear his emotions on his sleeve.

"Tried getting a radio call out to her but all I got is silence." He said.

There was a tight pressure in her chest. Her tasks seemed simple but she knew that in the time that had passed between the crash and to this very moment inside Dutch's bunker, anything could have happened. She was going to be walking in blind to whatever hell was happening up there, and if this island was of any indication, it was not good. But she knew she had to do it. It was the least she could do considering he had saved her life.

"Of course Dutch. I'll radio you once I'm there."

Nayeli knew once she walked out of this bunker, there was a one-hundred percent chance that she would be dead by the end of the day. But she was going to put up one hell of a fight until that moment.