Mercy // Far Cry 5

Finding Him

He was there, just sprawled out across the ground. You watched as the Deputy marched off towards God knows where, carrying a key. You had no idea what it was for or what it went to. Eyes moving from them back to John. Lying there, all alone, just the thought of skinning him and wearing his skin as an animal pelt sent chills up your spine. The man the cultists believed was their messenger, though you believed he had some serious problems.

You cautiously approached him, survival training kicking in again when you saw his chest moving up and down very slow. The youngest Seed was still alive, giving the idea of skinning him even greater pleasure. Moving in close, you stood above him. He had taken your family, all in Joseph's name. Called them sinners, he slayed your mother and father, then took your home as a cult outpost. He forced you to flee into the woods—you'd rather be homeless than live like some brain-dead cultist.

You spent days, which turned to weeks, which turned to months all alone. Hiding from predator animals, hunting and skinning deer and anything small for a meal with your father's old recurve bow, freezing cold, never a chance to bathe for fear of the Bliss drug plaguing the waters. John Seed had taken away everyone you loved dearly, and now here he was, helpless, alone, and at your mercy.

Coughing brought you out of your anger fog, seeing that your fingers had found their way around his neck, choking him, but not enough to take his life just yet. No, killing him would be too easy. Even if you did, in the end you knew nothing would change, nothing would feel any better. You feel a familiar wetness on your cheeks as the memories from that night came flooding back, knelt over him, softly crying like the scared little girl you were that moment.

"John Seed..." you choke on his name, "I give you mercy."

Loosening your grip, you move around, standing by his head and grabbing his arms from underneath. Now all you had to do was drag him back to your camp nestled in the woods. You silently prayed to God if that was what he wanted you to do, or if the animals got him, then so be it, you'd run like hell to avoid getting mauled by a bear or cougar.

Your camp was only twenty minutes away, but it felt like hours. John wasn't dead yet, but if you couldn't throw together some sort of medicine for those wounds he wouldn't last the night. Moving him close to the fire, you mixed together the same remedy from the black bear attack you narrowly survived about three weeks ago. It wasn't yours, but belonged to the woman who rescued you. She taught it to you before disappearing off towards the Whitetail Mountains. Such a strange woman but a friend if only for a short time, and you missed her.

"If you die after I use this, then it was just a waste of time bringing you here." you mumble through your teeth, hoping he heard you while you mixed ingredients.

"You're an angel –"

You perk up, his voice was barely audible. "Say what??"

"You're an angel... with an amber halo..."

"You're hallucinating, too much blood loss. Just shut up, I have water, and some leftover deer meat." If he didn't shut up you were going to sock him in the jaw. He had probably lost his mind already, you weren't equipped to deal with this lunatic.

John was silent after a while, you checked on him while applying the medicine to his wounds. 'Still breathing.' you thought. If he survived he was under your watch and care, if God thought this was funny, you weren't laughing.

When he was strong enough to walk, you'd tie up his hands and lead him to the nearest cult roadblock, hoping they'd take back their herald and not shoot you dead on sight. A groan escaped his lips, "Why?"

"I'm showing you mercy, what you didn't show my parents that night. After everything you've done, the Deputy didn't kill you, I could have, but I didn't. And here we are." Your words were cold, "God told me to show you mercy, and when I take you back to your followers.. I hope you can show me the same mercy I've shown you."

That shut him up, leaving you to bring him water and cooked deer meat from the campfire. The sun would begin to rise in several hours, and a distant explosion scared you. With the Dep on the move, you were sure they caused it. He was asleep by now, leaving you alone with your thoughts again. God, was he really watching, was he there? You weren't the most religious person in your family, but your father said to have some faith, things would turn out for the better. And now you were apparently John Seed's personal angel.