Redemption (John Seed x Reader Fanfic)

Chapter 18

'You need to get out of here.' A voice of reason pleads from within you. You aren't constricted to your chair anymore, so you don't know why you find it so hard to leave it.

'Your friends need you, Y/N. Get up!'

You push yourself put of the chair and look around you for any sort of weapon. You notice the hunting knife Jacob left on the table.

Bingo!

You feel your Deputy-mode returning to your veins as you pick up the blood-ridden knife. Step one: escape. That is all you need to focus on right now.

You sneak your way out of the door and through a foggy hallway; you hear feint screams in the distance as well as soft howling. Ah, the lovely sounds of The North.

You sneak up on a peggie and take him out quietly with the knife- right into the side of his neck. You search his body for a pistol or some better weapon than just a knife.

Damn, nothing.

Several Peggies later, you finally reach a room on the second story with an open window leading to the roof. If you can take out the Peggie, then you can crawl out and jump from the roof. Yes, it will hurt- but it won't kill you.

You smile to yourself, glad to find your Deputy self lurking inside still.

You notice the Peggie has a pistol, but he is fortunately facing the window. You grasp your knife and sneak quietly towards the cultist, careful not to let the floor creak under you. You slowly stand up and kick in his knees before slicing through his neck. The Peggie falls to the ground; you crouch to search him when you hear a voice behind you.

"If you really wanted to keep people safe, Deputy, to be a hero... then you'd just kill yourself off. It's safer for everyone that way." You hear a few steps behind you, but you keep your eyes on the Peggie's body in case you need to grab the gun. You know he isn't done with his story, so there is no need to act prematurely.

"You were the most dangerous thing I've seen is Holland Valley... a distraction." He pauses, "John may not have completed The Father's Will if we allowed you to stay there in his grasp. Regardless if he would have or not, it wasn't a chance we were willing to take."

You can hear Jacob pacing slightly behind you; you try to keep tabs on where he is in the room. "It doesn't matter what my family builds to keep this county safe, you always find a way to destroy it.... until you met John."

Your genuine curiosity keeps you from moving; Jacob laughs calmly to himself, "Y'know, Deputy... your friends at Fall's End? You should ask them why they haven't come to look for you... Ask them if they know where you've been the past few weeks- better yet, ask them who sent me to find you."

Jacob laughs more to himself after waiting for a response that doesn't come. "I needed to separate you from John, and they needed their Deputy back... But..." he pauses, his voice lowering a few tones.

"I never thought you would want to kill him. I see now I've done my job too well." You hear him, possibly, take something from his pocket. "Joseph had better plans for you," you hear a slight click, "but I'm afraid I cannot let you jeopardize this project any further, Deputy."

Your gut kicks you, yelling for you to act now or  be fish food within seconds. All in one swift motion, you grab the pistol and turn to aim at the man who has his own gun pointed straight towards you.

You pull the hairline trigger towards the Harold of the Whitetail Mountains. Unfortunately, you didn't actually hit him; yet, it was enough to distract him and allow you to make your escape off of the roof.

Your feet hit the ground and you instinctively tell them to start running for the woods. You can hear Jacob shouting in the distance to release the judges, followed by howls and barking.

What was Jacob saying? First he tells you that John sent him to capture you after he blamed you for attacking his ranch. Then, he tells you that the resistance sent him because they wanted you to hate John again? Was he telling the second truth the second time since he was planning to kill you regardless if you knew?

More importantly, was he telling the truth that John never cared for you? After all, he did claim to care about everyone who is desperately seeking your help to end this project.

You don't know what to believe from what to assume are just mind games the sick bastard used to torture you. What you knew now was step 2: run.