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vampireninjabunnies-blog · 5 months ago

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WIP Wednesday | Tagged by @black-dragon-posting & @socially-awkward-skeleton ❤️

A Sabrina POV time. Girl felt like breaking some rules.

"John's room is locked. He's either ignoring me when I knocked and called for him, or he's not in there.", Savannah announced with disappointment as she entered the kitchen after going upstairs to notify John about breakfast being ready. "I told you it's quite late, so he's probably left for work already, Sav. Mathias is outside again." "Why is he acting so weird?", her sister scrunched her nose, observing Sabrina closely while she set down their plates at the table, "And shouldn't you be at work, too, Rin-Rin?" "I-", she hated she had to lie yet again, that she was breaking the pact of honesty the two had made, but with the current situation she felt like she had no other choice, "I took a little break, we don't have as many cases as we did in Portland. I'd rather spend my time with you, pumpkin, than chase some cattle that got loose. As for John… he just has other things on his mind. Nothing you have to worry about, okay?" It was the only answer she could offer, especially when it came down to figuring someone like John out. She wanted to spare Savannah as much from the gruesome details as she could, knew that it would be for the better if she wasn't too aware of the actual danger everyone in the County was in or that the man she believed to be a hero was in reality the most hated and feared person in the region. Telling her the full truth would only hurt her, make her feel unsafe at the ranch. "Do you want to bring his plate out to Mathias? No reason to have the food go to waste." Savannah nodded, grabbing the dish and rushing over to the front door, Sabrina heard her cheerfully call out "Morning, Benny." before it closed behind her. It wasn't long before her sister returned with a smile on her face, her mood seemingly improved at the interaction with the Peggie, "Benny smiled at me and said thank you!" "That's amazing, pumpkin.", Sabrina beamed at her excitement, the knowledge Mathias was being nicer to her helped her breathe easier. Breakfast was another precious opportunity to escape back to the days before Joseph's arrest so Sabrina tried to tune out every concern that emerged at their uncertain future as they two chatted away as usual and set on making plans for how they'd spend the day. "Okay, Sav, I'm going to wash those and we can head out again, maybe we can see-", Sabrina got up from the table, carrying the dishes over to the sink when a vision happened.

The entry to Rae-Rae's farm. Eden's Gate trucks barrelling into its driveway, then John's men getting out and approaching the house. Rae-Rae being dragged outside and forced to kneel on the ground as they led Boomer out by his collar. A Peggie locking him in a cage, screaming, "The mutt bit me!" as he kicked the door to the enclosure with hatred. Rae-Rae's loyal companion barking restlessly, trying to break out, sensing the danger looming over his owner. "You're time for Confession has come, Sinner. There's nowhere to run now." Rae-Rae lunging at the Peggie in front of her, shouting, "Fuck you all! You're not taking my land or Boomer. OVER MY DEAD BODY." Shots ringing out. Her body collapsing down in the mud, blood quickly pooling beneath her and staining her blonde hair. Lifeless eyes staring back at nothingness.

"Rin-Rin!", Savannah called out, pulling at her hand as the grizzly scene faded away and she found herself back in the kitchen. Sabrina's eyes shifted from her sister's worried expression down to broken porcelain pieces that somehow by pure luck had missed her bare feet when the plates had shattered on the floor. "Are you okay?", her sister asked and wrapped her arms around her waist, "Was it a vision? You weren't responding for so long, I got scared. I'm sorry if I pulled you out too soon." "I'm okay, Sav, you did nothing wrong. I saw enough, I promise.", Sabrina hurried to reassure her, despite still feeling miles away and on edge as she stroked her hair gently. Rae-Rae is going to die at the hands of John's men. Her sense of justice told her she couldn't allow it to happen, that she couldn't watch from the sidelines as the Project took more innocent people's lives over Joseph's twisted beliefs. I have to warn her, tell her to grab Ryan and Boomer and run while she has the chance. Maybe there's still hope. There's always time to act before a vision occurs. Minutes, hours, days, sometimes months or years if I'm lucky. I have to try. As her gaze met Savannah's, her mind was made up, embracing the fact she was about to risk their safety and sneak out in hopes of finding a way to reach the pumpkin farm and save Rae-Rae. "Sav, I need to do something, but I'm going to need your help.", she felt her sister nod against her side.

Sabrina bent down and quickly gathered the broken pieces off the floor. Her thoughts raced at the risky plan and the dire consequences it would bring if anything was to go wrong. Chances were she could run straight into a patrol the second she'd make it off the property. A part of her whispered how John would break off their deal, that she'd end up back in the godawful cell in his bunker. "Worry about Savannah, Deputy." No. "What do I need to do, Rin-Rin?", Savannah looked at her in determination, putting an end to her inner turmoil. "Remember Rae-Rae, the nice lady I was telling you about? Boomer's owner?" "Yes, you promised we'd visit her farm sometimes…" "I saw her in the vision, Sav, she's- she's in danger and I have to warn her." "Okay.", her sister chewed on her lip nervously, "Can we … call her?" Sabrina shook her head, knowing the phone in the living room was of no use, "She wouldn't have signal, because the lines are down." Savannah blinked slowly, realization downing on her as she processed her words, "Mrs. Darcy said the same. We can go then? Go to the farm." "I will, Sav. Alone." "Why? Can't you just ask John for help?" "I wish, but I can't. He's worried about us with all the Peggies around, wants us to stay put so he knows we would be safe. He wouldn't be happy at the idea. It's why he has left Mathias outside to keep watch. If he finds out I'm gone he would tell John… and he would be upset."

"So… are you going to sneak out then?" Sabrina took a deep breath, "I have a plan… When you go out to get his plate back, you have to act like nothing's wrong, okay? We can't risk him coming in and finding the ranch empty if he decides to return it on his own. Once you're back inside I will sneak through the back." Savannah nodded along, a calculating gleam similar to their mother's appearing in her gaze. "While I'm gone, you're going to stay upstairs, in our room. Lock the door and if he for any reason decides to check on us, you tell him I'm taking a bath. If they figure out I'm gone, you only respond you don't know where I went, okay? It would buy me time.", Sabrina took hold of her shoulders, "I will be back before you know it." "Okay.", Savannah gave her a small smile in response. "I just need you to be quiet, avoid raising suspicion, and stay safe, while I return, do you think you can do that, pumpkin?" "Of course, Rin-Rin. You know I will! You go help Rae-Rae.", her sister's eyes were shining with conviction. "Okay, give me a minute to go up and grab some things." While it was risky to leave the ranch and it effectively meant breaking John's only rule, asking for permission or relaying her vision to him was absolutely out of the question. What do I tell him?"Hey, John, your men are about to kill this sweet woman in cold blood. You're going to save her for me, right? Right?" No matter how much hope her visions of him provided, she couldn't allow them to fool her into relying on him completely. Any of their talks had proven to her he truly believed everything was unfolding as intended, so chances were he would refuse to help her, maybe even laugh at her for thinking he'd care.

His dedication to his brother's cause meant he would consider it the Will of "God" for Rae-Rae, a Sinner, to die for being against the Project. It would be a similar price to what Whitehorse and the others had paid for defying Joseph. Rae-Rae's life wouldn't be significant to someone that kept so many as prisoners. To someone that believed he was helping eradicate people's sins through torture. How would a believer take the fact I'm working against fate? Trying to change the course of things? No, in a situation where their interests weren't aligned, she could only really count on herself, especially when she had placed too much trust in him already. An array of dark thoughts plagued her brain as she rushed to her bedroom and quickly changed into a pair of grey jeans, throwing on a canvas jacket over the black top she was already wearing. She tied her bangs back and hid the grey sections of her hair under a ball cap, hoping it would enough to conceal her identity. Before she headed back downstairs, she pulled out the duffel bag and took out two of her throwing knives from her bag, securing them to her belt before grabbing her boots and making sure John's knife was still where she had stashed it away. Savannah was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, "Mr. Fluffles and I are ready for the mission." A smile emerged despite how on uneasy she felt, "I'm ready, Sav. Go grab the plate."

She watched her sister head to the front door with sure strides, appearing absolutely carefree as she opened the door and called out for Mathias in a sweet tone, "Benny, did you like breakfast?" Bennett mumbled something out and whatever it was it made Savannah laugh. "Bye, friend. Stay in the shade!", the door shut with a soft click, followed by her footsteps as she returned to where Sabrina was standing. She presented the empty plate triumphantly, "He finished it all. I guess John wasn't lying when he said Benny wasn't angry." "Of course, Sav. Who could ever be angry at this cute face?", Sabrina lowered her voice, "I'm leaving now, okay? You drop that plate in the sink and head upstairs. Remember the plan." Her sister nodded, giving her a hug before whispering, "I love you, be careful." "I love you too. I will be right back.", Sabrina held her tight, guilt over leaving her alone swooping in, but she couldn't sit back and spend a carefree afternoon outside, knowing Rae-Rae was going to die. The visions came to her for a reason, they were a gift as Scott Donovan used to say and bore hope that something out there was looking out for people and had decided to give her a purpose. With the Project taking over she had to take matters into her own hands, protect anyone she could from it. It's what her father would have done, without a question, no matter how much danger it would present for him. Inaction was not an option. It was exactly why Joseph's influence had grown so much in the County: Whitehorse refused to rock the boat despite how serious of a threat the cult had become and how many laws they had broken over the years.

Sabrina put on her boots and sneaked out through the back of the ranch, breaking into a run for the treeline the second the door closed behind her. She used the pines and dense vegetation at the back of the house as cover as she trekked into a straight line, following the landing strip she had spotten from the truck when John first brought them there. Eventually, after walking for a while she reached a main road and remained out of sight while she waited for a car to drive by. The plan was to flag down anything that's not marked as belonging to Eden's Gate. Ten anguishing minutes passed and she was starting to question if she should head further along on foot, when she spotted a red pick-up truck. Without a second thought she popped out of her hiding spot, waving her hands and the car came to a halt next to her, the window rolling down and revealing a dark skinned woman that seemed around her age. Sabrina scanned her attire that was as far from a Peggie as it could get, from the camo shirt and the american flag she used as a scarf to her hat with a scope symbol that covered her black hair. "Well, you're not a Peggie. Quite a strange sight to see on this road.", the woman remarked matter-of-factly. "I need a ride to Rae-Rae's. Are you headed that way?", Sabrina shot her a smile, wondering if she would need to explain why she was so close to the ranch especially at such hostile times. "No, I was going to Fall's End, but I guess I can make a small detour. Get in, girl, before we have company crawling up our asses." "Thank you."

Sabrina climbed into the passenger's seat and the truck peeled off the road just as she was buckling her seatbelt. "Name's Grace. Grace Armstrong. What's yours?" "Blythe.", she lied, offering her middle name, worried about the potential consequences of using her first and how much the locals knew about what had occured at the arrest. Do they blame us for the whole mess? For giving Joseph an excuse to finally strike and take over? Grace nodded, "I'd ask you what you were doing so close to John's Ranch, but I doubt I'd get a real answer. If I were you, I'd stay as far away as possible from him. He ain't one to be messed with, especially not now." "Noted." "Though, have to say, many would be happy if you made his day a tad bit worse, me included. Bastard sure has been making ours hell since the goddamn Reaping." Sabrina bit her lip and nodded, not saying anything at her assumption. They rode in silence, driving through Fall's End when a sight in front of the Spread Eagle gave her a pause: a familiar black jeep was parked in one of the spots and she craned neck back to check the license plate, but it was too late. Leslie? No way, can't be. She wanted to laugh at the idea he'd be in Hope County, though she couldn't deny she missed him, that she missed Portland and the uncomplicated life she had there.

The truck followed a route Sabrina knew quite well and every few minutes they'd pass by an Eden's Gate vehicle or a Peggie holding hostages roadside, to a point it felt like the roads were crawling with more cultists than the woods with wildlife. Before everything had gone to hell, she hadn't seen so many in such frequent intervals ever. Grace finally spoke up again as she came to a stop near Rae-Rae's, "I'm dropping you off here. Gotta ask, are you gonna be okay on your own? The Peggies are running rampant, rounding up people that have been giving John Seed a hard time. Rae-Rae's most likely on that list." "I will stay out of trouble, just checking in on a friend, that's all.", Sabrina opened the door and climbed down, "Thank you, Grace. You're a life saver." "Good luck, girl. You ever need a sniper, I'm one radio call away.", Grace saluted her as she turned the truck around and sped away. "God, I hope I'm on time, Rae-Rae.", Sabrina took a deep breath, breaking into a sprint towards the cover the trees offered in attempt to avoid any Peggies spotting her from the road.

Eventually, she reached the turn leading up to the farm and the sight of a man that was unmistakeably a member of the Project standing in the middle of the path made her blood freeze. His presence was a bad omen, a bitter confirmation that she either was already out of time or her window of opportunity was closing. No. Am I too late? She gripped one of her knives in her hand as she approached him quietly, the plan was to try to subdue him, to not shed unneeded blood especially with her already breaking her promise to John, but facing the man unarmed seemed like a dangerous idea. She grabbed him swiftly, cutting his oxygen flow while whispering, "Go to sleep, I don't want to kill you, okay?" The Peggie struggled, trying to grab at her hands, but at the end failed. As he fell unconscious, Sabrina released the breath she was holding and checked his pockets. "Zip-ties? Why, thank you. You shouldn't have.", she said to his sleeping form and dragged him off the road in case anyone decided to look for him. After grabbing his pistol and tying him to a tree, she hurried further up the path to the farm, feeling ten times more tense than when she had gotten off Grace's truck. As she neared her destination, she could hear cult music playing and John's booming voice coming from somewhere close by, the recording was a harsh reminder of the side of him that had her strapped to a chair few days back and no doubt looked forward to torturing her for information. His tone in the address was full of calculation, it was the same one he had used when he had tried to convince her Whitehorse had bad intentions for making her arrest Joseph.This John was the man that smiled at her cunningly from every billboard, that spoke of sin in every wretched broadcast, that stood behind his brother and did his best to keep him out of legal trouble. It was a role he had been playing for a long time, a mask he wore with confidence but also a mask that had slipped enough times in her presence to give her hope.

"The Project of Eden's Gate would provide salvation. Do not be afraid, God has graced us with an opportunity to start anew, you just have to welcome the word of the Father into your hearts."

He began quoting Joseph like he was a prophet, and the certainty in his words made her skin craw. You're a true believer, John. Perhaps too far gone. Maybe there's no light left for me to find. No. Hope is all I have, I have to believe. Not in Joseph, but in my visions. She kept her weapon trained ahead and soon enough made it to the fence of Rae-Rae's property. Boomer's continuous barking mixed with the Eden's Gate propaganda and the visual of the house with its surrounding structures all pushed her pick up her pace. What met her eyes next was carnage. Death all around her. I'm too late, indeed. There were so many bodies on the ground, blood pooling beneath them. The light sweaters of the peggies were turning red, masking the crimson crosses on them. "Rae-Rae? Ryan?", she called out, knowing it was foolish to think she'd get a response, but she couldn't help holding onto the sliver of hope that somehow the woman had made it. That whoever had killed John's people had managed to save her just in time. Sabrina found Rae-Rae in the exact spot where she'd seen her in her vision. Her body was cold, the gentle eyes that greeted her anytime she'd come by- devoid of life. The woman that had been nothing but kind to her from her first visit to the farm and would never let her leave before having some of her homemade sweet tea was gone. She'd never get to hug her own son again or meet Savannah. The Project had taken yet another soul.

"I'm sorry, Rae-Rae. I'm so sorry.", she whispered, failing to hold back her tears when she took off her jacket and covered her still form with it. Boomer's whining pulled her out of her despair, reminded her she could at least get him to safety. The cage from her vision stood a few feet behind her, his paws desperately scratched at its door that was latched with a lock. "I'm coming, boy.", Sabrina exclaimed and rushed over, a note stuck to the bars grabbing her attention as climbed over the trailer cart's platform. She ripped it off in a haste and scanned over the writting on the page.

"This dog's a champion. Send it to our stronghold across the street and have it shipped North. We'll let my brother decide how strong it really is." - John

"I can't believe you, Seed. Can't even use the "champion"'s name. You sent them here. You put this in motion.", she whispered and tried to ignore the ache she felt at the confirmation John had something to do with Rae-Rae's death. She could picture him giving the orders in his matter-of-fact voice, not for one second considering the fact Boomer was more than just some dog, that he was the County's beloved hero, considered a part of a family. To John he was a "thing". Something to be shipped off, then used against innocent people that wanted nothing to do with the Project. "Hey, Boomer, it's me. I'm here, buddy, I'm going to get you out.", she spoke in a soothing tone, trying her best to settle him down, "This might be loud, boy.", she trained her pistol at the lock, just as she felt a barrel of another gun press into her back, then a gruff voice rang out behind her. "Drop the weapon and turn around, I won't ask ya twice." Fuck.

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