Irresolute

Chapter 6: The Compound

The next few days pass without anything dramatic happening, though you think Nick might have a sense you're about to do something potentially stupid because he called the night before to ask what you'd been up to lately. It nearly killed you to lie to him so blatantly and you could only hope he'd forgive you for it, but you didn't want to argue with him when you already knew you were deadset on going regardless of his opinion.

Maribelle calls you early in the morning, on your day off, to say that Joseph had requested the two of you to come there today. You're half asleep as you fumble around your drawers trying to find something clean (in both senses of the word); if you were going to be trapped forever in a Compound you were gonna be caught wearing something comfortable. You still think you're just being dramatic about it all, only knowing about Compounds from previous cults that'd been on the news, and Maribelle's words about keeping an open mind are still floating around your skull.

The car ride is silent the entire way there, and you're not itching for conversation either, your nerves abuzz and your anxiety at its strongest as you keep your eyes open for anything odd. The Compound, as you suspected, was in the middle of Montana wilderness, and you noted the gate being built around it. It must still be a relatively new creation, perhaps the Father saw his need expanding, and with a brother who keeps buying land all over Hope County... might as well, right? You couldn't say what you'd do if you had a huge plot of land for yourself, maybe you'd build a compound too...

There's an odd lack of signal when you drive into the Compound, and you find yourself nervously glancing at your phone more often, worried. The place looked peaceful enough, the houses on the land well taken care of and looking as though they were being taken care of as you drove by them. You eye the people who are working on the buildings, noting their odd tattoos and wardrobe; they were dressed almost entirely in white, but otherwise looked like normal Montanans. You and Maribelle were both dressed casually, like normal human beings, and would stick out like a sore thumb from the minute you arrived.

Joseph left a man in charge to take you to the medical tent, too busy himself preparing his next sermon or doomsday speech to rile up the cult members you assumed. You remain silent as Maribelle makes small talk, it being all too easy for her to talk 'church' with the people around her; the odd way people addressed, respected, and talked about God was what you liked to call 'church' talk, and you just couldn't get it. To constantly be talking about sin, revelations, going on long-winded rants about things that could easily be narrowed down a sentence or two, it was like the Cult had their own language sometimes.

You're more than happy to get to work instead of having to stick with your thoughts, running along the general things you had to do when checking up on a patient, and just rolling with it. Most were indeed elderly, and even some children were present, which lightened the mood considerably, up until the point they began to revere Joseph and talk about things far beyond their years. It was so eerie to be around this camp, where it seemed their entire life revolved around religion; you know the whole world is supposed to be ending or something, according to Joseph, but aren't there more fun things to do before you hideout in a bunk for years on end?

There's a commotion outside that makes you flinch, worried the revolution has come and you were now a prisoner of war, until a group of cultists donned in white carry in a struggling person. So now you were watching someone else get kidnapped? You're frozen to your spot as you watch them take the struggling stranger to a table with straps, where he's quickly held down to limit his movements. You don't notice they're calling for you until Maribelle quickly approaches them, waving you over to her side.

"We have to inject him with something to calm him down." You tilt your head to the side, wondering exactly what you were supposed to inject him with and how, when the Star of the Cult enters the tent.