Chapter Text
Deputy Nicolette Raylan hissed and tried to stretch away from her two new coworkers she was piled into the 4x4 with.
She had barely been a Sheriff’s Deputy more than four months, so why she had been selected as the last cop from Missoula to go to Hope County was beyond her.
Hope County was apparently a clusterfuck of weird if the varying reports were any indication. There was a cult there that was up to… standard bizarre cult shit, there were reports of droves of people going missing- cult related and not. The stranger part was that most of the disappearances were the county’s cops. And then there were varying cave-ins in town that destroyed buildings and the landscape alike. Capital ‘W’ weird. She glanced in front of her, at the Marshal they had picked up along the way, Cameron Burke. He had been stopping over in Missoula on his way to the county to investigate the cult and had picked up a ride with them.
The dude was an arrogant prick, and the fact that he kept on implying that the Sheriff was only on the job for the fame and glory had her stepping on the edge of his seatbelt holder at the car floor to irritate him.
Earl Whitehorse had practically helped raise her since her teen years, and if it was one thing he hated it was people assuming he was in it for the glory, and she’d be damned if she was just going to sit by and let it happen without chipping away at the accuser’s resolve so it would be easier to let him have it later.
“So remind us why we need all of us including the new girl?” Staci Pratt chimed in from the opposite side of their row of seats.
Nicolette was suddenly grateful that Joey Hudson was between them- not only as a buffer between them so she couldn’t throttle the man, but also because Staci was a great deal wider than her so he had less breathing room on his side.
It was the little things.
“Are we there yet?” Joey cut in.
Earl chuckled when Joey’s seatmates merely groaned. “Thank you, Hudson.”
“Any time, Sir,” Joey replied. She looked Nicolette’s way and offered a teasing wink.
Well, at least the girls technically stuck together.
“And to answer the question that you were all thinkin’, yes, county limits are just beyond that tunnel there.”
There was silence for a while until they crossed through the tunnel.
They all stopped to stare at their surroundings.
There was a long stretch of road ahead. There were farms dotting the horizon in the distance. They passed a dirt driveway that was marked with a giant cross made of strange white flowers, with a white curtain draped over it to boot.
“So… they’re that kind of religious cult. Great,” Staci sighed.
“Yeah, what do we know about these guys?” Joey cut in.
“Not much. You’re right about the religious angle. Joseph Seed, man in charge- usually preaches about God, end of days and the like. Most of the time he’s all talk, which is what’s weird about all these disappearances,” Cameron replied. “They’re mostly harmless. Keep to them and theirs unless the little brother John is buying up land for their needs.”
“Buying up land? How big is this cult?”
“Takes up the whole county by now,” Cameron replied. “No one’s really noticed because this town’s your textbook small town. And the fact that John pays them off pretty damn well, but… there are the more… violent theories. They’ve got some weird methods.”
They passed a road sign for “Falls End”, flanked by a billboard with that same cross, emblazened with the phrase “The Power of Yes” with “Take the Leap” directly below it. A couple of seconds later the next billboard, with some man and “We Love You” and that same cross on it. A look in the opposite direction, and a sign was out in the hills that rivaled the Hollywood sign, loudly proclaiming “YES.”
“Is this a cult or a reality show gag?” Nicolette chimed i n.
Cameron scoffed. “We’re not even sure ourselves with that fucker. That’s the youngest one I was telling you about, John Seed. You should see this place’s TV spots.”
“TV spots? For a cult?” Staci asked.
Cameron shrugged. “What’d I tell you? Weird methods.”
Earl grunted in acknowledgement, then checked something on his phone. “We’ve got lodging to scope things out quietly at Drubman Marina. Says the place is just across some mountains. Guess we’re getting the whole tour on the first run.”
And get a tour they did. It was nothing but admittedly gorgeous terrain on either side of the road, and even with the cult, Nicolette had half a mind to consider retirement in the place.
Before long, they came to a particular turn, and one mountain came into view- with some sort of statue at its peak.
“The Hell is that?” Staci asked.
Cameron scoffed. “That? Just wait. Looks like we’re headed that way to get to the marina. You’ll see what else these crackpots are up to when we get closer.”
Once they reached what looked like a truck stop with a giant cow statue marking its intersection, they all leaned over to get a closer look.
“That’s a person,” Nicolette realized.
Cameron nodded. “Joseph Seed. The Father. Fucker’s that egotistical that they built that thing in just around a month.”
They went silent in contemplation for a while until they passed under a bridge that had more of the white flowers and a green banner with crude lettering: “Together we will march to Eden’s gate.”
The others looked at Cameron again, who merely shrugged. “You guys are here for the missing persons and land issues. Leave the big stuff to me.”
“Considering some of those missing persons might be related to the cult, we might… need to know some of this,” Earl pointed out, focusing on another sign proudly declaring “We Love You.”
It was enough to make the junior deputy groan, but fall further into confusion. The Hell were these people even about?
They had made it a little further down the road before trouble started. There was something to be said that they were in the middle of the statue’s direct eyeline when the sound of a muscle car engine broke their contemplative silence. Earl was the first to check the mirrors.
There were two cars coming up on them fast. The first was a white pickup truck with that same strange cross paintedn the doors, and the second was a hot rod red muscle car that seemed to be weaving to and fro like the driver was contemplating overtaking the pickup truck just to get to them quicker.
“Wits about you, we might have a problem,” Earl pointed out.
Cameron glanced in the rearview mirror, pausing to squint to get further details. He swore after a moment and slowed down. “Well, looks like we’re getting the warmest Hope County welcome as we can get.”
“The Hell does that mean?” Joey asked.
“All of the Seeds are directly behind us,” Cameron explained.
It was a mere few seconds later that the pickup truck flashed their lights at them.
Cameron sighed, rolled down the window and pulled over. “Look, let’s play this cool, we’re not here for them yet. That might buy us some wiggle room outta here.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Earl cut in. “Why the Hell are we stopping for them when we’re the police?”
“Because the main cops here are in this guy’s pockets and we’re in their second biggest turf right now. We have to play nice, even if we don’t mean it. For now. These guys are mostly harmless, but Joseph’s a wordsmith. Careful.”
Nicolette looked over her shoulder at the newcomers. The pickup pulled up behind them, and again, the muscle car’s driver seemed to debate powering on ahead of them before they pulled up behind the truck.
The driver was some albeit handsome brute that was all red hair and muscles, dressed in an old Army jacket over a t-shirt and jeans.
The co-passenger was tall, lean, had a manbun of all things, but in stark contrast to the other, his vest, jeans and button-up that he wore were all crisp and most likely freshly ironed. It was a strange look that still just about screamed intimidation and poise all at once. It was enough that Nicolette’s trigger finger twitched on instinct.
A young blonde woman who gave Nicolette instant hair envy got out from the backseat. She wore a white lace dress lined with flowers, and Nicolette wasn’t sure if she was going for a hippie vibe or otherwise.
Then came the muscle car owner- shorter than Mr. Intimidating but just as lean, but it was the ridiculous jacket with a pattern littered with- were those planes ? On a grown ass man ’s jacket? that got her. At least he was easy on the eyes to make up for it.
The seconds it took Mr. Intimidating to reach the car ticked by like hours. He finally reached them and leaned over.
“Officers,” the man greeted. “I don’t believe we’ve seen any of you here. Nancy didn’t tell us about any newcomers to the station.”
“‘Cause we just arrived,” Cameron answered.
The man nodded after a moment. “To replace the officers who went missing,” he mused.
Nicolette and Joey exchanged puzzled looks, Staci looked up briefly, and Earl tried a little too obviously to look like he hadn’t reacted.
“We’re not at liberty to say,” Cameron replied.
The man nodded. “Only curious, Officer-”
“Marshal,” Cameron corrected.
Nicolette recognized the twitch in Earl’s jaw that indicated he was hiding a scoff.
The man pulled back with a slow, unreadable smile of his own. “Apologies, Marshal. I meant no offense. I’m only curious because some of my own people are among those missing. We’ve reported them to your authorities to no avail.”
“Well, that’s why we’re here, Mister…?” Earl began.
“Seed,” the man finished. “I am Joseph, my brothers Jacob, John, our sister Faith,” he motioned to Soldier Man, Plane Man and Hippie Girl respectively. “And… you are?”
Earl steeled himself for a moment, then sighed. “Sheriff Whitehorse, Deputies Pratt, Hudson and Raylan,” he kept Cameron’s name out after the latter shot him a warning look.
Joseph inclined his head briefly. “You all clearly have… reservations about my people. Let me preface your time here by saying with have the utmost respect for the authorities… within reason…”
John and Jacob both let out muted laughs.
Joseph silenced both of them with a look and turned his attention back to the others. “You are guests on our land and will be treated as such. If we can assist you in any way, or if you need guides, my compound is just over a half mile northeast of here.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Earl replied.
Joseph nodded again, then took a step back. “Safe travels, Officers; Marshal.” He looked at the other three in the backseat.
Nicolette tried not to make it too obvious when she noticed his eyes lingered on hers for a couple of extra seconds too long before he took another couple of steps back and straightened out.
Cameron nodded without looking at him and rolled the window up. They all pretended they missed the hushed conversation that started between John and Jacob that they tried to get Joseph into that seemed to give off a disapproving vibe, but Joseph waved them off, and whatever counterargument he had was lost to the sound of the 4x4 engine starting up.
“Awful friendly for a cultist,” Earl mused, dripping with sarcasm all the same.
“You were awful friendly with him just now.”
“Hey, we want as little suspicion as possible, you said it yourself,” Earl pointed out.
Nicolette shot Joey another look and mouthed ‘Mom and Dad are fighting’, which earned her an elbow to the ribs.
They drove on, and every single one of them kept checking the road behind them to make sure they hadn’t been followed. Still, they got to the Marina without any further nonsense, and all piled out of the truck, eager to stretch their legs and enjoy the first sight of the entire county that didn’t involve any Weird Shit.
They didn’t have long to wait before a blonde woman approached them. At first she had hurried over, but upon closer inspection she slowed her walk and added a sway to her hips. “Well hello, Officers. Addie Drubman, at your service.”
Nicolette watched Earl finalize the details of their stay in a handful of the suites- she was pretty sure she swatted his ass once he had turned to leave to distribute room keys. Cameron got his own, Earl and Staci were in another, and she and Joey got a third. Staci and Joey had made a mostly-joking point about how it wasn’t particularly fair that the Marshal got his own spot, but Earl had promised it was to keep the cases separate- and to ‘give them some space from Mr. Serious.’ He had dismissed them for the night, suggesting they all split up around the county to get leads the next morning.
The women had been in the middle of channel surfing when they came across one of the TV spots that Cameron had mentioned.
As far as Nicolette was concerned, it was worse off with production value than most daytime television. She was pretty sure she had seen several props at the local craft store back in Missoula. But that walking Road Rage John Seed was a charismatic little shit as he talked about the cult and their goals to have everyone be loved, he’d give him that. “So… if this goes south and we all get taken in by these guys and have to be sister-wives, I vote we go with that guy.”
Joey laughed and threw a pillow at her. “Idiot.”
“What? You want the redhead? Because he wasn’t bad either. Hell, they were all gorgeous.”
“I want to get out of here ASAP because this place gives me the creeps," Hudson countered.
“Buzzkill,” Nicolette countered, and caught the second pillow that went flying her way.
She was about to launch it back when there was a near ear-splitting animalistic roar in the distance.
Except it didn’t sound like it had come from any animal she knew. There was no animal large enough to roar that loudly.
S he looked at Joey again, and the woman looked just as confused as she had.
They both shot up and headed for the door. Once they were outside, they regrouped with Earl, Staci and Cameron and a handful of the other residents who had come out to investigate as well.
Outside of a flock of birds flying overhead, there was dead silence. It passed even a few seconds after that. No other roar, everything was silent as the grave.
“The Hell was that?” Staci asked after even more silence passed.
There were hushed conversations around them, one of which was one of the residents saying “Larry’s probably up to weird shit again” dismissively.
“Larry doesn’t live out that way, idiot,” came another resident’s reply.
Cameron, Earl and the Deputies all exchanged looks, all wondering just what the fuck they had gotten into.