It had been hours since Jacob had shut the door to the Deputy's room and he hadn't heard a damn thing. It was like the Deputy was actually capable of being quiet. It would have been nice if it was so unsettling. Jacob left two of his hunters in charge of the room, ordering them not to open it for anybody but himself, and went back to his room for the night. He didn't sleep, he rarely does, but he did get some more work done.

     The next morning when Jacob went back to the room his hunters were still standing guard. He asked them if the Deputy had tried anything but they shook their heads. "She was quiet all night sir." One of them reported and Jacob nodded.

     "You can go now." He waved them off and sat down in his chair again. Quiet all night...that didn't sound like the Deputy, even if she was in pain. He tried to come up with different reasons for the Deputy's silence but couldn't settle on a satisfying answer.

     Maybe she had decided to join them? It seemed unlikely but still possible. Jacob decided to go have a chat with her himself to find out. Jacob got out of his seat and walked over to the door, pausing before he twisted the handle.

     When Jacob opened the door he was met with more silence. "Good morning, Deputy. Made up your mind yet?" He greeted her and closed the door again.

     The Deputy didn't respond, instead staying silent. "Not that I don't enjoy the peace and quiet, but this really isn't like you." He said, trying to provoke some sort of reaction.

     Nothing he did made her breath a word. Jacob walked over to her, squinting through the darkness to try and see her face. Though disfigured he could see that her eyes were closed but it didn't look like she was asleep. She still made the pained groan when she breathed, more of a reaction to her breaths than her actually saying anything.

Jacob knelt by her bedside, studying her to see if she was 'ok'. "Deputy? Can you hear me?" He asked, nudging her shoulder with his hand.

The Deputy made a strange noise, like her voice died in her throat before she could get a word out. Her head turned to the sound of his voice and her eye opened. Though her gaze was unfocused and weak she still looked into Jacob's eyes.

"...Pratt?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Is...is that you?"

She thought Jacob was Pratt? Maybe all of that pain was messing with her head. Regardless, Jacob could use this to his advantage if he played this right.

So, with all of the Pratt-ness he could muster, Jacob leaned in closer. "Are you ok?" He asked, trying to make his voice even a little similar to Pratt's.

"He's gonna...he's gonna kill me, Staci." The Deputy let out a tear and turned her head back to the ceiling.

It had been since they were stuck in that cabin together that Jacob had remembered how sincerely scared the Deputy could sound. "He's not going to kill you, he's trying to make you strong. If you're strong then you can survive." Jacob assured her but the Deputy shook her head as gently as she could.

     "He is going to...going to kill me." Her voice shook as she confided in her 'friend'. "Klaus...he told me...that he wouldn't hurt me, but he did. Jacob says he won't kill me...but he's lying. You know he's a liar, right?"

     Her words washed over Jacob like a massive wave. The Deputy truly believed that he was going to kill her. Well if the past has been any sort of guide then Jacob was sure she'd think like that, but the trials are to make her strong and his men made the call to beat her, not Jacob. Still, Jacob didn't want her to think that. He was convinced that Joseph would allow him to let her go now that he knew she wouldn't join them.

     Wait, let her go? What was Jacob thinking? This was the Deputy, she wouldn't let this go. She'd hunt down every last one of his hunters and kill anyone that got in her way. Maybe he should kill her, just to put her out of her misery. But if he did kill her then he'd be proving her right.

     What a fucked up situation Jacob was stuck in.

     "Staci you have to kill me." The Deputy said with a sudden clarity.

     "What?" Jacob asked astonished.

     "You have to kill me, please this pain...it's fucking with me...I can't handle this. I'm gonna...I'm gonna lose it if I stay this way. I can feel it...please. Just end it...if you're my friend then just end it." The Deputy begged, the painful inhale of her breaths sharpening from her talking.
    
     "I'm not going to kill you." Jacob tried to mimic Pratt's voice. "I can't kill you. If you just agree to help them then Jacob will give you morphine-"

     "If you won't then I will." The Deputy put a hard edge on her trembling voice.

     "What are you talking about?"

     "I'll handle it, just leave me something." Jacob took a step back, now he was really worried. The pain had gotten to her to the point where she would rather kill herself than let Jacob help her.

     "I'm not letting you." Jacob said in his Pratt voice.

     "This...this isn't me asking. This is me begging you. Please...it's just a trigger pull." The Deputy was convincing but there was no way in Hell he was going to just kill her like that.

     "No."

     "Maybe Jacob was right...you are strong now. You would have never...never been able to say no like that before..." The Deputy's voice faltered. Her head lulled to the side and Jacob could see her closed eyes.

     "Deputy?" Jacob edged closer to her, kneeling down again. "Deputy?" He pressed his fingers into her neck to feel for a pulse. It was there but it was weak. She must have passed out from the pain.

     He pulled his fingers away from her neck and studied her. Jacob had killed people before, a lot of people. Although his men did most of the killings, he was the one that ordered them to. But with the Deputy, he had no idea what was wrong with him. He hated to see her in pain, he hated to think that she hated him, he hated the idea of having to kill her. He wanted to protect her from the Collapse and from anyone that wanted to hurt her. What was so special about some angry, annoying Deputy that kept screwing with his plans?

     Then it occurred to him. He'd felt this way since they got off of the mountain. He'd been paying extra attention to her and her injuries after he saw how fragile she was. That trip and those nights, they were some of the most normal nights he'd had in years. Maybe he could have gotten the Deputy to come over to their side if he hadn't of locked that goddamn door...

     The Deputy was dying in front of him and everything in his body fought that. Finally he cursed and got out a medikit and pulled out the morphine. Even if she wasn't going to join them (which Jacob still thought could be possible) he'd be damned if he was just going to let her die.

     He found a vein and stabbed the needle in, making sure she didn't move her arm while he gave her the painkiller. He pulled out the depleted needle and cursed himself. What he just did could have killed the Project, by not killing the Deputy he put everything at risk. But the feeling of remorse in his stomach was fading away, instead being replaced by anger towards himself.

     "Fuck, why can't I just let you die?" He asked the sleeping Deputy. Then he waited, he waited for her breaths to become less laboured, waited for her to stop grimacing and groaning in pain whenever she moved. When it stopped Jacob left the room, placing his guards outside her door.

     It had been hours since Jacob gave the Deputy morphine and it was time for her to take more. He directed his doctor to give her morphine at the right times and planted himself at his desk outside the room. He didn't speak a word of anything that happened in that room to anybody, not John, not Joseph, not Pratt. Nobody had a clue as to what was happening.

     Then Joseph showed up out of the blue. He walked in to talk to Jacob and Jacob motioned for his guards to leave. "Hello, brother." Joseph greeted and walked over to Jacob's desk.

     "Hello Joseph." Jacob replied and set down the papers he was reading.

     "I heard word that you'd captured the Deputy, may I see her? I want to talk to her." Joseph asked but Jacob shook his head.

     "You can see her but she ain't talking." He said and got out of his chair, he walked over to the door and opened it for Joseph to let him through.

     It was immediate that Joseph saw her mangled face and weak body laying on the old bed frame. "What happened?" Joseph asked quietly.

     "Perry and his men beat her, but she still ran the trial perfectly." Jacob explained, staying by the door.

     "Has she said anything?" Joseph asked and walked over to her.

     "No, she tried to refuse morphine but I gave it to he anyway." It was scary for Jacob to tell Joseph that but he still did. He almost felt as if when he told him that then Joseph would be able to see right through his lie, thankfully he wasn't John.

      Joseph knelt down to the Deputy's level, carefully resting his palm on the crown of her head. He closed his eyes and said a prayer. "The Lord works in mysterious ways Jacob, like the way he brought me to you. He has brought us the Deputy, even if she is in pain he has brought her to us. In this moment we must show her the love of our family, not the harsh face of it." Joseph cupped the side of the Deputy's head. "She reminds me of my wife, this is what she looked like after the accident, when the doctors let me see her dead body." He spoke gently before he rose from the bed.

     Joseph turned to Jacob and walked until he was almost past him. Then he paused and turned to Jacob. "You've done well Jacob, even God cannot control the wrath of men." He said and left the room. Jacob looked back at the Deputy. She sure sounded better, the pained groan of her breathing had been reduced to a slight wheeze.

     Grace looked through her thermal binoculars, counting bodies surrounding the Veteran's Centre. "I've got four on the roof, seven on the grounds surrounding the building, and three by the front door." She spoke into her radio.

     The sun dipped behind the mountain, casting a cold shadow over the valley. The lights around the Veterans Centre clicked on, pooling light onto the barren ground. Armed guards made their rounds by the Centre, their fingers itching to pull the triggers on their guns. Grace was hidden by a large rock in the tree line, her line of sight was perfect to look right over the large wall that closed off the front green of the Centre.

     "I don't know how many are inside so be careful, I'll be watching your six." She said into the radio.

     "Got it." Jess's voice crackled over the radio. Grace waited in silence, not moving a muscle.

     "Make sure you hold back to see if Jacob takes the bait." Grace waited for a response.

     "Hey if there's anything I can do, it's wait." Jess responded and Grace sighed.

     After thirty minutes of silence, two trucks rolled out of the Veteran's Centre. "There he goes." Grace spoke into her radio and waited until the trucks were out of sight. "Ok Jess, make your move."

     A silent arrow flew through the air, landing in the neck of a guard on the roof. Jess took out the other three guards on the roof and Grace picked off four guards around the walls. "I've taken out four of the guards on the ground but the other three moved out of my sights." Grace waited for the guards to walk back around the front but started getting antsy. What if Jacob realized the 'explosion' he had to go check on was a diversion and care back before they could get the Deputy out.

     "I'm going in on foot, Sharky, Hurk you guys hang back until I radio you, got it?" Grace grabbed her binoculars and her gun and snuck from out behind her rock.

     "Alright amigos, Hurk and Sharky are awaiting instructions!" Hurk said (not quietly) into his radio. Grace stayed quiet but in her head she was groaning.

     Grace took care of the rest of the guards and moved behind a truck towards the front door. She reloaded and snuck underneath the truck to get a good shot on the guards standing on the steps.

     She was quick to get rid of them so that they didn't have the chance to call for backup.

     "Ok, Sharky and Hurk it's go time." Grace gave the word and crawled out from underneath the truck. She walked over to one of the dead guards and took one of their radios so that she could listen in to what Jacob was doing.

     From the dark tree line, Grace saw two, no three figures running to the Centre. In a line were Sharky, Hurk, and Wheaty all holding guns. Grace looked through the front door, trying to see anymore guards.

     Sharky and Hurk stopped first and Wheaty took up the rear. "How many are inside?" Sharky asked.

     "I don't know, but expect it to be crawling with Peggies. And you two, you can't go in guns blazing. If they see you coming there's a good chance they'll kill the Deputy so be quiet." Grace scolded and Sharky and Hurk both nodded.

     Grace gave them a nod and opened the front door. She, Sharky, Hurk, and Wheaty all went in different directions, taking out any guards or hunters they came up on.

     Wheaty stumbled into a room filled with wires and electronics and found two people strapped to chairs. Neither of them were the Deputy but Wheaty was able to free them and convince them to run.

     Grace took out more guards around the windows and staircases to make sure they wouldn't get busted.

     Sharky and Hurk went down the stairs into what appeared to be a basement. They split off in two directions. Hurk found a creepy room filled with dead bodies, no doubt the ending of the trials. He checked to make sure there weren't any survivors and moved on. Sharky found a room with a desk and papers all over it. He considered torching them but he remembered that Grace, Pastor Jerome, Eli, Jess, Nick, basically everyone that knew about this, had said to be quiet so he didn't.

     He killed two guards that were standing by some weird concrete door. Sharky didn't know what it was but since Jacob had guards in front of it then it must have been important. Surprisingly it didn't need a key, Sharky assumed that Jacob must not have thought anyone would be able to get into his fortress.

     Sharky chuckled to himself at the idea of Jacob being so prideful but then remembered he was on a mission. He opened the door, hefting his gun like he was ready for an attack.

     The room was dark, the only light spilling through the door from the lanterns outside it. It was pretty small with a dingy mattress and bed frame along the wall. Sharky almost turned around to leave when he heard something. It sounded almost like a whimper or a groan. He whipped back around and realized the figure on the bed wasn't a pile of blankets, it was a person!

     He rushed to the person's side and tried to recognize them through their ugly, misshapen face. "Holy shit, Dep is that you?" He asked but the figure couldn't respond.

     He quickly scrambled for his radio. "I found the Deputy, but she's in worse shape than we thought. I don't think she can walk out of here." He reported and waited for an answer.

     "Alrighty, Imma be right there, don't you worry Deputy!" Hurk said loudly into his radio and Sharky told him how to get to the room he was in. Then Sharky turned back to look at the Deputy.

     He'd never seen anyone in this bad a shape. The way her face was swollen and bruised she was almost unrecognizable. The only way he knew it was her was by her necklace, she always had on the same silver necklace with the small silver locket. He couldn't help but grimace when looking at her, it just looked so painful.

     Suddenly Hurk, Grace, and Wheaty were at the door. All of them clamouring to get inside.

     "We don't have much time, it won't take long for Jacob to realize it's a diversion." Grace said and looked over Sharky's shoulder.

     "Is that...?" Wheaty asked quietly.

     Sharky nodded. "It's her. C'mon Hurk you grab her legs, I'll get her shoulders, Wheaty you can get the butt area, but be gentle!" Sharky ordered and carefully hooked his arms underneath the Deputy's shoulders.

     He made sure her head was leaning back into his chest and wasn't dangling in a weird way before he waited for Hurk and Wheaty to get in their positions.

     Together they lifted the Deputy off the mattress, summoning a grunt of pain from the unconscious Deputy.

     When the guys walked past Grace she got a real look at the Deputy's face. It made her shudder but she quickly tried to ignore it and stay focused.

     "Ok we're about to be out of here. Jess, you make sure there isn't a single Peggie outside walking, got it?" Grace ordered into her radio.

     "I've got your back. You've got the Deputy?" Jess's voice asked.

     "We've got her. Tell Nick to the get van as close as he can, she's hurt really bad." Grace hooked her radio onto her vest and walked in front of the guys and the Deputy, keeping her eyes pealed for any Peggies still roaming around.

     They walked past a couple of dead Peggies but then they heard it.

     "It's a diversion! They're getting the Deputy!" A voice yelled into a radio somewhere in the house.

     "Goddamn it! You get her to that truck I'll take care of that fucking Peggie." She grabbed her radio. "Everybody get ready for the Deputy, our cover has been blown I repeat our cover has been blown!" Grace stormed upstairs in the direction of the voice and got her gun ready. When she reached the top of the stairs there was a Peggie standing over a radio system, getting ready to call again.

      Grace put a bullet through his head and ran back downstairs. The guys had gotten halfway down the front steps when a van peeled into the driveway. Virgil Minkler hopped out of the back of the van and beckoned them to bring the Deputy into the back. They all got in the van and slammed the doors shut.

     Grace jumped in the front seat with Nick and stuck her gun out the window. "Go, go, go!" She shouted and Nick stepped on the gas. He sped off the road and down through the forest, heading to a hidden trail that he'd used to drive there and avoid any Peggie road blocks.

     In the back of the van, everybody was hanging on. Sharky had the Deputy's head in his lap, trying to make sure she didn't slide to much. Hurk was sitting by her feet making sure they didn't move and Wheaty and Virgil were gripping their seats to try and not fall on top of the Deputy.

     Sharky kept a firm grip on the Deputy's shoulders while still making sure he wasn't hurting her. Hurk kept his hand on her ankles, which doesn't seem like much but it was successful in stopping her from sliding every time the van did. Eventually the bumpy trail through the woods turned into a dirt road which turned into the asphalt road.

     Virgil was attending to the Deputy's wounds, although most of them were already bandaged and taken care off. He placed chilled ice packs on the Deputy's cheeks hoping they'd help with the swelling. "I can't believe she's this hurt, I've never seen anyone survive something like this." Virgil marvelled and Wheaty threw him a look that said 'stop talking'.

     Sharky and Hurk were worried to say the least. Sharky hadn't stopped brushing the Deputy's hair back with his fingers since they'd gotten on the main road and Hurk had spent the whole drive praying to the Monkey King for the Deputy to be ok. Sharky kept talking to her, telling her all about the ass-kicking he was going to give Jacob for doing this to her.

     "But it's ok now, cause you're with us. And you always get better when you're with us! You'll be back to yourself in no time, I know you will Dep. Cause you're like a rubber band man, no matter how much you stretch you always bounce back. You'll bounce back, I know it." Was one of the things he mumbled on the way to the Wolf's Den.

     Nick was worried too. He was glad that the raid hadn't gone south but he was still worried about the Deputy. He'd seen her when Sharky, Wheaty, and Hurk brought her out and she looked like she was in real bad shape. He was relieved that she'd be taken care of now but still, just from her face he knew she'd been through a lot. And Grace could see it too.

     Nobody had seen her this beat before, most of time when anything happened the Deputy would crack a joke or make it seem like no big deal but she couldn't even do that. Part of Grace wondered if she'd ever go back to being like that.

     They couldn't lose the Deputy, not just because of her efforts in helping the Resistance but also because she was the best thing to happen to most of them in a long time. She was more than a Junior Deputy, she was family to many of them. She was Carmina's godmother, her and Grace were always together, she basically adopted Jess, she was Sharky and Hurk's best friend, she and Adelaide laughed together. None of them could imagine what would happen if she died, it was to painful.

     Because of this, they realized how much they really cared about her, and how much they wanted to tell her. They felt bad for leaving her alone to try and fight of Peggies and silently swore that she wouldn't be left alone anymore, not if they could help it.