Eden went back inside the Spread Eagle but no matter what she said, no one was interested in listening to her. There were a few people in the crowd trying to calm down their friends to no avail. The people of Falls End were ready for war.

     Jacob wasn't asleep.

     He was sitting at his desk in his room looking around at the mess in front of him. A single lamp lit the room, casting tall shadows over the scattered pieces of paper laid in front of him. Jacob's chest was tight and uneasy as he thought about what Joseph had said.

     Jacob didn't know if Joseph spoke to God, he didn't really care. His younger brother gave him a purpose that Jacob nearly lost, and every time he said something, he wound up being right. Part of him was almost hoping he was wrong this time, but Joseph wouldn't be. There was something Joseph wasn't telling his brothers and it was bothering Jacob more than he cared to admit.

     But instead of spending all of his time thinking about it, Jacob tried his best to ignore his thoughts and stay busy. Joseph had told him to prepare so that's what he was doing. They needed food in all the bunkers but now that they had a lot less people then they wouldn't need as much food. Same goes for medical supplies and water, but they still needed fuel and backup generators and enough supplies to grow food. It was a lot to pull together.

     Jacob was finishing adding up some numbers when his phone rang.

     "Yeah." Jacob answered. On the other end of the phone was the sound of arguing so loud Jacob almost couldn't hear what the person was saying.

     "Can you hear me?" A familiar voice spoke loudly to try to amplify herself over the yelling.

     "Yeah I can hear you what the hell is going on?"

     "Sharky and Hurk were driving around in the Henbane river territory and an explosion knocked their truck off the road. Now they think the project planned it to get under our skin." Eden explained the best she could through all of the background noise.

Jacob rubbed his forehead and groaned. "Were they injured?"

"No they weren't thankfully, if they were you would have a furious mob heading your way right now."

"It doesn't sound like they're too happy." Jacob observed.

"I'm trying my best to calm them down but every time I do they just get riled up again... Jacob I don't know how this is going to shake out, these people are pissed." Eden admitted, Jacob could sense the fear in her voice when she said it.

"I'll tell Joseph and I'll figure something out."

"Ok, I don't know what these people are willing to do Jacob, you might want to act quickly." Eden warned and hung up the phone.

"Noted." Jacob hung up the phone and glanced around.

There's no way that an explosion targeting two Resistance members just happened, someone planned this.

He got up from his desk and grabbed his hunting knife off of the corner of his desk; Something told him that he would need it soon.

     He took one of the trucks from the front parking area and drove to Joseph's church. When he rounded the corner the compound gate was open as usual and he drove right in. Then he stopped the truck in front of the church and got out to walk up to the church.

     The cold night air made Jacob breath in deeply, smelling the dirt and pine trees around the compound. Jacob looked to the front of the church and saw that the front door was open and letting the light from inside spill out across the ground, the sound of a hymn being sung gave Jacob goosebumps.

     The hymn was familiar, slow and drawn out. The song was being sung by at least 30 people, echoing off the walls of the church. He wasn't going to interrupt the hymn so Jacob stood by the door and listened to the church sing. He never sang along to the hymns, never. His job was to protect the flock, not join them in a sing-a-long. But despite his resistance to the hymns Jacob did sometimes enjoy listening to the rest of the flock sing.

     When they sang they were all connected, not different voices but one voices singing to something bigger than themselves. It was almost haunting to hear them, especially at night when the song seemed to get directly under your skin and flesh and make you shiver. He's seen these songs bring people to tears just by listening to them. Tears. Over a simple song.

     It never made sense to him, but he didn't want to take the time to try and understand it, so he watched them sing and join hands and sway to the sound of their own voices.

     Joseph always wanted Jacob to try and be more active with the rest of the project but he always had more important things to do so he left the personable side to his siblings.

     After another song, Joseph ended the sermon and the members of the project filed out of the church, going back to their houses and beds for the night. Jacob walked into the church and up to where Joseph was standing, looking down at the Book of Joseph in his hands. Even after the crowd had gone, there was still an air of the songs around them, almost as if the church itself was quietly preaching.

     "We need to talk." Jacob said and Joseph rose his head to look at his brother.

     "What must we speak of?" His brother asked and Jacob explained what happened while Joseph listened patiently.

     "I see. A very strange accident, I'm glad none of our flock got hurt." Joseph said simply.

     "There is no way this was an accident." Jacob said determined.

     "Perhaps it was, or perhaps it was planned." Joseph spoke as if he weren't telling the whole truth, Jacob could tell.

     "The Deputy didn't plan this."

     Joseph took one step down the stairs of the stairs of the church landing. He got closer to Jacob, making intense eye-contact as he studied him. "This is God's plan, Jacob. Do not let sin drive you away from the path of righteousness." Joseph's voice was tense, which was very unusual for him.

"I'm not being driven away, I'm being observant." Jacob fired back in an equally tense tone. Jacob had no idea if Joseph knew anything about what had happened between him and the Deputy but he certainly wasn't going to give in and tell him now.

"I have sensed a change in you brother, something is different in your eyes and in your soul. I pray for the sake of you and my children that it is for the right reasons." Joseph paused, his eyes never parting from Jacob's. His voice was never louder than his usual, hypnotic whisper, but his words were stronger than any amount of shouting. "Rest tonight, in the morning this accident will be taken care of."

     With that message Joseph was finishing talking. He didn't move but Jacob felt the urge to turn around and walk away. He always hated how his brother could do that.

     Jacob turned around and left the church, stepping out of the warm, soulful church and into the dark and cold night; Joseph's words still making his skin crawl in anticipation of what was to come.

(Authors note: Sorry this took so long to publish 😭 the next part of this story is so important I've honestly been debating how to do this since I've started writing this story but I've finally figured it out!!! I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope I can publish it as soon as possible! 💗💗💗(also sorry this chapter is so short 👀))