X 2 Years Ago X

Stumbling through the the dark forest of the White Tail mountains, Mason Black was doing everything in his power just to stay conscious.

The young man looked as though he had crawled off a battlefield, his clothes torn with various cuts and bruises covering wherever his skin was exposed. One eye swollen shut with dried blood caked under his nose and around his mouth. His left hand clamped tightly over a bullet wound in his right side while his other held an almost spent pistol.

He'd been through hell. There was no other way to describe it. The things he had seen and endured would have broken most people, he had been pushed so close to the edge of losing his sanity at the hands the most merciless of Joseph Seed's heralds.

Time had meant nothing to Mason, both now and while he'd been in captivity. How long had he been out here? Hours? Days? It was too hard to remember really. All he could recall was all the pain, physical and mental.

Tripping over a fallen tree, he collapsed to the ground on his uninjured side, weapon falling from his grasp as he laid on the forest floor unable to get back up. Too weak to go on any further.

This was it. He was going to die in the middle of the mountains like a wounded animal on its last legs. The only silver lining in all of this was that his sister had managed to escape capture. He could die knowing that at least she was safe.

Mason's eyes grew heavy and began to close, his consciousness leaving him as darkness creeped in around the edges. Remembering the best moments of his life as he faded...he never felt the ground shake from an impact not too far away.

X

In a small crater, a chunk of rock no bigger than a basketball smoldered and hissed from its descent from the heavens. The meteorite having traveled a long distance finally landing on the blue planet.

Several minutes passed as the rock cooled off, the surface cracking open like an egg from the change in temperature...then something moved.

Within the meteorite, a black, ink-like substance began to ooze through the cracks. Coming to life and slithering away from the still very heated stone while it took in its new surroundings.

The creature had journeyed far and was weak, the only thing on its mind was finding the one thing that would maintain its survival;

A host.

Without another living creature to bond with, the being wouldn't live for very long. But not just any host would do. They needed to be strong enough to bond with on a deep level. A weak host would only sustain it for so long before it would be at risk of death once again.

Extending out its senses, it detected a lifeform close to where it had landed and began to move in that direction. Using a series of tendrils extending from its body to slither across the forest floor which itself was a daunting task for the weakened creature.

When it reached the lifeform, it saw that it was injured and at risk of dying. The creature reached out with several tendrils and latched onto it, almost instantly feeling a positive connection with the other being. Relief passing through it at having found a host.

But it needed to act quickly before the lifeform expired.

Crawling closer, the creature began covering its soon-to-be-host. Burrowing itself into its very flesh and bonded with their system while accelerating the healing of its new host and bringing them back from the brink of death.

Once it was sure its new host would survive their injuries, the creature made itself comfortable while it accessed the being's thoughts and memories. Learning everything it needed about this world and the lifeforms that inhabited it.

X

Mason opened his eyes and blinked. Finding himself laying on the forest floor where he had fallen the night before. The sun having risen and was shining through the canopy of trees that surrounded him.

Pushing himself up into a sitting postion, he was surprised that he was even able to do so given how he had been before. Infact, he didn't feel any pain at all.

Looking down at his still dirty and torn clothes, he lifted his shirt and gasped when he saw the bullet wound he had gotten was fully healed. Not even a scar, just smooth skin and dried blood caked around where it had been.

"...What? How?" he wondered, still in shock about what had happened.

He didn't have long to dwell on this as he heard the sounds of shouting, dogs barking and the rumble of small engines.

"Shit!" Mason cursed, quickly getting to his feet and taking off in a dead run into the trees. Gunfire could be heard, the rounds pelting around him, weaving in and around the many trunks to keep out of sight of his pursuers.

Dodging another shot, he ended up slamming into a fallen tree that was blocking the way...and ended up crashing through it. Sending splinters flying different directions as he landed in the dirt.

Shaking his head, Mason suddenly found himself yanked to his feet by an unknown force and was running again. Skidding to a stop when he heard and saw people closing in on him on all sides, finding no direction to go.

A dozen PEG followers arrived, a couple on ATVs and around five white wolves with red crosses painted on their heads. The animals sniffing around the trees but enable to locate their prey.

"Where'd he go? He was just here!" one of the cultists shouted, hands tight on the rifle in his hands.

"Spread out, find him! You know what'll happen if we disappoint Jacob!" ordered another as they fanned out and began searching.

Meanwhile, high above the forest floor, Mason sat on a tree branch looking down at the ground several meters below. His face of shock and surprise as he tried to figure out how he got up there.

X Present X

The metal hatch leading to the bunker unlocked from the inside and opened, Mason stepping out into the warm, early afternoon sunlight with an AK-MS assault rifle fitted with a reflex sight in hand that he swept the surrounding area with.

Outfitted with a rig harness that held spare clips, a Beretta 92FS pistol holstered on his right leg and a scoped TAC-15 crossbow slung over his shoulder with a quiver of arrows across his lower back.

When he was sure the coast was clear, he made a sharp whistle over his shoulder. Liz came out of the bunker and joined him. Her gun-belt around her waist with her Glock-9 service weapon holstered and ready, an M133 shotgun across her back and a MS16 rifle in her hands with a scope and silencer attached to it.

"Sure you can handle that?" Mason asked the Junior Deputy as he closed and sealed up the hatch behind them.

"My dad used to take me shooting a lot, trust me, I can handle it." Liz replied with confidence. Mason nodded before leading them both into the foliage that surrounded the bunker's entrance. After they had armed up, he had shown her a map of the island they were on as well as footage from the cameras hidden in the trees in key places where a couple of Peggie groups had posted themselves in the last few hours.

They needed to act quickly and take them out before figuring out what to do next.

Keeping low and out of sight, the duo came upon two Peggies that were beating on a man in hunting gear with his hands bound behind his back.

Mason quickly swapped his rifle for his crossbow and aimed down the sights. "I got the one on the left, you take right." Liz nodded, bringing her silenced rifle up and sighted her target. The crossbow released an arrow with a slight whisper, the sharp end burying into the temple of the cultist beating the man and dropping him to the ground.

The second Peggie snapped his head around only for it to blossom crimson after a soft chirp from the Junior Deputy's rifle was made.

With the PEG followers down, they quickly moved down to the beaten hunter and helped him to his feet. "Thanks...those fucks just came outta nowhere and jumped me." he said after Mason took out a knife and cut his arms free of their bindings. "What the hell's going on? They kept talking about some kind of reaping."

"Seed's let his damn cult off their leash." said Mason seriously, "They're taking anything and anyone they want and killing those who get in their way. My advice would be to get home and arm up. These bastards are coming for everyone."

The man gave his thanks before gathering up his dropped gear and jogging through the woods in the opposite direction.

"I can't believe they'd just attack someone in broad daylight." said Liz, her eyes looking down at the men they had just killed.

It was almost hard to believe that the night before was the first time she took a human life, let alone several. But she also knew that it was a part of the job she had taken on and had prepared for it to happen.

However, given what she had learned with what these bastards were doing to innocent people. The guilt one would feel for killing them was barely noticeable.

"It's not that surprising to me and a lot of other folks around here." Mason stated, reloading a fresh arrow into his crossbow as they started moving again. "A lot of deaths and disappearances happened around Hope for the last few years. Everyone had a belief the PEG was involved in some way, but there was never enough evidence to prove it. Seed's got his influence in a lot of places, probably paid off people to keep from being found out."

Liz thought back to the previous night, and the revelation that Nancy was actually working for the cult the whole time. "Our department was compromised." anger flashed up and down her spine, "They knew what was going to happen when we went out there, probably tipped Joseph off. Our own people sold us out."

"Seed's a dangerous man. He prays on the faith and weaknesses of others, indoctrinating them, and then has them do his dirty work." Mason said grimly. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

The Junior Deputy gave him a surprised look, "Matthew 7:15." she stated, knowing the verse from the bible.

"Was raised in a Christian family. Can't think of a better analogy for what's happening right now." came the reply. They trekked along one of the small trails and up onto a ridge line that overlooked a ranger station near the water.

Mason knelt down, digging through one of his pockets and pulled out a pair of binoculars, Liz doing the same with the scope of her rifle. Both of them finding cultists milling around the station, a mix of both men and women dressed in dirty clothes baring the PEG insignia.

"I count eight." said the Junior Deputy.

"Ten. Two in the station." Mason added on after seeing the zealots through the building's windows. He lowered his binoculars and turned to his companion, "Too many for a frontal assault, we need to hit them at different angles."

Liz nodded, "Suggestions?"

He motioned to the trail beside them that went around, "I'll head around back and flank them, you set yourself up here and start picking them off. Just wait for my signal." Mason readied his crossbow and crept down the trail.

The young woman carefully rolled her bandaged shoulder a bit before laying down and hiding in the tall grass. Her MS16 propped up on a rock just big enough to support the barrel, stock against her shoulder, scope to her eye and finger hovering over the trigger as she waited.

X

"She is surprisingly capable." Mason heard his other whisper in the back of his mind as he crept through the brush that surrounded the occupied ranger station.

"Given when she's been through, I'm just as surprised as you are. Though she's a Deputy for a reason." the host thought back. He reached the station in under a minute, being sure to remain out of sight through use of the thick foliage or the handful of crates that were set up around the small building.

One of the Peggies milling around was leaning against one such crate, rifle aimed at the ground and not paying attention to his surroundings.

Setting his crossbow down, Mason snuck up behind the cultist. Hand clamping over his mouth with arm going tight around his neck, the man gave a brief struggle before the host twisted sharply. The low crunch of a broken neck and the body in his grip going limp allowing him to drag him behind a pile of rocks out of sight.

Reacquiring his crossbow, Mason came up to the side of the ranger station and peered through the open window.

The two Peggies he had seen from a distance were still inside, going through cabinets and drawers most likely looking for anything useful for their so called 'righteous cause'. There was also three bodies on the floor in pools of blood, two in ranger uniforms and the last wearing fishing gear, their hands bound behind their backs with bullet holes in the back of their heads .

They'd been executed.

Mouth set in a grim line, Mason carefully slipped through the window and into the station. His feet barely making a sound on the wood floor as he slowly moved toward his targets, drawing a knife from his boot as he came up behind the first Peggie.

With quick reflexes, he yanked the man's head back and slit his throat. The surprise gurgle of his comrade caught the attention of the second cultist, but he was met with a bloody blade piercing into his right eye socket.

The host lowered his arm after throwing the knife after as the body hit the ground. "Brothers? What's going on in there?" a female Peggie entered the station, assault rifle in hand only to freeze when she saw the scene before her.

Before she even had a chance to alert the rest of her friends, Mason had drawn his Beretta and fired three shots through her chest.

"Well, so much for stealth." Venom commented as shouting was heard following the gunshots.

"Shut up." Mason muttered back as he swapped his sidearm for his AK-MS rifle and pressing his back to the wall beside the door. Leaning out with his weapon braced on the frame, he fired controlled bursts at the incoming Peggies. Managing to take down another before the rest dropped into cover.

Bullets ripped into the doorframe, forcing the host into cover to avoid getting hit. He heard the cultists shouting to one another, coming up with a plan before one called out louder than the rest;

"Behind us! There are more sinners in-" the voice was cut off meaning that Liz was picking them off from her vantage point.

Mason rounded the doorway and exited the station, firing his rifle at a nearby stack of crates and forcing the Peggie in cover to stumble back in alarm before a silenced shot caught him in the side of the head.

Another woman dressed in PEG garb came at him with a baseball bat, screaming in what could be considered a warcry. One that was silenced with a short burst to her center of mass that dropped her face first to the dirt.

"For the Father!" the host jerked his head around to see the last standing Peggie running toward him with a lit molotov cocktail in hand. Venom recoiled at the incoming threat of fire while Mason raised his rifle to fire-

Only for the bottle to explode in the cultist's hand, sending flaming alcohol all over him and lighting him ablaze.

The Peggie screamed, flailing around in a vain attempt to but out the fire before collapsing into a flaming heap. The smell of burning flesh permeating the air.

Lowering his weapon, Mason looked over the crackling corpse and saw Liz approaching with her rifle in hand. "Nice shooting, Deputy." the host called out.

"Same to you." she replied while surveying the bodies around them. "Think that's all of them?"

"For now." Mason looked at one of the crates that was marked with the PEG sigil, the wood of one side broken away revealing the contents which caught his attention. "But we got bigger trouble." he wrenched the crate open more to reveal lime-green barrels inside.

Liz came up beside him, "What is it?"

"Bliss." he replied, turning his attention toward the station and heading that way. The female Deputy following him as he went around the building toward a small dock where more barrels were set up, some of them empty.

"The bastards are dumping the shit in the river..." the host nearly growled, hands tightening around his rifle and almost bending the metal from his enhanced strength. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Mason turned to Liz. "Com'mon, let's head back to the bunker and plan our next step."

X 2 Years Ago X

It had taken a few days, but Mason had managed to get out of the Whitetail mountains without drawing the attention of Seed's followers. A couple days after that, he managed to get back to his family's old home.

The place had been derelict since his parents had been killed, but it was the perfect place to get out of sight for a while.

Despite having to live off the land for almost a week, he had been relatively in good shape. Though his hunger while out in the forests and hills around Hope County was a bit ravenous. At one point he'd eaten several fish straight from the river while they were still flopping around, but he had written it off as being starved for a while before hand.

When he finally got into the house and locked the doors and windows tight, Mason's first move was to bathe. A weeks worth of blood, sweat and grime really didn't feel too good. After that he got into a fresh pair of clothes while he tried to figure out what to do next. Thankfully the wells on the property still had water in them even through everything else had been switched off.

There was no way he could tell anyone else, the damn PEG had their hands in too much around the county and probably other places outside of it. He wouldn't put it past Seed and his flunkies to be on the lookout for him either given that he managed to escape one of his sadistic brothers.

He just couldn't believe it, everything had gone to hell so quickly. Now his uncle was dead and his sister was in the wind, though he knew deep down that she was alright. He needed to find a way to contact her to let her know that he was alive and what happened.

After that, they needed to relocate to their uncle's old bunker. There was more than enough supplies for a dozen people there and they could lay low for a bit until the heat died down. Then...then it was time to strike back at the PEG bastards.

When he finished freshening himself up, Mason leaned against the sink in the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His complexion pale and dark circles under his eyes.

He felt feverish, it started not long after he escaped the mountains. He couldn't explain it, but something just felt...off.

Taking another look at his reflection, Mason took a deep breath to calm his already frayed nerves-

"Mason."

The young man threw himself backwards in surprise, tripping over his own feet and landing in the shower behind him hard.

Groaning, he slowly climbed out of the tub rubbing his head while glancing around the bathroom. No one else was here other than him...but he swore that he had just heard a voice.

Shaking his head, he left the bathroom and headed out to the living room. All of the furniture was still there, but had a strong layer of dust given how long it had been since someone had been there.

The home hadn't been lived in since that horrible day.

A loud pounding at the door had his head turning in that direction, all his senses now on high alert.

"Don't open that door." the same voice he had heard in the bathroom suddenly spoke.

"What-" Mason's outer thought was cut off when the front door of the house was kicked in and half a dozen Peggies stormed inside with automatic weapons and shotguns at the ready.

"Stay where you are sinner!" one of them shouted as a seventh man entered, this one dressed in a long black trench coat marking him as a higher-level member of the cult.

"It was a mistake to run." he said as he stepped closer to the younger man. "The Father and his heralds are only so forgiving to those who refuse our enlightenment."

Mason glared heatedly at him, "Tell your father and the rest of his psycho family to go fuck themselves."

One of the cultists slammed the butt of his shotgun into his stomach, dropping him to his knees. "Be silent, sinner! Do not speak ill of the father!"

Coughing, Mason grit his teeth at the Peggies, wanting nothing more than to tear them apart.

"Then let me offer a hand."

Without warning his arm acted on its own and snapped toward the zealot who had struck him, a long tendril made of black, oil-like flesh launching from it. Sending the Peggie crashing into the wall with enough force to send him through it.

To shocked at the sudden turn of events, the Peggies didn't react quick enough as Mason's other arm snapped out, a second tendril grabbing another cultist by the neck and throwing him into the ceiling.

Yanked to his feet, both of Mason's arms shot forward and grabbed two other Peggies by the face and pulled. Sending both men flying behind him and slamming them into the kitchen. One of the cultists managed to overcome their shock and tried to shoot him only to get backhanded hard enough to send him through a window.

A smaller tendril slipped out of his foot and grabbed the leg of a small coffee table before sending it flying at another cultist where it broke across his face.

Looking at his hands, Mason saw what could have been considered black webbing stretching between his open palms. "What the...What the hell is this?!" he exclaimed as his arms moved on their own and wrapped around the a Peggie's neck and spun them around.

"Not what, who." the voice spoke, the grip tightening on the cultists neck before throwing them to the floor and snapping their head to the side.

Black flesh with grey veins stretched across his legs before Mason spun in the air and kicked two other cultists in the head. "Oh, shit." Mason muttered at what he had just done before a tendril shot from his shoulder and attached to a wall and yanked him out of the way as two Peggies fired their assault rifles at him. Dropping behind a couch, he kicked with both his legs sending the piece of furniture flying and flattening them to the floor.

Flipping back to his feet, Mason clothes lined a cultist that ran at him from behind. His arm shot up just as another tried to club him with a baseball bat, the blunt object shattered into splinters when it struck. The same arm became covered with the same black tissue as his legs, his hand becoming larger and covered in claws as he grabbed the zealot by the neck. Lifting him clean off the ground effortlessly and choke slamming him hard to the floor.

He looked at all the damage he had done and all of the bodies he left scattered across the room in stunned silence.

"What...how did I..."

"Outstanding! Now, let's bite all their heads off and piled them up in the corner." said the same voice from before in excitement.

"Why the fuck would we do that?" said Mason, trying desperately to understand just what the hell was going on.

"Pile of bodies, pile of heads." came the reply as if it were a good thing.

From the front door, another Peggie appeared with shotgun raised only for a tendril to shoot out of Mason's back and spear them through the stomach. Yanking free a moment later as the body collapsed.

Mason shook his head, deciding it was best to get out of sight and fast before anymore Peggies showed up. Heading out the front door of his old home, he found several vehicles belonging to the PEG. He quickly found an ATV with the keys still in it and jumped on, revving the engine and taking off into the night.

All the while trying to figure out what was going on with him.

X

A/N: Another update with some action and more than a little backstory to boot. Throughout the coming chapters more of Mason and Venom's past will come to light with plenty more kickass moments to go with it.

The fight to liberate Hope County will begin next time folks. Keep reading and reviewing out there!