Somewhere in the Canyons of Arizona
The death of a Jane Doe, a woman previously found eight months pregnant by the side of the road, before committing su!cide in the hospital that she was brought to, according to the facility's records. The island she came from, town of Temple Gate, where the residents sacrificed all their children in the name of God, a violent, delirious Christian cult led by preacher Sullivan Knoth, who r4pes the local women and, once they are pregnant, executes them on suspicion of carrying the Antichrist. Knoth claims that Temple Gate lies on the mouth of Hell. It’s not just those “Christian’s”. There’s a Satanic splinter group known as the 'Heretics', and their androgynous yet extremely lustful leader Val, who wish to hasten Judgement Day by witnessing the Antichrist's birth. And not just that! In the forest, is the syphilis-infected 'Scalled', who were cast out from Temple Gate. The leader of the Scalled’s is the abusive, dwarfish leader Laird Byron and his hulking mount Nick Tremblay. A document revealing that the Murkoff Corporation is responsible for everyone's insanity in the region due to an experimental mind control station hidden deep in the mountains, which is also the cause of the blinding light.
BANG!
A flash of light momentarily stunned you, but had also stunned the hostile villagers around you that had been trying to maim you. You use that time to quickly run, running past the dead crows that were recently killed and squalor, running past the remains of dead infants, running past the townsfolk. Unlucky for you, you fell a few cliffs. You stayed on the ground for a bit, regaining your bearings when the sound of footsteps caught your attention. But you were seeing double. A man walks besides you. He’s is a middle-aged man of average stature with partially receding brown hair and stubble. His face has several fresh bruises, more prominently on the left side of his face, as well as a small cut on his bottom lip. He appears to wear a dirty four-buttoned shirt, dark rural trousers and a pair of brown leather boots. Unlike several members of the Testament, he does not appear to have any deformed or features caused by possible inbreeding.
“You're them, ain't you?“
when the man in your vision didn’t get a reply, he thought you had died.
“Knoth's eye, they killed you didn't they?”
you forced yourself to speak up, letting him know your alive. For now-
“Well they'll do it if they find you out here. Come on.”
he lends out a hand, helping you stand. He leads you down a path, talking on the way
“My name's Ethan.”
you asked why he isn’t trying to kill you, what side he’s on. It’s the first time you’ve met someone like this.
“You mean why ain't I trying to kill you? I been... Unborn. Seen too much to keep the faith… Didn’t say squat when my wife was scalled, had to get cast out. Didn’t complain when knoth.. pressed himself on my Anna Lee. And She not but fifteen.”
how awful. His daughter was raped by that fuck, Sullivan Knoth. This island is fucked.
“But when he said my grandson. The baby he'd put in her, was might the anti-Christ and I had to slit her belly and kill the child…”
he trailed off. The two of you walked to his house, a small fire in a metal oil drum, lighting up the surroundings. He made it to the steps, turning around to you and crossing his arms.
“I gave her chance to run. Spun them idiots some stories. I been gifted with talk my whole life. You probably noticed. Come on. Get you inside.”
yet right when you entered his humble home, the injury began to show painfully, making you stumble and see double again.
“Whoah. Whoah, hey there. You really busted your head open didn't you.”
he said that as more of a statement, concerned. After you assured him you were fine he led you to his root cellar.
“Head down into the root cellar. got a bed down there. You can hide... "til you're fixed up. It's all right. You just relax here, I'll keep you safe. You rest up and heal. Ethan's gonna treat you right.”