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Staci shivered in the cold of the room. While Jacob had eventually given him warmer clothes, he wasn't allowed access to socks or shoes unless Jacob or another chosen was there to take him somewhere else. Which was a rare event. Jacob kept him locked in his rooms in the bunker for most of the time now that the Collapse was approaching and he was moving all of his operations into the bunker as preparation.
Outside of the family dinner with Jacob, Rook and Joseph, Staci hadn't left the bunker at all, and had only left Jacob's rooms twice otherwise. Jacob had an attached bathroom that Staci used when needed. Otherwise, he was left in the room, alone unless Jacob was there.
Jacob was in the bunker but was somewhere else right now, Staci had overheard him talking about interrogating Eli and running some trials on him and the other members of the Whitetail Militia.
After his and Rook’s discussion of hobbies had come up, and Joseph had stepped in, Staci had been given four books from Jacob. All four were related to nutrition and health and cooking, and apparently all of them came from John. Staci was under strict instructions to read and study all four of them, to help better him for future jobs he was going to do.
He was currently making his way through what looked like the easiest of the four books. It was the only one which was just a cookbook about cooking and recipes for people who liked camping and long haul hiking.
As he shivered again, Staci tried to rearrange the blankets on the bed in a way that would actually keep him warm. As he opened the book again, the heavy door to the room swung open and Silas, one of Jacob’s chosen, walked in.
“Come on, Pratt,” He tossed Staci a pair of boots that had some socks shoved in them as he spoke. “Get your shoes and let’s go. Jacob needs you for something.” He watched as Staci scrambled to pull the socks and boots on.
“What does he need?” Staci asked, with only a little hesitation in his question. While Silas was not the nicest person he had ever spoken to, he was never outright mean to Staci.
“I didn’t ask,” Silas’s flat tone had Staci suppressing a flinch as he finished trying on his boots. “Let’s go.”
There was something about leaving Jacob’s quarters that had Staci feeling a level of anxiety as he waited for Silas to seal the door. As he followed Silas to wherever Jacob was, he tried to pay attention to where he was going. Jacob’s Armory was almost maze-like with how the hallways seemed to be exactly the same. It was very regimented and unchanging. The signage that was going up hadn’t been finished, and Staci knew it was not planned to be finished until after the collapse. Jacob had decided to wait so that if anyone escaped from their cell they would have a harder time navigating to find their friends and find their way out.
“Brother Jacob is in this room,” Silas opened a door that looked the same as the rest and gestured Staci inside.
“Glad you finally made it, Peaches,” Jacob didn’t turn to face Staci from where he stood near a desk in this room.
Staci almost asked how Jacob knew it was him, but he closed his mouth as he realized that all of the anxiety he’d been feeling was rapidly disappearing as he got closer to Jacob. The twisted bond Jacob had been working on forming was coming in well. It was turning into an invisible leash tying him to Jacob.
“What do you want, Jacob?” Staci moved to stand behind Jacob’s shoulder looking at the desk in front of him.
The desk had plans and notations all over it, files labeled Eli Palmer, Tammy Barnes and Mark Barnes in front of him. It was a little concerning to Staci that seeing the files on the desk like this felt normal. Being summoned to Jacob’s side to do what was hopefully just basic secretarial work brought a level of familiarity to Staci. He had done things like this at the station and after so long in Jacob’s care, this felt natural.
“Both Tammy and Eli’s soulmates are dead,” Jacob’s hand trailed over the file for Mark Barnes, a name Staci had seen littered around before. Mark had come and joined them, even if he had failed his sacrifice.
“From my understanding, you arranged it for Tammy to kill Mark,” Staci quietly added when it became clear that Jacob wasn’t going to add anything to the conversation past that.
“I did. She was always stronger than him, and it was nice to prove it,” Jacob didn’t seem to be very keen on saying anything more.
“And Eli’s soulmate died long before the church found its way to the county,” Staci continued, thinking of the kind old lady Eli was mated and married to. She was always polite even when she was threatening men with her shotgun.
“She did,” Jacob turned and looked at Staci. His blue eyes, scanned Staci over, top to bottom.
“What do you know of Mary May Fairgrave?” Jacob’s sudden topic switch had Staci blinking as he looked at Jacob.
“The owner of the Spread Eagle?” Staci almost wondered what happened to her, now that the Project had succeeded everywhere. He knew her well enough, as a member of the Sheriff’s department he went to the bar often to break up fights. He was there when she and Grace met for the first time and learned they were soulmates. And he also knew how much Mary May hated the project after what happened to her family. There was no way she wouldn’t fight against anything and everything the project did.
“Would you call her strong?” Jacob’s question pulled at something within Staci, the serious tone it had spoke volumes about what Jacob was asking in his question.
Staci paused as he thought over what he knew of Mary May. He thought of what he had heard about her smuggling alcohol around the county during the events after the failed arrest and how she helped fortify Fall’s End.
“She can be. With the right persuasion.” Staci said carefully, slowly.
Jacob nodded in the silence after Staci finished, before moving towards the door.
“Silas, tell John I’ll take Fairgrave and Armstrong. Prepare a cell for them,” Jacob barked out into the hallway. Staci could hear a faint “Yes, Jacob” before footsteps were heard as SIlas presumably left to go follow Jacob’s orders.
“C’mon Peaches, we need to go have a chat with some prisoners,” Jacob didn’t wait to see if Staci listened, he just marched out the door as Staci rushed to hurry up and follow along.
It was a shorter distance this time, the room they were in before had probably been functioning as an office to better organize prisoner files. That didn’t mean the hallways were any less confusing, but it was less for Staci to try and memorize.
More and more noises started ringing out as they marched deeper into the cells, the background sound of chatter filling the spaces in between as people ignored the radio broadcasts Jacob had broadcasting over the speaker system to keep the prisoners up to date on the world outside of Hope County.
As they approached the cell that Staci knew was earmarked for Eli, he took a deep breath in. This was going to be hard, but he had heard and seen worse. He was strong now, and he could handle whatever Jacob wanted to do.