Bounty
Chapter 1: Remember My Family
Jack Marston stared at his High Powered Pistol, the pistol he just used to gun down Edgar Ross, the very same pistol Ross gave Jack's father John Marston three years earlier in his hunt for Dutch van der Linde. Jack questioned his decision, he felt a sense of gratification from avenging his father's death, while feeling like he let John down. "Did my pa really want this for me?" Jack asked himself. He walked away from Ross's corpse which laid in the river, Jack mounted his black American Standardbreed horse and rode away. He headed across the border back to America, he crossed the bridge into New Austin. He rode a mile away from the river and set up camp, as he sat by the fire he lit a cigarette and replayed the incident in his head. The day the US Army attacked his family's home, he remembered them shooting Uncle, he remembered John making them leave, finally he remembered hearing gunfire and riding back to the farm with his mother to find his father's corpse laying in a pool of blood in front of the barn. He remembered his father's body full of holes and bullets, Jack screamed at this flashback and stood up. He pulled out his gun and started shooting the birds that flew by, when he was out of steam he reloaded his gun and holstered it.
The next morning Jack woke up to the sound of gunfire and horses running, he got up to see what had happened. A small army of soldiers were riding his way with their guns aimed at him, the commanding officer stopped in front of Jack and dismounted. "Hold your fire!" He shouted at the posse. "What's the problem, sir?" Jack asked the soldier. "You know the problem Mr. Marston." A voice said coming from a man in a black suit and bowler hat walking through the crowd of soldiers. "I'm Agent Fordham." The man told Jack. "You worked for Edgar Ross?" Jack asked him. "Yes I did, and you are under arrest for his murder." Fordham replied. "I heard he was killed by Banditos in Mexico." Jack told Fordham. "You can't fool me with that lie Mr. Marston, we've been tracking you since you left Blackwater a week ago. We have men who witnessed you murdering Agent Ross, you're gonna go away for a long time," Fordham replied. Jack drew his pistol and took cover behind a rock, he shot the commanding officer. Fordham ran behind the posse of soldiers who were now shooting at Jack, Jack stayed in cover picking off soldiers when he had a shot. He spent ten minutes picking off soldiers, when they were all dead and only Fordham was left Jack stood up.
Jack aimed his pistol at Fordham, the FBI agent looked at the young gunslinger. "You're a pretty good shot, that's good. You're gonna work for me, in exchange for your freedom." Fordham told Jack. "No thanks, I have seen how you treat men who do your dirty work." Jack replied. "Ross was a snake, I wasn't there when your father was killed. I transferred to a different state when the order came down, I am a man of my word. You help me and I clear the bounty on your head." Fordham told Jack. Jack holstered his weapon and looked at Fordham, Fordham put a cigarette in his mouth and gave one to Jack. Jack stuck a match and lit his cigarette, he used the same match to light Fordham's. "Walton's Gang has been growing here in New Austin, along with the Ballard Twins. I want you to clear them out, the Marshal in Armadillo has retired and the police there has weakened. I want the head of the Walton Gang and the new head of the Ballard Twins, the leader of the Waltons is a young man by the name of Bill Lowe, he's te nephew of Walton Lowe the former head of the. Walton gang who your father helped capture. The head of the Ballard Twins is a woman about 18 named Jessica Ballard, watch out for her she's a cold blooded killer." Fordham told Jack. He turned around and mounted his horse, he looked at the dead soldiers that lay scattered on the ground. "Don't worry about these men, I heard a group of bandits killed them." Fordham said before he rode off. Jack mounted his horse and rode north, he was heading for Armadillo .