Prologue

The year was 1911, Seth Briars was in Escalera and saw that there was a hole in the wall. His crazy treasure hunter mind was reeling. He ran into the hole and down into the deep undergrounds of the temple of Ayauhtéotl, an ancient Aztec goddess.

He walked by dead bodies and skeletons. Seth didn't mind of course, he spent most of his life digging through graves to find a map to the most valuable treasure in the world!... until it turned out to be a lousy glass eye! He picked through the bodies as he went, mumbling to himself the whole while, "Ooh, yeah, that'll be worth a pretty penny!"

It wasn't until he got to the end of the tunnel when things really got crazy. Seth walked in and looked around. He was terribly disappointed.

"What! A secret tunnel and no gut dang treasure!" He picked up a stone and threw it at the far wall. And with that the wall caved in and there was a hole.

"What's this?" Seth exclaimed. "Hehehe! A hollow wall! Lets see what we got here!"

Seth walked over to the hole. A mask was sitting on the alter. It was glowing a sickly green color. Seth's eyes lit up.

"Hehe!" he giggled. "Yes, yes, yes!" He grabbed the mask and turn and ran, but something strange happened. The dead bodies started to get back up. Seth stopped dead, and stared. He tried to move but he couldn't move. He just stood in the tunnel holding onto the mask for dear life. The undead ran, no, sprinted at him, growling and roaring. Seth let out a scream, and was tackled down by the undead, and silenced. The mask lay there lost, never to be found.

Chapter 1

Two months ago John Marston was found, shot, and killed by Uncle Sam. He was buried by his wife and son on a hill near their farm house. They buried him with a bottle of water that had significant powers, they didn't know what it did. But as John laid there in his tomb, his eyes shot open. He looked around seeing he was in a coffin. He remembered distinctly what had happened, he was shot in cold blood by Edgar Ross, two months ago. Even after he saved humanity, Uncle Sam couldn't leave him alone.

He pushed with all his might but he couldn't get the coffin open. Then as if it were all natural to him he punched up and his hand shot through the coffin and out of the ground. He pulled himself up out of the ground. Wiping the dirt off of his clothes he looked around, seeing a strange white horse with a strange white mist lingering around it. He walked up to it and touched it, he heard a voice in his head. It said:

John Marston, you have been revived along with the rest of the dead, but what makes you different is that your soul was returned to earth so that you could deal with unfinished business. This horse is my own, I want you to have him, he is a trusty steed, he will follow you into even the most impossible situations. He is immortal and when he tramples on the undead he kills them instantly.

John climbed onto the horse and settled into the saddle, he fit naturally into it. He looked around to his house. He wanted nothing more than to go in and see his family, but knew he could not. To do so would cause his son Jack to react the way he would have, by shooting him in the head.

So John turned to the east, know where his unfinished business would take him. He needed to find and kill that lying, conniving, low-life Edgar Ross. He spurred his horse and headed for Blackwater, where he would begin his search.

He turned onto the road and heard a scream from his left, he turned and saw a woman being attacked by an undead, he steered his steed off course and stood over the pair, he took out his Cattleman revolver and shot the creature in the head.

The woman fell to the ground, face covered in blood. She looked up at her savior.

"Thank you kind sir!" she said, getting up. "I thought I was a goner, I thought this undead hell was over! They said a man named John Marston put a sacred mask back where it belonged in Mexico, after their crazed president took it from an ancient tomb. Please take this as a token of my-" She stopped, for just then the clouds moved, revealing the moon which shined down on John. She let out a terrible cry and fell back, terrified.

John looked down at his hands, seeing that he was decayed and horribly scarred. He looked back up at her and tried to speak, but all that came from his mouth was a bloodcurdling moan. The woman let out another scream and turned to run. She sprinted away from the undead man on his pale horse.

John turned his horse in the direction of Blackwater, how was he supposed to ask about Ross if he couldn't speak. Even if he could speak he wouldn't have time to say a word before a townsman shot his brains out. He rode to Blackwater nevertheless, thinking his luck would turn when he got there. He came to a halt when he heard a very familiar voice ring out into the night. John looked over at the side of the road to see his old associate Nigel West Dickens, on his carriage surrounded by undead.

"Get back you fowl beasts!" he yelled. Jabbing at them with a large stick. John rode over and focused hard, shooting each of the creatures in the head, one by one. They all fell, dead. West Dickens looked up to see who his savior was and luckily the clouds had covered the moon because John was once again in the shadows.

"John?" Dickens called. "John Marston is that you? How are you my dear boy!"

John spurred his horse lightly, stepping forward a few feet. Dickens seemed to have caught a glimpse at the man in the shadow because he let out a soft yell, not loud enough to carry out, but enough to make John step back.

"My dear boy," he said sympathetically, "What happened to you?"

John let out a low moan. West Dickens seemed to have noticed the problem right away.

"Ah, you cannot speak. Hold on, hold on I think I have something back here that will help you." He climbed down his carriage and walked around back. "Ah ha! Here we are!" he walked back around with a bottle of his famous Elixir. "Here you are my boy, drink up!"

John took the bottle and gave Dickens a look.

"Go on," he assured, "down the hatch, as they say."

John resentfully took a huge gulp, coughing roughly.

"Dammit West Dickens!" he shouted, "I swore I would never drink that shit!"

"But Mr. Marston, it worked! Don't you see, or hear?"

John did hear his voice, but he was still decayed and rotten.

Dickens seemed to have read John's mind because he grabbed a bandana from in his carriage and threw it to John. "Wear this," he told him, "Cover your face, don't take it off unless you have a death wish."

"I may just do that," John said. "Thanks Mr. West Dickens."

"Now, if you need anymore assistance from me, Mr. Marston, you can find me in Mexico."

"Well, take care of yourself Mr. West Dickens."

"Ah, take care in knowing, John, I shall be well taken care of!" He gave John a bow and jumped up onto his carriage. "So long John, you have been a good friend to me for the past couple of months."

"So long Mr. West Dickens. Thanks for the gift of speech!"

And with that, Nigel West Dickens rode off into the sunset, heading...

"That crazy fool is going the the wrong way," John said, laughing. The carriage turned around and headed back toward John.

"A minor set back, my dear boy," Nigel called to him. "But luckily I found my compass!"

John laughed as his good friend rode off in the right direction.

John jumped onto his horse and rode into town. His horse galloped onto the stone street, people stared as he rode past. He hitched his horse outside the saloon, and walked inside. He looked around, fully aware that the bandana was doing it's job, he walked up to the bartender and the bartender looked up at John. Luckily the bar was cleared out because he was about to let out a scream, up close people could see the upper half of John's face, he forgot about that. John acted quick, he jumped over the bar and tackled the bartender. He gagged him and tied him up.

"Listen to me friend," John told him. "I'm not one of those cannibals, I'm just a little scarred."

The man looked like he understood, and John told him, "Now listen, I'm gunna take the gag out of your mouth, but if you scream its going back in, got it?"

The man nodded, and when John took the gag out of his mouth he asked, "Who are you?"

John thought maybe he should tell him his name, but he figured that would be a bad move. So he just said, "I can't tell ya my name. But I just need to ask you a simple question."

"Alright," the barkeep said.

"Do you know where Edgar Ross is?"

"Mr. Ross? Well I hear he's retired. I think he lives down on Lake Don Julio."

"Thanks friend," John said, cutting his bonds.

John turned to leave when the bartender said, "John." John turns slowly.

"How..." John started but was cut across.

"I know all about your history with Ross," the Bartender told him, "I don't know how are why you were given a soul, you should be a brainless flesh-eater like the rest of them, but I don't care, just go and find peace. Just remember, revenge isn't always the answer."

"Yeah, well, he deserves to be killed, brought back and shot again for what he did to me," John said. Leaving the bar.

He was getting on his horse when the Barkeeper came running out.

"Hey John," he said reaching into his back pocket. "Take this," he through John a hat. "You can hide your face better."

"Thanks," John said, putting the hat firmly on his head. And he turned his horse away from the bar and rode off, heading toward Lake Don Julio.

John rode hard and long, growing tired he stopped off at MacFarlane's Ranch. It was dark, so he didn't think anyone would notice him slipping in, but when he got there he found the ranch overrun with the undead. John slowly made his way through the ranch. He pulled out his cattleman revolver and looked around. If the undead saw him they didn't show it. They walked past him absently, and even as he shot one in the head they didn't attack him.

"This is odd," he said to himself, meanwhile there were gunshots in the distance and he saw someone on top of a building shooting at the undead as they tried to climb up.

"Damn," he heard from a familiar voice, "These bastards are smarter than last time!"

John rode up to the building where the woman who saved his life all those months ago was making a stand against the horde of undead. He got off his horse and climbed the building.

"Need some help there Ms. MacFarlane?" John asked, shooting a Retcher as it charged up a goop spit ball.

"Mr. Marston is that you?" Bonnie asked picking off five more undead.

"Yes ma'am," John said, shooting six undead then switching to his explosive rifle.

"Well, I sure can use some help thank you very much."

"Say, where is everyone? I am sure there were more livin' people last time I was here savin' your ass."

"Well, your shootin' them Mr. Marston."

"You're all that's left?"

"Yup, I was gettin' ready to just jump down there and let them kill me before you showed up."

"Well," John said smirking behind his bandana, "sorry for interupting your suicide attempt."

Bonnie laughed, "it's not a problem."

By the end of the night they had killed every last undead in the ranch. They jumped down from the roof and walked to Bonnie's house.

"Listen John," Bonnie said, "Do you want to come in for a drink?"

"Sorry Ms. MacFarlane, but i have to get some rest."

"Alright," she said, "where you headed anyway? I'd think your family is okay now?"

"Yeah, they are. But I'm just lookin' for Edgar Ross."

"That government man that kidnapped your family? Why do you wanna find him?"

"Its a long story Ms. MacFarlane, I really can't get into it right now."

"Alright, and call me Bonnie for God's sake!"

"Well, if I don't see you tomorrow, have a good life Bonnie." John turned and walk away, heading towards his house on the ranch.

When he got in he shut the door behind him, locking it he removed his hat and bandana and laid down to sleep.

Gun shots rang out in the night.

"I did as you asked! Leave me alone!" John yelled, firing at the U.S soldiers that are storming his ranch.

He hears his son's voice, "Uncle!"

He hears Uncles's last words, "Take your family and get out of here, forget about me."

He tells his family to leave, "Go on, get, don't come back, Jack watch after your mother."

"Yes pa," Jack said. John smacked the horse's rear end and it ran off.

John turns to the front of the barn, and walks over to it. He peers through the crack between the two doors, he sees Edgar Ross and his partner Archer Fordham in the front center of over 50 U.S soldiers. John takes a deep breathe, and shoves the door open. He takes aim and shot 6 men, one of whom is Fordham. The soldiers all fire and John takes all of the bullets without falling. After a second, John falls to one knee, Ross walks over to John and puts his gun to John's head...

John woke with a start as the bang of the bullet went off in his mind. Still echoing through his mind as he gets on his pale horse and rode off into the rising sun.

Bonnie stopped by John's house when she woke up.

Gone, she thought, she sighed. She had become very fond of John within the few months she had known him. 'Course she knew he would never have gone for her, after all he was married. He had gone through hell and back to save his wife and son twice.

She made John's bed, and shut the door. She started back toward her house when she heard galloping. She turned to see a young boy riding toward her.

"Hey there, Ms. MacFarlane," he greeted her, god how much he resembled his father.

"Hello Jack," She said with a nod. "How are you doing?"

"Not too good," he told her, "we haven't talked in a while so i doubt you heard about my pa being shot down and killed."

She was shocked, shot and killed? Not John, surely not John.

"What do you mean?" she asked remembering the day before. "I just saw him yesterday."

Jack looked puzzled, "But... but he's been dead for two months," he explained. He looked around, there were dead bodies everywhere. "Ms. MacFarlane, what happened here?"

"The undead have rose again I'm afraid," she said. Her and Jack looked up at each other at the same time knowing what happened. "But I don't understand," she said when Jack said John was an undead. "I mean, these things can't talk, ride horses, or shoot a gun, and John did all of that!"

"Maybe... maybe his soul isn't at rest," Jack said, "Did he say anything to you when you saw him?"

"He said he had to find Edgar Ross, you know the mad man who took you from him."

"And the man who killed him." Jack said.

Its a long story Ms. MacFarlane, I really can't get into it right now.

Bonnie knew now why he was looking for that bastard.

"I have to go find him," Jack said.

"Don't be a fool," Bonnie told him. "You won't last a week out there on your own."

Jack seemed to think for a minute, "Why don't you come with me?"

Bonnie was shocked, "you want me to help you find your father?"

"Well sure, I mean it doesn't look like you have much to do here."

Bonnie looked around, she never really explored much of New Austin.

"Alright," she said, "Let's go find John Marston."