That night Julia couldn't sleep. Her mind was full of thoughts and warmings against herself for her stupid actions.
What are you doing? They should fear you or at least you should keep the distance. Your only purpose is the money, don't let these criminals and murders play with your mind. They don't deserve you.
A part of her screamed, but the other had something to say too.
I'm keeping the distance. The fact that I gave away a couple of dollars and a pen means nothing. Abigail still doesn't trust me and it's good because I don't want her to. And Marybeth would be sweet even to snakes, so she doesn't count. Hosea...
Hosea thinks you want to join the group again. If he says so to Dutch, you're screwed. He'll think you don't want the money anymore and you made a promise.
Julia sat up running her hand through her messy hair and huffed.
She had to go away from there, spend some time away from the camp and those people.
Looking at her watch, she saw that it was half-past five in the morning, so she got out her tent, she took some clean clothes putting them into a sack and walked towards Wind Catcher.
"Sorry buddy. Did I wake you?" she asked petting him noticing he was clean.
Surely Kieran did it, she thought getting on her horse.
Bill was the one who had to keep the watch that night, but when Julia reached him, she noticed he had fallen asleep.
She slowly walked near him shaking her head and when she got far enough, she spurred Wind Catcher to go faster.
She reached Valentine accompanied by the sunrise that colored the sky with a bright orange-pinkish shade.
Once she arrived, she went to the hotel where she paid for a warm bath to take off all the dirt and the mud. Once she washed her hair, she got out the bathtub and wrapped her body in a towel before she sat before the long glass. She brushed her hair with the supplied accessories, drying them as much as she could before she tied them in a long braid.
From the sack she had brought, she took out the clean clothes and wore them: a flower pattern shirt, a pair of brown trousers and an old military jacket. She looked at the latter for a couple of minutes reminding the day she had received it and for a moment a smile crossed her face.
When she got out of the hotel, she crossed the street to go to the shop where she brought a cookie jar that she ate while seated on the bench outside, observing the town awaking.
Satisfied by her simple breakfast, she went to the Pinkertons, but when she arrived at the house they were holed up, she noticed they had abandoned it. She got down Wind Catcher and walked towards the door where she noticed a paper attached to it.
Once she pulled it from the nail that was holding it, she read:
We are heading North. Stay here and continue the researches. If we don't find any trace of them, we'll go east. We'll inform you of any news by post to the name Joseph Larson.
Julia ripped the paper and threw it on an empty box.
"Let's go" she said to Wind Catcher.
She went to the post office, passing by a group of men that looked her up and down but she pretended not to see them.
She waited patiently her turn and when the young man in service asked what she needed she answered:
"There's something for a certain Joseph Larson?"
The young man looked up between the mails and soon after he shook his head.
"No, sorry Miss"
"Okay. Can you check if there's something for Elisabeth instead?"
"Just Elisabeth?" asked confused the man.
Julia nodded.
After a while, the young man came back with a letter in his hands.
"There you go, Miss" he said giving her the letter.
"Thank you" Julia replied and then went outside.
While she continued to look at the letter, she didn't realize that a man drew closer to her.
"Howdy Miss"
She turned to look at him. He was rather fat and tall, with a thick mustache and small eyes. He had a cigar in his mouth which smell reached Julia's nostrils and she wrinkled her nose.
The man looked familiar to her, surely she had seen him other times in town but never looked at him twice.
"Morning" she replied putting the letter on her bag.
She did to go away, but the man blocked her by stepping in front of her.
"I and my friends there would like to drink something with you"
Julia glanced at the rest of the group that stared at her before and kept doing it with a grin on their faces.
She sighed asking herself why she had to deal with those idiots at that time of the day.
"Thank you, but I don't feel like it" she said trying to pass the man who didn't move.
"It's not kind to refuse such a friendly offer"
She had enough.
"I don't think I've been rude by refusing with a thank you" she talked back.
The man started to laugh throwing away the half-smoked cigar.
"I'm a very pretentious man, you know? I pretend respect but you don't have much, do you?" he asked touching her cheek with the back of his hand.
Julia jerked away from the man's touch and in return, he grabbed her by her throat and slammed her against the station wall.
Julia hissed in pain when her head and back hit the thick wood.
"You little..."
Julia interrupted the man by kicking his crotch making him lose his grip on her before she punched him in the face.
The man stepped back and then hit the ground while Julia looked at him thinking it was over, but one of the others got closer punching her in the face.
Julia hit the station wall again and the man taking advantage grabbed her by her hair pulling her towards him and then on the ground.
"Bitch" he laughed.
Julia took out her knife and stuck it in the man's foot. He screamed and tried to step back, but Julia pulled him by his jacket hitting him in the crotch.
She didn't notice that the other man had recovered until he grabbed her by her arm without noticing that Julia had taken the knife pointing it at his neck once she got on her feet.
The man stopped pulling her immediately while silence fell on them interrupted only by the screams of the other man on the ground.
"Let me go or I kill you" she said.
"You don't have the guts"
Julia pushed the knife against the man's flesh cutting him slightly.
"You really want to risk your life so foolishly?" she asked while a string of blood dripped from the cut on the man's neck.
The man looked at her trying to mask his fear.
Then she felt his grip loosening, so she pushed him away and then looked around before she left.
While she was heading to camp, trying to calm herself down, she felt something dripping on her forehead and left cheekbone. She touched it with her fingertips feeling a stinky pain and when she looked at her fingers, she saw they were covered in blood.
"Fuck" she hissed reaching her saddlebag from where she took out a handkerchief that she used to clean herself.
When she arrived at the camp she hid in her tent, impatient to read the letter she had received that morning.
To my loving Elisabeth.
George.
She read before opening it.
The text had been written by using a code similar to the one Julia used in her letter so it took her some time to decode it and when she finished she read it again.
My dear Lia,
I'm happy to know that you're alright and that you care for my health despite I said many times you don't have to. Anyway, my illness hasn't got worse, so you have no reason to worry.
For what concern your mission, I hope things are going well. You're risking a lot playing both sides. The Pinkertons are serious agents and I suggest you not to trust their apparent naivety. I've to be honest with you, I'm a little afraid for you staying at their camp. You sure your presence there is only for keeping an eye on them? Or maybe there's an affective reason that even you try to ignore? However, I trust you and I know you're going to do the right thing despite all.
The money's safe. I hid it in the same place in case I won't make it.
Please, send me another letter if you got other news and in case you're having some trouble.
See you soon.
D.
Julia put the letter aside and sighed.
Affective reason? she asked herself but soon after she shook her head chasing away that thought.
She passed her hand through her hair moaning in pain when she touched the spot she had bumped against the station wall. She took her broken mirror and looked at her brow and cheekbone.
The blood had ceased to come out from the not-so-deep cuts, but the bruises had started to show up.
She got out her tent and went towards the medicals wagon where she poured some whiskey on a cloth tapping it on her wounds.
"Fuck, this hurt" she whispered when the alcohol reached the cuts making them stink.
Suddenly, she heard some steps behind her and turning around she saw Morgan walking towards her direction. To avoid questions, she hid behind the wagon waiting for the man to pass.
"Uncle told me something about a train" she heard Marston say and looking at them she saw him leaned against a tree.
Morgan snorted glancing at the map Marston had in his hands.
"What did he say?"
"Mary-Beth overheard something about a train full of wealthy folk rolling down Scarlet Meadows just south of the state border" said John while Arthur nodded.
"Yes" he answered.
John looked at him for a moment.
"You need help with it?"
"I ain't even sure about doing it" answered Morgan stepping back and then walked towards the cliff followed by John.
Julia got out from behind the wagon and drew closer to them.
"Come on, at night, not too guarded. It's perfect" insisted Marston.
"I ain't thought it through. You know, stopping a train...pain in the ass" replied the other.
"Sure, but what if we could force a train to stop" said John seriously while Morgan laughed.
"Well, of course"
Julia got closer, leaning against the tree Marston was leaned before her so she could hear them better.
"We get a wagon, full of something flammable, oil...put it on the tracks. They see it, they know they either have to stop or die. Ain't no train driver wants to be cooked alive"
Morgan turned to look at Marston with an astonished expression on his face.
"That is...kinda brilliant" the man said almost liked the words didn't want to get out his mouth.
"Uh, for you. And that is a real idea. I think that's the first time you ever had one of them!" he continued hitting Marston jokingly on the shoulder.
"Shut up" he replied almost embarrassed.
Julia shook her head but smiled a little.
"You might be the first bastard to ever have half his brains eaten by a wolf and end up more intelligent" said Morgan ignoring him.
"So we doing it?" asked the other, now not listening to Morgan blabbering anymore.
"Yeah, we're gonna need ammunition, guns, look real frightening and some dynamite to open up the train"
"I'll get the supplies, gotta head into town for Abigail anyway" said Marston and tuning around he noticed Julia leaned against the tree.
"You were spying us?" asked John stopping.
"Don't worry. I won't tell Abigail you're cheating on her with Morgan" Julia joked.
Morgan got closer in turn.
"I imagine you want to come. After all, you keep sneaking into our jobs every time you heard there's some money" he said.
"My money and yes, I want to join you. You hadn't think about assaulting a train by yourself anyway, had you?"
Marston and Morgan looked at each other while Julia sighed.
"Alright. You go find us an oil wagon" said Marston to Morgan.
"Okay, even though I don't know where to find one"
"I do. There's a refinery in these parts. We're going to take care of it together, Morgan" Julia said.
The man nodded looking at her and all of a sudden, his expression changed while he got closer to her.
Julia looked at him confused until he stretched his hand to move her hair and show her bruises now of a deep purple and blue.
Julia moved away from his gentle touch.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Not your business Morgan" she replied.
Marston drew closer to them, interrupting Morgan before he could say anything.
"There's an old rundown shack just over the border, north of a place called Dewberry Creek. Leave it hidden somewhere near there" said Marston before he went away.
Julia and Arthur nodded.
"Okay" he said turning to look at her once more.
Julia made a gesture with her head before she did to leave.
"You need something for that bruise?" he asked making her turn.
Julia looked at him for a moment, asking herself why he cared so much and suddenly the words of that letter got in her mind.
Affective reasons.
"No, I'm fine" she said and then walked away.
As established, in the late afternoon Julia walked to Morgan's tent finding him seated on his cot with his diary in his hands while he was writing something.
"Princess it's time to go" she said.
Morgan looked at her and nodded, putting the diary in his bag and once he got up, he took his hat and followed her to their horses.
"Follow me" Julia said and Morgan nodded.
They got out the wood and headed to East, passing the railway and continuing towards Twin Stack Pass. A tired Sun shone upon them, ready to set and let the moon to take his place.
"So, you going to tell me how you got that bruise?" said Morgan suddenly.
Julia turned to look at him.
"Why you wanna know so bad?" she asked after a while.
"Because even if you're the famous and feared Hound you're still a woman and only an animal hit a girl"
Julia turned to look at him shocked, asking herself how the hell he knew it was a bruise caused by a punch.
"Don't look at me in that way, I got hit a lot in my life, we both know that" answered Morgan reading her mind.
Julia moved her eyes on the road again.
"At least I hope you gave him a lesson"
"You bet. The bastard lost a foot and the other was about to lose his life" she answered still a little bit angry.
"So they were two? Christ..."
Julia turned to him while he shook his head with a disgusted expression on his face.
"Don't worry about me, Morgan. As you can see, I'm still here unluckily for you" she said with a sneer on her face.
Morgan smiled slightly.
Once they arrived at the refinery, they got down their horses and closer, hiding behind some trees from where they took out their binoculars to study the situation.
"There's men everywhere" said Morgan.
"Yeah..." answered Julia distantly while observing the place.
There were men at the entry and spread all over the refinery with long-range rifles.
"Okay, I see the wagon" said Julia.
"Me too, but how do we get it?"
Julia lowered her binocular biting her lip while thinking.
"How much you're good at acting?" she asked him.
Morgan turned to look at her confused before he realized what her plan was.
"Don't think about it. Hosea's the one good at this stuff, not me" he answered.
"Oh, come on! You distract them while I sneak in, knock out those spotters and take the wagon. You take care of the two at the entry and then we leave, silently like we never been here"
Morgan rubbed his chin thinking about it.
"The plan's good but I ain't gonna do that. Why don't you go distract them? You did well with that deputy back in Valentine, you can do it now too"
Julia huffed.
"We don't have time to discuss, the sun's going down, so I'll go. Just, try not to be seen and don't kill anybody"
"Wait, what?" asked Morgan.
Julia looked at him raising a brow.
"You heard me. Those men are just doing their job. No one needs to die" she said while she took out the bloody handkerchief, she had used that morning from her saddlebag.
She tied it around her leg and then got on Wind Catcher, taking off her hat and gunbelt, giving them to Morgan. Then she ruffled her hair, making sure the bruises were visible.
"Do I look like a damsel in distress?" she asked Morgan who chuckled.
"You sure look like one" he answered.
Julia spurred Wind Catcher, who ran down the hill towards the refinery.
"Stop! Whoever you are!" screamed one of the men at the entry when she was quite close.
The two men pointed their rifles at her while she slowed up stopping in front of them where Wind Catcher drove up and Julia let herself slip off him pretending to faint.
The two men ran towards her.
"Miss. Miss, you hear me?" asked one of them.
"She's hurt" said the other.
Julia opened her eyes, gripping desperately to the man who was supporting her head.
"Please, help me. Those men...they...they tried to..."
She burst into fake tears, hiding her face from the two men's eyes.
"Calm down miss, you're okay now, you're safe" said again the man who supported her.
"We need to take her inside" said the other exanimating her still bandaged leg.
The two men lifted her and took her inside the refinery.
That was the signal to Morgan who quickly got closer, leaving behind Tundra.
The two men made Julia sit on a chair, the room was empty besides them three.
"You want some water, Miss?" asked one of the two men.
Julia pretended not to hear him, looking around with a worried expression.
"Miss?" said the man getting closer.
She turned to look at him.
"What?" she whispered.
"You want some water?" he asked again.
Julia nodded and the man, looking at his friend who kneeled in front of her to take care of the "wounded leg".
Her eyes followed the other who had just left the room.
"I'm going to take a look, okay?" asked the other and turning to look at him Julia nodded.
The man began to untie the bandage and while his eyes were fixed on her leg, Julia stretched her arm behind her touching with her fingers something heavy and cold.
It seemed a cardholder.
She grabbed it and count to three in her mind.
As soon as the man untie the bandage she moved her arm and crashed the cardholder on his head making the man faith.
She heard the steps of the other man coming back, so she got up quickly and hid in the indentation of the wooden wall waiting for him.
When the man got in front of her she hit him on the head quickly; the man hit the ground and the glass shattered.
Julia got out the building heading with a stealthy step towards the entry noticing that the two spotters were on the ground and the oil wagon was gone.
Once she got out, she saw Morgan in the distance with the oil wagon and their horses near.
She ran towards him, noticing that on the side of the tank was written a name.
Cornwall.
"You alright?" asked Morgan turning to look at her.
"Yeah, fine" she said glancing a little more at the name and then got on the wagon.
"You did a good job. I never saw someone pretending to faint so well"
Julia hit Morgan on his shoulder.
"You didn't kill anybody, I hope" she said.
Morgan sighed making Julia turn towards him with a severe look.
"No, I didn't" he answered.
Julia wore his hat and gunbelt.
"It's better if we move" she said and Morgan nodded spurring the horses and heading towards Dewberry Creek.
The two stayed silent and once in a while, Julia turned to see if someone was following them besides their horses.
When they finally passed the railway, they started to look for the shack John had told them about.
"There it is, on the right, behind that tree" said Julia pointing it at Morgan who nodded and moved the horses in that direction.
Once they placed the wagon, they got down it and tied the horses to the near trees in case they wanted to go back.
When they finished, they looked around to see if there was someone and then Julia turned to Morgan who did the same.
"I think it's better if we go back to camp" said Morgan and Julia nodded, flicking his tongue to call Wind Catcher.
They got on their horses and then headed to the camp.
The sun was already down when they arrived and once they got off their horses, they walked towards John to inform him it was done.
John called Morgan.
The man sat on a log raised his gaze.
"How did you get on?" he asked getting up.
"Good, and you?" asked Morgan.
"Got anything we need"
"Good. I think we need another man"
Marston looked at Julia who was staring at them.
Morgan followed his gaze.
"Besides her" he added.
Marston nodded.
"Charles?" said Julia catching their attention.
"I'll go get him. Meet us at the wagon when you can" said Marston.
"Sure" answered Julia and Morgan together.
Marston stopped and turned to Morgan.
"Seen Arthur? I ain't that dumb"
Arthur laughed.
"Next time let the wolves eat all your brains then you'll be a genius" he answered almost with an angry tone.
Marston did to answer, but then he left with a gesture of his hand.
Julia looked at him going away while Morgan lighted up a cigarette.
"I wonder when you'll give him a break" she thought out loud.
"What?" asked Arthur turning to look at her, the cigarette between his lips.
"Marston. You're going to forgive him soon or later, don't you think?" she asked getting closer to him.
"What you know?"
Hosea told me everything. I didn't think you were so emotional Morgan she said smirking.
Morgan looked away.
"We have a code..."
"Of course you have, but you ignore it when you need, right?"
Morgan looked in her eyes and she did the same.
"As you can't forgive Dutch, I can't' do the same with that fool"
"Oh, but you'll do it" answered Julia walking away.
"You sure about it?"
"I know it"
She answered with a cocky smile before she left.
...
HI EVERYONE!
Sooo, this was the new chapter, hope you liked it.
Personally, I think this is one of the chapters that I like the most because Julia's getting along with Arthur and they are good criminals together (please get what I mean)
But, HEY let me know what you think about it.
By the way, this story actually reached 1000 VIEWS AND I. AM. SO. FUCKING. HAPPY!
Thank you guys, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Anyway, I'll post ASAP.
KISSES!
