Chapter 16: Dewberry Creek

For the next week, Sam was absolutely miserable. Luckily, to take her mind of things, Hosea had given her a map of where to hunt for the most legendary of game and so she spent a whole week away from camp just hunting and bringing her pelts to a special trapper that Mr. Pearson had mentioned. The man had been grateful for all her findings, although his opinion on a female hunter at first hadn't complimented her. However, to Sam's surprise, the trapper had gained much respect for her. Every time she brought him a pelt, he was more than happy to make something of it into clothing of some kind. She even brought him regular animal hides to accommodate. But after the week was out, Sam decided she needed to return to camp. Despite her initial decision of breaking things off with Arthur, she'd decided being without him was a bit more painful, so as she made her way back to Horseshoe Overlook, Sam came to the conclusion that she'd apologize and ask for Arthur's forgiveness.

As she rolled into camp, Sam was met with shocked stares and happy greets. Hosea, especially.

"You're back," he said to her as she walked up to him. "We were thinkin' you were gone for good."

Sam shook her head. "Not just yet, Hosea. I...just needed some time away to think about things." She looked around, hoping to spot Arthur. "I need to talk to Arthur. Is he here?"

"No. He um...well..."

Sam noticed the older man's apprehension. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine. But he went to go see Mary, I'm afraid."

Sam made a confused face. "Who's Mary?"

"His former fianceé."

Sam's heart sunk and she lowered her gaze. "Oh. I see. Well...I didn't know he was engaged at one point."

Hosea took Sam's hand and sighed. "I don't think he went to go patch things up with her, if that's what you're worried about. That boat has sailed and, well, he likes you too much."

Sam sighed and smiled sadly at Hosea. "Leave it to me to drive a man into another woman's arms, Hosea. It's what I do best."

Hosea blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Sam waved him off. "Just...nevermind."

She went to walk away but Hosea kept up with her. "If you don't mind me askin', what happened with you two?"

"I realized that if I'm to leave, it'll just make it harder if he and I are attached."

"Then don't leave."

Sam twitched the corner of her mouth up, feeling indecisive. "But...I...this world is too dangerous for someone like me."

"Oh to hell with that. I've seen you handle yourself just fine. You know what I think?"

"What's that?"

"I think you'd make a great outlaw."

Sam laughed and shook her head. "Well, I appreciate the compliment, Hosea, but I'm not one to break the law."

"Why not?"

Sam stopped walking. That was a rather odd question. She searched Hosea's face for answers but found none. "Well, I...it's wrong?"

"Says who? The government? Sam, we're not bad people and I think you know that."

"Yes, but killing and robbing people? I...I just can't do it."

"What about conning people? Would you have a problem with that?"

Sam knew Hosea was a very proficient conman. One of the best, she'd heard from both Arthur and Dutch. "I don't know. I've never done it before."

"Well, when I find myself a score, maybe I'll let you in on it. See how you like it."

Sam eyed the man, then she nodded. "Alright. Just let me know when, Hosea."

Hosea turned to walk away but stopped. "Arthur misses you, you know. He's been considerably more grumpy than normal since you left."

Sam nodded and Hosea walked over to his area. Dutch spotted Sam and called her over. "Ah, the prodigal hunter returns. And how did you fare, Miss Burke?"

Sam grinned and went to the collection box. "Oh, I fared a good amount," she said, trying to decide how much money to put in the box. "So much so, I'm not sure how much to put in here."

Dutch chuckled deeply and Sam handed him the money. Dutch's eyes went wide as he counted it. "Almost five hundred dollars, here. Excellent job, Miss Burke. Why don't you keep two hundred?"

Sam nodded and Dutch gave her two hundred back. "That'll be good for the amount I've saved to go home," she said while pocketing the cash.

"You still set on goin' back to Minnesota, huh?"

"Yep," Sam said a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

Dutch gave her a dubious look. "You don't sound very convinced," he remarked.

"...I'm not. I'm very torn about it. It's not like I have much of anything to go back to, but...not much is keeping me here, either."

Dutch laughed. "Now that I don't believe. You and Arthur are-"

"Not a couple, Mr. Van der Linde," she said coldly. "I just learned he went to go see Mary."

"He did, huh? Well, all I know is that while you were gone, he's been one hell of an ornery bastard to be around."

Sam smiled a little, feeling some comfort at his words. "Yeah, Hosea said something similar."

Molly popped her head out of the tent. "Ornery bastard, my arse. He's been downright frightful!"

Dutch laughed and Sam giggled. "Yes. I believe my lady love here has the better description on the matter."

Sam eyed through the opening of the tent and saw Arthur trotting in on Boadicea II. "Speak of the devil," Molly said.

Sam excused herself from the two and she went marching over towards Arthur. He was in the process of desaddling his horse but when he saw Sam, he froze. Sam stopped on the other side and crossed her arms. "Hello, Arthur."

"Miss Burke," he said coldly.

Sam closed her eyes. Perhaps she deserved his distance. "Can we talk?"

"What's there to talk about, Miss Burke?"

Sam bit her lip. "...I heard you went to see your ex-fianceé. How did that go?"

Arthur started grooming his horse. "What business of it is yours?"

Damn. That really was cold. "I suppose it's not." Clearly, he was mad at her and she didn't have the guts to ask for forgiveness when he was angry, so she sighed, threw up her hands and walked away to leave camp. "Guess I'll see you around."

"Where you goin'?" he asked.

"For a walk, I guess. I don't know. Does it matter?" she asked bitterly.

"...No, I guess not."

Sam frowned harder then headed on out. Eventually she found a nice tree to sit under and actually ended up dozing off while sitting up. She dreamed of the buck she could never catch and even though she knew she wouldn't catch him, Sam still gave chase. The dream went on for what seemed like hours when she heard Arthur start talking to her.

"Sam, wake up. We gotta go," he said.

Sam groaned as she started waking up. "I'm tryin' to chase my ticket home, do you mind?" she asked angrily. Sam heard Arthur chuckle and she sighed. "What is it?"

"You need to wake up. We gotta move somewhere else now."

Sam's eyes fluttered open and she rubbed them before acknowledging Arthur. "What's going on?"

"Something bad happened in Valentine. The whole camp needs to move."

Sam looked at the handsome man and frowned. "But I like it here."

Arthur nodded and offered her a hand. "I know."

Sam took it and she was pulled up. Sam and Arthur looked at each other, still holding on with their hands. Sam wanted to kiss him so bad but he let go before she could even make the move. He motioned for her to follow and she did. As they neared camp she could hear Dutch and Hosea arguing in Dutch's tent.

"So...we keep heading east. Is that the plan?" Hosea asked resentfully.

"For now," Dutch replied.

"And when do we stop? When we reach Paris?!"

"Oh. That'd be nice. Join the Commune?" Dutch said as Sam and Arthur approached the tent. "We stop when we find someplace sensible, shake them that's followin' us and lie low."

"This is lying low? We've turned into a bunch of killers, I mean it. We ain't even got the delusion of being anything but a bunch of killers."

"We are just trying to survive, Hosea. We don't have a choice."

Sam fought the urge to roll her eyes. Dutch, always about the, "we don't have a choice," speech. "So, we movin'?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah," Dutch replied. Hosea stood up. "This'll end soon."

Hosea pointed a finger at Dutch. "Damn right it will!"

Hosea left the tent and Sam watched him go. "Constipated as usual," Dutch said. "Micah told me of a place we can lie low. Look here," Dutch said while looking at a map. Sam leaned in to peek at it. "Dewberry Creek, he said."

"Okay," Arthur replied.

Sam shook her head. "Dutch, I was already over by there and it doesn't look like a very good spot to set up camp."

Dutch and Arthur looked at each other, then at her. "Why's that?"

"Well, there's no well hidden spots."

"Hmm. When were you down there?"

"Earlier this week, hunting a really rare coyote."

"Well, we should scout it out anyway. Arthur, take Sam and Charles and go take a look."

Arthur growled. "Looks like I've turned into the god damn errand boy," Arthur said before leaving the tent.

"You have turned into my son. You worry because I worry. We are just the same!"

Sam followed Arthur towards the horses. "Charles, come with us. We got work to do."

Charles grinned as he walked. "Now where have I heard that before?" he asked. The three climbed on their horses and and started heading out. "So where are we goin'?"

"Find a new spot to camp," Arthur said. "We're packin' up and movin' on."

"Again?"

"We have to. And fast. We'd already pushed our luck too far before that mess we just made in Valentine."

"Ah, that didn't sound good."

"Wait, what mess?" Sam asked. "What the hell did I miss?"

Arthur looked at her before looking ahead once more. "Ah, killed a lot of law. Killed a lot of Cornwall's men. They must know where we are by now."

"So, we're heading south?" Charles asked.

"Yeah, area called Dewberry Creek, although we're goin' to scope it out first. Sam here says it's not a very good spot, but Dutch wants us to give it a look, make sure it's clear and a good place to lie low for a while."

"I've only known him a few months, but...the way he talks, I never thought I'd see him wanting to head south."

"Right...and I know by now, there ain't no lyin' low."

"There's too many of us for that."

"And there ain't no way Dutch is gonna just...hide away in a cave somewhere. Goes against everything he stands for. That'd be admittin' we're nothin' more than low-down criminals."

"Which...we are."

"You don't have to tell me."

"Now hold on a second," Sam said. "You two especially are more than just low-down criminals and you know it."

Arthur cackled a bit. "Woman, you still on that?"

"Yes I am, god dammit."

Arthur cackled again and smiled at Sam. "You sure are somethin' else, Miss Burke."

Sam smiled back and Charles looked at them both. "What is it with you two?"

"Nothin'," Arthur said. "Nothin' is with us."

Sam frowned before looking ahead of her. As they got to the top of the hill and went over it, Sam spotted the creek. "There it is. Does that look promising to you?"

"Seems very open," Charles commented.

"Yeah, it does. Ain't sure it'd be the best in the rain, neither," Arthur added. "Well, let's take a look around."

Sam, Charles and Arthur started trotting about separately, looking about for any signs of camp or life. This was stupid. Micah picked a horribly spot to look and she knew Arthur knew it, but was he looking anyway just to spite her? Maybe, maybe not. Was he that kind of guy?

"Miss Burke!" Arthur barked. "Over here!"

Sam turned her horse around and trotted over to the two men. As she got near, she saw a dead body on the ground and did her utmost not to throw up.

"He's been shot. Looks like trouble got here before us," Arthur said.

"Hmm." Charles looked around. "There's a camp just up ahead."

"Sure, let's get ready for business. Any issues...shoot first, debate second."

"I'm not gonna shoot for the sake of it," Charles muttered.

"Miss Burke, stay here."

Sam rolled her eyes and grabbed her rifle. "Shut up, Mr. Morgan." She stormed over towards the camp and Arthur and Charles quickly followed behind her.

"At least let me go ahead of you!" Arthur spat.

Sam aimed her gun as she slightly crouched while walking, looking around for anything to shoot. "Place looks a bit empty," she said as she got close to a few tents.

"Let's have a look around and make sure," Charles pointed out. Sam looked down and saw some tracks, so she decided to follow them. She checked each tent as she walked along. "Where is everybody?"

"Maybe they heard us comin'. Be careful. Miss Burke, slow the hell down."

"You call me Miss Burke again, I'll shoot you myself," Sam snapped.

Arthur chuckled at her. "Yes, ma'am."

Sam turned and smirked at him before going back and checking the last tent. Suddenly Charles started sniffing the air. "Someone's still here," Charles said.

Sam followed the tracks but stopped at a wagon. "You can tell that by smelling? Jesus, Charles..."

Sam heard a whimper and a shush and she aimed at the wagon. "There ain't no one here now," Arthur said.

"I ain't so sure about that."

Sam whispered to them both. "They're under here."

Arthur and Charles started moving boards and boxes to reveal a woman with a shotgun and her two children. The men put their hands up and Sam slung her rifle to her back before putting her hands up as well.

"It's okay," Charles said, putting his gun in its holster. "It's okay. You can come out of there."

The family did nothing but stare at the men and Sam with fear in their eyes. Sam got a little closer and reached out her hand. "C'mon, it's okay. We're not gonna hurt you."

The woman started pushing boxes and moved out, her gun still raised. Sam backed up with the men as the two children got behind their mother. Sam noticed the hat on the little boy and realized they must be a German family. Sam swallowed hard. "Uh...Guten Tag?"

Arthur and Charles looked at her. "What?" they both said.

Sam's German was a little rusty but she remembered some of it. "I think they're German, might not speak English."

"Sprechen sie Deutsch?" the woman asked. [Do you speak German?]

Sam smiled gently. "Nicht viel. Was ist hier passiert?" [Not much. What happened here?]

"Einige Männer kamen und nahmen meinen Mann mit." [Some men came and took my husband with them.]

Sam frowned. "Uh, um, wann? Wann?" [When? When?]

"Letzter nacht." [Last night.]

Sam sighed and looked at the two men. "Some men came and kidnapped her husband last night."

"Where? Where did they take him?" Charles asked.

Arthur scoffed. "Ain't no business of ours. I don't even speak their language."

Charles was about to say sonething when Sam snarled at Arthur. "You don't speak their language? Who the fuck cares, Arthur? They're in trouble! They need help! What kind of arrogant piece of shit are you to not help someone based on a language barrier?!"

Arthur looked shocked, then he grinned bashfully and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I-"

"Nevermind! I don't know about you, Arthur, but I'm gonna help this family! Charles, you with me?"

"Of course," Charles said with a smile.

Sam turned and grinned at the family. "Wohin gingen die männer?" [Where did the men go?]

The little girl with blonde braided pigtails stepped forward. "Clemens Point. That way," she said, pointing southwest.

Sam called for her horse and Orion came running. "The girl was pointing this way. Let's see if we can pick up a trail," Charles said as he mounted on Taima.

Arthur got on Boadicea II and frowned at Sam. "Sam, I-"

"We'll talk when the job is done, Arthur," Sam spat out. "You see any tracks, Charles?"

Charles pointed to the ground. "There, tracks. Come on." The three headed out and Sam took the lead as she followed the hoof prints that led out of the creek.