It's been two weeks. Two weeks since that mess in Saint Denis. Two weeks since they're gone and now everyone here is losing hope.
I'm not. Maybe it's thanks to Charles and Sadie. With both of them by my side, I feel stronger and I'm not losing the will to fight.
I have to. We have to. For Jack, Abigail, Tilly, Mary Beth and everybody else. They all deserve better.
Charles came back and told me a little about the Wapiti Reservation, that's its name. It seems to be an amazing place, but the natives there have a lot of problems, so it's possible that he shall go back, and I will surely go with him next time.
This morning I've been awaken by the rain.
This weather surely doesn't help the situation at the camp. The ground becomes even more muddy and sticky and we are forced to stay inside not to get wet.
It's still early in the morning when the front door opens and… Micah comes inside.
I think no-one has never been happier to see him. They pat him on the shoulder and give him some water.
His return means the others are back too.
He says they left him in Saint Denis last night with Javier and that they split up so not to catch too much attention. He heard some voices about where we could be and followed them.
He looks different: his hair are dirty and messy, his mustache untidy and some blonde beard grew on his hollowed face.
If he's this bad, I'm afraid to see the others.
Javier shows up almost one hour after. I immediately notice his wounded leg.
He says he's been shot and captured and his look is not better than Micah's. He decides to go immediately in the other room to wash and wear some clean clothes.
By mid-morning the storm ends and from the sky falls a thin cool rain that, at least, gives us the chance to go outside and prepare some stew.
Mr. Pearson, Abigail and I get to work and manage to finish it before noon. Micah and Javier wake up from the sleep they clearly needed and eat something too.
I don't like to stay inside when there are many people, so I decide to keep company to Pearson and help him clean the kitchen. Abigail is with us too, and she is the first to notice the figure who comes closer from the swamp.
"Arthur!" she exclaims.
"Hey everybody! Arthur's back!" calls out Pearson.
I turn around and smile at the man who's getting near us, but my smile fades quickly away.
He's even worst than the others: his eyes are red, his face white as a sheet and he's clearly lost a lot of weight.
I reach him and hug him right after Abigail, who then leads him inside. I take two ladleful of stew and bring it inside for him.
After he greets everybody, he sits down to eat. He tells us he found the letter in Shady Belle and followed the directions until he found us. Abigail informs him about John and the forced labour in Sisika.
Sadie and I exchange a look.
Now that they're back, we have someone we can bring on the air balloon.
The evening arrives and with it the heavy rain returns.
I'm not able to stay inside the room with the others, so I sit on the porch steps. At the same time I keep watch just in case Dutch or Bill come back.
Some movement from the swamp catches my attention and I stand up to welcome the boss who's walking towards me.
"How are you Dutch?" I ask him.
"I've been better. How are things lying here?"
"We've been better. We missed you" I say with a smile.
He nods and smiles too. He seems weak and tired.
"I think I'll go inside. You want to come? It's freezing out here" he says then.
"No, I'll keep an eye for Bill. He's the last one missing."
Even if he closes the door behind him, I can still hear the voices coming from inside. They greet him, Abigail tells him about John, Strauss explains what happened after Saint Denis and how Sadie, Charles and I found the place and buried Hosea and Lenny.
Another dark shape gets closer and I instinctively smile.
"Good to see you again Bill. How are you?"
"I would be better if someone told me where was you" he angrily complains walking past me and entering the house.
"Well, here you is!" I hear him exclaiming.
I smile listening them arguing, but my attention gets caught by some lights coming from the swamp.
Men. A lot of armed men, drawing closer with lanterns and torches.
I narrow my eyes and recognize the man in the first line.
With a weight on my chest, I jerk up and run inside from the door Bill left open.
"They're here!" I yell to the crowd inside.
"This is Agent Milton with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. On behalf of 'Cornwall Cherosene & Tar', the United States Government and the Commonwealth of West Elisabeth" we hear Milton shouting from the outside.
Arthur takes cover and takes out his gun. I follow his movement and look at my companions.
"We are here to arrest you. Come out with your hands up."
I hear him saying something else that I can't fully understand and then they start shooting.
"Everybody get down!" yells Dutch.
But we have already done that.
The bullets fill the air passing through the wooden walls and hitting everything inside the room.
"Fred! Come with me!" says Sadie crawling on the floor towards the back door.
"You want to join us?" she ask to Arthur as we both slither next to him.
When I pass Charles, I nod to him and he yells a "be careful" among the shots before I get outside.
"Let's use the trapdoor, we will flank them" says Sadie.
We get down the hole on the floor and reach the other shack from beneath it, hiding behind the closed front door.
As soon as we reach it, the Pinkertons stop shooting.
"Why they stopped?" asks Sadie.
"Now I will show strength and you may mistake it for brutality. There is no escape for any of you. I shall hunt you to the ends of the Earth…" is saying Milton.
His voice makes something change inside me: all the fear I had when they arrived turns slowly into rage.
I've had enough of this situation.
"God, I really want to kill him" I whisper between my teeth.
"Then do it. This idiot is really starting to irritating me!" exclaims Arthur.
Sadie hands him a rifle, I take out my gun and the three of us start shooting as soon as Arthur bursts the door open.
Once the men are distracted, the others have the chance to come out of the central house and help us, and that's exactly what Bill decides to do, joining our fight. They've surrounded us, but we are angry and we will not allow them to take us, not now that the others are back and we have the chance to leave this goddamn place.
We run inside the swamp and among the trees, chasing them and killing them one after the other.
"We'll kill every last one of ya!" yells Sadie expressing my thoughts.
Suddenly, more men come out from our left.
"Get on that Gatling gun Arthur!" says Sadie pointing at the big machine that the Pinkertons brought with them.
We hold them back until he reaches it.
"Put your heads down. I'm swinging this around!" shouts Arthur and we all throw ourselves on the ground just in time.
The Gatling noise is so loud I'm forced to cover my ears while I lay down, but it is also so powerful it immediately puts an end to the fight.
When the last bastard dies, cut in a half by the Gatling bullets, Dutch comes out, followed by the others.
"You saved us, Arthur" he says.
"Well, me and… Sadie and Bill and Fred…" he pants.
Then, he bends on himself, coughing hard.
"You okay, son?" asks Dutch.
I get closer and put a hand on Arthur's shoulder.
"Sure… sure" Arthur replies making me a sign with his hand to reassure me.
"What do we do, Dutch?" he asks when he's able to talk again.
"Well, clearly we need to leave. It'll take them some time to regroup. Mr. Pearson, Miss Grimshaw, start packing up. Javier, you and Bill get out of here. Go scare off any scum still loitering about… we need a couple of days."
When they all leave, Arthur speaks again.
"What next, Dutch?" he asks.
"We just need some time. I-I just need some time. Now we can't go East, cause then we'll be in the ocean, so we're gonna have to go North, I guess? I just need somebody to buy me some goddamn time, one of you" he adds raising his voice in frustration.
He's angry and stressed. I can understand him. They've just got back and everything went to hell again.
"What are we gonna do about John, Dutch?" asks Abigail.
"John?"
"He's in jail."
"W-w-we'll get him… Abigail, just… not yet."
I stare at him for a second.
After all this, I guess John is the last of his thoughts. He's tired, he needs rest and some quiet time and he's not able to think of a plan to rescue him right now. But we already have something.
"We already have some kind of plan, Dutch. We could organize something and…" I try to say.
"Yes, yes… we'll see. Maybe… give me some time to think about it" he replies.
"We'll take…" I start to say.
"I said I'll think about it."
"There's talk of hanging him" Abigail exclaims.
"It's not gonna come to that" he snaps going away.
"Dutch…" she calls.
"Not now, Miss… not now" he cuts short getting inside the house.
"What the… he's not gonna leave John in jail, is he? He just need… time, right?" I murmur looking at his back.
"I'm begging you three. He's… they're gonna hang him. It would break my… the boy's heart. Please, do something" says Abigail lowering her voice and addressing Arthur, Sadie and me.
I take her hand and look her in the eyes.
I know this will go against Dutch's will, but we can handle it perfectly without him. He's not the only one who must make plans.
"Don't worry. We'll take care of that" I say.
She nods and heads to the house.
"Okay, I'm gonna go figure out how we rescue this bastard" says Sadie as soon as Abigail leaves.
"Now?" asks Arthur.
"Yes, now. Meet me at Doyle's Tavern on Milyonne Avenue" answers Sadie.
"You need me to come with you?" I ask her.
"No. I'm just gonna contact Mr. Bullard and tell him to get ready. See you in the morning" she replies.
"Who's this feller?" asks Arthur in bewilderment.
"Oh, you'll see" I answer.
Then, I turn to look at him.
His hollowed face is almost scary and I start to think it's not due to the tiredness.
"How are you Arthur? You don't seem very well" I say.
But he has no chance to answer me because at the same time Charles gets close to us.
"Are you alright?" he asks.
"Yes, we're fine. You?" I reply.
"I'm good. We managed to save our things from the fire."
"Which fire?" I ask.
"When you got out of the house they hit a lantern and a fire started. Don't worry, I took your things, but maybe you'll have to move to the other house: there's not much space now that the others are back" he remarks.
"It won't be a problem. Come on, let's get to work. We need to clean this mess" I add pointing at the corpses on the ground.
When we're done, I go take my things and move them inside the other house.
Some of us will sleep here, at least for tonight. I'll stay with the other girls, Abigail and Jack, and Miss Grimshaw while the men will settle on the old house.
I sit on my blanket and take the dreamcatcher Charles made for me, turning it around in my hands.
How did they find us so quickly? It seemed like they disappeared from the surroundings once Dutch and the others got on that boat and as soon as they came back, they appeared again.
That's odd. Really odd.
And then, they also followed someone of them to get here the same day of their return. How is that possible? Who's informing them about our movements?
It is with these questions buzzing in my mind that I fall asleep.
...
This morning I've left early, even before the others could wake up.
This because I've been awaken by another dream and I wasn't able to lay on my blanket with my eyes open and my head full of thoughts. And even less, I was able to stay in the camp, with that terrible smell and all the bugs.
So, I mounted on Isabella and headed to the city.
I know where to go: it's the same place Sadie and I met Mr. Bullard for the first time some days ago. And I'm sure Arthur will be able to find us.
When I reach it, the tavern is open, but there's no trace of Sadie inside, so I sit down, order some coffee and wait patiently.
"There you are" she says coming from the back door.
"You found the man?" I ask.
"Yeah, he's waiting for us. What about Arthur?"
"He should come any moment now."
We sit and talk for a little while we drink, when Arthur finally shows up.
His red eyes and pale face worry me more than ever and I decide that, after this, I'll ask him if he feels right or if he wants to visit a doctor.
"You had any problems coming in?" asks Sadie.
"Nah" he answers.
"Well, I think they don't know we are still in the city" she replies.
"Who? Mr. Milton and his friends?" asks Arthur.
He keeps coughing between a word and the other.
"Yes, it's like they had disappeared since you were gone, and then showed up all at once when you came back" I answer.
"What happened there?" asks Sadie.
"In Guarma? Nothing good" replies Arthur.
"Dutch seems… different" I add.
"Yeah, I know. Seems that what began happening in Blackwater, began happening years ago, maybe. A slow decline, I guess" he says heading outside.
"What do you mean?" asks Sadie.
"I ain't quite sure."
We go out of the tavern, get on our horses and follow Sadie to the meeting point. While we ride we tell him a little about what happened in these two weeks. About Hosea, Lenny, John and all the other things we have done: the letters we left so they could find us, how we freed the place to settle our camp there…
Then, Sadie explains to Arthur our plan: she tells him about the hot air balloon and that we will use it to check if John is still in Sisika.
Finally, we reach the outskirts of Saint Denis and there we find him.
"Mr. Bullard!" calls out Sadie as we dismount the horses.
"Ah! Mrs. Adler! Miss Faraday! Good to see you!" greets the man coming out of the basket.
"This is our friend we told you about. Mr. Morgan" says Sadie.
"Ah yes. Arturo Bullard, at your service, sir, at your service" he replies with a deep bow.
"Arthur Morgan."
"Well, it's a nice fresh day for flying, sir. A day like today and Icarus would have made it across the sea. You ever flown before, sir?"
"No."
"Oh, it's quite a thing, quite a thing. Now… put these on and hop in" says Bullard taking some kind of glasses and handing them to Arthur who, after a look, throws them away.
He seems already annoyed by the man and this makes me smile.
"Well, ain't them coming?" asks Arthur pointing at us.
"Don't you know, Arthur? Women can't fly" I say sarcastic exchanging a look with Sadie who smiles back.
"You can't?" he asks.
"Oh, no, sir, does terrible damage to them…to their…vapors. Are you insane?" exclaims Mr. Bullard.
I can't stop being irritated by his words, but at the same time Arthur's expression makes me giggle.
"Where'd you find this guy?" asks Arthur in something between amazement and annoyance.
"I thought you two would get on" laughs Sadie.
I chuckle again.
"Are you sure about this?" he asks to Bullard.
"Certain, sir. Quite certain. Missus… wish us luck!"
I wave my hand as they start raising in the air.
"You boys have fun" said Sadie and we both laugh looking at them going away.
We mount on our horses and decide to head to Sisika so to follow them.
"You think Arthur already pushed him out of the basket?" I ask giggling.
"Well, who wouldn't?" she replies.
"God, I would, especially after all the bullshit on the vapors…"
"Shhh" Sadie stops me pointing something ahead of her.
I follow her finger and see two men at horseback walking right in front of us.
"O'Driscolls" she whispers.
"Good Lord, Sadie. Don't you think it's time to…"
"Shh, I want to listen" she says spurring her horse and trying to get closer to the men without being heard.
Reluctantly, I follow her.
"So what do you think they will do now? Help us get him out of there?" is saying one of the two men.
"Didn't you hear them? They won't help us. We'll have to do it on our own" replies the other.
"Rescue him from the prison won't be easy."
"Yeah, I know. That's why we'll do it at the execution. They'll put the rope around Colm's neck and that's when we'll rescue him."
"Hello, gentlemen!" yells Sadie suddenly, making me turn to her in shock.
"What the hell are you doing?" I whisper before the two men turn around to look at us.
"Who the hell are you?" asks one.
"So, Colm O'Driscoll will be hanged publicly? Can I ask you where and when?" Sadie keeps saying.
"That is none of your business, woman. What do you want?"
"Hey! I know you! You're that bitch who killed a bunch of us some time ago!" exclaims the other pointing his finger to Sadie.
I just have the time to look at her in even more shock than before, that she takes out her gun and shoots the man in the chest making him fall on the ground.
"Come on now, buddy. Tell me more about the hanging" she says pointing her pistol to the other man.
"It'll be in Saint Denis, but we still don't know when" stutters that one raising his hands in the air.
"How did they catch him?" she asks.
The man has no chance to answer.
A bullet passes right next to my head and, turning around to see who it is, I see more O'Driscoll coming to us.
"Okay, time to go!" yells Sadie.
She spurs her horse and starts running and I do the same while bullets fill the air.
"WHAT THE HELL, SADIE! You've been killing O'Driscolls?" I shout.
I receive no answer to my question.
Sadie turns on her horse and starts shooting the men. I do the same, firing blindly behind me.
We ride past Sisika and, looking at the sky for one second, I'm not able to see the air balloon.
"They're not here, yet, or maybe they're already gone!" I yell.
"We better split up!" she replies.
"What?" I ask.
"Kill those who follow you, I'll try to find Arthur!"
"I won't leave you alone with them!" I complain.
"I can handle them. See you at the camp, go!"
At the fork, I take the left and ride inside a wood. Two men follow me while the others keep chasing Sadie.
I recharge my gun, aim and shoot the men. I succede to hit one on the shoulder who bends on his side and hits the face against a tree. The other one screams something I can't understand and shoots.
I feel Isabella jerking and I lose my balance on her falling from the saddle. While I fall, my grip on the gun loosens as I try to cushion the fall landing on my elbows.
The result are bruises and scratches on both my arms as I hit hard on the ground. Rolling on my back, a moan escapes my lips.
The man who's been chasing me slows down and gets close. Then, he dismounts his horse and stands right in front of me, straddle, pointing his gun at my face.
"Well, well. You ain't much tough after all" he grins.
I raise a foot and hit him between his legs. He ducks and I have the chance to take my knife and stick it on his chest. He falls on the ground next to me screaming in pain. As I keep pushing the blade in his flesh, I take his gun he let fall next to him. Then, I take out the knife, stand up and turn around to go away.
"You should kill me" yells the man with a harsh voice.
"You'll die soon anyway" I reply.
I draw closer to Isabella and quickly check her.
The bullet hit her shoulder and she is shivering, but seems to be okay.
"It's okay, it's okay, baby. I'll bring you home. I'm so, so sorry" I murmur.
I pick my gun from the ground, climb on the saddle trying not to hurt her and make her walk slowly towards the camp.
As soon as I get there, I look around for Charles.
It isn't hard to find him, he's keeping watch.
"What happened?" he asks with concern looking at the blood on me.
"O'Driscoll" I murmur taking his hand to lead him to Isabella.
"Are you okay?" he asks again.
"Yes, but please… she's hurt. What should I do?" I reply stopping in front of my horse and showing her wound to Charles.
"We need to take the bullet out of her, and you won't be able to ride her for a couple of days" he says after a look at her.
"Okay…"
"Keep her calm, this won't be pleasant" he says.
As I keep petting her dark mantle and try to calm her, Charles tries to make the bullet come out from Isabella's shoulder, but it takes us more time that I expected and it is also a painful process for the horse.
Every whine she makes, my stomach twists for the regret.
"I'm sorry, babe. Just… stay still, stay still" I keep saying.
When we're done, Charles puts something to cover the wound and avoid it to catch any infection while I take the saddle from Isabella's back.
"She'll be fine, don't worry" says Charles putting a hand on my shoulder.
I hiss in pain at his touch. The bruises I caused myself from the fall begin to hurt.
We decide to sit together around the campfire to wait for Arthur and Sadie to come back and in the meantime he'll help me cleaning my scratches.
Only Arthur shows up, after a couple of hour. His shirt is dirty and ripped.
"What happened? Where's Sadie?" I ask him as he gets closer.
"I could ask you the same question. What happened with them O'Driscolls?" he asks.
I tell him what we found out about Colm's execution and then the chasing and he tells me what happened after Sadie and I parted.
"I'm sorry for Mr. Bullard" I say when he tells me the man's dead.
"He was a little bit of a fool, but seemed a good man" Arthur adds.
"What about John?" I ask.
"He's still there. Mrs. Adler is providing us a boat so we can rescue him. Again."