CHAPTER XXIV

BLUEWATER MARSH, LEMOYNE, JUNE 9TH 1900

The sun was fading fast, but the heat was going nowhere. It was mainly the heat and humidity, along with the constant bumping around that finally woke Ellie. She'd been unconscious for at least two hours or more since Roland had beaten the strength out of her. Between the hazy memory of the bank's rooftop and the suddenness of waking in what felt like a puddle of her own sweat in the back of a carriage, Ellie could not recall a single event.

The young huntress gasped quietly to herself once her eyes opened and she fully realized that she didn't have a clue where she was. She was hot, sweating buckets and felt agony throughout her whole body. She tried to jolt upwards once she had awakened, but the pains had kept her down. Ellie felt like her ribs were shattered, her face torn apart and her neck bruised beyond repair. That was when the girl recalled her fight with Roland in the blood-covered bank, where he'd very nearly choked her to death.

Ellie very quickly figured out her predicament. She was laying in the back of a horse carriage, bound tight by ropes around her wrists and ankles. All around her were these strange looking trees. They seemed to be sick-looking. The trees and bushes all around her were dark, sagging and covered in what looked like flies or moths. God knows where she was, but when she turned her head to the two men holding the reigns, Ellie's eyes widened and she had to fight back tears of pure panic.

Roland Payne was sat at the reigns, but he wasn't holding them, she noticed. The man actually moving the carriage was someone else. Some ugly looking guy, Ellie thought. Had some fancy looking suit and a hat that looked like it had been squashed. Come to think of it, Ellie thought, the man himself looked squashed. The suit looked way too big on him, just like a lot of Ellie's own clothes on herself. It didn't help the ugly man's case when he started to speak either.

"I'm tellin' you, I think it's a big fuckin' mistake." The ugly, skinny man said, "What d'ya reckon it's gonna achieve?"

"We get outer the way for awhile, and that's the end of it." Roland replied, his voice low. He seemed to be fiddling with something in his hand.

"We ain't gonna be built for the cold up there, Roland. It's a stupid fuckin' idea."

"Wilson, you're startin' to get on my last fuckin' nerve." The huge, mountain of a man turned to his accomplice, "You still want a piece of the fuckin' money? Then you shut your shitty mouth, stop questionin' me and do as you're fuckin' told."

Wilson? Ellie thought. The name was familiar. She could've sworn Vic and Sawyer had mentioned him in conversation before. Not in such glowing terms either she recalled, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. She thought it best to keep listening to the men talk while thinking of a way to free herself from the dyer situation at hand.

"The West Grizzlies ain't no place to lay low, is all I'm fuckin' sayin'." Wilson replied, his high voice breaking further, "We'll freeze to death up there!"

Ellie hadn't ever heard of a place called 'The Grizzlies' but with the ugly, scrawny man saying they could freeze to death there, the young woman figured it'd be even less like home than where they were trotting through at that moment. The area stunk of something Ellie hadn't ever smelt before. It was so humid and the air so thick it was like she could taste the sap and secretions from the bushes and plants all around her.

"We get coats and make fires. Eat off the land. And we do that for as long as it takes for the shit down here to ease off." Payne replied, "Now if that's too hard for ya, Agent Wilson. If you're too used to eatin' well and sleepin' soundly in nice fuckin' hotels, do let me know, so I can cut you loose."

Wilson jabbed a finger at Roland, "We have a fuckin' deal, you and me. And I'll see my end through, same as you fuckin' better."

"Don't threaten me, boy. I'll break your fuckin' spine." Roland replied through clenched, rotten teeth.

Wilson soon retracted his boney finger and scoffed, "Whatever."

With that exchange over, the two men sat silently and tense as they kept riding through what seemed to be swamps and huge lakes of mud. Ellie managed to get a glance through a gap in the wooden frames of the cart she lay in. The light was fading further and darkness was seeping in, but she could still make out the swamps and thick marshes all around her. They looked like enormous puddles of dirt or shit. That was when she guessed that she'd finally figured out the smell. Or maybe it was the stench coming from the two men sitting up front, she couldn't really tell.

The journey carried on as the sun eventually completely faded away, leaving the carriage in almost complete darkness, save for an illuminated lamp that the ugly Agent hung from one of the horses at the front.

Ellie thought this time was best to give her only idea of escape a go. She knew there was a small but sharp knife hidden away in her right boot, but it was gonna prove hard to get, what with the binds tying her wrists together and the pains in her body making it hard to bend in the direction of her feet.

The youthful hunter tried to do it as silently as she could. Even if the carriage was making plenty noise to cover her, she found herself terrified at the idea of Roland catching her in the act. Thankfully, he seemed to be preoccupied with something in his hand.

Reaching hard and struggling from the pains she felt, Ellie's hands tried desperately to grab at the knife's handle just inside of the leather boot. She kept holding her breath to keep from making any noise that could draw attention, and the pains in her abdomen were making it ever so hard.

But the girl kept fighting it and eventually her fingers felt the blade's hilt. It wasn't a big knife, but a good one she'd used for sharpening her arrows and carving marks into trees or wooden walls. She was certain it could cut through the ropes tying her together quite easily.

One final pull with her fingers and the blade came from the boot and into her bound hands. Without wasting any time, Ellie held the knife backwards, it's sharp edge resting against the ropes and began slowly cutting, bobbing her hands in a gentle up and downward motion.

Time went by, the carriage kept trotting on and Ellie kept cutting. While the young huntress could feel the tiny tendons of the rope snapping and severing, it didn't feel to be getting any looser. Soon she began trying to cut through the rope even faster, despite the difficult in moving her hand any quicker than she already had been.

Suddenly, it seemed like the carriage went over a big bump in the road, because the whole thing shook with such a force that Ellie was knocked around at the back and struck into the ribs by the wood she lay on. It sent a very sharp surge or pain upwards through her stomach and side that she gasped and groaned in agony for only a second or two. But that was all it took.

"The fuck?" Wilson muttered, squinting and then turning backwards.

There he saw the girl. The agent soon took the lamp from right-side horse and used it to see what their hostage was doing. That was when the corrupt Pinkerton noticed she was awake.

"Finally fuckin' with us, are ya, girlie?" Wilson asked with a toothful grin, "Nice to have ya."

With a closer inspection of her body, Wilson noticed the shiny glint in her bound hands.

"You little fuckin' shit." Wilson said real sternly, pulling the horses to a stop.

As the Pinkerton climbed down from the reigns, Roland turned around to watch the commotion blankly. It was finally then that Ellie saw what Roland had been doing the whole time. He seemed to be picking at the bloody and slimy hole that her arrow had left in his left hand back at the bank. He was sticking his other finger throughout the puncture like a child would to a crack in a wall. He didn't seem bothered by any pain or discomfort that the wound was surely bringing. She found herself having to look away once she noticed him lock eyes with her and then proceed to suck away the blood from his own finger and lick his lips and teeth.

"C'mere you little fuck." Wilson said angrily as he climbed the back of the carriage

The Pinkerton grabbed the knife from Ellie's hands and pocketed it into his belt, "You think you can pull one over on us, huh?!"

"You're fuckin' right I do..." Ellie whispered.

Wilson looked back down sharply at her response before finding her bound hands clasp his grey coat and bring his face down against her forehead, cracking the Pinkerton agent hard in the face. It knocked him back so much that he almost fell completely off of the back of the carriage. Ellie then began to roll herself in the direction of the cart's edge, trying to get away.

"Gettin' beaten by a fuckin' girl, huh Agent?" Roland asked, still licking his bloody fingers and not even making eye contact with either his accomplice or captive.

"Agh, shit!" Wilson shouted, spitting blood from his now split lip, "I'll teach you, ya little fuckin' tease!"

Ellie was almost about to drop from the carriage but found her hair grasped by Agent Wilson's skeletal hands and dragged back into the cart. He soon turned her over as she struggled in pain and slapped her hard across the cheeks, twice for good measure.

"Don't fuckin' make us do what you really don't want us to fuckin' do, bitch!" The agent snarled, his drool spitting onto Ellie's bruised face, some getting in her eyes.

"Oh yeah!?" Ellie shouted back in defiance, "What's that?! You gonna pat my face gently again like that!?… My fuckin' Momma hits harder than that you ugly motherfucker!"

With that, Agent Wilson couldn't take any more blows to the ego, so he began to punch Ellie straight in the mouth. He aimed intentionally for the girl's lips and teeth to try and make sure she couldn't speak back to him again. He hit her once, then again, then again, then hit her with another until her eyes began to roll back into her head.

"Reckon she's had enough, Wilson. Don't ya agree?" Roland then asked, his voice even lower than before.

Wilson breathed heavy in exhaustion, his left hand still tightly holding the back of Ellie's head, his right still clenched ready to hammer down on her some more.

"Nah, can't say I fuckin' do!"

Roland sighed, equipping his Cattleman and aiming it at the Agent, "You keep on and I ain't gonna have much of her left to myself am I? And you must be forgettin' that she's fuckin' mine in the first place, boy. So get your ass back here and get us to the damn cabin!"

Wilson kept breathing hard through his clenched teeth, staring at Roland for a moment until the Pinkerton finally let go of the barely conscious girl and did as Roland told him to. The agent was back in the carriage seat and moving the horses before Ellie could blink twice.

While coming back around from the beating and her escape attempt being thwarted, Ellie felt the carriage start moving again. She couldn't find the strength to do anything anymore. The girl could only lay there, sweating and bleeding, wishing to god that Vic or Sawyer would just ride outer the rotten trees and shoot the two evil bastards. Hell, she'd do it herself if she could just get a hold of a gun.

Minutes struggled by and Ellie simply lay there, glaring into the pitch darkness that the carriage kept leaving behind. The young huntress fought strongly with her own thoughts to not feel any regret for the decisions she'd made. Sure, if she'd stayed back home in Tumbleweed, she'd be safe at that moment. She wouldn't be in any danger of whatever the hell Roland Payne had taken her for.

But then again, at the same time, she wouldn't have been able to help Vic or Sawyer the many time's she had. Ellie thought to herself, that she wouldn't have seen all that she'd seen if she hadn't snuck outer her home settlement that evening. She didn't know if the thing's she'd seen were necessarily good, but they were different nonetheless.

There were things she'd only ever imagined from the first time she'd taken baby steps towards her Daddy. She'd seen gigantic trees and forests, she'd seen trains, huge rivers, found treasures, been through an enormous city full to the brim of people and she'd even been to a small place in the mountains. At the young age of sixteen, realizing what she'd done up until that point, she couldn't say she regretted it. Not really.

Young Ellie Kennedy was forced out of her dreamy trance when the carriage came to a shuddering halt. She couldn't see where they were and couldn't even begin to try and lean upwards to find out. So she thought the best idea was to keep laying there and maybe even pretend to be out cold.

Both Roland and Wilson jumped down from the carriage seat and walk around the back. Ellie watched through squinted eyes as Wilson climbed back up to her and began to drag her off. Ellie was tempted to try something, but with the binds tying her hands and feet together, it would be a completely hopeless cause. Instead, she had to let herself be carried by the filthy, stinking agent from the carriage.

"Get her in there." She heard Roland command, "Make sure she ain't gonna go nowhere."

Ellie opened her eyes as she hung over Wilson's shoulder to see the big tracks on the muddy road that had been left by the heavy carriage. She made sure to take note of that before she was taken inside of what appeared to be a cabin. Inside was humid and even hotter than outside. It was night time at that point yet she was still wet through with sweat.

Wilson let her fall to the floor next to a dinner table completely messed up with plates, pots and empty liquor bottles. Again, she thought, she could try to make some move to get away or at the very least hurt Wilson or Roland. But she couldn't. Not until her feet were free.

"How long we gonna hol' up in this fuckin' shit hole?" Wilson asked loudly to Roland who was still outside.

"Just a couple hours... But you're leavin' soon." Roland revealed, "I need you to go get the last bunch of 'em."

The corrupt Pinkerton agent grimaced, "Huh? You didn't tell me that."

"I don't need to, Wilson. You do as I say whenever I decide to fuckin' say it." Roland replied, no expression in his voice or face.

Wilson sighed to himself and cursed Roland under his breath. Ellie heard it clear as day and thought the agent was even more pathetic that he wouldn't say it to the monster's face.

"Where the fuck am I goin' then?" The agent asked, rummaging through the cabin's cupboard for something.

"Van Horn. That's where the fella's are waitin'." Roland replied, "Ten of 'em. The last of 'em. You go get 'em and then you follow my ass up to the Grizzlies."

Wilson sighed once again, this time even harder. He hadn't signed up to this job to be Roland's damn lackey, yet that's all he seemed to be. Now Roland was asking him to make a damn long trek from Lemoyne to Van Horn. Then from there all the way to the fucking West Grizzlies. That was gonna delay Wilson's payment by another few damn days.

"Why didn't these fuckers join us in the damn robbery in Saint Denis?" Wilson asked another question.

"'Cause they're better than the guy's we took to Saint Denis." Roland replied, his patience obviously starting to fade, "I didn't need the fuckin' O'Driscoll idiots that we took to Saint Denis because it'd probably have meant givin' away a bigger fuckin' share of the money."

The Pinkerton nodded to himself and shrugged. He couldn't argue with that. The less hands left alive meant less of the robbery fund to split. He guessed Roland was smart, or at least smarter than he'd originally thought.

"So what're the guy's in Van Horn gonna do exactly?"

Roland finally entered the cabin at that moment, "They're gonna keep us guarded up in the mountains. Is that your last fuckin' question, Agent? Or do I need to tell you how to tie your fuckin' boot laces too?"

"Just curious, Roland." Wilson replied, having found a half bottle of scotch.

The agent yanked the cork from the bottle and took a huge gulp before offering it to Roland. The hulking madman took the bottle and finished it in one whole swig.

"Nice." Wilson said sarcastically, "So I guess I'll just take one of the horses from the carriage then?"

Roland was suddenly in the process of dragging Ellie across the rough wooden floor of the humid cabin, taking her up to a stronger wooden beam that was supporting the entire structure.

Ellie was still pretending to be out, but she could feel everything as Roland slightly untied the ropes around her wrists and then twirl the end of it around the support beam and then tie it together again. Now she couldn't even roll or crawl anywhere.

"Yup, take whichever, I don't give much a shit." Roland replied without even looking back, "Get there fast, I want you and the fella's up there as soon as you fuckin' can be."

With Roland's back turned, Wilson simply saluted his accomplice with his middle finger. He then looked towards the two large sacks of cash that they'd carried all the way from the Lemoyne capital.

"I'm guessin' that you're takin' the money with you?"

That was the moment Roland turned around and Ellie's eyes opened. She could feel the atmosphere within the cabin suddenly change in a split second.

"You guess right, boy." Roland growled, "Now are you gonna fuckin' get? Or do I gotta drag you onto one of those fuckin' horses?"

Wilson and Roland stared at one another for a few moments before the Pinkerton could no longer bear it.

"Nah, I can do it myself, Roland. Thank you though." He replied with a squint.

Ellie then spat blood onto the wooden floor and had an idea in her head. One she was certain would work.

"You sure about that, cocksucker?" Ellie said, her mouth still full of running blood, "You don't need your fuckin' granny to help you up the damn stirrups?"

Roland looked back at the girl with fierce eyes which startled Ellie, but it was Wilson that came storming towards her first. The agent got right up close to Ellie's face, she could smell the shit and whiskey on his breath.

"Go ahead then." She said with a smirk, "Hit me again. I fuckin' dare ya."

Wilson snarled in her face before it turned into a sickening smile. Suddenly Ellie saw his mouth open and his disgusting, viscous tongue go up from her chin to her temple.

"ARGH! GET THE FUCK OFF ME YOU SICK FUCK!" Ellie yelled out in disgust, shoulder barging the Agent outer the way.

Wilson was just enraged and embarrassed further by the push she'd given him and immediately tried to storm back towards her in the dark, dimply lit cabin. It was only Roland that stopped him, pushing the agent away yet again.

"Get the fuck outer here!" Roland shouted, "I'll deal with her! You just get your fuckin' ass to Van Horn... NOW!"

Wilson was seething with anger at Ellie, yet she gave him back a similar vicious glare, her cheek still feeling chilly from the Pinkerton's slimy drool. He wanted so badly to do things to her that she'd hate and he'd love, yet the barrier between them was Roland.

"A'ight, have it your fuckin' way... But I'll be seeing you again, bitch." Wilson growled, jabbing his boney finger again, this time at the young huntress.

Ellie thought of many responses, but wanted the ugly son of a bitch to leave fast, so she kept her mouth shut. She simply watched as he angrily kicked over one of the dining chairs and stormed outer the cabin, slamming the door hard behind him. This left Ellie slightly relieved, until it truly dawned upon her who she had been left with. The same man that had almost killed her back in that bank.

She looked up at Roland with terror in her eyes. He was not looking at her, not yet. Instead he was peering out of one of the cabin's small windows to make sure Wilson had left the area. So all Ellie could do was wait.

Eventually, after a very tense and extremely awkward silence, both she and Roland heard Wilson whip the reigns of a horse and command it to move. They then heard the strong gallops begin and then soon fade away as the Pinkerton left the area.

That was when Ellie watched Roland. The enormous, giant of a man turned in her direction and begin taking off his beige jacket. It revealed a raggedy shirt, covered in blood, dirt and torn to shreds. She could see the various wounds and cuts underneath it that didn't seem to be bothering him either. The monster threw his jack onto the messy table and put his Cattleman Revolver on top of it too, leaving only his hunting knife in his belt.

The young huntress began to pant silently and frantically. She had never felt this much fear before. Not since the day she'd heard the news that her Daddy weren't coming back home ever again. It was awful. So awful she felt sick, like she was about to vomit any second. God knows what Roland was planning to do.

Suddenly, she was taken aback when he pulled up the chair that Wilson had kicked over and sit down on it. He proceeded to remove one of his boots, revealing a filthy socked foot. The sock having been browned by the amount of sweat that it had siphoned.

Ellie watched in complete bewilderment as the fiend across from her silently removed his sock and then put the boot back on. What in the fuck was he doing? She thought.

"Ya know..." He suddenly spoke, his voice a low whisper, "I gotta say... I respect you, little lady."

Ellie didn't say anything at all in return. She could only watch, panting with wide eyes.

"One hell of a fighter." Roland said, reaching for the empty whiskey bottle that he'd finished earlier, "Probably got closer than any piece of shit has for a long fuckin' time."

Roland stuffed the empty glass bottle into the sock that he'd just pulled from his rancid foot. The bottle then hung down in the sock, which Roland kept a hold of by the top. Ellie saw it in his hand, like some kinda tiny makeshift sack.

"And for that, I gotta get my payback, ya see." He then growled, standing up from the chair, makeshift cosh tightly in hand, "I can't let that abide... You understand me?"

Ellie didn't reply again. She couldn't even look. Her eyes tightly closes themselves and she began to cry slowly, moving her face away from Roland, turning it anywhere but to him.

That was when she felt it. So familiar and yet so terrifying. Roland grabbed the girl by her chin and jaw, scrunching her face hard, like her head was about to pop. His grip was like what she'd imagine a bear's would be like. She remembered it well from earlier that day.

"But lucky for you... I like to make shit like this last a while." Roland said, his teeth gritting so hard they could break, "So thank you."

Ellie didn't even see it coming. Roland swung the cosh at her so hard the bottle within the sock smashed across her face, leaving nothing but a ball of broken glass shards within his crudely made weapon.

The young huntress' face fell to her chest. She'd never felt pain like it before, and she felt the blood begin to run down her cheek. But, in the back of her young mind, she knew. She knew that no matter what Roland did to her, he had not realized the knife she'd pickpocketed back from Wilson only minutes earlier. The girl couldn't use it yet, but she kept thinking that as long as she could hold out this torture, the knife would be her savior.

And that was when the second blow came across her head.