Chapter Five: Tooth in the Dirt
Chapter Text
Chapter 5: Tooth in the Dirt
"Arthur! Arthur! Arthur!" Hazel cried, shaking the teen's shoulders as he lay on his cot. He was trying to pretend he was still asleep, but at the alarm in Hazel's voice he snapped his eyes open and sat up.
"What's wrong?" he says scanning the camp for anything that shouldn't be there. Everything looked fine and even Copper, who was chewing his way through another boot, wasn't upset by anything and a rabbit running in the woods would normally have his fur on edge.
"My tooth is gone!" she yells, panic clear in her voice, Arthur looks down at the tear stained face of his little sister, seeing some blood on the side of her mouth and hands. Arthur put two and two together slower than he probably should have, but he had just woken up damnit.
"Well that happens kid." He says as he pulls her onto his lap and gives her a small squeeze. "When you get older you have to lose all those little teeth. Happens to everyone."
"But I woke up all bloody and I can't find it! I don't wanna lose all my teeth! How will I eat?"
"You're gonna get new ones. I swear, calm down. In a few weeks a new tooth will be in the spot as the old one, and this one will be even better."
"Really?"
"Yep, I swear. I lost all my teeth too."
"All of them?"
"Yep," Arthur says pulling his bandana from his pocket and wiping Hazel clean of the blood. "But I grew a new one each time. And you wanna know a secret?"
"What?"
"If you find it and put it under your pillow, the tooth fairy will give you some money." Arthur had to bite back a laugh at how large Hazel's eyes became. It was rare that money was given out for more than camp improvements and charity work, but when Arthur was 16 he had a molar knocked out after a fall from a horse and Hosea had joked that Arthur was too old for the tooth fairy to visit. Of course Arthur had no idea what the tooth fairy was, his father not being big on that type of stuff. So Hosea and Dutch made him put his bloody molar under his pillow and he woke up and found his tooth gone and ten cents in its place.
Arthur thought the whole thing was kinda stupid, but it was a nice gesture, and a sign that Hosea and Dutch were going to work hard to try and give him the childhood he never had. The tooth fairy was just a random moment that had stuck with him.
"But I don't know where my tooth is?" Hazel says, her eyes darting to the tent that she and Hosea shared, the sides rolled high to cool the tent down.
"Well, let's go find it." Arthur says setting Hazel back on the ground and pushing himself to his feet. They spent the next half hour or so looking for the tooth, Arthur had a feeling she had swallowed it since they couldn't find it. And that his how Dutch and Hosea found them when they returned to camp, on their hands and knees combing through the dirt for a tiny tooth for the tooth fairy.
The town that Hazel had spent the last month and a half learning every ally and hidden door was suddenly filled with screams and gunshots. Hazel had been standing in the alley beside the stables, she was one of the furthest from the water, but the moment she heard the sounds of shots echoing in the distance she knew it had all gone wrong. Grabbing the skirt of her dress she tucked it into a knot like Karen always did when she was hot, leaving her legs more room to run and giving her more access to the gun she had strapped to her thigh if she needed it. She walked rather than run like she wanted to, but soon she was ducking behind a building as hordes of officers and what looked like bounty hunters and the Pinkertons swarmed the street in the direction of the water and Hazel felt fear grip her chest.
She ran a few feet and found Arthur and her father by the saloon, they were hiding behind a few turned over tables on the deck when she came running beside them, by this time the firefight was raging from all corners it seemed. "What the hell happened?" Hazel asks as she pops a shot off over the flimsy cover they were hiding behind.
"No clue, place just got swarmed, we need to get to Dutch." Arthur says as he angrily shoves bullets into his rifle. "I knew something was off this morning when we got here. Whole place felt wrong."
"Listen to me, you two get back to camp, we need to pack and move, that spot in Tall Trees as the meet up, the mountains are our best bet, we run across open country we're all gonna die."
"I'm not leaving you here alone." Arthur yells before Hazel could.
"I won't be, I know where everyone is, we're not as bogged down here and you can take some of these guys off of me when you go, I have to find Dutch." Hosea puts his hand on Arthur's shoulder, "You have to keep our family safe Arthur, you have to get them out of here."
Soon Hazel and Arthur are running and gunning their way across town towards where their horses are stashed, Hazel was glad that at least Goliath and Bo were at the same spot, as were Tiama and Boaz. Hazel hated just leaving them there, but Charles and Javier would need to know where their horses were so they were not going to move them. Arthur and Hazel mounted the horses and were making their way out of town, the gun shots were growing closer to the center of town, at least the gang was alive enough to keep moving away from the water. But it also had the fight closer to where Arthur and Hazel were trying to go.
The roads out of town were blocked off, they had to tightly turn the horses several times and duck past a shower of bullets a few times before they found a break by the church, "Damn it!" Arthur yells as his hat flies off hit head, Hazel was only able to catch it because she was right behind him. Then a few men stepped out from the church building and a shrill, pain filled cry from Boadicea and both she and Arthur hit the dirt, Hazel screamed and pulled Goliath tight to the left and managed not to step on either of them. Arthur let out a yell and three shots from his gun and the men who ambushed them were dead. Arthur kept his gun tight in his hand as he ran his hand over Bo's neck; Hazel dropped off Goliath and dug into her saddle for anything that might help.
"I'm so sorry girl." Arthur whispers as he presses his forehead against her neck, "It won't hurt much longer." He pulls his knife and thrusts it into her heart, the soft whiney and a twitch was all she gave. Arthur rubbed his head against her fun a few short seconds before standing up. "We gotta go, we can't stay here." He says as he cuts the saddle bags from the worn brown saddle that had been a Christmas gift from Hazel and Hosea years ago.
"Take Goliath, he's too slow with the two of us, take him and go."
"I aint leaving you in the middle of this!"
"Use your head! Goliath is slow on the best of days, he's spooked and piling the two of us on him won't help him any. Take him and go, I can get back to camp on my own, I know where everyone is going. I'll be fine. Go!" Hazel says pushing Goliath's worn black reigns into Arthur's blood stained hands.
"Get in cover! I'll see you soon." He says giving her a quick hug, putting his hat back on his head, and mounting Goliath in what seems like one effortless motion.
Hazel watches as he disappears from her view before she grabs her own knife and slices her skirt to her knees and heads off in the direction Charles and Javier were supposed to head too, since it was the closest posting spot to where she was at. The problem was Blackwater was in the middle of the desert and there was no real cover outside of town, and the gun fight was still raging it seemed like, but who actually knew what was going on. She finds another break in the barricades and makes her way back into town, Boaz and Tiama are gone when Hazel gets to where they were hitched. The gun shots are fading now, they must have gotten away, and she needs to get out of here-
"Hazel." A soft, gurgle of her name sounds behind her and she spins around and blanches at the sight.
Mac is holding his stomach, blood dripping from between his fingers, a perfect trail left in his wake, his ear is also missing and his hand that isn't holding his middle is using his rife as a walking stick. Hazel rushes over to him and grips him tight, easily ripping more of her dress; she ties a strip around his head. "It's okay, it's okay, I gottcha, I'll get you outta here."
"Dutch got out, saw him…..John….shot when the bastards took my ear."
"Don't talk, save your strength, come on, we gotta move." Hazel feels panic bubbling in her chest but tries to shove it back down, tears burning her eyes as she grabs Mac's arm and flings it over her shoulders, his rifle hitting the ground behind them with a loud thump.
His warm blood dripping wet and sticky where his broken body leaned against hers.
"Never talked to you much, need to make up for lost time." He says with a grunt and something that sounded like a whimper but neither of them are going to think about that, what it means for a man like Mac to make that sound.
"Should at least buy me dinner before you bleed on me." Hazel says as she grits her teeth, Mac is big and heavy and his strength fails with each step and Hazel knows he isn't going to leave this town with her. But she is going to try.
"You seen Davey? Haven't seen him since the boat docked."
"I've only seen Arthur and Dad, but I'm sure he's fine, he's a good shot." Sweat is pouring down Hazel as their steps slow with each inch they put behind them.
"Hazel, stop, just stop. I can't. Hurts. Everything's getting blurry. Please." He pleads as his knees give out and they almost hit the ground. Hazel pulls his arm higher and sees they are close to the stables again, she just needs a horse and she can get him outta here. She pulls him into the alley behind a building and props him up against the wall.
"The stables are right over there, I'll be right back with a horse and I'm gonna get you outta here, ok?"
"No, get the horse and go, I'm not gonna make it." Mac says with a certainty that hurts more than Hazel was expecting. She had never been particularly close with Mac, he was loud and rash, everything her dad had thought her to stay away from. But he was always good for a laugh, nights of him, Davey and Sean around the fire singing drinking songs were the bulk of her memories of him. Seeing his eyes glazed and brimming with tears was more than she could deal with and she pressed a kiss to his sweaty brow.
"You did real good brother, we won't forget you. I promise."
"I could use some whiskey." He wheezes out, blood falling from his lips as he shakes head to toe, Hazel digs into the satchel and pulls the half opened bottle and presses it to his lips, he drinks greedily and coughs blood and saliva and whiskey all over her hand when he gulps to fast, the motion causing more blood to flow from his belly onto his jeans. "Thank you, now go!" he says dropping his head against the building, closing his eyes.
Hazel slowly pulls away from the man and with blurry eyes turns away from him and runs out of the alley, and right into the butt of a gun, her head explodes with pain and her vision goes black.
"I wanna ride with Uncle Dutch! Can I please papa?" Hazel whines as she tugs on Hosea's sleeve. The camp was packed up and the group was getting ready to move away from the town they had recently caused a bit of commotion in. Arthur and Susan were in the wagon that held most of the possessions with a newly acquired John sitting between the two of them with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
"You have to ask your Uncle Dutch." Hosea says pulling his arm free of the constant yanking and looking across the way at his friend who was talking with Annabelle and pulling a last drag from his cigar before dropping it on the ground. Annabelle was sitting on her horse with Copper sitting on her lap wagging his tail, soon the dog would be too heavy to ride on a horse like this, but there was no room on the wagon and if Copper saw a rabbit he would chase it, so he couldn't be on the ground unless on a rope. Hazel runs over to Dutch and tugs in his pant leg since his arms were resting on Annabelle's horse.
"Uncle Dutch!" She says, tugging hard enough Dutch was grateful he had suspenders on or she would have pulled his pants off.
"Yes Hazelnut?" He says looking down at her with a smile, gently kicking his leg out to push her small body into his line of sight.
"Can I ride with you? Pretty please?"
"Why do you wanna ride with him? He's grumpy." Annabelle says making a face at Dutch.
"He is not! You just don't want me to ride with him because then you can't kiss him." Hazel says crossing her arms. The action causing the group to giggle and Dutch shook his head before he scooped the scowling child up in his arms.
"It seems you have been found out my dear, if you'll excuse me, my first little lady needs my attention." Dutch says kissing Annabelle's cheek before placing the child on his horse and pulling himself up behind her.
"Thank you Uncle Dutch!" Hazel says as he kicks the horse into motion, "You're the best."
"So are you Hazelnut." Dutch drops his hat on her head and spurs the horse into a trot.
Hazel ached all over.
Her head, arms, legs, middle, she didn't think there was a part of her that didn't hurt when the world finally returned to her.
The sun was low in the sky, there was a cool breeze blowing across her tattered dress causing goose bumps to break out across her thighs, her boots were gone, her hair was down, and there was something sticky on the side of her face.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pry them open again and only succeeded in opening one while the other remained mostly closed and blurry. She was tied to a tree, her arms wrenched high and tight behind her back, her backside was numb indicating she had been in the same position for some time. She swallowed dryly and turned her head to look around.
She was in a camp; she could make out Blackwater not too far away, the church a dead giveaway to her general location. It was a big camp, several tents and a few camp fires, some clotheslines, they had been here a little bit. Turning her head the other way she saw Sean tied in a similar position not too far away from her, he was unconscious, his head hanging in a way that was going to hurt his neck and pull his arms away from his shoulders, his red hair was sticking to the side of his face, a darker shade of red than normal. Hazel closed her eyes at the nausea that over took her at the blood all over him.
Hazel wasn't squeamish by any means, and she had seen Sean bleed more than most members of the camp since he had a tendency to act first think later, but everything right now was just too much, she wanted to close her eyes and wake up somewhere else. She knew what bounty hunters did to outlaws. Hell, she knew what regular people did to outlaws.
She wondered if she was heavy enough that the fall would break her neck or if she would have to suffer being strangled.
A hot sensation filled her eyes and she forced herself to calm down. Having a breakdown would not get her out of this and it sure as shit wouldn't help her get through the next ten minutes.
"Look who finally woke up!" a loud voice sounded somewhere to the left of the scared, injured girl. She turned her head and a tall, burly man in a brown jacket smoking a cigarette was leering at her. "Thought I might have hit you too hard back there. Wouldn't be the worst thing, ridding the world of another one of Van Der Linde's bastards." He pulls another long drag and then tosses the butt to the ground and dug it into the ground with his heel. "But here you are, all tied up." He takes a few steps closer to where Hazel is stuck to a tree when another voice, a bit higher pitched called out stopping the man in his tracks.
"Shut up Everett. You go spooking her Milton will have your ass." A new voice, belonging to a man with blonde hair and the smallest gambler hat Hazel had ever seen.
"She needs to be spooked, damn gang shot up the whole town-."
"We were all there, we know what they did. Just go back to your tent." Small Hat says giving the other man a shove towards the cluster of tents. Everett huffs and flicks the cigarette butt to the ground as he stomps off. Small Hat turns back to Hazel, a smirk crossing his face. "Don't worry about Everett, he won't give you any problems as long as you don't give us any problems." Then he also walked in the direction towards the tens.
Hazel let out a shaky breath and blinked her one good eye before she glanced over towards Sean who hadn't moved an inch. If he was dead they wouldn't bother tying him up so she wasn't in this camp alone, but she also knew Sean had a loud mouth when he was cornered and threatened. He would talk plenty of nonsense and lots of profanity that would get him in more trouble than they needed. Hazel leaned her head against the tree and shut out the bright sun.
Her father had sat her down once when she was thirteen and basically gave her the "you wanna be an outlaw talk" and ran down the risks and what to do in any of the possible situations, the worst one being if the law got her and how to take that death.
But she wasn't dead yet. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and tried to wiggle her hands, testing the rope, it burned and dug into her skin, there were about four coils around her wrists, but they didn't seem overly tight, or her sweaty wrists were making it easier for her to slip them off.
So she struggled, pulling against her bonds with all her strength, she gritted her teeth and tugged her arms as much as she could and she fought to keep her eyes opened as the sweat dripped from her hairline into them and stung, but she kept fighting , desperate to get free.
"Hazel?" a groggy voice sounded to her left and Hazel didn't spare Sean a glance as she kept tugging.
"I'm almost loose Sean, just give me a moment." She grunted out, face red and wrists bleeding, but she felt them give more with each tug, she could do it.
"I can't feel my arms." Sean said softy, his rough voice tugging at Hazel's heart, Sean wasn't quiet, quiet Sean was a bad sign.
"It's ok. I'm almost out." She tugs and feels the coils fall down her hands and she lets out a sigh of relief as she pulls her arms away from the tree. Her head is fuzzy and the nausea has returned as she pushes herself to her feet. The world blurs and she slumps back against the tree, pulling deep breaths into her nose and out her mouth.
She walks over to Sean and tries to tug his ropes off, but the knot is much tighter around his wrists, she can't make them budge. "I gotta find something to cut them with." Hazel says looking around the camp, there has to be a knife around here somewhere.
"Just go, don't worry about me, get outta here." Sean says, locking his light blue eyes with Hazel's blue ones. "You need to go, find the others."
"I don't want to leave you; I can get out outta here." Hazel argues back, shaking her head at the thought of leaving Sean at the mercy of these bounty hunters.
"Please, just go." Sean pleads, gripping Hazel's hand as tight as his bound wrists will allow.
"We'll be back for you, I promise!" Hazel says as she leans forward and presses a kiss to Sean's lips. They share a brief kiss and Hazel squeezes his hand before she takes off in an unsteady run away from the camp.
Hazel took off in the direction of Tall Trees, she needed the protection of the trees and not the open plains that lay outside Blackwater. Tall Tress was also where dad said they were going to meet.
But Tall Trees was a long way away and the shootout must have ended hours ago if the silence around her was anything to go by, but she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Tall Trees was her only lead. They never really had a plan past a meet up point If things went wrong, but they were a large group, maybe she could find some trace of them. Charles had taught her a few things about tracking and she might get lucky.
Her dad had always taught her to worry about the small picture before the large one. She had to get somewhere safe now before she could worry about finding the gang. There were ways to find them in a few days, if nothing else she knew Josiah was heading to New York and she could probably go to him as a last resort.
She also needed a horse; there was no way she could make it much further without one. She would have to risk stealing one from a person on the road; she couldn't risk going anywhere closer to Blackwater than she already was. But stealing a horse would probably draw unwanted attention.
Hazel felt the tears in her eyes again as her mind spun with ways to help her get out of the situation she was in. she just wanted her dad, wanted him to wrap him in his arms and make all this pain go away.
If he was even still alive. Mac was dead, there was no way he would have been able to survive his injuries. Who else was gone? Over half the group was in Blackwater when it went wrong, Mac had said John was shot, Sean had been captured and he was supposed to be with Charles, Charles was an amazing fighter and Hazel knew he wouldn't have allowed anyone to just take Sean, so did that mean he was dead too?
The situation felt hopeless, but she couldn't stop. She would hang for sure if she was caught.
The ground was hard and hot under her bare feet, even with all the time she spent running around without shoes her feet were still protesting this rough treatment, leaving blood with each step she took, the forest of Tall Trees didn't seem to be getting any closer, but Blackwater was getting smaller. Hazel had decided against getting a horse this close to town and had stayed off the main roads, dropping to the ground if a patrol came by, and they seemed to be doing it often. She had a feeling it wasn't a matter of it they caught her but when.
But until there was a rope around her neck she would fight to find her family again. So she kept walking, her eyesight growing blurry in shades of blue and purple and everything seeming to slow down with each step she took. She knew her stamina was failing and she needed food or sleep soon, preferable both, but she was still in the open. She stopped and looked around and decided to forgo Tall Trees and head for the river. The Upper Montana was a fast moving river than cut through West Elizabeth, maybe there would be a boat there she could use. Even if the thought of having to paddle a boat made her shoulders ache even more.
Tall Trees wasn't an option anymore, she would never get there, so her next option was the river.
Problem was it was downhill and she was unsteady on her feet and the sun was sinking fast. She started reciting random plant names with each step she took, "sage, milkweed, mint, tobacco, ginseng, thyme." The list growing longer as the edge to the cliff grew closer, "oregano, yarrow, oleander, burdock root," soon she found herself at the edge of a small cliff, the water lapping at the shoreline, the sound making her throat tighten. She needed to get some water. She sat down and scooted down the hill on her bottom, the rocks and sand digging into her skin, but soon she was on her stomach in the cool water, quickly lapping as much up as she could, she soon felt her stomach roll in due to the amount she swallowed. But she closed her eyes and lay her head down, the water lapping at her heated skin and before she realized what was happening, Hazel had closed her eyes and fell into an exhausted slumber.
=/=/=/=/=/=
Hosea had felt cold before.
He had survived many winters all across the country. The winter in Michigan being one of the worst.
Yet this freak mountain snow storm made his very soul ache. But Hosea knew it had less to do with the actual weather than it did his missing child. And the lost members of their family.
Jenny and Davey were gone. John had been shot in his shoulder, even though the stubborn man insisted he was fine and had made some friends with some wolves soon after he was lost in the storm. But at least he knew where all these people were. Mac, Sean, and Hazel were all missing.
His daughter was missing.
Hazel wasn't well known as an outlaw. Didn't have the reputation like Arthur or Javier amongst most lawmen, if she had been captured or killed she wouldn't have made the headlines. Not like they were anywhere near a newspaper seller.
The old bed in the ran down cabin was hard, but Hosea hadn't lain down since they've been here. Dutch chasing O'Driscolls around and trying to hit a train when they really needed to keep their heads down, try to get information from Blackwater. Hosea sat surrounded by his daughter's belongings, her journals, pictures, collection of the gangs' wanted posters. She had at least 7 of Dutch, watching him age on the paper as the years went up. He always thought it was a weird hobby of hers, collecting the wanted posters, but now it was something of her's that he had to hold on too. A weird hobby of his only child, his child that he didn't think he would ever see again.
"Hosea?" a rough voice sounded through the door, followed by a knocking on the rotting wood.
"Come in Arthur." Hosea says as he sits up, placing a wanted poster with his face on it dated 1893 on the stack of tattered posters. Arthur pushes the door open, his dirty blue coat engulfing his frame, this torn leather hat pulled low over his head.
"You didn't come for supper, brought you some. Charles tracked some deer."
"Thank you son." Hosea takes the bowl that is now cold, no matter how close Arthur held it to his body there was no protection from this cold. At least the storm had broken and they should be able to move out soon. "How is John coming along?"
"The moron is fine. Gonna have a new face when the bandages come off, but Reverend says he'll be fine."
"You need to be nicer to your brother Arthur, be grateful you still have him."
They fall into a silence at that, Arthur picking at his thumb nails as the guilt that had taken root in his belly since he rode out of Blackwater, leaving Hazel there alone, built up until he forced himself to look at the older man. Hosea was the father that everyone deserved and the one that Arthur never wanted to disappoint. And Arthur had left his daughter to die.
"I'm sorry Hosea." His voice cracks and he quickly clears his throat before he continues. "It happened to fast, Bo went down, she wouldn't just go with me. Insisting Goliath would run faster with just me on him. I shouldn't have left her, but she was insistent, just said that I needed to get back to camp, that she would find someone. I should have just picked her up and tossed her on that damn horse-."
"Arthur," a soft hand lands on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze, "it's not your fault, you have to understand that. Hazel had a head on her shoulders. And she was right, Goliath is slow and you toss too much on his back he's going to go slower. You said so yourself that you barley got away from the groups that were outside of town. You wouldn't have gotten away if Goliath was even a hair slower. You got to camp and got them out before it was raided. Don't you take that lightly and regret what you did. Hazel wouldn't want you to."
"I hope she found Sean, and that they're laying low somewhere, doing all that stupid shit we never let them do in camp."
"Maybe. Hazel's smart and Sean has this annoying level of luck that no human should ever have. The two of them together? West Elizabeth better look out.
Hazel always heard the phrase "needle in a haystack" but after her and Arthur spent about two hours looking through the mess that was her childhood tent for a tiny tooth her phrase had been "tooth in the dirt" that most people didn't understand but it always made Arthur smile and shake his head.
Finding a tooth in dirt is what it felt like trying to find her family.
She had woken up several miles down steam from where she had landed when she fell down the hill. It was late at night, the moon high and Hazel was so shaken and confused she realized later how lucky she was that she had been eaten by wolves or a cougar considering she was in a fairly heavily wooded area.
She had walked a long time, hours maybe or maybe less, she didn't really know. She found an abandoned cabin and locked herself in the closet of the bedroom. It smelled and all the ghost stories John liked to tell her jumped into her brain at every sound she heard.
When the sun finally rose enough to peak under the door of the closet she was hiding in did she get brave enough to leave her closet. The cabin was empty, but there were dark red stains on the floor. There was some old canned food when she searched the place, she had never been so happy to shove canned peas into her mouth. She sat on a chair and prayed it wouldn't break as she finally looked herself over.
Her wrists were bruised and scabbed over, it wouldn't take much to make them bleed again. The blood that had been on the side of her head at the bounty hunter camp had been washed off in the river, but there was a huge bump and bruising on the side of her face, the dress that she had cut up during the gun fight was in even worse shape that she thought a bit of clothing could survive.
Her feet hurt the worst though. Hell all of her hurt, the cold water had number her body somewhat and she guessed her adrenalin and nerves kept her from feeling it last night, but she felt it now. She felt it everywhere. She just wanted to lay on the bed in the next room, even though it was probably infested with bugs and she had seen a few rats scurry around the room as she ate her peas, she just wanted to close her eyes and block it all out.
But she also knew she couldn't. She had to find her family.
So she set out on foot, and soon realized she was still on the Blackwater side of the Montana River. In fact she was fairly close to the stupid town again, if she squinted she could see the outline of the church. It had taken everything in her not to throw her hands up and just trudge back into town. Maybe she would be shot on sight and her misery would be over.
Instead she marched back up towards the road and prayed she could make it to the pass over the river. A few wagons had been nice enough to give her a ride down the road a few miles, but since she had no real destination in mind she never traveled too far with anyone. She was tempted to try a rob a few of the nicer, weaker looking ones, but she had nothing to hold any of them up with and the last thing she needed was unwanted attention sent her way. So she kept her head down and told a different variation of the same story to anyone who asked. Abusive husband who kicked her off of their wagon a few days ago, leaving her alone on the side of the road and she was trying to make her way back home to Montana.
She made it across the Montana River and decided to climb a tree to make her nest for the night. It had taken almost a whole day to get where she was, not wanting to stay on a straight route for too long simple because she had seen a few groups of bounty hunters scattered through the land as she traveled. One wagon she had hitched a ride in was full of a family the was headed for Saint Denis, some huge town down south that would probably make Dutch find the closest soap box to preach his philosophy to all who would listen. The lady that was named Anna had given Hazel a new dress, shoes, and a shawl before they let her off their wagon.
It took her several days but eventually she looked up and there was a wooden sign that hung over the road that read "STRAWBERRY"
"Now that you have robbed your train and we have a hostage, can we please get off this mountain?" Hosea asks as he holds his metal cup over the flames of the fire in the cabin he and Dutch shared.
"We just need to know where we are going old girl." Dutch says as he looks over the map that is rolled out on his lap. "We can't go anywhere near Blackwater yet and I want us out of West Elizabeth. But I don't want to head too deep south either. Somewhere in New Hanover would work."
"Horseshoe Overlook." Hosea says taking a drink of his now hot coffee. "It's not too far from Valentine. Bessie and I were out that way for a few months before we went north. It was a livestock town back then and I would bet it hasn't changed much. It's away from West Elizabeth and Cornwall doesn't have a lot of stock in farm animals so the chances of running across his path by chance is slim. And he will be out for blood Dutch."
"You have got to stop complaining about the train. It's done. We have money in our pockets, Arthur sent the train on its way with the innocents, and we're in the clear." Dutch rolls up the map and checks the drawers one more time in the cabin, they were heading out tomorrow at first light and the more that was packed tonight the sooner they could get off the mountain.
"I'll believe that when I see it." Hosea downed the rest of his coffee and then shoved his elbow to his mouth as another coughing fit squeezed his lungs. Dutch was patting his back to loosen whatever was irritating the man this time.
"Valentine got a doctor?"
"I'll be fine, we find green grass I can find the herb I need."
"Did you use all the ones Hazel had stored up?"
"There wasn't much left, she didn't have a chance to restock before…." He clears his throat and looks down at his shoes. "She was going to pick some more for me on our way out of Blackwater."
Dutch walks over and places a hand on Hosea's shoulder and gives it a squeeze. "We don't know yet, she could still be out there. Sean and Mac too."
"Maybe." Even though the cup was empty he brought the cup to his lips to force him to swallow his anger back. "Arthur back yet?" he asks as he pushes to his feet, walking away from his friend.
"Hosea-," Dutch tried again, just to be brushes off as the older man walked into the snow outside. With a sign he sat back down on the old chair and rubbed his face.
There weren't many things that made Dutch question his actions and decisions, but Blackwater was one of them. Hosea had tried to talk him out of the boat job, especially after Hazel had reported the number of guards and patrols by the docks. He and Arthur had a good scam going too, , they had taken a gamble trying to make them both work. The boat was supposed to bring more money than their scam and they needed money to head west into the freedom that still waited for them.
Then it had blown up in his face and had blown up fast.
Dutch was close to all of his people, Sean had been the easiest to warm up too, he was loud and cocky and always found humor in everything, Davey and Mac were an inseparable pair that had lost their family farm when the bank repossessed their land when they were kids, their father was killed while hunting and their mother in a stage accident. They were loyal to each other and they were loyal to Dutch. Jenny had a rotten streak and she looked so sweet and was always the best one to bring if you wanted to lift a few wealthy of their wallets and watches.
Yes Dutch had loved them all, but none of them were Hazel.
Dutch had held Hazel when she was just a few days old, watched her grow up and become a little hellion on barefeet. Her being gone was hurting everyone, but no one wanted to talk about it because they didn't want to upset Hosea. Once they got to their new location maybe he could talk to his old friend about how to best honor all the fallen, even Hazel.
"Okay Hazel, grip the reigns firm, but don't pull them tight." Dutch says as he sits behind the six year old girl on Duke as they make their way back to camp, one arm tight around her middle, the other hovering above the leather strap in case something went wrong.
"Can I make him go fast?" she asks after they trotted along the road for a few steps.
"Not while you're driving."
"Arthur and John always race when they go out." She pouts.
"Arthur and John are not six years old. And how many times do I have to tell you to be smarter then your brothers."
"But going fast is fun."
"If you want to go fast you have to give me back the reigns." Dutch said, thinking it would be the end of the discussion, only to be surprised when the leather is held out for him to take. Hosea always hated when Dutch ran the horses with Hazel on them. The young girl already liked to copy every dangerous thing her older brother did and the last thing Hosea wanted was for her to get reckless ideas in her head. Even as a child she had been do now think later and it had gotten her in a lot of trouble over the years.
Dutch sighs and takes control of the horse back and pulls his hat tighter over his head. "Do not tell your father." He says before digging his heels into the side of the horse and they race across the wooded area. It was one of the many secrets Dutch asked Hazel to keep from her father that involved him and racing his horse fast across the land.
Note:
So….I have several reasons as to why I and this story dropped off the face of the universe. I'm very sorry.
So here is a new chapter and it's going to actually start following the game now.
I hope everyone likes this chapter, let me know what you think.
I want to thank everyone for the favoring and thank everyone for reading this story.
