Chapter 22-Freeing Colt

Everybody was gathered around the table. The sun was starting to set. Arthur laid down a map. "Here's what we know. We know that the O'driscoll's have Colt in Fort Wallace, and we know that the Pinkertons are picking him up early tomorrow morning. They also think that they are picking up one of use, which means they don't know Colt is part of the gang," Arthur says. Everybody nods. Arthur turns to Bill.

"We got dynamite?" Arthur asks Bill, who nods.

"Yeah, why?" Bill asks.

"We need two people to head to the path that leads path leads to Valentine past Cumberland falls. That is the path the Pinkertons will use because it is the quickest. Ms. Gaskill, Ms. Jackson, you two will wait there for them with a wagon. Bill give them a stick, and you two will rob a wagon of the road. But the wagon on the road and let the houres go. Put the stick under the wagon and wait. Once the Pinkertons show up, wait for them to get off their horses and shoot the stick. That will give us time," Arthur says. The two women nod as Bill hands them a stick. "You two need to leave now. It will take longer to get there. Wait until night to park the wagon," Arthur says. They nod as they head for their horses. Tilly and Mary-Beth leave camp.

"Now, the rest of us will head for the fort. All of us beside Miss Grimshaw, Swanson, Abigal, Jack Strauss, Uncle and Molly," Arthur says before he turns to Kieran. "What do you want to do, Kieran?" Arthur asks the man.

"I want to fight," Kieran says. Arthur turns to Hosea.

"If you stay, I should stay here. I will shoot you," Hosea says. Arthur nods.

"We will have to blow the doors," John says. Arthur nods.

"Bill, how many sticks we have left?" Sadie asks.

"10," Bill says.

"We can use two to blow the gates and two to blow up the cellar door. Mr. Williamson Mr. Escuella, you two will head to the east and west side of the fort. One of you each side. Both of you will have three sticks. Throw them over the wall. Once they go off, we'll blow the door and head in. Sadie, John, Hosea, Charles, and I will head for Colt. Karen, Sean, Kieran, Dutch, Micah, and Lenny will cover us. Bill and Javier will join them. Our priorities are getting Colt and making sure no Pinkertons see him," Arthur says.

"What about Colm?" Dutch asks as Micah nods with him.

"Colm will run. Let him. We get Colt and get out. That clear?" Sadie asks.

"Crystal," Dutch says with a frown on his face.

"Good. We will have to ride face back here. There's no guessing what shape Colt will be in. Get ready. We ride out in an hour," Arthur says. The gang nods as they all go to get ready. Arthur walks to his tent.

An hour later, the gang heads to their horses. "Everybody knows the plan. Let's ride!" Arthur exclaims as the gang rides out of their camp.

Cumberland Forest

The gang rides through the woods. One of the O'drisscoll's on guard sees them coming through the woods. "Colm!" The man shouts as the gang comes out of the forest. Bill and Javier break off from the gang as They gang stops in front of the fort. Colm comes to the top and looks down with a frown.

"Look at that. You found us. This wasn't supposed to happen yet," Colm snarls. The gang gets off their horses.

"Your done, Colm," Arthur says. The first stick of dynamite goes off, making Colm turn around. The gang starts to shoot at the other gang. Killing the two guards up top as Colm runs down. The second and third sticks go off. They could hear the screams of the men from inside the fort as the bombs go off.

"Arthur, we need to get that door open," Dutch says.

"I know," Arthur says as he pulls out a stick of dynamite and throws one to John, who grabs it. Arthur pulls out the other as the two men move to the gate as the gang covers them. Two more bombs go off as Arthur and John set the dynamite against. They both light their fuses and back up. They two bombs on the gate, and the last one that Bill and Javier were throwing goes off. The gate blows up, and one of the guards run out, and Arthur shoots him in the head. The gang moves in through the smoke and get into cover behind the building. Dutch and Micah break away from the group.

"Dutch," Hosea says. There was smoke cover the fort.

With Tilly and Mary-Beth

Mary-Beth and Tilly had been waiting by a tree for hours. It was around 1:00 am when they finally heard horses. Tilly grabs her gun and aims at the stick as the first Pinkertons stops. There were eight altogether. Two of them get off their horses. "What the hell is this?" One of them asks. The two move towards the wagon. Tilly aims and takes the shop. The dynamite goes off, blowing up the wagon. The two closes to the wagon are killed as the other six are thrown off their horses. Mary-Beth and Tilly run for their horses and leave as the Pinkertons get up.

"Shit!" Another exclaims as they start to walk towards Valentine.

The fort

The gang shoots as Micah and Dutch search the buildings for Colm. Arthur shoots the last one who falls to the ground. Everybody besides Arthur, Sadie, John, Charles, and Hosea start to look for the cellar as the others keep cover. They spilled up. "Arthur, I found it," Hosea says. The others come over and see that the cellar door was behind a building. Arthur pulls out the two dynamite sticks and hands one to John, who grans it as they place them against the door. They light the fuses and back up. The door blows up, leaving a hole. Sadie was the first one down. They hear grasp. The other four follow her down and stop when they see Colt hanging. His face was bruised. His clothes were a crimson red all beside the little white patches that were the bandages keeping him alive. The dirt below him was also red. Charles was the first to move as he heads over to Colt. "Guys, we need to get him down," Charles says that breaks the others out of their trance. Arthur John and Hosea come over as Charles cuts Colt down. Colt starts to fall. John and Arthur grab him and turns him upside up. They cut the ropes on his arms and wraps his arms around their shoulders. They start to move Colt up the stairs. Colt's feet drag against the ground as they come outside. They move him towards the gate. Arthur whistles for his horse. Sean was the first one to turn around.

"Holy shit," Sean says. The others turn around.

"We don't have time. We have to get him back to camp," Sadie says. The others nod as they whistle for their horses. Micah and Dutch come out of a building come over to them.

"You found him," Dutch says.

"No thanks to you two," Sadie says as their horses get to the fort.

"You find Colm?" Javier asks.

"No," Micah says.

"We got Colt. Colm doesn't matter. Let's go," Bill says. The others nod as they get on their horses and start to ride away from the destroyed fort.

Camp

Arthur rides into camp. "Miss Grimshaw," Arthur says, gets off his horse and helps Colt down, who was still passed out. Miss Grimshaw comes over.

"Oh my god, Mr. Morgan, get him to your bed. Mr. Pearson, Ms. Robert, grab me anything you can," Miss Grimshaw says as John gets off his horse and helps Arthur. They start to move Colt. They get to the tent and lay him on the cot. Miss Grimshaw comes over with rags, water, and any medical supplies they had. "I'll do what I can, Mr. Morgan," Miss Grimshaw says to Arthur, who nods as Miss Grimshaw gets to work.

1 hour later

The camp has been mostly silent. Miss Grimshaw finished about half an hour ago. Arthur was sitting on the chair in his tent. His eyes were closed. Colt coughs as he opens his eyes, and Arthur looks at his brother. "Colt," Arthur says. Colt looks over at Arthur.

"Arthur?" Colt asks.

"Yeah, It's me," Arthur says.

"Am I dreaming?" Colt asks.

"No. We found you. The caught the doctor that has been taking care of you and got your location. We found you, Colt," Arthur says. Colt looks up for a minute.

"This isn't my tent," Colt says.

"Yeah. You're in mine. It was easier for Miss Grimshaw to work," Arthur says. "Your lucky to be alive," Arthur says.

"Got to be honest towards the end, I was thinking about asking that doctor to kill me. I was so close, Arthur," Colt says.

"You lasted a lot longer than anybody else here," Arthur says. Hosea comes over with a grin on his face.

"Your alive," Hosea says.

"Just about," Colt says.

"I hope you don't plan on doing anything for a while," Hosea says.

"I can barely feel anything. Let alone walk," Colt says.

"Well, that makes sense. You have two broken ribs. Your leg is fractured and a bunch of other problems. I mean, what did they do to you?" Hosea asks.

"More like what did they not do to me," Colt says. Dutch comes over, and Arthur glares at him. Colt sees it but says nothing.

"Good to have you back, Mr. Morgan," Dutch says.

"Good to be back," Colt says.

"I hate to ask this, but did you talk?" Dutch asks. Both Hosea and Arthur look at Dutch, who just stares into Colt's eyes.

"No. I didn't say a word," Colt says.

"Good. Rest Colt," Arthur says as he walks away. Colt looks at Arthur.

"What was that, glare?" Colt asks.

"Since the day you went missing Dutch, and Micah has been trying to call off the search. While we were getting you, they went after Colm. They didn't even get him," Hosea says. Colt watches him.

"What happened to Thea?" Colt asks.

"She's ok. Kieran has been taking good care of her," Sadie says as she comes over. "I would hit you. But your in enough pain," Sadie says. Arthur and Hosea look at the two before they walk away to leave the two alone.

"This may make you more pissed of, but I don't regret it," Colt says. Sadie sits down.

"Look at you. All this happened because you took that stupid deal," Sadie says.

"And I would take it again in a heartbeat," Colt says.

"I spend every minute of Everyday thinking about what they were doing to you. Wondering if you were even alive," Sadie says as her voice cracks.

"I did what I had to. I had to make sure you lived," Colt says.

"Why? What makes me more important than you?" Sadie asks

"I made a promise to myself when I joined this gang. I promised myself that no matter what happened, I would make sure you made it out of this alive even if it cost me my own life," Colt says.

"You better forget that promise because you are not dying for me," Sadie says.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Colt says.

"You need to sleep," Sadie says. Colt nods as he closes his eyes. He falls asleep after a few minutes. Sadie watches as his chest rises and falls slowly. "Your one dumb son of a bitch Colt Morgan," Saide says as she stands up. She kisses Colt on the cheek before she leaves the tent.

Fort Wallace

Milton and Ross ride into Fort Wallace and see the carnage. It was a little past dawn. Milton gets off his horse and walks over to Sheriff Malloy. "Is there anything that could tell us where they went?" Milton asks.

"No. We don't know where Colm O'driscoll went, and I don't know where the Van der Linde gang went. Why would they fight?" Malloy asks.

"The O'driscoll had one of Van der Linde members. We were coming here for them," Ross says.

"You know who?" Malloy asks.

"No. They said it was a surprise. Clean this place up and find me the Van der Linde gang and Colt Morgan," Milton says. Malloy nods as Roos and Milton leave.

Thanks for reading. They got Colt back. There will one or two more chapters before we head back into chapter three. This was fun to write, and one of our longest chapters. As always, suggestions are welcomed.