Markus Van Der Linde had made his way into the more civilized area of West Elizabeth, he rode silently through the night on his wagon. The son of Dutch was trying to find a new place to camp after being attacked by two members of the BlackJack gang, he figured that the leader of the BlackJacks would dispatch gunmen to search for their fallen members.
The twenty nine year old outlaw rode through all parts of West Elizabeth, he strode through Blackwater and found no spot of refuge. He finally discovered the camp of the BlackJacks, he found the wreck of the Serendipity over by Thieves' Landing.
"Stay here, girl." Markus would say to the shire in which was pulling the wagon along, he went to the back of the large wagon to retrieve a lancaster repeater.
The son of Dutch, made his way down the hill with caution. He had no clue that the doomed steamboat, had gang members within it. The leaders of the gang more so, except for the African American leader of the gang, who preferred to take refuge in Thieves' Landing, and not a rotting boat.
Markus made his approach and slowly made his way onto the side of the boat, the old and dirty floor of the boat creaking beneath his boots. He could hear someone talking from a nearby room, now Markus knew somebody was inhabiting the boat.
"Who could live in this stinking and rusted boat?" He asked himself as he slowly made his way in through a doorway, he looked around in the room in which was only lit by a lantern sitting on a box in the corner of the room.
As Markus entered the room, the sound of indistinct chatter got only louder. He made his way towards the doorway of the next room to his left, he took cover against the wall and listened up for the people talking.
"Ah man, we are mostly out of supplies. We only have the clothes we currently have on, we'll be stinking like bullshit before the week is out. Who is gonna provide food? Where are we gonna bathe? Where are we gonna get new clothes? When is our first heist?" The voice asked, it was the raspy southern voice of Shaw. Shaw sounded like Arthur Morgan if his voice was raised at a slightly higher pitch.
It was then revealed to Markus that this was indeed a gang hideout, now he wondered how many members were in the gang.
"Shaw, we will discuss this tomorrow in Thieves' Landing with everyone else. Do not fret, we're not close to being done. I refuse to let this gang fall apart, I want to retire, not die. I will provide for us all, like I've always had." Douglas Mulligan said, trying to answer Shaw's questions of concern.
"What about Jack Marston, when are we gonna find him? I have strong disdain for that bastard." Shaw would ask, this made Markus raise an eyebrow.
Markus entered the room, he instantly had the guns of the leaders of the BlackJacks, all pointed at him.
"Who are you? Where do you come from?" Douglas asked, keeping his double barrel shotgun aimed at the head of Markus.
"Calm down, I've heard you're looking for a man named Jack Marston. Coincidentally, I'm looking for him too. If you could give me details of his possible location, I'll bring him back to you. Including whoever he rides with, the capture of him alone is more important to me though." Markus answered, waving at the gang leaders to put down their guns.
"How are you going to do such a thing? How are you going to draw Jack out?" Nicholas asked, budding into the conversation.
Markus looked over at Nicholas and smirked, Douglas raised an eyebrow to this.
"I've got a plan, boys." Markus said, sounding exactly like his father.
(Meanwhile in Roanoke Ridge)
Jack Marston, along with Bill Pierce, and Rebecca McIntyre, had all navigated into the heavily forested area of Roanoke Ridge in the state of New Hanover. The three was not too far away from the Doverhill Laboratory, they had no idea of the lab, they didn't go by it as they traveled to their current location.
"Can you find some boots or shoes for me to wear? My feet are getting cold and dirty from all this ground." Bill asked, groaning as he felt his bare feet crunch down on some dead leaves scattered all over the forest floor.
"It isn't gonna kill you to not have any shoes Bill, we're pretty much resorted to hunter gatherers. They didn't have shoes back then." Jack responded as he sat on a large tree stump, thinking about what to do.
Bill chuckled to himself as he took a seat on a fallen log, swiping some dead bits of leaves off of the bottom of his feet. Rebecca leaned against a nearby tree, thinking to herself.
"You're right about the cavemen part, I find it uncomfortable and disgusting to find dead insects and leaves on my feet." Bill sighed, Jack snickered and then rolled his eyes.
"For the champion fighter of the Saint Denis Fighting Pit, the great undefeated one. You sure are a wuss." Jack joked, sounding more like an insult in reality.
"Very funny." Bill growled, getting humiliated by the laughs of Rebecca and Jack. He knew they were joking, Bill was the type of guy to not take jokes though. Some had to be careful of what they said around him.
"Anyways, we've gotta get some resources soon. If we can find some sort of settlement, that should do for one night." Rebecca said as she turned her head towards Jack, and Bill.
"Let's get moving then, head on the nearest path and follow it. We will go until I give the order to stop, then we turn back around and head to the other direction." Jack spoke, getting up from the tree stump.
Let's get moving boys, let's ride!" Rebecca said, feeling hyped up. She was the type of girl to bring the hype among others and uplift spirits.
Bill stood up beside of Jack as they saw Rebecca get on her horse, Jack looked at Bill with a smirk.
"I like that brave attitude of hers, I find it eh.. Nice." Jack said, complimenting his Irish feminine friend.
"I can tell your cock rises, she has some pretty legs." Bill joked, trying to get back at Jack, Jack growled and elbowed Bill in the side.
"Oh shut it, Bill." Jack said, slightly laughing.
The three began to ride on their horses down the main dirt road path, it took them about five minutes before they arrived at Doverhill. Lights were on from within the laboratory, Jack pointed at the lab.
"There, that building is decent sized. Damn near the size of what Bill's house was." Jack said, the three rode towards the lab and hitched their horses on the sides of the building.
Bill caught a glimpse of the interior of the building from outside, there was a lot of devices and gadgets in which looked advanced for the time.
"What the hell is this place?" Bill asked, not expecting an answer.
"I don't know, we'll find out soon enough." Jack answered as he slowly opened the large double doors on the front of the building. The doors creaked as they slowly opened up, the interior of the lab smelled of dust and age.
Some of the machines were rusted, and there was lanterns in which glowed several times lighter than regular lanterns did. There was light bulbs, electric lanterns. Some sort of large machinery in the center of the massive room. The interior of the lab also had a stench, smelled like something or someone had died in the lab many years back. The lab didn't have any rooms like a house, it was all a singular room. It would provide shelter from the harsh outside, panthers were common in the area, as well as black bears.
"This is a very good spot, I like it. Now Bill can quit complaining." Rebecca said, joining a laugh with Jack as she threw another joking insult at the prize fighter.
The three then looked to the backside of the building to see a large antenna tower, the top of it had a circular shape to it. It seemed like you could climb to the top and the metal bars, in which gave the top of the tower the circular shape, could prevent others from falling out. It could also serve as a good lookout spot, to see incoming intruders or passerby.
"That tower is a good vantage point, I'll have Bill do the honors of sleeping up there tonight and watching over us." Jack announced, patting Bill on the shoulder. Bill silently growled, and looked down at Jack.
"Sure." Bill growled as he headed outside, slamming the double doors behind him.
Bill was starting to get fed up with Jack and Rebecca, how they constantly joked at him. The prize fighter could not stand getting picked on, he relished in making others pay for it. He made his way up the ladder, towards the top of the tower.
"Sons of bitches speaking trash about my name instead of respect, I should be the leader of this fucking gang. I'm the one who cold cocked that outlaw shithead with one punch, I can do the same for that Irish whore." Bill said to himself, knowing the others couldn't hear him from within the laboratory.
Bill eventually made it to the top after around thirty seconds of climbing, he was a fast climber and he reached the top fairly quickly. He looked down upon the laboratory, a scowl on his face.
"I don't know how long I'm gonna run with this gang, I know Jack better stop with the bullshit." He growled to himself as he looked down into the lab via the windows, Bill did not know how long he would last with the gang, he feared that his times with this gang wouldn't be long…