(Chapter 21: Rebellion Rising)
It had been a whole day since the siege on El Presidio, the damage had been done to the gang. Rebecca was riding in the back of a wagon, Dred was riding in the back of another wagon. The two were incredibly hurt, Mr. Gonzalez was tending to Dred while Ms. Gonzalez was tending to Rebecca. Bill was riding up front with Jack and now that the gang had fought their way through El Presidio, his thoughts finally went away.
"Jack, what do we do now? The BlackJacks have followed us into Mexico with ease, first the girl back at Fort Mercer, and now they attempted to break into El Presidio." Bill asked with a sound of concern but not acting vicious as he once was.
"We'll try to find more members for our gang, we need to get bigger if we want to try and even put up a fight against the BlackJacks." Jack said, Bill then remembered something that Mr. Gonzalez had said on the way to El Presidio.
"There is a ghost town, but it is the sight of a mexican rebel group. We can side with these men, and thus our numbers shall grow. It is called Tesoro Azul, it is far away from any town. It is the perfect hiding place for us, we can tend to our wounds." Bill explained, Jack looked over at Bill.
"Go get Mr. Gonzalez, he's been in Mexico longer than all of us combined. Have him lead the convoy to this location, after we set down, send the wagons and horses towards Escarela to pick up the women." Jack said as he gave the reins over to Bill, Jack hopped off of the leading wagon, then heading towards the back where Rebecca, and Dred was riding in. Jack landed on his horse, making the trip to the back of the line more easily.
"Mr. Gonzalez, lead us to a place called Tesoro Azul. If you don't mind, take control of the convoy." Jack commanded, Mr. Gonzalez proudly took control as he rode his horse up to the front. Jack would tend to Dred and sit in the back.
"Dred, how are we doing back here?" Jack asked, he watched as Dred slowly turned his head towards his leader.
"Not so good, I can't feel my hand. I've got some marks where I was shot back at El Presidio, Mr. Gonzalez has been doing a good job of tending to my wounds. In all of this suffering and hard times, I'm just glad that we got Tonya back." Dred said, his voice showing signs of weakness and pain, it wasn't as bad as it was way earlier though.
"We are going to make it through this, I can assure you that we will all be on our feet. As long as we keep getting more men and women in our gang, we will never fall. We will go from settlement to settlement, just gathering more and more members." Jack said in a calm tone of voice, wanting to tell Dred that everything is going to be okay.
As the day went on, the Marston Gang drew closer towards Tesoro Azul. Jack tending to Rebecca and Dred while Mr. Gonzalez led them towards their new destination. Eventually a sheet of darkness covered the land, it was night once again. Jack was sitting up at the back of the first wagon, shouting to talk with Mr. Gonzalez.
"Is there any other place around here that could be used as a camp?" Jack asked.
"There are only two other places that could house us all, both are in good places that the BlackJacks should never find us at. Or at least give us all time to recover, and plan some things out."
The Marston Gang eventually arrived at their destination, it wasn't so huge as Jack thought it to be, but the place would fit them as a perfect hiding spot.
The leader of the mexican rebels, stood at the gates of the abandoned town. The leader's name was Alonzo, he had been raising a rebellion from scratch ever since Reyes took the office. Alonzo had served with Reyes during the time of his rebellion, but when he seen that Reyes was a cruel leader, he betrayed the mexican tyrant, and was kicked out of El Presidio.
Alonzo's rebels were regular citizens, but these citizens had been trained to kill. Reyes almost crushed the entire rebellion when Alonzo's rebels failed to capture El Presidio, which sent them running to Tesoro Azul. The rebels had been hiding in this location for about a year as of when the Marston gang arrived.
Alonzo was shocked to see a large convoy coming his way, so he rightfully aimed at Mr. Gonzalez who sat in front of the wagon as Jack was in the back speaking to Rebecca.
"Which side do you serve, rebel or tyrant?" Alonzo demanded, not hesitating to place his finger on the trigger.
"I serve rebellion, but I come with some good news. This convoy is new members, so many new members to come by!" Mr. Gonzalez announced proudly, the convoy came to a halt behind his wagon.
"Excellent, are you a leader of this gang?"
"No, I am!" Bill announced, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to proclaim himself as leader as Jack was all the way in the back of the caravan.
"What's your name?" Alonzo asked.
"I am Bill Pierce, from Canada, and I've been leading this gang since the very beginning. The good news is, this rebellion could be no more. My gang has successfully raided El Presidio, and killed Reyes!"
Alonzo looked at Bill with unimpressed eyes, he then noticed a bag in Bill's arms.
"Where's your proof?" Alonzo asked.
Bill would reveal what was in the bag, it turned out to be the severed head of Reyes. Alonzo's eyes widened, a few rebels cheered at the sight of the severed head in Bill's arms.
"Well then, I guess you are welcome aboard the rebellion. I guess it is your rebellion now."
"It is indeed the Pierce's rebellion, but our numbers have dwindled ever since the siege of El Presidio. We have very few alive, and your rebels can be of excellent numbers."
The gang's convoy was welcomed inside of Tesoro Azul, everyone began to set up their tents outside of the old town. Bill Pierce would have a room within the fort while Jack Marston, the true leader of the gang, would sleep outside in a tent due to false identification and lies from Bill Pierce.
Jack was annoyed at first, but he eventually calmed down, and decided to place his tent beside of Rebecca's tent.
Rebecca was lying in her tent, just setting it up to rest, to let her injuries heal. Dred would remain in the back of a wagon, receiving constant treatment from the rebels medics.
"Rebecca, are you doing fine now?" Jack asked, feeling concerned for the one he loved.
"Yes, my injuries remain, but you being here for me makes the pain seemingly go away." The irish girl said weakly, but happily all the same.
"Rebecca, I'll always be there for you. No matter what, I am glad to hear that I make your pain go away, as you do to my pain." Jack responded with a smile on his face, this got Rebecca to roll over to her back and smile at him.
"Thanks Jackie, I appreciate the love." She said with a sweet smile on her face, Bill Pierce stood guard at the front of the fort, looking at the two partners. Jack and Rebecca were slowly but surely getting ever closer to falling in love with each other, Bill had loved the irish woman longer than Jack has, so it made him jealous.
Bill's heart sank once he saw the two talking, and smiling at each other, and thus he had memories of being at Doverhill once the gang was in it's beginning stages as nothing but a trio. He remembered how he was humiliated, and embarrassed by the two after being last in command of the gang, but then the prize fighter snickered before heading back inside.
Night had fallen, the entire gang was asleep. Bill was awoken from his slumber by something tapping his face, it was a mexican rebel who was waking him up. Jack hadn't revealed to the rebellion that he was the true leader.
"You can't be speaking on the job, Bill." The rebel said in the spanish language, the prize fighter couldn't understand the rebel.
"I'm sorry, but I don't speak your language." Bill responded as he sat up, getting his boots on, and heading out to the tent where the gang slept.
"Stay here, I'm going out to get some food for tomorrow morning."
Bill wasn't seen for the remainder of the night until the next morning, Bill had done the gang some good after bringing back some food. It was a small game, but it would be enough to feed a few people. The rest of the fort held some edible provisions for morning meal.
"You know, I'm the original leader of the gang. Bill is just full of shit." Jack said to Alonzo, the rebel leader nodded his head in understanding the truth, he eyed down Bill who was sitting down with two members of the Marston gang, both were named Caleb.
"So you're Caleb Jones, and the other is who I'll call… Darkie Caleb!" Bill said in a joking manner, the african american Caleb stood up, and got right in Bill's face with an angry stare in his eyes, making Bill slightly cower.
"Don't you ever call me that again." Caleb simply said as he walked away.
"You should be thankful big boy, I brought back all of this meat to feed your fat ass!" Bill shouted, causing Caleb to turn around, grab Bill by the arms, and then launch him with ease into a wall.
"And that is why he is fourth in command of my gang, he's a dumbass." Jack jokes, getting a laugh out of him and Alonzo before drinking some Kentucky bourbon.
Bill overheard the two high status gang members speaking trash about him, as if it wasn't something they always did. He slowly pulled himself up, looking at Jack from across the dusty path in the fort.
"You know, for all the trash talk, you hurt many elites at El Presidio. Dred has a damn hole in his hand, he could get infected, and then you have that irish girl, whom you love so much, you got her hurt. I would think about what you just said." Bill said in a calm tone, with a smile on his face.
Rebecca overheard the fact that Jack was in love with her, she smiled brightly and her eyes twinkled at this.
"They'll heal, we will all heal. Sweat dries, blood clots, and bones heal." Jack said in response, Bill was quick to throw in a quick add on to what the Marston Gang leader just said.
"And the trauma never goes away, the memories will forever exist until the bearer of those burdens pass away. You call me a dumbass, Jack. Yet if there was to be a mirror for me to look into, I wouldn't see me, I would see you."
Jack went to say something but Bill quickly interrupted him.
"How many more will you send to death? So many died at Sisika, so many died at El Presidio. While both were successful raids, our numbers dwindled. We are lucky to have this rebel group, because if this group wasn't found, we all would be picked off by the BlackJacks."
Jack started to believe Bill, he started to doubt his own leadership. Alonzo looked at Jack with a shocked expression on his face.
"What about the hard working women back at Escarela, the rest of our gang? Are you going to let them all die too? If you're a good leader, you'll send for them."
Jack nodded his head in agreement to his lowest ranking general. He couldn't believe that he was being bossed around by Bill Pierce.
"I'll go for them, but I'm not going to let you take over this gang. This is my legacy, not yours. My father had a past of legendary proportions, your father, and well.. Your family as a whole, they'll be known as almost starving to death in the cold harsh North."
This was enough to get Bill to knock out Jack with a single punch to the jaw, he walked away from Jack's slumped body. The prize fighter then looked at Alonzo, who looked angry at Bill for knocking out the leader.
"He tells you that he killed Reyes, but he didn't tell you that I had to save him. He wasn't even the one that sliced his head off, it was Tonya, a fucking damsel in distress killed the man who raped her over and over again. Reyes was killed by gunfire from other people, yet Jack takes all the glory because he's nothing but a Marston boy. Jack has told me that his parents told him to never become what he is today, but as you can see, little Jack didn't listen. Now you see what all has gone down, ever since he's started this gang up, he's gotten into more trouble that he asked for in the first place. Let him lay on the ground, and let's go get those women before the BlackJacks do." Bill explained, shifting Alonzo's favoring from Jack to the prize fighter with a single speech.
(Location: Las Hermanas)
As for the BlackJacks, they had taken control of yet another abandoned Mexican settlement. This settlement was known as Las Hermanas, the place was extremely beautiful, and it had a fancy courtyard just to offer one good thing about it. It's former populations were nuns, which would explain many church rooms and chapels at Las Hermanas.
The settlement would become abandoned in the year 1914, collecting dust until returning to use just one year later for a gang rival to the Marston Boys.
"Them Marstons have found themselves a great hiding spot, when I returned to El Presidio after being forced to retreat, they weren't there. We searched all over the region to find nothing, we found a place called Escarela, but it was full of women and only two men. One man had fine slicked back hair, had a good mustache too. The other was a mexican rebel by the name of Alonzo." Markus Van Der Linde explained to Douglas, telling him that finding the Marston Gang was a failure for now.
"Hold on, did you speak to this Alonzo fella?"
"Yes."
"What did he say to you?"
"He told me that he was the leader of a successful rebellion, there was a few notable members of this rebellion. They gained large amounts of numbers during the midnight hour. The notable members were a cowboy, a colored man, a beautiful irish girl, and the man with the mustache, none other than Bill Pierce."
Douglas smirked at this news, the Marston Gang had joined in on the rebellion. He just didn't know where they were located, this would be a disadvantage, now the Marston Gang had time to recover from injuries suffered at El Presidio.
"That's good news, now we just need to find out where they're located at. What did Bill say to you when you two met?"
Markus thought for a moment before answering, he remembered Bill Pierce mentioning something about a ghost town, but that was pretty much all the details he gave to the son of Dutch.
"He mentioned a ghost town, it was big enough to hold the rebels but not Marston and his mongrel horde. I overheard him speaking to Alonzo about an ability known as the Eagle Eye ability, something that an indian known as Charles Smith taught him while he was in Canada."
"What is Eagle Eye?" Douglas asked.
"Eagle Eye apparently is when you focus so much on tracks of animals, that you can see a clear path of where the supposed thing or human went. We're running in short supply of food at Las Hermanas, this is more than likely the best time to go and practice our skills."
"Sounds good, now get your rifle, we're going animal hunting, and practicing our eagle eyes."
The two generals of the BlackJacks headed off out into the desert of Mexico right outside of Las Hermanas, there wasn't loads of big game in Mexico, cougars were found in some areas but it was mostly small game such as rabbits and snakes, maybe coyotes.
(Tesoro Azul)
"I think our camp is a bit too small, if the BlackJacks see tents outside of the fort, they'll know it is us. So we need to move away from this location as soon as possible." Bill announced, Alonzo still favored the prize fighter as second in command of the massive rebel gang.
Jack was upset about Bill taking second in command when he started the gang himself, Bill was in fourth place in Jack's mind. The Marston boy didn't allow himself to get too angered by this situation, it would be a testament to Bill's leadership capability.
"I don't favor that arrogant fool to be second in command of this gang, you should be the leader." Rebecca said from within her lodging outside of the fort grounds, Jack was standing not too far away from the irish woman's tent.
"I don't either, he is a scumbag, but his ruling in second command over a gang of such large numbers, it is gonna be a testament to how good of a leader he truly is. He's got to prove himself that he isn't worthy of fourth place. He has done nothing for us so far."
"Didn't you say that once all of our goals are over with, and complete. That you're going to get the whole gang over to an island known as Tahiti?" Rebecca asked, trying to sound hopeful in her voice.
"I'm gonna try to." Jack said with a smile, looking back at Rebecca. The irish girl smiled back in happiness, yet her grin was faint as she still went through the pains of her wounds suffered from El Presidio. Jack then continued his speech.
"I'll try and get us all out of this cruel new America, we are all going to get out of this country alive. We need to get back on our feet first, we have rescued Tonya. So now we can focus on getting our first bank robbery or rob whatever items we find of use."
Rebecca snickered a bit before responding to what he said.
"I like how you don't resort to violence, we only take from the rich, and we don't kill any innocent people at all unless necessary. The world needs more men like you Jack, you're a great example of how a man should be, or how humankind should be."
Jack smiled, and approached Rebecca's tent, sitting down beside her since she was laying on her back outside.
"Thanks Rebecca, that means a whole lot… And I was meaning to tell you this weeks before we got ourselves thrown into this big mess, but you mean a lot to me just as much as I appreciate respect."
Rebecca's eyes lit up once she heard Jack said those words to her, her weak smile due to her injuries, the weak smile turned into a big one. She gasped, not knowing that Jack was in love with her, or at least had a crush on her. Her tan colored face flushed red, not knowing how to react to this situation.
"Jackie, you know that if it wasn't for the BlackJacks back at Saint Denis, how they shot up the fighting pit, that I would have probably killed you. How could you like a person that was set up to kill you?"
Jack laughed silently for a second before answering.
"Because, Rebecca, I seen through those eyes of yours. I knew back at Saint Denis a month and a few weeks ago, that you were different on the inside. You were an innocent and kind hearted irish woman, with a fighting spirit and fire in her heart, and that fighting spirit was bonded to the wrong hands. That fighting spirit turned you into a fighter, and in some cases, maybe a killer."
Rebecca's smile started to quiver, and she felt her eyes started to water up. She was enjoying, and appreciating the love she was receiving. To her, Jack was an incredible and kind man among all of the bad things he had done, he had turned into something his parents and Van Der Linde Gang uncles and aunts didn't want him to be.
"And I can see that you're fighting for the greater good, something that regular people in America these days find it hard to fight for."
"We shall fight it together, I know those people that attacked Bill's home were former fighters of that place in Saint Denis, those too, were people robbed of their happiness, robbed of their freedom, and robbed from their own lives just for profit for a greedy man known as Rodger Cornwall. Those who perished in the Saint Denis Fighting Pits, or those whose lives were changed for the worse, they will all be remembered, and the dead shall watch us get revenge for them. We are not alone."
Meanwhile, back inside of the fort. Bill and Alonzo were making arrangements for traveling towards a new location. On a table, laid a large map of Mexico and some parts of New Austin.
"Our current location is not on the map, but eventually the BlackJacks will find us. I knew that Markus Van Der Linde overheard me speaking about Eagle Eye, he was too quiet to not be listening. I know that they will be practicing that skill until they use it to come and find us." Bill explained, pointing towards their location on the map, in the same geographical location of where Tesoro Azul was once on the map.
"You know how many horse tracks come and go along the way here, we aren't the only ones in Mexico." Alonzo responded, answering Bill's predictions.
"Yes, they will be confused for other tracks with Eagle Eye, but the BlackJacks are a massive gang. Damn near a small army, and if bounty hunters join their gang, it is only going to get bigger. Their leaders are smart, they will send a huge amount of men to cover large amounts of surface area to try and find us. Eventually they will, so it is our best strategy if we move now before they have time to reach us." Bill responded, answering Alonzo's uneasy feelings about moving away from Tesoro Azul so soon.
"Yes, but what if they send out gunmen and gun women after us while the leaders practice the Eagle Eye skill?"
Bill laughed at Alonzo's response to what he had just said.
"We hold the advantage, it comes down to who wants freedom from cruel rule more. That is clearly us."
Jack then entered the room, he had overheard their conversation from the outside of the building as he approached it, he saw many other rebels doing their own thing throughout the fort as he approached the building with Bill and Alonzo within it.
"You're right Bill, you sound brave, and not afraid of loss. Explain to me why you were afraid of going after Tonya, you dreaded our gang raiding El Presidio. You seem to be different no-" Jack was interrupted by Bill before he could finish talking.
"Raiding El Presidio was a ballsy move, we were lucky it even paid off. Most of our generals are injured, and I had to save your ass. Our entire gang was damn near destroyed, a majority of our gunmen and gun women are now these rebels. Now that I'm in charge of the gang, I'll be making smarter decisions rather than charging into a military fort guns blazing."
Jack laughed, he found that getting outsmarted by a supposed fourth in place general to be ridiculous.
"You had to save my ass, that's gonna be why you always say that you're better than me in terms of leadership. Are you going to be Billy Badass, or are you going to be smart and help possible strong generals. Have you seen the fire in Tonya's eyes once she seen Dred down and out of the fight, I told you this whole time that she had something within her. Hell, she was the one who sliced off Reyes's head anyway. No one in the gang expected a woman so innocent and afraid, to do such things."
Alonzo looked at the two generals as they verbally argued and fought, so many people against each other in the gang. He couldn't believe that two of the best generals of the Marston Gang, now a rebel alliance, were bickering amongst each other.
"Form an alliance, do not fight one another. We all join together against a common enemy."
Jack and Bill both looked at Alonzo for a second.
"The enemy you were fighting is dead, now the rebels are among the Marston Gang. We go against society, we rob banks, we're going to get to a tropical island at some point in the future, I am Jack Marston, the true leader of this gang!"
Bill turned his head towards Jack again, now looking angry. Jack looked back at Bill, staring him in the eyes. Alonzo quickly whipped out dual revolvers, aiming at both their heads.
"I can end this right now, we can stop our acts, and we can head for wherever this island is right now." Alonzo growled.
"No, it ends when I kill the man responsible for enforcing the FBI in all of this entire state, or back in America should I say. Nate Johns is going to pay for bringing down the law upon West Elizabeth, but we need money before we can make our way towards California."
Alonzo snickered, then lowering the revolvers.
"California? You do know where we are. We are in an entirely different country, welcome to Mexico! If we go back up to the states, it would take even longer if we move now."
"That's why we're going to head back into New Austin, tomorrow morning. No questions asked, I am dog tired!"
Alonzo was quick to interrupt Jack as he made his way out of the fortress gates.
"Jack, I'm the leader of the rebellion. We've been fighting a greater threat for almost five years, we haven't even received newspapers of your supposed gang yet, my rebels are fighting the military, you and your gang are fighting police? Tell me who is doing more great at their job being a leader here!"
Jack groaned, then turning around to face Alonzo one more time.
"Alonzo, I killed Reyes, you didn't. You had five years, we came in here, as soon as we did, we killed him. You spent five years for nothing, now tell me who is better.."
(Somewhere in Mexico..)
A gun blasted off, sending a large bird flying away from a tree branch. The shell of the shotgun had missed the target, penetrating through an old and rotten, wooden plank.
"Shit fire!" Douglas shouted, seeing that he missed the intended target. Markus laughed as he plucked feathers from a bird he had managed to capture.
"I wouldn't waste your time with wooden planks, actually hit something for once."
Douglas turned towards Markus and growled before breaking out into fits of sarcastic laughter.
"You know, you can get removed from my gang if you keep up the smart ass attitude."
Markus laughed and then quickly skinned the bird he had managed to kill with his deadeye ability.
"You see, I'm in my own gang helping you out. A gang of only a few compared to an army sized gang, we've done you wonders so far."
"Yeah, you sure have done me wonders. We wiped out the entire town of Armadillo fairly quickly, if we can do it that fast, why the Hell isn't the Marston Gang wiped out yet?"
Markus sat on a large rock, then he began to smoke a cigar.
"The Marston Gang isn't erased from this world as of yet, because they are smarter than you take them for. That gang has been avoiding us, they forced us away from El Presidio, they managed to outsmart us on a few times already. We've only gotten really close to destroying the gang one time, that was the Sisika arrest of Jack Marston, but look how that turned out."
Douglas sighed, and used Eagle Eye to track animal footprints along the ground. These footprints seemed to belong to a small animal, Markus followed him as he made his way down the track path.
"They won't be escaping us the next time we meet, their general members of the gang are all hurt. Some were critically wounded according to the conversations I heard from Bill Pierce back at Escarela. There seems to be a rivalry between Bill Pierce, and Jack Marston, that only gives us another advantage." Markus explained to Douglas.
Though the BlackJacks were very much better than the Marston Gang in terms of strength, the Marston Boys outsmarted their rivals with better strategies and tactics. Douglas had brains, but Jack Marston's were bigger.