(Chapter 22: Casa Madaruga)
It was in the late night hours now, the only ones up were Jack Marston, Bill Pierce, and Alonzo. They had been planning their next moves for a good few hours as of now, into the night while the rest of the gang slept. Many of the women were grieving over their lost men from El Presidio, almost the entire unit of women was left as a widow..
Bill Pierce had a large map of the southernmost part of the United States, where the Marston Gang had originally came from. Jack had suggested many places, but all were declined, he now had another one. One where there was absolutely no civilization.
"I remember fighting Nicholas Lanza of the BlackJacks back in Annesburg, I remembered going beyond the hills. I was actually outside of the map, either in a completely different state, or an area untouched by civilization. There was a large patch of land in the shape similar to what a child would draw for a star, there was a sandy beach, but a short one. There was also a river to cross in order to get to the other side, though I don't think it to be very deep." Jack explained, having a memory of the location suddenly pop into his mind.
"We need to settle in a place before we continue heading all the way back up, it would take us weeks to get there due to how tired we all are. I suggest we pick another spot in Mexico, a place where no BlackJacks can find us." Bill said in response, not wanting to travel all the way back up towards Annesburg from Mexico.
"Fine, Alonzo, do you know of any places that we can go to?" Jack looked towards Alonzo, since he was in Mexico, and Alonzo had been the leader of a rebellion for the past five years, he assumed that he would know of a place to house the Marston Gang for now.
"Yes, Casa Madrugada, it is a ways away, but it isn't extremely far. I suggest we place our encampment there, it stands in a large wall with a big gate, behind the small settlement is a large plateau, that shall protect our backs from attacks. However, if we aren't smart about this, it can be easily taken over."
Bill sighed and wiped a hand through his slicked back, black hair. The words that shook him were that the settlement could easily be taken from them.
"Why the Hell would we choose a place that we can lose so easily, that is a stupid move!"
Jack looked over at the now anxious Bill, he was no longer showing signs of bravery after Jack took his place as leader in the gang with authority.
"Those big rocky plateaus from behind us, all we have to do is guard the front, which is easy. It is easy because we can see everything coming at us from miles away, nothing but large desert in the front of the settlement." Alonzo explained.
"Yes, but it is small as you had said moments ago, if it can't hold us all like the other settlements and forts could, why camp at a small location? How are we supposed to take care of the ones that can't fight. The women? Ones that have children that shall not even see their fathers, because of our siege of El Presidio."
There was a moment of silence, the three men looked at each other with growing concern on their faces. Jack wanted answers, Bill wanted to camp at a different location, and Alonzo felt that this would be a smart move.
"I'm putting my trust in you Alonzo, you've been a rebellious leader for the past five years. With growing law enforcement and civilization upon our backs, I think it may turn out better than we once thought it to be." Jack answered, Bill looked at Jack with an expression of disbelief.
"All of the women Jack, imagine if what happened to us at El Presidio, happens to us at this settlement. All of those people laying in their tents just outside of the walls, when the BlackJacks storm our asses, killing them all just as they had savagely murdered that innocent child. You aren't smart Jack, you're an idiot."
(Las Hermanas)
Back at the BlackJacks' location, Douglas Mulligan was woken up by a strange feeling that he was being watched. He left his area at the large settlement, and felt a strange sense growing stronger as he approached one of the few churches. He raised an eyebrow as he approached the door, and slowly withdrew his revolver. He slowly opened them, and entered, at the front of the room where a podium stood, and a large cross hung on the wall behind it, was a man in a nice suit. This strange man wore a nice suit, tophat, and a funny curling mustache was on his face.
"Hello fella, do I know you? You don't look familiar." Douglas asked as he approached the man, the stranger had his back turned, and he wasn't speaking at all.
"Fella, did you hear me?"
Douglas again, received no answer from the strange man. Instead of speaking, the stranger turned around slowly to see the leader of the massive BlackJack gang standing before him.
"Hello Douglas, Douglas Mulligan." The man said, he had a charming and soothing voice. One that would calm almost any mad person, Douglas was taken aback, he was curious to how this strange man knew his name.
"You know me?"
The man nodded his head slowly, he didn't smile or frown, he just had a blank stare on his face, sometimes it turned into a thousand yard stare, like he was seeing for miles. Douglas was baffled on how this stranger knew his name.
"What's your name? Partner."
The man chuckled before giving an honest answer.
"Oh, I don't have one, but I know you. I know you from Kansas, when the whole BlackJack movement began. I know you as you traveled through the Grizzlies into West Elizabeth, I know many men, and many women."
Douglas now stood right next to the man, even though the outlaw had a belt full of bullets and a gun in his hand, the man didn't seem scared at all. The stranger seemed like he didn't even care, he had some balls for sure.
"If you know me so well, who was the leader before me?"
The man slowly turned to face Douglas with the thousand yard stare in his eyes, Douglas felt slightly nervous, yet he didn't know why.
"Old man Jonas, great man. His voice is as loud and proud as a colored preacher, he was a great leader too. Shame that he died, he is proud of how far you've come, he wishes to see you again."
Douglas was incredibly shocked, his jaw dropped for a moment, his heart jumped into his throat when the stranger that he never even met before, just answer so quickly and truthfully.
"Well… You're right, I miss the man a whole lot more than you think. I owe everything to him, but it is of unfortunate events that he won't be seeing me soon."
The strange man shook his head when he heard Douglas answer him, little did Douglas know that he would be seeing old man Jonas soon.
"No, you'll be meeting him again very soon. Sooner than you think, my friend."
Douglas growled, and raised his revolver up to the stranger's head. The man didn't seem to care, he didn't even react to this. This was shocking to the BlackJack leader, he fired but something happened that Douglas would never expect, at a point blank range shot, the bullet did nothing to the strange man. A shot to the head a point blank, it didn't even phase him a bit.
The man smirked, turning to face Douglas. His face was shrunken, his cheekbones were extremely visible, looking like a human skull with eyes and flesh still remaining.
"See you around, Douglas Mulligan."
The torch that was keeping the interior of the church lit up, suddenly blew out, leaving Douglas in total darkness for a second, then the flame lit itself back up. Once light was restored, the strange man had vanished into thin air.
This encounter shook the leader to his very core, looking like a living corpse at the end of their encounter, and surviving a point blank shot to the skull. Douglas couldn't guess how this man could have survived, he didn't even know if he was of mankind or not. Nothing survives a point blank round to the skull and lives, not a human at that matter.
"I won't be seeing Old Man Jonas again soon, no person can predict my death. If anyone is dying soon, it is Jack Marston. He's dying, he's dying soon.." Douglas said to himself as he sat alone in the church, his voice sounding like he was going insane.
(The next evening)
After many hours of travel, the Marston Gang had finally made it to Casa Madrugada. It looked as it was described, it was larger than Bill had previously anticipated, but it wasn't enough to hold everyone. The gang was growing in numbers, their camps needed to be larger. Soon they would need a small town to fit them all, just as Thieves Landing had fit the BlackJacks once upon a time.
Jack looked up at the rock plateau that stood over the settlement, it was perfect for protecting the gang from behind. There seemed to be a steep hill on the rocks, yet it could be climbed. There was a way you could actually reach the top of the rock plateau, which served as a perfect sniping spot, a natural watchtower of sorts. He smirked at the sight, he had confidence in this spot. There was no cannons nor gatling guns, but his gang had more than enough gunmen, and few of the women were trained with using a gun.
Bill approached Jack, as the leader of the Marston Gang began to set up a lodging for others outside of the walls of the settlement.
"I recalled some BlackJacks spying upon us from afar, you were lucky we had some binoculars. I would start to raise guard, we can be attacked at any given moment if they give chase to us."
Jack stood up and looked far out into the desert with some binoculars that Bill handed him, he didn't see any men in dark clothing. After a few more seconds of looking, the gunslinger put down the binoculars and then looked at Bill with a confused expression.
"I didn't see any BlackJacks.. Are you sure that you seen them, or have you been hallucinating from our constant trips in this hot environment?" Jack asked.
Bill nodded his head, he did remember seeing all but one BlackJack member standing in the desert. He felt anxious again, he had his guard while Jack had his lowered all the way to the ground.
"I have not been hallucinating, keep your guard at an all time low, and see ourselves driven away from camp almost as soon as we set the damn thing up."
Jack sighed once he heard Bill speak those words in response, he had enough of Bill's constant doubts.
"I'm getting tired of you doubting me Bill, you doubted that we would get Tonya back, and we did get he-" Jack couldn't finish his sentence when Bill interrupted him rudely.
"We did get Tonya back, yes, I'm happy for all of us that we did, and I am happy that she shown a fire within her as you said she did. We saved her at the cost of almost our entire gang, we're lucky that we found the Mexican rebels, or else we would be even more fucked than we already are right now."
"Bill if you don't like the way things are going for this gang, if you question everything I do, everything this gang does, how about you leave us. I can kick you out of the gang if you want me to."
"No! Hell no, this gang is the only place I can stay for now. I don't have enough money to buy myself a house, speaking of money, we haven't even robbed a single bank yet. We've been out on a wild goose chase all across Mexico."
"If you want to stay, then please, shut your damn mouth, and quit doubting us all." Jack growled, ending the argument, Rebecca approached from behind.
"Ugh, what's Bills problem?" The irish woman said in disgust, she didn't like Bill at all, she wanted him to leave the gang entirely so she wouldn't have to hear his mouth.
"He's got diarrhea of the mouth, and constipation of his ideas, he doubts us when we are all doing well."
Rebecca snickered at Jack's insult towards Bill, to which the prize fighter heard. Bill turned his head and rolled his eyes with a slight snicker.
"Yeah, keep rolling your eyes, perhaps you'll find a brain."
The two friends laughed at Bill as he marched away to do his own thing, perhaps to set up his lodging for now. As for the rest of the day, it went on smoothly with little arguments from Bill after the one he had moments ago. As for the night though, it would prove to be a lot rougher than the day…