(Chapter 23: Forced away)
The white moon overlooked the rock plateau in which overlooked Casa Madaruga. Everyone within the settlement and outside, they were all asleep. Alonzo woke up from his outside tent to see a person running at the settlement from the desert.
"BlackJacks!" The man screamed out in warning and fear, as he got closer, the man was revealed to be Bill Pierce.
"Where the Hell have you been, Bill?" Alonzo growled, Bill didn't answer, running inside of the fort.
"Everybody get inside of the fort, now!"
The people sleeping in tents outside of the fort, were quick to run inside of the settlement's gates. Jack slowly pulled out binoculars, and zoomed in on the desert, Rebecca looked at her best friend within the gang with a concerned look on her face.
"Shit, Bill's right.."
Jack seen Douglas Mulligan walking towards the fort with a double barreled shotgun in his arms, behind him were several members of the BlackJack gang. Instead of charging, they were all making a slow and methodical approach towards the settlement. It looked like Douglas was mumbling something.
"Nobody can predict my death, and if my death is to be because of this mongrel gang of outlaws, I'm taking down the whole gang with me." Douglas growled, his face showing loads of anger on it. He then turned to face the BlackJack gunmen behind him.
"Tonight we end one of the last few gangs that plague this country, these godless and sinful outlaws shall all perish by our weaponry and shall face the judgement of the Lord. Tonight, we are the sword of God, now let's go kill these sons of bitches before their virus spread even more!" Douglas shouted, then the gunmen made their charge with a loud battlecry.
Jack was quick to crowd the rest of the gang within the gates of Casa Madaruga. With the combined efforts of other gang members, the gates of the settlement were closed on the charging gunmen in black clothing.
"Everyone, arm yourselves right now!" Jack shouted as the battlecry of the BlackJack gunmen only got louder.
Every single member of the Marston Gang picked up arms, shotguns and rifles alike. Jack carried the cattleman revolver that was passed down from one legend to another, from Arthur Morgan, to John Marston, and now to Jack Marston. Rebecca ran inside of a building, and came out with a small basket of none other than dynamite sticks.
"Hey BlackJacks, here is a present for ya!" The irish woman cried out, as she lobbed a dynamite stick over the settlement, seconds went by and then a loud explosion was heard, several horses were heard making whines of pain, and cries of agony from BlackJack gunmen.
As the gunmen scrambled to try and get inside of the settlement, Douglas Mulligan continued to make his slow approach. The BlackJack leader pulled out something from his inventory pouch, it was a single stick of dynamite. Without emotion, he lit the stick up, and then launched it towards the gates of Casa Madaruga. A few members of the Marston Gang was sent flying back once the gates blown up before them, those few members were killed. Jack, Rebecca, Dred, and Bill all aligned together. Each of the four used their dead eye abilities to down several BlackJack gunmen that rushed in as there was chaos all around them from so many gang members firing at the BlackJacks.
A BlackJack member was able to rush through and hurl a dynamite stick towards the large building, Jack was barely able to shoot the stick with his Dead Eye. The dynamite burst, and created a large hole within the building, the four all stumbled back, with Dred managing to shake off the ringing in his ears.
Douglas continued to make his approach towards the settlement, he seen the gunsmoke rising into the air, and the smoke from the dynamite too. There was several screams of battle and pain coming from within the settlement, this was a sign for Douglas to end things.
"Marston!" Douglas cried out in rage, breaking out into a run towards the hole in the front gate of Casa Madaruga.
From within the settlement, a BlackJack member charged at Dred. The member was intercepted by Tonya, who was woken up by the chaos. Tonya held two knives in her hands, and she savagely plunged them into the eyes of Dred's attacker, making blood gush and spatter out of them. The BlackJack member howled in agony as the blades of the knives penetrated his eyeballs, forever blinding him.
Tonya let out a battle cry, and hurled one knife towards another charging attacker, downing her, and then she hurled the other knife towards another attacker, downing him. Dred and Tonya, both of whom were in love with each other, started to work together at downing many BlackJack members as they had their backs against each other, defending themselves.
With the dead eye ability being taught to many Marston Gang members throughout the day as they stayed at Casa Madaruga, the night siege of the BlackJacks didn't seem to be going so well as Douglas had planned out. Many members were being downed, and very little members of the Marston Gang were being killed as each member defended the other.
Marston had crawled onto the porch of the building, as well as Rebecca. Bill had used the banister of the stairs to pull himself up. Everyone that had been rocked by the stick of dynamite was groggy, Jack Marston could have sworn someone was calling his name in an angry tone. He looked over his shoulder to see Douglas Mulligan rushing towards him, Rebecca attempted to shoot the BlackJack leader down, but since she was groggy, the bullet missed the target. The BlackJack leader was then seen tackling the Marston Gang leader through the window, making a loud shattering noise as they fell through. Bill gasped, and went to help Jack.
Douglas slowly got to his feet, his paragon town hat had fell off of his head, Jack's hat that his father worn when he was still alive, it had fallen off too. Jack slowly reached for his cattleman revolver, he looked up to see the boot of Douglas ramming into his face, this would make Jack collapse onto his back.
Douglas walked back towards where he had gotten up, although still a bit groggy. He picked up his double barreled shotgun with a look of malice on his face, he slowly turned around with a smug grin on his face.
"I'm gonna put you down before you and your rats even have a chance to plague America with your anti-law bullshit." Douglas said, slowly aiming at Jack's head.
Before the BlackJack leader had a chance to fire, he felt a wooden chair being smashed into his head. Bill had came to rescue Jack, Douglas was knocked to the side a few feet from the hit. Bill noticed that Douglas had dropped the shotgun, so he shoved it away with his boot. Douglas turned his head to look at Bill Pierce, he had an enraged snarl on his face.
"Come get some!" Bill shouted, putting up his knuckles for an old fashioned bare knuckle fight.
Douglas let out an angry scream, then charging at Bill at full speed. The prize fighter was able to stumble Douglas around with a well timed elbow strike to the top of his head, Douglas collapsed to one knee. Bill looked over at Jack for a moment with a smile on his face, a satisfied smile.
"You can do the honors."
Jack grabbed the double barreled shotgun, slowly rising to his feet. Then the unexpected happened, Markus Van Der Linde busted in through a door. Bill quickly reached down to pick up Jack's cattleman revolver, while holding his own revolver in the other hand.
"I owe you pain, you son of a bitch!" Bill growled, but Markus wasn't focused on the prize fighter, he was focused on Jack Marston in whom was aiming point blank at Douglas's head.
"Marston, I have waited for far too long to put you down." Markus growled, three more men entered in behind him, first was Lou Scherr, Lou looked at Bill with hate in his eyes. Bill looked shocked to see Lou Scherr, his old Saint Denis Fighting Pit rival.
Then Mickey Owens entered the door, followed by Brodie Lowe. Bill looked at the three former fighters, it was Jack Marston and Bill Pierce holding the leader of the BlackJacks hostage, and four men in which were siding with the BlackJacks. Then, Rebecca, Tonya, and Dred entered the room.
Two groups of five had an intense stare off, each looking at their selected enemy with hate and some with shock. Douglas was handed back over to the BlackJacks by Jack Marston, the gunslinger didn't want his men and women getting hurt.
"If I were you, I would leave this place, I'm giving you a single day to move as far as you possibly can." Douglas growled, getting helped up from Markus Van Der Linde.
"Stop following us, we're just trying to survive in a land that doesn't want us anymore. You're gang is just as bad as mine, the law both wants us, I would be more worried about the law, than about us." Jack said in an angry tone, giving Douglas a hateful glare.
"No, I'm not going to stop. Wiping you off the face of the planet makes our job easier, we need money to make our move further East. We're going across the Atlantic."
It was then revealed to Jack that the BlackJacks were targeting his gang for money in order to flee from the United States just as he was trying to make money to head for California in order to leave for Tahiti.
"Fine, if you continue to hunt us down, expect us to do the same. One day, you won't be as lucky, one day you will die by my hand." Jack said calmly, then leaving with his gang. Most of the BlackJack gunmen began to retreat.
Douglas, along with Markus's men, all watched as the Marston Gang began to pack up their weapons, clothing, and other items into their caravan. The horses were safe due to them being hitched behind the rock plateau.
Markus was not so sure about letting the Marston Gang get away with their lives, he would rather kill the leaders of the gang right now.
"Douglas, we can kill these generals, the elites of the Marston Gang, watch the gang's numbers dwindle. Instead you let them run away, and by the time we get them, they'll be recovered, and launching attacks every single day." Markus spoke in protest, Douglas shook his head.
"No, I but tire them all out. Once we find them back in America, we'll pick them off one by one."
Markus liked Douglas's way of thinking, to tire them out and slowly take them all out one by one seemed like an idea that would be easy and quick once they got back to America.
The Marston Gang began to make their long, and tiresome march home. Each gang member was tired, and they had only lost five people during the raid, almost as soon as they found their new home, it was raided.
"We can't breathe, Jack. Why don't we just give it up now, accept a fate from the court." Bill pleaded, riding beside Jack in the convoy.
"No, we will get through this. I've got another plan, this one will work, I promise." Jack responded, sounding extremely tired as his eyes drooped and drooped as he and his large gang of rebellion soldiers and gun women rode through the night in the deserts of Mexico.
"You and your plans! What is it Jack? What is the new plan that will provide us salvation for only a few hours before we are all killed?" Bill asked furiously.
"We will split the gang up, a squadron will go in directions I have been coming up with in my mind. One group will head up into the Grizzlies, the other will travel into an old town up in the mountains. The settlement in the mountains has collapsed by now, we will use these fallen resources to build another camp. There will be around three camps in the same general location, I am adding on to this plan over time." Jack explained his plan, the leader of the Marston Gang wanted to come up with a plan that will help them fend off the BlackJacks, and also complete robberies.
Bill sighed, and then his sighs turned into annoyed growls.
"The cold mountains.. I hate it."
Jack was fed up, Bill was constantly doubting him ever since the gang had started. It was boiling up further and further in the mind of the Marston boy.
"Look, you are going to get used to it. If you can't handle the cold, then you can leave this gang and go do your own thing. Live with the shame that you failed."
"I'm not useless.."
Jack looked towards Bill with an angered expression on his face, he kept hearing Bill repeat those words over and over.
"Why do you keep saying that shit, it is better to already be an idiot than to open your mouth and prove it."
Bill clenched one fist where Jack couldn't see it, with each insult thrown by him and Rebecca, it drove Bill's trust in the gang further away.
"You almost had our entire gang wiped out at El Presidio, that alone was a stupid move, we could have let Tonya get fucked to insanity by the mexicans, one life is not more important than so many others, especially if you consider this gang's future. There is no vaccine for stupidity, that is a shame because you'll die from it Jack. Just as Arthur died from TB."
The insult thrown to Arthur Morgan drove Jack furious, he snapped at Bill.
"Don't you dare insult him! Or else I will leave you here in the desert right now!"
Bill fired back.
"Freedom of speech Jack, I can say whatever I want. I can beat your ass right now." Bill warned, this caused Rebecca to run up behind Bill's horse on horseback, and nail him in the back of the head with her pistol.
Bill Pierce was stunned, he could still hear what everyone was saying as his horse continued to carry his body.
"He was just playing around Bill, you pussy, mess with my Jack and I will knock you out myself." Rebecca growled as she rode her horse to be beside Jack's.
Bill could only watch on as the couple continued to lead the gang, he still remained in the gang only because necessity and nothing else…