Author Notes: Hello! Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Years! I wanted this chapter to be a little longer but just didn't seem to work out that way but hey I don't think you'll complain either way. As always, thank you so much for the continue support of this story and the reviews I've received! Well, no reason to keep chatting it up, here you go! Enjoy!
Chapter 2 – A Stranger in the Woods
"What do we do now Arthur?" Sadie looking to Arthur whose eyes were still looking down at the ground. His eyes were going back and forth either searching for where the horses had been led off to, or he was thinking on their next move, there was no telling what was going on in that mind of his.
"Well," Arthur finally glancing back up from the spot he had fixated on, "we can head in to town, either buy us some horses to get back to camp or steal them whatever comes first but town is that way," nodding his head in the direction on which way to go. Arthur began to move towards the woods but stopped and turned when he could not hear Sadie following him.
"You comin' or you going to stand here and hope the horses magically appear out of thin air?" Arthur saying sarcastically while throwing his hands out.
"No, just the trail is back that way." Sadie still not convinced, pointing her finger back towards the trail.
"Yes, but it will be faster if we cut through the woods."
"I don't know Arthur, something tells me to stick to the trail." Sadie crossed her arms.
Arthur stepped towards her, "come on Sadie," smiling and saying in his smooth accent, certain words just hanging and him drawing them out, "it will be an adventure. Unless you scared or something, I mean, you didn't seem the type, but you can tell ole Arthur. Besides, you'll have me to protect you."
Sadie rolled her eyes, she could not believe Arthur had stooped so low she uncrossed her arms and started walking towards the way Arthur wanted to go. "I'm not scared, and I don't need no man to protect me, just have a bad feeling that's all. If we die I'm haunting you."
"Whatever you say m'lady." Arthur's smile widening knowing he had gotten to her, having the ability to push her buttons already.
Sadie tried to settle the fluttering that was going on in her stomach at the moment. The pair had been walking for a short time without any words to distract them from the time and or get her mind off the unsettling feeling that she could not shake for the life of her. She hated going against her gut and she hated that Arthur had found a way to make her do exactly what he wanted. She knew she had to do a much better job of not allowing him to win those small arguments with her. She should have made a scene about staying on the trail, but she had a feeling somehow Arthur would have pulled rank on her or hell even leaving her to stand there because he was definitely the type to do so either way she would have just ended up looking like a bigger fool. Still, she just hated they were in the woods without any of their gear now or their horses and it would only be a matter of time before it started getting dark and who was to say they would make it to town in time before nightfall. Though she trusted Arthur to find the way, what if he didn't and they were stuck out there in the wilderness? Sadie calmed herself down taking in deep breaths trying to calm her nerves and stop thinking the worst was going to happen. Then again who could have taken their horses? What for? Was it horse thieves looking to make a buck? Was it something much more sinister? Then again, they may never find out.
"I don't think it was bounty hunters that took our horses." Arthur finally breaking the silence between the two and reading her mind.
"Why you think that?" Sadie asking, curious as to what would bring him to this conclusion.
"It's not their style. Bounty hunters tend to just look for the bounty, not trying to be sneaky. They tend to be very straight forward men looking for their next take."
"I'm just surprised you are not hell bent on finding them horses. I thought you'd go tearing into the woods looking for who took them."
Arthur let out a chuckle. "I am too. I loved that damn horse and if I ever find the fool that took him," he stopped himself before he thought about it too much longer, "just I've heard stories about the men in these parts. There not right and quite frankly I don't want to get tangled up in a mess with you here."
"Why Arthur Morgan, my hero."
Arthur turned to Sadie knowing she was being sarcastic, "I'm not kiddin. The stories I heard they are not right in their head. Not folk we want to be messin' with."
"Just surprised. Big bad outlaw Arthur Morgan spooked by some camp fire stories."
Arthur just shook his head. He knew Sadie was just trying to get under his skin and needle him into a response. He just didn't want to take the bait and he had a feeling Sadie had never heard about the people in this area. Now actually giving it some thought Arthur kind of felt bad not at least telling Sadie, giving her a chance at least to make up her own mind on whether to come or not. She had a right to know that a lot of people disappeared up in this area and most were never seen or heard from again. Then again, Arthur pretty much guessed that even if he had warned her she would have still wanted to come just to get out of the camp and away from the other females. Sadie did not mingle with the other women very well, then again Sadie Adler was not like most women he had met. Then Sadie pulled him from his line of thoughts as she spoke.
"Hey look, a house. Maybe we should stop and ask for directions." Sadie suggesting.
"No." Arthur was not going to ask for directions. He knew which way he was going, and he'd be damned if somebody told him otherwise.
"Come on Arthur, won't hurt to ask. Hell, they might not be even home." Sadie started walking towards the house with Arthur not close enough to grab her to stop her.
"Sadie." Growing her name under his breath, not happy with the idea of knocking on a complete stranger's door late in the day.
She ran up to the porch and knocked on the door and waited listening to hear if anybody came to the door. She turned back around to look at Arthur and shrug. "Guess nobody is home."
"Whatcha want?!" A man showed up pointing a shotgun at them from the side of the house. Both turned quickly, and Sadie put her hands up to show the individual they meant no harm. Arthur however was not showing the same kind of vulnerability and his hand hovered over his pistol next to his hip.
"Sorry to disturb you Sir, we were just hoping you could give us directions to town." Sadie spoke up, knowing out of the two Sadie was the most level headed, well, at least when it came to people who were not O'Driscoll.
The man seemed to take in Sadie looking her up and down and slowly his eyes shifted to Arthur taking in his appearance and it did not go unnoticed to Arthur of the man looking at his gun hand before his eyes shifted back to Sadie.
"Oh yea. Why you walking? Don't seem like you're from around here."
"Somebody stole our horses so we need to get back to town."
Arthur winced internally but still kept a neutral face when he heard Sadie spoke. Just tell your life story Sadie. She owed this man nothing, she didn't have to be kind to him. Arthur was through with this and the man seemed to want to know too much information and asking too much from them without giving them anything in return. Slowly putting his hands up to show he was not going to shoot the man right there on his property Arthur spoke up finally, "Look we mean you no harm. We will just leave now. Thank you for your time mister." Arthur then looked back at Sadie nodding his head for her to take his lead and come down from the porch and leave while they still could.
The man continued to study them both and slowly he lowered the gun and gave a toothy smile. "We don't get a lot of people around here, can't be too careful, you know we got a lot em weirdos running up around here. Where are my manners, you wanna come in? I can cook you something nice, be great to have company."
"No." Arthur said quickly before Sadie took his invitation, Arthur slowly began stepping cautiously towards Sadie. "We best be going, we appreciate the offer, but we need to make it to town before nightfall. Let's go Abigail." Arthur looking directly at Sadie when he said her name wrong, hoping she would catch that he was not comfortable with this stranger and was ready to leave.
"Oh..," Sadie said at first not catching why he had called her Abigail and then it dawned on her what he was doing, "oh! Yes, okay Micah, you are right."
It took everything in Arthur not to pull a face with Sadie's name picking. Of all the names, that was the one she decided on. She could have gone with Sean, hell even Kieran was better than fucking Micah. But he kept his poker face on, knowing by making a face doing so would give away something was up between the two. As Sadie moved off the porch to get closer to Arthur the man continued to watch intently.
"Well, if you need to get to town. Fastest way is that way," pointing in the complete opposite direction they had been going. Which Arthur found odd. He was starting to feel a little lost since losing the horses but to be going the wrong way entirely that did not feel right. The man still continued to talk, "again you sure you're not hungry? I have plenty of food. Be nice to have guests over for a change. I don't get a lot of visitors up this way."
"I can see why," Arthur mumbled.
"Thank you mister, but we best be going." Sadie not wanting to linger any longer got off the porch and both began walking away. They could feel the eyes of the man on them. They could not shake the creepy feeling and neither one talked until they were completely out of earshot.
"So, are we not going to listen to him?" Sadie finally the one that couldn't stand the silence any longer after having that weird encounter.
Arthur turned and looked at her like she had gained three heads and turned back to gaze forward, "No, besides don't talk to me for another hour. You called me Micah. That was low even for you. I've shot men for less."
"Arthur," no response, Sadie looked over at him and the complete and utter scowl on his face was prevalent. She hadn't seen that face on him for some time, "I'm sorry." That seemed to get no response from him. She couldn't help but smile slightly, Arthur could be such a little kid sometimes. Not to mention she just found one of his buttons she knew she could push. Though she had to be careful about using that one to many times. He may stop talking to her all together if she used it to many times. But it was nice to know she had something on Arthur now, and it wasn't just him holding all the cards.
True to his word it was about an hour before Arthur spoke up.
"It's going to be getting dark soon. We might want to make camp before it's gets too dark to see where we are stepping."
Sadie agreed but she also found the urge not wanting to stop creeping up like a slow chill in the air. The idea of being out there in the wilderness without their gear, made her feel a vulnerability she did not think was possible. She wanted nothing more than to find this town, so they could call it and head back home. It was funny, she called the camp home. She didn't think she would settle in so quickly and call their little makeshift camp home but in a weird way, it was and she was beginning to miss it.
"Can we walk a little further?" Sadie finally spoke hoping to keep going just a little longer.
Arthur who was walking a few feet in front of her with his gruff voice, "fine."
Sadie's shoulders relaxed not realizing how truly tense she was. She stopped and turned to listen. Listen for whoever maybe following them or maybe there was nobody out there at all and she was hearing things, imagining things being there. She blinked her eyes quickly when she thought she saw something, but she then felt rather silly when she realized it was her mind beginning to play tricks, she realized she was seeing was the sun filter through the trees, the light playing with her very eyes. She turned back around not realizing how far Arthur had gotten from her. She quickened her step to try and close the distance.
As for Arthur he had been lost in thought. He was the opposite of Sadie, not tense but not relaxed either. He was on alert, listening and or looking for anything that was out of place when it came to where they were. Not only did they have to contend with somebody stealing their horses, they had to worry about those damn bounty hunters showing back up. On top of the stranger in the woods they had just run into. For whatever reason that man had set him on edge. Everything in him was telling him to get the hell away from that area. They should have never bugged that man in the first place. Arthur was really starting to regret even coming on this hunting trip in the first place. He should have stuck locally, but here he thought he was doing them a favor by going outside the area trying to hunt bigger game. Then again, it was done and there was nothing they could do about it now. The only thing now was to get back to camp in one piece. Besides, Arthur had dealt with lot worse and much more dire situations, this was nothing. 'What was the worst that could happen?' Arthur thought, putting his foot down he realized something did not feel like the forest floor.
It took 0.2 seconds for Arthur Morgan to register in his brain what he put his foot in before it closed in place. Arthur Morgan had no chance in hell unless he had cat like reflexes to be able to avoid the inevitable. The bear trap was meant to be quick and its effectiveness was precise as it slammed shut right on top of Arthur Morgan's foot. He didn't even have a chance to even yell before his body reacted to the sudden trauma and shock of what had happened to it as every sensor in his leg triggered and ran up his leg alerting him of the damage that just transpired. His body collapsed as he dropped his weapon next to him and he tried to reach shaky hands to where his ankle was trapped. He was doing everything to stifle the scream that wanted nothing more to burst from his throat and out his mouth but all that came out was small whimpers of agony. He bit his lip and did not realize how hard he was biting into it till he felt blood in his mouth from trying to pry open the steel trap. He could see blood began to seep from his pants where the trap was pinning his leg with its sharp pointy metal teeth.
He looked up with pain in his eyes completely forgetting Sadie was even there. He didn't even hear her call his name from the blood rushing in his ears. As he collected his senses from the shock of stepping in a bear trap he suddenly saw the rope laying out before him. She never saw it, and before he could even utter a word of warning towards her, the trap was sprung and all he could do was watch in horror as she was flung through the air.
Sadie Adler smaller legs were striding it out trying to catch up to Arthur when one second, he was walking the next his leg was pinned in a horrible bear trap. She watched as he fell to the ground grabbing and clutching at his leg trying to pry the horrible contraption off him. After the initial shock wore off she rushed to him however her world was turned upside down in the matter of seconds and her rescue was short lived. One second, she was near Arthur and the next she was being flung through the air upwards to the sky. She didn't even have time to scream as she lost the grip on her weapon and it went flying in a direction she had no idea where. A cry did leave her lips when she came crashing back down with gravity with all her weight down on her ankle. She felt the pull but thankfully no snap or break. Sadie's world slowly came back into focus as she tried to catch her bearings but as the world turned completely upside down all she could do was allow her body to slowly swing as she listened to Arthur grunt in pain as he tried unsuccessfully to try and get his leg out of the trap and all Sadie could think was 'well, shit.'
TBC….
Can't tell you how much hearing from you inspires my muse! Thanks again guys, till next time!