Gunshots rang through the air, followed by shouting and horses shrieking in fear. Evelyn's blood chilled and she quickly unholstered her gun from under her blouse. She bolted out of the doctors building, searching frantically for Annabell within the currents of Valentine's residents running in a hysterical panic. Outside of the saloon down the road was a standstill, two men that she could see holding their weapons out, while two men on the street were being held in headlocks, and a larger man seemed to be the leader. She could hear them speaking to each other but couldn't pick out the words.
"Mama!" Annabell screamed from across the street. Evelyn immediately ran to her, tucked in between the saloon and the church. As she gathered the frightened girl in her arms, ready to run to safety she was stopped short.
"Wait, you there! I know you, you're the girl in the wanted posters all over New Austin!" One of the men yelled out. Evelyn tucked Annabell behind her, drawing her gun. The men now had their attention locked onto her, the one who had called her out sneering at her from behind the crowd.
"The one who killed Glenn Kings? You sure?" One of them inquired from the crowd.
"Ain't no way you could mistake her, look, there's the little girl she kidnapped too!" The first one shouted out.
In an instant, the man fell to his knees, blood spurting from his neck. Smoke curled from Evelyn's revolver, and Annabell screamed, crying hysterically in fear. Chaos ensued, as two more men fell to the ground, freeing the men held in headlocks.
"Run!" Screamed one of the cowboys, a familiar man rushing her to a wagon that was used as a shield from the barrage of bullets firing their way. One of the men, an older gentlemen in as suit was being held up by the rest, his side bleeding. As the gunfight continued around her Evelyn hid Annabell in the wagon and began applying pressure to the mans wound, while three of the men rushed them to safety.
"Go put Strauss on your horse, Arthur make sure no one follows us!" One of the men yelled, a dark haired man in finer clothes issued orders to which everyone quickly complied. As Arthur mounted his horse, he called to Evelyn.
"Miss, seein' as how you're also a target, why don't you and your girl come with us?" He offered, holding his hand out to her. Evelyn shook her head, there wasn't enough room on his horse for three of them.
"I'll follow behind you. Please make sure she is safe." She handed Annabell to Arthur, who nodded and placed her infront of him on the saddle, shielding her little body with his own. Evelyn ran into the motel, gathered her belongings and mounted her own horse, kicking it into a gallop towards Arthur. They left together, Arthur firing popshots at anyone who tried following them.
The pounding of hooves digging into the earth muffled any other sound as Evelyn and Arthur trailed behind Dutch and John who were far ahead of them. They fled into the woods a short distance past Valentine, following a worn trail into a heavily forested campsite. Evelyn was intimidated by seeing so many people as her and Arthur jerked their horses to a stop and quickly dismounted. She quickly grabbed Annabell and stood protectively in front of her, eyeing all of the camp members who stared at them in confusion.
Dutch paced anxiously, issuing orders out.
"Pearson, miss Grimshaw, pack up camp quickly. Charles, Arthur, I need you to scout far away from here and find us a new place to make camp." He commanded. The people gravitated around him, doing his bidding. Evelyn sensed an aura of leadership and respect among the people of camp and Dutch, watching as they looked to him for guidance.
A familiar woman approached her, a look of surprise on her face.
"Miss Evelyn? From the doctors? What in the world are you doing here?" Abigail asked, offering Evelyn and Annabell a clean rag to rid themselves of the dirt and blood that had caked them.
Arthur came up besides Evelyn with a reassuring nod. "Miss Kings here got herself tied up in our scuffle with Cornwall. Abigail, would you take her and the girl to the other women and show her the ropes?" He explained. Abigail nodded, ushering Evelyn and Annabell over to her tent gently, aware that the women had not loosened her grip on the revolver.
"Thank you, Abigail. I'm afraid I got caught up in some nasty business the same time Arthur and your friends did." Abigail snorted packing up the tent and encouraging Jack to help Annabell feel comfortable.
"Ain't no surprise my fool man got himself into some trouble. Don't you feel bad about it, trouble follows those boys like a bloodhound on a rabbit."
Evelyn gave a small smile. "I wasn't aware you and Arthur were married." She said, but she could see it, Abigail was beautiful and Arthur seemed kind.
Abigail snorted again, laughing. "Arthur? No, I'm talking about John, the pigheaded one with scars all over his face." She grinned, gesturing towards a dark haired man who indeed did have quite a few scars on him. He was packing the heavier equipment into one of the wagons with another tall man.
"Oh! My apologies. I didn't realize." Evelyn stood awkwardly at the tent, unsure of what to do as everyone in camp seemed to fall into a familiar routine, moving around each other as if they'd done this many times. Abigail noticed and called her over, pointing her to a pile of bedrolls.
"Would you be a dear and help me pack these? They're stubborn to roll back up." She asked, to which Evelyn happily complied.
As the day fell into sunset a few hours passed, the camp was finally packed up, horses were fully tacked and people were gathering into wagons. Evelyn stood by as Abigail ushered Jack into a wagon full of a few other women, who Evelyn learned were Molly, Miss Grimshaw, Karin, Tilly, and MaryBeth. There was another blonde woman who she hadn't been able to introduce herself too. Abigail loaded onto the wagon herself, and offered a helping hand to Evelyn, who shook her head.
"Thank you, but I came here on horseback. I don't want to intrude on your camp, so we should probably part ways." Evelyn said, though with a twinge of disappointment. In the few hours she had been here she had felt pulled into a sense of belonging, seeing them all act as a family had made her yearn to be a part of it. Not only for herself, but for Annabell as well who had taken a fierce liking to Jack, and already had begun tearing up.
Abigail frowned and began to object when she was cut off.
"Nonsense Mrs. Kings, you are more than welcome to stay!" Dutch's deep voice boomed behind her, and he planted a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Look at us, we're a big family. There's room for you, and your darling Annabell too. Until you find a place to go you're welcome to stay here with us." He smiled to Annabell, who shyly smiled back and hid her face in Evelyn's skirt.
Evelyn hesitated. She looked around, at Dutch's "family" and sighed. There wouldn't be any harm in staying a little while, not to mention she'd love to have more security for her daughter.
"You are too kind, Mr. VanDer Lin. I suppose we have nowhere else to go, so I'll take you up on that." She smiled, and Dutch happily clapped her on the shoulder and Abigail smiled as well.
"However, I do have my own horse so I'll be riding her. Anna, would you like to stay with Jack?" She asked the little girl, who happily ran towards the wagon.
"I wanna sit with Jack mama. Please." She excitedly requested. Evelyn happily obliged and lifted her to sit next to Jack who excitedly made room beside him for his new friend.
"As long as it's no issue, miss Roberts?" She asked. Abigail waved her off.
"Of course not, and call me Abigail."
With that the Gang took off, being led by Charles and Dutch. Evelyn rode close to the wagon with Annabell in it, keeping a close eye on the roads in search of any lawmen.
The camp buzzed with activity, people bustling back and forth unpacking supplies and setting up tents. Arthur had stayed back when Charles went to retrieve the rest of the gang and had set up a fire ahead of their arrival, which was a welcome sight. The camp was nearly complete, looking near identical to the campsite at HorseShoe Overlook, further confirming the suspicion Evelyn had that they had done this many times before.
The closer the camp came to completion Evelyn grew more tired, the days events had left a deep exhaustion in Evelyn's bones.
"Mrs. Kings, I'm afraid we haven't been able to get a proper introduction. Everyone calls me miss Grimshaw, I oversee the chores and nearly damn everything else in camp." A stoutly older woman introduced herself, though Evelyn knew her name they hadn't had the chance to talk.
"A pleasure to meet you miss Grimshaw. I am Evelyn Kings, and this is my daughter, Annabell." Miss Grimshaw smiled fondly at the little girl and gestured for them to follow her. She led them to a small tent, furnished lightly with blankets and pillows.
"This'll be your tent, usually the girls all sleep together but seeing as how you have a child you get a luxury tent." Grimshaw chuckled, shaking her head at her own joke.
Evelyn immediately felt embarrassed.
"Please, you really didn't have to do all this, I'm perfectly fine sleeping anywhere."
Grimshaw clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Oh enough, I know you and that little girl of yours must be dog tired. Just get some rest, there'll be plenty to do in the morning." She insisted, and kindly smiled at them both before leaving.
Though Evelyn felt guilty for using their resources as a total stranger, she had to admit she was relieved for some privacy, for Annabell's sake. She ushered the girl into the tent where they changed into nightgowns and Evelyn brushed Annabel's hair into a braid. It took no time at all for them to fall into a deep sleep.