Two weeks had passed and still no sign of Arthur, Dutch, Micah, Bill, or Javier. Sadie, Charles, and Evelyn had retrieved the bodies of Hosea and Lenny the first night that they had relocated, burying them together under a big, beautiful tree just outside Saint Denis. Lemoyne wasn't their ideal grave location, but the trio didn't have much of a choice. They needed to lie low and get back to the gang as soon as possible, so they stole the bodies from the morgue in the cover of the night and buried them as quickly as possible, taking a few minutes for each of them to silently whisper their goodbyes. Throughout the two weeks Sadie and Evelyn kept a watchful eye on John from afar.
The Pinkerton's seemed to be keeping him in Saint Denis in hopes that someone would come for him. When two weeks passed, and it appeared no one was going to attempt a rescue, they decided to move him away. With some eavesdropping and snooping around Sadie discovered that John was transported to Sisika Penitentiary, an island Prison just east of Saint Denis meant only for the worst of the worst inmates. If John was there that meant he only had a brief period of time to escape before being hanged. Upon learning this Abigail begged them to save him. Regretfully they had to tell the woman it just wasn't possible, at least not yet. She retreated into herself, silent and in mourning. As much as they wished they could get John, their first priority was to the camp.
In the absence of Dutch; Charles, Sadie, and Evelyn all stepped up to the role. Charles being a fierce protector and provider, Sadie spurred with the instincts to survive planned out and executed careful scouts and reconnaissance, and Evelyn trying her best to keep up morale and assist Charles and Sadie with their endeavors though physically she tried not to strain the stitches in her arm which by now were fully healed and scarred. In-between tasks Evelyn spent her time with her daughter. After such a close call back at Shady Belle the woman found it even harder to spend too much time away from her daughter, and Annabell herself didn't seem keen on being separated for too long. She often stuck to her mothers side as Evelyn attended to tasks in the camp, one hand clinging to Evelyn's and often the other hand gripping Arthur's hat tightly. Annabell had matured in the short time since Kieran's death and the loss of a majority of the camps members, having been in the face of death and seeing first hand the result of horrific suffering with Kieran's corpse.
Death wasn't something she was too familiar with. She only knew of her fathers death, though not in detail, and the sacrifice of Bethany, the woman she considered her grandmother. In the mind of a young girl, death wasn't something she expected to deal with. Yet with the lifestyle she had been raised into, she found herself confronting it more often than not. She wondered, back in the scared part of her mind, if maybe Mister Arthur and the other men had died too, just like Sean. The circumstances were the same to her, one day Sean had left just like any other day but he hadn't come back and no one had mentioned anything except in hushed, scared whispers and choked voices. The same way now that the adults around her whispered to each other about Mister Arthur, and how her mother seemed to be different in a way that she wasn't the same freely happy person she use to be, she was still kind and loving, yes, but at night she clutched Mister Arthur's hat and cried herself to sleep and during the day she busied herself from dusk to dawn with work.
Annabell still held full faith in her mother. In her child's mind her mother was the beacon of hope and safety. If mama was there Annabell had nothing to worry about, proven time and time again, with mama saving her in Valentine and during the shoot out in their last campsite. Even with Mr. Brontë though she still didn't quite comprehend the danger her and Jack were truly in. While she was of course still a child she understood that right now she needed to be as serious and well-behaved as possible and that her mother needed as much support as Annabell could offer. With that thought Annabell donned Arthur's hat and followed after Evelyn with confident strides. Annabell was determined to help her mother as much as she possibly could.
Morale in camp had begun to deteriorate at the three-week mark, and though Evelyn did her best to cheer everyone up and instill hope, she herself felt the clutches of dread treading upon her mind. They'd come no closer to rescuing John, her and Sadie made frequent patrols in the city for any whispers of the prisoner or maybe the hopeful rumor of their lost members having made an appearance. Still, they heard nothing. As the days passed on they began making plans on moving forward though only as fleeting thoughts. Charles insisted that they wait for at least two months. He was there when the men fled on the ship, he knew they would return. And while that thought was hopeful and welcome, they still had prices on their own heads. Evelyn herself being the highest bounty she felt restless at being so close to the city when it was crawling with lawmen. They all agreed to stay put in Lakay a little longer but they also kept an eye and an ear out for a place to relocate once the time came. Sadie had become a constant comfort to Evelyn who looked to the woman for guidance and as a source of comfort. Sadie was only a few years older than her but Evelyn still felt so small when next to her, which didn't bother her as much as it reassured her. Said woman was currently tending to her guns in the dim lighting of the campfire. Evelyn and Sadie were on watch for the first shift, keeping wary eyes to the surrounding woods while the rest of camp tried getting some sleep, which was a difficult feat in the muggy heat and the over-abundance of flies and mosquitoes. Evelyn sighed.
"Sadie, what do we do? What if they don't come back?" Evelyn asked quietly. Sadie paused her task and looked over to Evelyn who was staring into the fire, knees tucked into her chest.
"Well... I don't know." She shrugged. "I suppose we start over, far away from here." Evelyn's eyes shined with tears.
"Start over? Where would we-I even go? This gang, it's all Annabell and I have. Maybe I could get lucky and some poor man would take us in and I'll get trapped in another loveless marriage. Maybe I could be a house maid." She scoffed at the mental image of her leading a normal life. After everything she'd been through in the past what-five, six months? She couldn't remember what it was even like to not be on edge every day. Sadie sighed and shifted, putting her rifle to the side and propping her arm on a knee.
"When you figure it out let me know, would you? Figure I'll tag along with ya." Sadie offered, drawing out a heartfelt smile from Evelyn who wiped away her tears.
"Of course, I wouldn't dream of leaving my terrifying bodyguard behind. Who else would scare away all the men and dignified ladies?" Evelyn teased, eliciting a snort from the blonde.
"Wouldn't that be a hoot." She chuckled. They lapsed back into a comfortable silence, the weight on their shoulders lifting ever so slightly. Whatever happened, if the men didn't return, Evelyn felt better knowing Sadie would follow her and Annabell wherever they were to go. Evelyn had noticed the shift in her daughter's demeanor, The five-year-old seemed to mature overnight, acting more thoughtfully and wanting to be by her side to help at all times donned in Arthur's hat with a no-nonsense attitude, she even stopped crying in the morning when she wanted to stay in bed. Even little Jack seemed completely different, his smile was less and less frequent and he rarely asked Annabell to play with him anymore instead opting to either stay by his mother's side or to help Annabell with whatever she was currently helping Evelyn with. Evelyn's heart clenched in both pride and sorrow. She felt to blame for the loss of innocence in the children, they never should've been exposed to the complexities of real life so young, shouldn't have experienced so much grief and loss.
In the dark small part of her mind, she doubted herself.
Was this her fault? Would Annabell have led a better life if she'd never murdered her husband, Annabell's father?
Evelyn shivered through the hot thick humidity that clung to her clothes and skin. She'd fought so hard to give Annabell a good life, but now Evelyn worried that she was the reason that it'd turned out so... Bad? Hard? Had she given her child the life she deserved, or had she selfishly ripped it away from her before she could even decide for herself? Evelyn searched the few stars that dotted the sky, searching for an answer that never came.
The sun hung high in the sky, its rays shooting through the dense humidity that hung in the air to beat hotly over the backs of the camps residents. With such an exceptionally hot day Evelyn ordered the children to stay inside and take it is with Abigail and the other women, afraid they might get heat-sickness, or worse, while the rest of them were either on look-out duty or tending to the simple tasks that needed done. Since they weren't keen on staying in Lakay much longer there was a considerably shorter chore list for the camp much to the relief of the girls and Pearson. All that needed to be done was laundry, dishes, and cooking of meals while Charles and Sadie took turns hunting, and Evelyn took it upon her to tend for the horses in Kieran's absence, the reminder still making Evelyn's heart clench painfully. Annabell often volunteered to care for the chickens and Cain, which Evelyn encouraged the children to take such responsibilities.
Evelyn wore Arthur's hat today to offer some protection from the unforgiving sun, ignoring the looks of pity she would get from the others who would look at the hat then back to her with a frown. She threw herself into caring for the horses, lugging around bales of hay and buckets of water, then taking the time to check over the horse's hooves and legs, looking for snake bites and other wounds or the stray nail or rock that would get caught in their hooves. Though unnecessary she took the time to groom each horse, having nothing else to do and feeling bad for the poor creatures who had no reprieve from the soggy wet swampland and the constant biting bugs. The least she could do was give them as much relief as she was capable of. Midnight, Arthur's mare, nickered at her softly as she approached. Evelyn felt bittersweet at the horse's presence, beyond relieved that she was safe at camp but bitter at the absence of her rider. Midnight also seemed to feel the loss of her rider, not nearly as lively as she use to be and often called out as if she were lost. Evelyn stroked the mare's mane, whispering words of reassurance to the creature who kept her ears perked in Evelyn's direction.
Evelyn alerted to the sound of hoofbeats near the camp's entrance. Warily she whipped out her revolver, pacing around the horse to get a better view of who was approaching, fully expecting it to be Charles returning from a hunt, before she remembered Charles was out back with Pearson helping him prepare rations. As the person came closer into view, Evelyn's heart skipped a beat, feeling like the breath was knocked out of her chest.
"Oh my God." She whispered.
