Author's note: I'm ready for chapter 6. I could use your opinion if I should do a fix-it story of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales that is also a crossover. Thank you!

When Arthur returned to Colter, wagons were packed full. John was put in the back of one. Dutch, Hosea, Elsa, and Anna were talking to each other. "So, we gettin' out of this hellhole?" Arthur asked as he dismounted. "We're gonna try, weather seems stable." Dutch said. "And we just robbed a Leviticus Cornwall train." Hosea said. "We got money in our pockets. The worst is behind us, gentlemen. So the question is where now?" Dutch said.

"I know this country a little. I told you, we should set up camp in Horseshoe Overlook near Valentine. We'll be able to hide out there no problem. So long as we keep our noses clean." Hosea said.

"Well then, let's go. Clean noses and everything else. Arthur, Elsa, Anna, you 3 are in that one, bring Hosea. I know you four like to talk about the good old days and what's gone wrong with Old Dutch. " Dutch boarded his wagon.

The Van Der Linde gang slowly moved throughout the mountain. Colter soon disappeared from sight. Eventually, the temperature started rising, and the snow was replaced with beautiful trees, and landscapes as they left the Grizzlies for New Hanover.

"Lenny! Micah! Get over here!" Dutch called out for his men. "Yes, boss?" Micah asked. "You two ride up ahead, make sure there's no surprises. We've had enough of those." Dutch instructed. "Me, with the boy?" Micah asked. "Just go." Dutch said impatiently.

"Come on, kid. You can buy me a whiskey." Lenny and Micah ride off ahead. The Van Der Linde gang soon passed through a river. The last wagon had Arthur, Hosea, Elsa, and Anna. But when they entered the river, a wheel suddenly came loose. "Get us out of the stream." Hosea said urgently. Arthur hurried the horses out of the water.

"You gotta keep us moving, but calm." Hosea warned. When they exited the water, the wheel broke off and a few supplies fell out. "Shit!" Anna gasped. "Okay... let's take a look." Hosea said. "Everything alright back there?" Bill asked up ahead. "Does everything look alright to you?" Elsa retorted at him. "Well, what's going on?" Javier asked. "Dah, I broke the godamm wheel." Arthur groaned as he and the others got off.

"Alright, let's get it fixed." Hosea said. "You need some help?" Charles asked. "I think it would help." Hosea said. He, Charles, and the girls use all the strength they can muster to lift the heavy wagon. "You all strong enough to hold up a wagon?" Arthur asked. "Oh shut it." Elsa strained.

"I'm just saying." Arthur said as he rolled the wheel back to the wagon. "Well, say less." Hosea said. Arthur lifts the wheel up, and puts it back on the axis, before he bashes it in with his shoulder.

"I guess you aren't so useless after all, Papa." Elsa joked as they let go of the wagon. "Hahaha. Not quite, honey." Hosea said. They grab the fallen crates while Arthur screws the bolt on the wheel back into place. Suddenly Anna saw three figures on horses, staring at them from the cliff. "Guys?" She asked as she pointed at the potential hostiles. "What do you think?" Arthur asked Charles.

"If they wanted trouble, we wouldn't have seen them." Smith said. Hosea waved at them. "Poor bastards, we really screwed them over down here. Come on, let's not push our luck." He said. "What happened?" Anna asked. "Well, get in, and I'll tell you." Hosea said. "Papa, can I ride up front with you this time?" Elsa asked. "You're a better driver than Arthur. Come on." Hosea said.

They get back on, and Arthur helps Anna up on the back, and Charles sat next to them. Elsa joined her second adopted dad up front. "Not too far now, Elsa. Stay on this trail. We'll follow the river, then cut left inland." Hosea said before he began the story, "So... yes, the Indians in these parts got sold a very raw deal. This is the Heartlands we're going to. Good farming and grazing country, they lost it all. Stolen clean away from them it was, every blade of grass. Killed or herded up to the reservations in the middle of nowhere." He said.

"And how's that different from anywhere else?" Charles asked. "Well, maybe it's not. I just heard some of the army out here was particularly, uh, unpleasant about it." Hosea said. "Unpleasant? How do you rob and kill people pleasantly? We don't, in spite of Dutch's talk." Charles said. "I fear I was perhaps trying to simplify something more complicated for the benefit of our blockheaded friend back there." Hosea teased Arthur.

"Hey, don't blame it on me. Never forget, this here's a conman, Charles. Born and bred. Just cause it sounds fancy don't mean he knows a damn thing about what he's talking about." Charles said. "Hey, Charles, what happened to your tribe?" Anna asked the half Indian. "I don't even know if I have one, least not that I can remember. My father was a colored man, they told me he lived with our people for a while, a number of free men did, but... when they forced us to move from our lands, the 3 of us fled. I was too young to really remember much. All life I've been on the run. A couple years later, some soldiers captured my mother, took her somewhere. We never saw her again. We drifted around. He was a very sad man, and the drink had a mean hold on him. Around 13, I just took off on my own." Charles explained.

"That was about the age we found young Arthur here. Maybe a little older. We found those two when they were, what? 8 and 5?" Hosea said. "Yeah." Elsa said. "We found them 7 years after we found Arthur. They were all wilder delinquents you never did see. But they learned fast." Hosea said. "Not as fast as Marston, apparently." Arthur grumbled.

"Wait... I don't understand. What's the problem between you two?" Charles asked. "You wanna tell him, Arthur?" Anna asked. "It's a long story." Arthur said. "Papa, are we still heading the right way?" Elsa asked. "That depends... are we still heading West, in search of fortune and repose in virgin forests as we planned? No. Are we heading in the correct direction on our desperate escape from the law Eastwards down the mountains? Yes, I believe so." Hosea said.

"You know this area?" Charles asked. "A little, I've been through a couple of times. There's a livestock town not too far from here, called Valentine. Cowboys, outlaws, working girls. Our kind of place." Hosea said. "Are there any O'driscolls?" Elsa asked. "Probably them too." Hosea said. "Pinkertons?" Anna piped up nervously.

"Let's hope not." Hosea said. "And this place we're going... wait, what's it called again?" Arthur asked. "Horseshoe Overlook." Hosea said. "Is it a good place to lie low?" Anna asked. "It'll do for now. And how low do you three think Dutch is really going to lie? It's just... you know. Maybe it's me who's changed, not him, but we kept telling him that ferry job didn't feel right. Elsa, you and me had a real lead in Blackwater that could've worked out." Hosea said.

"Maybe." Elsa said. "It's just... isn't like Dutch to lose his head like that." The old man said. "Things go wrong sometimes. People die. It's the way it is, always has been. Me, you, Dutch, we've all been in this line of work a long time, and we're still here. So, I figure we must've got it right a hell of a lot more than we got it wrong." Arthur said. Elsa saw Hosea grab a bowl, and start mixing things.

"What are you working on there, Father?" She asked. "Just some Yarrow and Gensing, good for the health. Better than that stuff you buy in the store." He then gives the bowl to his adopted daughter. "Here, you can have all this. I'm at the point where I can do it with my eyes closed."

"Thank you." Elsa puts the bowl away, and they continue driving. They soon passed a forest, and there was Javier waiting for them. "There you are, sister. Head in there and follow the track for a bit."

"Thanks." Elsa said. "Hey, slow up! I'll jump on." Javier climbs onto the back of the wagon, and they continue moving forward. "Any trouble getting in here, Javier?" Hosea asked. "No, it went well. This is a good spot." Javier answered. "Excellent. I think this will work for us, fellas. For now, anyway." Hosea said. "Here we are, ladies and gentlemen. Home sweet home."

They soon enter a clearing where the rest of the gang was unpacking. "You weren't wrong, Hosea. This place is perfect." Dutch said. "I hope so." Hosea said as they climbed down. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have survived." Dutch said. He was now dressed, in a dark jacket, with his favorite red and black vest.

"Now it is time to prosper." He said. "Elsa and I were about to prosper in Blackwater. We were on to something big. Then Micah got you all excited about that ferry, and here we are." Hosea said.

"We have all made mistakes over the years, Hosea, every last one of us. But I kept us together, kept us alive, kept the nooses off our necks." Dutch said. "I guess I'm just worried. I ain't got that long, Dutch. I want folks safe before I go." Hosea said. "Me too." Dutch said. "And now we are stuck, east of the Grizzlies, and out of money. And a long way from our dream of virgin land in the West." Hosea said.

"I know, my brother, but we are safe. We make a bit of money here, then we move again. Head out around them, be West of Uncle Sam, in a few months, buy some land." Dutch said. "I hope so." Hosea muttered. "Would you just look around you. This world has its consolations." Ditch said as they walked toward the outskirts of camp, where the Sun was setting. The small Moon showed early.

"Gentlemen, I'm going to head into the local town to, you know, see if I can strike up a little business." Strauss said as he approached them. "Of course, Herr Strauss." Dutch said, and Strauss leaves. "I prefer robbing banks to usury, seems more dignified somehow." He muttered.

"Now, everyone put your tools down for a moment. Come on, gather round, quickly now." A huge circle of the gang formed at Dutch's tent, with Hosea and Arthur at Dutch's left side, and Elsa and Anna on his right. "I know that things have been tough, but we are safe now, and we are far too poor. So it is time for everyone to get to work." Dutch said.

"Get to work, but stay out of trouble. Remember, we are itinerant workers." Hosea said. "Laid off when they shut down our factory to the North. Now, get out there, and see what you can find. Uncle, Reverend Swanson, no more passengers." Everyone laughed at that.

"It is time for everyone to earn their keep." Dutch said. "There is a town a little way down the track. Name of Valentine... livestock town. All mud and morons if I remember right. That seems a decent place to start." Hosea said. "And... we need food... real food. That means every day, one of you." Pearson spoke up.

"And remember, whatever it is that you find, the camp gets its slice." Dutch grabs a metal box from his tent and put it on a barrel next to him. "Now, be sensible out there."

"The girls have your tent ready, Mr. Morgan, come with me. You four will be ready shortly." Susan led Arthur to his tent.

"I'm gonna go help Pearson unload." Anna leaves to find the camp cook. "Is this really gonna work, Papa?" Elsa asked Dutch. "Elsa, since you were 8, I promised that I would make sure everything works out right. Remember?" Dutch asked. Elsa nodded. "Oh, and you dropped this back in Colter." He gives her a photograph of her and Anna when they were kids, along with Dutch, Hosea, a younger Arthur, and younger John, Bill, Susan, and Annabelle.

"Thank you." She said.