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Chapter 2

"Outlaws from the West"

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They continued along the trail, and soon, through the snowstorm's pure white canvas, a town that Arthur had described faintly came into view. The town was completely deserted, not one sign of life showed and the cabins were locked tight.

One of the two men on horseback that rode right behind the wagon Tulip was in, complained, "Those damn Pinkertons, this sure was a successful robbery!" Tulip couldn't blame him, it was a man who had one side of their hat's brim folded up just like hers who had spoke. He had snow sticking to his lengthy brown beard. "And goddamn, this snow's freezing!"

Tilly rolled her eyes, "Shut up, Bill. We're all cold an' miserable, an' you complainin' the whole way here ain't gon' do us any good."

Bill shot back a retort, "Ah, Tilly Jackson! You ain't the one riding outside of this damn storm now, are ya?"

"Well we ain't complainin' until you did, so can we all just shut up?" Karen jumped in, clearly just as tired and fed up as everyone.

Just as Bill was going to talk back, Tulip slammed the stock of her engraved Winchester, catching everyone's attention. But it was to mainly tell the twosome to be silent. Tilly and Karen chuckled when Tulip stared down at Bill, who tried to hold his tongue. Then Tulip turned to leer at them for a moment, both Bill and the girls huffed and that was the end of that. Silence, other than the whistling gale of the storm, settled in once again.

The man riding next to Bill was grateful for ending the argument, he had dark skin and was quite young; he might even be one of the youngest members of this gang.

The tension and horrible atmosphere from few days back after the Blackwater robbery faded, yet still lingered.

After a little bit, Willow chimed in. "We're gettin' close to that lonely town." She pointed and everyone saw. "Better than nothing, right?" She turned to Tulip, who shrugged in agreement.

Not a single horse, person, or any other living thing was in sight. One by one, each of the members poured out of the wagons, covered by the snow like a blanket. The oldest member of the group went to check the cabin's door, he lifted the lantern, watching as the light fought back the darkness. "Bring him in here." He gestured with the wave of his hand.

Shifting out of the way, Bill and Arthur brought their dead friend in. The room was just as chilly as the outside.

Davey, who was placed on the wooden plank, was the main priority and was set on top of a table, Tulip couldn't quite tell without her lantern and from where she's standing. Everyone saw the body which was once a man named Davey Callander, now it was only a corpse. His skin was a sickly gray color and was drained from the blood loss that coated his chest and side, Willow stared, but only for a second because Tulip moved in her line of sight. She also gently placed her hands on a little boy, Jack, urging the kid to look away from Davey. Or, what used to be Davey.

Everyone piled in the dark room, shivering and suffering, sliding old crates and wooden benches around. "Miss Gaskill..." The same older women who announced about Davey's health, Grimshaw, ordered. "get that fire lit, quick."

One of the other women from a different wagon went over to check and see Callander's frozen corpse, her mouth was stuck firm and she spoke nothing. She had a peach colored skin, and black hair.

"Miss Jones, bring in whatever blankets we have." Miss Grimshaw pointed to Karen, the blonde who back talked Bill with Tilly earlier. "Mr. Pearson," the man who's the fattest, and has black hair glanced at Grimshaw. "See what we've got in terms of food." Her voice trembled slightly by the cruel cold, the lantern showing her wrinkles and gray hairs.

Abigail shuddered, white puffs of smoke seeping through her lips because of the temperature. "Davey's dead."

Right beside Abigail, was Tilly, comforting Jack in any way she could. The poor child was shaking, and his face could only reflect fear.

One of the men replied amongst the heavy silence of the news, "There was... nothing more you could've done."

Willow had the same expression just like Jack's, she hugged Tulip, whispering low enough for none of the others to hear. "I- I don't wanna see any more of us to..." She said weakly, her voice fragile and anxious.

The elder male of the gang spoke, as one of the men place two quarters over Davey's closed eyes, "What are we gonna do? We need supplies..." The main and oldest members of the group stood all three together in the corner, discussing.

It was Dutch, Arthur, and the oldest man of the gang. "Well, first of all, you're gonna stay here, Hosea, and you are gonna get yourself warm." Dutch thought carefully. "Now, I sent John and Micah scouting out ahead." Arthur shook his head, everyone was shuffling around due to the cold. "Arthur and I, we're gonna ride out and see if we can find one of 'em."

The senior gun of the group, Arthur, stared at Dutch for a moment. "In this?" He gestured with his arm about the storm.

He glanced outside. "Just for a short bit. I don't see what other choice we have." He looked towards the gang, and took a step forward. "Listen..."

They all turned their heads and attention upon their brave leader, Willow and Tulip had to rip their eyes off of Davey. Davey Callander was a middle aged gunslinger, sometimes not very honorable, he has a short, scruffy, light brown beard. He was still a good man, full of energy, just like Mac Callander. Both gave the gang the invigorating atmosphere.

"Listen all of you to me, for a moment..." He set his lantern on top of another table. "Now we've had a bad couple of days. I loved... Davey..." The gang's heads lowered. "Jenny..." He mentioned the anothers, "Sean, Mac..." Tulip shook her head and clasped her rifle tighter. "They may be okay, we don't know. But we lost some folks." His voice was solemn. "Now, if I could..." He paused a bit. "Throw myself, in the ground, in their stead... I'd do it, gladly. But, we're gonna ride out, and we are gonna find some food. Everybody, we're safe, for now." His eyes scanned the people in front of him. "There ain't... nobody followin' us through a storm like this one... And by the time they get here... Well we're gonna be... We're gonna be long gone. We've been through worse than this before." Everyone shook their heads in agreement, "Mr. Pearson... Miss Grimshaw."

Both turned their heads at the mentioning of their names as the winds outside continued to howl a ominous and lonesome tone.

"I need you to turn this place into a camp." Van Der Linde continued as everyone tried to find warmth in anyway, some even curled over slightly. "We may be here for a few days. Now all of you, all of you... Get yourselves warm." Abigail sat by her son Jack, her arm around him. "Stay strong... Stay. With. Me." Every word was slowly spoken on the last part as he took one step forward, each syllable giving the gang some form of hope to keep on going. "We ain't done yet!" He snatched his lantern and immediately made his way towards the door, "C'mon, Arthur."

The two men stepped out into the Winter's unforgiving storm and as soon as they did, Grimshaw announced, taking on an authoritative role. "Alright, we got some work to do." Grimshaw ushered the ladies to get to work, "Gaskill, put that book away and start cleaning up this place! And I mean that for all of you girls - Miss Jackson, Jones, get these broken, dirty filth out of here!"

The door creaked open and Tulip, being the closest, most cautious, and rifle at ready, took a small aim with the Winchester at her hip.

The man enveloped by snow, had a hat and a dark coat. His hand is bandaged. "Ah, it's Charles Smith." One of the men pointed out, he was on the floor and lazing about.

She set her gun down. "Tulip." Charles passed by her, she grabbed his arm abruptly.

It made him look at her for a second, his keen eyes under his hat fixed on her actions. He was black, and the necklaces that hung under his coat showed that he was part Native, his facial features had some sense of it also. He's a relatively new member, running with Dutch's gang for 6 months, around there.

Tulip brought his wounded hand up for her to see, it was burned, Willow had always begged and been curious for an answer. She had even pleaded towards Tulip to see if she could get anything out of Charles. "It'll heal, it was a foolish mistake on my part."

With that, she tipped her hat and everyone did their jobs in cleaning up the place. Making it look hospitable at the very least when Dutch, Arthur, and perhaps the others would come back.

Willow's stomach growled slightly, Tulip, who was moving the empty boxes and crates outside, noticed. "It's fine, my belly can wait." She chuckled.

Tulip placed the mess next to the cabin, when she came back in, she shivered and rubbed her arms. She went to one of the wagons, all being unloaded, and grabbed a can of food for Willow. Tulip could only hope that the snowstorm didn't make the food terribly cold or frozen. She threw it to Willow and she cut the can open, only to see it being invaded by ice. "Darn it all..." Willow pouted. They had to thaw it with the fire Grimshaw and the girls had created, the fire was what everyone needed.

Afterwards, she wandered around, people had already cleaned out some of the other houses. She insisted on guarding the camp like usual. But one of the other members, the newest and a young member, Lenny Summers, told that "it ain't right to have a lady guard out in the cold" and seeing how Willow is, she might as well take a rest.

"You ain't much of a talker are ya?" Well, I know how tough you are, and you've probably already proven yourself since Dutch can trust you, how 'bout this? We'll just take turns alright?"

Eventually, as she had recalled, they'd take turns guarding. Tulip grabbed her journal, seeing that she didn't really have much to do.

Willow saw it and asked a little excitedly, "May I see it when you're done?" Tulip smirked, "you got any idea where we are by the way?"

She took out a map, animals were drawn on the tan-colored paper, and it was displayed in great details of railroads and whatnot.

She pointed. "Colter? Well, I'm be damned, we went from Blackwater to here..." Tulip shrugged, realizing how far they ran from the mess and the law nonstop for days.

Blackwater is in New Austin, and they're not even in that area anymore, they're in New Handover. All the way up north and into the mountains, which was at its worst since it's May. The winters are unrelenting during this time. She could only hope the storm can let up soon for hunting animals and providing food for the gang. The family.

"Hm." Tulip hummed and sat down on the bed rolls that's provided for the gang.

"Mining Town, Colter -"

She began to write, but then a voice rang out.

"Hey! Somebody's comin'!" Willow gasped and Tulip immediately grabbed her guns, everyone in the cabins took cover. It was Lenny who yelled and a sound of the lever-action rifle clicked.

Willow trembled, "I- Is it the Pinkertons?!" She exclaimed in a hushed tone, weaved and filled with the sense of dread. Tulip thought it was incredulous for the bounty hunters to chase them down so soon, but she didn't completely dismiss it.

The Blackwater Massacre, no matter how far Dutch's gang has fled, the events were just as fresh as the blood that had been spilt during that gunfight. It might as well be some war, rather than a simple gun fight because of all the Hell that had been broken loose.

Tulip shushed and slowly peeked out of the broken window, Lenny aiming at the figures on horseback. One orange lantern emerged after another, there were 3. "Looks like it's Dutch." Lenny then informed. With a sense of relief, everyone with their lights came out of the houses. "Hey everybody, Dutch's back!"

"How'd you get on?" The old man, Hosea, asked.

Dutch scoffed, "Micah found a homestead but... He weren't the first. Colm O'Driscoll and his scum, they beat us to it." Micah had a gray long mustache, he gave Tulip the cold shoulder and laughed at her discontented expression. He held his hands up as if to surrender and Tulip shoved him away, groaning in annoyance.

Tulip held onto her hat, the wind almost blowing it off. She noticed as she approached, that there was someone unfamiliar behind Dutch on horseback.

Dutch handed the lantern, "We found some of them there, but there is more about apparently..." He got off of his pearly white horse. "...scouting a train." Tulip came over and helped the blonde woman with a blanket and in her nightgown, and got her off of Dutch's horse. "Thank you." Dutch said through in between breaths.

Hosea replied, "That's the last thing we need right now, Dutch."

"Well, it is what it is. But we found some supplies, some blankets...a little bit of food... and this poor soul, Mrs. Adler." Dutch introduced, everyone held up their lanterns to get a better look at the woman. She looked frightened, her eyes darting all over and wild. "Miss Karen, Miss Tilly, would you warm her up. Give her a drink of something." The girls escorted her to one of the cabins, Dutch reassured. "And Mrs. Adler, it's gonna be okay. You're safe now."

Tulip took a careful observation of Adler, her eyes, it gave her a familiar feeling. Her eyes wandered to Adler's hand, and then the ember of anger quickly fumed into a raging flame. It's luster winked back, it was a wedding ring. Then her thoughts were quickly filled with fury.

Dutch's voice lowered as he spoke to Grimshaw. "They have turned her into a widow." He said with disgust, Tulip scoffed and uttered something too quiet to hear. But Arthur caught it. "Animals..." Dutch spat. He sighed tiredly, "I need some rest, I haven't slept in three days."

Grimshaw pointed, "You're over here, Miss O'Shea will show you the way."

Tulip began to walk away, Arthur glanced back at her and she shook her head, pushing away his hand of concern.

Before he spoke, Miss Grimshaw called him. "Mr. Morgan," She lead Arthur. "We put you in a room over there."

"Thank you, Miss Grimshaw." Arthur spoke.

"Mr. Bell, you're with the fellers over there." She waved her hand towards another cabin where, Bill, Lenny, and the other gunslingers were.

Micah Bell scoffed, "How come Arthur gets a room...and I get a bunk bed next to Bill Williamson..." He spits at Bill, who's not too happy about this. "...and a bunch of darkies?" Now it was Lenny who shook his head, irritated with Micah.

"Get yourself to bed." Tulip heard as she returned to her cabin, where most of everyone's at.

Rather than guarding outside, Tulip was still alert, making sure to keep everyone safe. Willow was too tired to keep awake, and pretty much everyone was ready to turn in for the night.

Tulip continued her entry.

"Mining Town, Colter - West Grizzlies, Ambarino"

Tulip stared at the blank page, so much running through her mind, she just chose to draw something instead of writing this time.

"✟ Davey Callander."

Tulip wanted to write a bit more, but her thoughts instantly flashed to Mrs., or Miss Adler's wedding ring. Eventually, she just began writing a bit more, one sentence after another, then it just became a paragraph.

"Storm's not letting up. Ended up in a deserted mining town called Colter, not the best, but it gave us shelter. And we need all the things we can get. A new person came with Dutch, Miss Adler, who has seen terrible things just now. Micah Bell came back - he's such a dullard, I'm surprised none of us has planted a damn bullet behind that vermin's head of his. And those damn O'Driscolls - they must've shot her place up. And just as our leader has said, she's a goddamn widow now. I've seen far too many nasty situations of people's pasts...

...mine ain't so different."

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A/N : Unfortunately, this isn't a climactic chapter since Tulip would most likely be assigned on guarding the camp. Next chapter however, we'll get some action. Ain't gonna lie, I did think carefully and paused as if actually writing a journal and trying to grasp the problem of things. If the grammar there in the journal entries are wrong in any way, accept them. Tulip wasn't taught too much on it, so she's no master writer, but she does find it helpful or relaxing to even draw things. Because of school and all, I didn't get to draw the pages out just yet, but then again, it'll be announced! How is it? It's important to me, esp on the character interactions... Btw Ima be honest, I was gonna have Tilly say halfman to Bill there LOL. Too early! XD

The pics will be from the youtubers, since transfering PS4 screenshots to flashdrive, then computer, then with USB, to my phone... Bit too tedious.

Published : Nov. 29, 2018

Edited : Dec. 5, 2018
Fixed some grammatical errors.
Changed Bill's dialogue "You ain't the one riding outside of this damn storm now, are ya?"
Changed Lenny's dialogue "You ain't much of a talker are ya?" 
Added "Eventually, she just began writing a bit more, one sentence after another, then it just became a paragraph." On Tulip's journal writing part.

Added journal drawing.