A Test of Time (Red Dead Redemption story)

Chapter 7

The men had left Jack feeling uneasy. The air around him felt tense and he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.

Seing Edgar Ross again had been the most infuriating moment in his life. Infact, seeing him alive might have made it worse.

He packed up for the day and walked back to his camp. He then packed that up and rode back to Horseshoe Overlook. As he approached, he was glad to see it was Sean who was guarding. Sean greeted him as he hitched his horse.

"Where'd you go?" Sean asked, leaning against the hitching post.

"I went fishing, got some food and some money from it. Seems that's all these people care about" Jack said.

"Ah well can you blame anyone. Ya can't do anything without money" Sean said, "I gotta get back or Hosea will be on my ass like my mammy".

Jack finished hitching his horse and walked into camp to Dutchs tent.

"Dutch" Jack said.

"Jack! Didn't think I'd see you again" Dutch said.

"I was found by government men" he said.

"What?" Dutch questioned.

"The men who killed John, they found me" Jack said, "offered me immunity if I gave you up".

"You didn't take it did you?" Dutch asked accusinly.

"No" Jack said, feeling offended, "I would never do that Dutch".

"You said you don't trust me" Dutch said, "I'd expect you would betray me".

"I am not loyal to you or anyone. If I was loyal to anyone it be my family" Jack said, "Dutch, they're looking for you".

Suddenly, he was thrown to the ground with such force the air left his lungs. He caught his breath when he landed and readjusted himself to face his attacker. He was lying on his back, stunned at what just happened. He was looking down the barrel of a gun and a man was on top of him.

"Were you followed!" He yelled, "you led them right to us".

"No, get off me!" Jack yelled.

"Micah, get off him" Arthur's gruff voice came.

Arthur was pointing a gun at Micah now. A stand off. Arthur also seemed to be winning.

Jack would have reached for his gun but he was pulled by his jacket out of Micahs grasp. Charles had been the one to pull him out of harms way and gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm not stupid enough to be followed" Jack said, "I stopped at the train station when I realized someone was trailing me. I shook them when I climbed in a carriage that took me to Valentine. I lost them days ago".

"Pinkertons found me when I was fishing with little Jack. They didn't follow me" Arthur said.

"Cause they know who you are" Micah said, he pointed his gun at Jack again but Arthur grabbed it, "they don't know who this boy is".

Jack scoffed, "yeah right... They knew who i was".

"There's no way-" Charles started.

"They thought I was John. Like everyone always does" Jack said, "I'm not an idiot, I know what I'm doing".

"Ha if you knew what you were doing then you'd drop the act of being from the future" Micah said.

Jack laughed and would have lunged at Micah if Charles didn't have an iron grasp on his jacket.

"Why do not you drop your act of actually caring about what happens to these people?" Jack said, "you can't fool me".

"I'm not trying to fool anyone cowpoke" he said and his expression changed to sympathy. The fake kind that Jack knew well, "I care deeply about everyone here".

"That's great... real virtuous of you" Jack said, "you may have Dutch fooled, but you certainly don't fool me".

Jack broke out of Charles's grip and walked away from the scene with a protest from Abigail.

"Jack hold on" she yelled after him.

She caught up to him and he turned to look at her.

"Son you can't keep haveing these outbursts" she said.

"I'm sorry" he said looking down, "Dutch doesn't understand what I'm saying to him".

"That's Dutch for ya" She said with a small smile, "Hes a stubborn bastard but he's smart and he cares about everyone here. And Micah well... if Dutch trusts him, it's for a reason".

Jack shook his head, "Dutch is smart, but Micah is not the person he should trust".

"Did you tell him that?" Abigail asked.

"Of course I did. Or I tried... He didn't listen to me" Jack said, "No one does. No one really believes me and you don't either".

Abigail looked a bit hurt but she nodded, "How did you get here?"

"I don't know!" Jack said, "I was standing infront of our barn one minute and the next... everything's gone. The house, the barn everything".

Abigail didn't respond. She looked a bit too confused and stunned to respond.

"Well... m-maybe you should try and find out" Abigail said, "what if you weren't the only one who 'Time traveled'? Maybe there's someone out there who knows something about it".

Jack raised an eyebrow, "so you think I should go around asking people if they know about time travel? People are gonna think I'm insane".

"Its an insane story" Abigail said, "but maybe someone knows something".

Jack shook his head, "I don't know what else I could do to prove I'm telling the truth".

Abigail sighed, "Just... be loyal. Dutch loves loyalty. As long as you show him that you'll stick with whatever he tells you then he may trust you. Seems he does already anyway".

"Yeah he trusts me about as much as I trust lawmen" Jack said, crossing his arms looking away from Abigail.

Abigail sighed, "Look... just lie low. Stop drawing attention to yourself and losing your temper".

"Fine... but please... stay away from Micah... you can't trust him" Jack said.

"Alright... I will. I do that anyway" she said and set her hands on her hips, "I don't like him much".

Jack nodded and looked back at the others in camp. Micah was sitting at one of the tables staring at him. His eyes were cold and his mouth curved in an ugly scowl. Jack looked back at Abigail and nodded as she left to see what little Jack needed.

He didn't realize how odd it was to see himself as a young boy. He was lucky enough to avoid himself. Granted he did his best to avoid people in general.

He could still feel Micahs gaze on him. It was unerving to say the least. He pushed the thought away and walked to his tent, thinking he may read some more of the book Mary-Beth had wrote. It wasn't the type of book he usually grabbed but he was starting to like it.

Then he thought it would be time for sleep.