~~~~♛~~~~
You wandered around camp, trying to figure out what to do with your time. Dutch and Arthur had gone out to do something with the Indian Reservation they had been helping with. You spotted Javier sitting at the table tuning his guitar.
"Hey stranger." You said pulling up a chair.
"Hey y/n." he said with a slight smile.
"You wanna go do something? I'm bored and I feel like we haven't had a proper talk in a while." You asked him.
He sat and thought for a moment. "How about we go fishing? I haven't been for a long time and it doesn't look like Pearson is going to cook us anything."
"Yeah, anything to get me out of here." You responded. You both stood up. Javier went to collect his fishing rods as you walked to the horses. He met you there and you rode out of camp. You didn't go far, just down the river a little bit. You hopped of the horses and got set up. Javier handed you one of his rods, and some crickets for bait.
"Remember, I cant fish for shit." You said, throwing the line into the water.
"You gotta have confidence y/n!" He responded with a laugh. You didn't want to ruin the mood, but you really wanted to see where Javier's head was at with everything going on.
"So, what do you think happens next?" You asked him. The carefree look quickly dropped off his face.
"Dutch is going to figure out how to get money, and we are getting the hell out of here." He responded.
"I don't want anyone else to die." You said.
Javier turned to look at you. "Do you doubt him?"
"No of course not Javier. I just don't trust Micah."
"Yeah well, he's always been a pain in my ass, but Dutch seems to trust him, so we should too."
You didn't want to push him any further. You just wanted to enjoy the time with your friend. "No more serious stuff. How about you show me how to actually catch a fish, gotta feed camp somehow.
You and Javier fished for a few hours, laughing and telling stories of your childhood. You almost felt a sense of normalcy, like the old days. So much has changed since you and Javier first became friends. You joked with him about his crush he had, making him blush and threaten to leave you to fish by yourself. He didn't do that of course.
Once you collected a good amount of fish, you decided to head back to camp. You enjoyed your last few seconds away from everyone before you entered camp again. You both took the fish over to Pearsons table, knowing damn well you would have to cook them because he wasn't going to.
"I'm glad we got to catch up Javier." You said.
"Me too y/n." He paused for a moment. "Please trust that Dutch is going to keep us all safe."
You nodded, and then turned to walk back to your tent. You trusted Dutch had the right idea, just not the right plan to go along with it.
• • • • •
With each passing day, camp got emptier and emptier. Josiah had left a few days ago. He knew what was happening to the gang, and it was in his best interest to leave. Arthur gave him his blessing, and with that he gave you a quick goodbye and left.
Strauss had also left, but not as peacefully as Josiah. Arthur came in one day yelling at him, saying things like "you disgust me" and "you shame us". You knew that he had Arthur do his dirty business, Arthur always complained about it. When you asked him later though, he didn't want to discuss what happened.
Camp was quiet all morning, everyone just sitting around passing time in any way they could. You had a chair pulled up next to Dutch's tent. You had started sketching in your journal, Arthur gave you a few tips and tricks, but you weren't nearly as good as him.
Micah was standing on the other side of Dutch, cleaning his guns. Even doing simple things like that, he still found ways to annoy you. You looked up as you saw Arthur approach Dutch.
"What is going on Dutch? What is happening to us" Arthur said.
He was referring to the two men sitting at the table close to the fire, Cleet and Joe. They were old friends of Micah. They showed up the other day, making you a bit uncomfortable.
"You show Dutch some respect" Micah barked, walking up to Arthur.
You shut your journal and stood up when you noticed Charles, John, Javier, and Bill walking over to the argument. Nothing else was said, as a group of men road into camp.
"Mr. Van Der Linde! Mr. Morgan! Charles!" A man you never saw shouted. "They tried to kill my people for oil!"
You looked around as more men on horses road in.
"Today we ride once more. Ride with me, ride with us against the factory." The man said.
It finally clicked who these men were. The Native American tribe Arthur, Dutch, and Charles had been helping.
"I love your courage son." Dutch spoke as he walked towards the men.
Your head turns again as someone else road into camp. "Stop, everybody stop!"
"What is going on?" You kept thinking to yourself.
The man spoke again. "My son, my last son, don't."
You and the others watched as the older man pleaded with his son not to go to the factory and fight. Different looks were plastered on everyone's faces. Charles, looked on in grief, saddened by what was being said. Arthur had a look on his face, but you couldn't read it. And Dutch, he watched with his poker face on, showing nothing.
"Your words mean nothing to me Father." You are brought back to the conversation. "Ride with me! Now!"
The large group of men road off, the chief still pleading at them to stop. He then started walking over to your group.
"Please, Mr. Morgan. After you helped me, after we spoke, this is just a trap. My son, my people, will all die." He said.
Dutch raised and eyebrow and looked at Arthur. "You helped this feller Arthur?"
"What of it?" Arthur responded.
"What else you been doing behind Dutch's back?" Micah chimed in. Arthur had rage painted all over his face, but before he said anything else, the chief spoke to him again.
"Please help them, they will be killed out there!"
"I'll see what I can do." Arthur nodded. "Who else will come with me?"
"Oh I'll ride Arthur. Who knows what other secrets I'll learn about." Dutch said. He looked at you and gave you a look, silently asking what you were going to do.
"I'm going too." You spoke up. You saw Micah roll his eyes but you ignored it. Sadie, Charles, John, Javier, and Bill all followed Arthur to the horses. You all mounted up quickly, Dutch taking the lead.
"All right. Let's head out."