"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" A little girl cries when the sounds of bullets stop, the rest of the women and children crying beside her as they smell smoke from above their cellar doors.
Back at the church, there's a moment of silence, before Goodnight is on his feet to make sure no one else decided to get up, "They're reloading! Stay down! Stay down!"
"Get down!" Billy ordered.
Faraday considers to stay low before he hears high-pitched screaming from a nearby building and he starts to get up. "The children," he states before he goes running out, not ever looking back. Billy stands just outside the doorway again to provide him cover, shooting at any stray Blackstone agents with his rifle, Faraday also shooting them as he runs off to help Sam with the children.
"Get down against the wall, come on!" Vasquez orders from inside the church.
"Hey, Goody!" Billy tosses up a rifle when he turned away from the door to notice Goodnight had climbed up onto the steeple.
Goodnight catches the gun while heading up the stairs that lead up to the church bell, "Let's go, Billy!"
Faraday makes it to the General Store and practically rams into the door in order to get inside, a panicked look on his face as he looks around. He sees the fire slowly starting to spread from the corner of the room, and then he sees the cellar door, yet to be touched by the flames. But the sight that really made his blood run cold was Sam kneeling down and trying to shake Matilda awake, who was knocked out cold with blood running down over the left side of her face.
"Tilly!" Faraday kneels down beside her, cupping her face while glaring up at Chisolm, "What happened?!"
"The Gatling gun went off and she fell and hit her head while we were taking cover."
"Tilda!" Faraday snapped, staring down at the unconscious form, glaring with intense concern, "Come on, wake up! Open those eyes for me, darling. Come on, Matilda!"
There was a soft noise and Miss Persuasion's eyes fluttered open, squinting in the smoke and flames while her ears ring from the sounds of war outside. She groans in pain, but tried to force a smile, "Is that my name I hear, Mr. Faraday? I must be dead."
The Irishman broke into a laugh all the while Sam was desperate to get to the cellar underneath the floorboards.
"We gotta get these kids outta here." He rushes to the cellar door, opening it up to instruct the women and children to come up, "All right, everybody, come on."
"Everyone, up the stairs."
"Quick, quick."
"Quick, quick, quick."
"Be careful."
Faraday lifts Matilda up onto her feet again and forces her to lean against the railing of the porch. He brings out his gun to provide cover as the kids start pouring out of the building, all heading in the same direction.
Scanning over the dead bodies, such as Gavin, Horne takes the injured Teddy to a safe place, "Can't walk. They got my leg, sir."
"Schoolteacher, what are you doing up here?" Goodnight says as he spots Josiah taking cover within the steeple, Billy coming up the ladder not far behind him.
Josiah only shakes his head, "I want to stay."
"Come on, now, get outta here!"
"Wrap that leg!" Horne orders Teddy Q once he gets him inside a building, standing in the doorway while tossing him some empty guns, "Stop the bleeding! Find some ammo. You did goo-!" He was cut off by an arrow digging into the back of his leg, causing Horne to scream, "Shit!"
Horne struggles to turn around with his now injured leg, but when he did so, he noticed Mr. Denali, one of Bogue's men, slowly emerge from out of nowhere, more arrows in his mouth and his bow loaded. Horne is growling while Teddy hides behind some furniture, the older man unhinging a knife while barreling towards Denali.
The Indian fires again, hitting the bear of a man square in the chest. It drives Horne back a little, but it doesn't stop him, pointing the knife threatening at Denali while spewing Bible verses again, "We are giants put on this earth to rid it of evil and to keep all that is good!"
He is cut off with another arrow digging into his body, causing Jack to fall to his knees in pain. He goes to stand again, but this is the one time he truly screams in pain as Denali fires and digs an arrow into the palm of Horne's hand.
It takes several moments to register, but Jack slowly looks up into the sky, taking in his final moments to look up at whatever beauty was left of the blue blanket of warmth, now being covered up by smoke. Jack looks back down at the ground and with one last breath, he was gone, much to Teddy's grief.
"Keep going, keep going!" Sam instructs the women and children as they make it towards the edge of town and into the fields.
"Anthony!" The young boy stops when hearing his name, his face lightens up at the sight of his father running towards him.
" Pa!" He goes to hug his father, but Chisolm decides that they don't have time for that and pushes them on.
"Quickly!"
"Go, go, go!"
"Come on. Stay together."
"Let's go! Go, go, go."
"Keep going! To the ridge line!" He instructs everyone, but mostly to Hank Stoner, who will guard the women and children as they make it to safety.
"Come on."
"Just keep going."
As Faraday and Matilda provide cover while Sam guides the women and children out of Rose Creek, the young persuasive woman looks down to see that Faraday was clutching a bullet wound to his gut in one hand while the other just barely held onto his pistol.
"You're hurt," she states rather softly.
He looks at her for a moment, puzzled, before looking down at where her eyes were at. He scoffs, trying to play off the pain he felt, "Ah, it's nothing. You should see the other guy. Vas showed no mercy."
Speaking of Vasquez, the church wasn't doing any better than the rest of them were. Vas could see the Blackstone agents starting to recover from the Gatling gun's effects and turns away from the window, favoring his left arm, "They're coming!"
"We're running outta ammo, boys!" Phillips yells among the gunfire and shouts. Vasquez couldn't seem to care as he shoots twice out of the window.
"Shit, Billy." Goodnight curses as he sits beside his partner, well guarded up on top of the steeple.
"I knew you'd come back." Was all Billy said gladly while reloading his weapon.
Goodnight couldn't help it as he smiled since it was always a sight to see Billy happy, "You did, did you? How'd you know that?"
Billy only answered by taking out an old flask that Goodnight has kept in his possession for as long as he could remember, "You forgot this."
Goodnight whooped in delight, laughing alongside his best friend.
"All right," Goodnight cocks his rifle, "Let's do it."
"Yeah!" Billy yelled and the two of them spring up to their feet and start shooting left from right, sniping any Blackstone they could find.
Faraday and Matilda run ahead of Sam as they try to find cover, while more Blackstone agents are finally coming out of their hiding spots and aiming at anyone out in the open. The three friends find themselves hiding behind some caskets, taking cover behind what appears to be an early grave for them.
The Gatling gun suddenly goes off again and this time, the tired men barely react as they all go down, one by one, Billy being the one getting shot in the arm this time. Tilda screams when the bullets dig into the wood just beside her head and so she and Faraday race to take cover right beside Sam, as it appeared to be safer.
"Ammo, ammo!" Vasquez ordered when he heard gunshots outside, meaning that the Blackstone agents have surrounded the church.
"This is all we've got." A man muttered as he only provided Vasquez with a few bullets.
"This reminds me of what my daddy used to say." Goodnight grunts as he laid out on the bags littering the steeple floor while reloading his weapon again.
"What's that, Goody?" Billy asked, his voice low in exhaustion, and when Goodnight didn't say anything, he responded with a louder tone, "What?"
"Well, my daddy used to say a lot of things, you know." Both Goodnight and Billy break out in laughter, even though it was the most stupid joke on the planet. They didn't care, they knew it was something they wouldn't laugh about in a normal situation.
"You all right?" Sam asked when seeing how bent out of shape both Faraday and Matilda looked.
"Hell yeah," Faraday smiles through his pain, still clutching the bleeding wound in his torso. "So far, so good. I might need a new vest. Damn, we gotta do something about that gun."
Billy has stopped laughing since it hurt too much, looking over and seeing Goodnight nod at him was all he needed as the two of them reload their weapons and with a last ditch effort, scream out while standing up to fire back down at the stubborn bastards. Vasquez is doing the same, only quieter as his arm was killing him.
"Hey," Sam mutters, making Faraday look back at him, "You know what? We're even. For the horse. You don't owe me anything."
"Well, you owe me." Faraday finally has that mischievous gleam in his eye, a small smile crossing his lips.
Sam looks back at the younger man with an odd look, wondering what he could have possibly done to owe Faraday, "What's that?"
"Cover. Come on!"
"Wait, what?" Tilda is appalled by this and was too stunned to say anything as suddenly Faraday is up and running, Sam not too far behind. Matilda curses and runs after them, now realizing what Faraday was doing and all other thoughts running through her head go null and void. Sam provides Faraday the cover he needs as they run around the back of the church, now being followed by Blackstone agents. Matilda takes this opportunity to scan their situation and makes a rash decision to pull Faraday aside and push him to hide for cover behind the church.
"No!" Matilda yelled while grabbing his arms and pulling him back to hide behind the boards, "Stay down!"
Faraday smirked, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're worried."
Matilda was panting, out of breath and out of ammo, the blood from her head wound was now drying over her skin. She wore a panicked look in her eye, staring out at the field and back at Faraday, "It's a suicide mission. You'll be killed!"
She could have sworn his face softened a little, almost with a look like he already knew his fate. Looking down at his bullet wound, Matilda already knew she was looking at a dead man, but sending him out there she knew was immediate death.
Faraday tried his best to grin at the situation, "How's a kiss for goodbye? Or if you don't like goodbyes, it can be good luck?"
She scoffed playfully, ignoring the tear that slipped down her face, biting her lip, "Come back alive and we'll talk about it."
He smiled triumphantly, knowing that he had finally won her over, even if it would be the day he dies. "Deal."
He takes a moment to wipe the tear from her face and races out of their hiding spot, shooting out in the open. Matilda touched her face where the ghost of Faraday's touch lay and bit back a sob.
Slowly, the rest of Faraday's friends realizes what he's doing and Vasquez quickly gets to work at helping him from inside the church. He helps Sam cover Faraday by firing at Bogue's remaining men, eventually shooting one man off his horse and at the same time providing Faraday a ride.
"Ándele, güero!" Faraday heard Vasquez off in the distance while smoothly getting onto the horse his best friend had provided him. He takes hold of the reins and races off towards the Gatling gun, now a few Blackstone agents right on his tail.
"They're going to kill him..." Tilda finds herself muttering and finds herself taking steps to a nearby horse without an owner. She goes to get on, to try and help, but a pair of arms stop her and holds her back, thrusting her towards the hotel where there was no doubt a small place for the wounded men lying around in there while the brave women who stayed behind were attending to them. "They're going to kill him!!"
"Matilda, stop." She is shocked to notice that it was Vasquez holding her back, surprising her by using her first name.
"Over here! This side, Goody." Billy tells his friend as he directs him to where Faraday had taken off across the field, and Goodnight couldn't help but cheer the brave man on.
"Ride, Faraday, ride!"
"What do we have here?" The one-eyed Blackstone man asked as he watched Faraday slowly riding towards his men, his death, and the Gatling gun, while still being chased by half a dozen men on horses. One by one, Goodnight and Billy pick them off, sniping them from their perch on the steeple.
"Get the two in the back," Goodnight orders Billy while he himself tries to get the other men closer to Faraday.
The one-eyed Blackstone loads the Gatling gun for the third time, looking towards the church as he barks orders, "Hit the steeple."
The Gatling gun goes off again, firing at the church, while Goodnight is determined to kill off the last man about to shoot Faraday in the back. With a victorious yell, Goodnight shoots the Blackstone, "I got him!"
But it was a victory celebrated too soon as both Goodnight and Billy are one by one shot down and littered in dozens of bullets, the Gatling gun finally hitting its mark, and perhaps it was a bit too much, as Goodnight is found falling off the steeple and tumbling towards his death. Billy flops down on the floor of the steeple, staring down at Goodnight's flask, which was now damaged as he breathed out his final words, "Oh, Goody."
"No!" Tilda screams as she had just witnessed her friends being shot down, Vasquez having to hold onto her even tighter and she struggles to get to them, "No! Billy! Goody!"
"Don't!" Vasquez yells, forcing her back, "There was nothing you could do."
Matilda didn't realize tears were running down her face and in the distance she remembers that Faraday was still out there when she heard him yelling at his horse to go faster. Her eyes widen as she stares across the field to see the Gatling gun in the distance... with Faraday not too far away from it now. She didn't dare blink, afraid she would miss something as she held her breath.
The line of men surrounding the Gatling gun arm themselves and start firing at Faraday as he drew closer, Bogue watching in astonishment not too far off. Faraday manages to shoot a couple of men on his way to the gun, ducking behind the horse's neck for what little cover he could muster. But before he knew it, he feels a shot to his right lung and grunts, his grip barely around the reins as he felt weak. His aim now poor, he tries firing his weapon again, only managing to hit one other man this time. He's so close now he could taste it. So close, just a few more yards...
Another shot to the chest and Faraday felt suddenly light, floating in the air as he no longer has any muscle control. He lets go of the reins, as his body takes a dive off of the horse, his vision blurring from how faint he now felt.
But as he stared up at the blue sky, he realized that he ain't dead yet, and tries to force out a gaspy breath while trying to get his muscles to remember how to move. He feels himself slowly getting up, on his knees and then on his feet. He pants drastically, coughing out a bit of blood and stumbles forward, limping towards the Gatling gun and never stopping. He was determined to see this through... at any cost.
The horses at the Gatling gun reel back in fear when he gets back up, almost as if they could smell the death reeking off of him, the men having to force the stallions to calm down. As Faraday starts limping his way toward the gun, the evil men grew amused and mockingly cheered him on.
"Come on, boy!"
One man decides that he has had enough of this, and aimed his rifle, firing and hitting Faraday's leg, making the injured gambler buckle down and fall to his knees, groaning in pain.
"Why don't you stay down, boy?"
Faraday winced, his fresh bullet wounds felt as though they were on fire. Trying to take long, calming breaths, Faraday closed his eyes, trying to picture something else to ignore the pain.
All he saw behind his eyelids was Matilda. She was laughing at him for making a poor attempt to flirt, but he couldn't hear her as if his ears were set to mute. Her hair pushes over to one side of her shoulder when she threw her head back to laugh, eyes sparkling with amusement and her teeth perfect and mesmerizing. When she recovered from her fit, her head tilts in Faraday's direction, smiling only at him.
This was enough for him to feel relaxed, letting out a rushed sigh. He finds himself digging out a smoke, barely placing it in between his lips as he felt too weak to do much else.
The man who shot his leg earlier aims to do it again but is stopped by the one-eyed Blackstone agent. The man hops down from the wagon, marching forward towards the kneeling Faraday. He takes out his matches when he realized Faraday was failing to light his smoke himself, and so the one-eyed man kneels down to his height, taking his only lit match and pressing it up against Faraday's smoke. Once it was blazing, Faraday takes in deep inhales, exhaling out the smoke that had entered and exited his lungs. Barely looking up from the brim of his hat, Faraday sees the one-eyed man glaring down at him with this snake-like smirk, and he pulls out his gun.
But it appeared pointless, as Faraday falls forward from his kneeling position, lying down to die. The men huff and chuckle in amusement, while the one-eyed Blackstone turns back to the others.
"Let's go, boys."
"Yeah," they agree as they start to move around with their gear to get ready to leave. They didn't even bother to notice Faraday getting back up again, now holding a sparkling lit stick of what would behold their fates.
One man's face falls, "Dynamite!"
The others could barely turn back around in time to see the stick of dynamite themselves before Faraday smirks.
"I've always been lucky with one-eyed jacks."
He barely even tosses the dynamite and the men scream for their lives, starting to run in all directions, but it was too late. Faraday felt himself start to laugh when suddenly
BOOM!
Matilda felt the air leave her lungs before she could gasp from the shock, feeling as though the wave of the explosion reached her. Her heart skips several beats while her skin grew cold and her eyes dried out, never once blinking at the sight of the explosion. She pushes herself out of Vasquez's grip, the outlaw not having the heart to stop her as he watches the smoke rise with heavy eyes. Matilda runs towards the field but didn't get very far as her legs felt weak. She stopped beside the church, her heart now pounding in her ears as she heard nothing else in the thick air of the late afternoon.
Finally, Tilda found her voice, and she screamed until her throat hurt, "FARADAAAAAY!!"