For my age, my life was more than complicated. But I guess an outlaw in 1899 couldn't have a simple life, not when we were a dying breed. The age of gunslingers and outlaws was almost over, the west was almost fully tamed. Yet here I was, clinging to that life like it was my only option.
My name is Ann Wright. I am nineteen years old and an outlaw, part of the notorious Van der Linde Gang.
I'd been a member of the gang for most of my life. Dutch van der Linde found me when I was only a few months old, ditched at the side of the road. He took me in, raised me, taught me how to look after myself. He was a father to me.
He treated me differently to the other women who were part of our gang. They were all under orders from Miss Grimshaw, an older woman who kept all of us in line to be honest. They rarely took part in anything the men did, mainly they served as distractions during jobs.
I, on the other hand, did. Dutch treated me exactly as he did the men of our group, letting me take part in all robberies, even giving me a main role where necessary. I could pass as a young boy or just a lost young lady, and I was a quick shot. I was an equal to them, despite my gender and young age. It was bliss.
Well, until now. We had just hit a huge score in Blackwater, but a group of glorified bounty hunters called the Pinkertons were on us in a flash. We had to ditch the money and get the hell out, and now we were stuck out here in hellish snow on some mountains trying to keep them off our trail.
John Marston and I had somehow separated ourselves from everyone else in the rush to get free of Blackwater, all we knew was to head for the mountains but it seemed as though we were well and truly lost in the snow. John was another member of the gang, a good few years older than me, but he had joined a few years after. He was a man with good intentions, but plans with him tended to go wrong more often than not, as demonstrated by our predicament.
To make matters even worse, we were at the mercy of some wolves. John's horse had been mauled to death and Roach, my black Arabian, had thrown me and run off, spooked. Most of our bullets had been used in the escape from Blackwater, but we somehow had managed to scare the wolves off for the most part with the few we had left.
We didn't escape unscathed, however. John had hideous scratches running down his face and was barely able to move as we took shelter off the side of a cliff in the hope that the wolves wouldn't return.
I was in a worse state than him. My chest had been cut with sharp claws, the warmth of blood pooling over my shirt, and a bite on my inner thigh meant my blood loss was getting severe. John had used his belt on it to try and slow the flow of blood, and the freezing temperatures were helping somewhat, but I knew if we didn't get help soon, I was a goner.
"John, can you move?" I asked, my voice strained as I lay in the cold snow.
"I guess," he said, putting pressure on my injuries.
"Go and try to find the others," I said, "Its better one of us gets out of this."
"I ain't leaving you, Ann," he growled, "Besides, I wouldn't last long in this weather by myself without a horse. We don't even know where they are!"
"But if you stay here-" I was cut off by the sound of gunshots, my eyes widening, head snapping up. Had the Pinkertons tracked us?
"Over here!" John yelled at the top of his voice, his mind going straight to us being rescued. He was certainly optimistic in comparison to me, "We're here!"
"John?" it sounded like Arthur Morgan, but there was no way he'd found us. My head fell back again, my eyes closing slightly. Were we saved, or was this some injury-induced dream?
"Down here, on the ledge! Quick!" John replied, looking around frantically.
"Quite a scratch you got there," a voice quipped from above.
Never had I been quite so glad to see the faces of Arthur Morgan and Javier Escuella. I breathed a sigh of relief as Arthur climbed down to us, first helping John up where Javier supported him, then turning his attention to me.
"Never thought I'd say this, but good to see you, Arthur Morgan," John replied.
"You don't look so good," Arthur bent down and picked me up gently, concern evident on his features.
"I don't feel so good either," I replied, wincing in pain, "How did you find us?"
"Lets just say you better give that horse of yours plenty treats," Arthur climbed up, holding me tightly, "He found our camp, you can imagine we were concerned when you weren't on his back. We took him with us and he led us to John's horse, then you know the rest."
"And the others? What happened?" I continued.
"We'll talk after we're back and you've got some rest," he helped me up onto Roach before climbing on himself, "We've gotta be quick, you don't look so great."
"Wait, look up there," John said from the back of Javier's horse, Boaz.
"Great..." I sighed as Arthur readied his gun. Wolves.
"Ride, I'll hold them off!" he yelled at Javier, and I scrunched my eyes closed. Was I really going to die after the joy of being found?
Fortunately, Arthur was a better shot than I perhaps gave him credit for. We got back to camp, an old abandoned mining town, and I got rushed inside to the warmth. Arthur pulled me down off Roach, his eyes filled with concern as he looked at my shaking figure.
"Come on, don't give up on me now, Annie," he said as my eyes began falling.
"Wouldn't dream of it, cowboy," I gave a weak laugh, shivering as his warmth shocked my freezing body.
"John, what the hell happened? You should have been looking after her!" Dutch said angrily when he saw us, marching over with Bill Williamson and Hosea Matthews at his side.
"I'm fine," I grimaced, Arthur putting me down on a bed while Hosea fussed over me, "Just a scratch."
"A mighty big one," Arthur commented, his brow furrowed, "You're lucky we found you when we did."
"Ann, get some rest," Dutch put his hand on my forehead, his eyes filled with worry, "Hosea will fix you up then you can get some sleep. John, you're in with the others, someone will come see you soon, son."
"Wolves, eh?" Arthur chuckled as John left, leaning heavily on Javier.
"Oh shut it, Arthur," I grumbled, "We didn't have any bullets left. Roach threw me, we were basically at their mercy."
"Of course, wolf girl," he winked at me.
I narrowed my eyes at him, looking around for something to launch at his head. A book was dropped into my hand and I didn't hesitate, pulling my arm back and aiming for his head. He ducked, but he looked behind me with a hurt expression.
"I just handed her the book, she chose to throw it at you," Dutch said, I could hear the smile in his voice, "But Ann, get some rest. We'll leave you for now, see how you're feeling later."
"So, you gonna explain to me what has happened?" I asked Arthur as he sat next to my bed a few hours later, scribbling in his journal. He wrote down all his thoughts in that journal, and I was ashamed to admit that I had decided to copy him, investing in my own one.
Arthur was like an older brother to me. He joined the gang a bit before I was found, he was only fifteen then, so he had seen me grow up the past twenty years. He was the one who really taught me how to defend myself, and he was a strong believer that only he could tease me, and anyone else would have to deal with him if they tried.
"Nothing good," he sighed, placing the journal down, "Davey and Jenny are dead. Mac and Sean are god knows where, we don't even know if they are alive! We found a homestead when we first got here, O'Driscolls had taken over it."
"O'Driscolls? What are they doing this far north?" I asked, my brow furrowed. The O'Driscolls were a gang who were led by a man named Colm, Dutch viewed him as his sworn enemy due to the things they had done to one another. O'Driscolls in the area when we were this weak was not a good sign.
"No clue, but we plan to find out," he told me, "They had killed a man who lived there, done awful things to his wife. Sadie Adler, she's with us now while she gets back on her feet because Micah somehow managed to burn her whole house down."
"Of course he did," I grumbled angrily. Arthur and I shared the same opinion of Micah, that he was a loose cannon who couldn't be trusted, but Dutch saw something in him.
"And apparently on that riverboat, Dutch killed a girl," Arthur continued, "The Pinkertons appeared out of nowhere according to Javier, they barely escaped, but Dutch killed this young mother in cold blood."
"But... that's not Dutch," I said, my voice showing my shock.
"I know, but that's what Javier told me," he sighed, "Me, you, and Hosea, we had the perfect crime organised! Damn Micah for getting in Dutch's ear, we wouldn't be in this mess."
"Well, what's done is done," I said, my voice empty, "We're just gonna have to work with the hand we've been dealt."
"Arthur, we're going," Dutch came in, "How are you feeling, Ann?"
"Better, now that I'm out of the cold," I sat up, a small groan escaping my lips, "Where are you going?"
"Arthur managed to get one of the O'Driscolls to tell us where Colm is holed up, so we're gonna go deal with him," he said simply, squeezing my hand, "We'll be back soon, Pearson has almost finished the stew so I'll get Hosea to bring you some."
"Is this really wise?" Arthur asked him as he stood.
"Well, would you rather they came for us?" Dutch countered, his voice sharp.
"I know you hate him Dutch, but-" Arthur was swiftly silenced by a dark look.
"He's here for us," Dutch replied.
"I doubt that," I sighed, looking between them.
"No, you're just doubting me," his eyes narrowed and Arthur gave me a warning look as he marched out the room.
"I would never doubt you, Dutch, you..." I stood up and followed him outside, limping heavily, "You always said revenge is a luxury we can't afford."
"This is the right call, Ann," he said before handing Arthur a rifle, "Take this. And this is about more than revenge for business long ago. They were talking about trains and detonators. Colm always had good information. Come on. Ann, go back to bed. You'll injure yourself again."
"And you think now is the right time to hit a train?" I asked, incredulous, still following him.
"Now you might fancy living on deer piss and rabbit shit," he smiled at me, but there was a warning in his eyes, "I'm getting too old for that life. Mr Matthews, Mr Smith, Mr Pearson! Would you please look after the place, there are O'Driscolls about!"
"Come on, Ann," Hosea put his arms around me as the others rode off, "You're cold, leave them to it. They can't do anything worse than they already have."
I stared into the old man's kind eyes and relented, allowing him to lead me back inside. He went to grab me a stew bowl and sat with me while I ate.
"What is going on with Dutch?" I asked after a silence.
"He doesn't deal well with failure, you know that," Hosea sighed, "Don't worry, I'll sort him out, but trying to dissuade him from going after Colm right now? That's a battle you'll never win."
"Yes, but-" he silenced me with a look.
"Ann, listen to me," he said, "I'm sure Dutch knows what he's doing, so leave him to it for now. You're in a bad way and if you get yourself worked up like this, you'll only be worse. Anyway, I bought something for you in Blackwater, so I figured you might appreciate it just now."
He removed a book from his bag and handed it to me, I grinned up at him as I looked at it.
"It's been a few years since we've read a book together, and I've missed it," he smiled at me, "Of course, you don't have to read it with me! But I saw this one and thought, you know, for old times sake."
"Thank you, Hosea," I said softly, "I've missed it too, these past few years have been... well, we haven't slowed down, have we?"
And so, for the next few hours, I was transported to another world, away from the pain of my injuries and the doubt of the future of the gang. Hosea was the one who taught me to read, and so we shared a bond over our love of reading. Until a few years ago, we almost always read a chapter of a book in the evening, but life had got in the way. It was nice to go back to that, to forget about the mess of the past few days for once.
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First chapter ends on a happy note as angst etc WILL BE COMING and also I love Hosea and needed a father/daughter moment...
And yea boah, the horse is Roach bc of Witcher...
Anyway, yeah, please vote, leave comments, the next update will be soon lads!