{ @bananaminion666 }
The cold nipped harshly against the three men's skin. Their horses huffing and whinnying from the oncoming frostbite on their legs. Frost beginning to form the their fur and mane. Every so often the wind would drown out the noise of the men calming and comforting their upset horses. Allowing the horses to mentally continue on to appease their masters.
"Just how far is this homestead?" Dutch yelled to the one leading the group.
"Just a little ways ahead! Seemed people inside were partyin'! Lights on and everythin'!" Micah yelled one return.
Content with the answer the men continued on in silence. To prove Micah right they stopped a top a ledge overlooked the snowy horizon, a small bit quaint cabin sitting in contrast against the white canvas. Even from their spot the men could hear chattering, and see light pouring from the windows. Now following Dutch, Micah and Arthur trotted down the small incline and stopped their horses behind a few pine trees covered in snow.
"You two get outta sight. A lone man lookin' lost seems less of a threat than three gun wielding outlaws. Arthur, get behind that livestock shed, Micah, get behind that wheelbarrow."
After receiving nods from his companions he trudged through the high snow and up to the bustling cabin.
"Hello? Can somebody help me here!" Dutch called out.
Multiple voices began telling each other to be quiet, and as the whole cabin went silent the creaky front door opened. A dirty skinny man stood out on the porch, a rifle in hand.
"Ah! Good to see some friendly faces out here! Ya see I'm lost. And-"
The man stopped Dutch before he could finish.
"We ain't lookin' to help any wanderers." He sneered at Dutch.
Another lone gun holding man walked out of the side door, creeping his way around to peak at the people from the side of the cabin.
"Arthur! Arthur we have a situation here! There's a dead body in here.." Micah whispered towards the other hidden man.
"We gotta help Dutch." He continued.
Arthur nodded his head and pulled out his pistol while Micah unholstered his two. Aiming, Arthur got the one at the side of the cabin first, the mans body quickly falling down into the snow which hid the body. Micah shot down the one speaking to Dutch before he could react and within a split moment multiple more men ran out of the cabin. All of which were easily shot dead by the three armed and experienced outlaws. The three sauntered into the cabin, searching for provisions and blankets.
"Arthur, go search that barn over there. Micah, search the house, I'll bring the horses over closer." Dutch ordered.
With a nod Micah continued his search in the cabin while Arthur walked off to the barn. As Arthur walked a couple feet in a man dropped down onto him, pushing him to the ground. Pushing the man away Arthur stood and pulled out his gun, but before he could possibly think about shooting the unarmed man hit it out of his hand. The two began to punch and grab at each other, ending with Arthur pushing and straddling the man on the barn floor. Chuckling, Dutch walked over to see the commotion, a cigar set casually between his lips.
He pulled the cigar from his lips and let out a puff of white smoke from the side of his mouth as he looked at the two men on the floor.
"What's going on here boy?"
"Fucker snuck up on me! One of them O'Driscoll boys!"
"See what he knows Arthur. What you do after that is your choice. Not like somebody gonna find em." With a chuckle Dutch walked off.
After questioning and beating the poor man Arthur stood. Grabbing his hat and swatting the bloodied man away, who immediately ran out of the barn. Setting the accessory back on his head and grabbing his gun Arthur huffed.
Micah searched through the cabinets, groaning seeing Arthur had already grabbed many of the Provisions. The sound of what sounded like falling glass under him caught his attention. The dirty blonde man stood, looking around and taking notice of what seemed like the outline of a cellar door peaking out from under the rug. Once he leaned down and began to slowly pull open the small trap door he spoke.
"Lil' pig lil' pig, let me in!"
As he finished his sentence he roughly yanked open the trapdoor which slammed against the floor with a boom. Earning a scream from a H/C haired woman curled up at the bottom of the small staircase. He chuckled and reached down, gripping her upper arm and yanking her up the stairs. The woman scrambled up and rushed to the opposite end of the dining table as Micah. The woman grabbed a knife that set conveniently on the table side closest to her. As he jumped towards her and barely missed she let out a terrified scream, catching the attention of the other men who came running into the cabin, witnessing the scene.
"Micah! Micah god damn it leave the woman alone!" Dutch yelled from behind him.
"She's one of em! Was hidin' in a hidden door!" He grunted and pushed the table over, the lantern falling and the protective glass shattering. Allowing for the oil and flame to spread to the rug it fell onto.
"No she ain't!" Dutch suddenly yanked Micah back as he slowly approached the trembling woman with outstretched hands.
"Hey now. We aren't here to hurt you, we can help you. Take you someplace warm."
As the woman simply stood their froze in shock and fear Dutch took the opportunity to gently remove the knife from her grip and pull her out of the cabin as the fire quickly spread to the rest of the house.
"Micah! Bring your horse over here, and give her one of the blankets!" Dutch yelled.
"What's your name miss?" Dutch looked softly at her.
The woman gapped like a fish out of water for a bit as she looked back at her burning home.
"Y/N... My name is Y/N L/N.." she answered him.
Dutch helped her up on Micahs horse as Micah draped a blanket around her body that she gripped tighter around her trembling form. Micah hopped up behind her on his horses saddle, allowing her to lean back against him for warmth as she was wearing nothing but a thin white night gown. Micah felt a a stinging pang in his chest as she trembled against his chest. Dutch began to speak as he began to lead the group back towards their home base.
"Well Ms. L/N were gonna get you someplace warm and dry. You can decide what you wanna do once we get out of this weather."
The ride back to the rest of the group was silent besides a few questions directed towards Y/N from Dutch or Micah. Once they reached the cabins they all stopped in the midst of them all. Everyone coming out per Lenny yelling about their return.
"Ms. Grimshaw, could you kindly get this lady in from warm clothes in front of a fire?"
Micah hopped off his horse and carefully helped the woman off after, wrapping his arms around her in attempts to keep her warm. This resulted in a harsh smack to the arm from Grimshaw as she wrapped a arm around the woman's trembling form. Leading her into the nearest cabin with the other woman trailing behind her, Micahs eyes watching. Bill came over and lead the three horses back to the horse troughs and tying their leads to the post along with the others. The men began to disperse once Dutch explained the woman's situation, all leaving to sleep.
Y/N had decided to stay with the gang once they escaped the mountains and settled at Horseshoe Outlook. After all she had nothing to go to, no family, and no more husband. The S/C colored woman sat on her knees in front of the lake. Solemnly running wet clothes along the wash board quietly, her eyes spaced out and focusing on a single peddle next to the board. Leaving her to not notice Karen wandering over to her.
"Dutch wants to see you at his tent. Said it was somethin' important." She nudged the girls should with a giggle.
Karen's smiling face turning to an awkward one as she simply received a straight faced look in return. She rushed off to finish her chores as Y/N stood, putting the rest of the dirty clothes in a separate pail and carrying it to the medic tent, setting it down. A smile coming across her face as she saw Micah strutting his way over to her, a mischievous look on his face. One he got to the blushing woman he chuckled and leaned against the wagon.
"Well my my what do we got here? A pretty lady all by herself? What a sight to see as well." He looked down at her.
"Thank you. You aren't to bad yourself.." she glanced up at him before casting her eyes back to the floor.
Earning her a deep chuckle and a ruffle of her H/C tresses before he left her to sit at a table to play dominoes. She let out a shaky breath and she headed back to Dutches tent.
"Ah, Y/N! Just the woman I was lookin' for!" Dutch grinned and leaned up from his previous position slouched over a map of the Strawberry Bank. He pulled a fresh cigar away from his lips, blowing out smoke to the left of him, avoiding getting it in her face.
"We have a mission comin' up soon, and I need you to play an important part in it. Now I know you haven't done somethin' like this before probably, but it'll simply make you better qualified for it."
The mention of doing something that isn't just chores and wandering the camp immediately excited her.
"What will I be doin'?" She tilted her head.
"You'll be playin' the role of an innocent bystander who is bein' used as a meat shield."
She seemed surprised by this.
"The law will without a doubt get to us. We already have an escape route, but it'll take a couple minutes to get open. So we, I, need you to basically be bait. The law will be focused on you instead of us escapin'."
Y/N nodded and agreeing to it.
"Good to see we agree. Now run along before Grimshaw swats me like a fly for keepin' you from your duties." He smiled at her, earning one in return as she walked off.
As soon as Y/N had finished her chores and ate she went to bed. Wanting to have the highest amount of energy for the mission since it was early. Which proved to be helpful since she was the only one who sat atop her horse, wide awake and ready to leave. The others joining in on the mission, Bill, Arthur, Javier, Charles, Micah, and obviously Dutch all slouched and yawning. Dutch led the group to a place surrounded by trees nearby strawberry fields them to all leave their horses. After going over the plan once more everyone got into position.
Charles laid on his stomach on a cliff overlooking strawberry, his bow in hand, observing the area. Y/N was positioned inside the bank along with Arthur, both dressed casually and quietly faking a conversation with each other in the corner of the bank. The bank was filled with two tellers and a couple other people who all dropped down, covering their heads as the rest of the gang members rushed in, Dutch shooting the ceiling with his gun. Arthur and Y/N following in the civilians lead and dropping to the floor.
"Ladies and gentlemen! We are not here to hurt any of you! We are simply here for the money!" Dutch bellowed.
As Bill began setting up the dynamite to open the safe and their escape route the law showed up. The blue coated men all standing outside, their guns pointed at the building, a few hiding behind parked wagons and posts. Arthur, who had earlier stood to join in on robbing the civilians hid behind the corner of a window. Micah, following the plan quickly looked around before grabbing Y/N to make it seem she was picked at random. He carefully wrapped his arm around her neck, raising his gun to her temple.
"Squeeze my arm if I'm hurting you." He whispered in her ear before dragging her along with him to stand in the open bank door.
"Shoot at us at the girl gets it! Wouldn't want a civilian killed by a law mans bullet put in your record now would ya!?" He yelled at the men.
Micah being correct the lawmen didn't shoot until they hurt the dynamite go off, opening the escape route and the bank vault. Hearing the bomb made what seemed to be a few rookie guards pull their triggers, sending bullets flying. One landing in Y/N's thigh, the other grazing against her upper left arm. Hearing the pained yelp from the woman Micah gently drug her with him back into the bank. Hiding both of them into the vault area with the others who were stuffing cash into their bag. Seeing their distraction no longer working they halted their actions and rushed towards the exit.
Micah hoisted Y/N onto his shoulder as she whimpered in pain. He shushed her and followed the others back to their horses. Luckily for them they had lost the law in the dense woods, but not wanting to risk it they all said nothing as they saddled up. Micah helped Y/N onto his horse and followed up, sitting behind her. As they began running back to camp she whistled for her horse to run after them, which it obeyed and did so.
Once they reached camp Dutch called for Grimshaw, who ran over and helped Y/N off Micahs horse. The other women came over to help her while stilly quickly set up a cot for her to be laid on. Y/N groaned as she was set on the bed and began getting medicine put into her system. All the other guys went off to do whatever while Micah stayed crouched by her side, his large hand holding her smaller one that she often squeezed to combat the pain of Grimshaw digging the bullet out of her thigh. Tears falling down her face as she whimpered. Micah kept her looking at him as he spoke softly to her, trying to keep her distracted.
Once Grimshaw had removed the bullet and wrapped her leg and arm she left to leave Y/N to rest.
"Y/N, I'm so sorry. I should've knew those idiots couldn't hold their trigger finger." Micah looked sadly at her.
She's shook her head and weakly laughed.
"It's not your fault. I knew something like this would happen, but I decided to help anyways."
"How about after your wounds are better Ill take ya' out to valentine. Cause some trouble, maybe make out. Or more." He winked at her playfully.
Y/N blushed brightly and giggled, nodding.
"I'll take you up on your offer Mr.Bell."
With a nod and grin Micah left the medical tent, leaving a kiss on her head.