Unshaken

Éxodo en México

Liam woke to his tent flaps being opened. "C'mon kid, we gotta leave soon." John said. Liam rubbed his eyes. He was more tired than usual from having trouble sleeping. He lit his oil lamp and checked his watch. It was four in the morning. He groggily got up and splashed his face with water from the barrel. He saw Arthur and John moving around packing their things. He put on his white button down shirt, ranch pants and bandana along with his preacher's pride boots. He packed a few more outfits on Colter before loading up.

Arthur and John climbed on their horses beside him. "Alright, off to Mexico we go." Arthur said unenthusiastically, leading the way out of camp. Liam hadn't still fully gathered his wits. "How y'all think this is gonna go?" Liam asked with a yawn as they rode through the darkness. "Hopefully fast. I ain't trying to vacation." Arthur said. "We could all certainly use one." John added. Liam agreed. "Y'all know anything about Mexico?" Liam asked. "From what Javier use to tell us, it don't seem so great. Lots of corruption and famine. Not much different than here, I guess." Arthur said as they rode down the ridge into Cholla Springs.

The three rode in silence through Cholla Springs and Rio Bravo until the river came into view. Arthur checked his map. "Should be a bridge up here somewheres." He said, observing the map. "Frontera Bridge. Just down the river here." Liam said, looking at his own map. The sky was starting to become a lighter blue as the morning progressed. They came to the bridge. A Mexican family passed them on a wagon being pulled by a donkey, not saying a word as they crossed into the United States. "Alright then, here we go." Arthur said as he led the way into the neighboring country.

Crossing the border was an anomaly to Liam. He was going into another country. It was something that was hard to fathom for him. "No patrols in this area?" Liam asked. "Don't reckon they care too much at the moment. The law is focused on the cities right now." John said. They fully crossed the river and stepped into the land of the Mexicans. They stopped once stepping on the Mexican soil. "Don't seem much different to me." John said after a moment of silence. "Well, of course it don't. We only just got here, John." Arthur snarkily responded which made Liam laugh. The sun started to rise over the foreign land with a bright orange and pink glow across the horizon.

"Alright, where's Chuparosa?" Arthur said to himself, looking at his map. He hummed for a second before gathering his thoughts. "Alright, should be just down this trail here and a couple of turns." He said as he trotted off down the dirt road. Liam looked all around and noticed the soil had gotten drier and more cacti had appeared. The vegetation even seemed to be different. They rode up a ridge and saw a town with a stone wall surrounding it. "Must be the place." Arthur said. They rode to the eastern side of the village and confirmed it when the sign read "CHUPAROSA". "Alright. No funny business from either of you. We need to keep our wits about us and not do nothing stupid. We don't know how these people will react to three Americans being on their land." Arthur said as they hitched their horses and walked through the gates.

Liam saw Mexican men, women and children scurrying about. They had markets of food and skins. They also wore clothing that reminded Liam of Javier Escuella. "Any of y'all know what these signs say?" John asked. "No clue." Arthur said, observing the signs on the buildings written in Spanish. Liam realized that Italian and Spanish were sort of similar. "I do, I think." He said. He studied the signs for a moment to himself while Arthur and John looked back for any information. "Okay, I think that's the jail, that's the hotel... and I think that's the bank." Liam said, looking around. As they looked around, three Mexican men walked up to them. Liam noticed the height difference between them. Their hats were nothing like the ones in America.

"Hey, gringos! Habla espanol?" One of them asked. "What the hell did he just ask?" John muttered to them as Arthur looked around in confusion. "I don't know. I can barely speak English as it is." Arthur muttered back. Liam knew "espanol" meant Spanish. "No sir. Parli Inglese or Italiano." He responded. They laughed at his response for a moment. "Si, gringo. Habla mucho ingles. No Italiano, chico." The man said, wagging his finger at him. Liam sighed. "Hablo, "filthy fucking bean eater", hablo, "slippery little Mexican", hablo, "little piece of shit". Comprende, amigo? Comprende? Hey, what are you doing here, gringos? I don't remember inviting you to my country." The man said, as he walked circles around them.

"I don't think you did, amigo. We mean you no harm." Arthur butted in. The three busted out in laughter. Arthur and John grew annoyed. "You mean us no harm? This is funny! What harm could you do to us exactly?" The Mexican native said in broken English. "Nothing, amico." Liam said. He tried to use his Italian language since he knew the two were similar in a way. "Now, we appreciate the welcome committee, but we'd hate to spoil a beautiful morning on such beautiful land with any further unpleasantries. Now, if you will excuse us." Arthur said as he started to walk around the three. The man stepped in front of him. Liam saw John itching for his revolver.

"Ah, hold it, gringo. I think you are forgetting something. A little taxation. I have a large family." The man said as he rubbed his fingers together with his companions laughing. Liam bit his tongue. John stepped to the front. "I too have a family, friend. So that we see our families again, I suggest we part ways." John said. Liam hadn't seen this calmness in John before. Even Arthur looked bewildered. As he said that, one of the men came up behind him and took his hat, running around and putting it on his head. Liam saw John tense up. Liam was getting agitated himself. "Easy, John." Arthur said as he seemed to have kept his cool.

"Can we see your boots, gringo?" The man asked Arthur, John and Liam. "I think you can see them just fine from where you're standing." Arthur said. The man looked up at him with surprise, and looked back at his companions. He started to slowly back up. "Take off the boots, Americanos." The man said again, sternly.

Liam prepared for a face off. "As you wish." John said, kneeling. Liam looked over at him with surprise as Arthur kept his eyes on the men standing across from them. The men erupted in laughter. Suddenly, Liam watched John reach for his gun and shoot two of the men in the face. The third one cowered and crossed his heart in a Christian symbol. John stood for a moment and shot him in the stomach, taking his hat back as he bent over in agony. Liam watched him fall to the ground and looked over at his own two companions. John placed his hat back on his head.

"There goes keeping our wits." Liam said. "Damnit John, you done caused a ruckus and we ain't been here more than an hour." Arthur hissed. "What else was I to do? They was planning to rob us." John shot back. "Them? Please. They was just testing the waters." Arthur said. "Can't say they didn't have that coming, though. We were civil until they weren't." Liam said. "I guess you're right. Must not be too popular around here cause ain't nobody up and running." Arthur said, observing the town as the peasants watched for a moment before returning to their duties.