RUNNING WILD [JOHN MARSTON]

21: missing

clemens point, scarlett meadows
"I'm tellin' you Arthur, somethin' ain't right." John Marston protested as he walked along through camp with Arthur Morgan. "It's been a whole day."

It was evening once again in the state of Lemoyne, and Rosalie Bell and Mary-Beth Gaskill had still not returned from their robbery. John had been pacing all day, convincing himself that something terrible had happened.
"They can look after themselves." Arthur responded to John, pulling him from the state of worry in his head. "There was probably just a little hiccup that meant they couldn't come straight back to camp or somethin'." Arthur was almost convincing himself as much as he was convincing John.
John said nothing as the pair continued walking and reached the campfire, accepting two bottles of beer from Hosea and taking a seat around the warm flames.
"If it makes you feel any better, we can ride out tomorrow and take a look around." Arthur attempted to reassure John, and John nodded in response. Part of him couldn't understand how nobody else seemed to be asking any questions over the ladies whereabouts.

John Marston drifted in and out of sleep all night, fighting with his own head and reminding himself that he'd seen how that woman handled a gun, and she certainly didn't need any help. In the morning, he awoke earlier than he normally did and began preparing Old Boy to head out to where Rosalie and Mary-Beth had carried out their robbery.

Hosea could see that John wasn't right. He seemed agitated, stressed and he was frantically saddling his horse at the edge of camp. Hosea knew that John was usually in a bad mood anyway, bitter with the world about something or other, but this time it was different.
"You alright, John?" Hosea asked as he approached John with two cups of coffee. John took one and took a huge gulp as he nodded his head at Hosea.
"Fine. I'm headin' out to look for the girls."
"The girls?" Hosea questioned, even though he knew what John meant. He just wanted to hear John's thoughts on what was happening.
"They should be back by now. It's been over a day and they weren't headin' that far anyway."

Hosea nodded slowly as he took a sip from his coffee. He understood why John was beginning to worry, because he could tell how much John cared about Rosalie.
"I'll have a word with Dutch about this." He said reassuringly before walking away, towards their leader's tent. John strolled over to the other ladies, who were sorting washing and chatting quietly among themselves.
"Morning, John." Karen looked up as he approached them, "any word on Miss Gaskill and Miss Bell?"
"Uh, not yet. I just wanted to ask where exactly they were headed to hit the stagecoach."
Tilly stood up and looked at John.
"They were planning on hitting it up by Eris Field. They said it was excluded there."
"Thank you, Tilly. I'll let you ladies know if we find anything." The women nodded at him as he walked away and back towards his horse, where Arthur Morgan now stood waiting for him.
"Ready to head out?" Arthur asked, stroking the side of Old Boy's mane. John nodded and the two men mounted their horses, saying goodbye to the peacefulness of Clemens Point yet again.

"Dutch still doesn't think we should move on." Arthur began talking as the horse trotted along the road.
"He's a fool if we don't." John exclaimed, his voice hinting at annoyance. "We damn near killed all the Grays after what they did to Sean, and that Braithwaite woman is on to us."
Arthur sighed in agreement. "Trelawny said there were bounty hunters sniffin' around too."
John sighed, looking to the trees that lined the pathways through Scarlett Meadows. Dutch was so intent on messing with these families that he couldn't even see how far it had run its course. They were on dangerous ground now, especially as the Gray's had killed Sean in the middle of Rhodes - they could hardly show their faces in that town now.
"We're comin' up to Eris Fields now." Arthur's voice distracted John from his thoughts.
"Is pretty secluded round here," Arthur said as they slowed their horses to look around, "doubt anyone did see them."