Hang Em' High [RDR2 X FEM!Reader]

Suffering The Chains

Gun powder, smoke, ash and the unforgiving scent of regret invaded your nose as you plummeted to your knees. Shaking, your eyes darted around searching desperately for an escape. Heavy chains of guilt hung over your shoulders as you realised if you had been paying more attention this wouldn't have happened. You sat there kneeling on the Sandy ground. Your body fell into a chaotic state of numbness and the screech of silence whispered into your ears.
"Dutch Van Der Linde!" Yelled a strong voice from behind you "you don't know me! But you keep robbing me!"
Your eyes met with John and he gave you a look as if to say "keep calm." You could barely hear anything over your screaming heart beat. You took a deep breathe and tried to imagine yourself elsewhere, as Dutch and Arthur burst through the wooden door of the Saloon, nearly ripping it off its hinges. They held their arms out to the air in surrender.
"Please, gentlemen. This is a terrible mistake." Spoke Dutch confidently as if he had done this a thousand times before "This is a case... of mistaken identity."
Arthur spied you, his eyes fuelled with fury, before you even saw him move he had shot the man with a gun to your head and was running to grab you. He draped his arm over your back and kept you both low to the floor. Desperate screams and cries for help swam throughout the town, bouncing off building walls and crowding your brain. You cuddled your legs, cowering behind wooden crates. Loud bangs sprang from Arthurs gun, he was stood right by you, protecting you. He crouched down and grabbed a hold of your face
"Y/n, I need you do what I say." He speaks clearly for you "I'm giving you a gun, if you need to use it, use it." He grabbed your hand and placed his shot gun in your palm "you've got this." He reassured before springing back into action. A hundred gun shots were being fired every second and you prayed that nobody on your side fell victim to them. You needed to help, you couldn't just sit there in a panicked mess. You lift your arm up, the gun was shaking in your hand so much, causing the silver weapon to create a rattling noise. You took a deep breathe in and slowly exhaled, "fuck off for now, you can come back later." You ordered your fear and got yourself into a crouched position. You hesitantly poked your head over the top of the boxes when a bullet merely misses your head
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Arthur shrieks while pushing you back to the floor
"HELPING!" You yelled back
"STAY DOWN! DYING ISN'T HELPING!" He replied while grabbing you and throwing you into the back of a carriage with a wounded Strauss. Strauss had thick clots of relentless blood gushing out of his pale, thin skin. You sprung into action, weaving your fingers together and pushing down all of your weight onto his wound, his face curled like he had just sucked on a ripe lemon and he groaned in agony. His cries were muted by gun shots and screams of fallen enemies.... Hopefully they were enemies. You kept your eyes on Strauss ordering him to breathe deeply in rhythm with you. Once arriving at the end of town, Dutch helped you out and got you on his huge, Snow White horse. You spied Arthur carrying Strauss towards Johns horse. Dutch began shouting orders at everyone. He tried his best to speak confidently and calmly, but you could sense an essence of panic in his tone. He jumped onto his horse and sped away, bullets pierced the air around you angrily upon your exit. None hit you. You couldn't help but feel there was somebody out there watching over you. Maybe your luck was turning.

The Count sprinted into camp, Dutch leaped off the beast and started yelling for everyone to pack up. You did a head count of everyone and realised everybody was safe. You managed to spy Arthur galloping away while leaving the horror of Valentine and everybody else was here. The heavy chains of guilt began to fall apart leaving you focused on yourself and the nightmare you just experienced.