Snake Skin | John Marston (editing)

The Short Game

An alternative ending to this story (bc things could've been different, am I right?)

After getting their hands on some horses at Emerald Ranch, John and Y/N ran around the states like crazies, trying to avoid getting sent to the gallows. It took them three years to disappear from everyone's radar. 

John finally decided to cut his hair and grow out his beard. He looked like a different person but the scars made him stand out.

Y/N had to chop off her dark hair too, the woman wore a low bun, topped off with a hat that hid her identity. Sadly, she had to stop wearing her red lipstick which made her face more appealing to the eye. She was a completely different person. As long as they kept up their new personas, they were somewhat safe from their past.

John started introducing himself as Jim Milton but Y/N did not make up a new alias because, if anything, John took the initiative to talk to strangers.

The year of 1902.

Y/N insisted on going to Armadillo and John Marston did not fight back against the idea. He did everything for Y/N. 

Y/N was all he had - no more Van Der Linde gang, no Arthur by his side. That woman became his one and only, his family.

After moving across the states, they finally reached Armadillo, soon they were greeted by a man chiming a bell in his hand, "Cholera! Armadillo is sick, people! Get out of here! The big cholera outbreak will kill us all!"

The pair rode past the chap and Y/N looked back at John, frowning a bit. John shrugged lightly and looked around. The woman turned her eyes back on the road. As they rode deeper into the miserable, thermal town, they noticed people pleading on their knees, some coughing, some even lifeless. 

As the two neared the sheriff's office, their eyes immediately landed on a few town folks burning bodies in a small ditch. Y/N questioned her eyes. Was she seeing things?

John and Y/N rode closer to the men and John greeted them, tipping Arthur's hat lightly, "Gentlemen."

One of the men looked up at the new arrivals and sighed, "Careful now, Armadillo's got a sickness. Better get out of here before you two end up like these souls!"

Y/N took a good look at the bodies that were getting hurled into the flames and glanced at John.

"Is this the town you wanted to come to so badly?" John asked the woman.

"Better than the other placed we've been..." Y/N uttered quietly as she turned back to leave in the opposite direction. John nodded at the men and followed Y/N. They both stopped at the saloon and hitched their horses. She was right, it was better. The law was not looking for them. Nobody knew of a Van Der Linde gang or the Golden Cobra in New Austin.

"What now?" John asked as he dismounted his horse.

Y/N stroked the mane of her Norfolk Roadster - Butcher - and tilted her head at John, "Why don't you let Buell rest, huh? We, too, can go in for some drinks..."

John chuckled, "The gang thought I have a drinking problem, but really, it's you."

"They thought you got a drinkin' problem?" Y/N laughed as they both went for the entrance of the Armadillo saloon. The two sat at the table near the window and drank their beers in peace.

"What do you think of this place?" John asked as he rested across from the woman.

"I don't know, John. I like Armadillo - not a lot of people. Wouldn't be a dilemma living here as long as we don't stand out. But..." she sipped her beer. "The sickness."