We're Dead, No Redemption

Bar Fights and...Uh...What Was I Saying?

Maggie tossed her head as she bounced to a stop. Lenny, her 19-year-old rider, didn't bother waiting for her to straighten herself up before he practically threw himself off her back.
"Dutch!" He shouted, bumping into Karen in his haste to get to the leader of the gang. "Dutch, they got Micah! They're going to lynch him! They almost got me!"
"What?" Dutch moved past Molly, waving her off when she tried to speak to him. "Where's Micah? What happened?"
"Micah-he's been arrested for murder-he's in Strawberry and-" Lenny's breathing came a lot faster, which didn't do wonders to calm him down. He thought he was going to faint until a gentle hand rested on his back. Arthur appeared at the corner of his eye, rubbing his back to calm him.
"Breathe, Lenny," he muttered. "Just breathe. You're fine."
"They...Nearly lynched me-" Lenny swallowed hard, struggling to gather his wits again. "They got Micah in the sheriff's at Strawberry, there's talk of hanging him, what do I do?"
"Here's hoping." Arthur's voice was low, but not too low for Dutch to not hear him. The black-haired man glared at him.
"What?" Arthur raised his hands and stepped away. "The fool brought it on himself! You know my feelings on him, Dutch."
"You think I can't see past his bluster to the man inside?" Dutch retorted. "He is a fine man."
Both men dropped the talking. Lenny looked from one to the other as the two cowboys shared a non-verbal conversation. Arthur eventually growled something unfavourable under his breath and looked away.
"Arthur I am asking." Dutch lowered his voice in an 'I'm about to sweet-talk-you' way. "He would do it for you. You know I can't go, my face will be all over West Elizabeth."
Arthur sighed. Dutch seemed to take that as an answer and turned to Lenny. "You okay, boy?"
"Yeah, of course." He faked a brave front. Why the thought of Micah getting lynched was so terrifying, he couldn't figure out. They didn't even like each other!
He saw Arthur shaking his head. "You don't seem okay," the older cowboy said.
"You take that kid into town," Dutch spoke up again. "Valentine, not Strawberry. Get him drunk."
Arthur nodded and put his arm around Lenny's shoulders, leading him away. "And Arthur!" Dutch called after them. "No funny business!"
"I've given that up!" Arthur yelled back. Lenny managed a smile and moved the cowboy's arm off his shoulder.
Dutch yelled something else that Lenny didn't catch as he made his way to his horse. Arthur took a bit to follow and mounted his new blue-grey mare in an angry way. Lenny gathered Maggie's reins in his hands, yanking her head up and spinning her around. He kicked her sides and she sprang forewords down the path. "Race you, old man!"
"'Old man'?!"
Lenny laughed at Arthur's yell. The sound of heavy hooves hitting the ground signaled Arthur's warhorse galloping to catch up.
Lenny and Maggie led the way to Valentine, the palomino mare's cream-coloured mane and tail flying out behind her.

The town came up almost too soon in their childish race. Maggie swerved twice to avoid running people down, prompting Lenny to slow her to a walk. Arthur and his warhorse caught up not a few minutes later, the mare panting slightly and the rider grinning.
"That was fun," Arthur said with a laugh. Lenny slid off Maggie's back and grabbed the reins of the warhorse as his friend fell off got out of the saddle.
"It was fun," he agreed. "...Especially since I beat you!"
"Don't push your luck, youngster." Arthur gave Lenny a teasingly stern look as he took his horse's reins from him. Lenny headed into the bar ahead of him, noticed he didn't follow and turned around.
Arthur was spending a little time with his warhorse. Lenny smiled and crossed his arms as he watched the older man rub his mare's forehead as she sniffed him over. Arthur was clearly already more attached to this horse than he was Gunner...Probably the reason he was refusing to name her. Not too long ago Lenny'd overheard someone asking him if he wanted help naming the mare. Arthur's response had evidently been a death glare, since their next sentence was: "Jeez, I was just wondering!"
"I'm paying." Arthur's voice startled the young outlaw as he passed by him. Lenny speed-walked to catch up and they entered the saloon together.
A few men gave Arthur wary looks as soon as they went through the doors. Arthur seemed to ignore them as he led Lenny to the bartender.
"Two shots of whiskey?" The bartender asked. Arthur seemed taken aback by this.
"Er...Yes, I guess."
The bartender gave him a sneaky smile and started casually pouring out the two's drinks. Lenny shared a curious look with Arthur before tossing back his little glass of liquid. The strong taste made him wince slightly as he forced it down.
"Oh, you've returned!" A sarcastically friendly voice spoke. An absolutely wasted man leaned against Lenny's shoulder, to his annoyance, but he wasn't focused on Lenny. "Didn't you cause enough trouble?"
"Bug off, partner." Arthur motioned for another drink as Lenny glared at the drunkyard.
"'Bug off, pardner.' Friendly!" The drunkyard teased. "I was just tryin' to make conversation. Mind you, wit' the company you make, you wouldn' talk much anyways..."
'What was that supposed to mean?' Lenny shot a glance towards the drunk man. 'I swear, if that was a jab towards my race, I'll rearrange his face...'
"Buddy..." Arthur stood up, forcing friendliness. "I'm here with a friend of mine, who's had a bad day. We'll chat later, okay?"
The drunkyard stumbled back, muttered something about "just wantin' to be friendly" again and walked away. Arthur sat down and ordered another drink. Lenny put his hand on his shoulder to get his attention and gave him a smile. His friend smiled back, albeit only slightly.
Things after that start getting a little fuzzy for Lenny. He remembers finding Arthur drunkenly wandering around calling his name at one point, starting a slap fight, then a bar fight, getting fed up with their "friendly" friend and dunking him in a horse trough while Lenny himself threw up against a house, then the police chasing them. He was caught rather quickly after falling off a fence and proceeding to lay their laughing, meanwhile Arthur had somehow managed to get away.
All that had led to the young outlaw waking up in a jail cell with a throbbing headache and overwhelming sense of dread. Only the nasty smell of animal crap reassured him that he wasn't in Strawberry, so he wasn't about to be hung.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" A lawmen outside his cell teased. Lenny winced at the sound of his voice and rubbed his head.
"You do know we have a fine for drunken antics?" The lawmen said angrily. "With the stunt you and your buddy pulled, however, I have half a mind to keep you rotting in the cell forever!"
"Look, I'm sorry..." Lenny's voice was barely a whisper, since anything louder than air currents was giving him a massive headache.
"I'm glad to hear that, at least." The lawman crossed his arms in disapproval. "That'll be-"
A scream for help outside caught his attention. He glanced from the young outlaw to the commotion outside before making a decision. "Stay here," he said sternly before heading outside.
"It's not like I can go anywhere else," Lenny snarked to himself.
His curiosity had other plans, however. If he couldn't get out, he might as well get some entertainment while he waited for his headache to go away.
Lenny stood on his jailhouse bed and discovered he could just barely make out what was happening through his cell window. Squinting didn't make anything truly any more clear, but there was enough chatter going on that he could hear what was happening.
"What's going on out here?" The lawman that used to be with Lenny asked.
"This woman was just attacked by her husband," a different man answered. "She says she locked 'them' into her house and ran to get help. She's hysterical, help her inside?"
"There's someone in the cell-"
"Then let him out, for god's sake! This is more important than some fine, that outlaw doesn't need to overhear family trauma!"
Lenny dug through his pockets for any money on hand. He would be happy to get out...But he was also slightly curious as to what happened, so he intended to stick around after the fact and listen in.
The lawman and another man came inside with a blood-covered woman in between them. She was hyperventilating and shaking with her hands in front of her, clearly terrified. The lawman watched the other man walk into the office with her before turning to Lenny. "$15 and you get out of here with a warning," he said.
Dammit.
Lenny forked over the money though the bars. The lawman counted it out, nodded and unlocked the cell. He nodded to Lenny and walked over to the office as the young outlaw stole outside and crouched nearby the office's window.
"I was helping a young boy home," the woman was saying, her voice shaking. "He was in so much pain he couldn't talk, so I put him to bed and told my husband to give him food, but he BIT him! And-And then two days ago, after the boy died, we were getting ready to bury him when my husband attacked my daughter, and he ripped her open and-"
Her voice caught as she sobbed. "He started eating her, like an animal! I tried to get him off her but he shoved me away and caught my arm, so there's a cut that I haven't dressed yet, it hurts quite a lot..."
Lenny figured he'd heard quite enough.
Childhood stories of things like that happening rang through his head like loud bells as he mounted Maggie and steered her towards home. He hoped to god it was just a case of madness. Because if what was happening was what he feared, he needed to convince Dutch to leave...Now.