Who, Cerberus: An RDR Undead Nightmare Story [ John Marston x OC ]

xxi. An unparalleled gift

The crowd dispersed; they'd had their fill of the "miracle girl." All save for John and Ruby, who stared, fixated on the sickening bite on her tiny neck; Ruby's mouth hanging open, John's covered by his disbelieving hand.

Ruby moved first to vault herself deftly onto the stage, landing with a gentle skip a few feet from the girl and her mother. John clambered after her, leaving Jasper on the ground below to observe gleefully, still under the impression that he'd brought them to an unparalleled gift.

"Hello there, hi, how d'you do," Ruby said in a rush, addressing the mother, and the girl as an afterthought. John joined her at her elbow, peering at the shy girl seeking to disappear in the grey pleats of her mother's skirt. "Tell us how in the fu..." She caught herself. "Please, tell us how this happened."

The mother simpered a smile, her tired eyes lighting up. She cradled the girl's wispy-haired head in her palm, forcing her forward. "Dottie came up from the river in an awful distemper, didn't you, sweet? But your ma knew just what you needed."

"Which was?" Ruby's hand rotated emphatically on her wrist, an "out with it" motion. The woman's smile vanished, her eyes growing cold.

"Fifty dollars." Ruby's eyes widened and she looked to John, one hand resting unconsciously on the grip of a revolver. John grimaced, pulling his billfold from his back pocket and counting out fives and tens, slapping the money into the mother's outstretched hand. She counted it herself, her gaze narrowing greedily at the amount of money she now possessed, and tucked it carefully into the front pocket of her dress.

"It were just potent health curative, that's all!" She grinned widely, then, self-satisfied that she'd seemingly tricked the pair. But John shook his head.

"No way it could be," he said, his voice low, "tried the same on my wife and son, with no luck." Ruby crouched down to look directly at the girl, beckoning her forward with a finger.

"I'm tellin' you, fella," she asserted, "potent health curative with some water, that's all it were. Always water it down for Dottie here as she don't much like the taste." She stroked the wisps of coppery-coloured hair that had fallen into the girl's eyes as she moved closer, tentatively, to Ruby.

"You OK, little darlin'?" Ruby asked softly, nudging the girl's cheek with a knuckle.

"She don't remember nothing," the mother said. Ruby broke her eye contact with the girl to look up at her mother.

"Probably a blessing," she stated, and Jasper nodded sagely at this from his position at the base of the stage, crossing himself. Ruby returned her gaze to the girl and pulled a face, winning a tiny laugh, before standing back up. "Where do y'all get your water?"

"Usually the well, but it's been drier than normal. Go down to the Kamassa to get it." Ruby turned her attention to follow the woman's outstretched finger, to the river flowing along the town's western edge.

"OK, thanks," she left abruptly, hopping down from the stage, John following with a scowl on his face.

"Was hardly fifty dollars' worth of information, Ruby," he muttered to her.

"Oh, come on, moneybags," she smiled at him, prodding his side until the scowl broke. "It's both, John; something about that water and medicine mixed together. Hey, Jas?" She called to Jasper, who'd left their conversation to stroke the nose of his horse. He looked up at them, his blank face breaking into a brilliant smile.

"Ain't she a miracle, Rube?" He asked. "Like Christ himself came down to bless her and her family."

"Sure, Jasper," John noticed how Ruby, normally bouncing off the walls when she had to wait for anything, was tirelessly patient with her brother and his constant proselytizing. "Was wonderin' if you knew where this river's headwater was?"