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

Afterword and Notes on Who, Cerberus

Spoilers for this story ahead!

If you made it here, thanks so much for reading! I super-appreciate you and would love to hear any thoughts you have on this story.

I'd love to say I had a big plan but I approached the start of this story with just a couple of scenes in mind - the siege of the Blackwater saloon and an eventual connection between John and Ruby after some bad stuff went down. The rest sort of unfurled unevenly; I'd set out to write a horror-western but somehow, along the way, my Sergio Leone playlist got mixed up with Sufjan Stevens and there you have it, romance city. The song especially responsible is this one:

The play that Ruby loves and is determined to learn is Shakespeare's Richard III - it's where she gets the very unRuby-like phrasing "infecting mine eyes" from, and why she names both her horse and her daughter Anna, after Anne, a character in the play.

But a lot of the other coincidences were very accidental - a reader asked if I'd named the working girl in the Blackwater saloon Clem after Clementine from The Walking Dead TTG - I did not! Ruby's stage name is Little Red, and John is literally the wolf guy - did I plan this? Also no! I had some fun giving John a happier ending than either RDR1 or Undead Nightmare ever had for him, so I hope you liked it, too.

I'll be taking a break from longform writing after this; but I might do a collection of RDR2 oneshots or shorts, if you have any requests?

Thanks again for reading! 🙏🏻💕