Troubled Past • Jack Marston

Chapter 3

"D- dutch?"

"Sure. Dutch van der Linde. And you're Jack...?"

"Marston." Jack said with confidence. Dutch chuckled. "Well, that can't be possible, I don't intend to offend you but I know who Jack Marston is, and it's certainly not you."

"Well, Dutch. Told ya you weren't gonna believe it. Jack, show him the coin." Arthur spoke, and Jack did just that. He handed the quarter to Dutch, who was skeptical at first, but he couldn't hide the confusion on his face when he realized that the date of the coin is from 1913. "W-wh-" He stuttered, words failing to come out from his mouth.

"Jack, meet Dutch, again I presume. Dutch, meet Jack from the year 1914." Arthur chuckled. Dutch just looked at him, still not believing what was currently going on. "How on earth..." "Well I don't know! I woke up here after almost being hanged, and Arthur and Charles found me! I don't fucking know what the hell is goin' on either!" Jack yelled, pissed off once again. "Calm down Jack, you seem to have anger issues." Arthur joked, but his mind thinked that it was actually true from what he's seen so far. As for Dutch, he had thousands- no. Millions of questions. "So Jack. If you're from the future, how are we getting on in that year?" Dutch asked, and watched Jack's expressions fade from bright anger to gray emptiness.

"Let's say it's just bad bussiness. I don't think I can tell this story without a drink, that's how bad it is." Jack explained. "Well, I'll invite you to a drink then, I'm truly interested on that story, no matter how bad it is." 'Oh you don't even know how bad...' Jack thought for himself. "Eh, sure. Why not." Before Arthur could even say anything, Jack agreed. He can't seem to remember the last time he had time to sit down and drink in peace, sharing stories with people that aren't strangers. Last he'd remember was 2 days after gunning down Ross, he went to the Macfarlannes and told Bonnie what he did. He chuckled to himself, thinking of how the Macfarlannes would be doing right now.

They walked towards the saloon, owned by the Grays. Once inside, the three of them sat down on a table and each ordered a whiskey. Dutch laughed, "I cannot believe I am currently drinking with little Jack Marston!" "Ain't so little now, it seems!" Arthur added. Jack just laughed along, but mentally he was preparing himself for what was going to happen next. 'I should just tell them everything right away, so that they can prevent this now.' He sighed, and took a big, long sip out of the bottle. After his father's death, he fell hard on the bottle, despite of his mother's effort to stop him. She was too sick, but Jack still did his best to take care of her as he could.

"So," cough. "You want me to tell everything right away or just tell the story more detailed." Jack asked. "Just go straight to the point, leave details for later." Dutch answered. Arthur just listened and nodded. "Aight', so. Micah Bell, that sonnuvabitch. He's the rat."

Silence.

Absolute silence.

"You really did get to the point quickly, didn't you?" Arthur remarked. Dutch just looked at the table, with an unexplainable look on his face. Jack knew that face too well though, the feeling of getting betrayed. "How. Explain. Now." Dutch managed to say, with a dark tone on his voice.

"Now it's time for the details I guess." He looked for the bartender and signaled him to bring in more drinks. "So, you better listen carefully cuz it's a hell of a long story..." And so he began, telling everything he could remember from Arthur's journal, from Cornwall and the pinkertons to Hosea's death. Arthur nor Dutch dared to say a word. They both were too afraid to speak, thinking that it would all happen if they interrupted him.

Jack ended the story of how the gang fell that same year, and about Arthur's fate, and began telling how his Pa', Aunt Sadie and Uncle Charles hunted down Micah, and how Dutch helped them. Once Micah was gone though, the pinkertons found his family, and abducted him and his Ma', forcing his Pa' to hunt down Uncle Javier, Uncle Bill, and of course, Uncle Dutch. He told Dutch that John didn't kill him, but instead he killed himself jumping off a mountain. Every single detail. After that, pinkertons betrayed his Pa', and shot him and Uncle. Both died brutally. His mother fell ill and died soon after, leaving him alone. He decided that if he would live, he wouldn't do it with Edgar Ross still breathing. And so he hunted him down, Ross's family told the law and that's how he became a gunslinger. About to get hanged, he wakes up here, gets helped by Arthur and Charles, doc heals him, drinks, and here we are. He finishes the story.

"I uh- Arthur." Dutch said firmly. "Yeah...?" "Would you have a short ride with me? Jack if you'll excuse us, we gotta talk a little. We'll be back in some minutes." Dutch explained, then stood up and walked away, Arthur tipped his hat and followed. Jack just nodded. 'I might have either saved the future or doomed it, who knows.' he chuckled before finding himself drinking once again.

What seemed like hours but were only meere minutes, Jack was still drinking. He was starting to see double. It was already dark outside, and he took a look around. 'It's full of working gals, might as well have some fun tonight...' Jack grinned. And with that, he stumbled across the saloon, and began eyeing the girls.

He seemed to forget the year he was in, because he totally forgot for a moment that his whole family is alive, and open to punish him for his behavior.