Troubled Past • Jack Marston

Chapter 4

Silence stood between Arthur and Dutch, both just silently galloping through the woods. They had just been revealed their fates, and they didn't know how to face it. Arthur sighed, and began to speak. "This... Is awful. I don't know what to say, Dutch." "You and me both, Arthur..." He let out a deep sigh. They kept the silence for a solid couple minutes and decided to speak once again. "I knew Micah was an asshole, but rat on us? He always said that we 'all lack loyalty'. I'll kill that son of a bitch." Arthur stated. Dutch agreed in silence. "I feel betrayed. We should head to camp soon and tell the others, let's go get Jack I guess. We should take him to camp too." Dutch closed the topic and they made their way back.

Once they arrived and entered the saloon, they noticed it was more alive, and filled with drunk fools. Arthur noticed that Jack had left the table they were in, 'Probably got bored waiting...' he thought. "Dutch, Jack's not here." Arthur told Dutch, who started looking over the tables to see if he had any luck. "Let's split. You search over there." He pointed towards a crowd of people. Arthur murmured a quick 'alright', then made his way towards the crowd.

"Hey, uh. Have you seen a feller with a scar on the mustache, long hair." He asked a man. "Nooo sir! I have not seen such man!" The man, obviously drunk out of his mind, slurred. He went to ask another person, who was also drunk, but the man said something about asking the girls. So Arthur did just that, he approached one of the working girls and asked the same question. "Oh. That guy? Yeah I saw him, he was saying creepy stuff. Obviously drunk, so I shooed him away." The woman said. "But anyways, you look like you could use some good time-" "No thanks. Thank you for the information." He cut her off. She frowned but let him walk away. 'He was saying creepy stuff... Maybe it's not Jack, just another unfortunate face.' he shrugged it off. That, until he spotted a familiar hair cut on the corner. 'That's him alright.'

He made his way towards Jack but noticed something was off. He was talking to a woman, that's normal. But the body language, the woman seemed absolutely scared. He wasn't even sure if she was a working girl. So he approached and overheard what he was saying.

"-Just image how good you'd look with your mouth around my-"

Arthur didn't know what happened next until he saw Jack on the floor and felt the usual small sting of pain on his fist. "Don't you ever dare to talk to a woman like that ever again!" He yelled. Jack started laughing, obviously not understanding what was going on. Arthur slapped him and that shut him up. He grabbed Jack by the collar of his shirt and started pushing him outside. "Arthur what happened?" Dutch appeared from behind. "Bastard was creeping out a poor girl, you should have seen her face, she was scared." Arthur angrily explained. Dutch was going to say something but got cut off. "Mister! I didn't get a chance to thank you- Oh, he's still here..." The girl came out of the saloon. Jack just groaned in pain. "Don't mention it. And don't worry about my friend here, he's gonna learn to never talk like that again." Arthur said. Dutch then added. "We apologize for his behavior, Miss. He isn't usually like this. I'll make sure that he doesn't see you again, and if he does, it will only be for him to apologize." The woman nodded and thanked them once again, then made her way home.

"Now, you." Dutch pointed at Jack. "You're in trouble. But sober up first, ain't no use talking to you in this state. Come on, Arthur." They loaded Jack like a sack of potatoes on the horse, and started riding towards Clemens point.

Before reaching camp, Arthur thought of something and decided to share it with Dutch. "Maybe you should enter and distract everyone a little because besides you n' me, only Charles know. I'll hide him somewhere near my tent." He explained. Dutch agreed.

Once they arrived, Dutch quickly made his way towards his tent and told everyone to gather around. He started doing a speech of 'Faith, plan, money'... While Arthur sneaked up with Jack on his shoulder, who was deep in a state of sleep. He placed down a spare sleeping roll he had on the back of the wagon, and threw him there. Jack was so lost in his sleep he didn't even wake up. After a couple seconds, Dutch came, saying stuff like 'No one noticed, I believe. Good job.' and went back to do Dutch things.

Arthur sighed. "Damn it kid, seems like trouble runs in your blood." He was just staring in dissapointment at Jack, who didn't seem to care at all. He kept thinking 'What the hell did John do to make him like this... Probably nothing.' but his thoughts were rudely interrupted by a curious red head.

"Hey englishman! I was tinkin'- Woah, Woah! Who's dis' lad here?" 'God, no.', he thought.

"Shhh. Be quiet, no one knows besides Dutch and Charles. Keep your mouth shut." He warned. Sean raised his hands and chuckled. "Don't ya' worry, englishman. Yer' secrets are safe with ol' Sean. Who's him anyway?" He asked. "None of your business, Dutch'll fix it tomorrow." "Aye, why so misterious, Arthur? Is he some kind of- legend of the west? Or- or- maybe a legendary gunslinger?" Sean joked. "Just get out, and don't tell no one about this!" Arthur pushed him away, and Sean just nodded with a dumb grin on his face.

Arthur sat on his tent, and noticed Dutch talking to Hosea, with a very serious expression. He was probably telling him about all of this. Hosea then looked at him, confirming that they were indeed talking about Jack. Hosea had a sour expression on his face, and walked away.

Arthur decided it would be better to stay awake, to not risk Jack waking up and scaring everyone in camp. So, he did just that.