Colm's Daughter

Chapter 20

Dutch, Lucille, Arthur, and Marston sprinted to their horses. Lucille's stolen horse had bolted however, so she took Micah's horse without hesitation. The lawmen shot at them and chased them as they galloped away.

"Move! Run!" Arthur shouted.

They galloped at full speed through the back city streets, alarming the city folks and causing mayhem. Arthur drove up the rear and just barely dodged a bullet. "TOO DAMN CLOSE!" he shouted.

They reached the bridge and just kept running across from their pursuers.

The lawmen shouted, "STOP NOW AND WE'LL SPARE THE WOMAN! DON'T MAKE US KILL ALL OF YOU!"

They each took turns twisting their view backwards and shooting back at the lawmen. They shot quite a few off their horses, but they knew there was far too many in this city to ever hope to defeat all of them.

On the other side of the bridge, the four of them turned into the fields and split up to confuse the law. Dutch and Marston headed one way, while Lucille and Arthur went another.

"Into the swamp towards Lagras!" Lucille directed Arthur. He followed her in that direction. Far more of the lawmen had followed Dutch instead of them, but they still had five on their tails.

Lucille and Arthur both skillfully hid and then flanked them on horseback. They shot them all.

"That all of 'em?" Arthur called.

"Think so! Let's keep movin' just in case."

They rode further into the tiny swamp town of Lagras. Lucille sold Micah's horse. They used the cash to buy clothes and changed out of their incriminating disguises. Now wearing a man's shirt and riding pants, Lucille mounted Arthur's horse. He mounted up behind her and they rode more leisurely back towards camp.

"Hope they're alright." Lucille said.

Arthur said, "Assumin' we all make it back to camp alive, just when exactly are you plannin' on tellin' Dutch that you're not actually pregnant."

"Don't really know." Lucille answered honestly, "Reckon I gotta find out if he'd be relieved or if he's makin' it his new reason to live first..."

Arthur knew exactly what she meant. She had intuited that having a child might become Dutch's new obsession, now that Colm was finally dead. As angered and terrified as Dutch had been by the lie that he had knocked her up at first, it had seemed to slowly grow on him. At the very least, he had become resolved to see it through.

Arthur asked, "And what 'bout you? I sure hope you're plannin' on livin'."

Lucille leaned back comfortably in his arms. "Killin' my father was real satisfyin'. I finally feel so freed from him. It's like...for the first time I feel like I can think straight about anythin' else Arthur!"

He chuckled and stroked her hair. "That so?"

"I reckon that I can find a new purpose in life. In fact, surprisingly, I'm excited to be lookin' for it."

"That's good to hear, little Miss." He kissed her cheek from behind.

Arthur and Lucille returned to camp to be greeted happily by the others. Dutch and Marston were welcomed back a few hours later, still in their police uniforms. They changed clothes and then the whole camp started drinking and celebrating Colm's death, along with hopefully the death of the entire O'Driscoll gang.