Red Dead Redemption 2 - Unofficial Novel Adaptation

Enter, Pursued By A Memory

The snowy wind was still raging by the time it had become morning. Arthur had opened the cabin door just to recoil at how cold it still was. He made his way to the common room that had been set up, where most of the women were residing. He stumbled into a conversation where he heard Abigail talking.
"He ain't been seen in days. The weather ain't let up."
"He's strong, and he's smart." Tilly was trying to reassure the worried Abigail as Arthur entered the room.
"Strong at least." Abigail had retorted. Arthur had come into the crowd now and Abigail greeted him. The fireplace was lit and with a group huddled around it was as good a place as any to warm up, Arthur had figured.
"Abigail." He greeted her as he tried to warm his hands.
"Arthur... How you doing?" She stood up and asked, facing him with a sly little grin and he immediately knew something was up. He turned his whole body to face her and responded saying, "Just fine, Abigail... And you?"
"I need you to..." She was asking something but didn't know how to get it out. Arthur already knew what it was though, and was shaking his head. "I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry to ask but-"
"It's little John..." He interrupted. "He's got himself caught into a scrape again." Arthur was already facing the fire again, not too worried about John himself.
"He ain't been seen in two... Two days."
"Your John'll be fiiiiine, I mean, he may be as dumb as rocks and as dull as rusted iron, but that ain't changing because he got caught in some snowstorm." Hosea decided to step in from the back of the room. He had previously been sitting with John and Abigail's son, Jack, trying to teach him to read.
"At least go take a look. Javier?" He called out to the other man in the room, who was sitting off to the side, enjoying a nice smoke.
"Yes?"
"Javier, will you ride out with Arthur to take a look for John? You're the two best fit men we've got."
"Now?" Javier asked.
"She's... We're all... We're pretty worried about him." Arthur exhaled sharply, knowing he couldn't refuse now.
Javier began to stand up. "I know if the situation were reversed, he'd look for me." He handed Arthur a sawed-off shotgun. A precautionary weapon.
"Thank you." Abigail told them as they headed out the door.

* * * * * * *

The two of them had begun going on the trail, headed towards John's last known direction.
"This way. Last I know, John was headed up the river." Javier claimed.
"For all we know, he kept riding north and never looked back."
"He wouldn't leave. Not like that." Javier seemed confident.
"Well, wouldn't be the first time." It was a slow trek through all of this snow, and Arthur wasn't confident they'd be picking up a trail. But after a long period of riding, Javier spotted something.
"Hey, I see some smoke. Come on, let's take a look."
"Let's hope it ain't more of O'Driscoll's boys." Arthur commented.
"Well..." Javier started as he dismounted his horse next to the campsite, taking a look around to investigate. "Seems somebody left... Recently." The ashes of the fire were still warm. He scanned around, trying to figure out which way the camper would have headed, he ended up pointing towards the trail leading up the mountain while walking back to his horse and hopping on.
"Sure. Well. Come on then." Arthur said hurriedly, wanting to get this excursion over with.
"There's some tracks leading to the river." Javier mentioned. They were going to have to cross if they wanted to follow. Arthur inspected the fire, trying to estimate how long ago it was left. "Few hours ago, at most." He wagered.
"Let's cross." Javier spoke. "See, they continue up that way."
"Do you think it's John?" Arthur asked.
"You tell me. These are horse tracks for sure, but... Could be anyone. Let's just see where they lead." Now was as good a time as any, so Arthur figured he'd ask.
"So... You were there, Javier, what really happened on that boat?"
"We had the money, it seemed fine... then suddenly they were everywhere."
"Bounty hunters?"
"No, Pinkertons. It was crazy, raining bullets. Watch out for this crevice." The duo had to swerve to avoid falling to their doom. But the tracks did the same, so it wasn't a dead end yet.
"Dutch killed a girl, in a... bad way, but it was a bad situation."
"That ain't like him, though." Arthur was a little taken aback, he never knew Dutch to be the type of man to kill people without reason. Javier didn't respond. Surely Dutch had his reasons for it though, Arthur couldn't see it any other way.
"Tracks go left, down here." Arthur followed him. It was a bend that led them around in a U shape, avoiding a narrow but deep opening in the ground beneath them. "Davey got shot, Mac and John... both shot too. Sean, we don't even know. I'm surprised we escaped at all. By the time you boys showed up from the other side of town, we were only just holding on." Arthur heaved in response. "Bad business alright." He responded to Javier.
"Damn snow's coming in hard again." Arthur noted as they began to ascend the path up the mountain.
"We'll lose these tracks if we don't move fast." The wind was stinging their faces, coating them with snow. They started to go around a bend and Javier warned Arthur, "Watch yourself, not very wide here."
"Come on, boy!" Arthur urged his horse onwards, the animal was growing increasingly worn out. "Horses are getting tired." Arthur observed. They wouldn't last much longer trekking through this weather.
"Yeah, a lot of fresh snow here."
"I don't know about this, Javier. W-we can't follow nothing."
"Let's push on a little bit, maybe we'll pick up the trail again."
"Almost there, boy, come on now!" It was Javier who was the first to spot something in the snow ahead.
"