The Red Wolf ~ A Red Dead Redemption story

Chapter 50: Monsters in the middle of the night.

May 15th 1894

"Chug! Chug! Chug!" The crowd roared out, the saloon was lively with music and booze arousing the atmosphere. Everyone inside was cheering on as Robert was standing on a table drinking down a Yard of ale. Some other men had tried, including Mac but they had bowed out. But Robert just kept on going as the golden ale poured right down into his throat. He was losing his focus slightly as the alcohol was nauseating him, but he persevered as the last of the ale slipped into his mouth finishing the large glass.

"Yeah!" Robert roared out holding the large glass over his head. The crowd roared more as he tossed the beaker to one of the bar staff standing by. Some of the gang were in the saloon as well, as they had all come down to celebrate his 20th birthday.

He soon stumbled off the table but Mac helped him up as they went over to the bar. The pair were both heavily intoxicated though both were still conscious enough to drink more as the night went on.

At the counter they both bought a bottle of beer each and clinked before sipping the fried gold. Though they weren't the only ones at the bar as Mary-Beth and Abigail had walked over congratulating Robert for the Yard of Ale challenge.

"Congratulations Robert, you sure took it like a champ." Mary-Beth greeted as she patted his back.

"I know....heh....maybe you should try it Mary-Beth. It might make a champion out of you." Robert chuckled as he clinked his beer bottle with her.

She in turn just sheepishly smiled before taking a sip. "Oh no I'm a bit of a light headed girl. I've only now started drinking beer you know."

"...Same here Mary-Beth." Abigail chimed in as she took her drink. "You wouldn't be catching me doing that. Maybe John if you challenged him."

He just sighed as he turned around facing the rest of the saloon, not wanting to think on that on the moment, he didn't need to think on the negatives on his birthday. "Yeah....sure..."

As he looked out he saw Hosea and Arthur both sat at a table seeming getting a lot of money from some of the men in the bar as if he had won a bet from the locals. Hosea had made up a story about Robert being a light head and that his chances to complete the drinking challenge extremely low, in turn he made quite the profit from everyone in the bar. The older man just looked and smiled at Robert as he counted the money, though Arthur just rolled his eyes. He was just there incase things turned ugly.

Robert didn't fancy having a drink with him, though he too was suspecting something was wrong. The barman who mainly ran the saloon hadn't been seen for more than 2 weeks and the bar was run just by some prostitutes who were all eager to get their money.

"Easy tiger, or wolf...you've almost drank the town dry." A bar lady giggled as she cleaned a glass as Mac had just downed a full bottle of beer instantly.

"That's not stopped you before Mac." Robert chuckled as playfully poked the Callander Boy.

"I guess that's true, though this wasn't what I had in mind when I was 20 years old." Mac said as he tapped the counter and another bottle of beer slid over to him.

"Aye...20...I'm 2 decades old...it's crazy to think." Robert replied as he reminisced all his birthdays leading to this. All that he could think of, though they weren't as fun as the one he was having right now. Though he wished he had his old friends with him right now, though thinking of them only made him remember the horrid memories and the betrayal.

He had a letter from Shane the previous day wishing him a happy birthday though he was out of state with his own affairs to deal with. He was happy that Shane was keeping to his word, though disappointed the Yellow Wolf wasn't present. Maybe he'd have done the yard of ale challenge as well.