Yellowstone - John Duttons daughter

The world is purple

"Come on, Laramie. Let's go." Mia called as she shut the float door.

"I'm coming." She called walking

"Where are you going?" Tessa asked, stoping as she walked past

"Rodeo." Laramie tells her.

"Righto." Tessa nodded inviting herself to join them as she climbed into the truck,

"You have everything?" Laramie asked chuckling at the teen.

"Yeah." Mia reassured

"Horses loaded?" She added

"Oh, yeah." Mia nods, "Everything's done."

***

"What?" Jimmy asked as Mia kept eyeing him.

"Nothin'." Mia shook her head unconvincingly

"What?" Jimmy repeated

"Go ahead, why?" She finally gave in pointing to his chest where the y brand was.

"It's kind of hard to explain." Tessa stepped in, trying to stop Jimmy from saying anything he shouldn't.

"Oh, so you got one too?" She questions turning back to face Tessa in the back.

"Completely different story, but yes." Tessa nodded

"Walker has one, too." Laramie adds, "But he could have his asshole on his chest and I wouldn't care. That is one fine son of a bitch."

"Do you know what a brand means?" Mia checks looking back to Jimmy

"Means I'm a part of something." He replies

"No, that's not what it means." Mia shakes her head, "You brand something so that if it gets lost, everyone knows who it belongs to. That's why you do it."

Everyone lent back in their seats, making for a quiet and awkward trip.

***

Tessa rode on a lose rein as she cheeked the fence lines, she had been told she wasn't allowed to fix anything, but to call it in on the radio. One of the wranglers would come out and do it.

she watched closely as a blue two-tone van drove past, thinking nothing of it she continued along the fence line. it wasn't until she heard the breaks screech to a stop, and the truck reverse and pull over besides her she began to worry.

"Can i help you?" she asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice. The man climbed out of the van and walked over, nothing but a fence separating the two, "Can i help you?" Tessa repeated

"Are you John Dutton's daughter?" he asked, Tessa gave a nod. Before she could even react he lifted his gun pulling the trigger a few times before running back to the van. Tessa attempted to grab the reins as her horse reared up, but everything was too fuzzy and she fell.

Tessa could just make out her horse taking off, she let her eyes close as black dots appeared everywhere. The bright sky making her head hurt, as she slowly came in and out of conciseness. she reached for her radio in her shirt pocket, a bullet hole straight thought the middle.

That had saved her life, only just piercing the skin across her heart. she rubbed a hand across her lower stomach, feeling the blood between her fingers. she reached for her right shoulder, and across her collar bone the newest bullet wound must've only been centimeters away from the old one.

Tessa slowly shut her eyes again, she wasn't going to be found out here. the girl slowly managed to painfully slide under the fence, if she could just get to the side of the road. Tessa crawled towards the side of the road before slumping back against a tree.