Dutch's Girl

Chapter Five

Chelsea

I opened my eyes and began to move my body a bit as I was waking up. My arm hurt, but the pain was dull now. I let my eyes scan my surroundings and I concluded I was in a wagon. I turned my head to the side and almost jumped in surprise. Why is he here?!

Dutch Van der Linde was sitting there staring at me, and he squeezed my hand. My heart was racing. "Don't be afraid, it's only me," he said. I moved to sit up, and the second I was up, it felt as though gravity was just pushing as hard as it could against my head. It hurt so bad that I slammed my hand against my forehead. "How long was I out?"

Dutch shifted. "A few hours. You lost a lot of blood, but thanks to Miss Grimshaw you're alive," he replied. I let that sink in for a few heartbeats. I almost died. I was almost reunited with my sisters. I faced Dutch. "Thank you for saving me from those bastards. They killed my family." It stung to say that as I couldn't believe it. They were gone. August, Shelly, and Jae. Killed by O'Driscolls.

I was brought out of my mind by Dutch. "Is there anything I can get you? Food? Water?" He stared me in the eyes as I pondered my answer. I wasn't hungry, but my throat burned, and so I concluded that water would be nice. Dutch nodded and had leapt out of the wagon to fetch it for me.

Once he was out, I stared up at the roof of the wagon and just sat there. So many thoughts were swarming through my head. Will they hurt me? They've been nice so far, but what if they are tricking me? So many horrible fears were building up, and I found myself trembling.

What Colm had tried to do to me was still fresh in my mind, and I was very afraid of what Dutch would do. So many things I heard about him, I had no doubt he could rape a girl easily. And she wouldn't even realize she was being violated. Dutch sure was a charmer.

I hear voices, and soon Dutch clambered back into the wagon, followed by the man named Arthur Morgan. "Here Miss Wolff, I have that water you was needin'," Dutch said to me before passing me a metal cup. I flashed him a smile before taking it and gulping down it's contents. It was so satisfying that I was hogging it down like it was the first drink I've ever had. Dutch just stared at me with a sad look that then turned to anger.

Arthur spoke up. "Dutch, we've got to talk." Van der Linde looked up at him and said in a "you should have known" voice, "Arthur, Miss Wolff needs me." I stared at Dutch, more confused than anything. Arthur cleared his throat. "Hello there Miss Wolff, how are you feeling?", he asked gently. I nodded at him. "Apart from the massive headache, I feel fine. Just a little sore." The well-built man nodded his head slightly and then turned to Dutch once more. He sighed.

"Dutch, go ahead. She's awake, now is a good time to ask." I was completely clueless as to what they were talking about. What in the world is going on? Dutch sighed and grabbed my attention. "Now Miss Wolff, I had hoped to have this discussion with you when you were better on your feet, but since it's been brought up, I might as well." I was more than confused, and it was kind of scary, but nonetheless, I nodded for him to continue.

Dutch looked a little nervous, but he began to speak again. "Its a dangerous world out there. N-Not saying that it's any safer here, but we could protect you. I was hoping maybe you would stay with us?" My eyes went wide as I stared shocked at Dutch. Did he seriously just ask that? Does THE Dutch Van der Linde want me in his gang?

Dutch shot a look in Arthur's direction, and the grey-brown haired man nodded. "Look, we know you've been through a lot and this isn't exactly somethin' most people ever wanna think about. But you gotta understand, we don't know if Colm and his boys have actually let you go. He had a plate of food for you; under normal circumstances, he woulda raped ya and killed you. Or he woulda tortured you to death." There was a pause before he continued.