The Dusty Shamrock ~ OC RDR2 fanfiction

Chapter 18

The ride back to camp was painful, tedious and far, far too long. The pain in my shoulder hadn't worn off any and it only seemed to be getting even sorer.
"You're a fool." Charles stated as I winced in pain. "You should never have taken a bullet for me." I chuckled at Charles' seriousness. It wasn't unusual for me to throw myself in front of a bullet to save someone special to me. I'd once taken a bullet for Vix, Nellie, my own father too.
"Bronagh, there was a young girl in them stalls in the barn. Looked like she'd been butchered."
"Elizabeth." I heard John start in response to Alvor's remark. "That was Elizabeth" John's words rang through my mind, trying to ring out where I'd heard him say it.
"Wasn't tha' the girl you was talkin' 'bout?" I asked, warily.
"Yeah" John's voice cracked as he gave me his one worded response. He'd told me he really liked her, I'd perhaps spend my next few days trying to cheer John up. I was never good at helping those who grieved, mainly because I, myself, didn't grieve.

"Oh, is that who I think it is?" Alvor asked himself, looking down the trail just a bit. Where his gaze was directed, there was a man driving a four horse wagon up the road, the man was wearing a blue shirt, a large blazer, Jeans and a newsboy Cap. From what I could scarcely see, he had a moustache curled upwards at the ends and his eyes were a piercing brown to go with his dark hair. "Renée!" Alvor called, the man driving the wagon perked up and waved at Alvor. I suddenly remembered what I had meant to ask.
"Alvor, would y'be interested in joinin' a gang?"
"What do you do in a gang?"
"Well, we shoot, rob, scam, high stakes poker games, espionage too"
"I'm not one for robbin' but I do like espionage- I'm interested. D'you need a camp cook by any chance?"
"We do, d'ya know one?"
"My friend Renée, Frenchman- he's a great cook." Alvor told me, he then called out to Renée. He trotted up to his friend and, from what I can assume, asked him to be our camp cook.

We arrived at our campsite not soon enough. I was hurried off into a tent with Miss Grimshaw tending to my gunshot wound. Charles tried to stay around, however he was shooed out of way as Susan rolled her sleeves up. Unfortunately for me, there was no clear exit wound so that meant that Miss Grimshaw had to dig around for the bullet. It wasn't pleasant, all I had was whiskey and a rag to bite on to help with the pain.

When I returned to my own camp, freshly bandaged and treated, I was pleased to see that Renée had set up his cooking wagon in our camp, Alvor had set up his own makeshift bedroll too. Sean was sitting by the fire, I sat down beside him on the log and patted him on the shoulder.
"Evenin' sis" he greeted.
"Evenin', Sean - how old are you?" I asked out of the blue. I couldn't quite remember my brother's age, I couldn't remember mine either to be quite honest.
"Eleven, turnin' twelve next year!" The young boy exclaimed. I shook my head in disbelief as the ginger-haired boy grinned at me.
"I think I turn twenty-two next year?" I huffed.
"No you don't" Sean simply stated.
"What?"
"You were born in 1869, you're only seventeen" I scrunched my face up in confusion at Sean's correction. "It's 1886, you are seventeen." He confirmed.
"Well..." I started "tha's fuckin' news to me!" I chuckled. Sean yawned and excused himself as Charles took his place.
"John's real shaken up." He sighed, placing an arm around me. "Hosea wants you to go fishing with him and John, to cheer John up" I leant into Charles and nodded against his chest. "How's the bullet wound? I'm sorry I couldn't come see you sooner, Miss Grimshaw sent me off to help John..."
"It's okay, sore, but I'm used to it" I replied.
"Alvor's gonna be around for another couple days, he's not gonna always be at the camp but he still wants in on the gang" Charles informed me, that explained why he'd set up a makeshift bed. "Renée's preparing food, whilst you were with Miss Grimshaw, I went out and got a couple turkeys."
"How'd tha' go?" I asked. We always went hunting together, so it would've been odd for him to go alone.
"It would've been better with you there, if I'm honest" Charles confessed, I let out a soft chuckle in response.
"When d'Hosea an' John want t'go fishing?" I asked.
"Around noon, I believe. Why?"
"I was goin' t'take Sean out to get a horse, I'll need one too"
"I'll take you out on the wagon, John needs a horse too" Charles said.