To Catch A Ghost: a Red Dead Redemption fan fiction

Chapter 1 - A Dying Breed

Maddie threw back the shot of whiskey and set the empty glass back down on the counter with a heavy sigh. She spun the glass around in her right hand and looked about the Blackwater saloon underneath the brim of her black Stetson; she frowned as she saw the usual saloon dwellers taking up the tables and chairs. Near to where she stood at the bar, the blackjack table was well under way with a game; outside on the patio, another game of poker commenced. Prostitutes mingled about like vultures, eying every man hungrily. Almost every single man in the large room wore clean, expensive suits, whereas Maddie was dressed in her weathered bounty hunting outfit. Her Henry repeater was slung across her back, and her trusty semi-automatic pistols hung at her sides. An occasional cigar was seen spewing out smoke and sitting nestled between the fingers of the townsfolk who'd moved from other larger cities—New York City and San Francisco, for starters—to live in the ever-growing town of Blackwater. Within the last four years, the town had doubled, making it impossible to ignore or refuse the changes that had befallen the land. From beneath her hat, Maddie scowled at them all and shook her head, feeling like a relic in their presence and getting angrier because of it.

Maddie turned back to the counter and stared down at her empty shot glass in her hand. Again, she sighed and shook her head. Disappointment in the day's events led her to this godforsaken place, and with the measly amount of cash she'd received and pocketed from Archer Fordham not but twenty minutes ago, it was all she could do to not spend it all on liquor. A lousy fifty bucks isn't even worth it, even if I went down to Thieves Landing to get that lousy goddamned horse thief. She snorted through her nose. He wasn't even that hard to find and subdue, anyways. My God, it's like he didn't even think to be on the look-out.

She looked up from her brooding as the bartender came over to her. He held up the bottle of whiskey with a knowing grin.

"Need another, Maddie?"

She nodded and pushed the shot glass forward with a flick of her hand. She watched the golden liquid pour from its bottle to her glass, and she threw it back once it was to the brim. The whiskey fell down her throat and splashed into her stomach with a pleasant after-burn. She sighed as she took off her hat, set it on the counter on its crown, and ran a hand through her dark-brown hair that settled just above her backside.

"Bounty hunting business ain't servin' you too well, I take it?"

Maddie shook her head as she grabbed her hat and put it back on. "Yeah, and apparently nobody 'round here knows how to pull off a damn crime. The kid I brought in tonight must've been more than sixteen and stole his first couple horses. I swear, if this town's police force keeps crackin' down on crime, I'll be out of a job." Realization dawned on her, and with widening eyes and a dampening spirit, she bowed her head and leaned heavily on her elbows on the countertop. "There will be no more need for me."

"They're just doin' their job, miss," the bartender said as he refilled her glass. "Archer Fordham's been runnin' this law enforcement better than your uncle could've dreamed of doin', no offense. He's changed it a lot, and faith is bein' restored in the law. Hell, I'm surprised you or Jack hasn't taken that offer of Archer's. Then again, it's not like you and him are hurtin' for money, with that big ranch of yours."

Maddie picked up the shot and held it before her, studying the way the light was caught and reflected in the liquor. "That's true, I suppose. We do have it great out there." She swallowed the shot and chuckled afterwards. "But if you're referring to Jack and I joinin' the police force, you've got another thing comin'. That job's outta the question with Jack; he'd tell you to fuck off the second you asked him."

"And what about you? Would you ever take up on Fordham's offer? You know he's just dyin' to have you a part of his force, miss. You'd be perfect for the job, and like you said, bounty hunting's a dyin' career, so why not take it?"