Unshaken

Folk and Folklore

The next few days Liam spent getting his energy up and resting. By the end of the week, he was good as new. Arthur still was made to lay in his tent by Susan. Liam was ready to get out of camp for a bit. He remained cautious incase anyone approached him. He went to Rhodes. Same as always. He walked into the general store and was greeted by the shopkeeper. He grabbed some provisions and decided what to get for Jack and Abigail. He grabbed about four bags of candy, a few chocolate bars, two sodas, which he knew Jack had never had before, and a few books. He bagged them up and put them on Colter. He then rode down to the saloon to check on his old companion.

He walked in to see some day drinkers doing their thing, but no sign of Peters. He didn't bother to go look, though. He figured he was taking a break or something. He left fifty dollars under the register for him and left. He rode by Lynne's grave but didn't stop. It would've killed him. He rode on back to camp. He grabbed the bag and climbed off his horse. He walked to Abigail's tent to see Jack nagging her to go do something with him. "Hey Abigail, Jack." Liam greeted the two. "This is to thank y'all for your hospitality, I appreciate it." He said sitting the back down letting Jack rummage through it. "Aw, that was mighty sweet of you, Mr. Parker. Thank you." Abigail said. "It's nothin'." He said, smiling.

"Mama, look at all this candy! And books! And what's this?" Jack asked, pulling out the glass bottles of soda. "That's soda. It's a drink that fizzes but tastes good." Liam told him. Jack opened the soda and took a sip. Jack's face scrunched up, never drinking anything fizzy before. Abigail laughed and rubbed his head. He quickly started to drink more. "Slow down there." Abigail nagged. "Alright, well I'll leave you two to it then." He said waking off, feeling good.

He went and chopped some wood while Charles and John fixed the wagon beside him. He went and toppled the water in the wash bin and moved the sacks of feed to Pearson's wagon. He then went to rest and sat by the main campfire. He listened to Javier play the guitar and play some tunes from his culture. The sun started to set and more people joined them at the fire.

Javier, Liam, Uncle, the girls, John, Abigail, Jack, Pearson, Sean, Bill, Kieran, Charles and Sadie were around the fire now. Javier told them a story about an urban Mexican legend, La Llorona. Javier grew serious as his face was lit by the fire. "She's said to have been a poor peasant girl who fell in love with a rich nobleman, and the two had three children together. When the girl wished to marry the nobleman, he refused because their children had been born out of wedlock. To be with the man she loved, the girl drowned her children in a river. When she told the nobleman what she'd done, he still refused her and married another. Filled with grief, the girl drowned herself. But because of her crime, she was cursed to roam rivers and canals of Mexico looking for her children for all of eternity. They say you can hear her wailing and weeping as she desperately calls out "Ayy mis hijos...!" Chicos and chicas are warned not to wander out at night for fear La Llorona might confuse them for her own and take them away." Javier told the group. Bill glanced at the lake for a second. Abigail made Jack go to bed before he started to grow scared. Liam laughed at Bill's paranoia. Bill looked back at Javier. "That shit ain't true! That's just some dumb Mexican lies!" Bill said. "Say whatever you want to try to convince yourself otherwise, Bill. But I've seen her. When I was a little chico. She cried for me to come to her, but I ran for hours through the desert that night, never returning to that river." Javier told him in a serious tone. Bill grew shifty and unsettled.

"Anymore lies you people wanna share?" Bill grunted. "Sure." Liam said. "Before my Cajun daddy turned into an angry drunk, he would tell me stories of his life when he lived in the swamps. Picture it: The full moon hangs high over the Lemoyne swampland. The stars shine on the waves of the water near the towering, ominous Cypress trees. Frogs croak their songs in the distance and mosquitos buzz as they fly around looking for their next meal. There's a howl in the near distance. It sounds like a wolf, but something's off. Standing on two legs is a large, snarling beast. It throws its head back, letting out a blood-curdling howl to the moon. That's no werewolf, though. That's what we in Lemoyne call the Rougarou. In the swamps of the Saint Denis area and the Bluewater Marsh is where this beast has come to live. If it gets you and you survive, you'll turn into one on the next full moon. Anyone could be a Rougarou, your neighbor, local store owner, or even your own family. He stands between seven to eight feet tall, has horrible sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. Don't look into those eyes though, because that can also cause you to turn into one. It moves extremely fast. The only way to kill it is with fire." Liam told them. Everyone was now listening intently. Bill knew they were not far from the swamps.  "Did you ever see this Rougarou?" Karen jokingly asked, hugging Sean. "Once, I was hunting with my Uncle Louis in the swamps just across the bridge from Scarlett Meadows when I was around eleven or so. It was getting dark and we was looking for crawfish. We heard its howl from the trees and immediately took off west. We could hear it chasing us as my Uncle Louis tripped over a root. He yelled for me to keep running and that he'd meet me over the bridge. I waited for hours and he never returned. I haven't been back to the swamps since." Liam told them, messing with Bill.

"Enough with this bullshit! I ain't listening to no more of it!" Bill yelled walking off to grab another drink, causing the group to bust out laughing. Liam popped a top off of a beer and started to drink. "I got a story for you degenerates." Micah said walking up. "And this is a scary one." He said getting in the middle of a circle. Sighs came from around the fire. "There once was a pack of wolves with a great alpha. So great, that he gave every wolf a chance. Even picking up wolves as old as dirt and as dumb as rocks, even sad little puppies. He was easily manipulated by these wolves so they could leech off of him and take advantage of his kindness. He rode for years with these sad excuses for wolves. Then, one snowy night in the mountains, he met a fine wolf who showed him what his true potential was. The great alpha grew a pair and let go of all the leeches and they grew rich together and lived happily ever after. But the story doesn't end there. Those that got left behind suffered for their lack of smarts and power. They starved, got killed and even killed themselves because without their alpha, they were nothing." Micah said menacingly.

Liam looked around to see people getting up and leaving. He did the same. "What? Was that story too real for you?" Micah yelled, laughing. Liam checked on Arthur who was starting to do better. He finished his beer and sat by the dock for a while, eventually going to sleep.