Sign of the Times (Arthur Morgan x Reader)

Chapter Thirty

*Reader's POV*

He hesitated for a moment before taking a few steps backwards, and then turned to leave the same way Dutch had. I took a deep breath before smashing the lantern on the floor. I took a moment to make sure the kindling had caught fire, and turned to hightail it out of there. I shut the door behind me before turning to the two men and gesturing for them to move.

"We'd better hurry." I said, and Dutch nodded.

"Follow me." Dutch urged as we quickly made our way to a smaller shack next to the sugar mill. We stayed low, and moved quickly to be sure Fussar's men didn't see us before they were meant to.

"Let's get behind that well." I whispered, pointing to the stone-brick well just ahead of us past the small shack.

"This should be a good spot." Dutch disagreed.

"Trust me. We don't want to be too close to that building when it goes up." I insisted, nudging Arthur before gesturing with my head to go. We moved quickly and took our places behind the well, waiting for the blast.

"That place has to blow soon, get ready to make a run for Javier." Dutch instructed, and I nodded silently.

A few moments later, the explosion rung out, shaking the ground, and filling the air with a thick, grey smoke. Fussar's men shouted in surprise, and went to observe what had just happened, giving us an opportunity to make a break for it.

We swiftly made our way to a short wall before scaling it quickly and approaching a few large metal cages I followed behind Dutch as he found the right one. I quickly broke the lock with few hard hits from the end of my rifle and pulled the cage door open.

"Am I glad to see you." Javier said, smiling up at me in a pained manner. I didn't say anything as I helped him up, as he was obviously having trouble moving his left leg.

"(F/N), stay down and tend to Javier. We'll shoot us some space." Dutch called out, pulling out his rifle as he and Arthur began firing at Fussar's men. Immediately after giving him a once-over, it was clear that he'd been shot, and his knee was dislocated, most likely from being pulled by that mule.

"I can't treat the gunshot wound right away, but I can stop the bleeding and fix that knee of yours." I said, giving him a look. He had propped his back up against the wall, pouring sweat, and his face drained of color. No objections, good.

I took hold of his leg and began stretching and bending it carefully as he groaned in pain. I then had him stretch his leg as far as he was able, and quickly moved the bone back into place. He screamed out for a moment at the initial pain, but immediately relaxed.

"That feels better... thank you..." He panted, some color returning to his face.

"Don't thank me just yet." I said, ripping a large section of my skirt free, and tying his leg tightly to stop his bleeding.

"More coming!" Arthur called out.

"Quickly, grab him!" I shouted, and Dutch quickly did so, throwing him over his shoulder rather quickly.

"We need to move!" I said, standing and brandishing my own rifle to take out a few of Fussar's men. Dutch ran ahead of us as Arthur and I covered him and Javier from behind. As we rounded the corner, I felt another body collide with mine. One of Fussar's men had seemingly come out of nowhere, and collided into me, causing my back to hit one of the large stone columns roughly. With the air knocked from my chest, I became disoriented and couldn't focus. The man pressed the forestock of his rifle against my neck, and I fought against him with all the strength I could muster.