A Life Of 'Shine - Lem Fike

21

"What do you need, Dutch?" Nora asked, quickly crossing the new camp location so she could speak with the gang's leader. Dutch turned around to face the new arrival, forcing a smile although Nora could clearly see the stress and exhaustion in his eyes.

"I was hoping you could help us in rescuing little, Jack." Dutch asked, moving to sit on one of the old benches. He let out a sigh, looking over at the new location they could camp with Nora following his gaze. She noticed how Abigail was currently sitting at the table, her eyes red and sore from crying so much; Karen by her side comforting her.

"Of course."

Dutch offered Nora a smile, walking over to John who was currently sitting around the scout fire talking to Hosea. Nora ran up behind him to join Dutch's side, following along as they approached Marston.

"Arthur's going to meet us in a park outside of Mr. Bronte's house, Nora if you could be so kind as to wait outside we'll deal with business in indoors. Just keep watch and fire three times if you need anything." She nodded to the instruction, walking passed them all to mount her horse on the ready. Dutch spoke with John and Hosea for a bit before   eventually leaving to walk to the count.

"How are you feeling, John?" Nora asked as she looked at the male, offering a small but calming smile which he reciprocated. When everyone was mounted, Dutch had ordered for them to follow his lead.

"I'm fine. Let's just go rescue Jack." Nora nodded in understand, spurring her horse forward to follow the infamous gang leader with John not too far behind. Their journey was spent in comfortable silence before they arrived at the Saint Denis house Jack was rumoured to be staying in.

Arthur wasn't here yet and so Nora sat on the steps in the nearby park, John and Dutch joining her as they waited for the gang's lead enforcer to arrive.

"So what exactly is the plan? I know I'm supposed to wait here but what about you boys?" Nora smiled, looking up at the sky as she noticed it growing dark. John remained silent, possibly worried about his son but Dutch looked as if he was contemplating revealing their part in the mission, as if he didn't trust her enough to tell her.

"We're going to talk with Mr. Bronte, we don't want to go in guns blazing because we could hurt Jack and so we are just going to talk our way into saving the boy."

Nora nodded, understanding their approach. She looked ahead to see their final requirement had arrived, Arthur Morgan looking just as proud on his horse as what Dutch would do when looking over at the gang.

"Arthur. How nice of you to join us!" Dutch greeted, making a show of throwing his arms wide open as if asking for a hug. Nora chuckled as she followed behind the three as they began to walk closer to the manor.

"Remember, no guns."

Nora soon pulled away to stand by the mounts, watching them closely as they walked inside the manor. Once they were gone she moved to sit on the floor, leaning against a brick wall.

She knew that talking to a kidnapper about getting a man's child back was no quick task, but she didn't expect to be sat outside for nearly an hour. Quickly moving to stand when she noticed John and Arthur had began to approach her.

"Where's Jack and Dutch?" Nora asked once they were in earshot, but instead of answering all the two had done was walk past her to mount their own horses.

She copied their actions and climbed into the saddle of Beanz, following them as they began a slow trot.

"We've been asked to take care of some grave robbers." John had finally answered, now the path they were following made sense as she recognised it to be straight towards the graveyard itself. She nodded, following behind them.

"Okay."

All three of them simultaneously dismounted the horses, leaving them opposite the graveyard. They approached one of the gates, pushing the steel open.

"Creepy." Nora frowned following the male's as they stalked through the graveyard to find these robbers Bronte held a strong distaste for. It all seemed oddly quiet, Nora noticed a few shadows move in the corner of her eye and everytime she turned to look she realised that nothing was there. If she didn't believe in ghosts before she must definitely had changed her mind now.

Nora was just ready to tell the others that there was nobody in the graveyard until she had narrowly dodged a bullet aimed for her skull. She looked in the direction she heard the bullet come from, seeing a  small group she presumed to be the grave robbers. Arthur had noticed too, quickly drawing his gun from the holster to defend his group. Time seen to move a little slowly as he shot, killing those who had attempted to kill them just before.

From the shadows more enemies began to emerge, bullets flying as they shot at the trio. The girl quickly grabbed the rifle from her back and began to blindly point in the direction bullets came from, hearing a few screams of agony as the bullets eventually found new fleshy homes.

The fight lasted for a few minutes, taking its time before eventually they all felt satisfied that the grave robbers had been dealt with. However their moment to catch their breath's had been cut short prematurely as the law began to emerge, whistle's blowing like wolves howling at the moon.

"Stay quiet, don't shoot." John whispered. The group had previously attempted to sneak out of the back gate, the same one Nora had to run threw back when she assisted Samson Finch in the bank robbery.

John led the way as they snuck around the perimeter of the graveyard, desperately trying to avoid the law to avoid further confrontation. They managed to get to the gate but all shared a frown at seeing two lawmen waiting there for them.

"Now what?" John hissed, looking at the enemies they desperately tried to avoid. Nora had noticed a stone on the floor, bending down to pick it up. Her companions both shared confused looks as they noticed her actions but understood what she had intended to do when she threw the rock blindly over her shoulder, the nose it made when coming into contact with a gravestone alerted the guards and they moved from the only open exit.

Quickly, they all rushed out and to the horses. Mounting them and quickly galloping away to join Dutch at Bronte's, the law failing to notice their flee.

"Papa!" As soon as the group had returned to the house, Jack noticed their arrival and cheered as they approached, leaving Dutch's side to wrap a small hug around his father which Nora watched with a smile. Jack had also noticed Arthur and gave him a gleeful hug as well before running past Nora and to the horses.

"When we get back to camp we'll have a party to celebrate his return. Nora, you must join us."

"I wish I could, but I got to get back to Lem. Apologies Mr Van Der Linde."

"Nonsense, any friend of yours is a friend of ours and Lem is welcomed there as much as you, I would be honoured for you to join us."

Nora was quiet but gave a small nod to accept the invite. "I'll see if he wants to join. I'll return later on if that is okay, Mr Van Der Linde."

Dutch nodded before walking pass, joining Arthur and John as they mounted the animals before leading them back to camp. She gave them a polite wave before walking to her own horse.

"We got another trip ahead of us, boy. You been real good for me."