RUNNING WILD [JOHN MARSTON]

8: worry

valentine, new hanover
The livestock town of Valentine, New Hanover was bustling with the sound of chattering voices and clunking horse-drawn wagons as John Marston and Arthur Morgan stood arguing with the manager of a small livestock auction yard. The two suspicious outlaws had, in fact, acquired their sheep in unusual circumstances, but Arthur Morgan wasn't keen to let the yard manager in on their secret. He stood grumbling and shaking his head as John Marston managed to barter the irritating man down from a 25% cut to 18.

John Marston shot Arthur a look as he exchanged a firm handshake with the man. Arthur rolled his eyes as he extended his arm out towards the man.
"Fucking robbed." He muttered under his breath as he walked towards his horse.
"What're you moanin' about now?" John Marston walked along next to him. The pair hadn't been on the best terms recently, but with everything that the gang had been experiencing lately there seemed to have been no choice but for the men to come closer together.
"We got robbed back there!" The two men simultaneously climbed onto their horses.
"Dutch is waitin' for us over in that Keane's Saloon." John spoke, choosing to ignore Arthur's complaints over their dodgy herd of sheep.
"Yeah. Rosalie too." Arthur responded.
"Rosalie?" John questioned, confused as to why Rosalie would be hanging around saloons with Dutch Van der Linde in her spare time.
"I think the girl's got cabin fever, if you ask me. Dutch is tryna' keep her mind off things." Arthur told John and John sighed. His mind thought about how Rosalie had been so much more erratic recently, like her brother, and so much more worried about things.
"I think that price on her head is getting to her, too." Arthur spoke up again as the pair approached the outside of the rundown saloon. John's eyebrows raised upwards and he let out a dry chuckle.
"That's gettin' to all of us." He said. Arthur nodded in agreement, securing his horse on the hitching post and climbing the stairs to the saloon.

John Marston followed him in, already hearing the loud and gruff voice of Dutch Van der Linde. The bold leader seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion with Leopold Strauss. Mr Strauss, or Herr Strauss, as he was usually called, was a master conman and loan shark. John couldn't quite remember how the man ended up falling in with the gang, but he'd somehow become in charge of most of their accounts and money. He often spoke too much, and John Marston was already bored of hearing his voice. He looked up from the two men seated at the table and locked eyes with Rosalie Bell.

The outlaw was stood behind Dutch, one arm resting on the back of his chair and the other securely holding a half-drunk whiskey. Her tired face displayed a displeased look, like she couldn't care less about whatever it was her companions were arguing over. But at the same time, there wasn't much else for the outlaw to do in such a small and quiet town. Rosalie's eyes met with John Marston and she nodded her head slightly in recognition.

"Where've you boys been?" Dutch asked, any hint of patience in his voice long gone.
"Marston finally found us some work." Arthur told Dutch as he pushed him lightly on the arm.
"Shut up." John grumbled in response and Rosalie chuckled. The dynamic between the two of them had been odd ever since way before they'd picked Rosalie up, but even she could tell that deep down the pair could barely survive without each other's company.
"Leopold," Dutch spoke up once his two best protégés had finished bickering with each other. "Since you're here, why don't you and John go and make sure there ain't no funny business."
John sighed, patting Strauss' shoulder as he stood up in front of him. The two men disappeared out of the saloon as Arthur sat himself down in Strauss' space.

"I'll get us some drinks." Rosalie said as she headed towards the bar, tossing a few coins down in payment for three whiskeys.
"Nothing like talking to old Strauss to make you want to blow your own brains out." Dutch chuckled as Rosalie walked back to their table holding the drinks. The two men sitting down were chatting and laughing at poor old Strauss while Rosalie stood silently, taking a sip of her whiskey and taking in her surroundings. She couldn't even take a seat with the men at the table before they were interrupted by the loud voice shouting from the other side of the wooden walls that made up the saloon.
"VAN DER LINDE!"

Rosalie slammed her whiskey onto the table, her hands immediately resting themselves on her revolvers.
"What the hell..." Dutch muttered as he and Arthur rose from their seats. Rosalie Bell moved to the window, peeking through in an attempt to see who was making the fuss outside.
"You don't know me, but you keep robbing me!" Arthur crept up on the opposite end, his eyes narrowed as he watched the man through the window.
"My name is Leviticus Cornwall."

Arthur Morgan turned his head and gave Dutch a look. A look that said something bad was about to go down. The three outlaws currently holed up in the saloon knew exactly who the man outside was. Rosalie Bell thought back to the gang's botched robbery in the Grizzlies, and to the train robbery with John a few weeks back.
"Shit!" Rosalie blurted suddenly as her eyes settled on the scene unfolding outside. She watched as John appeared, held hostage and being forced to walk at the hand of one of Cornwall's men, his arm firmly ahold of John's neck. "He's got John!" She turned to look at Dutch and Arthur, panicked enough to not care that her worry was pushing through into the open. The girl was so focused on her concern for John Marston that she didn't even notice Leopold Strauss was in the same predicament.
"Don't worry." Dutch breathed as he stood up and gave Arthur a look. "What're you thinking?"
"Well," Arthur shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Dutch. "You know how good you are at talking. You start spinnin' a web, Rosalie and I will take it from there."
Rosalie nodded towards the two men as the three of them began to emerge slowly from inside of the saloon, their hands held up in the air the whole time.

Rosalie stood on the porch of the saloon as Dutch relayed some speech to the man they'd been robbing. Her eyes were fixated on John - Cornwall's man had pushed him to the ground, holding him by the neck on his knees with a knife held up to his temple. It was this moment that told Rosalie Bell it was enough. Enough to make her see; to finally realise. Seeing him look weak and vulnerable pained her and all the girl wanted to do was pull out a gun and shoot as many of Cornwall's men as she could, Leviticus himself included. For once, however, she knew that was the wrong move. Her eyes stayed firmly placed on John, every now and then flickering to the side to see Arthur, waiting to follow his lead.

Arthur Morgan's gunshot came soon enough, and soon the two groups of enemies were deeply immersed in a gunfight that shocked the once-quiet town of Valentine. The outlaws had managed to move themselves to the front of Valentine's Smithfield's Saloon, using an old wagon as protection through the muddy town.
"Get Strauss out of here!" Arthur yelled through the sounds of gunshots. Having been shot minutes earlier, Strauss was groaning in pain as Arthur lugged him over to the back of Rosalie's horse. Rosalie nodded before looking at John, wanting to stay and fight but knowing Strauss wouldn't put up with his wound for much longer.
"We got it covered. Go, get back to camp!" John shouted to the girl as he reloaded his revolver. Rosalie nodded, taking one last look at him before riding away.