Home Sweet Home - A Red Dead Redemption II story

Feed as he Needs Feeding

Being stationed with Mr. Pearson turned out to be not as bad as Ruth thought. She got along quite well with him, despite feeling wildly out of place since she's arrived.

Ruth had only been in camp for about a day and a half, and hadn't made a mistake yet, so that made her feel good.

While prepping vegetables for the camps dinner, she heard the tied up boy asking for food..begging for food. She did her best to ignore it, but she set her knife down harder than intended and headed straight for Dutch's tent.

"Mr. Van Der Linde?" She asked.

"Yes, Miss?"

"Why is there a poor boy tied up?"

"Well, Miss Bucker.. we shoot fellers as need shooting, save fellers as need saving and feed em as need feeding." Was what she was told. Ruth turned to look over to him.

"Understood." She sighed quietly then turned back to the chuckwagon, to return to her duties.

After her prep was finished Pearson took over and finished the stew.

He called out to camp that it was dinner time, they gathered and helped themselves to their servings.

"You better eat, Miss Bucker." Pearson told her.

"I will. Don't worry." She stepped up to grab her serving, also filling another bowl for her work-buddy.

"Here you are." She set it in front of him.

"Oh. Thank you, Ma'am."

Ruth smiled at him. "You're welcome."

They sat together to eat, soon being joined by Uncle.

"And how's the kitchen staff this evening?" He asked.

"We're fine." Pearson replied.

"You've been awful quiet, haven't heard a peep from you since you've arrived." He gently nudged her with an elbow.

Ruth looked at the old man. "I'm sorry.. it's been hard adjusting."

"What'chu apologizing for?" He asked rhetorically. "We're all family. Don't be shy!" He gave a laugh.

Ruth forced a smile in his direction.

"Why're you called Uncle?" She asked, out of the blue.

"Oh, this is a story. Well, you see-"

"Uncle! Get over here you old coot!" He was interrupted, jolting and turning to face Karen.

"Excuse me, you two." He got up to leave.

Ruth turned to Pearson.

"Whose 'Uncle' is that?" She asked.

Pearson shrugged. "Beats me."

Ruth shrugged slightly as she watched him leave.

-

After everyone was finished their supper, Ruth was washing the dishes as inducted in the wash basin behind the wagon.

The tied up boy was still trying to get her attention, still begging for food.

It hurt her heart having to hear him plead, but not being able to do anything about it.

Ruth looked over her shoulder at him.

'I'm sorry.' she mouthed to him, returning to her duties.

Once she was done washing the dishes, she carried the washbasin over to where he was tied up, while she dumped it out she leaned closer to the boy.

"I'll see if I can sneak you some food tonight." She told him quietly.

He seemed to perk up and squirm slightly.

"You will? oh thank you!" He replied in the same quiet voice.

"Don't thank me yet." She told him, bringing the washbasin back to the table.

The idea of going behind the camps back to feed the prisoner made her feel guilty, but she couldn't stand by and do nothing. Nervousness filled her body as she moved on to complete her chores.

-

Ruth stayed up, keeping an eye on who was awake and who was asleep, once she noticed that only the night watch shift was awake, she got up and quietly walked through camp.

She tried her best to see in the dark, the only light being from an almost dead fire.

Once at the wagon, she felt around for some food, finding two bread rolls, she let her eyes wander to see if anyone was around, the coast still being clear.

"Psst.. I've got some bread here for you." She whispered as quiet as she could be as she knelt on the ground in front of him.

He seemed to happy to see her.

"Thank you so much, miss." He whispered.

The boy was bound so she had to feed him, Ruth held up a bread roll to his mouth, he quickly munched it down as she held up the other.

Feeding a human being like an animal felt so wrong, it pulled on Ruth's heartstrings greatly.

"That's all I have for you right now."

"It's plenty. I won't forget this.." He whispered after swallowing.

Ruth brushed his face and clothing free of crumbs, being sure to be gentle and discreet.

"I'm going to bed now." Ruth told him, standing up.

"Goodnight, miss." He told her.

"Goodnight." She replied as she made her way back to bed.

Her nerves returned, scared that someone might have heard her, but she managed to suppress them enough to sleep.

-

Ruth awoke to a commotion in camp, as she crawled out of bed to investigate, she heard the prisoner boy scream. Ruth paced over fearfully to his post to see Bill holding tongs to his genitalia, with Dutch and Arthur present.

Fearing she got caught and got the boy in trouble, she worked up the courage to apologize, thankfully that wasn't the case as they pushed on with their interrogation.

"Where's Colm?" Dutch asked.

Thankfully, this kerfuffle was unrelated to Ruth sneak feeding him.

Bill chopped the tongs a couple of times, which made the boy squirm.

"He's at Six Point Cabin!" He cracked.

Bill seemed to be upset that the boy cracked.

Ruth decided to make herself scarce, so as not to look conspicuous.

The last thing she saw of them was Arthur, John, Bill and that boy all leaving camp together.

She hoped that he'd come back alive.