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“You’re coming with me…”

The particular man Dutch had requested Samuel to capture and bring to the Sheriff, was a dangerous one not only because he was known to run with a fairly sizable well-armed gang, currently holed up in the mountains but also due to his close association to Colm O'Driscoll. Dutch had asked Samuel to take at least one man with him for the job and while Samuel usually preferred to work alone, given the nature of this particular bounty, he had agreed it seemed a sensible thing to do.

Upon hearing the suggestion his eyes had scanned the camp, taking in the usual subjects; Charles, John, Bill, Arthur, Javier and had eventually landed upon Kieran. It may have appeared like a strange choice to some of the Van der Linde gang members but to Samuel’s mind the selection made sense. Kieran was less likely to go off on his own or insist things be done his way, less likely to debate instruction and more likely to know something about their target given his previous membership of the O’Driscoll gang. Like Samuel himself the man was also Irish American, which Sam hoped would at least guarantee some good banter on the long road towards the mountains.

If all went to plan and the pair were successful, Samuel also suspected it would improve Kieran’s position in the gang, especially given all they seemed to have been requiring of Kieran lately was his assistance with fishing, chores and meal preparation. In truth Samuel felt sure the man had more in him and this was exactly the kind of job that would prove so.

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      his  own  damn  COUGH  woke  him  up.

      though,  arthur’s  rest  could  scarcely  count  as  sleep.  his  body  still  aches,  chest  burning  with  each  breath.  his  head  pounds  like  the  hooves  of  a  herd  of  mustangs.  the  coughing  only  put  an  end  to  arthur’s  ILLUSION  of  sleep.

      so  he  opens  his  eyes  slowly,  forcing  himself  awake  because  he’s  no  idea  where  he’s  at.  last  he  recalls,  arthur  had  been  fighting  that  drowned  rat,  micah.  and  then  dutch  was  there.  and  then.... ?

                           it’s  HARD  to  recall. 

      for  now,   arthur  focuses  on  pulling  himself  up.  it’s  easy  enough  to  tell  he’s  in  an  old  tent.  birds  are  chirping  somewhere  outside.  arthur  smells  smoke,  and  a  tilt  of  his  head  reveals  a  small  campfire  just  outside  the  tent.  a  rabbit’s  roasting  on  the  open  flame. 

      ❝ what  the  HELL ? ❞  he  groans  in  a  rough  voice. 

         𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚. It was again in another wooded area, but it was better than a place surrounded by similar deserts that are seen in Arizona. Or at least, Cassie held that belief. She always enjoyed a place populated with grass and trees, it made gardening easier. Lush forests with lots of greenery was a more appeasing sight to Cassie.

         At the moment she was gardening. She sat next to the fire, cleaning her back against a tree with her brand new fishing pole resting against her leg. She was trying to wait until Kieran wasn’t working. He always appeared to be working, so it could be a challenge for Cassie.

         It didn’t take too long to her surprise. She picked up her fishing pole and traveled across the camp over to Kieran with a small smile on her face. She didn’t want to scare him off, in her mind -- Kieran showed his loyalty to the gang and got his redemption by saving Arthur’s life. If she was in his position, she wouldn’t have done that. But, it was admired by Cassie nonetheless.

          ❝ Kieran! ❞ She called for him once she got close. ❝ I heard you and Arthur went on that fishing trip. I was going to go  by myself, but you didn’t appear busy. ❞ It was a start, her tone light and a friendly smile on her face. 

          ❝ Would you want to go with me? ❞

    It had been mentioned first by Grimshaw, mostly in SUSPICION about Kieran’s whereabouts. It had been a comment tossed out in passing during a moment of tension while they were riding out to help Tilly. The growing CONCERN about his disappearance was mostly from Mary-Beth. Arthur had, admittedly, let his lack of presence in camp slip his mind. Though, the more it had been mentioned to him, it was growing all the more apparent Kieran had disappeared. Good or bad, he seemed to have just left. 

    If that was good or bad for Kieran or for the camp? Well, that had yet to be seen. 

    Mary-Beth had been the one who pushed him to at least give it a look, told him about the last time she had seen him, some sort of area he COULD be in. Arthur had made it clear that he wasn’t a DETECTIVE and had bigger issues on his plate, but it had proved to be harder to say no the more she talked. 

    So, it was at her prompting that had him riding out into the heat and bush of the swamps. If the O’Driscoll got himself lost out in the swamps, Arthur wasn’t sure WHAT he would do, but at least the damn drama would be over. However, the more he looked into it, the more things seemed off. Finding Branwen had been more than enough of a tip toward the idea that something else was going on there, considering how much he cared for the horses around camp. 

    The rest was a downward spiral from there on--Arthur wasn’t too sure how he had gotten himself into the situation, why they were still THERE. It was quick, however, familiar accents and yelling filling the area around him as Arthur worked on fending off the O’Driscolls. He managed to kill a handful, but it wasn’t long until a solid weight had knocked him off his feet, sending him tumbling onto the ground. He tried to shift himself up in order to fight off his attacker, but a solid kick to the side of his head had him sprawling for a few moments. 

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❛ Well it was pretty fun to almost geld you. ❜ Perhaps he and Bill enjoyed it a bit too much, but there was no greater satisfaction in castrating an O’Driscoll. Dutch had been the one to make the call but since coming to know Kieran better the true answer would take sometime to reveal itself. ❛ Well I s’pose your guts to stay with us and leave Colm’s boys as a memory to forget though really you didn’t have much choice in that. It was either guts or stupidity anyway. ❜

@horscared