Chapter 3

After Sean and Karen’s discussion the two left their tent and continued partying. They sung, they danced and they continued drinking, quite a lot. During the party Sean found himself talking with almost everyone in the camp, from John to Sadie to even that O’Driscoll boy.

At some point in the night Dutch had put on some music. “Ya wanna dance milady?” Sean, now properly drunk, slurred to Karen sitting on his lap.

“I thought you’d never ask.” Karen said with a smile. “Lets go.” She said as she got off his lap and ran to a clearing in the camp large enough to dance on. Once Karen and Sean began to sway in each other’s arms Karen made something clear. “I warn you. If you spin me around too much then I may throw up on you.”

Sean laughed. “I can’t promise I wont neither.” He then gripped Karen slightly tighter by her hips. As the two drunkenly twirled around the camp they amassed a small crowd of amused onlookers, some laughing at their clumsy movements and some finding the romantic act to be rather cute.

“Awe they’re just so cute together. It’s almost like one of my books.” Mary-Beth said in her cheerful, girly voice.

“They look like a pair of drunk horses.” Arthur said with an amused grin on his face as Sean made a clumsy attempt at ballroom footwork.

Mary-Beth slapped Arthur on the shoulder at his rudeness. “Arthur! Be nice.” She said in a slightly scolding tone.

“I wasn’t bein not nice.” Arthur said as he put his hands up in surrender.

After some more dancing, Karen eventually broke away from Sean. “Okay, that’s enough for me. Any more and I am gonna be sick.” She said before going to sit down.

As the woman walked away Sean playfully slapped her on the arse saying. “Go on then. You rest, ya sexy thing.” He then locked eyes with Arthur. “Care to dance, Arthur?” Sean jokingly said as he stumbled over and drunkenly placed his hands on Arthur’s shoulders.

Arthur rolled his eyes then shoved the man off. “Get off me, you drunk bastard.”

“Fine, fine ya grumpy shite. How about you, milady?” Sean said as moved over to the young Mar-Beth.

Mary-Beth tugged on a lock of her hair then looked over at Karen by the fire briefly. “Well, we probably shouldn’t. Karen’s right there after all.” Mary-Beth did find Sean quite attractive, though slightly less so when he was drunk, but he and Karen seemed to be a proper thing now and she didn’t want to get in the way of that.

“And what makes you think Karen’s gonna mind eh?” Sean said with as wide smile as he pulled the younger woman closer. “Come on, just one dance... I can go ask someone else if you like.” Sean said as he cheekily looked in miss Grimshaw’s direction.

“No need for that. We can dance for a bit.” Mary-Beth said blushing. She couldn’t let herself seem upstaged by the mean old hag.

Sean pulled Mary-Beth onto the dance floor and quickly began twirling the petite girl around, much the same way he did with Karen. Mary-Beth couldn’t help but giggle at Sean’s attempts with dancing. “Maybe we should just slow down a little?” She said as she took Sean by the hand and brought him to a much slower tempo.

Karen watched as her lover danced with the younger woman. She could be a jealous woman but something about the whole situation turned her on quite a bit. She couldn’t put her finger on why but seeing her man get all cosy with the younger girl somehow made Karen’s slit leak ever so slightly. She smiled as she brought her bottle to her plump lips and took a large swig.

As the two danced around to the tune of Dutch and Molly’s gramophone Sean looked over and saw the O’Driscoll boy watching the two jealously. As much as Sean hated the O’Driscolls, Keiran had proven to be a fairly reliable member of their gang so far. Knowing that Keiran had a thing for Mary-Beth, Sean began to feel a little bad at possibly taking her away from the young man.

With a final drunken flourish Sean pushed Mary-Beth in Keiran’s direction. “Go on, give the girl a dance ya lazy prick.” Sean shouted, making the Keiran nervously take the still dancing Mary-Beth by the hands and begin following along.

Sean then took a break and sat down next to Karen. “Ah the young whipper-snappers.” He said affectionately as he looked on at Keiran and Mary-Beth’s dancing.

“I thought you said you wanted to sleep with her?” Karen whispered with a smile as she leaned her head on her man’s shoulder.

Sean laughed as he pointed to the laughing youngsters prancing around the camp. “ I like me some competition.” He then turned back to Karen. “Besides, if he gets her then I’ve still got plenty of options.”

“You heartless wretch” Karen said with a smile.

“You know me.” Sean said with a sly smile. A few more minutes of drinking Sean eventually looked at his lover and said. “I’m gonna go talk with the lads.”

“Fine by me.” Karen replied.

Sean then kissed the blonde on the cheek and stood up begging to walk over to where some of the boys were drinking. “You mind if I join you fine gentlemen?” Sean said as he walked over to a campfire where Charles, Lenny and Arthur were sitting.

“Sure.” Lenny replied with a smile.

After talking with Charles, Lenny and Arthur for a couple minutes a drunken Micah stumbled over the where the others were sitting.

“So still alive then, and no less ugly.” He said in a mean rather than joking voice.

“Go away you idiot.” Charles said in a monotone voice.

“I weren’t talking to you, darkie.” Micah said with a scowl as he sat down near Sean.

Sean wasn’t in the mood for Micha’s nonsense and responded quickly. “Why don’t ya go piss off?” The Irishman said as he took another swig from his drink.

Micah then put his arm around Sean’s shoulder as if trying to exert some power over the slightly leaner man. “Awe, why y’all bein so mean to poor old Micah?” The man slurred.

Sean pushed the drunken man off him then stood up. “Well ya did nearly get me killed, ya fuckin moron.” He said as he thought back the trap set by the Grays.

Micah face then turned furious as he stood up. “And how was it my fault that a fool like you nearly got your empty head blown off?” He said in a taunting manner.

Sean then suppressed his anger for one more moment in order to take one last swig from his drink. He then stepped towards the blond haired prick. “Micah. You’re a motherfucker, ya know that?” He slurred.

Before Micah could respond, Sean took a swing at the man with his balled up fist, making him stumble back slightly. At this point Lenny, Charles and Arthur had all stood up, ready to break up the oncoming fight.

“You snot nosed little ginger fuck!” Micah said angrily as he gripped his bottle by the neck. He then clumsily charged at Sean and attempted to swing his bottle straight into the man’s face.

Sean felt like the whole world had slowed down. There was a slight orange tint covering his vision and it was as if he could see Micah’s move before he made it. Sean, in his drunken state, just managed to deflect the man’s bottle and ended with Micah stumbling atop him as the two wrestled on the ground in an attempt to injure the other.

“Hey, hey!” Arthur shouted as he pulled Micah off and Lenny and Charles helped Sean off the ground. “Calm down you damn fools.” Arthur said as he pulled Micah off Sean and to his feet.

“Get off me, Morgan!” Micah said as he wrestled Arthur off of him. “This aint finished, you Irish bastard.” The drunk arsehole said as he stomped away from the fire.

Charles and Lenny let go of the struggling Sean. “What was that?” Lenny said as the group sat back down on the log next to the fire.

Sean took a few deep breaths. “You know what happened. He led us into that trap laid out by them Grays. I don’t trust him, not one bit.” The man said as he picked up another drink.

“I don’t think any of us do.” Charles said with a rare chuckle.

“Look kid, I don’t him neither but Dutch does and he ain’t gonna get rid of him. Best we can do is just try and not start fights.” Arthur said as he sat down on the ground next to the fire.

After the little fight Sean spent the next couple hours of the night talking, singing and drinking with the men he called brothers. At some point in the night, he was too drunk to remember, Sean stumbled back into his new tent and snuggled up to a sleeping Karen who smelled like whiskey and beer, just how he liked her.

***

Sean woke up the next day a little earlier than the woman next to him. He sat up and looked around, the sun was beaming through the fabric of the tent, so it must’ve been late morning. Sean turned to the woman beside and gave the sleeping Karen a kiss on the cheek. ‘Damn Sean, you have picked up quite the catch. She’s even willin to let you bring more girls into your bed! What kinda woman does that?’ Sean thought to himself with a wide smile as he rolled out of bed and got dressed in the bare minimum needed, only some loose fitting pants and an oversized white shirt.

As Sean was stepping out of the tent he noticed a half drank bottle of whiskey. ‘Musta left it there last night.’ He thought to himself. Picking up the whiskey bottle and taking a sip, Sean stepped out of the tent to the late morning sunshine.

“Sean... You got one more song in ya?” Uncle slurred as he stumbled around the camp, bottle in hand.

“Go lie down, you drunk old bastard.”

“You know, you’re two of those things already.” Uncle said as he stumbled over to his sleeping spot.

Sean shook his head and ignored the remark as he made his way to the water at the edge of camp. Once he made it to the water he saw the ever-sulking miss Adler, wearing her new hat and silly clothes, sitting on a rock next to the water. “Mornin miss Adler.” Sean said cheerfully as he began to remove his sparse clothing.

“What are you doin?” Sadie said in an angry voice as the man disturbed her quiet.

Sean was now down to just his underwear. “I’m takin a bath. What’s it look like I’m doin?” He said as he took a step into the cold river water. “Sweet Jesus, that’s cold.” He said he took another step in.

Sadie Adler hadn’t spoken much to Sean but she found him to be cocky and arrogant. “You’re disturbin me. That’s what you’re doin, Sean.” Sadie said as she stood up from the rock she was sitting on.

“You know, you really need to lighten up a bit. If you wanna thrive with our people and be one of us then you must learn our customs.” The near naked man said as he began scrubbing all the places that smelled too much like ****.

“And what ‘customs’ are those, Mr. MacGuire?” Sadie Adler said with an annoyed voice as she turned back to the half naked Irishman.

“Well one of them is you can’t be a grumpy bitch all the damn time.” Sean said with an antagonizing smile. To be fair Molly and Grimshaw were grumpy most of the time, but one’s a cranky old woman and the other runs most of the camp.

Sadie stuttered at the man using such blunt words then crossed her arms. “I am not a bitch! And I’m not grumpy all the time.” The woman said as she began to advance a little on the bathing man.

“Look at you, what would Arthur say ‘you’re all full of piss and vinegar’ right?” Sean said with a cheeky smile.

Sadie, now with a furious expression on her face, marched up to Sean until her feet were a foot in the water and she was face to face with the smug man. “You should watch your damn tongue.” She said with as much of a mean outlaw voice as she could muster.

“And you should watch your legs, sweetheart.” Sean said with cheeky grin.

Sadie was getting more and more mad at the man’s attitude. “What the hell are you talkin about?” As soon as she said this Sean used his bare foot to sweep Sadie from her feet and make her fall ass first into the cold water. “Ahhh!” She screamed in the girliest voice Sean had ever heard. “You- you bastard.” She said as she got up.

“You hate it don’t ya? You maybe wanna push me back eh?” Sean said as he spread his arms in the air with a goading expression on his face.

Sadie smiled slightly then balled up her fist up and struck at the cocky Irishman.

Sean’s mind again went into another state as Sadie’s fist came flying at him. It was as if he could see everything more slowly. He used his strange perception to easily dodge Sadie’s fist and send flying deeper into the river. “Oi! I said push, not punch!” He said with a triumphant smile as he looked down at the now soaking woman.

“Oh screw you!” Sadie stood up and rung out her hair. “Now I gotta change back into my dress.” She said as she began stomping out of the water.

“Hey! You almost did it!” Sean shouted as Sadie walked back up the path to the camp.

“What?” She said without turning back.

“Ya almost had fun!” As Sadie rolled her eyes and walked away. Sean couldn’t help but admire her wet backside a little. ‘I guess women wearing pants does have its benefits.’ Sean thought as Sadie walked off.

While Sean was finishing up with his cleaning he couldn’t help but think about that strange... Sense he just had. First he’d been having the dreams of him and the girls, though they’ve slowed down a bit, then there was the strange headaches that would disappear as fast as they came. And now this bizarre slow-motion crap that started last night and continued just now. ‘I think I might have to ask miss Grimshaw about this later... Maybe Mr Pearson?’ He thought as he finished up his cleaning.

Once the man stepped out of the water and put back on his minimal clothing he began walking back up to the camp. As he approached the camp he saw Abigail urgently striding around camp. “Oh, Sean. Have you seen Jack?” Abigail said as she quickly walked up to Sean near near the food wagon.

Sean thought for a moment, considering where he probably saw him last. “Huh, I think I last saw him playin around the outskirts of the camp last night.” He paused a moment. “Where did you see him last?” He questioned.

Abigail had a somewhat ashamed expression on her face. “I think I only saw him last night as well. I don’t usually drink, but John and the others, one of them bein you, convinced me to have a little last night. And a little turned into a lot rather quick.”

Sean laughed at himself just a little for apparently being able to help make Abigail of all people let her hair down. “Ah I’m sure the little bastard’ll be around somewhere... But if it makes ya feel better then I’ll have a look with ya.”

Abigail got a relieved look on her face. “Oh thank you, Sean. John is looking around to the west of the camp.” She said pointing in the direction John went. “I’m looking around the east side.”

“I guess that leaves me with North.” There was no way Jack could be to the south as it’s just the river that way.

Sean, Abigail and John all looked around camp for about an hour. Sean found little more than a few tracks that could be anyone’s, John and Abigail didn’t find much more. As the hour ticked by, a few of the other camp members joined in on the search. After another few hours Abigail stopped looking and simply started pleading with Dutch to find her son and send out a full search party to look for him.

“I can’t find a damn trace!” Sean shouted as he jogged over to where a small crowd had gathered near Dutch’s tent.

“No one can!” Abigail said panicking at not being able to find her boy.

“We searched the whole damn camp and we can’t find anything.” Miss Grimshaw said as she put her hands on Abigail’s shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

“It was those damn Braithwaites I’m tellin you.” Sean said as he joined the crowd. “Them Braithwaites and Grays were willin to ambush us and shoot me in the head, you think they’d be above stealin a fuckin boy?”

“Now calm down everyone.” Dutch said in an attempt calm everyone’s panic. “Arthur!” He then yelled past everyone as the rugged man walked back into camp. “Arthur, have you seen that boy, Jack?” Dutch said as he walked up and put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder.

“No.” Arthur replied, slightly confused.

“Where’s my goddamn son?” Abigail said as she ran up to the only one who hadn’t been in camp recently. “They took him didn’t they!”

“Who took him.” Arthur said not we quite catching on just yet.

“We think the Braithwaite woman took little Jack.” Hosea said as he ran up to where Arthur and the rest where.

“We’ve been searching everywhere and haven’t found hair nor hide of the kid.” Sean continued as he came up to Arthur as well.

“That Keiran boy saw a couple of fellas. Sound like Braithwaite boys.” Hosea said urgently as he joined them.

Abigail was still distraught and speaking with an erratic and fearful voice. “Where is my son? If anything-”

Sean grabbed took Abigail by the shoulders. “Look, Abigail, we are going to find little Jackie, all of us will... right Dutch?”

Dutch then looked Abigail in the eyes. “We will find him, we will bring him back to you and John, and we will kill any damn fools that had the temerity to touch one goddamm hair on that boy’s head.” As Dutch said this John joined the small crowd and silently watched the scene. “Abigail, John, I promise that we will find your boy, you have my word.”

Abigail’s face barely changed at Dutch’s words. “Just get me back my son, Dutch Van der Linde.”

Dutch got a determined look on his face then started walking towards the horses prompting the rest of the men to follow. “We will get that boy back, so help me god... Right now!”

All the rest of the men then came up to Dutch, Sean, Arthur, Hosea and John. “Dutch. We been searchin for jack. You need some extra guns?” Bill said as he prepared his shotgun.

Dutch stopped for just a moment. “Yeah, why not? Micah, Keiran, anyone strange turns up... you shoot em!” He said as he began mounting his horse, the count.

Sean mounted Ennis but before he could begin riding, miss Grimshaw and Karen came up and stopped him. “You are not leavin here. That wound still needs to heal!” Grimshaw said with her hands on her hips.

Sean scoffed. “I aint lettin those pricks steal Jack and get away with it. Dutch back me up here.” He shouted before anyone started riding.

“From what I’ve seen he seems fine. Just what we’re gonna need for this.” Dutch shouted to miss Grimshaw.

“Fine, but if you get yourself killed again then don’t count on me fixin you up.” The old woman said as she walked away.

That just left Karen standing there. “Sean... you be safe, understood?” She said with a worried expression.

“When am I not, love?” Sean said with a smile as he leaned down and gave his woman a quick kiss. “Don’t you worry about me, miss Jones. Sean McGuire’s comin home.” He said as he left the worried Karen and spurred Ennis to a trot with the others.

Almost everyone who wasn’t going came to the edge of camp to wave the men off. “Them boys better come back alive.” Molly said with a slightly stern face.

“Well they’ve survived this much.” Tilly replied. “Should be able to survive a little more.”

“Eh, they’ll be fine.” Uncle said nonchalantly as he stumbled back into camp.

“Aright boys, lets ride!” Dutch yelled as all the horses picked up their pace. The group didn’t speak for a moment as they exited the camp and rode into the woods.

After some slightly uncomfortable silence Hosea shouted from his horse. “They musta figured out what we was up to, Dutch.”

Sean then rode slightly closer to the older man. “Well them Grays damn near blew me head off in town. So they must’ve known somethin was up.” He shouted.

“I know, I know, Sean. I shoulda thought about this sooner. It was stupid of us not to pack up and leave as soon as you got back.” Dutch said with a tired voice. “But we can’t think about what we coulda done. Right now, we have to focus on Jack.”

They rode for a few more minutes. The night was bright, there was a full moon out that casted eerie shadows throughout the woods. Eventually John broke the silence this time. “I swear, I’m gonna kill every bastard there.” He said with barely contained anger.

“I’m right with ya mate. No one takes one of our own and gets away with it.” Sean said in support.

Dutch then spoke in a much calmer tone. “Easy boys. Lets all try to stay calm.” He said as he tried to make sure his men kept their heads.

“Oh I am calm.” John said with now cold anger.

“How the hell did they even get to him?” Hosea asked to no one in particular.

Dutch replied quickly. “It’s obvious ain’t it? We were careless.” He said, blaming himself what happened. “When we threw that party for you, Sean one of em musta seen an opening and took it. But that doesn’t matter, because we are going to make them pay.”

“What about the damn gold!” Bill shouted from his oversized horse.

Hosea then replied. “I hate to break it to ya. But I don’t think there is any gold.”

“What?” Sean and Lenny shouted in unison. What was the damn point in all this nonsense if there wasn’t a pot of gold at the end?

Hosea then continued. “Even if there is it’d be hidden somewhere no one is gonna find it.”

John then got even angrier than he already. “For Christ’s sake, Hosea. Another perfect fuckin scheme!”

Dutch then got annoyed at the bickering. “Enough! We messed up, I’m sure we can all admit that. But right now we need to focus on Jack, so come on, everyone!”

This seemed to shut everyone up for the remainder of the ride towards the Braithwaite mansion.

As they continued riding Sean began mentally preparing himself for the mission. ‘No mistakes this time. Jack’s on the line, so you gotta focus.’ Sean was not gonna let himself slip up with this one. He’d made plenty of mistakes during his time in the gang but he couldn’t make one this time.

As they kept riding a lit up house began shining through the trees, the Braithwaite manor. “Alright, get your heads right. Nobody makes a move until I say so, understood?” No one answered but they all silently agreed. Once they approached the stone gate adorned with lanterns Dutch spoke again. “Alright everyone, dismount and follow me.”

“First that shit in Rhodes now Jack. We shoulda stayed outa all of this.” Lenny said as he dismounted his horse.

“No point in dwellin on the past now. I’m fine and Jack will be as well.” Sean said as he dismounted Ennis then clapped his friend on the shoulder.

Once everyone was standing around Dutch he looked to Sean. “You sure you can handle this right now?” He said referring to his eye.

“I’m fine, Dutch.” He responded simply. “Never better.”

“Alright then, come on.” John then tried to stomp past Dutch but was stopped by the older man. “John are sure you’re okay?”

John readied his rifle. “Like I said. I’m fine.”

Dutch nodded then turned around and began advancing on the house. “Follow my lead, boys. Both these redneck families are gonna rue the day they tried to fuck with the Van der Linde gang.” The whole gang began forming a line beside Dutch. Arthur was to his immediate left and John to his right. Hosea then stood beside Arthur with Bill and Charles beside him. To John’s side marched Sean with Javier and Lenny beside him. “Who the hell steals a damn boy?”

“I’m gonna fly at those sons of bitches!” John said as they continued their march.

“I’m bloody well gonna take out one of their eyes. Only fair, right Dutch?” Sean said as he looked passed John to their leader.

Dutch looked to John and Sean. “Like I said boys. We need to to stay calm, at least for now while Jack is in danger.”

The gang continued their march towards the manor. Sean had both his revolvers out, ready to take out whoever stood in their way. He looked over and say Arthur casually carrying his shotgun, Dutch with his hands resting on his two pistols and everyone else with their preferred weapons at the ready.

Once they got within a few dozen yards of the mansion Dutch shouted. “Come out here. You inbred trash!”

A few men bearing rifles stepped out of the stupidly large doorway. “What the hell do you shits want?” They said as the gang continued marching.

Sean saw John’s trigger finger begin to twitch and tapped him on the shoulder. “Give it a sec Johnny boy.” He said as the gang stopped while Dutch continued walking a little.

“We’ve come for the boy. I imagine you knew we would.” He said with his pistol pointed to the air.

One of the rifle wielding men stepped forward a little. “Ya shouldn’t have messed with our business now should ya?”

Dutch took a deep breath as he also struggled somewhat to keep calm. “Whatever complaint you have with us, alleged or otherwise... That is a young boy. That is not the way you do things. Now hand him over.”

The guard up front spat. “Get the hell off our land you outlaw fucks.” As he said this the other doors of the house opened and more men spilled out bringing their numbers to over two dozen.

Dutch paused for a moment. “If you aint gonna be civilised about this... “ He then fired six successive sots with his revolvers, already killing a few of the men. “... Then neither will we!” He shouted as gun fire started drowning out all other sound.

As soon as the fighting started Sean’s strange sense kicked in again and he began to see things slower once more. He then lined up his two pistols and got one of the men right in the eye and another few in the chest. “Take that you fuckers!” He yelled as his sense went away and he dove to cover with the rest of the gang.

Dutch shouted a few commands as the gang slowly picked off the gunmen. “Sean, John, Lenny, Javier more fire to the right!” Sean stood up from his cover behind a cart and used his sense again to pick off three more of the men nearly instantly.

“Yo amigo, how to hell are you doing that?” Javier shouted to Sean from behind his cover.

“I dunno!” Sean shouted back as he looked at his pistols. “Maybe I am gonna take Arthur’s place someday.” He said as he looked to Arthur who was, as usual, destroying the battlefield and taking out enemies left and right.

There was a little pause in the fire. “Arthur, John, Hosea and Sean, with me. The rest of you stay out here and watch out for any unwanted visitors.” Dutch shouted as he began jogging inside the house, followed by Arthur then John and then Hosea and Sean. Dutch walked up to the door then kicked nearly off its hinges. “Get in there! Find Jack and find that Braithwaite woman!” He shouted as he waved his pistol inside the house.

Sean stepped in after the rest and began searching the living room. “Jack! You in here buddy?” He shouted he turned a corner.

A single guard was hiding around the corner, waiting for one of the the gang boys to come past him.

As soon as the redhead man turned the corner that Braithwaite boy punched him right where his eye used to be. “Ah fuck!” Sean said as he recoiled and was then tackled to the ground. After a little struggling Sean managed to get the upper hand and used his gun to smash the Braithwaite boy in the eye over and over again until he stopped moving. “Take that, you little fuck!” Sean said with a grunt as he grabbed his hurting forehead.

Arthur heard the commotion and ran to the living room to see what was happening. “You alright?” He said as he looked upon the now slightly blood-covered Irishman.

Sean stood up. “I’m fine. The bastard punched me in the patch, he got what was comin to him.” He said as he looked down at the brutalised corpse.

“Arthur, Sean get up here!” Dutch shouted from upstairs.

“Open the goddamm door.” Dutch yelled as Sean and Athur jogged up the stairs to see Hosea, Dutch and John trying to smash down a door before a few shot fired passed them making the three recoil. “Shit. John, Arthur, Sean we’ll hold them down here.”

Charles then shouted from outside. “We got more coming in from the front!”

“Shit. Boys get out there, we got this door covered.” Dutch said as John, Arthur and Sean sprinted outside to the balcony.

As the men on horses approached the mansion Sean realised that he couldn’t hit them without a rifle. “Arthur hand me your spare.” He shouted from behind a pillar.

Arthur groaned for just a moment. “Alright, but if you so much as scratch her then you’re gonna wish that bullet in Rhodes killed ya.” He said before slinging the carbine repeater from his back then tossing it to younger man.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll treat like I treat all my girls.” Sean said as he took a shot, killing one of the approaching guards.

Arthur then also took a shot and made one of the men’s lanterns explode. “Like a disposable object?” He then shouted back with a laugh.

Sean then paused to put on an offended look. “What kinda man do ya take me for Mr Morgan?” He then took another shot killing yet another approaching gunman.

John looked over after killing one of the men. “Really? Are you doing this right now?” He said in an annoyed voice.

“Well it looks like they’re runnin so it seems fine!” Sean shouted as he picked off another one of the fleeing men.

“Alright, lets find a way into that damn room.” Arthur said as he began walking to the windows outside the house with his rifle still drawn.

As the young Irishman walked up to the gruff older man he held out the rifle. “Here ya go, you grumpy bastard. Not a scratch on her.”

Arthur looked at his gun for a moment then pushed it back into Sean’s chest. “Keep her. Maybe she’ll keep you from gettin shot again.” He said with a laugh.

“You two, I found a window into the room!” John shouted, calling the other two over. “Arthur, you help me open it. Sean you stand back and shoot anything that moves inside.”

Arthur nodded then took position beside John. “You got it.” Sean said as he began reloading his new carbine. Once he had finished reloading the three men all nodded.

John then counted. “One, two, three.” The two slammed their shoulders against the door three times before it snapped open. A cabinet on the other side was pushed over by their **** and two men yelled as they readied their guns. Before the two could let off a shot Sean had already put two bullets in their heads as if he were fast as lightning. Arthur turned his head to Sean with a slightly shocked expression. “Well done.” He said simply.

At that moment Dutch and Hosea finally broke down the door they were behind and stomped through. Dutch immediately went for the closest and pulled out a struggling old woman, who Sean could only assume was the infamous Catherine Braithwaite.

“You want me to kill you too, old woman?” Dutch said as he brandished his gun.

“You bastards!” The old woman said as she erratically fidgeted. The woman, despite being at a disadvantage now, looked mean and ready to wage war.

Hosea pushed her into the wall. “Where’s the damn boy?” He yelled.

The old crone gritted her teeth. “We have lived in this house for one hundred and twenty years, we never had no problems ‘cept for Yankees.”

Hosea cut her off and repeated himself. “Where is the boy? Who took him?”

The woman ignored the guns in her face. “You killed my sons!”

Dutch replied by putting his gun closer to the old woman’s face. “And I will surely kill the rest of them unless you start talkin.” He said as he cocked his gun’s hammer.

“Oh, I know your type. Nothing but common scum, that’s what you are.”

Dutch lowered his gun then put his face closer to the woman’s. “Were is the boy?” He said in a deep and intimidating voice.

“You filth.” Mrs Braithwaite replied as she spat in Dutch’s face.

Dutch chose not to react to the old woman’s disrespect. “Alright we get her outa here.” He said as he began dragging the woman by her night-gown.

Sean looked around at all the expensive jewellery. “Dutch, what about all this.” He motioned to all of necklaces siting on the the vanity table and dressers.

“Take it, but be quick” Dutch said simply. As Dutch went to leave, one of the boys Sean had shot tried to grab at his legs prompting the angry man to simply blow the boy’s head off making the old woman cry out.

Sean then grabbed a handful of the valuables, seeing a necklace that Karen might like and a bunch of shite he could sell at a fence for a maybe a couple hundred.

“Sean come on!” Dutch shouted from outside the room. “Let’s get this hag outside. Any more of her sons to deal with?”

Sean began walking towards the stairs Dutch was going down. “Nope, pretty sure we killed the lot of em.” Sean said, making the woman cry out in anguish again as he caught up.

Dutch was now dragging the old woman by the hair. “Well then, lets burn this dump to the ground.” He said as he dragged the woman down the stairs by her hair.

While Sean knew this had to be done, something just didn’t quite right about doing this to an elderly woman, no matter how evil she was. After making his way down the stairs, Hosea put a lantern in Sean’s hands and directed him to help in lighting the house up. After barely a minute the whole house was going up in flames as everyone retreated outside into the dark yard, only lit up by the now burning building.

Dutch was now carrying the crying woman over his shoulder as she struggled. “Put me down, Yankee!” She yelled as she weakly bashed Dutch on the shoulder.

Dutch then dropped her on the ground as they all made it back to the gang. “There you go then.” He said almost mockingly.

“I never liked you.” She said in a shaky voice as she lifted herself from the ground a little.

“Why’d you take the boy, Braithwaite?” Hosea said as the woman was about to say some nonsense about liquor but the old man was having none of it. “Kids are off limits.”

“You stole my horses. Ain’t no rules in war Mr...”

Hosea replied. “Mathews.”

“...Yes that was it.”

“Where’s the boy? Tell us.” Javier said with his gun trained on her face.

The woman’s face was getting obscured by the heavy smoke coming from her burning house. “My sons took him to Angelo Bronte. So my guess is Saint Dennis... Either there or on a boat to Italy.” She shouted she shouted, mocking them.

John had to be held back by Charles and Bill. “You goddamn bitch!” He shouted as he tried to rush the old woman.

Dutch looked at John. “Head back to the horses, everyone!” He said as the gang walked away. “Let’s go. Arthur come on!” Dutch called to Arthur, who seemed to be lagging while walking away from the carnage.

“What are we doin with the old crone?” Sean asked as he walked up next to their leader.

“Leave her.” The man said without looking back. “She might as well be dead anyway.”

“I told you she was crazy.” Hosea continued.

As the gang walked away Sean looked back and watched the crazy old woman begin to stumble into her now burning house as she screamed and cried at the loss of her empire. ‘This is what the old crone deserves.’ Sean thought as he and his brothers walked away from the burning mansion and into the darkness.