We rode in silence for quite a ways before Dutch spoke.
"What else have you been doing behind my back, Ann?" he asked, and I saw Arthur bristle beside me.
"I was trying to stop this mess from getting any worse," I told him, my voice level.
"Why the hell would they attack the oil fields?" John asked.
"What do you mean? It's perfect," Dutch replied.
"This was your idea?" Arthur said, anger evident in his voice. I was equally shocked, swallowing the fury that threatened to spill out.
"Partly," Dutch was unbothered, "The army, the government, the industrialists... They've taken everything from these people! Wouldn't you want to fight back?"
"You've handed them a death sentence," I told him angrily.
"Just like John, if we hadn't got him out of that prison," Sadie quipped, and I knew she was right.
"Hey, show some goddamn respect," Bill barked.
"You'll know when I ain't showing respect, Bill," Sadie warned.
"I had a plan, I still have a plan," Dutch informed us, anger clear in his own voice.
"What plan? What goddamn plan, Dutch?" John yelled, "Tahiti? Timbuktu?"
"That's enough. What's wrong with you all?" Javier yelled over him. "What happened to loyalty?"
"Yeah, what did?" John scoffed.
"Thank you, Javier, Bill," Dutch said, his voice rising, "Right now, it doesn't matter how we got here. These men need our help. I have a plan... this is the plan. So either stick with me or cut loose. Because I am tired of this constant dissent, long tired of it. Now come on!"
We rode silently again until we came upon one of the Indians.
"Look ahead, its one of them," Dutch said, "Are you alright, son?"
"Eagle Flies, he needs help," the man replied, "They all need help."
"Quick, somebody help him," Charles said.
"No, go... please. Hurry, I'll be..." he didn't finish before we charged past him, ready for whatever hell awaited.
I shared a look with Arthur, whatever this was wasn't going to be good. And Dutch, in this frame of mind. It was a recipe for disaster.
When we came upon the oil fields, they were burning bright.
"It's a massacre," Charles said, looking through his binoculars.
"We gotta help these men," Dutch said as I looked through my own binoculars, a deep frown on my face.
"Anyone see Eagle Flies?" Arthur asked.
"There, going across the walkway," Charles pointed, and sure enough, he was there.
"You got what you wanted, Dutch," I growled.
"You coming or not?" he asked me.
"I'm going to try and save him," I replied, "This fight is unwinnable. If you go and distract them, let me get to him."
"Have it your way," his face was dark, "The rest of you, ride with me. Let's meet up at the factory. Let's ride!"
Bill, Javier and John went with him. The others didn't.
"Go with him," I told them, "Try and help there. I'm better off alone."
"We're riding with you," Arthur said.
YOU ARE READING
RDR2: Faithless
Fanfiction"Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens." Ann Wright was only a few months old when she was found outside Saint Denis, discarded and forgotten. The ones who found her? Dutch van der Linde and Hosea Matthews, alongside their adoptive...
