𝐍𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ➳ 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝟐

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟱

Ruth has been watching the town like a hawk for the past few days but every night she returned to bed disappointed. No sight of any of the Van Der Linde members. Another day and another dead end.

Ruth buttoned up her white shirt while looking up at the posters Leviticus had given her. She pinned them all the wall above her bed, she had all their faces and names memorised. Once her shirt was buttoned up she tucked the fabric into her black jeans loosely before pulling on her dark brown boots that went up to just under her knees. She sat on her bed for a moment after, taking a small break. Her job was still settling on her, she never went after anyone as big as Dutch Van Der Linde. She had to keep him alive also which she imagined bringing him alive was going to be harder than killing him. Killing him would also be hard. 

Over the past days Ruth had introduced herself to locals she saw around town, informing them about what was going on. A lot were understanding, she thought they deserved to know. Others were curious and worried but she ensured them that they would be safe and wouldn't hurt anyone without reason. One thing everyone she talked to agreed on was to tell her if they saw anything suspicious going on in Rhodes or around. 

Today, Ruth would be riding around the area to see if she could find anything that could point to them. Ruth figured if she could get to one of them then she could get to Dutch. She pulled back her brown hair into a loose braid down her back before getting off of her bed and gathering her weapons. She fastened the gun belt around her waist before fastening separate straps around her thighs, keeping the gun belt more secure. She tucked her revolver into it's designated holster along with her knife before picking up her carcano sniper rifle and her bolt action rifle, pulling both guns over her back with the straps attached to them. Ruth took a moment to run a final scan on the posters on the wall, Dutch Van Der Linde, Hosea Matthews and Arthur Morgan were on the top of her list. With the few days of being in Rhodes, Leigh Gray let her go through files on Dutch's boys that he attained for legal reasons in case he ever had a run in with them. She had learnt that Hosea was close with Dutch, Arthur too. 

Ruth finally left her room, walking out through the swinging doors in which she said a brief good morning to the barkeep. She walked across the Parlour House before exiting, stepping outside to be embraced by the warmth of the sun. Being close to the swamps, Rhodes was fairly hot compared to Valentine. She found Saint Denis was alike with Rhodes with heat, the industrial city being surrounded by swamp and marshland. After taking in the beautiful morning, Ruth headed down the steps and walked around the side of the building to return to Devi once more. The horse greeted her with a mouthful of hay from the trough in front of the horse. Ruth petted the horse's neck before pulling her rifles off of her and strapping them to the delicately carved saddle. Ruth had always dreamt of having her own personalised saddle when she was young. She was never sure why but she knew it was something she wanted badly. So, when she had the money she did exactly that. She traced her fingers over her engraved initials on the gold plate attached to the saddle's leather. She smiled to herself knowing how happy little Ruth would be to see her in the future with her own saddle. Ruth removed herself from her memories and quickly mounted Devi and turning her out of the small fence that surrounded the Parlour house and walking down the back road that led towards the train station and out of Rhodes. 

"Easy," Ruth muttered quietly down to her black mare. Devi halted as Ruth sat deep into the saddle and pulled back slightly on the reins. The horse snorted in annoyance but obeyed. Ruth stared down the road in front of her, squinting her eyes against the sun's rays. The one day she doesn't wear her hat and the sun decides to not be in her favour. Ruth quickly dismounted Devi by a large rock that divided the road into three before snatching her binoculars from her saddlebag. Ruth ushered the Devi away with a quiet hiss. In response, Devi trotted into the trees and disappeared from sight. Ruth peeked around from behind the rock and peered through her binoculars. She saw a wagon approaching quite slowly as the two occupants spoke as they drove. There was a woman with sandy blonde hair holding a letter as she read before chuckling. the hair at the front framed her face while the rest was pinned back and cascaded back with the rest of her hair. Ruth looked over at the driver when her jaw dropped immediately. The brown hair was the same she had seen on the day she got robbed, along with his piercing fierce blue eyes. His tanned skin was an indicator of years spent under the sun, he himself wore a look of ruggedness and bitterness towards the world.