https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MZKbJIhPCk

[quote][b]“Prolly gonna need a second horse Delta is strong but he can’t pull all of us plus the wagon and the supplies. Unless some of y'all are gonna take your own horses in.”[/b][/quote]


[quote][b]He chuckled and walked towards the wagon. “Well then, boys and girls.” He lifted his hand in the air, pointing his index finger up and turned it around

“Saddle up and let's go! We are burning daylight!”[/b][/quote]

	"Y'all heard the man, ladies!  Civilization awaits!  YEEHAW!!  Fine women and whiskey, here we come!"  Gus was practically bouncing with joy as he hollered across the camp, loud enough that anyone within earshot could hear the old fool.  Hell, he was just happy to get away from this dreary old camp, especially with Elijah in his sour mood as of late.  The damn fool just couldn't let go of Dodge City it seemed, and now he was spending the rest of the day in his tent moping, when he should be out here leading the gang.  Gus would never understand what had got him all worked up, Elijah.  Oh well, thoughts for another time he supposed.  Maybe it was best if he got out of the man's hair for a while.  Besides, that saloon and all its sinful joys were just calling his name, and he was eager to begin the long trip up to McKinley, the sleepy little cow town nearby.


[quote][b]“Prolly gonna need a second horse Delta is strong but he can’t pull all of us plus the wagon and the supplies. Unless some of y'all are gonna take your own horses in.”[/b][/quote]

	"That sounds like a job for 'ol [url=https://www.nps.gov/hale/learn/historyculture/images/Clyde2.png]Rufus[/url], Ma Belle!"  Said Gus rather jovially as he motioned towards...well...what could only be described as the nastiest looking creature on the face of God's green earth.  The mule was about as big as a full grown horse, but he stunk to high heavens.  His muddy brown fur was matted with dirt and God knows what else, and buzzing around his dull head were flies attracted to his awful stench.  "I'll go get 'em real quick, and then we can get this show on the road!"  Gus soon waddled off to fetch the stubborn old mule.  As predicted, he began to buck and rear his head back, unleashing a cantankerously loud "HAW!!" from his mouth full of crooked teeth as Gus tried to wrangle him in by his reins, shouting and cussing at the unruly beast, "Now c'mon Rufus, you stupid mule!  Don't be an ass!  Move it!"

	Meanwhile, Claudia was about to climb up into the wagon, when she saw Gus fighting with the animal, the fiery redhead shaking her head and heaving a bothersome sigh.  "Mister Gus!"  She yelled over to the old man as he resumed his struggle against Rufus.  "Why don't we just use Mister Master's horse or Pete's?  I guarantee none of us ladies want to go to a nice little town like McKinley smellin' of mule now."  She said as she whipped out her ornate Chinese hand fan, vigorously waving it in her scrunched up face in a desperate attempt to wave off the mule's acrid stench as she turned to the rest of the women, "Ain't that right, Miss Blackthorne?  Ma Belle, wouldn't you agree?"

	"Oh don't be actin' so goddamn fancy now, Miss McCullen!"  Said Gus with a glower, a hearty grunt given as he drug the reluctant mule over to the wagon, trying his damndest to hold Rufus still and yoke him in.  "I bet 'ol Rufus here can pull this wagon all by his lonesome.  He might be dumber than a sack of rocks, but I reckon he's as strong as a goddamn ox he is."

	"Hmph!  An ox would probably smell better too."  Claudia scoffed rolling her eyes, continuing to fan away Rufus' horrible musk from her face.  With a sharp nailed finger, she pointed at the mule, a dumb, clueless look on its scruffy old face.  "Just make sure that dumb mule knows where to pull us.  God help us all if he takes us all into a goddamn river."  With that, the woman pulled herself up into the back of the wagon and sat down closer towards the front.  Her hand rested on the handle of her LeMat as she patiently awaited for the rest of the gang to depart.  However, just as the old coot Gus, she too was eager to get going.  For the time being, the redheaded woman was content to just sit there and take in the atmosphere.  

	Even if Elijah's cold shoulder this morning had put a damper on things, everyone in the camp was as happy as could be, smiling and conversing so joyfully.  In truth, it made Claudia somewhat sad that her man couldn't join them, merely just letting his own guilt and anger consume him as he stewed away in his tent, an exile of sorts.  Claudia had hoped that when they returned from McKinley, her Elijah would be in a much better mood than before.

...Alas, she could only hope.  

	Gradually, her smile began to fade, her lips contorting downward into a sullen frown.  She sighed to herself, craning her neck upward to gaze up at the blue sky above, the puffy white clouds quietly hovering overhead amidst the gentle breeze whispering through the trees and the song of birds chirping and cawing in the treetops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI-nFfmkm5k

	Unfortunately, elsewhere on the rolling plains, all was not well...or peaceful.

	Thundering across the plains, the three men and their horses were trying their damndest to outrun their pursuers.  John was leading the men as he spurred Blackjack hard in his muscular side, shouting to the beast, "Hyah, Blackjack!  C'mon boy!"  Galloping alongside him was Seth and Jamie, two of the men from his gang who went hunting with him up north.  Sadly, they didn't find anything...other than the outlaws who were relentlessly chasing them down.  Seth rode closer to John, Jamie holding tight onto his back, as tight as he could at least.  John could see the blood seeping through Jamie's shirt where the bullet had pierced him.

...it was from those goddamn Thunder Hill boys.  An ambush.

	"John!"  Seth yelled over to him as they pushed their steeds faster, galloping hard across the plains but making no headway whatsoever in eluding the pursuing gang.  "John, we gotta lead them away from the camp!  You hear me?!  We can't lead these boys back to where we're hidin'!"

	"I know, goddammit!"  John hollered.  He quickly reached back with his sidearm, firing a volley of four shots towards the men riding after them.  "Jamie's gonna bleed out if we don't get him help soon!  Goddamn Thunder Hill Gang!  I can't believe they were waitin' for us!"  He fired off another few rounds before swiftly turning back to face the road ahead of him, the countryside flying past his vision quicker than a blur it was.  Suddenly, "GYAH!"  John felt it, the biting, searing pain of a bullet ripping through his back and out his left side.  "Fuck!  I'm hit!"  He cried out, hastily grasping his side as he felt the warm trickle of blood down his skin.  Still, he continued to urge his horse along, Seth doing the same.  "John!  You alright?!"

	"Yeah, it's just a scratch!"  John called back.  He soon took the reins and pulled them hard towards the left.  "Alright, let's head left towards the ridge!  We'll take up a defensive position there!  There should be plenty of boulders for cover!"

	"What about Jamie?!"  Seth hastily replied.  "He's gonna die if we don't make it back to camp soon!"

	"He's a fighter, Seth!  He'll hold on!"  Said John, albeit grasping his own painful wound.  If anyone needed to survive this, it was certainly him.  He couldn't risk leaving behind his wife and child so soon.

	As soon as they reached the ridge, John hopped off Blackjack quickly, reaching into his saddle and pulling out his favorite double barrel.  He broke the shotgun open, slipping in two shells and cocking it back, ducking behind the rocks and taking aim just as the first man topped the hill and came into view.  With one squeeze of the trigger, the shotgun rang out like a canon blast, the outlaw flying off his horse in a cloud of red mist.  Seth meanwhile followed suit, placing the wounded and weary Jamie carefully behind cover before firing on the opposing gang with his repeater.  "Keep shootin', Seth!  Bastards 'll run eventually!"  John called out.  Despite the pain of his own terrible affliction, he continued to load shells into his shotgun, firing round after round towards the men coming after them.

	All the while, bullets zipped and whizzed past his head, mere inches from the lobes of his ears.  "Goddamn!  We're gonna need some more guns at this rate!  These boys ain't lettin' up!"