Chapter Text
Horseshoe Overlook. It was a nice clearing that overlooked the Heartlands, while still remaining hidden to the normal passerby. It was perfect.
One by one the old wagons filled with supplies and people pulled up to the area. The gang members quickly got to work, setting up tents, fetching water, and starting campfires. Sadie took note of their coordination as if they had done this the thousand times before.
She walked around idly, observing the other members as they talked. She offered to help a few but they politely refused obviously still feeling bad about her recent loss.
She eventually sat down on a rock on the outskirts of camp with a sigh of defeat. She needed to do something, anything before the thoughts of Jake came rushing back.
"Y'know I never did thank you."
Sadie looked up and saw the young woman from before. Abigail. She leaned against the tree in front of where she sat. Her arms crossed over her chest and a cigarette dangling from her lips. "Thank you....?" Sadie said warily, not knowing what she was referring to.
"My son. Jack." She pointed behind her to the young boy running around, teeming with excitement over his newfound home.
"Oh. It's no problem," she sighed. "No problem at all."
"Sadie right?" Abigail said moving towards her. She took a seat on the rock next to her. "He loved whatever story you told 'em. Talks my ear off about it."
Sadie recalled vaguely the half-finished story she told him. "I picked it up in a book somewhere..." she said quietly. Her hands twisting in her lap.
"Hmm," Abigail said taking the half-burned cigarette in between her fingers, holding it out to Sadie. "Smoke?"
Sadie hesitated only for a second before taking the little stick, slipping it between her lips and taking a drag.
"Jack's learning to read. Hosea's teaching him."
Sadie exhaled slowly, the smoke billowing from her mouth and nostrils. The strong taste of nicotine coating her tongue. She listened carefully as Abigail continued to talk.
"I've- I've been meaning to learn myself I just- I just haven't the time I guess. You ever have kids, Ms. Adler?"
"No," Sadie said. "Me and Jake we tried...I couldn't get..."
"Oh," Abigail said quietly. Sadie was just glad she got what she had meant. So that she didn't have to elaborate. "I know we just met 'n all but...but I was wonderin' if you'd mind teachin' me."
"Too read?" Sadie wanted to clarify, although what else would she teach the young woman that she had indeed just met and was already finding herself wanting to become friends with. She was going off track! She needed to give Abigail an answer, "Sure." She said simply, taking another drag off the cigarette to stop herself from saying anything else.
"Okay. Thank you. I'll-"
"Everyone! Gather around!"
Dutch's voice cut Abigail off.
"C'mon everybody!" He said again.
"I guess It's best we go listen," Abigail said with a chuckle. She stood and turned to Sadie offering a hand to her. "C'mon now," she said with a warm smile that made Sadie feel odd but in a good way. She reached out and took Abigail's hand which helped her to her feet and they joined the others.
Dutch stood in front of a crowd, at his side were Arthur and Hosea. There was a light chatter across the small crowd until Dutch spoke out again.
"I know that things have been tough. But we are safe now, and we are far too poor. So it is time for everyone to get to work!"
Then Hosea spoke. "Get to work but stay out of trouble. Remember, we are itinerant workers-"
"-Laid off when they shut off our factory to the north." Dutch interrupted. "Now get out there and see what you can find. Uncle, Reverend Swanson-" The half-drunk men in the back of the crowd perked up at the sound of their names. "-no more passengers!" a light chuckled went through the crowd at the joke. "It is time for everyone to earn their keep."
"There's a town a little way down the track, Valentine. It's a livestock town, all grunts, and working girls if I remember right. That seems like a decent place to start," Hosea said.
"-And we need food." someone in the crowd said. All eyes turned to a fat man with a top hat and an old sweater. Sadie wasn't absolutely sure of who he was. "Real food," he said again. "That means every day, one of you."
"-And remember all of you!" everyone turned back to Dutch as he bent over and pick up a metal lockbox. "The camp gets its slice!" he gestured to the thing as he set it on a barrel beside him. He finished the whole speech with a simple, "Now be sensible out there." And that was that.
People dispersed with a chatter, most went back to what they were doing before he had interrupted. "Well..." Sadie heard Abigail say and she turned to look at her. "Guess I'll be seeing you around yeah?"
"Yeah..." Sadie said quietly and watched as Abigail walked away and towards her unruly son. "Yeah," she said again to herself.
All of a sudden she felt a sharp pain in her fingers. "Shit!" she exclaimed lowly. The cigarette. She had forgotten about the cigarette. She dropped it and brought her fingers to her mouth sucking on them lightly to relieve the pain. While she was doing that Ms. Grimshaw had caught up with her.
"Ms. Adler, the girls have decided that you would be best, bunking with them."
She startled Sadie, to say the least. Sadie quickly took her fingers out of her mouth.
"Oh...Okay. Thank you." Sadie said, to be honest, it hadn't dawned on her that she had nowhere to sleep and she was truly thankful that someone was looking out for her. "Should I...?"
"Right this way," Ms. Grimshaw said and started walking without waiting for Sadie to catch up.
The place was just big enough for four girls. It was just a couple of blankets sprawled over a pallet on the ground on one side and the same set up under another wagon beside it. "Tilly and Karen room together, you can do the same with Mary-Beth. Speak to her and they'll get you set up," Ms. Grimshaw said and then walked away before Sadie could say more.
"Hello, Miss.," a young girl said. Sadie turned to see Mary-Beth smiling at her and wiping her wet hands on her dress, having just finished washing clothes. "Ms. Grimshaw said you was to be sleeping with us. I'm Mary-Beth I don't believe I introduced myself the other day."
"Sadie," Sadie said and gave her a simple nod.
"It's nice to meet you. You can have either side-" Mary-beth gestured to the blankets. "-I ain't too picky."
"Right'll be just fine," Sadie said picking a random side. "So..." she started, sitting down on the blankets. Mary-beth did the same. "...How long have y'all been...running..." She tried not to sound so odd about it, but she was curious. They seemed to have done this plenty of times.
"Oh you know...we've moved so much, I've lost count by now."
"Hm."
"We usually don't move so often 'least it wasn't like that when I first joined."
"And how did you?"
"These boys found me when I was- ha, I was getting chased for robbin' a feller. I didn't have anywhere else to go so I...fell in with them."
Sadie thought for a moment. "I take it you we're all runnin' from the law at some point?"
"Yeah. Dutch saved most if not all of us. He really did." Sadie nodded. "Well, I'd best get goin' with my next chore before Ms. Grimshaw loses her head. It was nice meeting you. I'll see you later?"
"Yeah, it was nice meeting you too."
Sadie ended up taking a nap after Mary-beth had left her. She hadn't realized how tired she was although thinking back on the last couple of days, she hadn't gotten much sleep.
She dreamed of a smokeless campfire in the middle of dusty plains. Nothing could be seen for miles out and the only thing she could think to do was stay by the heat. Hoping something or someone would tell her what she was doing way out there, alone.
When she awoke it was dark. The camp was quiet, save for the crackling of the few fires. Sadie rose quietly, careful not to wake the sleeping woman beside her. She found that her mouth was dry and had a sour taste in it while her body ran hot.
Sadie stumbled to the nearby barrel beside the wagons and dipped her hands in the cool water. It immediately calmed her scorching skin but that wasn't enough, after splashing some on her neck and face she lifted handfuls to her mouth and drank greedily until at last she was sated. "Fuck," she said under her breath.