Chapter Text
Sadie shivered and wrapped the woolen blanket tighter around herself, her breath visible in the freezing air as she exhaled shakily. She had been down in the cellar for 3 days.
3 days without food and water. 3 days without Jake.
She shook her head trying not to think about what had happened but the memories flooded her mind.
Being up in the mountains they rarely got visitors so Jake knew something was wrong by the way they came rushing at the cabin.
He told her to hide in the cellar hoping he could draw them off.
"Jake...."
"Go on. I'll take care of 'em"
"Jake I can fight, we can-"
"No...I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt."
The look in his eyes...
"I love you." She whispered. He smiled at her one last time.
"I love you too."
Then everything went dark as he closed the cellar door. Moments later a loud *BANG!* sounded out, but this time it was followed by more...
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
"F-f-fuck" she cursed.
"good work Arthur!" she heard someone shout.
Her heart was pounding fast. Footsteps could be heard above her. "house, they're in the house" she said and closed her eyes trying to focus her hearing to decipher the muffled voices. Something about women and someone named Jack. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized it wasn't the men who killed her husband. These were different folk. She was taken out of her thoughts when the door to the cellar was yanked open.
"Well, well, well what do have here?" the man said.
"No! Get away from me!" She yelled and tried to run away. She dodged the man and made her way to the front door but was stopped by him as he tried to grab her. She started throwing bottles and whatever she could find.
"Wild little thing ain't ya!!" The two men she had heard earlier came into the cabin but not before the man that had been chasing her flipped over the table setting the place on fire.
"Micah what are you doing?!"
"She's an O'Driscoll!"
"No she ain't, Micah, look at her. Miss come with us we gotta get out of here"
Sadie looked around seeing that the walls were already lit ablaze. One of the men wrapped a blanket around her and guided her outside. She was so pumped up on adrenaline that she didn't even feel the cold anymore. A million thoughts raced through her mind. 'Could she trust these folk?' Better yet 'did she have a choice?'
"Miss? Are you okay?"
She struggled to speak but when she did the tears came pouring. "They came three days ago....and my husband, they...."
"Okay, miss you are safe now....and you can't stay here"
They looked back at the burning cabin, now engulfed in flames.
"You can come with us...Arthur!" Another man took her and lead her to a horse.
"Miss? It's okay alright? were bad men but....we ain't them so, it's okay. get on, we'll keep you safe till you figure out what you wanna do" All she could do was watch as her whole life was being reduced to ashes.
He lifted her onto the horse and they rode away.
"What's your name Miss?" she was too busy focusing on the burning building to notice the man was speaking to her.
"Miss?"
"Adler"
"Adler?"
"Sadie Adler. Mrs....I....he....he was my husband" she buried her face into her blanket to try and muffle the sound of her sobbing as they rode.
"I-I'm real sorry miss. Like Arthur here said, you can stick with us while you....sort things out. That feller up ahead is Micah and I'm Dutch."
"We've got a couple of cabins southwest of here, it ain't much but its shelter," Arthur shouted through the harsh storm. "Just let us know if you need anything."
She just nodded and kept to herself.
"Hey! Somebody's coming" She heard someone say. looking up she was met with the sight of people surrounding the horses.
"How'd you get on?"
"Good, Micah found a homestead but....he weren't the first. Colm O'Driscoll and his men. They beat us to it."
Someone came up to her offering their arms out to help her off of the horse. She slid into their grasp and was met with other faces lit up by the glow of lanterns.
"We found some of them but there is more about apparently....scouting a train."
"That's the last thing we need right now. Dutch."
"Well it is what it is but we found some supplies, some blankets....a little bit of food, and this poor soul Ms. Adler."
Everyone looked at her.
"Miss Tilly, Miss Karen would you warm her up....give her a drink or something. Mrs. Adler it's gonna be okay....you're safe now." The two women lead her to a building.
"Like Dutch said it's gonna be okay, we'll warm ya' up and make ya' comfy. I'm Karen by the way."
"-And I'm Tilly"
"-You just let us know if you need anything at all." They opened the door, inside sat a small boy, two women, and two men. They all looked up from the glow of the fire.
"Abigail, Mary-Beth will you keep her company for a second, me and Tilly gotta go get some food."
"Of course," a blonde woman said. The two women took her by the hand as Karen and Tilly left.
Sadie couldn't stop crying. Her heart ached and felt heavy in her chest. Her mind was hurting. She just wanted it to stop.
"Miss? Miss? hello?"
The woman named Abigail reached out to her and laid a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.
"Y-yes, I'm sorry..."
She heard Abigail chuckle. "No need to apologize ma'am. Just wanted to make sure you were okay, Arthur says you lost your husband. That's a hell of a thing...I'm sorry." Abigail placed a hand on Sadie's arm in reassurance. "Come sit by the fire, will you? You're bound to catch a cold if you don't warm up soon."
"Thank you...." she whispered
"If you ever, you know, wanted to talk or anything me and the girls are here for you."
"Thank you," Sadie repeated just before Karen and Tilly came back with some of the canned food Dutch and Arthur had found.
"Here you go Mrs. Adler," Karen said handing her a can of beans. "I also got you a whiskey, figured you could use it"
"Thanks," Sadie said. She slowly ate as she stared into the flames.