RDR: No Regrets - Chapter 281: Pain No One Could Endure (Patreon)

Hosea’s medical skills were nothing to write home about, but they were passable.

After spending so many years in the wild, he’d picked up enough practical medical knowledge to get by.

When Hosea saw the baby-fist-sized chunk of wood still lodged in Stephen’s back, he couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

My God. It was nothing short of a miracle.

Just as Stephen had said, if this had happened to anyone else, they’d probably be dead already.

“Hurry up. Cut the flesh open along the wound, then grab that thing and yank it out!”

As he spoke, Stephen picked up his clothes from the ground, balled them up, and stuffed them into his mouth.

It was to keep himself from screaming when the pain hit, or accidentally biting his tongue.

Even Hosea’s hands began to tremble at the sight of the enormous wound.

He swallowed hard, then switched the knife to his other hand. His palms were already slick with sweat.

“Y-you... just try to bear with it...”

Hosea spoke in a trembling voice. Stephen nodded impatiently.

Seeing that, Hosea stopped hesitating. He gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and drew the knife through the flesh around Stephen’s wound.

FUCK!!!

It hurt like absolute hell!

Stephen instantly broke out in a cold sweat. He bit down hard on the cloth in his mouth, every nerve in his body pulled taut.

Stephen was tense, but Hosea was even more nervous. As he worked on the wound, he kept raising his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“Stephen, hang in there a little longer. I’m going to pull it out!”

By now, Stephen couldn’t get a single word out. He could only nod with all his strength.

Hosea counted down, “Three, two, one,” then grabbed the chunk of wood and yanked it out with all his might.

Honestly, that kind of pain would have been enough to break even the toughest man alive.

Stephen was no exception. He could take a beating and keep fighting, but there was no escaping the very real pain of having something torn out of his body.

A jet of blood burst from the wound. Stephen, already losing consciousness, toppled headfirst into the water beside him.

“Stephen! Stephen, wake up!”

Hosea’s shouts seemed to reach him from somewhere nearby, but Stephen no longer had the strength to answer.

...

“Holy shit, that fucking hurt!”

Stephen felt as though his entire body was falling apart. It took nearly all his strength just to force his eyes open, only to find himself staring up at a clear blue sky.

It was already daylight? How long had he been unconscious?

He struggled to prop himself up and looked down at his body. Once again, he’d been wrapped up like a living mummy.

How many times had this happened now?

Stephen sighed. Ever since joining the Van der Linde Gang, he seemed to be getting seriously injured more and more often.

Once again, he had to admire Arthur and the others. The fact that they could still run around full of energy in conditions this harsh was honestly incredible.

He looked around. He was lying beneath a tree, with the stream not far away.

A savory aroma drifted over. Stephen turned his head and saw a campfire burning beside him, with a small pot set over the flames and something bubbling away inside.

The smell coming from the pot made Stephen feel like he could eat an entire cow.

Where was Hosea?

When he didn’t see Hosea anywhere, Stephen grew worried. Bracing himself against the tree beside him, he started to get to his feet.

“You’re awake?”

Hosea’s voice suddenly came from the nearby woods.

Stephen turned and saw Hosea slowly staggering out from among the trees.

He was covered in dirt and looked filthy. Worse still, his face made him seem as though he had aged several years overnight.

“Where did you go?”

Stephen asked with concern, “Didn’t you get any rest?”

Hosea shook his head. “I’m getting old. Can’t sleep.”

“I went to bury McKen. There are a lot of wild animals around here. If I’d left him there, there probably wouldn’t have been much of him left after a couple of days.”

Hosea sighed, then raised his head and forced out a chuckle.

“Enough about that. How are you feeling?”

He looked at the bandages wrapped around Stephen’s body and said with lingering disbelief, “You have no idea how bad the wound on your back was.”

“Last night, right after I pulled that piece of wood out of you, you started bleeding like crazy. I... I almost thought you weren’t going to make it.”

As he spoke, Hosea’s voice began to choke up. Stephen smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s fine. I’m like an indestructible cockroach. An injury like this won’t kill me.”

Just then, a wave of dizziness hit Stephen, and his body started tipping uncontrollably to one side.

Hosea quickly caught him. “You lost too much blood. You need to get some proper rest.”

Stephen shook his head and grabbed Hosea by the arm.

“There’s no time. We have to get back right away.”

“What?”

“Those detectives. Those Pinkerton detectives are coming after us!”

Stephen was now absolutely certain that those detectives were after them.

Otherwise, why would they bring such a large, fully armed force all the way out here? What, were they here for a picnic?

They had to be the people Sam had mentioned in his letter, the large force transferred over from Blackwater.

Stephen couldn’t think of anyone besides the Van der Linde Gang who could make the Pinkertons mobilize on this scale.

The Lemoyne Raiders? Or the Church of the Holy Lord?

Give me a break. The Pinkertons weren’t the police. They weren’t going to waste their time on work that didn’t pay!

Keeping the peace? What a joke. Just look at how they acted last night. They were no different from bandits!

No. They were even more vicious than bandits!

Their target had to be the Van der Linde Gang!

Only the Van der Linde Gang was enough of a thorn in their side to warrant all this!

After Stephen told Hosea about the letter Sam had sent, Hosea immediately understood. The Van der Linde Gang was now in grave danger.

“But... what about your injury?”

Seeing how weak Stephen looked, Hosea couldn’t help worrying.

“Why don’t you stay here and rest for a few days? I’ll go back on my own!”

“No!”

Stephen rejected the idea immediately.

“Who knows where those Pinkertons are by now? We don’t even know whether they have other allies. It’s far too dangerous for you to go back alone.”

“And you don’t need to worry about my injury. It’s not that far from here to camp. We’ll be back by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

Using Hosea’s arm for support, Stephen got to his feet. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths where he stood until he finally started to feel a little better.

“All right. Eat something and get some rest. I’ll pack up our things.”

Seeing that Stephen had made up his mind, Hosea stopped trying to persuade him and turned away to gather their belongings.