RDR: NO REGRETS - Chapter 295: Chaos (Patreon)

“Damn it, there are people everywhere. We’ll never get out of here!”

Hiding in a narrow alley, Abigail stared at the chaos in the street and asked Hosea behind her, “What do we do now?”

As she spoke, she instinctively tightened her hold on little Jack.

Having grown up on the streets, in saloons, and in brothels, she wasn’t afraid of the scene before her.

If anything, she was used to it.

But her child...

She absolutely could not let her child die here.

He deserved a better future.

Hosea understood that, of course. In fact, if he could trade his own life for little Jack’s safety, he would do it without hesitation.

“Wait, where’s Karen?”

Mary-Beth suddenly cried out, “Where did Karen go?”

Everyone hurriedly turned around. Karen, who had been right behind them only moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn it, she must have gotten separated from us!”

Mary-Beth said anxiously, “We can’t just leave her behind!”

As if things weren’t bad enough already. They hadn’t even managed to escape, and now they had lost one of their own.

Abigail said nothing.

The women in camp were all close, and Karen’s disappearance upset her too.

But...

She looked down at little Jack. She couldn’t risk taking her child back into danger.

When no one answered, Mary-Beth immediately turned to retrace their steps, only for a dark figure to block her way.

“What are you still doing here?!”

It was John. Following Dutch’s orders, he had come to protect his family.

“Karen’s missing. Have you seen her?” Mary-Beth asked urgently.

“No, I haven’t. Wasn’t she with you?”

John looked completely baffled. “How did she just disappear?”

“I don’t know. I saw her right behind us just a moment ago!”

Mary-Beth was nearly in tears. “What are we going to do?”

“All right, stop crying.”

Hosea raised his voice with unusual force. “Right now, we get out whoever we can. Otherwise, we’re all going to die here!”

This was no time to let sentiment get the better of them. One wrong move, and every one of them could die here.

“John, what’s it like out there?”

Hosea looked at John and asked calmly, “Stephen is waiting for us at the dock. He was badly wounded before that, and he’s in terrible shape.”

As he spoke, Hosea glanced at Mary-Beth.

The meaning was obvious. Her man needed her.

Sure enough, when Mary-Beth heard that Stephen was seriously wounded, she was torn.

On one side was her missing best friend. On the other was the man she loved, badly wounded and waiting for help...

“There are only two of them there, Stephen and Juan. Once those Pinkertons reach the dock, they probably won’t be able to hold out. We need to get there as fast as we can!”

With Hosea putting it that way, no one else objected.

Not that the situation gave them much room to argue.

John studied the street and quickly made up his mind. “Arthur and the others are at the saloon. We’d better meet up with them first.”

“I already sent Kieran ahead to warn them. I just don’t know where they are now.”

“That’s easy. Head for wherever the gunfire is loudest!”

John might sometimes seem a little slow, but when it came to fighting, his instincts were sharp.

Wherever Arthur was, things were bound to be loud.

Led by John, Hosea, Mary-Beth, and Abigail, with little Jack in her arms, took the back ways and hurried toward the saloon.

The streets were in complete chaos. Every so often, armed gunmen came charging out from every direction. Half-crazed from all the killing, they no longer cared who stood in front of them. They simply raised their guns and opened fire.

The men at least had some chance to fight back. Those carrying guns might even manage to take one or two of their attackers down.

But the women, the elderly, and the children had no such chance.

Unarmed and unable to resist, they were like lambs waiting for slaughter before those gunmen. All they could do was scream in terror and pain.

Watching the horrific scenes unfold around him, John clenched his jaw.

He wasn’t a good man.

He never had been.

He had robbed people. He had killed people.

But those killings had happened in open fights, and the people he killed had been gunmen, bodyguards, or lawmen.

In other words, they were all men who made their living with a gun. Dying by one came with the territory.

He could swear he had never harmed innocent civilians.

Much less old people and children like the ones in front of him.

Those animals!

And this was what they called the government? What a damn joke.

“Keep moving. We don’t have time to help them.”

Beside him, Hosea looked at John, the boy he had helped raise.

He knew exactly what John was thinking.

John was just like Arthur. They might look vicious and brutal, but deep down, both of them had gentle hearts.

They had always believed in Dutch’s creed of robbing the rich and protecting the weak, even though Dutch himself might now...

Besides, they could barely keep themselves alive. How could they possibly save all these people?

“We can’t draw their attention. The moment you fire, they’ll surround us!”

Abigail clutched John’s clothes tightly and pleaded, “Look at Jack. You have to protect him!”

John looked at his wife, then at his child, and reluctantly nodded.

“Let’s go!”

The closer they got to the saloon, the heavier the gunfire became.

At last, when they reached a street near the saloon, they spotted Arthur facing off against a group of gunmen.

Arthur was clearly having trouble holding them off.

More and more gunmen were gathering across from him, and the hail of bullets coming his way was growing denser by the second.

He had to change positions after every shot just to keep from being riddled with bullets.

Worse, there was no one beside him who could really help.

Pearson was huddled off to one side, trembling, while Strauss was no use in a gunfight.

Kieran was the only one who wanted to do something, but since they had needed to enter the town without drawing suspicion, he naturally hadn’t brought any weapons with him.

Without a weapon, there was nothing he could do. He finally managed to grab a rifle from a dead gunman, only to run out of ammunition after a few shots.

With no other choice, he hurriedly ducked down and started searching for more bullets.

Hidden in the shadows, John quickly surveyed the area, growing more anxious by the second.

“If we head forward from there, it’ll take us straight to the dock.”

Hosea quickly pointed toward a narrow side passage. “We’ll hide there first. Then you can go help Arthur and the others.”

John looked where Hosea was pointing. It was a dark, narrow alley that stretched deep between the buildings.

There really wasn’t another option.

John nodded and immediately drew the pistol from his waistband.

“I’ll go out first. Once the shooting starts, use the confusion to make a run for that alley.”

With that, John gripped his pistol and charged out.