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They loaded the supplies, mounted up, and soon the wagon rolled out of Rhodes and back onto the trail toward camp. The sun was climbing higher now, and Caleb was preparing himself as he knew what would happen next, It was fortunate that he brought his Lancaster repeater alongside him as well.
Sadie, now in her new outfit and wide brimd hat, a sight Caleb had seen often in his past life through a screen, was at the reins, clearly proud to be driving the wagon. Arthur sat beside her in the shotgun seat, boots up and rifle close.
"So," Arthur asked casually, eyes on the horizon. "Do the two of you get everything on Pearson's list?"
Sadie responded first, her tone casual but assured. "I think so."
Caleb followed up from the back. "Yeah, we got everything Pearson scribbled down. Even got a couple of free peppermints thanks to Mrs. Adler's very... convincing act."
Sadie glanced back at him with a laugh. "Why thank you kindly, Tacitus dear, for the complint. Remind to go with you next ti you run supplies."
Caleb chuckled and tossed a stray corn kernel from a sack with a small tear at her. It bounced off her shoulder. She didn't even flinch, just laughed again and flicked the reins.
Arthur smirked. "And I guess you got... so new clothes too, huh? Lady."
Sadie snorted. "I like Sadie, not 'lady'. Also, don't start. I can wear whatever I damn well want. Like I told you, my husband and I shared all the man work. I wasn't so little wife with a flower in her hair baking cherry pies all day."
Caleb takes an apple from a sack and takes a bite of it, "Cherry pie? I would like to taste the pie to bake one day, Mrs. Adler."
Sadie just laughed and said nothing, Arthur on the other hand raised his eyebrows and gave a little shrug. "I don't doubt that at all. You sure look the part now. Won't be long before you're gonna join us by smokin' cigars and playin' harmonica."
Sadie snorted again, slapping the reins for more speed. "I'll have you know, Mr. Morgan, I used to love playing the harmonica. Before... well, my house and everything I owned got burned to the ground that day."
A pause. The laughter faded. The atmosphere turned awkward.
Arthur scratched his cheek awkwardly, his voice softer now. "I know. I'm real sorry... about what you... you know. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for another one of those harmonica for you."
Caleb finished his apple, added from the back, aiming for levity but with a hint of sincerity. "I'll keep an eye out too. Maybe even two. Depends on how lucky I get."
Sadie gave a half laugh, half sigh. "I don't want no pity. Just treat like an equal. And know this... nobody and I said nobody, is takin' anything from ever again."
Just then, Caleb noticed movent from the corner of his eye. Two riders approached from behind, horses kicking up dust as they ca up alongside the wagon. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on the Lancaster repeater. His expression went cold.
Arthur didn't notice that and muttered under his breath, as he turned to look at Sadie with a solemn face. "Uh huh. Just... don't kill the camp cook. Please."
The two n, dressed in old Confederate grays and slouched hats, pulled up alongside the wagon. One on the left, the other on the right. Lemoyne Raiders.
"Hey there!" the one on the right called out, his voice oily.
Arthur turned just slightly, hand near his holster. "Hey."
The man smirked. "What are you folks up to?"
"Just heading ho, mister," Arthur replied coolly.
The man snorted hearing that. "Well, you're in the Lemoyne Raiders' country. You need to pay a toll to pass through here, mister."
Arthur, keeping his voice calm, whispered, "Keep it cool, Sadie. Caleb."
Then he looked back up at the man and answered, "No, I don't think so."
The rider's smile dropped. "You don't think so? How about you pull over right now?"
"Pull over? No, I don't think so," Arthur said with a bit of anger in his tone.
The second Raider, a burly brute with a thick beard, chuckled darkly. "Then I guess we'll just take that wagon of yours instead."
Caleb, still crouched in the back with his Lancaster repeater at the ready, t Arthur's eyes who glanced back at him. A silent understanding passed between them.
Sadie, however, had no patience for subtlety. "Hey! How's about this?." she snarled, reaching for the revolver at her hip and imdiately shooting her revolver at the Lemoyne Raider on the right.
The man Sadie shot crumpled instantly, falling off his horse without a word, his chest having been split open by a clean bullet to the heart. The thump of his body hitting the dirt was muffled by the sudden tension that snapped through the air.
Caleb, already with the stock of his Lancaster Repeater braced against his shoulder, reacted in a blur. The second Lemoyne Raider, still trying to process what just happened, turned his head at the sound but never had the chance to raise his weapon.
Caleb's shot cracked out, and the bullet smashed clean through the man's skull. He slumped in the saddle, then tumbled backward, landing like a sack of potatoes.
But it wasn't over.
From behind, the thunder of hooves signaled another rider, the appearance of one more Lemoyne Raider, revolver in hand, charging up the trail toward them. Caleb pivoted, leveled his repeater, and squeezed the trigger.
The first shot hit the man in the arm, spinning him slightly in the saddle. Caleb fired again, once, twice, thrice, and the man finally jerked, then fell off his horse like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"Shit! Let's get the hell outta here, go!" Arthur shouted as he scanned the horizon, his hand already took out his revolver from his holster.
Sadie didn't need telling twice. She whipped the reins and the horses neighed, surging forward. The wagon lurched and picked up speed.
"What the hell was that about?!" Arthur demanded, casting a furious look at Sadie.
"They were gonna rob us," Sadie said without looking back, her tone grim and sharp.
Caleb, checking the back trail for more threats, added with steel in his voice, "Sadie's right, Arthur. They were gonna pull sothing ugly on us. Better to have the initiative rather than let the bastards have it."
Gunshots cracked behind them, splinters bursting from the wagon's wooden side. Caleb flinched as a bullet whistled past his head, narrowly missing.
"Incoming!" he shouted, seeing three more Lemoyne Raiders tearing down the road behind them.
"Down!" Arthur bellowed, yanking Sadie low as bullets whizzed overhead.
Caleb pupils on the other hand narrowed. A golden hue bled into his vision as his Dead Eye activated.
Ti slowed.
The first rider. Marked.
The second. Marked.
The third. Marked.
Three sharp shots echoed in unnaturally rapid succession, and all three riders collapsed as their horses panicked and galloped off.
The Dead Eye faded.
Arthur, on the other hand, focused on the front of the road, as he holleredtoward Sadri, "A new pair of pants and you think you're Landon Ricketts!"
Ahead of them, the road forked at a three-way intersection. Another Raider stood in the middle, arms raised as he tried to wave them down.
"I'm gonna run this son of a bitch down!" Sadie snarled.
Arthur took aim and fired right, taking down another oncoming rider before he could draw.
The man in front never had a chance. The wagon crashed through him with a sickening CRACK, the body flung aside as the horses kept galloping.
Sadie turned off the main road, guiding the wagon onto a grassy patch near a cluster of large rocks and fallen logs. She brought it to a hard stop.
Arthur and Sadie jumped off either side.
"Well, you wanted to see so action, lady! Now you get your wish!" Arthur growled.
Caleb vaulted off the side of the wagon, rolling into a crouch behind a long log beside a waist high boulder. Sadie dove for cover behind the boulder itself, grinning like a woman reborn in chaos.
Five, maybe six more Lemoyne Raiders ca pouring out from the treeline, whooping and firing wildly.
"There's more than there should be!" Caleb called. "Too many for a toll road y tell you!"
He didn't wait. He popped up, squeezed the trigger. One man fell. Then he activated Dead Eye again.
Golden focus. Two more targets. Headshots. Clean. Precise.
Ding!
His system interface popped up.
[Dead Eye Skill has increased to Level 2. Duration increased from 7s ➔ 10s. Cooldown reduced from 3m ➔ 2m 25s.]
He ignored it for now.
Sadie was screaming with battle laughter now, firing round after round with uncanny precision.
Arthur, from the opposite side of the trail, shouted, "Are the two of you okay there?!"
"Yup!" Caleb yelled back, dropping another raider.
"Of course! You think I can't handle these fools?!" Sadie barked.
Caleb laughed. "Arthur was just asking if we were okay, Sadie. Not doubting your skills or anything! I should sa it was a pretty impressive!"
A bullet whizzed past his ear at this ti. He ducked and fired back, hitting a raider in the thigh and then the chest.
Arthur popped up, dropped two with his revolver. Caleb nailed another who was trying to flank.
Soon the shoot out finally co to an end and silence reign once again.
Empty brass casings lay hot on the ground around Arthur, Sadie, and Caleb.
Birds cautiously resud their song.
The grass was littered with corpses and horses whinnying nervously in the distance.
Sadie stood and holstered her revolver to her holster, with a grin on her face.
"Told you two I could shoot a gun, didn't I?!"
Arthur holstered his as well. "I don't rember askin' you to prove it!"
Sadie just grinned. "Well that was a good exercise I say. Nice shootin', you two."
Caleb didn't respond at first. His focus was on the glowing interface still visible to his eyes.
Dead Eye Skill Leveled Up!
Dead Eye (Lvl 1) ➔ Dead Eye (Lvl 2)
Description: The increase of the Dead Eye skills had brought ti dilation extended from 7 to 10 seconds. Cooldown reduced from 3 minutes to 2 minutes 25 seconds.
He blinked it away with a thought.
"Looks like I earned myself a little upgrade," he muttered under his breath.
Arthur approached him. "You alright, Caleb?"
"Much better than them I could say," Caleb replied, nodding at the carnage of Lemoyne Raiders bodies.
"Let's search the bodies and move. Soone might've heard that, we are still close to Rhoes after all," Arthur said.
Caleb and Sadie both nodded, and the three of them began quickly looting ammo, money, guns, and any useful supplies off the fallen Lemoyne Raiders. Caleb added a small pouch of rifle cartridges and a few silver rings to his inventory, along with a bit of tobacco and chewing gum.
After everything was finished, Sadie gets on the driving seat, "Alright! I'll drive us back to camp!"
Arthur who hears that imdiate gets on the shotgun, and gestures for her to give rein to him, "No, pass those reins here to ."
Sadie give a confused look when she heard that, "Why?"
Arthur who hears that let out a snort as he takes the rein from Sadie's hand, "Why? Because you have caused enough trouble already, don't want you to cause more on our way back." Caleb who gets on the back of the wagon let out a chuckle when he hears that, while Sadie just huff and snort.
...
Na: Caleb Thorne
Age: 23
Body Attributes:
- Strength: 7/10
- Agility: 6/10
- Perception: 8/10
- Stamina: 7/10
- Charm: 5/10
- Luck: 6/10
Skills:
- Handgun (Lvl 2)
- Rifle (Lvl 2)
- Firearms Knowledge (Lvl 2)
- Past Life mory (Lvl MAX)
- Knife (Lvl 1)
- Blunt Weapon (Lvl 1)
- Sneaking (Lvl 2)
- Horse Mastery (Lvl 3)
- Poker (Lvl 3)
- Hand to Hand Combat (Lvl 1)
- Eagle Eye (Lvl 1)
- Dead Eye (Lvl 1) ➔ (Lvl 2)
- Bow (Lvl 2)
- Pain Nullifier (Lvl 1)
- Physical Regeneration (Lvl 0)
- Crafting (Lv1)
- Persuasion (Lvl 2)
- ntal Fortitude (Lvl MAX)
- Cooking (Lvl 2)
- Teaching (Lvl 1)
- Germanic Language Proficiency (Lvl MAX)
- Inventory System (Permanent - 5x5x5)
Money: 513 dollars and 45 cents
Inventory: 1004 dollars, 2 gold nuggets, 1 gold bar, and 4 silver rings
Bank: 320 dollars, 4 gold bars, a large bag of jewelry, and 3 gold nuggets
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