Thorax The Outlaw

by blaszczu2500

Horseshoe Overlook

It has been a few days since Thorax became a part of the Van der Linde gang and the changeling could easily say that these days were one of the best in his life. Most of the gang welcomed him warmly and as those days passed Thorax was slowly becoming closer with each of them.

On his first day after he joined the gang. Mr Pearson offered him to try his stew, even though he didn't had to eat normal food like everyone else in the gang. Thorax reminded it to the cook who insisted. Thorax, knowing he had no other choice decided to try it and he didn't regret his choice. The stew was delicious! He told that he really enjoyed it to Pearson, which made him really happy.

He finally had a chance to talk with John Marston, after the man who was injured in the mountains started healing his wounds. The man was suprised to see Thorax, because like everyone in the gang, had never seen anything like him before, but as they talked with each other, he started to take a liking in Thorax. Thorax also took a liking in John, but the thing that suprised was that John seemed not to care about his family. He was even more suprised when Arthur told him that John left a gang for a year because he didn't believe that Jack was his son. Thorax didn't know why, but he had a feeling that something will happen, which was cause John to care to for his family, more than he does now.

Playing with little Jack became regular part of his day. The little boy loved playing with him, because of Thorax's ability. This was very tiring for Thorax but seeing the joy he was bringing to the boy was making him really happy, which also resulted in satisfying some parts of his hunger but his hunger was not the thing he cared at this moment. He had received a chance of having family he wanted since he left the Hive and he didn't want to ruin this chance. He had came up how to earn his keep.

Lenny started teaching him how to read, which at first seemed hard for Thorax, but as the time passed, it became easier for him and the changeling actually started to enjoy reading.

However, Thorax was not the only newcomer to the gang. A few days ago, Dutch, Arthur and a few others ambushed an outpost of O'Driscolls, people who as Thorax remembered were responsible for the death of Sadie's husband. They brought someone from the O'Driscolls camp into their camp, so the gang could interrogate him and find out about Colm's O'Driscoll plans for the future.

Thorax really wanted to talk with the O'Driscoll that Dutch and the rest brought but he didn't got an occasion with him private because the man was guarded by one of the members of the gang, mostly Micah. Thorax knew that he had to wait for the moment where he would be able to talk with the man in private and his waiting paid off. When most of the gang had gone to rob a train which was property of a man who went by the name of Leviticus Cornwall, he finally had an ocassion to sneak into the cabin where this man was held.

"Hello?" He asked, slowly opening the door with his magic before spotting a young man who was tied up to a support beam. The man's eyes shot open at the view of him. He slowly started to panic because he saw Thorax on the day when Arthur brought him to camp. He has never seen anything like him before, which caused him to develop a fear for the changeling, even though he didn't get to know him.

"Please!" The man shouted as the realization that Thorax was sent by the gang to kill him popped into his mind, "Don't kill me! Please! I'm not an O'Driscoll!"

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I've brought you some food." Thorax explained as he walked closer to the man who was still a bit afraid of him, "My name is Thorax. What's your name?"

"Kieran... Kieran Duffy..." Kieran replied, nervously.

"Well, Kieran. Nice to meet you." Thorax said before gesturing towards the bowl with Pearson's stew which he held in his magic, "Are you hungry?"

Kieran nodded his head in response as Thorax grabbed the spoon and fed him one portion of the stew.

"Why are you doing this?" Kieran wanted to know.

"Because you remind me of myself. I'm too, treated like a monster because of my species doing. Dutch, Arthur and the rest are the only creatures that showed me kidness and gave me a chance. I want to do the same for another creature who is the same situation as I was." Thorax explained as Kieran nodded in understanding before Thorax fed him another portion of the stew.

"Thank you for doing this." Kieran smiled slightly.

"No problem." Thorax smiled back as he proceed to fed Kieran.

The next two hours, Thorax spent in the cabin. He and Kieran talked with each other and learned about each other's history. He learnt that Kieran lost his parents when he was a kid due to a disease known as Cholera and that he worked as stable boy while in his time in the Colm O'Driscoll gang, then he asked Thorax about his story. Thorax told him everything, starting with the day when he hatched in the Hive, going to the bullying he got from other changelings, including his own brother for not wanting to fight, to leaving the Hive and surviving on his own and ending on the day where he met Dutch Van der Linde who offered him to stay with his gang to wait out the snowstorm in the mountains, and becoming friends with most of the the gang. He told Kieran that they could be his friends as well, and promised to convice Dutch to let him go, or even let him join his gang which Kieran appreciated a lot. However Thorax knew that it was not going to be an easy task, because he was a part of the gang just for a few days.

Their talk was interrupted by Lenny who walked in the cabin, "Thorax! There you are!"

"Hi, Lenny. What's going on?" Thorax wanted to know.

"We're moving to another place." Lenny explained, "They wanted me to take Kieran to one of the carriages."

"Where are we going?" Thorax wanted to know.

"We'll be heading to a place called Horseshoe Overlook." Lenny explained.

"Thank you for telling me, Lenny." Thorax thanked Lenny before getting himself up from the floor.

"No problem, Thorax." Lenny said as Thorax headed towards the exit.

"It was nice talking with you, Kieran." Thorax said to Kieran who nodded his head before Thorax walked out of the cabin, to see everyone from the gang preparing themselves for the journey.

"Mr Thorax!" Dutch said as Thorax made his way to him, Arthur and Hosea.

"Yes?" Thorax asked.

"I see that Lenny informed you about our plans?" Hosea asked, gesturing towards Lenny who was bringing Kieran out of the cabin.

"He did." Thorax confirmed with a nod, " He also said that we're moving to a place called Horseshoe Overlook?"

"That is correct. It's a place near Valentine." Hosea said.

"Well then, let's go." Dutch said, before gesturing towards one of the carriages, "Arthur, you're in that one, bring Hosea... Thorax you're in..."

"He can ride with me, Arthur and Charles." Hosea offered as Dutch nodded, then Thorax hopped on the back of the carriage and sat down next to Charles as Arthur and Hosea sat in the front, before the gang started moving out of the mountains.

---

The gang had already left the mountains. Thorax, along with many others was happy to finally leave the mountains. Some of them were also admiring surrounding, because some place they passed were really beautiful to look at. Micah and Lenny were sent by Dutch to investigate road to Horseshoe Overlook to see if there were any O'Driscolls or Pinkertons around.

The trip was going as many other one's, until one of the wheels in the carriage broke, causing it to stop.

"Ah shit!" Arthur cursed.

"Okay... Let's take a look." Hosea said, before hopping off his seat. Arthur, Thorax and Charles followed his example and soon the four of them were standing in front of the place where the wheel was supposed to be.

"You alright back there?" Uncle asked from the other carriage that was in front of them.

"Does everything look alright?" Arthur asked, sarcastically.

''Well, what's going on?" Javier asked, sitting in the same carriage as Uncle.

"I broke the goddamn wheel!" Arthur groaned.

"Alright, let's get it fixed." Hosea said as Arthur, Charles and Thorax nodded in agreement.

"You need help?" Javier asked.

"I reckon we can handle it." Hosea stated as Arthur moved towards the wheel and lifted it up.

Hosea and Charles were about to lift up the carriage, so Arthur could place the wheel back at it's place but Thorax stopped them, "Excuse me, Hosea, but I can do it if don't want to."

"That's okay, Thorax. Besides, no offense, Thorax but..." Hosea didn't even had a chance to finish his sentence as Thorax changed his shift into Charles, which caused him to rub back of his head, "Oh right... I forgot about it.... well if want to... go ahead."

Thorax let out a small chuckle in response as he lifted the carriage up with Charles as Hosea and Arthur started pushing the wheel towards it. Charles had to admit that it was was really uncomfortable for him, because Thorax who looked just like him at this moment was standing next to him.

As they were done with fixing the wheel, Thorax changed into his normal form.

"See, you're not so useless, after all." Arthur said to Thorax who smiled at him in respose, before the four men of them spotted three men on their horses on the small hill that was nearby.

"What do you think?" Arthur asked Charles.

"If they wanted trouble, we wouldn't have seen them." Charles stated.

''Poor bastards." Hosea said, giving the unknown men a small wave. The men disappeared from their view soon after, "We really screwed them over the years. Come on, let's not push our luck."

''What happened?" Arthur asked, walking towards his seat as Thorax and Charles hopped on the back of the carriage again.

"Well, get in and I'll tell you. " Hosea said, before them two of them got themselves back on their seats and started riding back towards their destination. It was also the moment when Hosea began his explanation, "So, yes. The indians in these parts got sold a very raw deal. This is the Heartlands we're going to. Good farming and grazing country, they lost it all. Stolen clean away from them it was, every blade of grass. Killed or herded up to the reservations in the middle of nowhere."

"And how's that different from anywhere else?" Arthur wanted to know.

"Well, maybe it's not." Hosea agreed, "I just heard some of the army out here was particularly unpleasant about it."

"Unpleasant? How do you kill and rob people pleasantly?" Charles asked.

"We don't." Arthur replied, "In spit of Dutch's talk."

"I fear I was perharps trying to simplify something more complicated for the benefit of out blockheaded driver here." Hosea said, gesturing towards Arthur, also causing Thorax to hold back a laugh, which Arthur thankfully failed to notice.

"Charles. You mind if I ask what happened with your tribe? You told me you were a part of one of them." Thorax asked Charles.

"I told you that I probably was a part of one of them. Honestly, I don't remember myself." Charles began, earning Thorax's attention. Even Arthur and Hosea were curious about it because they didn't know much about Charles' backstory themselves.

"My father was a colored man. They told me he lived with our people for a while. A number of free men did, but when we were forced to move from our lands, the three of us fled. I was too young to even remember much. All life, I've been on run. A couple of years later, some soldiers captured my mother, took her somewhere. We never saw her again. We drifted around. He was a very sad man and the drink had a mean hold on him. Around thirteen, I just took off on my own."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Charles." Thorax said as Charles sent him a small smile and nodded.

"Thirteen, huh? That was about the age we found young Arthur here, maybe a little older. A wilder delinquent you never did see, but he learned fast." Hosea said.

"Not as fast as Marston, apparently." Arthur stated.

"Wait. I don't understand. What's the problem between you two?" Charles asked.

"It has something to do with that left you for a year?" Thorax asked.

"It's a long story, but this is one of reasons." Arthur replied, before asking, "We still heading this way."

"That depends. Are we still heading west, in search of fortune and repose in virgin forests, as we planned? No." Hosea began, "Are we heading in the correct direction on out desperate escape from law eastwards down the mountains? Yes. I believe so."

"You know this area?" Thorax asked Hosea.

"A little. I've been through a couple of times. There's a livestock town not far from here, called Valentine. Cowboys, outlaws, working girls. Our kind of place.'' Hosea replied.

"O'Driscolls?'' Arthur asked.

"Probably them too." Hosea replied.

''Pinkertons?"

"Let's hope not."

''And this place we're going, what is it called again?'' Arthur asked.

"Horseshoe Overlook." Thorax replied.

"What he said." Hosea added.

''It's good place to lie low?" Arthur asked.

"It'll do for now." Hosea replied, "And how low do you think Dutch is going to lie? It's just... you know. Maybe it's me who's changed, not him, but we kept telling him that ferry job didn't feel right. You and me had real lead in Blackwater that could have worked out."

"Maybe." Arthur said with a shrug of his shoulders.

''It's just... isn't like Dutch to lose his head like that." Hosea said.

"Things can go wrong sometimes. People die. It's the way it is, always has been... Me, you, Dutch... we've all been in this line for a long time and we're still here so, I figure we must've got it right. A hell of a lot more than we got it wrong..." Arthur stated.

The rest of the journey to Horseshoe Overlook went calmly and in silent. Everyone remained silent and decided to do their own thing. Arthur kept riding, Hosea lit up a cigarette, Charles just sat in silent and Thorax looked around the surrounding which he really liked. Views like that were a really rare sign for him, so he decided to enjoy them as long as he could.

As they reached Horseshoe Overlook, Charles went to start unpacking his tent, Arthur and Hosea went to talk with him and Thorax, wanting to help, started to unpack things that the gang brought with them to this place. Everyone were working on setting up their new camp, until Dutch called everyone to come to him.

''I know. Things have been tought, but we are safe now, and we are far too poor. So it is time to get to work." Dutch said to the whole gang.

"Get to work, but stay out of trouble." Hosea added, "Remember we are itinerant workers."

''Laid off when they shut down out factory to the north. Now, get out there, and see what you can find." Dutch said, before gesturing towards Uncle and Swanson, "Uncle, Reverend Swanson. No more passangers, and you Thorax. I hope you won't be a passanger like them."

"Don't worry, Dutch. I won't." Thorax assured his new boss.

''It is time for everyone to earn their keep." Dutch told everyone.

''There's a town a little way down the track... name of Valentine... live stock town. All mud and morons if I remember right. It'll be a good place to start." Hosea added.

''And we need food. Real food." Pearson said, stepping forward, "That means every day, one of you has to go hunting."

"And remember, whatever it is you find." Dutch said, putting a small wooden box on the barrel, "The camp gets its slice. Now, be sensible out there.''

With that, everyone started to set the camp, once again.

---

The recent night, Thorax spent sleeping on the grass, under the stars, because unlike others. He didn't had a tent, yet. Charles offered him a place in his tent, because it was big enough for both of them but Thorax gently declined his offer, telling that he doesn't mind sleeping on the ground because he did it for his whole life. Charles understood his reasons, but told him if he changes his mind, there will be a place for him in his tent.

As, Thorax woke up, he was greeted by Pearson, Hosea, Charles, Lenny and a few other member who were not sleeping at this point. The changeling greeted them back as he made his way to Arthur's tent.

"Arthur." He said as he walked into Arthur's tent, to see the owner of it, writing something down in his journal.

"Yes?" Arthur asked, looking up at Thorax from his journal.

"Can you teach me how to use your weapon? I want to earn my keep." Thorax replied.

"Sure." Arthur said with a shrug of his shoulders before, setting his journal down on his bunk before getting up. He took his Cattleman Revolver out before leading Thorax out of the camp, in order to teach him how to use it

Comments

[Lordfawful]

[Six String]

I really liked this story.