10 hours earlier somewhere between the Rocky Mountains and Seattle...

There wasn't enough time to grab the money or the extra ammo or to even say goodbye to the lovely young lady he had taken to the hotel that evening.....all there was time for was runnin. He was exhausted, although he was sure that at the rate he was going his horse would collapse before he did. Maybe this was far enough that he could dip off the trail and make camp. They both needed some rest.

About 200 feet off the trail a clearing finally opened up enough that he could put down his bed roll, hitch the horse, and start making a fire. Luckily he had a few provisions on his horse including a can of beans he could heat up over the fire for dinner. There was a bit of grass at the edge of the clearing so that was where he put the horse so both of them could snack a bit. The horse was somewhat new, but he had decided to name him Hurricane. Although he was small, the horse was fast and impressively strong which made him the perfect horse for an outlaw such as John Marston. 

Eventually the can had been cooking long enough and he took it away from the heat of the flame to cool just a bit. It wasn't much of a meal, but he felt ravenously hungry. Just as he put the first spoonful into his mouth he heard a stick snap off to his right which was the direction of the main trail. His heart sunk in his chest and he eyed his two six shooters which sat in their holsters by his feet. 

"Why'd you have to go and get comfy!?" he thought angrily to himself.

He heard what sounded like a few sets of footsteps circling around his location. Somehow the law kept up with him and things were about to get ugly. The sound of somebody approaching from the rear was his signal to get moving.

With one quick motion he dropped the beans, grabbed one of his guns and yanked it from the holster while turning to face behind him. Just as the forest behind him came into view he felt a searing pain in his left shoulder and heard the loud crack of gunfire. The pain wasn't anything new to him so he fought through it and made sure to place his sights right upon the man behind him before firing off two shots. 

One down....who knows how many more to go.

The rest of them would be rushing his position now or firing upon it so he had to get up and dive behind the corpse in front of him. A few shots hit the ground and trees around him, while a couple others nailed their comrade. He looked out beyond the corpse and his fire to spot two men crouched down firing shots at him. There were at least two or three more hidden behind trees. 

Turning to look at a possible escape option he spotted another man untying and smacking Hurricane on the ass sending him running into the forest. 

"Well that's just fuckin great..." he muttered.

"Why don't you just lay down your gun and come with us now Marston? You ain't got nowhere to go and you don't have anyone comin to save your ass!" One of the men yelled.

"Yeah I'll get right on that!" Marston yelled as he poked out and shot one of the men in his leg causing him to fall onto his back yelling. 

In that moment he also quickly crawled backwards to a tree behind him which gave him better cover. There were still quite a few of them left and he only had the one gun and a few extra bullets. He quickly refilled the chambers and watched to see if any of them had moved. So far just the one man had retreated to cover.

He could just make out that a few of them were whispering to one another and motioning towards him. Those damn idiots were gonna make a move losing their advantage of numbers and cover. Although they probably also thought that he might try to just dip out and hide in the wilderness which would make them stay out here much longer than they wanted to. So he waited for them to make their move and just kept his gun steady.

With a motion of a hand from one man, 2 men came charging out the woods with the others  covering them with gunfire on his position. Marston didn't flinch as he placed one shot into a mans forearm and then another shot right in the head of the other charging lawman. The wounded man slipped and fell to the ground before clambering back to where he came from. John could have taken another shot on him, but wounding his gun arm was just enough to really take him out of the equation for now. It was time to take into account what was left of this group trying to take him in...

One man with a leg wound, most likely bleeding out rapidly. Another man with a forearm injury making it difficult to shoot his gun. Two men dead and laying on the cold ground. Two men hiding behind the trees across the clearing. Finally that just left the one man who was somewhere off to his left where his horse once was. Just as he turned to look for where he may be....

POW!

A fist caught Marston square in the job sending him stumbling backwards. The man was raising his gun and without thinking he dove forward tackling the man into the darkness of the forest behind him. The good thing was that the man didn't get the shot off, the bad thing was that they were now tumbling down a hill in the dark smashing into trees, rocks, and brush. Finally the two of them came to a halt at the bottom of the hill. Back where they came from he could hear shouting as the others were most likely trying to head this way as quickly as possible. 

John reached down and yanked the knife from his belt while the other man was shaking his head and reaching for the one gun that had made it to the bottom with them. He wasn't the best at it, but John had no choice other than to heave the knife through the air at the man. It found it's way into the mans gut which caused him to let out a screech of pain.

In that one moment it allowed John to race forward, grab the gun, place it to the man's forehead, cock the hammer back, and fire....

1 more dead lawman.

He checked the gun and found that it had no more bullets in it. So he yanked the knife from the dead man's gut and hid behind a tree a few feet up the slope. The others were getting closer now and he needed to take them by surprise if he wanted to get out alive. Running would just either lead to him being lost or caught by them later. They had to die.

"Jefferson! You get him? Jefferso....motherfucker...he got Jefferson. WHERE ARE YOU!? You're goin to die tonight Marston. Whether you know it yet or not!" The man was sincere, but all his shouting made it much easier to find him in all these trees and darkness.

The other man turned to his yelling friend just in time to see John slit his throat and yank the gun from his dying hand. It was pure disbelief on his face, as if he was seeing the boogeyman for the first time since childhood. It was the last thing he saw that night.....the last thing he saw ever.

Time to move on. The two injured men would either die from bleeding out or somehow make it back to where they came from. He just knew they were in no shape to pursue him. So it was time to find Hurricane and continue on his way toward a new start.

Entering Seattle....

The wounds Marston had suffered during his encounter with the law had really taken their toll on him and he wasn't sure where to go. Seattle was a bigger city than he was used to compared to the more rural parts of the country he tried to stick to. After some traveling he eventually ran into a woman who looked at him and his wounds with an inquisitive face. 

Most would have been scared off by such a sight, but she just decided to come over and offer her help....

"Hello, my name is Secra. I think I can help you out if you'd like. I know you don't know me at all, but I promise that I can help you and there is nothing for you to fear." She smiled reassuringly. 

He really wasn't sure about this, but he couldn't even get any words out after his long journey along with all the blood loss. All he was able to do was nod his head before falling off his horse to the ground below.

Darkness.....

Somewhere inside Moonlight Manor....

He eventually woke up to a massive headache and a dry mouth, but he was in a comfy bed. Slowly opening his eyes he could see all the bandages on his body. The bullet wound and all the damage of falling down that slope was much worse than he remembered. Sitting up led to him feeling a bit dizzy. He sat there till it passed and then rose to his feet in order to go searching for any signs of life in the building.

After going through a couple rooms he finally made his way to what seemed to be the kitchen. In there sat the woman who had helped him in his time of need. She had told him that her name was Secra. It wasn't one that he had heard of before, but it was quite nice. She was a bit surprised to see him up and quickly offered him a seat.

"So, I just wanted to thank ya for what you did. Not sure how I can repay you for all that." He was not often in the debt of others.

"It was no big deal. I couldn't just let you lay there and die. You definitely needed the rest though. It's been almost 4 days since you fell from your horse at my feet." 

4 days.....was it really that long? He really did put a toll on his body running from the law.

"Well if you'd have me, I'd like to help you out in some way. I do know how to make a good bit of money. Although it wouldn't be in the most honorable or honest way." He wasn't sure how she would react to that.

Secra snickered at him, "Oh, just because I may be nice and helpful to strangers does not mean that I am a law abiding citizen. I can tell you're not from around here. So I'll put it this way, I run my own crew here in Seattle where we earn plenty of money through dishonest means that that law frowns upon."

Marston smirked, "Well then I think we'll get on just fine working together. So, is there somewhere for me to stay till I get on my feet?"

She nodded and stood up from the table. He stood and followed her out....