Chapter Text
August 13 1911, 6:25 Am.
Somewhere in Texas
Amidst the dusty town in rosemary county, there was nothing but silence, as marshal Anderson patrolled through town on her horse, she watched as locals started to open up business. A shop owner known as Mr. Wright who owned a carpenter workshop waved Anderson over in a frantic manner, she pulled the reins towards the sidewalk where Mr. Wright was.
“Marshal! Thank god you're here! Have you seen my boy this week? I know he's grown now but I haven't heard from him, he said he was just going huntin a few days ago, it shouldn’t take this long for him to be huntin!” Mr. Wright helplessly stammered while fixing his glasses, “err what was his name.. OH! Your boy Sammy? I only saw him on monday.. Alright, what time did the boy leave and did he say where exactly he was going?” Anderson replied, taking out her small notepad to write it down taking a glance at Mr. Wright's demeanor, “he said he was goin near Ruby’s Rock on tuesday! Oh please Mary! You have to do somethin’!” Wright pleaded, Anderson paused at the usage of her first name but shook it off, “okay okay. Me and deputies will go down there and look if there's any signs of your boy, but there's no promise I'll bring him back alive if it ain't possible." Anderson calmly replied.“Thank you, marshal!” Mr. Wright said in hope, Anderson gave him a nod before nudging her horse forward towards the shierrifs office.
Once she was there outside of the office, she unsaddled her horse and pushed the door in entering, “welp! We got a case on our hands, people.” She announced to her two deputies looking up from the notepad to find one of her deputies sleeping in the cell and the other isn't here yet, “awh for fuck sakes- Charlotte awake up! We got work to do, girly. Have you seen Albert yet?” Anderson questioned walking in the office and going into the open cell where one of her deputies was resting at, “ugh.. No, he hasn't clocked in yet Mrs. Anderson, if he did come by, by now he would have woken me up first..” Charlotte mumbled in sleepiness as she sat up from the wooden bench within the cell, “alright then let me fill you in on today's work, we have Mr. Wright son. Sammy, you know him” she gave Charlotte a look, “i know you and sammy fool around sometimes but did he say anything about leaving near Ruby’s rock?” Anderson looked at Charlotte raising her eyebrow, “nope? He never said anything about it, why is he even at ruby rock anyways?” Charlotte seemed to almost immediately wake up when her lover was mentioned, “well his father said that he went hunting on Tuesday near Ruby’s Rock.” Anderson repsoned.
They stared at each other for a moment before Albert entered, “ladies! I am late!” Albert said proudly holding up a cup of coffee, “Albert, we have a mission now, we have to find Sammy Wright, his father said he was supposed to be near Ruby’s Rock on tuesday but he aint home and it's friday.” Anderson turned her head repeatedly to Albert, “oh him? To be honest I've never liked him, too cocky for me honesty.” Albert shrugged like it was nothing, “Albert you did not just say that in front of charlotte..” Anderson looked at him with disbelief, “WHAT.” Charlotte glared at him in disbelief , “alright enough, both of you. We got a missing person here. I want both of you to saddle up and come with me to search up at Ruby’s Rock, cmon people. "Anderson walked back out the door getting up on her horse, “can I drink my coffee first?!” Albert yelled out to Anderson, “no time jackass.” Charlotte yanked Albert out the door making his coffee fall onto the floor making the mug shattered, “awh man!” Albert whined.
Once they had saddled up and headed east, they began to talk as they traveled. “You two stick close together while we’re out there, god knows what caught him.” Anderson calmly said, “whaddya think got him out there Mrs.?” Albert questioned with a raised eyebrow, “well people have said that they've seen ghosts, people missin and just fear mongering , i don’t really believe any of it since i always played in the woods with my older brother as a child, could be a cougar that got him.” Anderson responded, “why do you think that changes?.. I mean sure things change over time but what do you think caused it exactly?” Charlotte asked curiously, “Weell, urban legends start because people see things that they don’t understand.. But you never know, maybe something has made its home there… That's besides the point because we’re here! Do not leave each other incase something is really here, c'mon you two.” Anderson stated a bit on edge.
The two deputies hopped off their horse, “should I take my shotgun?” Charlotte asked, “that would be ideal, yes. Now let's get going” Anderson replied, beginning to walk forward through the field of Joshua's trees and along with dead dried out trees.
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“Surely he can’t get that far right? Nothin but thin trees and cactuses with small shrubs.. Obviously valleys” Albert questioned following Anderson, “well you never know what goes down here, or what got him.” Anderson replied, then something caught Albert’s eye, “Hey is that Sammy's stuff?" Albert pointed at a tangled tent with items scattered, it was clear someone fought here. Anderson crouched down to inspect it, "well?" She waited for Charlotte's response looking around the scene "Why are y'all looking at me?" Charlotte placed a hand on her chest "Because you're the one who sleeps with him??" Anderson stated with raised eyebrow. "Ain't you the same girl who was blabbering about how wonderful of a man he is??” Anderson tilted her head to the side, “w-well yeah! but it has nothing to do with this!” Charlotte tried to save her dignity, “girly it's too late to do all of that now, just say if it’s his or not” Albert rolled his eyes. “OKAY! By the looks of all of it.. Yeah it does look like this is his, I've seen that tent before.” Charlotte crouched to get a closer look at everything, she found a bag under his cot and gripped it before sliding it towards her to open it.
“You found anythin, Charlotte?” Anderson peered over her shoulder, “ehh nope, this is definitely Sammy’s stuff. Do you think he’s nearby?” Charlotte looked back at Anderson, “yeah, he cannot have gone that far, maybe a couple miles somewhere?” Anderson scratched her chin.“Hey! I found these footprints over here!” Albert called out to the two of them, “we’re coming, we’re coming..” Anderson and Charlotte got up away from the tent and up towards Albert, “there's bout a couple of pairs of feet here.. And there's more all around, but it seems like they had a scuffle before someone or who I'm assuming was Sammy that got dragged allll the way down to the valley.” Albert pointed out to the hill then down to the steep valley, “welp! Seems like we got a kidnapped case on our hands, children! Albert go get the horses, it seems like we got more traveling to do.” Anderson shook her head looking down at the foot prints.
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While following the path of footprints they almost left texas and crossed into louisiana, “damn it.. We’re goin too damn far.” Anderson muttered, “what should we do now, misses?” Albert glanced at her, “nothing more than to go home, Albert.. As soon as we get back I need someone to stay in town and keep it grounded while me and maybe some volunteers from town will help.. Probably won’t even bat an eye about it.” Anderson dreads the thought about it, “well we can always put an offer of money up” Charlotte suggested, “hell nah, i know a couple of people that are willing.. Albert! Mark this spot on the map so we can continue tomorrow.. For now I want you two to go pick up all of sammys stuff and give it to me. Wright, I got some business to do..” Anderson pulled on her reins back towards town as Charlotte and Albert did the same.
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Clack, Clack. “Mr. Wright!” Anderson got off her horse and walked up onto the front porch. knock, knock! “Mr. Wright, I got updates on your boy!” Anderson called out, then she heard footsteps coming towards the door. “Coming, coming, just give me a second!” Mr. Wright called out, his footsteps running towards the door, she could hear shuffling from the inside along with barks from dogs seemingly to trail behind Mr. Wright, with a small click! Mr. Wright opened the door, making the door open ajar before opening it fully. “Marshal! Did you find my boy?? My wife and I are quite worried..” Mr. Wright had a small glint of hope, his dog pushed past greeting with a wagging tail, Anderson glazed down at the dog before leaning against the wall. “Good news is that we have a lead to where he might be, bad news is that it leads to louisiana.” Anderson spoke while petting the dog on its head, “t-TO LOUISIANA?! Why on god's green earth is he there for??” Mr. Wright asked in disbelief, “well my best guess is that this is a kidnapped case on our hands.. And well I do need extra hands to adventure to Louisiana but I can ring up another marshal who is in Louisiana but I have 0 doubt that they'll barely do anything..” Anderson sighed, “well what do you suggest then??” Mr. Wright questioned,
“Considering this is most likely to be kidnappin, me and a few people could adventure out into louisiana… they cannot be out that far in there!” She got off the wall and stood up, "I'm sure your boy will be fine.”