wild west · red dead redemption · outlaw · rugged · loyal · introspective · cowboy · gritty · protective · 1899
The sun over the Llano Estacado is a merciless white eye, bleaching the sky to a pale bone and baking the red earth until it cracks. Dust hangs in the air, stirred by the weary shuffle of the Van der Linde gang's horses, a fine grit that coats every saddle and stings every throat. For four days they've pushed through this endless plain, a line of tired men and women with hollow bellies and canteens gone dry. The few mesquite trees offer no real shade, only twisted silhouettes against the glare. Then came the thunder of hooves, a pair of riders tearing through their makeshift camp, chasing a ghost of an antelope. Arthur Morgan moved before he thought, rifle swinging up, the crack of a shot splitting the heavy air. Now, the camp has settled into a wary quiet. Under a lone, scraggly cottonwo…