Colter, Ambarino, 1899

The door to the cabin swung open, and in the doorway stood Hosea Matthews holding his Cattleman in one hand and a lantern in the other. Stepping into the building out of the raging snow, he raised both his gun and the lantern and scanned the room closely. It was empty, thank God, and it would accommodate them for the time being.

Holstering his weapon, Hosea turned around and called out to the rest of the gang, saying, "Bring him in here!"

Abigail was the first to enter the building, helping to rearrange some of the furniture inside with Hosea. Following after them were Bill Williamson and Arthur Morgan, covered in snow and holding onto either end of a stretcher. On the stretcher lie another member of their gang, Davey Callander, who had been grievously wounded in that bloodbath in Blackwater. He had a gunshot wound in his stomach, and what appeared to be a bite mark on his right shoulder.

Following after them was Tilly who was escorting Abigail's son, Jack. Dutch remained outside, wanting to make sure that everyone else got out of the blizzard as quick as possible. Soon Mary-Beth, Karen, Molly, Swanson, Grimshaw, Pearson, Uncle, Javier, and Lenny were all safely inside. Dutch then stepped in and closed the door behind them.

"Ms. Gaskill, get that fire lit quick," Grimshaw ordered Mary-Beth, "Ms. Jones, bring in whatever blankets we have. Mr. Pearson, see what we've got in terms of food."

Abigail was attending to Davey, when she noticed that his chest wasn't rising. She turned her ear towards his face and could hear that he stopped breathing. She took two fingers and put them to his jugular. No pulse.

Turning around to face the rest of the gang, Abigail solemnly said, "Davey's dead."

There were sighs of sorrow all around, and Swanson then said, "There was... nothing more you could have done."

With that, Swanson took out two coins and laid them over Davey's eyes. There would be time for mourning later.

"What're we gonna do? We need supplies," Hosea spoke to Dutch.

"Well, first of all you're gonna stay here," Dutch began, "and get yourself warm. Now I sent John and Micah scouting up ahead. Arthur and I, we're gonna ride out and see if we can find one of 'em."

"In this?" Arthur gestured towards the door. Trying to navigate out during this storm was far from the wisest idea, especially after what went down in Blackwater.

"Just for a short bit," Dutch assured him, "I don't see what other choice we have."

Turning to face the whole gang, he addressed all of them and began speaking.

"Listen... listen to me for a moment, all of you," Dutch spoke, "Now, I know we've had... a bad couple of days. What happened in Blackwater, I... I can't begin to explain it."

Dutch's breath shuddered for a moment, thinking back to what happened in that town. Pinkertons showed up out of nowhere, ambushing them. But something far worse had happened the day of that robbery.

"I loved Davey..." Dutch continued, "Jenny... Sean, Mac, they may be okay. We don't know. But we lost some folks."

Dutch gulped, "Now, if I could throw myself in the ground in their stead, I'd do it... gladly. But... we are gonna ride out and find some food. We're safe now. There ain't nobody following us through a storm like this one. Not Pinkertons... not those crazies... we've been through worse than this before."

Dutch knew that last bit was pure bullshit. But he couldn't have the gang fall apart now.

"Mr. Pearson, Ms. Grimshaw, I need you to turn-"

Dutch's speech was interrupted by the sound of growling, and everybody jumped and turned around at the noise. The growling seemed to be coming from Davey's body, but that was impossible. Davey had died just a few moments ago.

Suddenly, Davey's body began to shift, and the growling continued. Everyone started to back up and against the walls from where Davey was laid out. Abigail retreated backwards and shielded Jack from view.

"What in the hell...?" Arthur began, watching Davey's body start to twitch violently. Out of instinct he rested his hand on his Cattleman.

"Davey?" Hosea asked, watching their friend move on the table. Slowly, Davey raised his head, and the two coins Swanson had laid down on him had slipped off his face, revealing that his eyes now looked deathly and transparent. Blood started to trickle out of the tear ducts. His face was contorted into an angry scowl, and he started to drool.

The women shrieked. Bill, Javier, Lenny, and Uncle looked both panicked and confused. Swanson looked to be saying a prayer under his breath as Davey slowly got to his feet with a stumble.

"Davey... my boy..." Dutch looked disturbed, watching the blood drip from the wound in his stomach, "Are you alright?"

Davey locked eyes with Dutch, and then started to slowly tremble forward.

"Davey, what the hell's gotten into you!?" Arthur shouted, and he pulled his gun out as a precaution. But Davey wouldn't listen and he continued to walk forward towards them.

"Stop, goddammit!" Arthur shouted, pointing his revolver forward and pulling the trigger, striking Davey in the heart.

Everyone in the cabin jumped in fear at the gunshot, and Davey fell onto his back. But the moment he had, he clambered up onto his feet and resumed walking towards them.

"What the shit!?" Bill called out, seeing that Davey was still walking towards them, blood dripping down from his chest. Arthur's gunshot should have killed him instantly.

Confused, Arthur pulled the trigger again, striking Davey in his lung. He kept on walking.

"Dutch!" Arthur shouted out, and immediately afterwards Dutch and Hosea pulled out their guns and started shooting at Davey. Multiple bullets ripped through his flesh but he kept on coming. It wasn't until Dutch fired a shot into Davey's brain did he collapse forward onto the ground and stop moving completely.

Arthur, Dutch, and Hosea looked down at Davey's bullet-ridden corpse in disbelief. What had just happened?

Arthur looked around the room, and saw Abigail was holding on tightly to a crying Jack, trying to calm him down. Bill and Javier took off their hats and stared at Davey's motionless body. Uncle, usually careless and drunk, was at full attention after witnessing that bizarre interaction.

"This isn't like Davey at all," Hosea said, holstering his revolver.

"No... it's not..." Dutch began, kneeling down alongside Davey's corpse to inspect it.

"Dutch..." Arthur began, "what just happened? I shot him in the heart, that bastard should've been dead already."

"I don't know, Arthur," Dutch began. He truly did not know what had happened. He had never seen anything like it. One minute Davey was dead, the next he was trying to attack them.

Looking over in Abigail's direction, Dutch asked, "Ms. Roberts, you said that he was dead."

"He was, Dutch," Abigail began, her voice crackly, "H-he stopped breathing. There wasn't a pulse."

Dutch looked down at Davey's corpse, studying it very closely. He then took notice of the bite mark on his shoulder, and remembered that it was the crazies in Blackwater that had done that as they were trying to escape. John and Charles had been shot, and he got bitten trying to help them escape. It all happened so fast Dutch wasn't quite sure what happened.

But now Dutch had an idea.

"No one else… got bit, did they?" Dutch lifted his head and asked his gang, "If you have been, you have to tell me. Right now."

Everyone inside the cabin inspected themselves. No one else had gotten bitten in Blackwater. A few gunshot wounds from the Pinkertons and local police, but no one was bitten by one of those psychos.

"Fine..." Dutch said, getting to his feet, "Bill, Javier... get rid of the body. Bury it if you can, burn it if you have to. We can't risk getting whatever it is that Davey had."

Dutch cleared his throat, and then readdressed the group again.

"Now, I... I don't know what just happened there. I truly don't. But..." Dutch emphasized, "We're still in this blizzard, and we still need some food. Me and Arthur and going to find some food, and we're going to bring John and Micah back here. Safe. We may be here for a few days. Now if... if any of those crazy bastards come here, you shoot 'em in the head. Don't care who or why, just don't get bit - under any circumstance."

Dutch paused again, and then said, "Now, all of you - all of you - get yourselves warm. Stay strong. Stay. With. Me. We ain't done yet!"

With that, Dutch grabbed a lantern and headed back outside, Arthur trailing close behind him. While doing so, Arthur took a moment to load his revolver back up again.

"We haven't run into John or Micah yet. They must've gone back down the hill," Dutch observed.

"Sure," Arthur began, "I ain't had time to ask, but... what really went down back on that boat?"

It was all a blur of events for Dutch. One minute things seem to have been going smoothly, and they had gotten a lot of money off of the ferry. Next minute Pinkertons show up and start shooting up the place. And in the midst of all that there were these crazies in the town that started eating each other, outlaw and lawman alike. Poor Jenny had been cut off from the group and was swarmed by those monsters. And then there was that girl that Dutch had shot in the head on the ferry - he wasn't sure if she was one of them or not.

"I really don't know. First we have the money, next it turns into the OK Corral, and then people started to eat each other," Dutch began, "I assume... that that's what Davey was gonna do to us."

"Davey? A cannibal?" Arthur asked, incredulous, "Now that don't make a lick of sense, Dutch! Davey weren't no cannibal!"

"Of course it don't make sense, Arthur!" Dutch argued, "I think, and I know it sounds crazy, but... I think when Davey got bit he got whatever was affecting those poor souls in Blackwater."

"Goddammit…" Arthur swore, looking away from Dutch, "What're we gonna do now?"

"Now, we're going to find John and Micah, bring 'em back before they freeze to death out here," Dutch said, "or get shot."

"Both of those sound preferable than what happened to poor Jenny," Arthur remarked. The girl hadn't been with the gang long, but he knew that was a horrible way to go.

"Hey! You need horses?" Charles Smith had called out a little bit away from them, dragging two horses by the reins.

"Oh, yeah," Dutch began, "And Mr. Smith, did you get bit?"

"What?" Charles asked, uncertain about the question.

"Did you get bit, son?" Dutch asked again.

"No, just the gunshot," Charles replied, "Why? What's the matter? I heard gunshots earlier."

"Mr. Matthews will fill you in, we gotta find John and Micah," Dutch said, "and you, get inside and rest that hand."

"I'll live," Charles commented, and passed the reins to Dutch and Arthur.

"Get indoors, son!" Dutch bellowed, seemingly more unhinged than usual, Arthur noted. But it was reasonable given what happened in Blackwater.

As Dutch and Arthur began to ride off into the blizzard to find John and Micah, they had no idea of the problems that would await them going forward.

As the Age of Outlaws is dying, the Age of the Undead had already begun.