The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed

 is a mission in Red Dead Redemption

Scene 1
As the mission begins, John Marston walks into the barn to find his son working. He and Jack begin to speak optimistically of their future as ranchers and as a family. All seems well in Beecher's Hope until Uncle yells for John from outside the barn. John knows what's coming, so he immediately tells Jack to run into the house and "don't come out no matter what."

Scene 2
After John and Uncle defeat the first wave of soldiers attacking from the west, John runs into the house to check on his wife and son. He again tells Jack to stay in the house. This time Jack doesn't listen. Jack grabs a rifle and follows his father outside. The three men fight the onslaught, soldier by soldier. Uncle is gunned down, but father and son continue the fight.

Scene 3
Another wave held off, John gets Abigail and tells her and Jack to get to the barn. He will hold off the next imminent wave of soldiers. This time they will come from the plains to the south.

Scene 4
The outlaw turned rancher guns off yet another wave of soldiers attacking his land. He runs into the barn, where he knows Jack and Abigail will be waiting. They are panicking, confused and think they should all run away. John knows that's not possible. He is a rancher with a criminal past he can't escape. John puts his wife and son on a horse and tells them they need to ride and not stop. That that's the only way they will have a chance. Reluctantly Abigail kisses her husband goodbye. She knows, as does John, this is the last kiss they will ever share. Jack and Abigail ride out the back of the barn, leaving John to face the fate from which he has tried so hard to evade. John turns, peering between the barn doors at the last faces he will ever see. He stops, drops his head, and takes a long, deep breath. Then he looks up and pushes the doors wide open, revealing more than twenty soldiers all armed and aimed his direction. In cinematic fashion, the camera switches to the Dead-Eye Targeting mode, as the player takes control of John Marston's last stand. John takes a few down, but ultimately it just isn't enough. He is mowed down by bullet after bullet, as his clothes become drenched with his blood. He falls, takes his last breath, and dies. He sacrifices himself for his family and the hope of the life they may have. He finally has gotten his redemption. Amidst the group of men is Agent Ross, smoking his cigar with a look of smug satisfaction on his face.

Scene 5
Abigail hears the shots coming from the ranch and tells her son to go back. The player takes control of Jack as he rides back to the ranch, allowing him to spur the horse continuously without being bucked off. Jack and Abigail arrive to find John's body in a pool of blood. Jack yells as Abigail embraces her dead husband and weeps in bitter sadness for her fallen love and the life they never had.

Jack and Abigail bury John on the property alongside Uncle. The camera zooms in to John's grave, his epitaph reading "Blessed are the peacemakers." A quick fade reveals the same shot in a downpour, panning out from John's grave revealing Abigail's right beside it. She had died three years later. A man, with a striking resemblence to the protagonist, looks down at the burial site. The man puts Marston's hat on and turns, revealing himself as an older Jack. He will continue in his father's footsteps.

Walkthrough
When the Mission begins, you must kill the first set of soldiers with Uncle. After killing them, Uncle instructs you to go check on your family, and a cutscene will begin when you get to your house showing Jack coming out with you. Take cover behind the fence in front and kill the soldiers, taking cover and making sure your health is okay. After killing a few soldiers, Uncle inevitably will get shot and die. Kill all the rest of the guards, and a cutscene will begin where Abigail and Jack try to get to the stables. Protect them taking out every guard who comes near. Finally you will get to a cutscene where you send them off and are left to face a firing squad of U.S. Army troops headed by Edgar Ross, who will gun you down, (note that this is a scripted event and entirely unavoidable). After this, you will be in control of Jack, and you must ride back to see your father.

Trivia

 * The mission name is a reference to a line in the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Being that John Marston was the last surviving member of Dutch Van Der Linde's gang, he is symbolically the last enemy to be destroyed by the Bureau of Investigation in their goal of disbanding organized outlaw groups across New Austin.


 * An early myth circulated that the Strange Man met in the stranger missions I Know You can be seen in the crowd of soldiers that gun down John Marston. This has since been demonstrated as false.


 * While riding as Jack Marston in the last part of the misson, Jack's mount will not lose stamina. This is possibly to prevent any humor of the horse bucking off Jack in the game's tragic finale.
 * The scene where John Marston comes out and begins shooting at the crowd of soldiers and lawmen before being gunned down is very similar to the ending of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where the two come out shooting before being killed by members of the Bolivian Cavarly.