Red West II.

Chapter fifteen - Parting in Ohio

They didn't spend much time in the throbbing city on the bank of the Great Lake – Chicago – they just bought another tickets and boarded not that long, but comfortable train to the south. First, they had to cross the State of Indiana, with the main stop at Indianapolis, before the train continued to the east – to the State of Ohio.

The moving scenery behind the windows changed significantly along the way. Once they moved away from the northeast part with its many rivers and small lakes, they could see the fields drawing far to the horizon, not cultivated yet, but obviously fertile. Soon, it changed into flat hostile lands and swamps. Dark clouds were hanging above them, showering the state with cold rain. Despite this gloomy view, Oswald told them that Indiana was very important transportation crossroads and convenient for industrial companies, which were dragging more and more immigrants to settle in the inhospitable lands.

After the stop in the capital city, their train advanced to the borders with Ohio. Many pastures behind them proved that the state was rich with breeding cattle. Their goal was Hamilton, the small city just twenty miles in front of the final station in Cincinnati. There was no regular stop in the small town yet, but Oswald negotiated with the train driver to make an exception and stop there for them.

The older man literally had to shake with the young gangsters to bring all of them to their senses, once the train started to brake with screech of the iron wheels on the rails; the long travel started to wear them all down heavily.

They had to jump down from the tiny stairs to the rail bank, as there was no platform at all, which made all of them staggering heavily, causing Koki almost fall. It was really about time for some proper moving; their legs felt like jelly after all that sitting.

At the first sight, it seemed that the train driver made fun of them and let them get off in the middle of nowhere, but as soon as the last wagon moved away, toward its final destination, they realized they just stood on the wrong side of the rails.

Hamilton was not a big city with something over 1 500 inhabitants, located on the bank of Great Miami River and its first houses were just one hundred yards from the rails. With quite a relief that they finally arrived, they collected all their stuff and Oswald led the way of their small group into the middle of the town.

Naturally, they aroused quite a fuss as they went through the main street; it was probably not so usual for any travelers to pass by. Even though the gang seemed to ignore all the curious looks during their walk, they were more than aware of every single person on the street. After the incident with the bounty hunter, they were all tense and much less full of humor. All of them were cautious about not showing their faces much, and Kame kept scanning the walls of all the buildings for any wanted posters. Just Oswald kept walking forward with his head straight, in the well-known direction.

Jin was restless. He didn't like them being so exposed in the imitation of city, which seemed as a dirty hole to him and he kept one of his palm resting on the stock of the revolver under his coat. Moreover, after all those hours without sleep or drifting in almost unconsciousness none of them was exactly on the full alert. If anything happened now, he was quite worried it could end up pretty ugly. He had a feeling anything trivial could make him unsheathe his guns...

Jin flinched under the light touch on his elbow, releasing his grip on the revolver only when he made sure it was just Kazuya approaching him closer. The younger one pointed at the notice in front of the local sheriff's shady office inconspicuously.

"There's no poster about Leo," he noted quietly.

"At least some good news," Jin murmured. "Thank God, he doesn't spread his fame so far."