[ Winter - Moonton]

Jennings situated himself still, leaning against a wooden post in Moonton. The wind was ever-persistent, blowing sand in scattered plumes across the town patrons. Jennings could taste the grit as it blew, spitting for relief to his side as he loitered uncomfortably outside a shoddy drug store with tawdry decor. Only Wolf's tall frame exiting the tiny establishment recalibrated J.J.'s focus.

Wolf had been preoccupied within the business. He had just met Billy Dreckson, an officer and someone willing to help them as a clandestine informat.

Dreckson had also grown up in the same neighborhood of Sureal as J.J., pursuing his righteous path of joining the Department of Misconduct and even arresting Jennings on occasion in their adolescence. The entire tenure of their rivalry, Billy defended and maintained J.J.'s character, enough to risk his career on this day.

As Wolf settled near the rickety Jennings, Billy exited the pharmacist, nodding at J.J. while he tilted his brim. He'd come through again.

Wolf battled his nerves that arose from his impromptu espionage act. Once his breathing returned to his natural rhythm, he handed a sheet of paper to J.J. A scramble of different names and times we're written abroad, on the surface of the document.

"Your kin provides much insight, including time and place."

J.J. snatched the paper, almost with a tear. After an ambitious glance, he began to speak.

"Let's go catch our train."

[Winter - Moonton]

The distraction of silence had remained unsettling for The Immortal. Without ambient noise, his thoughts grew too loud and emerged to his own audience.

"Lou is going to be enough to keep them fed. But, who? Who in this horrid landscape can notch my legacy."

His nerves were tinged, as Eriko languished at his seat. He tapped his forehead with his sharp, boney knuckle and sent pulses of pain down his body to numb out his foregone conclusion.

"John Jennings…"

The cacophony of his internal dialogue culminated into dread. The distress presented before falling to a thud at his office door. Fury pushed The Immortal out of his work, rattled. He grabbed his gun from a side table and moved toward the doorway.

With an undisciplined finger looming over the trigger, Eriko twisted the handle.

The man inspected the hallway in both directions with an ejected head and shoulders. Not a single individual in sight, no audible steps could be heard, yet somehow Eriko imagined gritty, pesky laughter. The only sight was that of banal holdings and the darkness of the dim-lit furnishings.

The pitch-black corridors allowed his worst mental manifestations to echo. Utterly perplexed by the situation, he grabbed his abdomen in a flare of unease. His stomach was churning as his vision was fixed back to the room where he had emerged from, as the voices produced self-doubt.

He ran back into the room, gun-waving, with liveliness in his motion. Once back inside, he propped his own backside against the door, slamming it shut. Lowering themselves to the floor in a frantic squirm, Eriko was becoming more emotional, his arms now hung over his ears to block out the laughter that wasn’t there.

[Winter - Moonton]

“Here, here. The treeline just yonder, Western White Pines, I see em’. Where Billy told Wolf.”

Poni spoke clearly whilst decelerating to a halt. J.J. stood in his saddle, peering at their remaining trip, attempting to figure it descending downhill was the easy part. He figured it would be a sore amount of time of presumed patience before their train would come barreling toward them containing Miss May- and likely a scuffle with Lou Cooper.

The officer friend of theirs, Billy Dreckson, had given them plenty of relevant information and it was on them to convert it into favorable results. Jennings was thankful for the assistance, as he briefly daydreamed about how much more difficult his planning could've been while attempting it alone. Looking to his side, he motioned for Wolf to trot into a pile of leaves, before following.

“How long you reckon’, Wolf?”

With both men still on horseback, they had arrived at what they planned to be their camp for the foreseeable future. Scouting now from within the treeline, they were dashing distance away from the railroad tracks, but invisible to any bystanders amidst the foliage.

“Given how unpredictable Settler’s scheduling can be, it could be days.”

“That’s a damn fact.”

Jennings set down a bowl and poured some water for Poni, who bent down to begin drinking. Wolf was cautiously scanning, yet silent. J.J. always felt an inaudible tension between them, however a newfound appreciation for company led to the outlaw enjoying the mission for a cursory second. A serene breeze ripped through their scenery, allowing J.J. a deep breath before his heart walloped in the wind.

Poni shot his head up from his guzzling.

“It’s coming!- It’s almost here, shit.”

Wolf and J.J. were instantaneous. They double-checked where they should be and set off alongside the tracks, as Poni gulped down one more swig of hydration before letting J.J. climb on. Looking back, the duo lost momentum, and a bit of motivation.

As the trembling of the train disorientated with noise, nothing could be more paralyzing than the visual they witnessed. As the locomotive they pursued minded the tracks between the hillside and into eyesight, a red-pulsing, crackling of flames rose from the front cart. The column of fire showed no signs of diminishment, leading for J.J to recollect his thoughts in a hurry, as Wolf was in awe, slower to regain agency.

Wolf was a sympathetic fellow at times, however this tested his limit, returning him to past personal trauma. Before he could fathom that fear that he’d assumed was within Jennings in the moment, he began to pick up his pace and align in formation with the pursuing outlaw.

It was barreling closer, as the screams of the passengers and potential victims within now could be discerned.

“No hesitation- let’s go!”

J.J. atop Poni, and Wolf on his respective horse reached top speed while in pursuit of the train. They knew they had to fight before an unfavorable outcome was procured by the unknown factor personified as Lou Cooper.