Cheyenne's face held the look of sadness as she rode away from town. Her eye's mirrored the heaviness her heart felt.
"You know that girl?" Gabe asked as he rode beside her.
Cheyenne lowered her head keeping her eyes on the path before her and shook her head no. There was no reason to tell Gabe how she felt strangely somehow, that the young girl, like herself, held a dark secret, one she tried desperately not to remember. She could not explain her feelings nor why she felt as she did. There was just something in the girl's eyes that only someone who had been threw the same kind of horrors could sense.
Letting the image of the girl leave her mind Cheyenne rode quietly as she and Gabe continued away from Four Corners. Leaving behind her all the hopes and dreams she had ever let herself dare to imagine. For her, a normal life was out of the question. And now, even the pretense of one even more out of her grasp.
Vin sauntered into the saloon and made his way to the bar. Ordering a beer and taking his first drink he turned and leaned against the counter surveying the room as he held his beer glass in one hand.
He spied Josiah sitting at a table in the corner, a bottle of whiskey sat in front of him and he nursed the liquid in the glass he held up to his lips. His eyes stared blankly at a paper on the table next to the whiskey bottle. His face was solemnly masked with worry.
Vin straightened from leaning against the bar and walked over to Josiah's table. "Evenin' Josiah," he greeted the older man as he pulled out a chair and sat down.
Josiah said nothing and gulped down the remaining amber liquid in his glass.
"You look like ya just lost y'er best friend." Vin said trying to maybe get the man to talk about what ever was bothering him. In the past Josiah had confided in him about his only sister. He hoped his friendship would be able to be of some comfort this time as well, even if it was only to listen.
"I have," was all Josiah said before he poured himself more whiskey from the bottle.
"Anything I can help with?" Vin asked sincerely as he leaned back in his chair.
Josiah took in a deep breath then let it out and scooted the paper on the table over to Vin. Vin picked it up and a shocked expression fell over him as he recognized the picture on the paper. Though he couldn't read he had seen enough wanted posters in his day to know what they looked like.
"Cheyenne?" He asked unsure if he was seeing what he was.
Josiah nodded and took another long pull from his glass.
Suddenly the conversation he'd had with Gabe in the cave during the tornado shot threw Vin's mind. "This got anything to do with what happened to her 10 years ago?" He asked cautiously.
Josiah's eyes narrowed as he looked up at Vin. "How'd you know about that?" He growled.
"La Rouch told me, in the cave while Cheyenne was sleepin'." He answered hesitantly.
Josiah slammed down the rest of the whiskey in his glass and poured another before he answered him.
"It's a long story Vin, and as you can see I ain't much in a talkin' mood."
"Where is she?" Vin asked thinking maybe he could talk to her and help somehow. He knew all to well what it was like having a price on your head and a past you couldn't run away from.
"Gone." Josiah answered as he took another drink "With La Rouch," he sneered.
Vin let out a heavy sigh. It was evident in Josiah's tone and his mood that Cheyenne was on the run.