Page 33 of High Noon

“What do I do, Maru? I can’t pretend I don’t feel this way.” Tears began to well in my eyes and my head began to throb, a constant pulsating pressure building behind my eyes. I pinched them closed for a brief second, hoping he didn’t notice the motion.

“Just be careful. Listen from here,” he suggested, pointing to his gut, “not from here,” he added, pointing to his heart.

“Maybe I should just tell him how I feel. That I don’t want him to do any of those things.”

“That would be wise,” Maru agreed. Worry lined his forehead and strained the corners of his eyes as he guided his horse beside me.

“This is all a lot to take in, isn’t it?”

“In so short a time, yes,” he whispered, glancing behind us. There was nothing but prairie, boulders, and lightening sky around us. The grasses gleamed in the early morning sun, the chill of the night quickly being overtaken by warmth.

I wanted to tell him about the visions, about how scared I was to go back to our time. I didn’t want to see Victor or Kael again, and certainly didn’t want them to get ahold of me. Or him. Or Titus. How could we go back to our time when that was the most dangerous place in the world for us to be?

Hotah whistled sharply and brought his horse to a stop. We caught up to him and Kohana joined us a second later. “Where?” he asked.

I scanned the area, searching for what Hotah saw, and noticed someone approaching from the east. The sun rose behind the figure, shadowing his features, but from the silhouette I could tell it was a male. He walked toward us at a leisurely pace.

Maru squinted as he came closer. When a cloud passed in front of the sun, blocking its brightness, I caught sight of who it was. “Abram.”

Maru cursed, while Hotah and Kohana watched intently. “You know this man?” Hotah asked.

“Unfortunately.”

We stood silently as Abram approached. “Eve. Maru…” he greeted, glancing between us and our friends. Abram smiled. “I’m surprised to see you.” He trudged through tall grasses, emerging in front of us. Under his pants, shirt, and vest, his tech suit glowed. On his left side hung a holster of stakes – which made no sense because Abram was right-handed.

Then I saw the pistol in the holster on his right side. The one he reached toward. I should’ve known when he smiled that we were in trouble.

I drew a stake and threw it before he got a shot off, but his bullet traveled faster than the wood and the slug caught me in the shoulder. It felt like a red-hot poker had been pushed into me. I cried out, trying to hold the wound as my horse reared, and I heard Hotah and Kohana shouting. Kohana reached for the reins I was trying to clutch with my left hand as pain exploded through me.

“Eve!” Maru yelled.

Kohana managed to calm my horse and Hotah took Maru’s. Maru ran to me just as I fell onto my butt and slumped over. “Why aren’t your pain receptors working?” he roared.

“We have those? Oh, I wasn’t aware,” I gritted.

“At least your sarcasm switch wasn’t damaged.”

I panted, “Nope. All good. Did it exit?”

He checked me over briefly and breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes. It’s a clean wound.”

“Oh, awesome,” I deadpanned. “Please tell me Abram is dead.”

Hotah was standing in the area Abram once stood. “He is dead,” he hollered, crouching down to get a better look. I heard the squelch and the cracking of bone when he removed my stake from Abram’s chest.

“It’s his own fault,” I defended. “He got himself turned into a vampire.”

Maru nodded. “He had it coming long ago. If he hadn’t attacked you, this never would’ve—”

“This man is not a vampire,” Hotah yelled. “He is human.”

I sat up, making another bolt of lightning shoot through my shoulder. “Sit,” Maru ordered. He looked at Kohana. “Can you watch her for a second? Her suit should speed her healing…”

Shouldwas the operative word there. He said so with his eyes.

Kohana didn’t look like he wanted to babysit me even for a second. He gave my shoulder a stern look.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m okay.” I sat up straight, applying pressure to the entry wound. Maru promised to be right back and ran to Abram. “If he doesn’t have fangs, it’s a clone, Maru.”

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