Page 8 of Hollow Moon

Something about the strange words and the way he said them made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.

“What?” she called out as she rushed toward him.

The chanting cut off abruptly, and he raised his head, facing in her direction. Only it looked like he wasn’t seeing her at all. She’d heard the expression “thousand-mile stare,” and she’d always wondered what it meant. Now she knew.

She spotted confusion in his eyes. Or was it madness?

“What happened to the blue flames?” he gasped.

“What?”

“Blue flames,” he choked out. “From that blue bubble.” Panic filled his voice. “Is it a spaceship? Are you from the planet Zoron?”

Oh Christ. Hehadlost his mind. Then she remembered what he had said at the beginning. He might be dangerous. He might have a flashback. Or at least not be able to recognize reality when he was seeing it.

“I’m not from any planet but this one. Everything’s okay,” she murmured.

“Is it?”

At least he seemed willing to listen.

She wanted to rush toward him. Instead she moved slowly.

“It’s okay,” she repeated. “My name is Maggie Leland. I’m going to help you.”

“What about the blue flames?” he pressed, then shook his head, “Oh shit. That was a hallucination, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Jesus. I thought you were a space alien. And your tent was a spaceship. Or a magic bubble.”

“But not now?” she asked, watching him carefully.

His lips curled in self-derision. “No.”

Still, she kept her pace cautious as she approached. When he didn’t lunge toward her, she came down on the ground beside him. First she held up the oversized tee shirt that she’d brought from the tent. “Let’s get this on you.”

He let her pull the shirt over his head, then slipped his arms through the sleeves. The shirt reached below his waist.

When the top half of him was covered, she turned to the wound on his calf.

“I’m going to clean it with soap and water, then put on antiseptic and a bandage.”

“Okay.”

As she opened the medical kit, she started to talk.

“I told you my name is Maggie Leland. What’s yours?”

“Knox Marshall.”

“Knox? That’s unusual.”

He winced as she washed the wound with medicated soap and bottled water.

“Yeah. My parents liked making sure their kids would stand out.” He laughed.

“Why is that funny?”

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