"Strange how?" she asked.
"Zarek!"
The clear boardwalk turned dark. His sight began to dim, his head to spin.
Zarek felt himself drifting away from Astrid. He fought with all his strength to remain with her.
To remain with his dream.
He didn't want it to end. Didn't want to wake up in a world where no one wanted him.
He had to get back to her.
Please, just one more minute...
"Zarek! Damn it, boy, don't make me have to slap you. The last thing I need right now is a concussion. Now get up!"
Zarek came awake to find Jess leaning over him, shaking him hard.
Cursing, he kicked the cowboy back, into the wall.
Jess's foul oath matched his own as Jess rebounded off the wood. Zarek's back and arm throbbed in response to Jess's injuries.
But he didn't care. He intended to add so many more injuries to the cowboy that neither one of them would be able to walk without limping.
He owed the bastard for the shot in his back.
And he always paid his debts in full, with interest.
Zarek came out of the bed snarling, ready for battle.
"Whoa, Z!" Jess said, ducking the punch Zarek swung at him. "Calm down."
Zarek stalked him like a lion eyeing an injured gazelle. One that intended to make the gazelle its dinner...
"Calm down? You shot me in the back, you son of a bitch."
Jess's face turned to stone and he gave him a cold, chilling stare. "Boy, don't you dare insult my mama, and you better stop and think about that one for a minute. I was a paid killer since I was old enough to hold a gun. Had I shot your dumb ass, you wouldn't have a head right now. Having been shot in the back by a friend, I sure wouldn't want to return that favor to anyone. Not even an ornery cuss like you. And why the hell would I hurt myself just to get to you anyway? Lord, boy, use your head."
Zarek still wasn't ready to believe him. Though mostly healed, his back was a sore reminder that someone had tried their damnedest to kill him. "Then who shot me?"
"One of them idiot Squires. Hell if I know which one. They all kind of look alike when they're not yours."
Zarek hesitated as he tried to sort out everything that had happened over the last few days.
Everything was a bit fuzzy in his mind. The last thing he really remembered was trying to leave Astrid's cabin...
He frowned as he looked around, realizing he was still here.
Jess had awakened him while he was lying fully dressed in a bed he didn't remember climbing into.
He frowned as he saw Astrid lying in that bed, too.
The dreams he'd had...
What the hell?
Jess reloaded his shotgun. "Look, I don't have time for this. Do you know who Thanatos is?"