Blood in the Dirt

Chapter 31

"Andrea?" He jumped from the windowsill and sat down beside her on the bed. Zain was gentle as he grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Who is that?" She couldn't speak. She closed her eyes and shook her head from side to side. He pulled her into his arms. His embrace was so comforting. She buried her face into the soft material of his shirt. His scent was enrapturing, and she never wanted him to let go.

He eased her away from him, and looked into her eyes. He tilted her chin up, in order for her to look at him. "If you don't want to tell me that's fine, but you'll need to tell Helstan or Gino. Alright?"

She nodded, and he slid off the bed and left to get her something to eat. She was unhappy when he left. It was almost as when he exited the room, he took her heart with her. She had never felt this way before. So connected with someone that she knew hardly anything about.

She walked back to the windowsill. She tried to look anywhere but the porch. She looked at the saloon, the store, anywhere. She gave up. It was inevitable. She looked back to the falling apart building.

He was gone.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her stomach lurched. She couldn't believe it. He was nowhere to be seen. "Nice to see you Andrea." Her back stiffened. His voice sent chills up her spine. She did her best to hide the fight on her face before she turned around to face him.

"Hello Daniel. Nice to see you're still on your feet."

He smirked. "I know you do your best to keep up your title as innocent, but there's no need to lie."

"You look terrible." She examined his eye. "I thought they only slit your eye. I didn't know they cut out the entire thing."

"They didn't. I couldn't get to a doctor in time, so it infected pretty bad. I could either lose the eye or my life."

"Tough decision."

He laughed. "Okay, are we done catching up? Because I would love to say what I came to say before your friend comes back. Wouldn't want to have to kill anyone before the big day."

Andrea's entire body wanted to flee, but her mind told her to stay put. "Go ahead."

"I know what you're planning to do. I know you're the prophet. I know you know how to close the portal, and I know what's going to happen to me when you close it." He exhaled, pausing in his speech. "Regardless, I want to help."

Andrea took a step back in surprise. "Help?"

"Let's face it, I have information that even your dear Uncle Roberto couldn't find."

"How do you know about him?"

"Please Andrea, I know everything about you. Can we move on?" Andrea's mouth gaped, but she kept silent, waiting for him to continue. "I know what times Outsiders use the portal, I know where they have a camp set up, and I know exactly where all of their cameras are."

"Cam-eras?"

Daniel sighed. "We can use cameras to watch a certain spot. If anyone walks in front of the camera we can see them." Andrea's face was contorted in confusion. "Okay, that isn't the point. Basically, without my help, you'll have every Outsider in the Sanctum on your back."

"How am I supposed to trust that your information is correct? How do I know that you won't have your friends waiting for me when I go? How do I—"

"You have to have a little faith in your old pal."

Andrea said nothing. Glaring at him was all her fear would allow her to do. She couldn't believe he expected her to trust him.

"Fine. Have it your way." He turned on his heel and walked out.

As soon as the door closed, her knees gave in. She fell to the ground, and crawled to the bed. She pulled herself onto it, and curled up into a ball.

Zain came in a few minutes later. He placed the tray of food on the table, and rushed to her side. He wasn't sure how to help her, but he took her into his arms again, and held her there. After several minutes he said, "Andrea, you should eat something. It'll help."

He rose from the bed and grabbed the tray. He slipped it into her grasp, and she looked down at the meal in front of her. She ignored everything but the mashed potatoes. She took a bite, and let their bland taste slide over her tongue. "I need to speak with Helstan immediately."

"He should be back in an hour or two."

"By immediately I meant now."

"But he could be anywhere in town I—"

"Fine." Her harsh tone angered him.

He slid into the chair across the room, and stayed there, silent. They waited for the others to come home, and they didn't say a word the entire time. Andrea was so relieved when Gino walked in. Helstan was just behind him, and Andrea went with them to a separate room to talk about what had happened.

They let her tell her full story before asking any questions. "...he knows everything about us."

The two men looked at each other before Gino said, "It was smart of you to refuse, but I'm afraid that you may have put us into more trouble than if you had accepted."

"How?"

"Well, let's just say that false information is better than no information."

They went back to Andrea's room, and the rest of the group had returned. Helstan cleared his throat to gain their attention. "It's obvious that we need at least two people protecting Andrea from now on."

"Why? What happened?" Amir asked.

"None of your business."

"Well, I'm part of this group, so I reckon it is my business!" Amir stood up from where he was seated on the floor. He got angry really fast.

"You had better watch your temper or I'll see to it you aren't a part of this group." Helstan said.

"Since Amir and Zain are incapable of working together, Regus, you'll stay here tomorrow as well." Regus nodded his understanding and went back to twiddling his thumbs.

"Percy, how's the mapping going?"

"Pretty good. We should be done by noon tomorrow."

"And Roberto, threat control?"

"We've done a sweep and there doesn't seem to be any groups of them. It's hard to find the ones who are by themselves though."

"I understand. Gino and I have found what we hope is the location of the portal." The faces of the group lit up. "We asked a few locals, and several of them claim that a 'weird looking circle thing' pops up on a ranch not too far from town."

"A weird circle looking thing? How are we sure that these people weren't just drunk?" Amir asked.

Gino answered with, "I know it isn't much to go off of, but it'll have to do. And since Helstan and I are finished with recon, he'll be joining the mappers tomorrow, and I'll be joining threat control. Get some rest." Helstan, Roberto and Gino all left.

Everyone else stood to leave, and Andrea heard Amir say, "We just have to get through one more day, and it'll all be over."

The door closed behind them, and Andrea whispered to herself, "I hope so."