* * *

I scream. The high-pitched sound cuts through the dark desert, betraying to all the surrounding world that a person is in trouble here, and that she is likely a ten-year-old girl.

* * *

Dammit, he's got me pinned with those eyes. They're so close to my own, but blue, and a little colder.

* * *

She bites her lip, then chews on it before realizing that it'll do her no good.

* * *

Three seconds into blessed relief, I look over at him sharply and say, "Some things come first, son."

* * *