Colt's palm pressed against the red button and he shoved down hard.

  For a sliver of time nothing changed, then his stomach dropped and his fingers went numb like somebody had cut the reins on his body. The air got pulled out of his chest, his lips went numb, and when he tried to shout he couldn't make a sound.

  A ring of light snapped into place around him, bright as a fresh weld. The edge shimmered pale blue with a thin white glare that hurt to look at. The trail in front of him stretched toward that ring and Colt went with it.

  It felt like getting dragged through a knot in a rope. Part of him wanted to stay where it was while the rest got hauled forward. His ribs felt too narrow. His teeth buzzed. He couldn't tell where his boots were, or his hands, or if he was even still standing.

  Then the pull let go.

  His boots hit dirt in the same spot they'd been, and his knees bent on their own to catch him. He sucked a breath so hard it burned and tasted dust.

  He was back on the trail with the ninjas still around him.

  Six of them, frozen in place like they'd been caught mid-attack. One had a sword halfway through a slash at the space Colt had been standing in. Another had his arm pulled back with black stars ready to throw. The other four were set around them, knees bent, hands on hilts, bodies angled in toward Colt like they'd been closing in when he vanished.

  Violet burned in their eyes.

  In the corner of Colt's sight the system words hung there.

  PROJECT: LAST STAND v1.01

  Colt didn't think much of it because ten seconds was all he had. He took in the circle of bodies, and that look cost him time—two seconds, maybe three, just standing there with his heart punching his ribs.

  "Shit," he breathed, and his hand snapped to his holster.

  Leather creaked as he drew, the revolver coming up heavy and familiar in his grip. He thumbed the hammer back and aimed at the one with the sword, the barrel lined on the chest that was about to cut him open.

  SIDEARM EQUIPPED

  Colt Single Action Army — .45

  6/6

  Two shots cracked out.

  The Colt bucked twice. Smoke stung his nose. The ninja's chest jumped with each hit and the count ticked down in the corner.

  4/6

  Colt swung to the one with the stars and fired twice more.

  2/6

  The violet in their eyes tightened into a spiral, brighter than it had been a moment ago. Colt started to lift the revolver to pick another target when the whole place wobbled.

  The trees bent in his sight. The dirt shifted under his boots. Everything flickered.

  Ten seconds were up.

  The ninja with the sword dropped straight down and hit the dirt hard, seizing as violet energy blew out of him and shot into the sky in a thin beam. The one with the stars fell too, shaking on his side while another beam ripped up after the first.

  The other four turned, heads snapping to the two on the ground, then to Colt.

  Colt fired at the closest one.

  The ninja snapped sideways at the last second, knees dipping low. His shoulder rolled and the bullet flew past. Colt heard it crack into a tree behind him.

  1/6

  “Shit.” Colt turned and ran.

  After a while he didn’t hear any footsteps chasing behind him. He stopped and looked around. Nothing. Then he heard a set of thumps. He turned quick.

  There they were. Blades drawn.

  He yanked his bowie free and the blade scraped out of the sheath, cold in his hand. Colt started backing up, watching their hands because that was where death was going to come from.

  MELEE WEAPON EQUIPPED

  Bowie

  “Okay. Ima take at least one of you mother fuckers with me.”

  None of them answered.

  A howl rolled through the trees and every ninja froze, heads turning like they were trying to find the sound. Another noise followed it, a growl that felt low enough to rattle in Colt's chest.

  He looked past them.

  A black wolf stepped out from between two pines.

  It was huge, shoulders high as a mule's back, so black the violet glow barely showed on its coat. It stared through the ninjas like it had already picked its first kill.

  The ninjas turned toward it and three of them rushed at once, blades out.

  Colt stayed planted with the bowie up, not sure if he was supposed to run or help or do something that made sense. Then the wolf hit the first ninja head-on. Teeth clamped on the side of his head, the body jerked once, and the wolf tore back hard enough to take the head clean off.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  The head came off and the body kept standing for a breath. Violet blew out of the open neck in a wet burst, then tightened into a beam and shot up into the sky.

  The other two stabbed at the wolf's ribs, steel punching in and out, but the wolf didn't give ground. It drove one into the dirt and clamped down on his throat until the kicking stopped, then twisted and caught the third by the arm when he tried to jump, slamming him down with a crunch that ended it.

  Two more beams ripped up into the sky.

  Colt's breath came fast through his nose as he looked for the last one.

  The fourth ninja hadn't rushed in. He'd stayed back, one hand lifting, palm up. Violet light gathered above it, slow at first, then tighter, forming a spinning ball.

  Colt stared at the ball because he'd never seen anything like it. "What's he doin'..."

  The wolf turned toward him and charged, low to the ground and closing fast.

  The ninja waited until the wolf was close, then snapped his arm forward and threw.

  The ball hit the wolf in the chest mid-stride. The wolf folded and skidded through the dirt, claws scraping the ground. It pushed up once, shook, then dropped again.

  The ninja lifted his hand and another ball started forming.

  Colt's fingers tightened on the bowie until his knuckles hurt. Then the wolf lifted its head and looked straight at him.

  Those eyes weren't a wolf's. They were old, and they were human.

  The wolf's body shifted and folded down, fur pulling back as the shape changed.

  Where the wolf had been, a man knelt in the dirt. Older, with dark hair and a weathered face. Paint marked his skin in a pattern Colt recognized from the trade posts and the stories Pa had told. Shoshone.

  The violet ball above the ninja's hand grew.

  Colt's hand went to his holster and he drew his gun again.

  SIDEARM EQUIPPED

  Colt Single Action Army — .45

  1/6

  He cocked the hammer, aimed at the ninja's head, and fired his last shot.

  0/6

  The ninja dropped and the violet ball vanished the second he fell. Violet energy burst out of his eyes and shot into the sky in a final beam.

  Colt holstered and looked up. Purple beams were punching into the clouds in every direction, too many to count. Howls answered from deeper in the woods, more than one, more than a few.

  He ran to the older man and dropped beside him, sheathing the bowie. The man tried to speak but only coughed.

  Wolves stepped out from the trees around them, a full pack, but they didn't crowd Colt. They spread out in a loose half-circle, watching him, watching the woods, watching the older man on the ground. One wolf walked straight to the man and pressed its nose to him, whining soft. Another paced two steps, then stopped, ears up, listening. Colt could feel their eyes on him, but none of them showed teeth.

  Colt's eyes widened as the thought hit him hard.

  Clay.

  Colt got up and took off through the trees in the direction Clay had fallen.

  He didn't look back.

  He could hear howls and growling all around him in the distance, bouncing through the trees. Purple kept jetting up into the sky in thin lines, not just in one place either. He caught flashes of it between trunks as he ran.

  His boots hit roots and loose rock. He didn't slow down. Clay was down the trail somewhere, and Colt's throat felt tight every time he pictured him lying there with that arrow buried in his chest.

  He broke through a patch of brush and saw him.

  Clay lay on his side in the dirt, hat knocked off. He wasn't moving.

  Colt's whole body went cold. He slid to his knees beside him so fast he almost went over his own boots.

  "Clay. Clay, hey." He grabbed Clay's shoulder and rolled him toward him, careful where the arrow was. Clay's head lolled and Colt's stomach turned.

  "Clay, c'mon," Colt said, voice cracking. He leaned down and put his ear near Clay's mouth, close enough to feel the wet heat of breath if it was there.

  A faint puff touched his cheek.

  "Okay. Okay, you're still here." His hands shook as he wiped dirt off Clay's face. He'd thought Clay was dead, thought he was too late. The relief hit him so hard it almost knocked him over.

  The howls sounded again, farther off now, but still close enough to raise the hair on Colt's arms. Another purple beam punched up through the trees to his left, bright for a second, then gone.

  Colt looked down at Clay. He didn't have a plan. He just needed to move while Clay was still breathing.

  He grabbed Clay by the ankles and started dragging.

  Clay was heavier than Colt wanted to admit. Dirt scraped under Clay's back and Colt's shoulders burned. Colt kept pulling anyway, teeth clenched, eyes darting up every few steps to the shadows between the trees, to the purple lines shooting into the sky.

  His heel caught on a root and he went down.

  Clay groaned.

  The sound hit Colt like a slap. He scrambled closer and slid an arm under Clay's shoulders, pulling him up against his chest. Clay's head rolled forward, and Colt held him tighter so it wouldn't bounce.

  "Clay, stay with me," Colt said. He swallowed and tried again, louder. "Clay, you hear me? Stay with me, man."

  Clay's eyelids didn't open, but his mouth moved a little, like he was trying to speak.

  Colt looked up, panic rising fast. The trees felt closer than they had a minute ago. The violet glow still hung in the air but it was dimmer, and the distant howls made it hard to tell which way danger was coming from.

  He didn't know what else to do, so he yelled.

  "Help!" Colt shouted, voice raw. "Help, please!"

  His shout went out into the woods and died quick.

  Colt stared into the trees like somebody might answer.

  He looked down at Clay, at the arrow shaft sticking out of him, and his hands went cold. Colt's grip tightened on Clay's shoulders like he could keep him here by force.

  "Help," Colt said again, quieter this time. "Please."

  A noise came from behind him. Not a howl. Not a growl. Footsteps on dirt.

  Colt whipped his head around, pulling his bowie out.

  MELEE WEAPON EQUIPPED

  Bowie

  The older man stood a few yards back, the one who'd been the wolf. The pack was with him, spread in a loose line between the trees. They didn't come near Colt. They watched, heads low.

  Colt's mouth opened and he couldn't find words that fit. His eyes flicked from the man to the wolves and back.

  The man stepped closer, slow, like he didn't want Colt to run, and knelt beside Clay without asking. His hands looked steady as he reached for the arrow.

  Colt tensed. "Hey—"

  The man's fingers closed around the shaft. He didn't yank. He set his grip, then pulled it out in one clean motion.

  "Colt—wait, what are—" he started, but it came out broken.

  The man didn't answer.

  Clay jerked and groaned, pain deep in his throat. Colt flinched and pulled Clay tighter, his own breath going fast.

  The man put a hand over the wound and there was a quick white flash under it.

  Colt watched, eyes locked on that spot. The blood that had been there stopped. The skin pulled together under the hand, closing up like a cut that had days to heal, not seconds. He'd seen a lot of things today he couldn't explain, but this was different. This wasn't some box in his head or words floating in his vision. This was a man's hands putting his brother back together.

  Colt's jaw hung open.

  Clay's groan faded into a rough breath. His body went heavy in Colt's arms again, but he was breathing easier than he had any right to.

  Colt looked up at the man, and his chest felt too small for his lungs.

  "I... I..." Colt tried. He swallowed hard and tried again. "You—"

  The man's eyes stayed on Colt. Dark and tired, the kind that didn't blink much. Paint marked his skin in clean lines, and his mouth stayed set.

  Colt blinked fast and nodded like a kid who didn't know what else to do.

  "Thank you," Colt said, and it came out rough. "Thank you."

  The man didn't smile. He just stayed there for a beat, hand lifting off Clay's chest.

  Colt held Clay and listened.

  Howls still rolled through the trees. Purple still flashed up in the distance.

  The older man looked past Colt into the trees. His shoulders shifted and his face tightened like he was listening to something Colt couldn't hear. His body shifted the same way it had before, and the wolf was there again, massive and black.

  The wolves around them lifted their heads at once. The black wolf gave a low sound that wasn't a howl, more like an order.

  The pack broke.

  They ran in different directions, paws pounding dirt, voices rising into barks and howls that vanished into the trees. The black wolf stayed a beat longer, watching Colt with those eyes that still felt too knowing.

  Then it turned and ran last, disappearing into the dark between the pines.