"There he is! Kill him! Now!"

Voices, dripping with murderous intention, began to grow louder as he desperately tried to fight his way through the thick brush. All he was focused on was escaping, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice in the form of a scream. He turned abruptly to spot monstrous silhouettes who, for some reason, ceased to chase him, as they were focused on a kneeling figure beneath their feet. Laughing murmurs ensued as they began kicking the weakened figure, whose continuous screaming was beginning to subside. He hurried back to observe, greeted with a rather disturbing scene. The very mafia who were out for his head have captured a lady, beating her senselessly, for some awful reason. Taking a look at the lady, he instantly knew why.

It was HIS lady.

"STOP! LEAVE HER ALONE!" He bellowed, loping frantically towards the gang. They turned to face him. Cackling in potential victory, they drew out their guns. One pointed to the head of his lady, the rest at him. Having not a single weapon on hand, he could only run at them, screaming for mercy. Unfortunately, the begging fell on deaf ears as the mafia relentlessly discharged their bullets at the two. The world around him burst into a pure white. Not another sound was uttered.

To his amazement, the world around him began to fade back into sight. Only this time, he wasn't out in a desert. It looked as if he was in a room, laying flat on a bed. It was then he realized what has happened.

A nightmare. Again.

Cactus Gunman growled to himself. He was getting sick of these darned nightmares. There was no telling why these kept occurring. Could they mean something? Hopefully not. He turned to his side to see a lump the size of him sleeping on the other side of his bed. His boiling embarrassment soon subsided, replaced with a comforting sigh. The figure began to stir, turning to facing him.

"Oh, my Sarah." Cactus Gunman purred, tenderly stroking the side of the sleeping girl's face. The worst part of his nightmares was that his beloved lady always met a terrible fate, but not without him following close behind. Of course, should something awful happen to Sarah, a large chunk of himself would instantly die, his only drive to live would be the health of his sister, Cactus Girl, who, to his chagrin, also found her first chance at love with the very other human in the hotel he lived in. He did not trust the human, Steve, as he is very unpredictable. This thought, unfortunately, caused him to reminisce that one nightmare where Steve cooked his poor sister alive into a cactus pie. He dared not to tell it to his sister, but she probably understood the idea, for Cactus Gunman spent that entire day holding her close to his body, keeping as far from Steve as possible.

But now the suffering was aimed back at Sarah, who slept peacefully on her side, oblivious to the horrific incident that occurred. However, just gazing at her sleeping face caused all the worries to lift away. Cactus Gunman carefully wrapped his needle-infested arm around her body, pulling himself closer to her. To his surprise, he felt Sarah grab his arm, murmuring something happily in her sleep. Holding back a tear, Cactus Gunman nuzzled against his lady, keeping her warm body close. As he was drifting back into slumber, he promised to himself once more to never let anything harm the only woman who would ever love him as much as he loved her.

"Never in my life would I have thought to see a cactus, of all things, be so devoted to a human." James sneered, peering through the keyhole of the room