"I don't like this," Jay said for the third time. He was pacing angrily back and forth. He stopped in front of me, putting his hands on the back of the chair I was sitting in and effectively boxing me in. "You need a hospital, Jodie. Just let us take you there."

I looked down. Cory and Paul hadn't said anything, but they weren't arguing what Jay said. I could feel their silent agreement. I was half-tempted to agree. Even though I didn't much care for hospitals, I had been in one recently and nothing bad had happened…that I remember. Also, I didn't want to risk blizting out again like I had. Cory's hand was still numb, and Paul and Jay's shoulders were hurting them. It would be harder on them to get all of the things done around the farm.

Guilt crept up my throat. I had nothing but bad experiences in hospitals, but I was nearly convinced that I could go there as long as I wasn't having flashbacks on people I had grown to care about.

Sensing my waning decision, Jay crouched down in front of me. "Come on, Jodie. It would be easy. They could give you a shot for the pain, put you to sleep—"

"No!" I said quickly and adamantly. No way was I going to take medicine that would put me to sleep. Not after…not after…

Not after what? I frowned, trying to remember, but I couldn't.

"This is crazy, Jodie! We're not going to tie you up like some crazed animal."

I took a deep breath. "Look Jay," I said softly, "I feel really bad for what I did to you guys. You have done nothing but be there for me. I'm not going to the hospital, and I refuse to hurt you again. I won't—I can't…"

He stopped his pacing, letting out a big breath as he turned to me. I could feel Paul and Cory's gazes on me as well.

I swallowed. "Could you just, I don't know…maybe tie me up to help me not feel guilty?"

Jay's brown eyes studied me, but he didn't say anything.

Paul let out a small chuckle breaking the tension. "Well Jodie, when you put it that way…Cory?"

Cory nodded and left the room, coming back shortly with the water and paste from guest room.

Paul looked to his older son. "Jay?"

Jay ran his hands through his hair before letting out a sigh. "I'll go get some rope."

I leaned back into the chair, losing some of my rigid posture as I felt a little bit of relief. It was getting darker outside now. The air was cooling rapidly now that the sun was setting.

Cory pulled another chair over and laid out the stuff that they needed to clean and dress the wounds. I watched him, trying to imprint in my mind that these people were helping me. That's all they had ever done. I was not going to flash out and be pulled back into my memories. I would make it through this without hurting them. I had to. I was trained to incapacitate and kill. I may have only been aiming to disable before, but who knew what horrible scenario my mind would dredge up from my past. I could do much worse.

Cory patted my knee on the right, the uninjured leg, bringing me blinking out of my thoughts. I met his dark black eyes. He gave me a small smile, and I nodded back, feeling surprisingly reassured.

"I've got the rope," Jay said as he made his reappearance.

I looked away from Cory, my smile faltering as I focused on the rope dangling from Jay's hands. My breath hitched in my throat. "Do it," I begged. "Do it quickly." My fists were already clenching.

Cory, who had been closest to me, noticed the change and snapped at his brother. "Jay! The rope!"

"Right." Jay rushed forward, but then paused when he got near me, as if unsure what the next step would be.

I took the rope from him. "Look, I'll do my feet so that you know how to tie my hands," I said. I was hoping that I would not spaz out if I was the one tying myself up. Once they started tying my hands, I was hoping that I would be restrained enough that they would be able to get my hands bound without me hurting them. Surely they would; there was three of them.

I did a complicated knot around my ankles, talking through the loops and twists and giving pointers on how tight to tie it. Finally, I was finished and relieved that I hadn't had any dangerous flashbacks. I looped the leftover 8 feet of rope around the middle of the binding between my ankles and ran the length up under the chair so that they would be able to tie my hands behind me. I held it out for someone to take, and there was a brief moment of stillness before Jay stepped forward to take on the job.

His hand reached for the rope, but I held on to it for a second until his eyes met mine. "Tie it tightly. I can slip out of most any knot."

His eyes bounced back and forth between mine, as if trying to read my thoughts. He finally nodded, and I let go.

Jay knelt down behind me, out of my line of sight. I kept my eyes focused on Paul and Cory, repeating to myself that I was safe with people that cared for me. I was not being tortured in Kazirstan. I was on the ranch. I jumped a little when a calloused hand brushed mine. I swallowed, my eyes not straying from the people in front of me.

Focus. Focus, Jodie.

Jay's fingertips softly brushed across my hand, helping me calm down a little. I moved my hands together for him, so it would be easier for him to tie. When the first loop of the scratchy material went around my wrists, my breath started to come a little faster. When the rope was tightened to secure the first knot, I was no longer seeing Cory or Paul because I was so focused on the feeling of what was going on behind me. I blew out air in a long, shaky exhale.

And then, Jay started speaking in my ear. He started telling me exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. I was able to focus in front of me again. I saw Cory kneeling in front of me and Paul standing ready with the homemade paste for the wounds. I saw the care and concern in their eyes.

I closed my eyes for a second, steeling my resolve. "Tighter."

The movement behind me stopped. "Jodie, I really—"

I didn't wait to hear him finish his sentence as I twisted my palm inside and slipped my wrist through the rope. "Tighter," I repeated.

Jay grabbed my free wrist and started over again. This time he was making the ropes much tighter. He finished quickly, brushing his fingertips against my forearm before getting to his feet. He came around to the front and knelt down next to his brother. He pulled the knife out to start cutting the material away. If I had been thinking, I would have cut the material myself. Tying my feet together had seemed to help me feel in control of the situation—something I hadn't felt once in Kazirstan. I shook the thought away. I wasn't going to go through the process of being tied up again. I had barely tolerated it the first time. Jay's knots were secure enough. I would just have to live with it.

The knife gleamed menacingly in the light, my eyes closely tracking its every move as it seemed to creep closer. Without looking away from the weapon, I asked, "You don't happen to have a pair of scissors do you?"

"No," Jay said, without looking up. "Besides, this is sharper. It will cut through your jeans much better than scissors."

Cory, having seen my line of sight, elbowed Jay in the side. Jay stopped what he was doing, taking the knife away from my leg to glare at his brother. "Cory, what the hell?! I could have hurt her."

Cory's head tilted to the side in my direction.

Jay took one look at my face and seemed to come to some understanding. "It's the knife that bothers you."

My mouth had gone dry. I swallowed twice before I could speak. "I don't have the fondest memories of them, no."

Paul left the room, heading outside. "I'll be right back."

I leaned back in the chair a little, closing my eyes.

"I don't suppose you want to tell us why you have such a thing against knives?" Jay asked, but it wasn't really a question.

"Not really something I would like to relive," I said. I opened my eyes.

Jay looked troubled. "Still keeping your secrets I see."

It was silent for a long moment.

"If it helps," I joked, unable to take the tension. "I'm not too fond of machetes either."

"I don't think that helps," Cory said.

"Definitely not," Jay added.

No, I guess it didn't. If anything, they seemed more disturbed than before.

Thankfully, Paul came in at that moment. "I'm back. I got the sheep shearers from the shed. We use them to cut the wool off the churros when it gets too long. Helps keep them cool."

Jay took the sheep shearers from his father. He turned back to get to work on my jeans before he hesitated. "You don't happen to have a thing with sheep shearers, do you?"

I gave a half-smile. "I guess we'll find out."

He started out of my line of sight, untucking my jeans from the ankle boots and snipping away at the material down there. I studied his hair. It was so black that it seemed to glow a red in the sunset that was streaming in through the window. I wanted to touch it and see if it was as soft as it looked.

"Most of the cuts and burns are on the left side, so I'm only going to cut that side away," Jay said softly.

"Yeah, sure." I nodded, still not wanting to look down and acknowledge the big nasty cut that was on my upper thigh. My upper thighs were a magnet for danger. From the torture in Kazirstan to being shot in Somalia, twice, and everything in between, I always seemed to get injured there.

I could feel cool air on my shin now as Jay worked the shears up. Jay was having a harder time getting the shears maneuvered around because they were so big, but he didn't once mention it. I was glad for that anyway. I was able to relax a bit, even when he crested the top of my knee and I could see what he was doing.

"Jodie," a voice said.

"Yeah," I said, watching the shears work at cutting away the material. They were sharper than I had thought, cutting through the thick denim with ease.

A hand touched my shoulder, and I turned sharply, fixing my eyes on the owner. It was Cory.

"Jodie, I'm going to put some water on the large cut to start cleaning it out. It will probably hurt, but the blood has dried and attached it to your skin. If we soak it, it will be easier to separate the jeans from your skin."

"Y-yeah," I said. "Th-that's a good idea, Cory."

He nodded and took the sponge. I watched as his hand, almost as large as Jay's now, fished the sponge out of the water. His tendons popped out as he squeezed the excess liquid back into the bowl. He slowly brought it over to me, occasionally glancing up to gauge my reaction. I didn't even blink. Instead, I turned my head away to notice that Jay had stopped cutting. He was focused on me, so I focused on him. Water hit my leg, immediately sinking into the cut and pooling there.

It hurt.

It hurt a lot, but I wasn't going to tell them anything.

If I did, then they wouldn't need us anymore. They would kill us both, Jay and me.

But, what about Cory? And Paul? Would they let them go? Why were they just after Jay and me?

I blinked. A man was hanging in the corner of the room by his arms. His eye was missing.

"-ou okay?"

I blinked again.

Jay, Cory, and Paul were beaten, tied to chairs. They were soaked in blood. Paul was talking to me. I focused in on his voice. "—ater worked. Now Cory is going to gently separate the jeans from the wound. I'm going to put this paste on there immediately afterwards. Okay?"

I blinked again. Jay was hanging in the corner, his arms stretched out above his head. His forearm was bleeding. An eye was missing. It was my fault.

Yet, Jay was right in front of me. I could hear his voice saying my name.

I kept trying to decipher what was real and what was not, but there was a hazy overlay on things. It was like I was seeing from two different sets of eyes at once, but the human mind was only capable of processing one set. Some things were coming through from both sets making everything very confusing. You're at the ranch. You're safe, back at the ranch. They're trying to take care of you. You haven't caused them any harm. "Y-yeah. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm ready. Do what you have to do."

There was a sharp burning pain. It felt like my skin was being peeled away, but then it was over shortly after.

"...s out of the cut. Now we're going to…"

"…okay…"

I made some sort of noise in my throat in case there was a question in there somewhere, but I wasn't going to tell them anything else. I didn't want to make him too mad to think I was ignoring him, but as soon as I talked, he would no longer have a reason to keep me alive.

It didn't work though. I still must have made him mad because the next thing I know, there was a terrible pain in my leg. It felt like something rough was worrying away at my flesh. I pulled against the restraints, but didn't get very far at all. In fact, it did nothing but wear me out. I sat back, panting and sweaty.

I felt cold all over except in that one spot. I thought maybe I would pass out from the pain. It wouldn't be the first time I had done so. Just when I thought I was on the brink of losing consciousness, the burn cooled down. Rapidly. From one moment to the next, it was soothing. I looked down.

Cory.

I frowned. "Cory?"

I looked around. Paul and Jay were here too. But no, I remembered that. They were tied to the chairs as well. I looked over their bodies. "Y-you…you're okay?"

"Jodie?" Jay asked with a frown on his face. "Jodie, what are you talking about?"

"Jay," Paul said gently. "Not now," he said, shaking his head in the negative when his older son looked his way.

Jay's lips pressed together in a tight line. He hefted the shears in his hand and abruptly left the kitchen, heading outside into the twilight.

There was a hand on my face. I turned to look down at Cory in question.

His thumb brushed at something on my cheek. "That's the big one. Paw says that we can do the rest later. He went out to talk to Jay. Let's get you to bed, huh?"

I nodded, trying to move, but I couldn't. My eyes went back to Cory. He was looking at me deep in thought, as if he was thinking about something. I shifted a little. "You think you can uh give me a hand?"

He shook his head. I was sure that if he had more fair skin, he would be blushing. He gave me a rueful grin. "Sorry about that Jodie. Let me just get these for you."

He started at my feet and moved around to my hands. By the time he was finished, Paul and Jay were back.

Jay was silent, avoiding eye contact, but Paul was smiling at me. He looked between Jay and I for a second, before clearing his throat. It sounded weird though, like he had tried to laugh at the same time. "Jay, why don't you help Jodie to bed? Make sure she has some clean clothes to change into."

"But Paw-" Cory said, pausing in cleaning up the bandage supplies.

Paul held his hand up. Cory's shoulders drooped a little, but he continued cleaning up, not saying another word.

Jay looked like he wanted to be near me like he wanted to cuddle a cactus.

"Actually," I said, using my arms to shift myself to the edge of the chair. "Cory was going to help me."

That time all three sets of eyes were on me with varying expressions.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, actually, I uh, kind of don't have any other clothes to change into, so I was hoping that Cory could lend me some things to sleep in."

I wasn't brave enough to look up after that, but it was quiet.

Cory broke the silence after a minute. He came forward and put an arm around me to help me up. I stood fairly easily, favoring my right leg, and, with Cory's help, it was a breeze. It was actually more than a breeze. He really had grown into himself while I had been away. He helped me into the hall and led me down to the guest room.

With his help I sat on the bed.

"Wait right there," he said.

"Like I have anywhere to go?" I teased.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Right. I'll be right back."

I leaned back on my hands. Taking a moment to breathe before I decided that I should get started on the jeans. I got to me feet, not really feeling anything at all. It was funny that my leg hadn't bothered me that much the entire way here, but now that it was cleaned out, it was all I could focus on. I took my jacket off, leaving just the tank top on.

By the time I had started unbuttoning my jeans, Cory had returned with some boxers and a cut-off shirt. I think he only owned cut-offs.

"You good?" he asked.

I nodded, hunched over and trying to peel the pants off. Cory had wrapped my leg so well that it was difficult to the pants past the bandaging. I frowned. "Yeah, I think I got it. Thanks Cory."

"Anytime," he said. "Well, if you're sure you don't need anything, then uh…good night."

I paused in what I was doing. "Hey, Cory?"

He turned around in the doorway.

I swallowed before looking back up at him. "Uh, thanks. You know, for taking care of my leg."

"No need to thank me," he said.

"No really, thank you."

"You're uh, welcome."

"And, sorry about your wrist," I said with an apologetic grin. "Is it still numb?"

"No, that wore off after about ten minutes," he said with a half laugh. He shook his head at me. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

I went back to wrestling with my pants. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

There wasn't any sound for a minute, so I looked up.

Cory's face was frozen in uncertainty.

I let myself smile. "I'm kidding. Jeez, I'm kidding."

His own smile came out to meet mine. "Right," he said, but the frown didn't quite leave his face all the way. "Well, good night, Jodie. Sleep tight. Don't let Ye'iitsoh bite."

It was my turn to be frozen. "You're kidding. Ye'iitsoh's back?!"

"No," Cory said with a mischievous grin. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

My mind took a second to process his words. I guess the past few weeks had been one emergency right after another, and it would be just my luck to come back here with a vengeful entity on the loose for his retribution. I wadded up my jacket and threw it towards him, but he dodged out the door with a laugh. "Not funny, Cory," I called after him.

I was on the last leg of my jeans, trying to get them off. I had gingerly babied the jeans, or what was left of the jeans, down on my injured side. Now all I had to do was get the right leg off. Piece of cake.

"What's not funny?"