Festus bolted upright in a cold sweat. He shuddered and raised a trembling hand to wipe his forehead, his heartbeat slowing as he remembered he was in his own bunk in the little room at the back of the stable. He groped for a match, breaking two before he got a candle lit. It had been almost a month since he'd had that dream. At first it came every night and he would get up and go over to Doc's office to sit on the stairs. Sometimes he stayed there half the night, comforted by the knowledge the old man was only a knock on the door away. Gradually the deputy's nightmare faded until he could almost forget Rock Creek. Now it was back, more vivid than ever, and his heart started to race again as he wondered what it could mean.
