Part Three - Audrey's POV - "Time is Running Out"
"Not so fast, sister, just what is it you think you're doing?"
I followed the sound of the voice and looked to my left at the gun that was pointed at the three of us, and, behind it, the woman I was guessing was Moira. Her clothes were streaked with dirt from hiding in the forest and her hair stuck up wildly but the scariest part of her was her eyes. She regarded us with a cold stare but I could see the anger and malice brewing behind them. Slowly, so Moira wouldn't notice, I shifted Noelle so that Duke now carried all of Noelle's weight leaving me free to reach for my gun.
"Moira, we need your sister's help." I said, "Our friend has been shot and we need Noelle to touch him before the sun sets"
Moira's cold eyes turned towards me. "And why would I let her do that? She's only good for one resurrection a day, why should I let her waste it on some cop?" A slow smile spread across her lips "I'm trying to run a business here you know." Moira took a few steps closer, keeping her gun trained on us. "You two, real slowly I want you to toss your weapons over there, then, go sit down behind the car with your hands on your head". I turned to Duke and nodded, reaching for my gun and tossing it in the leaves where Moira indicated, Duke did the same with the knife from his pocket. I still had the gun in my ankle holster and I'm sure Duke had more tricks up his sleeve. We propped Noelle against the car and slowly lowered ourselves to the ground. Moira, keeping her gun trained on us, turned to her sister.
"Look at you" Moira sneered. "I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you ruining everything I've worked for".
"Moira, please, you have to stop this. You're hurting people!" Noelle pleaded. Moira lowered the gun, forgetting about Duke and I, and took the last few steps towards Noelle so that she was only inches from her face.
"Yes you stupid, pathetic excuse for a sister. Yes I'm hurting people and if you weren't so weak we could kill more people and ransom them to their families."
I looked at Nathan lying so still in front of me, and I knew what I had to do. The only thing keeping Nathan from coming back to life was Moira. I didn't care if I got hurt or even killed in the process, heck I was going to disappear in a matter of weeks anyway. My eyes met Duke's "Get Noelle out of here" I mouthed to him. He nodded, understanding what I was going to do.
While Moira was still distracted berating her sister, I shot my hands forward, snatching onto the wrist that she held her gun with and pulled her to the ground with everything I had. Duke jumped up, got an arm around Noelle and half carried half dragged her around towards the back of the house. But I couldn't focus on where they went because the next thing I knew Moira used the fist that wasn't trapped in my grip and landed a punch that made me see stars. My eyes blurred and then came into focus just as she was about to land another punch. I moved at the last second and her fist connected with the ground instead of my face. I wrenched the hand holding the gun and Moira cried out releasing her hold on the gun. But Moira wasn't about to give up yet, she threw her body weight against me and knocked me off her then dove for the gun. I managed to grab hold of her waistband and drag her back but she flipped over and backhanded me. I slammed my knee into her stomach and she doubled over in pain. I dove for the gun but only managed to knock it a few feet away before Moira grabbed me and flipped me on my back her hands going to my throat. My hands latched onto hers trying to break her grip but the adrenaline had made her ridiculously strong. I looked around frantically for something to hit her with when my eyes caught sight of the sun, mere minute away from slipping below the horizon. I was running out of time to save Nathan. Spurred by the thought of Nathan never waking up, my hands felt the curve of a rock and I snatched it up and slammed it into the side of Moira's head. Stunned she fell off me and collapsed in a heap on the ground.
"Duke!" I called, "Duke, get Noelle over here, the sun is about to set!" I sounded frantic even to my own ears. Duke helped a limping Noelle out from behind the house, and brought her over to where Nathan lay on the ground. He helped lower Noelle to the ground, and she pulled back Nathan's shirt to touch his wound. I was so focused on what was happening with Nathan that I didn't hear Moira get up, I didn't hear her get the gun, it wasn't until Duke looked up and yelled "Audrey, watch out she's got the gun!" that I realized this wasn't over. This bitch just would not die.
I jumped to the left just as I heard the gun go off and a bullet whizzed by my head. Moira was lining up to take another shot at me when I heard a gun blast and Moira slumped to the ground, a bullet wound in her head. I turned and saw Duke with a still smoking gun in his hand. He crossed the distance to me in two long strides checking me for injuries. "Are you ok?" he asked. "Yeah, I'll be fine" I said and looked to where Noelle was frozen, her fingers inches from the wound on Nathan's stomach. But her eyes were focused on her sister's limp body a few feet away.
Tommy had said she could only resurrect one person each day. Now there were two people dead. One of them her sister and the other a man she barely knew. I looked up and saw the sun about to set and knew we had only seconds left. I looked to Duke pleading with my eyes for him to do something.
Duke looked at me for a moment before sighing and turning to Noelle.
"Noelle, I know that's your sister over there and you don't know Nathan at all. But he's a good man, he helps people. People like you. I know this is hard but you have to save him"
Noelle looked at her sister for one last, long, agonizing moment before turning her attention back to Nathan. She touched her hand to his wound and immediately cried out in pain when she took the wound on herself. I watched in awe as the wound faded from Nathan and blossomed on Noelle's stomach before finally vanishing just as the sun set in front of us. I grabbed Duke's hand holding my breath while I waited for any sign that Nathan was alive. Finally I saw his chest move as he took in a breath. I slumped to the ground beside him, the breath I had been holding leaving in a ragged woosh. All the adrenaline seemed to rush out of my body leaving me exhausted. But none of that mattered….because Nathan was going to live.
