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Wind whipped the hungry flames closer. I jerked June’s
hand and screamed to the black soldiers, “Follow me!”
And we hurled ourselves into the hellfire.

My gamble paid off. Driven by the wind, consuming
everything in its way, the inferno came at us as a wall of
flames. Behind it, only scorched, smoking dirt remained.
June stumbled to her knees as we burst through the
blaze. Just below her ear, tiny flames curled the ends of her
hair. I smothered them with my bare hands and whirled to
see if the soldiers had followed us.
Backlit by the blaze, the four troopers huddled around
their sergeant. Pope writhed on the blackened sand. I
pushed June into a crevice in the arroyo’s bank. “Stay still.
The Indians can see us in the firelight. I’ll be back.”
She tangled her fingers in my shirtsleeve. “D-don’t—”
I tugged the pistol Taylor had given me from my
belt and pressed it into June’s hands. “Take this. If the
Apaches—” I couldn’t say the words.
“I heard what that soldier said.” She wiped her face with
her sooty fingers. “Help those men, Kep.”
Pope’s teeth clenched tight and he clawed at the burnt
sand. White-rimmed eyes from four faces stared at me.
“Drag him to the bank.” I jerked my head toward where
June hid. “Hide him there.”
Taylor called over the sound of the fire, “We can’t move
’im no more. It’ll kill ’im.”
Pope raised himself with his elbows. Blood showed
glossy black through the bandages on his leg. He fum-
bled with his belt buckle, unclasped it and pulled his belt

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