Forever

Reunion?

"Hello." Adam said. Shadows darkened his face, causing gnarled hands of shadows to spread across his features. Henry had never seen him and was rather disappointed at the lack of visual reference.

"Henry..... Who the hell is he?" Jo murmered, sitting up. Henry, to pained to do the same, stayed on the ground, gazing into the black pools where he suspected Adam's eyes were.

"Yeah, Henry. Who am I?" Adam cocked his head, darkening his features.

"I-I don't know. Please-"

"What was that? Couldn't hear you over the roar of experience from the past.... 2, 000 years or so." He growled. Henry swallowed and licked his lips. Adam wanted to prove something.... His curse was for sure, but for what? Mockery? Embarrassment? Telling Jo would have no benefit for him and Henry. She was a vessel who would tell the world. No, Henry could tell her.Convince her not to tell. She would comply. She always did when it came to reason.

Did she?

"What's he talking about? Who is he?"

"I'm telling you, I-Ahh!" Henry's dull, pain-fogged brain was kicked into action by a sharp kick to his gunshot wound. Adam leaned over him, and he could see the color of his eyes. And unnatural gold color. Gold? No, no, that wasn't right. Were they red? Was he the devil? Where were the red spots coming from? Was the roar behind him coming from a person? They sounded familiar, like someone he knew..... Abigail! She was dead. She had been for years. What was........ Ah, yes. The gunshot. And the man's kick. His bite was as sharp as his bark. So who was-

"Henry?!" Jo's panicked voice redoubled in strength as the world pounded back into action. He stared up at Adam and tried to reply. Loss of blood. Loss of blood. He knew the problem now, he could asses it, regardless of what the other people were doing. Speaking? To who? To him? He heard syllables that sounded like Abraham and Abigail. Slave and Doctor. Death and rebirth. No, they were all delusions. He needed to focus. Too much blood was gone, seeping into his clothes and the muddy ground beneath him. Gritting his teeth, he drove his shoulder into the geound. The bleeding would stop momentarily if he didn't move. How could he blees that much from a bullet wound? It must have nicked an artery.

My heart's still beating. Breath. In. Out. In. Out. In....

"Tell her!" The barrel of a pistol drove itself into his skull. Breathing as evenly as possible, Henry asked Jo for her attention.

"You have it, you jackass! Why didn't you answer sooner!?" She sounded angry. And relieved. Was that the proper label? He hoped so.

"Remember the story about the doctor and the slave?"

"Yeah..... Don't. I know where this is going. You can't die." She whispered. He sighed. Now Adam would let them go.

He chuckled.

"There's more to the story then that. The first fifty years are fun. Live, die, repeat, right? I outlived sons. Daughters, sisters, wives.... Nieces and nephews. I outlived all of them. Yet there was one relative I have left. Her name.... Is Jo Martinez."

Blackness followed promptly.

Couldn't resist the cliffhanger, sorry! My apologies for not posting for a while, 'cause Life happened. Anyway, there'll be more up tomorrow! :)