Bad Land by Jonathan Yanez Page A

assassin or superhero. Quirky tech girl by day, vigilante by night?”
    Both Ann and Diane laughed. “She is our tech assistant at the office but Ann, like myself, has chosen the same side in this war and we have come to be—allies.”
    Marshall turned his attention back to Diane. She sat straight in her high backed wooden chair. Her short red hair seemed like it was almost on fire compared to her fair skin and light gray suit.
    “You’re talking like a general. What war are you referring to?”
    Ann removed the towel, confident that the bleeding had stopped, and took a seat between the two, crossing her long legs and settling in for an interesting conversation.
    “We are in a war, Marshall. A war that has been waged long before Americans discovered this land, and perhaps even before the Indians settled in the area.”
    Marshall had so many questions he didn’t know what to ask first. Diane must have seen the expression on his face because she smiled and started speaking. “Let’s start at the beginning. For as far back as records of the area have shown, Wakan Canyon has been the site of bloodshed and death. Things may have even been going on before the Indians settled in the land, but that is all debatable.
    What we know for sure is that the Indians fought over a power, a power that corrupted their very souls. Those that tried to control the power were killed by others seeking the power for themselves and the cycle continued for hundreds of years. When my ancestors and the Lloyd family stumbled on the canyon’s secret, we too were corrupted and turned against one another. The Lloyds all but destroyed my family, leaving only myself alive.”
    Marshall let out a deep sigh and gently shook his head, immediately regretting the act from the throbbing pain in his temples. “I don’t think I even want to know, but what is this power that has been fought over for so many years?”
    Ann let out an uncharacteristic low whistle. “Are you sure he’s ready for all of this?” she asked Diane. “We don’t even know for sure that he’ll side with us.”
    There was a moment of silence as Diane looked, not just at Marshall, but through Marshall. “I think we can trust him. He’s still here. He could have tried to run already.”
    “For his sake, let’s hope he does.”
    Marshall couldn’t take it anymore. It was like he was in the principal’s office with his mother and the ladies were carrying on a conversation as though he didn’t even exist. “Well, HE is sitting right here and HE is not going to run anywhere. Especially with a pounding headache and Mrs. Ninja assassin present. HE just really wants to know what the hell is going on.”
    Ann shrugged as Diane continued, “What is the one power that man has sought to control and harness since the beginning of time?”
    “Wealth?” Marshall guessed.
    “Nope,” Ann said.
    “Knowledge?”
    Diane shook her head.
    Marshall was beginning to get agitated at the guessing game. “I don’t know—rank in society, the ability to manipulate others?”
    Diane still shook her head. “Think simpler. What are all men afraid of?”
    Marshall’s mouth went dry as he grasped the answer to the clues the women had lain for him. He licked his lips as he mouthed the word, “Death.”
    Both Diane and Ann nodded in approval. “Yes,” Diane said. “Death is the one thing man has been unable to control. From the beginning of our existence we have feared it, tried to control it, and searched far and wide for ways to prolong it, but to no avail.”
    “Until now,” Ann added.
    “Until now,” Diane echoed.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 16
     
     
    Marshall’s head pounded harder. He wasn’t sure if it was from the knock he had taken or the truth his mind was trying to process and accept. 
    “Whether the Native Americans were the first to find it or someone else is still unknown but there is a stone located deep within the earth in Wakan Canyon. A stone the