Free The Rising Dead by Stella Green

fired up. “I don’t know how to fight!” She muttered something in Mayan and went back inside.
    Matt followed, knowing she thought he was crazy or stupid or both. He explained that he needed her to guide him back to the place where the coyotes were holding her sister. She was clearly terrified by the idea of returning.
    “The White Jaguar killed eighty murderers all by himself! You must make him go with you.”
    “Eighty?”
    She nodded. “The husband of my great aunt’s friend was there.”
    The story that the Stranger had told Matt had closer to eight murderers, but Matt knew all stories get better in the telling. It didn’t matter whether you were Mayan or one of the guys from the mill back in Deerpark.
    “I am like him.” Matt pointed in the direction of the door. “I can fight them. I’ve done it many times and I’ll do it until I die. I’m going to save your sister and my friend Cheryl. It’s what I’m supposed to do.” Matt didn’t bother saying he was her only hope. She already knew that.
    She looked at the ground and whispered, “If you asked me to die for my sister, I would. But to go back there…getting caught would be a slow, hard death. What if they see me?”
    “You’ll show me the place, and then you’ll go hide.”
    Maria’s eyes showed the agony of being caught between her fear and her love for her sister. With a deep breath she looked up and nodded. Somehow she found a way todefeat her terror. There were no more tears. Maria had her game face on, and she was ready to make the long walk back to her captors.
    “Get some sleep.” Matt stretched out in front of the door. Maria curled up in the far corner. Neither of them slept.

CHAPTER NINE
    Just before daybreak, the Stranger pushed the door into Matt. The Stranger’s night of walking in the desert blackness had calmed him. He took a package from his rucksack and made them rough, hot campfire coffee. When he stretched out his arm to hand a cup to Maria, she didn’t take it because she was looking at his left biceps. The stab wound was now just a faint red line.
    “
Ahpatpehcahel!
” She turned her back like she couldn’t bear to look at him.
    The Stranger opened his mouth to say something, but then, as if he had decided it was pointless, said nothing.
    Matt was pretty sure he’d just learned the Mayan word for “liar.” If Maria had ever doubted that the Stranger was the White Jaguar, now she knew. When bitter grounds were all Matt had left in his cup, he said, “We’re heading out this morning. Maria is going to take me to the coyotes.”
    “Weren’t you listening to me?”
    “I was. Have you ever wondered why Mr. Dark worked so hard to torture you? I think he’s afraid of you, of us both. And what really scares him is the two of us working together.”
    The Stranger threw his dregs on the fire. “You’re going to get them all killed and probably yourself, too.”
    Matt pointed to Maria’s back. “If that little girl is brave enough to go back, I’m going to do everything I can to save her sister. It’s what we do.”
    The Stranger bristled with disgust as he shook his head. “I’d call you muleheaded, but that would tarnish the reputation of the mules.”
    Twenty minutes later, when Maria and Matt started out, the Stranger groaned, picked up his walking stick, and followed. Matt wasn’t sure what had made him change his mind, and he didn’t ask because he wasn’t going to chance some wrong word that might get the Stranger’s back up. It was a huge relief to have help, but Matt spent the first mile wondering if the Stranger was coming along to help or to die.
    The desert was still cool, so they moved quickly; the fiery sun was rising and the temperature would rise with it. Maria was nimble and took the heat well. Matt wasn’t surprised she had been able to escape. He hoped he wasn’t putting her at risk for nothing. The coyotes would be well armed, and, as usual, Matt and his comrades had no guns. Still