ELEVEN

The wind powered rain hit Don full in the face as he fought to move forward. Above him the sky brightened suddenly with lightning and behind him the lights went out. This would mean that Susan was in the dark too -- he pushed to make his legs move faster. Instead of skirting around the boundaries of the corn he shoved his way through, breaking stalks as he went. There was no time to think of the crop, he had a friend in trouble.

* * *

Daniel Jeffers, was the power. He was the man with the thin, haunted expression -- the man who wept steadily for the rape of the young, black girl, for the torture of the other men -- the man who so feared and hated his commander, that even after death he would not leave the field where he died. An emotion so strong that through its power he was able to keep everyone from both his company and the enemy's company in the land. They were unable to break his hold and move on. He is their hell; Daniel Jeffers and his guilt and hate kept them in this last battle.

"Daniel," Susan said as calmly as possible. Her arms and legs were being held down by the cold hands of the spirits who were crowded around them in a circle and even after the lights had gone out she could see them around her. They seemed to glow in the darkness. The Commander was watching from behind his men. He wore a smug smile of a man who took joy in others pain and considered it a triumph to beat the weak and defenseless.

"Commander, sir!"

The Commander turned to the source of the voice. Ethan gave him a nod.

"Remember me?"

The sound of The Commander unsheathing his sword was almost as disturbing as what he planned to do with it. Ethan had no weapon but he still possessed the upper hand. Ethan knew the truth. They were both dead, The Commander still operated on the idea that they were alive, that they could still feel pain and die.

The Commander took a stabbing thrust at him, Ethan side stepped it.

"You can stop this," she was keeping her focus on Daniel and trying not to hear the battle going on beyond.

He was sobbing and quaking as he moved toward her. The men were pushing him down onto her.

"I can't," he whispered. "They'll kill me if I don't."

Susan took a deep breath and tried to stop trembling. "Daniel Jeffers, you are already dead. You have to believe that."

"I'm sorry," he cried as he reached into his pants and tried to make himself hard.

Ethan had lead The Commander out through the tent by jumping back from the point on his sword. He was moving him to the end of the tent where the equipment was. If it was one thing that Ethan had it was practice messing with Owen's computers. He knew how to switch the dials to make the volume double and cause an unwanted echo. There had been times that Ethan reached inside the hard drive and made the computer to not do what it was programmed to do. The generator had kicked in when the electrical feed had been lost and even now the computers were recording everything that was happening inside the tent. The Commander thought he was chasing down a coward who would not stand and fight, he had no idea that he was being led into a trap.

Susan fought her instincts, everything inside her demanded that she panic and fight to get away. "They already killed you. Look at me, am I dressed like a Southern lady? Look around you; do any of the machines make sense to you?"

Daniel looked around, he looked at her, he seemed almost convinced when one of the company leaned down and placed a knife against his throat.

"Come on, Jeffers, be a man," he said. "Or maybe you don't deserve to live."

There was a blast of sound from the other end of the tent but the men did not hear it. All eyes -- all attention -- were on Daniel and Susan.

Daniel's eyes widened and he began to whimper.

"Daniel!" she said sharply. His eyes snapped over to her face.

"They are going to kill you anyway, because you cannot do this. Be brave, be strong, be the man you want to be. Stop them."

Ethan swung his arm and even though he missed it by some inches he still sent a mixing board flying. The Commander jumped out of its way and leaped forward again.

Something was happening behind Daniel Jeffers' eyes, something had clicked. He looked down at the blade, then at Susan.

"Hasn't this gone on long enough?" she asked in a quiet, calm voice.

Ethan had decided that it had gone on long enough, he did not dare to break any more of Owen's things. Not that he needed to, he was ready to show The Commander what the Halls were made of.

Dropping his arms to his sides, he brought his feet together and looked The Commander in the eye.

"Come on, if you think you're man enough," Ethan taunted.

The Commander snarled and took a long step forward while stabbing out at his foe.

The blade passed through Ethan's chest and out his back.

"Ha!" The Commander barked.

After a motionless moment had passed, Ethan let a smile slip across his lips. A look of disbelief crashed down on The Commander's face.

"Ha, indeed," Ethan said, his crooked smile on high.

The Commander took an unsteady step away and withdrew his sword.

"I killed you, sir," he announced as if it made a difference.

"Not unless you own a cell phone and drive a Buick," Ethan countered.

From the other side of the tent there was a cry of anger and as Ethan took a step toward The Commander the solder disintegrated. It was not like before when he had turned into vapor and faded, this time it was as if something was pulling him down a cell at a time.

Daniel pushed up away from Susan and lashed out at the men around them. As his fists reached them, they crumbled away into nonexistence. When her arm and legs were freed Susan got herself up to her feet. The spirit was still throwing punches and yelling.

"It's all right, now," Susan told him when the other ghosts were gone.

Jeffers stopped and looked around the tent, it was just the two of them left.

"I'm sorry," Daniel started to cry again.

"No more," Susan said. "Show me where you are buried."

Daniel took her out into the pouring rain, out into the middle of the field. Ethan followed.

"This is where they killed me," Daniel said. He looked around the field. "It was a summer night, and we had captured an enemy company. The Commander told us to get information from them. We knew that they didn't have any but we kept . . . " his voice faltered. "We did as he said. Then one of the men found a slave girl who was in the woods, trying to get home. They raped her by order of rank." Daniel's ghostly face was illuminated with tears although the rain did not touch him. "When it came my turn, I couldn't do it. I could almost justify the torture, they were the enemy they were part of the war, but the girl," Daniel dropped his head forward. "She wasn't part of it. I refused, I begged them to let her go. They cut my throat and left me here to choke on my own blood. They didn't even bury me. I was the example of what could happen if you didn't follow orders."

Daniel looked around the field, "One by one they died while I waited by my body."

Susan started digging, she did not have far to go. His bones were not two feet below the surface. As she lay his remains on the top soil she told him, "You know that it was you all along?" Daniel looked up from the smooth white of all that remained of him in this world. "You had the power to keep them here, it was a dark power that's why it was so all encompassing."

"I'm sorry," he looked away.

"Daniel," he looked back at her. Susan looked deeply into his eyes.

"You are forgiven."

* * *

Don slid down the hill on the soles of his feet. Inside the cornfield, he had gotten disoriented and could not immediately find his way out. Now he could see Susan and two other people out in the field. He ran full out across the muddy land.

When he was close enough, he could hear Susan's voice.

"You are forgiven."

The shorter of the two people who were not Susan pulled themselves up and squared their shoulders.

"Thank you, miss."

Don called out, "Are you all right?"

The person who had their back fully to Don, turned around. Their face made Don stop so fast that he fell back into the mud.

"Ethan?" he said.

"Hi, Don," Ethan said, then gave him a crooked smile.

"Are you ready to move on, Daniel?" Susan was asking.

"Oh, yes. I'm very tired," Daniel said.

"Then, let go."

Daniel's shape became bright for a moment, like a sudden burst of sunshine, and then he seemed to get smaller and darker. Then he was gone.

When Don got back to his feet, he and Susan were alone. Ethan had ceased being visible to him when Daniel's energy shrank then disappeared.

Susan had her head back and the rain was hitting her full in the face. Don touched Susan's arm, when she looked at him he could see that she was crying with a big smile on her face.

"Are you okay?"

Then she had her arms around him, hugging him hard. He put his arms around her and held on as she cried.

"It's okay," she kept saying, as if he were the one who was crying.

It was not until the others made it to them that he realized that he was.