Outside, further into the distance, a solitary figure stood watching a herd of cattle as they grazed lazily in the midday sun. Elijah knew that frame instantly, his brother, Wilson.

As he stepped out of the van, the oppressive heat wrapped around him, heavy with the scent of dust, smoke, and livestock. Wilson didn’t move. He had felt Elijah’s presence before he heard it, some things between brothers didn’t dull with time.

Elijah approached slowly, his boots kicking up puffs of red earth. Wilson turned finally, his face darkened not just by sun, but by years of unspoken bitterness.

“You’re bold to come here, again,” Wilson said, his voice cold and low. “After what you did.”

Elijah’s jaw tensed. “I didn’t come to fight.”

“No?” Wilson stepped closer, his eyes burning. “You fought me the last time. Left blood on the ground and then vanished.”

“I was angry. You were too,” Elijah said. “We were both stupid.”

Wilson scoffed. “You ran off and found work hurting people. For men like Chang. Who here, really, is stupid?”

“I didn’t know who he was,” Elijah snapped, the words out before he could temper them. “Not at first.”

Wilson stepped in close, chest to chest now, tense as a pulled bowstring. “But you know now, don’t you, little brother?”

Elijah dropped his gaze, staring past the dust and dry grass to the van sitting heavy in the heat shimmer. His throat felt tight, like the words were choking him on the way out. “There’s a man in there,” he said quietly, almost hoping the wind would carry it away before Wilson could hear. “Chang wants him dead.”

Wilson didn’t flinch, his face as unreadable as stone. “So, kill him.”

The bluntness of it hit harder than a fist. Elijah’s stomach knotted, the weight of it settling in his chest. His hands, shoved deep into his pockets, curled into fists. He couldn’t look at Wilson, couldn’t look at the van either. The man inside wasn’t some stranger now, he was real, breathing, waiting. And Elijah knew once he crossed this line, there was no coming back.

“I can’t do it, brother. Please help me! what should I do?” Elijah’s voice cracked, thin and desperate, the words spilling out before he could hold them back. “I can’t kill him. No matter what Chang wants, I won’t. I can’t cross that line. Whatever’s left of me, my conscience, my soul… it won’t let me.”