She blinked, her breath stalling. There was something here. Was it a wolf? A bear? They wouldn’t come down this far into ranching country, right? At least not until it got colder and they couldn’t find food? “Jake?”
A low rumbling sound snagged her attention and her head snapped up. A large black bull stood mere yards away and he was staring directly at her.
“Jacob?” she whispered, her voice cracking. She turned her head slightly, catching sight of Jacob inching closer to her. He had a hand up as if that would be enough to ward off an angry bull. She knew better. She’d been around animals like this. Any second, that bull was going to charge at her. Maybe she should just start running. The fence wasn’t too far. She could make it.
Time slowed to a standstill in those few seconds. Then it suddenly sped up and everything happened in a blur. She screamed, darting toward Jacob. He shoved her out of the way, sending her sprawling onto her front.
There was a grunt. Hooves pounding but going quieter. A thud of a body hitting the ground. The pounding growing loud again. Her ears buzzed and she turned her head to find Jacob in the grass closer to the fence, but in obvious pain. His eyes were shut tight and his breathing was uneven. Shuddered. Gasps.
Hallie whipped her head around to see the bull coming at them again. No! She couldn’t let him trample them. “Jake! Get up!” she screamed.
He didn’t move.
“Jake!”
“My leg. Something’s wrong.”
Her eyes darted to his leg.
“And my back. I don’t know what happened.” He rasped the words, terror and resignation in his voice.
Hallie scrambled for the tree where the branches were. She might be making the third biggest mistake of her life right here and now, but she couldn’t just do nothing. Gripping the branchwith shaking hands, she swung the branch out as if to strike the bull. She hollered and screamed.
Everything she did was in an attempt to scare the animal off. She couldn’t let him trample Jacob and based on what Jacob had said, he wasn’t in any condition to move. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to make herself bigger and scarier than the bull.
At some point the beast backed away, snorting and tossing its head before galloping in the other direction. He might come back. She knew better than to believe they were out of the woods.
Keeping the branch in hand, she rushed to Jacob’s side. Only then did she put it on the ground. Her hands hovered over Jacob, not sure of what to do. She couldn’t move him if he said his back was in pain. He needed to take stock of his own body.
His eyes were shut tight and an expression of pure, unadulterated pain marred his face.
“Can you feel your toes? Fingers?” She scrambled for her phone that had miraculously stayed in her back pocket through it all. Her hands shook so bad she had to try to dial the number twice.
“Yes,” Jacob wheezed.
“That’s good,” she whimpered.
“Nine one one, what’s your emergency.”
“There’s been an accident. My friend… he was charged by a bull and knocked down. He’s in a lot of pain. I don’t know what to do.”
The words of the dispatcher faded as she watched Jacob. He was pale and he wasn’t moving except for his face. She made noises to indicate she was still on the line, but everything else was hazy.
This was all her fault.
Again.
Why did bad things keep happening to her? What had she done in another life to warrant this kind of outcome?
“Jake?” she whispered when his features relaxed. “Jacob!” Panic laced that single word and she fought the urge to shake him.
“What’s going on, hon?” The dispatcher’s voice was calm but Hallie couldn’t speak. He wasn’t dead. He wouldn’t have died, right?
“I don’t know! He was talking to me but now he’s not.”
“Is he still breathing?”
She looked down to find his chest rising and falling. Relief sent a fresh surge of tears streaming down her face. “Yes, he’s still breathing.”
