AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lily gaped at her, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Things could only go downhill from there.
6
“It’s a good thing the barn isn’t too close to the house,” Bec said as she parked the trailer near the gate to the pig pen.
They had crawled down the long driveway with the lights off, hoping that Ashton would be sound asleep in the big white farmhouse. The driveway split into two, with the tree-lined road to the house shielding them from view. The only danger was that Ashton might hear the rumble of the vehicle and come out to investigate.
But when they stopped and cautiously opened the car doors, all was quiet. They waited for a few minutes, and then Bec headed for the pig pen.
“Come on,” she hissed. “We need to do this quickly.” She switched on her head torch. “We could get caught at any moment.”
“Just how do you plan to get the piglets into the trailer?” Lily asked, her heart pounding. “I hate this cloak and dagger stuff,” she complained as an afterthought.
“The sooner we get them loaded, the sooner we can get out of here,” Bec replied. “They deserve to be rescued from Ashton, remember?”
Lily squirmed. It was her own fault she was in this predicament. If she’d told Bec that Ashton was a good person who deserved to keep the piglets, she’d have had to admit that her own animosity towards him was unfounded. And she wasn’t ready to do that. So here she was, trudging through an empty farmyard at midnight to aid and abet her lunatic friend’s grand plan to do a little pignapping. It was something no sane person would ever entertain for a moment, so she guessed it made her as crazy as Bec.
“Let’s get this over and done with, then,” she muttered. “You realize we’re likely to get caught and go to jail?”
“At least we’ll be together,” Bec replied. “Partners in crime till the bitter end.” She opened the gate to the pig pen. “Here little piggies,” she crooned, moving slowly toward them. “Come to Aunty Bec. I’ll save you from your fate.”
But the piglets apparently didn’t want to be saved. They ran to the other side of the pen with a chorus of nervous grunts.
Bec wasn’t deterred. “Come on, don’t be shy,” she said, holding out her hand. She walked slowly towards them as they crowded into the corner. “Come on …” she reached for the nearest one, only for the entire litter to scatter with squeals of alarm.
“Let’s try from two sides,” she suggested. “You come from one side and I’ll come from the other. We’ll each grab one when they bunch up in the corner.”
Lily moved reluctantly into position. Bec whispered the signal, and they made a dive at the last minute. Lily felt the smooth skin of a piglet beneath her fingers just as she overbalanced and landed on her hands and knees in the mud, while the piglets squealed and rushed to the opposite corner of the pen.
She scrambled to her feet. “I fell over. Now I’m muddy and I smell like a pig.”
“They’re not easy to see in the dark when they’re all in a crowd,” Bec agreed. “We’ll just have to try again.”
“Has it occurred to you that we could just give up and go home?” Lily grumbled. “These guys clearly don’t want to be saved. Let’s just leave them in peace.”
“No way!” Bec was determined. “I came to save them, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
She herded the frightened piglets toward the corner closest to the gate. “Let’s surprise them this time,” she said. She got into position. “When I say go, run as fast as you can and grab one.”
Lily was sure it was a waste of time, but she dutifully obeyed.
“Go!” Bec hissed, dashing forward in the glow of her head torch.
The piglets were trapped, and the only way to freedom was to charge straight at the terrifying monster bearing down on them. With a collective squeal that Lily was sure could be heard in three counties, they dashed toward Bec. She launched herself at the nearest one, only to have one of the others get tangled in her legs. Her hands closed around the hapless piglet even as her momentum carried her forward. For a split second, Lily saw the beast flying through the air in Bec’s arms, its legs flailing helplessly as it gave a deafening squeal. Bec’s shoulder thudded against the gate and the piglet kept going, sailing over the gate into the pasture beyond, where it hit the ground running, and with a little shriek of triumph, disappeared into the darkness. The gate shuddered and gave way as Bec’s full weight popped the catch open, and the other piglets suddenly spied their chance at freedom. They turned and bolted for the opening, dodging Bec’s prone form as she lay winded on the ground. A second later, they were nowhere to be seen and the pig pen was silent.
“Are you all right?” Lily asked anxiously.
Bec groaned and sat up. “I think I have pig poo in my hair.” She rubbed her shoulder gingerly. “And my shoulder hurts.”
“Well, if that’s the worst thing that happened to you, you’ll live.” Lily stretched out her hand. “Are you ready to stand up?”
Bec took Lily’s outstretched hand and hauled herself to her feet. “Thanks.” She looked around. “Are they all gone?”
“Every last one.”
“We’ll never catch them now,” Bec said forlornly. “They’ve run off to their day pasture, and it’s too big.”
They stood in silence for a moment, until a noise behind them made them turn around. A large pig stood there, blinking in the light from Bec’s head torch.
