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“Shhh…it’s okay, girl. I’ve got you, and I’m going to bring you back to your momma.”
The foal was strangely calm, and I didn’t even have to use the bag over her head to get her out of the barn. Once I got her to safety, Decker, one of the ranch hands who worked with Blayze, grabbed her.
“We were trying to load them up in the trailer, and she got loose,” he yelled.
“Get her in there with her mother.”
He took her reins and ran off with the foal. As I turned to go help Nathan, something else caught my eye—a cat was running back and forth in front of the tack room door. She jumped up and scratched at it, then looked back at me.
“Fuck,” I mumbled, already suspecting why she wasn’t leaving. When I opened the door, four small kittens appeared. The mother grabbed one in her mouth and took off out of the barn. I reached down and picked up the other three, then ran out of the barn, looking for the mother cat. I yelled for Decker before he took off in the horse trailer.
“Decker! Help me with these!”
He ran back over and scooped up the mother and the baby while I headed over to his truck with the other kittens. Once they were safely in the truck, I shut the door.
“She had five kittens,” Decker said, as he glanced back at the barn.
“Go, you don’t have much time. I’ll make sure the other kitten is okay.”
Despite the efforts of Nathan and the other firefighters, I could see the flames had finally reached the barn at the same time I heard a plane overhead. I had one last chance to run back into the barn to look for the other cat.
“Where are you going?” Nathan asked as I rushed past him.
“One last kitten in the tack room.”
The sound of wood cracking echoed from the barn.
“Maverick, the water isn’t helping, and the firefighters said the barn is old and the structure won’t hold. We have to let it go!”
“I’m getting the kitten. Just move away, Nathan,now.”
By the time I got back into the barn, the smoke had grown ten times worse. The back of the barn was now engulfed, and the flames spread quickly. Pulling my shirt up and over my mouth, I went back to the tack room in search of the kitten. I looked everywhere, and when the heat grew too intense, and Iknew I had to leave, I turned—only to spot the kitten near the door.
“There you are, baby,” I wheezed as I scooped her up and put her under my shirt.
The sound of wood breaking caused me to sprint as fast as I could toward the other end of the barn. I could see Nathan standing off in the distance, a look of horror on his face.
“Run! Run faster, Maverick!”
The barn was starting to come down all around me, but I somehow managed to miss being hit by anything falling—until I was almost to the door, when a loud bang caused me to falter. Something crashed to the ground right in front of me, making me stumble. I dove forward, twisting my body to avoid falling on the cat, and felt something hit me from the side—hard.
I wasn’t even sure how, but we got out of the barn before the whole thing collapsed.
“Maverick!”
The sound of Nathan screaming caused me to look back at the barn, at the pile of burning timber. I rolled from my side to my back and stared up at the sky. The slightest bit of blue shone through, from where the smoke had cleared. Reaching under my shirt, I grabbed the kitten.
Nathan dropped to the ground in front of me, his eyes filled with panic.
“I’m okay, Nate. Take her. Help her.”
He reached out for the kitten and clutched it to his chest. I started to cough—and the most excruciating pain I’d ever felt hit my chest. I clutched at it, grimacing.
“Promise me you’ll protect her,” I said, still more concerned about the kitten.
Tears filled Nathan’s eyes. “I promise. I promise, Mav!”
He looked down at me, and his panic turned to fear. Whipping his head to the side, he screamed, “Help us! Someone help us! Help him! Please!”
