Page 26 of Loving Justice

As the winds intensified, ascreechechoed in the distance, growing louder and more assertive. Jinx took a walk through the pasture, shining his flashlight around. The sky fractured with a brilliant streak of lightning that illuminated the area for a split second before plunging it back into darkness.

He knelt on the damp grass next to the fence, pulling his hat low on his forehead to keep the rain off his face. Within minutes his jeans were soaked.

Each crack of thunder and flash of lightning sounded like applause, a confirmation that something magnificent was about to happen.

Well, he didn’t want to be in the middle of it. The ranch was right in the line of powerful, destructive winds.

He started pounding the temporary metal clamps into place when he heard a loud bang behind him. He peered through the large drops of rain and the darkness, but he couldn’t see anything, even with the aid of the flashlight that kept flickering. He banged it against the heel of his hand. Still nothing. He was alone.

He finished the fence, and just as he stood, the ground vibrated under his feet. Then a thunderous pounding reached his ears through the rain pelting off the metal roof of the barn.

Something was out of place.

He examined the proximity and feathered the light over the bullpen. He caught a flash of a dark silhouette. His gut tightened when he saw Misdemeanor five feet away, creating a steam cloud from his heavy breathing. More thunder clapped the sky, and Misdemeanor made a distinct growl-like sound that made Jinx’s hair stand.

“It’s okay, big fella. Go back to the barn.” Jinx dropped the toolbox next to his feet, not taking his focus off the bull. He quickly thought of a safe exit. Running would only create more of a problem, but one loud boom and Misdemeanor would attack.

When the bull clawed the ground and snorted, Jinx knew he had to make a move. He walked backward a few paces, and once he was close to the fence, he jumped onto the rail to dive over it, but he wasn’t quick enough. Misdemeanor charged and nailed him in the leg, sending Jinx flying up in the air and coming down hard on the other side of the fence.

At first, he thought he’d escaped being hurt and tried pushing himself to his knees to get out of the mud puddle but a pain warned him that he hadn’t been as lucky as thought. He examined his leg and squinted. His jeans were ripped and he was bleeding from a deep laceration. Misdemeanor must have clipped him with the tip of his horn.

Blood seeped from the wound. He ripped some material from his shirt and tied it around his thigh to help slow the blood loss. But the quicker his heart beat, the more blood that came- from the wound.

He tried moving, but a throbbing pain kept him still. He wasn’t sure he could move.

“Keller!” he yelled, but the wind tossed his cry for help back into his face.

A tingly sensation embedded itself into his muscles and his adrenaline rush was fading. The pain increased. His body was going into shock.

With a heavy sigh, he sank into the puddle, feeling the rain dance on his face. The droplets mingled with shadows, creating a mysterious haze.

He stared up at the sky, but the rain was falling too heavily for him to see anything. He closed his eyes. He had to survive. His sister needed him, and so did Justice. But did she?

He let out a soft chuckle, an unusual response for such a dire moment. It struck him as ironic that just when he found someone he cared about, he was faced with a life-threatening injury.

Jinx had no clue how long he’d been lying there, in the cold dirt, before he heard someone call his name through a tunnel. Someone had found him.

*****

Pok stood in the shadows.

Satisfaction overcame him as he watched the scene before him. Jinx was flung into the dirt like a cloth doll. Jinx was tough but not against the bull.

Jinx was hurt. His moans sounded deep and painful, gratifying.

Pok trembled in excitement. He had a thought. He should go to the cowboy and save his life and become a hero. Then all the hands, the crew, and the Roses would treat him like royalty. Freedom would see him in a different light, marry him, and they’d live happily ever after.

He liked that idea.

But the desire to end Jinx was much stronger than becoming a hero.

Pok smiled, feeling an adrenaline rush like he’d never felt before. He cursed the darkness because he wanted to see Jinx’s expression when he saw “the light”. There was power in watching someone die. An unexplainable sense of godliness. Jinx deserved to die in the mud like a stray dog with rabies.

To Pok, Jinx was lower than a dog.

Pok couldn’t see a damn thing. He relied on the strikes of lightning as the only source of light.

Was Jinx dead?

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