“Right, well, this guy’s ready to go when you are. Are you ready to get going?”
With Colton holding Ducky still for me, I slipped my foot into the stirrup and pulled myself up. I nudged Ducky to walk on while Colton opened the gate for us. “See you soon!” I called as we passed.
“Later, city girl.” He waved at me.
I continued at a walking pace for a little while, following the fence line like Colton had directed me to. When we reached Maddie’s paddock, I leaned down and managed to free the gate. Opening it, I then managed to turn Ducky around again to close it without getting off. I fist pumped in happiness and the horse reacted to my movement, beginning to walk again.
“Woah,” I told Ducky and he slowed to a stop. After fishing inside my bag, I pulled out the survey. I saw a spot marked as a good possible site, that seemed to line up with the junkyard. Heading towards it, I unhooked the bag from my side and rifled through the other papers, looking for the actual coordinates. Once the paper was in hand, I skimmed over it, finding similar geographic markers. I slid off Ducky and walked a little closer.
“Stay here,” I told him, patting him on his side before setting off to see what I could find. It seemed that the surveys had been fairly accurate—there were definite markers that showed positive signs for oil. Ryder had even mentioned it on our first ride.
Spying further positive markers, I moved toward that space where the large amount of shale and sandstone were clumped together intending to mark it as an area of interest if it did actually turn out to be one.
Time passed quickly and I hadn’t realized I’d been so lost in work; Daddy would have been proud. I spun on the spot, intending to find Ducky to head back, but then something rustled under a junk heap nearby.
When I took a curious step forward, something moved directly in front of me. Squinting a little, I spotted something long and thin. My heart stopped when I saw it coming straight at me.
A snake. I was going to get bitten and die from snake venom. I couldn’t believe it! That was when I let out a blood-curdling scream.