by K. F. Breene
“Look over here!” I shouted. “Look over here you bastard! Look over here!”
I cursed and screamed and waved my shirt. Then, because the bull wasn’t paying attention, I yelled for my personal savior, “FRED!!”
Halfway across the arena now, not stopping, my target as single-minded as that bull. I yelled again as that bastard bull bent down, huge head crushing a limp William with another horned blow. I was nearing now, not planning to halt like Ty and Adam. I would punch that damn bull right between the eyes if he didn't notice me before then. I didn't have to worry. With the next wave of my shirt, it huffed, bouncing around, eyes spotting my movement, then staring. At me.
“Oh shit!”
I heard my name screamed, but it was drowned out by the adrenaline rushing through my ears. My whole world reduced down to two single objects: William laying on the ground in an unnatural heap, and a giant, raging animal that found something new to hate.
Time fluxed. The massive, horned head lowered. One fat hoof pawed the ground. Still, I held, unwilling to walk away now. Unable to allow it to focus on William again. I would keep its focus until William was out of harms way, or get gored trying.
I heard barking in the distance. Fred was coming. And he’d bring the others. Not that they would help much should this bull charge, but they would be great at distracting it if I failed.
Time bent. Wobbled. Hate-filled animal eyes sighted-in. Focused. Its body tensed.
The bull started running.
“Holy shit!”
With a snap time sped up.
I was running before my brain told my body to turn around.
It didn’t take me long to get up to maximum sprint. I had no shoes on, had no idea when I’d lost them, but my bare feet felt no pain—only increased traction. I was a sprinter, always had been. I dug in, pushed harder than I knew I could, and made a conscious choice to take the long road; I would go through the gate into the corral and jump over. Hopefully someone was smart enough to close the beast in.
I just had to get there. I had to get that beast of an animal, also up to full sprint, through. William needed help, and with that animal on the loose, he wouldn’t get it. Sink or swim, I was his salvation, and I had to come through!
I heard a raspy huffing behind me. I was fast, but I was no match for a four-legged animal, regardless of its size. I pushed harder, desperate to go faster, conscious of the pounding of hoofs behind me, almost on me, almost caught up to me.
Twenty feet to go. C’mon Jessica. Fifteen. Push!
I heard the breath then, close and intimate. The pounding of its feet like thunder. His huff vibrating my bones. I could feel its presence, gaining, directly behind me. In a heartbeat I would feel it. Horn would connect with my bare back.
I felt the rough glance as the animal took a swing—and missed. I had one more second and five more feet.
I wouldn’t make it.
Just then I heard the loud barking of five guardian angels. Fred brought the pack! They couldn’t do much but momentarily distract that beast, but that’s all I needed. One missed step and I’d make it.
It had to be enough.
I felt breath on my back. Another huff. So close!
A strange dong sounded. Then the growling and barking of my salvation. Fred had arrived!
I reached the gate at a dead run. I jumped as high as I could, grabbed the top, and catapulted myself over like I had wings. One heartbeat after my world filled with the metallic crash of the bull hitting the fence behind me. The fence bowed under the strain.
My side erupted in fire as I was pushed through the air, landing in a dirty crash, pain exploding my shoulder.
Chapter Nine
Sounds coalesced into agony while my brain redirected toward my one point of focus. William. I couldn’t black out now. William needed me.
I fought for awareness and struggled, my body aching, my brain pushing past it. It was then I realized I was surrounded by growling, protective Doberman. Fred and his pals would not let anyone near me. One of the animals was still in the pen, harassing the bull. They were thorough.
“Fred!” It sounded like Adam. “Fred, damn it—no, Smit! Don’t advance on them.” It sounded like he was yelling at someone across me. “These dogs will attack if you advance.”
“Jess, call Fred off!” That was Lump.
My head was foggy. It was trying to shut down because of the pain.
I bit my lip and willed more strength. “Fred, no.”
His growl stopped immediately. A big dog head come into view. One by one the other dogs stopped growling as well. Another dog head. Then two tongues.
“Go on, now!” I yelled. I wasn’t in the mood for kisses. Ginger left immediately, but Fred lingered. “GO!”
I heard someone yelling for everyone to get back. I also heard sirens.
Good, an ambulance would come for William.
“Jess! Jess, are you okay?” Lump was yelling down at me. She wasted no time pushing Fred away now that she could.
“How’s William?” I begged.
“William is being looked after. Are you okay? That bull looked like it got you.”
“Yeah, that fucker. My shoulder is on fire and my boob hurts. Well, under my boob. How is William?”
“Would you idiots get back?” Lump roared. Her direction was instantly acted upon. “I need more light. I can’t see what I am looking at. And someone get her a shirt!”
Lump was a good person to have in this situation. She had no problem taking control, always knew what to do, and because of that, everyone had no problem letting her lead.
A lantern of some sort was brought. A second later a truck rumbled up, its headlight raining light down on the scene.
“Holy fuck,” Lump muttered. “Okay Jessica, we’ll get this fixed up in no time, okay?”
She looked around her. “Where’s Adam? I need him.”
Someone shouted that he was getting William loaded onto a stretcher.
“Oh God, oh God. He has to get on a stretcher?” I felt sick to my stomach. “Is he okay? I want to go with him. Lump, fix me or let me up. I want to go with him!” I screamed.
“GET ADAM!” Lump yelled. “Now Jess,” Lump kneeled down to me with soft, calm eyes. “You won’t get far if I don’t put that shoulder in place. Then we have to see if you have anything else wrong that will prevent you from walking.”
“Lump, I want to go with William! I will fight you if I have to. Surely that will make me worse, right? Fix me and get me to William, damn it!”
She sighed and just about screamed for Adam again when he arrived.
“Jessica you moron! What the fu--- Oh no, Jess. What have you done?” Adam’s voice sounded like I slit my wrists.
“She’s looking fine, Adam. This is nothing,” Lump said with steel in her voice.
So I was pretty messed up. I could feel a lot worse, though. This was way better than the mental pain I was still working through. Physical crap was nothing to that.
“Okay,” Lump began. “there is nothing I can do for the ribs. At least one is broken. Nothing is poking through, though, so that is fixable. She would be in worse pain if there was anything internal going on, so I think she is lucky where that horn got her.” Lump sighed, which was a good sign. “That shoulder has to be put to rights, though. Adam, I need you to get behind her and ever so gently lift her up. I need to pop it back into place. Jessic--”
“Betz, wait for the professionals to do this!” Adam said crossly.
“Adam, don’t argue with me. Do as I say or I will get someone else. William needs looking at more.”
“He does?” I asked in a faraway voice. “Is he okay?”
I was ignored. Instead of a dog head I had a big Adam head blocking the stars.
Before I could ask again, Lump said, “Jessica, if anything, and I mean anything, hurts besides your shoulder when he raises you up, you say it, okay? Anything at all. Adam, go slowly. If she cries out, stop right where you are. Don
’t lower, just stop.”
I couldn’t see what Adam was doing, but I felt his cold, course hands on my shoulders.
“Nice choice of bra, Jess,” Lump was saying to me, taking my mind off Adam getting into position.
“Why? Which one is it?”
“The black lacy one.”
“Oh yeah. William’s favorite. At least I look hot for the occasion. I think that bull liked me at first. Then it must have changed its mind.”
I was lifted slowly. “Uh, my chests hurts,” I said in a wheeze. I stopped moving immediately.
“Yeah, that’s the ribs.” Lump gently touched me. “There?” she asked.
I jumped, a stab of pain exploding my chest. I nodded. She looked at Adam to continue.
Everything else was just overall pain, nothing else hurt too badly besides the shoulder and the ribs.
Or, nothing else hurt worse, anyway.
Lump got to the other side of me, bodily pushing someone out of the way. “Okie dokie, Jess. I’ve done this so many times it isn’t funny. Usually with bigger, more muscled men. Nothing to it.”
Adam was holding me firmly as I felt Lump’s hands near my shoulder. It felt like she stabbed me with ten hot knives. I whimpered, followed by Adam saying, “Betz--”
“Jessica, did you hear that Adam proposed to me?” Lump said in a conversational tone.
“What? When--”
CRACK!
I screamed as white hot pain seared through my shoulder and echoed through my body. When I stopped screaming, the pain, surprisingly, wasn’t all that bad. Well, not compared to before, at least.
I felt Adam’s arms around me.
“Adam, c’mon, that’s not going to help. You aren’t a wizard,” Lump said impatiently.
Adam loosened up and together they helped me up. I was freezing, and half naked. Before I could ask, though, a shirt was draped over me.
I only put one arm through, since the other still hurt, and thanked Adam because it was obviously his—he still hadn’t picked a deodorant that worked worth a damn.
“Ma’am, we need to have a look at you,” one of the paramedics said.
“I am good enough to get to the hospital. I need to find William. I am going with him.”
“Jess, no!” Lump said. “That isn’t going to help. You can’t do anything. Let’s get you looked at.”
Without slowing down I shoved off a parametric with my good hand, and yelled at Lump at the same time, “Lump, you might be under the impression that I jump into bull rinks with raging bulls every day, but I usually only reserve that behavior when the man I love is in trouble. I am going to see him now. If everyone would GET OUT OF MY WAY it would make life a LOT EASIER!”
As I neared the throng of people Ty looked up and rushed to me. “No, Jess, probably not--”
One look silenced him.
Without having to say anything or move anyone, I was let into the throng and allowed to go to the back of the ambulance where they were loading William.
“Whoa ma’am, family only.”
“I am family, you thick ape. I am the fiancé. Please get out of my way.” There was a savage no-nonsense in my voice that surprised the man. He stepped back.
William’s eyes were closed with a breathing tube in his nose. He was strapped down with a neck brace on.
“What’s wrong with him?”
The paramedic with me was trying to get me to remove my shirt. When I wouldn’t comply he began cutting it off.
“He looks to have a few broken ribs, one that pierced a lung. It collapsed, we think, but we will need an x-ray to be sure. He seems to have use of the other one, which is a good sign. He has some broken bones, but hopefully there is no internal bleeding. His body is pretty battered up. Dangerous sport. I’m surprised you ride, also.”
I looked up at the paramedic in shock. “I don’t, no. No way.”
The paramedic’s brow furrowed, eying me.
“I was an innocent bystander. I was just trying to get the bull away. It worked.”
They were busy working and ignored me. It was just as well.
When we got to the hospital, William was taken out of the ambulance first, and quickly wheeled away.
“No, ma’am, you go this way.”
As befitting my behavior thus far, I resisted, trying to follow William.
“Ma’am—“
As my eyes closed without my permission, I was lowered into a wheelchair.
Round one goes to the hospital staff. Drug pushers.
I woke up in the darkness. I knew immediately I was in the hospital, and also that William was here somewhere, too. For the first time, I did not care in the slightest about my past trauma in hospitals. I had to get to William.
I yanked out the weird tubes they had in my arm. I wiped away blood, already half out the door. Crap beeping behind me, I headed straight for the nurses’ station. The nurse on duty looked up with raised eyebrows, eyeing my hospital garb.
“Do you need something, dear?”
“Yes please,” I answered respectfully. “I need to go to the man I was brought in with—William Davies. Can you tell me where he is, please?”
She furrowed her brow at me. “Oh lord no, honey, you need to rest. The doctor will look at you again tomorrow and see when you can be released. You had some nasty injuries.”
I smiled in a placating sort of way. “I know I should rest. But I won’t be able to until I can be by William’s side. Please,” I begged, close to tears.
I could tell she naturally felt compassion for me. She looked in her system and said, “He is in I.C.U. in ro--”
“What are you doin’ outta bed?”
I turned toward an angry nurse bursting to get out of her too tight scrubs. She had her hammy hands on her bumpy hips and a mean expression on her ugly mug. I immediately hated her.
“Sorry ma’am,” I said politely. “I need to get to my boyfriend. He was brought in with me. I am nothing compared to the shape he is in, and I have to get to him.”
“Oh no you don’t!” she scoffed. “Not on my watch. You are to stay in your bed, doctor’s orders. I heard you was a wild one so I took the liberty of preparing this.” She reached in her pocket as she took a step toward me. She came out with a shot.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you’ll get kicked in your big fat knee!
As she moved in, sleeping draught held aloft, I slapped her hand away and gave her a push. All that weight carried her toward the wall; timber!
I was limping away as she started hollering.
“Sorry about that!” I said to the nice nurse. “I don’t like shots and she scared me. I have to find William!”
Now that I was calmly walking through the hospital like an inmate escaped from the phyc ward, my hope not to be noticed was futile. My hope not to be bothered, however, held up, thanks to the important looking scowl on my face.
I realized how much I hurt all over. My ribs were taped, my shoulder in some sort of concoction, and I had a wobbly knee. I was in terrible shape. But William was in worse shape. So I pressed on.
I made it to the ICU and walked in as calm as pie. It was here my luck gave out.
As I passed the nurses’ station in my hospital gown, I heard, “Hey!”
I looked up to a young man approaching me. “You are in the wrong place, I think.”
Another nurse walked up at the commotion to see if she could help. The phone rang at the station.
“Hi. I am looking for William—Willie—Davies. His room, I mean.”
The male nurse looked at me with a furrowed brow. “Sorry ma’am, it is family only. It looks like you should be in a room of your own?”
“I am his fiancée,” I said with no hesitation. “I came in with him and was put on a different floor. I need to see him, though.”
I was desperate, and it showed in my voice. I didn’t care how long it took, or how many times I had to sneak up here, I was getting into that room tonight! I had not planned to
jump in front of a bull only to have someone else look after him.
“That was Magda.” A young girl walked over to join her co-workers. “She said a young woman abused her in order to visit someone in the ICU.”
I sighed. Playing dumb would be stupid.
“Yeah, well, she tried to jab me with a needle without telling me what it was. I reacted then got out of there. It isn’t my fault the inertia of an extra few pounds made it hard for her to stop her trajectory.”
It was a true story, just heightened. I hoped it would keep me out of trouble. Otherwise, there was always the insanity plea.
The young nurse laughed. “She’s a pistol. But, family only, I’m afraid.”
The male nurse said, “She’s his fiancée.”
“Oh.” Her eyes barely scanned my naked finger. “Well, then, no problem. That counts. I doubt Magda will come all the way up here to look for her. She doesn’t move far or fast, that one.”
At least no one else liked her, either.
I was led into a dark room. The nurse moved around the space without needing light, having done it a million times before, and got me a chair. She placed it by the head of the bed and let me sit.
“He is in a light coma,” she said quietly.
I gasped, my eyes filling with tears.
She patted me, trying to reassure me. “He has a lot of injuries. He has already been to surgery for the rib and lung. We’re hopeful his body is just shutting down for a while to help heal. Love and encouragement are very important right now.”
I nodded mutely, stopping the flow of tears. Starting now, I needed to be strong.
She moved away quietly, letting me lean over him.
His head had a bandage around it, as did his chest. He had a splint on his arm and ankle. His beautiful face was marred with cuts and bruises, but he was still alive. He would wake up. I just had to keep the faith.
I awoke to sounds and light. I blinked my eyes, trying to straighten up, and then stopped. It was like my whole body was in a cast made entirely of pain. My ribs were screaming, my shoulder was weak and felt like knives stabbing the joint, and the rest of my body felt like it was being ground between the fingers of a giant. Not to mention that everything was unbearably stiff.