Finally Home to Yellowstone: Yellowstone Ranch Series

21

"He did what?" I choked on my words.

Rip and I were riding across the pasture as fast as possible.

"He's fucking stupid, Mary." Rip shook his head. We approached a tree.

There Jimmy laid on the ground and Lloyd and Ryan beside him.

I jumped off my horse before he even stopped all the way. "Jimmy?" I jogged toward him. I hit my knees beside him.

I looked down at his leg.

"Hey." He said very breathy.

"Hey." I put my hand on his shoulder,"What happened?"

His eyes weren't focusing on me and he looked like he could fall asleep at any minute. "There was a bear."

"Yeah? Looks like he did a number on ya?" I motioned for Rip to hand me some of the first aid stuff we brought.

Jimmy was mumbling and jabbering.

I peeled back part of the shirt that was tied around his leg. I assumed Rip or Lloyd or Ryan had done this. It was smart to help slow the bleeding. A huge chunk of skin was in shreds on his calf and up to his knee.

"Is it bad?" He asked in a high pitched voice.

I put the shirt back and started to wrap gauze as Rip held his leg up from me.

"It was fucking bear, Jimmy. What the fuck do you think?" I sassed. "What in the fucking hell were you thinking?"

I kept wrapping. Just more and more, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Chopper should be here any minute." Ryan mumbled.

I nodded. Hopefully soon. He was loosing a lot of blood.

"I didn't want it kill the horses. They were tied up." Jimmy mumbled and lifted his head to look up at me. "Oh, dizzy."

"Hold still." I barked at him. "And don't fucking throw up."

He gave me a thumbs up.

I looked at Lloyd,"Horses were tied up?"

He nodded,"Had a tree down across the fence. Didn't even hear the bear or horses or anything with the chain saws going. Jimmy just happened to ride up on us. He tried to scare the bear with his horse but bear grabbed onto his leg and pulled him down. Heard 'em screaming when Ryan shut the chainsaw off. Never seen anything like it."

I swallowed hard and heard the thump of the helicopter. Rip turned his head to me. But I stayed focused and kept wrapping.

More and more.

"Just keep wrapping it. It'll stop the blood." I told one of the other privates who was wrapping Jakes leg or what was left.

I swallowed hard. And kept wrapping the helicopter was louder.

"What the fuck happened out there?" The private asked. I felt my eyes burn.

"He wanted to get everyone else on." On the helicopter.

The helicopter. It was loud.

I looked at Jimmy. It was Jimmy not Jake. Jimmy.

"Almost here, Jimmy." My voice shook a little.

"And we were almost there." My chest felt heavy. Hard to breathe.

I saw the black and yellow helicopter land a ways away. "Ya alright?" I asked Jimmy. He didn't answer.

"Is be okay?" I mumbled. "Jake?" I grasped his shoulder. The private shook him too. It started to rain. And thunder.

"Jimmy?" I hollered at him. I glanced over and watched as Rip met the medics halfway and followed them to us.

"He's not responding." The private shook his head.

"No." My mouth was dry and my face was wet from the rain. "He was just fine."

"Is he responding?" The medic asked as he approached.

My mouth hung opened. "Uh, no. Not now. He was..." I got dizzy. Hang in there, Mary. "He was just fine."

"He's lost a lot of blood." Ryan spoke up.

And then packed him up and took off. I walked unsteadily to horse and got on.

"Mary!" I heard Rip try to call out to me over the sound of the helicopter.

It started to sprinkle rain. I ignored him. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to be away from everyone and everything. I took off towards the mountains. Leaving everyone else in the dust.

The sound of the helicopter in the distance was getting louder. "They're back." I whispered. "We gotta get him to the bird!" I hollered to the private.

"Corporal they won't take him. He's gone." The private said softly, rain covering his face.

I tightened my jaw. "He's fine. He's lost a lot of blood. He's just unconscious."

"We'll never make it back to the landing zone! They got a full force between us and them!" The private shook his head. "It's over, Dutton."

"He's not dead." I whispered. "He's going home. You're going home. They'll cut us up and burn us in a bonfire then roast marshmallows over it if we stay. Take him and go through the embassy. I'll distracted outside. I'll cover you. No matter what you see or hear. Keep going." There was a lump in my throat.

He nodded. "What if they want to leave as soon as we get to the chopper?" He already knew the answer. But he wanted me to tell him it was okay.

"Don't worry about me." I gave a small smile. "I'm too stubborn to let hadji roast marshmallows over me. I'll be there, kid." I patted his shoulder and off he went.

The next four minutes felt like an eternity. I threw grenade over the wall and fire bombs on the inside of the wall. I ran for my life and hid and shot at tens of men. I had hand to hand combat at one point. But it all happened so fast I couldn't be sure what was going on. I just trying to get through to the other side. I heard the chopper close by. The propellers were loud. They were very close.

I watched as the private I had just spoke with minutes later ran from the embassy and to the chopper. I smiled and started to head that way too. I tossed another grenade in the opposite direction to draw away attention but it didn't work. They saw me run to the chopper. Soon bullets whizzed by my head. I turned around and began to shoot. Not taking too long to aim for anything. Just holding the trigger and praying I didn't run low on ammo. I held them off and back stepped to the chopper. Someone grabbed my pack and was hauling me up into the chopper as it started to rise. I was still shooting. I felt my ass hit cold metal and my leg sting suddenly. I still shot.

"You can stop, Corporal. We're in the air."

We were in the air. I nodded. And smiled. I turned to Jake.

He was pale. My smile faded.

"Jake?" I shook his chest. The medic on the chopper pulled him from us but I could see everything. They ripped the bandages from his leg. And the leg just crumbled to pieces.

My eyes burned. "Jake?!" I grabbed his arm. He didn't answer still. "What's going on?" I asked a medic who turned to me as the other one tried putting him on oxygen.

"'Corporal, you've been shot." He said.

"Me?" I looked around. My leg. It hurt. "Oh." I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes. It was raining. And I didn't know where I was. Just in a pasture.