The Nightmare of Belton Lake

CHAPTER 7

Cassandra and Savannah shot up from where they slept and looked around. They could hear glass shattering and the sounds of something hard hitting the jeep's side repeatedly.
Carlos was screaming. Garrett was swearing.
"Carlos?! Garrett?!" Savannah yelled.
After waiting a split second, Cassandra watched as Savannah quickly scrambled to the tent door. Savannah unzipped the panel and quickly poked her head out.
She screamed, and ducked headed back in. She turned and looked at Cassandra.
"It's the horse! It's back and it's attacking Garrett and Carlos!"She said.
It's what? Cassandra thought to herself. She scrambled to the tent door and poked her head out as well.
The scene she saw ran a terrified shiver down her spine. The horse was indeed back. Its brown and white coat was soaking wet. Small pieces of grass from the water were sticking to its coat. It was on its back legs, standing tall before the jeep.
Cassandra witnessed it slam its front hooves into the back door of the jeep. Within the Jeep, the interior lights were on. And Garrett was in the back seat scrambling away from the horse. He pressed himself on the opposite side of the back seat.
Carlos was in the front seat. He was looking around in the jeep. Looking for something to scare away the horse.
"We have to help them!" Savannah said.
Savannah then moved herself to leave the tent.
Cassandra grabbed her arm. "Savannah don't!"
Savannah didn't listen and yanked herself free. She stood from the tent and waved her hands in the air.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?! Get out of here!" Savannah said. She yelled as loud as she could, trying to scare the horse, and waved her arms in the air, trying to make herself appear bigger.
The tactic would have worked if the horse was a bear.
The horse backed away from the Jeep and stared at Savannah. It then bared its teeth and laid its ears flat against its head. It reared up on its hind legs and swung its front legs towards Savannah
"Savannah!" Cassandra cried out.
"Savannah, watch out!" Carlos yelled from within the Jeep.
Savannah saw the hubs coming toward her too late. One hoof struck her on the right shoulder. The blow took Savannah down. She fell without a whimper or a word.
The horse let out a long terrifying cry and backed away from Savannah's fallen body
"Savannah!" Carlos said.
He then laid his hands on the horn. The loud noise made the horse jump slightly. The horse turned away but not without sending it back hooves into the driver side door.
That was a loud bang, and a large dent was now implanted in the driver side door. The horse ran away from the Jeep disappearing into the darkness.
Cassandra scrambled out of the tent and went to Savannah. Carlos and Garrett opened up the doors of the Jeep and scrambled out of it.
"Savannah! Holy shit!" Carlos swore as he knelt down beside his girlfriend.
"What the hell happened!?" Cassandra asked them. "Why did the horse attack you guys?"
"Who the fuck cares?" Carlos said angrily. He then looked down at Savannah. She was conscious but she was gripping her shoulder and greeting her teeth in pain. Tears ran down her face and she began to slowly cry out.
"It hurts..," she moaned out.
"All I heard was the horse coming to us and that's when I woke up. Once it saw me awake, it started to attack the Jeep," Garrett explained quickly. He then looked over at Savannah. "We need to get the hell out of here and get her to a hospital."
Cassandra expected Carlos to argue about being caught in a restricted area. He seemingly opened his mouth to argue but then closed it. He gritted his teeth and then shook his head.
Fuck it," He said. "Come on, let's see if we can get her into the backseat or something." He said.
"I'll get the phones," Cassandra said, turning to the tent. She knew after this night, she was going to have to call her mother and Savannah's mom.
This is probably another reason why there's a keep out sign for this area. Cassandra thought to herself as she crawled through the tent. This whole place is nothing but bad luck.
"He's coming back!" Carlos yelled out. "Cassandra get in the jeep now!"
Cassandra scrambled away from the tent and looked up in the horizon.
Cassandra can barely make the horse out but sure enough, she saw the silhouette of a horse running towards them at a full gallop.
She looked over at her friends and she saw that Carlos had Savannah in his arms. Savannah had seen the horse and was now screaming. She clutched Carlos's shirt and hid her face in his chest.
Garrett turned on his heels and grab the back door of the Jeep.
Cassandra turned away and went between the tent and the Jeep. She was going to the passenger side.
There was a loud angry cry from the horse. There was another loud bang onto the Jeep and the whole Jeep itself rocked hard.
Cassandra grabbed the passenger driver side door and swung it open.
She looked up and saw Carlos and Savannah. They had dodge the horse by mere feet. However they hadn't made it inside of the jeep before the horse reached them. Savannah was now on her feet but clutching her shoulder. The two of them were quickly running around the back side of the jeep. Garrett, meanwhile, was rounding the hood of the jeep.
The horse had its ears flat to his head and peered into the jeep. Cassandra's blood went cold when it realized the horse knew she was inside of the Jeep.
The horse raised it up again on its hind legs and sent it hooves flying towards the jeep. The Sandra screamed when the hooves met the driver's side door glass window and shattered it.
She covered her face with her arms and looked away. She looked back again after a few seconds.
She screamed once again when she saw a long face full of teeth coming inside of the Jeep towards her.
She ducked into the passenger side seat more and began to scrunch herself into the foot space.
The horse had entered his head into the broken window and was reaching for Cassandra.
The passenger side door opened up suddenly. Cassandra looked over her shoulder and with relief so it was Garrett. He held out his hand and Cassandra grabbed it within a split second. He quickly yanked her out of the passenger side and out of the jeep.
"Shit! What the fuck?!" Carlos said.
"Why is it so aggressive?!" Cassandra asked.
"The hell if I know!" Garrett responded.
The horse took out his head from the Jeep window. He rose back up on his hind legs and let out a terrible terrifying cry.
It's legs rammed itself at the Jeep, damaging the driver's side even more so.
"We need to hide from that thing!" Savannah cried out.
"Go to the treeline now!" Garrett yelled out
The four took off from the back side of the Jeep and towards the tree line. The tree line was no more than 15 yards away from the jeep.
If we can make it into the woods, we can hide somewhere in a tree or dodge it easier. Cassandra thought hopefully.
They were less than a few yards away from the tree line when the sound of hoof beats filled Cassandra's ears.
Her heart stopped and all traces of Hope were lost when the horse took an immediate stop in front of them. It separated them from the tree line.
What the---!" Carlos started and slid to a stop.
Cassandra gripped Garrett's hand and fear as the horse stood up on its hind legs. It swung its legs over at the teenagers and let out another angry cry
When it finally landed on the ground its eyes were staring right at the teenagers. It lunged at them, causing everyone to jump backwards.
This horse had seemed to understand where they were going and had separated them from their possibly, only escape.
"What the hell do we do now?" Cassandra asked.
There was no answer and no one moved. Neither did the horse for a long moment. For a long minute it seemed a game of cat and mouse and who would move first. The teenagers or the horse?
During that long minute a thousand thoughts ran through Cassandra's mind.
She was reminded of her nightmare that she had had earlier that night and possibly considered if perhaps something was giving her a warning of this beast. This horse had no red eyes or fangs but it certainly acted like some sort of beast.
Cassandra had few to little interactions with horses. She had even ridden horses several times and had helped feed them. However, she had never heard of a horse acting this aggressively towards humans. This animal was truly wild.
Cassandra thought about Savannah and her shoulder. The horse head possibly dislocated her shoulder if not broken. This horse had every intention of hurting them if not killing them.
It was attacking their Jeep trying to prevent them from leaving.
What did the horse want? What did the teenagers do to provoke the horse? Was this horse the sole reason why this place was restricted? Were they in a wild horse territory and they were now paying the price?
Surely the Lake Belton Police would have removed or euthanized this animal for being so aggressive. They can't have something like this in a public place! Cassandra thought
After the long minute was over the horse snorted and stomped its hoof on the ground. It pawed on the Earth and took a long step towards the teenagers.
"Back up, back up!" Carlos said. He grabbed Savannah and everyone began to slowly take steps backwards
The process was slow but soon they were right back at the jeep.
"If we get into the Jeep we can start it." Garrett said.
"How? the keys are in the tent," Savannah whispered.
"One of us can distract it and I can go into the tent and grab them."
"What if you can't find them?"
"Then I'll grab a phone or something. We need to have a police out here." Carlos said.
The horse, as if understanding everything that was being told, let out a long snort and stomped the ground.
He slowly walked to the front of the Jeep and the tent.
Looking over at the tent, he snorted again. He then used his front hose to paw and smash at the tent. The 10th fabric broke and the tent slowly collapsed. The stakes were snapped and broken in pieces under the weight of the horse's hooves.
The teens were forced to watch in terror as the horse stomped again and again on the remnants of their final remaining tent.
Cassandra felt herself shaking and terror. That tent was their only way out. She also knew the phones they had were in there and they wouldn't be in working order.
"Our phones are still in the jeep." Carlos said, trying to give the others hope.
"There's no way we can all stay in that jeep without getting bitten by that thing." Garrett said, shutting down whatever idea Carlos had.
"What the hell does it want from us?" Savannah said in a terrified voice.
Cassandra looked beyond the Jeep and towards the lake water. She the  look back at the horse, who was now pawing at them. It was taking long slow threatening steps towards them. It's ears were laid back on its head and it often snacked at them.
It was as if....
"I think it's hersing us to the lake shore," Cassandra said. It was only a hunch and she couldn't be sure but that behavior of the horse and the direction it was leading them into seemed like behavior of herding.
"It's herding us? Like a sheepdog?" Savannah asked out loud seeming unbelieving
"Guys just think about it. Why exactly is it not letting us go into the side of the tree line?" Cassandra said quickly. 
The horse slightly reared up and swung its four legs at the teenagers. The teenagers backed away from the jeep. The horse surged forward blocking them again from the tree line and bobbing its head towards teenagers. It suddenly lunged at them with his teeth out and snapped towards Carlos. Carlos jumped backwards.
"Jesus!" He yelled out. He turned over to look behind them and then looked back at his friends. He had a look of dread on his face.
"Guys, I think Cassandra is right again."
"You can't be serious," Savannah said looking over her shoulder.
The horse called at the teenagers angrily and bobbed its head towards them. They all began to slowly back away from the horse and back up towards the lakeshore.
"It's seriously trying to take us to the lake shore," Carlos said.
"What the fuck do we do now?"
Garrett began to look around in both directions. Cassandra kept her eyes locked onto the horse.
Savannah clutched her shoulder and kept close to Carlos's side. Carlos held out his arms shielding the others.
The horse took long steps towards the teenagers, often surging forward in a threatening motion. Charging and swinging its front legs at them. Its ears remaind flat against its head.
It was really herding them to the water! But why?
What exactly was the horse playing to do with them once they got inside the water? It didn't make any sense.
"Guys, I said we make a break for the lake."
"What?!" Everyone explained looking at Garrett.
"Think about it. Horses can't dive underneath the water, but we can and we can hold our breath as well." He said. "Once we get to the water we split up. It can't chase us all at once."
"This is a terrible idea," Savannah said. "What about my shoulder? I can barely move my arm right now!"
"Just stay close to the shore." Carlos said. "It's more than likely going to go after us. It's not going to risk us that are capable of getting away to escape than someone who can't get far."
Savannah was quiet. She seemed conflicted and scared but she nodded in agreement.
"Okay.... I still don't think this is a good plan though." She said.
Everyone knew she was right. It wasn't even a whole plan. It was a plan to distract the horse. But even if they escaped the horse, where will they go? What will happen to the one that the horses chase after?
The teenagers slowly began to walk backwards faster to the lakeshore.
The quicker they walked backwards, the more agitated the horse seemed to get. It lunged forward at them from time to time, snapping its teeth at them and letting out its terrible cry.
It was finally when the teenagers ankles touched the water, did the horse stop following them.
"Now?" Cassandra asked.
"Not yet," Carlos said in a whisper.
Cassandra trembled in fear. Where was she going to swim to? How far? How was this going to end?
Finally when the water got up to their thighs, it was when Carlos turned and looked at everyone.
"Go now! SWIM!"
Cassandra wasted no time.
She turned on her heel and dove into the water. She felt the cold water embrace her body as she dove down. She waved and paddled like mad. She held her breath for only half of the time she dared to before resurfacing it.
"It's coming in the water!" She heard Savannah scream.
Cassandra turned on her back and floated. She was a good 30 feet from the shore. Garrett and Carlos were to her left but closer to the shore than she. Savannah had decided to travel along the shoreline, yet keeping herself in deep water.
Garrett had been right. The horse had indeed ignored Savannah, despite her being slow and unable to swim. The horse had decided to go after Carlos, Garrett, and Cassandra!
Cassandra looked at the horse.
It had slowly emerged into the water. It stopped when the water came up to its knees.
It was then Cassandra noticed the change.
The horses snorted and shook its mane. It's eyes no longer one of a horse but it practically glowed yellow. It slowly stood on its back legs once more.
Its white and brown legs had turned into a black slimy looking color.
As it splashed down into the water, the horse let out a long cry. Cassandra gasped in fright as she saw the molars of the horse had turned to sharp pointy teeth.
"What the fuck is that thing?!" Carlos yelled.
Garrett turned and began to swim further into the lake.
"Swim!!!" Savannah screamed as the horse began to dive into the water.
For a long moment, it disappeared and then reemerged.
It's white and brown had disappeared completely to a black and green looking horse. With a solid base coat, mud and seagrass stuck in its long flowing mane, and its teeth bared, the horse placed its eyes on Cassandra.
It's a monster..... Cassandra thought as she turned to swim away.