Born Free

Chapter 16

*One Month Passes*

I neigh, turning my tail to the stall door and kicking at it.

" Nick! I told you not to go near her!" His mother yells at him, taking him by his shoulder and yanking him back. Trying to calm myself, I retreat to the back pen, pawing through the snow. Lowering my head and sniffing the snow, I go down to my knees, to my side and roll. Flicking my tail up, snow gets thrown onto my belly. Satisfied, I get up and shake, snow trailing off past the fence. I walk to the near side of the barbed wire, straying a ways away, but close enough to see the 'mare's barn'. Just because I ran here and I'm way to dangerous, I'm stuck with these cocky, selfish and immature stallions. I watch Raven get lead out, Bear trailing behind her. She gets turned out with the other mares and foals, Bear taking off and kicking his heels up in the powdery snow. I let out a long and relatively loud neigh, catching her attention like a rope.

She turns, facing me and neighs back. Her black figure stands out against the white snow, making it easy to spot her. A shorter, stockier mare trots up to her and brings her around to the other mares. Feeling rejected, I slowly walk back into the stall and take a couple licks of what the humans call a 'mineral block' whatever that means. It tasted good, and as long as Thunder thinks it's okay, I do a swell. Looking up, still licking my lips, I nicker to Thunder. He pops his head up and over the door, nickering back.

" Hey, Aurora."

" Hey! What you doing?" I ask, amusing myself at our positions. The same coloured stalls, the same amount of meadow, the same feed.

" Just getting a drink of water..." He trails off.

" You have to be careful, you know." I snort.

" What?" I stamp my hoof, nipping at the stallion's nose beside me.

" The way you are crazy around humans. They could do to you what they did to me; they stick a needle in my neck and then I felt all woozy. Everything was in a blur, I could hear my heartbeat slowing. They made me calm. They know how to control us, Aurora." His long mane lays in tangles, a couple burrs stuck in it.

" Yeah, okay. You do know that I'm just trying to protect our foal, right?" He sighs, the stallion beside me kicking at his stall.

" But still, you could get hurt. Or they could hurt you. And our foal." He mutters, turning around and walking outside. Frustrated, I toss my head. I turn around and press my head to the wall, closing my eyes. Hearing a click, I expect it to be the other stallion's door. But I soon hear the crunch of footsteps in my stall. Spooked, I back up, hitting my tail against the stall and searching my stall for a human. The door to the outside closes and the human they call 'Nick' turns to face me, hands shaking.

He gulps, holding a hand out to me. I sniff it very cautiously, squealing at the smell of an unfamiliar horse. He darts around my side and I swing my tail to another corner, facing him this time.

" Easy, girl." He whispers. He's talking to me? I bend my neck upwards, my forelock swaying between my eyes.

" I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you." Right. Help tame me?! I paw the ground, catching Thunder staring at me from his stall. With his ears pricked, he whinnies to me.

" Don't hurt the boy! Just let him go." I take in a breath, watching the boy slowly walk towards the door. Still facing me, his hand finds the lock and eyes still stuck to mine, he unlocks it.

Hearing the click, I break eye contact, lunging towards the other wall and backing against the door he shut. He scrambles out and slams the door behind him. Breathing heavily, he crosses his arms and stares at me. His mother walks into the barn in a huff.

" We're going." He looks back at her, backing up against my stall.

" Where? And why?!" He raises his voice.

" Police. Your father saw one an hour ago and we got the trailers ready. Open all these stalls and stay out of their way, they will be very spooked." She says as she rumbles away to the back of the barn. Nick turns back to me and unlocks the door, swinging it open. I flinch, pawing out. He runs over to Thunder's stall, opening it quickly. Thunder rushes out, stopping and whinnying to me. I trot out, passing Nick swiftly. I look back as we trot down the snow covered path and watch as the brown and chestnut stallions race up behind us. I push myself faster and follow the green fence. It stops, but at the opening of the large trailer that brought us here. Hesitating, I follow behind Thunder closely. We enter the trailer and Thunder walks right into the end. I turn sideways, watching stallion after stallion load the trailer. The chestnut's thick, red coat presses up against me and I bump into Thunder. Kicking a nosy stallion away from my tail-end, I get pressed between Thunder and the chestnut, eventually nipping the chestnut far enough away so he won't touch my side. Actually being able to breathe, I hear a clank! Looking past the rough stallions, a fence separates us and the big, empty space left in the trailer. I should be in there. My mind pops full of thoughts that are wrong. I can't leave Thunder alone.

Suddenly, the same, short mare trots up with a cream coloured filly at her flank. I soon recognize the black mare loaded up with her black and white foal, Bear. Raven lowers her head to check on him and gets slapped on the rump, making her lunge forwards, spooked. A sharp and piercing whinny erupts from the stallions, a bay rearing up and hitting his head on the roof. I look past them and search for Raven and Bear, all the stallions and a couple more mares distract me. And with a sudden movement, I bump into the chestnut beside me, were gone.