Woman's A Cowboy

10

A storm was rolling in.  There was a smell to it that just set your whole body on edge.  The billowing,  heavy,  gray clouds moved closer to the ranch every second. 

As soon as the weather had come in,  the ranch hands set to work getting the cattle moved in closer to the ranch.  Riker and I had been assigned one pasture,  the Trio the second,  and the other three the third.

We had just finished putting the last calf in the shed when Festus came galloping down the road.  His hat had fallen behind his head as he raced to us.  The sky was so dark it was almost impossible to see him.

"A fence broke in our pasture.  Red send me to get you two.  No one knows where Jeb went and we lost part of the herd to the gap.  With the storm rolling in,  we need to find as many of them as we can. "

Riker and I nodded.  The Tucker's were busy with the fence repair,  leaving all of us to track down the herd. 

Rain began to fall,  pelting against me like millions of small bullets.  My bandana slipped from my face as Buck and I raced through fast forming mud to find the stragglers. 

We'd split up,  all taking separate ways to cover more ground.  I raced along a treeline,  stopping short when I heard the small bleat of a calf.  It sounded injured. 

I dismounted,  a soaked Slim trotting to my side.  I guess he had followed me from the ranch.  Buck wouldn't make it through the woods,  which left Slim and I on foot. 

We trudged through the dense foliage until the bleating grew closer. 

We came out into a small clearing.  Directly across from me stood Jeb,  holding a small calf in his arms. 

He let the baby go and it ran off,  shaking in the rain.  I could tell Slim wanted to go after it,  but he knew something was wrong. 

I reached for my pistol,  not revealing it,  but being close to it nonetheless. 

Jeb laughed,  drawing his own gun and cocking it before I could even blink.  "I wouldn't think about that boy.  You've done too much already,  I'd hate for you to die a slow death. "

I squinted at his dark form,  covered in mud and rain,  "I wasn't the one who's been asking for trouble. " I hissed. 

"You've stuck your nose some place it don't belong and because of that,  ya know too much.  I hate killin people,  but if it means I ain't the one dying. "

I,  like lighting,  removed and cocked my pistol,  pulling the trigger the same time Jeb did.  I flinched to the right,  taking a bullet right in the shoulder.

I heard the screams before I realized one had come from myself.  I was on my knees,  clutching my shoulder and staring at a dead Jeb across from me.  Thunder rolled as the rain continued its onslaught. 

I looked down at my shoulder,  seeing a gaping hole and a flowering patch of blood. 

I screamed again,  afraid to move in the slightest. 

Slim was at my side instantly,  as if afraid to touch me,  he whimpered.  His big paws splashed mud as he danced anxiously around me.  I looked into his brown eyes,  feeling the rim of my vision begin to fade. 

"Find Riker. "

Slim set off immediately. 

I watched as the trees seemed to bend in anticipation,  as Jeb lay immobile in a mixture of clay and blood. 

I realized,  just as the darkness began to take me away,  that if I survived this mishap,  I was in trouble.

I fell back into the mud,  cradling my arm with the other,  feeling as if I couldn't even move anything below the shoulder.