Page 28 of Training Rain
A low whistle broke in and she waited for Jess’s blond head to appear from behind the turned-over ATV. He gave an all-clear signal of three short whistles. Rain did not approach the scene, though part of her knew she should. There would be time enough to explore what she had done.
As soon as Jess joined her, they moved quickly to the edge of the trees. In front of them was more than a thousand feet of open ground. At the far end of the clearing a large herd of buffalo dug at the frozen ground looking for bits of grass to feed on.
The ATV came into sight in a gully between the buffalo and their position.
Her heart had only begun to stop racing from the last encounter. Now it beat again with renewed excitement.
“Rain, could you make those animals stampede?”
“What? Why would we want that? Have you lost your mind?” Her thoughts raced. How could they get across this field before the enemy got within firing range?
“Can you do it?”
“Yes. Probably.” It would only take making the animals understand that they were in danger and needed to run.
“Do you think they would come this way?”
Trees surrounded them. The only open field was the most likely path for the beasts plus she could make them think the danger was behind them. “It’s the most likely path.”
The ATV climbed the ridge.
“Good. Do it now.”
She had a dozen questions, but she trusted Jess. She sent the emotion as strongly as she could, to as many of the buffalo as she could at one time.
A second later tons of animal flesh careened across the land in their direction.
Yas stood between her legs and she stayed behind a large tree.
Jess took position close by and they watched their pursuers trying to turn away from the pounding hooves.
The driver took a hard left, running smack into a large male bison. The vehicle stopped dead in its tracks while the animal stumbled and fell. It huffed a few times, got up and continued on at a slightly slower pace.
Rain sent out an apology to the Great Spirit for causing the beast pain.
One man ran out into the snow. He tried to make it to the trees. He actually managed to dodge one set of pounding hooves before falling victim to the next. Rain shut her eyes against the sight of his broken body tumbling unnaturally around the ground.
Jess reached for her hand. “Come on. They’re going to be busy for a little while. We can make our way along the tree line. It’s only five miles to where I left a car. We can make that distance.”
“Can’t we call for help?”
“I’ll call Josh once we can get a cell signal. The park has towers but we have to get to higher ground. No one would get here before we are either on the road or caught anyway. There’s no one in this area. We’re on our own.”
“Yes, I suppose we are.” She expected to feel anxiety, but a sense of calm at knowing Jess was there washed over her. He would die to keep her safe and she knew she would do the same.
Rain wished she had time to examine these new feelings, but they were running again. Yas stayed at her heels and did none of the playful running ahead he had enjoyed during the training exercise. The dog had good instincts. He knew this was no game.
After two or three miles, Yas turned and growled. Rain stopped and lifted her weapon, looking for trouble.
“What is it?” Jess asked. He had run farther, not immediately realizing she and the dog had stopped.
“I’m not sure.”
Someone jumped her from the left side. She’d seen her attacker only an instant before the weight of his body collapsed on her. Her backpack thudded next to her. She heard Jess’s voice calling her name. She felt the branches and leaves of the underbrush scratching her cheek as it slammed into the ground.
Gunfire cracked the air. She didn’t know who was shooting. She heard tree limbs breaking. The snow on the treetops crashed down around her.
“If you move I’ll kill you.”
