I walked out of the school, my hoodie hiding bruises from my boyfriend. Ridge met me at the truck, and we went home for the weekend. Graduation is next week. My boyfriend has been getting more violent every time I tried to break up with him this week. As far as I know, he's shipping out the day after graduation. As soon as we got to the ranch, my boyfriend was calling me. I blocked his number as soon as it quit ringing. Ridge immediately knew something was wrong on day two of school. I told him not to say anything, and the karma will be back to get him.
The weather today was not looking good. I went through the stalls, cleaning them and preparing the horses in case it got horrible. I had the feeling. I set up my cot in Ranger's stall and put my slicker on his stall hook. I put my waterproof muck boots outside his stall. My dad thought I was worrying for nothing. I went up for dinner before going back to the barn. We were currently in a tornado watch. Mom knew what was up.
I pulled a blanket up on me on the cot. I kept my phone turned up. I fell asleep to take a nap, hoping the threat would pass quickly. Ranger woke me up as the horses around were panicking. I put on my slicker and muck boots before opening stalls. I could hear it outside. A door opened on the backside. "Hurry, Ky. It's coming fast." Zach yelled.
I kept throwing doors and forcing horses out. Ranger kept following each stall. As soon as the last horse was running, Zach grabbed me and put me in the ground bay we use to change vehicle oil. Ranger jumped in with us. "Hold onto him, Ky. He'll keep you grounded," Zach yelled over the wind. I curled in under Ranger, gripping his front leg as tightly as I could.
Zach held onto Ranger's halter as he shielded me from debris. As soon as it was over, and away from us, I stood up with my uncle still holding onto my horse. My stallion knew it was coming. He was the one to alert me before it had even gotten close. I coaxed Ranger up the stairs before mounting him. "Where are you going?" Zach asked. "To go find our horses. The majority went in the direction of the gully. I'm sure they're in that area." I said. "Be safe. I'll round up some help to corral them." He said, heading in the direction of the main house, Colt and Hedli's house.
I let out a shrill whistle as I entered the back pasture. A few whinnies followed. Ranger whinnied back to them. I kept whistling until several of the geldings came into view. A shrill whistle came from where the barn once stood. The horses took off for the barn. I entered the brush on Ranger as we went deeper towards the gully. I whistled a few more times with no response. Ranger whinnied and started trotting.
He could hear them. I whistled again before Ranger took off at full speed. As we neared, some of the mares were trying to keep two mountain lions away from their foals. "Sic em," I told Ranger before dismounting. He went full force as I whistled to the mares. With the lions distracted, the mares and foals got away. Two riders came in through the brush. My dad and Jax. I stayed back as they took care of the lions. They allowed Ranger to come back to me. "Good boy," I told him as he stood between me and the lions.
The lions were dead at the end of the altercation. Ranger helped me onto his back. I hugged him. His ears were still twitching. "We're missing two foals," Jax said to dad. "Find them," I whispered to Ranger. He sniffed the air before we trotted in that direction. He kept calling out to them. Every so often, he would stop to sniff and continue trotting. My dad and Jax trailed behind us. Ranger called out again before I heard small whinnies. "Come on, boy, let's get them home," I said to Ranger. He called out to them again and again, every time they answered him.
They finally met us in a small, clear patch under the trees. I dismounted and scratched on them as I looked them over. One had a small scratch on his chest, and the other was unscathed. My dad and Jax picked them up, putting them on the horses they had before I remounted, and we headed to the barn. It was very unusual that we got a tornado. But with the barn and bunkhouse now gone, we may be able to do some rearranging of the layout. That will be tomorrow's problem, daylight's problem.
We returned the foals to their mamas before checking all the horses for scratches and cuts. Tomorrow we will ride out to check the cattle and build a holding pen for everyone. I patted Ranger and kissed his nose before leaving the pen. I got a shower at my parents' house before crawling into my bed. I fell fast asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.
I woke up and checked my phone. I had slept through my alarm. I jumped up and got dressed quickly before throwing my boots on and going outside. The front paddock had the mares and foals in it, the geldings were in the lane, and in front of my parents' house. I walked down the drive, patting a few geldings as I passed them. Ranger saw me at the treeline and ran to me. He immediately knelt and let me on.
He's casually picking me up, so I don't walk a million miles to the no-more barn. The steel frame is extremely prominent. I patted Ranger as I stopped him. I started picking up the heavier tack that was barely thrown. The rest is still in the path of the tornado that whisked it away. I walked to the barn and set it down. We may not know how we are going to recover from this, but there may be a way.