Christian
It takes us about 20 minutes to get through the forest and back to our land. We’ve all shared out carrying George and it may not have been an easy job but there’s no way any of us would have left him there.
“Chris, what are we going to do about Lightning?” Shit that bloody horse! “I don’t know Zack, I really don’t.”
“Wait, what’s wrong with Lightning?” Molly's voice makes my heart tug, it has many times but I’ve not wanted to admit it to myself. She hasn’t been here long but I know that she has visited Lightening several times since their first meeting and she seems to like him. “We’ve put all the animals into the safe shed but we can’t move him. He’s lashing out.”
We come around from the back of the house and it’s a relief to have the storm shelter in sight. “You guys get Mr. Clutterbuck to safety. I’m going to do the same with Lightning!” Molly's words have my heart pounding for all the wrong reasons.
“No, you're getting into the shelter!” The words leave my mouth before I can stop them but I don’t care. I mean every word. She gives me a shitty look and it goes straight to my dick. What the hell? Now really isn’t the time for this. “I am going to look after Lightening!” She looks like she’s ready to stomp her foot and have a tantrum and it’s fucking cute!
“Molly, he won’t budge darling.” Jack tries to talk her out of it in a more gentle manner and I don’t like it. “I need to try, he’s all alone in there Jack and he’ll be scared!” Now she looks sad and I don’t like it. Jeez, this girl has me in knots and she doesn’t even know it. Neither did I until now.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll be back soon.” Before anyone else can say a word she takes off running towards the horse stable while Tom starts laughing out loudly. “What the fuck is funny right now?” I’m angry but Tom doesn’t care he just laughs a little more. “I fucking love that girl!”
“She’s running after a stubborn horse in the middle of a goddam storm and it’s funny?”
“No Christian, it’s not funny. I just love her. It doesn’t matter what situation that girl is in if she cares about something, someone, or even animals then she will stand her ground and have their back. Don’t worry I’ll go get her now.”
“No, if you go then you’ll cave just as quickly! You lot get in the shelter with the kids and mom and dad and I’ll go get her annoying ass!”
I hear more than one of them chuckle but I choose to ignore it as they head towards the shelter and I head after Molly. “Molly, wait up!”
She doesn't seem to hear me which I put down to the weather but to be honest, the stubborn girl would properly ignore me even if she did hear me.
The girl is a fast runner but luckily for me, I'm quicker and soon able to catch up to her. "Molly, we need to get in the shelter, the alarms have been sounding for a while which means this Tornado is going to hit at any moment!" I've lived through 3 tornados in my lifetime, two while visiting Grandma and Granddad out here and once since we've lived here.
I know the reality of them and it isn't pretty, I doubt Molly has ever had to experience one of these kinds of storms before which I'm grateful for but the last thing I need is her not listening and making the situation worse for herself.
“You do too Christian, honestly I’ll be fine. I’ll see to Lightning and then I’ll come over. Go back to your kids!”
“Why are you so stubborn?” She gives me a quick glance before looking forward once more. It’s tiring running against the wind but she keeps going, we both do.
“Why are you so bothered about what I’m doing?” Her question throws me but it’s not one that I have to answer as we come to a stop outside the horse stable. Molly attempts to open the door but the wind keeps forcing it back shut.
I step up and try but the same happens again. I try again a second time. Molly steps up next to me and together we manage to get the door open enough to slip inside thankfully without it closing on us.
Lightening is still in his stall but making a lot of noise which isn’t surprising considering the noises he’s hearing but if the stubborn thing would let us help him then he’d already be in the storm shed which as well as being storm proof is also soundproof.
“It’s ok boy.” Molly starts talking in a calming tone as she slowly steps toward Lightening. She gets to the front of his stall and slowly raises her hands to his face.
“Molly don’t!” I’m straight to her side stopping her causing her to turn and face me with a strange look on his face. “It’s ok, he won’t hurt me.”
“I like your confidence in him I really do but he can’t be trusted!” I’m getting impatient here I really am. Of course, I want to help Lightening but there is nothing I can do apart from praying he’ll be ok out here. Hell, I’d take him to our storm shelter if I thought it would work and he could be trusted but that’s out too.
“I trust him, Christian. Let me do this!” I’m scared of what he’ll do. He’s already a very unpredictable horse without the added pressure of this storm but what can I do? I wish I could stop her but she isn’t going to listen to me. Still, I try one last time.
“Please Molly let’s go. I know you want to help him, and I do too but we’ve tried all we can. We’ve secured this stable as much as we can for him now we just have to pray he survives this.” I feel bad for Lightening even if he is a pain in my ass but if he doesn’t want help I’m stuck and I have kids to get back to and survive for because I’ll be dammed if they are left with their mother and I’m not letting anything happen to Molly either. God give me strength here!
“I’m not leaving him, Christian!” Just go, go back to your kids!” She’s getting pissy and whereas usually her being pissy made me pissy this time it takes all I have to hold back a grin at her stubborn cuteness.
She lets out a huff before slowly opening the door to his stall and I watch in amazement as Lightening takes a step back before bowing his head to her. I wish I had more time to watch this but this storm is picking up hard and fast and we need to get going.
“Lightening, I need you to come with me, sweet boy!” Molly's words may be calm toward him but I don’t miss the hint of fear that she’s trying to cover up and I hate it.
To my utter surprise and relief, Lightening doesn’t do anything bad to Molly. He just stands still while she gets a rope around his neck and gives him a gentle tug and I swear I almost fall through the floor when she starts walking out of his stall with him following her. What kind of magic shit is this?
“How the… You know what, never mind. Let’s get out of here!” Molly nods and we move as swiftly as we can out of the barn and over toward the storm stable. It’s only a few feet away but in this rain and wind, it feels like it’s miles and miles.
Lightening is an absolute star as Molly guides him through this shit storm but still, I stay close just in case he decides he wants to act out. Molly seems to have a lot of trust in him, I wonder when that happened?
We make it inside the storm stables in record time and quickly have Lightening settled and the door once more bolted. “Let’s get back to the shelter Molly, we don’t have much time!” I have to scream the words or she won’t hear me, the wind is so loud.
She gives me a nod and we both take off running in the direction of the storm shelter. As we run past the horse stables I hear a roaring noise and look up just in time to see a huge piece of metal flying through the air. Fuck!
I grab Molly and pull her down on the ground with me just in time, not 2 seconds later the metal flies over our heads and lands on the ground a few feet in front of us. If we had been standing up it would have hit us.
I stand up bringing Molly up with me and look around us and my fucking heart drops. There are random objects flying through the air and my heart drops when I see it.
The Tornado is within sight and gaining quickly. We’re not going to make it back to the storm shelter. There’s no way, not with the speed of that thing and not without getting hit by something.
We are screwed!