He moved slowly through the smoke and almost fell down the ladder that led up to the hay loft. When he noticed a pillar of smoke rising through the barn roof, he slowed down even further.
He was in the loft. How had he gotten up there?
He took each rung slowly, afraid he’d fall or the flames he’d just left would follow him.
When his feet hit the ground, he saw a dark figure standing just inside the barn doors. Smoke billowed around her as she held the reins to a spooked horse who was fighting her and standing on its back legs. Her jacket was wrapped around the horses’ face, shielding its eyes from the smoke and flames. The horse had to trust and rely solely on its human.
Kara. Kara was risking her life for the animals.
Then Wilbur’s loud squealing started up again. He was standing just outside the door of the pig’s pen. He looked over and could just make out the large pig. He reached out and yanked open the gate. The pig didn’t need any encouragement and bolted towards freedom, almost causing Nick to topple over.
He gripped the stall door across from Wilbur’s pen and tried to steady himself. That’s when Bella kicked at the door and nudged his head.
“Shit,” he said, feeling sick again. He swallowed the bile and removed his shirt and tossed it over Bella’s eyes. When he opened the door, the animal backed up into the stall. He took her harness and pulled as hard as he could, but he felt himself growing weaker while the horse kicked out and jerked backwards.
“Nick?” Kara rushed to his side.
“Bella.” He motioned. “I’ve got her. Get out.”
“We’ve got her.” Kara took hold of the harness. Together, they pulled the animal outside.
When the horse was free of his T-shirt, she kicked and ran off through the field in the fenced area. Nick’s knees hit the ground.
“Larry’s still inside,” Kara said.
Nick wrapped his hands around her ankles to stop her from going back inside.
“No, it’s too far gone,” he said, coughing.
“I can’t.” Kara shook her head and jerked free.
“Kara!” he called out and stood up to rush in after her. Everything spun and he fell to his knees again, dry heaving. “Damn it,” he growled. He forced himself to stand up and head back into the now fully engulfed barn. “Kara!” he screamed over the sound of wood breaking and burning. There was a high-pitched hissing coming from the hay loft area that told him there wasn’t much time.
He knew that at any moment, the entire second floor would come crashing down on them.
Then, something large flew past him, knocking him on his ass again. He coughed as he stood back up and covered his mouth with his hands. His eyes burned, his throat was on fire, and his vision was so dull, he couldn’t make out anything.
“I’ve got you,” Kara said, taking his hand in hers and leading him further away from the barn.
When they collapsed in the snow and mud, he realized she’d had her shirt wrapped around her face the entire time. He lay in the muck, coughing and throwing up, as they watched the barn continue to burn.
He didn’t know how long it took the firetrucks to get there. Or how long it was until the fire was out. He didn’t even know if he’d passed out again or had thrown up anymore. For the next long while, his only memories were of coughing and blurry visions as shapes passed in front of him.
He couldn’t even hear what people were saying through the loud ringing in his ears.
The one thing he did focus on was the feeling of Kara’s hand in his through it all. He was lifted and then poked with something that made his body feel numb. He slept for a while and woke to the sound of Kara talking softly.
“Hey,” he said, waking up quickly. “The horses?”
“All got out okay. Wilbur was a little singed, but the vet says he’s going to make a full recovery. Daryl’s put them all in your barn for now,” she answered quickly.
“What were you thinking?” Kyle’s voice sounded from somewhere across the room.
“About?” he asked, trying to get his eyes to focus on her or anything. He kept blinking, thinking they would correct themselves, but somehow, it only made his vision grow worse.
“Running into the barn in your state,” Kyle answered.
“In… I was in the barn first. Someone hit me over the head and left me in the loft.”
The room went quiet. “Did you see who hit you?” This came from Gary.
“No,” he groaned. “Whoever it was must have been strong enough to carry me up the ladder and drop me in the loft. Will someone tell me what’s going on?” he asked.
“We’ve put out warrants for Dean, Mike, and Willy,” Kyle answered.
“You think they did this?” he asked.
“We’re not sure, but the three bullets I told you about yesterday, they match guns registered to the three of them.”
“Yesterday?” He frowned.
Kara’s hand squeezed his. “It’s eight in the morning,” she said softly. “You slept through the night.”
He tried to shift and sit up. “The dogs?”
“Daryl has them,” Kara answered.
“Okay, so the three of them decided to shoot up the farmer’s market. Why?” he asked.
“To get to you is our guess,” Stephen answered.
“Shit, my lawyer’s here too?” he asked, trying to blink his eyes clear. “Why can’t I see?”
“You’ve got a pretty bad concussion,” Kara answered. “The doctor says your vision may be blurry for a few days and you may be dizzy as well.”
“Did they think they could shoot me in the market?” he asked. “Why? To kill me to get their hands on the ranch?”
“My guess is payback. I guarantee they were drunk or high when they plotted it. So far, we haven’t found any of them,” Kyle said.
“Which is why you have a full police guard now,” Gary added. “I was just relieving Kyle and filling him in.”
“Gotcha.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. “What does the doc say about food?”
“I’ll tell the nurse you’re hungry,” Kara said as she got up and left the room.
“Nick.” Stephen moved closer. “Your uncle was in the courthouse when I filled that paperwork yesterday. We estimate it was two hours after that when you were attacked and the barn was set fire to.”
He tried to think back on how long it took him to muck out the stalls before he’d been hit over the head. “Yeah, sounds about right. Two maybe three hours.” He nodded. “Do I have my phone? I could give you an exact time. I took a picture of Wilbur just before someone hit me over the head. The photo would be time stamped.”
“Kara has it. We found it in the snow outside the barn.”
Just then the door to the room opened again.
“Here, I brought some Jell-O for now and some water,” Kara said.
“Do you have my phone?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she said, and a moment later, it was placed in his hands. “I can’t see a damn thing. Can you open my photos and let them know when the last photo of Wilbur was taken?”
The room grew quiet and then there was a combined gasp.