Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-10-

Two weeks later

As Ryan's truck got closer to the pasture filled with long, greenish-yellow grass that was on the brink of dying in the cold winter weather, he noticed Delilah's Ford Excursion parked in the dirt. She was supposed to be working with the horses again today, but she must've already gotten her work there done.

Ryan threw his F-350 he had gotten fixed last week into park on the side of the dirt road and hopped out, dust flying up behind his boots as he jogged up to the gate.

Delilah was sitting in the grass with the head of a baby calf in her lap. "Ryan! Fuck, come here!"

His heart almost jumped out of his chest when he noticed the dried blood on the newborn calf's side. "What happened?" He asked, frantically trying to unlock the gate that was fused together because of the rusty chain.

"Some bitch shot this little calf with a BB gun."

Once he flung the gate open, he slammed it shut lazily, not bothering to lock it back and ran up to Delilah and June, the calf.

"Got her in the ear and the right side."

"Motherfuckers.." Ryan mumbled under his breath, and gently took the calf from Delilah's lap and instead pulled the hurt baby into his lap to inspect the wounds left on June.

"Call the vet." Ryan grabbed his phone from his pocket and tossed it over at Delilah, then told her the veterinarian's number. "Tell him to get his ass over here quick as he can."

The calf wasn't hurt badly, but he didn't want to take a chance on this getting worse.

Delilah quickly found the vet's number saved in his contacts and clicked the call button and put it on speaker, her hands shaking slightly. Shit like this was why she hated working on farms like Ryan's.

She opened her mouth to speak and hoped her voice worked. "One of the calves on the farm I work at got shot in the side and the ear with a BB gun, we need someone over here as soon as we can."

The other end was silent for a moment, as if in disbelief before she got a reply. "Where is the ranch located?" A gruff male voice asked.

"Ghost Ranch," she paused to take a breath before telling the man on the other end of the line the exact directions to the ranch.

"We'll have a veterinarian there in ten minutes."

Ten minutes? She thought to herself. We can't wait ten fucking minutes! We've got a damn hurt calf on our hands here!

"Okay.. thank you." Delilah replied then hung up and tossed Ryan's phone back at him. "They- ten minutes and somebody'll be here."

"Ten damn minutes?" He pried his eyes from June and instead set them on the girl kneeling beside him in the dampened Tennesee grass.

Then it dawned on him.

Riley had already graduated from vet school and already knew her way around the ranch and each and every animal- she could help him and Delilah with June until one of the vets got there.

He picked his phone up off the grass and scrolled through his contacts until he came across hers- Riley ❤️.

He clicked the call button and held the phone up to his ear, and on the third ring she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby. We've um- one of the calves got shot with a BB gun sometime this morning and we need some help over here until one of the vets get here."

He heard her suck in a sharp breath before she answered. "I'm coming." Her keys jingled faintly in the background, then an old trailer door clatter shut before she hung up.

Ryan shoved his phone back in his pocket and ran his hand over June's pretty off-white fur. "I'm sorry girl, you didn't deserve any of this." His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke kindly to the newborn Highland calf.

Delilah shifted in the grass until she was actually sitting down, and pulled her knees up to her chest, holding them in place by her arms wrapped around them.

Her eyes wandered down at her muddy boots then back up to the other cattle, all close by the fence watching the cars drive past the ranch while they peacefully munched on the grass and stray pieces of hay that littered the ground.

It didn't take long for a lifted Ram to drive past the pasture and pull into the dirt driveway, dust and rocks being flung up behind the tires as it drove down to where the cattle, Delilah and Ryan were.

The truck's paint sparkled in the sun as it pulled in next to Ryan's F-350 before promptly shutting off and Riley hopped out with a look of overwhelming worry on her freckled face.

"Shit." She mumbled under her breath, her blue eyes landing on the calf in her boyfriend's arms.

She opened the gate and carefully closed it behind her, locking it. Riley's feet sunk into the mud below her every time she took a step.

She sunk to her knees in front of the calf and ran her hand over June's fur before examining the wounds and did her best to carefully disinfect them, deciding to let the professionals take the BBs out because she had no idea how.

It didn't take long for the vet to get there and they took June back to the animal hospital to take a closer look at her and nurse her back to how she was before this whole thing happened, leaving the three there speechless and sad.

Delilah gave Ryan a quick hug as some sort of comfort, which he oddly found helpful and hugged her back before letting her go. She got in her Ford and left for the day, as he told her she could. This fiasco was a little too much to handle for him, because he loved his cattle and just wanted to be alone with his thoughts for the rest of the day.

Riley followed Ryan outside the pasture and watched his tattooed hands mess with the lock after he closed the gate back, wrapping the chain back around the metal to the gate then around the wooden fence post to keep the wide metal gate attached to the wooden fence firmly shut.

"Hey, Ry?"

"Hm?"

"Are.. you okay?"

"I'm fine, munchie. Why?"

"I know you loved June, she was your favorite but.. she's gonna be okay."

"I know she is, it's just the fact people 'round here have the audacity to harm my cattle."

Riley sighed, and Ryan turned to face her.

His tired blue eyes crinkled when he gave her a slight grin, and pulled her into him for a hug. Her eyes fluttered shut and she wrapped her arms around his neck, a smile of her own on her lips.