Heartland

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Five: Cougar.

I was face to face with a cougar. He growled, showing his yellow teeth. I started inching away from it. He growled again. All of a sudden a horse's hooves landed near my face. I tuck and rolled out of the way. I watched the horse stomp at the cougar, the horse kicked it and it ran off. I then noticed the horse was Luna.
"Luna?" I asked. I stood and approached her. "Shh girl," I cooed. Amy came galloping down the trail on Spartan. She spooked Luna. Luna galloped down the trail, the same way Sky went.
"Call Jack, there's a cougar in these woods.! It spooked Sky and she threw me!" I yelled. Amy dismounted and let me on.
"Ty's right behind me. I'll call grandpa and Lou. If you get to the dude ranch before you catch Luna you need to get everyone inside," Amy demanded. I nodded. She handed me her lasso. I kicked Spartan hard. He galloped towards the dude ranch.

We galloped into the dude ranch clearing. Everyone was running around, Luna was causing a panic.
"Lou there's a cougar in the woods!" I yelled.
"What?!" she yelled.
"Everyone inside!" I screamed. I galloped towards Luna and started the lasso. I threw it and it caught her neck. She stopped. I put her in the pasture and then went up to talk to Lou.
"The cougar spooked Sky. She's out somewhere. Have you seen her?" I asked frantically.
"No I haven't," she replied.
"My baby!" a woman yelled.
"What?" Lou asked.
"Tamara! She's only six years old! I can't find her!" she screamed.
"It's okay. We'll find her," I assured her.
"Get inside m'am," Lou said. I kicked Spartan to a gallop. We started looking for the girl.

I was riding farther down the trail. "Tamara! Sky!," I yelled. I came to the end of the trail, it was a large clearing, with trees and a small pond. I saw Sky with a little girl on top of her.
"Tamara?" I asked. I rode towards them.
"Hi," she replied. Tamara was the same girl admiring Sky earlier.
"Your mom is worried sick," I told her.
"When your horsey came back I took her for a ride. I'm sorry," she said.
"It's fine. Come with me," I said.
"Tara!" I heard someone scream. I turned around to see Amy and Ty riding double on Harley. She was pointing. I looked and saw the cougar coming straight towards us. I lunged for Sky and Tamara, but it was too late. The cougar took a bite of Sky's left hip. Sky went down and so did Tamara. Tamara landed in the water.
"Sky!!" I screamed. I jumped off Spartan and kicked the cougar as hard as I could. With the cougar still dizzy, I grabbed its neck and pushed it into the pond. The cougar got out and ran back into the woods. I helped the crying Tamara out of the pond and sat her on the grass. When she was safe, I ran to Sky's side. Her haunches were covered in blood. The tears started to flow.
"Sky," I mumbled. Ty and Amy got to my side. Ty was on the phone with someone. I laid Sky's head on my lap. "Sky, I'm so sorry," I whispered. The tears kept flowing. Ty got off the phone and gave Tamara his jacket. He was looking at Sky's wound.
"It doesn't look good," he said. I started crying more. I was going to loose my best friend, my sister. And then to top it all off, it started raining.

Jack pulled into the opening. He was followed by Tim with a trailer and Scott with a trailer. Amy and Ty put Spartan and Harley into Tim's trailer. I got Sky to barely stand up. Of course once I got her in Scott's trailer she collapsed. I laid her head on my lap and made Scott shut the door.

I sat in the vet clinic, waiting for Scott and Ty to be done with Sky's surgery. Ty walked out followed by Scott.
"We got her wounds stitched up. She can go home tomorrow but don't ride her for at least a month. Hopefully Jack can catch that damn cougar," Scott said.
"Thank you Scott," I replied. We shook hands and then I hugged him, Scott went back to check on Sky. I hugged Ty.
"Tara she's going to be fine," Ty assured me.
"I know, just, thank you," I said.
"It's no problem, the least I could do," he replied.