Barbed Wire Fences.

It all happened so fast…

One moment I’m next to Bonny, then suddenly I’m lying on my back staring up at the hazy gray sky. What the hell, is my first thought, wits slowly returning. Why is my head ringing? And wasn’t I just running through that abandoned field on Range Road 676 with my friends mere seconds ago?

Sluggishly, I realize my questions won’t be answered by staying prone on the ground, so I attempt to blink away the fuzziness while pressing onto my elbows. The feeling of dry grass and weeds scratch and itch at the skin there, comforting me, along with the familiar smell of wildflowers and pine blowing in the breeze. These little reassurances settle my accelerated heart rate caused by the confusion that lingers.

Finally, my vision clears completely and still, all I can see from this position is overgrown meadow and the same dreary sky. It compels me to move, though this time a sharp pain shoots across my tailbone, eliciting a strong throaty groan. Fuck.

Winds whistle relentlessly in my ears, the ability to hear at last returning. Whatever brain fluff has vanished, now allowing me to perceive shouting echoing nearby. Soon enough, the calls are almost upon me, my name sounding out from recognizable voices.

“Os! OS!” My sisters distinct voice rings close by, our eyes meeting a second later as she kneels in front of me. Her hand reaches out to clutch at the fabric of the red flannel, gripping it at my shoulder and pulling me up. A painful hiss escapes from the change of position, yet I push through, propelling myself to the soles of my feet and straightening up with her help. “Os, we need to go before it comes back.”

Confused, my head naturally tilts in query, “before what comes back?”

Alysha winces. “You got hit pretty damn hard huh?”

“Hit? What do you mean?”

“By a bull. It came out of nowhere.”

I stumble in shock, making the two of us nearly trip, only saved by the grace of Aly. “A bull? But this is old man Tanner’s field. He doesn’t have any livestock.”

“It likely escaped from elsewhere. We should have been paying more attention. You could have died... or been seriously hurt.” She breaths shakily, guiding me forward with her arm wrapped around my waist and setting a quick pace. “We have to get out of here as fast as possible. Travis and Bonbon led it away, but you know how temperamental bulls are.”

Of course, right then a warning shouts from behind and I can’t help but glance over my right shoulder as Al drags me faster. On our trail races the largest bull I’ve ever seen, chasing us in an intense rage. Its snout produces steam in the fall air fiercely, while its hooves kick up grass and dirt wildly, unbothered by the hooting and hollering of our friends in the distance. Their efforts of recapturing the beast’s attention fail, dark black eyes set solely on our running forms, unwavering and resolute in mindset.

Barely a few hundred feet rest between us and the fence line ahead. Our lives on the line as the black and white tank charges, closing distance far faster than we’re going. Shit. Shit. Fretting uncontrollably in panic, I almost land my sibling and I on the ground once more, again being rescued by Alysha’s fast reflexes.

My legs just can’t seem to cooperate properly. The fierce smack from earlier affecting me yet. A few upper ribs burn, possibly fractured and preventing me from sprinting. But… if I don’t, we won’t make it to the fence on time, I grasped when glancing behind us another time. Less than forty yards away.

Seething grunts echo firmly at our backs and soon its thunderous trudges reverberate with every step nearer. There’s no choice. “Lee. We need to split up and run faster than ever. We’ll make it.” There’s a chance that it’ll get confused on who to chase and might give us a better shot of succeeding… I hope anyway.

“I’ll see you on the other side Ossie.” Al promised as she nudges me away, veering right with a sharp whistle and wave of her arms. I easily believe my slightly older sibling as our matching blue eyes meet a last time, knowing she’s never let me down and this time will be no different.

Bonny and Travis shout, cheering us on to keep moving. My body ultimately working as one to ensure I can make it over the barbed wire marking property borders. Everything from my neck down burns addictively, a rush traversing internally as harsh pants escape me. Almost there. Due to the lack of animal noises close by, I safely assume Alysha lead the enraged mammal after her in the opposite direction.

However, the second my feet hit a wooden stake with wire tied around it, a piercing scream travels across grassy land. Immediately turning and tearing through overgrown thresh, nothing else matters. Whatever aching and soreness lingering from my previous trampling is numbed, adrenaline and fear overflowing all senses. Deep seeded worry for my sister overwhelms all physical feeling.

“ALYSHA!” I bellowed, watching the massive herbivore fling her up and over our safety line. Rapidly it halts, twisting to storm this way, my voice drawing its craze.

Luckily having enough common sense to stay by the barbed blockade, I hastily climbed over. Please… whatever God there is, let this fence deter this stubborn and angry creature. My pleads are seemingly heard as the monstrous male cow trots and treads alongside the metal wires, refusing to try and pass through.

A long sigh of respite leaves me as I close the short distance to Aly’s unmoving body. Arriving and dropping to the ground beside her, hand shaking as I roll the 17-year-old over. The movement provokes a small groan that fills the silence, triggering instant relief. She’s alive, rejoicing within while laying her head on my lap and pushing the uneven bangs to one side of Alysha's freckled covered face. “Lee. Wake up lee.”

Uneven breathing and grass scuffling alerts me to Travis and Bonny’s presence, both simultaneously asking if Aly's is okay. Tears and a weary shrug are all I can get out right now, the couple peering at each other in concern as Lee remains knocked out in my arms. Time itself seems to slow down the longer we wait for any sign of consciousness from her…

Out of the blue and abruptly, as if nothing in the last ten minutes had even happened, blue eyes burst open with a gasp and choking cough. The second it winds down; Aly tilts her neck back to grin widely at me. “Would it be ridiculous to say I almost want to do that again?” Our vivacious laughter reverberating out across the country plains surrounding us.

In that moment, I can’t help but thank farmers for their barbed wired fences.