Evan follows, crossing the river he jumps down and ropes his horse to a tree. He draws his pistol and disappears into the snow-covered pines. The snow crunches quietly under his boots as he sneaks quietly through the pines and stops behind a large tree.
Craig rides along the river’s edge following it down before he realizes what he’s seeing. Fresh tracks leading from the trees to the river.
Evan sets off a buried trip wire, without even realizing it was there. He was so focused on sneaking up on the man sitting at the large fire, that he didn’t look down. The moment he triggered it, the snare snaps tight around his foot, and his body jerks up into the air feet first. He screams, hanging upside down, from the pain in his leg and foot. Evan yells in pain. “Brother!”
Craig kicks his horse, turning around and races into the trees “Yah!” He shouts. A second scream has him kicking the horse harder. The horse slows coming to a fallen log, he kicks the horse again to jump over it, only realizing at the last second his mistake. His horse’s front legs sink into a hidden hole and break, throwing the man forward over the screaming horse’s shoulder. They skid forward rolling straight into the trap Kimani had laid.
Horse and man roll tumbling into a maze of baling wire meant for trapping prey. The combined weight of man and beast rips the staked wire from the ground and binds the two bodies together in a tangle of wire and sticks. His face is torn from the metal and branches while the wind is knocked from his body by the impact.
Kimani crossed the river upstream and doubled back after tying off her horse. Craig is struggling wildly inside the wire along-side the kicking horse, and she can’t help but laugh at him as the hooves strike him repeatedly. He freezes when she approaches and glares at her.
“Your friend is busy...” she growls at him.
“My brother!” Craig screams at her and struggles again.
Kimani ignores him and walks around to the panting and whimpering horse, whispering, “I’m sorry.” She shoots struggling animal in the head. Turning back to the man she glares.
“You will not be so lucky. I want you to suffer.” Kimani hisses and struggles with the English word. English is not her first language, but her father made sure she could speak it. Kimani walks back around the animal to glare at Craig, trembling with the temptation to shoot him and be done with it. His body is twisted in a strange position with his face pressed up tightly against the wire and his arms pinned oddly behind his back. The horse is laying on one of his legs and the urge to laugh is surprising.
“Does it pain you?” She asks smiling at the man as he glares at her.
“I’m not going to kill you, girl. Only make you wish for the swift death we gave your tribe!” Craig threatens.
“You’ve killed enough!” Lifting the pistol, she is startled when Evan bounds through the trees shrieking and surprising her. The snare must’ve broken! Instinct has her swinging the gun and pulling the trigger at the same instant. Clutching his stomach, Evan falls backward, while his brother rages, and screams, desperate to get to him.
“Evan!!!
Kimani backs away in horror. Killing him wasn’t part of the plan, was it? She wasn’t really going to kill Craig, just question him.
“Brother, I’m shot!” Evan gasps and struggles to sit up on his knees.
Kimani flees, spinning she leaps through the trees and grabs the reins of the horse they rode in on. Struggling to break the reins free, she panics when she hears the man shouting for his brother. Leaving the horse, she lurches into the water and crosses at the shallowest point. Her own horse is tied further downstream, hidden in a group of trees.
Dragging herself from the river she mounts her horse and kicks him into a run., desperate to be free of this area. “The trackers will not be a problem anymore, ride Kimani!” she orders. “Get to the ranch,” she says as pain screams through her body. The past hours and injuries are catching up to her.
“Just ride,” she whimpers.
Chapter 8
“Brother!” Evan gasps and stares down at the blood seeping out of the wound in his stomach.
“It’s gonna be alright, Evan. I’m coming.” Craig tries to move his leg only to realize the horse is laying on top of it. “Uggh,” he groans and pulls shoving at the beast with his free leg, finally managing to break his leg free of the twisted metal.
Evan stares at his brother and begins to crawl towards him. “I’m coming, brother,” he gasps and begins the slow crawl.
Craig struggles to move, he is wrapped in the wire tight and he can’t feel his right hand. “Evan! I need the cutters from the saddle. I can’t move my hands!”
“Okay, brother,” he coughs and looks at Craig. The wire is pushing tightly into his face, causing lacerations and his hands are twisted behind his back. “Stay still, brother, you’re making it worse.”
He reaches into the dead horse’s saddle and digs for the tools that every soldier carries. Success! A small bag of tools rolled up in canvas. Evan pulls it free from the wire and unrolls it on the snowy ground before doubling over and gasping in pain.
“Burns!” He screams. Grabbing the cutters, he shoves them through the wire before he blacks out on the ground
