Chapter 47

Present – Stacy – At the truck stop

I commit a minor tactical error when I knock the skeletal skank and her husband to the ground. He pulls his pistol, gives me an evil grin, and yells, "I've had enough of your shit!" My short life begins to pass before my eyes as I hear his pistol bark and then...

Bo jumps in front of me, the bullet hits him and he crumples to the ground. I ... I ... I ignore everything else, jump off Patches and run to his side...

Present – Samantha – At the truck stop

I can't believe my loving husband was going to shoot the Prima Donna bitch! We are soooo going to have a talk about this later because that would have been a huge mistake; we were lucky because one of the horses jumped between the bullet and Stacy.

Frank roughly grabs me, shakes me and demands, "Honey we need to get into the van!"

I don't recognize the man that just manhandled me so I pull away, cry and demand, "Frank get the hell out of here and leave me the hell alone!"

I watch his mouth fall open with surprise and he declares, "I'm not leaving you alone!"

I stand up, put my hands on my hips and affirm, "I'm not leaving Stacy so you can either leave or stay with me and help!"

Frank makes his decision and yells, "Emanuel we're staying."

I finally take my eyes off Stacy and the wounded horse/hero and realize we are completely surrounded.

There's only one thing I can do...

Present – Stacy – At the truck stop

I am holding my hand over the wound in Bo's side but the blood keeps coming out. Then the most surprising thing happens! The skeletal skank ... no, that's not right any longer ... Samantha is beside me and she orders, "Someone call the best damn vet in the area!"

I look at her and see tears in her eyes as she apologizes, "Stacy, I'm so sorry this happened. I don't know what came over my husband. Please forgive me."

I shake my head and threaten, "Well your husband just shot Ben's horse that he loved more than he loved me. If this horse dies I would hate to be you, your husband or his family because Ben will take retribution."

The bastard that shot Bo rolls up and asks, "Is there anything that I can do?"

I glare at him and swear, "I think you've done more than enough by shooting Ben's horse."

I hear someone in the crowd yell, "We string up people that shoot horses in Texas..."

Someone else adds, "'Specially when it's the horse that belongs to our Trucker's Angel."

Present – Frank – At the truck stop

Shit! I made a hell of a tactical error! When Stacy knocked us out of my wheelchair, I overreacted and tried to shoot her. I know what the real problem is - even though I can't walk, when I'm in my chair I feel that I can handle most situations. It's probably because I have a bunch of weapons hidden in my chair (yeah never attack a man in a wheelchair).

Ben's damn horse jumped in front of the shot, which was a good thing because it would have been even worse if I had shot Stacy. But now I have an angry mob I need to deal with.

Even with all the weapons I have, many people including my wife might get hurt. So I make a decision. I hold up my hands and offer, "Listen if Ben's horse dies I will gladly let you string me up. But all this fighting right now is counterproductive. Someone go in the truck stop and bring me a bunch of damn diapers."

Someone smart mouths, "What happened? Did ya crap your pants?"

I state, "Hell no! I'm going to use them to help stop the bleeding! Now get the damn diapers and call the damn vet!"

I roll over to the horse and slide out of my chair beside the horse. I look at my wife and Stacy and order, "Give me some room and I will save his life."

Someone runs up and hands me the diapers. I rip open the package place one over the wound and press as hard as I can. The horse begins to move so I command, "Stacy, calm this damn horse so he doesn't move."

She drops beside his head, begins talking to him, glares at me and states, "His name is Bo and he hates to be called a damn horse."

I continue pressing and say, "Come on Bo hold on."

Someone yells, "The vet is on his way..."

Present – Emmanuel – On the road

It is hard as hell leaving my brother Frank and his wife Sam, but I know my brother and I also know he is a survivor. Many lesser men would have given up and died with what he had already suffered. But he rose up above it, like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes and I know he will somehow survive this.

As we take off in the van, I order, "Let's go find the other team..."

Present – Linus

I wake up with a hell of a headache! This is worse than when I tried to drink myself to death after my sister's death. I open my eyes, look around and realize we're in a hell of a mess...

Present – Jens – PT the next morning at the cabin

We're in a hell of a firefight! How did these bastards get through the security system and who the hell are they? Thank God the twins knew something about this (I will need to talk to them later) and we geared up otherwise we would have been caught flatfooted. The twins took off after the assailants, everyone else has fallen back to the house (which is a fortress) then Zarika surprises the hell out of me. She yells, "Jens lady, I will attack these bad people! You go to the house!" and sprints towards the onslaught.

There's no way in hell I can leave here out here, so I lay down a hellacious covering fire, she safely reaches cover then begins to fire and I reluctantly head toward the conflagration.

Present – Zarika – PT the next morning at the cabin

As we fight I remember Ben told me the best de-fence is a good off-sense. I see the two nice same ladies run after the attackers and it makes me want to do the same to impress the Jens lady since I know she will tell Ben. So I decide to help them and fight!

I run up to a little well that I heard called the 'well of wishes' while the Jens lady gives me cover (but not as good as Ben does it). I reach there, rise up and begin to fire! I will not let these bad people ruin my Ben's cabin (even though the Jens lady lives here now, someday I will live here with Ben)!

Then I feel a terrible pain in my arm. It is like the bite of a thousand sand flies!!!

Present – Jens – PT the next morning at the cabin