Circles of Death by Marcia Talley

Author:Marcia Talley [Talley, Marcia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

‘Mmmm, ooooh.’

I spun around. ‘Did you say something, Izzy?’

‘Me? No. Why?’

‘I thought you said something.’

‘Not me. I thought it was you.’

‘Ahhhh, ooooh.’

‘There it is again,’ I said. ‘Listen.’

Izzy and I paused, our ears on full alert.

‘Ahhhh …’

Izzy turned and grabbed the makeshift barn door. ‘It’s coming from inside the barn. Do you suppose we’ve shut an animal up in there?’

‘We can find out,’ I said as I helped her drag the metal door aside and prop it up again against the siding. We stepped back into the shadowy interior, dimly illuminated by the broad shaft of light coming in through the opening we’d just made.

‘Help … me.’ A woman’s voice, faint.

‘We hear you,’ I called out. ‘Where are you?’

‘Dunno.’

‘Over there,’ Izzy said, pointing toward the ladder that led up to the loft.

I dashed in the direction of the ladder, weaving around bits of rusting farm equipment and stumbling over cans of paint until I reached the bales of hay that effectively walled that part of the barn off from the area we’d recently searched.

‘Ooooh,’ the woman groaned.

‘Coming!’ I called out. I leaned over the chest high stack of bales and peered behind them. From beneath a heap of loose straw, a red tennis shoe protruded. The leg attached to the shoe twitched.

Panting and heaving, Izzy and I dismantled the wall a bale at a time until the gap was wide enough to wade through. With the exception of her blue jean-clad leg, the woman was completely buried under the straw. We fell to our knees and began pawing it away.

The woman lay face down on the floor of the barn, her abundant blonde hair tangled and matted. ‘Thank … you!’ She gasped. ‘Couldn’t breathe. Too much …’

‘You’re OK now, Diana,’ I said, recognizing the plaid shirt the raptor transporter had been wearing the first time I’d met her. ‘We’re here to help.’

Gently, Izzy cleared straw away from Diana’s cheek. ‘What happened?’

Diana moved her head slightly and groaned. A jagged gash, glistening and bubbly with partially clotted blood, marred her pale, white forehead. ‘Dunno.’

‘You’ve had a nasty blow to the head,’ I told her.

Diana stirred; her hand twitched. ‘Hurts.’

‘Best not to touch it,’ Izzy said, gently staying Diana’s hand. ‘We’ll need to get you to the hospital. Looks like you’ll need stitches.’

‘Do you think you can stand up?’ I asked.

‘Dunno,’ Diana rasped again.

‘Let’s give it a try, shall we?’

Izzy took one of Diana’s arms and I took the other. Between us, we eased her to her knees and then to her feet, where she slumped between us like an empty suit.

‘Ready?’ I asked.

After a moment Diana nodded and we took a baby step forward. Immediately, her left leg buckled and she screamed in pain.

While I continued to support the patient, Izzy knelt and rolled up Diana’s left pant leg. No one was reassured when she sucked air in through her teeth. ‘Ouch! I’m no doctor, but it sure looks broken to me.’

Even from my vantage point, I could see that Diana’s ankle was an angry purple, unnaturally twisted and swollen to twice normal size.

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