Trevor
The helicopter was closing in. His mind whirled like the blades of the chopper. What do I do? What do I do? He couldn’t think straight. But if he had any hope of getting out of this, he had to ditch the rhino.
He pulled over under a live oak tree, the lower branches scratching along the top of his truck and the trailer with a screeeeeee.
He leaped from his truck, grabbed his mask, gloves, and tool from his truck bed and circled around the back of the trailer. Ugh! The rhino had unloaded again. The feces littered the floor and the stench filled his sinuses.
He turned on the welder and, as quick as he could, cut through the metal bars that had held the rhino in place. A small herd of longhorn cattle who’d been grazing in the pasture wandered over to watch, chewing their cuds with idle curiosity.
Once the bars were cut, he swung the doors open, yanked the ghillie suit off the rhino’s butt, and tossed it on top of the trailer, spreading it flat for additional camouflage. Maybe the chopper wouldn’t be able to spot his truck and trailer hiding under this huge tree.
He scurried over to the fence. The bovine audience squinted against the harsh glow as he quickly cut through the barbed wire. When he finished, he tossed his mask and welder aside and ran to the truck. He grabbed the ramp from the bed and situated it behind the trailer.
“Come on out!” he called to the animal.
But the rhino didn’t budge.
He reached out and used his hands to pull back on the rhino’s armored buttock, but the beast took only one tentative step backward. He’s got to move faster!
He pushed the rhino’s butt to the side and squeezed past his hip into the trailer. The rhino turned his head as far as he could to the left to look back at Fleming. Fleming put both hands on the rhino’s shoulder and pushed. “Come on, now! Back it up, big butt!”
Finally, the rhino began to move. He took four steps back before shifting his weight in another attempt to see behind himself. As the animal shifted, he pinned Fleming to the inside wall of the trailer. Oh, Lord! I can’t breathe! Fleming flailed his arms to no avail. He was hopelessly trapped and pretty sure that cracking sound he’d just heard was a rib giving way.
The animal moved again of its own accord, backing the rest of the way down the ramp. On solid ground now, he stopped and stared into the trailer as Fleming melted to the floor in such agony his mind attempted to shut down. But after a few breaths, he managed to get the pain under control enough that he could pull himself to the end of the trailer and slide down the ramp. A few more breaths, and he levered his crushed body to a stand.
He scuttled as best he could to the bed of his pickup and retrieved the PVC pipe. Using it as a prod, he guided the rhino into the pasture. The cattle greeted the rhino with snorts and moos that seemed to ask, Who and what are you? A short, grunting mo translated as Cool nose horn, buddy.
Having ditched the animal, he headed back to his truck, grimacing against the pain. He was almost to the door when a set of headlights shined down the road. He ambled to the tree and hid behind it, hoping whoever was in the car would pass on by.
No such luck.
The car slowed as it approached and stopped twenty yards away. He peeked out from behind the tree. With the bright beams blinding him, Fleming couldn’t make out what kind of car it was, but when the flashing lights illuminated on top he knew it was a law enforcement vehicle.
A voice came over the public address system. “Daddy? It’s Harper.”
They’d brought his little girl out here? Is that how they’d found me?
He fell to his knees, the pain in his ribs nothing compared to the raw ache in his heart. Betrayed, by his own precious daughter. He supposed he’d betrayed her, too, by stealing the animals she loved to watch at the zoo.
“Be good, Daddy,” Harper said. “Raise your hands like we do in school.”
He slowly raised his hands and came out from behind the tree, walking slowly in the direction of the cruiser. But when he reached the hole he’d cut in the fence, he sidestepped out of the headlights and made a run for it.