Heavy sheets of rain poured from the sky and lightning split the darkness every few seconds, followed by house rattling clap of thunder. The wind was blowing so hard, that trees were starting to bend beneath its gusts.
The only thing that could be heard above the rain and wind, was the shrill whinnies of a horse that was tied in a coral, surrounded by men shouting and snapping whips.
Her cried carried on the wind as she pulled and kicked, trying desperately to get free.
Long red cuts ran along her pure white side and the rain washed the blood from them away. The rope around her neck cut into her skin as she pulled desperately, trying to get away from the abusers.
"Settle down there, animal!" the leader, Jackson Turner, shouted as he snapped a whip in her direction "You crazy beast!" the tip of his whip caught her front right leg, leaving another long welt behind.
The horse cried in pain as she reared up and kicked wildly at the air, her matted mane flying behind her.
"You aren't going to get anything to eat for another three months if you don't stop!" Turner shouted "You'd think you'd learn your lesson after the past three months!"
The horse pawed the ground, then began to kick out of desperation. With one final desperate kick, her hooves kicked through the post that held her in the coral. Then, she jumped the fence and ran, the piece of timber dragging behind her.
"Get that horse!" Turner shouted "Don't let her get away!"
The horse pressed forward. The only thing keeping her from collapsing was her determination and will to be free.
A rope suddenly wrapped around her back left leg, and she fell into the mud.
"I got her!" the man that had roped her, shouted. When he got close enough, the horse kicked his feet out from under him, then scrambled back into an upright position, and kept running, trying to ignore the pain coursing through her sides and legs.
A few moments later, a loud *Bang!* split the stillness, and a wave of heat and pain shot up her front leg, be she refused to stop.
"That horse is a phantom!" one man shouted.
"Fine!" Turner shouted as she reached the safety of the trees "Run! But you'll die out there! And no one will ever care!"
The horse continued to run, her strength draining as quick as the blood was flowing from the bullet wound. But she refused to stop. She couldn't. She had to get somewhere far away. She had to get somewhere… safe.