Early the next morning, she opened her eyes to see Jacob, but he looked worried.
"Wake up." He said quickly.
He was rushed and worried about something.
"What?" she asked, getting up.
"There's something wrong with one of the bison." He said.
He caught her attention and she looked at him seriously.
"Which number?" she said, sitting up.
"14" he said.
She looked at him panicked.
"Thunder." She said.
She got up started to get dressed.
"Wait, how did you get in?" she asked.
"Spare key. Come on, she's really not well." He said, walking out the bedroom.
She rushed to get dressed and rushed out the door, down the stairs, grabbed her medical bag and ran and into the driveway. She locked the door behind her, pulling on a jacket. She stopped and looked at Jacob's car.
"What's that?" she asked.
"My Rabbit." He said, getting in.
She walked over and got in.
"When did you get it?" she asked.
"A while ago," he said, looking over his shoulder to back out of the driveway.
As he reached the bottom and turned around, she looked at her.
"Put your seatbelt on. This is going to be fast." He said, putting it in first gear.
She looked frightened at him while buckled up. They flew down the hillock and into the woods, towards the Quileute ceremonial clearing, where they had the feast last night.
There she was, lying in the clearing, with a bunch of Quileute around her. As they stopped, Cerise jumped out and ran to her, forgetting her medical bag in the car. Jacob grabbed it and got out after her. He ran over to where Cerise was sitting next to Thunder. She didn't look hurt, but something was definitely wrong, she was in the prime of her life.
"How long has she been down?" Cerise looked at Jacob as he knelt next to her.
"When I came to get you, she was still standing. She must have gone down on the way here." He said.
Cerise reached for her bag as she did, she saw the problem.
"Can't be." She said, getting up and walking to Thunder's back end.
"But it is." She said softly.
"What?" Jacob got up and walked over to her.
"She's in labour." Cerise said, sitting down.
"But there's something wrong with the baby." She said, looking at the white hoof sticking out.
"A white bison." Jacob said softly that she didn't hear it.
Cerise took out a pair of latex gloves and put them on.
"What are you doing?" Jacob looked bewildered at her.
"This is her first calf; she doesn't know how it works. I need to help her." She said, looking at her hands.
He looked at her hands and then back at her.
"Have you done this before?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah, plenty." She looked at him.
"Not really." She said frenziedly.
"Go to her head and talk to her." She added.
Jacob got up and walked over to her head. He sat down and laid her head on his legs.
"It's okay, girl." He said, stroking her face.
She rolled her eye and looked at him. He knew something else was wrong. He looked up at Cerise.
"Ready?" Cerise asked.
He nodded. Cerise closed her eyes.
"Open them." He said.
"You need to see what you're doing." He added and she nodded.
She took a breath and stuck her hands in. It squelched and splashed as the bison moved around inside.
"I have him." Cerise said as she felt her hands grab his stomach. She pulled and pulled and nothing happened.
"Jacob, come help me." She said.
He got up and ran over to her. He grabbed her around the waist from behind and pulled with her. The little white bison plopped out and they both fell back. Cerise landed on Jacob's lap with the bison in hers. They looked at each other and then at the calf, already struggling to get up and laughed. Thunder looked over and almost seemed to smile. And then a loud thump signalled her head dropping to the ground. Cerise looked over. She was lying dead still, not even breathing. Cerise thrust the bison into Jacobs arms and ran over screaming,
"Thunder!" she screamed, coming to a stop at her head.
Her eyes were closed and she wasn't breathing. Jacob got up and walked over to Cerise and Thunder. Cerise knelt down and held out a shaky hand to feel for a pulse, but in her heart she already knew the result, there was no heartbeat. She pulled her hand back and looked in her medicine case. Jacob put a wet and bloody hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.
"There's no medicine that can reverse this." He said softly, thoughtfully.
"No, maybe some adrenaline, or, or." She scratched.
He knelt next to her. She looked at him and he shook his head. She leaned on him and began to cry, looking at Thunder, the calf she had raised as her child.
After some time, Jacob helped her up and to his truck. The Quileute started building a pyre. Jacob helped her into the car, with the baby bison in her arms; he looked at her with such innocence in his eyes, like he didn't know what had just happened. Jacob got in and started the car. They drove in silence to her house.