Hi guys! Here is another chapter for ya all!

Thank you to all of you guys who have dropped me a review, it is much appreciated! In response to a review from Barbra Holloway, Ty will be in this story quite a lot further down the track (I think he comes in about chapter 20 or so, I can't remember to be exact) and as I have said before, this is not a Ty and Amy story so to everyone please don't ask when he'll be coming in again. I have answered your question twice now. I hope this doesn't seem rude, but I addressed this already at the start of this story so this is the last time I'm saying this. I think that there is more then enough of Ty and Amy fics, but not many of Jack and Lisa which is also partially why I wrote this (that and because they are my faves) so if anyone has a problem with that, go tell someone who cares cause I don't! Like I have said before, he will be in it, but this story DOES NOT revolve around Ty and Amy!

Hope this answers your question and I hope that I don't seem to abrupt to you all, I just am sick of the PM's asking 'When will Ty be back?' hence this rather direct authors note.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter. We learn a little about the mysterious girl in this chapter, but not too much! Just enough to keep you all hanging! *laughs evilly*

Chapter 8

Beep.

Beep.

There was that noise again, driving her crazy.

Beep.

Beep.

Where was she?

Beep.

That was it. She had had enough of that noise. Her eyes opened and as they opened she saw she was in a room. Her eyes widened. She was in a room! What's more, she was in a hospital!

Looking down, she saw cords and tubes attached to her, a mask over her face. I have to get out of here! She tried to move, but her arms and legs wouldn't cooperate. Pain swept over her body as she tried again to move. Why couldn't she move? Why was she in so much pain? What was she doing here? She had to get out. She had to get away now.

'Don't try to move!'

She saw a nurse walking in and it only freaked her out more. She was scared, terrified but she had to get out of here. She couldn't get away, her body not responding as she tried to move.

'Don't try to move honey.'

The woman repeated what she had said again, grabbing a needle from the draw beside the bed. 'No! No!' She tried to protest, but no words came out. She tried to move, tried to get away from her but she couldn't. The needle was injected into her as she tried to fight but slowly she began to get tireder and tireder until she finally feel into a deep sleep…..

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The noise was back.

Beep.

Beep.

It was driving her crazy. Again!

Beep.

That's it. Her eyes flew open, looking around the room. She wasn't alone. There were two men and a woman in there too, with the man and woman in police uniforms. No!

Nick nudged Maggie as he saw the girl was awake. Walking over to her, he sat down on the seat beside the bed as Clint went to let the nurse know she was awake. 'Hi'

Get away from me!

'My name is Sergeant Avery and this is Constable Dolye but you can just call us Nick and Maggie.'

I don't give a hoot who you are.

'What's your name?'

Not saying.

Nick looked at the girl as she glared at him. There was something he could see in her eyes, it wasn't defiance or belligerence, rather it was fear and he could tell she was scared. 'It's okay sweetie, you don't need to be afraid of us. We aren't going to hurt you.'

I don't care. I don't trust you. Too many people have told me that then gone back on it. I won't trust you.

'We want to help you, but you need to help us. What's your name?'

Ask till the cows come home. I'm not answering.

Maggie looked at the girl, then at Nick. 'Do you think she's deaf?'

I prefer to call it selective responding.

Nick caught the look she gave her. 'No, she's not deaf.'

You got that right.

'Let me try.' She asked and Nick let her have the seat. Looking into her eyes, she touched the girl's hand and felt her flince. 'We want to help you. We know your in trouble but we need you to help us. We can't help you if you won't help us. Can you at least tell us your name?'

How can I know your not lying? How can I know your not working for the guy whose after me. I won't tell you a thing.

'Please?'

Still. Not. Saying.

'Well, if you aren't going to tell us your name then I guess we'll just have to give you one. How about Michael?'

Oh please. Get lost.

'You don't like that? How about Annie?' She saw the girl roll her eyes. 'Or you could just tell us what it is.'

Ah. Nope.

Maggie looked at Nick and he motioned for her to follow him. 'We'll be back later.'

Yeh, I don't doubt it. She scowled as they left, then tried again to move. She could feel everything, could feel herself trying to move and yet she couldn't. It was like she had been given something that made her lie still. Maybe she had been hurt. She couldn't remember what had happened. She didn't know how she had gotten here but she knew she had to get out. Cougar and her stallion were relying on her…..

'Take a seat.' Jack offered the Sergeant and Constable a few days later. They had dropped by, as they said they needed to talk to him, and Lisa, so she was sitting beside him. 'What can we help with?'

'Well, the girl doesn't want to talk to us or Clint who's going to be her caseworker.' He sat down as Lou poured him and Maggie a cup of coffee each and set it down in front of them. 'Thank you. We've tried talking to her about four times now but she hasn't said a thing. Actually, we are at our wits end. The check on the gun came back and while it's not illegal for it to not be registered it doesn't help us out any. We tried going to Pike River and showing her picture around but no one seemed to know who she was.'

'I don't quite understand where you're going with this.'

'We were hoping that you two could try talking to her.' Maggie explained. 'We've tried and tried but she won't respond to us. We're hoping she might with you two.'

'Well, I guess it's worth a shot.' Lisa looked at Jack. 'I'm free this afternoon if you want to duck in there with me.'

'Sure. I'm not busy.'

'That would be great.' She pulled a voice recorder out from her pocket. 'Just in case she does start talking, we do need it on recording as evidence because she won't talk to us.'

'That's fine. I can do that.'

'Maybe take her a picture of her horse too.' Nick suggested. 'Seeing that you've got her horse and are looking after him might get her to trust you.'

'That's not a bad idea-' Lisa's reply was interrupted by the sound of their radios going off and they quickly got up and moved into the entrance to answer it.

'We've got to run, we have a call.' Nick grabbed his hat off the rack then turned to Lisa. 'If you do manage to get a recording, drop it by the station on the way home.'

'Don't worry. We will.' She assured them as they hurried out to the patrol car and took off back towards Hudson. Lisa turned to Jack. 'Well, I guess we might as well go drop in at the hospital now.'

'I guess so.'

'Hey, while your in town, can you please grab more yoghurt?' Lou asked as she walked back into the kitchen, seeing them about to leave. 'Mallory has been stuck into it again and I don't have enough for this recipe I want to cook.'

'Sure, I'll remember.' Jack put on his jacket and hat then helped Lisa with hers. 'While I'm at it I might buy a lock and barrel bolt too.'

'Come on.' Lisa chuckled, nudging him with her shoulder as she went out the door. 'You warm your truck up and I'll go grab a couple of photos of the stallion.'

'Alright.'

The stallion was pacing back and forth at the rails close to the road as he could get. He stopped and snorted, then neighed loudly as he looked down the drive. Pawing the ground again, he began to pace back and forth then reared again, trying to get out.

'Woah, easy boy. Easy.' Lisa stopped at the fence and clicked her fingers at him as she held her phone up to get a picture. The stallion snorted at her, shaking his head then walked a couple of steps towards her. 'It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you. You can trust me.' The stallion watched her with his ears pointed towards her, then reared and wheeled around. She sighed. Even though he had been here for five days already, he was still as flighty and jumpy as he had been when he had first turned up. At least she had a couple of good pictures of him though. Hopefully the girl would be more trusting than him. Turning away from the corral, she walked over to the truck as Jack pulled up. 'He's still pretty skittish.'

'I can see that.' He watched as the stallion bolted around the pen again as Lisa hopped in the other side. 'You got the pics and the voice recorder?'

'Yep. It's in my pocket.' She patted her jeans as they pulled out of the ranch yard going down the drive towards the road. 'Has he been eating?'

'No, and he won't drink either. Amy has been trying when she drops his feed in the trough but he won't go near her. He just constantly gallops around and around that pen.'

'He must be missing her dreadfully.' She looked down at her phone at the pictures of him. The stallion looked confused, upset and lonely, staring down the drive in the photo she had taken. He didn't understand that the girl was injured, that she needed to be where she was at. All he knew was that she had disappeared down that road and he hadn't seen her since. No wonder he was so stressed and flighty. He was trapped and alone without her, and had to deal with strange people around him. 'Hopefully we have more luck with the girl then we've had at trying to get through to him.'

The girl growled in her throat, looking at the roof above her. She still couldn't get out, knew she wasn't strong enough to but that didn't stop her from thinking about escaping. She was sick of it, sick of the poking and prodding that the doctors and nurses had been giving her, them trying to force her to talk and eat. She'd just had enough of it all.

The police had been back too, and she was quickly getting tired of it. She just wanted to be alone and get out of there. She had to get away. Cougar and her stallion were out there, somewhere and she didn't know what had happened to them.

'Miss, you have visitors.'

The noise brought her to reality as she heard the doctors voice and she growled. The coppers. Again. I'm still not going to talk.

A man and a woman entered the room that she had never seen before and eyed them warily. She was sure that she hadn't seen them before, but something inside her said that she had. Then she remembered. They were the ones who had seen her digging through the bins outside of the diner. A cold look washed over her face as the woman sat down next to her.

'Hello young lady.'

And here we go again.

'I'm Lisa Stillman and this is Jack Bartlett.'

Your point being?

'We've been quite worried about you. I'm glad to see your feeling better.'

How? Why?

'What's your name?'

And I knew it. She rolled her eyes as she sighed then looked at the woman blankly. They just are so persistent, aren't they?

Lisa saw the look on the girl's face, then glanced at Jack and grabbed out her phone. 'Well, if you don't want to tell us your name perhaps you'll tell us his?'

Warrior! She looked at the picture of her stallion, relief flooding over her. He looked okay, tense and scared but okay. He was in a pen that looked familiar, then it dawned on her. That was the ranch she had taken the feed from. She didn't want to talk to them, but she craved to know how he was. She knew that he would be missing her terribly and it hurt her not to know if he had been injured or not. 'Warrior. His name is Warrior.'

Lisa nodded, hiding her surprise that the girl had spoken to her. 'Well, Warrior saved your life young lady. He got you to us in time and we called the ambulance. Your a very lucky girl.'

She rolled her eyes. She wasn't lucky at all. She knew he would be back to finish the job off. It was only a matter of time. It would have been better if she had died, then it would all have been over. Looking again at the picture of her stallion, she decided that talking about him was at least safe enough. 'How's- how's Warrior doing?'

'Not too great.' Jack joined in on the conversation and saw the girl flinch at the sound of his voice. 'He's been off his feed since we've had him at the ranch and he won't drink either. We can't get anywhere near him.' He saw the look on her face. 'But that's no surprise at all to you is it?'

The girl shook her head. 'No. Was he injured?'

'He did have a bullet in his rump, but our vet sedated him and got it out. He's going to be fine.'

'Thank goodness for small mercies.' She looked at the phone, then an idea came to mind. 'I- I know this might sound stupid but is there anyone at the ranch you could call? I know Warrior is going to be going out of his mind and maybe if he can hear my voice it might help some.'

'No, no, that's not stupid. Jack's granddaughter is there now. I'll give her a call.' She dialed Amy's number then waited for her to pick up. 'Amy, your at Heartland right? Could you do us a quick favour? Thanks…. We're here at the hospital with the girl now and she was wondering if she could talk to Warrior… That's the stallion's name…. Okay… Great…' She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and looked over at her. 'She's heading out to him now.' She listened, then placed the phone in front of her mouth. 'Okay, she's out with him now.'

'Warrior.' She called into the phone, listening to the sound of hoofbeats running around the pen. 'Warrior! It's me boy!' She could hear the horse stop and snort, then slowly walk closer to the phone on the other end of the call. 'It's okay boy. I'm fine. You don't need to worry. I'm okay and I'm going to be out of here soon.' The horse snorted close the the phone and she laughed. 'I don't think you like the sound of that hey? Well I don't like it much either but I have to be here where I am. I'll come see you soon though.' The horse snorted again, then she could hear the sound of him chewing something. 'Don't chew the phone Warrior! You naughty boy!'

'He's trying to figure out where your voice is coming from.' Amy laughed as she wiped the slobber off her mobile then looked at the stallion. A complete change had taken place in him. He was standing relaxed, liking his lips as he looked at the phone then he started to whinny gently as he nudged her arm that was holding the phone with his muzzle. 'He's trying to get you to talk again.'

'You be good for them mister. I'm trusting you not to kill anyone.' She wasn't joking. The stallion had killed a man before, only a couple of months back. One of the men that had been after her but she wasn't about to disclose that bit of information in their hearing. her tone changed slightly as she spoke again. 'Listen boy. I'm really really sorry I put you in that danger. I didn't mean for either of us to get shot. I'm sorry.' She could hear him snort and nudge the phone. 'I have to go now boy, okay? You be good.'

'Thanks Amy.' Lisa took the phone away as the girl's eyes started to water. 'How is he now?'

'A lot calmer.' The stallion still was watching the phone, but when he heard that the voice was different he lost interest in it and instead walked over to his feed bucket. Slowly, he sniffed at the oats then began to eat. 'He's actually eating now. I think him hearing her voice did the trick.'

'Well hopefully it helped. Thanks again Amy.'

'Your welcome. Bye.'

'Bye.' She hung up the phone and saw the girl looking away from then as she sniffled. 'Are you okay honey?'

'It's my fault. It's my fault he got shot.'

'Hey hey, it's alright.' Lisa grabbed a tissue and wiped the tears away from the girl's eyes. 'He's fine. He's alright.'

'I know but it's my fault he got shot and is now stuck in your corral.' The girl sniffed again. 'He hates being locked in. He hates it so much. He hates it enough he would almost kill himself trying to get out. Ugh, if only I hadn't decided to find a different place to camp, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't be stuck in here, and he wouldn't be stuck in there.'

'Your not really making much sense sweetie.' Jack prompted, knowing that they at least needed to find out her name. They needed to know what had happened. Why don't you start from the beginning?'

The girl sniffled again, then nodded. 'From the other day beginning or beginning beginning?'

'The beginning beginning is normally a good place to start.'

Soooooo, you'll all have to wait till the next chapter for her story! *hehe* Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Adios!