Pine Hollow was a mess.

Half of the barn was missing. Trees were out all over the fields. Wind was still lifting and throwing things. The electricity was out. The power lines were down. Floodwater was gathering. The horses were frantic – well, most of the horses. One horse wasn't moving at all and hadn't been moving for some time.

When Red first managed to help Angelfire's colt, getting the baby out and alive, he had laughed with joy. He hadn't believed in himself one bit, but he'd been praying every second, hoping that he was right. That laughter was hysterical. He was running on adrenaline, pure and simple, and he didn't even know where the sounds had come from. And then he'd looked past the colt and seen Angelfire just laying there, unmoving, too still, and his laughing had turned into sobbing.

For a while he remained somewhere at that crossroads between laughing and crying. But his head had cleared when he looked at the colt again. He knew of imprinting and he knew he needed to get this baby to another broodmare before the poor thing died on its own. Red knew the broodmare had to be one that had recently given birth; otherwise the mare wouldn't have any milk to give the colt.

Bella. The frantic mare had lost her own foal only a couple of days ago. Red was incredibly glad that he'd thought to bring Bella into a stall. He had to work, but he managed to pick up the colt and brought him into Bella's stall. The moment he set the colt down, Bella went into mother mode and started to lick the colt.

Red backed away, wiping off his face. He hated it, but he couldn't even move Angelfire's body. He was going to have to leave her there until somebody managed to get to Pine Hollow. The only way to describe it was awful – horrifyingly awful.

He tried to distract himself from the poor dead mare that had given her all for her baby by going about and feeding the rest of the horses – only after he ripped off the betadine-covered Latex gloves, dumped out the bucket, and threw away the string. The other horses that had been so spooky before were much calmer now. Red couldn't figure out why until he realized that something other than Angelfire's pacing and whinnying was missing – the sound of rain pounding on the roof.

After feeding the horses, Red hobbled over to the gap the fallen tree had left behind. He leaned against the trunk and looked directly upward, expecting to feel raindrops on his face. Instead, all he felt was the frosty wind. Red stared up in a state of exhilaration for a minute. He could even see a rainbow.

Thank you, dear heavenly Lord above, thought Red, still leaning against the tree. O God, thank you. Red leaned down to where he was sitting against the tree on the ground. He felt as though everything that could have gone wrong was over and done with now. It would have been much worse if he hadn't been able to get a hold of Dr. Judy – or if his phone had died even a moment earlier…

He was so incredibly exhausted. All that adrenaline from earlier was fading now. In fact, all Red wanted to do was lie down right here on the cold wet floor and go to sleep. Sleep was calling for him – it was asking him very nicely to yield to it…

No. He couldn't sleep. He had to take care of the horses.

Red struggled to his feet and looked around blearily. Oh, great: and he was lightheaded now too. As he thought about it, his stomach growled. Red looked down, surprised. He hadn't even considered eating until this very moment – and now that he was aware of how long ago his last meal had been, his insides ached with hunger. Of course there was nothing for him to eat. He could have gone over to the lounge if there hadn't been a huge tree blocking his path.

The eighteen-year-old limped toward Bella's stall. It occurred to him that the colt was going to need a name. Red thought about it as he approached the stall. It didn't take very long to come up with the colt's nickname. Miracle. That was what the colt was – a miracle.

Red tried to smile when he saw Bella taking careful care of Miracle, but it was hard. There was so much else to worry about.

Speaking of worrying, Red was starting to worry about his head. It was aching magnificently, almost hurting so much that it matched his twisted ankle. He suddenly felt very anxious about his head, and how good sleep was sounding; no matter what, he knew that he wasn't supposed to go to sleep. He knew that going to sleep with a headache meant you weren't going to wake back up.

Red started to walk up and down the main aisle of the barn, trying to force himself to stay awake. His body was fighting him the whole way. He was utterly exhausted. He really wished he had slept for more than a half-hour that first night of the storm. Now he couldn't sleep until the firefighters or whoever was fighting to make it through the roads arrived. He couldn't sleep until he knew from a professional that he was in the clear.

So he walked. He didn't limp or hobble: he walked with his weight full on both of his legs. It sent spasms of pain up through his leg, but he knew it was what he had to do in order to stay awake. If he sat down or blinked too long, he thought he would drop off into a coma. And where would that leave the horses?

Red continued to walk, and walk, and walk. As he walked, his head, his ankle, and his hungry stomach hurt. It occurred to his weary cobwebby mind that his mouth was dry and he really ought to find himself some water, but he was too busy focusing on staying awake.

And he refused to stop walking.

A/N: Sorry about the wait! :P I lost the document again amongst USB ports and Canada. Yes, seriously. Anyway, reviews are fun, so give me one! :D Lol, sorry about the rhyme there... ;)