McLeod's Daughters

- A Life Lost Long Ago -

I.

Alex Ryan was slowly driving along the dark and shady road towards Drovers Run in his old black Ford PickUp. It had finally stopped raining but the road was muddy and he had to be careful not to get stuck. Rays of pale moonlight made their way through the branches of the small trees and bushes that lined the road sporadically. Coming from Killarney to pick up the rest of his clothes and things that he needed for his longer stay at Wilgurl, he wanted to make sure that Claire and Tess were okay after this hard day of work in the pouring rain.

The radio played boring songs and for a moment he was not paying attention and when he looked up at the road again, he saw a shadow of a horse with a rider on top of it right ahead of him. Stepping on the brakes a little too hard, the car skidded and broke to the left until it came to an abrupt stop right in front of the horse. Alex had to take one deep breath to calm down, then he jumped out of the car, leaving the headlights on and the door open. The horse had not even shied away and only turned and looked at him with blank eyes, while the rider, because of the movement, suddenly reeled over and fell down into the mud with a dull sound. It was a black horse, four white legs and a bright white blaze, but Alex guessed that it was lame and tired because it did not made any attempt to run away from him. Tess' alpacas always ran away from him, so this was nothing unusual to him.

With a frown, the man bent down and rolled the person over so that he could see the face. When he saw it, he had to brush away dirt and leaves, it nearly frightened the hell out of him. It was a young woman, covered with blood and dirt and he thought he saw some purple bruises on her very pale face. She was nearly lifeless, Alex checked for her pulse and realized with a sigh that she was still breathing. What was he supposed to do now? Alex had no training in situations like these and didn't know what to do. Should he take the girl someplace dry and warm or first take care of the sodden horse.

The young woman began to cough and grabbed Alex's wrist, unconscious as she was. Was it just mud and water that was coming out of her mouth or was it blood? It was hard to tell, so Alex decided it would definitely be better to tie the horse to a tree and bring the girl to Drovers Run. Killarney or Wilgurl war too far away. And maybe he should also call Dr. Gardener right away to come to Drovers Run to check on her.

And so he did. He tied to horse to a branch of a tree, patted its wet and sweaty neck and then turned to the girl which was still lying on the ground. When he put an arm under and around her shoulder, she moaned quietly. Alex tried his best not to hurt her anymore, but it was quite hard to do trying to make her comfortable in the back of the car.

He snatched his mobile phone and dialled the number of the doctor. It took a few moments for Dr. Gardener to answer the phone but he immediately recognized the importance of the situation. He would come to Drover's Run right away. Alex thanked him and ended the call. With one short glance at the girl who was still unconscious he sat down on the front seat and steered the car carefully back on the road and headed for Drovers. The road was bumpy and more than once he head a painful moan from behind that made him turn and watch her cautiously. He didn't want to cause her any more pain.