“You’ll need help to corral her back. Come on. Let’s go.” Mel pointed the light into the rain in front of them, but he found himself leading the way. Thus far, Mystery hadn’t shown any inclination of trying to escape, but she did like to graze in the southern corner in the afternoons.
So he started there, and even though it was a little stupid, since he wasn’t searching for a dog, he called her name out into the steady lull of rain. They fanned out from the pasture, the beam of the flashlight not giving them much to work with.
When Mel’s flashlight landed on something white, she immediately jerked the light back to it.
“Christ.” Mystery was right up against the barbed wire, and that could not be good.
“Oh, damn,” Mel breathed.
Yeah, definitely not good. He stepped forward, but Mystery nipped and then made a truly horrible bleating sound.
“She’s stuck in the fence.”
Dan tried to get closer again. “What do I do?” Thunder rolled and lightning flashed, and what the hell was he supposed to do? “We have to get her out of there.”
“We need wire cutters. Another flashlight. Gloves.” Mel pushed a hand through her wet hair.
“You know where all that is, right? You could run back and get it.”
She didn’t even respond, just started jogging back to the stables. Dan turned back to Mystery. His heart thundered in his ears—or was that the thunder? Dan had no idea.
“Hey, girl. It’s all right.” He swallowed down the squeaky note in his voice. “We’ll get you out. But let’s keep still, huh?” He knew it was stupid to talk to a llama like it had any idea what he was saying, but it was the only thing he could think to do.
Mel returned with all the tools bundled in her hands and another flashlight. “I tried to call the vet, but he didn’t answer. I left a message. Once we get her free, I’ll try his mom. I’m pretty sure I have her number.”
“Small towns, huh?” he said, trying to keep calm. “So you cut her out of the fence and I’ll try to keep her calm. She’s a bit more of a fan of me than you.”
“You’ll want to keep her steady. Can you hold her still?”
“Let’s find out.” It was not something he particularly wanted to do, especially with the threat of actually being bitten or kicked, but it was the only option they had. So he did it. He stepped closer, and despite a few nips and horrible noises, he got close enough to touch her, to do his best to find a hold that would keep her from bolting.
Mel worked with the fence, but he could tell she was struggling.
“I can’t get a good enough grip to cut it. Everything is too wet. Damn, I wish I had my hat.”
Dan moved up Mystery’s flank, doing his best to keep his movements smooth, keep her calm. “Let me try.”
Mel handed him the wire cutters, and he tried to keep himself close enough to Mystery that she wouldn’t try to bolt once she was free. “You just stay put now, all right?” he murmured.
The rain was still falling at a steady pace, and with the gloves Mel handed him, he couldn’t get a good enough grip either. So he stripped them off.
“Be careful of the barbed wire. You don’t want to get hurt too.”
But he couldn’t get where he needed to be with the gloves, and if he got a little scraped up, so be it.
Without the gloves, he managed to cut through one side of the fence, but to get the other side that needed to be cut, he was going to have to go around the llama again. “All right, little lady, I’m going to move to the other side, but you’re not going to move. Got it?”
Mel didn’t say anything, but she kept the flashlight trained on the fence so when he got to the other side he could quickly snip it free.
The problem was…now what?
He took a deep breath. They needed a vet. Surely someone who knew anything about animals. What was he doing acting like he had any clue what to do?
“You’ve got her pretty calm. Should I go try to call the vet again?”
“Shine the light on where she was caught.”
Mel trained the flashlight beam on Mystery’s leg. It was matted with blood and a piece of the barbed wire was stuck. Deep and unsettling. Dan had to look away, take a deep breath. “Yeah. I’m not sure what more I can do.”
“You’ve done so much, Dan. Really. I’m going to call him again, and if I can’t get a hold of him, I’ll find someone who can. Just keep her calm and as immobile as possible.”
“Yeah. Just…hurry, I guess.” Surely blood and barbed wire couldn’t be good. How long would it take to get a vet out here? A while, surely. Dan rubbed a palm down Mystery’s wet, shaggy wool. “It’ll be okay.” Which he didn’t believe and she didn’t understand, so he wasn’t at all sure why he said it.
Mel returned, and then after a while, the vet. All three of them worked in the dark to get Mystery sedated and moved back to the stables, where the vet carefully removed the barbed wire and bandaged her up, saying she was lucky it hadn’t caused damage to any bone or tendons. Dan stayed by her side the whole time—this strange creature who’d come into his life and given him a purpose.