The Herd
I was running. I was flying faster than the wind. I did not know why I was running, I only knew that something was chasing me and I had to get away. Run, screamed the Herd all around me. Run, the Walkers are coming! Run, run, save yourself! The others around me started to fall back. I was alone, I was terrified, my legs were screaming, but I kept running. I reached the top of a hill and found that I could not run anymore. Not without knowing what had happened to my family. I turned around, and there they were. Standing stock-still in a three-sided canyon with Walkers on horses blocking the exit. I screamed my anger and sadness and prepared to charge. But before I could start, a single voice raised themselves from the unnatural silence of the Herd and shouted Run. So with one last backwards look, I took off running in the opposite direction. I ran until I could run no more. I stumbled and fell, and lay there, thinking I was going to die, when I heard a noise. I looked up, dazed with thirst, and saw a little flowing stream, with soft green grass around it and a graceful willow tree casting shade on the bank. I leaped up and, with my last bit on energy, I walked over to the stream. After I ate and drank my fill, I allowed myself to rest beneath the branches of the willow tree. Just for a little while, I told myself. The next thing I knew, the sun was high in the sky, and something was wrong. I leapt to my feet. Walkers! my instinct screamed. I raised my nose and sniffed the air. One Walker, I thought, small Walker. I was preparing to bolt when I saw it. It was small, very small. It suddenly noticed me and gasped. I whirled around and was about to gallop away when I heard it shout “Stop!” I was amazed. I did stop, because I had never heard a Walker talk this way before. Not only did it make the strange, noisy roar of a Walker, it had a real voice, like one of the Herd. It made a noise that I felt in my bones. I was curious. I moved toward her, and I heard it’s voice bubbling away like a newborn foal. Please don’t go, pretty mare, can she hear me? Why is she here, the Herd doesn’t leave the Canyon? Something wrong? all of this, overlapping each other, it’s voice helping me understand. It was not normal. It had been kidnapped to lure the Herd to the sound of a horse in trouble, but It had escaped. It had run away and found itself here. Walker? I asked. No, I am human! it thought. Walker?? I thought louder. Is that what the Herd calls people? Walkers? I am not like the others, it assured me. The Herd? I demanded, Where is the Herd? “Oh no, they did it! I’m sorry! I tried to stop them!” The Herd? I asked again. It looked up, with it‘s eyes full of hopelessness and pain, Stolen. Stolen like me. I couldn’t believe it. Where? when it didn’t answer, I asked again, Where? It was still crying. The town. They took the Herd to the town. The Mayor won’t rest until he has them all. They will come after you, if you don’t run they will catch you. Run, run far away and never come back! I was shocked. Town? I asked. No, no you can’t go there! it said. Must go, I said, I must save the Herd! It looked me in the eyes, Then I am coming with you.
No. I said, you are NOT coming with me! I am going alone. You will only slow me down. Plus you are a Walker! All Walkers are bad. It ground its teeth and glared at me. Would you stop calling me ‘It’? My name is Claire. If you won’t call me that at least call me ‘Girl’ or something! ‘Girl’? Why would I call a Walker ‘Girl’? But then again, I was slightly terrified by the fact that she could speak like on of us, so I complied. Fine. I will call you ‘Girl’. But you are still not coming with me! She started to glare a me again, then stopped, looked thoughtful, and said Okay then, I won’t come. Have fun finding the town without me. Ooooh, this girl made me angry! I stomped my foot and tossed my head. You may come. But if you slow me down at all I will leave you behind. I hope you can run fast! I turned around and started to move away. Wait! I am only human! I can’t run as fast as a horse. Can we walk? Please? I thought about it. Well, I did need her help. Ugh. We will walk, but we will walk quickly! I saw ahead of time what she was going to ask. No you cannot ride me. I am NOT a normal horse. I am part of the Herd, and no one has ever ridden one of the Herd! “Well, we could move faster if you let me!” She was roaring again. Didn’t she realize that that hurt my ears? The next time we find a herd of NORMAL horses, I will get you one of them. How far away is the town? Now we were walking. Thankfully, she could walk fast! I don’t know, about 10 miles from here. I snorted and tossed my head. Finally some good news! Good! Then we will be there before nightfall. She groaned. Don’t you get it? We can’t just walk in there and ask them to release the Herd! The Mayor is insane! He probably has people out searching for you now! We heard shouting in the distance. “There! A horse! Over there!” She looked at me with a look in her eye that said ‘please’. I rolled my eyes and danced on the spot, caught between wanting to escape, and wanting to find the Herd. I decided to compromise. Hurry up and get on my back. I hope you can hang on, because I run really fast! She jumped onto my back as if she’d been doing it all her life, and we took off running, with at least ten Walkers galloping behind us.
She was pulling my mane. Hard. And screaming, “Go! Run! They’re gaining on us!!” I rolled my eyes and put on a burst of speed that nearly launched her from my back. Are they still gaining? I asked. Nope. she thought nervously, But they are very close. I looked back, hoping that she was exaggerating. She wasn’t. The Walkers were only about fifty yards behind us. I bolted again. She screamed. How far away is the town? She looked around. There! Off to the right! I swerved to the left. What are you doing? I thought that you wanted to find the Herd? This girl had no sense. Wasn’t she the one that told me to have a plan? I do want to, but we have to lose these Walkers first! Have you ever jumped? I had just spotted the perfect place to lose the Walkers. It was a small canyon with an entrance covered by a fallen log. I could jump over the log and get into the canyon, then sneak out of the canyon using a small trail leading up and out. I didn’t give her enough time to say no. Hang on! I shouted. I turned so that I was facing straight at the log, galloped up to it and jumped. “Whoa! I’m gonna fall off, slow down, slow down!” Wow. This girl was annoying! Calm down, I’m not moving! I called. We heard the Walkers gallop up to the log. One of them ran his horse right up to it and tried to see over, but the log was too big. We could hear the creak of leather as he stood in his stirrups, and the a shout and thud as he lost his balance. We laughed. They heard us. “We know that you are in there!” they shouted, “You’re trapped, just come out now before we come in after you!” The first small bit joy I’d had that day was gone in a second. Oh no, what are we going to do? I pointed towards the little trail with my nose. It’s too narrow! We’ll never fit! I rolled my eyes again. Then you’ll just have to walk behind me!
Oh.
I snorted. We could hear crunching noises as they tried to move the log. Then they started yelling again, “Come out before we come in there! You have until the count of ten! One,” She jumped off, “Two,” We started walking towards the trail, “Three,” We started moving up the trail, “Four,” We reached the top, “Five,” She jumped on again, “Six,” We were off and running, “Seven,” they called in the distance. Stupid Walkers, I laughed, did they really think that I would need more than 10 seconds to escape? Suddenly a horse emerged from the shadows up ahead. With a Walker on it’s back. Apparently we underestimated them. Oh no, she thought, !That’s the Mayor! “Hello girls,” spoke the horse-riding shadow, “I believe that you have both escaped me once. I promise you that it won’t happen again.” Me and the girl looked at each other. She wasn’t talking, but I knew what she was thinking. I was thinking it too. How on Earth are we going to get out of this?
The Mayor rode out of the shadows. He was a tall, brown-haired Walker, not ugly by Walker standards, but he cast an evil aura onto every thing around him. “Please get off the horse, Claire.” The girl froze for a second, but got off. She walked forward and stood by my head. He turned to one of his soldiers, “Tie her up, do not let her escape again!” She looked at me, absolutely terrified as the soldier snatched at her arm, but I snapped at his hand. Now the Mayor seemed to remember that I was here, and turned his attention to me. “Hello, mare. Are you the Herd member that has escaped me?” Yes, and I shall escape again, and take all of the Herd with me! “Silly mare! Do you really think that you are going to get away? You are no different from the rest of the Herd, and I already have them under my control, as you can see,” he said, pointing at his horse, who looked sickeningly familiar…Elizabeth! I shouted. That foul Walker was riding my mother! Mom? Can you hear me? She did not reply. What did you do to her? I screamed at the Mayor. “Nothing. At least, nothing I will tell you about.” TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO HER! He sighed. “No,” he said calmly. I had reached the end of my patience. I screamed and charged him, but one of the Walkers behind me threw a rope over my head and stopped me in my tracks. I fought it, straining to get to my mother, and possibly run over the Mayor in the process. “STOP,” shouted the girl, “If you keep fighting each other, someone is going to get hurt.” The Mayor turned back to her, “Wise words, girl. Are you worried that I might get hurt?” She scowled, “Don’t flatter yourself. If this were to continue, I would help her trample you! No, I am not worried about you, I am only worried that one of your minions would hurt her.” I looked at her with new realization. She was very brave, braver than I had thought. I nudged her shoulder. I will come with you calmly, if the girl is allowed to ride me and if you take this awful rope off of my head. If you won’t let me do that, I will fight until I escape! “You are a strange horse,” said the Mayor, “Most of the Herd would not trust a human as far as they could throw them! But you seem to like her. Why is that, I wonder?” Because I can do this! spoke the girl in the voice of the Herd. The Mayor looked startled, but then he seemed to remember something and relaxed. “Ah, yes. I almost forgot about your little...talent. How do you do that?” Why on earth would I tell you that? I was liking her more and more as time went on. Leave her alone. Do you agree to my conditions or not? “Yes, I agree to your conditions. But remember this: I have your whole family, and if you ever want to see them again, you will do what I say! Understood?” Understood. Girl, climb up. And get this stupid rope off of me! Its pinching my skin. I started to trot off, and then stopped and looked back when I was about ten feet away. I have no idea where I’m going, so I probably shouldn’t be leading this little expedition. Any of you Walkers have the courage to lead me? Just as I had thought he would, the Mayor moved up ahead. “Lets get moving, shall we?” If looks could kill, he’d have died about five times in the last fifteen minutes, but we moved along, being creatures of our word. Just to spite him, I set off in a flat-out gallop that I new was faster than my mom could run. I sprinted past him and galloped the rest of the way to the town, with the girl whispering directions in my ear. We finally reached the hills surrounding the town, and I stopped so short that I was amazed the girl didn’t go off over my head. As I looked down on it, I could see a huge corral holding many horses. The Herd. My family. Claire, Claire, they called. Why are they calling me? asked the girl. They are not calling you. That is my name. They are calling me.
What?!? You never told me that! I felt slightly ashamed. You never asked! She thought something that sounded like When someone tells you their name, you’re supposed to tell them yours! Well sorry! How was I supposed to know that? I had never met a Walker until today! “Pardon me, but I think that we’d better be going. Claire doesn’t want to be away from her family for too much longer, now does she?” We both jumped. We didn’t want to admit it, but we had forgotten that he was there. Lets get going then! She was grumpy now. Girl? I’m sorry. I didn’t know that it mattered. She didn’t reply. “Well, mare? Aren’t you going to go to your family?” the Mayor said. He seemed almost…sarcastic. Like he knew something that I didn’t. Hold on girl! she wrapped her fingers into my mane just in time. I bolted down the hill and launched myself over the fence and into the corral. I turned back to the Mayor, who looked shocked. Happy now? ! “I never said that you would be allowed to stay with them. You will be in temporary confinement with your little friend. That’s my small revenge on you for escaping me. Also, thanks to that little display, I know what you can do. If I can get you under control, and I promise you that I can, you will be very useful to me.” The girl screamed, “No!” but it was too late. I already had a rope over my head and they were dragging me out of the corral. No! said the Herd, Stay! Stay! I fought and fought, but the Walkers were too strong. I saw the girl try to run and hide behind some of the Herd, but the Walkers saw her and grabbed her. We were dragged into a small barn and shoved into a box stall. They slammed the door and I started to pace. The girl ran to the door. I think I can get out! She shouted. I ran over and stuck my head over the half door. I just as quickly had my nose slapped by the Mayor, who was standing right outside. “Now, now girls, it wouldn’t do to let you escape so soon, would it?” Grrrr. He was mocking me. I snapped at his hand and somehow managed to bite him. I bit down hard, and didn’t let go until I was hit on the back of my head by a soldier. “OUCH!! Stupid mare! Someone close the top half of the door!” He was angry. They slammed the door and locked it. I turned to the girl. I think that I may have broken his finger, I whispered. She looked at me, and as the Mayor left the barn with an exceptionally loud “STUPID MARE!” we lapsed into a fit of silent giggles. It may not seem funny, but then it was HILARIUOS!
Within the next 3 days we learned who we could trust, and who was almost as evil as the Mayor. There was one Walker who snuck us extra food while the Mayor was still mad at me for biting him. The first time we saw him, he was bring us our food rations. “Are you the horse that bit the Mayor?” he whispered. Yes, the girl and I giggled. “Well, you broke his finger. He is angry!” Is that bad? I whispered. He laughed, “Yes! He ordered me to starve you until you were ready to apologize. But, since I have a conscience, I can’t do that! So, I am going to give you food. Just eat it all and leave no evidence!” Then he walked away and we added him to the list of nice people we were keeping in our heads. Unfortunately, he was the only one on there. The bad people list was steadily growing. The Mayor was, of course, at the top. In the number two spot was the Mayors second in command: Mr. Martin. The first time I saw him he threatened to cut off my tail! He was incredibly rude and seemed to have no conscience at all. His favorite prank to play on us was the keys-outside-the -cell-door trick. He would put the keys two inches out of reach, and sit there and laugh while we tried to grab them. I did manage to bite him once, but all that earned me was an incredibly hard slap in the face. On the fourth day, we saw the Mayor. He marched right up to our stall and said, “Have you learned your lesson?” I noticed with extreme satisfaction that his finger was wrapped in a bandage. That depends on whether or not you have learned yours. He snorted, “What lesson would that be mare?” I rolled my eyes. Walkers could be to stupid! The lesson about not hitting me, smart one. Have I mentioned that I love being sarcastic? He was not as amused as I was. “Learn to keep a civil tongue, or you will not even be allowed the company of your little friend. We wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?” he growled. Actually, I was concerned that he might carry out this threat! The girl had not spoken in a day, not evening the voice of the Herd. And when someone in the Herd stops talking, that is not a good sign. But as if to ease my fears, she spoke now, “Do not anger her, sir. She is not a creature to be meddled with.” Where had she learned all these fancy words? ‘Meddle’ and ‘sir’. I had never heard them before! But I wanted to pay along, so I nodded solemnly. Oh, yes. Do not meddle with me, Mayor. I am a force to be reckoned with! I have powers that your tiny Walker brain cannot even imagine! I could control your mind if I wanted to. You have heard the legends about the Herd, haven’t you? Of course you have, that’s why you kidnapped us. You want to gain control of us and use us as your own personal army. What you do not realize is that there will always be at least one fully functional Herd member out there to oppose you. You cannot control all of us. We are to strong, to united for you to take over. And I will always be here to remind the others of who they are. For a millisecond, he looked terrified. I did not know it, but I had just figured out his plan, and spoken all of his deepest, darkest fears. The he steeled his features. “I will break you!” he hissed menacingly before storming away. Claire! I heard called from the next stall, Is that you? I ran to the door and stuck my head over, Mom? Yeah, it’s me! Where are you? I heard hoof beats and saw a head stuck over the door in the stall to the right. Oh no! He caught you! I was confused, Mom, you were there when he caught me. He was riding you. Don’t you remember?
Nonsense! I haven’t left this stall in a week because I bit the Mayor. A sudden realization hit me. Claire! I shouted to the girl, Have I left the stall since we got here? She glared at me, Of course you have! You go out almost every day with your new best friend Mr. Martin. I suddenly felt lightheaded. I don’t remember leaving the stall even once! I exclaimed. The color drained from her face. Uh oh.
No. I said, you are NOT coming with me! I am going alone. You will only slow me down. Plus you are a Walker! All Walkers are bad. It ground its teeth and glared at me. Would you stop calling me ‘It’? My name is Claire. If you won’t call me that at least call me ‘Girl’ or something! ‘Girl’? Why would I call a Walker ‘Girl’? But then again, I was slightly terrified by the fact that she could speak like on of us, so I complied. Fine. I will call you ‘Girl’. But you are still not coming with me! She started to glare a me again, then stopped, looked thoughtful, and said Okay then, I won’t come. Have fun finding the town without me. Ooooh, this girl made me angry! I stomped my foot and tossed my head. You may come. But if you slow me down at all I will leave you behind. I hope you can run fast! I turned around and started to move away. Wait! I am only human! I can’t run as fast as a horse. Can we walk? Please? I thought about it. Well, I did need her help. Ugh. We will walk, but we will walk quickly! I saw ahead of time what she was going to ask. No you cannot ride me. I am NOT a normal horse. I am part of the Herd, and no one has ever ridden one of the Herd! “Well, we could move faster if you let me!” She was roaring again. Didn’t she realize that that hurt my ears? The next time we find a herd of NORMAL horses, I will get you one of them. How far away is the town? Now we were walking. Thankfully, she could walk fast! I don’t know, about 10 miles from here. I snorted and tossed my head. Finally some good news! Good! Then we will be there before nightfall. She groaned. Don’t you get it? We can’t just walk in there and ask them to release the Herd! The Mayor is insane! He probably has people out searching for you now! We heard shouting in the distance. “There! A horse! Over there!” She looked at me with a look in her eye that said ‘please’. I rolled my eyes and danced on the spot, caught between wanting to escape, and wanting to find the Herd. I decided to compromise. Hurry up and get on my back. I hope you can hang on, because I run really fast! She jumped onto my back as if she’d been doing it all her life, and we took off running, with at least ten Walkers galloping behind us.
She was pulling my mane. Hard. And screaming, “Go! Run! They’re gaining on us!!” I rolled my eyes and put on a burst of speed that nearly launched her from my back. Are they still gaining? I asked. Nope. she thought nervously, But they are very close. I looked back, hoping that she was exaggerating. She wasn’t. The Walkers were only about fifty yards behind us. I bolted again. She screamed. How far away is the town? She looked around. There! Off to the right! I swerved to the left. What are you doing? I thought that you wanted to find the Herd? This girl had no sense. Wasn’t she the one that told me to have a plan? I do want to, but we have to lose these Walkers first! Have you ever jumped? I had just spotted the perfect place to lose the Walkers. It was a small canyon with an entrance covered by a fallen log. I could jump over the log and get into the canyon, then sneak out of the canyon using a small trail leading up and out. I didn’t give her enough time to say no. Hang on! I shouted. I turned so that I was facing straight at the log, galloped up to it and jumped. “Whoa! I’m gonna fall off, slow down, slow down!” Wow. This girl was annoying! Calm down, I’m not moving! I called. We heard the Walkers gallop up to the log. One of them ran his horse right up to it and tried to see over, but the log was too big. We could hear the creak of leather as he stood in his stirrups, and the a shout and thud as he lost his balance. We laughed. They heard us. “We know that you are in there!” they shouted, “You’re trapped, just come out now before we come in after you!” The first small bit joy I’d had that day was gone in a second. Oh no, what are we going to do? I pointed towards the little trail with my nose. It’s too narrow! We’ll never fit! I rolled my eyes again. Then you’ll just have to walk behind me!
Oh.
I snorted. We could hear crunching noises as they tried to move the log. Then they started yelling again, “Come out before we come in there! You have until the count of ten! One,” She jumped off, “Two,” We started walking towards the trail, “Three,” We started moving up the trail, “Four,” We reached the top, “Five,” She jumped on again, “Six,” We were off and running, “Seven,” they called in the distance. Stupid Walkers, I laughed, did they really think that I would need more than 10 seconds to escape? Suddenly a horse emerged from the shadows up ahead. With a Walker on it’s back. Apparently we underestimated them. Oh no, she thought, !That’s the Mayor! “Hello girls,” spoke the horse-riding shadow, “I believe that you have both escaped me once. I promise you that it won’t happen again.” Me and the girl looked at each other. She wasn’t talking, but I knew what she was thinking. I was thinking it too. How on Earth are we going to get out of this?
The Mayor rode out of the shadows. He was a tall, brown-haired Walker, not ugly by Walker standards, but he cast an evil aura onto every thing around him. “Please get off the horse, Claire.” The girl froze for a second, but got off. She walked forward and stood by my head. He turned to one of his soldiers, “Tie her up, do not let her escape again!” She looked at me, absolutely terrified as the soldier snatched at her arm, but I snapped at his hand. Now the Mayor seemed to remember that I was here, and turned his attention to me. “Hello, mare. Are you the Herd member that has escaped me?” Yes, and I shall escape again, and take all of the Herd with me! “Silly mare! Do you really think that you are going to get away? You are no different from the rest of the Herd, and I already have them under my control, as you can see,” he said, pointing at his horse, who looked sickeningly familiar…Elizabeth! I shouted. That foul Walker was riding my mother! Mom? Can you hear me? She did not reply. What did you do to her? I screamed at the Mayor. “Nothing. At least, nothing I will tell you about.” TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO HER! He sighed. “No,” he said calmly. I had reached the end of my patience. I screamed and charged him, but one of the Walkers behind me threw a rope over my head and stopped me in my tracks. I fought it, straining to get to my mother, and possibly run over the Mayor in the process. “STOP,” shouted the girl, “If you keep fighting each other, someone is going to get hurt.” The Mayor turned back to her, “Wise words, girl. Are you worried that I might get hurt?” She scowled, “Don’t flatter yourself. If this were to continue, I would help her trample you! No, I am not worried about you, I am only worried that one of your minions would hurt her.” I looked at her with new realization. She was very brave, braver than I had thought. I nudged her shoulder. I will come with you calmly, if the girl is allowed to ride me and if you take this awful rope off of my head. If you won’t let me do that, I will fight until I escape! “You are a strange horse,” said the Mayor, “Most of the Herd would not trust a human as far as they could throw them! But you seem to like her. Why is that, I wonder?” Because I can do this! spoke the girl in the voice of the Herd. The Mayor looked startled, but then he seemed to remember something and relaxed. “Ah, yes. I almost forgot about your little...talent. How do you do that?” Why on earth would I tell you that? I was liking her more and more as time went on. Leave her alone. Do you agree to my conditions or not? “Yes, I agree to your conditions. But remember this: I have your whole family, and if you ever want to see them again, you will do what I say! Understood?” Understood. Girl, climb up. And get this stupid rope off of me! Its pinching my skin. I started to trot off, and then stopped and looked back when I was about ten feet away. I have no idea where I’m going, so I probably shouldn’t be leading this little expedition. Any of you Walkers have the courage to lead me? Just as I had thought he would, the Mayor moved up ahead. “Lets get moving, shall we?” If looks could kill, he’d have died about five times in the last fifteen minutes, but we moved along, being creatures of our word. Just to spite him, I set off in a flat-out gallop that I new was faster than my mom could run. I sprinted past him and galloped the rest of the way to the town, with the girl whispering directions in my ear. We finally reached the hills surrounding the town, and I stopped so short that I was amazed the girl didn’t go off over my head. As I looked down on it, I could see a huge corral holding many horses. The Herd. My family. Claire, Claire, they called. Why are they calling me? asked the girl. They are not calling you. That is my name. They are calling me.
What?!? You never told me that! I felt slightly ashamed. You never asked! She thought something that sounded like When someone tells you their name, you’re supposed to tell them yours! Well sorry! How was I supposed to know that? I had never met a Walker until today! “Pardon me, but I think that we’d better be going. Claire doesn’t want to be away from her family for too much longer, now does she?” We both jumped. We didn’t want to admit it, but we had forgotten that he was there. Lets get going then! She was grumpy now. Girl? I’m sorry. I didn’t know that it mattered. She didn’t reply. “Well, mare? Aren’t you going to go to your family?” the Mayor said. He seemed almost…sarcastic. Like he knew something that I didn’t. Hold on girl! she wrapped her fingers into my mane just in time. I bolted down the hill and launched myself over the fence and into the corral. I turned back to the Mayor, who looked shocked. Happy now? ! “I never said that you would be allowed to stay with them. You will be in temporary confinement with your little friend. That’s my small revenge on you for escaping me. Also, thanks to that little display, I know what you can do. If I can get you under control, and I promise you that I can, you will be very useful to me.” The girl screamed, “No!” but it was too late. I already had a rope over my head and they were dragging me out of the corral. No! said the Herd, Stay! Stay! I fought and fought, but the Walkers were too strong. I saw the girl try to run and hide behind some of the Herd, but the Walkers saw her and grabbed her. We were dragged into a small barn and shoved into a box stall. They slammed the door and I started to pace. The girl ran to the door. I think I can get out! She shouted. I ran over and stuck my head over the half door. I just as quickly had my nose slapped by the Mayor, who was standing right outside. “Now, now girls, it wouldn’t do to let you escape so soon, would it?” Grrrr. He was mocking me. I snapped at his hand and somehow managed to bite him. I bit down hard, and didn’t let go until I was hit on the back of my head by a soldier. “OUCH!! Stupid mare! Someone close the top half of the door!” He was angry. They slammed the door and locked it. I turned to the girl. I think that I may have broken his finger, I whispered. She looked at me, and as the Mayor left the barn with an exceptionally loud “STUPID MARE!” we lapsed into a fit of silent giggles. It may not seem funny, but then it was HILARIUOS!
Within the next 3 days we learned who we could trust, and who was almost as evil as the Mayor. There was one Walker who snuck us extra food while the Mayor was still mad at me for biting him. The first time we saw him, he was bring us our food rations. “Are you the horse that bit the Mayor?” he whispered. Yes, the girl and I giggled. “Well, you broke his finger. He is angry!” Is that bad? I whispered. He laughed, “Yes! He ordered me to starve you until you were ready to apologize. But, since I have a conscience, I can’t do that! So, I am going to give you food. Just eat it all and leave no evidence!” Then he walked away and we added him to the list of nice people we were keeping in our heads. Unfortunately, he was the only one on there. The bad people list was steadily growing. The Mayor was, of course, at the top. In the number two spot was the Mayors second in command: Mr. Martin. The first time I saw him he threatened to cut off my tail! He was incredibly rude and seemed to have no conscience at all. His favorite prank to play on us was the keys-outside-the -cell-door trick. He would put the keys two inches out of reach, and sit there and laugh while we tried to grab them. I did manage to bite him once, but all that earned me was an incredibly hard slap in the face. On the fourth day, we saw the Mayor. He marched right up to our stall and said, “Have you learned your lesson?” I noticed with extreme satisfaction that his finger was wrapped in a bandage. That depends on whether or not you have learned yours. He snorted, “What lesson would that be mare?” I rolled my eyes. Walkers could be to stupid! The lesson about not hitting me, smart one. Have I mentioned that I love being sarcastic? He was not as amused as I was. “Learn to keep a civil tongue, or you will not even be allowed the company of your little friend. We wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?” he growled. Actually, I was concerned that he might carry out this threat! The girl had not spoken in a day, not evening the voice of the Herd. And when someone in the Herd stops talking, that is not a good sign. But as if to ease my fears, she spoke now, “Do not anger her, sir. She is not a creature to be meddled with.” Where had she learned all these fancy words? ‘Meddle’ and ‘sir’. I had never heard them before! But I wanted to pay along, so I nodded solemnly. Oh, yes. Do not meddle with me, Mayor. I am a force to be reckoned with! I have powers that your tiny Walker brain cannot even imagine! I could control your mind if I wanted to. You have heard the legends about the Herd, haven’t you? Of course you have, that’s why you kidnapped us. You want to gain control of us and use us as your own personal army. What you do not realize is that there will always be at least one fully functional Herd member out there to oppose you. You cannot control all of us. We are to strong, to united for you to take over. And I will always be here to remind the others of who they are. For a millisecond, he looked terrified. I did not know it, but I had just figured out his plan, and spoken all of his deepest, darkest fears. The he steeled his features. “I will break you!” he hissed menacingly before storming away. Claire! I heard called from the next stall, Is that you? I ran to the door and stuck my head over, Mom? Yeah, it’s me! Where are you? I heard hoof beats and saw a head stuck over the door in the stall to the right. Oh no! He caught you! I was confused, Mom, you were there when he caught me. He was riding you. Don’t you remember?
Nonsense! I haven’t left this stall in a week because I bit the Mayor. A sudden realization hit me. Claire! I shouted to the girl, Have I left the stall since we got here? She glared at me, Of course you have! You go out almost every day with your new best friend Mr. Martin. I suddenly felt lightheaded. I don’t remember leaving the stall even once! I exclaimed. The color drained from her face. Uh oh.
