Chapter 7 - The Breakout at Midnight
By midnight, the storm that had been brewing all afternoon finally broke over the valley. Heavy torrents of rain battered the tin roof of the county sheriff’s station, the thunder rolling across the mountains like distant artillery fire.
Inside the station office, Sheriff Miller was slumped over his desk, snoring loudly with a half-empty bottle of bourbon resting beside his elbow. The station was quiet, save for the rhythmic clicking of a faulty wall clock and the steady drumming of the rain.
Outside the frosted glass window of the back holding area, a shadow moved through the dark alleyway.
THUD.
A heavy impact rattled the rear metal door of the station. Miller stirred awake with a startled grunt, blinking his bloodshot eyes and wiping drool from his chin. "Who's there?" he muttered, reaching blindly for his leather holster.
Before he could unsnap his belt, the frosted glass window of the back door shattered inward in an explosion of sharp fragments. Through the frame burst a terrifying silhouette of muscle, horns, and absolute fury.
It was the black bull.
The animal had kicked its way through the wooden holding pens at the arena grounds, driven by the scent of the storm and the lingering chemical rage in its blood, tracking the boy’s trail across three miles of muddy county roads directly to the sheriff’s station.
The beast crashed into the office, its heavy hooves splintering the wooden floorboards, its long silver horns smashing through the drywall.
Sheriff Miller screamed, dropping his gun in pure terror as he scrambled backward over his desk, sending paper files and coffee cups flying into the air. "Jesus Almighty! Help!"
In the chaos, the door to the holding room was knocked off its hinges as the bull's flank slammed into the frame.
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Leo didn't waste a second. He ducked under the flying debris, slipped past the paralyzed sheriff, and sprinted through the shattered back entrance into the pouring rain.
The black bull turned its massive head, saw the small figure running into the dark alley, and let out a low rumble. It turned its back on the screaming sheriff, bursting back out into the night to follow the child.
