Fury

[Fraroc]

Chapter Twenty-One






“What are you boys doing out so late?”

The sudden voice of Jack Silver was a kick in the head for both Mike and Jason. Almost the entire day was spent gazing at the wild horses in the prairie and trying to look for the albino stallion that Jason swears that he saw a few days ago. They had completely lost all track of the time and needless to say, were pretty shocked to find that it was 10:00PM.




“Umm....we were just riding together....a little male bonding?” Mike lied.
“Mikey, what kind of idiot do you take me for? I’m going to be fifty years old in a few years, I wasn’t born yesterday.”
“(sigh) I’ll tell you...A few days ago after we all “reunited” Jason, while riding Buddy for the first time had stumbled upon a spot where he found several wild mustangs grazing. But he also swears that he saw a pure white stallion among the herd.”

For a few seconds, Jack smiled at Jason....and then spoke up...

“Come inside the house....I have a story to tell you...”




And soon enough, Jason and Mike were sitting on the couch in Jack’s house, two cups of decaf coffee in hand; they listen to the story that Jack has to tell them....




“I will begin this story by telling you that the white stallion’s name......is “Lightning”. The legend goes like this.....Back in the mid-to-late 1800s when Crystal Falls, Colorado was a relatively new settlement...There was a young farm boy that tamed and became friends with the gorgeous albino stallion. He adored that animal more than anything in the world and there was nothing that he’d rather do than saddle up that white stallion and just ride for hours and hours....but then something happened.....the young man’s family’s homestead was brutally attacked by ruthless cattle barons and it soon became evident that they would have to sell the land. Unfortunately, in order to save the homestead, they were forced to sell Lightning....
The stallion was sold to a one of the most feared gunslingers in the Old West....notorious for terrorizing entire towns, killing random people, raping prostitutes, and of course, treating the horses at his ranch very cruelly........and he showed no mercy towards Lightning. Daily beatings and whippings were not uncommon when it comes to The Outlaw’s stallions, and if one of them were brave enough to try and trample him, they were usually met with a bullet in the skull....After three years of horrific treatment, Lightning couldn’t take the abuse anymore, and while The Outlaw was on his back, forcing him gallop despite fatigue, he bucked him off. And then, a battle took place...between man and beast....The Outlaw tried to shoot him, but Lightning successfully evaded the bullets. He got a few punches in, but soon enough, the stallion overpowered him and proceeded to rear up and horrifically stomp him to death....”




“Like Fury did?” Mike interrupted.

“Yes Mike, like Fury did. And soon enough, his cruel owner’s reign of terror was over, trampled to death by the mightiest stallion in the Old Frontier. But even though the horrible man was dead, Lightning still longed to see the young man again, but after galloping for days and days, he found the family’s old homestead....completely abandoned....selling Lightning didn’t help their situation, if anything it made things worse....Lightning became a wild horse once more..............Even to this day, Crystal Falls residents could sometimes swear that they see a “phantom horse” in the night....like Lightning is still trying to search for the young man after two centuries....”




“Lightning never reunited with the young man?” said Jason.
“No....he didn’t” replied Jack....
“Wow....That’s such a sad story....”
“Oh come on Jack! You totally looked that up online!” said Mike.

Jack didn’t say anything in retaliation, he just smiled.....




The next morning, after getting a good night’s sleep despite staying up late, Jason was about to go out and take Buddy out for a morning trail ride, but he was interuppted....

“Mike?”
“J. I need to show you something....”
“What is it?”
“I can’t really explain it, but I think you need to look at it.”




Mike had his laptop computer on the dining room table and he was logged into a forum website for people who like horseback riding. The pink border on the webpage indicates that Mike is probably one of the only men that post regularly on that website. Recently, he came across a topic that had him confused, angry and outraged.

“Who’s this handsome motherf***er?” Jason said to the picture on the computer, showing a handsome, muscular, and shirtless young man wearing jeans, chaps and a cowboy hat.
“His name is Vincent Cormier, he lives right here in Crystal Falls and he’s a f***ing scumbag.”
“What does he do?”
“See for yourself.”




“Ok....this a video that he posted on YouTube.....Wow...look at all the dislikes!”

“Hi there! My name is Vincent Cormier and I am a horseman that is on a mission to put the masculinity back into horseback riding. For the past sixty years horseback riding has become a wussified hobby for ladies only. And the guys that ride are sick of it!’
(‘Sexist prick.’ Jason thought)
’I am not afraid to get rough with my stallions when I break them. I shout obscenities at them, and I whip and spur them very hard, sometimes to the point that they bleed so that they get the message on who the master is, like the cowboys did in the Old West!’
(‘bull-f***ing-sh*t, I highly doubt that Roy Rodgers abused Trigger.)
‘My ranch also doubles as a riding school where I educate guys that want to ride horses to impress their girlfriends how to handle a horse my way!’
(‘He’s TEACHING other people to abuse horses? That is f***ing DISGUSTING.’)
‘To anyone that thinks what I do is cruelty to animals, let me tell you something. I discipline my horses very harshly, but I do NOT abuse them, I make sure they are well fed and healthy. Abuse is starving them to death, teaching them whose boss is NOT animal cruelty. Any of you animal lovers are welcome to try and get me arrested, I’m telling you right now, your case is gonna get thrown out!”

“It gets worse, J......Click on one of his ‘instructional vids’”




‘Disgusted’ didn’t even begin to describe how both Jason and Mike felt when they saw Vincent Cormier’s horsemanship video. They were taken completely aback as he mounts a beautiful black thoroughbred stallion and begins to ruthlessly yank the reins in a manner that is extremely painful for the horse, makes him gallop by whipping him and halfway through the video when the horse began to resist, he makes a fist and PUNCHES the horse’s neck full-force, making him rear up in pain.

“.............”





As hard as it was to do, they watched another video. And the dark bay Dutch warmblood stallion he war riding was no luckier. Subject to the same exact horrific abuse the thoroughbred went through. But in the corner of his eye, he notices something...

“Hold on, hold on, hold on.......Mike pause the vid and zoom in over there...”

Mike does as he’s told. Jason peers closer and closer to the item of interest and almost immediately without warning, he recoils in horror.

“THAT’S IT!!!!”
“What’s it?!”
“That’s the white stallion!!!! Do you see the mark on his flank that’s probably a brand? That’s the one! I knew that when he straggled far from the herd that he wasn’t wild! I knew that it had to be someone’s horse! That means that.....that no-good f*** probably....”




Mike is genuinely shocked. In the months that he knew and was friends with Jason, he always came off as a friendly and sociable guy. He has never, ever, ever, ever seen this side of Jason before. Enraged, he walks over to the kitchen, opens up the supply drawer and takes out a pair of wire cutters.

“Jason, what are you doing?”



“Mike, I am going to wherever he lives. I’m going to take that gorgeous animal away from him...... and then I’m gonna make that b,astard pay for what he did.”