maya did her best to keep her legs relaxed against the horse sides. she'd never been this close to kalona before and even though she was shaken and sore, the lessons her parents and aunts and uncles had taught her around horses were more instinct that choice now. she kept her grip gentle and she held onto the saddle and chance's arm that was wrapped around her. she looked back over her shoulder ever so often to check that her pony was still ambling behind them. he was, just slower than kalona was. she should have known the pony wouldn't stray far from her side. he was a good pony and he was also a bit lazy, so if he didn't have to move he didn't. but he seemed to know this was important because he was still following them down the trail, even though he had his head down and was nibbling the grass as he followed the larger horse. their pace was slow but she talked back to her uncle when he made conversation about nothing that meant anything to her. she couldn't help but lean forward a little when chance's arm left her waist and she reached down to grab onto the front of the saddle with her other hand as she turned a little to look at chance.

chance took his arm from his cousins waist as he let his father know he wasn't feeling well. the jostling from the horse under him had finally gotten too much for him to handle. he breathed through his nose as his father settled the horse they were on and he helped his cousin shift forward so she was more on the saddle and he wouldn't kick her when he got off the horse. he leaned his hand on his dad's shoulders as he helped him from the saddle and he closed his eyes the second his feet were on the ground. he didn't even notice the pain from his robs through the sick feeling that was growing stronger with every second. he kept breathing through his nose and he shook his head a little when logan asked if that was better "no." the jostling had stopped but the damage was done. he took a few steps away from kalona as he reached his hand out to lean it on the fence before he hunched over and threw up on the grass below him.

he kept one hand gripped onto the fence, the other wrapped around his ribs as he brought up his lunch. behind him maya exclaimed in disgust and she snapped her eyes shut and she shook her head a little. "eeew!" she said as she gripped the saddle tightly and she felt the tears well in her eyes. she didn't mean to be grossed out but she had never liked people getting sick, she ran from the room whenever it happened at home and while she liked to think she wasn't afraid of anything, it was one of those fears she couldn't help. she kept her eyes shut until she heard the sound of a car pull up close to them and she opened them quickly, hoping it was her dad coming to them but she couldn't help but frown in disappointment when it was her uncle luke that climbed out of the ute. "is my daddy here?" she sniffled from her perch upon the horse, her face red from tears that had yet to fall from her eyes.

mayas face scrunched a little as her uncle told her that her dad hadn't come with him and the tears built up in the corners of her eyes but she tried her hardest not to let them fall. she sniffed loudly and nodded her head slightly before she wiped her nose with her sleeve. she wanted her dad but she didn't want to be a crybaby about it and he said she was being brave. people who were brave didn't cry, just like her dad. he didn't cry. she sniffed a bit more as he kissed her head and she wrapped her arms around his neck again rested her cheek on his shoulder as he walked over to chance after she'd pointed out where it had hurt. "can i gets a sharkie plaster?" they always helped to make everything better and they were cool. she let go of logan's neck to reach down to touch chance's forehead lightly when she saw he was bleeding and she frowned slightly. she didn't know how bad head wounds could be but she didn't like the sight of blood.

chance listened as logan spoke about how he wouldn't have been able to do anything but he still felt like he should have been able to do something. maybe if he'd been closer to maya, hadn't let rocky get so far behind her. he nodded slightly though, knowing that despite what he was thinking that logan was right, if he'd been on the ground he could have been trampled or worse. he leaned against his dads side and took a second to just be glad that he was there. he didn't feel like he was about to panic or everything was going to go wrong now he was there. he finally understood how important people like logan were in life. before he'd come to live at the whites house he hadn't got it. thought it was fake or just in the movies that parents could make everything better just by being there but he was learning it wasn't, it was all too real and he was so glad for it. "you're sure?" he just asked to be sure. he had relaxed in so many areas with the family, he'd come out of his shell and he'd really started to grow he knew that but there was still this fear so deeply ingrained in him that made him terrified to mess up so badly that they'd stop wanting him around, even though he was officially a white.

he relaxed a little as logan said that leo would probably go after the dogs owner rather than him and he nodded his head slightly, feeling his dad trying to check the cut on his head so he lifted his head a little so he could see it without too much effort. it didn't feel like it was big but he couldn't really feel like it. it was only itching because the blood had started to dry now but his head ached so he was okay with his dad looking at it. "they'll need to worry a-about aunt b-bella more..." he said, trying to joke back with his dad but he found his breath catching a little as he then started to worry whether she'd be angry at him too. he was quiet for the next few moments while logan worked out how they were going to get out of here. he hadn't really thought of how they would, there hadn't been a part of his brain that had thought that until now and he glanced around, knowing that kalona was their only option once logan has suggested it. the good thing about pancho was that he'd amble along behind them because he was never a pony to miss a meal and where people went, food was found not far away so that was one less thing to worry about.

he nodded a little when asked if that was okay and he looked to the large horse standing just away from them. it had been drilled into him to stay away from the horse but he didn't think the horse was dangerous, just hot headed and energetic. he saw maya get a little nervous as she looked over logan's shoulder to the horse and he straightened a little, wincing slightly but he rested his hand on maya's leg. "it's okay m-maya. i'll hold onto y-you." he said as he reassured his little cousin, seeing her nod slightly. he stepped back from his dad so he could move a little easier to lift maya onto the larger horse. he bit his lip and held onto his ribs a little tighter, worried about the thought of getting onto the horse but it was either that or walk out and he didn't really want to walk all the way back to the stables.

he could have shouted for joy when he heard his dad's voice on the other end of the line, coming through clear as day like a lifeline. if he'd known this was going to happen he'd never have asked to bring maya along for the ride with him. she was shaken and upset and possibly injured because of a choice he'd made and that thought kept running through his rattled head. that it was somehow his fault, that if he hadn't brought her she'd be home and okay and not stuck out here in the woods with him. "i hope so." and he was being honest. he wasn't about to say he was fine because his dad would hear the lie in his voice but he didn't think he was badly injured. he was hoping he didn't have a broken rib but he didn't know what one felt like so he wasn't sure. he just knew they were really sore but maya sitting against them wasn't helping.

chance glanced down along the trail as he tried to think where abouts they were. he didn't think they were that far from where it forked off to the trail through the hills but he couldn't tell which side of the fork they were on. the knock he'd taken to his head was making it hard to think straight. but he knew he had to tell his dad that, they were near the fork no matter which side they'd be found. "we're near where it forks .. toward the hills." the fact that he said he was coming, well those words settled in chance's mind and any thoughts of panic he was having settled and he took a breath and nodded his head slightly, even though he knew logan couldn't see it. "i hope he does." he said, the worry about the horse not going away because they had no way of knowing which way the dog had chased him, whether or not rocky had fallen and taken a tumble or if he'd been tangled in his reins. it would be too easy to start to panic about rocky so he forced himself to think about getting home. that was the main thing. getting maya back home where she was safe.

chance heard the line disconnect and he lowered the phone from his ear and let it drop to the grass next to them. he'd never felt more alone in that moment than he had in a while but he had to think of maya. he looked down at her now she'd settled a little and he bit his lip slightly. "you okay mays?" he said gently as he helped her take her helmet off so she was more comfortable. she sniffed in response but didn't say anything. that in itself was unlike her but chance figured she was just shaken. when his dad got here she'd perk up because she knew he'd make it better. or at least that's what he hoped for. he looked maya over carefully again and this time noticed a rip in her pants on her knee and some scratches on her hands but all things considered, it didn't look too bad. he leaned back against the tree trunk he was sitting next to and he let out another breath he'd been holding. it was then that he felt something drip into his eye and he frowned a little, lifting his hand to touch h is forehead and when he pulled it away he saw red. not enough to panic but enough to let him know the stupid branch had cut his head when he'd run into it.

he didn't have much time to dwell on it because it was then that he heard pancho lift his head and knicker down the trail to the east of them and a few seconds after that he heard the sound of hooves pounding into the dirt and then kalona and his dad came into view. he felt the tension leave his body and he found himself sniffing a little before he rubbed the back of his hand against his nose. once logan had jumped down from the horse, maya abandoned his lap and took of running for her uncle. "uncle logan!" she cried as she held her arms up to him, the tears running freshly down her face again. though she did stop just short of reaching him, she'd been taught to give kalona a wide berth and even scared she wasn't about to get too close to the horse.

chance used one of the tree's branches to pull himself to his feet. he was a little shaky on them but he was going to put that down to shock too. he winced as he walked forward, his hand holding onto his ribs as he took a few careful steps forward before he stopped. he heard his dad ask them what happened and he glanced at pancho before he answered. "this dog.. it came out of nowhere." he said as he chewed his lip, remembering the sound of the barking as the dog had nipped at rocky's heels making him run. "it .. i think it bit rocky cause he freaked and bolted and he ran into that tree trying to get away .. that's when i fell and they were gone." he said as he pointed to the branch that came across the trail a little bit just away from where they were standing. "i don't know if it bit pancho but maya fell too .." he explained but he hadn't see anything other than what had happened to him and even that was a little fuzzy.

chance rubbed rocky's neck as they walked down the trail. he was keeping a close eye on maya who was riding her pony just in front of him. it hadn't been the trail he'd planned but that was okay. maya had been begging her parents to go on a trail ride this morning but her parents were both busy so he'd offered to take her. she'd been excited when he'd told her and the smile on her face made it worth it. if claire had been home he'd have offered to bring her along too but luke had taken the kids somewhere for the day so it was just him and maya. he grinned as he watched maya kick pancho into a trot gently and he was just about to gather his reins when he heard a dog barking somewhere behind them. he didn't think much of it at first, sometimes people brought their dogs with them on trails and usually it was fine. he was just about to follow maya down the trail when he heard the barking getting closer and he felt rocky tense. "it's okay bud." he said as he ran his hand down the horses neck. he didn't think there would be a problem, after all rocky was solid usually. at the same moment he nudged rocky into a trot there was a flash of white and brown that burst out of the trees barking as loud as it could. chance felt rocky jump forward but he managed to sit it as he tried to keep the horse under control. "easy rocky.. steady." he said as the dog ran at rocky's hooves excitedly. it was then that chance felt the horse burst forward and he wasn't ready for it. he scrambled for the reins but he felt them slipping through his fingers as rocky tried to outrun the dog. he turned his head back to try and see where the dog was but he couldn't see it. that worried him more because if it wasn't behind them it was in front of them and that meant it was close to maya. as he turned back to look in front of him he didn't get the chance to see anything but the branch cutting across the trail. he tried to duck in time to avoid it but he felt it collect his helmet and the force of the impact was enough to knock him out of the saddle. he heard maya yell from ahead of him up the trail as he hit the ground but as his body hit the rocky trail, the world dulled.

it took a few minutes for him to fully come out of his daze after he'd landed on the ground. he hadn't been knocked out but the world certainly looked a little fuzzier than it had a minute ago. his head was spinning, he couldn't draw a proper breath and the tree's above him looked like they were dancing around him. he reached up to undo the clasp on his chin and he let the helmet fall off his head and it dropped to the ground next to him. "ow." he murmured to himself as he touched his forehead, wincing as he felt his fingers press into a quickly forming bruise. "maya!?" he exclaimed as he heard her crying from further down the trail. he tried to push himself to his feet as quickly as he could but it was then he felt a shooting pain up his side and he groaned, gripping his ribs as he got onto his knees. he couldn't tell it anything was broken but they sure felt like it. he gritted his teeth as he clambered to his feet and stared down the trail. he couldn't see rocky but he could see where maya was sitting in the middle of the trail, pancho wasn't far away from her, grazing along the side of the trail as if nothing had happened just moments ago.

he held his hand against his side as he walked gingerly down the trail towards maya, using his free hand to fumble in his back pocket for his phone, hoping to god that it hadn't been broken in his fall. "you okay maya?" he asked, coughing as he reached her. he gave her the quick once over as he slowly sat down on the trail next to her, careful not to jostle anything as he sat down, though he couldn't help but wince as he sat. he couldn't see any obvious injuries on maya, she wasn't holding anything and nothing looked broken but her face was red and wet with tears. he wrapped his arm around her tightly as she threw herself against him as she cried and he had to bite his lip hard to stop from yelling in pain as she landed against his chest. "it's okay maya." he said as he dialled his dad's number on the phone, holding onto his younger cousin as he held the phone up to his ear. it felt like an eternity before there was another voice on the other end of the line and chance almost burst into tears when he heard it. "dad? there's been .. i mean i .. i lost rocky." he said quickly, trying to explain, trying to rush and trying to talk loud enough to make his voice heard over maya's sniffles. "we both fell .. on the forest trail. maya's okay."