A Friend to a Beast

As the sun rises illuminating open fields before settling upon a house at the end of a dirt track the sound of a Rooster carries on the morning wind. Climbing out of his bed a man in his late 30s slides into a pair of old leather cowboy boots and throws a loose white top on as he stands up, walking out of his room and downstairs as the sound of the rooster dissipates like being burnt away by the sunrise.

As the sun rises to its highest point the door to the lonely house opens as the man steps out onto the wooden deck. Taking a deep breath he looks over the fields holding a small flask “Ahhh well I suppose I should go get the big boy ready for tonight” muttering to himself with a strong southern accent. The giant doors to the barn slam open as the man enters, walking into the barn he looks in the caged pen at his cows before opening the gate letting them out into the fields to graze, as he closes the gate behind them the sound of a hard object on metal bars echoes throughout the barn as the man wanders deeper in, to a small cage which is barely bigger enough to contain the massive strong beast within. Two giant horns pierce the gaps between bars, leading to a harsh stern face covered in scars. “Showtime today you ugly creature,” the man says as he smashes the cage bars with a metal rod causing the bull to jump back slamming into the bars behind it and collapsing to its knees. “You better put on a good show or that's it for you” as he pushes the metal rod into the bulls face.

The sound of wheels on a dirt track echo around as a storm of dust kicks up along the main track into the ranch. The man walks out the front door and waits at the bottom of the steps that lead to the house, as two trucks stop outside the house, one towing a cage a similar size to the one in the barn. Stepping out of the first truck is an elderly man with a long plaited pearl beard that stretches beyond his chest, but his head bears no hair, dressed in a black shirt and a brown leather jacket with silver and platinum trim. “I hope he is ready for his big fight tonight,” the man says stepping down from the truck “we can not afford to lose tonight Carl, ” “Oh he is all ready boss, he ain't gonna disappoint tonight” the two men greet each other with a grasp of the forearm, “Well then let's go get him than boys” as the man whistles and two more men appear from the other truck and they begin walking around back. The group approaches the barn as they hear a huge crashing noise, “what the hell was that, ” “I don't know it came from in the barn, you two get those rifles ready” Carl says pointing at the accompanying men as they level their rifles at the barn doors with their fingers hovering over the trigger. With the rifles locked on the barn entrance, the group stops as a hulking, massive slik black bull tears out the barn skidding to a stop as it locks eyes with them and storms towards them. “Well looks like he is eager to fight, take him out” the bearded man orders as he turns and walks away lighting a cigar, the sound of a great force impacting the ground as the beast is shot by two darts.

A red sky frames the horizon as the sun begins to vanish from view, as the arena in the middle of nowhere begins to fill with hungry people looking to make easy money. The seats fill within minutes and a man enters the middle of the arena, “GOOOODDDD EVENING FINE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ARE YOU READY FOR SOME ACTION” cheers explode around the pit of dust as the announcement echoes for miles and the cheers seem to carry for eternity.

Out the back, Carl and the other three men drag the bull out of its cage and Carl slams a burning rod of steel into its back as it jolts awake. “It's time for you to win us some money” they drag the beast to a small pen on the edge of the ring slamming the gate behind him closed. The bull looks around frantically as it tries to escape, but is met by resistance on all sides. Minutes pass before the gate in front of the bull swings open as another gate swings open on the opposite, before the crowd goes silent and the sounds of two raging bellows erupt into the field followed by two dust clouds as the massive beast's lumper towards each other connecting in a resounding crash, both bulls pull away and circle for a moment before Carls bull swing it's under the other bull scratching it's hide, but not before the other bull brings its hooves down onto his skull as a cracking sound burst from under the bull's hooves. The dust settles as three men run into the ring and pull the other bull back into the pen, shortly after Carl and the bearded gentleman walk over to the barely moving bull, “useless pile off meat” Carl mutters as he kicks the bull before they roll him onto a trolley and wheel him out. “Well, he is useless to us now Carl” the bearded gentleman pulls a revolver for its holster and aims it at the bulls head before he pulls the trigger a voice shouts over to him, “STEP AWAY FROM THE BULL, I REPEAT STEP AWAY FROM THE BULL” as the two off the turn they are met by the barrels off three rifles as members off the sheriffs department begin to close in on them.

Months have passed since the shutting down off the bull fighting ring and one morning as the sun slowly rises casting shadows over the fields around a small house with a barn standing tall within the boundaries off the land around, the sounds off animals begins to rouse the land from its slumber, as a young man steps out into fresh air holding a steaming coffee and a slowly burning cigarette. Reaching the exterior of the barn he slowly opens the barn to reveal a huge expanse of interior space housing a few large pens, approaching one of the pens the man stops as a giant bull walks towards him “Good Morning Tyson, it's time for your check-up before you can go into the field”. He enters the pen and standing before him this beautiful prize of a beast. He runs his hand along its slick black hide as he approaches its head. Not making any sudden moves he turns to be met by eyes that tell a story even though the beast can not talk the stare has its own words as their eyes lock and he drags his fingers across the giant horns that could end a man's life in an instant if they made but one wrong move. But not this man the bull would never harm the man that saved him......