Chapter 7 - The Battering Ram
The heavy oak doors rattled violently as the bumper of a heavy farm tractor pushed against the outside planks. Splinters sheared off the framing with a series of loud, gunshot-like cracks. Cal rushed to the interior gate that separated the center aisle from the holding chute where Goliath paced nervously.
""Nora, we're trapped in here!"" Cal yelled over the roaring diesel engine. ""The outer corral is crawling with Vance's contractors. We can't reach your truck!""
Nora ignored the throbbing fire in her side, her eyes darting between the shaking barn doors and the agitated bull on the other side of the interior iron gate. The beast was pawing the dirt, tossing his massive horned head, his nostrils flaring wide as the scent of diesel and strange voices agitated him beyond reason.
""Cal,"" Nora said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, icy calm. ""You remember how my dad used to load Goliath into the old livestock hauler when he got too wild for the ropes?""
Cal stared at her, horrified. ""No. Absolutely not. You almost died ten minutes ago! If you let him into this aisle, he’ll crush you before he even sees the door.""
""He won't look at me,"" Nora said, unhooking a long red handling whip and a five-gallon bucket of dry sweet feed. ""He wants whatever is making that noise on the other side of the wood.""
She climbed the narrow wooden rungs of the center support pillar, perching herself painfully onto the crossbeam six feet above the ground. Her ribs screamed in protest, but she forced her grip tight around the rafters.
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""Cal! Pull the gate pin and run out through the silo tunnel!"" she ordered.
Cal looked up at her, swallowed hard, and threw his weight against the iron lever. The heavy gate swung wide. Goliath charged into the dark central aisle with an earth-shattering roar just as the tractor bumper smashed through the center of the outer barn doors.
