“Well done, Tom. You really committed to the act this time. Let’s see how long you can keep playing this delusional little drama… after I roast your precious cow child alive.”
Before I could stop her, she ripped the calf from my arms. I lunged after her in a panic, but Steve and the ranch owner pinned me to the ground with brutal force. I struggled, thrashed—but I couldn’t break free.
The fire crackled to life and the iron plate was heating fast. The calf, its legs tied, began to cry out in pain. Mournful moos rang through the air as its wide, tearful eyes locked onto mine, desperate, confused. That look. That innocent, questioning gaze—it brought back a flood of memory. I saw it again. That fleeting second. The moment my daughter—soft, pink and new—looked up at me just before her tiny body was torn apart by gnashing teeth.
“No—no, don’t be scared! Daddy’s coming!”
I didn’t care that my arms were already broken, twisted unnaturally by the struggle. With a scream, I hurled myself onto the searing iron plate, crashing through Ginny’s shrieks.
