A Falling Ember

Alone

"Get her in the truck!"
A muffled voice echoes around me.
My eyelids feel like lead. I can't feel my legs.
"Go on! Off the property!" The voice yells. The sound is far away.
My consciousness drifts away again.
********
I open one eye. A narrow black river stretches out in front of me. Blinking yellow and red lights zoom along it. My cheek is pressed up against a cold surface. I close my eye.
Suddenly a jolt shudders through the floor. I jerk my head up. My vision clears. I am lying in a wooden box. The top is open to the sky, and the back is also open. Outside I see a black road. Grey, white, black and red monsters roll past in all directions. The box shudders again, and I grunt in pain. My leg burns like it's being bathed in fire. I turn my head I look at it.  It's my back left leg, and it's bent in a strange way.
I rack my brain for memories of what happened to me. A Truck. That's what the humans said as they loaded me into this box.
Before that.....
I remember rearing up I face the mons-trucks, as father led the foals to safety. Then a truck had slammed into me.
Now I was here.
All I know is that I have to get up. I need to be on my way home. The sooner the better. The more time I am in this box the further from home I get.
I heave to my feet. I sway from pain and black spots dance before my eyes, but I manage to stay upright. I put all of my weight on my three good legs as I peer over the side of the box. At the front is a small compartment that seems to be pulling me. I can see the back of a human's head inside of it. I waddle back over to the open side of the box. It's wasn't very smart of the humans to leave it open. I guess they didn't realize that I'm a very resilient horse.
It's now or never, I remind myself.
And I jump.
As soon as I land on the hard black rock, my bad leg buckles. I hear a screeching sound and leap out of the way of a small black truck. I am in an empty lane now, but there are still two more until the side of the road.  I limp as fast as I can toward the next lane and barely make it past two white trucks. They whiz past me.
One more to go. Summoning my last burst of energy, I bound across the last road. 
I didn't realize that I was holding my breath until I let it out in a huge whoosh. I stare at the truck I was in. It continues down the road until I can't see it anymore.
I take another deep breath. I remember a lecture that father once gave us about surviving when alone and hurt right before we went to our winter location.
"First step, scan your surroundings for immediate danger." I look around. The road is about fifty feet wide. On the other side is a large open plain, with mountains in the distance. I am standing in some long grass on the side of the road. Before me stretches out another large plain, with some lakes in the distance under small mountains. This is terrain that I can handle, but way too far from my herd.
"Step two, find a good source of water and food." I head slowly over to the closest lake to me. With each step my leg throbs. It's definitely broken.
Finally I reach the water. As I drink I see tiny minnows swirling around.
They look at me with their beady eyes and swim away.
"Step three, neigh quietly and wait for help."
That won't work here. My family is hundred of miles away, and neighing will only attract unwanted predators.
My instincts are my only compass. I raise my muzzle to the sky and close my eyes. Then I slowly turn in a circle.
Halfway around, I feel a tiny buzz in my chest.
That way.
I open my eyes. I am facing the mountains.
"All right," I nicker, and I begin to wobble my way over. It's a long way, maybe a mile, but hopefully I can make it before dark. The sun is still- never mind.
It's just my luck that a rainstorm would head in now. Already, rolling dark clouds are swiftly moving over the sun. I hobble faster. It's not good to be the only tall thing in an open field.
Then the sky opens up. My mane and forelock are plastered to my neck. The dirt I was walking through turns to mud. A jagged line flashes in the sky, followed by a terrifying rumble.
I trudge along. Soon I reach the mountain in front of me. I quickly dart inside one of it's many caves at the base. The ground is hard and cold, but at least I am out of the rain. Exhausted, I slump to the floor.
It's unnatural for a horse to be by itself. I don't know how I'll survive if I'm alone.