There was something about chewing his cud that seemed to ease Bryan's worries about his situation. The more he chewed, the more those troublesome thoughts seemed to leak right out of his brain.
He gave a sudden toss of his big, horned bovine head. What had he been thinking? He had almost felt like this was normal! He needed to get within range of a Chronivac, and the sooner the better. His fellow cattle in the pasture were not likely candidates for possession of a Chronivac, but what about the rancher or some of his employees?
He didn't really have time to think long about it when he happened to lift his head and saw Zeke on horseback, twirling a rope lasso and galloping toward him.
"Zeke? What the hell?" Bryan began only to hear his confused bellowing as his former high school friend tossed the lasso over his head.
The rope pulled taut, and Cal shouted for Zeke to work the bull over toward the corral. Bryan, upset by the turn of the events, felt the anger of the bull surging back to the forefront of his thoughts. He pawed the ground with his hooves and tried to stand his ground, but Zeke, on horseback, used his stead as a tow-truck, slowly reeling the roped bull toward the wooden structure of the corral.
Mr. Peace sat on the tailgate of the truck and watched the younger men go about their work. The big bull put up a fight, but the animal was no match for Zeke's skills.
"Zeke! It's me! Bryan!" The snorts and bellows only got worse as the bull found itself forced to move against its will.
Meanwhile, Cal had heated the electric branding iron to a red-hot intensity.
Zeke had done this hundreds of times, so it was no problem to manipulate the ornery bull into the narrow stall. That's when Bryan saw Cal. He walked toward the bars of the stall with a bit of a limp. Cal ducked his head, spit on the ground, and grinned.
Bryan's bellows reached a new level of intensity when he saw the glowing branding iron in Cal's hands, but that was nothing to the sound he made once Cal seared his hide with the device. The red-hot metal scorched a peace symbol into the hide near Bryan's rump. Hair around the new symbol went up in tendrils of smoke.
Zeke retrieved his lasso, expertly working it off the bull's neck and shoulders. Cal slid open a gate and let the outraged bovine escape into the wider confines of the corral.
"I don't think he liked that very much," Zeke commented when he rode his horse over to Cal.
Cal laughed. "If he didn't like that, he sure as hell ain't gonna like what's next."
Bryan picked up the conversation, suddenly very concerned at what he heard.
At same time, Mr. Peace took out his new phone. He didn't know anything about half of the apps and features. He looked down at one called Chronivac and wondered if he should delete it or open it.