Chapter 2

Outside, a jagged thorn of lightning crackled across the road and thunder growled overhead. Inside, wee billy joe staggered  through the abandoned building, searching desperately for somewhere to hide. He found a spot behind the crates, then he heard something the man was holding a baseball bat that has nails and sharp wood on the weapon.

Wee billy joe ran to get out of this building the man through the knife at him he  jumped and went through his legs and

sprinted he  got trapped he was scared until . . . 

. . . but at that moment, something roared, louder than someone screaming. Out behind the crates, not one but two pairs of dark green eyes appeared, a flash of grey and the whitest of teeth.  whatever it was, burst past wee billy joe And stood between him and the man. 

It was huge. Ginormous and grey. Wee billy joe realised that he was standing beside a massive rhino he thought it was a robot until the robber started at  him. In that moment, wee billy joe ran for his life but the rhino went with him.

 then the robber pushed over wee billy joe cried out loud the rhino noticed he got pushed so then the man got yeeted over the fences and into the water ” the robber said I will get you next time.”

The rhino turned and knelt down in front of wee billy joe resting her head on the ground. He could see that she was wounded. A gash of red ran across her side. He had never been so close to such a huge creature before. He could smell an earthy, musty scent and watched as her pelt of grey fur ripple across her back. 

They stared intently at each other and wee billy joe felt that she was sizing him up, seeing deeper and deeper into his very being. But, his fear began to fade and he held out his hand. She leaned her head forwards and sniffed. Then she licked his skin with her rough, pink tongue. Her eyes sizzled as if heated by fire. He could see kindness but also 

Sadness.

Wee billy joe stared back, his head nodding as if he understood. He knew in that moment that he would do anything to protect this huge, beautiful creature. Anything. “They will be back, “said the rhino, “so I must hide.”

Twenty minutes later, wee billy joe and the rhino  had slunk through the streets, down to the old warehouse by Stroudwater canal. No one ever dared to venture there. Rumour had it that the ghosts of navvies haunted the building but that last summer wee billy joe hade made an entry. He often sat inside watching kingfishers flash across the water’s edge. The rhino curled up in a dark corner and slept. Wee billy joe kept watch.