Albie had yelped quietly, and I saw he had the gun drawn.
“What?” I hissed at him.
“It’s a fucking rattlesnake man…more than one…”
I hated Texas.
I hated fucking snakes.
Miguel was getting shot no matter what.
“Man! What do I do!”
He was talking between gritted teeth. Looking upwards to the heavens, I said a silent prayer and began searching for a stick.
“Hold on…I’m pretty sure they can see heat,” I told him.
“Real fucking funny,” he said.
Throwing up my hands, “Fuck around and move boy…you die and I don’t have to get yelled at by your sister for killing you someday myself. This is a win win for me.”
Albie looked over, the white of his eyes showing in the gleaming sunrise. He continued to grit out his words, “Okay, okay!”
Searching around quickly, I found a large enough stick that would do the trick. Picking it up, it felt rough and surprising cold in my hands. Easing over to Albie, I whispered my plan to him, both of us with our eyes on the snakes. Their tongues looked black in the rising light of the sun. We could see them flittering out and tasting the air.
Very gently, I eased the stick under one and flung it as far as I could.
The other snake seemed to want to move away on his own and did so before I could come back.
“Holy fuck, I thought I was dead,” he said.
“I should have let you die,” I threw the stick to the side.
“You were going to let me get bit, weren't’ you.”
I could feel the weight of the gun and its bullets. I wanted to shoot Simone’s brother very much.
Very much.
“Don’t you still owe me a hundred thousand dollars?”
Wincing, “About that…”
Before we knew it we had come upon a bunch of dilapidated houses. There were a few others around but spaced out far enough. Nothing moved and the car that was sitting there matched the model that the Safaryans had ran through the DMV database illegally. A dark blue Toyota Four Runner sat parked and looking out of place among the ruins.
“Well what do you know,” Albie whispered, pulling out his gun again.
I placed a finger to my lips as we ducked behind the car. Crawling, I got to where I could feel the hood of the car.
Warmth flooded my palms and I looked back to Albie.
“It’s still warm,” I whispered. “He just got here.”
We were just about to stand up when the locks to SUV gave a beep. I heard Albie mutter softly behind me. The doors on the opposite side of the car and someone began rummaging around inside. Ducking down, I counted only one pair of legs clad in jeans and cowboy boots. They turned quickly and started back towards the house.
“Now,” I whispered.
I drew my gun and stood up and walked quickly up behind the figure.
