A/N: I was listening to the theme song "Far From Any Home" the other day and loved the line "the rattlesnakes unfold" and I got this urge to write about a rattlesnake. This story is set a bit further on from the season one finale but really it doesn't matter because it exists outside of the storylines. R&R!

On the bank of a river, polluted with decaying flesh and rusting metal, a man was seated. His eyes vacant and hollow, his hair thinned and dishevelled with age and neglect. His clothes, a chequered over-shirt and a once white top, were timeworn and dirt strewn. He stared out onto the river's surface as if he was searching for something he had long forgotten and watched as the sun began to sink below the water, beside him a Texas state detective badge lied on the sandy ground as well as a battered gun.
He just sat there for a time in the dim glow that shimmered over the stark landscape before his ears pricked at a sound which was slowly moving towards him. The man realised as he caught sight of it, that it was a rattlesnake, curling up over the rocks and winding its way over to him. Its tail shook as it moved slowly but swiftly, twisting its way through the sand like liquid.
The sound rang out into the night, like a beacon to the lost dead.
When it was mere inches from the man it stopped and coiled in upon itself; and began to sleep.
When the sun finally slipped past its threshold, beyond the horizon, the man reached out and grasped the snake in his hand. As the small, but deadly creature, awoke it immediately began to struggle in his grip. But the man's mind was on other things, his thoughts turned towards his friend Marty, his once happy wife now ex and his beautiful daughter, now gone. His eyes refused to weep, but inside he was crying over what he had lost.
As he gripped the snake tighter, part of him prayed that his daughter was alive somewhere waiting for him; but another stronger part just wished it was all be over for her. Then his mind turned even darker, to the thought of ending his own life, but just like he had once said to Marty, he lacked that ability. The snake's small brain soon panicked and revealed its fangs, sinking them deep into the man's flesh. He made a small sound and dropped to the ground, the rattlesnake slithering off into the surrounding wilderness. The man withered in pain but refused to scream; his pride would not allow it. His body shook and convulsed as a sudden peace came over him, the rattlesnake had given him a gift, motivation to end it that he had always lacked. Finally it was over.