Origin of a killer Ch 1.
The sun blazed hot over the scourged earth of the Mojave Desert. No sign of life seemed to exist here expect for a few dry brushes and cactus scattered throughout the landscape, a slight breeze kicked up some red dust, providing no relief to the tense heat. In the middle of the dry landscape laid a rock formation with a small cave and inside it a family of rattlesnakes lived. A large male western diamondback rattlesnake with a female rattlesnake and six of their offspring. The male rattlesnake name was Navajo while the female was named Selene. Navajo was an old rattlesnake, but despite his age, he was a strong one and he had the battle scars to prove it from past fights with other rattlesnakes and hawks. Selene was a lot younger and slightly smaller then her mate, she was not as strong as her mate, but could still win in a fight. These two rattlesnakes were different then most, they mostly kept to themselves and did not raid the towns throughout the area like most rattlesnakes were known to do, they mostly feed off whatever wildlife they had found roaming the desert, but it was hard work considering prey was scarce here and they had six more mouths to feed now. The male would go off hunting during the day while the female would stay behind to watch over their children.
Soon it was the end of another long day and the male had just come back from hunting, but again he came back empty handed. Once he slithered inside the cave, his mate came to greet him.
"Still no luck?" said Selene.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Couldn't find anything expect for a few small lizards and rodents, not enough to feed all of us." said Navajo.
"That's okay; you will have better luck tomorrow." said Selene while nudging her mate's snout.
"You better hope so or we will be on the verge of starvation," Navajo said again.
"Don't talk like that, things will turn around, you'll see." said Selene.
Soon the rattlesnake hatchlings came to greet their father as well. He rubbed their faces as the came to him. The father and his mate gave them all names, Alamar, Nadia, Graciela, Ramiro, Lilia and Jake. Jake was a little different then his siblings, while the rest had the pale green eyes on their mother, he had the bight fiery red and orange eyes of his father. He also had the darker diamond-shaped pattern in his back just like his father. Jake was litltery had the splitting image of his father. Navajo loved his son Jake most of all and hoped he would make it though the rough times. Of course, he loved all his children, but he knew that they would lose some of them eventually if the hard times continued, that was the way of things in the harsh desert, but he hoped Jake would live on.
Despite the slim pickings on food, their live was perfectly peaceful, they bothered on one, so no one bothered them, but one day something changed something that would change Jake's life forever.
One day a stranger rattlesnake came close to their cave, Navajo slithered out from the cave to see who this stranger was. Meanwhile, Selene stayed in the cave close to the children and out of sight. The two rattlesnakes soon meet just a few feet outside the cave; both reared their bodies up and look at each other face to face. From inside the cave, Jake eyed the other stranger rattlesnake with interest, it was a sidewinder rattlesnake, and they were a little smaller then their western cousins and had a slightly paler skin color with a striped pattern on their backs. Even though the two were really from the same species, western diamondbacks and sidewinders did not get along so well. But what seemed odd about this rattlesnake to Jake was the fact he was wearing a cowboy hat and what appeared to be belts strapped all along his body, but Jake could not make out what they were for. Another odd thing was his rattler at the end of his tail, it was a little different from his father's, but Jake couldn't make out what it was that made it look different though. Also, Jake couldn't make it out clearly, but it appeared to have a missing eye, completely clouded over with white.
His father was talking to the sidewinder rattlesnake now, Jake could barely make out what they were talking about, and all that he could hear was a few words out of it.
"Absolutely not, I will not do what you ask!" Navajo said to the other rattlesnake.
"You know it is only a matter of time. Stop avoiding the enviable" the sidewinder rattlesnake said in a sly cold voice.
"No! You will not take him!" Navajo shouted angrily.
At that moment the sidewinder rattlesnake reared up its body a little more and started to shake its rattle, appeared it was going to strike at the western. Navajo then hissed baring his fangs and shaking his rattle rapidly, preparing for a fight, but then the sidewinder thought better of it and swiftly turned away, heading back out into the desert. Navajo continued to stand there shaking his rattle and watched the sidewinder disappear over the horizon. Once he was sure that the sidewinder was gone, he made his way back to the cave.
"What was that all about? Who was that?' Selene asked to her mate.
"Nothing we need to worry about anymore." Navajo said.
Selene looked puzzled at her mate first, and wanted to ask him more, but then he gave her a look that made her stop from speaking. She decided not to press the issue farther and that whatever the situation was, he had cleared it up. After that, Navajo and Selene curled up and settled down for an afternoon nap. The children soon did the same, but Jake remained awake as a millions thoughts were running though his head right now. What did that sidewinder mean by "avoiding the enviable"? and when his father said "you will not take him", take who? He wondered. He did not have any answers and he was pretty sure his father would not tell him since he was so defensive about his mother asking about it. So then he decided to let those thoughts slip out of his mind, so he could finally get some rest.
For the next few days things went back to normal, that sidewinder rattlesnake never returned after that day. Everything was peaceful again, but it did not last long. One day a band of desert dwelling critters were riding on roadrunners through the desert, soon they starting to ride to towards the cave the rattlesnakes were in. Navajo lying on the ground close to the cave soon noticed them and told Selene and his children to go back into the cave, they did so. Selene coiled herself near the entrance of the cave, with the children close behind her. Navajo reared his body up high and shook his rattle wildly as a warning for the group to stay away, but that did not work, they kept coming forward. The group soon halted their roadrunners a few feet away from the snake. They looked to be townsfolk from a town near by. Normally, no one would have the guts to confront a rattlesnake because they were generally greatly fear in most towns, but this group was hard determined to hunt this snake down. The leader that was in front of the group, which as a horned lizard, dismounted his roadrunner and stepped towards the rattlesnake, eyeing with an distasteful expression on his face. The horned lizard then pulled out his pistol from its hoister and aimed at the snake.
Navajo hissed loudly and said "What is the meaning of this?"
"We have come here to hunt you down to pay for your crimes." Said the horned lizard
"What crimes? What in the world have a done?" Navajo said as he leaned down face to face with the horned lizard.
The horned lizard did not even move an inch, he just stood firm and said "Don't lie to me, demon!"
Navajo hissed loudly again in the horned lizard's face, "lies?" he said.
Still not intimidated, the horned lizard spoke. "I know it was you that raided our town and took someone from there, we have several witnesses to prove that."
"I have done nothing of the sort!" Navajo shouted angrily.
The horned lizard just ignored his words and said "we have been following a snake trail for days, the trail lends here."
Navajo knew that was impossible, he had never even been remotely close to a town ever since he had been here; they clearly had the wrong snake
"Either you come with us or we will shoot you down here and now." said the horned lizard again.
"I'm telling you it was not me! I have taken no one!" Navajo shouted again.
"Fine, have it your way." The horned lizard said. .
At that moment, the rest of the group drew out their guns and aimed them at the snake. Navajo reared back up and hissed, ready for a fight.
"Take him down, men." The horned lizard said.
The moment after that, the group of townsfolk opened fire upon the rattlesnake. Navajo easily dodged their bullets and made a strike for the horned lizard, but he ducked and rolled away just in time and fired his gun as well. Selene and the children watched in shock and horror from the cave as the male rattlesnake was fighting for his life. Most of the hatchlings were trembling in fear, but Jake remained calm, he was rooting for his father all the way. The horned lizard got back on his roadrunner as the rest of the group and they started to run around the snake continuing to fire gunshot rounds at him. Navajo used is quick movements to avoid the bullets, and made a strike at them when ever he could, but he missed every time. Finally, as he swung his head swiftly around, he managed to grab one of the riders, he torn the rider of his roadrunner and pinned him to the ground with his mouth around his body. But pinning this one rider down left him open to the other riders in the group and they were willing to sacrifice one rider to bring down this rattlesnake. Suddenly a rider got behind him and fired off a shot from his gun, this time the bullet did not miss its target. From the pain of the bullet hitting his body, he let go of the rider and let a loud yell of pain. Then more riders came close to him and fired of their weapons, this time the bullets did not miss.
After twisting his body around in agonizing pain for a few moments, his body soon collapsed on the ground, blood poured out his body and mouth. Selene was in utter shock at what had just happened. The riders soon stopped running around the snake, the horned lizard dismounted his roadrunner again and walk towards the defeated rattlesnake until he only a few inches from his face. Navajo tired to get back up, but he was too weak and badly hurt to do so. The horned lizard then pointed the gun at the rattlesnake's head, the snake's eyes soon filled with fear, filling the gun barrel with the last bullet he had and in a cold icy voice he said.
"Go to hell, demon."
At that moment the horned lizard fired the bullet straight through the rattlesnake's head and he died instantly. Navajo was no more. Selene could not believe what she had just saw, her mate, the strongest rattlesnake that ever was, was murdered by mere gunslingers before he very eyes. Selene was on the verge of tears, so was Jake and his other siblings, but what was followed by sadness, soon came hate the struck thought Jake like an arrow, right at the moment he wanted to tear all of those riders limp from limp for killing his father. But before Jake could do anything, his mother rushed out of the cave towards them.
"Bastards!" Selene screamed at them.
The group soon noticed the female rattlesnake racing towards them. They all immediately fire their guns at her, she was able to dodge some of the bullets, but she was not quick enough to dodge them all. Soon she was easily gunned down just like her mate was and her body collapsed to the ground. Blood began to pour out of her bullet wounds and she started to cough up blood from her mouth. The horned lizard walked towards her as well, pointing the gun at her head and without little hesitation, he fired his gun and a bullet went straight though her head as well and she too was killed instantly. Jake was so in shock at what had just happened that he could not move or utter a single word, both his parents had been murdered before his very eyes.
The horned lizard soon looked towards the cave where the female rattlesnake had come from and he soon said to the rest of his men "Check out that cave over there, if there are any more of them in there, kill them."
"Yes, boss." said one of his men.
The group of gunslingers soon came closer towards the cave. Jake was in utter fear and panic now, they had killer his parents without remorse and now they were coming to kill him and his brothers and sisters. Jake quickly looked for a place to hide while his siblings simply just huddled close together, trembling in fear. Soon Jake found a small space under a rock that was big enough for him to squeeze under, so he went for it. He wished that his brother and sisters would hurry up and find hiding places for themselves, but they refused to move. Jake dreaded to think what would happen next. Soon one of the gunslingers came into the cave and spotted the terrified rattlesnake hatchlings.
The gunslinger turned his head back towards outside and shouted. "Your right boss, there is more!"
"Then get rid of them!" the horned lizard shouted back.
With that, the gunslinger turns back towards the rattlesnake hatchlings and without thinking twice, garbing the first snake but its head and dragging it out of the cave. It hissed and shrieked in fear, but it did little to deter the gunslinger from dragging it off. Once Jake saw the gunslinger drag one of his brothers fully out of the cave, the next sound he heard was a gunshot and then silence, Jake knew instantly what it meant, one of his bothers had just been killed. Then the gunslinger came back and grabbed the next rattlesnake by its head and dragged it out as well. Jake could only watch in horror as his brothers and sisters were being dragged out of the cave one by one and shot to death. He fought every urge in his body to go out there and attack them, but he knew he would be killed as well. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping this was all just a horrible nightmare and that he would wake up from it, but no, he could still hear the sound of gunfire and his brothers and sisters dying screams. Soon the last rattlesnake was dragged out and killed and the gunslinger came back to take a last look around to see if there were anymore, Jake prayed to whatever god there was that he would not find him.
:"I think we got the last of them." Said the gunslinger as he turned towards outside.
"Then let's get out of here." said the horned lizard back.
The gunslinger then left the cave, Jake could hear the gunslinger group get back on their roadrunners and start to race away. When Jake finally decided it was safe, he crawled out from his hiding place and went towards outside the cave, but he dreaded to see what horrors had unfolded. As he slithered outside the cave, his mouth hung open at what he saw, the dead bodies of his family laid scattered throughout the sandy ground with blood splattered everywhere, all of them had been shot though the head. Jake went over to his father and nudged his snout a little, but it was no good, he did not move. Jake then decided to climb to the top of the rock formation where his home was. Once he got to the top, he looked over the desert valley; he could see the gunslinger group riding off in the distance over the horizon.
In that moment, ever part of his intestines and mind turned into black liquid hate, from this day forward he swore revenge, and he didn't care if it took him the rest of his lifetime. He would find his family's murderers again and he would make them pay.