An Outlaw's Legacy
Ch 3: not easy being dad
Jake and Joshua continued to travel together on through the desert, as they traveled, Joshua constantly pestered Jake with nonsense questions and Jake was getting annoyed to have to answer them all. Joshua did start to admire Jake a bit despite his scary appearance, Joshua really had no one to look up too until now, in a way he wanted to be like Jake, strong and tough. Joshua looked at the gun that was at the end of his tail, he had noticed the gun when they first met, but he didn't really have the courage to ask him about it until now.
"Where you get the neat looking gun of yours?" Joshua asked polity
"None of your business. Why would you want to know that?" Jake said looking puzzled at Joshua.
"Cos I want to be like you." Joshua said back.
"Hmph, trust me, kid. You don't wanna be like me." Jake said back coldly
:"But your big and strong, on one bothers you." said Joshua.
"Not exactly, anyone that as crosses my path is either afraid of me or wants to kill me, not a life I would wish on some one else." said Jake.
:"it can't be all bad." said Joshua again.
"Trust me, kid. It is." Jake said back.
"But pa…" Joshua started to speak.
"I told you not to call me that." Jake said interrupting Joshua
Then Joshua let out an angry snort and said "well, my name is not kid either, it's Joshua."
Jake just gave him a cold look.
Finally the one question Jake did not like to talk about came up, he did not like to talk about anything about his past, no one knew of his past and he liked to keep it that way.
After gulping a little bit, Joshua finally asked "so how did it happen anyway…your tail I mean?"
Jake gave another cold hard look at Joshua and then just said "fate's cruelty."
Joshua was confused by Jake's answer, he did not known what he meant by that.
"What does that mean?" Joshua asked back nervously.
Then Jake spoke out while not directly looking at Joshua "sometimes bad things happen that you nave no control over."
"And what is that suppose to mean? Did something bad happen to you?" Joshua spoke again.
Then jake suddenly turned to face Joshua furiously and spat out "look! Enough with the questions alright!"
Jake's sudden outburst scared Joshua a little, so he decided it was best to stay quite.
The rest of the journey was mostly made in silence, since Jake shouted at him; he decided it was not the best to not press his luck any farther by asking him more questions. It was clear to Joshua that Jake did not like answering questions about himself. Why was that? Joshua wondered. Was his past so twisted and messed up he did not want to recall it? Joshua would not be a bit surprised if it was, considering his sinister appearance and cruel nature, but still, Joshua was curious to know what had made him that way.
Their journey had taken them the rest of the day; it was not until evening that they had made their final destination. It was a huge rock formation and inside it was a cave which Jake had made his home for now. The cave was not very big, just big for a rattlesnake to fit in, but it craved deep into the rock, deep enough to easily shelter anyone from the elements in the desert. Jake slithered into the cave first and Joshua quickly followed. Once inside, Joshua coiled him up in a spot near the cave wall. Once Jake was sure Joshua was settled down, he then went back outside the cave, Joshua had a kind of surprised look on his face to why Jake was leaving all of a sudden, but soon enough, Jake came back carrying a few sticks in his mouth. Once Jake was back in the cave, he dropped the sticks and started to make fire to keep him warm for the cool desert night ahead. Once Jake got the fire started and brought it up to a huge flame he then turned towards Joshua.
"Tomorrow I'll start teaching you how to hunt and fight." Jake said and then moved to the other end of the cave that was closer to the fire and started to settle himself down for a night's rest.
Jake started to off to sleep, but Joshua was still wide awake and continued to stare at Jake, he soon noticed this and said to him "what's the matter, kid? Go to sleep."
But Joshua did not feel like going to sleep just yet, he felt him and Jake were starting to go off on the wrong foot and saw him more of a annoying pest then anything else, so he wanted to make Jake warm up to him a little bit more.
"ummm….Jake?" Joshua spoke out nervously.
"What?' Jake said sounding irritated.
"Can I have a goodnight kiss?" Joshua said.
Back at his home, his mother would always give him a goodnight kiss before going to sleep and really Joshua could not go to sleep without one.
Jake grumbled a little and then said "okay."
Jake moved over towards Joshua and gave him a quick lick on his nose with his tongue and then went back over to his spot.
As he coiled himself back up, he said to Joshua "now, go to sleep."
Joshua did try to go to sleep, but really he found that difficult, the spot where he was sleeping was rather bumpy, rocky and rough on his underbelly and found himself difficult to get in a comfortable position. He tossed and turned along the ground and Jake could hear him rustling around. All the noise started to irritate Jake and prevented him from going to sleep.
"Hey, kid, knock it off." Jake finally spoke out
"I'm sorry." Joshua said back.
After that, Joshua stopped moving around and tried to go to sleep, but he couldn't, really he wanted to sleep in Jake's spot, the rock over there was a lot smoother and was closer to the fire. He wanted to ask if he could sleep over where he was, but he was afraid too. Soon enough he built up the courage to ask. He quietly slithered over towards Jake, he seemed to be asleep already, but he wanted to ask him anyway. Joshua sneaked up to Jake until he almost touching his nose, Joshua was about to speak, but then Jake slowly opened up one of his eyes again and saw Joshua was very close to him which in turn made me wake up with a start
"Christ, what do you want now?" Jake said angrily at Joshua after being abruptly woken up.
"The rock over there hurts me, can I sleep here?" Joshua said softly
"Oh yeah? Alright." Jake said in a disappointing tone.
After that, Jake and Joshua traded places, Joshua moved in Jake's spot by the fire and Jake moved near where Joshua was.
"dam." Jake muttered under his breath as he coiled himself back in Joshua's spot.
"Now go to sleep will ya?" Jake said as he finally rested his head down again.
Joshua was about to go to sleep, when suddenly he remembered he forgot to say his evening prayer, it was another thing his mother made him do every night before bed and he felt bad for not doing it even if his mother was no longer around. So he woke up again, lifted his head up towards the sky, closed his eyes and began to speck.
"Dear lord, watch over my ma wherever she is now, may she rest peacefully. Thank you for letting me find my pa, even though he is a crouch…"
Joshua tired to speak as quietly and softly as possible, but of course Jake heard him and kept him awake again.
"Oh no…." Jake muttered under his breath again.
Jake lifted his head up again and tried to get Joshua's attention, but he was too deep in thought of his prayer to notice him. After a few minutes Joshua finally finished saying his prayer and laid his head back down to sleep.
"Phew, finally." Jake said as he also rested his head back down once more.
Joshua knew Jake was still awake and so he asked him "Jake, do you think ma can hear me up from heaven?"
"Sure she can, kid. Now just please, please, go to sleep!" Jake said getting very irritated.
A few minutes of silence went by after Jake spoke; he figured the young rattlesnake had finally gone to sleep. Jake finally started to close it eyes, but just as he did so, he could hear Joshua's voice once again.
"Jake?" Joshua said quietly.
"What?" Jake said angrily as he opened one eye again.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Joshua said in almost a whisper.
"*sigh* alright." Jake said back.
Any parent could have told him this was only the beginning.
The next morning, as the sun was just peaking over the horizon of the desert, Joshua started to wake up; he let out a big yawn and a big stretch over his serpentine body. Jake was still very much asleep, Joshua could tell by his soughing, Joshua giggled a little bit a how loudly he soughed. Joshua decided to let Jake sleep for a little longer since he had a rough night last night. As Jake slept, Joshua watched the sunrise from the cave, soon the sun a fully risen over the horizon and everything was bathed in a brilliant golden light, the sky was painted with bight hues of orange, pink and purple. Joshua liked watching the sunrise, it when the desert seemed to be the most beautiful and peaceful. Joshua started to see small critters wandering about in the desert, has Joshua eyed them, he started to get hungry, he wanted to caught one, but he was not very good at it yet. Joshua turned back towards inside the cave; Jake was still asleep, Joshua as tired of waiting for him to get up. He was hungry and wanted to get started for the day.
Joshua moved over towards Jake and carefully nudged Jake's nose with his, but he was still sound asleep. Then he started to nudge him a little harder, still nothing.
"Pa, come on, get up." Joshua said still continuing to nudge him with his nose.
After nudging him a bit more, Joshua finally decided this was not working and would have to be a little more forceful to get him to wake up. So then he started to tug on the rim of his hat with his mouth, but all he got from him was a few mumbles and grunts, he did not open his eyes yet. Joshua tugged harder on his hat, but still he refused to wake.
"Dam, heavy sleeper." Joshua thought to himself.
After another mighty tug of Jake's hat, Joshua suddenly lost his grip and fell backwards a bit. Soon enough Joshua had enough of being subtle; clearly he was going have to do a lot more to get Jake to wake up. Joshua then slammed his body into Jake's face which made him wake up instantly. After recovering from the shock of being abruptly woken up, Jake looked at Joshua with drowsy eyes.
"You promised!" Joshua shouted while looking angrily at Jake.
"Alright. I'm up, I'm up." Jake said sleepily back.
Jake then let out a big yawn and uncoiled himself from his resting spot. Joshua was the first one out of the cave, being bosirious and full of energy and soon Jake sluggishly followed behind him. Joshua soon became excited and started to race between cactus and dry brushes though out the desert ground. Jake did he best he could to try to keep up with this speedy youngster and made sure he stay in sight of him.
Joshua knew if they wanted food for breakfast, they have to catch it first. Now was the perfect time for Jake to teach Joshua how to hunt, but that was easier said then done. They had done several hunting attempts, but they all ended in failure, either because Joshua was not patient enough and made the strike to soon or made too much noise and the prey got away before they had a chance to strike. Jake soon grew frustrated with him and threatened to give up on teaching him how to hunt if he was not patient. Meanwhile, Joshua was getting more desperate, with each failed attempt he got hungrier and wasted more energy; if he have to catch something soon, or be starving for the rest of the day.
Joshua made another attempt at some small birds, but again he struck at them too soon and the birds flew away before he could catch one.
"You'll never catch anything if you're not patient." Jake said as he caught up with Joshua.
"I know, but I'm starving!" Joshua shouted back.
"I'm starving too, but you have to be patient." Jake said as he slithered past Joshua.
Joshua suddenly raced forward with great speed in search for more prey.
"Stop running around! You'll scare everything away!" Jake shouted at Joshua.
Finally, Joshua clamed down and they soon spotted a roadrunner causally pecking away at the sand and completely oblivious to the two rattlesnakes. Jake and Joshua laid low in some tall dry grass and waited for the roadrunner to come close enough to them to strike.
"Don't move a muscle." Jake said in a whisper
"I won't." Joshua whispered back.
"and keep your voice down." Jake said again in a whisper
"okay!" Joshua said being a little irritated.
The roadrunner slowly made its way closer to them, still unaware of them.
"Wait 'till I say go." said Jake.
"Say what?" Joshua said back not fully able to hear him.
"Go!" said Jake getting irritated again.
The roadrunner suddenly pricked up its head and spotted to two rattlesnakes, Joshua tried to strike at it, but yet again he was too short too soon. The roadrunner dashed off and Joshua tired to chase after it.
"nooooooo…" Jake said as he watched Joshua go after the roadrunner.
Of course, the roadrunner was too quick for Joshua to catch.
"There goes the bird." Jake said as he saw the roadrunner go off in one direction.
"There goes the kid." Jake said as he saw Joshua go off in the other direction.
"And there goes breakfast." said Jake as he watched the roadrunner dash over a sand dune and out of sight.
"Dang, I hate fast food!" Joshua said while looking around a little confused as to where the roadrunner went.
For Jake, this was the final straw; he had enough of teaching this youngster anything.
"That's it, kid! You're on your own!" Jake said as he moved away from Joshua.
"I'm sorry! Give me another chance please!" said Joshua desperately trying to keep up with Jake.
"I've already given you enough chances!" Jake shouted at Joshua angrily.
"Give me one last chance, come on! Please, I'm starving!" Joshua shouted frantically back.
Jake finally decided to give the young rattlesnake one last chance, but if he foiled this one up, he was certainly on his own. Soon they caught sight of a small desert mouse; it looked to be alone, with no one else around. Again Jake and Joshua laid low in some thick brush and waited for the unexpecting mouse to come near. This time, Joshua made sure he was patient and fought every urge to strike out. Soon enough the mouse got close enough and Joshua struck out, this time he diffidently hit something, he hit the mouse in the rear. The mouse yelped in pain and quickly turned around to see what had bit him. Once the mouse saw the young rattlesnake, fear spread across his face and started to run away. But Joshua knew it would not run far before his venom took effect on him and he would die.
Jake slithered out from his hiding stop, he was relived that Joshua had finally caught something.
He moved towards Joshua and said "that's good. Now let's go find him before we lost him."
It did not take long for them to track down the mouse again; it was already dead when they found it.
Joshua sniffed over the body with his tongue to make sure it was dead and started to open his mouth to eat it, but then suddenly looked up at Jake.
"Don't you want it?" Joshua asked him.
"No, it's your kill, you take it." Jake said back.
Joshua just nodded back in response and went back to the mouse and started to wrap his mouth around the body. The mouse was a little big for Joshua to swallow whole, but he managed it anyway.
Then it was Jake's turn to find food for himself, which did not take long since he knew how to track prey and catch it quickly. He soon found another roadrunner for himself, again it got as close to the roadrunner as he could and then waited for the roadrunner to come to him. Once the roadrunner was close enough, he struck out dead on one of the roadrunner's legs, almost killing it instantly; it collapsed on the ground and struggled a bit, but began to go limp. Once the rumrunner was completely dead, Jake wrapped his mouth around its body and slowly started to swallow it whole.
With both Jake's and Joshua's bellies full for the day, they decided to go back to the cave, but no sooner did they reach the cave, they saw a shadowy figure was waiting for them there. Jake did not know if this stranger was friend of foe, he decided to approach with caution. Jake told Joshua so stay low and out of sight while he approach the stranger slowly. Once the two saw each other, they didn't fight, rather the just talked to each other for a while, Joshua could not make what they were saying, he wanted to hear, but he dare not move from his hiding spot. Finally, the stranger finished talking to Jake, walked away from the cave and got back on the roadrunner it was apparently riding and soon dashed off out of sight. Once the stranger was completely gone, Jake motioned to Joshua it was safe to come out.
As Joshua approach Jake, he spoke out "who was that?"
"No one you need to worry about" Jake just said.
Joshua was still curious as to who that stranger was, but decided not to press it further, he knew how testy Jake would get if he asked too many questions.
After that, the both went back into the cave, but once Jake made sure Joshua was safe deep inside the cave; he started to go back out again.
"Where you going?" Joshua said as he saw Jake leave.
"I have to go, take care of some business." Jake said without turning towards him.
"I'll go with you." Joshua said has he started to move towards Jake
Jake the quickly turned to face Joshua and said "no, you stay here."
With Jake's sudden movement, Joshua backed off a bit; he decided it best to obey him this time.
As Jake turned back to leave, he spoke again "whatever you do, stay inside the cave. I'll be back by sundown."
Joshua did as he was told and stayed inside the cave watching Jake slowly disappear over the horizon.
And so, Joshua spent through out the day waiting for Jake to return, he got kind of bored just sitting in the cave, he wanted to go out to explore, but he knew Jake would be furious with him if he found out he disobeyed him.
Soon enough, evening was approaching, and sure enough Joshua could see Jake coming back just like he said he would. Joshua was happy to see Jake had returned, but as he got closer to the cave, Joshua noticed he was holding something in his mouth. Soon Jake entered the cave and dropped whatever he was holding his in mouth in front on Joshua.
"Here" Jake just said to Joshua once he dropped the object he was holding.
After that, he moved on and coiled himself up into his own little corner in the cave.
Joshua then looked over what Jake as set in front of him, it was a lowly rodent of some kind Joshua did not recognize, it was clearly dead, though he didn't know what killed it. Joshua noticed something odd about the dead body; it had a rather large circular hole in its chest, looked to be like a bullet wound. Once Joshua saw that, he looked over suspiciously at Jake, Jake gave him an angry stare in return.
"What? Its food isn't it? Either you eat it or I will." Jake said
Joshua was rather hungry, so he started to eat the rodent without further questioning. Jake then coiled himself up some more and rested his head down. Joshua and Jake didn't say much to each other for the rest of the evening Jake soon made a fire again, this time big enough to keep both them warm, not too later after Jake fell asleep again for the night. Joshua soon fell asleep without much of a fuss as well. Though questions still ran through his head, he knew Jake had killed the rodent, there was a bullet in its chest and Jake had a tail gun, it was not hard to put the two together. Still, Joshua wondered why he went so far just to kill a rodent and why was he gone for so long to do it? Joshua felt something else was going on Jake was not telling him. Joshua wanted to find out what it was, but he knew it was not going to be easy.
Over the next few days, the events that happened that day seemed to be an every day thing, a different stranger would come to the cave, Jake would meet the stranger, they would take for a while and once the stranger would leave Jake left too, leaving Joshua to wait in the cave. Jake would be gone all day and would not come back until evening, sometimes not until late at night and often going back with a dead rodent or lizard in his mouth. He would either give the dead body to Joshua or eat it for himself. Something was definitely going on and Joshua had a bad feeling about it. He certainly wanted to find out what Jake was up too, but he knew Jake would not just tell him. He had to find out his own way. He decided the next time Jake would leave, he would secretly follow him to find out where he was going and doing.
Sure enough, the next day, another stranger came to their cave, Jake talked to the stranger a bit, once they were finished talking, Jake told Joshua to stay in the cave again and soon set off by himself again. But this time he was not going to stay put, from the cave he watched Jake slither off into the distance and once he thought Jake was far enough away, he moved out from the cave too.
Joshua knew it was a big risk to follow Jake, if ever caught Joshua disobeying him, he knew there would be hell to pay considering his ill-temperament, but Joshua tried to stay far enough back so Jake would not notice him, he mostly following him by his scent on the ground. Soon, following behind Jake brought him to a small town, it was not the town of dirt where he first met Jake, and this was a different town. Soon Joshua spotted Jake in the town, Joshua moved in closer to the town to see what Jake was doing there. He quietly crouched behind one of the small building in the town and continued to watch Jake. Jake just appeared to be standing in the middle of the dirt road that ran though the town and was staring at something intensely. Then Joshua noticed he had his tail gun raised and was aiming at something, Joshua turned his head a little and soon saw on the other side of the dirt road was another figure, it looked to be a small desert critter of some kind and soon Joshua could see the critter was holding a gun too. Then realization came into his face, this was a showdown shoot out! He had seen this kind of thing happen many times in the town he came from, two opponents would face each other far apart, they would stare each other down intensely, waiting for each other to make the first move, the actual shooting was often very quick and it always ended unpleasantly, one person always died.
Joshua wondered how Jake ended up in this situation, was this what he went off for? As Jake and his rival opponent continued to stare each other down, Joshua started to get nervous, was Jake really quick enough to not be the one shot first? Joshua really hoped so; he really did not want to lose his other parent. It seemed like forever the two stared at each other. Then suddenly the small desert animal draw his gun and fired it, Jake did the same, it happened in the blink of a eye and Joshua just barely caught what went down. The desert animal's bullet missed Jake, but Jake on the other hand hit his intended target, but only got him in the arm, but the bullet almost blew it off. The small desert critter soon collapsed on the ground from the pain of his blown off arm, Joshua could hear moans and yells of great pain coming from the animal. As it struggled on the ground with its bleeding arm, Jake slowly slithered towards it. Jake loomed of the fallen critter and stared at it with intense angry eyes and his tail gun aimed right down at him. The small desert critter was speaking frantically now, almost begging, trying to mutter out words between sobs and moans. Jake just stared at him coldly. Then suddenly Jake fired his gun again straight into the small animal's chest, spraying blood everywhere. The desert critter didn't even have time to let out one final scream of death.
Joshua was utterly horrified by what he just saw; Jake had killed someone in cold blood. Joshua knew Jake did kill other animals; he was a rattlesnake after all, but nothing like this. He had killed that poor desert animal without hesitation despite the animal desperately begged him not too. Joshua figured this must have what Jake was hiding from him all along, the fact he really was a cold hearted killer and he was a little scared of him by that fact. Soon Jake picked up the dead body of the desert critter and started to slither out of the town, pay little attention the townspeople that started come out of hiding. Joshua soon noticed Jake was heading towards his way; he quickly dashed away from the building and looked for a place to hide. He soon found a bush to hide in; he remained absolutely still as Jake swiftly slithered pass him not noticing him. Joshua knew he had to get back to the cave before Jake did, but that was going to be really hard now since Jake was a head of him now. he figured the best to he could was try to move in front of Jake quietly without him noticing, but the rocks, twigs and dry brushes around him make that very difficult. Suddenly Jake heard the snap of a twig and immediately turned his head towards the sound, he then suddenly dropped the dead animal he was holding and rushed into a brush near by where the sound came from. He quickly wrapped his body around whoever was hiding and dragged it out into the open. Jake was shocked to find out it was Joshua who was hiding.
At first, Jake's eyes went wide with surprise, but then quickly turned to furious anger. Joshua just looked up at him with a guilty weak smile.
"Joshua, what the hell are you doing here? I told to stay in the cave where it was safe!" Jake shouted out.
"I...I know I disobeyed you, but I was worried. Wondering where been going these past days." said Joshua weakly
"So you followed me and spied on me?" Jake shouted back a Joshua
"I...I didn't want too, but you weren't telling me anything." said Joshua weakly again.
"and for good reason!" Jake yelled back.
Joshua started to tremble in fear as Jake seemed to get madder as he spoke.
Jake tried to calm himself down again and said in a some what calmer voice "I suppose you saw all of that too." As he pointed his head back towards the town.
"yes." Joshua said as he lower his head.
"Fucking great, just what I didn't want to happen." said Jake again.
"So I wouldn't know what a cold-hearted killer you really are." Joshua said more firmly.
Jake then swiftly got closer to Joshua "well, if you haven't noticed, I'm a outlaw and still got a reputation to up hold! Didn't your mother ever tell you that?"
"No, she kind of left that part out." Joshua said soberly.
"Well, it is who I am and I can't change that. Besides, it's a job and it gives us food, doesn't it?" said Jake again.
"Yeah, victims you murdered." Joshua said back coldly
"Urgh! I knew it was a mistake taking you in! You're just like your mother, always criticizing me! I've had enough of you, so beat it you spiteful brat!" Jake shouted angrily.
And after that, Jake quickly slithered passed Joshua before he could speak another word, picked up the dead animal again and moved on. Joshua was not sure if wanted to follow him this time, he saw his father's true colors now, cruel, hateful and cold-hearted. It was a mistake for Joshua to ever come to him for help, right now he wanted to be with anyone else besides him. Tears began to stream down his face by the fact his own father did not love him. Joshua slowly started to move in the other direction to search for a better place to go too.
Jake continued to slither on without even giving one glace back, then suddenly a shadow flew over him, Jake instantly knew what that meant and it filled him with fear, hawk! Soon enough he could see the silhouette of a hawk soaring high in the sky in circles. Jake quickly dropped the prey he was holding and dived under the nearest rock he could find. He was able to get under the safety of the rock before the hawk could spot him, but then he saw that the young rattlesnake as not noticed the hawk yet. The hawk spotted the young rattlesnake and started to dive for him.
"KID, WATCH OUT!" Jake shouted from under the rock.
Joshua started to look around franticly, only to look up towards the sky and see a hawk diving for him. In that instant, Joshua froze with fear, unable to move. Without thinking twice, Jake dashed out from his hiding place like a bolt of lightning, got in front of Joshua and fired his tail gun at the hawk. The hawk let out a screech, turned back into the sky. His bullets missed the hawk, but it did manage to scare it off. Then the hawk quickly made another semi-circle to make another dive for them.
Then Jake turned towards Joshua and shouted "go! Run!"
But Joshua did not move, he still too afraid to move.
"Go, now!" Jake shouted louder
But Joshua still did not budge.
Then the hawk made the dive towards them.
"I said GO!" Jake shouted as he roughly shoved Joshua with his nose.
The rough shove made Joshua snap of his petrified fear and he started to run and Jake started to run right behind him. The two rattlesnakes raced as fast as they could though the sand, but the hawk was faster and quickly caught up to them. Just as the hawk was about to grab one of them, they darted to two different directions and all the hawk grabbed was dirt. The hawk quickly flew up again and made another go around for another dive. Jake soon rejoined up with Joshua and they both made for another rock to hide under. The hawk started to dive for them once again and as the hawk was just about to grab them, the both slide under a rock. The hawk clawed and pecked at the entrance for a while, but the two snakes were just out of his reach. The hawk stayed by the rock for a good while, but eventually it gave up and flew off. Jake and Joshua stayed under the rock until it was sure that the hawk was gone. Soon the both slithered out from under the rock. Joshua was still very much shaken up by what had just happened.
The Jake turned to Joshua and shouted " idiot! Never freeze up like that again! If you see a hawk, you run! No matter what!"
Joshua just lowered his head, but then picked it back up again and said "ummm…thanks…for saving my life."
It was true; Jake just did save him without realizing it.
"Don't get too used to it, kid." Jake just said back.
"But why? Why save me when you just said you had enough of me?" Joshua asked back.
Jake didn't know how to answer that, in truth; I really didn't know why he saved him. He was deathly afraid of hawks, so why would he suddenly face one head on and risk is neck out for this young rattlesnake? He had never done this before. Maybe it was because despite the fact he hated this brat, he still felt bad about leaving him out alone to die. Maybe also by the fact he saw so much of himself in this young rattlesnake, matter of fact; he was just like Joshua at that age, disobedient, rebellious and eager. Besides, this kid was still his family whether he liked him or not and he felt he needed to protect him.
"Just a reaction, that is all." Jake said back to Joshua.
Joshua was a little disappointed in his answer; he was hoping he would say because he cared for him.
Jake started to move off again in the direction where the cave was and Joshua just lowered his head and started to move in the opposite direction.
"Are you coming, or what?" Jake said as he stopped, but not directly looking at Joshua.
Joshua turned back around and his face instantly brightened up with a wide smile, Jake was still willing to take him in despite the harsh augment they just had. Joshua moved along side Jake and soon they both set off though the desert back to the cave they called home.
Jake was not sure what he was doing by still taking care of this young rattlesnake, he really did not know the first thing about being a parent, since he was abandoned at a young age by his parents and his other so called guardian figure was a murdering psychopath. Still he felt bad about abandoning his own son, besides he knew what it was like to be alone, it was not a great life and would not wish on any one else. He knew caring of this child would nor be easy, but it was the least he could do to make up for everything he had done in the past.
