"Sooo... why Mud?" asked Eleanor as they slithered away from the corpse of a man, "Isn't it a bit scary since their sheriff can kill with just one bullet?"

The older snake chuckled, "He may sound scary, but once you meet him, you'll know the truth behind him. 'Sides, me and the Sheriff made a deal."

"What was the deal?" Eleanor asked with the tone of a business woman, "Just to see if this bargain was of equal trade; you know, businessy things."

"I stay in Mud for as long as I need to, and the citizens of Mud wouldn't have to worry about losing another soul," he responded.

"Sounds about fair; you get some time to rest, while the other people don't have to worry about losing anyone they care about," Eleanor commented, "So how long until we get to Mud?"

"It'll be a while kid, best we keep the talking to a minimum and get along the trail," he commented.

She nodded and followed behind him.


Three weeks of slithering in the scotching sands of the desert had finally taken the two near the dunes above the road where the cars drove to and from unknown places both the outlaw and the child don't know.

Eleanor curled herself up a little; she didn't like the looks of this area. She may not have traveled this far from her den, but she had heard stories about how this road has claimed many lives with the black tires of each car, some even believe this road has taken more lives than the Grim Reaper himself. Seeing the cars in person made Eleanor think that they were right.

"Road's too busy this time of year, damn humans never knowing where they want to be," grumbled Jake, looking up at the sun's highest point he knew there was another problem, "Road's too hot for safety too, we'll have to wait until nightfall; cars will be less likely to come by."

"What will we do in the meantime?" asked Eleanor.

"We'll each take turns supervising the road and supervising each other; don't want to have bandits taking advantage of us," instructed Jake.

"Sounds like a plan, but what's this about the road being too hot?" she pondered, "Wouldn't that help us to go faster?"

"Heat is any reptiles strength, but in this situation it'll be our downfall. With how much heat the concrete absorbs it lures reptiles to stay longer than they should. Next thing they know they're hit by a car and meeting their Maker."

Eleanor shuddered when she heard the last bit of information. "So it's a trap? Noted."


By the time the two snakes had gone through eleven shifts of their routine, the sun had settled into the sand dunes while the moon rose from the opposite end with the stars following soon after it.

Although Eleanor was accustomed to staying up late, she had been dozing off ever since she started staring at the lights of the cars going to and from wherever they're going, putting her in a trance like state.

"Kid," Jake firmly called out, breaking Eleanor out of her trance. "Lights can be pretty distracting at night, keep your focus and you won't fall asleep."

"Right," Eleanor responded sheepishly, keeping track of the cars passing by.

Suddenly, a truck slowed down near the side of the road. Once it came to a complete stop, two humans emerged from the vehicle and walked to the back of the car.

"Jake," Eleanor whispered, "Who are those humans? What are they doing?"

Jake slithered to Eleanor's side to see what Eleanor was looking at. Upon seeing the humans two things came to his mind; one was bad, the other was worse. Either one of those thoughts sent his mind into a state of anger as his tail rattled at an alarming rate. "They're either dumpers or Rattlesnake Wranglers, and not the good kind," he hissed, venom dripping out of his words.

"How can you tell if they're either one of those?"

And as if the Spirit of the West had answered her question, one of the humans had taken out a claw like device and a canteen of gasoline from the trunk of the car.

"Shoot," Jake muttered as he started fidgeting a bit, wanting to get away from the area, "C'mon kid, we need to get out of here before they see us."

"But what about your status?"

"They don't care if I'm the Reaper, they'll kill us the second they take us away from the desert!" he whispered.

Eleanor looked back at the humans and saw them pouring the canteen over a rock, which is strange since there couldn't be anything interesting about that rock. Unless...

"Jake!" Eleanor hollered, her voice shaking with concern, "Is there a protocol for saving our kind?" This time Eleanor's voice was firm; she obviously knows what's going to happen.

"Kid, in this world, it's every creature for themselves. What ever you're thinking of doing, you're not going to go through with it," he hissed, staring her straight into her eyes.

Jake may be glaring at her with his scariest look but Eleanor wasn't going to be backing down just because Hell's staring her in the face. Instead she glared back at him with her blue eyes filled with determination and intent of going through with her plan. Despite her efforts, she knew it would be too much of a risk to both herself and Jake, with that knowledge she backed down.

Once Jake saw her stand down, he started slithering away from their surveillance spot. "Let's move it Kid. We need to find a clear opening where humans won't get in our way." He heard nothing but silence; not a single movement from her, not a single question. "Don't go pouting on me kid!" he hissed, turning around only to find her gone. "Kid!" he shouted, slithering forward and saw her slithering the fastest he's ever seen her move.

"I'm helping whether you like it or not!" she hollered, sliding towards a huge rock to hide from human's sight.

"This damn kid will be the death of me, I swear!"