I don't really have much to say for this chapter, unfortunately. I hope y'all enjoy it, though. There aren't many more to go.
Rango and Beans both hurried from the window and to the front door of the sheriff's station, opening it just a few inches as they looked out at the small horned toad lizard standing in the middle of the road.
"Waffles! Waffles, what are you doin'!" Rango called out to him in a frantic whisper, he and Beans gesturing wildly for him to get inside when they finally got his attention. "Get in here!"
Furrowing his brows, the smaller lizard held the pistol closer to himself and shook his head sadly.
"Dammit!" The chameleon cursed under his breath, looking to Beans. "What the hell are we gonna do now?" He looked over at Wounded Bird to ask if he had any ideas, but noticed the crow was standing stock still and his eyes were shut. Raising a brow, he walked closer, almost cautiously. "Err...deputy-?"
"Shh." The tall avian suddenly hushed, eyes still closed as his brows narrowed firmly in concentration. He then opened them and looked to the window. "...She's here."
Looking to one another in alarm, Beans and Rango rushed back over to the door and peered out just as a large, and all too familiar figure landed in the street. Jake was still looking through the window, not having moved, though his expression turned more dark as his tail gave a few barely audible rattles.
Waffles stiffened slightly, shoulders hunching as he felt the brief breeze from the eagle's wings behind him. Slowly he turned around, eyes widening and scales seeming to pale as he met gazes with Semira herself. However, the queen only smiled down at him in a calm, though unnerving way. He sunk a bit lower at her gaze, beginning to tremble slightly.
"And what might this be, exactly?" She said, the slightest sense of amusement in her tone.
The small lizard's knees started to knock as he tried to stammer out nervously, "I-I..."
"Oh, come now, don't waste your time trying to explain." Said the eagle, the tip of a talon tilting Waffle's head up as she leaned in closer and smirked at him. "A brave notion, little lizard, but foolish nonetheless. Do you honestly think you would be able to take me in a fight and actually win? Hm. If your other friends could do nothing, then neither could you."
Shakily, almost in reflex, Waffles panicked suddenly and shot the pistol right at the large bird's face. However, Semira only blinked slightly as the bullet bounced off her beak and shot in another direction. Her expression unwavering, she glanced in the direction the bullet went before looking back to him, smirk widening slightly. Waffles seemed to sink lower, dropping the pistol and holding his arms closer to his chest.
Chuckling, Semira circled him lightly. "What courage... And such loyalty and devotion towards that traitorous wretch you called your friend." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "A friend that would have been the very death of you, eventually. After all, young Adina was a snake. And i'm quite sure that you are just as aware as I am that snakes cannot be trusted." She brushed his cheek with a talon. "It would have only been a matter of time before she ate you. I, however, would never do such a thing."
"Y-y-yer lyin'!" Waffles cried with a flinch, fighting away the sting and moisture in his eyes as he shrugged off her talon and stepped away. "Sh-she'd never! Y-you killed her, miss...you killed her! A-and when she done nothin' wrong to anybody!"
The eagle let out a loud laugh. "Nothing wrong, you say? Nothing wrong?" She was suddenly upon the helpless lizard in an instant despite his yelp of fright, holding him to the ground with her talons tightly as her look became icy. "My actions were justified, you useless whelp." The jagged edges of her broken beak just barely brushed his snout. "She deserved every bit of what she got. Every rip and tear I left on her flesh. Every scream of agony that flowed out of her throat was like the purest symphony of closure for me." She squeezed him a bit tighter as he stared up at her in sheer terror at her words. "My only regret was not waiting to see her breathe her last breath. To see the light leave her eyes."
Rango, Beans, and Wounded Bird shared glances from inside the sheriff's station, Bird and Rango having gathered at another window with their weapons to try their luck with getting a clean shot at the eagle. They were stopped, however, when Jake growled at them sharply in warning.
Jake's features had turned from hateful, to just plain furious by that point. Semira's words sent another unwanted ache through his chest and a surge of rage through his body. He hissed silently at the sheriff and his deputy as he said lowly in a deathly tone, "If anyone's gonna be puttin' bullets into that bastard queen's body, they're gonna be mine an' mine alone." He snapped his gaze back outside from his window and brought his gun up beside his head, eyes narrowing sharply as he began to aim.
Despite the deep irritation the Golden Eagle was feeling, she did manage another smirk as she slid her talons lower, exposing the upper portion of Waffles' body. "It is a pity, though...you could have been quite the entertaining little addition to my new band of subjects. However...I shall spare you the pain of having to live the rest of your days knowing you could do nothing for your friend...and let you join her." She rose her free talons slowly, grinning at the pathetic whimper the smaller lizard emitted as he looked away fearfully.
Before the eagle could strike, a golden bullet shot past her face, grazing her other cheek. She let out a screech and whirled around, though keeping Waffles in her grip.
Wounded Bird and Rango blinked in surprise, glancing quickly to Jake in question, but the rattlesnake seemed quite bewildered himself as he continued to stare out the window, looking in the same direction the eagle queen was. Rango, Wounded Bird and Beans looked also, but the chameleon and the iguana saw nothing. However, Wounded Bird rose a brow at the sight of an unfamiliar rattlesnake, scales near as white as snow, coiled upright not thirty feet away.
Wyatt stared at Semira with a dark, loathsome expression. And, though the bullet seemed to have come from his direction (not to mention the ammo belt around his body, littered with even more golden bullets) he held, nor possessed any weapon that could have fired it. The older pit viper didn't even glance up as thunder rumbled overhead, his golden eyes staring intensely at Semira. "Put the lizard down." He rumbled.
Semira scoffed and smirked at him in a haughty manner. "And what will you do should I not decide to listen? Mm?" She asked, ignoring the confused look from Waffles, who could see or hear nothing from where Wyatt stood. She paid no heed to the droplets that fell onto her beak from the sky, either. "Kill me, old man?"
The old rattlesnake gave a minute shake of his head, snorting lightly. "No...because it's not my destiny to."
Scowling slightly, Semira looked down at Waffles for a minute before throwing him to the side harshly. He disappeared into a pile of crates, that of which his body immediately smashed though, sending splintered wood everywhere. Snapping her gaze back to Wyatt in distaste, the eagle said darkly, "Really now? Then, tell me...enlighten me. Whose destiny is it?"
There was a long pause before Wyatt's golden eyes shifted to the top of the sheriff's station as a familiar voice said calmly in a firm tone. "Mine..."
Her brows shooting up, Semira snapped her gaze in the same direction and screeched, just catching the quick movement of a black and white blur as a Black Racer vaulted from the roof with a sharp hiss and bit hard onto her face as her long body coiled around the eagle's own rapidly. Both fell to the ground and began to struggle as the rain began to fall harder.
Rango and Wounded Bird rose their brows quite high, neither of them having expected to see the female serpent again. "Adina?" Rango said aloud in confusion and wonder. "But...she-?" He blinked when Beans shoved between him and the crow to look outside herself, just as stunned as they were.
Jake had stiffened considerably at the sight, his brows slowly going up as he lowered his tail slowly. Any previous expression was gone from his features and was replaced with utter shock and disbelief. A familiar wave of warmth, that he had once detested, began to spread through his body at the realization of her being alive. However, he managed to shake the sudden sensations off and narrowed his eyes, hissing sharply as he quickly slammed open the door and shot outside, ready to pounce on the eagle himself. Before he could reach them, however, something struck him hard in side. The moment the middle section of his coils had left the building, three bats, having heard the cry of their queen, slammed into the rattlesnake and began to nip and claw at his scales.
Snarling, the outlaw managed to get his jaws around one of them, sinking his hypodermic needles deep into its flesh and beginning to release some of his venom. He threw it to the side and turned as another bat leaped for his throat, but was knocked away by a blast from a shotgun. Jake looked over to see Rango moving off the porch to the sheriff station, aiming his weapon at one of the other bats as Wounded Bird followed behind him. Just as Rango was about to fire off another shot to take out the second bat, a shrill screech made him glance over his shoulder and yelp as another bat dove down from the sky and towards him.
The bat raised its armored claws as it drew closer, and-
Tong!
From the winged creature's right, what appeared to be no more than an ordinary skillet flew out and whacked the bat in the head. It swerved with a dazed squeak and slammed into a nearby building.
Blinking, Rango looked over to see Waffles standing in front of the pile of smashed wooden crates Semira had thrown him into not moments before. The smaller lizard blinked himself and looked at his hands, beaming after a minute and looking back to Rango. "I can't believe that worked!"
Rango offered a half grin and tipped his hat slightly. "I owe ya one, Waffles." He tensed when more screeches began to echo through town, looking around as more bats began to show up. "I think we might be needin' a bit more than fryin' pans, though."
"Don't you worry none." Said a deep voice from behind the chameleon, causing him to whirl around yet again. It was then he came face to face with Wyatt, finally able to see him after having killed one of the bats attacking Jake.
Rango's face turned a slightly paler shade at the sight, not knowing who the rattlesnake was, of course. "Wh-what do ya mean..?" He stammered out nervously, not catching the confused look he received from Waffles behind him.
"I mean what I just said." The older pit viper stood up taller, towering over the two lizards. "Adina and I brought a few friends with us to even the odds for y'all a bit." He looked down the road again, in the same direction from which he had come. Rango looked as well and just about turned white from the sight that greeted him.
There they all were, 27 green, ghostly figures sitting atop their Road Runner mounts, as well as one, much brawnier figure, seated on a Javelina in the back. Each of which were still as faithful to their fallen masters in death as they once had been in life. Despite the transparent look of the undead outlaws, their mounts were much more real in appearance, despite the fact a great deal of them were nothing more than skeletons with a few hints of fur, feathers and rotted flesh here and there. With an array of war-like cries, the gang of outlaws began to charge forward as the rest of Semira's army started to join the fight now as well.
Jake, still attempting to aid Adina, who was holding off surprisingly well against the eagle despite the odds, sunk his teeth into another bat and shook the life from it as it squealed helplessly, slamming it to the ground. He was about to go for another when a shot rang out and finished the job before he could start. It was then he noticed the small army of outlaws Wyatt had brought with them, making him raise a brow high at the sight and share an equally bewildered glance with Wounded Bird nearby, who had just finished off a bat that had been going for him as well.
Snorting and shaking off the peculiar sight, having grown used to such oddities around Wyatt now, he turned his gaze and hissed at the fighting figures of Adina and Semira just down the road.
Both females had received a number of injuries from the other already, though neither were particularly bad. A few scratches here and there on Adina, a few missing feathers and bite marks on the eagle queen herself. Remembering as much as she could from what her father had taught her growing up, Adina managed to use the speed her species was known for and dodge most of the slashes and snaps from the bird's talons and beak, often delivering hard slaps of her own from her tail across Semira's body and cheeks. However, Semira, too, was known for swiftness, and managed to trick the Northern Black Racer into dodging again before snapping her beak around her body when she came forward once more. She then attempted to snap the serpent's body in two, but hissed when a few bullets struck her in the leg. Furious, she slammed Adina into the window of an old building nearby and turned to meet the attack of a familiar outlaw.
Again, Jake's attempt to bite Semira were abruptly halted when she grabbed him by the neck again with her talons, digging her others into the bandages still wrapped around his sides. Jake hissed sharply at the pain as fresh blood quickly beginning to moisten the once white cloth. He ignored it to his best ability and shot at the eagle once more, though she managed to dodge the bullets this time, shoving the rattlesnake aside roughly before he could fire again.
"Iv'e just about had enough of you, rattlesnake!" The eagle hissed, ready to attack him again when another set of teeth met with the back of her head, causing her to screech in pain. She growled in fury and twisted around to strike her attacker away, but trilled loudly when she felt a deal of feathers being torn from her head. She looked around and saw Adina slithering away quickly, spitting some of said feathers off to the side. Eyes narrowing sharply, she tore after the snake, swiping and snapping her beak at her, just barely clawing the end of her tail as she slipped into the old mill, or her current home. Of course, this didn't stop the eagle queen for long. She slammed through the large doors, breaking them clean off the hinges before pausing just inside. It was quiet, aside from the rain outside, which was steadily becoming heavier, and the ongoing battle down the other end of the road. She could see no sign of the serpent anywhere, but knew she was inside.
Scowling deeply, the eagle slowly stalked in further as her eyes scanned around empty crates. "Oh, you're going to try and hide from me, are you?" She asked, snorting softly. "How droll." A few floorboards creaked underneath her talons as her full weight pressed down onto them. She changed her tone to a more taunting, singsong one. "I'm going to find you, my dear...and once I do, I am going to make sure you are dead this time." She hissed, smashing a few crates out of the way, though nothing had been behind them.
Not a moment later, she heard a short whistle from above her head, looking up and screeching at the sight of Adina coiled around the rafters above, a rope held inside her tail.
"Not if you're the one who's dead." Adina replied coldly, snapping the rope with her jaws. A large tarp fell to the floor, revealing a very large chandelier made from hundreds of colorful bottles, ropes and metal that had been hidden underneath. It, too, began to fall, and the large eagle let out a long bird-like scream before it crashed into her, glass shattering everywhere and near burying her underneath.
Adina then flung herself to the platform above and along the front of the mill and slipped out the window, glancing up as the rain fell heavily and thunder boomed overhead. She dropped to the the muddy ground below and quickly began to slither out of town. She didn't glance back as she passed the lake, an enraged yell echoing from the building she had just escaped.
There was an explosion of wood as the eagle queen slammed through the left wall of the mill, shards of colorful glass sticking out of her now bleeding neck and back, a particularly large one embedded into her right eye. She breathed heavily as the remaining of her once rust-colored eyes nearly became overcome by red from her fury. She didn't even flinch as the rest of the mill creaked and soon collapsed into a dusty wooden heap behind her. She spread her wings and took off after the snake again with a powerful flap. Only one word was needed to describe the goal she currently pursued:
Murder.