Chapter 23
Rani was getting lightheaded from the loss of blood. But she was not going to let this creep bite Mr. Snake in half! She rushed at the lanky man by giving him a punch to the face. Of course, her hand felt sore but it was the only way to make him let go of Mr. Snake.
Of course, he never screamed. His face had a twisted grin that reminded her of the Joker and his teeth sank deep into Mr. Snake's tail. Rani poked both of his eyes to make him release his grip onto the Eastern brown snake.
But this man wasn't giving up! He used his foot to kick Rani in the stomach earning an angry hiss from Mr. Snake to lunge at him. He was caught in the man's grip.
"Don't worry, little snakey! I don't wanna hurt ya. I just wanna bite your fucking head off and drink your blood! Come on over here, little snakey snakey. It'll be nice and quick!"
"Let go of him!" she yelled, pushing the creep's head aside so that Mr. Snake's tail was released. She began to kicked him and then pulled the serpent close to her. It was bad enough that the skeletal man had kidnapped her but biting Mr. Snake and making other snakes into wine...
"Thanks, Rani," Mr. Snake smacked his tail onto the ground. "We need to get the chief to see all of this. But-"
They were interrupted by a sound of something bursting. It was none other than Mr. Piranha, who was beginning to swing the skeletal guy around as if he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. Rani was impressed at the freshwater fish fighting a man that was at least six feet in height. Eventually, the skeletal guy was knocked down while Mr. Piranha tied him up.
"I got this guy," Mr. Piranha told them with a grin. "He's not moving while I'm here!"
"Quick! We gotta check if there are any survivors!" Mr. Snake instructed Rani as the both of them swept through the whole house. Rani was surprised when the serpent slithered into the kitchen just to turn off the stove but then realised that the house will explode and there won't be any evidence to expose this guy's act.
Rani gripped the blade in her hand in case this guy had a surprise up his sleeve. Her wrists were still bleeding and her head felt dizzy the more she tried to think about it. She felt something was off underneath the carpet. Using the blade, she poked the unknown bump under the carpet before slashing it open.
It was a hatch.
"Snake! I think this is a hidden basement!" Rani called out, which got the serpent to swiftly made his way toward where she was. He coughed out a small piece of wire, wriggling it against the lock from the hatch.
"Lock-picking seems to be your area of expertise."
"Heh, and very proud of that," he smirked at her while picking the lock with the bent wire. "Why do you think some call me Houdini-With-No-Arms?"
"I can see that," Rani smiled, trying to forget the pain and focus until the police gets here. Slowly, the both of them descended down to whatever the basement held. Rani switched on the light from her phone while Mr. Snake flickered his tongue.
"It's really warm in here," he commented quietly, holding out his tail for Rani to hold. "Which means that there is something or someone trapped down here. Knowing what that psycho's capable of, we better stick together."
Rani nodded, holding Mr. Snake's tail as tight as she could. Her heart was racing at the thought of finding something even more horrific than the jars and bottles filled with dead snakes simmering in liquid.
Using his keen sense of taste, Mr. Snake slithered to the corner of the basement and found a small sack. It was wriggling on the inside, making Rani helped him by using the blade to cut it open. Rani covered her mouth, trying not to retched.
Inside were a lot of emaciated garter snakes. Some with gaping mouths that were begging for water while some were too weak to slithered out.
She had never seen such a miserable sack of snakes. Mr. Snake on the other hand, had an unreadable expression. Shining the light from her phone, Rani realised that the basement was basically filled with living snakes that are minutes away from Death's door.
'For food, wine and other things,' she thought to herself with a shudder. She couldn't imagined someone would do this to snakes, let alone be a former employee at the ice cream cafe she worked at. The young woman rubbed the serpent's back, eyes welling up with tears at the sight while her head was starting to feel dizzy from her blood loss.
"I better take pictures and videos of them to report to the chief and Ms. Tarantula," said Rani. But Mr. Snake had not responded to her, his grip slipping away from her own. As much as the stench made her gagged, Rani knew she had to expose the creep's secret activity.
On top of that, she might as well confront her manager at Polar Corner about his employment.
"I hope this guy will be in prison for eternity," Rani murmured, snapping more pictures on her phone. She heard Mr. Snake hissing at something, pausing her photography. Walking to where he was, the serpent was coiling around a mangled corpse of a baby snake.
"Rani," he spoke with such venom in his tone. "All of this and what I've known all my life, us snakes are nothing but monsters. That's all everyone has seen us! What they do to us, everything!"
It was scary to see him this angry but if she were him, she would breakdown too.
"Snake...Not all humans are afraid of reptiles. Remember at the zoo? The keeper was keen on helping snakes and educating the public about-"
"That's not the point!" he snapped, turning his head at her direction. "When someone kicks a puppy or a kitten, that's abuse. But the same is done to a snake, people get rewarded for it! Hell, why do you think we are evil in every myth and legend?!"
"Not all though," she argued, taking a step further to him with an outstretched hand. "Some people revered snakes as a symbol for wisdom, health and youth."
He scoffed, gesturing to the whole basement. "Yeah right. And whatever this guy's concocted, he's probably going to sell us by the pounds at some night market in Beijing. Isn't that how humans get back at us? Decapitation, poison, food and beverages!"
Mr. Snake's anger and pain felt so intense that Rani eyed him with a soft expression, her hand was still out. "Snake, do you want to know why I didn't tell you that I was going to throw away the lemonade?"
He tilted his head in confusion. It dawned on him that he could've accompanied Rani but he was too focused on the baby corn snake. He shook his head at the thought. No way was he going to drag an innocent baby into this!
"You looked happy, Snake," Rani explained, reaching out to touch his face. Mr. Snake leaned into her palm, closing his eyes. "People were starting to look at you in a different light than what happened before you guys were arrested."
"Rani," he sighed, lifting his head to look at her. "I'd still accompany you even if it's for a while. Also, you were really going to fight that keeper if he tried anything, huh?"
Rani laughed nervously. "Yeah...I wasn't sure if he was going to kick you out or the both of us for that matter. Snake, you've helped me a lot since your debut at Polar Corner. I want to do the same for you because..."
"Yeah?"
Rani touched her head, feeling the pain while her vision was starting to get blurry. She couldn't hear what Mr. Snake was saying but she wanted to get the word out before her body gave up on her. She gently cupped his face to say what she needed to say:
"...I love you..."
...
Rani groaned, feeling the pain in her head and all over her body. Checking her surrounding, she realised that she was in the hospital. Her wrists were bandaged while she sat up. A lot was on her mind but one thing's for sure-
"Rani! Oh thank god you're finally awake!" the sound came from above. When she craned her neck up, she caught a glimpse of something red and black. It was none other than Ms. Tarantula. She leaped down from the ceiling, landing into Rani's palms.
"How long was I out?"
"Eh, just a day but I've never seen Snake so distraught before," said Ms. Tarantula. She told Rani after she passed out, Mr. Snake began carrying her to get to an ambulance. Mr. Piranha and Mr. Shark were the ones who kept an eye on the stalker while Mr. Wolf discussed a few matters with the police chief. Apparently, the chief was keen on talking down people like the creep and exposed all of their dark deeds.
It pained her that she wasn't conscious to help out.
"Wow..." was all she could utter out. "Nothing on the news yet, I bet?"
The arachnid shook her head. "Give it a few hours and it will make the headlines. One thing's for sure, I'm pretty sure it will give Snake some hope that there will be people who will see him as a good guy. Speak of the devil..."
And he had appeared at the doorway. Ms. Tarantula patted Rani's neck before scurrying off the bed so that the serpent could slither up to her. His expression was a mixed of relief and joy she could detect?
Regardless, she was so glad that he was okay and here with her.
He placed his forehead against hers, eyes closed before he kissed her on the lips. Every ounce of his emotion was felt through the kiss, to which she returned with the same amount to show how much he meant to her. His body coiled around her into a hug, careful to not crush her while she does the same.
He pulled away from the kiss, his tail cupped her cheek. It was bandaged from where the skeletal guy had bitten him.
"I thought I'd lost you," he voice cracked in a hushed whisper. He began to hugged her again, feeling something wet on her palms. He was crying and it pained her to see him like this. "I'm here, Snake," said Rani, smiling with tears in her eyes. "I'll always be here."
When the both of them embraced again, she heard a faint whisper in her ear:
"I love you too."
Just then, the door of her hospital room opened, causing Rani to stiffened at the sight. She pushed Mr. Snake under the cover to hide him. She signalled him to keep quiet, relieved that he cooperated. The person opening the door was enough to make Rani feel like a timid child again.
It was her mother.
Oh no! Looks like mommy dearest is here for Rani! Believe me, I felt emotional writing this chapter because I was watching the horrible videos of what people do to snakes that made Mr. Snake emotional