Hello, before we go to the chapter, a word in advance against the rattlesnake slaughter, which unfortunately will start this month again. Against the opinion of the emotionally cold organizers that it would be not so bad to treat rattlesnakes in this way, it has to be said that rattlesnakes, like other animals, can feel pain and suffering. So maybe this chapter will be a little expression of condolences for the rattlesnakes that are going through horrible things in Sweetwater, Texas this black weekend. RIP.

3. Doomed

It was late at night. Peace had returned to the circus square. In contrast to the houses in the city, where the drinking was beginning now more than ever. Jake could hear the roaring shouts of the drunks even to his hiding place. But he ignored the mindless life of the others. He just kept an eye on the tent. He was surprised that no one had come out like last night to go into the trailer. There was no sound from the tent either, which made Jake nervous.

What was going on in there? Should he check again?

As if on cue, a lamp at the tent entrance suddenly lit up. Jake pressed himself against the rock. Ramirez left the tent. He held a lantern and carried some kind of bundle on his shoulder. Jake couldn't make out what it was. The light and the moon were too weak for that. Ramirez walked away from the tent, but instead of walking toward the trailer, he walked away from the area. Jake let time lapse away a while before he broke away from the rock and followed the trail with his sense of smell. So there was no danger of being discovered if Ramirez should return immediately. The trail led up the hill towards the old mines. Jake narrowed his eyes. What was this guy up to do in the middle of the night?

It was lonely near the old mine. In front of the next tunnel, there were dilapidated shacks of old wooden huts. Ramirez stopped next to one of them. On a hook, he hung the lantern and turned it on full. Then he threw the bundle off his shoulders.

Jake, who had been following him so far, peered around a rock. The lantern light illuminated the surroundings well. Now Jake could see what Ramirez had been carrying and throwing on the floor all along. The four little rattlesnakes were tied together like a bundle of straw. They struggled in the ropes, but they found no way to get free. Ramirez leaned down to them. A knife flashed in the light. Jake heard a child's muffled cry. Since he couldn't hear a clear call, the snakes' mouths were probably tied again. Ramirez cut one loose and dragged it behind him by the tail like a wet sack. The little rattlesnake wriggled like a worm in his grip. Jake could only guess that it was the same snake that had bitten the drunk. When the little snake pushed forward with its head at Ramirez, he gave it a hard kick. The snake cried out with muffled sounds, and it sounded almost like a whining beg. Despite its helplessness, it tried to put its body to the ground, but Ramirez dragged it mercilessly behind him.

He stopped next to one of the huts, grabbed the snake by the scruff and hung it on a high fence like an old piece of laundry hanging out to dry.

Jake didn't see much in the dark, but he felt confirmed in his suspicion that the little snake's mouth was tied with a robe again, from which it was now hanging in the air.

Then Ramirez took a few steps back, pulled out his whip and slapped the hanging snake a few times, which was followed by a series of whimpering screams. Jake's attention flicked briefly to the three tied together small snakes on the floor, making every attempt to wriggle out of the ropes.

One of them called out a bit muffled through the gagged mouth, probably a plea for mercy.

But Ramirez just spat on the ground and rolled up the whip. But in the same second, he lashed out at the snake children lying on the ground with his whip. The painful blow made the little ones howl.

Ramirez spat on the floor again. "You could have been spared that," he began derogatory, "if your brother hadn't behaved so badly today." He whipped the whip again, but this time loudly in the air. Apparently to keep scaring them. "If the others find out that I removed your venom glands and you aren't venomous, then my act is over."

Jake raised his head attentively. So that was the "trick".

Ramirez pocketed the whip and pulled a pistol out of his jacket. "I guess, I'll have to teach you that way so you can learn."

At first, there was absolute silence, but then one of the small rattlesnakes in the bundle rose and called out something muffled to Ramirez.

Ramirez clicked his tongue mockingly. "Too late for apologies." He reached into his pocket again and pulled out an oblong object. Jake's eyes widened as he screwed it onto the pistol.

A silencer. Nobody should hear the shot. Wretched coward.

There were muffled screams as Ramirez aimed the gun at the bundle. He fired, but he only shot into the ground next to the little snakes. The three snake kids cried out, rolling over, afraid he would hit them with a bullet.

Ramirez laughed in amusement and fired again, missing again.

Jake could only hear the little ones crying. At least Ramirez showed no interest in the whining reptiles in front of him and playfully he turned the pistol in his hand.

"Oh, you will be punished later. Now it's your brother's turn."

He turned away. But that caused one of the little snakes to raise its head and make loud wailing noises. But the tamer left it completely cold and turned to the still hanging rattlesnake. "Unfortunately, your performance today was lousy," Ramirez growled at it. "Do you want to know how to teach manners to someone who is misbehaving? Especially not at a performance?" He held up the gun. "I'll be happy to show you." He aimed the gun at the hanging rattlesnake. "You made a great fool of me today." He stepped closer to it. "Fortunately, I'm good at putting on a show with just three tapeworms." The bullet hit the rattlesnake boy almost in the middle. No shot was heard, but the snake flinched violently, followed closely by a stifled scream. Ramirez let a few seconds pass, letting the wounded snake wriggle in pain. Apparently, he was amused. Eventually, he punched the boy in the side, causing the hanging snake to buckle. Then he grabbed its tail and pressed the pistol to its head.

A switch clicked in Jake's brain at the sight, turning off everything around him. All he could see was a tunnel vision, controlled by a blind anger. He no longer felt himself sliding down the hill. Fast but almost noiseless.

In that one second, the tamer caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He fired the bullet into the snake boy's head, but this momentary distraction had caused him to swivel the barrel of the pistol slightly to the side. Ramirez turned to Jake, but he didn't get to fire a shot at him. Like a wall, the Western Grim Reaper threw himself at Ramirez and grabbed him in his deadly chokehold. Loaded with anger, Jake squeezed hard. It was only a matter of seconds. Jake felt nothing but a crack between his body loops and his victim's pulse dropping abruptly. Jake stayed like this for a few more seconds, then he released his choke hold and Ramirez's body fell to the floor.

Dead silence ensued. As if the air all around had stopped breathing. Everything seemed dead.

Still shaking with anger, Jake stared at the dead body. A murder without pay. At least he hadn't had to waste venom or bullets on that garbage.

At some point, he turned away from the corpse and his gaze wandered to the small rattlesnake still hanging on the fence. Hesitantly, he approached it and felt the body. The boy had stopped moving, but Jake could still feel a faint pulse. He flicked his tongue. He smelled the blood oozing from the gunshot wounds. Gently, Jake wrapped a part of his body around the hanged snake boy and pulled him off the fence. He looked at him carefully. The eyes were closed and, as suspected, the snake's mouth was stuffed with a cloth and tied with ropes. The bullet had hit the head, but death had not yet occurred. Jake stared down at him in silence. Should he put the boy out of his misery? A headshot didn't mean he was going to die, but was it worth doing anything else?

Jake held the snake boy closer to the lantern light. With every movement he made on the boy, he felt the slight spasms of the little body. Jake was torn. He was about to just put the coup de grace on the boy, but eliminating his own species wasn't his style, especially under these circumstances.

Jake began to feel a rush that made his pulse beat faster. If he still wanted to do something, then he had to get away from here as soon as possible. The next doctor he knew wasn't around the corner, but the longer he waited, the more the boy's chances faded.

Jake looked up when he heard a rustling sound, not far away and turned to the small tied rattlesnakes. Jake caught their anxious looks. They were breathing heavily and their mouths were also gagged in the same way as the boy who was shot.

With a sigh, Jake crawled towards them. Ramirez had tied them up really tight. It was a miracle that the little ones could still breathe with their lungs, but untying the bonds would take some time for Jake, without hands and knife. And that's exactly what he didn't have.

Carefully, he pushed his tail tip out and wrapped it around the bundle of snakes. The children's bodies were cramped, but at the same time thin and exhausted. They had hardly been given anything to eat in captivity. As soon as Jake had a firm grip on them, the little ones squirmed violently. They probably expected the same thing to happen to them as their former tormentor. Jake could imagine that his glowing eyes were demonic to the little ones, but there was nothing he could do about that now. However, he couldn't do much with wriggling snake children. He didn't want to take the risk of transporting them in his mouth and there was a risk of injuring them with his venomous fangs.

"Stop it!" Jake instructed them. "I don't plan on doing anything to you, but if you keep acting like this, I might as well just leave you here. I can't waste any time because of you." His eyes wandered to the rattlesnake boy. "If he stays here any longer, he'll die." Jake couldn't say whether the boy had any chance of survival, but at least he still had a minimal one. "So you're going to keep quiet now?"

At first, the snake children remained dead still. They looked distraught, which Jake didn't blame them for. Eventually, one of them nodded with its head, which brought Jake back to a more peaceful tone. "There we go."

Deftly, he maneuvered the tied snakes onto his neck below his head. Jake could feel their violent heart beatings. He placed the wounded snake on his back. Because of his bullet belt, it couldn't slip away from him. After he was sure that the little ones couldn't fall off his neck, he started to move. He didn't even bother to get rid of Ramirez's dead body and left the area as fast as he could.