Chapter 12: Rattlesnake Roundup Part 2

(Hey guys! First of all, I wanna say sorry for the long-as-Hell-wait. There was an original story on another site that needed my attention and it took a little longer than expected. But I'm here now and if you're reading this, that means I've gotten a new chapter to ya. There is a little more plot building and all that jazz but I promise we'll be getting to the roundup very soon. In fact, the gore hounds and horror fiends reading this might just enjoy this scene...)

When Lisa found herself back in the old slaughterhouse where she had first met the Beast, she wasn't as shocked as she was the first time. She still felt unnerved, of course, what with the scent of decaying flesh filling her nostrils and the revolting sensation of warm blood between her toes. But she wasn't as afraid as last time. She considered the possibility that one visit to this damned place was enough to get her used to the idea of it being in her mind. Ironically, that thought chilled her to the bone.

"Hello?" She called out as she waded through the blood. "Are you home? Where are you?"

"Over here!" The Beast shouted. Lisa turned to her right and found her masked doppelganger holding another skinned body above her. Blood was dripping down from the corpse, over her bare arms, and onto the rest of her body. From her fanged jaws, the Beast's almost serpentine greedily lapped up some of the stray droplets with a delighted moan. Lisa gagged and covered her mouth before forcing herself closer. As she neared the manifestation of her killer instinct, she noticed that her other half was standing in front of a low, empty meat hook. "I'm afraid to ask but just what the actual fuck are you doing?"

"What? A girl can't have a little fun on the job?" The Beast teased without bothering to look at Lisa. "I'm just sampling the latest addition to our collection."

"Our collection?" Lisa asked with a raised eyebrow. "What collection? What are you on about now?"

The Beast sighed. "I guess I'll just have to show you." Then, without warning, she impaled the skinless body onto the meat hook by its throat. Lisa winced. She had become accustomed to violence but only when she perpetrated it. Seeing someone else treat a human body like that was just... ghastly. She watched as the hook suddenly came to life and ascended to the inky void above until the corpse was several feet off the ground. The blood trickling from its throat fell back down as droplets over its buttocks and as it came to a stop, Lisa found herself staring into its horrified face, eyes wide and mouth agape in a silent scream.

The most horrifying part about the whole ordeal to Lisa, however, was the fact that despite the lack of skin, clothes or hair, she could recognize the face making such a frightful expression. "T-Tobias?"

"You know, Lisa. I really do owe you an apology." The Beast cooed. "I gave you grief for staring at this guy's ass but not that I've gotten a hold of him and removed all those pesky additions," She sighed as she pawed at the corpse's feet playfully. "I can see what you saw in him."

"Hold on," Lisa looked around at all the corpses suspended in the air around her. Some were male and some were female. Some were tall and others short. Some looked as if they had been here forever while others, like Tobias," seemed fresh from the slaughter. "Are you saying that all these bodies are...are...

"Our victims," The Beast confirmed. "I did say I was born the day you killed Issac. Ever since then, I've been keeping the memory of those we killed here, suspended and safe for all eternity."

Lisa winced at the mention of Issac's name and the Beast noticed as much.

"Would you like to see Issac's body?"

"No." Lisa said firmly. "I don't." She took a deep breath and continued. "Actually, since you seem to be in a chatty mood anyway, I was wondering if we could talk about Krusty and the Rattlesnake Roundup."

The Beast seemed taken aback by Lisa's suggestion, even holding her arms up in surprise. If Lisa could make out her eyes from beneath her mask, she was certain they would be wide and astonished. Then The Beast chuckled softly and approached Lisa. "My my! Look at you! Taking the initiative!" She stopped once she was mere inches away from Lisa, her jaws dripping with foamy saliva. "What do you want to discuss?"

"Who we should go after first," Lisa continued. "Normally, I put a lot of planning into hunting a target. Where they live, what stores they frequent, whether or not they like Jazz. It can take me weeks to snuff out the target."

"So I've heard," The Beast growled in an annoyed tone. If Lisa could see her eyes, she was certain they would have rolled.

"But now I have two targets at the same time and only a small amount of time to prepare for either of them. Not only that, but both of them are high-ranking celebrities!"

"You're referring to the clown and the cowboy, yes?"

"Yeah! Krusty the Clown and the Rich Texan!" Lisa continued. "I have to destroy those two bastards before the Rattlesnake Roundup!" Lisa turned around. "But I won't be able to go after the both of them at the same time. I don't know what to do!"

"I take it, recycling the plan from the mills won't work this time?"

Lisa shook her head. "They're business partners now. I don't know much about big business but I know they'll be at each other's sides almost the entire time not to mention they'll be in the public eye! It's hopeless!" Lisa began to hyperventilate as her stress overcame her. She had never been put in such a situation before and, try as she might, she couldn't think of a viable plan. She clutched her head and fell to her knees in frustration.

"Calm down."

Lisa felt a hand gently press itself against her scalp. She looked up to see the Beast sitting on one knee in front of her. "You need to calm yourself if you wish to see this through. Take a deep breath and compose yourself."

Lisa wasn't sure what was going on. The Beast, who had been almost nothing but vindictive and cruel since the moment she first spoke, was now trying to calm her as if she were an old friend. She assumed there had to be some sort of reasoning behind this sudden "good guy" behavior, most likely her way of getting things back on track so she could "feed" again soon. Nevertheless, Lisa realized that, sincere or not, the Beast was right and so she took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

"There! Feeling better?"

Lisa nodded.

"Now look. We both know each other well by this point and our roles as the Animal Avenger are clear. You do all the planning and rescuing and all that other bullshit and I get the fun part." The Beast snickered to herself as Lisa rolled her eyes. "That being said, I do have a suggestion regarding this situation and I think you'll like it." The Beast got back to her feet. "You want to save the rattlesnakes don't you?"

"Of course!" Lisa jumped up herself, ignoring the bloodstains on her clothes and knees. "That's the prime objective! We have to save those poor snakes at any cost!"

"Then it seems to me that we should go after the cowboy first." The Beast continued. "Put all our focus on putting him under the ground!"

"That makes sense...but what about Krusty? He's still got all those poor circus animals and you just know he's abusing them!"

"Abuse is not the same as outright killing." The Beast placed a hand on Lisa's shoulder. "Those circus animals will still be alive after the roundup. Those rattlesnakes won't."

"Y...You're right." Lisa whispered, her lips quivering. Suddenly, she ripped herself away from the Beast's reach and backed away. "All right! What's your game!? What's with the nice guy routine? We both know you don't give Bart's yellow butt about the animals!" She pointed an accusatory finger at her inner double as she spoke that last sentence.

"You're right. I don't." The Beast admitted without missing a beat. "But you do. And like it or not, Lisa, this is a long-term partnership and we both know it." The Beast stepped forward. "I've been thinking about what you said since the day we killed Tobias and I've decided that you're right. The day will come when we'll have to finalize who we are. But until then, would it really serve either of us to be at each other's throats?"

Lisa stared at the Beast, her mouth agape with shock. "A-Are you saying you want to call a truce?"

"I wouldn't say that. I'll still be busting your chops whenever I feel like it." The Beast snickered again while Lisa moaned. "I'm just saying we are partners and we should act more like it." She held her hand out. "So, what do you say?"

Lisa stared at her double's hand, contemplating whether she should trust what she had been told. She took another deep breath as it dawned on her that there was no real choice in this scenario. The Beast was here to stay, like it or not, and if they could form some semblance of an agreement, even for a short while, that would make things so much easier down the road. And so, she took the hand and shook it. "Deal!"

"Perfect!" The Beast opened her maw a little and Lisa could swear that there was just the tiniest trickle of drool dripping from her teeth. "So, now that we've bumped the cowboy to the top of our shitlist, how are we going to punch his ticket in?"

"You just leave that to me," Lisa answered. "After all, I'm the one in charge of the planning, right?"

The Beast snickered. "Right you are, partner. Right you are."

And then Lisa woke up. She laid there for a minute, blinking frequently and making positively sure she was actually awake. Then she picked her head up from her pillow and grabbed her phone. It told her the time was 4:33 in the morning and Aristotle was sleeping soundly between her legs once again. She checked her skin for any sign of sweat and found none. She checked her heartbeat and found it was normal. She had just dreamt that she was alone in a dark slaughterhouse surrounded by skinned human bodies suspended by meat hooks while talking with a demonic version of herself with a fox mask fused to her face and she didn't feel the slightest bit afraid.

I'm getting too used to this crap," Lisa thought as she laid her head back on her pillow. She knew that it was futile to try and go back to sleep when school so close to starting but that wouldn't stop her from trying.

The schoolyard of Springfield High was as busy as ever that morning. Groups of teens swarmed like bees over the property, gravitating toward their friends and significant others. Talk of sports, movies, the upcoming prom, and the recent crimes of the Animal Avenger dominated the air. Within the clatter of student babble, leaning against the stairs leading to the school entrance was one Milhouse Van Houten, His eyes were red from a mixture of sleeplessness and the tears that had caused said sleeplessness. His hands were in his pockets and his head was downcast, studying the same pebble and discarded cigarette butt over and over again. Every so often, he would sniffle. "I can't believe I've been such a jerk to Lisa all this time and never even realized it." He thought. "And now there's no way she'd ever go to the prom with me." He uttered a choked sob as tears blurred the vision from his glasses. He took them off and wiped them against his shirt as Jessica and her clique approached the stairs.

"And then I said, I've heard of fashion victims but honey, you're a fashion genocide!"

Janey and Alex roared in laughter with the latter wiping a single tear from her eye. "Oh, that Polly! When will she ever learn?" She asked.

"Eh. Some people just make themselves too easy to mock," Jessica replied as she turned to Janey. "Right Janey?"

But Janey didn't hear her. Through her laughter, she heard a heavy sigh belonging to a familiar voice and noticed a tuft of blue hair sticking out from behind the stair's edge.

"Janey!" Jessica barked. "What have I told you about making me repeat myself?"

"Wha?" Janey snapped toward Jessica so fast, she practically felt her neck crack. "O-Oh sorry! Jessica. I just...err...left something in my car. You two go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Jessica narrowed her eyes on Janey who responded with a nervous smile and slight sweating. Finally, she sighed and continued her way up the steps. "I swear you guys can be so weird at times." She muttered as Alex followed her inside. Once her friends were out of earshot, Janey made her way to the side of the stairs, taking care not to give away her position. Sure enough, as she expected, that tuft of blue hair belonged to Milhouse who was sadly watching as a gentle breeze rolled away the cigarette butt that was near his feet. She noticed that his arms looked slightly bulkier than usual, causing her to blush. She shook her head until the heat went away. She opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, and then took exactly two steps toward Milhouse with her hands behind her back. "H-Hi Milhouse. What's wrong?"

"Huh?" Milhouse turned to face Janey and she braced herself for him to freak out that he was suddenly in the presence of a popular girl. However, his surprised face simply returned to its dejected expression as he held a still hand up in bare-minimum greeting. "Oh. Hi Janey. It's nothing."

"It doesn't sound like nothing," Janey said as she stepped a little closer. "Come on. You can tell me."

Milhouse looked at Janey again and then stared back at his pebble while speaking. "It's Lisa. I've been trying to ask her out to the prom for a while now and well..." He trailed off, clearly not comfortable with talking about the subject. Janey considered whether or not she should back off but Milhouse continued before she could make up her mind. "You know, when you love someone, I mean really love someone, you can trick yourself into thinking you've only ever done right by them. But I did some self-reflecting recently and I didn't like what I saw."

"What did you see?"

Milhouse sniffled. "I saw a jerk kid that exposed Lisa's ancestor as a fraud in front of the school for no reason. Who joined in on the teasing when she was ousted as Truth-Teller and not only followed her to college but then treated her like dirt when she tried to be friends with me. All this time, I thought I was one of Lisa's allies, the one person she could trust in this whole world and that one day, it would lead to us finally being together." Milhouse let out another sigh. "But that was nothing more than a pipe dream."

"H-Have you told Lisa about this?" Janey suggested. "Maybe if you apologized-

"I already have and she accepted." Milhouse interuppted. "But it's too late now. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have Lisa's forgiveness but part of me still wants her to be mine. I guess that's just my stupid male brain talking."

"Don't say that!" Janey shouted. "Now Milhouse, maybe it's too late for you and Lisa but you still have time before the Prom. I'm sure you can find a date, someone who really likes you for you."

"Hah! Yeah right! Janey, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better but you're looking at a guy who only just last year gave up sleeping with Puppy Goo-Goo in his arms and that's only because she fell apart in the washing machine. What girl in her right mind would possibly want to go out with me?"

Janey felt her cheeks heat up once again and she quickly turned away. "Well-

The school bell rung and the crowd of students herded themselves into the building. Janey sighed and went to join them. "Sorry Milhouse. I have to go. But chin up ok! There's plenty of fish in the sea!"

"Yeah," Milhouse sighed as he slumped down, waiting until the herd had made their way inside to head to class himself, tardiness be damned. "And I'm the blobfish."

Despite the strange-as-all Hell dream she had, Lisa's day had so far been pretty much in the realm of the ordinary. Breakfast was livelier than usual, thanks in no small part to her parent's renewed sense of romance. She and Bart could tell just from the pip in their step and the flair Marge put into cooking that they had made love last night, real hot and heavy love. Normally, such a realization would disgust the siblings but given the weeks of unspoken rage and animosity, it only served as knowledge of good times ahead. Suffice to say, Maggie was pretty chipper that her parents were getting along as well.

Not much had happened to spoil the mood once she arrived at school. Jessica was nowhere in sight and the Beast had kept her trap shut all morning. Lisa was now in music class, waiting for Allison beside her new friend, Clementine. "Class is going to start soon. Where is Allison?" She asked.

"I don't know. Maybe she's sick or something." Clementine suggested. Just as she spoke, Ms. Wallace walked into class and rapped her desk with her wand, signaling that she wanted her students to be seated. The band students complied with Lisa resigning herself to believing Allison had come down with something as she took her seat. She made a mental note to ask for extra homework to take to her later.

"Alright class," Ms Wallace spoke up once she was behind her desk. "Today, we will play Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky Korsakov. And please no in-talking from the nonparticipating students." With this, Ms. Wallace lifted her wand and began directing the girl on the violin to go first. This was common practice in Ms. Wallace's class. She would have the song composed with its normal instruments first then have random students try to repeat the rhythm. Lisa was almost always picked for this and licked her lips in anticipation of playing her saxophone to such an unusual tune.

"Psst, Lisa!" Clementine whispered as she tapped Lisa's shoulder from behind. "Hey Lisa!"

"Ms. Wallace said no in-talking." Lisa lightly scolded. While she could appreciate Clementine's free-spirited nature to a certain degree, she was starting to worry that her new friend would begin regularly dragging her into trouble after yesterday's fiasco.

"I'll make it real quick! I promise! I just need to ask you something!"

Lisa sighed and decided to relent if only to quiet down Clementine before Ms. Wallace took notice. "Ok, what is it?"

"Can you meet me at the Kwik-E-Mart after school?" She asked. "Just to two of us?"

"Why?"

"There's something important I want to ask you but I can't do it here." Clementine winked. "I'll buy the Squishees!"

"Ok, ok." Lisa relented. "I'll go."

"Yes! Thanks besty!" True to her word, Clementine sat back in her seat and waited for the violin girl to wrap up her piece. Lisa couldn't help but smile as she watched her friend keep her promise. She turned to face the front of the room and wait her turn as well, feeling on top of the world.

"You know, I don't think that's such a good idea."

Whelp. So much for that. "What are you talking about?"

"Meeting up with Clementine after school. I don't think you should go."

"And why not?"

"Just trust me on this, I have a bad feeling about this."

Lisa mentally sighed. "You just don't want me to waste time I could spend planning out Rich Texan's assassination, do you?"

The Beast remained silent and Lisa had to stifle a "Ha!"

"Look, I will have everything figured out by the time the Roundup arrives but until then, I deserve to be a normal teenage girl and do normal teenage girl things like hang out with friends at the Kwik-E-Mart!"

"Fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you." Just as the Beast stopped talking, Allison came bursting through the doorway in a panic. "I'm sorry I'm late, Ms. Wallace!" She apologized with wide eyes and profuse sweat on her skin. "I missed the bus and I had to run all the way to school. And then the security guard questioned me and-

"Allison!" Ms. Wallace shouted. "We do not care for your life's story. Just take your seat and be ready when the wand points to you."

"Y-Yes, Ms. Wallace." Allison sighed as she walked toward her seat. A couple of the other students started snickering at her predicament and she blushed and held her head down as she walked.

"Poor Allison." Lisa thought just as Ms. Wallace pointed her wand toward her. She almost missed it but once she spotted it, she quickly fixed her saxophone into position. "Oh well. Sometimes that's life." And with that, she began a slow rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee.

It was evening as usual at Moe's Traven. Well, as normal as it got nowadays. Homer no longer came by and as the days went by and inched into weeks, it seemed unlikely that he would ever return. Lenny and Carl would still come every night but it was clear that they were disturbed by the lack of a certain's buffoon's presence in the bar. The bar stool Homer would sit at still bore the indent his ass had spent the past few decades carving and every so often, when they thought that Moe wasn't looking, they would glance at it sadly. Another drinking buddy lost to the sands of time.

Moe, of course, did notice and felt no resentment toward them. Okay, he felt a little resentment but he's Moe! What do you want from him? Regardless, he kept it bottled up inside along with the rest of his emotions, and served them as if everything were still normal. But nothing was normal, not with one of his most loyal customers no longer coming in. There were times when Moe felt the desire to track down and talk to Homer, apologize, and get him to come back, for both his sake and the sake of his remaining clientele. However, he had bigger problems to worry about and one of them had just marched through his front door wearing sunglass, a grey fedora, a dark trenchcoat, and holding a suitcase that seemed to be moving from the inside.

"The new shipment of pickled eggs you ordered is here, sir." He called out as he approached the counter. Once he was in front of Moe, he lowered his glasses and whispered "It's me, Louie. The boss wants to talk to ya. He'll be coming in through the back and he expects you there in five minutes."

"Alright," Moe replied gruffly. He cleared his throat and spoke in a louder tone. "Oh thank goodness. About time you guys got here! Just go ahead and leave those eggs in the back!"

Louie nodded and vanished into the back door. Moe sighed as he resumed cleaning his mug. Ever since his "partnership" with Fat Tony, there's been a sense of dread lingering over this place, one, even more, powerful than the dread usually looming over Moe's bar. It was times like these that Moe was glad his clientele were mostly idiots for they had yet to have a clue about the illegal pet trade. And whenever their curiosity did peak, Moe was able to placate them with simple answers.

"Hey Moe, don't the egg delivery guys wear white or something?" Lenny asked through a sip of beer.

"Oh I got new guys hooking me up." Moe lied. "They like to act all dark and mysterious but the eggs still taste the same." He patted the lid of his pickle egg jar. "Yep. Same great taste for half the price. Heh heh."

Lenny shrugged and finished off his mug. He slid it to Moe who refilled it with beer and handed it back to him. Moe glanced at the cracked clock sitting above him and noted that three minutes had passed since Louie had entered the back. By now, he was sure to have let his boss and fellow mobsters inside to wait for Moe. He was given five minutes but he had enough experience with the Mob to know that really meant three minutes.

"Well, I better check on that egg guy, make sure he didn't get lost and whatnot." Moe stretched out his arms. "Might be in there awhile. Can I trust you too not to touch the tap?"

"Sure, Moe." Lenny replied.

"Whatever you say," Carl agreed.

Moe nodded and headed for the backroom, feeling guilty. He already knew Lenny and Carl well enough to know they wouldn't even dream of touching the unguarded tap unless prompted by Homer. As he turned back for one last glimpse of them, he saw that both men were focused on the TV screen. One perk about working with the Mob was that Moe found himself with some extra cash on the side, a little tip from every purchase made from the Mob's pet business. He decided to treat the guys by replacing his old fuzzy relic with a shiny flat screen with enough HD to see the pores on the skin of the Springfield Atoms. He shook his head and sighed. "If only Homer were here to enjoy it too." He vanished into the back room without another word or thought.

The room was twice as big as it used to be, due to the Mob hiring construction to prepare it for its new purpose. Along the walls sat cages and enclosures of all kinds; every single one had life. An anteater slept soundly near the entrance of the room, its long tongue occasionally lapping in the air as it dreamt of eating ants. As Moe made his way to the table in the middle of the room, he passed an aquarium with two horseshoe crabs resting inside, walked underneath a birdcage suspended in the air with a koala inside, and nearly stepped on a cheetah's tail as the big cat slept soundly in its cramped kennel. Already seated at the table was Fat Tony and his cronies. The suitcase Louis had brought in was sitting in the middle of the table like a main course, its zipper pointing directly toward the only empty seat left, the seat which Moe took.

"Moe," Fat Tony cooed. "So glad you could join us tonight."

"Yeah, yeah," Moe replied. "So what's this all about anyway. You may be using my bar as a front but it's still a bar and I have customers that need tending to."

"Easy, easy!" Fat Tony held his hands up, almost in surrender. "We promise to make this quick. We just wanted you to be aware of a new business decision we've made." He turned to Louie and nodded. The curly-haired mobster, now free of his hat, glasses and overcoat, unzipped the suitcase and sat back down quickly. Within a few seconds, a rattlesnake's head poked out through the opening, its little tongue flicking at Moe.

"Wha? A rattlesnake? What are you gonna do with that rattlesnake!?" Panicking, Moe immediately jumped into the worst possible conclusion. "Oh God! You're not gonna whack me with that snake, are you!?" He threw himself on the ground, knocking his chair over in the process, and begged Fat Tony for forgiveness. "I'm sorry I spoke out of turn, Fat Tony! Please don't kill me! I still got rat burgers in the fridge! Who's gonna sell the rat burgers when I'm gone!?" As Moe's life flashed before his eyes, he found himself thinking of Maggie more than anyone or anything else but decided he would keep his lips shut about her. The last thing he wanted was to give Fat Tony any reason to come anywhere near her.

"Moe, Moe!" Fat Tony said in an almost laughing voice. "We're not going to whack you! The rattlesnake is simply our latest addition to our exotic pet inventory. A few of the other mobsters laughed to themselves as Moe shakily got up, picked up his chair and sat back in it, all while staring wide-eyed at Tony. "Heh. Heh. I see. G-Good one Fat Tony!" He said sheepishly.

"More specifically, it is the layaway item for a certain customer we are hoping to meet at the Rattlesnake Roundup this weekend," Fat Tony continued. "They are an assassin who specializes in poison and venom."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Moe held his hands in front of him. "Poison and venom? Who is this psycho?"

"They call themselves the Viper." Fat Tony explained. "A freelance assassin whose services and businesses we have, how you say, associated with more than once. They are currently seeking new venomous animals to add to their repertoire of death and have received word of our latest business enterprise. Prior experience tells us they will pay handsomely for a fully grown Western Diamondback Rattlesnake." As Fat Tony spoke, the snake slithered out of the suitcase and slithered toward Moe. It raised its upper body to be at eye level with the fretful bartender, flicking its tongue and rattling its tail. Then, after what seemed to Moe like an eternity, it yawned and curled up on itself, falling fast asleep. If he was caught in a vice-tight headlock by fear, he would have found the serpentine display rather adorable.

"We've reached out to the Mayor and with the help of a little hush-hush money, we've secured a makeshift booth for your bar at the roundup."

Moe broke out of his stupor with widened eyes. "Wah!? You got me a booth at the roundup? Like, to serve booze?"

"Booze. Cigars. Rat Burgers. Sell whatever you want, it's your booth!" Fat Tony said in a cheerful tone that somehow managed to put Moe at ease. Said ease was erased when Fat Tony's eyes darkened and he suddenly got up from his chair and leaned toward Moe. "But just remember. At some point during the roundup, The Viper will show up to collect their goods and you better make sure the exchange goes smoothly or else." Without warning, Fat Tony slammed his fist against the table, startling both Moe and the rattlesnake which vanished back into the suitcase with a hiss.

"O-Oh right! I'll do it! Anything you say, Fat Tony." Moe complied. The mobster fell back to his seat with a content sigh and gestured for his men to get up. He got up himself, walked up to Moe, and planted a kiss on his head. "I know you will, my dear mulo. I know you will." He nodded toward his men who followed him out the back door, Louie rounding the back with the snake in the suitcase. Moe found himself sitting alone in a room full of cramped and agitated animals and as he mulled over the events that had just unfolded, he could only think of one thing to say.

"Shit."

"So then I said to Marsha, the only thing more endless than Pi is your mouth!"

"Haha! Man Lisa! Whoever said you weren't a riot was wrong!"

Lisa and Clementine had met at the Kwik-E-Mart after school as agreed upon. Lisa ordered her usual Strawberry Bubblegum Dream while Clenntime ordered a Blueberry Blizzard Blast, both of which she paid for. With Squishees in hand, both girls decided to make their way to the park as it was only a short distance away from the store and would provide them with plenty of private avenues to talk. The Sun was setting but still provided enough light for the girls to navigate the roads without hassle. They got to talking, pausing only to sip their squishes before continuing. Lisa felt at ease with Clementine, even more so than she usually did with Allison who, at the moment, was helping her father rearrange her music collection. Much to Lisa's pleasant surprise, the Beast, despite her protest earlier, had not spoken a single word since they arrived at the Kwik-E-Mart.

By the time the girls made it to the park, the Sun's final beams were inching toward the west horizon, painting the sky and by extension, the park in beautiful shades of yellow, red and orange. The duck pond the girls stopped at seemed to glisten in the dying sunlight, the dazzling light disturbed only by a mother duck leading her ducklings to the other side of the pond and a single frog that croaked and jumped into the water.

"Wow," Clementine whispered with her eyes glued to the pond. "It's so beautiful!"

"I know right," Lisa agreed even as she found herself less enamored by the pond than her new friend did. The small body of water, added to Springfield Park a year after her ninth birthday, held less-than-pleasant memories. Before she could be thrown involuntarily down memory lane by her guilty conscience, she hear the rhythmic beeping of a backing-up vehicle and turned around to see a couple of conrsutction trucks on the other side of the park, one pulling a giant wooden building behind it. The Rich Texan's smiling face was plastered above the front entrance, heading the sign reading "1ST Annual Rattlesnake Roundup's Sherieff's Office!" "Oh right," Lisa muttered with disdain. "I forgot they were having that awful roundup here this weekend.

"I take it you're not fond of the roundup huh?" Clementine asked with a smirk as she sipped her squishes."

"Are you kidding!? Why on earth would anybody in their right mind go to a festival actually celebrating the murdering of innocent rattlesnakes!? Don't tell me you plan to go!" Lisa finished with an almost pleasing voice.

"Sorry Lis," My Dad already bought us tickets, and trying to get him to back out on a deal he's already spent money on is like trying to catch lighting in a bottle." She placed and hand on Lisa's shoulder. "But it's just for the food and games. None of us are planning to stick around for the final event."

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die!" Both girls shared another laugh, Lisa feeling a little more at ease. She briefly wondered if her parents had already purchased their tickets and were going to force her to go despite her protest the other day, only to force those thoughts away. She and Clementine continued to stare at the pond for several silent minutes as the sky grew dark blue. Every so often, Lisa would glance back at Clementine whose's face, she noticed, was beginning to dim. Her wide, curious eyes were narrowed as if focusing on something in the distance and her giant smile had shrunk to a solemn straight line. It was clear that she had something heavy on her mind and it didn't take Lisa long to realize that it had to be what Clementine brought her here to talk about.

"Clementine," Lisa said softly, waiting for her friend to meet her eyes before continuing. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well...You see..." Clementine trailed off and rubbed the back of her head and looked away from Lisa. "This...is way harder than I thought it would be. Like super hard." As Clementine struggled to spit it out, Lisa noticed that her face was starting to redden. "She's blushing!" She thought which in turn caused Lisa to become uneasy. She had never seen Clementine flustered before and her mind raced with all sorts of theories into what could be racing through the trumpet player's mind at that moment.

"T-The prom's next weekend and...well..." Clementine trailed off again.

Lisa found herself relieved as she assumed this had to do with finding Clementine a prom date for real. Might be a little hard, she was sure but-

"Lisa, will you go to the prom with me!?" Clementine finally blurted out.

Relief, it would seem, never lasted long with Lisa. She was too stunned to reply for the first couple of seconds after the question, only managing to stare at Clementine with a gaping mouth from the shock. Once she recovered from said shock, she replied with a simple. "C-Could you repeat that?"

"I..I want to take you to the Prom," Clementine repeated, her face downward as she failed to meet Lisa's gaze. The starfish-headed girl couldn't comprehend just what the Hell was going on and chuckled nervously as she recalled the joking suggestion Clementine had made earlier. "Oh! I get it! It's like the joke from yesterday. Heh. Good one, Clementine."

"Lisa, I'm serious." Her face totally aflame now, Clementine looked away from Lisa while rubbing her arms. "I mean I was half joking yesterday but right now, I'm serious."

Lisa immediately felt guilty and took a step toward Clementine, reaching out to her. "Oh gosh. I'm sorry Clementine. I didn't mean to make light of this! It's just...I...I'm a little surprised is all. Why...Why would you want to go with someone like me? A girl like you could have anyone she wanted."

To her surprise, Clementine gently grabbed her hand with both of hers and held it. She seemed a little calmer although her face was still burning as was Lisa's. "Are you kidding?" She replied in an almost whisper. "You like jazz. You're an A+ Student and not to mention you're one of the kindest people I've ever met. I know we haven't already known each other that long and maybe its just a silly crush but ever since I met you Lisa, I can't stop thinking about you." Clementine's face screwed up again and she let go of Lisa's hands, looking away in embarrassment. "Fuck, I sounded so corny now."

"No, no!" Lisa grabbed her face and pulled her gaze back to hers. "It's fine. It's...sweet." Lisa and Clementine stared into each other's pupils for what seemed like an eternity to the both of them. Then, their lips met and for the next few seconds, both of them burned with a passion hotter than anything they had ever felt before. Lisa felt alive, like a living fire engulfing a forest, her entire body tingling in excitement. Her mind raced with thousands of images at once. Dreams, imaginations spots, memories, they all flooded into Lisa's brain like a river from a burst dam, yet this did nothing to break Lisa's concentration as she continued to make out with Clementine.

At least, until the image of the last time she saw Issac alive flew by. Broken, beaten, and betrayed. Tied to a tree and asking Lisa why. It only took a second for that awful memory to appear but it was enough for Lisa's excitement to suddenly turn to fear and for her to break the kiss and step away from Clementine.

"Lisa, what's wrong?" Clementine reached out for Lisa but the starfish-headed girl stepped back. Her breath was heavy and sweat peppered her skin. The image was now burned into her brain once again and with it, all the horrible moments that led up to it and the others like it.

"I...I'm sorry Clementine! I can't...not right now..." She clutched her head as if it hurt and continued to back away even as Clementine approached her. "I'm sorry." Without warning, Lisa bolted toward the entrance, dropping her Squishee on the ground. She vanished behind the wall of the park, reappeared temporarily to pick up the Squishee and throw it in the recycling bin and then vanished again, all while Clementine watched on helplessly and the last of the Sun's light died, giving way to the Moon and stars.

"Dammit, Mom was right." She thought bitterly. "I do move too fast."

(Wow! Now that was weird. Right? Ah your all big boys and girls. You can make your own desicions. All I know is that we have one, maybe two more chapters until the actual roundup and things are just heating up. I know it seems I'm focusing on the romance/drama crap a lot but believe me, I do have enough gore and kill scenes to balance this out later down the line. In any case, this is BSC and until next time, buh-bye!)