Chapter 3: Journey Awaits
The young snake had woken up as the first rays of the sun hit his face. He slowly rised up his head and yawned as he looked around. The strange snake from last night wasn't there anymore. He slithered to the other two rooms of the den onky to see no signs of a giant black rattlesnake. Could it have been a dream? Before he could even shed a single tear, he rushed out of the den's entrance, hoping to see if he had left and is still in the den's range. He stayed under the rock that hovered over the den and looked into the distance, only to find no one around. He shivered lightly as he slowly lowered his head into his coils in despair.
"Hey"
A familiar voice made his head shoot upwards out of the coils. He looked around him to see where the voice was coming from. He looked behind himself, just to be met with happiness as he saw the rattlesnake from last night coiled up next to the entrance.
"I went out early and got myself breakfast, and I figured you'd be hungry so I saved you some." He grabbed a roadrunner leg that he had set beside him and tossed it into the smaller snake's direction which quickly landed right in of him. The small creature didn't even know where to start, considering he hadn't eaten a thing. He wasted no time and started to chow down. The rattlesnake looked on, waiting for the best time to speak. When the smaller snake finally started to slow down, the bigger one finally decided to talk.
"I decided it would probably be best for you to come with me from now on. It won't do you any good sitting here all alone." The small snake stopped eating and looked on confused. The rattlesnake still didn't know if it could understand him or not, but he continued.
"We'll leave as soon as you're done eating. We've got a long way to go until we reach my den." Just then, the younger snake nodded in agreement and went back to eating. The rattlesnake took the answer and gazed out into the open desert.
A sudden bump stopped him from spacing out. He looked to see the younger creature looking back at him. He looked to see the leg which was almost down to the bone, then he looked back down to the snake.
"You all done? We should probably get goin' then." He tilted his head, signaling the snake to follow him. The small one noticed this and started to follow close by his side. Just before they left the den for good, the rattlesnake stopped.
"I don't think i've introduced myself yet. The name's Odis. And yo-" He abruptly stopped and looked back at the snake.
"Oh, you probably didn't get a name, did you?" The smaller snake lowered his gaze to the ground at his point. Odis nodded and looked to the side and tried to think.
"Well you see, I'm not great when it comes to names. So fer now I'll just call you..." He thought for a few seconds, waiting for names to come to mind.
"How 'bout... Addy?" He cringed at the thought about how that was the forst name that came to mind. But that quickly caught the little snakes attention off the ground and looking back up with a smile across his face. Odis was shocked at first.
"You, like that name?" The smaller snake nodded his head up and down.
"Well, Addy it it then." After finally agreeing upon a name, they both set out into the open desert. After a while, Addy looked back at the den he was born in, the place he was abandoned in. But he was leaving it all behind. He's now off with someone who cares about him now, there should be no reason to let the past get to him now or ever. Soon enough, the old den was no longer within their sight.
The sun was about to set behind the horizon. The two snakes had been traveling all day. They had a few breaks every once in a while, but immediatly set off after a few breaths.
"Well, here it is." Addy looked up to see what Odis was refering to. There stood a dead tree that looked as if it had dried and shriveled up ages ago. Between its roots was a large bull skull.
"Home sweet home." Odis started his way toward the tree, no sooner, Addy followed close behind. As they got to the skull, Odis slithered his way through the eye. Knowing Addy would be too short to reach the eye, he left his tail out on the ground and signalled him to get on. Upon seeing this he coiled around the bigger snakes tail as it elevated off the ground and into the eye. As he got inside, he dropped himself onto the ground and saw Odis waiting for him. In front of him was a hole in the ground, leading to Odis' den.
"How 'bout you go on down first, I'll follow behind." He backed away from the entrance allowing the smaller snake to go through. Addy followed through and slithered down the tunnel. When he got to the end, he saw that the den was honestly a lot nicer than the last one. It was bigger, there were more rooms other than just a kitchen and a bedroom. Odis slithered out of the tunnel and along side Addy.
"Hope you like it, this is where you'll be staying from now on." He soon noticed Addy's constant yawning.
"You must be pretty tired after that trip, huh? I'll show you the way to your room if you want." The smaller snake nodded and followed Odis to the guest room he had. Odis entered the room to turn on the lanturn that lit it up. The room had some crates filled with amunition and other things for storage reasons, but other than that, it did have a bed and a few blankets. Odis started moving crates along a wall to keep them out of the way.
"Sorry fer the mess. I haven't had guests fer a while so I just used this room fer storage. But I can set it up real quickly."
After the room was set, Addy slowly slithered onto the bed and coiled up.
"Hope ya like it kid, see ya tomorrow." With that, Odis turned off the lanturn and left the room, leaving the small snake to sleep peacefully.
After dealing with the kid, Odis slowly entered his room. He pulled the piece of paper out of his belt and rolled it out onto the wall. He grabbed a nearby knife and threw it at the paper, stabbing the middle.
"Even if it kills me, I'll end that wretched tradition one way or another." He stared daggers at the paper for a few seconds before slithering off to his bed.
The paper he stabbed, was a rattlesnake roundup poster.