Star People Legacy by Smith, T.L. (feel good books to read .txt) 📕

it.  “Just fucking bite me and get it over with.” It was a whisper, in the language I nearly never spoke.

The snake stopped rattling and dropped its defensive posture.

Ok…kay. Instinct rose up in me. I pulled my water bottle out and poured water onto the cave floor. It trickled down towards the snake. Miraculously, it stopped watching me, its flickering tongue lapping up the offering. “Thank you.” I whispered to the snake.

Leaning my head against the wall, the last few minutes replayed in my head. Lutz was dead and I was hiding in a cave with a rattlesnake as my new best friend. This was not how I’d seen this going. What was I going to tell Sabrina, his family? Silent tears trickled down my cheeks.

A little rattle from the snake got my attention. It faced the opening of our cave. I didn’t move, but the snake did, slithering closer to the entrance and recoiling. She didn’t take her eyes off the one way into our hideout.

“Dis’ it. There’s da guy.” Someone slurred with a terrible southern accent.

“And his bike, wait… there’s the other bike. I told you I got her.” The other voice was without an accent.

“Guess ya did. I’s sure she cleared da cliffs.” I heard a hard slap.

“Damn you! Shove me again and you’ll join our friends down there.” There was some grumbling and more cursing. Laughter. Maybe four guys? “I got her, but I don’t see her body down there.”

“Could be in d’hole, but we betta search. Boss’ll toss ya into dat pit if ya wrong.”

“Yeah, both of us. You two, head on down the path. I hit her, so she’d be bleeding. Get back here before it gets dark. We need to be over the ridge for our extraction.”

Hearing that, I looked down and saw blood on my leg. The shock of hitting the wall, then seeing Lutz die, must have blurred it out. I was bleeding, but not enough to leave a trail.

“Too bad they came back sticking their nose into our business. Jeeters said he was sure those papers would keep their mouths shut, backed up by sending them those threats.”

“Dey didn’t talk, or we’d be worr’in bout all kinda soldiers up in here.”

“Still, while no one’s going to miss the Mexicans, two Marines are another story. That Border Patrol officer is going to suspect they came back.”

“Itza lot of moun’ins and dey din come up da wash. Dey won’t find us. And dat loada bodies got dumped miles from ere. Maxi’s gotta a’hole new batch ta play with. Nough for us ta hold out until the army gives up.”

“If they find our friends down there, they’ll find bullet holes in them.”

“Won’t be no bodies if furred co’otes get’em. If na, da two-leg kind get blamed. We jus gotta lay low.” The speaker gave a sigh. “Shame, mighta been fun keep’n her round.”

“Yeah, like the boss would let that happen.” The other speaker laughed. “I was standing behind him and saw the look in her eyes. She’s the dangerous kind.”

“An’ we not?”

“Man, when someone stops asking questions, they’re ready to shoot. If Jeeter’d flinched, she’d have plugged him, me and probably a few more before we got her. If we got her.” He let out a sigh. “And I saw the tat on her arm. A Raider Cross with hash-marks, Special Forces with recorded kills. Nothing sweet under the skin of that dame.”

I couldn’t help but be a bit impressed that he saw my tattoo and knew what it meant. Few people outside the Marines did. And he’d been right. I now wished I had gone for the shootout.

“Come on, we better look around a bit more before the team gets back.”

“Ya right. She’s a lil thang and dey some big ho’s round ere.”

I tensed, knowing this was the only place big enough to hide me. My friendly snake hadn’t relaxed at all, still poised by the slit between cliff and wall. Strange. Since I could walk I’d been taught to respect the creatures around me, but until now it had been only a lesson. Now those teachings were proving to be something more, something spiritual. A connection.

The snake raised its head and tail.

“Hey, we gotta ho’!” The southern voice boomed into the little cave. I pressed as far into the notch as I could.

“Well, see if she’s in there.” The other man was a distance away.

“You look. I hate ho’s.”

“You big pussy.” The other man sounded closer. “Get out of the way.”

Just then my snake hissed and rattled its tail. I saw its head bolt towards the opening.

“Shit! Son of a bitch!” Both men swore at the same time.

“Damn fucking thing nearly got me.” I heard the click of a safety being released.

“Man, ya stupid? Ain’t nothing in dat ho’ but da snake.”

“We don’t know that. Draw it out and I’ll shoot it.”

My snake rattled more vehemently, but this time it wasn’t alone. I heard at least three more, though I couldn’t see them.

“FUCK NO! Da’s a whole nest of’em in der.”

I found it wildly ironic he was afraid of snakes, considering what he worked for.

“Okay, okay, back away.” Both sounded scared now. “She didn’t go in there.”

My snake and her friends rattled a few more times, then stopped, but she remained vigilant. I looked upwards. It was dark, but there were more notches in the wall. Clearly this was a favorite spot for them. Maybe a real nest. Arizona Diamondbacks were known to stay with their young, and co-parent with other females.

I went back to being nervous, sitting in the middle of a snake nursery, though they didn’t seem to care I was there. It was over a half-hour before the rest of the team returned saying they saw no sign of footprints or blood. Finally they all agreed I was at the bottom of the cliff too.

My friend relaxed her pose again, returning to a depression in the ground. Probably her nest. I waited another ten minutes before daring to