Venomous [Engl.]

5. Until the last drop

Days passed and gradually Bill lost all sense of time. He could only follow his internal clock, which told him if it was day or night. But he could hardly remember how long he had been in captivity and the constant milking of venom was giving him trouble.
When, as so often, he was led back into the milking room, he noticed that this time there was another person present in addition to the lynx. It was a badger, also in a white coat and thin gold glasses on his snout. Their eyes met briefly and Bill thought, the badger gave him a regretful look.
When the moment finally came when the cloth was removed from his mouth, Bill immediately took the opportunity to say something.
"Are you kidding me?" he said hastily, with a worried look at the broadly built Mister Tender next to the lynx. "I needed time for my venom. If you take it from me too often, you won't get enough out."
But Dr. Docan just shrugged. "We're pressed for time, Mister," he dismissed his argument. "We can't accommodate any extra requests, got that?"
Bill let out a growl. "Then what's the point...?"
But the bystanders didn't allow him any further questions and immediately they forced him to press his venom into the funnel, like last time. And, as Bill expected, the result wasn't exactly productive.
"I told you so," Bill gasped after the rubber ring had been pulled out of his mouth. "I can't...!"
The big beefy desert cat Tender put his fist in front of his face. "Just shut up. The doctor decides that."
Dr. Docan motioned to the badger and this one strode towards the Gila monster. Bill looked at him skeptically. Was he as psycho as his colleague?
Reluctantly, Bill opened his mouth as the badger pushed his lips open with nervous fingers.
The doctor didn't have to look in long to give his verdict. "You milk him far too often," he complained.
Dr. Docan ignored the accusation. "We just have so few Gila lizards. And the amount we can get out of each milking isn't that much either."
The badger let go of Bill and walked sternly towards Dr. Docan to. "If you milk him that often, it's no wonder."
Dr. Docan lifted the corners of his mouth slightly. "Then we should squeeze the last bit out of him as soon as possible." He cracked his thin finger paws audibly. "And anger is still the best way to do it."
Before the badger could object, some guards had untied Bill from the bars and forced him to his knees. Bill struggled against this rough treatment.
"What else do you want from me?!" he yelled at them. "What do you think I am? A vending machine?"
"Open your mouth!" Tender snapped at him.
Bill was still trying to talk while the rubber ring was stuffed into his mouth and he was bent over. At first, he didn't know what to do until he suddenly felt a pain in his back. Stunned, Bill looked behind himself. Mister Tender had pulled out a whip. And he didn't let long elapse before the next blow. Bill was close to tears, but he definitely didn't want to show them and suppressed them at the last second.
Dr. Docan had meanwhile approached Bill and eyed the glass under Bill's funnel with dissatisfaction. "Finally do it. We don't have all day."
Bill cried as the next crack of the whip swooped down his already sore, battered back. He gritted his teeth in anger, which in turn activated his venom glands. But all he brought out were just a few meager drops of venom.
Dr. Docan glared at him. "That's all?"
Instead of a reply from Bill or anyone else, another crack of the whip cracked the air. Bill kept clenching his teeth, but his vemom reserves were completely used up. After all, Bill couldn't help it. He fell forward and landed exhausted on the ground.
"He can't take it anymore," he heard Mister Tender say.
"Carry on," Dr. Docan's relentless voice urged through to him.
But the Gila monster stopped responding. They could hit him with a whip so often. Not even when the guards kicked and yelled at him. His body was numb. As if someone would suck his life energy.
"Stop that," he heard the badger talking. "He's on the limit! Don't you see that?"
He didn't get the rest. Only they yanked him up, removed the rubber ring from his mouth, and dragged his body out of the room.
"Inform the collectors," he heard a voice from afar. "They should better look around for more such animals."


Without resistance, Bill allowed himself to be transported back to his cell. It took a while for the Gila lizard to regain some sense. The first thing he felt was pain in his back where the cold material of the pillar touched him. He couldn't even tell if he was bleeding.
Groaning, he pressed the back of his head against the pillar.
He wanted to go home. Damned! He wanted to go home!