The Starling Saviour

Chapter 15

Laurel screamed as the snakes started surrounding her instead of us, as though they now were her prison until we broke her out.

'Aren't they beautiful?' Bellini asked in admiration. 'And Vipers also have one of the world's deadliest bites.'

I could see Laurel shaking uncontrollably, as though snakes we're her worst fear. Maybe her worst fear was being abducted instead, but hey ho.

'What will you do to her?' I asked nervously, not daring to move if one of the snakes decided to pounce.

'Well, if you start fibbing, I can tell my... Little friends to kill her in an instant,' Bellini said grimly. 'So you better start talking.'

'Why all the snakes?' I repeated my first question, utterly bewildered.

This type of threat was on a whole new level than any other criminals I had met.

Bellini laughed deeply, as if I had told him the funniest joke in the world.

'My, my, your language skills are poor,' he shook his head in disapproval, walking towards a banner with the gangs name and emblem stitches into it, which I hadn't noticed before. 'Our name is what we stand for. And we like to take things... literally.'

He pointed towards the snakes. The snakes... Why did he say that it was literal to have snakes as your weapons? And what about my language skills?

'La Culebra, if you haven't realised already, is the Spanish word for snake.' He walked over to where we were knelt.

So that's why.

'And, like the snake, we want to poison this city, starting with the Glades. We will pounce at any given moment, and squeeze the life out of anyone who stands in our way.'

Bellini ordered one of his men to Laurel, the man suddenly strangling her just so she would be spared her life.

'Stop!' Tommy and I shouted together in upset.

It was truly awful to watch.

Bellini clicked his fingers at the gang member, who seemed to be getting a bit too carried away. He stopped, and returned to the rest of his group.

'And now, question time,' Bellini smirked. 'And remember, if you decide to escape, your dear friend won't survive to see another day.'

'She will,' a familiar voice spoke out from the gang.

The man who had strangled Laurel now had his face exposed, and he wasn't an enemy. It was Ted.

Bellini obviously knew who he was.

'Hello, old friend,' Bellini smiled insincerely with that smirk he always wore. 'You've just made this decision a lot easier.'

Taking some sort of fob from his pocket, the snakes started to bite Laurel, poisoning her body.

This couldn't be happening. Ted was supposed to save people, not let them die.

'Laurel!' Tommy cried as I ran to her limp and paled body, trying to get her help as soon as possible.

As the snakes turned towards me, I aimed my gun at all of them, shooting them perfectly each time.