RANGO // OӘͶAЯ - Another Outlaw Story [Engl.]

3. A Stranger in the Desert

The snake blinked heavily. The pain numbed his body. He moaned.
He couldn't be dead, otherwise he wouldn't feel pain.
Damn! Death, did you forget me intentionally?
"Ho, ho, look at him." A voice sounded painfully through his acoustic meatus.
"Is he dead?" a young kid voice asked.
"Bullshit!" another kid voice interrupted. "Dead creatures can't move."
"Stanley!" a female voice cried. "Guard your tongue! Or I will wash out your mouth. Who taught you such kind of words? Shame on you!"
"Psssst! Keep quiet! Children! Keep away! He's waking up."
Little footsteps ran away. They pulsed through his nerves, but his brain was still addled to analyze more.
"Mister? Can you hear me?" A shadow entered his field of vision. "You had a bad crash."
Jake rolled out his body and...
"AHHH!" he yelled.
The sharp pain was too much for his weak ailing body.
The shadow jumped backwards and stumbled meters away.
"Good Lord!" a female voice cried. "Be careful darling! He could kill you."
The kid voices murmured. "Cool!"
"Stanley! Keep distance immediately! Portley! Stay here!"
Jake breathed heavily. His lungs ached terribly like after a hard marathon. He gasped several times for air, despite the pain which didn't release him.
"Damn!" he muttered with coughs. He couldn't find a point of reference. Everything rotated around his eyes. He vacillated and fell back on his back on the dusty floor again.
He used his tongue to taste odors. Damn! Where was he? Where was he? This wasn't the place where he had been moments ago.
He blinked again several times. Light shined through cracks. Where was he? A room?
His head ached. He got dizzy. He rolled around. Where was he?
At last, he managed to see clearly.
He lay in a dark shed. Around him wooden walls. Not far away a half-opened barn door. Sunlight shined into the room. He looked around with shaking eyes.
Farmer apparatuses hanged on the walls.
"Where is that bird?" he asked hoarsely.
"Aha, a bird. Is that guy here again?" he heard a voice, but he didn't see a person.
He held his eyes open and looked wildly around. "Who said that?"
"Over here."
A hand with fur waved behind a few wooden boxes.
"Are you coming in peace?"
"Is it an alien?"
"Pssst!"
"Attention!" a boy cried. "We have guns!"
"He too."
"Where?"
"Didn't you see it on his tail?"
"Shut your mouths, kids!" a female interrupted. "Stump. Ask him what he wants on our land."
"Of course, honey. What do you want, Mister?" the man asked, still hidden behind the boxes. "We have not many resources, but we can fight back if you want to attack us."
Jake's mind was already clear again. "I'm on a journey," he gasped.
"So, you aren't here to steal anything?"
"Why should I?"
I want to die anyway.
He winced when a rifle became visible, followed by a head, with hat and long ears.
Two other little heads appeared, with nosy little eyes.
Jake watched how the rabbit with the long gun holding on his chest came a few steps closer. He wore a gray shirt, a gun belt and a big widespread hat.
The kids wore the similar style. Blue dirty dungarees, and light brown shirts. They looked like twins, but their hairstyles were different. One had short hair and the other one longer combed hair with little bangs.
"But you aren't from one of the clans, are you?" the rabbit asked unsurely.
Jake didn't understand his question. "Who? What clans?"
The rabbit slanted his head.
"He seems to be harmless," he muttered.
"No rattlesnake is harmless," a female rabbit said quietly, who dared to look more behind the boxes. She was the opposite of the boys.
She was in white blouse, dark gray skirt, white apron, pinned-up hair and slim trim figure.
The male rabbit lifted his hat a little. "Maybe he is."
He turned around.
"Portley. Tell the others, they can leave their hiding places now."
The little rabbit boy nodded. "Alright Pap'. "
"My workers were in near, just in case. It seldom happens that a stranger comes in our land. Especially no snake."
Jake narrowed his eyes. "If you thought, I could attack you, why did you help me?"
"Well, your companions said that you would need a little help maybe."
Jake opened his eyes with surprise. "Who?"
His question got an answer when a little figure looked through the door and waved his wing.
"Hello amigo," Señor Flan greeted. Behind him his three companions.
Jake rolled his eyes. He averted his gaze and looked around.
"Where am I?"
"Mister. Allow me to introduce myself," the rabbit said and lifted his hat. "My name is Stump, that's my wife Megan, also called Meggy."
His wife nodded skeptically. The presence of the rattlesnake gave her the creeps.
The desert rabbit put down his hat. "Welcome to our ranch, stranger. And these are my boys. Stanley and Portley."
"Hey! Cool hat!" Stanley said, who wore the short hairs.
Jake winced when he felt something tapping on the top of his gun.
Portley looked at it curiously. "Cool gun! Is it loaded?"
Jake pulled it away from him. "Kids shouldn't play with weapons... oooooh."
He lowered his face and closed his eyes.
"Is anything wrong, Mister?" Meggy asked worriedly.
Jake shook his head slowly. "No, just a little..."
"Take it easy, Sir," Stump said. "We informed the doctor. He will come very soon."
Jake lifted his head quickly. "I don't need a doctor!"
I need a miracle.
"Don't worry, sir. You don't have to pay him. Just wait and everything will become okay."
Jake hissed.
Nothing will become okay anymore.
He pressed his lips together before he spoke: "Thanks for your help, but I'm fin...
"Ah, I'm hearing him!" Stump cried and perked up his ears. "He is coming. My friend is a fast one. Maybe faster than the fire department."
The rabbits left the shed and let the still irritated rattlesnake alone.
The snake sighed.
Dear, death, take me here and now.
He listened to when rataplan of chickens became louder. He recognized two roadrunners.
"At last!" he heard Stump's joy filled voice. "Why did it take so long this time? When Meggy got the kids, you were 25 minutes faster."
"Sorry, dude," Another man's voice apologized. "I had to wake him up when he slept in the saloon."
"Dogy!" Meggy cried. "You drunk again? I'm ashamed."
"Just a littl' bit," another voice muttered. "Just a little..."
"Come on!" Stump said. "He looks very bad."
"Don't worry. I'm the best..."
"...and the only one. I know."
Jake sighed.
Maybe I could sway him to give me the lethal injection.
The door shed opened and Stump came inside, with another rabbit at his hand. The rabbit was much older than him. He wore an old white, black doctor suit and had only one ear.
Behind him followed a desert shrew mouse in a gray suit.
"This is Doc, our doctor in town," Stump said and pointed at the one-ear rabbit, then on the desert mouse.
"And this is my friend Chorizo. And my custodian and a good friend of my family."
The desert mouse lifted his round little gray hat.
"You don't know me. You had been unconscious, when we found you."
"Uh... ehm...," Doc stuttered and lifted his hand. "You didn't say it would be an adult rattlesnake."
Stump crossed his arms. "Is that a problem for you?"
"I thought you meant a king snake, a rat snake, a noodle snake, a rainbow snake, a worm snake... yes worms, I thought you meant worms."
"Don't talk so much. Just do something. Don't you see he needs help?"
"Well, well, well, well, well, well...," the one ear rabbit yawed loudly. "Ohaaah... well, well, well..."
Stump gave him a sidekick.
"Uhm... oh, yes, yes, yes, yes... Where is your problem, sir? Where does it hurt?"
It took a while until Doc had palpated the whole body of the big snake. Jake flinched several times.
"How did it happen?" the doctor rabbit asked in astonishment.
The snake sighed. "A car."
"You crossed the road?" Doc asked with surprise. "That's very life-endangering."
"Who cares?"
Stump and Meggy exchanged glances.
At last, Doc disclosed his results. "I think some broken rips and bruises. And a brain concussion. The best thing is bed rest. But you need peace for a long time."
The snake narrowed his eyes. "And how long will that long time be?"
Doc shrugged his shoulders. "Two, three weeks. Depending on how you conduct yourself."
"Are you kidding me?! I can't stay here so long..."
"Mister! Don't move. Or do you want that it will become four weeks?... In the worst case, forever."
The snake hissed, but kept still.
"No problem, mister," Stump broke in. "You can stay as long as you need."
"Stump!" Meggy cried. Her arms akimbo.
"Uh... yes, my cactus flower?"
"Could I talk to you in private?"
Stump nodded unsurely and followed his wife, who pulled him meters away beside the shed.
"Do you really think that it is a good idea to take a rattlesnake under our roof? He seems to be a little nervous."
"Yes, but I think it is the strange area. You know, snakes always have to be careful. They have no hands."
"But he has a gun. That's very unusual. Shouldn't we inform the sheriff?"
"But darling, you know, he doesn't like snakes. He still didn't threaten us. I think he just needs a place to get a break."
"But why here? Couldn't we give him a house outside?"
Her husband sighed. "Yes, but look at him. I have the feeling that he needs our help."
"I hope you know what you are doing. Think about the kids."
"Don't worry."
He smiled and put his arms on her shoulders. "I promised you to take good care for you and them. And I always kept my promises until now."
Her wife sighed. "Yes, until now. But how long do you think our luck will stay?"
The desert rabbit had no answer, and took her in his arms.