Killer's Eyes [Engl.]

1. Merciless

He had to escape. He had to get away from them. They mustn't catch him.
Rango clapped spurs to his roadrunner and the riding animal took everything from the reserve. He heard thundering gallop of chickens behind him. They caught up with him soon. That mustn't happen. The chameleon clapped spurs to his roadrunner again.
"Faster, faster!", Rango pleaded.
Don't let them get closer, otherwise everything is over.
Why was he so careless and ventured into the area of the Jenkins family?
Why?
What made him do that?
Was it carelessness, stupidity or posturing?
Or the comments of some town people, who claimed he would never dare to challenge the Jenkins-Cousins?
Did he therefore say, he could rival with anyone and sneak into the area to arrest the Jenkins-Cousins?
Maybe everything would go according to plan when the Jenkins-Cousins would not have been on alert and had ambushed him. In contrast to the town people the Jenkins-Cousins had convinced that he had really killed their relatives. No wonder that they were very angry about him and hunted him through the desert for one hour.
They're still behind me, Rango thought in panic.
If they catch him, he will certainly nothing have to laugh. Rango looked around desperately. Dusk was approaching, but with no place to hide. Around him only desert and barren rocks of stony hills. Maybe he could hide behind the cairns, but the stones are too flat. He couldn't hide.
Rango screamed in horror as the roadrunner stumbled. Both lost their balance and fell to the ground. Rango stood up quickly and tried to give the roadrunner a leg-up.
"Come on! Stand up!"
But the roadrunner was too exhausted. It couldn't stand up. The animal lay on the ground with panting and gasping for air. Once again Rango tried to get the animal back on its feet, but then he startled.
"Over there he is!", he heard one of the Jenkins-Cousins. "Grab him!"
Six other riders appeared.
Driven by panic Rango ran on without roadrunner. The fear rose inside him when he saw the seven Jenkins-Cousins on their roadrunners coming closer.
"No!", Rango cried and ran at a faster pace. The galloping sound of his pursuers behind him grew louder and louder. Suddenly the leader was right behind him.
Rango got out of the way of the Jenkins-leader's grip, bent to the right and ran about the flat stone hills.
The leader of the Jenkins-Cousins was annoyed at first. But then he uttered a loud curse and rode again behind the lizard.
His other cousins followed him.
Rango tried to concentrate. It had become difficult to see anything in the dusk.
A glimmer of hope rose inside him when he saw a small range of hills in front of him.
He turned off to the right and ran behind the cairn.
Rescued, he thought hopefully. Now he just had to find a suitable hiding place...
Suddenly he banged against something big. He rebounded from it and landed hard on the ground. With groaning, he rubbed his lower back.
"What the...?"
His breath caught. Instead of a rock wall it began to move and took shape. Rango's blood ran cold when two glowing eyes stared at him.
"What the hell are you doing here?!", Jake hissed angrily.
Rango didn't know what to say. Frightened, he tried to hide behind Jake.
"The Jenkins-Cousins are after me! Hide me, please!"
Jake looked at him speechless. But then his speechless changed into a spiteful, mocking laughter. "Hide you? Are you crazy? Forget it!"
With these words Jake crawled away in a high speed.
"Wait! They're going to kill me!"
"I don't mind!", Jake shouted back sarcastically.
Rango watched helplessly how Jake was climbing up a high rock hill. At the top he paused and looked down gleefully at the chameleon.
Rango winced as he heard the voices of the Jenkins-Cousins.
"Seek him! He can't be so far away!"
In panic Rango climbed up to Jake. But as soon as he was on the top, he looked scared into Jake's revolver.
"No step further, sheriff! Or you're earlier dead than you prefer."
Jake smirked gloatingly. But Rango wasn't in a laughing mood and looked pleadingly at Jake.
"Jake, please! Help me, please!"
But Jake didn't let him finish and pushed him down. Rango lost his footing and fell down the steep wall. He crashed hard on the ground and stayed lying down.
Jake looked down darkly at him. When he heard the voices of the Jenkins-Cousins he chose to backtrack and left Rango alone.
Meanwhile, Rango had recovered from the crash and straightened up with moaning.
Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and someone pulled up brutally him at the shoulders. "Now we've got you!", the leader of the Jenkins-Cousins said and laughed spitefully.
Rango tried to free himself from their grips, but the bandits grabbed his hands on his back. The leader had taken out his revolver and held the barrel to Rango's face.
"NO!", Rango cried, but then the leader took his weapon down again.
"Did you really think we would shoot you? No. That's would be too easy. It will be slowly and very painfully."
"But I didn't shoot the Jenkins-Brothers..."
Rango couldn't speak on, because one of the Jenkins-Cousins tied a scarf around his mouth.
Rango's gaze wandered to the rocks where he saw Jake in the distance.
He tried to cry for help, but this was impossible because of the gag in his mouth. He fixed Jake with a pleading look. Jake realized Rango's supplication, but the killer didn't let himself be persuaded by this view. Without batting an eye the rattlesnake turned away and disappeared.
In vain Rango tried to hold him back with his muffled cries, but he knew he could expect no help from Jake. He was completely at the mercy of the Jenkins bandits.
At this moment the leader pulled out a long whip.
"Nobody messed with the Jenkins family with impunity. Absolutely nobody!"
Rango was wide-eyed.