Venomous [Engl.]

2. Work or die

With wailing, Bill leaned against the pillar. He felt miserable. His stomach growled horribly and his mouth was completely dry. At least, it seemed to him. Only his stomach protested loudly. And he didn't imagine that.
He had no idea how much time had passed since his capture. He assumed about a day or two. No one had opened the door since that person had made him such a rude welcome.
All the time, he kept asking himself what they wanted and why they brought him here. In thoughts, he had gone through all previous encounters with others, whether they were confidants or enemies. It was true that some came into his head, but there was no one whom he could trust this misery. At least not in this way. The most guys who hated him would have shot him or croak him. This kind of abduction was a mystery to him. Or had it even been this new sheriff?
Bill snorted at himself. Sure, sometimes the chameleon had crazy ideas, but even such a tricky action he couldn't think Rango was capable of doing this. Or had the sheriff seen reason that criminals could only be abolished with illegal methods?
For a moment, Bill imagined the chameleon. At first, it had been a total wimp when he saw it for the first time in the saloon. Anxious and silent, it had stood with his back to him at the bar. And yet it had the impudence to spit fire in his face. But on the road in the duel, Rango had been clumsy, like a little child, but he was brazen again. Then, with good luck, he had killed a hawk and in the end he had defeated this rattlesnake. Had victory gone to his head? Or because revenge? Obsession?
Bill shook his head and moved his hands, though he had already tried this for the umpteenth time. There was no escape from this room. Everything around him was dark and deathly silence. Total silence.
Suddenly he heard footsteps. He raised his head and listened. Then he heard voices. He couldn't understand, but there was someone who talked and marched in the direction of his cell.
"He almost bit you, you said?" he heard the first clear audible sentence.
"It just missed me a few millimeters," the other person confirmed.
"Ha, ha. You're such an idiot," a third male voice came.
"No kidding," added a fourth.
"You should be more careful," the first voice rebuked. "We get a lot of money for our work here, but it's a dangerous job."
"If you've bad luck, your last one," another remarked darkly.
"So, what is here? That must be the cell."
"It's a damn long time ago that we had had a Gila monster in the department."
"They are hard to get and they can bite damn well. If you've bad luck, they don't let you go until you're dead."
"Better you take care of yourself."
"Blah, blah. You're annoying."
"Shut up and go in."
A key was put through the lock and turned around. Shortly after, the door opened and the strangers entered. They stopped for a moment and looked silently down at the Gila animal, who felt very humiliated.
"Pretty fat lump of a lizard," one finally broke the silence. "Are you sure he already had a diet period?"
"Now don't ask stupid questions, but do what he told you. You will not be paid here for asking questions."
Bill moved his head back and forth. That damn blindfold.
He flinched when one of the strangers grabbed him by the foot and cut through his shackles with a jerk. Then someone stepped behind him and his wrists were shackled in chain rings.
"Listen," were the first personal words to him. "Don't make trouble and just do what we say. Then nothing will happen to you. Nod if you understood."
Bill hissed, then he nodded his head angrily.
"Fine. We'll take off your hand ropes now. Then you will come with us. I would advise you to make no resistance. Did you understand that, too?"
Another nod made him satisfied.
Bill's muscles tensed as someone slowly sliced his handcuffs with a knife. Bill felt the ropes loosen around his hands and were held only by the iron chains.
"Be careful," someone warned. "These critters are very aggressive."
"How stupid do you think am I?" The guy behind him smirked, who was almost ready with his work. "I don't do it for the first..."
Suddenly, the Gila lizard jumped up and struck wildly around with his fists. The chains on his hands tensed quickly, but Bill grabbed one of the chains and pulled it with all his might. The person who held the other end of the chain was thrown forward and punched in the face. Someone wanted to throw himself at him, but Bill heard him immediately and threw himself against him with all his weight. The unknown was just about as tall as he was and Bill felt fur from a mammal. He couldn't say exactly what kind of animal he was, because his eyes were still connected. No sooner, he had put his next one out of action for a brief moment; he reached for the blindfold to have a clear view for a fight. But before he could do that, the chains were strained again and his arms were stretched out.
"Don't touch it!" one of them snapped.
The Gila lizard screamed angrily and hugged his arms.
PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG!
Instinctively, Bill threw himself to the ground as the bullets were fired at him and narrowly missed him. He could feel the airflow of the projectiles on his skin, but luckily they didn't hit him.
For a moment, Bill was paralyzed with shock. Against firearms he could win no fight without a weapon. He didn't even have a hiding place where he could protect himself.
Suddenly several weights threw themselves over him. Two of the big, unknown guys had lunged at him and used the chains to tie his limbs.
Bill gasped furiously under the weight and tried to fight free.
He froze as something metallic was pressed onto his head.
"One stupid movement more," the stranger gasped furiously. His rage was clearly audible in his voice. "Just one more damn fuss of you, and you will wish you had never been born! Either you acquiesce, or we have to get tough! Geddit?!"
He intensified his pressure so brutally that Bill got a headache from it.
"Say: Yes!" he demanded.
"Mmipf."
"You can say that better!" the weapon carrier shouted and gave Bill a hard slap in the face.
"MMMIPFMP!"
Never Bill had had such a big fury in his stomach as now, so he yelled it out despite the cloth in his mouth.
His tormentor put the gun away and rose again while the others heaved the lizard back up.
"Go up with you!"
Under foot kicks, the Gila monster picked himself up again. Shortly thereafter, his hands were tied back on his back. Bill growled in protest.
"Those who disobey have less freedom," the spokesperson told him. "And anyone who doesn't cooperate will not be able to do anything at all."
"Mmmmpfpmf!" Bill hissed a sharp breath, as the ropes were tightened again by the unknown to undergird his words more clearly.
"I hope we get along this time."
With these words, he let go of him and the others took command again.
"Come on now! Come on! Out you go! Don't make such a fuss!"
The Gila monster was dragged out of the room still tied on his arms. He stemmed his legs on the floor, but then he felt something cold on his back and he knew immediately what it was.
"Either you go or there is lead in the back."
Reluctantly, the Gila monster complied with the request.
They marched down a long corridor. Bill couldn't see anything, but he thought he heard noises rumbling behind thick doors. Obviously he was not the only one who had been locked up here and the corridor was equipped with much more closed rooms maybe. Then they stopped.
An automatic sliding door pushed to the side and they went through more long corridors that Bill couldn't analyze unfortunately because of his blindfolded. At least the aisles were straight, so that he just had to shift from one foot to the other forward without worrying about to miss a corner.
After a while, he heard other footsteps approaching them. Bill couldn't see who it was. Then the person passed them and disappeared without saying a word.
Bill had a bad vibe about this and this uncertainty sat heavily on his stomach, accompanied by the emptiness there.
"So, in with you."
Again, an automatic sliding door opened and they turned into a room.
Bill stopped for a moment when he noticed the strange smell in the air that he couldn't define. It smelled like cleansers and any other chemicals or something.
"Come along!"
Impatiently they pushed him on and he almost stumbled.
"Stop!"
Someone grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him over. Then he was forced to go backwards. Bill jumped in alarm and gave an uncertain sound as his back touched something cold.
"Go now!"
He was pushed against it. Shortly thereafter, he was tied with his hands behind his back on it. With shaky fingers, Bill checked what he had been tied to. He felt a long metal. Probably a stable grid. Again he was overcome by panic.
Did they want to eighty-six him here?
"That's it," his draggers breathed.
"No, once again such a torture and I will pack the job in."
Their steps moved away. The door opened and closed again.
Bill listened. It was quiet in the room. There was no sound anywhere.
He leaned forward and pulled on the handcuffs. But there were bombproof fixed on the grid.
Suddenly he heard a light pawing of feet, accompanied by quiet cough.
Bill froze. He wasn't alone in this room.
He paused for a few seconds. When the person made himself no longer noticeable, he tried to draw attention to himself.
"Mpmpf?"
But nobody answered.
"Mpmpf! Mpfmmpf!"
"The professor will come soon," a monotonous low male voice said.
What was the guy talking about?
But before he could think about it or complain loudly, the door opened. Another person entered the room, whose footsteps were much smaller. They stopped briefly in the room and seemed to eye Bill.
"Mmm, still very defensive," the voice began. It was again a male, but sounded very cocky. "But what a pleasure to have a Gila animal again."
He kneaded his fingers. "Well then. Let's get it over with."
Bill was breathing hysterically.
It's over! It's over!
"Take off his blindfold first so that he can see why he is here for."
The other, who had stood silently in the room, stepped behind him and began to fumble on the blindfold. Bill groaned as the cloth finally came off. For the first time in days, he saw something again at last.
He blinked hard. The room was brightly lit, which was mostly due to the white tiled walls. He looked around with aching eyes. The first thing what he saw was a metal table in front of him. On it there stood a big glass with a funnel on top.
His eyes jerked sideways when he noticed a movement. At a cupboard with glass doors stood a petite silver lynx with long peaked ears. He had almost the size of Rango and was slim. On his nose he wore frameless glasses and his costume was anything but reassuring. He was in a white coat which only doctors used to wear.
Bill swallowed hard. Was this an experimental room for animal testing?
His attention was diverted by the second person in the room, who had previously been so silent. As he had guessed, the second person was the exact opposite of the lynx. It was a stocky, broadly built bear and wore also a white coat and stood with folded arms next to the table.
The lynx took a steel box out of the cupboard and set it down on the table. Then he took out a round black object.
"It's very easy," the lynx began without additional explanations. "Your job will be to bite into this rubber ring until you chew your venom out. You do that until your venom glands are empty. Got that?"
So slowly, it dawned upon Bill. That guys wanted his venom for what did he know. As far as he could see it nothing would jump out for him after doing that.
"We'll take the gag out of you now. I advise you don't to resist. On the other hand, we are forced to procure the venom in a more painful way."
He didn't wait for an answer, but gave his big assistant a sign. The big guy stepped behind the lizard and began to untie the gag. As soon as the cloth had loosened, Bill threw his head back and forth and spat out the piece of cloth in disgust.
"ARE YOU BATSHIT INSANE?!" he shouted.
The rage that had accrued in him all day long erupted like a thunderstorm now. "How dare you to imprison me! You will not get anything from me!"
His opponent had endured the words calmly and kept a straight face.
"We are used to hear that kind of reactions. You're not the first one who reacts this way."
Bill fell silent. Not the first one?
"Indeed," the lynx continued. „We're here to take the venom from all the prisoners as well as we can to use it for our purposes."
"Use? For what?" Bill asked grimly. "Do you do that to everyone that you kidnap them like that?"
"To satisfy your impatient question, the venom gives us a lot of dough. It can be used for antidotes. In your case, more for medication. And yes, we don't give invitations."
Bill gasped indignantly. "And what use has it for me?"
The little professor grinned. "That we let you alive. On the other hand, if you no longer have any use to us, we unfortunately have to eliminate you."
"I don't let me treat like an animal!" Bill shouted at him.
"If you don't like it you can lump it," the lynx said sternly. "Venomous animals are treated like animals. That's the law here. And those who don't stick to it are so eliminated like an animal."
"You are abominable!" the Gila monster snapped in anger.
"We talked enough. Now do you work. I want to finish up today."
He held out the rubber ring. But Bill stubbornly clenched his teeth. Now the lynx tried to make him open his mouth by pressing the rubber ring against his lips. But Bill didn't think to open his mouth even a millimeter.
The eyes of the lynx narrowed and moved to the side. "Kay! Forced milking!"
The big man nodded and left them for a brief moment while the lynx grimaced. "I wanted to avoid that, but you leave us no other choice."
The sturdily built bear disappeared briefly through a side door, murmured a brief sentence in the next room and nodded. Then he came back. Shortly after, a big shadow came through the door.
Bill got a queasy feeling in his stomach as he saw another burly fellow enter, the sight of which more than disturbed him. He wore dark jeans, but no shirt. At the wrists, he wore leathery spiked arm rings. Everywhere he had fur, only his head was shaved bald, which actually looked pretty funny, but the funny was put back with a skull and crossbones tattoo on the scalp.
The grimly guy studied Bill for a few seconds, then he clasped his hands together.
"Is there any rebellious?" he grunted maliciously.
The lynx waved dismissively with his hand. "He needs a lesson in obeying. Get the best out of him."
The beefy guy cracked his fingers. "With pleasure."
Now Bill noticed the many scars on his arms, partially hidden under the fur. What kind of job did he have here?
Without another word, the big man came closer and stopped beside Bill. He looked at him a little uncertain. If he had not been tied up, he might have scolded him. But in this position, he didn't risk a big mouth this time.
"Well, well," continued the tattooed guy. "Then I'll show you how to work professionally here."
With lightning speed, he struck the lizard with full force in the stomach. Bill gasped. The assistant took advantage of this moment and pressed the jaw-shaped rubber into his mouth. Bill was about to spit it out again, but that was prevented by Kay's pushing hands. Shortly thereafter, he was bent down with the neck chain and his head was held directly over the glass.
Again he received a punch in the pit of his stomach. Bill tried to fight back and get up, but against two brawny guys and his shackled state, this proved more than difficult.
"There's nothing coming," complained the silver lynx, as he looked scrutinizing into the glass. "Try harder."
The tattooed man grunted angrily. This time his next fist hit Bill's shin, causing the Gila lizard to moan in pain.
"Well then? Are you a coward? You don't defend yourself at all," sneered the thug, and instead of fists, he distributed claps on his body.
With each stroke, Bill became angrier and angrier. And unintentionally, he pressed his venom into his mouth in anger. In this way it was easy for his tormentors to get hold of his venom, like shaking trees to get the fruit down.
"At last," the lynx sighed in relief as the first drops of venom dripped into the glass. "I think there's more to get out."
Bill's muffling moans sounded throughout the room as he collected more and more punches. And the Gila monster couldn't help but chew its venom on the jaw, which only half calmed down him.
After an uncertain long time, Bill felt the pressure on his jaw subsided. With a jerk, he straightened up and the rubber part was pulled out of his mouth. Disgusted he spat. He still tasted his venom in his mouth.
As soon as he had taken breath several times, he got a violent slap in the face.
"In the future, I don't wanna see such an uncooperative behavior of you anymore! Understood?!" the professor threatened and eyed contemptuously the few milliliters of cloudy venom liquid in the glass. The lynx looked at him with piercing eyes, which were caught by Bill's angry eyes as well. But he was too exhausted to shout at him. Instead, he lowered his eyes and gasped for air.
The lynx operated a bell. A short time later, the door opened and the tugs reappeared. As Bill had suspected, they were also of beefy physique. Two big rabbits, one big rodent and a racoon.
"Away with him," the lynx ordered and waved dismissively with his hand.
It wasn't long and Bill was handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded back to the corridor, ending with a crash on the floor of his cell. When he had been sufficiently fixated on the pillar, he let out a sigh of relief as they finally left the room. Groaning, he moved his jaw, which still hurt.
Except anger he felt fear.
"In the future," Bill remembered the words of the so-called professor.
How long would this take in the future?
Bill snorted. He was definitely determined to do everything.
He had to get out of here!

The venom of Gila monsters is used for medicines against diabetes like Byetta®, Bydureon® or Victoza®.