Lifesaver [Engl.]

15. Eye contact

Rango had the feeling of fainting at any moment. He felt dizzy. Stunned, he leaned against the wall and threw a pleading plea to heaven.
Please don't let that happen! Beans, you won't ...

"And? Where is he?" Madog asked gruffly. "Talk!"
Beans crossed her arms. "I saw him crawling a few miles west out of town. But maybe he's gone again ..."
"Damn it!" Madog cursed and stormed out of the saloon.
"To the runners!" He yelled at his people from outside.
Immediately all the ferret-looking figures ran out of the saloon. Outside they jumped on their roadrunners and stormed out of the town at a wild gallop.

It was quiet in the saloon. A silence like after a violent storm. Everyone stared at Beans. But the lizard girl didn't move a face muscle. Without a word, she left the saloon and walked down the street without looking back.
Waffles and Rango stared after her.
"I didn't know your girlfriend was so good at lying," said Waffles, still amazed. Rango was also speechless.
"I didn't know that either," he whispered. Then he smiled slightly.

After these events, Rango was still completely perplexed. Completely lost in thought, he walked down the street to the town hall. Even if Jake had clearly told him that he wanted his peace, Rango felt obliged to tell him what had happened.

Without waiting any longer, Rango knocked on the door. "Jake? Please, Jake, open the door. I need to talk to you urgently. Jake?"
But nobody answered.
He opened the door carefully and peered into the room.
The room was empty.
Startled, Rango pushed the door open and took a few steps inside. But then something big and heavy fell on him and buried him under itself.
Rango screamed and was buried under Jake's body, who had lunged at him so quickly and slammed the door.
"Jake!" Rango cried under Jake's body. "Go down from me!"
When Jake recognized Rango's voice, he immediately crawled off him. Rango lay on his stomach on the floor and straightened up with a groan. He rubbed his back, his face contorted with pain. Why did this snake have to be so heavy?
He froze when he looked into Jake's revolver. The rattlesnake looked quite stressed.
"Are you alone?" Jake asked inquiringly.
Rango looked around. "I guess so."
Jake's eyes narrowed. But then he blinked and unexpectedly sank a little to the side. He groaned and held his head and breathed heavily.
"Jake, are you all right?" Rango asked worriedly.
Jake growled in disgust. "Is will be over soon ..."
"Do you have that often?" Rango asked further.
Jake snorted contemptuously and shook his head violently.
"None of your business," he said defiantly.
After a while he recovered from the weakness and raised his head, hissing at Rango menacingly.
Rango went a few steps back.
Jake looked around skeptically. "I heard screams from below."
"Uh ... what?" First Rango didn't know what Jake was talking about. Then he remembered. "Oh! You mean these screams. That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. There were the guys from last night ..."
Suddenly a change went through Jake. A change like from day to night. His gaze changed from threatening to completely frighten.
"They are here?!"
"Yes, but..."
Jake backed away, startled, and slammed into the tall bookcase.
Rango looked at him in amazement. He hadn't seen Jake so frightened since he saw the hawk's shadow. Like a frightened hunted animal, Jake looked around in panic on all sides. "Are you sure it was them?"
Rango nodded. "Absolutely. They called one Madog ..."
Jake pressed himself closer to the shelf. "They'll find me! He will find me ..."
Jake started shaking all over again.
Rango tried to calm him down. "Don't worry. They are gone again."
Jake looked at him suspiciously.
"Honestly," Rango continued. "But that was pretty close. When you consider that they almost came up here ..."
"WHAT?!" Jake turned pale. "No! They were here! They were here!"
"Jake. Everything is fine again. Please calm down. What happened that made you so afraid ... uh ... reluctant to face them?"
Jake avoided his gaze while Rango tried to make eye contact again.
"Don't you want to finally tell me what happened?"
Jake said nothing. He was still shaking and his breathing was almost hysterical. He looked at Rango doubtfully. First it looked like Jake was going to say everything. But then his pride took over again. With the last of his strength he managed to put on an angry face, but his hysterical breathing couldn't be ignored.
"Nonsense!" He hissed in control. "I'm not afraid at all ... If I was afraid of something ... I'd rather shoot a bullet through my head ..."
Suddenly Jake began to stagger and fell to the ground. He lay there panting.
Rango jumped forward in shock. "Jake, are you okay?"
But Jake was breathing so hard that he couldn't speak.
"I'll call the doctor." Rango wanted to run, but Jake held him back.
"I ... don't ... need ... a ... doctor," Jake gasped.
"But Jake, you need a doctor. The doctor hasn't even got around to treating your wounds ..."
"They will heal alone!" Jake yelled at him. "Leave me alone!"
Rango was so scared that he fled behind the desk. There he knelt down anxiously and leaned his back against the drawers. He sat in silence and listened. Jake's breathing slowly calmed down again. Nevertheless, Rango was too afraid of another outburst of anger, so he sat on the floor behind the desk and pressed his legs against his body.
Why was Jake so upset? Was it the wounds or the memory? Why?
Patiently, Rango remained in his position. Then the rattlesnake's breaths became quieter until they were almost silent. Rango listened intently until he could only hear his own breath. He perked up when he heard a faint rustling on the floor that slowly moved away from him.
Rango didn't know how much time passed after that. Maybe a few minutes. Then he stood up slowly. It was almost deathly quiet in the room. Rango was startled when he saw Jake standing in a corner. But the look was in his direction. As if Jake was just waiting for him to come out from behind the desk. Rango swallowed hard and his heart raced with excitement. He walked carefully along the desk. Jake watched him carefully. He really seemed to have completely recovered from his shock. Rango looked up at him uncertainly.
"Out," Jake said monotonously.
Rango wanted to say something, but a stern admonishing look in Jake's eyes caused him to shut up. Disappointed, Rango lowered his gaze and walked slowly past Jake to the door. When he touched the door handle with his hand, he paused.
If he left the room now, Jake would have won again. He couldn't let up. Jake was stubborn and didn't take orders from anyone. Somebody finally had to show him where the limits were and Rango had already done it once.
Jake was getting tired of Rango's stupor. He stared impatiently at Rango and waited for him that he finally left the room.
"Didn't you understand? You should get out of here!"
Rango's hand tightened on the door handle.
Not this time!
Rango turned around with a jerk.
"No! I don't go!"
Jake's eyes widened. Up until now no one had contradicted him and if so, he didn't live long.
"I said you should run away!"
"No!" Rango countered and crossed his arms. "Not before you tell me what happened."
Jake growled menacingly. "More likely you're dead."
Rango's eyes narrowed. "Then do it. When you are so brave and want to shoot an unarmed person. Go ahead."
Rango carried his revolver on his belt, but his hands made no move to pick up a gun. And Jake knew that Rango wouldn't dare to threaten him with a gun. At least not now.
Jake leaned down so they were face to face. He looked Rango in the eyes as if he wanted to read into his soul. Rango did the same. As if they were trying to telepath through their eyes. Any one of them wanted to explore the other's soul.
Jake screwed up his eyes. Rango had that look again. The same look as long ago. Except this time, he wasn't holding a gun.
Jake hissed. "You can't make me do it."
Rango narrowed his eyes. "Try me."
Jake's eyes widened and he slowly sank back in his nooses. There was a silence.
Jake stared at Rango in disbelief. This time Rango didn't want to be chased away. Not when he had that look.
Almost a minute passed without breaking their eye contact. And with every second the feeling of self-assurance grew in Rango. He was surprised that Jake let himself be defeated with that look without a weapon. But the chameleon had long since noticed that Jake was now too insecure to stand up against Rango. And he had to take advantage of this situation. He would never have dared to do something like this before. Now Jake was standing in front of him, looking like his world had shaken for some reason. Something that had shattered his wall of invulnerability and now it lay around in invisible shards.
Then Rango took a step forward. Jake backed away a little. Rango took another step forward. Jake backed away again. Then again and again. Rango walked towards him for so long and Jake kept pulling away from him as if Rango had a contagious disease. Finally, Jake stood in the corner and couldn't avoid it. Rango stopped as Jake huddled closer to the wall.
Rango crossed his arms again and looked challengingly at Jake. Jake reared up again. But then he lowered his gaze and his black hat covered his eyes. Rango smiled slightly. He had won the power game!

Neither of them suspected that Beans was secretly listening at the door. She had secretly followed Rango to the town hall and pressed her head to the door.
"What are they talking about?"
Beans started. Priscilla stood behind her and looked at her curiously. Beans put her fingers to her lips. "Shhhh!"
"You secretly listen at the door?" Priscilla asked softly.
"Shut up!" Beans hissed to her.
Priscilla kept her mouth shut and leaned her ear against the door as well.
"I don't hear anything."
"Shhh!"

Rango was still looking at Jake, who had sunk into his body by now.
At that moment, Rango felt sorry for him, but he couldn't let up now.
"Jake," began Rango in a firm voice. "I can only help you if you tell me what happened. Otherwise, I can't do anything for you."
"Nobody can help me anymore," Jake said quietly. His eyes were still down.
"Why are you saying that?"
"You will think that I'm crazy. So it's best that you don't know."
"But I want to know! And I won't be quiet until you tell me what was going on!"
It was Jake's mistake that he looked Rango in the eyes at that moment. Why did he always get weak when he looked into those eyes? Did he get a feeling of déjà vu because of their last duel? Rango had once defeated him with his gaze. Now the lizard had broken his resistance again. Jake let out another threatening hiss, then sighed. "All right."
Rango paused. Jake gave up? No matter. Rango released himself from his posture and sat tensely on a chair in front of the desk. Then he leaned his torso on the desk with his elbows and looked at Jake expectantly.
Jake looked at him thoughtfully. First, he was silent for a while. Then he gave himself a jerk and started talking.
"A few days ago I received a message that someone was trying to challenge me. The meeting point was an old human farm. Although I generally avoid human locations, and no matter how old they were, I got there. Of course, I always expected an ambush. But until then I didn't know who I would be dealing with ..."