by William Bebb
Billy considered the winding switchback road that headed up and out of the valley for a long time before starting up the hillside. Finally, he decided to find a trail out of the valley and avoid the road altogether.
The sun made him feel tired after just a few minutes of walking and it had just barely cleared the rim of the valley. Boris walked closely to the boy as they followed a path toward the hills.
While they climbed up the path, he still tasted the gooey cookie remnants that coated his teeth. He felt confident they would make it to the top of the hill within half an hour- maybe even less.
Following the path, he saw empty soda cans and candy wrappers that someone had thrown away and took comfort in the fact that people obviously had used this trail before. Parts of the path were a little steep and yet Boris had no trouble climbing up while Billy had to go considerably slower.
Twenty minutes later, the boy silently revised his estimate on how long it would take to reach the top. Having only climbed about one fifth of the way up, he guessed it might actually take as much as an hour to make it out of the valley. After several minutes they found a path that seemed easier to climb and followed it for about ten minutes before things got very bad.
Billy heard Boris growl as he walked toward a patch of bushes.
The dog smelled a snake. He couldn't see it but knew it was nearby. Boris quickly moved in front of the boy and growled his toughest, “Don't mess with us,” growl and bared his teeth.
“What is it?” Billy whispered, holding his BB rifle up ready to shoot. But he didn't see any bad guys around. He glanced back down the hill they'd climbed and wondered how any of the zombies could have climbed a hill that steep.
They seem as uncoordinated and clumsy as the guy at Aunt Deana's wedding party last month. Mom said he was just some drunk guy after he staggered around and finally fell over some of the flowers and landed in the fish pond. How could one of those guys climb up here?
Plus, he hadn't heard any nearby grunts or screams since they'd started climbing.
The seven foot long rattlesnake had just slithered halfway out of its burrow under the bushes to soak up some morning sunshine. With half its body still underground it felt repetitive vibrations coming from down the path. There were two living things there, the snake realized. One smelled of dog, the other of man.
It rattled its tail in warning, but it was still deep in the burrow and couldn’t be heard by the boy. The snake flicked its tongue and tasted their scents.
Billy didn't hear the snake's rattle but the dog did. It was muted yet still very nearby.
“Come on, they're waiting for us to go get help. Why are you being such a cowardly kitten,” he asked, walking toward the bushes and the hidden snake.
The snake sensed the bigger one moving toward him and prepared to charge out of the burrow. If snakes had the ability to slither backward it would most definitely have preferred that option. However, given the circumstances it charged.
Boris saw the boy walking forward then the bush moved and a snake quickly slid out its burrow.