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The snake peeked out at her frorinned She shook her head at it, in what she hoped was a subtle, but clear,She blinked in shock when it narrowed its eyes in reply Just like its human half, the snake would do exactly what it wanted to do

Its thin, forked tongue snuck out, tasting the air, scenting its prey It was clear what it planned But there were soIf the snake bit the ht away He’d have enough tie to take one man out, there were still two more to contend with There was no way the diamondback could deal with all three of them before they struck back Not unless the first man he bit stayed silent An iony

The snake opened its s of his slipped down, ready to bite Its eyes focused on her captor’s ankle

“Don’t,” she said, risking being drugged to warn the rattler

“Don’t what?” the guy in front of her asked

“I told you about talking,” the scarred ”

She clenched her fists tight, helpless to stop the snake fro herself and the rattler in even er The diamondback reared its head back There w

as no stopping it now She saw the split second it’d , it shot forward to strike at its target She threw herself to the floor The gunun went off The car’s tires screeched as it veered off the road

“Snake! It bit me!”

“What the fuck? You shot our driver!”

The car careened through the grassy wasteland beyond the road Each buainst the hard surfaces around her She grasped for soht for control of the car The driver slu from the back of his head They bounced up in the air and came back doith a crash

The gunun in his hand waved wildly He pulled the trigger A bullet hit the floor beside her head Another gunshot Two He didn’t knoas firing and didn’t care who he hit Friday tried to wedge her body under the seat to get out of the line of fire, but the car was unman’s screaony happening right in front of her—she felt like he would never stop screa And then, suddenly, there was silence He slu to his feet

The car flew up in the air again She grabbed hold of the seat beside her as the snake headed straight toward the last of her captors It didn’t hesitate, striking over and over, hitting the scarredand endless, until they stopped, and all she could hear was the car’s engine and the banging of bushes and rocks hitting the undercarriage as it sped across the rough terrain

She felt the snake curl around her Protecting her the best it could The car hit so hard, jerked to the side, and rolled Friday flew up to the roof and fell back down again with a thud that knocked the air out of her lungs The world was tu with it She was throard the narrow gap under the back seat Desperately, she grasped for purchase, angling her body under the seat Squeezing herself into that gap Hoping sheBodies thudded around inside the car like rag dolls tossed about by a child She made one last push toward that tiny space under the seat Toward safety Her head hit soli up at her And then, she felt nothing at all

Chapter Twenty-Four