“We’re…” I began, but the front door bursting open and Raoul walking in holding his hand interrupted us, also scaring the shit out of me.
No, actually what scared the shit out of me was what he said next. “Snake got me. I thought it was a prank, so I moved the bush when I heard it rattling and it tagged me in the hand.”
There are two types of medical professionals in the world. The calm in the face of a family crisis type, who quickly assess the situation and can treat their loved one like it’s an everyday occurrence. And then there are the rest of us, who forget everything they’ve ever learned, they forget how to even breathe, and who then turn to their brother-in-law to do something, who was pinching the bridge of his nose and probably asking himself how he was related to his brother. That type was me right now.
“What do we do?”
Looking up at me, he did a double take when he saw I was panicking. “What are you asking me for? You’re the one who does this shit for a living?”
“Right, right,” I breathed, trying my best to remember what we did for snakebites. When nothing came to me, I did the first thing that popped into my mind. “Alexa, what do you do when someone’s bitten by a snake?”
RaoulLeaning my head back onto the headrest of the passenger seat, I flexed the hand that was now wrapped up in a bandage. Rose was in the seat behind me still recovering from the fright that we’d had, while Garrett drove, more than likely trying to contain the urge to kill one of us.
Figuring it would break the ice, I chuckled, “What are the chances of it being a dry bite?”
“At least thirty percent,” he growled, his jaw muscle working furiously visible even in the dark.
Not that I could blame him for being pissed off, it was now almost five o’clock in the morning and he’d said that it was a dry bite – although he wasn’t a doctor, so it was wise that we’d gotten it checked out.
“We need to move,” Rose croaked. “What if it got the kids?”
“I already text that guy who works for the Townsends,” Garrett muttered, making the turn onto our street. “He’s coming tomorrow and will work his magic.”
Ignoring him, she continued, “Maybe we should burn it to the ground?”
Snakes had been more frequent within the town thanks to the building going on outside it. It had started with houses and then it had moved onto a strip mall, and the snakes and animals didn’t know where to go so they came into town. We just had to be vigilant and get the dude out to set traps and shit. Plus, I loved the house we had. I even loved the patched up holes in the walls from where Rex had lost his shit with the laser.
Pulling into the drive, Garrett cut the engine and turned to look at both of us. “You,” he pointed at me, “next time don’t put your hand in a fucking bush when you hear something rattling. Especially not when there have been reports of snakes. And you,” he turned around to look at Rose in the back, “I love you to pieces, but you need to learn what to do in the face of a crisis. You’ve got kids, one’s going to get sick. You have an advantage over the rest of us in that you know how to treat things, so use it.”
“I also know how far to stick things up asses,” she hissed, not realizing how bad that sounded. “So far, in fact, it would take the best surgeons three days to retrieve them. Don’t make me show you how that feels.”
And with that, she got out, blew a fart noise over her shoulder at the car, and stormed into the house.
When I went to tell him to take it a bit easier on her, especially seeing as how it wasn’t a ‘normal’ situation, he held a hand up in my face. “I don’t even want to know. What y’all get up to within the privacy of your bedroom is nothing to do with me. In fact, have a word with her and tell her I’d like it to continue being nothing to do with me, so if she could keep that shit to herself and her coven, I’d be grateful.”
Groaning, I covered my face with my hands. “Nothing like that happens to my ass, man. And what I was going to say was to take it easier on her. She had a fright and it was a whacked situation, everyone loses their shit at some point.”
Grunting, he watched as Zuri came out of the house, glaring over at the car. “Yeah, I meant to say it in a better way but my mind’s on other things right now.”