Then I saw what appeared to be the silhouette of a lone figure on the landscape, but it may have been beams of sun playing tricks with my eyes. I heard an extremely loud gunshot that left a ringing in my ears. The horrible snake flopped once and lay lifeless in the sand.
“Dane!”
“Shhh… Take two steps, very slowly toward the head of the dead snake!”
I took a few tentative steps forward.
“STOP!” he shouted.
I heard another booming gunshot echo through the desert. I could almost feel the whisk of the bullet pass by my leg. The rattling stopped. I turned around, looked down and froze. The second rattlesnake lay just a few feet away within striking distance of my leg, motionless. A moment later I felt Dane’s hand grasp my forearm.
“Are you OK, Veronica?”
I nodded my head, without breath
