Fire From the Sky: Hell Fire by N.C. Reed

Author:N.C. Reed [Reed, N.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Creative Texts Publishers, LLC
Published: 2019-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

It would take three brutal days of back breaking labor to secure enough rails to complete the work they were intended for, Jake had estimated. Three days of once again having far too many people off of the farm and leaving their defenses too thin. Three days of Clay constantly sweating as he helped walk patrols and ensure their safety while worrying all the while about the people he had ordered into the field.

Cliff Laramie managed to get his hand trapped beneath one of the rails on the first day, pinned actually between two of the rails on the truck. Jake Sidell's massive strength was likely the only thing that kept the older man from losing his fingers, as Jake had grabbed the rail and simply tossed it away. As it was, Cliff was returned to the farm at once, where Jaylyn Thatcher found he had three broken fingers and a fractured capitate, which she explained was the center bone of the hand. Cliff would be unable to do a majority of the work he normally performed for the next six to eight weeks as his hand healed. The only fortunate thing other than the lack of complete amputation was that with his hand and fingers in a cast, he would still be able to drive. Lifting anything of consequence however, would be out of the question.

On the second day, Gordy barely avoided being bitten by a copperhead snake, seeing it just before it struck and jumping out of the way. Mitchell Nolan had drawn a sawed-off .410 shotgun known as a Snake Charmer and killed the snake before it could strike again, and Seth Webb had immediately grabbed the dead snake and proceeded to skin it, slicing the head off and kicking it away to avoid being accidentally injected with venom.

“What'd you do that for?” Mitchell had asked as he reloaded the shotgun.

“Snake ain't dead till the sun sets on it,” multiple teen voices replied, shocking the older man.

“Say what now?” Tandi Maseo asked, astonished.

“A snake's venom is still deadly even if he's dead,” Gordy explained, still sweating his near miss. “Muscle contractions as the nerves die in the snake's body can still cause him to bite even if he's technically dead. So, you either hang the snake's body on a fence and wait, or else you cut the head off and get rid of it. No venom, no worries.”

“Lotta people eat snakes, too,” Kade threw in as he and Titus used the crane to heft another rail onto the truck. “Gotta get the head off and the venom away from the snake meat before it spoils.”

“Are you serious?” Mitchell asked.

“Yeah, it ain't bad eating,” Zach Willis nodded. He and Corey Reynard were next in line to place a rail on the truck. “You know, tastes like chicken?” he chuckled.

“I meant about the sun going down!” Mitchell specified. “I never heard that before.”

“Just what we're taught,” Gordy shrugged. “Maybe just to make sure we leave 'em alone after someone kills them, I dunno.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.