Chapter 2 - THE STRIKE
Everything happened at once.
Titan twisted sideways.
The rattlesnake shot forward.
I saw its mouth open.
Saw the flash of white fangs.
Titan snapped at the snake in midair, knocking its head away from Lucy.
Then he yelped.
That sound went through me like a knife.
“Titan!”
He stumbled but immediately planted himself between the snake and the little girl.
The crowd exploded backward.
“Snake!”
“Get away!”
“Everybody move!”
People who had been ready to attack Titan seconds earlier were suddenly climbing picnic tables and grabbing their children.
I reached beneath Lucy.
“I’ve got you.”
Titan growled again.
The snake recoiled.
I lifted Lucy against my chest and backed away.
Her arms locked around my neck.
“Where’s Mommy?”
“I’ve got her!” her mother screamed.
I handed Lucy over.
Then I turned back.
Titan stood over the rattlesnake, legs spread, body trembling.
“Titan. Come.”
He took one step.
His right front leg buckled.
My stomach turned.
“Titan?”
He tried again.
Collapsed.
I dropped beside him.
That was when I saw two tiny puncture wounds near his muzzle.
“No.”
My hands started shaking.
“No, no, no.”
Titan looked up at me.
His tail moved once against the dirt.
The same dog people had wanted dead thirty seconds earlier was now lying on the ground because he had taken a venomous strike meant for a child.
Lucy’s mother knelt nearby, clutching her daughter.
“Is he going to die?”
“I don’t know.”
I hated how weak my voice sounded.
I grabbed my radio.
“Dispatch, K9 emergency. Centennial Park. Venomous snakebite. I need animal control and immediate veterinary transport.”
Static cracked.
“Copy.”
Titan’s breathing became heavy.
I touched his head.
“Stay with me, buddy.”
He tried to stand again.
“Don’t.”
His eyes moved toward Lucy.
Even injured, he was checking on her.
Lucy slowly stepped away from her mother.
“Can I touch him?”
“Not yet, sweetheart.”
She started crying harder.
“He saved me.”
“Yes.”
“Then save him.”
Four words.
That was all.
But they hit harder than any order I had ever received.
Sirens screamed in the distance.
Animal control arrived first.
A woman carrying snake tongs approached cautiously.
She stared at the reptile.
Then at me.
“Where did this come from?”
“The bushes.”
Her expression changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“What?”
She leaned closer.
“That’s a western diamondback.”
I stared at her.
“So?”
She looked toward the crowded Seattle park.
“So it shouldn’t be here.”
Then she pointed toward the woods.
“And if somebody dumped it…”
May you like
She paused.
“There may be more.”
