Paige's chin slipped off the edge of her palm causing her forehead to smack against the wooden counter and jolt her awake with a yelp of pain. Groaning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she heard the jingle of someone entering the pet store. The soft pitter-patter of feet told her it was either a small animal or a child. Same thing right? Before she could feel guilty for the thought, an ear-splitting shrill scream erupted out of nowhere. The store Paige worked in was tiny to say the least. The aisles that separated the few rows of cages and displays were so cramped that two people could only fit through if they shimmied by each other. The types of animals in the store were limited to lizards, rabbits, mice, birds, and the occasional snake, with pet supplies being sold up front.
Paige rounded the corner of the counter and ran towards the last aisle on the left, easily reaching the source of the scream before it had finished. She found a little girl with horror stricken eyes and a tear streaked face standing in front of the biggest display in the store. The little girl had found their only snake, a large sand boa, and it was feeding time. As the orange and black snake lurched forward and swallowed another part of the mouse, Paige grabbed a thin blanket laying on the floor and threw it over the display.
She turned around and found a man gently picking up the girl. As the child wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shirt, the father glared at Paige in disgust, as though she had been the one to swallow a mouse whole.

"You can't just let children see things like that!"
"I'm sorry, but it's a pet store! What did you expect to be in here?"
The man shook his head and carried his daughter out.

Once the door had closed, Paige let out a sigh and glanced back over at the display. She pulled the blanket off and knelt down to get a better look at the snake who had finished swallowing its meal. As she placed her hand on the glass, the reptile slithered up to her and for a second it almost seemed to be looking straight into her eyes. The front door jingled again and Paige saw her manager, a skinny man with a ponytail and a baseball cap walk inside.

"What the hell was that all about?" he asked, motioning outside with his thumb.
"Guess they didn't realize there would be animals in the pet store," she said, rolling her eyes and standing back up.
"Hey, I don't pay you to scare away our customers!"
"Pay me? I didn't even get a paycheck last week, Tom!" Paige crossed her arms.
Tom shook his head and retreated behind the counter muttering, "Yeah, yeah, you'll get your money woman. Worse than my wife..."
Paige looked down at the snake and said more to herself than to Tom, "And besides, I didn't do anything. It was Sandy's feeding time and the girl saw more of mother nature than she bargained for."
Before slipping into the back room, he added over his shoulder, "You smell that fire? Think it's comin' from down the street or somethin'."

A beat up blue Ford bumped down the road returning to town, Xavier grumbled under his breath trying to wrap his brain around what had happened at the ranch. He on his way to see the grumpy, overworked vet about the dog clawing and biting the bars of the pet carrier in the bed of the truck. The ranch dogs had gone to the vet this morning for routine shots and both had been acting sick, lethargic for the first few hours.

Then the older dog was a total spitfire. It was funny to see the dog running in circles like a pup again. Then everything flipped without cause. The mutt attacked his boss, the dog’s owner since the birth of the dog. Not just attacked but nearly tore out his throat. Pete, another hand, had to shoot the thing three times before the old dog stayed down. When the female started following that same pattern, they shoved her into a dog carrier and drew straws who would deal with this mess.

His boss’ wife took him to the hospital, more than likely needing lots of stitches to mend those chucks torn from his shoulder and neck.

Xavier took off his hat and wiped his brow out of habit then need and replaced it. He shifted the wrist protector covering his forearm, glancing at the full quiver of arrows beside him on the bench seat. Aware of the well-used compound bow hanging on the rack in the back window. He wasn’t taking any chances if that dog got loose. There were many kids and old folk around this place that wouldn’t be able to defend themselves.

His foot slammed on the break and the dog yelped in pain being thrown off her feet, tires dug into the gravel. He pulled the parking break and popped the manual transmission into neutral before stepping out staring stupidly at the vet’s clinic engulfed in flames. Someone was screaming inside, he bolted toward the building, the vet was running in circle in the laboratory part of the clinic engulfed in flames.

Xavier fumbled with his phone dropping it several times before he managed to get it steady enough to start dialing. The small town’s fire truck was already screaming toward the vet’s office by that time. A neighbor on the crest of the hill had seen the smoke and had called it in. “The vet is inside,” Xavier called to them moving away from the intense heat.

Paige poked her head out the store's front door to see if she could spot the fire herself. A few other curious people had already stepped out onto the sidewalk and were all looking down the street. Following their gaze, she soon spotted the smoke and its source. Paige felt her stomach drop; it was coming from the vet's clinic. The veterinarian who worked there had become somewhat of a regular customer for Paige, and while he sometimes seemed a bit withdrawn, it was nice having him so close to the pet store. He bought mice from time to time and took care of any sick animals for the store.

The people on the side began to shift uncomfortably and mutter to each other, trying to pick up any bit of information they could. As a few of them anxiously looked towards her for an answer, a firetruck came roaring past at full speed. The blaring sirens snapped Paige out of her shock and she realized that people were staring at her and the pet store. She could hear her boss yell something out the door, but she was already jogging down the street after the truck and towards the fire.

It didn't take Paige long to reach the clinic. When she did, she stood just close enough to feel the heat, staring with wide eyes. It took her a second to realize there was another civilian already here with the firemen. He was yelling something to them, but all Paige could make out were two words: vet..inside. She looked back at the blazing fire and indeed saw someone run past a window. "Oh god," she heard herself say out loud. A spray of water arched out next to her, shooting towards the clinic, but the fire was so strong that it seemed to consume the water. The building groaned and suddenly a part of the roof collapsed in causing the flames to burst out for a second. Paige shielded her eyes with her arm from the sudden increase in heat.

Xavier instinctively backed away when the roof collapsed right where he had seen the pass the window. Hopefully, it ended the vet’s life instantly instead of continuing to burn. He had heard more than once, dying by fire was the most painful way to go. Still, he had just talked to the vet not too long ago and now. He swallowed hard thinking how fast life had changed.

More people had gathered, Xavier was barely aware of their questions semi directed at him. He just stared stupidly at the blaze was firefighters were gaining some control over. More hoses were pumping water into the building. He pulled off his hat and his fingers through is thick shoulder long hair, his face was flush from the heat and he wiped his sleeve over his mouth drying his upper lip. To die in such a manner was not a savory thought for the cowboy.

With the fire mostly smoke and steam, most of the onlookers had lost their interest and continued with their day. Xavier’s gaze returned to the crate in the back of the truck, there was no way know what the dog had or how long it would last before she would stop attacking. Until answers came he had to keep the poor thing locked up. He didn’t want anyone to go to the hospital, himself included, with such grievous wounds his employer had.

His light brown snagged on the woman from the pet store, he had been in there a time or two to look around. He never really purchased anything, though he did watch the snakes eating. It was a horrific thing which he couldn’t take his eyes off. He shivered at the memory, he replaced his hat and milled over what he could do with his present situation. There wasn’t really another vet in town that he knew of. He moved to the clerk of the pet store and pulled off his hat to be polite, his mama raised her boys well. “Miss,” he said, remembering his sisters ranting about being called ma’am. He thought it be safer to use that title for all women in general. “You wouldn’t know another vet in town would you?” He pointed his hat toward the crate that held the growling dog, pawing and biting at the crate door. “She is real sick.”

Paige pulled part of her light blue work shirt away from her chest and made a billowing motion to circulate the air. The heat from the fire was beginning to make her sweat and the smoke sting her eyes. She wiped the dampness from her forehead with the side of her wrist and thumb just as the other onlooker approached her. His truck and hat definitely said rancher and although he seemed in a similar state of shock from the fire, he also seemed considerably worried about something other than the clinic. Paige couldn't help but flinch inwardly when he called her "miss." That type of cordiality always made her uncomfortable even when backed with good intentions.
"A vet?" She took a quick glance at the rabid-looking dog behind him in the car. "Oh," she said softly. Realizing the man had intended to go to the clinic, she instantly hoped he hadn't personally known the late vet. "Yeah, my boss at the pet store might be able to help you." While the dog looked dangerous enough, there was no way she was hopping in this man's truck. "I'm actually going to head back to the store, so if you want to walk with me, it's just down the street," Paige continued, pointing over he shoulder with her thumb towards a small building nearby.
Paige waited for him to retrieve the crate from his truck and then she began her way to the store, still feeling the flames warming her back. She didn't talk the whole walk there, keeping her distance on the sidewalk from the agitated canine, even when they had to sidestep onlookers blind to their surroundings like moths.

When they arrived at the store, Paige stepped forward and pulled the door open for the man. She followed him inside the air conditioned building and called out for her boss. "Tom! Are you still here?" She squeezed past the guest and began to walk through the aisles towards his office back behind the counter. "Hey Tom! I have a dog that's-" Paige froze in mid stride as she passed one of the aisles.
Stepping backwards slowly, she looked to her right and saw something that caused her eyes to widen. There was something very different about the snake display she had almost missed; there was no snake. Not only that, but the glass on one side of the display had been shattered. She walked over to it and carefully crouched down to examine the damage. The broken glass littered the linoleum floor and a few of the nearby stands of pet toys had been knocked to the ground. She picked up one of the shards and noticed that it had blood on it. Her gaze shifted to the floor and she saw a thin smear of blood leading in a twisting pattern towards the back of the store. Forgetting the man and his dog, Paige made her way to the back and silently grabbed her wooden baseball bat from behind the counter. The door to Tom's office was slightly ajar and the light was on. A small part of her instincts screamed at her to flee, but instead she gripped the handle of the bat, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door with her elbow.

What greeted Paige made her stomach churn. The first thing she saw was the blood; it was everywhere. What was left of Tom's body lay on the floor next to his overturned office chair and broken lamp caused by a struggle. His discolored face was partially hidden by his mess of long hair matted down. A pool of blood had formed beneath the stump of his left arm which now only reached down to his elbow and another from his mangled neck. More blood, of which Paige could only assume belonged to her boss, was smeared on the ground and desk and spattered on the computer monitor. By now, Paige's lunch had threatened more than once to escape her stomach but she had held on.
A movement in the corner of her eye snapped her out of shock and something from behind the door moved out into the open. She inhaled sharply as Sandy the boa slithered into view. A few pieces of glass pierced the snake's skin causing her to leave a trail of blood as she moved. A section of the sand boa's stomach was enlarged as if from a meal and Paige quickly remembered Tom's missing limb. Paige's white knuckle grip of the baseball bat tightened even more in panic as the snake looked straight at her.

Xavier didn’t miss the flinch, he ground his teeth. He couldn’t win, he mentally let it slid. He wasn’t going to throw all his mama taught him because a woman couldn’t be honored enough to be respected. He felt the world was going to hell in a hand basket at least with social pleasantries this was just another example. He didn’t know her history, he amended, there may be a deep reason for not wanting to be called that. He tucked that information in the back of his mind as he did when he met anyone new.

The cowboy replaced his hat and marched off to grab the dog crate and followed the clerk to the mentioned store. The dog kept shifting her weight making it difficult to keep a solid hold on the bulky object. It would be much easier to just carry the dog, there was no chance of that. He didn’t want his face ripped off. He had to stop several times and shift his hold on the plastic handle that wanted to dig into his hands painfully. His steps were quicken until he caught up with her once again.

“Thanks,” he whispered stepping inside and dropped the crate to the side of the doorway, the dog barked and growled for a few moments before clawing at the bars again. The place was strangely quiet, it smelt of pet food and newspaper –at least to him. He started browsing while he waited for her to find her boss. Her sudden stop mid-sentence rose the hair on the back of his neck. He put down the rubber chicken and turned to the clerk.

His eyebrow rose when she grabbed the bat, he studied the surroundings a little more carefully. There was an eerie sense about the place, it would be dead quiet if not for the dog’s continual noise. His heeled boots clicked against the floor as he moved slowly down the aisle trying to find what had alerted the clerk. He stepped near a caged canary, the three tiny bodies hit the side of the cage pecking and clawing in his direction. He fell a step away from the odd behavior, he glanced back at the dog then the birds. Both were acting super aggressive and really wanted a piece of him. He hurried by the wall of cages, the rest of the birds were eating seed or preening.

“Hey,” he said finding the clerk hovering outside the office. He shivered reaching out for her shoulder then froze upon seeing part of a body and a pool of blood. He swallowed hard. “Let’s get out of here,” his voice came out in a whisper he hadn’t met it to sound so creepy. This whole thing was beyond that, first the fire, irate canaries and now a dead guy. He would have touched her but that death grip on the bat persuaded him to keep his hands to himself. His eyes latched on the snake and he shivered once more. He grabbed the knob and pulled the door shut, hopefully keeping the snake contained. “That’s a really big snake.”

He swallowed hard and stepped away from the clerk not wanting to spook either of them farther. “I am going to call the police,” he started pulling the phone from his breast pocket. “From outside.”

He started down a row without animals flanking it and pushed his way outside, he took several deep breaths. He had seen death before in different ways. A guy had been kicked in the head by a horse, he just didn’t remember seeing that much blood that time. He dialed the police and explained the situation. He was not going to get into trouble for not reporting a dead guy, he had seen movies where people didn’t and they always wound up in more trouble. He wasn’t sure if that was real or just the way it was written, either way he wasn’t going to take a chance.

He disconnected the call, it would be a while the deputy was on another call on the outskirts of town. He was told to hang tight. He wiped a hand over his mouth. Where the two things connected or random things happened around the same time? “What in Sam’s Hill is going on?”