Lindsay's eyes bugged out and she thought her arms would be pulled from her sockets. "Stop! Dammit, STOP!"

Miraculously, Albert held on, and as she was tugged forward by Bo, he was pulled from the river on his belly. When he was mostly on dry land he let go, sending Lindsay and Bo sprawling face first in the brush. Albert lay on the riverbank panting and moaning and he decided then and there that he'd never try to drown someone again. Back home he could always just toss someone off a tall bridge and be done with it. No fuss no mess. Yes, he'd stick to that from now on.

It was Bo who was back on his feet first. He picked up his hat, and stomped over to Albert, his face contorted in rage. "You moron!"He shoved his hat back on his head. "What is wrong with you?" he exploded, kicking at Albert's protruding belly and noticing with relief that the knife was gone. He glanced over his shoulder and Lindsay's studied gaze told him she was seeing the same thing.

Albert's chest was rising and falling so rapidly he couldn't speak. After a few tense seconds he rolled over and managed a "What?"His expression was a combination of dismay, gratitude, and stark terror.

Bo gave him another hard poke with the toe of his shoe, then moved to help Lindsay up. It took several moments, but between them they were able to pry the wet leather belt off her wrists.

She rubbed the tender skin gingerly, certain she was going to have some bruises in addition to the cuts on her back to explain to Ginny. She stalked over to Albert, who was now lying on his side."Give me your hands," she commanded darkly, her entire body shaking with pent-up anger. She let loose a vicious punch to his mouth just to get his attention, but even though his head sagged and he groaned in pain, he wouldn't offer up his hands. He was as stubborn and stupid as an old nag.

When Albert didn't respond she tried one last time. "Last chance before I throw you into the river and follow you downstream until I'm sure you're drowned," she warned him, meaning every single word."I don't honestly know what's keeping me from it now. And I swear to God, I won't ask you again."

The timbre of her voice alone chilled him to the bone and his head snapped up. The eye above the cheek she'd kicked was already beginning to swell shut and his mouth was throbbing. He saw the shimmering waves of fury licking closer and closer to the surface of her gaze and without a word he held up his wrists and allowed her to tie them. He was beaten.

"That might be the first smart thing you've ever done," she told him, pulling the belt so tight he cried out in pain."Shut up! You're the luckiest bastard in the world today, just because you're alive. Don't forget that."

Prudently, Albert remained silent, instead choosing to glare at Bo.

"Oh, not you too," Bo said, pointing angrily at Albert."I have to be on somebody's side, you know."He smirked a little."Just not yours."

"Traitor," Albert spat.

"Pretty much," Bo agreed, brushing several chunks of dirt from his pants. "Somebody had to make sure you didn't actually kill her when you found her. 'Course, after what I've seen here today, I seriously doubt you could have done it anyway."

Albert narrowed his eyes."That wrong train you insisted we take out of Baltimore wasn't an accident, was it?"Comprehension began to dawn."Shit! Shit! Shit!" For several heartbeats he couldn't think of anything else to say. Then words came pouring out in a fast, nearly incoherent stream. "You asshole! It was you! You! You're the one who was supposed to wake us up for the train we missed in West Virginia!"

One of Lindsay's eyebrows twitched. Not only couldn't she believe what Bo had done, now Albert was going to have a stroke before their very eyes.

"It's your fault we had that hangover our first day in Texas and spent an extra day just laying around. You were buying the beer."

Bo grinned unrepentantly.

Albert's mind scrambled for every rotten detail of their trip."The arrest in Atlanta!"

Lindsay's eyes formed twin moons.

Bo held up his hand to forestall him. "Now wait a minute. I didn't tell you to grab that man's ass."

Lindsay blinked then turned slowly to Albert. Both eyebrows at their zenith.

"I didn't do that," he complained loudly."I was picking his pocket. Not grabbing his ass"

"Says you," Bo quipped.

"Snake!" Albert seethed, his mind awhirl with painful, hideous revenge scenarios."I'm gonna-"

"You're gonna what?" Lindsay growled, bending over and grabbing Albert's ear. She twisted it until he squealed like a stuck pig. And then she twisted it some more.

"Nothing!" Albert squeaked, his face contorted."I'm going to do nothing. I swear!"

Lindsay let go of his ear and, with a sour look, wiped her hand off on her tattered shirt. "That's what I thought you said."She turned to Bo and her gaze softened. She thought of everything Bo had been through on her behalf and felt a lump develop in her throat. She swallowed a few times."Thanks."She let out a long breath, absorbing that fact that Bo hadn't sold her out for ten dollars. It felt wonderful."For everything"

He smiled at her words and then saw his action mirrored in the form of a dazzling grin that wrinkled the skin at the corners of Lindsay's eyes and showed off her teeth. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Bo felt his cheeks going warm, and he looked away, his feelings for Lindsay written all over his face. "Umm... It wasn't anything. Really."

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Albert groaned as he rolled his eyes and flopped over onto his back so he wouldn't have to watch the disgusting scene. "Fuck her and get it over-" He was interrupted by Lindsay staring curiously at his leg. Albert followed her gaze.

"What's that?" she asked.

Bo stepped over and peered down."That's a fat piece of shit."

"Well, yeah," she agreed casually."But I mean there." She pointed to Albert's ankle. "It's moving under the pant leg."

"There's nothing there," Albert said irritably. He shook his leg for emphasis then his eyes popped wide open and jaw dropped. His mouth worked for a few seconds but no sound came out.

Bo and Lindsay looked at each other then back at Albert.

The bearded man began to scream bloody murder and shake his leg wildly, grabbing at his trouser cuff and twisting ."Ahhh! So-som-mething is in there!" He was bordering on hysterical."In my pants!"

"I doubt it's much," Lindsay scoffed.

Bo made a gagging noise."It's not. I accidentally saw it."

Albert's screams abruptly stopped and his face turned bright red; he gasped then let out a gut-wrenching yell as the veins in his forehead popped out, his face twisting in pain. He held his leg very still as a slender olive-colored snake, about two-and-a-half feet long, slithered out of the bottom of his pants and back into the water.

Bo and Lindsay both shivered and took a large step backwards. Albert began to howl.

"It bit me!" he sobbed, grasping frantically at his calf. A tremor took hold of Albert and he began to shake helplessly.

Lindsay searched the area around her feet while Bo picked up a stick as a weapon.

"Do something," Albert yelled, his leg throbbing in time with his heartbeat; the area around the bite felt like it was on fire. He tried to stand but the world spun and he crashed back to the ground, a sodden, pathetic heap.

They ignored him."I hate snakes," Bo said, his eyes intently scanning the area around them.

"Me too," Lindsay agreed as she looked too. They poked and prodded until they were fairly certain there were no more where they were standing. Then a thought struck her and she laughed."Poor snake, getting a bite of Rat Face." Bo joined her in a chuckle."Bet it'll get a stomach ache."

"Or die outright."

Albert lifted his pant leg to reveal to two deep puncture marks. They weren't really bleeding, but the tissue around them was already puffy and very red.

"What do you think that was?"Bo wondered out loud."A rattler?"

"Rattler?" Albert moaned."I'm gonna die. Oh, God, I'm gonna die!"

"Do they swim, Bo?"Lindsay's voice was calm even when Albert began to cry. She pulled her wet shirt away from her skin, grimacing at the feeling."I don't think it was a rattler." She shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't see any rattle at least."

Her words seemed to calm Albert for a moment, but soon he began cry and curse them both. Finally, tiring of his antics, she snatched the long stick out of Bo's hands and poked roughly at the bite."Does that hurt?"

"Fuck yes!" Albert nodded, his beady eyes filled with fear. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead as he waited for her to continue.

She examined the area carefully, as though she knew what she was doing. Then scratched her chin thoughtfully."Good."

Bo burst out laughing.

"So how did you find me, Bo?" Lindsay asked, bored with Albert's ugly face and bitten leg. She braced herself against a tree and tossed aside the stick, wishing she could lean back against the trunk, but mindful of her back.

Albert began to scream again but Bo talked right over him, and the pair effectively ignored him as Bo filled her in on the list of cities they'd used to find her and how they'd been close behind her almost since she left New York City.

"Please help me," Albert sobbed, his stomach roiling."I-" He stopped to vomit, and both Lindsay and Bo cringed.

"Yuck," Lindsay said, having done something very similar only a few moments before.

"I think he's making himself sick on purpose," Bo accused, shooting Albert an evil look.

"Or it could be the poison," Lindsay supplied helpfully, noting that the area around the bite marks had gone from red to dark purple. Albert's complexion was already pasty white and sallow. At the moment, however, his skin was a dull gray and covered with a light sheen of sweat. But did he have to continue to cry like a baby?"Rat Face, I once heard that you'll just send the poison moving through your body quicker if you thrash around and pitch a fit." She pushed away from the tree."So shut up and settle down, cause once it goes to your heart, that's the little black thing the size of a raisin and located in your chest," she reminded him blithely, "you're done for anyway."

"Die like a man, and not a mouse," Bo said flatly.

"Or rat, in this case."

"True," Bo agreed.

"I don't wa-wa-want to die!" Albert sobbed, rolling into the fetal position as his stomach cramps got worse."Please! Please do something. Anything. Isn't there a doctor in that Mexican-filled town?"

Lindsay and Bo both shrugged. Bo chewed his mustache."Them is the breaks, Rat Face. You wouldn't have been in the water and picked up that snake if you hadn't been trying to kill String Bean."

Albert suddenly stopped moving and forced himself not to yell the words."You could suck out the poison. I heard of that. Sucking it out."

Lindsay and Bo looked at him as though he was insane."Yeah, right," Lindsay finally snorted."Like I'd suck any part of you. Suck it yourself."

"Bet he's tried that before, but that gut got in the way."

"You're gonna make me puke again, Bo."

Bo tilted his hat back farther on his head."That reminds of me the joke about a puppy and his-"

"Wait! I'm serious," Albert said, trembling."I remember now. You cut an X over the bite and suck it out." His eyes begged them."You can save me. PLEASE! I'll do anything."

"Now you're talking." For the first time since Albert was bitten Lindsay looked truly interested."Would you go home and leave me alone?"

"Yes!" Albert nodded furiously."I promise."

"Can I believe him, Bo?"

"Nope."

"That's what I thought. Sorry, Rat Face."

"Oh, Jesus, you can't just let me die. You can't."

Lindsay crouched down next to Albert."Oh, yes, I can," she said quietly, her gaze boring into his."And you know you deserve it."

Albert gulped.

They stayed that way, their gazes locked, for a long time, until Lindsay sighed. She grabbed Albert's calf and roughly pushed up his pants leg.

"Thank you. Thank you. I swear I'll leave you alone. I swear it."

"I know you will," Lindsay said evenly."I'm going to make sure of that."She pulled her pocket knife out of her trousers and held it over the wound."Just so you know, I'm leaving San Marcos tomorrow and I'm not coming back. I'm not coming back to New York again either. You'll never find me again, so give up on me and the damn ten dollars!"

"Yes. Yes." Albert said quickly."I've already given up."And for once the look on his face told Lindsay he was telling the truth."You aren't worth the ten dollars."

Lindsay laughed. "I could have told you that."She pressed the blade to his flesh and cut a gash into his leg, warm blood spilling over the metal and dripping to the ground.

He hissed.

"One more," she warned him. She went slowly, wanting him to feel every second of this pain. To know it as a reminder.

Bo looked a little faint and turned his head.

"All done," she announced.

Albert waited. When she just sat there his heavy eyebrows pulled together. "Wh-what are you waiting for? Suck out the poison."

She gave him a pointed look."I wasn't joking before," she said flatly."There is no way I'm doing that. Do it yourself."

"I can't reach!" he cried.

"Make yourself reach."Sweating and panting, Albert tried for a few minutes but could only get his shin about a foot from his mouth.

Lindsay's gaze flicked to Bo in question.

"I am not sucking it. I'd rather he die."

Lindsay sighed."Help me then."Together, with Lindsay pushing on Albert's leg and Bo pushing on Albert's shoulders, they folded the man enough to where he could suck on his own shin. Lindsay heard his pants rip and knew that his muscles were probably stretched to the point of agony, but she couldn't help believing that it served him right.

Albert sucked and spat. And sucked and spat. Until he was so lightheaded he couldn't continue and his lips were ringed with blood. Then he fell back onto the grass and waited to see if he would die. He looked up at the blue sky and felt tears burn his eyes. This time he cried quietly.

Lindsay and Bo stepped away, talking in low voices as they waited to see if Albert would recuperate. Their conversation lasted for a while and for a few minutes they remembered, recalling their adventures with the fondness only distance can provide.

Much to their surprise, eventually a hint of color had returned to Albert's cheeks and he stopped shaking.

"What's happened to you, String Bean?" Bo asked affectionately, forgetting about the scars and seeing so much more. Drenched and tattered she looked better than he'd remembered, the attractive fire in her that always lurched just beneath the surface, burnished by something deeper.

"Love happened."

His eyebrows jumped and he looked confused.