Your money or your life!
She kissed him on the lips. That's the way she used to kiss him. He loved to feel her lips on his lips. Then she pulled back her head and looked at him straightly in the eyes. Rango blushed as she gave him this loving look.
"See you tomorrow?" she asked softly and smiled.
Rango smiled, too. "Of course. By the way, thank you for the meal. It was very good."
Beans chuckled softly. "Was I able to indulge a nice city boy?"
She touched his face with both hands. Rango knew she wanted to kiss him again. But this time he wanted to kiss her at first. He leaned forward and kissed her again. Almost several seconds or longer. They did not know. At last, they interrupted their intimate contact.
Rango cleared his throat and took a step back. "Well, then, it's probably the best I go now."
"And you really do not want to stay here?" Beans asked hopefully.
Rango looked forward. Behind her stood Beans's farmhouse. It was a huge tin can, which was converted into a house, but it was cozy. He had never refused her invitation for a lunch with her. Although he always had to stay in the town as a sheriff. But why not sacrifice a short evening? Now he stood with her in front of the house and she wanted that he stay tonight.
Rango was heartwarming, but then he shook his head ruefully.
"No, I'm sorry. Tonight, I have no one, who could stand guard at the sheriff's office."
Beans nodded. "Okay. But another time?"
Rango smiled. "Exactly. Definitely another time. I will look in my calendar."
With these words, he untied his roadrunner, which stood in front of the house and mounted the animal.
"I just hope that your calendar is not full," Beans said cheerfully.
"Don't worry. For you, I always keep a date clear."
He drew in the reins and the roadrunner rode into the desert, where in the distance lay the city.
They waved goodbye to each other.
"See you tomorrow," Beans called at him.
"See you tomorrow!" he called at her and spurred the roadrunner, which immediately rode in a wild gallop.
When they rode the half way, Rango shorted the reins and let the roadrunner go at a walking pace. The chameleon turned up his collar. The night was chilly, but the sky was starry.
He leaned his head back and looked at the stars. They were beautiful this night. The moon shined crescent-shaped in the sky and interfered with its dim light barely the star splendor.
Rango listened to the chirping of the desert crickets.
It had been a lovely evening. He had never enjoyed such a night. At least not with a nice girl. He sighed. It had done him some harm to leave Beans so soon after the dinner again. With pleasure, he would have been stay there, but he had to return to the city.
He was taken aback. The chirping of the crickets had stopped all at once. Why they had interrupted their evening concert? Because of him?
He winced. From the corner of his eye, he thought he would have seen a movement. He glanced to the right. Around him were scattered withered shrubs, and a few cacti, but for the rest…
There! Again a slight movement. This time on the left side. Rango got qualms, and he did not know whether he should stay or ride faster.
He was startled. He quickly stopped his roadrunner. In undergrowth, something rustled.
Rango grabbed quickly for his revolver and pointed it at the direction where he had heard the sound. His stomach clenched. Was it just a harmless animal? If so, why did it lurk around here?
"Who's there?" he asked with firm voice. But no one answered. With an effort, he stared into the darkness. A silence was in the air. A silence that Rango did not like.
He held his breath and listened to a suspicious noise.
Suddenly he heard crunching sand beside him. He turned around. He screamed in horror as a dark figure leapt him and snatched him down from the roadrunner to the ground.
Immediately, Rango tried to get up, but then he was grabbed from behind and someone pressed him on his stomach on the ground.
"Your money or your life!" a strange voice ordered.
Rango was paralyzed with fear as the stranger pressed a revolver between his ribs. He had never been attacked by a mugger. Why today?
"Your money or your life!" the stanger demanded with menacing voice.
"I-I ... I have nothing with me," Rango stammered.
He saw his revolver a few meters in front of him lying on the floor. The stranger had not yet discovered it fortunately.
"You have no money?!" the bandit growled. "Don't talk rubbish! Everyone has something in their pockets."
"Then look for yourself!" Rango countered with clenched teeth.
The stranger did not hesitate and rummaged first Rango's trouser pockets. Then the bandit pulled him onto his back and searched his shirt pockets.
In the dim moonlight, Rango recognized a fox-like shape in sloppy clothes. The robber was so busy with the pockets that he no longer paid attention to Rango. A little bit calmed, Rango took up his courage and kicked his feet with full force in the belly of the fox. The fox yelped and fell backwards.
Rango took his chance and picked up his revolver from the ground and pointed it at the fox, who was still completely surprised when he saw the revolver in Rango's hand.
"I arrest you for robbery!" Rango said sternly.
The fox stood up. "Who do you think you are?"
"I'm the sheriff of this town district," Rango answered. "And I place you under arrest."
"Well, well. You think you're very clever, huh?" the fox asked and chuckled hoarsely.
Rango narrowed his eyes. "If you do not keep your comments for yourself at once, you will stand longer behind bars."
The fox chuckled again. "Then catch me."
Rango had no more time to react, and the fox jumped aside and disappeared into the thick, withered shrubs.
"Stop! Freeze!" Rango shouted and fired a bullet, which missed its target because of the darkness.
The chameleon tried to run after him, but the robber was no more visible.
Rango bit his underlip. "Damn!"
Angrily he stomp his foot.
"I'm a stupid sheriff," he grumbled angrily and snorted. Because of his carelessness, the robber was still running around the area.
Still quite upset he kicked away a stone.
All right, he thought. It can't be helped.
After he had calmed down, he put his revolver back in the holster and walked over to his roadrunner. But when he was going to climb up, someone grabbed him from behind and threw him to the ground.
Rango had no chance to stand up again, because once again he was pressed on his stomach on the ground.
"Did you really think I would run away like a coward?" the fox said mockingly.
Rango gasped as the fox shifted his weight in his body. In vain, he tried to come up again.
"Let me go!" Rango yelled at him. Panic rose inside him. The bandit had no good intentions that he returned.
"Shut up!" the robber snapped. "Actually I had planned to take an ordinary robbery. But you insulted me. That was not very clever of you. People who annoy me, I do not like."
Rango gasped as the fox dug his long claws into his shoulders. He wriggled in his grasp, but the fox held him like a vise.
"Let me go!" Rango shouted.
"Oh, now you are afraid," the robber mocked spitefully. "I assure you, that you will have more fear tonight. A fear of death. "
Rango was startled. But before he could protest, the bandit had taken out a string from his pocket and tied his hands behind his back together.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Rango shouted angrily, but at the same time anxiously. "Let me go at last!"
He wailed when the fox grabbed his tied wrists and pulled them higher behind his back. Rango thought to get a lumbago every moment. He felt how the fox grabbed him by the neck. Shortly thereafter, he tasted cloth in his mouth, which was tied together behind his head. In vain, Rango tried to spit out the gag again. Then the fox loosened his grip and let Rango be.
Rango tried to flee and crawled a few feet away from him. But the fox jumped at him again and pressed him with his stomach on the ground.
Rango uttered muffled cries and tried again to get free with all his might.
"You have no money," the robber sneered. "Fine, then I will steal your life."
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a knife. When Rango saw the knife, the bare panic rose inside him. Like a madman, he tried to free himself. He heard how the rubber laughed.
Rango screamed. An unbearable sharp pain ran through his right side. He felt hard metal.
The fox let him go. But the pain did not subside. Rango was totally scared and shaking with panic. He tried to scream, but his body was paralyzed with fear and his mind was completely empty. Stunned, he looked down at himself. The fox had rammed a knife into his right body side and leaved it in the wound.
Satisfied with himself, the fox put his hands on his hips and looked at his injured victim with spitefulness.
"Well, how do you like that?" he asked sarcastically.
Seconds later, Rango had recovered from the initial shock. Despite the endless pain, he stood up and tried to run away, because his legs were not tied. But the bandit reacted quickly and before Rango knew what was happening, he had thrown him to the ground again.
"You want to run away?" the robber asked spitefully. "You will be a good boy and stay here."
Rango was close to tears. With every movement, he had the feeling to squeeze the knife more and more into the wound.
"I see, I'll have to force you to stay here," the bandit grumbled.
He looked around and saw an old big shrub, which looked more like a half-withered tree, and his withered branches hang sadly down.
The fox laughed and entrained Rango without mercy. Rango whined when the robber hauled him over to the tree. Under the tree, he forced Rango to stand on his feet and seized his shackled wrists. Then he tied up his hands with one of the drooping branches. After he had tested the branch couldn't break off, he relinquished Rango.
Groaning, the chameleon writhed, but he couldn't sink to the ground, because his hands were tied together with the tree-branch. He could only get on his knees.
"Well, you like it better, don't you?" the fox said and chuckled nastily. "At the earliest in the morning somebody could find you, but until then you're already dead. Don't hope, that somebody will find you before dawn. Have a good night and sleep well."
He laughed. Then he turned around and left Rango alone.
Rango wailed in his distress and whined. But the robber made no move to turn around and went calmly his way.
It was quiet again. The crickets began to continue their evening concert.
Rango did not know what to do. Helpless, he stood there, breathing heavily. He moaned painfully when he felt the knife inside his wound again.
He felt nauseated. Groaning, he writhed and he'd love nothing better than to lay down, but the shackles held him mercilessly fixed on the branch.
He looked around. There wasn't a soul in sight. Neither a person nor a house. He felt a lump in his throat. He was completely alone. He sobbed. The pain was getting worse. Finally, he wept. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks.
He lamented when he felt heavy convulsions. His knees began to shake. He did not want to die!
He took a pleading look to the sky, where the stars still shined, as though nothing had happened. Again he looked around. But no one was visible. He got a new paroxysm of grief. He wept as never before in his life.
With a jerk, he straightened his torso and screamed with all his might through the gag in the darkness. His helpless cries disappeared in solitude. But the sound was not loud enough to reach a listening ear.
Several times, the injured chameleon shouted with muffled cries. Then he collapsed. His arms stretched back so that he stood on his knees. He continued to cry. Groaning, he tried again to get back on his feet, but the cramps forced him back on the knees. Like a lifeless doll he hung there. Totally helpless.
He was shocked when he suddenly felt cold metal on his stomach, which straightened his torso again. He whined, when the knife was moved in his wound. Shaky, Rango looked at the metal. It was big and ... was a gun.