Page 65 of A Sudden Response

“Uh-huh,” Caleb said, wiping his nose on the back of his arm.

“Can you tell me?” Joe asked as she pulled her cell phone out and started to scroll down until she found dispatch’s phone number.

“That way,” Caleb said, gesturing to his left.

Biting back a sigh, she dialed dispatch.

“Dispatch.”

“Hey, Hank, it’s Joe. Um, I have a Caleb Henderson at that call you sent us on. Has anyone called looking for him?” Joeasked, wondering what was taking Eric so long. He should have at least given her a heads-up by now.

She heard him sigh in relief. “We have police and fire scouring the town looking for him. Is the call his home address?”

“Yes.”

“There should be a police unit there soon. Is the boy hurt?”

“Doesn’t appear to be. He called for his friends. Eric’s checking now. I should-”

“Holy shit!” Eric suddenly shouted, startling the hell out of her. Seconds later, he came running back around the front of the house. He paused in his mad dash only long enough to throw Caleb over his shoulder and grab her hand.

“Joe? What the hell is going on?”Hank demanded, sounding nervous, which was good because that meant that she wasn’t the only one.

“Is that dispatch?” Eric asked as he ushered her and Caleb into the back of the ambulance.

“Yes.”

Eric didn’t say anything else to her as he grabbed the phone from her.“Hank? Call animal control,”Joe heard him say as he paced frantically in front of the ambulance.

“I think Roger is going to be in trouble,” Caleb mumbled sadly as a sneaking suspicion crawled up her spine.

“Caleb, who is Roger?”

“He hurt Toby,” Caleb mumbled sadly.

“Is Toby a dog?” Eric asked, still pacing as he kept an eye on the house.

Caleb nodded. “He’s big.”

“That’s what I figured,” Eric said, sighing heavily as he stepped away from the ambulance so that he could speak to dispatch in private.

Wondering what the hell was going on, Joe climbed out of the ambulance and motioned for Caleb to stay where he was and walked towards the back of the house and-

Why was that really thick yellow and white hose moving? Joe wondered.

More importantly, why was it coming towards her? Joe wondered as she registered Eric’s hand on her arm as he yanked her back and pulled her into a run.

She swallowed hard as they ran towards the ambulance. “Was that asnake?” Joe asked, unable to hide the disgust in her tone. She hated snakes, absolutely hated them, which was probably why Eric didn’t tell her what they were dealing with because he knew she’d freak out.

“From that looks of it, a twenty-foot python and if I had to guess, that large lump is probably Toby,” Eric said, giving her a gentle push to get her to climb back into the ambulance.

“I see,” Joe mumbled hollowly as she reached out and pulled one of the back doors shut.

“You want to stay in here until it’s captured?” Eric asked, moving to shut the other door for her.

She gave him a “duh” look that had him wincing as he shut the other door. Joe wasted no time in locking them. Then, she scrambled over Caleb so that she could lock the side doors as well.

“I don’t think Roger will hurt you,” Caleb said.

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