What Doesn’t Kill You…

Photo Credit: Joy Pixley

The Great Race was about to begin, and I was nowhere near ready. But failure was not an option, for failure meant death, and having seen it happen multiple times over the years, I can tell you that it’s not pretty.

I looked at the track again, if you could call and a cold shiver ran through my body. One prick from those sharp spines, and one could bleed to death in minutes. It is not as if we had medical staff on standby to take care of such injuries. Nope, that would be so tame. Makes you tougher, they say! What use is toughness if you are not alive to benefit from it.

But the killer spikes of the cacti were the lesser of our worries. Once the race started, there were no-holds-barred. Completing the race was all that mattered, whatever the cost. If you somehow survive being shoved into the cacti spines by your competitor on the left, you immediately have to fend off the one on your right before he bites you.

Life of a rattlesnake is no bed of roses, I can tell you that!

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189 words.

Written as a part of Sunday Photo Fiction, hosted by Susan Spaulding. Here’s wishing an awesome year to all the lovely people I have come in contact with since I started this blog. Cheers!