"Good morning Grace." A cooing, gentle voice awoke the young Gopher Snake from her deep slumber "Time for your lunch." The voice said, opening the cage's door and dropping a dead mouse inside. Grace flicked her tongue into the air and scooted closer, biting the dead animal before swallowing it slowly, giving her handler a kind smile, even though Alice couldn't see it. The ebony colored woman fed the other snakes before disappearing behind the door ,making the gopher raise her head with an innocent smile "Bye Alice!"

"She can't hear you, you know." Came a sad, accented voice from the other side of the room belonging to an Albino Boa Constrictor named Victor. Grace smiled "What? Of course she can!" she objected, earning a chuckle from another snake on the room "Grace, darling, you are so innocent. Humans are not like us. "The smooth voice belonged to an Indian Cobra who was gracefully curled on her corner "You need to understand they are not our friends."

Grace narrowed her eyes "Alice is my friend, okay? I can see it on her eyes!" she commented, pouting a bit when the Cobra laughed "Why are do you always say that, Elizabeth?" the young snake asked, making the black viper pause and look at her side "Because I know it, Grace. How do you think I ended up here?"

"Because you didn't wanted to be alone?"

Elizabeth sighed, placing the tip of her tail on her forehead and rubbing it slowly. Grace was the youngest snake in the room, she never left the serpentarium…actually she was brought here as an egg so she didn't knew how tough and wild the world could be. Ever since she was born, Grace had difficult to kill her preys because her venom was too weak- she was born with some kind of dysfunction that made her eyes a light gray and her venom much weaker than the others of her species- so all the preys she got were dead.

Both older snakes talked sometimes of what would happen if Grace was released back in the desert where she was born, would she survive? Would she be able to know how to take care of herself? Victor, being the pessimist, said she wouldn't last three days and even wanted to bet with Elizabeth about it. The poor thing was too naïve and too innocent to even know what was happening.

"Sleep Grace, just sleep." Elizabeth said with a wave of her tail. And sleep Grace did.

But it wasn't for long, until Alice came walking towards Grace's cage with the snake stick grabbing the young Gopher Snake by the neck and sliding her to an red cage and locking the small door. Elizabeth and Victor widened their eyes "Oh no…" she Cobra whispered "Grace! GRACE!" she called, the Gopher smiled innocently, waving the tip of her tail on their direction.

Poor thing didn't know she wouldn't come back.

Grace looked through the holes on the red box, blinking at the blurred images that she saw "Alice where are we going?" she asked, not receiving an answer from the woman who she saw as her friend. The Gopher Snake moved her gray irises towards the straw covered floor of her cage and hid her muzzle under her body. When the car suddenly stopped, her head jerked up "Where are we?"

Her body felt hot and smelled sand, nothing like her cage's sand though. It somehow made her relate it to death…

Alice placed the box on the hot sands of the Mojave Desert, opening the small gate so Grace could slid it out 'Come on Grace…don't be shy." She whispered, tapping the box a little so maybe the snake could move. Grace eyed the horizon in horror 'W-Where am I?" she squeaked, feeling the box being tilted and feeling her body sliding out of it. Alice gave Grace a sad smile, before turning on her heels and walking towards the truck.

The Gopher Snake widened her eyes and smiled "Alice! You'll be back later right Alice?" she asked, watching as the truck took off at high speed, disappearing in the line of the horizon. Grace dropped her ridges "Alice? "she whispered, feeling the hot wind touch her scales.

What was happening?

The Gopher looked around in horror, her light irises started to dry up because of the extreme sun "O-Okay...what is this place?" she asked none in particular, slithering towards a cactus and blinking "What is this thing? Can I ea- OW!" she sucked the tip of her tongue while glaring at the desert plant "I don't think I can." she mumbled, moving her head towards a figure in the distance "Oh! Maybe that person will help me!"

"Excuse me! Helloo?" she slithered quickly towards the said person "Could you h-" she froze, feeling the cold tip of a shotgun touching her muzzle. The Desert Cottontail Rabbit narrowed her eyes "Back off, snake." she snarled, giving few steps towards the young snake "Ya ain't havin' me as an appetizer, I promise you that."

"What?" Grace asked, whimpering as the gun was pressed harder against her muzzle "Don't ya play dumb wit' me. I know ya kind. Ya are a Gopher Snake, ya kill people like me." the rabbit growled, making the said snake laugh "WHAT? No! I'd never kill anyone!' she said with a smile, making the female rabbit blink but don't lower her gun "What do ya mean by that?"

"Welp, I don't see a reason for killing you. I mean, I just kinda wanted to know where am I. "Grace said with a smile, sighing relieved as the shotgun was removed from her muzzle "Gee, thanks, that was un-"

"Ya don't know where ya are?"

The surprise in the rabbit's voice made the snake blink "Um...no? Should I?" she asked confusedly, giving the rabbit a nervous smile "I just got here, I mean Alice dropped me here a few minutes ago." she said, her voice taking a sad turn. The Cottontail lowered her shotgun to the floor "Ya are one of those snakes." she said quietly, walking around Grace with narrowed eyes "W-What snakes?" the Gopher asked, feeling a bit uneasy as the rabbit poked her scales "Hey!"

"One of those are taken from here, to be back years later. I've met a lot of those." the rabbit said, placing her shotgun on her cart's back. Grace smiled "Oh really? Where can I find them?" she asked excitedly, maybe she could have friends! The female mammal chuckled 'Prob'ly in some hawk's belly." she smirked, hopping on her cart and grabbing her boar's leash. The young snake widened her eyes in horror "T-They are dead?" she asked quietly, gulping loudly as the rabbit nodded "What did ya expected? They never lived here ta know how ta survive."

"Please miss, I don't want to die!" Grace shouted, appearing in front of the rabbit and giving her a sad look "I-If this is where I was born, c-could you teach me how to survive?" she asked shyly, looking at the ground. The rabbit widened her pale green eyes "What? Ya want me ta teach ya?" she asked, when the snake nodded, she gave out a long sigh. It wasn't this poor thing's fault that she didn't knew how to survive, but she was a dangerous snake who killed most members of her family...still...the motherly side of her gave a small twang towards the Gopher.

"Oh, fine."

Grace widened her eyes and smiled "Really?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Oh thank you so much miss rabbit-"

"Emily."

Grace blinked "What?" she asked, making the female rabbit smile softly 'Name's Emily." the voice of the rabbit turned soft as she gave the snake a look 'And yours? "she asked, arching one brown eyebrow. The Gopher Snake smiled "My name is Grace."