The Breaking Wheel

Chapter 55: Ablaze

The serpent leered at them, then splashed the contents of the tanks at Lawrence.

Dr. Collingwood and Carson cried out at the same time. "No!"

Something slammed into Lawrence from the side, knocking him away. Dr. Collingwood suddenly screamed and collapsed, now ablaze. Naga lunged at him, jaws wide open. Dr. Collingwood staggered upright, leaped onto the serpent's head, and pressed her burning left hand into its eye. Naga shrieked angrily and slammed her into the wall. Carson opened fire on the door, managing to dislodge it from its frame, and slammed his shoulder into it, smashing the door down and fleeing, dragging Lawrence out with him.

"Wait, Carson, wait!" Lawrence shouted.

"Wait for what?" Carson retorted.

"Molly! She's still stuck in there!"

Carson sighed in frustration. "Lawrence, I know how much you love her and I'm truly sorry, but there's nothing we can do! The entire place is going up in flames around us! If you go there, you'll both die or worse!"

Lawrence looked around, finally noticing the roaring flames surrounding them. Carson grabbed him by the arm and resumed dragging him out of the burning facility.

Dr. Collingwood struggled to even move as the flames ate away at her flesh, when something coiled around her and forced her to look into a pair of yellow, slit-pupiled eyes.

Naga hissed. "Well, your escape was all for nothing, was it? Here you are, weak and pathetic, your life in my coils. You truly thought that you could forget the Nightmare with mortal power? The past never dies!"

Dr. Collingwood slowly raised her head to lock eyes with the loathsome serpent. "No. It wasn't for nothing. Even if... I die now, everyone... still knows you... for what you truly are. No one will ever fall victim to your bite again."

The snake cackled. "We'll see about that."

The coils around her chest tightened and tightened, until the sickening crack of bones could be heard. As for Dr. Collingwood, she was too weak to even cry out. All she could manage was a pained, strangled gasp. Blood poured down her chin.

Naga snarled, then spat his venom into her left eye. "Goodbye, mortal."

He hurled her through the window.

As her head smashed through the thick glass and she began to fall, she prayed, with all her strength, that everyone was safe, just as the final shred of consciousness slipped away and the darkness claimed her.