The Snake Charmer

III

Several days have gone by ever since they brought the new addition to the reptile exhibits. I haven't had any chance recently to go by and see him. They have someone else going by and seeing to feeding him, and how they were doing that was by having someone dump tons of dead livestock animals into his cage for him to eat.

Since then they have been having me do introductions or educational talks to audiences about different snakes that they have in the exhibits, including holding several pythons or other nonvenomous serpents in front of all of them.

The days have been a lot slower in the zoo, but that didn't stop me from noticing how the royal blue snake would be watching me through the glass whenever I went by, but when I was far enough away from the exhibit, I could tell he wouldn't let anybody see him unless I was there outside of his enclosure.

Meanwhile one of the workers here that are supposed to help me with cleaning up all the snake enclosures was starting to really get on my nerves. Jareth was one of the most annoying men here in the zoo. He was truly addicted to the idea of getting me alone to try to make out with me, including when he insisted on being my assistant during the educational moments I had with the audiences. I would hold the snake while he simply stood next to me to make sure that the snake didn't bite me or try to suffocate me, which never happened.

While standing outside of the large snake enclosure, I was standing there by myself reading off of my clipboard about the tasks I had for the new day. I had to feed the vipers since it had been a good couple of days since their last meal. As I stood there I felt something grab hold of my shoulder and force me to turn around, finding myself face to face with Jareth.

"Hey, sweet baby. Looks to me like you're a little lost, standing here by yourself." Jareth spoke, as he pinned me up against the glass of the giant snake enclosure.

"Jareth, stop. I am not interested, how many times do I have to try and get that in your head?" I hissed as I tried to get out of his grip.

"Awe, come on, just a kiss." Jareth spoke as he had my arms above my head, preventing me from escaping his grasp. His lips started to approach mine as I fought to get my arms free, but it was no use against a man that was not just stronger than me, but at the same time bigger than me. I looked down and slammed my foot on top of his, sending him hopping and letting go of me instantly. "Why, you little..." Jareth started to hiss as he stopped and looked back at me as I picked my clipboard off of the ground. I saw he was frozen stiff, as he was looking at something behind me. "RUN!" Jareth cried as he took off running, but as soon as he did I turned around to find the glass of the enclosure shattering and the large, blue snake slithered out of the enclosure and charged right at Jareth. I fell onto the ground, covering my neck from all the shattering glass that was falling everywhere, including pieces that cut my skin and through my clothes. My clipboard had flown across the ground and landed several feet away from me.

I looked over and saw the blue snake coiling up around Jareth and starting to squeeze him, but I knew I had to stop him. I forced myself to get up onto my feet, even through the pain of a piece of glass that was stuck in my leg. I jumped onto the snake, and grabbed hold of his coils, startling it and drawing its attention onto me instead of on Jareth. "Don't hurt him, please. I know what he did was wrong, but if you kill him, they are merely gonna end up putting you down as a result." The snake let go of Jareth and dropped him onto the ground nearby, while its coils instantly coiled around me, drawing a gasp of pain from me as it brushed against the piece of glass still stuck in my leg. The snake seemed to back away from me and look at my leg, where there was blood soaking my clothes.

I watched as he stuck his tongue out and was licking the wound, but no matter how much I tried to stop him, he continued to hold me firmly down as he licked the blood off my leg. It was all sudden, but I heard the sound of a gun firing and the snake holding me ended up acting violently as he was hissing at something that I couldn't see because of how he was holding me down in his coils. More guns fired, before I saw darts along the neck of the snake, as he started acting sluggish and his head landed on top of me, due to the chemicals that were in the darts that were fired at me. I felt a hand grab me and pull me out of the snake's scales as I continued to stare at the snake in horror at how they were treating him. I fell onto the ground, surrounded by several of the zoo personnel along with some police.