Forever Captive

Chapter 3

"Stay quiet." I whisper, crouching in the water with the radio just above it as I turn off my flashlight, aiming to allow for my eyes to adjust to the darkness rather than only see the light, "I need to hear what is happening. We heard the first shout, but not the other man's scream. It might be further away than we think. Slowly, slowly, start walking the way we came. I'll be right behind you."

Mr. Davis says nothing, jumping at every hint of movement from the trees as I gently push him, guiding him towards the way we came in. The swamp is quiet. Too quiet. The gunshot was loud, and threatening, but would that cause all animals to hide?

Is it them? Do they believe humans to be a threat, even in the canopy above?

No.

This realization comes late as I feel movement at the surface of the water from behind me.

This is going to hurt.

I shove Mr. Davis far harder than I would like to as I feel chillingly cool scales wrap around my ankle, "Run, damnit! Get the fuck out of here! Lea—"

My voice changes into gargles as my foot gets pulled out from under me, the water surrounding my face as I seek only to urge the clueless, inexperienced man away from me. There goes my radio.

The water is murky and rank as it enters my mouth and I, instead, focus on trying to pull whatever is on my ankle off.

A tail? What creature uses their tail like this? The strength, size, and texture all seem to resemble a massive snake-like creature. Why would a snake try to drown its prey? Nothing but the tail is on me and yet I am anchored, rooted in the water. Is it toying with me? Angry?

I thrash in the water as I aim merely to get words out, words that are impossible to speak when the air in my lungs is replaced by water. I feel more of the tail wrap around my leg and squeeze and I let out a gargled shout as the bone snaps.

I finally manage to brace myself with my arms under me and push myself up. With as much air as I can gather in my lungs, I weakly shout, "This isn't enough!"

This is just torture. It won't do anything. It won't kill me. If this damnable animal wants to eat, it shouldn't torture it's food.

As soon as I plunge into the water and try to pull myself closer to the silent but quick mass that's attacking me, I feel the scales around my leg loosen.

It's only now that I realize some part of my leg is also bleeding. I can taste the blood in the water. Unless that isn't mine. Is it? There's far too much pain to tell and I'm under water. You can't feel wet if you're already wet.

I manage to untangle myself from the muscle and pull myself away using the root of a tree, gasping in a mixture of pain and exhaustion as I struggle to see anything beyond the shape of the massive reptile that slinks towards me in the water.

The hiss that follows is nearly more like a growl, deep and accusatory and nearly... curious?

"If you're worried about me running, I've got a few hours." I laugh bitterly, "But if you plan on following that young man, I'm afraid we'll have to see a grown man hobble on a broken leg. Not a pretty sight."

I sigh as the reptile starts to slither in the direction of my dear new assistant. My hand reaches out of its own volition as I try to grab onto any part of the creature, digging my fingers beneath the scales as it halts. I laugh bitterly as I feel the tail once again curl around my ankle, "Listen, I don't know how you feel about hatchlings, but I myself want to see him make it back to safety. If you want to try drowning me again, sure, but I'll fight every second of the way to him. Don't make me hurt you. This is your goddamn territory for fuck's sake. All I want to do is make sure he can take this little cautionary tale and abandon the search he's been trying to set out on."

Mr. Davis is kind and clueless. He's also trying to find evidence of any creature of myth, ones that have become increasingly more sought after since the lab I was in got raided. For the sake of those creatures, I'd rather avoid anybody finding out that some exist. I know from experience what that ends up turning into.

"Human," the beast hisses, seemingly testing the way that the vowels feel. The word itself was drawn out and breathy, and yet the beast continues, "Human weak— die fast. You no die."

I frown slightly as it curls against me, confused. I let go of its scales, though. Evidently, the beast is taking far more interest in me than its lost prey. When I don't respond, it squeezes my leg and I wince.

I take a deep breath in, "That's true. Drowning still fucking hurts and now I need to figure out how bad you crushed my damn leg."

"Fear..." The reptile hisses and I finally notice the glint of eyes in the darkness as a single ray of sun highlights the face of the snake in front of me. A cobra, of sorts? Whatever it is, its head is larger than mine, though slimmer. "You do not fear me."

"Well, no. I thought you could kill me." I laugh bitterly once again, "How stupid of me for getting my hopes up. If you plan on eating me... Can you take small chunks? No, you don't seem like you can chew. Ah, well... Don't eat me whole. I'll give you that warning. It doesn't matter how bad the fucking acid hurts, you'll just shit me out when I'm done screaming in pain."

I suppose it's fair, actually, to offer a part of myself as a meal. We probably interrupted its hunting and feeding. As large as this creature is and as active as it seems to be, I have a hard time believing that we just so happened to stumble into its nap.

"You seek death?" The question itself seems so foreign to the animal that it moves away from me, evidently fearing me more than it did when I aimed to push my assistant towards momentary safety.

I purse my lips in thought as I watch its green eyes move in search of answers. I finally cough as my body starts to reject the water left in my lungs and quietly answer, "Who wouldn't, with all this shit?"

I feel a cold, slender appendage flick against my shoulder and freeze. A tongue. It scents the same as a snake, then? I suppose it seems to be one giant serpent. The next question is quiet and confused, nearly a whisper compared to the growls of the ones before. "You smell like humans, but not... human?"

"Yes, well, you feel like a snake and yet here I am talking with you like we're colleagues. Clearly, we aren't all what we seem to be." I huff, "I really don't want to hurt you, nor do I particularly want to find out if I can. I just want to get back to the camp. I'm sure my assistant will have a lot of questions—"

"Lies." The word rings out with yet another deep hiss, the green eyes morphing into a sort of murky red, "Humans all lie."

I huff again and sharply groan as the tail around my leg squeezes, "I tend to agree. Humans are rotten, insensitive, haughty creatures that only take and take more. Don't believe me, then. Spend all of your time and energy trying to kill me while they hatch a plan to have your carcass split open on a white table."

The tongue flicks on my skin again and I sharply pull away, my hand reaching towards my neck as I feel piercing sharp teeth sink deep into my shoulder. I thrash involuntarily as my body seizes on its own. Water. I'm under water again. I fell.

I'm still not sleeping.

Fuck. Fuck. As much pain as this is? It feels like I'm burning from the inside out, and yet I still can't slip into that endless abyss. Damn this. 

"Just let me die." I weakly whisper into the water, ignoring as it floods my nose and mouth.

Let this end. Please.