Forever Captive

Chapter 4

I hardly recognize my surroundings or movements as my body continuously shakes and convulses, but I do understand that I am lying on the back of the serpent. In an interesting turn of events, I'm on the back of the beast.

Is it taking me somewhere? I can't exactly resist, but if it intends to hold me captive, it will only harm the environment. I try for what feels like hours to form words, but my lungs are still filled with water and my tongue seems in more danger of being bitten off than it does capable of forming words.

Snakes... snakes... It had a hood on its neck. Assuming that it is something close to a cobra, then the venom is potent and lethal. What is it? Neurotoxin? It is supposed to stop breathing of the prey. I'm not breathing anyway, nor do I need to.

What is it that I need to die? Venom, bullets, dismemberment, blood loss, lethal doses of sedatives, nothing worked. Nothing even knocked me out. I couldn't breathe, sure. I couldn't move. I was still fucking conscious, just as I am now.

"You still live." The snake whispers as it slithers above the water, "Even nagas do not live. You are not human."

Naga? Oh, Mr. Davis, you finally found what you were looking for! If only I'd let you study it properly, right? Why is it they always decide that the best knowledge comes from cutting something open?

I can't reply even as it tries to coax words out of me, my vision black. It squeezes my chest harder and I still do not reply. I have no air. It cannot force words out of my lungs when water still dribbles out of my open mouth.

I drift in and out of awareness as I let the pain course through me, limp in the serpent's tight hold as I vaguely sense the presence of water encompassing me. It changes to air once again, and the sound of the serpent's scales in water changes to rock.

Light. I see light. It comes in as unfocused and repeatedly seems to darken before searing into my retinas once again. I'm only faintly aware of the pressure against my chest, as if to coax a cough out of me.

My finger twitches involuntarily at first and I slowly return to some semblance of awareness to my surroundings, my vision gradually returning as I anxiously look around my new location. I am alone. The serpent is not here. Did it aim to just keep me here once it discovered my immortality? It is clearly intelligent. I suppose restraining me is probably its best course of action if it fears me.

I slowly gather the strength to push myself onto my side, coughing roughly as the water seems to continue coming no matter how long I spend on this exhausting endeavor. I finally manage to coax my lungs to breathe air again and collapse against the ground I was laying on.

My shirt is off. Did the serpent remove it for some reason? I manage to gather enough strength to push myself into a seated position, inspecting my chest carefully. I have an angry, rapidly healing wound above my heart. Oh, did it take a piece of me to eat?

"You continued to live with no heart and watered lungs." A familiar voice calls out to me from the water I lay beside, earning a startled but tired groan from me.

"And I would continue to live with no head. Did you remove my head, too? That was always the most fun part. I feel like I would have noticed... Then again, I firmly believe your venom was the most painful thing I have ever felt. My head rolling was quite comfortable, actually, once my neck stopped hurting." I ramble, lost in memories. Healing from that would have taken long enough that my heart would have also returned, even if the snake had haphazardly returned my head to my body. I suppose it didn't think of that. How long did that take? My parents were astounded-