"Tha-na-tosss. Tha-na-tosss." The incessant hissing is followed a minute later by the sound of someone screaming. A woman. She'll be dead now. That's what always happens when the snakes say their name. And I do mean their name: each snake is just a small part of the greater hive mind: Thanatos. That one word means death wherever you hear it. Uttered by a snake to anyone near it. Or so the rhyme goes. You never pray 'Let no one get hurt' when you hear the hiss of death. Only ever 'Please, God, let it be someone else' or 'Please, Thanatos'.
I know it's terrible but when I heard that woman's dying scream, I was filled with joy and relief. For a whole minute I couldn't even breath because fear had paralysed me so much. There's no point running when a snake decides to target you. They're not that fast anyway. A baby could out-crawl them. Their strength lies elsewhere. When a snake sees you and decides to go for the kill, it rattles its tail and whispers 'Tha-na-tosss'. This alerts the other reptiles, who whisper the same. Doesn't matter where you are in the forest, you'll be surrounded. From miles around they all slither towards you in a slowly shrinking circle. All hissing the word. That's how everyone knows. You'd think you could tell who's the target from whether or not you personally see a snake creeping towards you. Truth is, you never know.
One time, I saw a snake approaching me and nearly died of panic. Then it meandered past, oblivious to my existence. It had another victim. That's the only lucky thing about them. A snake will never hurt you as long as the hive is on someone else's scent. Unless you're dumb enough to kill a snake or destroy one of their eggs. Then they come for you no matter what.
This time I thought I was done for. I saw so many of them swarming near me, hissing the rhythmic chant, that I just crouched and wrapped my arms around my knees, crying. A minute passed and then I heard that woman scream. She couldn't have been more than a hundred metres away. Fear turns to relief and I begin to run. Now that the woman's dead, the hive's free to find a new target. I don't have very much escape time. They're still hissing the chant which means they're now devouring her. They always take turns biting at the corpse until as many have had their fill as possible. This takes about five or ten minutes. It's all the time I need. I clear nearly half a mile until I reach an old oak I found earlier today.
I can't hear the snakes hissing anymore. They've finished their meal. I climb the tree until I find a branch I like and lie down exhausted. I stare up at the sky. Or rather the canopy. There are so many tall and thick trees in the forest that it's virtually impossible to see the sky. Some light seeps through, however, and from that you can usually tell the time of day. It'll be getting dark soon. I hear a faraway shriek. I sit up with a start. Another victim already? Going up trees won't save you from the hive if they really want you. But snakes are almost always on the ground when they lock onto someone. The snakes are chanting again. It's very faint though. This reassures me and I lie back down, crossing my arms behind my head to make a pillow. I feel tired and jittery from my near escape. I need to calm down and relax. If you want to stay sane in this place, you can't afford to be fearful constantly.
I daydream for a while and begin to think. Every time you wake up here, you're in a completely different part of the infinite forest. No idea how the forest does it, but it does. You wake up at least a mile apart from other people. So it's always new people, fresh faces. Some are hostile or dangerous. Best to just avoid people if possible. Still, we do communicate now and then to share important information. Mostly about the snakes. But sometimes strangers talk to each other about their past lives. Our lives before the Forest. I can't even remember mine. I've been here maybe ten years now.
I hear more shrieking all of a sudden. It's still faraway. But the chanting is louder now. Some poor fool trying to outrun them. I just hope he doesn't bring them anywhere near me. I try to go through the Six Questions. It's a game you play in the Forest to kill time. I murmur quietly to myself. You always start with 'where'. Where am I? I'm in the place everyone ends up when they die. It has a bunch of names: Afterlife, Final Stop, Hell, Snake-swamp, The Forest of Lost Souls, Despairia... I try to remember the more comical ones. It cheers me up a little.
