Indiana Jones and the Empire of the Sun

Chapter 7

The massive beast is nearly 50 feet long and its backside is a sickly, bright shade of green. Its belly is a luminous yellow color, but the most striking feature of the monster is its head. It has a thin mane of orange-brown feathers and the eyes are the same shade of yellow as its underside. It has a skull in the shape of an arrowhead, a distinct sign of venomous snakes.

It rises slightly, noticing our presence. I back away, my confidence completely dissipated and trip over a pile of...more human remains. I notice the entire chamber is littered with not only human remains, but smaller bones of various rodents.

"In–I–Indy, what d–do we do?!" Marcus shouts, no longer in control of his senses.

Think Indy, think. What did you do in the Well of Souls? Can't use that example, this is just one huge snake.

I survey the room in search of something...anything to provide hope for our hopeless situation. The monstrous snake rises higher and higher. Its jaws stay shut but its eyes are trained on us. I can sense that it'll strike any moment now in a lightning-fast motion.

"Move!" I shout the moment before the attack comes. Leaping to the side, I push Marcus and Alice down on the chamber floor. The snake crashes into the wall, but at best, it's slightly dazed.

How the hell do you kill a giant snake? I can't use my whip... And its skin is way too thick for any bullet.

Alice retreats behind one of the statues of the snake, pulling Marcus with her. I hope that it will turn its attention to me and I can figure out how to kill it, but instead, it turns to them. The creature's glimmering body slithers around the circular chamber until it stands high before Marcus and Alice. Their shrieks fill the room, and as it strikes, they manage to dodge its lethal teeth again, jumping to the right. The snake once again collides with the stone statue but recovers even faster than before.

Alice and Marcus stand helpless in the open, and before the snake can devour them, I yank them both aside and pull them over to the colossal snakeskin I've found on the other end of the chamber. I hastily tell them to conceal themselves inside the mucous skin.

Great. Now it's just me and the giant snake.

By now, it's decided to take another approach. It begins to wrap around me, loosely at first, but quickly tightens. I try to pull myself out, but the creature's grip is tight and its scales are nearly as slimy as the shed skin.

I think back to all of my experiences with snakes, but few reached this level of danger. The viper-python hybrid's grip is starting to become dangerously constricting.

Beyond the snake's writhing body, I see Alice tearing her way out of the snakeskin. She recklessly approaches the snake and starts jabbing at it.

"A–Alice, no!" I say, my voice distorted from the beast's embrace.

But as she continues to strike it, I'm freed from its grasp. It turns its attention to Alice, but I strike its body on the other end to draw its attention back to me. Marcus, who has torn his way through the gelatinous snakeskin, joins us as we all jab and poke at the monster from all ends.

That's it. It's just one huge snake.

"Alice, run to the left!" She does this and the snake's giant triangular head follows her. I poke back at it and it turns to me. As it trails behind me, I jump through the loops in its body. It quickly turns to Marcus, who jabs at it relentlessly.

"Marcus, go right and through the loop in its tail!" I yell.

Alice and Marcus catch on to what I'm doing and follow my directions immediately. We continue the process for several minutes and it becomes smoother and smoother. I yell directions to Alice and Marcus in turn and I jump through loops and holes and wrap around the creature.