Chapter 1
My life should have ended long before this–
People saw me like some miracle child, that I was blessed by the gods and should be thankful for everything because I survived.
How could so much pain and suffering be considered a blessing?
I was only 10 at the time it happened, but I vividly remember the experience as if it were yesterday.
It all happened so quickly… It started with just a sting on my leg while I was playing outside, nothing overly painful, more or less just enough pain to make someone flinch or jump.
I hadn’t even realized what happened until the other kids around me started screaming and running away from the creature that sat less than two feet away from me, nearly hidden in the bushes.
My parents always warned me about snakes and to stay away from them, but I had never encountered a wild one on our previous trips to Africa before, so I didn’t think I’d run into one here, within the village. I was careless.
I could only stand there and stare at the creature in surprise as it gazed at me from the bushes.
I’m not sure if it was due to how small I was at that age or because my heart was already racing from running around and playing with the other kids, but the venom from its bite was quick to set in.
I had stumbled and fallen to the ground, unable to move or speak as agonizing pain radiated from the bite on my leg and traveled throughout my body.
I dont know what the experience was like for other people, but lying there on the ground unable to move or speak with a snake sitting mere feet in front of you, staring you down as your body starts to involuntarily convulse and lose all cognition, as fire burned through every vein in your bloodstream, was horrifying..
The rest was a bit of a blur, but I do remember a villager rushing over and cutting off the snake’s head with a machete before grabbing me off the ground and shouting incoherent words to someone nearby. My mind grew dizzy, and it felt like I was drowning as my parents came into view.
Their voices were so distant as they called out my name and rushed me somewhere I didn’t recognize before my eyes closed, and I fell into an abyss.
It was nearly a year later when I awoke from my coma, now back in the States. I remember feeling so weak and scared back then when I woke up in the hospital with my parents.
It took months of physical therapy to get me back to the way I was before, and even then, I was never the same..
Ironically, though, I still ended up getting involved with the terrifying reptiles as I grew older and got into toxinology, working to make anti-venoms and learn more about the components and effects that a single drop of venom could cause.
I rarely handled the creatures themselves and often just observed them from outside of their cages, so despite my past experiences, I never had any issues with my career choice–
That is until now.
gasping awake, I coughed up water and pushed myself up as the grainy feeling of sand clung to my body and skin, as well as my wet clothes.
Sitting upright, I groaned, feeling sore and cold as I lifted my head to see the helicopter I had once been riding inside of, bent, broken and half submerged. The rotters were crippled and the tail barely hung off the end of it being held together by just a few wires and bent metal plating as the vehicle sparked and burned in the shallow pond we had crash landed in.
A hand grabbed my arm, and I yelped in surprise, jumping as its owner released me and put his hand up in mock surrender.
“Easy there, Miss Covins! It’s just me, Reid! I just dragged you out of the water there, you were thrown from the impact when we crashed. Do you remember anything from before that? Are ya hurt anywhere?”
He kneeled down beside me, and his eyes looked over me for any noticeable injuries as I blinked and tried to get my bearings, briefly looking at the helicopter pilot.
“N-no, I think I’m okay…”
Carefully, I patted myself down looking for any major injuries other than the cuts and bruises I had obtained in the crash.
“Take a deep breath, miss, everything’s gonna be alright.”
Panting, I tried to calm my beating heart and looked up to Reid as he held his side, where blood had soaked into his pilot uniform.
“Where are the others?” I questioned, and a dark look crossed over the man’s eyes as he glanced to the side.
Following his gaze, I paled seeing two of my lab mates lying in the grass a few feet away, as well as the other pilot. One of my colleagues was missing a leg and had a makeshift tourniquet tied around their thigh, but they showed no signs of life, and the other had a large piece of shrapnel stabbed through her chest that no doubt killed her almost immediately.
The other heli pilot was breathing still but had a large Gash across his leg and forehead.
I felt myself start to shake, seeing people I once knew, now dead, before Reid quickly grabbed my face and lightly patted my cheek to draw my attention away. “Hey, now don’t panic! ya can’t be losing your head in a situation like this. We gotta focus, can you get up?”
Gulping, I nodded and rose to my feet with Reid. “Good, now ima look for the medkit and try to call for help on the heli’s radio, you sit tight, check yourself for any wounds, don’t wander off on your own, alright?”
We were both startled by the loud crack of thunder in the sky as a light rain started pouring down from above.
“We’re gonna need to find cover as well.” Reid added, “Let’s focus on finding that med kit.”
“o-okay…” I nodded in understanding, and Reid patted my shoulder before going towards the heli, wading through the nearly chest-deep waters.
Looking around, I quickly noticed someone from our group was missing, one of my colleagues who had been sitting right next too me in the heli– Jacob, was nowhere to be seen…
—--
–Jacob–
stumbling through the tree brush, everything around me spun as my head pounded.
Taking another few steps forward, it felt as though the ground was moving underneath me, and I threw my arms out before practically running into a tree, narrowly avoiding falling to the ground as I braced myself with my arms.
Everything continued to spin as I lifted my hand to my head. My fingers came in contact with something wet and warm, and I lowered my hand to look at it, seeing red.
‘Oh– I’m bleeding…’
Seeing something dark moving across a tree trunk in the corner of my eye, I looked towards it and squinted, it was as if the vines on the trees were moving.
Shaking my head a little, I blinked a few times, trying to steady myself. ‘I need help.’
“Someone call for help–” my words slurred as I spoke and used the tree beside me as support.
I need to find a hospital– looking all around me, I saw nothing but trees and dense forest. ‘Wait, how did I end up in a forest?’ Slowly, my head started to clear as I found myself completely lost.
Pushing off the tree, I spun around looking for any signs of people or buildings. ’Where am I?! How did I get here? What direction did I come from?!
Thunder cracked through the sky as a light rain started pouring down, steadily getting worse by the minute, soaking my clothes and hair.
“h-hello?! Someone help me, please!” I cried out in desperation as I started stumbling through the forest looking for any signs of life, any signs of people.
“Someone! anyone!!”
My foot suddenly caught on something, and I fell face forward on the ground, landing harshly on my arm at an awkward angle, sending a jolt of pain through me.
Shouting in frustration and pain, I sat upright, clutching my arm. Looking back at the big tree root my foot had caught on, I felt a sudden bubble of rage boil up inside of me.
Gritting my teeth, I lashed out and angrily kicked the root in front of me twice without a second thought.
Surprisingly, the thing wasn’t nearly as hard or sturdy as I expected, and even seemed to move, from the force of my kick– like it was flinching?
Breathing hard, I watched as the root suddenly slithered away, disappearing into the underbrush of the bushes like it was alive.
confused, I moved onto my hands and knees, crawling closer to the bush, trying to determine what it was I had just kicked or if I was hallucinating.
Parting the foliage slowly and carefully with one hand, I found no signs of it, but I did sense another presence looming over me.
Lifting my head, my gaze was met with that of a man standing on the other side of the brush before me, his eyes narrowed in an angry scowl.
I felt relieved at the mere sight of another person and smiled, sitting up on my knees.
“Ha– thank goodness I found someone!” I laughed pitifully as the figure before me slowly grew taller.
“Please, you have to help me, I’m lost and…and i–”
My smile fell away as the man towered over me more and more, rising well above 8ft, his torso extending well beyond what any normal person’s should.
falling back on my ass I started scooting back as a low hiss emanated from the thing before me and my eyes widened in fear.
This thing wasn’t human–
I watched as the creature bared its fangs, and fear completely took over as I felt the blood drain from my face.
I fumbled and turned around in an attempt to scramble away from the monster, but it was far quicker than me as it rushed forward, circling me and blocking all escape routes, twice over.
Within mere seconds, its elongated body then pulled tight, constricting around me before I saw a flash of fangs striking out as it bit into my shoulder, sinking its teeth deep into my flesh.
My screams rang throughout the jungle, heard only by the animals and insects that hid away from the monster that lurked there.
