Anaconda

A few minutes went by and nothing happened. Gary lay face-down on the shore, unresponsive to any sound or movement. Anaconda began to worry that Gary had succumbed to his injuries and had passed away. Anaconda knew that killing Gary was not part of her grand plan for catching Sarone and now she worried that her perfect plan would fail.

A cough interrupted the almost placid jungle night. Anaconda looked sharply at Gary and saw the human coughing up water and gasping for air and gave a sigh of relief. Gary was not dead and so the plan Anaconda had been trying to put into affect could continue as scheduled.

Gary spat out a mixture water and blood. He tried rising to his knees to cough some more but fell sharply on his stomach. Giving a muffled cry, Gary tried to breathe but felt himself choking on water and blood.

Anaconda peered at the distressed human and moved in to help him. Gently, Anaconda used her head and lifted Gary a bit off the ground. She knew that Gary was choking on the water and blood in his throat and if he wasn't able to get rid of the access liquids, he certainly would drown. With a gentle push, Anaconda laid Gary on his side and continued to observe him.

Gary resumed coughing out the water and blood in his lungs. When the coughing subsided, Gary started to calm down. He heard a noise in front of him and weakly looked out at the moving object. Gary gave a slight recoil and gasped. He wasn't expecting to see a giant forty-five long anaconda slowly edging away from him.

Gary tried to back away from Anaconda as he was well aware of how lethal Anaconda could be. Gary tried to roll to his knees again but as before, he couldn't raise himself enough to get his knees under him. Gary tried to roll away but discovered that trying to roll on an incline was near impossible. The gravel underneath him was loose and dry and, thus it gave way easily, making Gary's attempts futile and unsuccessful.

Resting for a bit, on the cool sandy shore, Gary became aware of a distinct sobbing from somewhere on the river. The mournful wailing, Gary recognized, belonged to Denise.

Gary listened to his girlfriend crying feverishly and longed to be by her side and comforting her. He couldn't believe that Denise thought he was actually dead. But then again, Gary remembered, he thought that he was dead when Anaconda pulled him into the water. Now he was certain that Anaconda would try to kill him now.

Shaking off his nervousness of Anaconda, Gary tried to call out to Denise, hoping to alert her or someone on the boat that he was still alive. As he called out to the boat, Gary realized that his voice was hoarse and weak. He'd have to try harder to raise his voice louder for them to hear him.

Again Gary tried to call out for Denise but just as he worked up enough strength to yell to her, he felt Anaconda's fangs sink into his left shoulder. Gary panicked as Anaconda tried to pull him away from the shore and back into the undergrowth. Then Gary fought against Anaconda and managed to free himself from the snake's grasp. He felt his skin tear along the snake's fangs but Gary was more concerned with getting back to his loved ones than Anaconda's fangs.

Gary struggled to his feet and scampered towards the river, pushing past the foliage and the dense bushes surrounding it. He was aware of Anaconda watching his advancement towards the river with her steely eyes. Anaconda was remarkable, Gary thought. Anaconda wasn't acting like a normal snake. She seemed to be intrigued with him and letting him try to escape.

Perhaps though, Gary wondered, Anaconda is simply "playing with her food" and shortly she will eat him. At any rate, Gary persisted, ignoring his throbbing chest, he had to try and get back to Denise. She was worth dying for. Denise was also worth living for too.

Gary suddenly tripped and landed hard on the wet soil. The trip, as he had previously thought, was actually Anaconda as she snapped her tail at Gary's feet and sent him crashing to the ground just prior to the river. Anaconda quickly advanced on her injured victim and moved into position.

Raising his head weakly, Gary saw a glimmer of the river and the faint outline of the boat. He also saw Denise sitting near the edge of the boat, sobbing.

Gary heard Denise reply to Danny's comment, "I know he's in a better place but I still wish he was here with me." She gazed into the heavens and pleaded, "God forgive Gary for his faults. You saw how kind and gentle he was to all of us. He was a good man and I know that you'll take good care of him. Just please, forgive him for his faults and let him look in on us at times."

"Oh baby," Gary whispered comfortingly, as if Denise was next to him. "I'm alive! I'm here!"

He felt Anaconda's presence behind him. Nervously, Gary looked behind him and saw Anaconda staring at him with her merciless eyes. Gary knew his attempts were futile and if he tried to call for a rescue, he would be endangering his friends. To his friends, he was already dead. He had "died" saving Denise. What difference would it be if he died now, protecting his friends like before?

Gary stared at Anaconda and quietly stated, "If you crave humans to satisfy your hunger, I suggest you take me and leave my friends alone. I'd die for them. In fact, I will die for them."

Gary watched Anaconda and waited for her to make her attack. Instead, he saw Anaconda give a slight smile, as if she had understood what Gary had told her. Gary blinked unsurely at the snake and wondered if Anaconda had truly comprehended what he had said.

Anaconda suddenly lashed out at Gary and buried her fangs in his upper chest. She ignored her human captive's cry and began dragging him deeper into the Amazon jungle. Anaconda silently laughed to herself, "Humanssss. They are rather emotional beings! I am not going to eat you Human Sssscum. You are my greatesssst ally right now. Why in the bloody Amazon would I eat my only asssset?"

She regarded her captive and noted his eyes beginning to close and his body become limp. Anaconda thought, "Yessss, ssssleep ssssoundly my friend. You have had a rather stressful day I should think. The pain should be sssso great that you will passsss out rather soon."

True to her word, Gary began fell unconscious. Anaconda dragged the lifeless Gary effortlessly through the woods. On the leaves of the ferns and bushes, Gary left small splotches of blood on the foliage as he brushed up against them while being carried into the Amazon forest.

Gary heard felt an odd sense of quietness as he slowly came out of unconsciousness. He overlooked his aching chest and the blood he was tasting in his mouth. Opening his eyes, Gary could barely make anything out in front of him. He saw bushes and ferns surrounding his small thicket, but the image he was seeing was hazy and white. If there were any sounds in the jungle, Gary wouldn't be able to hear them. Even as he spoke cautiously into the night, he could hear his voice, but it sounded sur-real and not like his own voice.

Then he became aware of an indistinct growling. Gary's eyes focused on a bush ten feet away from him. He saw a pair of hollow, yellow eyes leering at him from its hiding spot in the brush. It was a jaguar. The fierce jungle cat of the Amazon, Gary recognized. His eyes were still fixed in the Jaguar's cold, piercing eyes.

Suddenly the jaguar leapt out of the bushes and lunged at Gary. Helpless, Gary simply held his ground and rested his head on the soft forest floor. He thought, "Well, it was going to be either anaconda or jaguar food one way or another. Today is a good day to die."

Just then, Anaconda suddenly leapt out of her hiding and tackled the jaguar from the side, tackling it into the forest growth opposite of her entrance. Anaconda quickly set to work in coiling the jaguar in her tight coils and squeezing the life out of the cat. Her jaws quickly wrapped around the cat's head and gave a sharp twist. Her prey fell limp immediately.

When Anaconda finished swallowing her jaguar dinner, Anaconda came peered back into the clearing and saw her human captive laying motionless on the forest floor. Giving a soft smile, Anaconda slithered to him and nudged him gently with her snout. She discovered that Gary had fainted again.

To herself, Anaconda laughed, "Such ssssimple beings these humanssss be! At the first ssssign of danger their main defenssssive move is to faint! Indeed these humans are rather odd!"

Anaconda took Gary up in her jaws, this time making sure her fangs didn't sink too deeply in Gary's flesh. Then she slinked off in the night towards her main domain were her fellow snakes would be waiting for her return.

The next morning Gary woke up. He felt himself stronger than the night before but still in a terrible amount of pain from his broken ribs and several puncture wounds. Touching his chest, Gary discovered that his shirt was soaked in blood, his blood.

A sudden dizziness overcame him and Gary was just about to lay down upon the wood floor when he suddenly sat up with a questioning thought.

"Where am I?" Gary wondered out loud. He heard a metal pail clank noisily to the floor and quickly looked in that direction.

A juvenile snake was slithering wildly about the room with an empty paint can stuck to its head. The snake lashed out, trying to rid itself of its "iron mask".

"Todo?" Gary asked hopefully, recognizing the juvenile.

The snake stopped thrashing and tried to focus on where it heard the voice.

Gary knew that the snake was Todo. He began calling to the snake, directing Todo towards him. When Todo bumped into him with the paint can, Gary grabbed the paint can and pulled it off Todo's head.

The snake blinked at the sunlight and gave a playful grin at Gary. It wiggled its tail and nuzzled Gary affectionately.

Gary laughed, "Next time be more careful Todo! The other anacondas may not know how to get paint cans off your head! They lack thumbs!"

Todo nodded but then caught sight of his mother coming up opposite of him. Todo quickly wiped his playful smile off his face and looked gravely at his mother. Todo knew that his mother, Anaconda, despised humans, especially the snake hunter named Sarone.

Gary stared at Anaconda in wonder and slight apprehension. He figured that Anaconda wasn't going to eat or kill him. If Anaconda wanted to do that, she would of done that a long time ago.

Anaconda moved closer to Gary, noting his suspicious but non-terrified eyes. She hoped that the human had recovered enough of his strength to participate in her revenge plot. It wouldn't do her any good if the human was too weak to even move.

Just then, two slightly smaller anacondas slithered into the room. Their snouts were pointed in the air and they were smelling for a particular scent, human. Their eyes flickered towards Gary and their eyes met.

The first snake gave a wide grin and sped towards Gary while the latter hissed angrily at the first. The latter snake gave chase, determined to be the first one to snag the human for a tasty snack.

Anaconda eyed the two snakes agitatedly and immediately slithered in front of Gary, blocking the snakes' attack. She angrily hissed at them and showed off her dagger fangs.

The two snakes came to an abrupt halt. Inquisitively, the snakes exchanged curious looks at one another and peered at the human Anaconda was defending. The first snake couldn't figure out why Anaconda was protecting the human. The second snake leered at the human and flicked his tongue agitatedly at the frightened human, then turning a hateful glare at Anaconda.

The first questioned, "Oh, I ssssee that you still don't want us to eat him."

Anaconda slowly nodded her head.

The second looked at her with pleading eyes, "Pleasssse!"

Anaconda growled, "No Ratorak, you may not eat him."

Then she began pushing the two snakes away from Gary with her head and threatening hisses. The two anacondas slowly backed away from Gary, as if understanding that this human was not to be eaten and was here to serve a purpose other than food.

Todo nervously watched the anacondas getting pushed away and slithered behind his mother to Gary. He curiously looked at the human and nuzzled him gently, as if asking if he was okay.

Gary patted Todo gently on the head while giving a sigh of relief. He should of known Sarone was lying to him when he spoke of Anaconda being the most aggressive anaconda in the entire world. Gary knew that Anaconda had been hand reared in the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington and was the world's first tame anaconda. That was before her release.

When Anaconda had been released back into the wild after months of rehabilitation, Anaconda was unheard of and never seen again except from the National Geographic explorers. Even then, Anaconda was friendly and all the other giant anacondas she was leading were friendly towards humans too. But now, Gary figured, the reason why the giant anacondas, and mainly Anaconda, was so aggressive, was because she was mistreated sometime after the explorers.

The best Gary could figure was that Sarone had been the one to kill Anaconda's mate. An incident like that could definitely trigger and aggressive action towards all humans, Gary knew. But then, if she was so angry at humans, why did Anaconda save him from three other giant anacondas and a jaguar and more importantly, why was he here? Why had Anaconda spared him?

Anaconda came back over to Gary and peered at him with solemn eyes. She gave a soft smile at both Gary and her son. With her snout, she gently pushed Gary into a standing position and nudged him towards the outside.

Not knowing what else to do, Gary followed Anacondas lead and hesitantly walked outside of the shabby shack. When he reached the outside, collapsed on the wood planks. He felt his strength deteriorating and he knew that he had lost a lot of blood. That was the cause for his dizziness and feeling of weakness.

Gazing into the river, Gary saw a beautiful cascading waterfalls across from the quiet lagoon. Also, Gary saw with amazement his boat he had been on last night. Except, the boat was stuck on some rocks and Danny, Whitridge, and Teri were in the water.

Then Gary glanced on the boat and saw a sight that made his feeling of weakness vanish and his blood run cold. Fear and anger surged through his veins as he felt his adrenaline kicking into his system as he plunged into the cool tribuatary.




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