Neo-Odyssey

Chapter Five

Collin felt like he'd just gone three rounds with the world itself and come out on top.

Feeling doesn't matter. If there's more fight, then I need to keep fighting.

He and the girl, and also her co-pilot, were fine. That much was obvious. But what of the people in the back? Odds are, some folk weren't going to be getting back up after everything they'd all just been through, other folks wouldn't be doing so hot either.

Now Collin wasn't a medic, he'd said as much himself more times than he could count , but he'd been through some real wringers, and he knew how to get back up after. Checking injuries, stitching up cuts, setting dislocations, he could do that much, and that much he'd probably need to do.

Once more unto the breach, he thought, getting up and shambling over to the cockpit door. As he opened it, for once, he wished his uncle were here. The man had far too many faults, but he could certainly get people organized and going in the worst of situations. Which, Collin thought, this mess certainly qualified as being described as.

The interior was a mess, things were strewn all about, with the people therein afflicted with all manners of injuries. Gashes, lacerations, bruises, fractures, broken bones, concussions, the works. Collin was just glad that few, if any, were stirring in the gloom. It meant he and anyone else with a good head on their shoulders could get ahold of the situation before post-disaster mass hysteria kicked in.

It almost felt like he could deal with this mess all by himself... at least... until he felt the draft....

"You look spooked."

He heard a far too calm voice from behind. He didn't need to turn to see who it was, he recognized the voice, and it was too dark out for visuals to be much help regardless.

"You are... Jonah, right?" that query made the man behind him laugh.

"Glad to know you remember me, Mr. Merriweather." He replied, snapping his fingers before pointing to the source of the draft, an opened up emergency escape door. "I take it you've noticed already. Seems like some spry sod's gotten ahead of themselves."

Collin let out a sigh as, without another word wasted, he moved to the exit.

It never ends

He cursed his terrible luck for the upteenth time as he slid down the inflatable ramp, exasperated yet all too focused. His ears perked up, his eyes narrowed, there were shapes moving all about, big and small, that were making sounds he'd rather not listen to. The whole situation screamed danger to him, more so than even his roughest night out helping his uncle work the streets.

"That way!" Jonah called down from above, Collin turning towards the crafty gremlin to see him pointing straight ahead. "Seems our eager little runaway wasn't too creative in the directions department. If you rush you might find 'em before they get get a chance to buy the farm!"

"Thanks!"

Collin didn't waste another moment, running off as fast as his legs could take him once that last pleasantry was said and done.

"Don't thank me. You'll both probably die out there, crazy motherfu-"

Collin quickly gained enough distance that, through the ambient sounds around him, the sloshing of the murky swamp muck with every hurried stride forwards, he could no longer make out Jonah's choice words. To the troublesome man's credit though, his directions seemed to have been on point.

It was large, scaly, and not a bit amused. A mass of coiled muscles wrapped around an all too frantic kid who looked more at home at a LAN party or a Comic Convention than a deadly, mysterious swampland. Collin could hear their frightened voice grow ever more muted as the serpent tightened its grip, bones audibly cracking in horrific manner.

Caution to the wind then!

He'd curse under his breath, but he was in no mood to waste even that small effort before this fearsome beast. He saw the serpent turn to face him, its yellowish eyes glinting in the dark like polished jewels, barely visible, yet almost... glowing?

It stared right at him, burrowing its gaze into Collin, its glare sinking into him just as surely as two venomous fangs. He froze up, tripping head first into the cold water. He was numb all over, shivering profusely, barely able to focus his mind on the here and now.

What just happened?

Disbelief was all that occupied his thoughts as he commanded himself to rise back up, to no avail.

Did something bite me?

He grit his teeth and redoubled the effort, his every nerve on fire as he finally forced his body into motion. It took all he had to pick himself back up, his strength sapped like a warm coal against a harsh arctic gale. He heard the serpent hiss, its head snaking over to stare those evil eyes right against his own. A fleshy frill on its head flared up threateningly, its jaw opening up alongside it, the shapes of its long jagged teeth like unsheathed blades.

It's doing this, isn't it? He considered in sheer disbelief, wondering why he was entertaining such an outlandish notion even as the snake poised itself to strike at him, head aimed right for Collin's neck.

Just what did we all walk into?

He felt death coming for him, his life flashing before his eyes, when the snake recoiled in pain, its gaze broken, as a hefty baseball sized stone flew through the air and struck it on the temple. It recoiled, head frill flaring up anew, letting out a loud angry hiss in the direction of the strike.

Collin curled his hand into a ball, his grip like a handhold on the shoulder of Death himself, forcing the reaper away from his life. Now or never, he resolved, using whatever strength was left in him to give the serpent one hell of an uppercut. Now it seemed to shriek in pain and anger, looking back at him with its red eyes, jaws opening fully, ready to take his life.

"Fuck it!" He heard Jonah shout from too far away, far enough away that he knew the man wouldn't reach him in time. Fortunately, reach wouldn't matter for the gamble the man had in mind. It was close, far too close for Collin's liking. A whistling sound, a glint flying through the air, and an eruption of gore as a blade plunged into the overgrown snake's left eye.

"Fuck yeah!!!" He heard Jonah yell enthusiastically as, spending the precious time bought through his well-aimed throw, the adrenaline filled rapscallion tackled the snake head on, fighting to keep himself on top of it like it were some carnival bucking machine.

"Well, that's just reckless" Collin muttered as he watched Jonah wrap around the snake, covering one eye with a hand, trying to pull the blade out with the other.

"Damn it, it's stuck in!" Jonah cursed as, with one mighty whip of the serpent's coiled body, the scrawny looking fellow fell off. Now the snake focused its gaze upon him, Jonah's body growing sluggish just as surely as Collin's had. The snake was no longer acting cautious, Collin could see it on the massive boas face, and in its every forceful, exaggerated movement.

"Duck..." Collin croaked out, Jonah obeying the command just in time to dive under a bite aimed at his head. Unfortunately for the both of them, their foe was far from finished.

Jonah raised his arms in a meek defense as the snake aimed its next strike, its teeth burying into the haphazard block, breaking it and throwing Jonah wild, leaving his chest and neck exposed. One more strike would be all it took, one more bite and Jonah would be done for, Collin following after.

We aren't dying here....

Collin thought back to what Jonah had said before, words the man himself had recklessly ignored.

Come on, move!!!

Collin wouldn't stay down, he couldn't. How many times had he been knocked down in the ring? How many times had he gotten back up during the flight to this place alone? He'd been through worse, fought against worse, won out through worse.

This, this couldn't be where he ran out of fumes!

The snake was big, but its body wasn't all that broad. He managed to throw up one arm, looping it around the Snake's torso, and yanked it in a chokehold he'd been practicing months on end. It didn't do much, but it did make the snake's next attempt to end Jonah go off-mark, its face plunging into the swamp muck.

"Checkmate!" Jonah declared with almost sadistic glee. Unlike himself, Collin could tell Jonah hadn't been as taken by whatever force was muddling up their movements. He watched as, driven by instincts alone, Jonah got his own arm around the Snake's neck, before he curled his other arm into a hammer fist, and started pounding down on the blade lodged in the snake's eye. With each hit the serpent writhed, head crest lowering bit by bit, as Jonah hit and hit and hit again on the blade, sending it down through the serpent's eye and into its brain inch by agonizing inch. Collin could feel it writing in pain, squirming helplessly as each blow forced it back into the muck and closer to death.

You could fight against a lot of things, but being stabbed in the brain, Colling figured, was not likely to be amongst the tally of situations that grit alone would see you through.

Not that snakes have grit. Or intelligent thought. Or most of anything humans have to spare... Collin supposed as, with one final smack, the snake stilled.

"That... that was..." Jonah trembled to find the right words as he grinned ear to ear in the dim light, his body shuddering with excitement and adrenaline, even as blood poured down from his arm wounds into the black swamp below.

"Don't think about it." Collin advised the rattled punk as he got up, before he moved on to prying the snake's would-be prey out from under the oversized serpentine corpse.

"Life and death fights aren't good for clear thinking. Best to just focus on other things till the excitement and adrenaline fade away."

"I suppose you're right..." Jonah replied, chuckling to himself as he tried in vain to pull the blade out of the snake's eye socket. "Plus, you know, pretty sure we're still in immediate life threatening danger."

"That too." Collin agreed as he threw the injured victim of the serpent over his shoulder. "Just carry the snake back with you if you can't get that knife loose. We'll probably need the extra food anyways.

"Roger dodger. Just leave me here, alone, surrounded with hostile fauna. I'm sure nothing bad could possibly happen. Not to me anyways."

Collin didn't need to see in the gloom to know that Jonah was smirking at his witty banter.

Better than thinking about what just happened, Collin decided, and chose to let him continue on with whatever excitable thoughts were no doubt racing through his head.

"I'm heading back now."

"You do that."

Neither of them cared much for the half-hearted formalities. Jonah was barely paying attention, too caught up trying to figure out how to lift the exceedingly large snake back to the plane.

As for Collin, he hurried back to the plane at full sprint the moment he was sure Jonah wouldn't do anything stupid, huffing and puffing at every hasty step, his well-built muscles burning as he pushed his athletic body as far as it could go.

Something is seriously wrong with this place...