The cobra stared at me through the darkness. Even after the vision fades the eyes glowered at me. I could feel it. The cobra was hungry. I knew that I should try to move away from it, to attempt some way of saving my life, but I was paralysed, just like I was when I heard my name called on the field. There was nothing that could save me then, and the same situation was arising.
The pit was too deep to climb; I saw it when the lights were on. There was nothing else but me in the room; no weapons, nothing. There was a sudden rise in my heart rate, and I could hear the blood as it pulsed through my ears. I tried to keep my breathing down, but every time I heard a hiss I would have a sharp intake of breath.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour of waiting for the Cobra to strike, I feel reason flood into my mind. If I move, it will hear me. If I don’t, it will eat me. If I get too close, it will bit me, and if I get to far away, it will easily be able to slither after me. Along with the reason was feeling to my legs. They had probably been crouched for less than two minutes, but they had gone numb almost instantly. Now I could move, even if that wasn’t an option.
But what could I do? With all of this space, it seems a waste to be a sitting duck in the middle. And if the guards threw me down here, then there must be a way out. They wouldn’t try to kill me; my punishment didn’t deserve it. So there must be a way out, I concluded. Which would be… Oh no, I thought. I have to kill the snake.
I felt what little control I had over my breathing slip away. But how? I couldn’t kill it. Maybe the Theta boy could; make it bleed out with all of the powerful blows that he could use, but me? I hadn’t even been training for a year. My panic caused a hiss from the snake, which only made me more hysteric.
Then it happened. I didn’t even hear it coming, and there was no warning apart from a slightly lengthened hiss. It whizzed past me to the left, I struck out at it, feeling its tough, leathery skin brush against my hand. After it had jabbed at empty space, me touching it, and even knocking it around, it was ready to strike again.
As the scaly creature started to retract, I pulled my hand away. I wasn’t fast enough though, and it started to turn towards me, in the direction I was pulling my hand. I could feel the so-called-wings on its neck, only inches away from the head, the fangs. As soon as my hand was clear, I rolled forwards. As I’m on my back, the cobra strikes out to where I was.
I could tell it’s a little disorientated by this; it’s soon to be fresh meal had disappeared. It hissed again, the sound getting louder as it turned its head towards me. Even though it was only a meter away, I decided to run for it. My heart was pumping hard enough that I was on my feet before it could strike. I started to stumble away from where the hissing was, but I barely made it a meter before I remembered the wall. Or, to be more precise, the wall remembered me. I smacked face first into it, and my nose starting to trickle warm, gooey blood.
Even though my head was pounding, my nose screaming, I tried to escape. With all of the power I could summon, I crouch as low as I can bear to go. The hissing erupted again from behind me, and this time I knew what that meant. It was going to strike, and I was cornered.
Facing the wall I got ready to jump, but before I could gather the courage I needed, the snake falls quiet. That was all the warning I got, but my brain was ready for it. I rolled to the left again, grazing the wall and I fell over myself. I was guided in a curve by the wall of the circular pit, but at least I avoided the snake again. A crack reverberates through the room, but I didn’t understand what it was.
Not even caring at that moment, I leapt across the pit. My hands were extended in front of me feeling for the wall. As the hit it, I crouched down again. With the highest jump I could muster, I groped at the walls for an opening, any crack that I could hold on to.
To my amazement, my fingers brushed the floor. I tried to grab on but I wasn’t expecting it, so in shock I let go. I hadn’t heard another hiss from the cobra, so I had no idea if it was still on the other side of the pit, or right beside me. I jumped again, falling short. I tried to clam myself, but my cheek, which got grazed by the wall, was burning every time blood pumped past it. It never stopped, really.
No more hissing, so I tried to make the most out of the silence. Because there as no way in telling where the cobra was, I might as well not bother worrying about it. Even though it was pitiful logic, it did help calm me down a little. I tried again, crouching down low in preparation for a jump. Three, two, one, I counted; jump. I did. My fingers stretched out as far as they would go. They moved up the wall as I jumped, and as soon as the wall disappeared, I folded them over the edge.
My whole hands were now touching the floor of the room. I tried to pull myself up, but I was too weak. Instead, I swung my legs to the left, and then to the right. Still holding on, barely, I made the arc bigger until they were nearly horizontal. My entire body was sapped of energy, and so, with all of the effort I could put in, I swung them over the edge.
The connected with the floor, but I couldn’t get them over. I knew that if I fell down then, I would not be able to get back up. My malnourished body had sucked dry its energy reservoirs. Inch by inch, I wiggled my right foot over. I could feel it half on and half off when I kicked up the left foot. The force of the swing knocked me over, and I rolled onto the floor. Gasping in pain and exertion, I lay there until I could move.
It was ten minutes later, when I had a normal heart rate and the burning in my throat had stater to subside, that I wondered why there wasn’t any noise coming from the snake. As fast as I could bear, I sat up, and then after a few minutes of that I stood up. Maybe it knew that its prey had escaped, that it would not be fed for another few days. The only way to find out was to turn on the light.
I walked carefully over to the wall, groping out the floor with my feet as to make sure that I didn’t fall onto the pit again. After I found the wall I swept up and down it, searching for the light switch and I slowly moved around the room. Once I found it, I was surprised not to hear it writhing in the artificial day. In the last half hour or so, my eyes had gotten used to the dark. I had to blink a few times before I could even see.
I cautiously crept over to the pit, and gasped as I saw the snake lying down in a heap. Was it dead? Unconscious? I pieced it together with the sound I had heard when it had me backed up against the wall, and realized that it had knocked itself unconscious. It surely couldn’t have killed itself with a small blow such as that.
All things concluded, I cuddled up against the wall, trying not to think about what had just happened, and waiting for them to come and get me.
[b]Okay... that last sentence really sucks
Any ideas on how to make it better? Thanks for reading!
Love it! Professional, almost.