A Snake's Life

by Kenneth Arant

  Every time I filled myself up, I simply waited for the food to be dissolved. During these brief periods of downtime, I gradually got used to my new body. I tried moving around some more, starting with the way I’d seen snakes move in the past. I twisted and swayed my body side to side as I slowly moved around the wide, shallow hole I’d found myself digging.

  I also discovered that I could move like a caterpillar... unless I had something in my stomach; then it just made me sick. I continued to test out my new body; twisting, turning, swaying, until I felt my stomach was empty enough, then I resumed eating.

  By the time a window appeared to tell me it was okay to stop eating dirt and stones, I was able to decently move around. I was slow as a slug in a puddle of molasses, but I could move.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have unlocked the following evolution: Gluttonous Stone Python

  Would you like to evolve?

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "No.” The window disappeared. The gluttonous part was new. I wondered if it was because of the Gluttonous trait. That thought led to me wondering if the other paths also gained the trait. A window answered my question.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Consume 50lbs of meat to unlock: Gluttonous Water Boa

  Consume 100lbs of vegetation to unlock: Gluttonous Tree Boa

  Fulfill the requirements of the other evolutions to unlock: Gluttonous Titan Boa

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "So, it appears they did." It also made me wonder what effect this had on the evolutions. Were they stronger or weaker because of it?

  They were most likely stronger for it, I decided. The trait made it so I could eat more than a normal snake, which would most likely make it easier to evolve in the future. That thought inevitably led to another. "I wonder how many creatures have this trait?"

  Deciding to forget about it for now, I crawled across the ground in search of my next meal.

  "Should I go for vegetation or meat?"

  Chapter 2

  I EXPLORED THE DARK forest for what felt like several hours, but not once did I see an animal. It was almost as if they were avoiding this place for some reason. So, lacking any easily accessible sources of meat, I decided to go for the Tree Boa evolution. That should have been the easier task to accomplish, right? I was in a forest after all... But in my time searching, I had yet to find anything on the ground that could be considered a “plant.” Trees, grass, and wild weeds aside, the forest seemed to be barren of any plants.

  What else could I do at that point? Simple... Climb a tree and eat the leaves and smaller branches.

  Now, If I could only figure out how to climb. I could barely move as it was, so climbing was most likely out for the time being... but I’d give it a shot.

  My first, second, and third attempts at climbing ended with me crashing to the ground after less than a second. I took a few minutes to try to remember the few times I’d seen a snake at the zoo, and the nature documentaries I’d watched on TV. My fourth attempt went slightly better since I only ended up chasing my tail around the tree for a few seconds instead of falling to the ground... again.

  Through the fifth, sixth, and seventh attempts I learned a valuable lesson: Forgetting to keep my stomach muscles contracted when climbing led to sliding... which led to splinters piercing my soft belly.

  Ouch.

  "This is seriously irritating me," I grumbled as I coiled myself around the base of the tree for the tenth or eleventh time. I’d lost count. Inch by agonizing inch I pushed myself up the tree, only stopping a few times to catch my breath and to get a better grip so I wouldn’t slide back down.

  “Almost... there,” I groaned when I was a few feet from one of the lower branches. I stretched out my body... and immediately knew I’d messed up. My body lost its grip on the rough bark and I started to slide.

  “Crap crap crap crap crap.” I used what little grip I had left to push myself up and away from the tree. I opened my mouth and sunk my teeth into the bark of what seemed to be a relatively young branch. Its bark was still on the softer side, and it was thin enough for my desperate move to work. But now I had another problem.

  “How am I supposed to pull myself up without any arms?”

  The answer to that question was “very carefully,” by the way. It took a while, but I eventually managed to haul my scaly tail over the branch. I quickly decided that it was better to be cautious than to plummet towards the ground, so I wrapped myself around the branch and settled in for a well-deserved rest.

  I stripped a few leaves from the branch and tentatively swallowed them once I’d caught my breath. "Gross,” I muttered. The leaves were extremely bitter and filled with some thick, jelly-like substance. I didn't stop eating though. I stripped more leaves from the branch and swallowed them.

  It’s amazing what flavors you can ignore when it feels like your stomach is trying to dissolve you from the inside out.

  Sooner than I’d hoped, I’d cleared the branch of its leaves and had to carefully move to another one for more food. At some point after I’d started eating, I realized that I could feel a warm sensation on my back. I couldn’t see anything coming from the ground, but now that I focused on the canopy above me, I could see small specks of light filtering in.

  The warmth felt amazing on my scales, and I was beginning to feel sleepy.

  "Hmm... Now that I think about it, I have been awake for a while. Maybe I should just find a nice warm spot to take a nap?” I continued stripping another branch of its leaves, even though I almost fell several times during my meal. I eventually cleared the lower part of the tree of its leaves and was in the process of climbing to a higher branch when I happened to glance up at a break in the canopy.

  "What the hell is that!?" Towering above everything, and I do mean everything, was an off-white, cylindrical structure so large I couldn't see the top. It seemed to reach into the clouds high above.

  "Is... is that a building?" I wondered. No, surely not. No way that thing was man-made. But if it wasn't man-made, then what was it?

  "Mm... Suppose I could head in that direction later. Not like I have anywhere else to go." I coiled myself around one of the higher branches and settled in for a nap. I could see the ground after clearing out the tree’s leaves, so I had a decent place to watch for any animals that might wander in this direction.

  "Maybe I should head back to the river? The water there is most likely fresh, and it could have fish. Of course, it could also be a hotspot for animals. Predators and prey alike need to drink, after all." Then again, there was just as much chance that it wasn’t a gathering place, and I’d be wasting my time. I’d been exploring this forest for hours, and I hadn't seen a single animal as of yet. River or not, unless the entire forest was nocturnal, I should have seen or heard something by now. And yet I hadn’t. The forest remained as quiet as the grave.

  "Oh well. Not like I have anything but time to lose by going back. Maybe I'll clear out the trees surrounding the little clearing I arrived in and make that my temporary base while I get my bearings.”

  My decision made, I retraced my “steps” back to the river after taking a nap. Kinda. I got lost for a while and wound up wasting a few hours trying to find the clearing again. Only once I did manage to find it, it wasn't quite as empty as I’d left it.

  "Damn." I pressed my body into the grass as much as I could, before hiding behind a tree to prevent the animal from seeing me. After listening to it shuffle its feet for a few seconds, I slowly peeked my head around and looked at it. The all-encompassing shadows of the treetops made it difficult to see fine details, but the animal had its head up and was sniffing the air, presumably to detect any nearby predators. I didn’t know if it’d noticed me before I had the chance to hide. But what I did know, mostly thanks to my ability to detect heat sources, was that it was large and warm blooded, and its outline against the darkness made me think it was likely to have four legs.

  "Can I take it down?" I wasn't sure of
this body's capabilities. Hell, I wasn't sure if I could eat it if I did take it down. It was easily twice my size. "Not going to stop me from trying, though. I'm starving." I slowly moved around the tree, while making sure that I was at the creature’s back. Then, I crept up on it. With every foot I drew closer, I could make out more details. It was pretty big. Easily over six feet tall and covered in shaggy fur. Two large horns that ended in several points sat on its head.

  Its head popped up and I stopped moving. I could swear it looked directly at me, but it didn’t react in any way. It returned to drinking after taking another cursory glance around the clearing.

  "If I'm going to do this, I need to hit it where it'll do the most damage." After making sure that it still hadn't seen me. I moved to its left side. Then I got even closer, so close I felt like I could touch it if I still had arms.

  Just when I felt like I was in position to strike, the damn thing looked down.

  It let out a startled scream and rose onto its hind legs.

  Using the same muscles I’d used to push myself off the tree earlier, I launched myself at it. I sunk my teeth into its hairy neck and bit down as hard as I could, then held on as it thrashed about. It tried to buck me off for a few seconds, and then one of its legs stomped down on my back, which was the only part of me it could reach. I felt my bones groan in protest, but I held on. It tried to do it again, but I swung my tail up onto its back, causing it to miss.

  "How do I get it to stop!?" I panicked as my body was swung around like a rag doll. An image of me climbing up the tree flashed through my mind. "That's it!" I started trying to wrap myself around the animal's waist and neck. Though it took several tries, and I now had a newfound respect for bull riders, I eventually succeeded. Then, I started squeezing, causing it to whimper in pain.

  It continued to thrash around, apparently hoping to either throw me off or stomp on me again, but neither happened. In fact, I started squeezing even harder in response. I was probably squeezing harder than necessary, but better safe than sorry.

  However, its struggles soon came to an end when it moved to stand on its hind legs... and stepped right into the hole I’d dug earlier. It crashed to the ground; the sickening crunch that preceded its screams told me it’d mostly likely broken something.

  I tightened my grip on its neck and body; causing even more of the poor creature’s bones to snap under the strain. I planned to continue squeezing until I knew it was dead, and only a few minutes later, I was sure. Its breathing slowly stopped, and it didn't take another. I gave its neck one last squeeze, causing its neck to break and its head to loll to the side.

  "Finally,” I sighed. “I was beginning to think it would never die. Now I just need to figure out how to eat this thing.

  I released my hold on the creature and circled around it. The butt end wasn’t the most appetizing option, but its horns were too much of an obstacle for me to swallow it from the front. "I guess I'll just start at the back." Moving to its hind legs, I bit down on its rear. That's when my body's instinct took over, and I began to pull the animal into my mouth.

  It took a long time, but through careful tugs, pulls, and twists, I’d finally managed to swallow over half of the creature when I developed a problem. The beast was too large for me to swallow it in one go. However, as I could already feel it dissolving inside me, I decided to just wait for it to dissolve before I swallowed the rest of it.

  Which took a while.

  I actually fell asleep while I was waiting, and when I woke up, it still wasn't completely dissolved yet.

  This became even more problematic when I noticed another heat signature coming towards me. It was similar in size and shape to the first creature.

  "Damn... That's not good."

  I could only think of one thing to do in this situation. I spit my meal back up and made a break for it. The “leftovers” looked like someone had dipped them in a vat of corrosive acid, but I had no time to marvel at the power of my stomach at the moment.

  I quickly made my way over to a tree I believed I could climb, then did just that. By the time I reached what I deemed to be a relatively safe branch, I’d started hearing some odd noises coming from beneath me.

  I hesitantly looked down, and immediately regretted my action. "Oh, God... What is that thing?" The second animal had found the corpse of the first and, from what I could tell, was tearing into its neck.

  A pop-up answered my question.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Alpha Deer

  The carnivorous cousin of the common white-tailed deer.

  Tier 2

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "Ah... That's probably why I haven't seen any other animals. These things have been eating them." I decided after that to just wait up in the tree for the other deer to leave.

  "The most depressing thing about this is that I'm hungry again."

  Chapter 3

  "WELL... THIS OFFICIALLY sucks." I was still hiding on the tree branch. The Alpha Deer that decided to steal my food was still hanging around. But my problems soon tripled when two more Alpha Deer showed up to join the feast. One had horns like the first two, while the other did not.

  If they followed the same rules as the deer back home, then it appeared I had two males and a female on my hands... and it didn't look like they were going to leave anytime soon.

  Now, if it was only one or two of them around, maybe I could do something—whether it be escaping or trying my luck at bringing them down. But with three of them here, no way was I taking that risk.

  "Hmm? What are they doing now?" The male deer were staring each other down. One would stomp its hoof, then the other would stomp in response and huff at the other. This repeated a few times, and then they would step towards the other before stepping back again.

  "What are you doing?" It almost looked as if they were getting ready to fight, but surely they weren’t, right?

  They repeated the cycle a few more times before I got my answer. The larger of the two raised its front legs into the air and kicked a few times before ducking its head down and charging. The other followed only a moment later. *Crash!* Their horns clashed together and interlocked. The smaller of the two buckled under the force for a moment, before straightening its legs and standing its ground.

  The two's horns would come apart for a moment, only to be slammed back together in a fight for dominance.

  While the males were having their little spat, the female began to wander the clearing. And if I wasn't mistaken... It looked as if she would walk directly beneath my branch.

  At the moment I was much too far up the tree to take advantage of this... but that could be changed.

  "Is it worth the risk, though? If I somehow manage to pull her into the tree with me, I might be able to stay up here until she’s dissolved. Of course, I might not be able to pull her up here at all. The branch could break under our weight or she could weigh more than I think..."

  Deciding to give it a shot, I slowly moved to a branch only about twelve feet above the ground. Once there, I waited for my chance to strike. Thankfully, I was correct in my assumption. The deer walked directly beneath my branch... and I struck.

  My teeth sunk into her neck, and with my lower half still wrapped around the branch, I started to pull her struggling body into the tree. Of course, her cries alerted the two other deer that something was wrong, but instead of trying to help like I thought they would, they bolted in the other direction.

  "So much for protecting the women and children." Though the branch creaked a few times, I managed to pull the deer into the tree and wrap my body around both her and the branch. After I secured her in place, I slowly squeezed the life out of her while being careful not to break the branch in the process.

  After two or three minutes of this, the deer lay still and never took another breath.

  "This would be so much easier with venom," I sighed. Maneuvering my head into position near hers, I opened my mouth and began my meal. As this deer was appr
oximately half the size of my first deer, I somehow managed to swallow her whole.

  Of course, my stomach was now swollen to approximately three times its previous size, and I couldn’t have moved to save my own life. But it was nice to have some proper food in me for a change. Eating rocks, dirt, and leaves did not a happy snake make. Venison, on the other hand, was much tastier than I remembered it being.

  Now, I could either stay up here and wait for my meal to digest, or I could make my way down and leave. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to wait up here until the food was completely digested before I left the tree. I didn't want a repeat of last time, after all.

  With my body still wrapped around the branch, and a digesting deer in my stomach, I thought I would get a bit more sleep while I waited, so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  I'm unsure of how long I slept, as I couldn't see the sky from here. However, when I did wake up, a pop-up was floating before my eyes.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path: Gluttonous Water Boa

  Would you like to evolve?

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "No." The window disappeared, and another took its place.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have eaten the following species for the first time.

  Alpha Deer: Tier 2

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "I guess now would be a good time to go.” A tremble ran through the tree. “Hmm?" The surrounding trees all began to shake as if they were afraid of something. "What's going on?" I wondered.

  I noticed a large heat signature heading in my direction, but before I could make out what it was—*Crack!* The branch snapped under my weight and fell to the ground. After I landed, and after taking a moment to shake away the spots in my vision from where I’d hit my head on the branch, I heard trees being knocked over. Something big was coming my way.

  "Ooh, that's not good." Raising my head up as high as I could, I looked into the darkness of the forest for any sign of what was coming. I could see the large heat signature running in my direction. And I was right, it was big... really big.