Snake in the Grass

Sidney started awake at the sound of voices below her. She peered down, careful to stay hidden in the branches of her treetop hideaway. A group of men stalked through the woods. They were severely underweight and armed with guns and knives. Hunters, she thought, shrinking back at the sight of them. It was a common sight. Humans hunting humans for bounty and food. Most larger animals had been killed off. In the few communities that had cropped up the last five years, cannibalism of outsiders had become the norm to survive.

Sidney had been lucky. Her parents had been survivalists. She grew up without running water or indoor plumbing, in a cabin far out in the woods. She knew how to hunt, survive off plants, and keep herself safe. The adjustment to life after nuclear war had been minimal. She learned quickly that sleeping in the trees of surviving forests was the safest bet. When hunters made their way to the area, it was time to move on.

She waited for the hunters to pass by, then waited another five minutes before dropping down from the tree. Without hesitation, she sprinted off the natural path deeper into the forest to find a better place to hunker down.

She continued her trek into the next day, determined to put as much distance between herself and the hunters she had seen. As she walked, she heard a sound that made her freeze in her tracks, blood chilling in her veins. A scream, clearly belonging to a woman, echoed through the woods. The hunters had found their prey. Sidney’s stomach turned. Women were seen as nothing more than property now, tools necessary to rebuild the population. If the hunters got their hands on herself or the stranger, they would face a fate worse than death.

She paused, trying to judge how close they were. Before long, she caught the sound of snapping branches and frantic, uneven footfalls. She dove into a nearby thicket and burrowed through the twisting, thorny branches until she knew she would be hidden from view. Only a few seconds after she stilled, she heard someone run past. Stifled sobs told her that it was the woman who had screamed. She chewed on her lower lip.

Solitude ensured that there was no dead weight. It meant fewer resources were needed. She could move as quickly as she needed to in order to escape. But… she wrapped her fingers around the locket that hung from her neck, a small silver heart. Inside, a photo of her mother on one side, and her sister Mary on the other.

“Stay there, and stay quiet,” Mary hissed, shoving Sidney into the dirt basement of the family cabin. Sidney landed hard on her butt as Mary shut the trap door. She heard the drag of the rug across the floor, covering the entrance. Sidney stared up in horror, unable to see anything through the sturdy floor their father had built. Over the sound of her heart pounding in her throat, she heard the door break open. Mary must not have been able to lock it properly in time.

“You’re coming with us,” a gruff voice growled.

Mary didn’t respond. The familiar sound of the shotgun rang out twice, much louder than she was used to in the close quarters. Sidney couldn’t hear in the moments it took for her ears to recover. Surely Mary had hit the intruders. She was a much better shot than Sidney.

“—ucking bitch!” a man shouted as Sidney regained her hearing. The sound of footsteps, Mary hastily reloading, another gunshot. A rifle, it sounded like. Sidney’s heart dropped. Their father had taken the only rifle when he went to scope out the community. They only had the shotgun and a few pistols, which they had run out of ammo for.

When she could hear again, the man was muttering under his breath as he rummaged around. She couldn’t make out was he was doing. “Hell, you weren’t supposed to kill her,” another man said.

“Oh she isn’t dead yet,” the shooter replied. He grunted as if lifting something. “She’ll bleed out soon. But she’ll be good for a few rounds first,” he chuckled. Sidney swallowed the bile rising in her throat.

“She better be. The bitch killed Jake and Todd.”

“Search for valuables. I got my prize.”

Over the sounds of groaning and items being overturned as the cabin was searched, the men didn’t hear Sidney vomiting in the basement below.

Mary had given her life, had been brutally violated in her final moments, to keep Sidney safe. Passing the favor on to another woman was the least she could do. She crept to the edge of the thicket and peered out to the trail. The other woman stood a few yards away, rubbing at her eyes as she looked around. Sidney checked the way the woman had come from and cautiously stepped out onto the trail. “Hey,” she called quietly.

The woman jumped in response, turning to stare at her with wide eyes. Her hand hovered over a hostler at her hip. Sidney’s own hand rested on the handle of her hunting knife, tucked into her waistband. Guns were faster, but knives drew less attention. “Hunters are chasing me,” the woman took a hesitant step towards her. “I can’t take them all by myself and it seems like no matter where I run, they catch up.”

Sidney’s ears strained to hear any signs of the hunters approaching. “There’s a thicket here. We can hide out until they pass.”

The woman’s eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. “Thank you!” She scurried forward. “My name is Rose.”

“Sidney.” She jerked her head towards the hideaway. “Come on.”

The hair on Sidney’s neck stood on end as Rose came closer. Rose moved faster than she had anticipated. She had her pistol leveled with Sidney’s chest before Sidney could pull her knife. A sly grin slid across Rose’s lips as she pulled a whistle from her pocket.

“It was a trap,” Sidney growled. “You let those bastards use you? Catch other women for their sick world?”

Rose blew one sharp note on the whistle. “Oh please. You can’t be a pushover in this world. You either play the game or end up the victim.”

Sidney bared her teeth. “You’re a traitor to every woman, dead or alive.”

Rolling her eyes, Rose shoved the barrel of the pistol between Sidney’s collarbones. “Keep your mouth shut.”

“Or what? I’m no use to your friends if I’m dead.”

“A bullet to the arm or leg won’t kill you,” Rose smiled. The sound of footsteps and snapping branches reached them.

Sidney shifted her weight slightly. As the men approached, Rose let her attention drift away from Sidney and the gun moved as well, sliding towards her shoulder. Sidney’s heart leapt into her throat. One chance. She would have one chance.

She shoved the hand holding the gun off to the side, startling a yelp out of Rose. The pistol went off just as the barrel had aimed away from her. Sidney pulled her knife from her belt and took one arching slash at Rose’s throat. It began as a trickle of blood before a torrent gushed from Rose’s neck.

Sidney shouldered the woman out of the way and bolted into the bushes. She could hear the men shouting behind her as she tore through the trees but didn’t turn back. Branches whipped at her face, and it was a constant struggle to not to trip over roots or ruts in the dirt. Her lungs burned and her sides ached.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been running when she came across a ravine. She panted heavily, carefully climbing down the steep rock wall. A stream ran through the center of the gorge. She found a slight overhang and pressed herself under it, pressing a hand to her racing heart as she tried to catch her breath. The metal of her locket had warmed from the exertion. She rested her head against the rocks behind her. She could hear the men approaching and tried to silently curl into as small of a ball as possible.

“Where the hell did she go?” one of them snapped above her.

“Shut up, she can’t have gotten too far,” another replied.

A quiet rattle sounded from beside her as she shifted her hand on the ground. Her eyes darted down, and her stomach dropped. A very agitated cottonmouth was glaring at her, its jaws wide open to reveal the white roof of its mouth. Back away quickly, her mother’s voice sounded in her head. Staying completely still was the next best option, but it was too late. The defensive snake lunged at her, sinking its fangs into her wrist.

She grimaced at the burning pain but couldn’t move to dislodge it. She could still hear the men above, tramping around and muttering. After a few seconds the snake released her wrist as it started to slither backwards to put some space between them. Sidney stayed as still as she could. The snake stared at her for a long moment before deciding it was safe to fully retreat. She could hear the men above start to walk away, figuring that the ravine wasn’t worth searching.

Sidney carefully pressed the corner of her shirt to the bite wound to stop the bleeding. It had already begun swelling and pain seared from her wrist to her elbow. The skin around the puncture wounds was discoloring, all sure signs that the venom was spreading through her. She pushed herself up. Her head spun a bit at the movement, and she slowly began making her way in the opposite direction of the men. There was a chance of survival, however slim it would be without antivenom, but not if she stayed within range of the hunters.

She hadn’t walked for long when the area around the bite began to go numb. Not great, but at least it doesn’t hurt anymore, she thought. She continued walking, but before long, the corners of her vision began to darken.

She swore under her breath, glancing around for a place to tuck herself away. She caught sight of a tree with thick enough branches at the top of the ravine that she could hide in. Taking a deep breath, she slowly made her way to the top of the rocky wall and up the tree. Climbing with a wrist and hand swollen to the size of a grapefruit was far more difficult than she expected. By the time she made it to the leafy branches of the tree, her head and arm were throbbing, and the world seemed to be tilting under her.

All but collapsing against the trunk of the tree, she tried to catch her breath. Sweat dripped down her forehead and her heart raced in her chest. She rested her head against the bark, staring up at the leaves. Her peripheral vision had been overtaken by a black fog, which continued to creep into her line of sight. She drew her knees up to her chest and glanced down at her arm. The swelling was making its way up her forearm.

Her eyes fell shut and her head drooped forward, her shoulders slumping as her mind went blank.