Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Six - Snake Bite

"Forget about the money!" Mira put her hands down on the table a little harder than necessary, rattling her cup. "This could be his life that we're talking about here. We all know that this snake bite wasn't without some kind of poison, Karan. We have to do something."

"What is he saying?" Andrew cut in, changing the subject before Karan could reply. Recognizing the subject change, Mira groaned and plopped her head on her arms.

"Um, well, at first it sounded like he was saying 'ugh', but then it turned into a definite 'ugg'—I guess," he replied. "At first I didn't think much of it, but it's become consistent."

"Ugg," said Mira from her pile of hair. Karan sighed, recognizing her frustration, but not responding to it.

"Anything else?" Andrew asked.

"Oh yeah, he's been very talkative," Karan said. "Sure, none of it makes any sense, though. He's been saying weird stuff like, 'cubes', 'down, down, left, up, right, down, respawn'—" Karan began, pointing in different directions as he spoke.

"'Respawn?'" Mira asked, confused, lifting her head up. "Is he playing a video game in his sleep?"

He shrugged. "I don't know either. He's also said stuff like, 'hop', 'coily', and 'wrong way', or something."

Andrew blinked. "What did you say?"

"'Hop', 'coily', and 'wrong way'," Karan repeated with a questioning gaze. "Why?"

Andrew frowned contemplatively. "Wrongway. Almost rings a bell. Coily... I've heard of that before," he said, thinking.

"What, was it the name of your pet slinky?" Mira joked lamely.

He slowly shook his head, glasses flashing again, still thinking. "No, I don't have a pet slinky." Then he snapped back to reality, and turned his head to look at her quizzically. "'Pet slinky?'"

She shrugged unhelpfully, her lips curled into a wry smile. "Sorry, I'm kind of at the end of my rope, here."

"Or maybe a pet snake?" Karan asked, chuckling at the thought. Mira's smile immediately dropped.

Andrew gasped, his face lighting up. "Snake!" he exclaimed.

Mira yelped, and immediately scrambled on top of her chair, eyes wide. "Where?" she asked.

Andrew stood up from his seat. "No, Mira. Coily, and a snake."

"So, there's no snake inside the house?"

Andrew ignored the question, running into his bedroom. "I think Coily and snakes are somehow related," he said, his voice fading a little as he walked past the wall.

Mira looked to her older brother. "Is there a snake?" she asked.

Karan chucked. "No, Mira. The floor is safe."

She breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down properly.

Karan shook his head. "You, and your reptile-phobia."

"Dude, our best friend just got bitten by a snake! How could I not be jumpy? And... I don't have reptile-phobia," she remarked, straightening her blouse and picking a speck of lint off of her jeans.

"You're afraid of snakes, and alligators," he pointed out.

"But I love turtles," Mira argued, looking up at him. "And it's not so much the alligators that I don't like, as it is the snakes. And gorillas." She shuddered. "I really don't like monkeys. They get on my nerves."