Steel Flight [Completed]

Chapter 11: Snayke

~Skai

At least my parents aren't here to watch me die. This was my last thought before I closed my eyes, readying myself for the pain that surely would come.

Any second now.

But it never came.

As I stood there, trembling, clinging to the vine in my hands, all I could hear was a collective startled hiss that shattered and became a million individual hisses. I opened my eyes, not quite believing I wasn't about to feel razor-sharp fangs slice through me, and took in the chaotic world I was somehow now a part of.

Green was shooting from somewhere above, effectively dispersing the cloud of snakes, which squealed in a kind of high-pitched whine. I'd never heard anything like it. It wasn't human, nor was it machine. It was something other.

The green, which suspiciously enough looked rather like the vine I clung to now, spiraled, shooting every which way as it descended below me.

Good. The snakes were distracted.

I punched the closest one fleeing in panic, then kicked another next to my boot. The force of my hits sent them shooting off in whichever direction I chose, otherworldly squeals mingling with those of the others.

Snakes flew beside and around me, caught in a blind panic, and I hit each one that came near enough to make it worthwhile. This was fun!

"C'mon!" Jack yelled down. "We can make it! We're almost there!" I looked up past him. If by "there" he meant the ceiling of clouds, then we had two very different definitions of the phrase "almost there". However, I did finally realize that I didn't want to be here when the frenzied panic wore off, and so continued, hardly even pausing to hit passing snakes.

My fingers clutched the tough vine, muscles tight and more than ready to reach our destination. Before today, my longest climb had been to the top of a skyscraper, and that was minuscule compared to this! My fingers kept cramping up and my arms were burning, but at this point, I wasn't going to slow from mere discomfort. Even the kind that was actually closer to agony.

I was past even the stragglers now. I looked up again at the white blanket obscuring the beanstalk further up. Maybe half an hour more.

That half hour couldn't come fast enough.

There was less squealing now, and more hissing. I looked down. Their movements were less haphazard. They seemed to be gathering. Not a good sign.

I pushed my speed to the breaking point. A sudden gust of wind sent blonde-brown streaks flying across my face and I had to tuck them behind my ears (not a simple feat while clinging to a beanstalk however many thousands of feet up) so I could see again.

I looked down. The snakes were once again a condensed cloud. Now they were rising, entire bodies billowing in the wind, stiff parts glinting like machines, glossy black eyes aimed up at me. I shivered. I would never look at the name Snayke the same way ever again.

"Any chance you've got more of those beans?" I called up.

"'Fraid not," was my answer. Steel.

"How about you?" Jack asked. "Got anything useful down your boots?"

I thought about it. "We could throw your duffel at them!"

"Hilarious," Jack said dryly.

I'd only been half joking.

"Seriously," he said. "Taking suggestions here."

"How should I know what to do?! I don't know anything about climbing beanstalks and battling flying. . . things!"

"And I do?!"

I looked down. "They're coming!" Somehow they seemed angrier than before. At the very least, they were advancing much more quickly, this time seemingly with purpose.

I didn't know if I could handle this a second time. It was one thing to wait to be torn to shreds. It was a completely other thing to wait as nightmares come to life flew towards you with that same intent. Were they even human-made? They had a certain quality to them that made me think they were somehow like us. Like that maybe they were alive. My mind went back to those hairy things at the Edge. Were they also alive? I thought of my trees. Mother always told me they were special, because they breathed, like us. Was it possible that this wasn't just a random occurrence, but a common one, at least in other places?

The sun was near setting, and my vision going dim. Not nearly dim enough. Otherworldly sounds crowded my brain again. They conjured images of shadows and darkness, none half so dark as the shadow before me. I smelled steel. Roughly textured skin scratched my arm. I felt teeth on the back of my neck, just below my head. I expected unbelievably sharp points to tear my skin, to feel my neck pierced and life fading.

Instead, there was rough, unyielding snake skin rippling along mine, and only the lightest scrape of teeth near the top of my tunic. Then jaws and long bodies and tails wrapped around my arms lifted me from the vine.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comment below: what did you like? Dislike? I'd love to hear from you!