At least it isn't monday

The snake lunged.

I didn't think—I just reacted. My body moved on instinct, diving backward and rolling over the dirt. 

The air whistled as the snake's head flew past me, slamming into the wall with a sickening crunch that echoed through the trees. 

Dust and debris fell around it, the wall didn't even crack. I barely had time to process that I'd just avoided becoming snake food before the second head whipped around, its mouth wide open, fangs glistening with venom.

"Okay, okay, no need to get personal," I muttered, scrambling to my feet. I ran backward, heart hammering in my chest as I unslung my bow and knocked an arrow in one shaky motion. The snake's eyes locked on me, and for a brief, terrifying moment, time slowed. The eyes were cold, calculating—almost mocking. I drew the bowstring back, aiming straight for one of those glinting orbs, and released.

The arrow flew fast, cutting through the air with a satisfying sound.

At the last second, the snake's eye flicked closed, and the arrow bounced harmlessly off the thick scales protecting its face. I cursed under my breath. "Well, that's just fan-fucking-tastic."

The snake didn't give me a chance to curse again. It surged forward, both heads thrashing now, each one bent on ripping me apart. I could hear the hiss of its breath, feel the vibrations of its movement rumbling through the ground beneath me. My feet stumbled over roots as I tried to put more distance between us, but the snake was fast—too fast. The gap was closing.

Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the trees above, moving with the kind of fluid grace that only years of surviving in the slums could teach you. Tommy. He landed directly between me and the snake's closest head, his knife already in hand, gleaming in the dim light.

"Did you seriously think I'd leave you out here?" Tommy's voice was calm, even though he had to know the odds weren't exactly in our favor. He moved like a ghost, stepping in just as the snake lashed out. The blade flashed, slicing across its nose in a swift, clean strike. The snake reared back, hissing, but not retreating.

"Not complaining!" I yelled, trying to get my breathing under control. "But next time, maybe don't wait until I'm about to become dinner?"

Tommy didn't respond. He never did when he was focused. His eyes stayed on the snake as it thrashed around, its long, scaly body whipping through the underbrush. He tossed me a second knife without looking, and I caught it—barely.

"Keep moving," he said, eyes never leaving the beast. "It's faster than you think."

"You don't say," I quipped, though the joke fell flat even to my own ears. I gripped the knife tighter and tried to find an opening, but this thing was relentless. Both heads snapped and coiled, 

attacking from opposite directions. If Tommy wasn't here, I'd already be a snack for one of those fanged mouths.

The fight turned into a blur of chaos—slashes of knives, dodges, close calls where I could feel the wind from its fangs passing just inches away from my face. I stabbed at the body whenever I had the chance, but the snake's scales were thick, like armor, and each strike felt like trying to stab a rock. Even when I landed a hit, it barely flinched.

Tommy moved like he had been fighting beasts his whole life, his strikes quick and precise. He drove the snake back momentarily, cutting deep into one of its heads. But the other head—the one he wasn't focused on—suddenly curled around, its mouth opening wide, jaws spreading. It was too fast, I couldn't stop it in time.

"Tommy! Behind you!" I shouted, but it was too late.

The snake's jaws clamped down on Tommy's legs, pulling him off balance with brutal force. His knife slipped from his hand as he hit the ground with a thud. I watched, horror freezing me in place for a second too long, as the snake lifted him off the ground, its other head snapping wildly at the air. Then, with one swift, terrifying motion, the jaws unhinged and clamped down on Tommy's lower half.

"TOM!" My voice broke as I watched my best friend—my brother—disappear into the snake's mouth.

My body moved before my mind could catch up. Something primal, something far more powerful than fear, took over. I screamed, the kind of raw, gut-wrenching sound that could only come from losing something irreplaceable, and launched myself at the snake. I didn't care about the danger. I didn't care about anything except killing it.

I jumped onto one of its heads, slamming down with all my weight. The snake hissed in surprise, the scales under my hands slick and cold. I grabbed the knife Tommy had given me and drove it into the snake's eye with every ounce of strength I had left. The blade sank deep, and the snake's thrashing became wild and frantic. It threw me, but I held on, ripping the knife free before driving it back in, again and again.

It hissed, high-pitched and furious, the remaining head flailing as if trying to find me. But I was already moving, heart pounding in my ears. I didn't let go of the knife. Instead, I grabbed one of my arrows and slammed it into the other eye, the point piercing straight through to the brain. 

Before I could catch my breath the second head did a full 360 spin above the already dead one, hitting my body like a freight train, but with the knife still in hand, I stabbed into it's scales holding on, my other hand clawed at it's scales, my nails almost ripping off, something that i didn't notice or care about as the adrenaline surged through me. 

I clawed my way up to the second head, I anchored myself with the knife impaling between a few of its scales, I grabbed an arrow from my quiver and plunged it into it's right eye, blood spilling out of it looked as if it was about to close its eyelid so before it could do so, I plunged my entire arm along with the arrow deeper, hearing satisfying splat, popping its brain like a balloon.

The snake's body convulsed beneath me, before I could retract my arm it closed it's eyelid tearing my arm off, but even with that pain, all I kept feeling was searing rage..

It let out one final, ear-piercing screech before collapsing onto the ground in a heap of twitching, scaly flesh. I was still breathing hard, my heart racing as I stumbled off the snake's massive body. 

For a second, everything was still.

I looked at Tommy. His lower half was gone, nothing but a bloody mess and spilled half eaten guts where his legs used to be. His face was pale, his body limp, but somehow he was still conscious. 

Barely. His eyes met mine, and for a moment, neither of us said anything. There were no words for what had just happened.

I rushed over, falling to my knees next to him. "Tommy—Tom, hold on," I stammered, my voice cracking as I tried to put pressure with my remaining arm on what was left of him. But there was nothing I could do. The blood was pouring out too fast. Too much.

"Don't," Tommy coughed, his voice weak but still steady, like he wasn't about to die. Like he wasn't scared. "Don't waste your time. You…you gotta get back. Dad and the others still need to get taken care of."

"No, I'm not leaving you," I said, though I knew it was a lie. He knew it too.

Tommy's hand weakly gripped my arm, his fingers trembling. "You always were…a terrible liar, Aell," he muttered, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Get outta here. Before…the blood attracts more beasts."

I swallowed hard, choking down the lump in my throat. Tears blurred my vision, but I blinked them away. "I'll be back, okay? I'll—I'll get help."

But we both knew there was no coming back from this.

Tommy's grip loosened, his breathing shallow. "Don't…get yourself killed," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "Not…worth it."

And then, just like that, his hand went slack. The light faded from his eyes, leaving nothing but a lifeless stare.

I sat there for what felt like hours, but it couldn't have been more than a minute. The woods around me were quiet now, eerily so, as if the whole forest was mourning.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand and stood up, my legs shaking beneath me. My vision swam, but I couldn't afford to lose it now. Not yet. I took a deep breath, sheathing the knife 

Tommy had given me. His blood still coated my hands.

I glanced back at the snake's massive corpse, its once-powerful body now still and lifeless. I felt no triumph. No relief. Only emptiness. And after the emptiness I smelled it, my pupils dilated, the smell was intoxicating, in a trance I etched closer to the now dead snake.

My mouth watered, and before I knew what I was doing, I was on my knees beside the snake's body.

"This is crazy," I muttered to myself, even as my hands reached out to touch the creature's scales. 

"Aell, buddy, remember the addicts they ate some of this shit and look how they are now."

But my body wasn't listening to reason. My fingers sank into the snake's flesh, and it was like touching warm jelly. The once-impenetrable scales now parted easily under my touch, as if inviting me in.

I scooped up a handful of the gelatinous flesh, thick blood oozing between my fingers. Every instinct screamed at me to stop, but it was like watching someone else control my body. I brought my hand to my mouth and took a bite.

Explosion is too mild a word for what happened next. Flavor detonated across my tongue - metallic, rich, and electric. It was like swallowing lightning, if lightning tasted like the world's most intense energy drink mixed with raw power.

"Oh gods," I gasped, my voice sounding strange and distant to my own ears. "That's... that's..."

Amazing? Terrifying? I couldn't find the words. All I knew was that I needed more.

What happened next was... well, it wasn't pretty. The snake's body kept looking more and more like the most delicious steak in the world and I started acting like how the kids did whenever there was smoked meat.

I tore into the snake with a frenzy that would have put those piranhas to shame. My hands 

became shovels, scooping flesh and organs into my mouth faster than I could chew. I devoured everything - muscle, blood, even the eyes, which popped in my mouth like some kind of 

grotesque caviar.

Time lost all meaning. There was only the feast, the endless hunger, and the growing sense of power surging through my veins with each bite. Part of me was screaming in horror at what I was doing, but that voice grew fainter with each mouthful.

"This is fine," I mumbled between bites, blood dribbling down my chin. "Totally normal. Just 

having a snake snack. No big deal."

But it was a big deal. With each piece of the snake I consumed, I could feel something changing inside me. My skin tingled, my bones ached, and my vision blurred and sharpened in waves. It was like my body was trying to decide what shape it wanted to be.

Finally, after what felt like an instant and at the same time a few hours , I collapsed. The snake was gone, every last scale and sinew devoured. I lay in the middle of the clearing, panting, covered in gore, and feeling like I'd just gone on a day long sprint trying to catch a boar.

"Okay," I groaned, my voice hoarse. "That was... something. Probably not my smartest move ever. 

But hey, at least it's over, right?"

Wrong. So, so wrong.

As I tried to push myself up, something felt... off. My arms wouldn't move right. In fact, I couldn't feel my arms at all. Or my legs. Instead, I felt a long, sinuous body beneath me, muscles rippling in ways that human muscles definitely shouldn't.

"No," I said, or tried to say. What came out instead was a hiss. "No, no, no. This is not 

happening."

But it was happening. I blinked, trying to clear my vision, and suddenly the world looked... 

different. Stretched. And not just in one direction. I was seeing two different views at once, like someone had stuck cameras on opposite ends of the clearing and was streaming both feeds directly into my brain.

That's when the horrible truth hit me. I wasn't just lying next to the snake's body. I was the 

snake's body. Somehow, in consuming the creature, I had become it. Two heads, forked tongues, and about thirty feet of scales and muscle.

"Am I the snake?," I hissed, the words coming out as a series of sibilant sounds from both of my new mouths. "I ate the snake, and now I am the snake. Because of course that's how it works. 

Why wouldn't it?"

As the reality of my situation sank in, I couldn't help but let out a laugh. Or, well, a weird hissy sound that I guess was a snake's version of a laugh. I hadn't noticed at that time, but that was the first point where I started losing my rationality.